Reviews by Arkandos

Expeditions: Rome
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Turnbased tactical RPG, FOR ROME*****

A CRPG where your choices in one battle will affect future ones. The battlefield consumable system affect your tactical choices a great deal.

However, the actual tactical combat is pretty dry. There are not that many abilities, and the variety comes from the situations, now how to customize your character.

by Arkandos, Sweden - Jun 3rd 2024
Ready or Not
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A fantastic followup to SWAT 4*****

A highly tactical police fps that follows in the vein of SWAT 4. Excellent and varied environments with many tactical options come together to create a very fun shooter, even better with a crew of friends.

The one weakpoint, AI, is constantly being improved. And with an active modscene, things can only improve from here!

by Arkandos, Sweden - Jun 2nd 2024
Jagged Alliance 3
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Turnbased tactics and management*****

A very competent game about running a mercenary company in a civil war. Tactical combat, real-time sneaking and an overworld management component.

Balance spending money on new mercenaries and supplies and paying your existing ones. The tactical battles are very competent, if a bit dry. There is not much upwards momentum as abilities unlocked are pretty major.

by Arkandos, Sweden - Jun 2nd 2024
Railway Empire - Down Under
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Jailtime*****

Another classic campaign for Railway Empire. Nothing special, nothing new. But if you like Australia as a theme then this is the one for you.

by Arkandos, - Dec 22nd 2022
Railway Empire: Great Britain & Ireland
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Britland*****

As the other DLC's, nothing special or new is added in this DLC. But if you enjoy the theme, this is the one for you.

by Arkandos, - Dec 22nd 2022
Sweet Transit
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A work in progress, hopefully on the way to something good.*****

A great spin on the OTTD genre, or maybe Machinky. Transport goods over rail, make profits, all been done before.

But! The twist is that this time population is the key, and profit a low priority. Transport fresh workers to worksites and exhausted ones home. Beautiful 2D graphics make for an enjoyable game, that has plently left to grow.

EDIT: Development on the title has been slow, and while the game seemed promising at first it has hit a long of problems on the way. Be patient and pick this up closer to release.

by Arkandos, Sweden - Dec 22nd 2022
Total War™: WARHAMMER® II - The Twisted & The Twilight
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Fun addon*****

The ork campaign is much more fun than the elven one however, cooking up things makes for a more unique experience.

by Arkandos, - Jul 31st 2022
Iratus: Lord of the Dead
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Reverse Darkest Dungeon*****

This is very obviously a spin on darkest dungeon, but this time you play the monsters attacking the human adventurers. You cause both health and stress damage, both useful in their own way and against different enemies.

However, during the mid-late game the stress damage falls off quickly, as more enemies become immune to it. In addition, there is little replay value as you get access to nearly everything if going for the DLC ending.

All in all, pick up on sale.

by Arkandos, - Jul 31st 2022
Monster Train
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If you like Slay the Spire, you *might* like this*****

An excellent deckbuilding game, but with focus on many units occupying the titular Monster Train.

It does run the problem of getting repetitive after a while, since there are no variation on the bosses you face, but the 5 different factions (of which you select 2 at the start of the game) make up for it somewhat.

by Arkandos, - Jul 8th 2020
Transport Fever 2
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A decent evolution to Transport Fever 1*****

A very relaxed building experience, where you connect towns and factories to provide the goods they need.

The campaign is very cheesy and not very fun. When I saw a campaign mission about the gold rush I did not expect to be clicking around the map to catch snakes.

The freeplay mode is much better, and is why you would buy this game.

by Arkandos, - Mar 3rd 2020
Warlock 2: The Good, the Bad, & the Muddy
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Get it for the Alliance mod.*****

Get it for the alliance mod, which improves the game in every way. But don't get this DLC on it's own, it adds barely nothing, and the 3 lords it does add are all mediocre to bad.

by Arkandos, Sweden - Jan 2nd 2020
Warlock 2: The Thrilling Trio
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Get it for the Alliance mod*****

The three lords gained through this DLC are not worth the price, but the mod is, and it requires this DLC.

Poor Nicholas Frost got downgraded from a mage to a lord in the sequel.

by Arkandos, Sweden - Jan 2nd 2020
Warlock 2: Spectacular Spell Pack
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Of all the DLC, this is the best.*****

Get this for the Alliance mod, which improves the game in all respects.
But actually, this contains enough spells that it actually is worth its price.

by Arkandos, Sweden - Jan 2nd 2020
Warlock 2: Three Mighty Mages
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Worth it if you want a different playstyle.*****

The two first mages are not worth anything, but the great dragon Tal Kalessil makes you start out as a dragon instead of having a city.

It is quite a different playstyle, where you start out very weak but become unstoppable as the game closes out.

by Arkandos, Sweden - Jan 2nd 2020
Stellaris
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The 4x that never stops changing. And never finds its place.*****

I jumped in on stellaris quite early in its lifespan. It never really grabbed me, and I bounced off after 'only' 80 or so hours.

It's quite... dull? Repetitive. You never feel connected to anything you do, the combat is nonexistant.
The main selling points, the exploration and dynamic races just feel empty.

All in all, it comes out to an empty game. Fill with DLC to your hearts content, but that is not a business model I want to support.

by Arkandos, Sweden - Jan 1st 2020
Overcooked! 2
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One of the best couch-coop games!*****

Overcooked returns, and its still a hell of a good game. Excellent coop, but less inspired maps than the first game. A better scoring system however, but the hidden levels are frustrating to find.

Play the first game first, then if you can't get enough, continue with this!

by Arkandos, Sweden - Jan 1st 2020
Airport Madness 3D
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A decent timewaster*****

This game is nothing impressive or spectacular. It's a nice little timewaster of a game where you help planes land and takeoff.

Pick it up on sale for an hour or two of fun.

by Arkandos, Sweden - Jan 1st 2020
Unrailed!
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A fun concept, but wait until release.*****

Unrailed! is a hectic lightweight coop game. You rush against time as the train barrels forward towards its own demise, shouting at your friends to get out of the way so you can provide the needed resources.

At the moment its a proof of concept, it needs more content, balancing and polish to become a good product.

by Arkandos, Sweden - Jan 1st 2020
Tropico 5 – Complete Collection
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A great citybuilder that does not quite reach Tropico 4*****

Tropico 5 is Tropico 4 in a new take. The era system is interesting, but does not quite mesh with how I like to play the game. In the campaign, you switch back and forth between two different permanent islands. If you mess up in an early mission you may be in a rough spot later on. This is a positive to some, and a negative to some.

I didn't like Tropico 5 as much as Tropico 4. But it is still a very good game.

by Arkandos, Sweden - Jan 1st 2020