I’m a sucker for procedural generation.
Ah, well then.
Ugh, not sold.
This plus co-op is making me suspect this is going to be a mindless, storyless shooter. I really liked the single player in the previous game and was surpised at its quality.
Especially after one very recent high profile failure of procedural generated levels.
At least I bought it on steam, just in case…
Sounds like you did the same as me. I’m really skeptical about the procedural generation thing, but pre-ordered it anyway. I really need to rein in my enthusiasm when release dates approach.
I hate procedural generation, but I trust Flying Wild Hog to only use it in a way that would improve the game. Hope I am not wrong. First game was so surprisingly good…
Paul, your concerns exactly mirror my own, however, I think Flying Wild Hog’s approach to level design hasn’t been effectively communicated by Devolver.
In reality, it’s not randomly generated geometry or anything like that. Here’s how one developer recently described it:
“The levels are randomized, not procedurally generated. This is not No Wang’s Sky. We have total control over how the levels are created. They will be taken from a pre-produced pool, and certain parts will be randomized. For example, you can have the same set up of a level, but in the middle of it there can be a huge castle when you play for the first time. When you play for the second time, there will be, for example, a 100 meter deep mine instead.”
This choice offers both the potential for replayability while also creating a possibility for tonal/pacing issues, but at least it’s handcrafted content. Who knows if it will work (I hope it’s first-person Diablo with more gore and dick jokes), but I’m still day one because I loved SW1.
I knew I should trust FWH to know what they are doing. This sounds great actually. Plus, you know. No Wang’s Sky :D
Fucking gold. GOLD.
Shadow Warrior 2 releases in 10 hours. I assume reviews are embargoed until launch, but for those that are interested, you can access a cache of IGN’s review now (same score they gave the 2013 reboot).
[quote]Wang’s stupid wisecracks kept me smiling from start to finish, and the variety of melee and ranged combat and the loot that dropped from it was satisfying enough that I came back with friends for more. It’s great fun in solo or in co-op, and its small degree of randomization is enough to keep the action fresh for at least a few runs.
[/quote]
Glad it is reviewing well. The first game was amazing, this one already preordered. I need to wash the bad taste Mafia 3 left with something high quality in both gameplay and tech.
Friends don’t let friends pre-order!
That is what steam refunds are for.
I rarely pre-order anything…but chainsword…
I preordered this one too, from GOG, because I want it DRM-free. I did that partly because of the game, and partly because I want to reward FWH for making their game DRM-free, for supporting cross-play between Steam and GOG owners, and for other things.
Reviews are out. German gamestar which is usually kinda harsh gave it 9. Most reviews are hovering between 8 and 9, what I expected.
Only two more hours…
I’m playing on second hardest difficulty. I feel like it is overly hard and i don’t feel it is possible to play the game even on this difficulty and use melee much. This is important to me because i feel the first game was by far at its best when you were fighting with melee.
I tried fighting some huge burning giant in basically the second level in the game with the chainsword which had about 20% of damage converted to ice. He was vulnerable to ice. Basically even then he could take a TON TON TON of damage and could basically two hit me, and his hits set you on fire. It also seemed almost impossible to not get hit by him in melee range. I think the only way to beat him without dying multiple times is to do ranged.
The game was fine up until i got to basically an open world hunt segment and then it seems like the balance got messed up, the map design became worse and the game became less fun.
The game feels fun, but so far it doesn’t live up to the first game sadly. I won’t spoil it, but there a similar element to the first one in the story of this game and so far, it feels like a pale imitation of the story element in the first game. I am admittedly early in the game.
Hopefully the game picks up.
Chi powers also feel worse and less influential than the first game. my hope is that they are just slow in making them more effective.
Also the graphics are merely decent. In the game’s defense though, i’ve been playing Witcher 3 and Doom recently. Playing Shadow warrior 2, you’d think it was previous generation compared to those, but they are pretty high level i will admit.
The game gets points for detecting and supporting FPS above 60 and ultra wide screen. Not something you can take granted sadly.
Yes to this for me too.
Thank you. And thanks for the impressions.
Cripes! I started downloading this from GOG an hour ago, and the first 3.9 gig part still has an hour to go! At this rate (645 KB/sec), it’ll be morning before I can play. And I wanted to play tonight, as I have tomorrow off.
GOG must be getting slammed pretty hard, but I can’t help but think I’d be playing already if I’d bought it from Steam. The price of DRM-free I guess. Still, I’ve bought games on release day from GOG before, and it was never anywhere near this slow! Grrr…
Try restarting the download. Here I’m getting full-bandwidth downloads (in my case, about 1.3 MB/s).
I got about 2 hours of single and multiplayer in this so far. OMG SO FUN. SO VIOLENT. SO GREAT.