Recent reviews by Sc0mBuNNeRRR

(1994 - 2025)

Here rests a dev, their code now still,
Not by bugs, but corporate will.
Shot down by bosses, blind yet bold,
Who trade in dreams for stacks of gold.

Many have fallen, more will too,
As greed keeps thriving—nothing new.
Yet players cry, their voices loud,
Will change arise, or stay unbowed?

R.I.P.

(1994 - 2025)

Here rests a dev, their code now still,
Not by bugs, but corporate will.
Shot down by bosses, blind yet bold,
Who trade in dreams for stacks of gold.

Many have fallen, more will too,
As greed keeps thriving—nothing new.
Yet players cry, their voices loud,
Will change arise, or stay unbowed?

R.I.P.

Contra codesta epoca obscura,
Pronti a pugnar sine paura
Da Aquisgrana scendiamo al galoppo
Marciando collo scudo et collo stocco

Taccian le zuffe elettorali
Al rogo vadan li tribunali
La nostra lex est l'imperatore
Homo de fide, et homo d'onore

ALLA PUGNA! ALLA PUGNA!
Contra lo feroce Saladino
ALLA GOGNA! ALLA GOGNA!
Puniam lo satanasso saracino

FEUDALESIMO ET LIBERTÀ,
NOVA EPOCA D'ORO SARÀ
RIEMPIAM DI CERVOGIA I BOCCALI,
CHE LO VOLGO UN SOVRANO RIAVRÀ

FEUDALESIMO E LIBERTÀ
SIATE LESTI AT IURAR FEDELTÀ
LA VITTORIA EST VICINA, SODALI
MA LA PUGNA GIAMMAI MANCHERÀ

Si aboliscan li rimborsi elettorali
Si ripristino li dazi imperiali
Al lavoro si torni col destriero
SI TOLGA L'IMU SUL PRIMO MANIERO

Contro lo selvaggio inurbamento
Si proceda verso l'incastellamento
Si procacci l'energia dalli mulini
At laboro anche dame et bambini

ALLA PUGNA! ALLA PUGNA!
Si marci colli lanzichenecchi
ALLA GOGNA! ALLA GOGNA!
Al rogo i tecnologici apparecchi!

FEUDALESIMO ET LIBERTÀ,
NOVA EPOCA D'ORO SARÀ
RIEMPIAM DI CERVOGIA I BOCCALI,
CHE LO VOLGO UN SOVRANO RIAVRÀ

FEUDALESIMO E LIBERTÀ
SIATE LESTI AT IURAR FEDELTÀ
LA VITTORIA EST VICINA, SODALI
MA LA PUGNA GIAMMAI MANCHERÀ

Uno die alla tua prole, anche tu potrai favellar
Le gesta dello imperatore, co 'ste siddolci parole
Lo amerai, et ringratierai, per averti dato l'onore
De laborar alla sua gleba, ogne die sedici ore!

TEMPRIAMO L'ACCIAIO, AFFILIAMO LE SPADE
SCACCIAM L'INEMICO DA QUESTE CONTRADE
CALZIAM LI GAMBALI, SELLIAM LO DESTRIERO
VITTORIA EST VICINA DAVVERO!

TEMPRIAMO L'ACCIAIO, AFFILIAMO LE SPADE
SCACCIAM L'INEMICO DA QUESTE CONTRADE
CALZIAM LI GAMBALI, SELLIAM LO DESTRIERO
VITTORIA EST VICINA DAVVERO!

Lo kebbabbo non devi manducare
Lo saladino potresti finanziare
Tema lo villico la nostra sententia
Se t'acciuffam non est cumcidentia

Ius primae noctis, boia et corvee
Es la solution che fa per te
Lo feudalesimo est lo novo che avanza
TREMATE PERCHÉ PUGNEREMO A OLTRANZA

ALLA PUGNA! ALLA PUGNA!
Pugnate, pugnate et pugnate
ALLA GOGNA! ALLA GOGNA!
Gognate, gognate et gognate!

FEUDALESIMO ET LIBERTÀ,
NOVA EPOCA D'ORO SARÀ
RIEMPIAM DI CERVOGIA I BOCCALI,
CHE LO VOLGO UN SOVRANO RIAVRÀ

FEUDALESIMO E LIBERTÀ
SIATE LESTI AT IURAR FEDELTÀ
LA VITTORIA EST VICINA, SODALI
MA LA PUGNA GIAMMAI MANCHERÀ

FEUDALESIMO E LIBERTÀ!

Baldur's Gate 3 is a monumental achievement in CRPG design, offering an astonishing amount of content that will keep players engaged for hundreds of hours.
The depth of choice is staggering—many decisions, from dialogue options to combat strategies, have a tangible impact on the world and its characters.
This level of agency, combined with a richly detailed setting, makes each playthrough feel uniquely personal.

I deliberately chose to wait a considerable amount of time before diving in, wanting to ensure the experience was fully feature-complete and polished enough to be truly enjoyable.
Thankfully, Larian Studios delivered. The final release feels like a proper, expansive RPG with an incredible level of depth and refinement.

The sheer variety of character builds and the branching narrative paths mean that replaying the game is not just an option but a necessity for those who want to experience what this game has to offer.
Experimenting with different race/class/subclass/multiclassing combinations, party compositions, moral choices, and even mods ensures that no two journeys through Faerûn are the same.
As a Dungeons & Dragons experience on computer, it's unparalleled—adapting the 5th Edition rules while delivering the most immersive digital take on tabletop roleplaying to date.

At times, Baldur's Gate 3 can feel more like a Larian Studios game in the vein of Divinity: Original Sin rather than a purebred Baldur's Gate sequel, and while this isn't inherently bad, it may not fully satisfy purists of the original games (i.e., Turn-Based combat vs. Real-Time with Pause combat).
Technical hiccups also persist, with some bugs—though relatively rare—being severe enough to force you to reload an earlier save game.

Perhaps the most frustrating downside in my opinion is that, despite the game's overwhelming success, we may never see a Baldur's Gate 4 since Larian Studios has already announced that the upcoming Patch 8 will be the last major update for the game, as they plan to move on to other projects in the future.
And it's understandable, since Wizards of the Coast controls the franchise's rights and has been leaning toward live-service models and monetization strategies, while Baldur's Gate 3 combines an old-school single-player (with optional co-op) RPG philosophy with modern graphics and cinematic presentation, creating an immersive experience that appeals to both veterans and new players alike.

All in all, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a landmark RPG, delivering an unparalleled role-playing experience—something that, these days, is about as rare as a miniature giant space hamster.

I generally avoid buying games on Steam that require a third-party launcher, exactly to avoid situations like this. I purchased the game on Steam, but according to Rockstar's launcher, I don't actually own it. Sure, Rockstar says they're 'working on it,' but honestly, rather than waiting for them to sort it out, I'd rather wait for my refund to hit my account and buy a game I can actually play.
Disappointing, to say the least.

Just like the previous entry in the franchise, It's a ton of fun, especially in co-cop

BUT

it STILL needs some patching to improve performance.

TL;DR
Tasty Souls-borne soup stretched by adding a huge open world hub.

Gameplay is every bit as good as a Souls' fan would expect: the combat animations and the platforming sequences are all going to feel very familiar. The difficulty is uneven and deeply dependent upon the character's build; some sections of the game (namely, bosses) can become downright excruciating if you have the wrong build or don't want to break role play and adopt unorthodox strategies: it's not a matter of skill, it's a matter of balance. Some traditional builds (pure STR, pure DEX or quality) are basically no longer as viable as hybrid builds, and you might even respec multiple times in order to face a specific boss. All of these factors negatively affect replay value, which, despite the huge amount of content you get in this game, is always something to look for in a Souls-borne entry.

Exploration isn't generally very rewarding in terms of loot and runes (read: souls) and it's basically riding towards the next site of grace (read: bonfire). Although very atmospheric, the huge world hub is functionally detrimental to FromSoft's distinctive level design with interconnective structural segments; also the fact that several rooms and bosses throughout the world are reused detracts from the overall experience.

Lore and atmosphere is arguably the aspect where Elden Ring outshines previous entries in the Souls-borne franchise, and the bleak atmosphere and cryptic narrative do not differ from previous titles; several optional side quest lines that may or may not affect one of the game endings.

The dark medieval art style isn't ultra-realistic, but beautiful and highly detailed.
The orchestral soundtrack is remarkable and fits the game world and is also really well cued.

Performance isn't optimal. EAC (Easy Anti Cheat) significantly reduces performance and prevents you from using third party tools or mods in online games. There are useful tools and mods that unlock the frame rate, fix the frame time and disable chromatic aberration and vignette effects, so basically the game looks and performs best while EAC is disabled: here's why you won't find anything about multiplayer in this review.

As of November 2022, there's no RT nor DLSS/FSR.

To my taste, this new recipe of the Souls-borne soup is palatable, but the open world hub makes it a bit watery; not every spice is complementary and can only really be enjoyed alone with a specific set of spoons.

A huge step down from its predecessors both technically (stutters and micro-freezes, frequent fps drops, texture pop-ins, shadows flickering, laughable character animations) and gameplay-wise (level design and pace were really disappointing).

Feels like a bad tech demo... Very Positive, my @ss!

Stick to the classics.

Refunded.

Worse than its predecessor in every possible way, and RAGE wasn't a masterpiece to start with.

Buggy, boring, inconsistent, unimmersive.

Requires ingame currency for DLC after purchasing the deluxe edition.

Other players warn that a game breaking bug which prevents you from finishing the game was never fixed, but I'm not forcing myself through to find out.

👎

TL;DR: Recommended on sale if you have trusted friends to play with.


Dark souls with guns!¡!¡! Well, kinda.
The fact that this games borrows heavily from the Soulsborne formula is immediately evident: exploration segments marked by checkpoints which allow you to teleport, stamina management, fog gates, boss encounters which require multiple attempts (although dying in this game doesn't result in loss of currency/XP), musical cues underlining particular events and the fact that gear takes precedence over stats/skills, so you can basically pick a class at the beginning of the game and may end up with a completely different character build type, if you so desire.
The way in-game currency, XP and skill points are handled in this game strays from the DS path in favor of a more traditional RPG system.
An interesting addition to the formula is that character skills (or traits) are unlocked upon completion of hidden objectives.

The game world is not seamless: main world hubs connect smaller quest areas and the whole world structure (including which quest areas will be available) is procedurally generated at the beginning of the campaign. This means you won't be able to complete every side quest, face every boss and get every piece of gear during a single playthrough. The addition of Adventure Mode now allows players to generate a separate portion of the campaign in order to get particular side quests or items, without having to reroll the main campaign and start from scratch.


The known downside of procedural generation is the generic feel and repetitiveness of level design and this game is no exception: from time to time I almost feel like I'm playing an incredibly underpopulated lag-free MMO, but the gameplay itself is enough to keep me entertained and also overlook the lack of lore depth and the early-2000s-grade facial animations of the few NPCs you encounter.

Coop remedies to some degree to the "emptiness" of the game world and is personally preferable to solo sessions, if somewhat easier. However, since cheaters can negatively affect your game and cause your character to be soft banned, I strongly advise against playing with random people and only host/join game session with trusted friends and even then I suggest to regularly make a back up copy of your game save, in case you're as unlucky as me to incur in the annoying situation I described in this thread.

The game looks and performs as well as expected from a semi-indie Unreal Engine 4 project, although unfortunately my i7-6700K 4GHz and GTX 1070 don't manage to keep stable 60 fps on 1080p ultra settings, with occasional frame drops in the 40s when scoping or when the screen is particularly busy.
Keyboard and mouse controls are responsive and work without having to fiddle with smoothing, negative acceleration et similia; I can't provide any feedback on gamepad since I rarely use it, nor do I plan to.

All things considered, I feel the game is slightly overpriced and I'd recommend to wait for a sale, like I did (27,99€ a few months from release was fair).