This is a nice throwback to old school Shadowrun. The campaign is based on the old Universal Brotherhood adventure, which I still have somewhere. I doubt there are a lot of us out there, but for those who loved Shadowrun back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, this is a real treat. Newcomers might find the game a bit daunting at first, but I think it does a good job of introducing its absurd but fun premise. The campaign is very linear and a bit short. However, for a tactical RPG, the writing is quite good. You get some opportunities to roleplay, and you can mess around with quite a few different builds, some more optimal than others. The combat is where it shines, though, and any time that you're outside of combat, you'll likely be reminded that this is a tactical RPG first and foremost. That means there isn't a whole lot of sneaking around in shadows, and even though the NPCs are fun, you're not going to feel sad when the adventure ends. if you've been dying for a turn-based cyberpunk game where you can hack terminals and spray submachine gunfire at bad guys, this is totally your game. If you go in knowing that it's a crowdfunded indie game and set your expectations appropriately, it's very fun. Plus, it's moddable.
Diablo revolutionized what the action RPG was. It took the careful, turn-based tactics of classic roguelike games such as Moria and NetHack, then morphed them into an incredibly atmospheric, real-time action game. It's hard to believe that this actually worked. It follows the basic "hack and slash your way through a maze" formula of arcade games like Gauntlet, but it cranks everything up to 11. Diablo retains a lot of what made classic roguelike games so addictive -- unpredictability, the satisfaction of overcoming unfair difficulty spikes, and collecting loot -- while taking cues from the simplicity of Doom. There's a story buried here, but you can immediately jump in and start having fun. Even if this is the first PC game you've ever played. Rarely has a genre been so streamlined and yet kept so much of what makes it great. Highly recommended both to hardcore fans of classic roguelike games and people new to action RPGs.
This game has a great cyberpunk premise and nice art, but it can be a bit confusing. You're bombarded with lore. Trying to make sense of the world can sometimes be difficult without at least skimming through several lore pages, unless you can somehow tell from context the difference between a mobrium with a zoenet or a diginet in its rendan. The world is full of various moral and philosophical questions for your detective to ponder. Your choices not only affect the world but also your character progression. A compassionate response to a moral dilemma unlocks abilities that can put people at ease. Later in the game, your compassionate doctor might take a side job as a shock jock or a logical programmer. It's a little odd, but if you roll with it, it's fun. The characters are pretty interesting. You'll meet a wide variety of factions you can ally with or antagonize. These choices will eventually affect what ending you can get, but there often isn't a "right" answer to a case. Even after uncovering every clue, I sometimes felt I had to rely on hunches. This, and the ending, makes a replay attractive.
If you can stand the poor user interface, hardcore gameplay, and brutally faithful implementation of old-school Dungeons and Dragons rules, I'd recommend this over a lot of modern pixel art games. Sure, nostalgia helps to get you through the rough spots of 1980s-era game design, but the Gold Box games are still a lot of fun today. These are dungeon crawlers designed for 8 bit home computers, so don't go in expecting flowery dialogue, multiple endings, or choices and consequences. You spend most of your time in turn-based tactical combat. However, the games are packed with monsters to fight, loot to find, and dungeons to explore.
Slipways takes a streamlined version of the 4X formula used in games like Master of Orion and rips out all the micromanagement and war mechanics. Of course, when you remove the last X in a 4X game, this changes the gameplay. Slipways is more akin to a puzzle game with a Master of Orion skin, but it's great fun. There are no other players to distract you from building your glorious empire, and you're never slowed down by micromanagement or war. Instead, you're constantly tempted into overextending yourself. If you ever wanted the exploration and expansion phase of a 4X game to never end, this the game for you. Conquering the galaxy is undeniably fun, but it takes a substantial time investment. When you're in the mood for a longer game, you can always go back to Stellaris or Master of Orion. For bite-size chunks of empire-building fun, it's tough to beat this game.
This was one of my favorite games back in the mid-1980s. It was obviously made by people who obsess over wargame mechanics, which is unsurprising coming from SSI. The combat is so detailed, though, that it's still among the most intricate tactical role-playing games. This combat formed the basis for SSI's later Gold Box games, but it was simplified to fit the AD&D rules. If you loved the Gold Box games, but you wished the combat was crazy detailed, you're going to be in heaven when playing Wizard's Crown. Highly recommended for fans of Ultima III and Pool of Radiance.
I played the original Bard's Tale trilogy back in the 1980s. This game isn't really for us. It's a somewhat generic Diablo-style action RPG that parodies fantasy tropes. The humor isn't bad but seems designed for teens. Graphics and music are fine. Gameplay is a bit casual but can be surprisingly challenging at times if you don't take your build seriously. The game is fine for what it is, but you you could do better. This would be worth buying if you're tired of grimdark, serious ARPGs, though.
There's a reason that science fiction 4X games always get compared to SMAC and Master or Orion. While Master of Orion takes a "colonize the galaxy" approach, SMAC sticks to the tried-and-true Civilization format. In SMAC, you'll terraform the landscape, mine the planet's moons, and launch orbital death rays, but everything takes place on a single planet. The crazy thing about SMAC is how much control you have over everything. Don't like your starting continent? You can create rivers and change the local rainfall patterns by raising up mountains, giving you ample farmlands. Annoyed that someone else settled that great spot? Divert the river and steal all the moisture, leaving it a dry wasteland. Units are equally as configurable. Make an armored scout, or drop your tanks deep in enemy territory using orbital insertion. The sad thing is that a lot of these features come across as almost like an exploit because the computer-controlled players don't know how to use them. Still, it's amazingly fun to progress through the tech tree and unlock these gamebreaking technologies. You can also turn on blind research, which semi-randomizes your research and keeps things fresh. The writing is probably what most people will remember about SMAC, though. A 4X game with a plot? Yes, it's possible! Each of the leaders has their own agenda, and this agenda memorably plays out through the various cut scenes and technological advances. It's easy enough to ignore if you prefer, but once you read what you're actually doing to the rioters when you click a button to immediately quell a riot, you may feel icky enough that you let it play out next time. It's rare that a game is written well enough to do this.
