Recent reviews by AllusiveAllusion

Forever Winter is a game that when I saw the concept art for the first time it immediately made me very excited for the game. Such an interesting and unique style. The atmosphere truly makes you feel like you are in one of the worst dystopian nightmares possible. The concept art is great and they pull it off in game too.

As for the early access game play, I am not going to lie, it's rough. I typically do not mention low performance or stutters in games but this one does have that, and it's quite prevalent. But honestly, I will deal with it. I see the potential this game has and it's astronomical. So I am more than happy to provide the developers with the support purchasing this game in early access provides them. I also have no doubt that Fun Dog is devoted to fixing these issues. I hate to use this line because it's the most common saying from people when someone calls out an early access game for it's flaws. However, I do think it applies here. This is an early access game, and when you are purchasing it, you are paying to playtest the game for the developers. You should not be expecting a polished and finished product. So only purchase if you are looking to support the developer and provide some play testing... and of course, enjoy the game early, despite it's issues.

With that said, I do truly believe that even if you find this game even somewhat interesting, you should consider purchasing it to support an indie developer with an amazing concept that has this much potential.

Space Marine 2 reminds me of great shooters from the 2000s and the early twenty-teens. Games like early Call of Duty's, Kill Zone, Halo, and Gears of War. Shooters that had the just the right amount of action and variety to be very enjoyable for their run time. As well as having stories that range from good to great. I would like to call attention to the mention of "their run time." This to me is a very key part of this. Space Marine 2, and the games I mentioned that it reminds me of, are all relatively short games when comparing them to a lot of modern day games. Which have run times that call well exceed fifty hours. While long run times are not necessarily a bad thing. I have found that shorter games have their place. Especially for people who do not have the time to finish a hundred plus hour epic anymore. I also believe that if Space Marine 2 was any longer then its ten to fifteen hour runtime it would start to become monotonous. It ends right as the enemy variety and mechanics are coming to the end of their ability to engage me. Perfectly timed!

However, that isn't to say once you finish the ten to fifteen hour main campaign that you uninstall this game and not think about it for two years until you think it may be fun to go back and experience it before the sequel comes out. It also comes shipped with both a Co-op PvE mode and a 5v5 PvP mode. Which again, reminds me of the fully fleshed out games of the past. These two modes offer quite a bit of variety and are pretty dang fun.

The PvE mode has you following a secondary group of space marines that run different missions that Titus (The main character) orders to have done during the main campaign. Which is a cool concept for these PvE missions. These missions follow a formula similar to that of Darktide's gameplay. You march to an objective taking out large groups of enemies and the occasional elite enemy or boss, then complete that objective. It works in Darktide and it works here! However, I would not think of the PvE mode as a Darktide clone, but it has the same type of "feel". Which is again a good thing if you like the tide games. I will say however, there are, at the time of writing this review, only six of these missions and the objective variety and enemy variety due become kind of stale after a few hours of gameplay. But I would assume this is going to get some post launch support that will address these issues. At least I would hope....looking at you FatShark. Overall the PvE mode is a good way to extend your time with the game. Especially, if you have a couple of friends to help you purge the filthy xenos.

Now the PvP mode I believe is the weakest part of this game. That's not to say it's bad. But I will say parts of this game are good or even great, While I would classify the PvP as, serviceable. It's a fairly standard 5v5 arena style third-person shooter with the game modes that you have come to expect out of the base rotation from the likes of Call of Duty. It has the same class structure as the Operations mode, were you have to level up each class to get access to it's other weapons and cosmetics. Again, very standard stuff here. What I feel is the most rough part of the PvP, is that some of the classes just feel way to good, or I guess you could take the stance that the other classes feel bad. I assume this will also receive some post launch balance. But even still I feel this games strong suits are in the PvE modes and will always be.

To finish this up, I think Space Marine 2 is an excellent game that is well worth your money. It's a return to what feels like games from the past, fully fleshed out experiences that don't prattle on for way too long and while anecdotal, I did not experience any noticeable bugs while playing. So if you enjoy the 40k universe, would like to purge xenos a heretics alike as an angel of death in service to the holy emperor of man kind, and would like to support the idea that all games should release like this, pick it up!

So I haven't even really played the actual game, outside of the tutorials. But I don't care, the painting aspect is so enjoyable the basic gameplay could be non-existent and I wouldn't really care. So just having the battle feature is just a bonus in my book.

The painting is very detailed for a computer based miniature skirmish game. Probably some of the best out there. I could easily waste hours and hours of time with a Youtube video in the background just painting away. I hope they continue to add unique models to paint. It would even be super cool if in the future you could mix and match pieces of models to make truly unique miniatures.

The one negative I have is that the dialogue in the tutorial was that generic Marvel movie "Now this is epic" style. Which I find pretty cringe. But overall if you are looking for a cool little miniature painting simulator were you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on minis and paints this is a decent alternative.

I have not beaten this game as of yet. But so far WH40k Rogue Trader has been a lot of fun. The combat is what you would expect from the OwlCat CRPG. Albeit less complicated then the Pathfinder series but still engaging and enjoyable if you are into turn based CRPG gameplay. I am not familiar with the TRPG Rogue Trader so I cannot speak to how faithfully the system was adapted. But OwlCat has proven adept at this in the past, and again to a layperson the system seems well done. So, I will go out on a limb here and say that the system is a good CRPG conversation.

However, the gameplay is only one aspect of this game and while yes it's good, that's not the reason I have enjoyed this game as much as I have. I really like OwlCats usage of the 40k IP. The dialogue options, your player character, the story, all allow you to really roleplay what I wanted to in a the 40k universe and that's a heretic smiting, chainsword wielding, zealot of the empire of mankind, the Emperor Protects! I have enjoyed the power fantasy of being the almighty rogue trader who everyone submits to just because. And if that sounds enjoyable to you too, I'd say jump on the train brother. Of course there are other options as well, I can't speak to them just yet, as I have not gotten around to even beating my first play through. But I'd assume they have some good roleplay options as well.

Now there are somethings that I think it doesn't do perfectly. One example is, there is one specific quest in the beginning that no matter what you do, or dialogue options you chose the outcome is the exact same. Then some of the follow up story bits you get from the associated character really don't make sense if you chose the more "evil" dogmatic approach. In fact, it feels like the character in question just completely forgets how you treated them and now you are best friends. That was kind of jarring. I am not quite sure how prevalent this kind of issue is as I haven't done multiple routes just yet, I just happened to repeat that quest twice because I didn't like the outcome and then turned out the outcome was the same either way.

Overall, at the time of writing this review (36 hours in) I am really enjoying the game and would recommend it to anyone who likes the 40k universe, CRPGS, or fans of OwlCat games.

I bought this game because of Seth's video. Which I surmise that a lot of people did. Just reading the reviews will kind of tell you that. Seth makes really funny content and typically what he covers are great games. This is no exception, at least for the first hour to two hours. This game has a very, very good foundation with some amazing ideas and concepts and I really hope they follow through with it and flesh out all of the systems.

However, as it stands just know that if you purchase the game you are maybe getting two hours of fun and engaging content. Then you are left with basically a repeat of the last two hours you just played. If you really enjoy the gameplay loop, that probably isn't a negative. But for me, I did decide to refund it to wait for a time when it's more fleshed out. But overall I do recommend this game to people who like the idea this game is purposing and to support the devs.

Dark Envoy is an isometric RPG or CRPG with a real time with pause/slow time combat system.Which is pretty good all things considered. It has a fairly standard RPG class system, with a few unique choices and a specialization system for your class once reaching a certain level. Making it a decently fleshed out system, for a double A release like this.

The level up system also allows you at any point to completely reset your skills and attribute points for free. This makes experimenting with different builds and class pairs fairly easy and pretty fun to do. This also reduces the fear of choosing a skill that may not exactly work with the build you're attempting to achieve. If this problem arises, you can simply reset and choose a different option. I did not play on the higher difficulties as my play time is a little low. But, I would also surmise that this would allow you to tailor your builds to specific fights in the event that your standard build just wasn’t cutting it.

I would say that the combat system is overall engaging and fun to play. Which is a good thing, because the big negative of this game is the jank animation.Which really hurts the overall tone that the story is trying to convey. The game has these odd in-engine cutscenes that just look down right bad. I would also say the two main characters and supporting cast during these cutscenes don’t have the best story or voice acting. Which is in direct contrast to the unanimated “slideshow” cutscenes you get in-between major events. The voice acting in those actually keeps me fairly engaged with the overarching plot. Which leads me to believe it’s not really that the story is bad, it’s simply the way it’s conveyed that brings it down. The mass majority of these story bits are in the in-engine animated cutscenes. I almost wish they had put in “less” effort and just did the black and white slideshow ones for each event. As I think that would have drastically helped with the overall tone.

However, even with the jank animations I think the story is serviceable and I have heard that its predecessor,Tower of Time, also had a pretty decent story that this is a continuation of. So if you played the previous game and liked its story, you may find this one a little more enjoyable then I.

All in all, Dark Envoy is a perfect example of why steam needs more than a simple, yes or no option for their review system. As it is neither a solid yes or no. I honestly think for the price of the game if you are okay with a decently well done double A experience then it’s probably worth it. But, if you are looking for a more polished and refined game with a ton of intricate systems, then I’d say this isn’t for you. Overall it’s a solid 5 out of 10.

Baldur's Gate 3 a game that after years of development and fans waiting with immense anticipation. Actually released with minimal bugs, fully fleshed out game play, and a complete story from start to beginning with no micro-transactions. Which is, sadly, a feat in the modern gaming space. That isn't to discount Baldur's Gate 3's success as I believe this game is well worth the money. Just to point out the sad state that the gaming industry has come to when one of the big highlights of a game release is that it actually works and delivers on promises.

BG3 is a CRPG/TRPG meaning turn based combat where hits relay on a probability system based on factors such as stats or in-game effects. The system that BG3 uses is a Dungeon & Dragons 5e based system. I personally believe the implementation of this system was fairly well done and is fun for fans of these types of games. I do however miss the more elemental affect interactions that Divinity Original Sin 2 had. While some are still present within BG3 it's definitely not as prevalent. However, I do believe that combat does get overbearing at times. Due to the turn based nature of CRPGs combat encounters can take awhile, and some of the later game fights have so many enemies that one combat encounter can take 20 minutes to resolve and typically, the quests will have multiple combat encounters back to back. The combat is fun and for hardcore fans of these types of systems this shouldn't be anything new. However, for someone who has just started playing these types of games as I believe many have, this may cause some frustration in the later fights. As it did even for me, and while I am no master at these games, I am not new either.

The story of BG3 was to me fairly compelling. It starts off with a strong hook and keeps you invested throughout it's run time While for me, the third act does kind of drag on a little bit. I do not believe that is due to the story being weak or boring, just that after 70 hours of game play I start looking for the end of any game. The voice acting is also really well done for the most part which is huge help with keeping any story engaging. However, I do say for the most part, and that's because of one character.


And that is General Thorm, I do not know if what they were going for was just the super monotone, boring voice. But I just think his performance was down right awful. As the main bad guy for kind of Act 1 and all of Act 2. The first time you hear him speak if you do the good route he lacks any sort of emotion in his tone, and maybe that's on purpose. But I feel like he should be more emotional, his voice crackling with anger and hatred as you have rendered him mortal once again and you've come to cut him down. Yet his delivery is flat and monotone. I straight up laughed at his line when he realizes you aren't a subject of the Absolute and you've come to kill him. It was just so flat. But again, that may have been their intention and if that's the case I guess it's not bad just not to my taste or how I envision that character.


My only other complaint with the game is the "romance" function. I just think most of them are kind of bad. Not the individual stories of the companions. I actually think those are pretty good. But the way that "romance" works is a little one note. You just choose the options that align with the character and then they approach you asking if you want to continue to their "scene" if you now what I mean. If you play a good aligned character both Wyll and Gale will just naturally like you and when they make advances if you turn them down it's almost like you're choosing the negative option. This happens even if you already have a pre-existing "relationship" with another companion. I don't exactly now how to explain my issues with this mechanic that well. But I have seen a few other people bring this up so maybe if you're reading this, you'll have a similar feeling to my own and understand what I am trying to say.

All the character story lines are good, at least the ones I have completed so far. except for the following, spoiler warning.


Minthara makes absolutely no sense. You end up killing all the good aligned characters in the druid grove to even start her story line. She makes herself out to be the bad aligned romance option. Then in Act 2 when you can actually recruit her, shes now like, sudo good(?) and just says all the things she has done was because of the Absolute. Then she approves of a lot of the good aligned dialog options. To me this switch was just baffling. You basically cement yourself into being a ultra bad guy, then have to do a like 90 degree turn when recruiting her. It's super odd, I mean I somewhat understand that it opens her up for a slightly more compelling story line then just "Crazy Murder Hobo Drow". But I feel like if you were going to do that you should have a way to convince her in Act 1 that maybe the actions she want's to take aren't her own or something. This would feel a little less jarring personally.


To wrap this up, I believe Baldur's Gate 3 is very much worth the money. It's an extremely well made game with many of the promised features, with minimal bugs, and hours and hours of content. I already have 129 hours at the time of this review and there is so much that I haven't even seen in the game. So I'd strongly recommend this to anyone who is somewhat interested. You can also play this game in multiplayer and while that may slow down your progress through the game tremendously, it's always fun to goof around with friends.

This game is essentially a copy of older battlefields with a Roblox-esque style and a few minor extra game play mechanics thrown in here and there, and that's not a negative. Without a decent Battlefield game in years I am so glad that a game developer has come to fill in the void that the gaming space has been missing. With a price point of 15 dollars it's hard to beat. I would highly suggest, if you are a fan of games like Battlefield 3 & 4, picking this game up. I even decided to spend the 20 extra to purchase the supporters pack which includes a few skins for some of the guns in game.

If i had to give one recommendation that could be used to improve on the already great game would be to slightly tweak the driving physics to make them feel a little bit better. I don't exactly know how to explain it but they vehicles do feel a little "floaty" at times. But overall they're fine and fun to mess around with.

The devs have continued to update the game and make it better. If you haven't already I'd recommend picking this game up. It's a great way to blow a few hours after work or just something to do when you don't want to really think about much.

A very fun little roguelite that reminds me of some of the early flash games I played in school but with more content and polish that you would expect from an actual game. I think this is an absolute steal for the 4.99. The pixel art is very nice!

Fun little party game were you can relax, have a couple of beers, and joke around with you friends. All this while also requiring some thought and "skill" to progress to the later days of a run. I would recommend to anyone who just wants a neat little couch coop game for Friday nights with the pals.