Drova is an RPG that succeeds in weaving in the classic atmosphere and world building of games like Gothic while modernizing on certain aspects of gameplay (hotkeys, better inventory management etc.) and putting its own celtic spin on the world. It has an isometric camera perspective and allows the creation of a character. It's a good pixel art style that carries a lot of atmosphere while still allowing your own imagination to fill the gaps. The best comparison in terms of the world is the aforementioned Gothic, specifically the first one. The freedom of the gameplay and world deserves special mention. There is a mainquest, but nothing stops you from exploring the world.... Until you stumble into a cave and get one shotted by a bear. There are natural road blocks like certain enemies you can over come by getting stronger and learning more skills. The leveling system is familiar to everyone who played Gothic: You gain XP for doing Quests and killing enemies. Every Levelup you get Learning points you can invest into attribute points or special skills like better axe fighting or skinning animals. The biggest point in favour is the open sandbox nature of its world and its interactivity. You can join different factions, solve quests in different ways, steal and get punished for it. You can draw your own points of interests on your maps (if you have a map and ink). All in all, I would give it five out of five stars since it does really well as a development on games like Gothic. If you like Gothic, or search for a game with a small, but really detailed and reactive world that is dirty, unforgiving and hauntingly beautiful, I can only recommend Drova.
In its core, on could describe "Cultist simulator" as a resourcemanagement game, but in truth it is so much more than that. While managing certain resources is an important part of the gameplay, the most interesting part of the game is its presentation. It begins with the cards, that are the main part of the game. The artwork is unique and adds so much atmosphere to the game. Every card, every event has its own art and colourful description. The writing is pretty much perfect, it draws you into the world and gives me a "just more minute..." feeling. The game itself centers around an anonymous maincharacter, and how he delves into a hidden supernatural world, the atmosphere is dark and mysterious. And just like the secrets of the world are revealed to the character, so are the secrets of the gameplay to the player. There is no tutorial, you pretty much have to figure out everything by yourself, which fits the whole theme of delving into a different, strange world, but can make it frustrating sometime, if you die and dont know why. You cant write too much about the game without spoiling something. It has rougelike elements, in that, if you die, you start as a new character and have to begin from the start. In short: It is a perfect game to lose yourself in, particularly if you like deep, convoluted but still very unique and interesting lore. But the exploring part can get boring if you died for the 20th time and have to make a new beginning and basically wait and click through your cards until you can find new stuff again. All in all "Cultist Simulator" provides an unique experiance, and is certainly worth its money if you are interested in reading interesting lore and learning to manipulate a supernatural world with its own rules.
Sunless Sea succedes, where many other games failed: Making me actually think and care about what i would do next instead of just putting quests and challenges in my journal. Sunless Sea is a Gamebook-adventure-Rougelike Hybrid. The main thing in this game is to read description and choose one of the presented actions for the situation, meaning: If you mind much reading in your game, this isn´t for you. You are the captain of a ship driving around in the Underzee and exploring its vast expanses. Everytime you die (and you will die), most parts of the maps will be rearranged and the map will be blacked out again for you to explore. Your ship will be attacked by the creatures of the Underzee of pirates and you need to defend yourself. There are no normal quests, but "Stories", you can choose to follow. Through these, you can learn more about the world. In the beginning, you choose a certain background and the reason you explore the Underzee. These determine your skilllevels and your goal to win the game, but the game doesn´t tell you directly how to use your skills or how you can achive your goal. For that, you need to explore. And to explore, you need fuel and supplies. And to get those, you need to find stories or trade. And for that, you need to explore. You see, exploring is the main part of this game. Your Skills, which you can upgrade in the course of the game, help you open up new places and find different ways to solve problems. The meat of the game, the textdescriptions and choices, are damn near perfect. It really feels like a terrifying, vast open adventure with the right amount of fun and seriousness to always be interesting and engaging. The combat on the other hand.... Its okay and serves its purpose, but is not the best part. To summerize: If you look for an Rougelike Horroradventure with a rich story and have no problem with much reading, this is a perfect grab.
