He can't keep getting away with it!

I was so excited for a new PAYDAY, as it had been a decade since PAYDAY 2 came out, which I had an absolute blast with in those ten years. Such a blast, that I pre-ordered the "Gold Edition" of the game as soon as I was able to. As of right now, my C$120 purchase of this game is not justified.

A lot of the new mechanics introduced in this game, like the updated casing mode, and new gadgets, are really good! But that is about all I can say that is good about PAYDAY 3.

At launch, the game was near impossible to play, due to the reliance on dedicated servers, and individual matchmaking for each heist AND each difficulty. Now it's near impossible to play because no one is playing the game anymore. The heists are boring, with very little differences between plays that change the flow of the heist, unlike in PAYDAY 2. The enemies are absolute bullet sponges, which makes the game quite honestly, a drag to play.

The amount of content is laughable. The game only launched with 8 heists, added 2 from PAYDAY 2 post launch, and then 1 from an overpriced DLC. The selection of guns is pathetic, and even more pathetic, is the mask selection, which the series prides itself on.

Progression is slow, due on part to the heavy reliance of completing challenges, some of which are stupid, like slide X amount of meters. Why? Why can't it solely be based on heist completion and performance? Instead we get drip fed XP for that.

The UI is horrendous. From the lack of a CRIME NET browser, to primary and secondary weapons being mixed together, to just navigating to customisation and perks. Reminds me of a UI you would see in a touchscreen game.

Supposedly, these Medic Bag updates will fix a lot of issues, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Starbreeze has shown their incompetency, time and time again, it's just now that people are calling them out en masse due to this being a new title. A co-operative game released in 2023 has no excuse for not having a text message system, party retention, or a freakin' unready button, or even being able to pick your load out in the lobby!

Seriously, avoid this game. Do not make the same mistake I, and several others, have.

EDIT (April 17th, 2023): Decided to check out the store page for this game again after awhile... Seems like the last update was half a year ago and the developers are silent everywhere? Seems to be a failed asset flip and is now abandonware, good.


ORIGINAL REVIEW

Oh boy, where do I begin with this?

Broken is a paranormal investigation game, much in the same vein as Phasmophobia and other games that followed it to create the new genre of ghost hunting games.

The game looks promising, judging by the store picture gallery and description, but don't fall for them.

The first thing that took me aback was the install size, which came in at a whopping 17.5 GB. With the exception of Phasmophobia, every other game I've tried in this genre has only been a few gigs. This made me raise my eyebrow.

Finally, getting into the game, the intro and menus all used Unity assets, no big deal, but it made me laugh since I'm so used to see the same intro that Obsideo and another game use.

The English in the game is... Awful. Now, I know the developers are French(?), but comn, hire someone on Fiverr or something to translate for you. Aside from the English, formatting issues are present everywhere, for example, the characters have classes, and one of the classes for a character is "Class:". The characters also have nationalities, and one of them is from the long lost country of "Compass".

Getting into the gameplay, starting with the tutorial. A tutorial is meant to tell someone how to do or achieve something. This game fails to do that. It only tells you part of the game, and gives you only a couple of pieces of equipment to fully use, everything else is an after thought. The game fails to properly explain that you have to collect evidence to determine the ghost type you are dealing with. It fails to tell you how to defend yourself from the entity, it also fails to establish the basic gameplay loop.

Getting into an actual match, the game is a disaster. You are essentially lost in a Unity sandbox, only knowing the bare minimum of what to do, which isn't even enough to achieve all the objectives. But, don't worry! The ghost doesn't seem to pose a threat, they just slowly follow you, and when they do decide to do a jumpscare, it's so pathetic that I laughed every time it tried, like a toddler saying "boo" to you.

But the jumpscares would only happen, if the ghost didn't get stuck. I have a recorded clip of the ghost being stuck, and my friend smashing it with the baseball bat over and over again, and just screams of pain audio clips, clipping into each other. That was the most enjoyment we got from this mess.

Not going to rag to much on the asset usage, as a lot of games in this genre utilize the Unity store, but it gets jarring to see the same house from Ghost Excorism INC, the same hospital from Forsake, the same playroom from Devour, et cetra. Makes me wonder if there are any original assets in the game.

Stay away from this mess. My friend bought us each a copy of his own doing, and I apologized that he bought this. Let the fact that this was refunded speak volumes.

Broken truly lives up to its name.

Not fun in the slightest. The game does have potential, it really does, but at this point, it's not worth a purchase.

I bought this game to play co-op with a friend of mine, as we enjoy playing horror games together. However, the co-op in this game is horrendous. We were in the same lobby and everything, but seeing two totally different things at all times. Lights would be on for him, while they were off for me. He would see the ghost in me, trying to kill me, and I'd just be standing there, staring at the ghost in the house.

The game also gives you objectives that are not able to be completed due to not being able to afford the equipment, even if you can afford it, it's more than likely behind a required level, that you'll have to painstakingly grind up because the experience provided to level up is so low, because you can't complete all the objectives. It's just a loop of issues.

Going into the game play, it tries to be a more advanced Phasmophobia, which I can appreciate, but there isn't really a good tutorial, just vague descriptions of items and ghost types. The lobby is also a training room, but you are pretty much left on your own to figure things out and connect evidence together.

You also don't explore the house, there is no reason to. You can just go in the front door, and do everything there. This game punishes you for trying to explore as there is little to no reason to. Why would I go further from the safety of the RV when the front door/rooms are all I need to utilize to figure out the ghost type and exorcize it?

Another issue is the English. Yes, I know the developer(s) are French, however, it isn't that hard to get a proper translation, I even saw people volunteering to do it in the forums prior to the games release.

As I said, there is strong potential for this game, but as of right now, I would highly recommend giving it a pass and sticking with Phasmophobia, or checking out another horror game.

It's like Tinder in real life, but you'll probably be more successful in Table Manners!

Table Manners is a physics based game (with time management skills), much akin to 2013's Surgeon Simulator. But instead of performing open heart surgeries or brain transplants, you are taking out guys and gals on dates, pouring their wine, salting their steaks, lighting candles, the whole nine yards!

The controls are difficult to get used to, now, that would normally be a bad thing in a game. However, with a game like Table Manners, it's the main selling point and where the challenge comes in, along with a timer for completing tasks, think Cook, Serve, Delicious.

One minor complaint I do have is some of the UI, for example, I had a task to put pepper on a steak for my date, the icon was a shaker with one hole, which is the salt. I didn't notice they wanted pepper until I looked at the task again and saw a pepper icon underneath. Maybe that is something the Devs can fix by making the pepper icon more noticeable in the future?

I also did run into a glitch where a cup, candle, and ketchup bottle decided they wanted to be one and flew off into oblivion, thankfully they respawned on the table, but it was more amusing than anything else to witness.

Overall, the game is a lot of fun, and is a fantastic time killer. I personally waited until 5 in the morning for the game to release on Steam, and I do not regret the decision! I'll be picking up the game again after I sleep!

If I had to rate the game on a scale of 1 to 10, it'd get a solid 8.5 from me!