I read ‚dlc to Tyranny‘, which is a great game, and ‚new side stories‘ and bought the thing expecting to find more stories to experience like the dlcs to Dragon‘s Age or Pillars of Eternity. And was disappointed. When you read the description of ‚Tales from the Tiers‘ carefully, it is clear that there are no additional quests, but only 4 additions: the travel events, which usually only allow you to click on some images and usually result in a buff / debuff until the next rest or once in a while in a small fight with some loot. The ‚expanded story‘ is basically more reading material, but doesn‘t extend the story you experience. The ‚new items‘ add, as the expanded story, to the feeling of moving in a complex world, but basically it only adds to the loot table. Last and least: More replay options for those who don‘t want to start from scratch when you replay the game. If you like Tyranny like me, this dlc is a disappointment, because it only adds small stuff which didn‘t make it into the main game, probably because of time constraints. It does not add any substantial playable content and definitely feels more like a patch than a dlc. Given that the end of the main game feels so unsatisfactorily for many, this ‚dlc‘ is even more disappointing.
After SW 1 I expected this to be an entertaining little game. I was really surprised what an incredibly well-done jewel of a fps this is. The movement is wonderfully smooth, the fighting (mostly melee here) is intense and challenging and the killing is very, very satisfying. The pacing of the maps is very well done. That was the good part. The story is quite thin, characters are ok too for this kind of game, the main character can even be fun sometimes. Architecture has been reused plenty of times and gets boring rather fast. But the fighting system is so satisfying that all of this doesn't matter. They also published a free dlc which add some more crafting option but demands a lot of grinding. The 'trials' of this add-on, basically small arena maps with many mobs, are, to quote a famous president-elect, "sad, so sad". It is difficult to believe that the same team created it.
One of the best combat system I have ever experienced in a fps. Fighting is intense, visceral, exciting and very satisfying (well, and slightly addictive). The boss fights are tough, especially on higher difficulty settings, but fair. On higher difficulty settings you need to pay attention to the power system which gives the fights an additional kick. They only small drawback is that dash is a bit overpowered, taking you to safety almost always. The story is obviously not important but the characters are, for a comic book story like that, actually quite likeable. The main reason I am not totally overwhelmed is the repeated reuse of areas. And of areas in areas. The different settings are fine, but there only very few which are reused up to 3-4 times. Nevertheless, if you like action games, this one will provide you with fun – slightly mindless, but really intense.
