Love this game! The oddity xp system reminded me of the novel "A Canticle for Leibowitz", where one of the characters is a monk who spends their life collecting and preserving objects from the age before the atomic bombs fell. To them, items like a grocery list are considered holy relics.
@@averageaf4321 that book was also a major influence on the first Fallout; in the setting and circumstances certainly so but in particular the Brotherhood of Steel who are basically an amalgam of the monastic order of that book and the Space Marines of Warhammer 40k. It is a great book with such a fascinating perspective.
I love canticle for leibowitz! The cool feeling at the beginning in the desert was super immersive, and the blueprints, glad to see somebody else talk about it
as much as this is an interesting concept, i found the oddity exp extremely annoying and lacking, it forces you to play in a certain way, also i don't like how the devs handled the psi system, the innervation was extremely infair since most people could still use a huge amount of gadgets and items, and you lose all your psi if you switch a single skill and apparently it costs more the more skill trees you needed, which was bullshit, i understand making it cost something but this is just stupid
Mercantile unlocks the best equipment and crafting parts in the game by unlocking secret store menus, each factions store and oculus has a mercentile check secret menu as well as other merchants
Yeah, mercantile is actually really good if you have the crafting skills to handle the best parts. You can eventually find all the parts that are almost as good, but the game is over by then.
I felt the same way about the ending of Expedition on my first play through, but found out later that there's a secret quest you can get by piecing together bits of lore and stories, and going out of your way to pick up a method of destroying an otherwise indestructible foe. That, together with the revelations in the area where you find the expedition's goal, should compel you to visit another area of the Black Sea. It's a more satisfying final "dungeon", and completing it will have a different set of ending slides, which serve as a "good" ending. It's not in the questlog, but I love how it requires the player to pay close attention and rewards player who make their own goals.
@@punlshedsnake8210 Not Magnar, but it's in the same area. After Abyssal station, players should know that the Shadowlith poisoned the minds of the ancestors of the Sormirbaeren. They should also know that a shard of it has been cut off, and can infer that the current Sormirbaeren took that shard with them, and that it's still influencing them. You can find it in the most northwest part of the Black Sea, and using the Ethereal Torch found on Sjorger's corpse, you can destroy it. The good ending (confirmed by the ending slides) involves freeing the future sormirbaeren from their fate as thralls of the shadowlith .
@@garthmarenghi9040 I did the good ending, but in the way killed almost all natives in the Black Sea, so I don't know if that can be considered good. Also, you get different ending slides depending on how many leaders of each faction you killed and there's certain quests with the Ferryman and other characters that make the ending much more satisfying. Oh and, well, the professor was a nice guy and all, but did he actually have to go and see all of the undescribable horrors beneath the depths to get the thing he wanted? No? Did the other guys actually help you, or were they only there to protect an island and nothing else? Then I didn't feel bad about not giving it to him and having that thing with me.
@@vangoghsseveredear hey man! I just started a new playthrough! I took some time off, this might be my 3rd restart but I'm sticking with it. I forgot how amazing it is!!!
This is a perfect turn based game. I especially how the game seperates movement point and combat actions point, making 5h game a lot more tactical instead of just a "who's got better stats and equipment"
I'm surprised you didn't mention the Oddity XP system. This was one of the things I loved the most about the game. You don't level via xp from monster kills but by picking up strange objects all throughout the game. Be it from hidden rooms or the bodies of monsters or big story bosses. It heavily faviours exploration and really ties into the lore and setting because many of these objects are things from the past which tell stories about the world that got lost. For instance you casually find a big stash of gold bars in some bunker which don't have any value anymore in the world of the game but would be a lottery win today. And the game is full of such little references.
I do hope the developer keeps expanding this game's world as there is a lot of interesting lore and details that is hinted at throughout its narrative. There's one character that you meet in South Gate Station who has moments where it's clear they have knowledge about the world beyond what you would expect for such a minor character.
My favourite things about this game are the sick character builds and the combat. Most attacks and abilities do high amounts of damage, so you can kille enemies in 2-3 hits but they can kill you easily too. Kinda like how the combat works in Dark Souls. It's awesome punching scores of enemies to death with psi-empowered fists or gunning them down with an assault rifle build :D
I'm more surprised how you had the patience to 100% this game in the first place. Fantastic review - probably the single most in-depth guide on YT right now.
A fair and to the point review. All you stated here is absolutely true and unbiased, and I say this as someone that actually loves the game for everything that everyone else hates it for :) . I love the fact it just dumps you in the middle of a "raging ocean". I particularly love the fact you can screw yourself by making the wrong choices. This game is too damn realistic for its own good. As for the Dude quest... Part of me wanted to tell you to not do it early on, since u can, but then you would have missed the whole "fun" of possibly having to restart the game. But lets be real here. You go on and indulge some maniac thats high on psychedelics and has killer cats... what did you expect? not to get screwed ? lol In Underrail your choices matter. ALL of them. from the path you will chose to the dialogue options. And thats why many of us love it. I do agree its not for the new to the genre though. It has way too many references and way too high a difficulty curve for first timers. Hell there are puzzles in this game you cant solve by yourself unless you did some high level math in Uni ...This is not a game for kids. Its for grown arse ppl wanting to feel kids again, but with a twist. Happy new year to you Morty. May it bring you joy ,health, and lots of time with your loved ones.
Just found your channel by complete random accident. Listened to your shadowrun returns review and this one while doing dishes. Dang good reviews. I love that you don't ramble or try to be a comedian. Very to the point and informational. I love it. Subbing!
I'm not sure how he commits to that. I seriously applaud him, but still some games are complete jerks when it comes to 100% achievement completion. There are some games I love love love to death. But then they ask you to play the game again, once on every difficulty, or to beat the game within 16 hours and with zero hits or something crazy like that.
For those of you who hate turn based combat(such as myself) this game really learns towards glass cannon early turn whipes which make it significantly less of a slog. Especially on higher difficulties combat rarely lasts more than 2-3 turns, coming down more to positioning than edurance
Thank you for your thoughtful review. I really appreciate your time and care put into your review and really enjoy your content. To me, you're my favorite RU-vid provider for PC games and especially CRPGs (my favorite genre).
Great review. I'm sad you didn't like the game more, though. It's one of my favorite crpgs ever. You didn't comment on the atmosphere which had me in a grip, be it in Core City or deep in the caves. I wish everyone else could feel what I did!
The old GOATS are Fallout 2 and Baldur's Gate 2 (also Planescape Torment but with the caveat that it's for story, not gameplay). In the era of electricity we have both Pathfinders and Wasteland 3. Those are popular answers, but for a reason. There are many more good ones, but these are the top dogs and you can't go wrong with them. Have fun! Edit: If you're asking about more obscure games and if you liked Underrail, I'd recommend you check out Avernum.
@@Elgar337 Thanks for the great answer. Have played Planescape and DOS2 (second run full coop) and loved them both. Have recently started my journey in Underraill but will need more time with it to really give a judgement. I will say I like the atmosphere so far. Wasteland 3's world looks generic to me and that's what putting me off from playing it.
@@lukakapanadze6179 Wasteland 3 wasn't generic at all, I found it to be one of the best CRPGs I've played lately. Really interesting locations and characters.
I love this game so much. It’s so punishing but so rewarding. I like how higher difficulties feel like a chess match more than just facing bigger numbers. It’s hard to get into but easily the best turn based game I’ve played outside of wotr. Great atmosphere, combat, variety of playstles, charm. It’s an abusive lover
So, im kinda old, kinda not. almost 40. man o h man.... have I played some RPGS.... This one, may be the best PC RPG ever. I mean that, If you even remotely like role playing games this is an absolute must play. This game will be talked about like Chrono Trigger, Fallout, Xcom, Baulders, Knights of the old Republicans lol, you get my drift here. one of the finest games ever made. please play it now. and later today.
I tried to get through this game a few times and always really enjoy it until it gets too punishing. I just get tired of save-scumming and cheesing stuff, but before that happens I love it. Happy New Year!
actually the games isnt really punishing if your build is viable. Not even joking, from lvl 1 to 12 i had to grind my pistol build on normal, once you reach the peak of the character build mountain after it is just snowballing until the end. Lol on the final boss, i didnt bother to do the quests that weaken him, I just went to his face and literally kill him in 2 turns... I would recommend that you scroll forums and reddit for builds and check the character building tool. In underrail you need to to plan in advance your build. If you don't you will end up with a crappy build that get killed by everything...
Thanks for these reviews, I started watching from the Shadowrun review, which I enjoyed quite a bit but wanted substantially more of (kind of short/casual feeling), so I'm going to give this one here a try. A few things have really bugged me about modern RPG games: they're too easy (just grind), they focus too much on graphics and not enough on gameplay, and they cost way, way too much. So I think CRPGs (a genre I never knew of) are a great fit for me. Thanks again, be well.
The classes which specialize in dishing out damage in small portions but frequently would be at a disadvantage at the last boss. Whereas builds which rely on one shot-one kill tactics will kill the last boss in one turn.
Thanks for the review Mort! And I wanna wish you a Happy New Year! Hopefully next year can bring us at least half as good CRPG's as 2021 did (with Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous releasing especially).
I sank 180+ hours in Underail and its simply one of my favorite Crpg of all times. Are you interested in reviewing Grid-Based Movement dungeon crawler genre games such as Legend of Grimrock 1,2 and The bards tale IV just to name a few. Also, a couple of games to check in case you haven't already, 1- Might & Magic : Clash of Heroes (very unique combat idea) 2- Lords of Xulima (This one is buried in Steam extensive catalogue but it is worth checking) 3- Might & Magic X - Legacy
@@VoidSmoker97 True about Might and Magic, i had fun playing it, wasn't a bad game but nothing come close to the legend of Grimrock games, specially legend of Grimrock 2 which was a true sequel, it improved on every aspect of the first one.
One of my favourite RPGs of recent years. Completed my first and only run on hard having never looked at pre-made builds. I studied the character creator and wiki to check for skills required to craft gear etc. Came up with a plan, stuck to it and killed the last boss without taking any damage because of the insane level shields you can craft. Noticed that you didn't mention that there is synergy between ability scores and skills, that is VERY important. Finally, did you actually use the compass as seen in the footage? That was a joke, because the perspective never changes, so North is always North East 🤣
This game has so many interpretations of how difficult it is. Some people say it's the hardest game ever made and they never made it past Depot A and some say it was so easy they got to the last boss in less than 8 hours.
I'm I a simple man. When I see a notification from Mortismal I smash it as fast as I can :) even is the game doesn't interested me at all. Happy New Year! 50k or 100k subscribers in 2022
I just started playing a couple days ago. It's never hurt this much to learn a game. Kenshi kinda came close but this has felt like running head first into a wall. That said the game is very well designed in terms of how you can approach the different situations. The devs clearly want amd encourage people to play around with their game and for people to have a good think about how to proceed.
I've been suffering from restartisis until I heard you say say most builds are viable. Now I'm having fun after dropping the game around 2~ years ago for hitting a snag. Skill allocation aren't as punishing as I thought too.
Must play game. Specially super relaxing and work with almost every machine. Just surf web or listen your stuff and play this also. Amazing game. Many different builds, items and details and nice rpg. it's like modernized Fallout 2 with better system. 2d graphic also make this game more enjoyable.
This is one of my favorite RPGs. Absolutely loved the writing and scummy difficulty. Last Boss indeed is very build dependent. I have a video on my channel where I kill him in 2 turns with Temporal Distortion stacks while fighting him as a tin can can be 10x more problematic.
Deeper tactical element? Like what? Laying traps, throwing area denial tools like crawler poisoned caltrops and incendiary grenades while picking enemies from behind cover is not tactical enough? What more can you add?
Thanks for the detailed review! I tried multiple times to get into this game but its just not for me despite me loving games like Divinity Original Sin 2/Wasteland 3. I guess I'd be more into this game if it played like New Vegas haha
I strongly disagree with your comments on crafting. It is not that some of the best items are available only from crafting. All the best gear comes from crafting and in most cases, by a wide margin. Furthermore, you say that you can't max out all the crafting abilities. Well true, but more importantly there's absolutely no reason to max out any of them. They all have soft caps where if you go above that amount invested, it will literally do nothing for you. They exact value of the soft caps varies depending on your build (as in what gear your build will be using), as well as varies from one crafting skill to the next. In general, investments of as little as 20 points in a crafting skill can make a big difference. While with others, just 115 points invested will let you meet the highest possible requirement you will encounter in game. But... none of that is obvious to a new player on their first run through the game. The real strength of the game is how much replayabiltity it has. The game really does feel different, with respect to combat of which there is a lot, when you switch from one build to another. And as you replay you will learn just how hugely important all the crafting skills can be. It is perfectly possible to build a character who can: - Max out their guns skill - Have enough throwing skill to not drop grenades at their own feet - Enough stealth, with gear swaps into +stealth gear to be able to complete quests the sneaky way as needed, or to scout out new areas, or setup traps - Enough Hacking and Lockpicking to pass every check in the game - Enough Pickpocketing to take 1 item from nearly every npc you meet (big help on higher difficulties where the economy is much rougher) - Enough Traps to disarm nearly every trap in the game. Literally 5 out of a few hundred will be too difficulty for you. - Enough Temporal Psi for the action point buff ability - Enough Persuasion to pass every check in the game. - Enough Mercantile to pass every check with vendors to convince them to expand their inventories. And on top of all that... you can still invest nearly 500 points into the crafting skills, which lets you: - Craft your guns using the highest quality components you will find. - Craft an Energy Shield using the highest quality components you will find. And for example, the best energy shield you will find as loot will likely block something like 700--900 total damage. But you can easily craft one that blocks 2000-2200 total damage! - Craft tier 5 mines and grenades, which is the highest there is. - Craft your end game armor using the best quality components you will find. - Craft the most useful health meds and buff items. So ya, there's really no need to skip crafting. Doing that really does handicap your character.
To be fair, i usually abhor crafting in games. I dislike being forced to rely on it, and it feels the game is built around it which is quite annoying, since unique weapons/ armors are not worth it unless you are not a crafter. Additionally, only way to play it without crafting that was okay(psi build) got nerfed to the ground, which only made it more annoying to skip crafting.
I really wish this game would click with me. It's probably one of the best, if not the best indie CRPG of the last 5-6 years, but yeah, I think the slowburn was too slow for me. Also, wasn't too much of a fan of how the game/UI looks. However, that's preference and I cannot realy blame the dev for that. Maybe I should give it another try in 2022. But first... Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Wrath... Unless Baldur's Gate 3 comes out as well next year (I mean, they have to release it at one point, right?).
I haven't played since the DLC but I'd love to see a quick and dirty build video for this game from your opinion. They nerfed one of my previous favorite builds - xbow/stealth/traps but it is still a blast.
It sounds like a massively deeper version of Fallout 1 (and 2). Saying that, I had to restart my first playthrough of Wasteland 2 because my party was just not versatile enough (read s**t), so I don't think I'd fare too well here...
I love the cave crawlers XD such a stress inducing bastard. First encounter with a deathstalker was awesomr I was so happy late in the game where I could sneak kill them :D
You forgot to mention that heavy armour penalties also affect your movement points. I screwed myself with a build this way. Built a auto rifle build with heavy armour in mind and when i got it, i found out i could barely move after shooting. Maybe one square. Heavy armour looks cool but it sucks if the armour penalty gets close to 100%.
Not really, heavy armor is meant to be used with boot springs, which gives high amount of movement point, even more than light armor+ tabi boots. The downside is you will have negative stealth
Wait, there ist fast travel and even a map now? Back in the day this game did not have anything like that, which is the reason why i stopped playing after 100 hours. might have to try that a gain :) Edit: Just checked, it was actually after 60 hours of playing :)
It's fast travel in the way of trains and boats initially. Until you complete a very specific questline that was added into the game by the DLC which opens up a separate fast travel option that's still limited in where you can go but is much more extensive than by rail or boat.
i enjoyed this game alot also there is 2 puzzles in this game which requires a really big brain to solve one of them as about music stuff which frustrate my alot
Hi (not so) long time fan here. I own Underrail and DLC for some time now and this video (especially short build guide and "debunking" difficulty level opinions) might just push me to start playing it (thank you for that!). Buut, in terms of experience do You recommend "Oddity" (sound cool and unique, making stealth and non combat in general more viable option with potential risk of not being properly balanced and forcing You to pixel hunt while enemies are breathing down Your neck) or "Classic"? Help me Mortismal, You are my only hope.
oddity is the intended way to way from the dev, you are right it reward stealth and avoid combat gameplay, you should at least try it first run ( don't worry too much the oddity spread both in from combat and exploration, you can find some in container and hard to miss place ), classic is for murder hobo kill everything run. Just use the normal difficulty for first run and you will be fine.
This game has two forms of gaining experience which is better? One is the typical gaining exp by killing enemies while the other you gain levels by doing certain things or quests.
If you go easy/normal I woulds recommend oddity XP. That is, you level by finding curiosity items (some drop from enemies) and completing quests. Killing enemies does not give xp, beyond sometimes them dropping curiosity items. [example: a rat may drop a weird tooth that gives you 1 XP up to 5 times. If you get 5 weird tooth drops you aren't getting XP from killing a rat ever again. However, some enemies might drop multiple types of curiosity items, so kill a few more just to be sure.] If you aim for Hard [wouldn't recommend dominating until you're comfortable beating the game on hard], I would go with classic. In classic you still get XP from quests and curiosities, but the bulk will come from killing from killing enemies. The game does get a bit grindy on hard so to progress in a section, you might need to explore another section, get a couple levels and then try again.
Quick question. I am sure you said in one video that you are running a 4k moniter?! How are you play older games like BG1 & 2, fallout... And so on? Mods, just play it on what ever resolution they can and deal with the black edges?
Depends on the game, a lot of games with enhanced editions, remasters etc, usually have modern resolution support baked in. Others require mods, some I just use non native resolution for, like this I played at 1080p for instance.
@@MortismalGaming Okay. That was quick. Well pretty much the answer i was expecting. Didn't know if you hade some sort of special program that helps. Thanks for the quick reply. Love your channel. Happy new year.
Overall fair review but it seems to me that you either missed or ignored some of the key unique features of the game that I believe set it apart (for better or worst) from other games in the genre: first and foremost the unique atmosphere and "tone" of the world. This is not one of those cheerful post apocalyptic scenarios later fallouts and other game have. Have a travel through Foundry and just talk to people, so many side-quests ends badly for those involved no matter what you do (compare to other game). Second is obviously the Oddity experience mode. I have not seen anything like this before. have you? (was it mentioned in the review at all?) It actually changes the way you play and see the world (and even build your character to a point, lots and lots of lock picking and hacking...) And last (for now) is Depot A. a fantastic design decision that allows you to test your build rather early in the game. if you made it through the Depot your build is on the right track, otherwise consider restarting and find what went wrong before spending hundreds of hours on a hopeless build (and these exist. Even in normal mode). Over all, I am a little disappointed that the emphasis of this review is on the 100% content, there is more to this game than the list of mechanics I think. And still, one of the best most balanced reviews I have seen of this game. excellent content, thank you.
@@fortescuegr7573 I remember making it to the big city, and then I picked up a few quests in the big junkyard. I remember I went underground, and there were subway tunnels. I found a door in there and went in and ended up getting in a bunch of gunfights with gangsters. Some of them had those psyker powers, even. I made it to a large room with too many gangsters to deal with, so I tried waiting at the entryway and killing them as they came out 1 by 1, but even then it was just too many. It was just a scenario I couldn't win. Since I was overwriting old saves with new ones, I didn't have a save where I could back out of there without alerting the gangsters, which, yes...that is my fault. I'll probably replay it one day, since it is a real good game, but sheesh - it's so punishing. I spent extra time farming and leveling up early on in the game, hoping to be 'over leveled' when I moved on, but I still died SO MUCH. I also think I needed a more refined character build - I might have spread my points around too much and that cost me.
Watching this video reminds me to give Underrail another shot. I started playing it years ago, but stopped after only about a few hours in because I couldn't find a good walkthrough for it. I like playing games with a walkthrough because I only plan on playing games once, and I want to do everything on the first playthrough.
good game but expedition is so tedious with certain builds, meleeing anything in the black sea sucks, from nagas to a bunch of low iq natives. Deep caverns just sucks. Hope they actually try to fix the tedium in the next standalone expansion.
sorry but this is just wrong. Melee is difficult, but far from impossible, and DC are not that bad, they are hard, but when approached the proper way, they are really playable. Not saying they are not tedious, because then I would be lying to myself 😀.
Oh man. Fallout 2 is one of my favourite games of all times. Played it 2 or 3 years ago and it still pretty much holds up. The engine and the combat was a bit dated, but everything else was just dandy. I realy should play this. Btw, any plans for Atom RPG? "Fallout, but russian seems like an easy explenation." Heard mixed things about it.
If you like Fallout 2 you will love Underrail. Atom is a good game but it somehow misses on the atmosphere. Game feels as if its lacking sth. That said I have played it twice, so it actually is a good game just not one of the best ones.
Voicing it would increase the nonexistent budget to ridiculous levels and cut down on dialogue lol. I'm glad they didn't. Voice means less story, except if it's only partially voiced.
I appreciate when games don't hold your hand, and treat you like an adult. I hate when they let you just respecc, and try out new things, and all this in a single playthrough, and then it completely destroys any role playing aspect built within. I understand we're playing a game, but if you're going to play an RPG, you really should make it an RPG. Choices, and CONSEQUENCES! Not just in the narrative decisions,, but in all decisions making.. And I think this does that