Playing this after Homeworld 1 is a pleasantly different experience. It does a good job of being an 'immersive' RTS, if there can be such a thing, and, as a heavy machinery fan, I LOVE the art style. I applaud the way the Deserts of Kharak uses map topography much more richly than other RTS games, athough the topographical aspect of the overview map is opten unhelpful. I'm not quite willing to give five stars, though, because unit variety is limited, and what faction variety there is is sold as DLC. The Expedition Guide is worthwhilre, too, if you want to squeeze all the tasty Setting Juice from the campaign, and see some behind the scenes stuff.
Synthetik is no doubt a memorable game, but there are a few things that hold it back: 1) There a bit too much "lite" in this "rogue-lite." There are nine classes, and the upgrades that they get from being played are significant. It makes it so that if you want to beat the final boss (which I haven't), you're encouraged to grind one class rather than experiment. That strikes me as poor design. I also just don't like the idea that it's time commitment, rather than skill and luck, that hold me back. 2) Balance. Some guns feel just useless; not even good for niche builds. Likewise, it seems like the classes don't all scale the same, both through a single run and in the meta-game. Finally, while Synthetik definitely wants to be a "break the game to win the game" kind of game, there are some heavy-handed balance decisions that feel like they pump the brakes. For example: there's a weapon mod called "caliber reduction" that increases magazine size at the cost of damage. Yet it arbitrarily doesn't work on the single-shot rocket launcher. Nor, in fact, do ANY multi-shot mods or magazine size increases work on the rocket launcher. Stuff like that is a buzzkill. 3) Multiplayer is just not really a whole game. It feels like a demo, even though, on Steam, it's payment-locked while the single-player mode is free! Maybe my brother and I were just doing something wrong, but the game just always ended after like three enemy waves, often with the game freezing. 4) No lore. Yeah, beating a dead horse, but the devs have a good thing goin' here with the game's tone. I wish there was just like some flavor text on the items or a monologuing shop-keeper to push the player deeper into said tone. Overall, though, if you like ballistic violence, you've gotta try Synthetik.
If you want the sort of game that begs to be broken, Nova Drift may be for you. The closest comparison I can think of (that I've played) is Synthetik, but I'm almost tempted to compare it to a deck-building game. Compared to those things, the number of cards/items/mods is relatively limited, but very well thought-out. There's just enough RNG so I don't feel I'm retreading the same path every run, but not so much that I feel I'm gambling with my choices. I always feel like I'm just on the cusp of a game-beating synergy, and when I lose, I usually have a theory about what I can do differently next time. It's an arcade game, too. There's a highscore system, and I found myself getting competitive with my brother. Nova-Drift is a fun, absorbing time-sink if you allow yourself to get swept up in the challenge. The GOG/Steam achievements are flavorful, too. I think Nova Drift's greatest strength is its enemy design. The number of distinct enemies isn't huge (probably two or three dozen), but their variety is great. Taken together, they are great at exploiting the weaknesses of my builds, and their different behaviors make the game feel quite dynamic. So, what would it take to make this a five-star game for me? Mostly, I just want MORE. More enemies, more mods, more random events. And I dare Jeffrey Nelson to get even crazier with the mods. Add stuff that change more game-rules more severely, and try to break out of the "paths" paradigm when it comes to mods. Wild mods are a good start. Finally, I want to see an easing out of the progression curve. Prior to wave 20, you get levels faster than you can remember to check for upgrades, but after level 90 your build is pretty much set. Finally, I want bosses that are more tests of skill and less tests of patience. Looking at the roadmap, all of these things seem possible. Even as it is, I think it's going to be a while longer before I get bored of Nova Drift.
