Recent reviews by Xiphroid

AC4 and AC4A were my faves, I'm thinking I'll enjoy this at least as much based on what I've played so far.

If you're new to the genre, be prepared to retry missions with new weapon/mech loadouts or get real good.

This is far too polished to be a free game, and yet it is!

Deep, fluid and engaging.
Hollow knight was a visual treat, engaging exploration, evolving combat and so, so very much postgame to lose yourself in.

Atmospheric in tone, dark, foreboding, Sunless Sea is a great game to get yourself lost in.
+Thought provoking tales and adventures
+Ever present sense or unease (in a good way)
+A great depth of story guaranteed to proved tens to hundreds of hours of exploration
+You'll die (quite a bit most likely)

-Torpedo nets are never really worth it
-You'll die (quite a bit most likely)
-A grueling first impression of the game if playing it blind as playing it safe or without a guide can lead to hours of trading for low reward just to build the players confidence and capabilities to explore the unterzee(gameworld) without fear of having to start over due to untimely demise.

Interesting take on the army builder genre.
Very distinct armies allowing for many degrees of customisation, diversifying your army or doubling down on your archetype, with the aim of overcoming your weaknesses through meta knowledge.

Nice distraction with its ai battles and just a breath of fresh air in general from the current card and autochess games out there.

So much potential...

Solid gameplay. Gives a well-rounded approach to explore, expand, exploit and exterminate. Even on a fast setting games will take a very long time to complete unless your goal is specifically to end them in an early game era or you know how to exploit science in the most up to date version.

Thousands of hours of gameplay between achievements and trying out every civilisation, though some civs balance is quite poor in solo/multiplayer.

Fantastic mods are available to improve gamefeel, introduce new civs or improve a wealth of surprising things, such as submarine stealth through unfriendly territory.

Good recommend if you want something with a historic feel and have time to burn on it.
Strong recommend with dlcs on sale.



The following was my review prior to the removal of the 2K launcher in November 2024:

You shouldn't tolerate the new launcher.
This is setting a standard that flies in the face of a full release pay-to-play game, keep your adverts for f2play freemium titles or not at all.
I'll remove this review if they make any meaningful change to this situation.
To get rid of the new launcher see below:

*FIX*
For people who the new launcher doesn't work for, or who just don't want to have to load adverts every time they launch their game, you can revert the the old CIV 5 launcher using the following steps:

Open up Steam and navigate to your LIBRARY.

Right click on the game in your library and choose "Properties."

Selected the "BETAS" tab.

In the text box to "Enter beta access for to unlock private beta:" enter the password "ineedlegacyaccess".

Click on the "CHECK CODE" button.

You should see a confirmation message that access has been granted.

If not already selected in the drop down, select "legacy" and click close.

Steam may require you to download and update for the game. Wait for this to happen or force it using "LIBRARY -> DOWNLOADS".

Once the game has been updated, click "PLAY" as usual and you will be running the legacy branch.

Credit: u/pedal_pusher

An excellent experience with mind warping puzzles and a unique atmosphere. Whether you find the puzzles fiendishly hard or are lucky enough to stumble across a solution, the unique puzzle layout coupled with a rewarding advancement system will keep your interest high as you adventure towards completion.

Normally I'd be hesitant to recommend a "puzzle" game to those who aren't fans of the genre, however in this case I'd recommend anyone play it. This is due to the unique experience this game provides along with the fact that reliable solutions are easy to come by thanks to the dedicated users of the antichamber wiki.