Looking back, this right here is the game that snowballed my interest in the roguelike and roguelite genres. I probably first gave Risk of Rain a shot way back in late 2015 after seeing it for a dollar on the Winter Steam Sale if memory holds, and I've had a psychotic love/hate relationship with this game ever since. I distinctly remember playing it for a short stint, realized the Steam achievements were busted, and promptly stopped playing after failing to even finish Stage 3. (How embarrassing on two counts for myself!)

Ever since, I've never quite been able to shake this little game from my mind, coming back to it year after year. Despite bouts of not enjoying it at all, being completely unable to play without Command on (How embarrassing... again!) and completely failing to have any fun with the process at all, over time I began to understand the simple joys of Risk of Rain, warts and all.

This game turned my brain to sludge. I don't know if they were trying to make this a procedural Borderlands-like looter or what but it simply did not work for me. It worked so little for me I seriously struggle to remember the moment to moment gameplay of this, it all blends together in a terrible sludge smoothie. Nothing about this game makes sense in any way in connection to the Shadow Warrior reboot this is a sequel of, and I wasn't even the biggest fan of SW's story.

This shlock is all bloated "style" and ""funny joke"" to hide that it has nothing of interest within it. If it didn't have co-op (so I could force a friend to play it with me haha thanks buddy) I don't think I could have finished this, and that's some harsh critique considering I have a high tolerance for flawed games and garbage.

Weapons Mained: Greatsword, Lance

Played through this one on a whim a few months back (Up to Village Monoblos) and honestly didn't find it as bad as I'd heard. I still agree that there is very little reason to play this game, as it's just Monster Hunter 1 with a frosting of quality of life changes, but a lot of these changes really address a lot of issues I found myself having the first time I played MH1.

The farm, free roam gathering quests and new armor skill system are some of the more standout improvements. With the first two really helping chip away at the mindless grind the beginning of MH1 can feel like, especially for someone not well-versed in tackling old MH titles.

But as a whole, I feel there's not a whole lot to say beyond that. I've never been to Minegarde, but I've heard the HR grind can be a massive pain within 1/G. I do like the idea of the old cities/towns of old Monster Hunter, but from what I've read (I've only personally been to Loc Lac myself, albeit briefly) the HR grind is always a point of contention. For me personally, if the addition of a laundry list of content, QoL, and monsters not always juiced up to 4-player HP pools comes at the cost of losing these very soulful cities, I feel it a necessary sacrifice.

To cap it off, I'd say this: If you really want to play something within the first two generations of Monster Hunter that isn't Freedom Unite, just play Dos. But if you really want specifically first generation Monster Hunter, you can't go wrong with this game. It's not bad, it's simply outperformed in content and mechanics by the second generation titles.

Yian Garuga is pretty cool too, man should've been on the cover. He'll always be a flagship in my heart, and apparently, even in Capcoms.

Myself and friends are dumb as bricks when it comes to fighting games. I don't want simplified inputs, lowered entrance barriers, or anything of the sort. I want to enter a game I know nothing about, with a bat-shit insane cast of characters with all kinds of varying mechanics, and not know where to start. I've put 150 hours into this game and am still dumb as a brick, but goddamn this game will never not be fun to play. Every fighting game I play after this will be measured against this.

Wish I was real enough to learn Hazama but that shit ain't ever gonna happen

As someone who remembered this game being flawed but generally alright, I gotta say I don't think anyone would actually like this game if it wasn't shambling around in a Warhammer 40k themed skinsuit.

For an Enhanced Edition of an already existing game it really doesn't feel all that enhanced. The playerbase for this is almost completely dead, which is completely understandable due to the age of the game. This wouldn't be so bad, but there are no bots in the multiplayer mode. On the standard normal difficulty, going into a mission solo with your skills immediately on cooldown, the opening firefight can often be far too difficult for a single player to deal with, and that's not even considering if you're using weapons that may be inaccurate or even close-range only. From what I played of the Campaign, the bots are by no means good or even halfway functional, but it would still be something to alleviate the pains of waiting for someone to join your lobby. This as a problem I cannot understand, it's simply a solved issue as far as co-op shooters go, either have bots that get filled in by joining players, or have dynamic difficulty.

There aren't really any objectives beyond ludicrously long defense situations followed by trudging through corridors to the next defense situations, which became extremely tedious by the time I'd cleared maybe half the standard missions. And the balance of the classes - is downright horrible. Four out of the six classes in the game are basically functionally worthless. Like, from a balance perspective, why play any classes but the only class that can heal at all and the class that with a push of two buttons can revive the entire team AND hand out invincibility shields? When the game on Normal is throwing out Broodlords back to back to back in the span of less than a minute and a half, it just seems ridiculous to expect any other team comp to survive unless they have god-like positioning, teamwork, and reflexes. And it's made worse due to the fact Broodlords can one-shot a player if they simply land a hit to the noggin. All in all it's some downright bizzare balance. It often feels like the game is trying to punish its players for having the gall to attempt to play any team comp but the absolute most meta choices with how many Broodlords can sometimes spawn, having those invincibility shields feels like a necessity. And while I didn't play the original version of the game, it makes me believe that the class in question - Chaplain, introduced in the Enhanced Edition - was created as a complete bandaid solution to the balance of the game.

Many of the classes also share weaponry - which is fine, but if I put a damage upgrade on an Apothecary's Bolter, why do I need to purchase the exact same upgrade for another classes Bolter? The intertwined Upgrade Cosmetic system is just super baffling in general. It's just bloat on top of bloat on top of bloat, an absolutely unnecessary level of grind for a game that has about 6 hours of content, if that. All the intertwining of the system causes is frustration at getting ass-looking cosmetic items and a slow trickle of renown so that you can buy the upgrades you actually want. Like shit, some of the weapon upgrades and cosmetic options look hilariously bad. I'll have one tiny scope stapled to the top of my minigun, with the end of it blocked by a mass of metal, thanks. And the cherry on top of the system is that to even receive your level-up rewards you must leave the game lobby, further exacerbating the issue of empty lobbies and the dead feeling to the game.

This game is also plagued with bugs, from being unable to see other players revive timers to something as game-breaking as the mission objective soft-locking or even being completely unable to fire your guns upon a respawn.

Sometimes this game can be enjoyable, mowing down a horde of enemies advancing toward you and your battle-brothers, hearing all the Bolters and Assault Cannons going off at once. There was obviously a lot of work that went into creating and polishing the overall look of the game, and I can appreciate what the devs were trying to do with the tactical nuances and teamplay but the execution just doesn't work. At its best, the game can be fun for an hour or two at a time, but at its worst it is mind-numbing mediocrity.

Weapon Mained: Greatsword

After giving this one another glance before moving on to MH2, I can understand what people see in it. This game is essentially the unrefined bones of something that could be truly great, and I do have to respect the amount of work and love the devs must have put into this title back then.

I learned to enjoy a lot of what the game offered, from the analog stick attacking which was surprisingly intuitive to use, to memorizing exactly what gathering point will give me what. There was a lot to learn when it came to getting into the mindset of a Hunter like the game encourages, and it truly was a fun time when it came to learning how to properly take on a new foe.

While I enjoyed my time in Kokoto, I can't say it's all roses. For a first game the amount of unique monsters made for the Village Quests, out of just three monster skeletons, is admirable. They're of course not all winners to fight, a few of my most disdained being Basarios, Plesioth, and of course the highlight himself, Rathalos.

Maybe one day I'll come back to Monster Hunter 1 and enjoy it even more, but it'll likely be through Monster Hunter G, which I've heard is the distinctly better way to experience the 1st Generation of Monster Hunter these days.