Recent reviews by vassilevb

Any dog that a) isn't barking excessively, b) doesn't smell, c) doesn't drool on you, d) doesn't piss/chew on your stuff, or e) doesn't cover everything with hairs deserves a recommendation. Unfortunately, that kind of dog only exists in this game. Useful for trailing, nonetheless. Good, albeit, a bit noisy companion (judging by what's written in the Steam discussions, it seems that its footsteps' high volume is the latest bug or something).

If you pursue immersion/realism and turn off the highlights for tracks, it actually becomes a necessity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blIaGmKXIz8

It's like Minecraft — Swedish, ugly, and fun. Bonus: cool music.

My problem with it is that the physics simulation resembles that in Red Faction: Guerrilla — you can witness impossible phenomena (e.g. massive bodies not collapsing due to their mass, but held by a single voxel/pole/staircase/whatever):

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2891497190

Step 1. Deliberately design your game to be grindy.
Step 2. Offer them a solution - a paywalled in-game money farm reserve, essentially a cheat.
Step 3. Profit!

How is this not a scam? / o

I really appreciate the idea — war on a large scale. It dwarfs any other war-themed game you've seen (including all the Battlefields and Arma 3). However, this is one of those games that you'll have to put hundreds of hours just to begin understanding the basics (i.e. casual enjoyment is impossible). I've already wasted a few thousand hours in two other games that require that amount of dedication. Unfortunately, I cannot force myself to even like the art style of this one. Besides the idea, nothing else is appealing for me here and, as a consequence, I am not willing to give up a few hundreds hours just to be able to give a fair evaluation of the gameplay (which may be really great, but time is a limited resource and every game designer should take this into account).

Whoa, someone in the gaming industry finally admits that, if you're holding your weapon pointed forward, your hands are "getting heavy" in less than two minutes (even Escape from Tarkov doesn't deal with this truism, with its meta-laserbeam-head-eyes-hip-firing BS). I love the ability to manipulate a weapon adequately in a game, as one would do it IRL. Here, you can almost do it — unfortunately, I can't remove the magazine, can't manipulate the bolt/slide, and I can't eject the one in the chamber (and do whatever the hell I want with the ejected cartridge, like I can in Tarkov). Recently, they announced that they're purchasing the license for a new AI (AI is one of the major complaints in other reviews). I only played solo so far, because I haven't found coop buddies, but I'm pretty sure it would be dope, because I am having a good time soloing. Oh, and nothing is locked — you have full access to everything the game has to offer, which, in my book, earns the most bonus points. Thank you, BlackFoot Studios, for actually respecting my limited time! <3

You could expect Insurgency: Sandstorm levels of beauty, since it's the same engine here.

Another fun comparison: it took BSG five years to implement infrared lasers that are visible through NVGs in Tarkov. This game had this feature even before I bought it (more than a year ago).

I haven't tried Ready or Not yet, but, if you're a tacti-coolness fanboy, you'll love this one even in the current state.

What you'll find here is more of a political statement than a game (one would typically expect games to be fun; this one is, most of the time, not). If you try the higher difficulties, the aesthetic appeal (definitely not for everyone) evaporates immediately and the game turns into a non-stop frustration, since it is designed to be unfair (enemies shoot you before you're able to see them — outside of the screen).

Considering what I've read about the developers, I can't help it, but to compare this to the Norwegian black metal scene from the early 90s (I listened to a large amount of various $#it when I was in high school, even I find it amazing sometimes) — there were too much of a lifestyle/ideology/racism/homophobia/political statement/etc. and too little music.

Here's just one curious fact (because, why not): Epic Games chickened out and didn't want their "Unreal Engine" logo to appear in the marketing materials (e.g. the game trailer).

By the way, I've had an idea to make a similar game, in which I can murder my co-workers. It sounds fun on paper, but... come on, let's get real, this game would føkking sück.

If you want to actually enjoy a game of the same genre, go play Red Hot Vengeance — it's free:
https://steamhost.cn/app/1058640/RED_HOT_VENGEANCE/

o / 1o would enjoy the executions and misanthropic language (when the right mood sets in), but still quickly uninstall again.

Fun little non-pretentious and family friendly (in-game chat profanity filter, lol) co-op jump&run&puzzle that's way better than the big budget Lara stuff nowadays / 1o.

This feels like a Hirschfelden clone with easy mode ON — lots of open spaces without obstructions (a little bit less easy than the paywalled Silver Ridge in-game money farm) and mostly European animals to hunt (which is not a surprise). The largest animal you'll see here is a moose (quest exclusive) or a red deer (class 6), so bringing expensive high-caliber rifles is overkill. You could get a free .303 rifle in one of the later quests, "saving" you 40000 in-game money, if you're interested. I haven't tried the .303 rifle yet, because after 200 hours I find the (paywalled) Drilling too practical to be replaced by anything else so far. The quest line has a total 16 (mostly fetch) quests. For comparison, you have 28+70 quests in Hirschfelden. It may not be the case, but it makes this DLC look lazy. I like the stormy weather's visual and sound effects, the cave was something new and interesting and I enjoy pretending to roam around New Zealand. However, the COTW's engine restrictions don't allow for a significant portion of New Zealand's aesthetic appeal (a lot of small insects, reptiles, birds, marine animals, etc.).

Edit (24th of April, 2024):
I like the map. I enjoyed my time in it. Also, here's some raw data and bonus URLs:

My head hurts whenever I hear the name "Jackie" — I heard it A LOT of f°cking times. The "protagonist" is also being constantly c°ck-teased by his "dead" girlfriend (which is his main motivation of doing anything in this f°cking game), who isn't really dead, because... f°cking Christians *ba-dum-tss*. What I'm trying to say is that the story is low-grade f°cking trash. If you're 1) a massive fan of the original comics, 2) you like Blood 2: the Chosen, or 3) you're a big fan of Hollywood-esque New York Italian mafioso way of speaking English, you will probably like the vibe of this game. To me, it's nothing special and, gameplay-wise, it really feels f°cking old. I've had some fun with the coop, but that's it.

I'm happy to uninstall / 1o.

I'm a simple man - I see a Glock (referred to as "Davani"), I buy one. Too bad it's in 10mm Auto a.k.a. 10x25mm, but it makes sense, since the developers are from Sweden and the 10x25 caliber is a Swedish invention (Swedes are typically very proud to be Swedish).

I also like the Colt Single Action Army (referred to as "Rolleston") — I've got a dope shiny replica myself (I live in the "non-free" lands of Europe, lol).

Didn't know that thingy CVA Scout V2 Thompson/Center Contender (referred to as "R. Cuomo") exists - pretty cool.

New (virtual) toys for a gun nut / 1o.

P.S.

I sincerely thank you for the comment, King Matter! It's such a relief to see a comment that's adding some value to my stupid reviews and is not an insult or a rhetorical question revealing extreme sense of entitlement (these are the major types of comments I get on my reviews from people from the USA, unfortunately).