Recent reviews by Nomkins

I have mixed feelings about this title.

Night-Runners prioritizes "vibes" over gameplay. This is a very stylish game with a really cool art style and personality. Initially, I didn't think the VHS-style filters and graphics would be my cup of tea. It quickly grew on me, as it was clear this game had a specific vision and aesthetic it was going for. The story-telling and character interactions are interesting, if not a bit repetitive. Which brings me to my main gripe:

This game is incredibly tedious.

Constant loading screens, scene transitions, repetitive interactions, tedious inventory management, unskippable scenes ... It gets very annoying very quickly. Some of these things are stylish the first handful of times you experience them, but it gets old, really fast.

Speaking of really fast, the default starter car available in this demo is a 4-speed with the tallest gearing i've ever had the displeasure of using in a video game. By the end of my playthrough, I had dumped over 700BHP into this car, and it still struggled to have enough torque to pull through the gears. Upgrades felt pointless to buy, because...

The AI racers are atrociously bad.

The AI competitors you are tasked to race against do not operate on the same physics laws that you do. They twitch, scurry, and zip between traffic while pulling away from you at twice your speed. They will regularly dart ahead of you, never to be seen again during a race. If you happen to catch up to them, they respond by rubber-banding to either match or outpace you. Even if they crash during a race, they will catch back up to you before the end of it, sometimes crashing into you and spinning you out. As a cherry on top, one of the races even has the finish line behind a toll booth, which means you get FINED FOR SPEEDING at the end of that race as you cross the finish line. This game is about street racing. The street racing part should be fun. Currently, the street racing part is not very fun because you're tasked with racing against F-Zero machines. Where are the slow, beginner races against a Nohda hatchback with 70hp and a rusted out exhaust?

That's the bad. Now for the good.

This game celebrates 90's-00's car culture with such passion. The car sounds are excellent. When your poor car isn't bogging at 4k rpm every shift, it is screaming and howling. The different engine types have audibly different personalities that you'd expect. There's even half a dozen different BOV sounds to choose from. You can customize a surprising amount of internals and externals on the vehicle. Engine bay, suspension, body kits, gauges, seats, wheels ... It's a dream. You better believe there's a dozen different garish body kits, scoops, and wings to slap onto your ride. You can get as specific as picking out your floor mats that you'll never see, or gut the internals of your car, full race-spec style to save weight. Car customization is the main thing I want out of a game like this, and it absolutely delivers.

As a free to play demo, check this one out and keep an eye on it.
As a full price release title, I'll need to see a lot of change with the opponent AI before I'll invest in this one. Multiplayer PvP won't be enough to draw me in if the single player experience will forever be this frustrating.

Cool project, Jem. Thanks for sharing the Prologue, and I look forward to how it evolves going forward.

A resounding "meh" from me so far.

1. It's not fun. This game is difficult and stressful. Other "survivors"-style games tend to have a nice flow between power fantasy and razor's edge success. They're fun but still challenging, making you want to try again and again. After 8 hours of gameplay and unlocks in this game, each run leaves me either feeling unfulfilled or frustrated.

2. Dives are too short for the progression path. A successful mission takes about 15 minutes to complete. While that is a great amount of time for this style of game, the entirety of that 15 minutes is spent desperately trying to stay ahead of the difficulty curve. By the time my upgrades and gear start feeling powerful, I'm already on the final boss and it's over.

3. Upgrades and weapons are bland. Perhaps I'm spoiled by this game's competition in the genre, but the weapons and upgrades available here feel lackluster. If this was an isometric ARPG, these weapons would feel right at home. As a "survivors" genre game, they're not very exciting. With few exceptions, you shoot bullets and throw grenades.

4. The mining mechanic feels out of place. Each level takes place on an island which you will regularly skirt the edges of during normal gameplay. Throughout the levels are walls that you can mine to dig tunnels and find resources. This is a really neat feature, but I feel like it is implemented poorly, given the island level design. If levels were larger or even procedural, this mechanic would feel so much cooler than it currently does. You don't have time to plan and dig out a "maze" similar to a tower-defense game. Also, a surprising amount of the weapons are directional-based. If you're mining a wall, you're not facing monsters, and if you're not facing monsters, you're not attacking.

Overall, the game is alright. It looks great, runs well, and has a gameplay loop you'd expect. Compared to its competitors in the "survivors" genre, I'd suggest you spend your money elsewhere. If those other games aren't hardcore enough for you, give this one a try, it might be what you're looking for.

Lords of the Fallen is an excellent Souls-like, however... It is more Imitator than Innovator.
If you've played the Dark Souls games, you've played Lord of the Fallen. This is high praise, but also slightly disappointing. With the exception of the Umbral World mechanic, almost all of the same Dark Souls mechanics remained unchanged, both the good and bad. That being said, I'm not going to explain what it is like to play one of these games if you're not already familiar. Just take comfort knowing that the experience you will get is on par with the competition.

There are three things about this game that stand out to me: The level design, the aesthetic, and the visuals. The world design is excellent. Areas are fun to explore, interconnected, and enhanced by the Umbral secrets hidden within. The aesthetic is incredibly strong, with lots of care being put into the designs and details of nearly every aspect. The fashion is very strong with this one. The visuals (primarily the lighting) truly feel modern and are very impressive. All of these things are complimented by a Photo Mode allowing you to really appreciate the beauty and horror it has to offer.

Although I am disappointed in the lack of creative liberty in this game, I still respect that they stuck so closely to the Souls formula. A lot of this game feels like a fan-letter in appreciation of other Souls titles. I've experienced nearly everything this game has to offer before, but I'm still here enjoying my time with it. If you like Souls-like games, you'll enjoy this one.

Good recovery, HEXWORKS. You've proven you can copy homework. Now let's think outside of the box for the next one and truly innovate within the genre.

[UPDATE AFTER BEATING THE GAME]

Overall, it was a cool experience, but I don't know that I'll come back to it again on my own. One part of souls-likes that I enjoy is fighting your way to the end, upgrading your gear and your abilities, and then going back through and re-exploring earlier areas of the game. Something about the scaling, density, and ambush placement of enemies makes that feel like more of a chore than a fun time. Throughout the game, I kept going back to the Fen area to test builds and farm vigor. Consistently, I was surprised to find that as I leveled up my stats and weapon, I still struggled to one-shot even basic enemies in such an early area of the game.

The biggest part of the game that ate away at my patience was the amount of time I spent online researching where to go or how to progress. I spent hours of my playtime being lost and trying to figure out where to go or what to do. Classic Dark Souls, right? "Ring two bells" or "Cleanse four Beacons". Looking at the order I unlocked achievements in, I accidentally played the game way out of the "intended" path, causing all sorts of unintended progression difficulty spikes. In a way, I appreciate that the world design doesn't gate-keep very much, but I spent a significant amount of time purposefully trying to progress, rather than just naturally moving forward.

I was out of patience with this game prior to reaching the final area. This is a shame, because the design of that area is SO COOL. I would have loved to spend more time there exploring it, but that final section is easily the most obnoxious area in the entire game. The enemy density is turned up to 11, there are mini-boss mobs everywhere, and almost every enemy inflicts burning damage. I just sprinted through this part of the game and skipped as much as possible, trying to take in the sights and appreciate the cool design while I dodge-rolled everywhere. At that point, I didn't feel like upgrading my character was making a difference, and anyone who sells items in the hub area was gone, so I had no more use for vigor.

Neat game, I'm glad I played it, but I think it is one and done for me. 40 hours to get through it, but I think I was only genuinely enjoying myself for about 20 of those.

Thymesia isn't "bad", but it is not for me.

- There is no armor or primary weapons to loot in the game (Starting gear is all you ever get, so you're locked into their one intended way to play the game. Where is the loot motivation or build variety?)
- Every enemy has hyperarmor during attacks
- Every enemy has essentially two health bars that need to be depleted using two different weapons/attacks (Creative idea, but tedious in execution...speaking of execution...)
- Every enemy has to be executed individually after depleting their health bar(s), or they will recover their health and continue fighting. (You will be seeing that animation and hearing that sharp sound over and over and over again)
- Heavy gameplay emphasis on Parrying as a required combat skill (If you're into that, you might be the target audience for this one)
- Combat has a rock-paper-scissors element that made it feel more like a rhythm/reaction game than a souls-like (Personally not what I look for in a game in this genre, but I understand some people like that)
- The first real level is a poison swamp village (Terrible first impression of level design and creativity)
- The first real boss is a two phase fight that feels more like a final exam than a pop-quiz of skills you've practiced so far (Really disappointed that they went with swamp village + over-the-top skill-check boss for the first level)

My time with the game was spent learning the mechanics in the tutorial, only to spend the remainder of my short playtime being tremendously disappointed in the first level. I thoroughly did not enjoy my time with this game, and I doubt coming back to it later will change any of the major complaints that I have. I just didn't have fun playing it, and I don't feel like going further into the game will change that. As a high reaction time rhythm action game, I can see how people would enjoy this. As a souls-like, it is not for me.

Writing a quick review to help with this game's review score.
I am very impressed with this title after only a single play session so far.

- The gunplay and mechanics feel super smooth
- Mission level design has some variety of scenarios
- Randomly generated killhouse
- Enemy AI are fun to fight against
- The vest customization is really neat
- Decent variety of weapons and loadouts
- Crossplay multiplayer

Product is solid so far. Happy to help support the developer and see where this one goes.
For the price of a fast-food meal, this one is hard to pass up if you're into tactical shooters.

It's been a while since I've played a VR game until my controllers died. This game is worthy of your attention.
As other have stated in reviews, The Light Brigade shares some DNA with games like Gunfire Reborn and Until You Fall. If you've played those games, I hope you will agree that's high praise.

--- Overview ---
The Light Brigade's gameplay loop is a pretty standard formula. You pick your class/loadout (of which there are 6) and head into the Campaign dungeon. From here, you work your way through fairly linear arenas where the objective is to eliminate all the bad guys. As you clear areas, you can also interact with lootable objects in the world to gather gold, resources, and upgrades. The individual levels seem to be mildly randomized, but the environments appear in the same order every time. After every few stages is a boss stage. Defeating the final boss will complete your run. There are currently 3 boss fights required to complete a playthrough.

--- Upgrades ---
As you kill enemies, you will earn Souls that can be cashed in at the end of most levels to earn experience for your current class. Each time you increase the rank of a class, you receive a single unlock point for that specific class. Unlock points can be spent to permanently upgrade that class' weapons, perks, and more. As for temporary upgrades found during a run, those come in the form of weapon attachments or tarot cards. Tarot cards are stackable modifiers that augment or unlock mechanics during your run. For example, you can pick up tarot cards that unlock a percentage chance to paralyze an enemy on hit. Weapon upgrades come in the form of muzzle, crystal, charm, and optic attachments. Each of these attachment categories can be equipped on a single weapon, with each providing its own stacking benefits to the weapon's damage. Charms are neat in that they unlock a cooldown based alt-fire for your weapon.

--- Combat ---
There is a small variety of enemy types in the game currently. Everything from a bow and arrow to frickin laser beams. With my style of gameplay, most levels feel a Time Crisis-y cover shooter. In VR, peeking out of cover and slowly advancing through a stage is a lot of fun. Alternately, the movement mechanics allow for some really stylish and quick gameplay, if that's more your speed. The game uses a combination of smooth movement and teleportation that allows you walk and dash around a map, flanking enemies or dodging projectiles. Enemies will move around a bit during combat. Sometimes they crouch behind cover and stay there. Other times they might push on your location, or relocate to high ground. They're fairly simple to fight, but the variety and difficult strike a nice balance for the difficulty of your choosing (of which there are 3). On top of it all, this game prides itself on its gun mechanics, which are very satisfying to use. If realistic gun mechanics aren't your thing, there are plenty of available accessibility options to customize your gun experience between Realistic and Arcade. Make it your own and focus on having fun.

--- Summary ---
As you play through the game, you'll get better at the combat, you'll learn the boss fights, and you'll discover your favorite builds. With 6 different classes, a small variety of weapons, and plenty of permanent upgrades for each class, there is plenty of opportunity to sink some time into this one. Although you can see all there is to see within a handful of hours, what's there is fun and interesting. The Faith/Paladin theme of the game really adds an additional dopamine layer on top of the already great roguelike cake. Slapping your hands together to pray for your fallen brothers before smiting the enemy with a holy-blessed Kar-98 headshot explosion has not failed to entertain me. Definitely check this one out.

If you enjoy Souls-like games, play The Surge 2. This one really surprised me with its take on the genre. I could have paid full price for this game and would still be satisfied with my purchase. Excellent game. But what makes it so special?

Souls-like games are defined by their combat: Commit, Punish, Block, Parry, Dodge, and Roll. Those are all present, but there are some twists. Body parts can be targeted individually, because loot is not random. You want that enemy's weapon? Cut off their arm. You want their helmet? Cut off their head. Duplicate item drops are converted into upgrade materials. It's a great system that feels strategic and rewarding. On top of all that, armor has partial and full set bonuses that can enhance your specific playstyle. On top of THAT, implants can be utilized to add additional power-ups or passive skills. To top everything off, there are only 3 stats to upgrade when leveling up: Health, Stamina, and Battery. This means you can farm what you want, use what you want, enhance what you want, and focus on what you want without any risk of not having enough of X stat to wield a certain weapon. You can even easily respec/redistribute your level-up points. There are also multiple loadouts to switch between at any time! Loadouts! In a Souls-like game! It's great!

Jericho City is a complex maze to explore. It is densely populated with enemies, environmental storytelling, secret loot, shortcuts, and more. I had so many "Ooo, piece of candy!" moments that chained into me exploring all sorts of nooks and crannies of the map with genuine curiosity and interest. The map locations are all physically connected to each other. So, while Jericho City is fairly small in a linear sense, each area has so much to explore. Additionally, there are upgrades you acquire as you progress through the story that provide you access to more shortcuts and areas you couldn't reach earlier in the game. For the 20-30hr playtime this game offers, it does a great job of making you learn the map through repetition, while simultaneously giving you new exploration tools and twists on things you've seen before.

The story of this game was surprisingly entertaining and easily digestible. The main storyline was very straightforward and forgettable. Not in a bad way, it served its purpose to drive things forward. The real gem was the writing of everything else. All of the side characters, quests, and audio logs had a consistent theme of sarcastic, bleak, black comedy. I talked to everyone I could, and I intentionally listened to every audio log I found. I collected over 50 audio logs and listened to each one, because I wanted to! Additionally, some quests and interactions even had multiple morality-related options to pursue. This game honestly had a big Mass Effect vibe to it, and I mean that as the biggest of compliments.

Overall, The Surge 2 was a huge surprise to me. The combat is smooth and violent. The mechanics are fun and refreshing. The world is exciting and entertaining to explore. Developer DECK13 has really caught my eye with this one. It has been a long time since a game has surprised me with so many moments of "That's a great idea!". They really seem to understand what makes a great sequel. Great work. Great game. Buy it.

[UPDATED REVIEW]
I came back to this game nearly a year later, wanting to give it another chance, and it only made me more upset. I'm changing my review.

Do not be fooled, this game has little to do with racing. This game is about crashing into cop cars. Racing is merely the theme. Keep in mind that the driving mechanics in this game have more in common with those "Fast & Furious" racing cabinets you find in arcades. I'm genuinely surprised you can't double-tap your gas pedal to do a backflip during a jump in this game.

Dislikes:
- Cops spawn in your path every 10 seconds
- Being dropped into a cop chase after a race
- The grind that goes into upgrading a single car
- The forced day/night cycle, even after finishing the main story
- The limitations of the performance class event system
- At least 1 of the AI drivers in each performance class wildly out-performs that class
- The physics / handling mechanics
- Driving the same routes across the map, dodging cops, to get to the same meetup spots to do the same handful of races

Likes:
+ Visually a nice looking game
+ Runs smoothly / Good performance
+ Very stylish and unique art style
+ Lots of vehicle appearance customization options

I said it before and I'll say it again: I recommend buying NFS Heat over this.

----------------------------

[ORIGINAL REVIEW]
This game is annoying to play, and I would recommend buying NFS Heat over this entry.

Unbound isn't a "bad" game, but it is full of questionable design choices that have soured the formula. I've spent far more time pretending to enjoy this game than I've spent actually having fun with it. Maybe your experience will be different, but I want to present some of the things I found frustrating while playing it. In the absence of a "Maybe" option for my review, I'm putting it as "Recommended" because the game itself is playable and runs very well from day 1 (which is a rarity in the gaming industry these days).

--- Cops ---
The police chases in Unbound are obnoxious, tedious, and forced into every aspect of the game. They are no longer a tricky side option to build up some wanted levels and go on an exciting chase. When you participate in races, you gain wanted levels. While you're racing, you're being chased by cops. Even if you're racing on a closed course track... You're being chased by cops. Even if you are winning the race, and the cops are a mile behind you chasing the AI, you will still be dropped into a police chase after the race ends. Level 1 and 2 cops are fine. They obey physics, can be destroyed, and don't rubberband too much. Level 3 cops are the Corvettes, which have the worst rubberbanding i've ever witnessed in a driving game. Level 4 are Undercover units that aren't visible on the mini map to avoid. Level 5 are Heavy units which are just as agile as everything else, and will roll your car if they touch you. If you are participating in multiple races per day (which you will, because you need money), you will more often than not be at wanted level 5. They don't even pretend to try to "find" you, they spawn directly in your path every 10 seconds, and will spawn helicopters over Meetups, so you can't even start a race until they leave.

--- Economy ---
I love upgrading and customizing cars in these games. Unbound made upgrading so tedious that I hated getting new cars. Upgrades are specific to each vehicle, so there is no end game of having spare performance parts to throw at a new car. You are going to be spending full price on each upgrade every time. Each tier of upgrades costs money to unlock. Elite tier costs $100,000 to unlock. Each Elite part costs between $20,000 and $54,000. If you do a lot of races and are able to escape level 5 heat, you might leave each night with $100,000 profit towards the end game. The grind is real. In 26 hours of gameplay, i've not purchased a single vehicle, because I cannot afford to. I grind out races to get money, to buy paltry upgrades trying to min-max each tier of car. Races are also split into different Tiers. So you can only upgrade a car so far to keep it in a specific tier, and you need at least one car for every tier by the Grand race at the end of the month. So, once you upgrade a car as far as you can within a tier...There is no longer a reason to invest in that car. If that car wins races in that tier, that's all you need for the rest of the game. Do that for 5 cars and you're done.

--- Day & Night ---
Unbound takes Heat's day and night cycle and makes it so much worse. The main goal of the game is to complete Qualifier races at the end of each week, in order to participate in the Grand at the end of the month. Each day is split in half. You'll do races during the day, and build heat. You'll do races at night and build more heat (but you'll probably be at Heat 5 by the end of the day anyway). The part about this that sucks is that the day or night ends whenever you enter a Safehouse. Meaning that if you want to go back to the Safehouse to customize or upgrade your car, you need to sacrifice an entire half-day's worth of progress to do so. Qualifier events take place at the end of each week, and have significant entry fees to pay. Not earning all the money you can each day can be a serious problem for your progression.

--- In Summary ---
I did not have fun with Unbound, and it pains me to admit that. It was tedious, frustrating, and I mostly continued to play it out of obligation due to the $70 price tag I paid for it. The "Meetup" location system is repetitive. The lack of variety of races is repetitive. The never ending police chases are repetitive. The driving physics are fickle and often unpredictable. For a game that encourages "offroad" use for racing and evading police, there are rock walls, lakes, and unbreakable barriers in every place you try to find a creative line. The economy adds an unnecessary grind that makes having any variety in your garage a financial nightmare to accomplish. The day-night cycle adds a time-sensitive element on top of all of the other annoying mechanics. I hope this is just an experiment with the franchise and they choose to move away from a lot of the core mechanics present in Unbound. If this is the direction they are taking this series, I'll just hold my breath until we get a true Underground 2 successor.

My childhood!

Just as good as I remember as a kid. So much fun to play. With the "Kart" genre dominated by whimsical fantasy, this world being grounded more in 'reality' is a neat design element. Each car has a different personality and is a lot of fun to drive or compete against.

Highly recommended.

I was very hesitant to pick up this title based on the reviews. Newcomers were recommending it, and veterans of the series weren't. I have 50+ hours in RIDE 2, which is arguably the most recommended in the series. Here are my thoughts on RIDE 4 so far:

Let's start by addressing the elephant in the room: The AI.
Yes, it's true, the AI are completely unaware of your presence as the player and do not react to you being near them. Yes, it's true, the AI operate on different physics rules allowing them to brake way later than you can. Because of those two points, yes, it's true, the AI will run you over ... a lot. Yes, it's true, even the default "Easy" AI difficulty setting is remarkably challenging to secure a 1st place finish. Heavily utilizing the "Rewind" function, you can attempt corners over and over again until you finally make it through without being crashed into by an AI.
Overall, is the AI lackluster for such a polished series? Yes. Is it bad enough to not buy the game? No.

The Physics.
A lot of reviews complain that the physics feel sluggish, unresponsive, too arcadey, or too simulator-y. I personally haven't had any major complaints with it. Turning feels fine. Riding with assists on feels fine. Bikes have to lean to turn. Because of that, there is a slight delay between telling the bike to turn and it actually turning. Once you adjust to that delay and stop treating this like a car racing game, you'll have a better time. My only minor complaint is that there are no sensitivity adjustment options for inputs. To me, steering feels too sensitive to be smooth, but it's perfectly playable. (It could just be my controller)

The content and economy.
I bought the game bundled with all of the DLC for $30. That felt like a reasonable entry price to not only have access to all of the available content, but also have a permanent 2x multiplier to credits earned in-game. Am I happy that Milestone monetized this game like a Free-To-Play title? No. Is the "complete" game a good value at $30? To me it is. (Remember, I have 50+ hours in RIDE 2, I knew what I was getting into)

I went into this game expecting unplayable levels of jank, based on the reviews I read. That's simply not the case. If you are interested in motorcycles, this is a perfectly fine racing title to help scratch that itch. It looks good, runs well, and plays fine. Yes, there are some frustrating quirks to tolerate, but nothing that has kept me from having a good time overall.