A big lump with knobs! It has the juice (it has the juice) I can't imagine a more beautiful thing
This is the edgiest of edge. The edgeking among edgelords. The BEST GAME EVER for your 12-year old reptile brain. This game is made of razorblades and AC/DC t-shirts. This game wears combat boots IN THE SUMMER! It would play sports in combat boots, but it doesn't play sports ever, because sports are dumb! This game doesn't brush it's teeth before bedtime. AND IT DOESN'T EVEN BOTHER TO WATER THE TOOTHBRUSH TO FAKE IT! What are you gonna do about that now, MOM? Feel like a 12-year old troll again. It's so amazing. Like those flash games, where you click on a thing and someone dies brutally. And then you have SEX! Awesome. The game tells you to go buy milk. Well, you can do it... IF YOU'RE A GAY PERSON! Real men don't buy milk. Real men shoot up pedestrians on the street. And they take a piss on their bodies. THIS GAME LETS YOU DO THAT! WOW. RIGHT? WOW! Watch the world BURN! Literally! Aren't you awesome now? It's amazing how much you don't care. It makes you hot. The game is like sex. I think. Probably. Definitely! I had sex, I should know this! It is like sex and feels like balloons filled with water. Relive all those cool 2003 jokes. They sure are up to date! Goddamn evegreens is what they are. This is some Jim Carrey level shit, this is goddamn George Carlin but BETTER because even Carlind didn't go there! This is Daniel fucking Tosh. Yeah, it's THAT funny! Anyone saying otherwise just doesn't get it or is too fucking weak. Fuck the clunky mechanics. Fuck the bugs. Fuck the fact that it was dated when it came out. It was never about a game. It was always about freedom, MAN! About freedom to do whatever you want. If what you want is a very limited number of gruesome things that is. You're free to do ALL OF THEM. Which game can give you the same thing? There isn't one! Offended yet? Did I offend you, snowflake? Yeah, this game isn't for you, cuck! This is for big ball gamers!
It's hard to describe what a wonderful experience this game is. It's unique but intuitive, cerebral but not convoluted, rich and yet streamlined and contained, with an interesting story that keeps you at a slight distance all the time, making you constantly engaged. And all this made by one guy. This is just such a great indie development accomplishment, that i'd encourage everyone to try it out. Get in knowing as little as possible - you won't be disappointed.
Littlewood is a cute "stardew valley lite" resource management type game, focused on rebuilding a jrpg kind of town. You have a limited number of actions every day that you spend on farming, gathering, crafting etc. The game has no challenge and is more about just moping around and doing chores about your town and it's surrounding world. There are things to like Littlewood for, it has it's charm and has a way of drawing you in. However, it becomes such a time sink and a slog, that you will quickly find yourself playing this game for hours to no end - it has this "free mobile game" feel of having to waste frustrating amounts of time doing uninteresting things in order to get an unproportionaly insignificant reward. There is not really all that much to do and most of the chores are a tiresome grind. And grind you will - you have to do everything by hand and most of the time you are not even building towards anything but some numbers increments that benefit the chores in a very insignificant way. Your main incentive to go through the grind is unlocking additional content for the game - mostly blueprints for your town (and furnishing your inhabitants house), a small number of additional locations or snippets of the story (for what it is). Unfortunately, after you get out of early game, getting those becomes significantly more time consuming, to the point that everything you receive feels like a disappointment in contrast to how much effort you had to put into it. The game is cheap and i wouldn't mind it having this little content - it could be fine for what it is, a relaxing little sandbox to build and decorate your jrpg town. It's colourful, charming, building the town is tons of fun. The initial several hours show what could have been, if the game restrained itself. However, instead of just accepting this small game for what it is, the devs decided to pad everything to the moon and back, making the game into an endurance test. One which i eventually failed.
Beholder 2 is a point and click adventure game set in the reality of an authoritarian state. It's about a man trying to figure out the story behind his father's (a prominant dignitary) death while advancing through the ranks of the government beurocracy. Although it tackles some heavy themes and has some graphic violence, it's often tongue-in-cheek and silly (more so than B1) and sometimes grotesque. B2 is it's own story and you can play it without having played B1 (though I'm not sure if I'd recommend it over B1), however certain plot elements of B1 are interwoven into B2 and B2 significantly spoils B1. I had mixed feelings about Beholder 1. I thought that it had great premise and style, but the game part was just poor. Beholder 2 does try to build on Beholder 1 and fix several of the weaker aspects of it's predecessor, however in my opinion it fell short in both regards. If you enjoyed the first part and didn't mind it's flaws, you'll probably enjoy this one too. B2 is certainly grander and has more stuff to do, but personaly I wasn't a fan of dropping the intimate, claustrophobic feeling of the first one and the additional stuff to do is mostly meaningless. B1 had a frustrating problem regarding implementing it's main gameplay loop into the story it tried to tell - B2 tries to fix this by introducing "jobs", which fit in well with the narrative while giving you a chance to earn money in a reliable way - thing is, these are incredibly boring and tedious. The game is not without redemable qulities though. The visual design is just as good as the first one. The setting and the premise are very interesting and enjoyable. The story and the writing are better than in the first part and are quite fine. I'd also point out, that the game is not exactly the genre it is advertised as on GOG. It's hardly a managerial game and there is definitely no strategy involved in this game. I'd say that this is a point and click adventure game with (terrible) minigames included.
So this a weird one. This game has the makings of a cool (albeit depressing) game, however i think it's Papers Please inspiration weighs on it too much. It feels like the creators wanted to recreate the Papers Please game in a different setting and then made a game around it instead of starting off with an idea for a game and building a theme around that - and that's a pity, because the "game" part of the game is what's worst about it. The setting, the premise, the theme, the graphics - those things are executed extremely well and work together perfectly to recreate the stuffy, paranoid and hostile reality of living in a totalitarian state. And honestly - this alone makes the game worth buying if it's on sale. The idea that you have to figure out ways to spy on your tenants makes for a good base mechanic for a game and is perfectly in tune with the game theme. Unfortunately, the game quickly loses focus of what it's primary mechanic is (or should be i guess?) and instead turns into... i dunno. A point & click adventure with mingames? A visual novel with game bits? Hard to tell. This is a pity, because adventure games and visual novels need a strong story to carry them and this game doesn't get there. It's ok-ish in that regard, but that's not enough. All in all, i feel like the game could do with more focus. It's a bit too all over the place, and that's a pity - because there is really a lot of solid work put into it. Final verdict: buy it, if you like concept games, you find the setting interesting or if it's on sale.
Surprise #1: why are the reviews so glaring? You've probably seen the reviews before buying - they are the first surprise. The game just doesn't seem to be anything extraordinary. Sure, it has a solid flow, but how is it different from the gazzilions of retro-platformer knock-offs? Is it really just the “ooh, we're making an homage here *WINK* *WINK*” vibe? Surprise #2: so there are layers to this? It takes maybe 2 hours before the game starts to unravel some of it’s layers. You start to enjoy the mechanics, you get more skills, it’s growing on you. It’s fun and quirky twist on a Ninja Gaiden clone. Not there yet but… Surprise #3: wait, just how much game is in this game? You eventually reach your goal, and suddenly – so much more game explodes in your face. While this is not a huge surprise (the game telegraphs being bigger), the way the game shifts it’s vibe and pacing is very satisfying. Surprise #4: Is this actually challenging? While starting bit to much on the easy side, the game actually has a well balanced difficulty curve. It gets challenging as you get more skilled, right up to the point, where it requires you to utilize your mastery of it's techniques. It’s not one of those games that force you to learn through thousand deaths, but I found the challenge pleasant enough almost throughout. Surprise #5: they were actually hiding a plot here? What starts as a goofy, 4th wall breaking, throwaway plot, suddenly turns into an interesting story. Sure, it’s not Ibsen, but by the end I was actually invested in it. It's really amusing how much plot is withheld only to surprise you with additional layers to it. Surprise #6: so I kinda have to give this game a 5? The game is far from perfect. It has it’s clunks, it has a good few screws loose, I don’t love everything about it – and yet it manages to be such a good indie experience, I can’t imagine myself giving it anything less than 5. This is very clearly a work of passion and the 5 is well deserved.
There is a lot of love for this game both here and on steam, and... I just don't get it. I mean, it's... fine? I guess? It's ok for what it is? But... am I missing something? Are there some hidden mechanics in this games that I just didn't figure out? Becuase for me, the game feels more like an open beta for a game engine, than a regular game. Don't get me wrong, I get the appeal of the game being a sandboxy, no lore, no story, no goal, no help, no nothing kind of game to uncover it's mechanics, but there is just so little to uncover. There are basicaly two things that happen here in terms of physics mechnics, ie: things burn and liquids flow. And yeah, the game does more than you'd expect with those two mechanics, but that's still so very little to build a whole game around. It feels like good old Liero* mixed with one of those games that are not really games, but are about you messing about with pixel physics for sand and water and fire and whatnot. There is a whole wand and perk system (which also have a Liero feel to it), but it's very unpolished. A lot of people love it though and spend hours in it, so I guess... you do you. Fair enough. Still, I just don't get what the fuss is all about. *If you don't know, Liero was a surprisingly satisfying and fun indie spin on non-turn based Worms from some 20 years ago.
What a gem. This game is the embodiment of "git gud or die trying" mentality. You can nearly physically feel your own personal experience meter going up during gameplay. This game is extremely awareness based, you need to know your surroundings, understand your enemies and learn to use all the tools at your disposal while still being constantly on your toes. And to top it off, the game literally pushes you towards fast paced play due to it's combo system. The combo system is brilliant on it's own. Instinctively you want to play cautiously, since (as true in most games like this) not getting hit more important than dishing out damage. However, it's actually through fast-paced action you raise your combo meter, which in turn gives you bonuses like shields, faster reload, health drops etc. - so you're constantly walking the tightrope of caution vs recklesness. At first it feels almost unfair - in order to regain health and gain life saving shields you are supposed to risk getting killed in the first place? But after you manage to flawlessly go through several rooms of enemies springing at you from everywhere, all because you know exactly how to deal with each and every one of them while avoiding all their attacks and traps... you know this is why you're playing this. The game is perfectly executed too. The movement, the level design, the controls - everything is just how it's supposed to be. The character progression is well thought out too, with most skills being very usefull while neither being gamebreaking (though some are essential if you want to progress far into the game). A word of caution though: the game can feel extremely punishing at times. I play on hard (which is the default mode) and oh, it does feel hard. Later segments of the game can be brutal and be ready for getting kicked arround quite a lot, especially if you want to start from later levels. Up to you if you wan't to lower the difficulty, but i recommend against it. It does pay off.
Disclaimer: the game has somewhat disturbing graphics. They are great, amazing even and perfectly evoke the atmosphere the game is going for, but just be advised that these may not be for everyone. Review: The game is a solid entry in the metroulsvania genre. If this is your jam, then you are likely to appreciate it. Outside it's atmosphere (great visual and sound design) I wouldn't say it's grounbreaking, and it definitely has its faults, but it is still a fine entry in its genre. However, if 2D soulslikes aren't your thing, this game probably won't be the one that will change your mind. While the game has quite a lot going for it (atmosphere, some fun challenge at times, satisfying progression), some elements of the game are quite underwhelming, with several game design issues being apparent. The character progression is rather uninspired (while the game throws a lot of character progression screens at you, only a few elements make a noticeable impact on the game)m the pacing isn't perfect (the game can be a bit of a slog at times) and the difficulty drops noticeably after some time. The combat is a bit hit and miss with a lot of skills or tricks just not being useful or fun to use. It's still fine, but with low variety it gets tedious at times. The game design just seems a bit undercooked. All in all, I’d give the game 3,5 stars, but rounding it down to 3 wouldn't seem fair - the atmosphere itself is deserving of a better rating. Please also note that there is a serious (although avoidable) bug with the game. Whenever i played with an unstable internet connection, the game had a problem with cloud saving, that could effectively erase most of my progression (even going from 80% to 20%). There is a way to recover a later save (with much less progress lost) and turning off uploading to cloud should probably save you from the bug entirely, but when it happened to me (and it happened several times), it's a massive pain.
