Recent reviews by Lifeless

I don't know how I haven't written a review for this game in all the years I've had it on steam, but it is without a doubt one of the greatest RPGs to ever grace the gaming industry. Obsidian captured lightning in a bottle.

Pros:
Dozens of weapon types with unique variants of most of them
Countless unique quests with multiple path endings among various factions leads to endless replayability
Well-written characters from writers who are truly passionate about their lore and world building
An expansive modding scene that has 15 years worth of content from quests, to weapon mods, and much needed quality of life improvements.

Cons:
It's on the Gamebryo engine using Bethesda's GECK, which means you can expect crashes at any time for any number of reasons (usually none of them).
That expansive modding component I mentioned isn't *required* for players to enjoy the game, but it is highly encouraged to look up a tutorial on how to install some mods to improve the game's performance, especially the tick fix mod to fix the game's physics processing when the game is running above 60FPS.

They could fix all the bugs and performance issues and the game would still be boring. It wants to be a space-simulator like No Man's Sky or Elite Dangerous, but also wants to hide behind the excuse of it being a Bethesda RPG that can't run technical stuff very well. As a result, you're left with a walking simulator with some fun dialogue options every now and then.

The world building is another issue - Its religions that supposedly gave the writers their own existential crisis are easily described as A) Atheists who care more about furthering human advancements, but respect all other religions, B) Christians who believe that god exists somewhere in the stars, but care more about furthering human advancements and respect all other religions, or C) Cultists who believe god is a giant snake that will eat everyone who doesn't believe in him. They do not respect other religions.

Set 20 years after a colony war between the two strongest governments, your player character can do absolutely nothing to either patch up their relationship and bring a lasting peace or tear it all down by inciting another war, so the whole thing is really just there for set dressing and is completely pointless to the plot. If you're just in it for the mystery of who made the artifacts which are central to the main plot, then you're gonna be disappointed there because they won't even tell you that much. "The maguffin exists because it needs to exist" is not a point I thought we would reach in a Bethesda game.

If action and adventure get you excited, then prepare for crippling emotional trauma

They finally removed the requirement for Games for Windows Live, which means we can now frolic through the radioactive carcass of Washington D.C. once again!

Pros: Easy to dump days into the game at a time

Cons: Easy to dump days into the game at a time

I stuck with this game through all of its ups and downs and was overjoyed when they announced playable ghouls would be coming, with their own perks and consequences, such as the Brotherhood refusing to work with you. It sounded really promising and I looked forward to trying it, but after giving it a fair try... It's probably the worst thing they've added to the game to date.

Becoming a ghoul does not make you immune to radiation, doesn't make you friendly toward feral ghouls, or apply any sensible logic into which factions would and wouldn't work with you. EVERY faction refuses to work with ghoul players, even the nicer ones like Foundation or even the Overseer WHO LECTURES THE PLAYER ON TREATING GHOULS FAIRLY. As far as I can tell, there isn't a single logical reason to become a ghoul other than the damage boost you get when your rads increase.

I fear the real reason they butchered this update is so that players use their one-use-only "revert to human" option that requires players to spend money on microtransactions if they ever want to go back to being a ghoul afterward, and THAT is an insult to my time.

The controls are awful and prone to bugging out on you in the middle of a fight, but the story and graphics trump all the negatives.

A beautiful port of the classic Halo Reach to PC. Although it isn't all perfect, there is more free content coming later that I am eagerly awaiting.