Recent reviews by vassilevb

Yet another abandoned PvP/Coop social deduction game. https://steamcharts.com/app/953880

I'd suggest that you save your money and play Unfortunate Spacemen for the price of free.
Or... just get yourself Town of Salem and feel the best social deduction videogame I've played so far, based on the OG social deduction board game Mafia/Werewolves:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(party_game)

It's the reserve that runs the worst* out of all reserves and I've stumbled upon the most disappearing blood trails here.
I still like it nevertheless. The story is absolutely bonkers and you shouldn't pay attention to it (River and Jackie are still retarded and Jackie is somehow even more annoying and whiny).

* My own engine.ini file makes some boulders invisible, which is very unfortunate. Engine.ini is an advanced configuration file that comes with any Unreal Engine 4 game. More information (including examples of some of the parameters): https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Engine:Unreal_Engine_4
And here's a list with all the parameters:
https://digilander.libero.it/ZioYuri78/

The majority of Steam guides for graphical/performance improvement are using the engine.ini file parameters, but I suggest only using them after you've understood them (i.e. not by simply copy-pasting someone else's suggestion, because everybody has a different PC (wouldn't be far-fetched to say "unique") and will probably need a configuration tailored to his/her own PC).

This was an enjoyable reserve for me. It looks a lot like my own country (on the Balkan peninsula) during the Autumn, and the same animals roam here, except for moose, arctic fox, and lynx. I like the Finnish accent (if it's not real Finns speaking English, then big kudos to the actors) of the characters, makes me smile almost every time I hear it, and it makes the setting a little bit less unbelievable.
I don't like missable things in stories/questlines, and there some of those here. I didn't want to miss the rifle in the last quest, so I didn't shoot Wispy, so now I am without the Wispy trophy. Mikael's outburst during one of the last dialogues was very unexpected and feels quite unnatural. He would just do what he decides and hang up on the screaming people (I should know, because I don't like talking much either).
I got this one as part of the Map Pack 2 (bundled with the New Zealand / Matariki Park reserve) and I'm happy with both of them.
One thing I don't like is that lynx are solitary animals, but in the game you almost always see them in herds (this is, I'm betting, not a problem with the reserve itself, but with the game's animal behaviour model).

With the exception for the Nitro Express rifle and the story (instead of supernatural BS, we have overly obnoxious caricatures of rich people here), interestingly enough what I said about the African reserve of the *other* game applies to this reserve as well:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/id/vassilevb/recommended/894600/

One thing though: they nailed the African feeling with the savanna landscape here. Almost exactly as I would imagine it after seeing this nice film I'd recommend*, narrated by James Earl Jones / Darth Vader:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109049/

Another thing I don't like (and is quite unrealistic) is the size of the herds of wildebeest and cape buffalo. IRL the cape buffalo herds are absolutely massive (hundreds of animals, averaging around 450), while in the game, they are extremely small (around ten animals). Information:
https://www.ifaw.org/international/animals/buffalo
https://www.ifaw.org/international/animals/wildebeests


*It also reminds me of this movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060736/

I've had Steep for a long time on Uplay/Ubisoft Connect, but I didn't have any of the DLCs. The game is quite enjoyable even without them. The DLCs add challenges (you have more than a hundred challenges without them), a few additional sports (you could get plenty of fun with just snowboarding/wingsuiting), a quick access to the Japanese map (which costs 100 000 in-game credits that can be piled after about 7 hours of doing challenges) and a ton of cosmetics for which I don't care. The game was on sale for 6 EUR with all the DLCs included here, and I would also be able to leave a review (something that I can't do by having the game on Uplay/Ubisoft Connect alone; I still cannot give my praises to Ghost Recon: Wildlands/Breakpoint because of this reason). Good news for people like me: the save files of the two versions (Uplay/Ubisoft Connect vs. Steam) are compatible, i.e. all my progress got carried over and I didn't have to start the game from the tutorial.

Speaking of other Ubisoft games... most of them are made on the proprietary engine, called Ubisoft Anvil. In my opinion, Anvil completely shines in this game. It feels like it was made for this particular game. As people like me (i.e. who played and enjoyed hundreds of hours in Wildlands & Breakpoint) know, it runs very smooth and is very pretty (and is a little bit cartoony, which is why I don't like Rainbow Six Siege).

This game reminds me of my time with Cool Boarders 2001 on my old PSOne (it was like THPS/2, but with snowboarding — very fun times). It also brings back my memories when I had the privilege to practice a couple of wintersports (snowboarding & skiing) on a few occasions IRL (they are generally not meant for poor people like me; the wintersports infrastructure (ran/"managed" by mostly scammers who rely on robbing tourists and yourself) and your proximity to a mountain is also a big barrier). The game also allows you to walk on foot, which is neat. Interesting fact: there's a roleplay community of hikers/climbers who climb peaks in groups (check the Steep subreddit for more information). Speaking of which, Steep is fundamentally designed to be a social experience and requires an internet connection. Having being released in 2016, it is now almost eight years old and, unfortunately, it will probably be crippled (if not destroyed) by Ubisoft (i.e. its servers would probably be shut down at some point (there are lots of licensed stuff (Salomon, K2, etc.), which will also prevent them to sell the game at some point)), leaving you only able to free roam without the capability to do challenges. This is saddening. However, if you appreciate the beauty of winter sports and have a soft spot for snowy environments like me, and if you can spare 6 EUR during a sale, don't hesitate — you will have a good amount of fun.

I'll definitely try Riders Republic at some point.

I've previously played this on Origin/EA and I'm having so much fun with the crashing mechanics and racing within an open world map. Not as realistic as BeamNG.drive, but it's still a solid fun experience. Bonus points for my Origin/EA save file being 100% compatible with the Steam version (which isn't even launching Origin/EA in the background like most contemporary games do, as far as I can see). Bonus points for the game being just 3.24 GB. More bonus points for the classical music and one of my favourite Guns N' Roses song (I wonder how much of the budget went for the licensing of the latter; it's gotta be a lot).

I'll definitely get myself the remaster once it gets on sale and I'll try this gentleman's save file converter:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Burnout/comments/1di9ufr/2024_still_impossible_to_transfer_savefile_from/
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/app/1238080/discussions/0/2577697791651169067/
https://www.patreon.com/posts/red-0-0-1-3-64021669

Warning: unpopular opinion. Do you know that you don't have to agree with me? Do you know that you don't have to defend something that you like against random people on the internet? Do you know that almost nothing will change my (or your) mind about my (or your) past experience, least of all another random person on the internet? You'll probably do your thing anyway and still give it a try on pissing me, so whatever, fück you. :)

Ugly steampunky art style. Ugly (under the pretense of being "futuristic" and "steampunky") weapon models. Ugly characters. Re+arded paywalled and grindy achievements. Everything in this game is trying too hard to be fun, resulting in being totally unfun. Sh1tty music. Dreadful UI and inventory management. The worst offender: Diablo 2-style RNG-based tedious (and what's worse - endless) gear farming. This is not a test for a skillful player, this is a test of your patience and relies solely on you having the time to grind (which is not a fücking skill, g*dd@mmit). This is an extremely overrated game.

The only redeeming quality for me was that I played this in coop (luckily, I got carried most of the time by people who like this game (normal people like myself)). I still prefer to torture myself in Tarkov solo, thank you very much.

The only reason I'd upvote this one is because it was gifted to me. Other than that, here's what you'll be messing with if you decide to throw away your money on DICE's creation:

Remember that Medal of Honor game from 2010? The single-player campaign reminds me of this game (it was very bad). There are quite unpleasant head bobbing / camera shake effects that cannot be turned off.

One of the worst things about this game is that it will cost you 81 GB of space. Kerbal Space Program is less than 5 GB and it models the solar system in 1:10 scale. Think about that for a minute.

The game engine is Frostbite (version 3), used for FIFA 17/18/19/20/21/22/23. If my memory serves correctly, the last FIFA that introduced something new to the "genre" was FIFA 16, because it had women's national teams and Women's World Cup championship. And I'm being generous with the word "new" here. I am aware that Frostbite was intended for Battlefield games originally, but, damn, this game's "world" (i.e. maps) feels so small and cramped. Yes, it looks pretty, yes it runs well, but... for the scale of a WWI shooter, it feels very underwhelming. Especially for a guy like me with 350 hours in Verdun/Tannenberg (and, yes, their maps also feel small, but less so, compared to BF1).

The "environmental destruction" is a complete joke. It happens in a pre-programmed fashion and it's looking so stupid (I'm looking at you, Half-Life 2, i.e. 2004 technology). A tank's main cannon (what should be representing the 57 mm shortened QF 6-pounder) cannot penetrate a wooden fence (it looks more stupid than it sounds).

The damage model is also a complete joke (any soldier can regularly survive two rounds of .45 ACP in the face; it looks more stupid than it sounds).

If your weapon has a bayonet and you sneak behind an enemy and press F (melee), you will take out your shovel and use it instead (it looks more stupid than it sounds).

So much effort and money went into extremely exotic weapon models and complex animations (check out the Perino Model 1908 for example — you can clearly see the bullets moving towards the chamber when you fire), but it feels like a complete waste, because EA's managers/executives/decision makers were fully aware that this game's "shelf life" will be no more than 10 years (yes, welcome to 2024 and the scammy world of software-as-a-service "business model").

Multiplayer isn't completely dead (yet), but... Verdun/Tannenberg offer a little more realistic (okay, I should say "a little less unrealistic") WWI experience — this conflict is famous for its unprepared and ill-equipped soldiers.

This game is like watching a Michael Bay movie — it has a ridiculously high budget and is historically inadequate. It can serve only as a temporary (i.e. a few hours) entertainment (maybe, if you're very young and don't know anything about WWI), and is ultimately created for production companies and their obligatory profits.

If you want to get a feeling of WWI, I'd recommend staying away from videogames altogether. If you're a movie person, then you could watch "All Quiet on The Western Front" (2022), which is probably the only war-themed movie that is absolutely worth watching. Just be warned: this is not an enjoyable movie to watch, it's not a flick for chilling after a workday. Be prepared for a tough emotional experience and exhaustion (and appreciate the fact that, if you're reading this, then you're probably one of the lucky MOFOs who don't have to meet their life's end while agonizing in some of the most miserable conditions that a human can survive (if lucky) in a meaningless war conflict).
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1016150/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhlN3k8ROFI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIwOSXcVQm8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8log371ADA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4RMIN6ywnI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWnc-ZlIo5s

This reserve is a delightful experience. There are mallard, hare, red fox, gray wolves, goats, sitka, caribou, wapiti, moose, black bear, and bison, i.e. whatever size/tier you like (within the limits of the game). Alaska is always a treat for me, for some reason and I'm happy I got the "Elite Edition" (the game bundled with Map Pack 1) for this one (I enjoy it more than the first North American and Romanian reserves). Also, you get to roleplay as a female huntress*, which is always appreciated (I don't like how I smell after two days in the mountains IRL and I'm betting being a male has something to do with it).

*While she makes a good point on firearm safety (applicable IRL), she's not written as a particularly smart character — no sane person who wants to keep a relatively low profile (as an attempt to distance oneself from past events) would change his/her name to "Mackovich".

I enjoyed my time with the original Helldivers, so me having fun in this one was expected. It's very unfortunate that the game crashes too often, even with the epic unofficial fix ( https://github.com/pj1234678/MagickaFix ). I recommend this highly for the relatively unique gameplay and fun cooperative multiplayer.