I don't usually write reviews for games, but this game is absolutely incredible and I really think anyone who has an even remote interest to check it out. Duskers is a top down roguelike/strategy game where you control a team of up to 4 drones at a time and expore derelict spacecraft. You can control their movements with the arrow keys, but all commands/actions generally go through the command line, which I absolute love (I'm a programmer/terminal nut). It even lets you do aliases and combine multiple commands at once with semi-colons. Aesthetic: Spot on. If you liked the retro-future style of Alien Isolation, you'll be right at home here. Every drone has a different noise, a different colors/view, and the screen even has to be degaussed sometimes. The sounds of ambient noise is also very fitting, there is no music in this game, and that fits perfectly with the atmosphere. As someone who generally doesn't like "roguelike" games, this game hits all its marks for me. Great mechanics, great gameplay, great aesthetic. I even found myself roleplaying to myself and going "okay, Betty (my drone name) I'm gonna need you to go to room R4 to check that out" out loud as I'm typing the command. Can you name any other games that make you feel like that? Solid experience all around. A++
Aquanox 2 dives (no pun intended) into a game genre we almost never see. An Underwater-sim. Except there's a catch. It plays almost exactly like a regular space sim. Though this seems like a draw back at first, the game makes you feel like you actually are in a combat submarine and gives you the feeling that you're actually underwater. Though I can't recommend this game for a number of reasons, it's well worth the purchase price for the effort and time that went into making this type of game and for trying a genre that almost never comes up. One complaint that I do have with the atmosphere of the underwater scenery (and by just judging with how far I've got in the game) is that there is no fish and little sealife. Granted it's a steampunk-ish sort of game with factions and pirates roaming around, but I would have loved to swim up to a small whale or fish. Maybe even fish them and sell them for credits. Which is another complaint I have about the game, it's linear. An underwater scene like this would be GREAT if it played like Freelancer or the old Privateer games. But instead its gameplay is presented with linear missions/using credits to get ship parts/etc. Think of the Descent games mixed with Freespace 2 and you'll know what I mean. One of the really cool aspects of the game is the interface. Though the main menu really doesn't count, everything else is kind of exhilerating (though sometimes confusing/too busy) For example, in your ship you have a 3D heightmap that moves with you of your surroundings, that only counts as a radar for enemies vessels. It's just a little detail, but it's something you can't pull off in a space sim game cause there well.. no terrain anywhere. I'll give this game credit for trying in the almost unknown genre of underwater sim (and I've heard the Aquanox games before this one were better) but I really can't recommend this game you either really like space sims, or just want to try something different. While it's no Freespace 2, it's definitely worth playing for the odd underwater setting.
