Hey, just wanted to give you a shout out. Earlier this year I became curious about the world of CRPGs and isometric games and such. I never played any of the old classics and wasn't sure where to begin. Your reviews and commentaries are really well structured, level headed and to the point (not crazy long). Perfect for a noob who is trying to figure out which titles might appeal to me and might be good entry points to the genre. Keep up the good work!
@@AlvyneSebalj , my first CRPG experience ended up being Divinity Original Sin 2, definitive edition. It was one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. It's an ingenious game with so many secrets and random encounters to go along with memorable characters and story. The wide range of skills you choose from are the most creative I've ever seen in a video game. It's pretty challenging early on but it gets a lot easier as you get new skills and equipment. It's also possible to change the difficulty setting until you get the hang of it. There are mods available that can provide quality of life improvement too. If you try it, I really recommend reading or watching some spoiler free guide/tips stuff. Overcoming the learning curve is so worth the investment of time.
I throw my vote in for Aeon of Sands - The Trail. It's a pretty sweet indie throwback to the ol' real-time dungeon crawler days. And the music... gosh, the music is just perfect for the post apocalyptic setting! Also shoutout for Beautiful Desolation for its unique South African post apocalyptic setting. Such a beautiful isometric game. Hopefully the upcoming Stasis: Bone Totem will be equally awesome.
Fascinating - what other games have you played? Atom was absolutely great, but Encased totally fell apart about half way through for me and the last 25 - 30% was a total slog.
Atom is terrible. One of the worst balanced rpg I know, and I own most rpg that are not ASCII graphics. The skills and perks are boring and unbalanced and the game really needs the fanmade overhaul mod to be somewhat enjoyable. But then, the story, writing, characters, and slow game speed and animations can't be fixed
@@xNachtmahRx Balancing in a single player RPG is a weird thing to complain about. I assume you mean "some types of weapons can put out a lot more damage than others and min-max builds are relatively easy to put together." All of that's true, but I don't really see it as a criticism of a CRPG.
@@egamruf Disco Elysium was absolutely fantastic, also check Gloomhaven, its a surprisingly well rounded digital version of an already awesome tabletop game.
@@oldlobster Disco Elysium is probably better than all of the games referred to in this video, I think. Gloomhaven suffers from many of the same problems as its board game counterpart - it's really a puzzle game. Certainly, I don't think you could call it a CRPG. But, either way, neither are post-apocalyptic so not strictly applicable here 🙂 Good references to anyone who hasn't tried them though! Disco Elysium, Subnautica and Outer Wilds would be at the top of my general list over the last few years.
I really gotta get back to underrail, put 700 hours into it *just* making lots of builds and restarting everytime Styg would put out a new update over the years (thank Tchort updates are over now pretty much and mad props to Styg for so many free updates over the years).Very much agree it's not as hardcore as people say on normal difficulties, I still make slightly subpar builds on DOMINATING work out for the most part; though molotovs, adrenaline shots, and traps are super important.
Underrail is probably one of my favorite games of all time. Yes it's hard, but it's incredibly big, and well made. The music is something else, it's many times better than the original fallouts and superior to most games imo.
@@j.d.8162 craft items, and or, mix a bit of psi into your build, or just make sure you spend a lot of time building your character and you should be fine. 😊
@@j.d.8162 use psi, it have strongest builds, don't use oddity xp system, don't try to do everything, choose one or two things you want to do and build your character around it.
Tbh the gameplay is pretty one note and lackluster extreme emphasis’ on the “alpha strike” glass canon builds with little variety and the devs nerfs everything else The story and world building assthetics are completely top notch and I like the dialogue as much as disco elysium
@@pantonearqm2791lmao psi sucks outside of temp manipulation this isn’t 2016 psi most heavily nerfed. The easiest build right now is a grenade spam and throwing build then smg and assault rifle build
My friend, I come here to do something I never do: give a recommendation. But since we have very similar tastes in videogames, I'll take the risk and recommend a game that although is not in a genre we usually play, it's a game that somehow has stayed with me even months after I finished it. I'm talking about Cloudpunk. At it's core, it's just a walking simulator. Almost non-existent gameplay, pixelated graphics.... But boy, oh boy... the story... the writing... the voice acting.... it's one of the few games (Disco Elysium being another one) that even though I played it only once, I always remember. The characters and stories are so memorable, that they really stay with you (the way a good book/movie does). I'm not sure Cloudpunk would be a fit for a video review in your channel, but I believe you are the kind of person who would appreciate it.
It's on your "My Next Five Game Reviews" list already, but Age of Decadence is a post-apocalyptic CRPG I enjoyed. It's different in that the pre-apocalyptic world isn't some variant of our modern world, but the vibes are all there.
Another cool one if you like how weird Fallout can get at times, is Mutant: Year Zero: Road To Eden. It's set in post-apocalyptic Sweden, and you start as a boar-man and duck-man scavenging stuff for the local safe spot. It's a bit on the tough side, but does have some really cool visuals, gameplay and ideas in it.
I also liked how they integrated stealth mechanics into an turn based tactical game, I was able to clear a couple encounters, including the encounter's mini-boss, without ever alerting the enemies, just using surprise stealth attacks. It was super fun as a way to switch up gameplay styles.
I'm goning to hit you with a game most probably didn't even heard of: Septera Core. It's a really unique and interesting rpg from the 90s, that you can buy on steam or GOG. The titular 'Core' is a bio-computer that lies at the heart of the Septera world, and some have used it for their own good, while at the same time shitting (quite litteraly) on everyone below them. A bit postapocalyptic, a bit of cyberpunk, all around wierd and awesome, with the 90s jank we all love lol.
Beat Underrail the other day and it was exceptional, I'd recommend that people buy the Expedition expansion pack too as it adds loads of content and the new area/quest are super interesting.
As I I hear the opening theme (and closing theme) and your generous wording, I think about what a blessing this channel is. Thank you for how you do, what you do.
While watching this video, I remembered a fairly old game that should be right up your alley and that I've never heard you mention before, to the best of my knowledge: Freedom Force, an original superhero tactical RPG from 2002. It's available on Steam, however, it seems to be seriously bugged (sounds like a Jade Empire situation). On GOG, users report that it runs just fine, so maybe get it from there. It could be decent filler material for in between major releases and shouldn't take up too much of your time, plus, it has a good sequel in case you enjoy it.
Actually Atom has a sequel, which people recommend (I have not tried it yet) and claimed to be polished than Atom RPG; and I would also recommend an old but pretty good game, I Shall Remain... It is tad bit on the action side but still a good RPG with Post Apocalyptic vibes...
I've been so curious about Wasteland 2 and 3. Is 2 worth giving a crack? 3 looks awesome, but it feels like sacrilege to play the 3rd game in a series as a starting point 😅
@@brenzmilne I still prefer the second game's setting, although Wasteland 3 has much more production value. Wasteland 2's story is really good, the atmosphere is top notch too, and the soundtrack is simply superb. Also, at least in my opinion, Wasteland 3's Main Quest works much better if you did play through Wasteland 2.
@@brenzmilne Wasteland 2 has an awful difficulty spike half way through that makes alot of people stop playing, people say Wasteland 3 doesn't have that problem, I would seriously skip Wasteland 2, the first half was amazing but to have it fall apart half way through like Death Note was just awful
@@Micolash_is_behind_you sorry about the late response! I didn't get a notification to say someone had messaged me. Thank you for the info! I am at a point in pillars of eternity where I'm struggling through and it's such a slog I almost don't want to keep playing. Sounds like im in the same boat with Wasteland 2 if I get it. Appreciate it man
Wasteland 3 is a great recommendation. The story has major changes depending on your choices as a player, so you can get at least 2 solid playthroughs if not more and have a unique experience.
I keep meaning to pick up Encased but Atom looks really good too. I recently saw the screenshot that from New Blood Interactive which got me thinking how much I miss Fallout 1, 2 and yes, Tactics) and really miss the Retro Futurism Aesthetic. The Outer Worlds done it really well as did Mass Effect with the Retro Sci-Fi approach.
I think underrail is the best of the bunch, specially storywise, but it's a very punishing game before you master the basics (aka you will savescum a lot), but the lore and immersion are just the best I've experienced in a post apocalypt game ever
Level Hard - Great Sci-Fi RPGs that are not post apo. From that list both UnderRail (with expansion) and Atom RPG (yet to play Trudograd, for now too busy with Tunguska Visitation) are great games. Both are also pretty challenging on most difficulty settings... just wish that some of them got mod tools...
I never understood the panic about the builds in Underrail but maybe I just got lucky with the choice of my build. I watched a couple of reviews and got scared to fail so I just invested the maximum possible skill points into a combat stat, relevant defensive stats, skipped magic and crafting, all of this without following any build. Passed the act I wall just fine. Most people who fail probably spread their points too thin, although putting some extra points into throwing skill does help.
What game is the opening music? So familar..been a sub for months...you have a good playstyle..I turned 50 last month..baldurs gate 3 cyberpunk. Solasta..great year..other good games..that detective game your reviewing..I played it but stopped..looking forward to your 100%
Game suggestion: Star Valor - It says on the steam page that it is a Sci-Fi RPG but I think it's more like a sandbox open world sci-fi Freelancer type game, but still more coverage about the game would give the one man dev team much appreciation.
Atom rpg has horrible optimization though. It uses way more resources (both cpu and gpu) than it should, even at non-max settings. And the temperatures also go up surprisingly high. Maybe this doesn't happen to everyone but I had to uninstall it and my pc isn't exactly potato (i5 10600k, gtx1080). EDIT: Underrail is the best on this list, in my opinion! Great replayability.
@@dennisdavidov782 I think there is at least a Russian and maybe even French version of the game as well. Search for a review of The Fall on RU-vid. There are at least two English reviews of the game. As far as I remember they're also explaining how to play the game in English. I'm not sure but I think there might be an English fan translation?
I'm definitely looking forward to Death Trash. I'm not really into Early Access, but I'll check it out once it gets a full release and seems to be in a polished state. It's not a full on RPG (it's at least as much an XCOM-like as an RPG), but Mutant Year Zero is a lot of fun.
An interesting one, though defining 100% would be pretty difficult, would be Kenshi. It's focuses on player generated narratives, rather than scripted events, but it's a really unique post-apocalyptic setting. X-COM 2 also probably counts as post-apocalyptic, when you pay attention.
While its an MMO and if you like a very deep crafting and unique rpg system, give Fallen Earth a try, its free to play and very helpful community You can craft quads, motorcycles and cars and ea can take hrs in real time to craft. Huge world to explore and actually some funny writing.
There was a fallout inspired game that took place on a giant spaceship. I can't remember the name of it. But it kinda looked like atom rpg mixed with encased. Wish I could remember the name.
I'm a Fallout fan that came on board with Fallout 3, I also haven't been the biggest fan of most CRPGs unless there is a turn-based system. That being said Wasteland 3 gets my vote as the one of the best CRPGs I've played. Definitely the one I'd recommend to anyone watching this video.
@@timm8998 Pillars of eternity is a good example of what I mean. I got about halfway through the first game before I just got fed up with it, despite being interested in the story. When the 2nd game came out a similar situation happened until they came out with the turn-based mode.
underrail is the only one ive pretty much completed and master'd, i have been playing it through a 3rd time to see "the different paths" not that there really that different ya for the first time i finally played it completely throu i did a Sneaky sniper this third time im a spear shielded thought control.
I love crpg's but one thing that gets me stop playing them half way is when the narration just completely stops or is only for half the content. I love when everything is voice acted. At times I just don't have the attention span to sit there and read paragraphs on my own when they aren't voice acted. So when a crpg has like a sentence voice acted then they expect you to just read the rest in silence, it just puts me off and I get lazy in reading/knowing the story.
No. Wasteland 2 is still great. But they aren't connected, really, and Wasteland 3 improved a few things (graphics/engine most obviously). So play whichever you want. Probably, however, you can skip Wasteland. That's a bit shit.
@@douglaswilliams6834 I think that's fairly irrelevant to the point, tbh. Though I'm not sure if you're aware that they released a pretty decent remaster of Wasteland 1 quite recently. Last year? Year before. The game suffers from mechanical and narrative problems which render it unsuitable to recommend. I've played a lot of the Spiderweb games, quite recently, which are unashamedly old school in philosophy but not execution. Wasteland 1, even the remaster, doesn't hold up to scrutiny (in my opinion).
@@megamike15 It can also be classified as that. There is an element of post apocalypse in the white barrier that is slowly swallowing most of the world. Also from the fall out of the goddess-queen rule, Dolores Dei. And most later sections of the game have a much more run down and dilapidated feel.
I played wasteland 3 on gamepass for PC. This was a problem. Savefiles got corrupted and the way gamespass handels your files you cant do shit with em. This made me end subscription. So now I have not finished wasteland 3 😔
Neither one's a CRPG (although they're roguelikes which I kind of consider a sister-genre) but Neo Scavenger is an interesting spin on the post-apocalypse and I've recently been diving in to CDDA which has a level of interactivity I don't think I've ever really seen in a game of its type. Both are just as much survival games as they are RPGs though Kenshi is a "post-apocalyptic" "CRPG" in a way but it defies easy classification
Encased is an odd one to throw in here. I don't think it's a "Great" game for anything except its atmosphere. It's a hard recommend - the way experience works, and the bullet-sponge nature of a lot of the enemies... it's all... a hard pitch to offer as a 'general recommend'... I tend to think it's more an 'if you've played everything else' and you're a DEEP CRPG nerd then... sure... I recommend. I think something like Elex (but maybe not Elex 2) would be an easier post-apocalyptic CRPG recommend. Though it doesn't match the 'isometric' CRPG theme of this video.
encased for me fall off about last half of the game, not a lot voice acting, quest and dialogue seem rush. It like they ran out of money to make the second half enjoyable. Oh and weapon jam chance same as wasteland 2 make me want to shut the game off. The ending kinda disappoint too.
alot of my issues with fallout successors is instead of standing on their own they just come off as fallout but not as interesting. i give wasteland a pass as fallout was it's successor but the others don't get off the hook as easily.
I was never fan of Fallout and I have never finished any game from the series despite some attempts. However, they failed for two reasons: 1) I am not too big on post-apocalyptic, definitely prefer fantasy, science-fantasy and science-fiction settings. Although, I enjoyed Mutant Year Zero and now I am bit more open to post-apocalyptic scenarios. 2) back then I did not enjoy turn-based combat in cRPGs, I guess I was too used to RTwP offered Infinity engine I guess (but again, I played Pokemon and HoMM). Wasteland 2 was on my radar even before I started following your channel, so definitely gonna try it or straight to 3 at some point. And Encased is on my wishlist purely by your recommendation
Can't recommend Underrail. I'm sure there's a good game there and perhaps it's changed over the years, but I got it many years ago and got stymied 9 hours in. I hit a section that my build couldn't overcome and there was no apparent way to go forward, back or anywhere else. I must have fought that battle 15 times and couldn't win so the only real option was to start over or go back about 4 hours. The dev didn't respond to tickets and forum posts on the issue, which is unacceptable in my book. Perhaps in the years since the dev balanced it out or fixed the problem but the issue itself combined with the lack of response from the dev makes Underrail a "do not recommend". And if someone is going for Wasteland 3, do yourself a favor and skip the terrible DLC.
underrail and age of decadence are the only two indie crpgs i think are overrated. only a certain forum really likes them as it's catering to that crowd.
@@megamike15 I totally agree. These games embrace a design philosophy of the "very punishing retro RPG" that I don't believe ever really existed. I played games like Fallout and Ultima 3 on release and while those games could be hard, there was a way forward. But some of these retro games kind of forget that if the game is very hard, the player needs some freedom to go grind elsewhere to gain a level or two to get stronger so they can progress. But when you trap them in a box and don't allow for that freedom, they can hit a point they can't progress and have to give up. And that's not fun for anyone.
