It was a giveaway. I beat the game in 11 hours. The graphics and the music are very good! The default controls with gamepad too. However I didn't enjoy the classic depressing history, also, I didn't enjoy some parts of the game (there is a boss which difficulty peak is insane! I spend almost 2 hours trying to beat him).
I've completed the game once with most of the achivements. I invested 30 hours. It was a GOG giveaway. The graphics and music are ok. The controls are good! (with controller) The gameplay sometimes feels quite grindy, but at least it hooked me for a bunch of hours. I didn't had any technical problems with this game, so that's perfect. I think it doesn't have any replay value. It says it's procedural and you may main any of the 5 ships and playstyle (magic or cannons). But unfortunately it's not interesting enough, and it doesn't add enough variations to play another 30 hours. The story is quite simple and predictable. Anyway, I had some fun. There are also few extras, like legendary monsters, treasures (with maps) or fishing which are welcome, but again, they're not interesting enough. The mechanics I found interesting was conquering islands, but it's in its barebones, they could improve it. Anyway, I had a good experience in general. Few boring moments, but it's ok.
The game is decent. It has been a nice experience, it's a bit old, tho. Fortunately it has a tip system to guide you, because you need some luck in trial&error your inventary objects with environment to solve some puzzles
The game is really well done. It's solid. However I wouldn't say it is strategy, but a "tactical" game with a lot of luck. The game, basically, consists into connecting planets which needs resources. When you expand, you discover new planets, which may have the resource you need or not. Also, you have some research, but the most of it doesn't seems useful. There is a campaign with some special rules too, which unlocks other game modes with extra difficulty added. You cannot have a long term strategy in this game. You only adapt to the RNG, but frecuently, it becomes unmanageable and you need to look for another direction to expand your empire. That wouldn't be bad if you were trying to "win" against a rival. But this isn't that kind of game. It's a score based game, and if you consider "to win" reach 5 stars in each random map, after 35 hours of game I may tell you that some maps are simply impossible, you will never get that score. In other words: the RNG disables you from "winning" every map. After these game hours, I'm a bit bored because I know that I don't achieve max score due to bad luck, even playing safe, but had some nice moments.
It remembers me a lot to old school point and click adventures like Indiana Jones or Monkey Island. It have a similar lenght too. Graphics are lovely and controller support is very welcome. However, I didn't like the puzzles and the music. The music is good, but is too repetitive that you will need to turn off while struggling with puzzles. And about the puzzles, I didn't notice what other reviews says about the "pixel hunt". To me, everything were big objects (maybe they have been fixed in newer versions). The worst part were some absolutely ilogic puzzles. I had to cheat to look for a guide for some of them... and while some lacks any logic, there is one where you need to combine few objects in a certain order to work (which lack any sense, because all of them go together, but I don't want to spoil). That's the reason of my low rating.
Got this on a giveaway. It was pretty fun and well done. Beatiful music, graphics and controls. Well, almost. To get the good ending I had to look a map and some videos. How can I suppose I must ram few walls which haven't any tip? Also, the difficulty spike at the end was quite high. But doable with effort. The game is a bit short too, it maybe would need a couple of islands more. I fall in love with characters, and, after some frustations as described before, I had a good time, but I cannot give 5 start.
Fortunately I got this in a giveaway, but I lost a pack of hours of my life thinking it would be a decent story. Wrong. Story starts strong and interesting, but it becomes blurred as soon as you start to meet new "races". It doesn't focus in the Penrose, but in some minor and random conflicts of character or tribes. After finish the game, you don't get almost any answer. Controls are clunky too. Searching need items to advance in the history is a matter of luck, since you cannot know where are them until you walk close (and they cannot be spotted when you are away). That's a really bad design. Graphics and video are nice. And I think it's the only good thing of this game. But they are a smoke bomb to hide the horrible design. Avoid playing this, it's not fun, it's not interesting.
I finished this game few times in my Megadrive/Genesis. It was pretty fun in those ages. However, now I feel Conrad is clumsy. I had 3 crashes while I finished the game this time (6 hours play time, normal difficulty). For these never played Flashback: It has a VERY good level design. You may struggle in the first level and the last one. The built-in tutorial is very welcome. However I miss a bit more of text to introduce you in the story. For veterans, it only improves a bit the graphics and the music. While it have more difficulty levels, I don't feel I replay it again.
I got this during a giveaway (thanks!). After I finished the game once I wouldn't play again never, because it crash a lot. The dialogs and some quests are unpolished and confusing, and the combat is quite mediocre. Anyway I liked the main character and that's the only reason I finished the game. Tip: save each 5 minutes or less.
Iratus is a game which seems similar to Darkest Dungeon, and that may be scary for people like me that are still listening the DD music and remembering how your 20 hours grinded character died in a single blow and you need to start the process again. But, in short: I will never play again DD (I finished it after only one 120h game, inside an eternal grind anguish), while this is the third time I'm playing Iratus, and I'm very happy with it. Let's be honest and this is the last time I will talk about DD in this review: DD has better graphics, music, and controller support. But everything else, Iratus is superior: replay value, game design, level progress, ability of recovering after a disaster, a 'bad ending' (instead letting your grind forever again), and more useful game mechanics (there was some buildings, character which were really useless in DD). I got this game in a GOG giveaway. I had some interest on it, but I was waiting for controller support before purchase. In my third run, the game doesn't become repetitive, but instead, I'm still discovering synergies and I'm planning to play a 4th and a 5th with other combinations. The difficulty is hard, but friendly and fair once you know the game mechanics. You must be willing to lose few times some of your best units. However don't worry, you will be able to aford these loses, the game provide you tools to replace few of them. While the non-combat events aren't pretty interesting, they serves a good purpose, and they are part from your strategy. I really recommend this game. I cannot give it 5 stars because the lack of controller support and the graphics and music could be better. But it's really satisfing to play it, it's like being a football team manager, but with zombies. It doesn't become boring if you get it, and it will happen as soon as you play 15-20 combats in a difficulty you can assimilate. I started on very easy, I'm now playing on hard. I plan to pick the DLC.
