Recent reviews by [102nd] Matues

This is a really good game with fun mechanics, graphics, and gameplay, with a lot of content.

it is just a shame that most of the content is stuck behind "premium" paywalls meaning that newer players don't have access to late game vehicles. Additionally, grinding your way without playing is very painful due to slow progression and repair costs.

(this is done to encourage players to spend £$£ on either content or premium passes)

in my experience, the game becomes less fun the more you progress into it, Tiers 1-2 are easily the most fun because they're the most relaxed, players new and old, experienced and casual will be there. After this though, the community is sweaty and toxic (and not much fun to play against when grinding for new vehicles)

TLDR: potential to be a good singleplayer game, shame all of the content/updates is locked behind a £100+ DLC paywall. As a multiplayer game, it is an unbalanced mess.

The base game severely lacks content as most main nations have small 'focus trees' and all the less important nations have an identical focus tree copy-pasted to all of them. (mods or DLC's fix this a little, but not completely, and this should have been in the game to begin with!)

one of the few saving graces the game has, is that the DLC's can be shared on multiplayer (only the host needs DLC's to play) however the DLC's change core gameplay elements so severely (military development, logistics, intelligence agency, extended focus trees) that it becomes very difficult to learn if you do not have the DLC's yourself to play singleplayer with.

Additionally, gameplay elements in multiplayer have issues. for example the peace conference system is broken, and with unfamiliar players, it can take 15-20 minutes to finish, it also includes broken ai in the peace conference which results in nonsensical border gore. The gameplay speed in multiplayer is also an issue, as it often lags, changing the speed, and the speed different players require is vastly different (in war, in civil war, in peace etc) although this is arguably just a skill issue.

As a multiplayer strategy game, it is poorly balanced, due to the setting some nations are outright more powerful than others, making it a poor competitive game. some communities work around this by making teams or historically accurate rules - but i question why there is not a setting in the game for this setup already, and why players have to organise such matches themselves for the game to be fair.

meme game 10/10

I played this game after having watched the Netflix The Witcher series (season 1), so I played this game several years after it was released.

Since playing this game I have watched video game cut-scenes/movies of the first two games (not necessary but it does add to the understanding of the characters - and The Witcher 1 & 2 are arguably too dated to play however still add to the story), I have also gone on to read the first Witcher book "The Last Wish" and I am going to continue reading the rest of the series

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Biases aside: I will try to be fair in my review

+ The graphics and art style are still incredible and the world (particularly Toussaint in the Blood & Wine DLC) has beautiful landscapes - I have one as my PC background currently.

+ The story is one of the best single player stories I have played in about 4-5 years, truly amazing character development and the personalities of particular characters (for example, Ciri, Geralt, Yennefer, Dandelion, Triss, Lambert, Eskel, Vesimir, Zoltan - Regis, Anna Henrietta (from Blood and Wine) and Shani and Olgierd (from Hearts of Stone). The voice acting for all of these characters was incredible, and all of the characters felt very different in terms of personality. - Let it be noted that MyAnna Byring acts Tissaia De Vries in the Netflix Series, and voice acts Anna Henrietta in this game.

+ The supporting characters really change how I would feel about side quests, morally grey characters such as The Red Baron, Dijkstra, and Emhyr Var Emreis, Radovid etc really bring the word to life. - Let it be noted, that famous British actor Charles Dance voice acts Emhyr Var Emreis

- I have mixed feelings about the antagonists of the game, some say that a [media] is only as good as it's villains. In the Witcher 3, I feel that the overall antagonists called The Wild Hunt were not particularly impactful as they were not scary enough to be feared, and their sense of mystery meant that they were not perceived to be powerful in understandable, relatable ways.

+ Following on from the previous point, I do feel as though other villains in the game truly were incredible, for example 'The Crones' or Gaunter O'Dimm (Hearts of Stone) and Dettlaff (Blood and Wine), the nature of these enemies made for incredible story arcs and DLC's so despite the 'Wild Hunt' to be lacking, these creations are truly amazing.

+ Having mentioned 'The Crones', one of the reasons I remember these villains so vividly is the soundtrack, which brings me onto my next point, the soundtrack to this game is phenomenal. Characters, locations, particular quest lines etc, all have distinctly different relaxing musical pieces that blend into a cohesive beautiful soundtrack. Additionally the games combat soundtrack is fantastic and upbeat. I honestly consider this games soundtrack to be one of the greats to rival 'Skyrim' and other games famous for their original musical score.

- Speaking of the combat, sadly I think that this is an area where the game is lacking, the game is often too easy even on harder difficulties, the combat is based of a simple, block/counter/dodge/light-attack/heavy-attack system, which admittedly feels amazing when you first learn it as it feels like you are really connecting with your enemy. However the issue with this is that it gets fairly repetitive in my opinion.

+ In addition to the combat system, the perks and magic system is a great addition that gives the game a lot of variation in how you want to build your character, I would argue that the only way this part of the game could be improved would be if they added in a stealth mechanic. As it stands the perks really help you feel as though you are progressing and the magic becomes more and more useful as you skill into it and learn the alternate abilities and the improvements.

+ Relating partially to the magic, the combat in the game also includes a detailed bestiary which allows you to prepare potions, poisons and spells before combat which will give you an edge over particular animals and creatures that the Witcher would have to fight. This is greatly appreciated and is a good homage to the books in which the level of preparation the Witcher would go to before a fight is detailed. Additionally this part of the books is also reflected in certain 'hunts' in which The Witcher has to discover what type of monster he is hunting before making preparations to fight it.

+ Theme (Morally Grey) the final part of this review regard the themes of the franchise, there are several which I would like to explore, the first of these themes orients around the morally grey, which is very true to the books, this allows the player to make many choices where there is no 'right or wrong' response. Furthermore it allows players a degree of agency while also giving Geralt a character of his own, as not many people are bold/idealistic enough to decree 'evil is evil, lesser, greater, middling'.

+ Theme ('Monsters') the humans in which this world have a largely antagonistic relationship with 'Monsters', these can include mutants, such as The Witcher himself who is treated poorly by many, traditional non sentient 'monsters' that The Witcher hunts (occasionally feeling sympathy for the creature if it is of a rare/dying species, perhaps because Witchers themselves are a dying breed), sentient 'monsters' (which sometimes turn out to be 'friendly' or 'mischievous' and the Witcher is given a moral decision to make) and finally, humanoid species or peoples that are discriminated against are often exploited, such as Elves, Dwarves, Mages and other groups. In my opinion the exploitation against the latter group provides a good analogy of racism, similar to how JRR Tolkien uses the relationship between Elves and Dwarves to depict racial issues.

+ Theme (Father-Daughter Relationship) Geralt acts as Ciri's adoptive father, and the staple for the whole base game is surrounding how protective and understanding Geralt is of Ciri, the story of the game repeatedly uses Geralts connection to Ciri to make some of the most emotionally devastating moments of the game happen, I would be lying if I said I wasn't teary eyed at certain moments.

+ Theme (Romance) The final theme of the game I would like to comment on is one of the most talked about parts of the game, the 'romance options' are subject to a lot of debate about who is the right partner for Geralt. The Witcher provides an interesting take on romance as few of the relationships Geralt is involved in are particularly intimate (emotionally) or long term, arguably only 2 relationships are of significance (not including Shani from the Hearts of Stone DLC). The two relationships that the game focuses on the most are with Yen and Triss, who are both very different characters who both have flaws and strengths. I would sum up the ultimate difference between the two relationships being that when Geralt is with Triss, he is idolised by her and Geralt is able to relax, however when Geralt is with Yen they push each other to be better and both are very motivated to look after Ciri together. Additionally the game punishes those who try to romance both of these characters

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In summary, this started as a review for this game, but ended up as a love letter for it.

Genuinely a much better version of Garry's Mod (Trouble in Terrorist Town) / Among Us / SCP Secret Lab

If you enjoy any of the above you will enjoy this game.

The primary game mode is a 16 person multiplayer mode (very fun with friends, but entertaining with randoms). In which you are either an unfortunate spaceman trying to complete tasks, find weapons, and kill the alien. or you are an alien, where you sabotage tasks, infect and kill spacemen. This game has lots of very interesting maps, as well as a perk/level system, and an interesting Oxygen Supply mechanic.

The other very enjoyable mode, is a coop (max 6 player) campaign, which reminds me of a cross between L4D2 and Portal 2, the gameplay is very reminiscent of L4D2 however the narrative of the story is very humorous alike Portal 2, my only complaint is that this game mode is too short.

Honestly one of the most interesting and replayable games in my library.

The gameplay is fantastic as there is a lot of customisation for classes/weapons/skills/perks/appearance alongside two distinct types of mission (stealth and loud).

In my opinion the focus of the game is stealth oriented, the stealth missions are wonderful to learn and master (especially if you have a good teacher), and once you have done that it is very enjoyable to find other likeminded friends and try to teach them the game too.

Loud missions provide a nice break and a change of pace between stealth missions, albeit I know that some players prefer to try to master the 'loud' gameplay and spend a long time finding the perfect weapon/skill combo.

The game is generally well optimized (with the only exceptions being one or two of the newer heists) and the graphics are generally of good quality (although almost any computer can run this game on low settings)

If any of my steam friends see this review and want someone to guide them through some stealth missions, let me know!

One of my all time favourites!

The two new Empires (Inca and Sweden) are both unique and fun to play. (I have played both, but I particularly enjoy the Inca at the moment)

The graphical improvements make the game far more aesthetic. Particularly for the Asian factions and the story/campaign cutscenes. Additionally changes to the UI allow you to see far more of the map/battlefield than previously!

The historical battles scenarios was a really nice touch and very enjoyable to play all the unique units they added for that mini campaign.

The balances they made to multiplayer are all fair and I'm glad the developers are actively making all empires viable to play (whereas in the original, the same 3-4 empires seemed to dominate every game).

I personally really like the new focus on historical accuracy regarding the native american tribes and I'm really glad the developers went to the effort of contacting descendants of the tribes and native american historians to get their history and culture right.

Lots of fun! Glad it doesn't take itself seriously. Although I wish there was a multiplayer mode to make this a bit competitive.

A pretty authentic Vietnam game, lots of fun with small groups of friends, and a very active community

Melee: Broken, swords are currently OP, and there's no 'Kick' attack
Shooting: too much bullet drop.
Servers: Laggy upon release, since improved.
Arty: No aiming reticle, far too much drop, no 'bounce' mechanic, and any unit can use a cannon making it less unique.
Weather/time of day system: inconvenient for events.
Boats: Good physics, but FPS challenging.
Graphics: Average.
Events: Slowly dying as people are quitting it already.
Server/Event Admining: 'Resetting' completely reloads the map, at the end of each round it automatically changes to a random map.
Maps: Not enough maps, although maps do have interesting features and landmarks.