Recent reviews by HighFunctioningInsomniac

Overall, this was a great purchase. I generally have a rule of buying games that give me an hour of game-play per dollar spent, and I went into this knowing it would be less, so that was a chance.

Boy was it worth it. The negative reviews on graphics, NPC movements, realism, etc are way off base for what this game is supposed to be.
This isn't Skyrim, Starfield, Fallout, Baldur's Gate, or any of those very micromanaging-is-fun style of games. You don't have to sit there and worry about picking up every unique cup because it may be valuable later. You don't have to search every crevice because you may miss a quest if you aren't paying 100% attention all of the time.

Let me go into a lot of the Pros and Cons and compare them to what people expect.

Pros/cons:
Inventory management is so decently handled. You WILL run out of space often, but you can send to stash, dismantle, or sell easily and almost anywhere, so you won't be focused all the time on whether you can pick things up or not.

Graphics are beautiful and the scenery all looks like there was care put into creating it. I felt the emotional connections to the lands that the characters in the games often talked about. The living lands really felt alive.

Gameplay was amazing. I started as a sword/shield style of warrior, but I quickly pivoted to Bow/Arrow, then eventually dual wielding pistols. Each weapon felt great to use, but the overpowered feeling you get later in the game with all of the stat upgrades and unique weapon perks made pistols so very satisfying.
Movement speed is good, you aren't trudging along back and forth on an impossibly huge map slowly. When you want to go somewhere, you can get there quickly with or without fast travel.
Glitches happened occasionally, but they were largely small clipping issues, and usually only on NPCs. It never affected gameplay.
YOU ARE NOT LOCKED INTO THE FIRST THING YOU THINK YOU WANT TO BE
You can change your build very easily throughout the game, and it's very friendly with distributing enough stats/feats to cross-build.

Controls:
I played on an Xbox controller, and the very few issues I had were generally skill issues. I would accidentally dash off of cliffs a lot because I'd be thinking that I'd jump, but I would inadvertently dodge instead.
Aiming felt on point, and clambering worked as expected every time.

Story:
The story is amazing, the choices you make feel like they really matter, and the companions are interesting and fun to talk to. I often would have a hard time deciding which ones to take with me because they all were fun to listen to when doing quests. I don't want to spoil anything, so I will leave it at this:
This was one of the most engaging stories I have seen in a long time for a fantasy game. It's not the same thing rehashed, it is fresh and fun.

Difficulty:
I played on normal, and it let me get just overpowered enough to feel like a real godlike character. It's never too difficult, and I think I only died once or twice by combat. The other 10 deaths were from fall damage.

Common bugs:
Map markers were sometimes a bit off
Some loot was inaccessible no matter what I tried (But never anything that seemed important)
The game crashed about once every 5 hours for me, but I was running it with a stream, recording the footage, and had a bunch of other applications going while on max settings, so it was probably my own fault.
Dialogue menus would glitch sometimes so that I couldn't pick an option without alt-tabbing and coming back.
That happened in two conversations throughout the entire game.

I have a lot to say about this game, but I'll leave it with a rating instead.
9/10 (Solid pick - I would buy a sequel in a heartbeat)

The game is much more fun than the first one. It gives you ideas of what to paint. The ideas are vague enough where you can do anything, but it at least sparks your interest. Also you get brushes you want much more easily.

The game itself was very fun and not difficult, but the main antagonist was made to be more annoying than Jeoffrey from Game of Thrones. So much so that it made me absolutely hate a certain part of the game.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ Immersed Beyond Comprehension
☐ Beautiful (Yet Disturbing)
☐ Great
☐ Good
☑ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Garbage

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Excellent
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Ok I guess
☐ The glitches make the game unplayable

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☑ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Extremely Difficult
☐ Very Difficult
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Most would have no issues
☐ Easy
☐ Might as well be a visual novel

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☑ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☑ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ I was very immersed in it
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☑ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs (Less than Skyrim)
☑ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ Ant Farm

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☑ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

Darker than it seems, but an amazing story

---{ Graphics }---
☐ Immersed Beyond Comprehension
☐ Beautiful (Yet Disturbing)
☑ Great
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Garbage

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Excellent
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Ok I guess
☐ The glitches make the game unplayable

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Extremely Difficult
☐ Very Difficult
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Most would have no issues
☐ Easy
☐ Might as well be a visual novel

---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ I was very immersed in it
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☑ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs (Less than Skyrim)
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ Ant Farm

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10

As a horror game fan, I enjoyed it enough. Despite that, even knowing the story of Blair Witch, I began to stop enjoying the game about halfway in. The story kept me there, but the gameplay did not do too many favors.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ Immersed Beyond Comprehension
☑ Beautiful (Yet Disturbing)
☐ Great
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Garbage

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Excellent
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Ok I guess
☐ The glitches make the game unplayable

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Extremely Difficult
☐ Very Difficult
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Most would have no issues
☐ Easy
☐ Might as well be a visual novel

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☑ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ I was very immersed in it
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☑ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs (Less than Skyrim)
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ Ant Farm

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☑ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

One of the best horror games ever made in my opinion. A great addition to the Alien Lore.

---{ Graphics }---
☑ Immersed Beyond Comprehension
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Garbage

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Excellent
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Ok I guess
☐ The glitches make the game unplayable

---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Extremely Difficult
☐ Very Difficult
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Most would have no issues
☐ Easy
☐ Might as well be a visual novel

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☑ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ I was very immersed in it
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs (Less than Skyrim)
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ Ant Farm

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10

Initially I liked the game, but there were many things that made me slowly dislike it.
Without getting into spoilers, there are a few upgrade trees that you have in the game, but as you go along, you slowly start to be forced into using guns. I enjoy a run and gun game here and there, but the fact that the game gives you fun tools then takes them away during crucial battles is irritating. It made me feel like I wasted all of my upgrades and it became less enjoyable.

Also the dodging system is so finicky that I hate it completely. Doubly so when there are multiple enemies since you cannot really choose which one you want to be dodging half the time.

The game was definitely good, but there were elements that drove me insane. I am happy that I played it, but if I was in control of the story writing, I would definitely have made many different choices on where it went. I would love to give more information, but most of my review would be spoiler-filled.

Amazing. Just like my memories.

Quit and restarted this game too many times to count. Not because I didn't like it, but because I had to play it multiple times with friends who had never heard of it. 10/10 No complaints