Recent reviews by Beggar Soldier

If you are currently writing something big like a thesis (Like I am doing right now as of writing this) or a report or anything really it doesn't matter, definitely install this cute app, it's free and it's also quite comforting to have.

Also there are some Steam Achievements and customization involved so that you can get your share of dopamine.

10/10

In this review I will mostly focus on The Answer Epilogue DLC, since that's the main reason for most people to buy this expansion pass anyways.

"Strength of heart, when united, is barred by no door" - Aigis (and Igor)

• 25~ Hours long
  
• The opening of The Answer is yet again gorgeous and rich in visual symbolism along with the song Disconnected that tells you right off the bat that the main theme The Answer focuses on is letting go of the past and moving on, no matter how hard it is. Basically the art of grieving, coping.
  
• The Abyss of Time, this DLC's Tartarus you could say is a gorgeous representation of not being able to let go of the past, since time has also stopped for the characters and they experience the same day when the main protagonist died over and over again.
  
• A new intriguing and absolutely artistically written character, Metis.
  
• The story picks up right after the main game and expands upon the character arcs, by showing us a glimpse of some of the defining moments in their pasts and how they cope with loss.
  
• The new soundtrack is really great that matches each vibe perfectly.
  
• The ending of The Answer ends on a much happier note, but it will still leave you emptier than you felt after the main ending. Absolutely gorgeous cinema.

• People tend to dislike The Answer because it does not have any social links and whatnot, but by that point in the story, the party members of SEES are as close-knit as they can be so I didn't mind it at all, since you can still somewhat hang out with certain characters throughout the DLC.
  
• The Answer consists of a lot of grinding, The Abyss of Time is a lot like Tartarus, but honestly if you strategize ahead you will have an easier time leveling up enough for the bigger fights.
  
• The Abyss of Time has a lot of reused floors you could say, quite varied to say the least for a DLC, but could have been more.
  
• The expansion also gives you the option to use some Persona 4 and 5 soundtracks for dungeon crawling, battle theme or boss themes, you can also shuffle them if you wish. I personally didn't really use any of them since I wanted to experience the game first as it was intended.
  
• The expansion also gives your party a velvet room styled cosmetics, they look decent enough.

• It's quite infuriating that the only way to experinence The Answer, the epilogue of the main game is by buying the whole expansion pass, even if you do not want the music pack or the costumes since it is not sold seperately. A real d#ck move from Atlus. Definitely wait for a sale!

8/10 I honestly LOVED The Answer, the way it portrayed the art of grieving was gorgeously done, sure there are lots of grinding involved, but honestly it was damn well worth it to witness how the characters cope with loss and how they finally manage to move on in the end. ART.

The music pack and the costumes are decent, but I didn't really need nor cared about them that much.

My Reviews About Other Persona Games:
Persona 3 Reload
Persona 4 Golden

"It matters not who you are... one thing is always certain: death awaits all." - Nyx

• The opening is yet again just mindblowingly good, each boot of the game felt as the start of a next episode.
  
• The story is absolutely amazing with heavy themes such as memento mori that is just exceptionally well delivered and the pacing itself gets a lot of criticism as it "being straight up bad and boring", but honestly if you think much more deeply about the situations the characters are in and the themes the game explores, it just makes it even more perfect.
  
• The visuals are straight up louvré tier, the art style is top notch and the game has Ray Tracing Reflections that are tastefully done.
  
• There is an option to either have English or Japanese Dub, I've played through the game with the Japanese Dub for a more immersive experience and it was phenomenal.
  
• The menu and the various UI elements are the most gorgeous ones I have ever laid my eyes upon. Atlus really knows how to make an UI interface.
  
• The game is extremely long, with MASSIVE amounts of content, it took me around 120~ to beat the base game. (Although you can finish it with less if you don't account in some side activities)
  
• The soundtrack is perfection, it is full of songs that all capture the vibes of every situation let that be a badass fight, a moment of peace and joy or a moment of melancholy and sorrow. It's gorgeous.
  
• As you progress, anime cutscenes will play that all have a really gorgeous contemporary artstyle and they set the tone for the various situations the characters go through.
  
• The game will make you feel every human emotion there is, there will be moments of laughter, distraught, frustration, contemplation but melancholy stands in the spotlight. I felt my heart drop so many times at various points of the story. I always say that if a game is capable of doing this, it passes as art.
  
• During regular days/schooldays you have the option to do numerous side activities such as social links, that is basically meeting new people, getting to know them and create bonds that lasts, but they also help you gain much more powerful personas in the Velvet Room.
  
• The combat aspect of the game is when you go to Tartarus during the Dark Hour and fight your way to the top through the various shadows you come across. The animations are extremely satisfying to watch and the battle music make your blood pump.
  
• A theurgy system, which is basically a character's ultimate attack based on their personality and are all extremely well animated. More theurgies can be obtained by the characters as they develop more emotionally and overall as a person. The main protagonist can have more than two theurgies by fusing certain personas.
  
• The fusing of Personas in the Velvet Room is really streamlined and intuitive. Though sometimes using a guide to get specific personas is something I did.
  
• A huge compendium of personas to obtain/fuse and also the unique personas of the characters are beautifully done. A small background of each persona can be read that I found really intriguing whenever I was fusing or obtaining new personas.
  
• The cast of characters are really well-written with unique dynamics, at first they are quite distant and act more like as coworkers, but they bond more and more as time passes and become close friends. It's really well written.
  
• If you want to revisit the game at one point or go straight at it again there is New Game + with new stuff (probably hidden) to discover possibly.
  
• Multiple Endings
  
• Steam Achievements, Trading Cards etc.

• A lot of grinding is involved, but you can easily get by, by not grinding that much if you are not interested in numerous side activities or by even lowering the difficulty. Considering how satisfying the combat is due to the animations and the soundtrack, I didn't really mind.
  
• It's a lot easier game even on Hard difficulty, but considering the fun factor of this game, this is really just a minor issue to some
  
• Kotone Shiomi, the female protagonist did not make it in this remake due to budget constraints and whose storyline is supposedly quite different from Makoto's.

• There is a 60FPS lock whenever you interact with the menu itself and when you close the menu it takes a few seconds for the game to jump back to 120FPS. There is a mod that alleviates this issue, but during anime cutscenes, the mod makes the subtitles disappear way too soon.
  
• The ending will twist the knife in your heart and make you beyond depressed and will make you feel empty. Oh and I guarantee that you will cry.
  
• The only possible way to get "The Answer" DLC, the Epilogue of the game, is to purchase the whole expansion pass and it is not sold seperately. I'm yet to play it after this gut-wrenching ending, but I'm sure it will be yet another gorgeous experience. It IS a gorgeous experience that ends on a much happier note, but can still leave you emptier as you would expect.

• The protagonist's canon name is Makoto Yuki
  
• Spend your in-game days meaningfully (but also your real life days!)
  
• The game is so much better with a controller
  
• The game has 4 anime movie adaptations

11/10 I picked up Persona 3 Reload right after finishing Persona 4 Golden and I must say that this game has one of the most gorgeous stories I've ever experienced. The story was gripping, the dynamics between the characters were executed immensely well, the songs matched the vibes perfectly and the ending can absolutely make even a grown man cry.

People may criticize some aspects of the game such as its pacing and the grinding of Tartarus, but I believe that the pacing of the story is absolute art and if you dive deeper into the message the game carries you will grow to appreciate it much-much more.

This game is ART through and through. Literally the Evangelion of video games. I am so glad that I could experience this version of the game first, but I might pick up Persona 3 Portable to see Kotone Shiomi's storyline that unfortunately didn't make it into this remake.

My Reviews About Other Persona Games:
Persona 3 Reload: Expansion Pass
Persona 4 Golden

"It's those bonds that let us all search for our purpose in life." - Teddie

• The opening is mindblowingly good, I treated each boot of the game as the start of a next episode.
  
• The story and its phenomenal cast of characters is where the game truly shines, the story is sometimes just slice of life other times it's absolutely intriguing with many unexpected twists and the characters are among the best written characters I've ever seen with depth, development and dynamics with one another.
  
• You have the option to either have the English or Japanese Dub, I've played through the game with Japanese Dub and it was fantastic.
  
• The game makes you feel every single human emotion there is, you will laugh, you will be confused, you will be frustrated, you will be on the verge of crying and you will also be contemplating a huge variety of psychological concepts.
  
• As you progress through the story, you get anime cutscenes that all look fantastic and set the tone for the situations the characters are in perfectly.
  
• The soundtrack of the game is yet one of the strongest aspect of the game, they are all absolute bangers and they all loop perfectly.
  
• During regular days/schooldays, you can meet the main characters the protagonist meets and forge everlasting bonds with them. There are also side characters that the protagonist can meet and create bonds with them. Bonds are what makes you the personas you can create stronger to have an easier time in the TV World.
  
• The protagonist has various stats such as Knowledge, Expression, Courage etc. that all affect interactions and dialogue options or if you don't have sufficient amount of a certain stat, some interactions are straight up locked until you level it up. (Such as when you finally meet Naoto, she will not spend her free time with you unless you max out your knowledge)
  
• A huge compendium of Personas to obtain and utilize, but you can also fuse personas together to create a newer/stronger persona to make your fights easier.
  
• An extremely lengthy game with MASSIVE amounts of content, it took me around 100~ hours to complete and I haven't done every side quests either.
  
• If you feel like going for it again, New Game + is a thing and as far as I know there's also a hidden ending that comes with it.
  
• Numerous bonus content you can unlock in the menu such as artbooks, soundtracks to listen to at your leisure, and a quiz show with Teddie? It's really great.
  
• Multiple Endings (But only one is truly good)
  
• Steam Achievements, Trading Cards etc.

• The visuals seem outdated since it is only a remaster of a PS2 game, but I don't find it to be a drawback at all since I find it to be a really invigorating vibe to have.
  
• The pacing may seem off from time to time especially in dungeons, but all the other aspects of the game such as the soundtrack and the characters as I've mentioned previously make you absolutely oblivious to these flaws.
  
• Some aspects of the game such as fusing personas, stats and skills are still not fully clear to me, but since it is my first JRPG game I'm guessing it's absolutely normal.

• When it ends it will leave you feeling empty.

• The protagonist's canon name is Narukami Yu
  
• Spend your in-game days meaningfully (but also your real life days!)
  
• If you really don't feel like grinding too much, you can always turn it up a notch in the difficulty settings, they do not affect achievements. (I kept the difficutly mostly on normal to get the intended experience, but it's an option)
  
• The game has anime adaptations that are: Persona 4 The Animation and Persona 4 The Golden Animation.
  
• The game is miles better with a controller, especially during dungeon crawling
  
• Spoiler warning: The two most important dates in Persona 4 is 12/03 and 03/20, it's best to choose your words and actions extremely carefully on those days.

10/10 Persona 4 Golden is the very first JRPG (and Megaten) game that I have played and I gotta say that it was one of the greatest experiences in my gaming career, not because of its gameplay, but rather because of all the characters I've grown to adore along with their dynamics, the situations they go through together, the various meaningful deep messages the game carries and the absolute banger of a soundtrack. People did not exaggarate when they said Persona is Peaksona.

I'm definitely getting my hands on Persona 3 and 5 as soon as I am able to because I just want more now it was that good.

My Reviews About Other Persona Games:
Persona 3 Reload
Persona 3 Reload: Expansion Pass

"I felt bonded to the guy.. this is how sharing suffering works on people." - Manfred

• The visuals totally match the atmosphere of a location a mission takes place in, for example missions in Poland are grim, depressing and oppressive with rubble all around showcasing the destruction while missions in France are vibrant and colorful showing that war never really touched that soil
  
• The story is actually really great, I enjoyed how all the events unfolded
  
• The cutscenes between each mission were uniquely made with all kinds of symbolism that makes them intriguing, but also invites the player for deeper analysis
  
• Quite a lengthy experience (15-20 Hours)
  
• No censorship, meaning you get to see swastikas hear nazi speeches and the horrors of war, which I find to be excellent as the game does not shy away from showing the reality of this historical era and it can be really educational as well
  
• The cast of characters are really great and well voice-acted! (Even Doug Cockle is in the game!)
  
• All the characters have unique abilities and equipment that lets you experiment with many different approaches during a mission and how you achieve a goal is up to you.
  
• The collectibles in the game you can collect can let you read historical documents, posters, fliers and so many others that are extremely interesting
  
• "Challenges" difficulty
  
• Steam Achievements, Trading Cards etc.

• Online Co-op option, which must be great but I didn't really have the chance to try it out with any of my friends
  
• Some sections of the game can be easily passed just by rushing in like with Ewald's MP40

• The AI can be cheesed so easily at times
  
• Noticed some bugs especially when saving and reloading hastily (since you always have to experiment with tactics in games like this)
  
• While zoomed-in, textures are quite low quality and unfortunately I haven't found any mods to upscale those textures
  
• While playing solo, the dynamic combat system can be frustrating since you can only control one singular person at a time while all the other partisans are just standing still, I was hoping for some AI to take over while doing that.

8/10 Honestly, with some of the flaws War Mongrels is still quite a great experience, especially if you are into this era like I am, since this shows another side of the war that not many games represent and the game does that exceptionally well with its cast of characters, atmosphere and taboo topics.

"Suddenly I have a hankering for some goulash." - Postal Dude

• Visuals are what you expect from a retro-shooter, but since it's Postal, the visuals are a bit twisted to match Postal Dude's mind
  
• The soundtrack is pretty metal during fights that really elevates the action
  
• The cutscenes are really great
  
• Great variety in enemy types and locations (At one point you even fight the Coronavirus and 'Leon Dusk', yeah it's quite brain damaging
  
• The typical retro-shooter arsenal that works totally great and are absolutely fun to use, of course all of these guns compliment the game's artstyle and Dude's screwed up mind
  
• Movement is really fast paced and 'Quake-Like' and you can also bunnyhop which is always welcome in my case
  
• Tons of satire and parody
  
• Tons of references
  
• Postal Dude's one liners, that you are able to set the frequency of in the settings
  
• Postal Dude's VA made a return!
  
• Survival gamemode, basically wave-based
  
• Workshop Support, meaning custom maps and a built-in map editor
  
• Steam Achievements, Trading Cards etc.

• Even at 5% One liners, Postal Dude still speaks a lot, I turned it down since it was kind of annoying by the second half of the game
  
• The final boss was... questionably balanced...

8.5/10 To be fair, this spinoff of Postal is really interesting to say the least, but RWS pulled this off masterfully as it is just a fun game overall that's quite crazy and wild from start to finish. You can easily have a great time with the game.

"Freddies Freddies Freddies! I'm off to lovely Sunshine Arizona!" - Unnamed Protagonist

• If you own the original game, it is only 10€ to upgrade to this remake
  
• The uplift of visuals are really good and adds a lot to the whole experience
  
• More interactivity with the world in the remake
  
• The remake introduces melee weapons, and it works fairly well
  
• Quite many guns to be found that are snappy and blowing the brains of zombies with them is so much more satisfying
  
• Voice acting is pretty much identical to the original, still goofy and humorous, but in a good way
  
• Horde Game Mode is still here
  
• Multiplayer Co-op is still a thing in the game, although I cannot really say anything about it since I don't have any friends who would own the game, but I'm guessing it can be a helluva good time
  
• The DLCs are also remade and for no extra fee.
  
• Steam achievements, Trading Cards etc.

• Soundtrack is nothing special
  
• The occasional jankiness of controls are still apparent
  
• Some checkpoints could have been placed much better

• The balancing on "Survival" difficulty and above is just as bad as it was in the original (I presume some would say skill issue, but I don't have a space as big as a warehouse to do ninja moves), so I stayed on the Adventure difficulty instead
  
• When you store items in your gloves and have a bullpup rifle like the AUG, you may take out the item from your glove instead of the magazine from your gun, which is really frustrating during encounters

9/10 The remake of Arizona Sunshine does the original game justice and delivers a much more improved experience through its visuals, interactivity with the world and the adrenaline packed combat. If you happen to own the original, I believe it's a great deal to get the remake for only 10€.

My Review on The Original Arizona Sunshine

"You cannot kill God, just like you cannot get rid of the sky up above"

• The visuals and the atmosphere are both absolutely masterfully crafted, it's grim, depressing and the zone makes you feel oppressed (See 'Tips/Advices' down below to further enhance this aspect)
  
• Great soundtrack that further enhances the grim atmosphere of the zone
  
• The English voice acting is really great, the lipsyncing is next generational (I know some of these feel out of place considering it is set in Chornobyl, but still not bad at all)
  
• The story is intriguing and the more you play the more interesting it gets
  
• New factions appear in the zone (SIIRCA, Ward, Spark [Formerly Clear Sky], IPSF [Military] and Degtyarev's Corps)
  
• Multiple endings and sub-endings based on the choices you make throughout the story
  
• If you have played the trilogy, it's best to avoid this spoiler: You even get to meet all the 3 protagonists from the original trilogy!
  
• Gunplay is really great, guns pack quite a punch and animations are snappy and satisfying
  
• Quite a lot of weapons to choose from, some unique variations can be found throughout the zone
  
• A-Life 2.0 at launch was absolutely broken, but as of Patch 1.1 it has gotten so much better and will only get better here on out.
  
• Hunting for artifacts are just as intriguing as it was in the original trilogy and the artifact detectors are really well made, some have extremely satisfying sounds (Artifacts act as buffs, but some come with radiation you have to deal with when equipped)
  
• Map is absolutely huge, it merges all of the trilogy's maps together seamlessly while introducing totally new locations as well, but some locations are not in the same place that players were once familiar with
  
• Steam achivements, trading cards etc.

• Shader warmup at every boot of the game
  
• At a certain point of the game most people will be wandering around in fully-fledged exo-skeletons as if it became easily accessible by everyone, supposedly it happens since the game's hidden rank system scales enemies
  
• I am not really a fan of being able to take only one sidequest from NPCs at a time and then waiting several in-game days to accept another, why not let us take more at the same time? (Especially when accepting artifact hunt side quests as they can take up hours to find the correct one)
  
• You will find yourself running a lot, since fast travel is locked to each guides throughout the many settlements inside the zone and after certain events in the story, guides become unavailable in the Malachite and Chemical Plant regions, but at least it is faithful to the original trilogy since it was handled the same way in Clear Sky
  
• Some minor bugs can happen such as ambient music cutting off, and enemy NPCs spawning in front of the player may have been fixed, I've still noticed spawn in-s quite close to me, but at least out of my vision

• The curse of Unreal Engine 5 is very prominent (Bad optimization, Memory leak issues, forced lumen etc.) (However these are getting better and better with each update)
  
• NPCs in combat can sometimes be way too sharp or chaotic, they can laser accurately shoot you and just like in Clear Sky, enemy NPCs may throw grenades chaotically
  
• Video Memory leak issues were really apparent, but since some updates, they are less and less apparent
  
• Sometimes bugs can softlock certain side quests such as when you come across Brick handing out fresh bread for Freedomers
  
• No built-in photo mode :(

• Make sure to calibrate the gamma setting if the game doesn't outright give you a pop-up screen of it, because if you leave it at 50%, it can make the colors appear washed out (or to put it plainly BAD), but if you carefully tweak it, the colors become much more accurate and gorgeous
  
• There is a mod on Nexus called "Optimized Tweaks S.2" that is really easy to install and makes your game as stable as it can be (Don't forget to update it whenever a new update of the game or the mod comes out)
  
• Do NOT compare this game to any of the fanmade mods that were made for the original trilogy such as Anomaly and Gamma nor expect the game to be a carbon copy of those

9/10 Even though S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 also had quite a bumpy launch, it is a phenomenal experience, especially for those who adored and grew up playing the original trilogy back in the day. The upcoming updates will just make the game better and better, such as the upcoming Multiplayer component.

My Reviews About Other S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Games:
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Prypiat

Truly a life changing experience. Very progressive for its time.

"Standing up to evil isn't the same as sowing its seeds" - Martin

• The game is on the Cryengine which looks really great
  
• Locations are amazing to explore, especially forests and nature overall is really relaxing to explore
  
• Really fitting and memorable soundtracks, really catches that mediaval vibe
  
• The story is really well-written and really intriguing
  
• The characters you meet in the story are also really well-written, I enjoyed their performances
  
• Complex combat system that gets better over time, they really nailed the feeling of being someone who only started wielding swords
  
• Lots of abilities and skills to obtain through leveling up
  
• Tons of RPG elements such as dialogue options, reputation system, maintaining your arsenal, hunting, different outcomes and so on
  
• Lots of activities are fully animated, such as grinding your sword, brewing potions etc
  
• Huge variety in activities and side quests
  
• Lots of armors, weapons and other items that can aid you on your journey
  
• DLCs are pretty fun
  
• Steam achivements, trading cards etc.

• I have mixed feelings about 'Saviour Schnapps', the only consumable you can use to save your game (or by sleeping). I get that it wants the player to consider every approach they would make, but at some point when you have enough Groschen (currency) you would be able to buy tons of it. Quite punishing during early game, but is completely forgotten about after some time.
  
• Sometimes fights can get really janky when fighting multiple opponents at once (you shouldn't really do this anyways)
  
• Brewing potions can be tiresome, since you have to watch the animations play out every single time you touch a single ingredient or tool, but looks kinda cool at first

• Some missions are totally buggy, you may be able to unintentionally softlock your game
  
• Traversing with a horse can sometimes be janky as the horse can get stuck up on every bush and leaf and you can also fall off the horse
  
• If you open up the map while turning, upon closing it will throw your view off the path you were originally looking at, quite frustrating. Especially during that one horse race mission.

8.5/10 Kingdom Come Deliverance was such a great experience from start to finish. Exploring a medieval setting with deep RPG elements and in open world is not really something you'd see every other day. I can totally recommend the game, especially since it always go on deep sales nowadays and you can pick up the royal edition just for a couple of bucks.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II will surely be kicking ass when it finally comes out.