Haven't played it for very long, but noticed there's a bug with pre-ftl civilizations where creating a spy network has a chance of triggering the event which gives you the option of lifting immunity or recalling the spy. The text is the exact same as with ftl empires and it really breaks immersion.

Other than that, really love the new Payback origin! Having a lot of fun with it so far.

I'll start off by stating that I did not have high hopes getting into this game. I've read the reviews, and the price tag is far too high for any base game. However, the premise still caught my attention.

I'll start with what I like about the game.

- The graphics are pretty and the animations match it's quality.

- The environment is colorful and vibrant, with plenty of otherworldly sights as befitting of the setting.

- Tiny tidbits of details in dialogue constantly reminds you that you are in an unfamiliar world, even if others speak the same language, the wording can be very different.

And now for the things I don't like.

- Combat. The one thing so many seem to praise that this game gets right i just couldn't be bothered with. It's repetitive, spells do almost no damage even to basic enemies so every fight feels like you're wading through a deep puddle of mud in high-heels.

- Bosses. Or bulletsponges if you will. Again, spells do very little damage, and bosses have a LOT of health. You repeatedly mash a single button to attack, while frantically smashing the dodge button to avoid getting frail little Frey hurt. Because of course, enemy attacks do plenty of damage.

- The music. Oh god, the music. It's a fantasy orchestra with a bit of vocals thrown in for good measure which tries so hard to inspire a feeling of adventure, but I have to admit, after listening to the same music for one hour I got tired of it.

- The characters. Don't get me wrong, I like the way they present Frey as an insecure street rat with trust issues through the roof. It fits her story. With her background, it makes sense that she's witty to try and seem unbothered by the challenges she faces. It makes sense that she's cynical and mean, because that's what worked for her in New York. But the constant witty banter between her and her companion becomes unbearable after a while. Witty banter is fun when it's natural, and thrown into a couple conversations here and there. Not when its constantly barraged at the players.

Got it from a Humble Choice bundle.

It's simple and fun to play. The RNG weight on the gameplay and progression might slap you in the face a couple of times, but it's easy to start over if you lose.

With the release of the campaign I can actually recommend it. Multiplayer seems to have gotten its share of patches with the new update as well, haven't had any crashes at least.

The single-player campaign (because co-op is not a thing... yet) may be a full-priced experience, but it is worth it. It's got a far-cry-feel to it, but not enough to make it feel like... You know, not Halo. Its story picks up from the hot garbage that is Halo 5 Guardians and turns it around in a way you have to experience yourself to understand.

The story and character development in this game is pretty "meh" to be honest... But in my opinion, that's where the downsides end.

It's a beautiful little gem well worth its price at 19,99 euro. The game has stunning art design, intriguing gameplay and an amazing soundtrack. It has the "remote play together" feature, which means it can be played together with any of your friends. ANY, even those who don't own the game themselves.

While I did mention before that the story was a little underwhelming, I still found it interesting enough to keep it a part of why I wanted to progress in the game, and the narrator does a fantastic job at telling it.

Before I start this review as it'll most likely end up being a ranting sh**storm, I'd like to say this:

I geniuenly like this game. No, I love it!

So then, what's wrong? Why am I giving it a negative review?

Well, It's quite simple.

The pacing. It's all over the fu**ing place!

I mean, COME ON! I'm playing on rookie and you're gonna force me to manage the ship and crew with a permanent shortage of supplies, because really, there's no way to get it quick enough before the game sh**ts out another time-sensitive mission at you!

Seriously, I get a bad beating on a supply-grab mission went to the woods and had two of my soldiers killed and the other two severely wounded. And I thought, you know what? I'll recover from this. I mean one of them has 7 days to recover and the second has 15, but I have the healthcare upgrade for HQ so I'll just go and spend some time there!

2 days in, and it gives me a critical mission. I do it, it goes bad, but I succeed at least. (It went bad because two of my highest ranked soldiers died in the previous mission, and the other two are wounded, so all I had were rookies and squaddies).

I go back to HQ, and it gives me a time-sensitive mission right away! Okay, so at this point I had only enough soldiers for a single squad, all rookies.

So, I ignore it and go right back to trying to get my wounded soldiers back up. BUT NO! After just 2 more days, it gives me ANOTHER CRITICAL MISSION!

The pacing of this game is like if you took an ADHD kid high on LSD, and gave them a loaded automatic rifle!

FIX THIS SH**!

And after all that, I feel like I should still point out the things I like about it.

The customization. Oh god the customization. It is the best thing ever. I can spend hours just giving my soldiers personalities and stories and what-not before I go and use them in battle. It's amazing!

The classes are cool. The sniper is like a god in later ranks and I'm a sucker for sniper rifles.

And people usually complain about the soldiers aim in the game... And you know what? They're right. Unless there is something wrong with you, you are not physically capable of missing a buckshot shotgun round fired two meters away from a target out in the open.

And that concludes it, basically:

Pros: Amazing customization (some that are locked behind ranks).

Cool classes and level-design.

Good graphics.

Cons:

Pacing.

Difficulity level.

All soldiers aim-disfunctionality.

It's a good game. Great visuals and soundeffects. The gameplay takes a rather large leap in difficulity though once you move on to the bigger robos.

One problem I have with it though... Why is it night 90% of the time? I can't see a thing and the game looks soooooooo beautiful during day-time... Real shame

Awsome game but seriously what the F### hapned to classic zombies!!!?????? i dont want no mob of the dead with a weaker story and less details as the only yes ONLY playable map for those people who dont want to spend OVER 60 BUCKS on THIS LAG AND CRASH FEST!!!!! could the game creators please add another zombies map that is just basic survival with perkacolas randombox and wall weapons in a future update. AND DONT EVEN TRY TO MAKE IT A DL FREAKING C!! Please.