Bounty Star

The game isn't bad, the ideas are cool but everything feels a bit undercooked. It's not a hidden gem unfortunately, if you're a fan of games like Armored Core, or Mechwarrior, this isn't going to provide you with a new or fresh experience.

Quick Review on this: The story, characters and voice acting is good. Interesting here and there but overall solid enough to keep playing the game. The bad: as many others already wrote, there are so many small things that add up to make the game frustrating. There are so many cutscenes you need to manually skip all the time! Skip time of day? Custcene for sleep and one for change time of day. Cooking? Skip animation Craft something from a blueprint? custscene Start a mission? Loading screen - cutscene - maybe a second one showing new enemies At the beginning of the game it is fine, but it gets so frustrating really quick and you have to hold a button to skip ... Want to sell or craft multiple things at once ? Bad luck, do everything one by one. (each craft you need to skip a cutscene) If you want to selll 100 cactus for some cash, click 100 times on sell ... Repeat a mission - custscene - end mission - custscene and then you are outside and you need to run back in, to repeat another mission (cutscenes again of course). Also you can not change the loadout you currently have when you do "repeat mission". You need to die in the mission to get he option to change loadout and try again. (or do it before you start the mission). Overall the gameplay/combat is good once you get used to it. Most weapons feel super weak, the shotgun was for a long time the go to against everything. There are some really good combinations of gear that are fun and strong tho. The challanges per mission/bounty are okay - use specific loadout, find a hidden stash, do it in under xx time, do not get hit. You will play some missions multiple times until you have everything. "Exploration" is okay. Some chest to find for lore, blueprints and collectibles. With all the small things aside, it's solid and fairly easy to get all achievements if you are into this. Would I recommend this game? No. For me there are too many menial tasks/chores, cutscenes, and just unnessecary time waste. Also it looks like the game is abandoned. Last patch was like 5 months ago and you get what you get. No bug fixes or improvements will come anymore (just a speculation on my part). This game could be really good if the dev puts in a little more time and effort to polish it and make it a fun experience overall, but as of now .. difficult to recommend. With Mixed - it is pretty much where this game should be right now.

It's a fun little arcade mech brawler, with some small base-building elements. Story thus far is fine, I like what they're going for but the characters can come across a little bland in some scenes. The mech design is cool, and there's a nice variety of weapons (some are categorically better than others) with some minor customisation. I really like what the devs are aiming for with this game, but I think it needs a tiny bit more polishing to really become a "hidden gem". If the devs are reading, I would suggest: * There's a weird turning circle on the human character which makes her feel clunky (don't mind it as much on the mech as it makes some sense mechanically) * Weapon ranges feel very short - It's also weird that stuff basically just disappears beyond max range, as it punishes leading your shots properly and outranging melee opponents. * It feels weird to not be able to reload whilst ADS - You have to either expend all ammo and then hit R, or stop ADS and hit R? * I like how fleshed out the animations are (it would be easy to fade to black for instance), but some of the cutscenes could be easier/quicker to skip, as they can wear thin when seeing the same bed animation for the 20th to progress time to refresh for missions. * Combat is pretty fun so far; mission lengths are good, but some of the side objectives are very tough, while others are way too easy * The heat mechanic is somewhat punishing (but it's also relatively easy to avoid with the cryo jets), I think it just limits the customisation at the same time. * Some kind of "ping" mechanic would go a long way to help find enemies hidden away on the larger maps, as well as find those seemingly invisible curio stashes Other than that, I really like this game so far!

It is a decent game for around 20 hours, but very rough around the edges. There is a long standing bug in "Save out Sprinker" mission that will mess up the camera when you load in, unless you lock vsync to 60fps. Some Dino path finding will stuck if they run into certain terrain. The combat system is quite unique and I can almost see the intention behind it. But the execution left a lot to be desired. Melee for the most part feels weak and coupled with how enemies can recover from poise break will punish you a lot from melee combos. Gun cancel attacks feel underwhelming and mostly serve as movement tool. Guns on the other hand are much stronger in comparison, so they had to specifically made ranged resistant enemies to cope with how strong the guns are. I really dislike this kind of color coded design. Combat feedback is somewhat stiff and the melee system in couple with enemies design does not feel satisfying. No saving your loadout slots and a lot of missions require locked loadouts leading to a lot of tedious gear swap. Speaking about tedious, the farm system is one of the worst I ever seen since MH Freedom Unite. Late game you can automate garden farming, but animals and electrolytes refill are still manually done, which is baffling given how many of they are. The idea behind them is okay, but the implementation is horrendous.

Amazing worldbuilding, great voice acting and characters. But sadly, every actual gameplay elements feels undercooked. Mech: Only one mech, only swappable parts are internal or handheld. Base building: linear, only one way to build your base. gameplay loop: look at mission enemy report, equip weapon weakness, swap hot/cold parts depending on afternoon/night, whittle down enemy forces until done, repeat at next mission. Combat: Clunky. Which feels like it should be immersive for the setting, but it only feels clunky for you, not for your enemies. Plot progression: Stuck in plot limbo for so long, takes forever to get back to the one plot point introduced at the beginning. It pads itself out by making you grind missions to gain experience points to raise your rank before you can continue.

I love this game, and I can't recommend it. For every hurdle Bounty Star clears it stumbles hard on the follow up. A lovely graphical style breaks down when it tries to animate - great music and solid voice work is bent out by disastrous audio balancing. It's fantastic, heartfelt story and likeable characters are burdened under hurricane force tone shifts and baffling pacing, while it's awesome opening and cinematic climax are stretched away from each other by about nine hours worth of unnecessary padding. This game's premise is absolutely immaculate, crossing hack and slash mecha combat with a quiet farming loop that reflects the game's themes perfectly while simultaneously coming apart at the seams due to its balancing; customization of the mech is utterly pointless once you get a solid boom weapon, and money from missions will very quickly outclass any output that you raise yourself. There is no point in interacting with half of the core systems past the early game and that is a death blow in my eyes. Then begs the question - why did I finish it? It's because this game is utterly unique. The vision of what it wanted to be is so strong, still visible through all of the cracks, and when the light hits the shards and it shines the experience is one I grew to enjoy deeply. I found myself genuinely invested in the characters, especially the main lead Clem, and when you find a groove on a particularly snappy mecha mission it does feel like you're making your Raptor sing. Couple that with immaculate atmosphere and solid worldbuilding and you have a rollercoaster that had just enough of a handlebar to keep me strapped in for the whole ride. This game is incredibly flawed, and I can't give it a solid recommendation to anyone on objective quality alone, but if you've read this far and resonate with what I've said, then maybe turning that thumbs down blue and taking a chance on it would be worth your time after all.

I wanted to like this game. It's influenced by Monster Hunter, Titanfall, and GTA. But its just full of jank in the worst ways. The writing is awful and they force you into endless cutscenes and tutorials. I just started skipping every dialogue and cutscene after the town exploded. The never ending tutorials treat you like you've never played a video game before, but the missions are really hard and expect you to try your ass off immediately. Absolutely not worth $25. I bought it in a Humble Bundle for $14 total and it wasn't worth it.

Let's be honest: this *is* a good game. However, it's rough around the edges. The gameplay can be pretty clunky, and it definitely takes getting used to. Don't think you're going to fly in like it's Armored Core 4A and style on people; you're driving a dumpster with stubby legs. It's not bad, but it is a bit unrefined. The feedback/combat soundscape is also not great, and it'll often feel like you're not doing anything if you don't watch the health bars. Also, combat is based on rock/paper/scissors rules, and certain armour types will only be (noticeably) damaged by their counterpart. Not a bad idea, but it's frustrating to have to leave a mission because you brought the wrong gun to a knife fight. Also, the farming? It's not that exciting. It's useful if you want to save money, but I've never had too much problem with cash thus far, so it feels unnecessary. The story, setting, and atmosphere? Now we're talking. A solid tale of atonement, forgiveness, and rebuilding one's life after a traumatic event. I've yet to finish it, but I look forward to it. All in all, not a bad game, but don't expect perfection. I think the devs are on the right track, and have a solid platform to work on. Keep at it!

(Game not complete and dropped at 1.1 hours of gameplay, part of my review all my games effort) (short version) There is the makings of a good game here, however the tediousness of this game is just irritating. I got soft locked after chapter one due to a purchase requirement for a chain binder. I had no idea I'd need nearly 1500 credits to buy the supplies for it... You know what's worse than a game that's rough around the edges? Making the player do busy work to not play your game. If you have a requirement like that, add it into the story, make the player have the option to take out a loan or something. $25 dollars is highway robbery for this game.