I normally don't write reviews, at least not positive ones, but I had to take some time to write a spoiler free one for this absolute gem of a game. This game is everything I wanted the triple A games to be.

• The story is incredible. I genuinely was going around collecting all the journals and doing side content to read and get all the little bits of the story I could find.
  
• Cutscenes feel like watching a movie and acting is top notch.
  
• Characters for once are actually likeable and feel alive, I genuinely don't remember the last time I cared for video game characters as much as here.
  
• Normally I don't like turn based games but I like what they've done here with QTE and the overall combat feels solid. There's a lot of enemy variations as well to keep the combat fresh.
  
• All areas seem fleshed out and are visually impressive to look at.
  
• And the music, oh the music is INCREDIBLE. I wrote that with all caps because the OST is just so good that I'd frequently sit in the camp area and listen to the records you can collect and play.
  
• Low price, no microtransactions or pushed agenda.

Is it perfect? Of course it isn't but nothing ever is. Some things that I wish they could improve to make the game even better:

• Area design. There are a lot of areas that visually look like you could traverse them but are blocked off by invisible walls. This would work a lot better if they were visually blocked.
  
• Combat (this might be a turn-off for more casual players like me). While generally solid, some enemy attacks feel inconsistent or poorly timed. With no clear block or dodge indicators, you're forced to rely on visual and audio cues—sometimes obscured (heh) or out of sync, especially with large enemies. Since parrying is key, this trial-and-error approach can be frustrating, especially for players not used to Souls games. I found it slightly annoying at times and wished there were more tuning options beyond just lowering the difficulty to Story mode.
  
• Map and travel. I know this is in true JRPG style but I wish there was a way of placing waypoints on the map and possibly even an option to fast travel (from the map, not the fast travels you get by flags later on). Finding some collectables as is resulted in a lot of backtracking and trying to figure out where I actually missed them.

I haven't beaten all of the optional end-game content but I feel I did most of the things that I found interesting. That being said, I wholeheartedly recommend this game. It seems it was genuinely made with passion by the developers and I would be surprised if it didn't end up as a front runner for this year's GOTY.

The blatant promise of "optimization" on release and the actual technical state this game is in right now is honestly inexcusable for the price tag it is attached to. Game looks like it has vaseline smeared all over it, foliage shimmers like a damn disco ball, some textures seem like they were taken straight out of Mario 64 and it needs 50 different upscaling techs to make it look sharp enough to not make me think I have a glaucoma.
If you have a high end pc and want to brute force the game's engine, more power to you but the system requirements are an absolute lie and dev practices like this should not be celebrated.

For the love of god and the entire Payday community, add an offline mode! We should not need to matchmake to play a map solo...

Car go fast 5: Ola amigo!

"Will someone please... bring this guardian... his crown!" -Shaxx, 2019

If only Claptrap would shut up at times...

4 players joined the game*
results tied, last game*
friend jumps from first place to last in mere seconds*
quits the game*
GG, would watch friendships break again!

Rocket-powered-ball smashing-rage-fueled simulator.

Does microtransactions ring a bell? Yea...
I might change my mind if it gets removed, otherwise It will stay this way.
I had a great time while it lasted.

"Van Crashing II"
The saga continues!