Recent reviews by metaknight

In my opinion, the best entry for a modern day hunter to soak their feet in. The scale of the world and it's sheer beauty is marvelous. And no, I'm not talking about the graphics. I'm talking about the magnitude of it all. There's so much endemic life that provide life for what would be rather barren environments. It's sort of a problem I had with older Monster Hunter titles that they circumvented with solid ambient sound (Forest and Hills Area 7 and 10, anyone?), though they did have their own endemic life, it just wasn't as impressive as World's inclusion.

Look at the Apceros protect each other with their tails when they feel threatened. The fish swimming hurriedly away if you're too close to them. Rare endemic life will only come out during certain conditions or sparsely by chance. Some larger monsters don't care if you exist, others are rather angry if you're even in front of them and are eager to fight you. The tracking system is a magnificent inclusion that not only introduces a bit of wonder to the game, but also solidifies the 'hunting' aspect of what would be 'murder-kill these dangerous creatures, sonny'. It's the modern day Paintball. And all the tracks are specific to each monster. There's variety among all of this and it brings joy to my heart to see it with such depth. No, it doesn't have GU's scale of monsters but it is a wonderful journey all the same.

The word I would use for World would be: impact. Every action generally deals damage that feels accurate to the weapon you play on. Greatsword feels like a heavy, handheld guillotine. Charge Blade feels like an explosive powerhouse that destroys on SAEDS. Lance is the weakest of the bunch, but makes up for it's lack of damage with a versatile moveset of footwork and several different types of guarding that make the weapon fun. All of the attacks monsters deal to you, similarly is felt through how hard the hunter will fall back. Hitlag is placed in this game in a generally methodical fashion, which makes Rise's trade of hitslow make it's combat a bit clunky at times.

Grinding is the name of the game here, as it has been with other previous titles. And even if it can be a bit annoying (I'm looking at you, HR Siege KT. Give me my Kjarrs!) it's still true to the nature that has been Monster Hunter.

I come from Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, and I am just blown away by how outstanding this addition is to the series. I'm eager that this iteration exists so interested players get an upgraded rendition of what is an older franchise. Thanks, Capcom.

The Long Dark is probably my favorite survival game, period. If you want a game that does not hold your hand, this is it. There (as of this review) is not a tutorial that holds your hand, so you may feel as if you are on your own, cementing in the mind the chilly, uncertain tone that comes with surviving.

The game does a good job of being it's own thing, but it's not for everyone. If you are looking for a hyper-realistic survival game with intensive shading and ray tracing, this isn't it. You are a challenger to the harsh Canadian winter, chock with wolves, moose, and bears.

If you do not like waiting or what you might consider arbitrary time constraints, this also might not be for you. Certain actions like stripping the cloth out of an item or creating clothing will takes minutes, to hours - even days. It respects the idea that you cannot make items work in a short amount of time, but you may find those constraints restrictive.

There is no 3rd person animation, and you look like a ghost (quite literally, pale white skin). There is a point at which you realize that loot does not replenish. As such, once you've expired all that you can from homes and other buildings, you rely on nature to keep you kicking. There are points on the map by which you can trick the AI of enemies by shifting forward and back to keep them running towards you, yet away. It is not finished.

And the developers do not appear welcome to the idea of mod support. This is a deal breaker for some, as there is a lot of potential ideas to enhance the game, but means the future of the community hinges on just how long they hold off on this. I do not expect them to make a ton of progress. what with the pandemic - but they've got some work on their hands.

Like many rogue-likes, there's a brutal learning curve that comes with playing the game. The player will be rewarded with playing correctly, swiftly.

You can be swarmed, you can be ganged on, but you can get through most of it unscathed if you play long enough.

Fun combat, graphics, and the soundtrack can be bangin'. Recommend it.

You get a great view for the entire game...and annoyed. Good game.