a little background: I love rouge-likes/lites.
balatro , risk of rain 2 , slay the spire , dead cells , hades , vampire survivors , etc.
my friend who loves Cult of the Lamb really recomended it to me and he thought I will enjoy the game , so i gave it a shot and here is my review of the game:

visuals

from the second i opened the game i was stunned by the amazing visuals of anything and everything , you can see the work that was put through to create the visuals , everything gives me cute doodle vibes that look so well in this game , yet they give me that demonic cult leader feeling with the enemies and bosses looking absoulutly horrifying and the rituals giving vibes stright from hell with the artwork the visuals for me are a 10/10

story

this game has a great understandable story , from the start you understand everything going on , what is youre purpose and the reason youre doing all of this , the one who waits lore is intresting , even though the puppet motive where youre the puppet of an all powerful god sent to somewhere to kill beings who oppose him is quite heard of , the game has its own hellish twist on it
so the story for me is a 9/10.

gameplay

there are a 2 different games in Cult of the Lamb , the classic rouglike sort of bullt hell game and the more farming simulater oriented part of the game.
so the rougelike part of the game is very fun going from room to room binding of isaac style gameplay is very addicting , the random weapon and curse you get at the start + the tarot cards are a very nice addition to make every run feel different and unique , every weapon so far is very fun to use but some of the curses feel underwhelming and take a long time to charge up which doesnt feel good.
i do have one major complaint about the combat in this game , its just not that hard , i went into this game completelyblind not knowing anything about the mechanics and nuances and i picked hard mode i went in , and the runs felt like medium difficulty at best , with some enemies that dont even require me to use my brain/dodge roll , im sure that in my next save - file i will select the hardest difficulty,
combat: 9/10
the second part of the gameplay loop is the cult aspect with you greeting new cult members , telling them what to do etc.
you need to make them food , places to sleep , and more
I have no problem with farming games , i have a lot of hours into games like stardew valley and I enjoy those kind of gamepllay loops.
but man i have 2 major complaints that hinder the gameplay loop experiance for me:
1: the systems are a confusing , with multiple systems feeling the same but actually are not totally the same , I like complexity , but i dont like confusion , and it feels like some systems are not clear enough on what they do or what they will do.
2: some tasks are just boring , repetitive and sometimes , just down right annoying to do.
I like to min max but when it requires me to go to each one , select the command option , select another option , go back select command again , selecting a diffrent action going back again , just to get half a bar of loyalty is just annoying , and im not that far into the game , unless there is an upgrade later down in the game , having 40 cult members just sounds like a headache , and i like handeling their needs but somethings feel very underwhelming for all the dialog options youre going through.
cult gameplay loop: 7.5/10

final verdict

this game is really fun , and im not even that deep into it , im looking forward to continuing my runs and expanding my cult the postives just outway the negetives here and the fun combat , the great dimonic and doodly visuals , the rich and intresting story and most parts of the cut leader gameplay loop are very fun and rewarding to play.
final rating: 9/10
would defenetly recommend

Reposting my thoughts and review from r/denshattack :3

Hi everyone! Please enjoy my latest review of Resident Evil Requiem with my cats! 😸

Gurei comes out on July 23rd. Anyone picking this up or try the steam demo?

It hasn’t even been a few days since we learned about the massive layoffs at id Software, and according to initial reports, most of those affected are supposed to be programmers. I give the big brains at Microsoft a year, two at most, before they realize that letting AI do the programming instead of people is, at best, a road to hell. I’m not saying it isn’t a useful tool - for example, for faster searches or explaining something simple - but the old saying still holds true: a good servant, but a bad master. The new Revelations DLC for Doom: The Dark Ages is thus a swan song of sorts for all these id Software employees.

And if this really is the last major project from this legendary company, then they’ve FREAKING nailed it.

Rating: 9/10
Pros: DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM, spear, great gameplay, no dragons, no robots, old-school levels and references
Cons: sluggish AI in large arenas, doors that require a Master Key, a few bugs (especially sound), can’t replay chapters, the final boss

Czech version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-u9ZC3WM_w

Hodnocení: 9/10
+: DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM, kopí, skvělá gameplay, žádný drak, žádný robot, oldschool levely a odkazy
-: spící AI ve velkých arénách, dveře na Master Key, pár bugů (hlavně ozvučení), (zatím) chybí možnost projít si kapitoly znovu, finální boss

This is my review of Resident Evil Requiem after 100% completion and unlocking the platinum trophy. Do let me know your feedback as these reviews take a lot of time and effort and I am trying to figure out if I should continue them.

Had an idea of a way to make better use of shorts. I buy a lot of games on steam and leave reviews a lot to help others not waste their money like I do.
I also just enjoy making videos and wanted to find ways to increase discoverability.
Had a brain wave and decided to start making shorts of my steam reviews, the idea being being concise and not getting into too much detail (boosts engagement and kinda fits the theme), just hitting the main points I notice.
More entertainment than informative honestly. Yes, the music is supposed to sound awful, it's the cursed funky town music. May keep using it for a consistent brand... May not. Not sure yet. Open to suggestions on other games to review, as well as what you think works and doesn't work for this style.
AKA: review the review?

Basically speaking I like the game a lot but its painful to try and turn a blind eye to some of its issues.

To date I feel Prime 2 handled the story/gameplay split the best. A bit sad to see them continuing on the Prime 3 way of doing things with supporting characters.

The desert and bike were obviously missteps that I don't think will be repeated at least.

A race to see who finds bread faster. Your gang of two cent chucklefucks or a goblin and a half.

Signed the contract bought a spear,

Thought we would drink some victory beer.

Faced an orc he swung his chain,

Now my squad is a bloody stain.

Battle Brothers sounds exactly like the title of a canceled 90s Marvel cartoon but it is actually a German tactical simulator that treats your units like disposable meat.

If you have always wanted to play a hardcore version of Fire Emblem but absolutely refuse to buy a Nintendo console this is your game. Yes this is the second review in a row where I bring up Fire Emblem and at this rate I might as well just review it next. Available on PC PlayStation Xbox and ironically the Switch itself.

The core of the game is building a mercenary company in a grimdark low fantasy world and desperately trying to keep them breathing. Oh and try your hardest not to interact with a crying baby lying under a tree next to its dead mother. We all know how that ends.

Your starting roster is a tragic collection of farmers blacksmiths crippled grandpas and typical Novigrad peasants. You take whatever contracts you can get and pray your company does not starve to death in the first week because of mismanaged wages or an ambush by a couple of very hungry wolves.

The game throws a ridiculous amount of low fantasy gear at you like acid flasks and throwing nets giving you infinite ways to build your guys. You can minmax your squad all you want but the game will always find a pack of horrifying beasts ready to take that meta build and shove it where the sun does not shine.

You have faction diplomacy forests crawling with giant spiders deserts with gladiator arenas and literal apocalyptic snowlands. It has everything including a giant Kraken and our beloved Slavic Hexen. What else do you even need?

The funny thing is the game lulls you into a false sense of security at first. I actually put together a squad of 10 absolute gigachads and did standard Fallout style quests. Killing bandits delivering mail escorting caravans. I was making bank and leveling my bros. Then one night I got jumped by goblins riding wolves with poison arrows. The last time my progression got screwed this hard was in The Binding of Isaac.

But all that suffering is heavily compensated by one beautiful fact. YOU CAN ROB CARAVANS. Sure Elden Ring lets you do that now but over there it is just a fun side activity for casuals. In Battle Brothers robbing a caravan is a tactical exam for intellectuals. I highly recommend reading Sun Tzu Steve Jobs and Jacques Fresco before you even attempt it.

The game constantly throws new mechanics and content at you so fast that you literally do not have time to get bored mostly because you will be dead way before that happens.

To quote a veteran mercenary grandpa from the trenches. Feed your brothers well but never trust the nobles because they will steal your crowns and leave you to rot.

I genuinely want to know about your absolute worst hiring decisions. Drop a comment telling me about that one asthmatic crippled beggar you hired for three crowns who somehow caused the death of your entire company. Let us share the pain:)

I’ve got way too many games living rent-free in my head right now, and I really need to dump them somewhere. If you want more of this stuff, feel free to follow my Reddit or subscribe to my Substack, so you do not miss it :)

I'll be posting this kind of content there regularly. What should I cover in the next review? Drop your picks below and good day !🐸

Craving some Fire Emblem, mixed with Persona shit,
Booted up the game, thought I’d easily handle it.
Saw two of demons, thought “Cool, I’ll survive...”
Then the grid opened up. What the fuck, there’s five?!

Honestly, with all due respect to Pokémon, the only things separating it from the Megami Tensei series were the plot, demon fusion, and actual ball-crushing difficulty. Every new game they add some monsters, cut others, same old shit. The only real difference is that Pokémon doesn’t have a giant green dick riding a chariot. Which is a shame, really.
So Devil Survivor (don’t mix it up with Devil Summoner) is this weird-ass Megami Tensei spin-off. If you’re sitting there going “what the fuck is a Megaten, why are there demons, and why is he bringing up Persona?”, look at it like this: Megami Tensei is basically Disney. Mainline Shin Megami Tensei is Mickey Mouse. Persona is Marvel. And then you have random spin-offs running around like Devil Survivor, Devil Summoner, Jack Bros... even something called Devil Children (honestly surprised the actual Devil didn’t sue for copyright infringement).

Here’s the setup: you, your hacker buddy, and a girl with a very... huge “personality” get these modified consoles from some local emo kid. Out of nowhere, these things start predicting disasters for the day. And then they actually happen. Blackouts, demons invading, toxic gas, whatever. The military locks down the whole area, and now you have to survive for a week in this quarantine zone.
Oh, and everyone has a floating number over their head showing exactly how many days they have left to live. Sounds kinda dumb on paper, but you actually start giving a shit about these characters by day two.

And no, before you ask, there are no Confidants here. You can’t romance the stacked girl or your hacker bro, this is a different beast. Like I said, everyone has a death timer. Over time, new anime boys and girls will join your squad, and whoever you talk to the most is basically who survives until the end. You can’t save everyone. If someone’s clock hits zero because you were busy grinding, they die. Tough shit :(

Gameplay-wise, it’s not just your standard tactics game. You don’t just walk up, hit “attack” and watch the animation play out. Getting to the enemy is the tactical part. But the second you step next to them, it switches to a full-on turn-based JRPG fight. And you’re not just fighting one demon on a tile, you’re fighting a squad of two or three at once. You have to figure out a specific approach for every single encounter.

I’m not gonna bore you with the basic mechanics, let’s just talk about the cool stuff. Remember those consoles? They have a built-in demon auction app. Instead of sweet-talking demons into joining you, you literally buy them. It’s basically eBay for demons. You actually have to bid against other NPCs just to snatch some random Lucifer for 50 bucks cheaper.
Then there’s skill cracking. Instead of randomly learning skills, you steal them. You target a specific enemy before the fight, and if you kill them, you permanently rip their ability. It actually makes you want to fight instead of just mindlessly beating up random enemies for nothing.

The game gets sweaty fast. Soon it’s not just you summoning demons… the mafia starts doing it, and eventually the demons themselves start summoning other demons. You actually have to think ahead and prep for every battle. Unless you’re a dumbass like me who would rather over-grind for hours than use his brain.
It’s tough, but it introduces mechanics slowly. Even if your brain is completely smooth, you'll figure it out faster than you'd figure out how to act if a real girl actually talked to you. But let's be honest, if you're reading a deep-dive on a 15-year-old niche JRPG, you're not exactly drowning in dates anyway. Go touch some grass, bro.
Tech-wise, you want Devil Survivor Overclocked. It’s a 3DS exclusive, so dust off the console or use an emulator. There’s a regular DS version, but it has way less content. It’s an old game, so no frame drops on an emulator, even if your PC is older than the development cycle of The Elder Scrolls VI.

I know most of you probably started with Persona 5, but I’m curious, any other masochists out here who actually played the weird stuff? Let’s hear your horror stories in the comments.

I’ve got way too many games living rent-free in my head right now, and I really need to dump them somewhere. If you want more of this stuff, feel free to follow my Reddit or subscribe to my Substack, so you do not miss it :)

I'll be posting this kind of content there regularly. What should I cover in the next review? Drop your picks below and good day !🐸

Hello everyone! I'm new to Reddit and wanted to share my thoughts on this game, as I know it might not be for everyone. Also, just a quick heads-up: I'm Italian, so my English might sound a bit off or unnatural to many of you, but please bear with me! Even though the topic might not appeal to everyone, it is particularly close to my heart as a Sword Art Online fan, so I still wanted to share my analysis of Echoes of Aincrad with you—or rather, a vent about what it could have been.

Let’s clear one thing up right away: nobody was expecting the ultimate MMORPG (I don't think we'll ever see that), and plus, the premises of the original story are hard to fit into a single-player game. But from my point of view, the final game shows how many interesting ideas were held back by development choices that I find unforgivably lazy. I want to clarify that these are just my own deductions and a purely personal opinion.

\*\*Watch out, because there will be some spoilers below regarding the story, gameplay, and how quests work.\*\*

I'll start by saying that the main plot, for the first ten hours, moves at an excruciatingly slow pace. It doesn't convey the anxiety and tension of being trapped in a death game at all. Fortunately, the narrative finally kicks into gear later on and delivers a few moments more in line with the original work, which gives you a glimmer of hope... too bad that right after, the game trips over its own structural flaws again.

There are only two explorable floors. Two floors in a Sword Art Online game. Obviously, recreating all one hundred floors would never have been possible unless the game was a live service, which would have been an entirely utopian and economically unsustainable option. However, creating just a few more floors by taking advantage of, say, time skips would have helped the progression and the sense of advancement immensely, even at the cost of making the two existing ones smaller.

This rigidity, in my opinion, is fully evident in the level design. On the first floor, walking through massive areas while fighting nothing but wolves, boars, kobolds, insects, and Nepenthes (I hate them) along with all their variants makes the whole experience boring to death. I assume they recycled only these enemy types to pretend to be faithful to the lore of the first floor, but in practice, it’s a choice that kills exploration. The absurd thing is that when you finally reach the second floor, new enemies are introduced—some of which are really annoying and truly unbalanced—but despite the novelty, you still find yourself surrounded by those damn boars you've been demolishing continuously for the previous 20 hours.

It's a real shame, because from an artistic standpoint, certain points of interest and specific zones are really well done and visually appealing. There are some very beautiful views that truly make you say "wow, I'm inside Aincrad," but despite the initial impact, they turn out to be completely useless in terms of gameplay. Don't get me wrong, the text notes you find scattered around are nice because they add interesting details and lore, but on their own, they absolutely don't justify how empty these areas are.

Dear developer, you created a beautiful point of interest, like a ruined tower on a plateau? Then put a unique mini-boss there, maybe a bit tougher than usual, which drops a unique item or weapon once defeated! This wouldn't have been enough to completely fix the repetitiveness, but at least it would have been a way to show me that exploring thoroughly leads to surprises, incentivizing me to search every inch of the map.

I would have preferred a thousand times a smaller map packed with actual activities, rather than these empty roads where I felt like the vast majority of these beautiful backdrops served only to hide chests in absurd ways. And even here, not all chests have useless loot: when luck is on your side and you find the blueprint for an overpowered piece of armor, you're happy and you feel rewarded, of course! The painful part is that most of the time they contain random, filler items that can easily be obtained in other ways, placed there clearly just to stretch the game time.

The exact same frustration can be found in the dungeon design, which I found large, but uselessly so. Take the "Cave of Tears" as an example, which is the first real dungeon on the first floor: you end up going there for three different side quests. The problem is that the structure is so repetitive and always the same that running through it over and over becomes incredibly tedious. Plus, I find the artistic choices of the dungeons really questionable, as it feels like you're walking around the exact same corridor the whole time, without any real variety.

Another aspect that heavily weighs down the variety of the action is the total lack of unique skills, such as camouflage or stealth abilities, which would have surely allowed players to approach the gameplay in different ways. Stealth in this game practically doesn't exist: the enemies have an absurd field of view and aggro onto you from a mile away. This combination systematically forces you to confront and kill them every single time, unless you want to engage in an exhausting escape while being chased across half the map. The absence of alternative approaches or mechanics to bypass combat does nothing but further flatten the rhythm, forcing the player into the single funnel of continuous and unavoidable melee combat.

There is also a lack of attention to detail that would have made all the difference in terms of the game world. A prime example? Cooking. How do you not include a cooking system in the inns?! In the original story, food is fundamental; the author built a lot of situations around it. Inserting a mechanic with recipes to discover or rare ingredients that unlock unique buffs and advanced stats once tasted would have added excellent characterization to the gameplay, as well as giving value to the players' routines on the floors. These are those small, non-essential things that truly reveal the heart behind a work.

The combat system, from my point of view, is simple and, on a strictly personal level, it works within its limits. Sure, hacking away at the umpteenth boar of the day is repetitive, and it almost makes you smile that the only visual "satisfaction" is that slow-motion scene where the monster gets sliced in two when you finish it off.

But aside from this basic dynamic, the real disaster, in my opinion, is how they structured the missions and the important fights. The side quests are carbon copies of one another: you accept the job, you fight in a fenced area, you pick up the item, and you bring it back. The end. It’s a shame, because some start with intriguing narrative premises, seeming like interesting side missions with a story to tell, only to systematically boil down to the exact same flat ending that completely ruins them.

As for the rewards, at least it can be said that completionism is rewarded with concrete elements, given that some sidequests drop permanent items that are extremely useful for quality of life (like extra healing slots for the whole game) or permanent cosmetic changes for clothes; even unlocking the item that allows you to upgrade sword skills is hidden behind one of these side missions.
But then you clash with the game design again when you face the bosses: locking every mini-boss in a separate arena, always interrupted by the exact same cutscene instead of leaving it free on the map to exploit those splendid points of interest I mentioned earlier, seemed like an absurd choice to me.

Almost every major encounter boils down to you locked in a tiny space with a recycled boss, which usually just uses variants of the usual base enemies, continuously summoning two incredibly annoying allies over and over. The screen becomes total chaos, you lose all freedom of movement, you get tossed from one corner to the other, and goodbye strategy. It’s just frustrating.
All these problems and anomalies become a total nightmare if you try to play on "Very Hard" difficulty with the Permadeath mode active.

Personally, I won't do it, because just thinking about it makes me frustrated on behalf of anyone who tries. In itself, a high challenge is fine and I approve of it, because it forces you to carefully plan your setup in terms of weapons, armor, and items to select ad hoc before setting out.

The problem is that I noticed completely broken and unfair difficulty spikes with certain bosses. You go from zones that you clear without any issues to side missions where you get beaten to a pulp in tiny arenas, finding yourself facing, for example, a giant boar boss flanked by two other annoying boars: you get smashed from side to side, you don't even realize what is hitting you, and you find yourself in situations of total stunlock without being able to do absolutely anything. In a run where if you lose your life your save file of hours and hours is deleted, seeing everything collapse because of a boss that is completely unbalanced compared to the 28 you met before really makes you lose the desire to play.

At the end of the day, the experience is also held back by the total lack of a cooperative mode. It's useless to fantasize about an SAO-themed MMORPG, I repeat, but I think a co-op mode for two or three players would have certainly made everything more interesting, perhaps offering a more creative approach and breaking up the monotony a bit.
The game ultimately stops halfway: the excellent artistic framework is unfortunately not enough to save mechanics that I find decisively too rigid and repetitive. We'll see if the developers fix things with some patches, though honestly, I have my very strong doubts.

Forgive me if I seemed a bit too impulsive in my judgments or if the tones turned out harsh; there is probably someone out there who is loving this game. But since SAO is a theme very close to my heart, I particularly wanted to speak my mind, hoping that maybe someone else thinks like me regarding the wasted potential of this title. :D

>recently played game (pic related)
>named after a beyoncé song
>story revolves around an incel, virgin, shy, White Guy named John
>John is a cuck for his femdom, blue, ai waifu
>Master cuck (John) is very much in love with said blue woman who tells him what to do all the time.
>BTW she’s underage (not even 7 years old)
>the game has, of course, a token stereotypical black guy with lots of swagger who bullies John the whole story (shows him how to be tough)
>the boss of the whole fleet is a short haired independent woman (her incompetent white dad died in a previous game)
>said bossbitch creams on token black guy’s 15 inch BBC
>Master cuck has to stop the christian crusade gang called the covenant which wants to kill everyone by blasting inside the huge sphincter muscle (halo) in space (christians are closeted homos).
>end up having to team up with (illegal) aliens to stop prophet of strueth
>one of the aliens (the arbiter) is hardcore gay for John and John have to fight the urges to stay loyal to blue woman waifu
>most of the game takes place in africa which somehow has lucious green nature and developed super cities???
>everything in the game is either organic (hunters & scarabs) or runs on green energy (fusion, plasma, fission)
>oh the gravemind? Benjamin netanyahu.

Halo is a story about an Johns incel redemption arc of killing zionism (bibi) by the help of the real heroes: his underage blue waifu, his ravenous gay, (illegal) alien friend and token black guy.

6/10 too woke for me.

Looking at the Gamecube, Xbox, and PS2 Teen Titans game!