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I've beaten Mafia twice in my life, once when it first came out in 2010 and now a decade later. There are two primary positive aspects to the game: the story is relatively enjoyable, if a bit short, and the aesthetics were pretty good for the time period that it came out. I would say most everything else about the game is at best, neutral or "meh" and at worst, just absolutely terrible. There are bug/glitches galore and you spend as much time fighting the controls/camera/poor vehicle handling as you do the enemies. A truly tragic amount of content was cut during development and it is very obvious; the main story-line is a shell with virtually nothing to do besides the primary missions. Basically all side content was not completed in time and tossed into the garbage. This is immediately noticeable as two characters in-game were obviously going to have numerous side-jobs, but instead they just comment that they have nothing for you to do right now. A minor nit-pick that I was personally flabbergasted at, is that the voice actor for the secondary protagonist, Joe Barbaro, also voices another main character in the story. They sound almost identical, except one is constantly making "lip-smacking" eating noises while speaking. It's puzzling how they failed to appropriately properly budget for another voice actor. Speaking of Joe, his DLC titled, "Joe's Adventures" may possibly be one of the worst hunks of flaming trash that I have ever encountered. I'm not sure if they put some junior intern team on this debacle or what, but it fails spectacularly in every aspect. It is frustratingly unbalanced and was not play-tested in the least, the missions come in floating icons hovering off the ground with no cut-scenes nor rhyme or reason explaining the greater story behind your actions, and it adds virtually no new concepts/mechanics. They also failed to record enough lines from the voice actor, so like that Rick and Morty episode, you're going to hear, "Hey, it's me, Joe." multiple times. All together, this is something I would expect from a fan-made mod, not a professional team. If I had purchased it as DLC (rather than coming packaged with the whole game now) I would be furious that I had been swindled If you want to play a crime open-world, play one of the newer ones: Red Dead, GTA, or Sleeping Dogs. Skip this.

I greatly enjoy playing Civilization VI and one day I realized that one of my favorite aspects is nailing absolutely gargantuan adjacency bonuses for my districts. Islanders is boiled down to just that, which I like a lot. If you like seeing big numbers, puzzles games, or just want to relax, consider picking up Islanders. I wish that there was a bit more and it's unfortunate that it's not being worked anymore as far as I know, but for it's price, it's not bad. I would have liked more variety in buildings (like a wool and milk industry with sheep or something) and a versus mode where you and someone else take turns placing buildings on identical islands.

Taking into consideration the entire series, I think Tropico 6 is a solid addition to the Island Dictator family. As of April 2019, the game is an entirely different beast from previous Tropicos in terms of raw difficulty. The game is challenging, though it seems to require some additional balancing to keep the gameplay fresh. Tourism is not viable at all and certain industries are too powerful in comparison to others. The faction system also requires an overhaul as they flood your screen with hundreds of silly, impossible, or otherwise unreasonable requests. Tropico 6 brings some new industries and structures to the table, many of which compliment the new flagship new feature: the map is now divided into islands, as the Caribbean actually is. The bridge and tunnel (allowing you to burrow through mountains to reach the other side) are delightful and help bring a new element of city-building to the series that has otherwise felt a big stagnant for the past decade. Tropico 3/4/5 felt very similar- Tropico 6 feels like an actually new game. One last major point- the game suffers from bugs and technical issues, many of which have not been resolved, even three weeks after release. Serious problems like people getting stuck in bus areas or double objective triggers (which two invasions) and others still plague the game. Hopefully they quash these quickly.

A tragic tale of how far the folk hero known as "Valve" has fallen; gone are the days of critical acclaim and commercial success, instead they invite this foreboding specter of almost unfathomable greed. Almost. The lessons you should learn, dear reader, are simple: show up 10 minutes early, don't double dip and listen to advice when they tell you that shirt does NOT go with that jacket. Lord Gaben decided to finally delve into the CCG market. . . unfortunately he did so years too late. Now he faces down competition like Gwent, Hearthstone and of course, the massive machine known as Magic the Gathering. Then, Valve decides to ignore common sense and generously decides to sell the ability to even play the game for $20.00 USD. What's that, you actually want cards, not the bum ones you RNGed when you bought the game? You'll have to empty your wallet some more, because the only way to acquire new cards is through real cash! Valve needed to pick one system or the other. Even with this disaster in the making, our once-golden child still had a chance. . . the beta testers! But alas, instead they recruited an army of Yes-Men and boot-lickers, endlessly singing Lord Gaben's praises: "Oh yes, the game is perfect! No changes needed." "Best card game ever, Hearthstone is done for!" Any real criticism was brushed aside and ignored, leaving us with this **** monstrosity- simply too horrible to even look at.

Kingmaker falls under the category of games we know could be critically acclaimed masterpieces, but sadly for one reason or another, fails to do so. For this grime-encrusted gem, there was a serious lack of play-testing and not enough development time. Had Deep Silver allowed for an additional three months of bug-squashing and fixes, the reception might've been much friendlier. Unfortunately, they hastily pushed out their product like an actor with half his costume on and the game suffered greatly. What I don't understand is how the developers thought everything would be fine, despite the fact that no one could actually complete the game. That in it of itself should have stopped them in their tracks, but I'm sure the allure of ill-gotten cash from naive Steam users smelled too delicious. In conclusion: huge potential and brainless, drool-spilling release date.

Wargroove is a very solid successor to Advance Wars, though I have to admit, I fell into the all-too-common trap of hyping myself up for this game. In theory, this game would have improved on the Advance Wars model, but it seems to have taken some steps back in certain areas. Firstly, the game is still fantastic and a great buy for the Switch. I debated between handheld or PC and I think the game is just better on-the-go rather than for the desktop. With the ability to play local co-op, you'll always be prepared to entertain a buddy on those cross-state drives, on long-flights or just waiting around somewhere. The game is aesthetically pleasing and all of the unit models look pretty good. Now. . . one of the most disappointing aspects of Wargroove is the lack of faction unit bonuses/penalties. The basic infantry unit has the same stats across the board for all leaders. My favorite CO from Advance Wars was Grit- a marksman that improved the range and power of all ranged units, at the cost of all other units becoming worse. I have to admit, I'm sure the way the developers have chosen is better for balanced-gameplay, but I feel like the cost to fun was too great. I especially feel this way about the undead faction- a classic epitome in Fantasy of low-cost, large quantity minions. Unfortunately, they play like everyone else. On a related note, the game currently does not have any unique units for the four factions, another frustration that would have been relatively easy to add. Honestly, just one or two per faction would have sufficed- instead, the units just have different names. Overall, if you enjoyed Advance Wars, picking up Wargroove would be a smart play. If not, you may still find some value in your purchase yet- not to mention, who knows what the developers have in store for the future? If they do add some uniqueness and flavor to their factions, this game could easily be 9/10.

An incomplete heap of garbage that you've seen regurgitated year after year. There is nothing new or interesting, there are microtransactions (they purposely made the game a grind to force you to pay more, by the way), and it's made by EA. There are two primary audiences EA appeal to: grimy, hunch-backed critics (that accept bribes so small they would make a senator blush) and gullible SJWs that don't realize how easy it is to stir up "controversy" and then pump and dump the sad fools for money like a seductive clean sock. I doubt I'll see live to see a day where I'm not disappointed by gamers.

Fallout 76 is a mediocre, bug-filled, over-priced mess, much like a 1-Star pizzaria with a very dubious certificate from the Health Inspector (the smiling gold stars and tape suggest it may be the owner's elementary school diploma). To be be perfectly blunt and concise, do not buy Fallout: 76 and steer very clear from Bethesda for a few years. If you get burned by them again, please help yourself to a Darwin award. If you don't follow the game, I'm sure you're wondering what went wrong: was it the unplayable launch, packed with glitches and bugs from the Beta that they didn't do anything about? Perhaps you've heard of the very literal scam that Bethesda pulled with the canvas bags. The pathetic follow-up gesture by their incompetent PR teams offering some pocket-change of in-game currency? Even more impressively, customers silly enough to buy the $200 canvas bag bundle then had their personal information leaked, including home addresses. That should be enough reason to- Oh dear, you want more? Very well. . . There was the hilariously out-of-touch stream with Ninja, Justin Roiland and some random rapper filling every human on the planet's cringe quota for the next century. How about the gratuitous duplication of legendary/rare items that they can't stop? We also have the completely broken PVP system that the developers looked at each other and nodded, saying, "Yes, this is a good idea," in a completely unironic tone. There is also the constant issue of disconnections preventing you from being able to actually play the game, along with losing your camp that you built over and over. In closing- Really? I have to keep going? Yes, they're selling Pay-to-Win power-ups in the store now. (As of January 30th, bonus health). Yes, the game is recycled Fallout 4 assets and engine, with the same flaws and glitches. Yes, they sell slightly-altered armor skins for $20. Yes, Bethesda will completely destroy your character's skill build (which you pour countless hours into just to get) with random "balance" patches without offering anyway to respec. Yes, they are actually banning people people for speaking out against them, including closing their Bethesda account so that they cannot play any other Bethesda game that the victim owns. Finally, yes, they managed to correct some bugged content. . . but due to their gross negligence, brought back all of those same issues that they "fixed" in a calamitous patch. You may have originally believed that giving the game a 1/10 if too harsh. I hope this laundry list of issues proves otherwise. I'm honestly not sure who to blame at this point, this whole enterprise has been a disaster, thoroughly dragging the Fallout series through the mud, perhaps never to shine brightly again. My working assumption is that those corporate heads grinded their greasy palms together, twirling their rat whiskers when they saw how successful those games like Day-Z and H1Z1 were. What better way to attempt to replicate that with Fallout-76? All they had to do was make a co-op game for the series- just a simple, honest, 2-player adventure through the apocalypse. The real tragedy is that most people with common sense knew this game was going to be terrible at the reveal and yet the all-too-common faceless, mindless consumers that seem to always lack critical thinking still fell for it hook, line and sinker. . . a story too often told nowadays. Be the change- don't buy Bethesda.

2018 REVIEW: I generally liked this game and was fortunate enough to pick it up for free when they were giving it away. It's a pretty basic strategy game model- build structures, train units, micro said units around the map until you win. There are some very interesting mechanics that set this game apart from others: there is context cover that your infantry can use on the map which is quite the innovation. See that wooden fence? Some light cover. A collection of thick trees and brush? Good cover. Did your boys destroy an enemy tank? The derelict vehicle can now be used to take cover. However- the monetization of the game is abhorrent and should not be supported. Ridiculously priced DLC, literally dozens (probably more than 70% in the game) of commanders are locked behind a paywall (the leader you pick for bonuses, commander specific units- similar to picking your race in Starcraft or which country you are in Red Alert), but worst of all. . . there are loot boxes. I'm serious, there are loot boxes in this game. Massive yikes being called in danger close- avoid this game unless you can get it for free.

It's a fun game and the developers have performed very well throughout the duration of their stint in Early Access. They're one of the good ones- I would trust their next title and promises attached to it. As you can imagine with a game of this type (Deck-Building Rogue-Like Dungeon Crawler) there is a heavy emphasis on RNG. Whether or not you like that aspect will heavily define your inclination to play the game. If you enjoy that, I recommend picking up this game.

Rimworld has a great many positives- very easy to pick up (tutorial optional), varying difficulty settings (from peaceful to rogue-like), and a degree of depth that I find to be unprecedented. To give example to the last point: a shoot-out occurred when raiders breached my colony's kitchen. Failure to clean up the corpses and blood caused my chef's food to become unsanitary, causing food poisoning. Wow. I do think that there are some flaws- I don't think the game is a perfect 10/10 for me. Some design choices are odd, like the "taint" mechanic which heavily discourages looting apparel from enemies, no ability to repair armor and weapons, and the decision to exclude water mechanics, such as thirst, bladder and hygiene. Fortunately, there are mods created by the community to fix these issues, but I am personally in the camp that developers should not rely on these generous souls to prop up their games. Another issue that is very dependent on the individual player's likes/dislikes/tolerance: the game is not visually beautiful. It is simplistic 2-D art that more-or-less delivers it's core meaning. When you see a chair, there is little doubt that it is a chair. However, some players may find Rimworld not attractive enough to satisfy their bionic ocular implants. Closing words: At $30.00, this game is a must-buy if you enjoy this particular genre. Any percentage of discount would be icing on the cake. Lastly, the Steam Workshop is mandatory- shop around to add some much needed content that was left out of the game. It's that little bit extra that makes the game really great.

Stonehearth is yet another testament to developers abandoning projects and running off into the sunset. A great deal of behind-the-scenes incompetence caused this once-promising game to miss many features and goals set in their kickstarter. The basic premise of the game is actually relatively new and innovative- construct your town with buildings of your own design, overcome monsters and burdens of society with the sweet added bonus of co-op game-play. I have no doubt Stonehearth would have been great had the Radiant Entertainment put in another year of real development. (or simply not mismanaged time and money in the ~four years that they had) However, there is hope prospective customer! While the actual developers have tucked tail and run, abandoning their pet project like a baby in a dumpster, the independent modding community may have the drive and the resources to resuscitate this flat-lining infant into a real, living game. For more detailed information on the developers specifically, SidAlpha made a solid video in his Dirty Devs series.

Update: Fanboys with buyer's remorse and shills might be able to spam Metacritic (Really, this game is a 10/10 perfect game for all of you? How interesting.) But it's harder to fake Steam reviews. Go check that out instead. I'll start with some positives: the game looks impressive on the surface and has a solid franchise to stand upon. While the Walking Dead television show is a boring trainwreck built on the suburban couple's over investment and stubbornness to break a bad habit, "Overkill's The Walking Dead" is primarily based on the comics, which still hold a glimmer of hope. The game is bland, boring and repetitive. The camp system is a bust and not at all interesting. (Think Payday safehouse level of uninteresting) There isn't enough variety, the talent/skill trees all end up the same eventually and they need to balance weapons: all these symptoms add up to one diagnosis- the game is severely over-priced and needs some serious polish. At it's current state, it's a $35~ game, and yes, even with the "season 2" missions planned. But all of that is obvious, I want to touch upon points that other people might not talk about. The worst part about "Overkill's The Walking Dead" is seeing incredibly obvious mistakes that the developers shouldn't be making at this stage in their career. These are the folks that made Payday- they already have understand the basic framework, but still make blunders like not having proper voice communication settings. In the beta, it was constant open-mic, no choice on the matter. Now, it's tied to your steam settings. . . If this was their first game and they were some two-man indie company, that wouldn't be an issue, but these guys have been at it for years. It would be like if Blizzard just up and decided not to include a screen resolution setting. Another minor mistake is that there can be multiple copies of characters in a game where that obviously doesn't work. You can have three Grants or Maya Twins- had these been faceless schmucks without deep background lore or personality, it would have been fine, but this isn't that kind of game. Again, these devs made Payday. The kicker? Payday already HAS a system, in which no two players can be the same character. I have to assume that Overkill simply didn't have time to implement the system or some similar excuse. Experiencing "Overkill's The Walking Dead" is like being a professor and watching your student fail the same course two semesters in a row. (three semesters if you count that God-awful RAID game) You keep hoping that they'll learn from the previous time, but they just don't and there's not much you can do except sigh and shake your head in quiet disappointment. Refund the game if you can and if you can't resist, wait until it's 50% off or better. No one should be shoveling their cash into a furnace, even to keep warm for the winter. As a side note: They say the game won't have lootboxes, but we've seen that song and dance (and eventual betrayal, followed by hasty backtracking from community backlash) before with Payday. Let's see if they can actually keep that promise this time. One can hope.

2018 REVIEW: The most positive aspect of the game is the foundry, which grants creative players the ability to script/write custom quests and dungeons, theoretically making an unending supply of new content. Character design and background information is also impressive, though rolling dice (literally, not a metaphor) for stats like strength and charisma is objectively poor design and still hasn't been re-worked into a point-buy system since the game's release. The classes are relatively interesting, though suffer from one-dimensionalism that many other MMORPGs on the market avoid. Unfortunately, the game is also covered in hidden pay-to-play mechanics (such as only two character slots before having to pay for more) and a horrendous leveling experience. Just to be clear, the game is a railroad of quests- you cannot deviate, otherwise you cannot progress with your character. There are better MMO experiences to be had elsewhere- Elder Scrolls Online, World of Warcraft (a private server if you really want)

The game has a refreshingly fun and delightful concept, ruined by a poorly planned campaign and impossible game-play. If you're hoping for an enjoyable, relaxing puzzles based on logic, turn back now before it's too late. The first few levels lure you in with pleasant, appealing game design with an interesting take on city-building/puzzle-busting. Suddenly. Versus mode appears. The developers neglected to add a simple, single-player campaign, which would have made Concrete Jungle a solid title for all puzzle-lovers to pick up. Instead, you are roadblocked from advancing by unbeatable, cheating AI opponents. The game slows down to a slog as you're forced (as in you're stuck at the start of the campaign and cannot unlock new content) to roll a six-sided die and if you happen to roll a 6, great! You get the content you paid for. If you roll 1-5? Oh darn, the AI automatically wins the game and you have to try again! The developers held a glinting gold nugget in their hand for a few moments before dropping it down into a mucky, feces-filled well. Oops! Unless you want to get your hands dirty, steer clear and don't waste your hard-earned money on this overwhelming disappointment.

An unexpected gem for business sim enthusiasts that don't care for realism or serious game-play. The basic premise is simple: you build wacky hospitals that help afflicted patients with various pun-related illnesses and injuries. The very first example you encounter is "light-headedness"- people who now have light bulbs for heads. The three strongest points in my opinion are the animations, the background radio announcers, and room construction. The animations are smooth, very creative (especially when curing patients) and fun to spectate. The various radio announcers and the hospital PA speaker are also very humorous. Laying the groundwork and outfitting rooms is surprisingly enjoyable; the developers have done a good job making it straight-forward, but fulfilling at the same time. I think the game could use a sandbox mode with different difficulty settings and I wasn't sure how I felt about every illness requiring a separate room. It felt like some rooms could be consolidated, but that could just be a difficulty decision. Overall, the game is solid, though the price leaves something to be desired. I highly recommend purchasing the game on sale if it dips below $25.

I'll keep it short- the worst part about Vermintide 2 is the untapped potential that could make it a critically-acclaimed masterpiece. Most professional critics are blinded by the fact that they only have less than 10 hours in the game- which is honestly the best part as everything still feels new. This co-op FPS suffers hugely from player attrition due to a lack of content and abysmal DLC with laughable cosmetics. To give an example, one "rare" cosmetic in the game is a complete copy of the base helmet for the character, except a piece of metal in the front is a square rather than a diamond. All Fatshark needs to do is create more varied weapons, add at least ~10 cosmetics for each class (with color variants), one more fully developed character (halfling, please), more interesting ultimate abilities (such as teleportation, an AOE heal over time, etc) and add about 3-4 new maps. It goes without saying, they also need to do some heavy bug-fixing and add dedicated servers. If they were to provide all of that in the next three or four free updates, then the game would be in a fantastic spot.

No one can say that Blizzard doesn't play to their strengths: fun, creative and very responsive user interface and aesthetics and cash-guzzling gameplay. You're not going to find anything spectacularly new or interesting in Hearthstone, but you will quickly learn that playing the game has it's price. Blizzard's balancing and rotation are all based around throwing out your cards every year and throwing them money for their "new and better" cards. Unfortunately, you see a lot of whales (ie: desperate gamers that throw away $200 on virtual cards that can be taken away at any time) defending the game who have already fallen into the sunk cost fallacy. In short: big skip on Hearthstone unless you're a recently deposed middle-eastern aristocrat and have a few yachts to sell in order to fund your gaming habit. There are plenty of other free card games (MTG: Arena, TES: Legends, etc.) that are just as good. . . and you get to keep your arms and legs.

A very well-made sequel to an already enjoyable game. The developer of CSD is always working on releasing free, new content which, as always, is much appreciated. The game may not be for everyone: Cook, Serve, Delicious! is essentially boiled down into a series of mini-games with the backdrop of intense time management. It is important that potentially players recognize that this game is not really a restaurant sim. You won't be changing/creating new, fancy recipes of your own nor will you be hiring/managing staff. It's just you (and potentially a partner in co-op) slicing and dicing your way through frantic orders in order to please the customer. CSD is definitely a solid title. At one point in the game during a mid-day rush, I felt like I was throwing food to ravenous animals, whispering to myself, "Gosh darn these fat pigs trying to shove their snouts into the trough!" So, it seems very realistic.

A glorious and triumphant addition to the fantasy-RPG family containing masterfully executed game-play, a deep, rich lore and beautiful aesthetics accompanied by an incredible musical soundtrack. In a world where the video-game industry continuinally churns out tiresome, uninteresting manure like an overfed cow, Larian Studios finally delivers an extensive (and I mean, very extensive!) co-op campaign filled with ridiculous strategic depth, head-tilting puzzles and riddles, and a whole host of moral dilemmas to test your very customized characters. Of course, no game can ever truly be perfect, but as far as I'm concerned, Divinity: Original Sin II is about as close as a developer can hope to get. There are some balancing issues, the occasional bug, and some strange tactical decisions by the AI, but overall the game is a must-have for any man, woman or dwarf that enjoys a strong, well-established fantasy setting and turn-based combat that requires critical thinking, finesse, and a just a pinch of explosive creativity. As a small note, a very small minority of buyers beware: the story is a bit wacky and may not be the most serious at times. If you're looking for 12 hours of grueling, dark, humorless plot, you may be disappointed. For most prospective purchasers, this shouldn't be an issue.

They say "Graveyard Keeper" is the "No Man's Sky" version of "**** Valley" and unfortunately that seems to be an accurate statement. What we have is an unfinished, buggy grind **** that is so monotonous and boring you may as well become a real gravedigger. At least you'll be making money instead of tossing your hard-earned cash into a fire to pick up this underwhelming title. I'll first start with positives. . . well, "Graveyard Keeper" does indeed have a unique premise that commands great potential had the developers put effort and thought into it. The art is actually relatively well done, both pleasant to look at and easy on the eyes. Now, let's talk about this game's bread and butter: being a repetitive, tedious grind. The developers are the same as the one's who made Punch Club, so you already know their specialty in the gaming industry is helping the player waste as much time as possible while accomplishing almost nothing. Well folks, these industry titans have done it again! You'll spend hours of your hobbling from errand to errand, just to maintain your little estate. They've even included waiting for things to finish- That's right, you can sit back, put those weary hands behind your head and watch as your character stands there mindlessly like a zombie. Quite fitting. We have missing content, two unfinished locations that have been unavailable from the game's alpha. The grisly writing on the wall says these dirty devs plan on churning out paid DLC for you to have the honor of entering these areas that you know exist, but can't enter in the base game. This especially adds insult to injury when you consider the lack of content issue that already exists. The story is linear, poorly devised and relies on waiting in places and hoping for quest NPCs to show up. If you have high hopes for an exciting plot filled with moral quandaries, then look elsewhere. Had the ending of the game been worthwhile, perhaps "Graveyard Keeper" could be saved, but. . . I think you and I both know that's not what happened. Don't let the good reviews sway you, just take a look at them- even they admit the same flaws I've listed. . . they just surpassed the 2 hour refund mark and have to live with buyer's remorse. At the end of the day, if you like **** Valley. . . don't buy this game. Just go back to **** Valley. If you like grinding games, look elsewhere. There's better titles. This game has one foot in the grave and if the developers don't listen to feedback and make drastic changes and add a substantial amount of free content (no paid DLC for an unfinished game please) then we can close the casket and bury this dead horse.

This 2D pixel-western will entice you with surprisingly fun game-play and an interesting, responsive setting. You play as an orphaned boy, your family slaughtered by heartless bandits- it's up to you to discover their identity and kill them! The game generates a randomized "villain" every game and places them in the world and through clues and detective work, you learn what they look like and confront them. Some of the mechanics are admittedly a bit wonky, as can be expected with shooting a gun in a game like this, but I would still highly recommend picking up Westerado. At $15.00 the price is a bit much as there isn't a huge amount of content (I would say the average person could put in 3-4 hours) so maybe wait for a sale or humble bundle.

A despicable title that tries to stagger to it's feet with false claims of over the top cruelty and controversial killings. If you're truly interested in hardcore, brutal violence, you won't find it here. The game is comparably tame to what expectations the public had, offering nothing new to veteran gamers. Indeed, if you've played GTA, Saint's Row, or even Dishonored, you honestly won't find the death included in Hatred very interesting. Let's say you're not invested in the violence; what about game play? What you have is essentially an old-school top-down shooter/bullet hell. Is it new, flavorful, or innovative in any way? No, not really. If you're new to the genre then you may be able to extract some semblance of enjoyment from Hatred, but you're honestly better off just playing a free flash game online that has similar gameplay. It's clear that the dirty developers played up the controversy for sales, most likely knowing that the game would perform poorly if they didn't drum up some kind of gimmick. I will admit, it's current price tag of around $7.00 is a bit high, but not too far from unreasonable. If you must purchase the game, wait for a 50% off sale or just playing something else, except better.

A painfully average game that could have benefited from more production and development time. The story is fairly interesting: you play as a retired military medic forcibly stricken with an acute case of vampirism in an early 20th century London. Your new goals become acclimating to your new bloodthirsty affliction and curing a devastating plague affecting the city. Combat is simplistic and not very engaging, though I wouldn't say it's terrible. The skill and crafting system feel a bit forced and are a quizzical addition to the game. I would have rather they focused on building the world better which is the main gripe I have. A game like Vampyr heavily relies on an immersive and intriguing world filled with untamed exploration and exotic characters. I quickly felt funneled and rail-roaded, with the illusion of an open world broken almost immediately. Any doors that diverge from the main path were always "locked" and many buildings were simply inaccessible. Overall, I believe the game has great potential if the developers were to invest more time in fixing issues and making positive changes. As is, the game is not particularly bad, but it fails to impress, especially if you have high expectations. I would say the game is worth about $25.00, so I suggest waiting for a sale or for the price to naturally fall with time. Believe me, you won't be missing much.

I certainly wouldn't say this game is good by any standards or qualifications- at best it is an average "horror" walking simulator. It is obvious that the game was banking on it's "shock and awe" appeal with gore and sex, but even that has been squandered by the developers submitting to censorship. They (the developers) offer the paltry excuse that their publisher has deemed it necessary and that there are legal issues, as if this has come to a surprise to them. As it turns out, two parties sign a contract, any devil can tell you that. The developers obviously knew for quite some time that this disaster would unfold, but did nothing to prevent it. Their whole concept was based on the gore and sex and sadly it was all the game had to survive. Agony's sales are based on deception and purchasing this wretched, weak "game" only rewards these charlatans. Do not buy, even to refund afterwards. It is a waste of time. As a last note, with a cursory glance at the few positive reviews, I find it suspicious that so many parrot the same (false) generic compliments and praise. . . and so many of these accounts have just one review. . . very interesting indeed.

Upon release, I had my fair share of doubts for this newly-minted RTS/City-Builder game. It wasn't great ( though I wouldn't say it was terrible) and from the actions of past, scummy developers, I had written it off as another disappointment that would languish in the pits of abandoned Steam games. I was pleasantly surprised to see I was plainly wrong- the humble, talented folks behind Kingdoms and Castles have displayed a great interest in building and polishing their game, adding new and exciting content to a game that I firmly believe already justifies it's very fair price of $10.00. From what I've read of their announcements, I can only see the value of their game increasing and a growing, happy fan-base. The game as is contains mostly basic content that you would expect: gathering resources, building structures, converting peasants into specific laborers/soldiers, fending off attacks, etc. If you enjoy traditional medieval RTS/City-Builder games (the Stronghold series comes to mind) then you will most likely enjoy Kingdoms and Castles. They've already released free, new content with the promise of more on the way. I'm inclined to believe them and would suggest picking up this title the next time it's on sale or even right now.

Banished is a relatively well-made game, polished enough for release, but a bit limited when it comes to content. There are no real goals or milestones in the base game, so some players may get bored easily.. The modding community manages to prop it up a bit, but there's only so much they can do. I would say it's price tag is accurate and when on sale, even better.

An abysmal addition that the developers have the gall to call paid DLC. I honestly can't tell if those that left positive reviews (on Steam or here) actually played through it or not. If you think this DLC will provide some kind of sophisticated village-building mechanic, you are sorely mistaken. You have to talk to the master builder and tell him which building you want. Then (this is not a joke, seriously, this is literally how they did it in game) the master builder runs to the construction site and you have to follow him and talk to him again to confirm that you are still interested in building there. You do not decide the layout of the village or the aesthetics of buildings, it is all predefined. If you think that you will be able to build yourself a fine mansion, fit for a man of your station, you are again, mistaken. If you think that you can build a homely wooden hovel for yourself, let me just clarify, no you cannot build your own house. The best you can do is live at the Rathaus with the other riffraff of the town. If you think that you will be able to build a village that, at the very least, has the core traders/merchants (such as a tailor, butcher, cobbler, or bath), what do you know, you are still mistaken! The businesses that I just listed above are not available to be built. Let me repeat, the tailor, butcher, cobbler, and bath are not available and you cannot establish them in the town. Not to mention, you have to choose either an armor-smith or a weapon-smith and a guard house or a stable. You cannot have both and the decision is final. If you think you're going to get an expanded story with Theresa or some other love interest that can move in with you, then you are "correct". . . I'm just joking of course, you're still mistaken. Theresa is still blissfully unaware that the town has been built and you cannot even mention it to her. I will say that you can hire certain memorable NPCs as skilled laborers that garner extra income, such as sending Kunesh to work as a lumberjack. Lastly, the means of which you construct things is not at all interesting. It is literally you walking to towns, asking if they want to supply you with grain or coal. You then pay them and that's it, it's over. This DLC is just a matter of how much Groschen you have laying around and how to get more of it. If you have more than 12,000g, than rebuilding the town is a walk in the park. At the end of the day, I would say this DLC is worth buying at $1.00 and that's the score I'm giving it. It fails to add anything of substance to the game and is simply a desperate cash grab by the developers. Avoid it like the plague of Merhojed. One final note: This DLC can be improved if the developers wish to redeem themselves. Adding the remaining businesses not available, adding more judgements, introducing village raids from Cumans and bandits, and allow building walls and your own personal house would certainly help this travesty rise from the ashes.

It's hard to say exactly how good **** this is; I was drawn in by the impressive, unique art-style and the diverse, motley crew of adventurers at your disposal. The game's combat system is surprisingly in-depth and well thought-out, but the very heavy RNG mechanics on the overworld may turn off some players. I am a bit disappointed by the amount of content in the game, though I suppose that statement probably speaks volumes on its own. The developers certainly created a solid game, I just wish there was more of it. (even including the paid DLC) Overall, Renowned Explorers is a decent title to pick up for those gamers that enjoy board games with a bit of turn-based combat mixed in. If you're hesitant, I highly suggest waiting for a 50% off sale before making a purchase as the game is a bit light on things to do. It is however, a decent game to kill time on a plane or long bus ride.

This is a tough game to review with some major highs and low points and a lot of mixed feelings in between. Kingdom Come supports an incredibly well-versed, immersive medieval Europe atmosphere with plenty to do outside of main story quests. The "romance" arc is shoddy and hastily put together, as if the developers rushed to implement it and it is not the least bit fulfilling in any way. However, if you do not care for this, then this point is obviously moot. One of the biggest issues I have with this game is the saving system and combat. Firstly, let's tackle saving. The game only deigns to allow saving when you sleep, after certain story events, and when you drink a special "saviour schnapps." The issue is that the game is riddled with it's fair share of bugs and glitches- some of which can prove to be quite fatal. I've lost progress more than once after taking a soft hop off a small hill and the game's gravity launches me into the air like a rocket ship. This causes the player to potentially lose hours of progress for no fault of their own, which I definitely do not like. I would have appreciated an option to just have a normal save system rather than being gang-pressed into theirs. The other issue is their God-awful lock on camera system in combat. This clunky camera system forces you to focus on one person at a time- which would have been fine if the game was composed of only one on one duels. (which it's not.) It is a gigantic pain fighting multiple enemies because of this and I sincerely hope they re-work this in any future games they produce. Overall, the game is fantastic for those interested in the time-period and are willing to endure some missteps by the developer. +EDIT: I just finished the game and the ending is pretty atrocious. I have docked the original score I gave by 2 points to reflect this. I now recommend prospective players to torrent the game and play it- if you do indeed like the game, even after the ending, then buy it on Steam. Just get ready to shell out some more cash for the ending DLC.

This game started off well-enough, with a decent story that wasn't too heavy. However, the main issue emerges when you play the game- because your attributes drain when you don't train them, Punch Club becomes a staggering monument to idle games where you mindlessly click buttons to watch numbers go up and down. By the end, it feels much like punching in numbers into a calculator rather than watching your protagonist train for a big fight. I couldn't even bear to finish the game after I realized what I was doing- just running the same repetitive tasks over and over, sometimes in different settings, but otherwise always doing the same. I do not recommend the game and I warn those that try it on Steam- you may not realize that the game is shallow and repetitive until after the two hour refund mark. However, when on sale for under $5.00, then maybe it's worth it.

The developer should be focusing on making a game without a set story; just have you be an unnamed police commissioner and story events happen that shape your morality. The bland story of same-old, same-old bogs down the game uncomfortably and burdens the player with an uninteresting, unlikable main character that is hard to invest in. The game could also benefit from reworking random events. It turns out having your police officers randomly dying without any input from you is not fun. You would think that most developers would be able to piece that together on their own, but it looks like the folks behind "This is the Police" are a cut above the rest. The art is nice though. I recommend skipping this title.

This game was in development for a few years, but these gentlemen did a fine job showing what it really means to be an Early Access Game. Consistent, incremental updates with well-detailed change-logs that really tracked their progress. Now that they're released, I would even support increasing the price by $10 or $15- they have certainly earned it. The end result is a relatively enjoyable game with a few minor flaws that can be easily overlooked. The Forest could have benefited from additional mutated monsters with more advanced mechanics, but overall the game is a solid pick-up.

What a disaster- Electronic Arts continually displays a complete lack of **** for the consumer. When the game was released, people made an absolutely staggering lost of all the features and basic game-play elements that Sims 4 lost compared to previous iterations. . . and what a surprise, we see those features and basic game-play elements coming back as paid DLC. . . how interesting. Stop supporting EA, stop buying their games and encouraging this behavior. Every time you do, the gaming industry takes one more step towards the edge and when it comes around for Sims 8 Deluxe, you're buying DLC just to build a house or put on a shirt. Remember Sim City.

The concept and world were interesting ideas to be sure, but the implementation was poor and the game-play is uninspired. Not only that, the pricing is a bit dodgy as well, at $60 for the base game and a $40 season pass for a game that should be priced at $29.99 flat. They try to point out that they told everyone they would spike up the price, but that doesn't justify bad actions. Also, keep in mind the developers have removed the Metacritic score from their Steam page after under-performing. Food for thought. It's up to you to fight the dark, sleazy future of gaming. Do not buy this game, not even to try it and then refund. Giving these developers money and then regretting it only works against you and all other gamers. If you really want to, pirate it or ask a friend to do so and get your own opinion. If you really like it despite it's flaws, then I encourage you to buy it legitimately.