Annoying controls and irritating combat mechanics, not for me.

Interesting game, but the flickering on the main character and their health bar makes playing the game very annoying. The dev doesn't seem to think there's a fix for it, so if you're not sensitive to that, there's a fun game here, but for me, I'd prefer to not have a headache!

Is free, is kitteh

Exactly what you hoped a full 3D bullet heaven would be. Build crafting, tons of unlocks and a very enjoyable game loop for way less money than the AAA beasts.

You make cozy room and support one of the most generous devs on the planet. Plenty of updates and lots of contents make this an easy purchase!

The gameplay just doesn't click with me unfortunately. The movement feels clunky, the weapons feel off and the world in general isn't that interesting to me. Also, describing this as a looter shooter is a bit of a stretch... for that to be the case, the game needs to be actually dropping new weapons more frequently. Picking up resources for a few hours and making minor upgrades to the same weapons isn't looting.

Honestly, I wonder if DS is just a bit too esoteric for me. I like when a game tries to build a world by introducing themes and narrative over time, but the first few hours of DS feels like a continuous exposition dump. It's like every 20 seconds there's a new concept with stilted dialogue and cringe-inducing "bridge", "link" or "connection" related names thrown at you.

Dialogue feels very repetitive, like you're being told the same thing over and over again, seeming altogether patronising at times. This doesn't help with making the characters feel relatable, instead they all feel like actors waiting to deliver their next line than a cohesive set of protagonists.

The monotonous traversal and cargo management mechanics feel like a chore, rather than a challenge, with the interface being almost intentionally obtuse at times.

I'm sure with all the accolades the game has, that somewhere in the next 20 hours there's a decent story with some interesting plot points. Having played the first few hours of the game on multiple occasions on PC and PS, the game just doesn't have the narrative hook or gameplay interesting enough to make me want to slog through those hours to get to something interesting.

Edit : Just watched a YT synopsis of the story and I'm glad I didn't keep playing. No amount of entertaining gameplay could make that storyline worth it.

An unexpected game with an equally unexpected story. I'll be honest and say the story definitely lost me a couple of times, but the overarching narrative was excellent. Strong voice acting and interesting switches in mechanics kept me wanting to find out more about the world. Probably not for everyone, but I definitely enjoyed my time with the game.

Definitely needs to cook a bit longer. Yeah, the original patch had it's issues and some of the builds we outright broken, but at the end of the day, the game was fun. With the Dawn of the Hunt patch, the gameplay has slowed down to the point where fighting early game white mobs feels like a massive slog. It's not challenging, it's just grindy for no reason.

I've seen a few of the bigger YT channels sum it up pretty well - it's just not fun any more. I can also agree with the commentary that it feels like the devs are trying to make the Dark Souls of ARPGs, but that's not something I want from this type of game. An ARPG is about levelling, build crafting and overcoming challenges, but with sufficient power creep that you always feel like death is because of a skill issue, not the game's fault. At the moment, it feels like the game that's the problem.

I was genuinely looking forward to the patch, but at this point, I'd recommend anyone who's not played yet to wait for a few more balances and patches before jumping in.

Edit: 0.3 update - Came back to give it another go, and after 3 different characters, I feel like I'm done again. The skill system punishes you if you don't follow a meta build, and it's amazingly easy to build something that seems like it should work, but ends up anaemic and weak against even basic enemies. Only my ranger build had any survivability, but even then, fighting Geonor was a massive slog and was where I quit again.

In comparison, I played Last Epoch after their recent patch, and while also not perfect, was still a lot more fun and accessible. I agree with other reviews that note how you have to study the game and use wikis to learn how to be effective. If that's fun for you, then you'll love POE. For me, it's just not that fun.

Edit: Druid update ig - Tried druid and spent the whole time leading up to the worm thing just being frustrated with how slow and tedious everything felt. Not sure if it's because of other ARPGs or other games in general, but there's really nothing here that makes me want to come back and play through the same campaign slog over again. Movement is slow, switching forms and attacking is slow (meaning you always take damage from white mobs), and everything is just not fun. Probably got my enjoyment from the initial release, and I'll come back next patch to see what's changed, but for now, still a no from me.

LENNEH!