I lost 7 hours of my save file on my steam deck. That's after I had a complete headache trying to boot up the game after the Ubisoft launcher froze and crashed multiple times.

This was a good game, not great, a solid 6/10 for the hours I played. Just barely good enough to be entertaining but downright terrible enough to be monotonous and tedious. The combat system is funny but once the flavor wears off you're left with a cold boring feeling after playing.

Now I thought to myself, "Okay, I'm going to finish the rest of this game since i beat stick of truth." It was no Yakuza Like a Dragon and the combat definitely felt more boring than Digimon Survive which is impressive, but i did wanna be able to say, "Hey, i beat the fractured but whole."

Well, to my not so much surprise my save is gone. My entire 7 hours lost. And you wanna know what's funny? Ubisoft did this ♥♥♥♥ before to me on my PC. It also locked me out of my Assassins creed 2 game so I can't play it. Icing on the cake is that this isn't the only time Ubisoft has ruined my purchase, save, game, or experience in some way.

So I am going to take a deep breathe here, I'm going to tell all of you NOT to buy ANY Ubisoft slop, and this game was the last Ubisoft game I was willing to buy. I'm officially done with their ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, I haven't played a single Ubisoft game where i actually enjoyed myself since Division 2 and that's the only game i legitimately enjoyed.

I'm so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ done with their company that they cannot go broke fast enough. I've been saying they were going to go Bankrupt for over a decade, A DECADE. Since I was a kid and saw people pirated Assassins creed because of its copy paste slop. Nobody wants to actually buy their products, it's all copy paste.

I hope every single person in Ubisoft goes bankrupt too, ♥♥♥♥ em. Absolute garbage people and garbage company. Give me my Assassins creed 2 back, give me my save here back, give me my save on Division 1 back, let me actually open assassins creed black flag, for ♥♥♥♥♥ sakes, stop letting your Ubisoft launcher crash and freeze on my steam deck. I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hate your company with every fiber of my wallet and even on sale your games aren't worth it Ubisoft. ♥♥♥♥ YOU.

I got this game for my Steam Deck and it runs great. There are times I wanted to play, "Death Must Die!" instead but the game feels unique enough to keep me satisfied. It also runs great on the Deck.

Now i do have some issues with the game. There isn't a lot of abilities, when you do pick an ability you will always want to get a synergy with it. The only problem is you have to first unlock the ability, unlock the gear, then fully level the ability to get the synergy, then be lucky enough to get the two items you need to synergize with it.

For reference, i put about 20 hours into the game and i only fully leveled one temtem, the Platypus. I liked em, he was a good all around and his fluid barrier synergy was absolutely busted. The good news is once you have a fully leveled Temtem, you can easily make about 20,000 pansuns in 2 hours, which is about how much it costs to fully level a Temtem.

You'll spend most of your time unlocking perks, abilities, and techs as well as increasing hack levels on maps. In another 20 hours I'd probably have unlocked mostly everything.

Here comes the big but... The problem i have is that though the game is really fun the first 10 hours, it gets tedious really fast. It's not like Death Must Die where you can try exceptionally unique builds, each time you play, you'll have maybe 2-3 builds you are stuck with per Temtem with small variations.

There are plenty of ways to try and get the build you want but if you are playing on Pansuns map with endless and double speed and whatever other modifiers, if you get unlucky your run is over. This isn't like deep rock galactic survivor or death must die where you can dodge for days and make it to endgame.

So here is how they can fix these issues:

Make the hitbox on large Tems smaller and more visible. It's so hard to tell if an enemy is hitting me or not and they need to make it easier to slip in between Tems. The size of the hitboxes are just all over the place. Why does a boss have to be 1000 times bigger than say an OB1?? Do the Deep Rock Galactic Survivor hitbox method, they perfected it and don't need to fix what isn't broke.

Make the Tems damage output more obvious. A small Tem being greenish outlined and a large being blue outlined. Some Tems hit like a nuke and others just tickle and it's hard to tell which does what damage. Give us an option for health bars and i do see that greyed out encyclopedia so im guessing that will tell us what Tem does what. It's just really confusing when one tem dies to one hit while another dies to 4-5 with no obvious tells between the two.

Add more variety, it honestly feels like all the Tems do pretty much the same thing with slight variations. There isn't resistances, every map has the same kind of Tem with no unique variations, and there isn't enough unique builds to justify long term play.

Now do i hate the game? Absolutely freaking not. I bought it full price and it's absolutely amazing. The colors, builds, maps, and the process of playing it is quite fun. The only reason im making the review now is that it's starting to get tedious but hey, for 10 bucks getting 20-40 hours out of a game is a steal. I don't expect it to last forever, i enjoyed every moment i played it.

My only hope is that it doesn't stay in EA and they finally release it. Even if all they do is release the encyclopedia and some new Tems.

I played this game on my steam deck and I'm still playing it but I'm about done I think. It runs at a solid 30 fps with almost no dips below on the "Steam Deck" settings. That may be a deal breaker for you but to me it's a very smooth experience.

I'm playing with an intelligence and technical build with most in intelligence since that I feel closely reflects me. The play style I have is really fun, I use a smart sniper I don't have to aim with but is situational. If an enemy is behind cover it often misses. It's great at medium to semi-long range. Then i use a precision tech rifle for close to medium that does intense damage. I'm playing on very hard and the game the entire time has been very easy. Not much of a challenge. I do die sometimes but not often.

When I fight I use hacks and sniper to pick off distant fighters first. Then i move in and kill the rest with hacks and precision. I slowly take down cameras, turrets, and all else in the way in the process. Intelligence is kind of OP I think but it is very glass cannon. It stuns, damages, disables systems, and you always seem to have plenty of ram. Even when outnumbered, 2 hacks kill 1 guy, 1 hack kills the next with gun, you'll have another 2 hacks for the next guy. In 3 seconds I can kill 3 guys, then I take cover and pick off the few left. The burst of damage is awesome. Against bosses I'm rather weak though and rely heavily on heals and nades with my DoT hacks. Though even against bosses my 1-2 seconds of stunning him is very useful.

The gameplay is really fun. However, the crafting system is rather confusing and tedious. Dismantling weapons is kind of a waste and you don't get much money from them either. I do clear my inventory to maximize the amount of money I can make. Tier 1 components become useless fast, so do tier 2. As you go up in tiers, it costs a LOT of lower tier components to make higher tier components, way more than it is worth your time in my opinion.

The hacking ability in the game that nets you components is also relatively low and the hacking game is very ambiguous and makes little sense. Sometimes I unlock all 3, sometimes I don't. I need to Google how it's done but I really feel like it's impossible to unlock all 3 while hacking sometimes. The mini game is relatively tedious and feels half baked.

The story is good though, I enjoyed the environment, the tiddies, and the fact that what I say does matter. Each actions, response, and even the timing of it does matter. It works so well in fact that I feel like I'm in a movie. Definitely well done there.

The character development is also extraordinary, each character feels alive and different. Even the NPCs who you pass by feel somewhat unique. When they said the game will feel like a real city, it really does feel like one. Ads everywhere, music is garbage, prostitution, drugs, corporate greed, I can almost smell the city from my deck. It's like the epitome of capitalism in a virtual world.

What does sadden me is how realistic it can feel to the real world sometimes. How logical capitalist supports can be, vice versa for the ones who want nothing but to destroy it. It shows that maybe we all are just victims to our own greed and lust for power in our own individual way. Too busy surviving and trying to find a place in the world to care what the world is doing. Or too busy trying to burn it down or control it to care to see how it's suffering. The devs really took their time not to ♥♥♥♥ on capitalism but to show that we by inherent human nature are a chaotic and warped species with no real unified goals.

The philosophy is great, made me think a lot. Made me also wonder sometimes that maybe in the future, we very well may become like this. Not mad Max, but small corporate hellhole cities spread out through the world. Little resources, animals dying out, more machine than human, sexualized culture, children walking around alone, corrupt law owned by corporations, and ads everywhere. Basically America on steroids. The only thing it's missing is mega yatches with random children on it and sketchy billionaire islands but I don't think they would like to touch that subject with a 10 foot poll.

However, here is my issues with the game:

When I load in the assets are stuck on stock position. The NPCs stand up straight then sit. I am surprised they don't fix that.

The AI driving in the game is garbage. Constantly messes up. I don't use it much.

The music is garbage. Just no.

The ads do add flavor but can get annoying fast. They really are everywhere.

The game takes too long to boot. And why do i gotta listen to the news before i load in? Why do i gotta select the game AGAIN too? If i wanna play witcher, I'll ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ play it then.

Why do cars explode for seemingly no reason sometimes?

Why does the AI want to run me over? Then GTA AI was far better.

The AI doesn't use cover unless programmed to. Often it's outside of cover. Combat is too easy.

Why is it so damn hard to get better cars and why do they drive like a riding lawn mower?

Why is there no flashlights in the game? That is really frustrating in a world where night vision can be integrated directly in your damn eyes. They do call it night city but i feel like it's blind city sometimes. For christ sakes peoples eyes sometimes even light up, you gonna tell me mine can't?

Apart from these annoyances, I really do love the game. It's not as good as Witcher 3 in my opinion, but I give it a solid 8/10. The game still needs some more polish until it's a 10/10, it was definitely over hyped, GTA did do it better, and for Christ sakes...

ADD A FLASHLIGHT TO THE GAME DEVS. WHY IS THAT SO HARD?

My greatest sadness is that I beat the game and there isn't much replayability.

First of all, this games a solid 10/10 for me. It's everything I wanted in Dead Island 1 and more. The gameplay had me hooked. I would slay a small horde only to have a screamer come out and stun me, knocking me down, I think to myself, "Who the ♥♥♥♥ do you think you are?" I go fury mode, kill everything, bloater comes out next, "And I took that personally." I pull out my handy dandy shotgun and tell it to say hi. There is a rhythm to the fighting method of this game. Unlike in Dying Light where the zombies are all kind of the same and there isn't much variation, in this game you'll be using multiple weapons, perks, kicks, and fury mode depending on the fight, rhythm of the fight, the situation of the fight, your health, and your build. It feels a bit like Path of Exile but more dumbed down and simplified. The combat in this game is some of the most enjoyable I've experienced simply due to there being so many different enemy types, builds, and ways to fight.

As for builds, I went for a glass cannon build where most attacks hurt me, my fury builds very fast, I attack very fast, and I die very fast unless I keep killing zombies. Only against the very final boss "The Dirge" did I change my build. I realized in a long drawn out fight it was terrible. So I did the most reasonable thing I could think of. I went for an even more glass cannon build. After all, the Dirge was a great immovable object, but me? I was an even greater unrelenting force. I killed him incredibly fast too.

The final fight for me was extremely satisfying, I'll admit it did crash when I beat it the first time with someone and it was my first and only crash I ever had. Then I died twice, changed my build and went on an absolute rampage. It wasn't easy either but it was certainly fun. When it was over, I was sad. Like a bittersweet taste, I knew now that with the final boss out of the way, there was no need to keep going. With my build, I killed everything pretty easily.

The game is more like a movie than a game but with amazing gameplay. Don't expect a ton of replayability out of it. Once you beat durge after about 20-30 hours, you'll feel like it's been completed and put it down probably. This isn't a bad thing though, you will love this game if you loved dying light or dead island 1. I beat both and in my opinion, I enjoyed this game more than Dead Island 1 and Dying light 1 and 2. Even though I have more hours on them, only reason I do is because I like to beat games. I don't like leaving them unfinished but by the time I beat dying light 1 and 2, I was long ready for them to be over with. This game just has a way more unique and fun combat system.

I may complete this game and do a NG+ and beat everything, but I doubt it. I don't want to burn myself out on it.

The DLC in the game was ok. I hated the Haus DLC with the ark in it. I thought it was tedious and boring without adding anything to the story that was useful.

As for the SOLA DLC I loved it. I know a lot of people didn't, but it was big, beautiful, the whippers were awesome, and it did add a lot to the story.

I did play neighborhood watch. Sorry, but that game sucks. It relies a lot on coop, and it's virtually impossible to solo. This is because at the end you have to defend the house on 3 sides, you are alone, and once they start banging on the doors, you have 2 mins to kill them. It clearly isn't balanced for 1 player and nobody plays coop on this game.

I did play co-op with some people in the story and it ran great. I think once everyone beat the game and due to lack of replayability, it kind of died down. I'm a little disappointed because I did wish they focused on improving neighborhood watch, the replayability of the story, and more, but I suppose there is only so much they can do.

I do recommend this game full price only if you have the money. I got it on sale and it's definitely worth it on sale. I played the entire game on my steam deck and Nvidia GeForce now and it ran great on both. No issues. It does run at about 40 fps on sola on the steam deck and there are slight dips but apart from that, no issues performance wise. Good work on this game from the devs, I'll be buying 3 when it comes out.

I played this game on experienced and I'm about 1/3 through it. I have beaten a ton of strategy games. XCOM 2, Divinity, StarCraft 1 and 2, red alert, baulders gate, icewind dale, halo wars 1 and 2, chess, etc. So I am very experienced when it comes to games like this.

Here is my honest take: This game is definitely one of my all time favorite strategy games but sadly it's not exactly got a lot of competition. Since many people don't like strategy and prefer brain dead shooters. I have beaten some really tough strategy games. Notably I am in the top 80 percentile in chess, I am at high platinum in sc2, and I am always above average in every game I play starting out.

So with that in mind, on experienced, I do find this game mildly easy. I have only needed to reload my checkpoint twice and that's because I misclicked.

The games really simple compared to other games I played. It is very much like a watered down XCOM 1 game with very mild alternations to gameplay that makes it stand out uniquely. It's very clear they made this game with XCOM in mind.

However, here is the kicker, I actually enjoy this game more than I did XCOM 2 and 1. It does have far less replayability, but it's far more cinematic than XCOM 2 is and the characters are far more unique with actual background stories. I feel like I'm playing a strategy game more built like a movie. I love that about this game.

As a bonus: I am playing this game SOLELY on my steam deck and protondb says this game plays as silver rating and doesn't clarify why. I disagree completely with this rating, this game plays on high settings right out of the box with no alterations needed at a solid 60 fps. It can play on ultra at a stable 30 fps but looks the exact same. There is no fps drops, no stuttering, nothing. Just a stable and beautiful gaming experience.

If you like wasteland 3, XCOM 1, 2, or if you are new to these kinds of games and want an easy game with similar mechanics then start with this one. I feel like they made this game with new players in mind. All the other games are far more complicated and full of annoying mechanics you gotta keep track of, this game is "Do bonus objectives, get case, get gear, use skill points, rinse and repeat." It is still complicated but more simplistic than all the other games like this.

This is also one of those games that would be amazing to beat on ironman with insane difficulty. I don't recommend it as a first time because it's very easy to misclick but after a few playthroughs as a challenge this game would be awesome trying that out.

I do recommend this game and for new players I give it a solid 9/10. For players who are used to these kinds of games it's closer to an 8/10. You'd mostly just be playing it for the story and slightly different experience. I do recommend it full priced too.