Recent reviews by Squire Zed

Pros:
Extraction shooter with low time to kill, immersive realistic setting, solid graphics, and a true PvE (friendly fire off) mode for the PvP averse. Recommended for Vietnam flashbacks, someone interested in buying Tarkov but not spending $250, or someone who is looking for a more "realistic" shooter but doesn't want to deal with full-sim like ARMA.
Persistent world allows you to retrieve gear dropped in a previous run if you or your squad are able to secure the area, making individual deaths less punitive- armor can be damaged, but you can typically recover weapons without worry- basically an opportunity, on top of the safe lockbox, to retrieve lost gear from a run, which is especially nice if you get tapped by a bot right by extraction.

Cons:
Extraction shooter with low time to kill, immersion can contribute to a bit of clunkiness, and the new user experience is "Here's your stuff, here's the concept, go out there."
Pay for significant advantages. Suggesting that gear in an extraction shooter is pay to win feels a bit... unproductive, especially since GZW has a true co-op mode which negates some of the "playing with whale" cringe of PvP games with cash shops. But bigger secure boxes is a big difference- potentially a 225% increase in capacity allowing for significantly better stowage, including some smaller firearms, for a much stronger "safe" return on a run. Additionally, storage at base is significantly increased, which is potentially a major advantage in the long run.
Performance issues are pretty prevalent- I encountered weird frame stutter, almost as if frames were rendering out of sequence, and a lot of rubber banding even when pings were sub 100. However, both of these issues were intermittent and I am overdue for a driver update so I will update this later if I remember. Game doesn't perform remarkably for the "pretty to performance" ratio, but it's not terrible either and I've definitely seen worse, but I say that with a 4070 so that could be a hardware difference compared to people reporting major problems.
Edit: Updating my graphics drivers resolved the performance issues, for the most part. It still probably doesn't get high marks on the pretty to performance ratio, largely because a lot of the performance is spent on "busy" environments instead of quality. But the weird frame stuttering cleared up and I only experienced slight hitches on first boot- maybe building shader caches? Also, servers felt a lot smoother today other than having a pretty major queue that cleared up, little bit of rubber banding but very limited (one short batch of five seconds every several minutes) instead of consistent like previously, so it's definitely improving.

I don't think the cons are enough to make this a not recommended. Performance is definitely my primary pain point, followed by the relative opaqueness of the new player experience. But neither of these make the game unfun, at least for me, and I hope they'll both be improved. I will qualify the recommendation though and add the caveats that you will want a pretty beefy machine to run this and if you're not a fan of tactical shooters or can't stand getting immediately sent to the bonfire to do a mad dash to retrieve your souls- I mean base and gear, sorry, force of habit- you might want to give this one a skip.

Is it the best, most fun 4x game I've ever played?

No. It has a lot of rough edges, and there are some ideas thrown out that just don't stick right.

Is it the 4x game I would most recommend to people familiar with the genre? Yes.

Why would I recommend a game that isn't the best the "most" right now?

Millennia is a rare thing- something that enters the space of a traditionally very narrow genre and does a bunch of interesting things with it. Although it wears the trappings of a lot of traditional 4x mechanics and systems, and is still clearly a 4x, there are a bunch of fresh and new ideas integrated. Some of these don't feel entirely fleshed out, and there is some systems bloat because some of these ideas aren't quite realized efficiently and effectively yet.

Millennia does some things very well- the UI is clean and readable (a bit busy, perhaps, in places, but only because it's crammed with systems, and if's far less daunting than some other systems heavy games). The economy is designed to reward your *specific* playstyle and direction, with traditional resources like money and research along side role specific experience earned for completing specific objectives or developing in specific ways, allowing you to activate "powers" that can really change the way of a playthrough. There are sufficient options at each level to make most builds feel "complete", though I think there's still some room to say that some are more interesting or viable than others.

I'm not saying Millennia is perfect. There are a lot of options that suggest variety while there may may be an obvious "best" choice. Forward planning can be complicated and what specific things do robustly (like variant ages) is not always thoroughly explained. There is a mechanical opacity to the game that really does feel like trial and error. However, I can look past these, especially in the game's relatively nascent state, as I expect to see more development and growth over time. I might be disappointed if this is all we get, but between community feedback and plans for future development, I hope a lot of pain points to be alleviated- things that don't work (like the limit on the building queue, or specific abilities being over/underpowered) are often things which could be fixed to work with a little tuning or some quality of life passes, so I think there's some real promise.

I generally think there's plenty of opportunity for growth, and while I think Millennia in its current, initial state hasn't fully lived up to that potential, there's plenty of ways it could eventually reach that point without needing fundamental changes. A lot of these are related to UI and interface, or limited AI interactivity, and those are both things that hopefully could be built up without disrupting what makes Millennia unique and interesting.

I think Millennia has a spark of creativity that is so rare in most games these days, so while it might be a bit of an unpolished gem right now, I would at the very least recommend not writing it off.

100%ed the game, which is rare for me. One of the most beautiful, wistful Metroidvania games I've ever played. With the early access release of a sequel, I want to take a moment to recommend this beautiful game as well.

While ENDER LILIES is not the most precise or developed Metroidvania, it is a beautiful game with solid gameplay, a compelling world, and plenty of things to do. I have no reservations recommending the game, although a few points of platforming might be a little tricky with precise movements, so if that frustrates you easily... well, I'd still recommend the game, just maybe don't expect to 100% a weird hard to reach optional or two.

Another beautiful, desolate, wistful world from Binary Haze Interactive.

If you enjoyed ENDER LILIES, then this will be an obvious follow up. If you are a fan of Metroidvania games, you certainly can trust this will be a strong one. The current early access content can probably be cleared in about two and a half hours, but it's two and a half hours of precise combat, beautiful ambiance, and compelling, wistful story telling. While there's still a lot more before the game is finished, I'm confident in recommending this as it already has all the solid bones of ENDER LILIES, but tells a magicpunk story in a fully realized world. You don't need to play ENDER LILIES to understand this game, though there are some references that will make more sense with memories of the first game.

TL;DR: DLC sucks, performance issues are unfortunately common, but the game itself is extremely good, and I've personally only had a few performance issues so I'm going to rate it based on my personal opinion and my experience, don't @me if it doesn't run for you, I get it, that's unfortunate, but I'm not rating a game badly because someone else can't run it, sorry.

The elephant in the room is the DLC. To be honest, most of the DLC doesn't matter. The starting gear from the deluxe edition, the camping kit, the harpy smoke, all of it is pointless, they're all just early access to stuff you earn by playing. It's a cash grab, pure and simple. On the one hand, Capcom definitely made the choice to milk the game for additional money by selling these items (the only one of which I think is even remotely compelling is the portcrystal, which still demands you earn in game items to use it). It's garbage. It's disrespectful to players. It's dumb and bad. But it also doesn't matter. Don't buy the DLC.

Onto performance, as much as I've stated I won't be rating the game poorly because of its performance because I don't have persistent issues, there are a few caveats here. I had a hardlock once because of extreme memory usage (between both Dragon's Dogma 2 and a browser I forgot to close with a bunch of tabs running). Not all of this is on Dragon's Dogma 2, but it is very resource intensive, and if you have minimum specs, you probably are going to have a bad time if you aren't dumping all the settings down a lot. Performance in cities is bad, seems to be CPU related and leads to stutters and hiccups. Nothing unplayable, still pretty functional, but it is disruptive to immersion. On the flip side, if your graphics card can keep up, Dragon's Dogma 2 is a beautiful game, and the graphical performance, even with a bunch of things checked on that I wasn't sure would work on my rig, is actually very good, so it's specifically a CPU/NPC related thing in towns. Weird, not great, but most of the time is spent exploring the wilderness anyway, so rating down a game because your shopping trip and turning in quests got a bit choppy feels bad here.

Music is good, does feel a bit repetitive at points but it's kind of JRPG anthem type repetitive, and it's not hard to listen to, just maybe could have used more variety. Sound design is very good, and there's some really good tactile sound design when hitting weak points.

Gameplay is where Dragon's Dogma 2 shines. Classes feel unique with each class having their niche in combat. Pawns are remarkably intelligent in combat (well, for the most part, I've noticed they sometimes like to take a swim or dive off ledges which is not great) and it does feel, in particularly pitched fights, a bit like playing Dark Souls co-op, or maybe as an MMO- a tank pulling the boss, a ranger plinking away from the back, a caster lobbing beautiful magic around. Some health bars feel very full, and unless you're wearing appropriate armor enemies tend to be pretty brutal. But even the longer fights feel engaging, with enemies responding as their health gets whittled down, their parts are damaged, and control and status effects get applied. Over all, some of the most solid combat gameplay I've seen in a recent RPG. Exploration can be good, but sometimes slips into tedium because of vast open spaces and inventory limits. But the world itself makes it worth going further, and there's secrets, encounters, and well fleshed out environments abundantly throughout.

Easily recommended, though it definitely demands strong hardware, and ditch the DLC.

Helldivers™ 2 is still a very "fresh" game, almost like it's still in early access- there's lots of changes, updates, tweaks, and content still to come. But it combines really strong PvE third person/first person shooting with a compelling meta progression (both individual and collective) and offers some really dynamic gameplay. There are some bugs and intermittent server issues that are mitigating factors, but if you want a coop shooter, Helldivers™ 2 is a strong contender.

Pros:
Relatively deep and complex gameplay that encourages experimentation, coordination with your team, and the spreading of Managed Democracy to undemocratic bugs, robots, and eventually... who knows? Guns feel immersive, with weight, convincing design, and satisfying effects (though not all guns feel as good as some other guns). A live service game with no pay to win (but a little pay to not grind for the Premium Warbonds, which *can* be unlocked in game but take quite a bit of grinding to do so, though the Premium Warbonds are not necessary to enjoy the game- at least for now).
Strong community, though there are some players who are a bit too attached to the meta (including one that doesn't really exist yet because Helldivers™ 2 is far from solved, especially as new equipment unlocks and balance changes adjust the value of various pieces of kit). With an collective campaign for all players to contribute to victory, there are opportunities to really foster a sense of broader camaraderie beyond just grinding resources.
Incredible design language and aesthetics. Even in the midst of pitched combat, you rarely end up being unable to see what's going on, at least because of design language. Enemies are distinct in both silhouette and motion, making it easy to tell what you're facing. Weapon effects and particularly heavy ordinance are spectacular, and planets have unique and beautiful ambient effects. The game is very pretty, and runs remarkably well for it.

The cons:
Difficulty can spike and not all factions feel equally balanced. A high difficulty terminid mission may be easier than medium difficulty automaton missions. Some of this can be mitigated by loadout, but on a fundamental level the game can feel extremely unfair when, for example, spawning abundant hordes of strong enemies while all your stratagems are on cooldown. Not a deal breaker, since there are nine granular difficulties that really allow you to pick what you want to do, but it is worth noting that you may end up having to experiment to find your comfort zone. There have already been some balance adjustments to address this, so I wouldn't let this turn you off from the game.
The playerbase is pretty good, but there are a few players who are toxic, and right now the kick system allows the host to boot anyone, at any time- including right before the end of the mission, meaning that you receive no rewards from the mission even if you were there from the beginning. There are discussions on fixing this, so I wouldn't let it discourage you, and this is moot if you play with friends, which is great fun and so I wouldn't let this stop you, but I figured it was fair to mention it, especially since a good amount of this toxicity is directed at newer players who don't play the meta.
Stability, both server and client, is not perfect. I have had heartbreaking moments when the game crashes right at the end of a difficult mission with a bunch of samples and loot. I expect this to be patched eventually, but man, it feels bad.

Easily recommended, a lot of the qualms are growing pains that the developers have addressed directly already. For a $39.99 game, you get a lot of gameplay out of it by experimenting with all the gear and options. A strong story, aesthetic, and "Just one more drop" gameplay loop is compelling and enjoyable.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is an open world RPG with clear inspiration and direction from Elder Scrolls, Dark Souls, and other fantasy RPGs. It is not a AAA massive game, nor is it the most polished game (at least at this point in Early Access)- it definitely has some indie jank. But that indie jank doesn't impact the core gameplay, which is very strong. With an emphasis on parrying and timing, there is an incentive to engage in combat that doesn't just lead to another stealth archer build. The worldbuilding is bleak and dark, but the voice acting is strong and the writing is sufficient to keep you immersed in the world, even if occasional floating objects might undermine immersion somewhat.

Pros:
Strong combat system, especially for melee combat. Parrying is an interesting addition to the gameplay and adds a level of engagement over the traditional Elder Scrolls style LMB then RMB melee loop. Magic and ranged combat are a little less enjoyable, especially early on, but can become viable and switching styles is entirely viable because of Oblivion style skill leveling, where you increase each skill by using it. While it is difficult to be good at all styles simultaneously, character building depth is sufficient to allow for some synergy/fusion builds which might open with a ranged attack or spell then close to melee.
The world is unique and compelling, the characters, though maybe a bit generic aesthetically, are at least on par with other fantasy RPGs. It is definitely dark and gritty, but it doesn't fall into the trap of having to have every quest end with a bleak, tragic ending, and there are sparks of hope and encouragement that sell the narrative that you have an impact on a world of "endless autumn". Obviously, the full story is still largely waiting on future updates, but I think there is a real chance for your decisions to impact the story based on the content so far, and I never felt railroaded to make a decision the way some other RPGs do. There were at least enough options that I never felt like I had to nod along with a quest- though some of these obviously have consequences, such as an early "game over" at the end of the current content (but even that respects your progress so far in an epilogue, a neat touch).
The game is also very ambient and encourages exploration. While it is not a visual blockbuster, it's far from lackluster either, and while there are occasional performance hits, unlike, for example, Starfield where exploration feels copy-pasted, each environment does seem original. There is some reuse of assets, obviously, like in all large open world games, but I never felt like I was in "the same place" again- obviously this may change with more content, but this is something that shows real promise- the world feels handcrafted and inviting and a number of quests encouraged me to explore around areas I had already been, but missed something like stairs up to a crumbling wall or underwater cave entrance.

Cons:
Some performance issues, which seem to be limited to specific areas in my case. I'm guessing this is probably related to draw distance/occlusion, and probably can be optimized. It never felt so bad that the game was unplayable, nor did it happen in areas where I was fighting.
Sometimes, there are some issues with object placement or "void" spaces showing through not entirely covered surfaces into buildings, etc. It's slightly immersion breaking, and while there are a few "stuck" spots I never got so stuck I couldn't shimmy my way out. This may improve in early access, though, and it never got to the point where it interfered with my experience too much.
Little bit of general "indie jank"- but it's not extreme, and definitely less than, for example, Gothic. Every once in a while something will just feel a little off- a texture stretched funny, collision that feels like it's way off the model, a floating shovel (all hail Biggus Diggus), physics will be a little wonky with a projectile, certain models and assets being used a lot or in jarring, inconsistent ways, etc. Still, I don't think this is a deal breaker, and it's definitely much better than most indie games in early access, so I would not let this deter you- most of it is covered in the previous two points.

Easily recommended for the current price point of $30 (I got it on sale for 40% off with an additional discount from the bundle with the other Tainted Grail game, a very different roguelite deckbuilder set in the same universe, but not tied too closely to the story). Although the content is currently a bit limited, for just act 1, it definitely shows some real promise, and even as is it offers a compelling portion of the game to experience.

Palworld is still a little bit rough around the edges but for an early access release it's entirely playable and quite fun. Easy to recommend. Very easy to adjust difficulty settings allow you to choose your experience, between casual and hardcore, which is perfect for all players. The world is huge, and while there are definitely larger game worlds, there is plenty to do. Systems integrate well between catching monsters, building bases, exploring, and combat, and while there are some points of possible improvement (some crafting costs, especially for production facilities, are ludicrously high compared to other things, making some weird progression gates around, for example, ingots once you get to around the point where you can develop electricity for your base).

Other than some of the standard early access jank like occasional display or physics issues, there really isn't anything I would say complicates my recommendation. Some people have indicated that the developers are unreliable because they "abandoned" Craftopia (last updated the day before this review was written, several days after Palworld released) but that doesn't seem true, and others have raised controversies over animal abuse (possible, but no worse than, say, GTA allowing you to shoot pedestrians, and you don't have to do it unless you're defining animal abuse extremely broadly as catching creatures, which is a point so aggressive I don't think it's worth treating with too much seriousness) and AI (no evidence that is compelling or conclusive and so much of it feels like clout chasing clickbait, and it also assumes you care about the use of AI which you probably shouldn't, at least not for the reasons being put forward to attack Palworld).

Ultimately, Palworld is a fun, open world survival game, with good systems, mechanics, and aesthetics, and while it is by no means a perfect game, it is a *fun* game, which is arguably more important and why this gets my recommendation.

Note: My playtime is inaccurate because I started on Game Pass before switching to Steam. That's right, I bought it after playing it for free.

Possibly a contender for one of the best modern CRPGs, preserving the feeling of a TTRPG while adapting for a digital medium both faithfully in the core mechanics and with cogent and well polished adaptations to real time combat (with optional turn based combat).

While Baldur's Gate 3 is the elephant in the room, it follows a very different design philosophy- namely being a robust CRPG with TTRPG drapes over the windows. On the other hand, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is a much more faithful adaptation of the source material, placing it in the same category as Solasta or Baldur's Gate 1/2. In a way, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is a spiritual successor to the earlier Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights games while Baldur's Gate 3 is more of a spiritual successor to Divinity: Original Sin, which means that there are some categorical differences, and I think it's fair if you want to pursue a more faithful TTRPG experience to look in the direction of Solasta or Owlcat's Pathfinder games as a separate category.

That aside, why do I think P:WotR works so well? It's a combination of excellent writing, beautiful worldbuilding, and strong characters layered with incredible amounts of player choice- and I don't just mean at the (admittedly daunting) character creation screen. Decisions matter, but Owlcat strikes a good balance around allowing players to adjust their trajectory during a very long campaign and stay the course and build deep in a particular storyline and option. The amount of alternate routes, character interactions, and so on are just overwhelming, and while I could nitpick having to run through the first two chapters over and over again (it's probably worth making a save at the end of the first act and making sure you turn on the retraining option if you plan to see different routes or try different builds, as the first route is pretty on rails and gets monotonous if you want to try a different playthrough).

Mythic paths manage to make characters feel powerful and unique in a way most CRPGs are afraid to allow access to until the final chapter, and have significant impacts on the way the game plays out, with dialogue branches for classes, mythic paths, character races, and even having access to certain features that allow for different characters to interact differently with the world on subsequent playthroughs.

Alignment is leveraged heavily, and if you're familiar with the TTRPG space you're probably aware of why this can be controversial. Alignment is becoming increasingly disliked because of a variety of reasons I'm not going to get into here, but Owlcat inadvertently demonstrates this because many of the options, particularly for the chaotic/lawful axis, can be pretty jarring and for players deeply dedicated to roleplay may end up feeling like certain alignment driven options are particularly stupid or jarring. Fortunately there are usually reasonable options, including many that don't shift alignment, but the alignment system can make things punitive if you need a particular alignment for your deity, class, or mythic path, and I'd recommend using a mod to set alignment since an unwanted alignment shift could make things difficult for some builds.

However, though you could probably find gripes, P:WotR does an excellent job of exploring a massive world with deep lore, without overwhelming players or becoming inconsistent with itself or other material. The characters are lovable (or hateable depending on who we're talking about) and even the relatively lightweight strategic layer (which can be more or less disabled in difficulty settings) feels like it's serving a narrative purpose. The consistent polish, patches, and DLC (which is often integrated throughout the game in dialogue choices, new class features, and even, for The Last Sarkorians, a new companion that joins in the first act and has dialogue throughout the main story. Other DLC adds a roguelike dungeon crawl mode good for testing builds without having to level your way through the story, a truly excellent "play the average guy" campaign where gear is scarce and the narrative and resource management is more tense.

P:WotR is not a perfect game, but it has some incredibly powerful narrative moments, a deep and complex story, robust gameplay, and scratches a TTRPG itch perhaps better than any other modern CRPG, including the excellent BG3. That makes this an easy recommendation, and I would also recommend grabbing the season passes if you have the chance.

Miasma Chronicles is a tactical RPG that offers an beautifully crafted immersive world, with some limitations. The storyline is very "narrow", the gameplay is slightly repetitive, and the story itself suffers from a disappointing final act that lets down some of the strengths of the game's writing, leading to some (fortunately brief) dissonance as the story demonstrates an absurd gameplay/character development dissonance moment that really leaves a sour note in the last act. However, the world still holds up the game and I think it's worth giving a try if it interests you.

Overall: B+
I would recommend this if the world sounds interesting to you, you want a tactics RPG but may be hesitant to try the genre for the first time (difficulty settings are very accessible but allow for more experienced players to face a challenge), and the story and world are compelling compared to average game stories.

Gameplay: B
I call Miasma Chronicles a tactics RPG because it checks the boxes. However, as a warning for those who might want to dig into stat allocations and robust skill trees, there is fairly limited options for build development. Each character has sixteen skill options in four small trees, unlocked by spending skill points that will allow you to get most, but not all, options for each character. There are a couple dozen weapons with a selection of modifications that range from extremely useful to pretty trivial. It isn't super robust, but it does allow for a sense of progression throughout.
There are six major groups of enemies, with a pretty standard pattern of small, expendable enemies, more durable enemies that pose more of a threat, and the occasional boss type for a total of probably about fifty enemies, though many feel pretty similar. A lack of diversity holds things back here, though the difficulty settings are a nice touch and allow for a more tailored experience. I played most of the game through on normal and thought it felt mostly fine, with a few weird spikes up or down in difficulty because of side quests, until I dropped the difficulty because I had reached level cap and there wasn't a lot of variation in enemies, at which point the game became, well, extremely easy. Narrative difficulty is for the narrative, if you want more depth or challenge I would recommend normal+.
The side quests are fine, but limited in scope and mostly serve to revisit old areas with new enemies or offer challenging fights. They serve more to bolster the storytelling than the gameplay, which is fine, but don't expect repeatable or farmable side quests.
Additionally, vertical design is cool and makes the world interesting, but the tactical engagements don't always leverage them well- lines of fire get murky, the AI doesn't always seem to know what to do when fighting across multiple levels, and targeting across levels is wonky sometimes.

Story: B-
The story is mostly fine, held up by the characters, let down by some of the predictability. There are some things which are supposed to be plot twists that go from being foreshadowed to being painfully obvious to everyone except the characters. The final act is downright painful, with the main story beat being a character making some pretty frustrating decisions that seemed suddenly out of character. The fact that this is at the end is especially painful, because I generally liked the rest of the story and worldbuilding.
The protagonist has a moment of angsty teen syndrome and turns on all his allies for finding out several secrets which the audience probably knew for hours at that point, though at least one twist does land pretty organically. It's jarring, especially when between bouts of brooding the combat banter turns back to the normal "I knew there was a reason you were part of our team!" camaraderie, which feels much more natural. Without this, I would probably give the score a B+ for being a bit predictable, but overall very good, but it feels like such an either rushed story beat or forced gut punch for Elvis to go from calling Diggs big bro and praising Jade's marksmanship to basically pulling an Anakin and screeching "I hate you" at the party, which is not entirely unjustified but relies entirely on his lack of putting any of the obvious clues to the sudden reveals together in advance and feels like a character regression. I won't say it's entirely unrealistic, but it feels like they wanted a twist and decided to go with gut punch in a way that cheapens the story, though it does have a mercifully quick redemption arc which ties things up by the credits.
While I suppose this was the easiest way to add some tension to the story, it feels rushed, out of place, and like they just wanted to finish the final act with a twist, which, to be fair, does lead to an interesting character development moment for the supporting cast, but could have been done much better if they had found a way to do this without so much dissonance between the excellent combat banter and character development and what seems like an abrupt story twist.

Environmental design and graphics: A-
I have nothing bad to say about the environmental design other than a few places where the Miasma is represented by a floating car or something with no visual effects, which felt jarring. Everything else felt good, though, with a few moments of physical implausibility hand waved away. The special effects chosen to represent things do a good job, I didn't encounter any noticeable glitches that stuck with me, performance wasn't an issue for me. Did have a few odd UI issues- like an enemy marker persisting from the final fight's first phase all the way through the ending cinematic (which detracted a bit from the cinematic). However, the aesthetic and design feel good throughout.

Sound design and voice acting: B+
I have some mixed feelings, in part because I encountered a bug where alt-tabbing sometimes broke the audio, so a few sections where I alt tabbed during a loading screen to check something. A lot of the sound effects are generic, but generally work and are reasonable and don't hurt immersion. The banter is great, really tells the story and sells the world when characters respond to context, share jabs or compliments, and generally I would rate this very highly, though sometimes it does feel a little bit rough. Towns are lively because of dialogue barks and there is a real synergy in the characters carried by excellent voice acting.

Polish and quality control: A-
Mostly very good, like I said I didn't encounter any bugs that really stuck with me besides the audio bug when alt-tabbing while loading which is not something I would hold against the game since that isn't "normal operation". However, there are a few typos/subtitle mismatches, including in at least a few storyline central moments, and I felt like the final act was rushed as if they just improvised a reason to make a certain event happen. I think I would say the quality is entirely within acceptable parameters, with a lot of the issues being easily missed or ignored and not detracting from the gameplay.

Value: B-
There is a lot of competition in the $50 price point, and I don't know if this would be my first pick at that price. However, the quality and gameplay live up to expectations for the price point. That said, I don't think you should be entirely deterred by this if you prefer shorter games you can actually reasonably finish in a few days- I think 15-18 hours is a safe estimate of playtime, though higher difficulties may pad that out longer. I would have loved to see a more content, particularly to explore different enemies in different arenas (something like a skirmish mode or random encounters to allow for exploring different abilities without just repeating encounters), flesh out the world a bit more, and a slower final act that didn't rely on an abrupt twist. However, since I grabbed the game on sale for $20, I would give it an A+ at the price I paid.