Posted on: June 30, 2024
Strikeferret
Verified ownerGames: 233 Reviews: 9
Strong start, weak finish
The story starts strong and after something like 60 hours and 80% of the game done . . . I'm just tired of it. There's still some interesting stuff going on, but it's getting less relatable and interesting. Go to some place. Kill for a while. Leave. Non-combat gameplay is fine. Make some rolls, rule an empire, it's more Kingmaker than Wrath of the Righteous, thankfully. It's fine and supported the story well for some time. Combat will either appeal to the min-maxer who loves stacking buffs for an hour and micromanaging every character, or it'll annoy with a "not another battle!" feeling every time you hit a speedbump. That's personal preference, you know what you like. Some design decisions are baffling. I couldn't find a location once because I had to go back the way I came. Confusing, but whatever, mistakes happen. Then I found a maze where the exits don't always go to the same location. Between each screen transition, a loading screen. They were small areas, they could've all fit on one map, but they needed a full scene load. Do you want to go from the bridge to the planetary map? Loading screen. Planetary to system? Loading screen. Guess which screens you'll be cycling through constatnly. There are some neat concepts, like the rumor system, but a lot of the game is traveling around, on foot or in space, looking for the next interaction. This isn't about linearity, this is pixel hunting on the map once you've cleared it out to find the poorly marked path to the next area. From a terrible leveling system to gameplay loops that feel tacked on (the colony management is very inoffensive, but a time-sink) it's just not a fun game. If you need a 40k fix . . . it might work for you. I found it had the Star Wars problem, where it needed to explain everything and strip away all mystery. But, it's a huge time-killer. If you have too much time and spare game budget, this will kill your time. It's one of those "Have I been playing all day?" games.
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