Recent reviews by Hol

Lots of character. I fell asleep in a server once.

Rusty's only retired when I say so.

10/20/2024, folks. Don't forget it.

I'd love to pretend that I spent 174.7 hours reading Mahoyo but, in reality, the soundtrack is just a wonderful bedtime lullaby. I assure you, it's worth the money for a great night's sleep alone!

More romance VNs need to end stories like this.

LINK CRASH!

The Language of Love rekindled my interest in visual novels. I was skeptical and wasn't expecting much at first, but I'm glad I gave it the chance it deserved! Ebi-hime hit it out of the park with this one. This is the most tasteful, wholesome single mother romance visual novel I've ever read by a long shot. It's short and sweet, with heart-warming writing and, shockingly, a main character that isn't a total ass. The narrative is charming, albeit somewhat easily anticipated. It's a struggle to put down once you've picked it up. I enjoyed the blossoming romance of the two lost, self-proclaimed failures and watching as they ameliorated themselves through one another as the story unfolded. I felt that it never strayed from the realm of plausibility.

I could go on and on singing The Language of Love's praises. It's worth the price many times over, bottom line.

THE LAW IS MEDICINE FOR THE SHAME.

If you don't rock and sto—I mean—STRIKE THE EARTH, you ain't comin' home!

Got in on day one and admittedly it was a very fun pre-order beta, far superior in comparison to the closed beta that launched in only mid-October, so it's apparent that the developers are working as fast as they can. However, don't get me wrong, it still needs a lot of work. The bugs aren't the kind of odd mishaps that one can easily laugh off, they're infuriating. Random disconnects, freezes, crashes, low frames, and other game-breaking issues disrupt the fun. It's difficult to play even a single match without freezing, followed by being booted to the menu with a "server disconnect" error once or twice. Not to mention the missions are mind-numbingly repetitive and the game feels horribly incomplete. It's ridiculous to me that it was even RELEASED in this state, and for that reason alone, I'd recommend waiting on it for a little while longer.

I also hate the in-game shop. I think it's terrible business practice and a huge red flag for future development. At some point, we need to put our feet down on the usage of instant gratification stores that utilize real-world currency when a game is fresh out of beta with very few rewards to incentivize players to play in the first place. Sure, it is one of those things that I can easily overlook, but that doesn't make it any less of an eyesore. It's frustrating considering that the game is possibly turning away from achievable cosmetics and instead leaning toward limited-time paywalls from the very get-go. If Darktide's cosmetic shop was released later down the line (with a few changes, of course) I wouldn't be as irritated, but before even thinking about adding something like this, they should've first and foremost focused on the game's development. Darktide is NOT a free-to-play title. I expected better.

Also, the argument that "the cosmetic shop was in Vermintide too!" shows that you have either never played Vermintide, or know very little about it and are too dumb to differentiate exploitative practice vs. what is decent and respectable. Vermintide's shop was released LONG after the game's release and didn't require you to purchase in-game currency that, by the way, was implemented into Darktide for the sole purpose of squeezing you dry with unfair bundles. Everything had a set price in Vermintide, so a helmet would be exactly $3.99 instead of five dollars worth of strange, fake currency that leaves you with worthless excess. Also, Vermintide didn't bait its players with bullsh*t FOMO. Each time more cosmetics were released, they were added to the permanent catalog of existing items WITHOUT timers to scare you into buying whatever you wanted before you missed out (like in Darktide). I'd also like to add that Vermintide's cosmetic shop was BEGGED for by the community, myself included, as a way to support the developers, and even then items frequently went on massive sales. Just seeing where they've taken this newfound greed makes me look back on better times with a tinge of regret.

I'd recommend Vermintide a hundred times over this. Darktide isn't necessarily bad per se, but it is very, very flawed. It's said often, but I do wish Steam had a mixed review option. I think this game could be something great in the future, but for now, unfortunately, I struggle to recommend it. That's not to say I won't begrudgingly continue to play, but I do so with great reluctance. I urge whoever may read this to instead invest in Vermintide or other alternatives like Deep Rock Galactic or GTFO, you'll have much more fun elsewhere.