Hedon really surprised me with it's divergent gameplay. Being built in the GZdoom engine, a sourceport of the original Doom engine with some extra horsepower under its hood, you'd expect the same gameplay loop. But Hedon breaks from tradition and offers a slower, more methodical approach -- and I genuinely enjoy it. The fast-paced, lock and load action you'd expect from a boomer shooter is there in all it's glory, but it's paced out and sprinkled all over an otherwise lore-rich exploration and puzzles. It's different, but it feels fun to play. And when you finally get to those exhilarating moments of intense firefights, where the enemies start to flood in and the music swells, it feels rewarding. Also, as far as I'm concerned Zan stands shoulder-to-shoulder with all the grandaddies: Duke, Caleb, Doomguy, etc.. I highly reccomend this game.
I avoided this title for a long time because of all the bad rep its garnered since its release. I decided to pick it up on a whim when I had seen it on sale, since it looked nice enough and there wasn't that much risk in it. I played it for a little while, not expecting much, and as it turns out it was fun. So much so that when I finally decided to stop, I looked up and it was serveral hours later. The reviews on this game are all out of date now, the devs have continued to support this title. During my experience with it so far, I've yet to see any bugs or experience any crashes. The game plays well. I have noticed a lot of people compare this title to Terraria, which is odd to me because outside of pixel graphics and a developer it doesn't share anything else with said game. This is a sandbox/simulation style of game. You play a pirate, you build a ship and manage a crew. You cruise your ship around and fight other ships, dig for gold on islands and level up your captain, crew and weapons. It's a lot of fun, and it gets pretty deep after you've played it for a little bit. The game is mostly controlled by mouse, with a few things such as camera being tied to the keyboard. It's quite comfortable over all and very reminiscent of FTL. When I play I'm usually enjoying a cup of coffee, which is the best way to enjoy this game in my honest opinion. Overall, Pixel Piracy Is very charming. The graphics are beautiful and the little pirate characters are cute. Almost everything is customizable, from the build of your ship right down to the appearance of your captain. You can even rename your little crewmembers as you see fit. I gave it a chance, and I'm glad I did because I've really enjoyed t so far and I think a lot of others would too, if they knew just a little more about it. Either way, if you like slower paced, strategic gameplay then I'd pick this up.
