Absolutely the finest "Wandering around in a desolate wasteland" experience available.

You couldn't ask for more from a grid based tactical game.

The writing is delightful, the rewind mechanism permits SO much experimentation.

And man, the perks.
Every one of them feels like
"Are... Are you sure? That seems... A little TOO awesome. Are you certain you want to give me this?"

Tactical Breach Wizards is a monumental achievement in game design.

A really interesting game cut low by pervasive flaws. An overall lack of polish and a pervasive feeling of neglect, both in the *routinely* frustrating UI, the interaction of core game systems, again, REALLY glaring UI issues, resource balance, and so forth. Half of the game feels l ike an early access title that is JUST ABOUT ready for release, except the near dozen paid content DLCs say otherwise.

The component based damage model on the Robots is a delight for people who love precision gunplay, but are tired of shooting zombies in the head. It's the best thing since Deadspace. The world design is great (If often repetitive) but so many game systems seem to exist in a state of permanent infancy.

The base defense concept is great, except it'll devour all your resources with no clear benefit in the first place. Even if you had infinite resources, you'd be running around babysitting your walls and pillboxes until they're invariably destroyed in a hail of not-very-impressive-gunfire, comitting all your resources to the void.
The game seems to think wood is a common resource, but the thinly scattered saplings that are your only non-scrapping choice for wood seem to exist to provide wood and insult in equal measure. If you aimlessly wander the woods for 15 minutes, you *might* get enough wood for *half of a wall!*

The final straw for me, I think, was accidentally hitting "Store All" key at the bank while viewing weapon attachments, and unwittingly unequipping them from every weapon in my inventory. Which is a risk the developers clearly thought of, because you generally WONT unequip items in your hotbar if you make a similar mistake in the rifles or equipment pages. But here, one wrong button press will leave you reassembling all your guns.

There is fun to be had in Generation Zero. But at least half of the fun you'll be having is in *spite* of the game, not because of it.

The game was apparently in a playable state sometime in the past. But if you're a Johnny Come Lately like myself, the game is currently... frustratingly incomplete.

Don't add Early Access Games to your queue unless you're playing them immediately, people.

I hope my money sees this game to completion, but I cannot in good conscience suggest other people do the same.

Helldivers 2 is distinct form other Co-op Live Service games in a number of ways, a lot of them *extremely* nuanced and well thought out. |
This isn't just "Stop Cancerous Live Service Models With One Weird Trick", Arrowhead clearly put a great deal of wisdom into the implementation of Helldivers 2.

But the one that stands out to me, that sets it apart from all the rest: It's always fun.
Sure, you can have efficient playstyles, play more competently or less, be perfect or barely succeed. Or even just screw up a mission entirely.
But it remains FUN, regardless of circumstance. You and your friends can screw around or be a tightly disciplined strike force, and you're going to come away with joy either way. Easily the most impressive part of the game.

Just, absolutely friggin rad.
As advertised, it should scratch your System Shock/Bioshock itch in a deeply satisfying fashion.
The art style is charming, the roguelike aspects are on the merciful side, and the mechanics generally endeavor to make you feel like an clever bastard.

I'm honestly shocked there isn't a sequel by now.

Bear in mind, this game gleefully devoured me for 100 hours. It has a lot of really promising mechanics... that don't integrate or balance well. Combat is trivial, exploration is ultimately just five planets over and over again with largely the same vegetation. Mining is trivialized the moment you gain refiners. The two or three story quests the game actually has are just gateways to disappointment.

Make no mistake, this is an early access game. You'll have fun. But like the main plot of the game, you'll start seeing the missing components the farther you play.

Many of the mechanics seem at cross-purposes with the games implicit ambitions, however impressive.
The spell-design function of the game is very much bare bones. In essence, there are three effects per element, available in AOE or Targeted variants. Magicka, this is not.

The first time you find yourself consecutively freeze-locked and knocked down, you'll realize the game is missing more than just polish.