In the marriage of gameplay and narrative, if one's lacklustre the other can keep you going. This is an ideal game to play for 30-60 minutes at a time for some relaxation. The characters are well realised, but unless you get personally invested there's not much to keep you engaged. It's a relaxing experience rather than anything engaging, and could have benefited by being half the length. By the 3 hour mark the mechanics had lost their charm, and I had to force myself to play because I wanted to know how it ended. A nice idea, but I don't think I'd ever pick up and play this again.
A 2D side-scrolling survival horror game set in a nightmarish version of a Korean school. The art style was what captivated me, and kept me playing. I enjoyed getting the notes as I explored and piecing together the story, as well as witnessing the way the school transformed. The creature hunting you is also genuinely scary. There were times where I got frustrated and needed multiple reloads to try and proceed, but consider this a minor gripe to an overall positive play experience.
This has to go down as the 4X game I spent most of my child-hood playing, and was also the first Sid Meier game I played (though, in fairness, Bryan Reynolds is responsible for much of what makes this game work). The hard sci-fi setting is fantastic, drawing inspiration from Frank Herbert's Pandora Sequence among others. Each of the factions and leaders oozes personality that's sorely lacking in Civilization: Beyond Earth, a more recent foray into spaceby the series. Exploring Planet and uncovering tis mysteries while shaping the direction your society grows is a wonder to behold. The only critique I'd level would be towards the unit creator, which can quickly feel overwhelming if you're first trying out this game. While not as deep as many of the Paradox grand strategy titles, this is a perfect sci-fi 4X gem that deserves to be available here.
