It's not really just a card game in spite of deckbuiding elements, it's not really a boardgame in spite of your character's token advancing on a board, it's definitely not an action game in spite of it's action combat sections, it's only kind of a tabletop RPG because although it has a game master and you weave a story together, it's a lot more linear. What it is, is a very solid and very unique roguelite game that takes a bit of everything mentioned above and does it's own blend of it, which I'll take more of, thank you very much.
I sunk many hours into this game both on steam and the gog version. It's great mechanically, bringing it's own unique systems and doing away with some of the more dated mechanics of the genre to bring an experience that both feels old school and yet up to modern standards. It uses a dual class mechanic to allow a lot of build customisation. This game rewards exploration, with a lot of side quests hidden away in corners, shrines to purify to become stronger via a PoE-like talent system, prenty of lairs, some of which are unmarked, spots to dynamite to uncover entirely new zones, hidden chests...even more so with the DLCs adding optional elite monster totems for extra loot. Itemisation is pretty deep, helped by a pretty extensive loot filter, and allows you to have stronger spells beyond what you can get by maxing out skill points, gain entirely new ones, proc spells on certain conditions...and most items can also be further enhanced by applying an augment which can add many properties to the item, like more resistances, granting a spell, or converting it's damage type,etc... the setting also sets the game apart from a diablo or torchlight since it's pretty much "industrial revolution but with magic, a bit of lovecraft, and it's also the post-apocalypse" You can finish the game only having the most bare-bones understanding of the story, because a lot of the worldbuilding is told through very well written notes that are essentially like collectible short stories, but sadly you have to go out of your way to read them. Quests can have choices, some of which matter a lot. The game has factions you can be friendly or hostile to, depending on your choices during quests, and the more friendly/hostile you become through accomplishing quests and slaying monsters, the more unique rewards you can get from their stores. You'll even get new quests. I recommend getting the difinitive edition, the expansions add a lot of everything to the game, including more endgame.
This is the type of game I would never have imagined playing, but it was discounted and I ended up playing it in one sitting, then another time, perhaps even another after that I'm not too sure. It's what some would call a walking simulator, the controls are to walk and interact, thats about it most of the time, and it's not what you're here for anyway. It's all about the story, one you experience through several layers of unreliable narrators and surreal visuals. It's a story about a notoriously doomed family and how all but one of the members (your character) supposedly met their fate at the hands of their family's curse. you uncover each story as you explore the very old and weirdly constructed Finch house, a testament of the finch's obsession with their own curse. The warning in the title is because while the game never depicts the deaths in a graphic manner and deals with that in a very poetic way, some of the Finches died very young, and none died peacefully; I'll leave it at that.
slime rancher looks and controls like a first person shooter, but isn't one. It's actually a lot closer to a farming game, but instead of animals, you're herding squishy, adorable, blightly colored slimes, feeding them and keeping them in their respective living areas. you can create hybrid ones that are less picky eaters and produce more valuables, but hybridize them too much and they will turn into abominations and you will lose everything in your quest for profits. On top of that, you will also explore the world outside your ranch in search of even more slimes and foods, unlocking shortcuts and abilities as you go, metroidvania style. You will also get to interact with a colorful cast of inhabitants, each giving you unique rewards as you get closer to them (Bob's my favorite, get them a few chickens on my behalf) Apparently the GOG version is missing 2 dlcs with some skins for your slimes and your gear and the VR standalone experience respecitvely, as well as a paid skins dlc. if this bothers you, consider getting it on steam, otherwise, you might as well enjoy it DRM free.
The game is best played with a controller, and controls very intuitively when you have one. The characters are loveable, the worlds each have their quirks and approach to level design, coupled with many memorable levels. The boss fights are decently challenging, the music is fantastic. The one caveat to this version of the game is that it doesn't come with online multiplayer or modding through the workshop, like the steam version does, but if you don't care about the former and know how to get mods manually for the latter (or don't care either), you might as well get it DRM free.
This is a review of my first experience with the game. this does not cover endgame as of yet. let's start with the good here: local coop was not a feature I expected, but it's there, the game runs well, supports mouse and keyboard as well as controller, melee combat feels good, the ability selection system is pretty interesting and...that's all the nice things, so far. Now for the bad and the ugly: the camera is a piece of crap. you can't zoom in and out, nor does it change height when you do (at least in a few places). It also has the fairly annoying habit of snapping to what I can only assume are supposed to be points of interests when you get too close, The controls and the interface are clearly meant for controllers. you will bump into so much stuff when trying to use the mouse., and that's when the camera's doing it's job. The models look kinda...bland. I thought Warhammer was supposed to look cool. The sketch-like cutscenes look like crap. I don't mind the sketch look itself, especially to save budget for what really matters, but when I hold my old TTRPG rulebook or look at modern warhammer art, I can't help but think that they had all the reference necessary to do a lot better. The first few quests are basically a back and forth between the sewers and the same NPC. The map isn't completely accurate, don't follow it too closely and mind the invisible walls. Drops are not immediately highlighted when they drop, and are easy to miss in general. So far,it's different, I'll give the game that. And I got it at a hefty discount, so no regrets.
I remember playing the demos of these long ago, and I enjoyed it back then, but I'd be lying if I said the games aged well, whether it's the art style I already wasn't completely sold on back then (I still love the 2D art though), the controls that now feel a bit stiff, the minimap indicators that fail to indicate where the specific merchants and npcs in town are... but then there is a base to make a great game underneath it all: you have a pet that can carry and go sell items for you, and that will assist in combat although he cannot die, there are fate shrines scatted in the level with an interesting risk/reward system, you can progress pretty much infinitely with about 2 million layers of dungeon, you can fish and feed your pet to transform him, you can import your characters across games, and it also has a secondary leveling system, your "fame", for more variety in progression. It might sound familiar to you because this is the series that gave us torchlight four years later, and it's all there, albeit still carrying some of the diablo 2 mechanics like a stamina bar for running or the tomes. Of course that's a lot of comparisons for a review that should let the game stand on it's own merits, but in that particular case it would be a mistake to not acknowledge it's place in Hack n'slash history as a series that proved that you didn't need to be completely like diablo to work. Definitely great news for fans of the game, classic hack n'slash enthusiasts, and game preservationists.
