I can’t hate OSU. While its community may be awful, from what I’ve heard, the game itself never presents itself as something it isn’t.
It’s just a rhythm game. That’s it. No story, no fancy graphics, nothing else. If that’s your thing, then go for it.

𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
There isn’t any.

𝐌𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲
There are multiple game modes, but all of them revolve around pressing at the right place at the right time. It comes with many song beatmaps from the get-go, and more can be found on the website. In a way, it functions more as an application for making and playing rhythm versions of any song.
The main goal of OSU is to get the highest score possible. This is achieved by perfectly hitting every note and is extremely difficult. The highest I got was a mere 96% accuracy on a normal-difficulty song.
So, at the end of the day, it’s really just grinding until you get the highest score on a certain song, after which you move to either a different song or a higher difficulty.
I was having fun for some time, but then I realized that this is completely pointless, and at no point while playing will I get the satisfaction of completion. As such, I dropped the game.

𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐬/𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞
I guess the UI is designed well. Honestly, I am struggling to think of anything to say.

𝐀𝐭𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞/𝐈𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧
The feeling of finally beating your high score is truly great. Unfortunately, it’s followed up immediately by the dissatisfaction with the current imperfect high score and the need to beat it. With time, this feeling does lose some of its power.

𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤
I don’t know whether any of the songs in the beatmaps are made for the game. They are mostly Japanese songs. (From the cover, you can probably guess that OSU takes a lot of inspiration from Japanese culture, specifically anime.) If you aren’t a fan, almost any genre of music can be found within the fan-made beatmaps. I don’t have any favourites.

𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
Careful not to ruin your favourite songs by over listening to them, while playing OSU.

I’ve noticed something recently. When someone talks about their favourite or most influential media, it's usually something they've consumed very early on in their encounter with that medium. For example, 4 of my top 5 favourite games (as of writing this) are ones that I played before I started writing these reviews.
As such, I can’t say that Exiled Kingdoms is objectively an amazing game, as my rating would imply. However, I have become oddly attached to it and I very much enjoyed my time with it. It’s very much the opposite of a big-budget title. It’s the closest a one-man team can get to the expansive RPGs we see these days from the AAA scene (like Baldur’s Gate). Exiled Kingdoms tries to have an interesting storyline with many side quests along the way, good combat, and a world with lots of stories to tell.
Does it succeed? Well, it’s a matter of expectations. For me, it did. Even if my view is tainted by nostalgia, I respect the attention and love poured into this game. If you can stomach the low quality of pretty much everything, you will find a fun RPG with 50+ hours of content if you decide to do everything.
Also, the wiki is EXTENSIVE. I have seen AAA games with massive communities that have much less exhaustive wikis. There isn't a single thing you can’t find using it.

𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
The setting is a fairly standard medieval fantasy. There is plenty of world building throughout the game, which manages to set the world of Exiled Kingdoms apart from others with similar settings.
You play as some rando who has been left with a great inheritance by his ancestor, who is also a powerful wizard. The story spirals from there on. It's not the most creative plot, but still, I was invested in the story.
There are also 100 more side quests you can do as well. They don’t fall into the trap of being just fetch quests and are quite varied. Not a single one felt like a copy of another.

𝐌𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲
It has all the parts of a traditional RPG. You gain exp. by doing quests, exploring, and fighting. After enough exp. you level up and can upgrade your stats and skills. In addition, while doing all those tasks to level up, you will probably find plenty of gear to use.
Quests I talked about already.
Exploration, while being on a 2D plane, is still satisfying, as the map is massive and there are plenty of secrets around and about. One thing I very much like, and I wish more games were like this is the way everything is fixed. Going back to the starter area all enemies will be easy to take down, they won't suddenly be endgame level, just because you are. The same goes for the gear, bad gear is in the low-level areas, the most powerful gear on the other hand is at the endgame area. This gives a feeling of constant progression and makes finding unique weapons worth the hassle.
Combat is very simplistic, but it can be heavily exploited. I played as a warrior, so I was exclusively melee. Normal combat is just standing next to an enemy and holding the attack button until one of you dies. One thing I should mention is the healing. You are given multiple free max health heals, but they can only be used when not in combat. You see where I am going with this. You fight a strong foe until low health, then run away until they deaggro and heal to full health. There are numerous other similar exploits, I found while playing. For me, they are the real combat depth.

𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐬/𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞
The worst part of Exiled Kingdoms. At its best it looks alright, other times the glaring flaws can be seen. For instance, there is an item called a magma axe, which is represented by a normal axe with a flame.jpg background. It’s understandable, you can’t expect everything to be handcrafted in such an ambitious project.

𝐀𝐭𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞/𝐈𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧
The atmosphere is the kind of generic fantasy adventure.
It’s not the most atmospheric or immersive game, but it does a lot better than most. At least it doesn’t have any elements to pull you out.

𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤
Listening back to the soundtrack, it's actually good. I don’t know who made it or whether it was originally for this game. I thought it was just mostly regular medieval music, but It’s a lot more varied and has more personality and charm than I remember. My favourite part is “The Complex”. (I don’t know if that’s the real name, that’s just what I found on YouTube)

𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
My profile picture is from this game. His name is Uther Flonwe.

In recent years, the genre of rouge-lite games has had many additions. Out of all of them, Risk of Rain 2 is by far the most ridiculous I’ve seen. It’s a game where there are no limits to your potential set, and you can become as overpowered as you desire.
It does follow the traditional rouge-lite formula. Fight through a level, while collecting as much loot as possible, kill the boss, and continue onwards. The major difference here is that it's actually 3D.
Overall, I highly recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of the genre or just wants a fun time-killer. It also has multiplayer.

𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
You are a member of a spaceship responding to a distress beacon sent from an unknown planet. In an attempt to find any survivors, you get sent down, completely unprepared for what’s to come.
The story is there mainly to set the scene. There isn’t much of any narrative while actually playing the game. Still, for those interested, there is quite a lot of lore, as every item and enemy has a description.

𝐌𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲
As I said, it follows the standard rouge-lite formula seen in many other titles like Enter the Gungeon, The Binding of Isaac, and many others. It is simple, but highly effective and addictive. What sets Risk of Rain 2 apart from the others, and allowed it to become such a popular game, is its lack of restrains.
There aren’t any limits on how many times you can find a duplicate item or how fast you can clear a stage and so on. Becoming overpowered is the point. Being skilful at this game isn’t just about being able to dodge all the projectiles, it's about being able to maximize whatever loot you are given to create a build that can take you to the end and beyond.


𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐬/𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞
It's simplistic and by no means detailed. Still, I can’t imagine there will be a time when this game will look ugly and outdated. It’s a timeless design that conveys what it has to.

𝐀𝐭𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞/𝐈𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧
The atmosphere is all over the place, first, you fight robots and bugs in a tundra, then lizard men and jellyfish in a desert then… you get the idea. Although perhaps because it never takes itself seriously, it works. It's distinctly “Risk of Rain”.

𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤
An incredible soundtrack has been made for this game, and I can’t imagine any other that would fit so well. My favourite part is “The Rain Formerly Known as Purple”.

𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
Me when the weather reports show that there is a risk of rain.

(I stopped playing around 2023, since then there have been new additions and changes to the game. Still, I believe my opinion still holds value.)
The genre of games that focus on tank-on-tank combat is rather niche. There are only two big-budget titles these days - War Thunder and World of Tanks. They have many similarities, as such they are often compared. I've played both, and I think they are equal in terms of fun. However, if I was a totally new player, I would pick War Thunder, due to the more active community and overall better direction that the game is heading.
I lied, War Thunder doesn't just focus on tank-on-tank combat, there are also planes, ships, and even helicopters. I have stuck mainly to ground vehicles, as that is what interests me most, but I have dabbled in air and naval combat as well. There is much attention put into all of these types, even if you care just about one of them, you will still find an enjoyable and quite in-depth game.
War Thunder is free to play, and with this comes microtransactions. There might be some pay-to-win aspects, but from my experience, its main advantage is skipping the grind.
If you haven't guessed already, you won't be getting your hands on the modern, shiny tanks and planes from the get-go. (Unless you spend money) The grind is looooong. I was a free-to-play player, and I got to 60 - 70% of a tech tree within 250 hours. Now I may be just bad, but still.
So would I recommend it? Unfortunately, it's one of those games that only really gets fun once you get good and start consistently getting kills each battle. My main problem with War Thunder and these type of games is that after all these hours, I can barely remember any of my playtime.

𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
None.

𝐌𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲
I will mostly be talking about ground combat, since that's where I spend most of my time. It is one of those games with very unique gameplay, it's to the point where I am hard-pressed to name any other that does what War Thunder does. One could point to its main rival, World of Tanks, but even then there are glaring differences.
The key word in War Thunder is realism. The developers have tried to make combat as realistic as possible, while still keeping it engaging. So, what do you imagine happens when a shell penetrates the armour of a tank? That's right, it's almost or completely destroyed. This leads to combat feeling quite fast-paced and hectic, since a single mistake could cost you your life. But it also makes every kill and every opponent you outsmart that much more rewarding. Your impact on the battle overall can be major. Give a fast-firing tank an advantageous position and 20 seconds, and an entire flank could be wiped out. Even if you do die, it's not like you can't respawn, however, how many times you can do that is dependent on your performance.
My main problem with the ground mode is the presence of planes. It seemed as though around a third of my deaths were simply because of a bomb, I could do nothing to stop.
As I said, the microtransactions are there mostly to provide a way to make the grind shorter. You can also acquire some exclusive vehicles this way, but I've never heard of any of them being very OP.
All the other game modes - air and naval, are also pretty good. I didn't spend much time on them, since I never had much interest in those types of vehicles.
So why did I abandon War Thunder? Well at one point while playing it just hit me that what I am doing is so incredibly pointless. While I had yet to reach the end of the tech tree, none of the later vehicles seemed particularly interesting. In addition, the moment-to-moment gameplay felt more and more unsatisfying. In the end, I was left disappointed with the time I spent.

𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐬/𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞
Graphically it's not bad, there is plenty of detail in the vehicle models and the environment. My problem is that the presentation is so dull and flat. Rarely is there anything visually interesting in any of the maps. I know it's supposed to be realistic, but that doesn't make it not boring to look at.

𝐀𝐭𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞/𝐈𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧
War Thunder has little to no atmosphere. It doesn't really try.

𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤
The soundtrack is damn good, unfortunately, I don't know when it plays. I don't know whether I am misremembering, but genuinely can't recall ever hearing it, except for some short pieces. So OST itself - good, its utilization - bad.
My favourite part is "Waltz of the Tornado".

𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
Did you know? Recently, team damage was disabled. Go ahead, try it.