The Technomancer

One of the first missions I got a hint of how buggy this POS is when I rescued some merchants and the quest markers kept popping up in the same place, telling me to rescue the merchants, however it turned out it was just in the quest log and map it was bugged, the game let me progress. A few missions later, I'm supposed to repair some tools. Go to workbench, there's the option, press the key it gives me as an option, and... I'm in the regular crafting manu. Try again, and again. Read online bug reports, try those fixes, nada. Ultimately it comes down to re-loading the game prior to the bug. I'll give you three guesses whether that worked, (spoiler alert! It did not!) So... that was a main quest. Which means no more progress for me. Yay, I just wasted money on this crap. Aside from that the gameplay is an annoyingly bad console port. Every time you open a door or climb a ledge it's a quick cut scene. I'm playing a rogue type and wanted to sneak up on some opponents once, but NOPE! Cut scene, after my careful approach, I just walk straight up and say HI! "Please attack me now!" Combat is just button mashing and the game has items like "Sniper RIfle" for you to buy, but you can't use it. In fact apparently there's only two characters who CAN use it. If I could get over all that, I'd still not be happy with the game. The character you play is a total douche bag, the mission I got stuck on he's tasked with getting slaves back to work, and there's no kind and gentle option, it's either bluster and threats or just kill some so the rest learn a lesson. There's no "role play" in that, It's just a choice between douche and murderous douche, Voice acting is god awful. It sounds like the programmers did most of it themselves. Script is painfully bad. The dialogue is excessively long and unnatural. One mission I was rescuing a woman, who kept shouting, "Officer, I think we're in danger!" repeatedly as I was literally fighting some guys who were trying to kill her.

Spiders have baan on GoG on sale few times, their work on the TEchnomancer and Mars war logs has made me their fan. I do draw parallel to how Larian did things with Divinity (tho offcourse Spiders do not own the series rights) in terms of skills that the team demonstrated and how each game just leaps over thee previous. So yes biased review offcourse but given the costs of these games i strongly recommand getting both to anyone who likes more action role playing game style. Graphics are... managible and games will run on quite aged machines too. Yes there are some issues due to the pressumed miniscule budget these games struggle from some serious navigational issues within areas and they are instanced areas rather than continuous. All that cna offcourse be forgiven because well its small studio afterall... and besides the strenght of this game are charakters and let me tell you i fell in love with how vivid some charakters are, good drawing on backstories and some revelation (in particular regarding Scott Seeker's backstory regarding research and progression of relationship with Mjr. Eliza are my personal favourite for partymmembers but also Scum has incredible arch of his own and one hell of a speech. i am quite taken aback just how fluid the combat can be - most action role playing games that use this stup of mouselooking tend to force things like lock on to players but not here. and yet is works excellent (only problems i run into are of my own questionable play style). Lenght of the game depends, as usual, on how much players want to engorge themselves in side stories, so do note that i do and it is taking maany a hour to get through to the finale (21h and counting). definitively worth trying if you cna spare the jestfull sum it can be on sale for. possibly evne worth full price if you are realy into RPGs.

Ok, so this is an action RPG, where you play a space wizard with lightning powers that is part of a secretive pseudoreligious organization, sounds familiar? Jokes aside, the game is fairly entertaining, you can choose and mix 4 different typpes of combat, but focusiing in just one yields the best results, and since this is a RPG you have alll kind of sidequests, dialogue choices, morality choices and talents (pro tip, do not max out the talents, you get gear that can increase some and companions can do the same, plus, stealth is absolutely unnecessary). The combat is the jewel of the crown, it changes a bit between "stances" , but dodging is a mandatiory skill you will need to master in order to survive, because this game will often throw groups of 5+ enemies at you, and honetly, companions are little more than decoys to distract some of them. The story is interesting , specially if you are willing to forgive the terrible narrative execution, you will see all kind of jank, animations not corresponding to the emotion of the voice actors, weird cinematics that are supposed to be more dramatic than they really are, a main villian that you barely see during the game but everyone tells you how evil he is, awkward romance, and more. The biggest issue with the game is that despiote being fairly long most of the action happens in a single location, you will explore every bit of Ophir wheter you like it or not because even after reaching a new chapter they'll keep sending you there for quests, and by the end of the game you will be sick of fighting the same enemies over and over and over again. it doesn't help that 9o% of the locations are grey concrete or red sand. Despite its flaws is not a terrible game, but I suspect it won't leave a lasting impression on me, just buy it, is often on discount for a dollar or two, and is certainly worth more than that. Use a third party software to remap mouse buttons 4 & 5 if you can, dodging is much easir that way

Great story, great combat play, great graphics. Character development & gaining companions fall in line with the advancement of the story. Missing a star because of the need to run through back & forth through mobs of enemies, just to finish the quests or get new ones. But maybe that adds to the needed progression for higher levels, needed to cheese the ultimate Boss monster. (no cheat necessary, but you will need your strategy setup) Story ends with a surprise, though I did expect it, somewhat.

Spoilers for ending. I can't say that I was left with an overall positive experience as I watched the credits roll. The roleplaying elements felt almost nonexistent, the ending felt cursory and choppy. The companions feel like cardboard cutouts with one trope as a personality for some, and a barely explored tragic backstory for others. Not to mention how dry and ineffective that ending section was; you make a massive decision and all you get to show for it is glorified gifs of the environmental designs in the game. Yay. The combat was incredibly uneven; it had moments where you felt things were in flow and the movements took you from enemy to enemy, and the dodging and weaving felt in sync with your exact intentions, your mouse and button clicks. But half the time, and I might be inclined to say more than half, not sure, the experience was more rage and frustration as the enemies stopped you using spells or healing constantly as they heedlessly assaulted you at the same time, only giving you enough time to dodge away. And dodging away only gave you enough space to dodge a SECOND TIME, and THIRD, and a FOURTH; a lot of the times, this was my experience. So many deaths because I got stuck between them or between them a crooked wall, or between them and my companions. So many deaths because enemies will often spam gun attacks without giving you a moment to breathe. The gist is, it often felt unfair. I have other gripes that are in my more unorganized notes that I'm not gonna bother trying to sum up because they just don't matter to me anymore; by the end of it my biggest disappointment were the characters, the roleplaying and the combat. Other than that, it's a very unique game because of its world-building and setting, and those were the better parts of the game. Story was ok, serviceable, though not all memorable. No comment on the music. All in all, this was a lesser than average playing experience.