Another review mentioned the hallmark of a good system is when all skills are useful but spreading yourself too thin only weakens you. Gameplay-wise, Underrail offers little to complain about - minor points here and there, but no glaring weaknesses. The early levels can be brutal though, forcing you to explore all your options. You'll rarely horde consumable items, your survival will see you using them. One main issue is the mapping - the game's screens are represented by tiles, linked to each other by exit lines. This is actually sufficient: the map isn't so large that you'd get lost. Unfortunately, it does NOT indicate unexplored exit points, so if you'd been partially mapping an area then had to leave for whatever reason, it's not possible to just glance at the map and see "I haven't finished checking out the exits from these tiles." I used the map annotation feature for this exact problem - I wrote down all the unexplored exits e.g. "NW, SW" means I hadn't explored the northwest and southwest exits. Tiles where I'd completely mapped and gone through all the exits meant I could delete my notes. This means at a glance I could see the map which tiles I hadn't fully explored since they'd have my notes. IMO exit indicators should've been a built-in feature. A quick patch could still do this, unless the map graphics are hardcoded or something. I understand exploration is part of the game, but it takes mere seconds to cross the screen of 1 area, giving away connecting exit lines wouldn't spoil anything the player would know themselves when they entered a map tile. The rest of it is ok. The writing and characters are not great but serviceable. Music varies from forgettable to amusing. The crafting is a little cluttered but isn't otherwise an issue. The game is mostly "realistic", you won't find epic world-saving plots. If you can stand the budget looks and aren't afraid of a challenge, it's certainly worth the price. Definitely recommended.
Granted, this is a "pre-alpha demo", but all that is offered is just 1 mission. Frankly, I'm not too concerned about the battle mechanics - they will be what they will be, after all this IS an X-Com style turn based game. What I'd liked to have seen more was... everything else. See, in the first Xenonauts, the main menu made no bones of hiding its budget roots -fair enough- but it really felt like just a collection of modules. Here is the roster, here is the gear, here is where you start missions. It lacked a cohesive front - a dashboard, if you will, showing you the bigger picture. The whole thing felt more like a roguelike, where you constantly poured in reinforcements and then got them killed on missions. Sure, that's fun for a bit. But there's not much sense of progress. Why are you taking these missions, specifically? There's an absence of a sense of purpose more than "kills ayys". Just because it's not a big budget product doesn't mean they can't dress it up, even if mostly just via text. For example there could be a mission type where you raid a corporate compound, kinda Syndicate-like, to obtain weapon blueprints, resources, or maybe even blackmail so that you can get a favour from another faction. Or a more demolition-oriented type of mission where the aliens have established some kind of facility and the goal is to put it out of commission or do as much damage as you can, and you can't win via brute force due to overwhelming numbers so you need to blow things up then extract with the least amount of casualties. Or a VIP snatch where you need to tranq the target then gtfo with them alive. But back to the review. For what it's worth, this pre-alpha is stable - maybe since there's not much in it that could go wrong. Not too much different from the first game though, which is why I'm saying it's not too helpful. But it won't tell you anything else regarding the actual game, so in this context it's not a very good demo unfortunately.
You know what? This is the right way to hock backer swag to non-backers. Instead of artificially limiting stuff (which makes no sense with digital goods), other potential buyers get a chance... but at a premium since they didn't back the project. There are far too many games that lock this stuff to backers, leaving a bad taste in the mouth for everyone else. On the other hand, the backers absolutely deserve getting something for taking a chance. Making this stuff a timed exclusive and then releasing it for others at a price is the best compromise. Think about it. If the stuff was unbalanced... the non-backers eventually get a chance at it. If it were balanced, we still get a chance at it, with a reminder (i.e. the price tag) that we could've gotten a better deal IF we backed the project. The company makes some extra money while proving they don't support permanent exclusivity deals, something we should not be supporting as responsible consumers.
Development controversy aside, how does this game ACTUALLY play? It's... decent. There's a workable story in there, but the campaign is just too short - within a handful of missions you're already storming an alien world. The designers should've fully embraced the whole "prequel" thing instead of apparently arguing and finally compromising with the feedback they got. Make a great game and people WILL buy it - who cares about the few diehard haters. Releasing a crap game only proves them right. Unfortunately the game isn't good enough. As mentioned above, it's short. There's barely 3 tiers of equipment, and the majority of upgrades are just backpacks which each give a different passive. There's no research - which MIGHT have worked if there was something else to do, like perhaps expand on the whole Red Threat thing that was simply relegated to lore. There are so few "side missions" I was initially afraid it wasn't possible to level up the rest of the squad, but turns out the level cap is so damn low it doesn't matter, not to mention the squad cap itself is literally just a dozen or so soldiers. You can't save, the game autosaves... which might've worked except for the fact you need to explore the base to unlock stuff. So how do you know this exploration was saved? I had to resort to fully finish exploring then launching the next mission and quitting there, to make sure I didn't lose any progress. No manual saving is idiotic design, not to mention if it bugs out you're completely hosed. There's decisions to make in the final few missions which determines the outcome - and since you can't save, you can't view the other endings unless you REPLAY THE WHOLE GAME despite the choices only relying on the last hour of play. WTF Design issues aside, it's actually decent in action. I found myself wanting more levels despite the shallowness. It feels like a tech demo instead of a full game. This game isn't a total loss, but don't buy it unless STEEPLY discounted.
This game is the direct sequel of the original Star Wolves, the 2nd game saw very limited distribution and is generally acknowledged as the weaker of the series. You own a mothership "base", which you fly around the star systems in the game. Combat is the RTS part where you launch fighters from your base. They are not directly controllable - this is where (some of) the RPG elements come in: you select targets and trigger skills, but it is up to each pilot how well they fly their fighters. The other RPG part is the story, which sees you go through a branching plotline culminating in several endings. This is no save-before-final-battle-then-pick-a-choice crap, the choices you make during the course of the game change which storyline you end up on. Completing one ending is less than half of what's available, so replay value is good, and for a $5 game, fantastic. The series is ambitious, but unfortunately the writing isn't up to par. Turn off the skeptical part of your brain and enjoy a simple Star Wars type fantasy, don't expect indepth intrigue. As one of the few modders of the game, I got a chance to dig through it - outside the engine, everything is LUA scripts. There was actually supposed to be a 4th game and they got as far as some engine upgrades, but ran out of funding - I wish the devs weren't so obsessed spending money on engine upgrades, should've concentrated on improving the story and characters. The series could've been a cult hit, not the niche curio it turned out to be. Despite budget limitations the devs at least attempted something new. At $5 I strongly recommend this game - take a look at some youtube videos to see whether you can tolerate the gameplay. The game isn't too deep, you can see how most of it works from videos. This could easily have been a AAA game, given budget for better writing. If you're comfortable with VNs or CYOA books the branching plotlines here are perfect.
This was on sale for like $2 so I thought, what the hell, let's go in blind. Now I'm 25+ hours in so here are my thoughts. It's an early/old school open world style RPG similar to Morrowind. These games don't quite have the QoL conveniences of more recent titles, so it can feel clunky. You're basically thrown in with zero assistance, and the game pretty much lets you go from the start, with only the rather spartan quest log as a guideline. Thankfully it doesn't completely throw you into the deep end - when you mouseover NPCs the icon colour and shape will let you know if they have something for you; those that don't simply deliver some localized filler lore. I wish the name highlight worked better though, it often seems to target a different NPC than the one in front of you. The skill system will annoy many: other than a handful you start with, everything else is LOCKED until you find a trainer, and these NPCs are scattered throughout the world. Only when you've unlocked a skill can you put points into it. Pay attention to the NPCs, I overlooked the bow trainer until well into midgame, which is annoying because archery -while not stupid broken like in TES games- is good enough to launch your initial ambush salvo before you switch to melee. Heck, be sneaky, let your summon agro then shoot - enemies will ALWAYS attack the initial agro until you outdamage it. Worse, I still haven't found who can unlock alchemy @ crafting. There are many spells BUT you can only hotkey 3. Biggest WTF. I use heal, a summon, and a dps. There are no classes so you're going to do all 3 melee/bow/magic. Combat isn't very deep unfortunately, mostly ambush then kiting or simply tanking. Story is mostly woven through quest dialog - if you hate reading this isn't for you. There are a few cutscenes but they seem more cheesy than useful. There's a built-in console and cheats, which is handy. I can enjoy the game because I like learning game world lore; if you don't, better look elsewhere.
Many others have gushed over how long they've spent in the game, so I'll post actual reasons why you should buy it. There's a breadth of variety you don't see in other sandbox games - you aren't stuck progressing from items A to B to C. In each tier alone you have numerous choices that suit different playstyles. Prefer melee and want to wield badass swords and armor? You can. Prefer ranged combat and increased mobility? Sure. Want magic or even summoning? It's there. Mix-and-match? Absolutely. Certain points in the quality tiers are gated behind boss battles - this creates an incentive to master existing tools, and also means you aren't forced to come up with your own goals like in other sandbox games, there are already key challenges prepared. Additionally, there are overall world states - time isn't frozen like in every other game. If you ignore (whether accidentally or purposely) the spread of the Corruption or Crimson, some biomes can be lost - sometimes for good (though you can always roll new worlds). This means you have additional optional goals of building barriers and safe zones. You aren't just building empty monuments bereft of function and meaning. You can literally "save the world", and put as little or as much effort into it as you prefer. As if that wasn't enough, there are also specific themed events that can happen - from as minor as a brief slime rain, to as major as an alien invasion or complete world mode change. NPCs can be recruited, some appearing when you fulfill specific criteria (and have available housing for them to move in to), while others have to be rescued. While not fleshed out like RPG characters they do have personality, and many offer services or sell you unique things. The game also supports multiplayer and does it well. This is one of the rare few games I've bought over multiple platforms - PS3, Vita, PS4, and here on GoG. Completely worth the asking price, and a steal when on sale.
Wizardry 8 is the end of a trilogy, and coincidentally the last game Sir Tech released as they were going out of business. While you don't need to have played the previous games, they do help give a lot of context; I'd recommend reading plot summaries, though they're not necessary. It's an 8(!)-person party dungeon crawler, but you only design 6; during the course of your travels on Dominus you may pick up 2 recruitable characters ("RPCs") along the way. There's roughly a dozen of them, but several are quest-specific and will only join you temporarily. The interface is decidedly old-school; this came out in 2001 (and its immediate predecessor in 1992). The graphics do the job but they won't sell you on the game. Roaming around is in realtime and not confined to a grid unlike previous titles, though combat is turn based. On a related note, the animations have issues, the vanilla game is S-L-O-W. Search the GOG forums for wiz8fast and a sped-up animations mod, otherwise you'll hate combat - and you do a LOT of it in this game. The story is okay, even if you're new to the series. The main draw imo is the party design - the game has unique classes not seen elsewhere, and the limitations of the classes and races will make you spend hours dreaming up fun party combinations. You pick personalities too, and they're all voice acted and have different things to say in different situations - really helps bring them alive. Skills are usage-based, and while you can allocate some points during level up it's better to simply use them. This does encourage grinding, but it shouldn't be an issue since the game throws tons of enemies at you. There's level scaling - while not inherently bad, here it doesn't hold back: you can and will encounter stronger enemies as often as weaker ones. It takes a while before you outlevel most enemies, which is usually by endgame. It's definitely aged and not for everyone. But if you love challenges in your RPGs, this is right up your alley.
