First off: I'm a huge Soulslike fan. I've played all the From Software ones, except Elden Ring which is next. And from all Soulslikes Bloodborne is my all time favorite. So naturally after I heard that this game is really good I should really like this game, but somehow I don't.

The OK:
- The core gameplay feels OK
- The hitboxes seem to be OK. I didn't find any quirky stuff when fighting bosses etc.
- The bosses were all fun to fight with a good balance (a bit easy for my taste, I feel like the bosses in the demo were way harder somehow?)
- Having an infinite homeward bone is nice
- Several quality of life systems, like showing the amount of souls one can still fetch after having died
- The level design was OK. Nothing amazing but also nothing really bad

The bad:
- This is really really subjective but the general theme and setting is not my cup of tea. It all feels a bit silly to me, which is why I can't take it seriously
- The weapon variety feels bland to me. I have played for more than 8 hours and I am still using the beginner weapon, because it has better scaling, move set and fable arts than anything else I found
- There are lots of bloated progression/crafting systems. I am a fan of bare bones and I don't need the Quartz leveling system for example. It feels tacked on and doesn't add anything. Same with the weapon crafting system. The idea is nice, but it doesn't give me much when almost all handle fable arts suck and changing the scaling to what I would like to use (quality build) still gives me something worse than the beginner weapon
- The Legion arm combined with it's crafting system feels useless. I never once used the arm anywhere and I have been perfectly fine, never thinking that I'm missing out on much. Being able to wield a weapon 2 handed would have been way better in my opinion.
- Another useless system: summoning NPCs. Since NPCs make almost every boss fight trivial I would have liked the concept IF the game wouldn't throw like 20 summon items at you around every corner. It makes the whole system redundant. The Dark Souls Humanity system was way way better for this in my opinion

The ugly:
- Holy Shit why does this game borrow the worst thing from Bloodborne?Why the hell do I need to port to the base (Hotel Krat) everytime when I want to level up, especially when I can level up at the bonfires in the tutorial chapter. It makes absolutely no sense at all and just adds unnecessary load times.


Conclusion:
This is a game weighed down by unnecessary crafting/progression systems which don't add much. It would have been better if they instead focused more on the core gameplay, weapon variety and game systems which actually make a difference, see The Surge 2 for example.
If you like the theme, setting and atmosphere and have no problem with ignoring the bloat I'm sure this is a really nice game for you. If not I would pass until the game gets way cheaper.
Maybe I will pick this up again later and give it a second chance, but I doubt it.

My first review didn't do this game justice and I will just say it now: this is the best retro style shooter there is in my opinion. It just hits all the spots.

- Hit Feedback? Absolutely amazing. Popping enemy heads or throwing dynamite/Molotov cocktails in a group of cultists never gets old. It is sooo damn satisfying
- Weapon Roster? Simple but perfect. Every single weapon feels good to shoot, sounds gorgeous and has its moments. There is not a single weapon that feels useless or gimmicky. Also the flamethrower is so damn powerful that it always feels good to use. And that's saying something when usually flamethrowers are almost always very gimmicky weapons in other games
- Freedom? This game advertises that you can play it in every way you like and I totally agree with that. The game doesn't force you to use specific weapons or other stuff like that. You can always tackle the enemies in whatever way you like and that's just really cool
- Maps? Varied, creative and with the perfect length for my taste (around 30 minutes for a single map). The secrets are very well placed without being too crazy to find them and the variety of the maps is really nice. Big boats, asylums, mines or police stations, it's all here. Also there aren't really any arena fights which is a big plus for me
- Graphics? Retro and chunky. It feels gritty and dirty which is the perfect look for this game. If you don't like it tho you can disable it in the settings
- Theme and Atmosphere? Man I love it. It feel's like a weird baby from Resident Evil 4 and Blood and I'm all here for it. The little messages you can find throughout the game are also very well written. Also the horror segments of some maps just add soo much to the general atmosphere. It's so good
- Music? Gorgeous. Also this game knows that there shouldn't be heavy metal music in every single chapter of every single map. Cultic knows when there shouldn't be any music but it also knows when to throw in the nice beats when some Cultists need some action
- Enemy Variety? Decent for its length. This is the only part where I maybe would like one or two more enemy types, but it never gets boring and introduces new enemies until almost the very end
- Difficulty settings? There is something for everyone here. "Very hard" is a decent challenge without being too crazy, and "Extreme" is for the people who really want to strategize about how to tackle fights
- Updates? The new completely free map "Interlude" was a very challenging little introduction in whats to come in Chapter 2. It feels fresh and also introduces a few new weapons. All for free.
- Upgrades? Finally an old school shooter in which the progression system doesn't feel tacked on. Finding weapon upgrade parts in secrets feels really rewarding and using them to upgrade your weapons in exactly the ways you want is very useful. Also it helps to make sure that you mostly use the weapons you want to use

All in all this game is just amazing. It's always a good time to pop some cultist heads or throw a Molly in a group of cultists and hear them burn. It's absolutely crazy to me how just one dude could pull this off. Hats off to Jason Smith for this absolute achievement he pulled off.
I can't wait for Chapter 2!

DUSK is a pretty good old school shooter. It's fast and silly fun with you bunny hopping around the place while decimating all kinds of enemies in creative levels. I wouldn't agree tho that this game is the best "boomer shooter" there is.

The good:
- The level design is really creative. There is everything here: from hillbilly shacks to otherworldly cities and weird flying islands
- The little horror segments in between are a nice change of pace and were very interesting. They could have even been a bit longer for me personally
- The secrets are very well hidden
- The weapon roster is good. The Riveter in particular feels like this games version of the BFG
- The game lets you use the weapons you would like to use. It doesn't force you to use specific weapons against specific enemies like in Doom Eternal for example
- The graphics have this old school PS1 style about them which I really like
- Nice enemy variety for the length of this game
- The bunny hopping was really fun and even necessary in some tougher fights
- The music really hit the spot

The bad:
- The hit feedback and gore in general could be better. Enemies either just fall to the ground or they explode in blood clouds. Nothing in between
- The "mamas" are a bit too spongy for my taste
- Some levels were a bit too short for me personally
- The majority of the bosses were OK but not very creative, which is especially sad because in contrast to that the levels are so damn creative

The ugly:
- The first half of the game feels way worse than the second half. Especially the first chapter is really bland. Which is a shame because this hillbilly "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" theme has a lot of potential in my opinion.

Tldr: This game almost only consists of big arena fights. If you like that this game will be amazing for you. If you prefer more linear shooters this game will get tedious very quickly.



I really would love to like this game but unfortunately I can't. The weapons are meaty and chunky, hit feedback is amazing because everything explodes into tiny pieces and the taunt button is amazing too.

There is just one very big problem for me: the fact that this is an arena shooter through and through. I don't mind an arena fight every now and then in my shooters, but this game is arena after arena after arena after arena. It gets boring and repetitive very quick and it also feels very lazy compared to the level design of other shooters.
Also I definitely miss a map in this game because the levels can get really confusing at times.

TLDR: The levels are perfect but the actual shooting and weapons feel bland to me.

OK, I feel actually bad for giving this game my rating. Because I absolutely love that this game is built in the Build Engine and it's levels are just amazing, with crazy hard secrets to find and extremely detailed little extras everywhere.

My core problem which made me abandon this boomer shooter: The shooting just doesn't feel good to me. And when the shooting doesn't feel good even amazing levels can't fix it.

Hit feedback doesn't feel as good as it should. The majority of weapons feel bland or useless (Clusterpucks are a great example for that). And the main weapons I used (revolver, shotgun/grenade launcher and SMGs) just do not carry the "oomph" I would like them to. I understand that not every hit feedback can be as good as my beloved Cultic, but even in a "simple" boomer shooter like Dusk it feels way way better to actually hit stuff than here in Ion Fury.
I don't need crazy weapons in my boomer shooters. I don't even need a BFG type. The before mentioned Cultic has very standard weapons too, but in Cultic landing headshots even with the bare bones pistol feels absolutely amazing, whereas in Ion Fury it's just "ok".

Also I absolutely hate the spider enemies, because they are just annoying.

But still huge respect for developing this in the Build engine. And as always plus points for releasing this game on GOG without DRM.

I want to love this game so much, bu there are some big issues that made me abandon it, even tho there are some extremely good things in this game.

The Good:
- Artstyle: it is amazing. The game "feels" like it came out the same year as Quake and that's saying something. It just looks authentic and really really good. The enemies look good too and when they explode it feels amazing (not as good as "Cultic" tho)
- The Melee Weapon: I didn't use the knife much as an actual weapon in combat, but the alternative fire (long jumping) just feels really nice and the maps are built in a way that using the knife to jump around just feels good
- The shooting and weapons: The weapons all feel unique and useful. I think there was not a single weapon which I didn't regularly use in combat, even tho the shotgun will always be my main weapon. The shooting feels good too
- GOG version available, always a plus

The Bad:
- Hit Feedback: Shooting at enemies can either feel amazing or really lackluster, depending on if there are good animations. I don't know why but with some weapons there are like zero animations when you hit an enemy and it just feels bad
- Getting out of water can be really annoying

The Ugly:
- The maps are way too big. I am usually a fan of bigger maps in boomer shooters. But holy damn those maps can get huge and take more than one hour to beat. I mostly enjoyed the maps in the first hub world but starting with the maps in the second hub world it all starts to be very "samey" and the game starts to feel like an endless slog eventually
- The enemy variety is not good at all. I would say you see almost 90% of all enemy types in the first hub world. I think the enemy variety has been ok for the first hub, but afterwards it's just not enough to keep me interested.
- The second hub: I talked about this already but the second hub with all its levels just doesn't do it for me. I am not a big fan of the theme and all maps feel the same. It feels like you have to play through one huge 5h+ long map and it got me to abandon this game unfortunately.

Conclusion:
If the game would have smaller, more varied levels with more enemy types it would be absolutely amazing. It would be a contender for best boomer shooter for me.
Unfortunately it doesn't, which really is a shame because there is a really damn good foundation here. But the huge, samey levels just killed every fun I had beginning in the second hub.

This is definitely one of the better rogue likes I have played until now. The gameplay is fun, it doesn't get boring because of the very high difficulty and the weapon variety is absolutely top notch. There is a weapon for everyone in this game, I promise.

What's important to say is that Enter the Gungeon is more on the rogueLIKE side than it is on the rogueLITE side. Which means that the only thing that's getting better is you yourself. There is no typical meta progression (besides of buy the chance to get new weapons/items in your run).

The only thing I am missing is a little bit more enemy variety.
But it's still an amazing game to just shut down your brain and kill a bit of time (especially on the Steam Deck).

This game is a game of extremes. As others have said already the athmosphere and general feel of the game is amazing. Some levels are just chefs kiss in their design and how they feel. That's by far the best thing about this game.

On the other hand you have the combat, and oh boy it really isn't that good. It feels a bit like your typical Elder Scrolls melee combat, in that you pretty much just slap at the enemy until it drops dead. Also ranged weapons are absolutely OP in this game and the combat just isn't strong enough to carry me through this game.
Besides that you have mechanics like alchemy which felt really tacked on for me.

If you love exploration games totally get this one. But if combat gameplay is important for you then maybe just skip this.

I have played Version 2.1.

I want to start with the fact that this game is not bad. I think for people who enjoy open world games this game is even very good.
But for me after some time the realization kicked in that this is in fact still just your normal average open world game, and those typically start just being busy work after some time.
I had fun with this game for around 10 hours I think, but then it just started to become stale very quickly.

Pros:
- The gunplay feels good, way better than I imagined
- The city looks and feels amazing, by far the biggest pro for me

Cons:
- The talent trees and cyber implementations etc. are too shallow for me. My "build" was finished after around 8 hours and it didn't feel like it would change at all anymore
- The story and characters are OK, but not as good as in Witcher 3 for example
- This is personal but the whole cyberpunk theme just doesn't really do it for me
- Too many "Walking behind NPC who has something important to say and nothing else happens" quests

tldr:
If you like typical open world games you will definitely enjoy this game and you should get it. The city feels amazing and you will have lots of fun.
If you're like me and don't really like open world games Cyberpunk 2077 won't change that.

Another of those games which I should theoretically love but somehow it just doesn't do it for me.
I've read multiple times that this game is like a spiritual successor to the FEAR games, but I don't think that's the case at all.

Pros:
- The gunplay feels very meaty

Cons:
- The story is laughably bad
- The "horror" is laughably bad
- The mission design is all over the place
- The hub in between the missions is completely useless and totally lifeless (a mission select menu would have been way better for this game)
- The weapon customization feels tacked on

tldr: The gunplay is fun but is not enough to carry the full game. Don't get fooled that this game is the next FEAR, it is not. Get this when it's on sale somewhere for like 10 bucks for some quick fun.

First off, I have never watched any RoboCop Movie so I have no feelings towards this franchise. Maybe this also affected how much fun I had.

Now to the game: It's a fun little linear shooter. Shooting at heads and seeing them explode is always fun, but unfortunately all other systems were a bit bland for me and only the shooting didn't cut it.

I'm sure that someone who loves the RoboCop movies will also love this game, but for someone who has never experienced this franchise the game just didn't motivate me to go on.

Bonus points for the available GOG version.

Tldr: if you like the RoboCop franchise I'm sure this game is really nice, if you have never watched a single RoboCop movie maybe wait for a sale.

Amazing game. It was actually way more fun than I thought because usually I'm not a big fan of stealth games, because to me it often feels clunky.
In this game it didn't really feel clunky at all.

The gameplay is fun until the end, the puzzles are creative and fun to solve, the PS1 kind of style is so damn good and the game has an awesome atmosphere. Especially when you start out in the house it is really damn creepy.
Oh and it's not one of those "you cannot defend yourself" kind of games. You can fight back. And the reload mechanic for the revolver is just chefs kiss.

Absolutely loved my time with it and I'm sure the replayablity is really good too, knowing that there is a hard mode which adds hunger, etc.
If you're a fan of horror games definitely try this one out.

Bonus points for the fact that this game is available on GOG.