This game wanted to be the successor of Baldur's Gate, and succeeded in doing a lot of things right. The mechanics are really good and I wouldn't dare going into detail here but I will say a few things about them. Characters have abilities/spells that they can use a limited number of times per rest (when your party heals and gains some specific bonuses) or combat. It might seem a bit weird in the beginning but it adds an extra level of depth and the opportunity to balance the game. There is "sneaking" but it's quite ineffective compared to other RPGs from the same genre, which actually gives the game a good balance and realism but it's not very interesting and it has limited usefulness. The game also has options for a ton of quality of life improvements, like unlimited inventory and you can loot a large area at once, among some of them. The main story is not told all that great, you're being thrown into it very sudden and you're being told how to feel about it. With time the story and the lore of this world will grow on you and I believe the story gets better; I also liked The White March story line. I would like to say here that The White March not only brings you lots of new locations and stories but it also adds mechanics to the game, so I strongly recommend that you play with it. I liked the graphic art style but the sound track was unimpressive. You get to have a stronghold, which I find really cool; I don't think that this is a spoiler because you have a stronghold button on the interface from the start, it just doesn't do anything until you have control over it. Rating: Barbarian SMASH!!! http://pixelloot.com *Editors' Pick x2*
Limbo is a 2D sidescroller with an eerie atmosphere and minimal story, where all you have are 5 keys to solve a series of challenging puzzles. That's it, and yet it manages to be brilliant. Rating: chills, thrills, and skills. http://pixelloot.com *Editors' Pick x2*
This (very light) RPG was more of a visual novel for me. The fights can be pretty fun and short but I think that what matters most in them is your dexterity. You are surrounded by stories at every step and they are conveyed very nicely with this retro style. The developer showed great imagination and humor, I really hope we'll see more form him. The only significant issue that I can find for this game is that the last "boss" can be too much of a hassle. Rating: worst than MewMew 1, better than MewMew 2. Recommendation: I had great time with it, maybe so will you. http://pixelloot.com/
A step up from Fallout 3, this game is more polished and with better stories. Now you can use iron sights, mod your weapons, and the reputation system has been reintroduced. It also has a hardcore mode where you don't heal instantly, you need food, water, and sleep, ammo has weight, and other such things that make the game more realistic. The game can become much easier if the player abuses(?) quick save/loading, but I can't really fault the game, nor the player, for this. I tried playing a game (a few games actually) where death meant the end of the game, loading wasn't allowed as a self imposed rule, and it was a very interesting experience. Rating: set lasers to fun! http://pixelloot.com/ *Editors' Pick*
After a ten year break, the Fallout series comes back in 3D and with a changed combat system. You have the option of real-time combat, or you can use V.A.T.S. which "allows you to pause time in combat, target specific body parts on your target, and queue up attacks". It is not at all a bad game but it's less than it was expected from a "Fallout" title; it's a bit too plain, at least story/characters wise, and it's too heavy on the action side. Rating: You're S.P.E.C.I.A.L.! http://pixelloot.com/
In 12 hours of gameplay I “destroyed” a little over 10.000 tiles, built myself a nice house where three NPCs live, but only saw a small part of what the game has to offer. You can generate new worlds and port your character between them. You have a perma-death mode for your character, if that’s what you’re into. From what I experienced, the game is pretty relaxed, and I enjoyed playing it while listening to podcasts or watching, actually mostly listening, to something else on a second monitor. Pros: you can make lots and lots of items in a world that has a pretty artwork. Cons: you don’t know what you can build unless you already have all the materials for it. Rating: one furious unicorn. http://pixelloot.com
Shadow Tactics is bringing back to life the old style of stealth tactics that we saw in the “Commandos” series. This game comes with great graphics, many quality of life improvements, and as a setting, instead of WW2, we have Japan in the early modern period. One of the improvements is that, at a basic level, you can synchronize actions between your characters. But if you’ve ever played a “Commandos” game, then you’ll feel right at home. Missions are like a string of mini-puzzles, where you have to figure out in which order, and how you’ll take the enemy soldiers out. Unfortunately, with time, it becomes a bit repetitive because you’ll use the same tricks (tactics) in many similar situations. Some deaths that look accidental are not investigated much or at all, and it’s my personal opinion that in such a game, stealth should be rewarded more. I played it on the maximum difficulty setting, and I only had problems with the last mission. So if you want a challenge you’ll have to go for earning badges in each mission. But the criteria for awarding badges is only revealed at the end of the mission, this is quite annoying. Rating: Where did everyone go?! I'm sure this is fine... *Editors' Pick* http://pixelloot.com
This is a pretty basic game that comes with little to no innovation in terms of RTS elements. The two factions are very similar, and a big part of the game play is capturing “resource nods”. I like that the game is not as micro intensive as other RTSs, but this comes at the price; units have no special abilities that you need to micro manage. You can have lots and lots of units at the same time and the aspect of the game is pretty nice looking. I’m quite bad at RTSs but to me the AI seemed OK. Rating: If a human and a protoss had a baby... Recommendation: Decent RTS, worth a shot if you like the genre. http://pixelloot.com
Xenonauts wants to be the direct spiritual successor to UFO: Enemy Unknown by remaking the original with some fidelity. In combat, soldiers move and shoot according to a system based on time units identical (?) to the original; so the combat is pretty much like you would expect, except there is a directional cover system implemented, oh, and suppression. Air combat is no longer 1v1 and now you can directly control your aircraft, a mini game that can become tedious with time, but a welcome change nevertheless. I prefer the art style of old X-Com, Xenonauts looks a bit ugly to me. I didn’t play this game a lot but from what I saw the game has its own take on a lot of little things. One thing that stood out and I liked is the introduction of shields. I think the game is OK but I wasn’t impressed with anything, and in the end I just didn’t find it exciting to play. Rating: XENONAUTS-COM Recommendation: The game is not bad but there are similar games that are a better option if you are a fan of the genre. http://pixelloot.com
As a person that lived a small part of my life under communism, this game sure hits close to home. I actually know that while most things present here are hyperbolized, at its base, many of these kind of things likely happened. This is not really a game that you play to win, this more of a game that you play to experience a dark side of humanity. Enjoy! Rating: 1984: The Game. *Editors' Pick* http://pixelloot.com
