The best thing about Rogue Trader is that it really captured the essense of the 40k universe, this game was clearly made by fans of the setting and it shows. (You can literally dispose of main characters by sending them to the inquisition). Graphics aren't amazing but they represent the tone of the setting very well, and not everything is voice acted but the parts that are are generally done well. As far as how it plays, the game is essentially Baldur's Gate 3 but in 40k using the Rogue Trader system instead of D&D. The problems are what I'll call typical Owlcat games problems. They include too much extra stuff not related to the game, but make it mandatory to deal with in order to play. There is completely unessecary resource management and with 100s of unique pieces of gear, and often picking up 20+ after an encouter, inventory mamagement is an absolute bear, even with the QOL features they have included. Without spoiling anything, chapter 3 is an absolute crapfest compared to the rest of the game, and the main reason why this review is 4 instead of 5 stars. Overall though if you want a 40k in space RPG, this is the one for you. I have high hopes that they will learn from this and the upcoming Dark Heresy game will be even more excellent. Highly recommended for 40k fans looking for a Baldur's Gate experience, or for fans of tactical RPGs who've run out of other games to play.
Dragon Age: Origins is a fantastic reminder of what the game could havee been. An excellellent dark fantasy TRPG in the vein of Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 etc. Unfortunately every future game in the series decided to become some sort of action oriented Mass Effect-Lite, with less and less tactical choice and fewer meaningful decisions in game. Get this one and consider it a stand alone. The others will never be on GoG anyhow.
So I went into this expecting Frostpunk 2 and instead got some oddball crossover of Cities Skylines/Anno/Paradox game mashup, none of the elements of which seems to work together. It's probably fine for what it is, but it's not what I wanted and nothing like the original game in anything but theme. If you are a fan of the "Keep track of 30 sliders and statistics" type of gameplay, with a mediocre tile placement game attached, this is probably the game for you. Also seems horribly optimized, graphics are unimpressive but it made my PC want to melt none the less. Not recommended.
I find it very unfortunate that I have to write this review because I have had high hopes for it twice and twice it has disappointed me, which is s shame because there is a lot of potential here. The engine of the game a knockoff of Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, and it functions adequately running off of the Pathfinder system which is very apropos, since Pathfinder itself is a wholesale ripoff of 3.5 D&D. With that being said, the base game and combat mechanics are fine. The voice acting is very well done, the writing crisp and thematic, so why then the complaints? Well instead of building upon the strengths of BG/IWD, Kingmaker plays up the weaknesses of the engine and inserts some completely unnecessary faults. Also every quest is timed, and you will miss out on content by focusing on the important things the game tells you the timer for (and constantly reminds you are important), as the invisible timers expire on the things you were told are sidequests, but end up having major consequences. This is done to such a ridiculous degree as to make the game almost unplayable, it's impossible to manage time apart from trial, error and reloading ad nauseum. There are also numerous quality of life issues that should have been fixed in BG2 yet still persist in making the game an exercise in frustration to this day. So unfortunately the solid framework just makes a mockery of what it's based on and makes it an exercise in frustration to play. I have some hope that Wrath of the Righteous may correct these mistakes, but I cannot recommend Kingmaker to anyone except those just dying for more content in this style, and I would suggest exhausting both Pillars of Eternity and Torment: Tides of Numanera before trying Kingmaker. None are perfect experiences, but Kingmaker is the only one which is outright painful to play.
So this is a fine game, there is nothing wrong with it on it's face. If you enjoyed Divinity Original Sin 1&2 as I most certainly have, you will like this game, unless you were actually looking for a Baldur's gate game, then you may be disappointed. Unfortunately the game is incredibly mislabeled. This is not Baldur's Gate 3, this is Divinity: D&D Edition. I wasn't too worried about the story not being connected to previous Baldur's Gate games and the tale of the bhallspawn was more or less competed, but what I didn't expect was something that is Baldur's Gate in name only. Lets go over the good stuff before I complain anymore. This graphics are great, the mechanics, apart from the utterly unnecessary hulk jump mechanic, are solid. I was frankly baffled at the need to include this before remembering that this is actually Divinity Original Sin 3 in disguise and a jump would have been a good addition to D:OS2. The game uses D&D 5th as the basis for it's gameplay and it seems to be well implemented. Sound and voice acting are excellent. Larian's signature tactical combat is there and is solid as always, unfortunately that's also the problem, because it doesn't feel like BG combat. The game is just a reskin, graphical update and slight mechanical change to D:OS2. On it's face this is not a bad thing, but it's quite obvious that when they got the rights to BG3 they just ported their current game from D:OS3 and changed a few things around so they could slap the name on it. I'd say it has as less in common with BG 1&2 than Fallout 3 did with Fallout 1&2, but Fallout 3 is also a decent game, so there's that. On the other hand if you liked Divinity: Original Sin 1&2 but wanted the same game set in the Forgotten realms, designed by guys who hadn't heard of Faerun before they got the rights to the game, than this is the game for you. Overall, decent game, but not a BG game, go into it knowing that and you'll be fine, at least me know D:OS3 will be looking sharp though.
The game is based around strategic placement of animals and minerals and controlling the growth of civilizations, and plays much more like a puzzle in real time, learning the synergies of the various plants and animals is the key to advancing. Extremely fun and addicting for approximately 10 hours, after which point it becomes long and repetitive to continually play for several hours to unlock one plant or animal. Graphics are superb, and the style adds to the character of the game and fits the theme. Overall a fun and relaxing game, but be prepared to waste many hours if you want to unlock everything.
