Recent reviews by GaidalKain

How to describe.....I had to take some time to consider after completing.
At launch, I did have fun, even had 100+ hours in, then just...stopped at the 'Point of No Return'. I did not touch again until Dec 2023 and bought PL before starting over.
I did have a major side quest broken (Judy's as FemV) but that was due to a mod so I restarted after 50 hours cuz I HAD to complete it to feel complete.
Now that I have finished, I can say, without hesitation, that this is one of the best games I have EVER played. Like up there w/ Mass Effect & BG3 and I've been playing since Pong. This game will pull you in if you allow it, like a good book.
Update 2.0 & 2.1 made this game whole.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful; see PC reqs.
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good (Eargasm for some, others not so much. Depends on music tastes. Soundtrack is Chef's Kiss tho)
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☑ Fast; or better if you want best looks.
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☑ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☑ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely; like emotional strings can be pulled here.
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☑ Long; really in between AVG & Long.
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs; nothing game breaking (now).
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
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☐ 8
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☑ 10

I got this on a whim on a GMG sale for $11 USD.
Didn't expect much of it but looked interesting......
Boy was I wrong. Game is amazing. Great Story. Riding you bike everywhere is a treat. I hardly used fast travel cuz it was so damned enjoyable.
Missions overall are good, in particular anything main story arcs (and there are a lot) but the 'repeatable' ones do get well somewhat repetitious but the locals are all a bit different so not to bad.
The only thing that I 'hated' were the mandatory horde fights.
There are a few good scare the crap out of you moments that are fun.
I never expected as many hours out of it as I did.
If it is on sale for 50% or better and you have a passing interest in horror/light crafting/3rd person game, get it.

Finally playing after buys years ago and waiting for full release.
By and large this is a very worthy upgrade/remake/remaster or whatever you deem it of HalfLife.
I only have ONE complaint:
Xen level, while absolutely gorgeous and a spectacular sound track, is way to long IMO.
I honestly started to get bored of the seemingly repeated areas just to extend it's overall length.
Should you buy it? Certainly, if a Half Life fan.
At full price? Debatable. With a 25% sale or better? Most definitely.

Pretty short. From a value perspective, $10 USD max.
But man, oh man, I think Imma cry now.
Gorgeous visual art style and a wonderful sound track.
Controls take some getting use to, this is not a negative, just a function of how game is played and it fits nicely with the narrative.

Don't let the ~20 hours fool you. I have 300 HOURS on EGS before buying here to play again.
This game is dope. I NEVER would have thought I would enjoy a factory game and one 'ONLY' in early access.
Overall it's pretty chill with some survival elements.
The 'hard' part of it is realizing, several times over, that you have to rebuild/change your whole damned factory to increase efficiency as you learn more and more advanced techniques and tiers.
Even with most of my hours pre-Update 4 the game is very robust and will only get better.
It's honestly a steal at $30 USD.

Edit/Update at Update 5: And yet again Coffee Stain is making this game even for...wait for it....SATISFACTORY!
All kidding aside still and even more so a steal at full price.

MCC is fun and defo worth it at $20. IF the $ was TOO much more it wouldn't be IMO as the campaigns are somewhat short if you are only interested in the SP gameset.
Still being able to play as the (in?)famous Master Chief is a lot of fun.

WOW!
Never in a million years would I have thought I'd like a game like this!! Survival/Crafting/Open World games like this are not in my usual wheel house.
EXTREMELY polished for a E.A. game, with enough content for MANY hours of game play.
I've played this longer than some games I've payed 2-3 times for!
Don't be turned off the the 'pixel' graphics. The way the Dev blends it with more modern visual techniques is quite stunning IMO.
It IS fun as a Solo game which I did for a few dozen hours but where it truly shines is in a small group with friends. I feel the sweet spot is 3-4 with 6 MAX for the best game play.
Do yourself a favor, spend the ridiculously small amount of $20 for this gem and join in the Viking Horde of 5 mil plus strong as of this review.

So...I was a bit concerned with the "Souls-Like" gameplay going into this.
Thankfully it's implemented OK for me. All you have to do to get your 'groove' back is just hit who/what killed you once and get everything back.
Only part I really don't like is the "Disneyification" of no dismembers on humans.
Other than that it is a good stand alone SW game set after Order 66.
I recommend.

Follow up after finishing:
SWJFO is fun and addicting enough. However, I cannot recommend at full price.
I got most of the cosmetic items and all of the [REDACTED] and it was still only 25-27 hours, with death redos considered.
Get a 50% discount minimum.

May the Force be with You!

Only 10 hours in and I can see this game starting draw me in quite well.

Good 'end' to the New TR Trilogy. Had fun.