Simply put, there is nothing else like it. There is no other open world game quite as vivid or grounded, no sci-fi game that feels distinctly like it could be our very future like Cyberpunk 2077 does. Phantom Liberty continues that trend. Even a quick run through the expansions story is entirely worth it, but there is heaps of side content too and new areas within the city to explore. Not many games in this current era treat me like an adult but Cyberpunk with it's expansion and the writing within these two titles have done it twice now. Lightning bottled twice.
Prodeus the best retro boomer shooter right now. It’s mechanically sound, looks incredible and sounds awesome; plus, the levels are a joy to navigate while being consistently clever and interesting. Right from the get go the game's weapons are punchy and impactful with the only one I've felt was lacking in anything was just the grenade launcher's sound which is a touch muted compared to everything else's delightfully grindy and chunky sounds but that can easily be fixed before full release I'm sure. Enemies are varied but everything feels like just a taste of what's to come, which in turn makes me wonder what the full roster will like, and boy do they die delightfully. So the soundtrack. Funky Industrial via way of Quake, and some near gothic operatic pieces. It's exactly what you want for a game like this, but far better than you'd expect. Because it's a new Andrew Hulshult soundtrack, you know, the guy who got promoted to taking care of Doom Eternal's music. And it's glorious. Probably AH's best work since Amid Evil. It's a good chunk of gameplay for early access, too. All things counted I spent around 5 & 1/2 hours playing the levels and trials over the course of a day. I even went into the secret level too, found a secret but not the one I wanted and then couldn't do anything else in the level when I went back because my brainletism had engaged. Like all good early access titles, you will be left wanting more. But that's okay, there's a full industry standard level editor with a bunch of YouTube tutorials waiting to help you out, that also includes some real QOL stuff compared to editors of old. People have already made recreations of various Doom maps from multiple entries along with all sorts of original levels which really pushes what the game can do mechanically and even competes with the developers own work it's that good. The game is going to last a long time. Prodeus sets the standard for all boomer shooters to come now, and sets it high.
