So this is a pretty good little callback to retro shooters and is pretty fun. Chances are if you think you'll like this game you probably will like it, and I'd say it's worth the relatively cheap price. I also really enjoy the graphics filters in this, and I would say the definitive way to play is to turn on the retro filter and set pixels to at least 2x - don't forget to turn off Y-axis aiming. Some people may say there's no point to play this when there are Doom mods to capture the retro feel for free, but I think the fantastic sprite work and unique style are worth the price. (I will say if you truly want a modern recreation of the original Doom style, look into a Doom mod called REKKR). With all that said, though, I do have some nags with the game: - The choice to use a lives system and not have manual saves is weird to me. I've never played a retro shooter without quicksaves, but I've beaten the first world without having too much trouble so far. -It took me a while to notice but the level design is much closer to Wolfenstein than Doom. There's no verticality and the floor layouts look like they were drawn on grid paper. Not inherently a bad thing but strikes me as odd. -The trailer led me to believe that the protagonist would be a Lo Wang/Douk type with quippy one-liners during gameplay, but he's actually completely silent as far as I can tell, which is a slight disappointment.
This DLC is decently fun, though it peaks early during the dice tournament. It's a nice little experience and is entertaining and funny. I definitely appreciate more Hans Capon. That all said, the elephant in the room is the amount of content for the price. It'll take you 2-3 hours to complete this quest line. Maybe 4 if you're conservative about it. That's not very much content for 1/6th the price of the actual full game, so I don't think I can recommend this DLC unless you can pick it up discounted.
Don't buy this game for $60 expecting a complete experience because that's not what you'll get. While the foundation of the RPG gameplay is solid and the world is fairly immersive, the game is blatantly incomplete. What I mean by this is that you cannot actually finish the main story in this game. Rather than reaching an actual ending and completing Henry's ultimate goal (get back your father's sword), you'll reach a point where the game just sort of... stops. Reading up on it, this is apparently because this game only comprises Acts 1 and 2 of the story, and Act 3 will be sold separately as a sequel. I'm okay with the devs wanting to start a franchise, but I don't feel this game's story stands on its own as a result. Instead of a beginning, middle, and end it instead just has a beginning and middle without any real conclusion or satisfaction when the "The End" screen pops up. Combine that with the fact that the game is a buggy mess at times and the quality generally goes down the further you get - as if the devs resources were running out by the end - and you'll probably finish this game with a sour taste in your mouth. That all said, there is still fun to be had here and overall I'd call this a pretty good RPG, especially for such a niche subject as a realistic, historical medieval setting. Just make sure you know what you're getting and are happy with the price you pay for it.
So this is a game I was only slightly interested in, and it just happened to be in the $25 bundle with Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Battle Chasers: Nightwar. After playing about an hour I'm disappointed and baffled. I'm not really sure how this game has so much praise and so few people being critical of it. I understand why it might appeal to a niche of squad tactics fans who enjoyed games like Commandos, but that doesn't explain the universal acclaim it's gotten. The controls are clunky and unintuitive, whenever I want to move the camera it feels like a wrestling match, and worst of all, it's not even really a stealth game. This is a puzzle game where you mash F5 and F8 to trial-and-error your way through puzzles. I was hoping for an interesting blend of stealth and tactics, but the "stealth" and "tactics" actually present seem to be pretty much surface level. With all that said, I don't hate this game. Like I said, I can understand why it might appeal to a niche, but the amount of universal praise it's gotten is undeserved, in my opinion.
