Recent reviews by PixelDew

Great game! can't wait for the full launch

Loved the story and gameplay despite the dated feel in some aspects. I recommend using the project x mod! Also used lossless scaling for a visually glitchy 60 fps over the locked 30. No crashes, bugs issues in my entire playthrough

Fun game with a satifying gameplay loop

I loved the game! Despite its flaws, I enjoyed my time with it. I liked the increase in difficulty and the more intense combat. It's a lot harsher than hollow knight and those that loved the calmer, friendlier vibe might not be a fan. I would not consider it strictly better or worse than hollow knight, just different. Personally however, the issues I had with it didn't overshadow the good and the act 3 ending & boss was amazing.
It's one of my favorite games this year and I would recommend it to anyone who did some of the more challenging side content in hollow knight and wants more of it. I think the current "mostly positive" rating describes it well.


Things I liked -

• Art style was great just like the first game, like the new interactions with the environment, locations were interesting and varied quite a bit while still giving the impression of a once great land lost to the haunting.
  
• New healing mechanism is a change for the positive. It makes combat more intense by needing a full bar to heal while also healing for more at once, allowing you to focus more on the fight.
  
• Music was beautiful, especially parts of the Citadel and certain Act 3 moments. It fit the themes of the areas really well.
  
• Boss variety was decent, the different locations were vibrant and varied, especially the hidden ones. I liked having more towns and NPCs. Final boss was great and what I wish all bosses should have been - fast and fluid, reminded me of sekiro in a way when everything clicked.
  
• Some of the Parkour segments were fun and memorable, others varying from a little harsh to very unforgiving. I think they patched environmental damage in these sections to 1 heart which should have been a thing from the start.
  
• I like diagonal pogo despite hating it at first, adding a simple yet challenging twist to the game. Makes you actually think about enemy positioning.
  
• I enjoyed the new tools but miss the synergies that existed with some charms. Still feel that the compass shouldn't be a "charm/tool" but it's fine.
  
• Crest system is a nice addition though I used hunter for 99% of the game. Changing people's crest when they unlock it was a bad decision (especially when it unequipped tools like the compass).
  
• Exploration and finding secrets varied wildly. Some leading to unique extra locations or fights while others having a disappointing shard bundle. Would have prefered if disappointing ones just weren't a secret at all.
  
• New quest system. There's good and bad here, some of the quests are decent while others are just really mediocre. The funniest part is many of the fetch quests have rewards that are worth less than the rosaries you get while doing the quest.
  
• Very happy with the fair regional pricing as well, especially considering the scale of it.

Things I didn't like -

• I dislike the shard mechanic. I don't see the point of shards existing at all, especially when you already figured out how to balance it by limiting the number of tool uses between benches. At best they're a useless artificial cap and at worst they discourage you to use tools, which should never be a thing!
  
• Overly long boss run-backs are unnecessary, they didn't bother me as much but I can see people who don't have as much time to game completely dropping the game for this reason.
  
• The amount of new flying enemies, especially in Parkour segments was annoying. They're not as satisfying to fight and can get tiresome when they keep dodging away from a platform. I would have either lowered their health dramatically or just removed a lot of them.
  
• Bosses having no immediate rewards for beating them is disappointing, not sure what the thought process was behind removing that.
  
• Wish there were more pins of the same type rather than being limited to 9 each, or maybe a naming mechanism for pins as marking all the locations you need to come back to get very confusing later on as more abilities are unlocked.

A masterpiece of storytelling wrapped up in an incredible game. The first game I've sat through the entire credits for a game in years... and the music! My god the soundtrack is beautiful. Easily a 10/10 and my GOTY

One of the better open world survival games I have tried. It does a lot of things well, has some great mechanics like the ability to fly while designing your base (why don't other games implement this??). The boss and enemy design are decent, if not a little generic. The grind for most basic resources are reasonable compared to other similar games, but some of the rarer resources can be a bit grindy. The server wipes every 6 weeks seem like a great idea given how much you can keep, so it isn't a full reset while (I would hope) keeping things fresh. Overall I would recommend giving it a try if you enjoy this genre.

I still think it's one of the best open world games I've ever played.
It struggles with recycled content and feeling dragged out towards the end, like most open world games tend to do, but despite that part of me still didn't want it to end. The world they've built and some of the bosses you come across were challenging and enjoyable enough to be memorable, while others felt so out of place and terribly balanced/tedious (the numerous duo fights were shockingly bad considering the same devs made the O&S fight in Ds1).
It would be unfair comparing it directly to DS3 considering the pacing will always be worse with open world games so I'll leave my thoughts about pacing there.

Visually it was amazing, a testament to how important and timeless good art direction can be. The technical side of the team however does need to get with the times, the game shouldn't be locked to 60 fps (that to with unstable frame pacing) and the fps dropping during boss attack animations can be really bad. Whatever magic was used to make Armored Core, use that.

Overall I can't say it beat bloodborne for the best FS game in my eyes, but then again bloodborne was just really unique both in combat, worldbuilding and theme.
it's a tie with DS3 for second as the music and boss design in that game is brilliant, while slightly dated in some aspects. Outstanding effort for their first open world game and I hope it has an effect on future open world games just as BOTW did but a part of me hopes fromsoftware still continues to make more beautifully paced, dense, linear games instead of only going open world.

More bloodborne style combat please! even if bloodborne 2 won't ever happen.

A great end to a beautiful series of games. I love this universe, not as much as bioshock 1 I will admit, but nonetheless thank you developers for making these games; I finally get the hype.

Bioshock 2 was a great game; to say this DLC was a more enjoyable experience would be an understatement. I went in with lukewarm expectations and was pleasantly surprised at how great of a time I had! Exploring the new location, uncovering Porters tragic life and the further inhumane conditions at rapture; all of which kept me captivated. It did a decent job (as did the base game) at fleshing out the lore of rapture, while not getting stale or drawn out. Some may consider the focus of this story to be lacking in deeper philosophical aspects, to me the perspective of a victim to the powers at rapture was a refreshing side to see amongst the monsters we've come to know.

Coming back to this after elden ring, man was this a good game. Hearing that main menu theme is angelic; seeing the shrine once again and it hits me how great the set pieces and more importantly pacing is to a game. It's something open world games haven't managed to nail down yet and I doubt it's possible. The journey you go on, ending with Gael just all felt so tightly wrapped and polished; barely any reused bosses and the ones you fight are almost always enjoyable and balanced.

I understand it's hardly fair comparing the two considering the scope of the games but it did make me want to replay this and appreciate this game more than I initially did. The music and environment while fighting Gael; can't say any moment in elden ring felt that good.