Wow, I wouldn't have thought that this little gem might capture me as much as it did. I really like the base premise of the game where you have to manage your base within a short time frame given a growing number of impeding conditions. This forces you to make clutch decisions and think about your resource usage wisely, because otherwise you will most certainly fail. Don't let yourself fooled by the cute graphics, this game is tough. The first thing I did was rebind all keys so that all keys can easily be accessed using one hand - I think that tells you enough about how much you will be tasked while playing this. Yet, it is wholly rewarding: when you manage to meet your goals in the campaign and see the end of one mission dawning on the horizon, you are relieved and happy. A note to my fellow tuxers: I certainly want this game to be ported to linux. However, currently, I run it using a recent version of WINE (8.0.5 I think) without any big issues.
I really like the game so far, after a cursory glance I gave it yesterday. The "cute" style the author went for reminds me of Tangledeep, but I gotta say that this one is even cuter *_*. Furthermore, it seems like it is not one inch less brutal than similar games such as StoneShard (which I consider a good thing), and I probably would've died within the first 30 minutes were I not already rather familiar with traditional roguelikes such as DCSS, Cogmind or CDDA. I found the game really easy to get into, the help sections were accurate (not too long and detailed, not too terse). I'd like to comment on one aspect which is not strictly related to the game but the engine: I really appreciate that more people are starting to use free and open source game engines to produce top notch games, because it shows that success does not depend upon nonfree software. I wish the author the best of luck for his game :)
At first glance, I believe that Residual might not look like something you'd necessarily wanna play. I mean, it's gorgeous, the music is legit, and your companion is somewhere between funny and annoying (probably exactly as intended). What I'm talking about is the base premise of the game: survival platformer without combat. That sounds like a super awkward thing, right? Yeah, indeed it does. So for me, it was all the more fascinating that the game keeps sucking me in. After many failed attempts, I finally managed to finish the first planet. And oh boy, am I looking forward to continue ;-) I really enjoy the part where you receive very little hand-holding and have to figure things out by yourself. From my point of view, there are several layers of exploration involved which intermingle quite nicely. One, you explore the planet itself. Two, you explore how to do stuff and how to interact with the world. Three, you explore that which "links" the different planets you visit (trying not to spoiler). Let's be frank, at launch, the game had quite a bit of bugs. Quite some of them are gone now (1.1.5b), but there still are some rather awkward bugs around (with some I'm unsure whether they are supposed to form part of the gameplay). Also, the dev is much better to be reached via steam and not so much via gog which sucks a bit. On the flipside, he is very responsive and rather quick to fix the bugs you mention in the discussions. I really want to emphasize what this game accomplishes marvellously: starting from a rather awkward base premise, it manages to captivate through the different layers of exploration which unfold as you play. While the game is engaging - you always have something to do -, it retains a certain chill-ness which makes it perfectly suited both for ambitious and laid-back gamers. Finally, understand that this game is unlike any game I've played before. I've played survival games, I've played platformers. But not in such a wonderfully awkward combo <3
I used to believe that those hectic games are nothing for me, digging oldschool roguelikes, turn-based tactics and similar games. Ho well, this game proved me oh so wrong. In my opinion, it perfectly combines strategic planning (which ship you choose, for which additional bonuses you go, how you select your loadout) with tactical movement (when do I go where to achieve my goals, which enemies do I engage where) and reaction speed. That said, be prepared to be pwned extremely hard if you overstep, and to be frustrated when you realise you simply cannot manage to finish a campaign run within a reasonable amount of time. Then again, thats why it is a roguelike. To me, it is a roguelike because the only meta-progression is related to different characters that you can unlock; the weapons you collect are non-persistent between runs, and if you choose an expensive loadout, you better not fail with it. Lastly, I want to counter reviews of other people saying that you cannot see enough: in my opinion, you need to check the mini-map (bottom right) at all times. and very frequently check that map (TAB). This way, you can see what's coming your way. Thus if you want a game that: - is tough as nails - is rewarding if you succeed, frustrating if you lose - challenges you to combine strategy, tactics and reaction time - graphically appealing (reminds me a bit of Deep Sky Derelicts), CRYPTARK is exactly what you are looking for. The fact that I've gotten this game at a discount makes me feel like I kind of cheated, because it is a game in which the full price would be completely justified. P.S.: Lastly, I cannot endorse arguments that linux performance is lackluster. I'm on a decent system though (i7-4770k, 16g ram, 8gb GPU), so maybe my judgement is not representative.
So I'm not a huge platformers fan, but I do own quite some of them, both in the metroidvania-style and beyond that (notably, Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, Shovel Knight and Cathedral). I must say that Sundered has really stuck with me. Unlike what other reviewers wrote, I quite enjoy the amount of mobs there is, and for exactly the reason others dont like it. It IS a spam fest, and you ARE required to concetrate and react well. That being said, I must say that dying is A LOT LESS punishing than it is, for instance, in Hollow Knight. And through your spending "money" you improve your character, which means that even if you suck a bit at platformers like I do, you are making progress instead of being thrown back like half an hour of grinding if you die. I also REALLY enjoy the graphics. At first I was a bit weirded out by the movement animations (jumping in particular) but after like 1-2 hours you basically forget that anything about it felt weird earlier. But other than that, I did dig the atmosphere from the first moment on, and have not stopped doing so. The mix of vegetation and industrial style really appeals to me. A reviewer wrote that you are carefully initiated to the different kinds of moves as you go along, and I couldn't agree more with that. While I initially thought Hollow Knight did a good job with it, here I feel really taken by the hand, and I mean that in a good way. Because at the time you learn a new ability you really have to have mastered what you already had before. Finally, another reviewer wrote that "positioning matters". This I experienced just before writing this review, where I have died repeatedly because I did not understand how I had to position myself to beat a particular boss. At a discount, this game is an absolute steal(!). But the more I play it, the more I believe that the game is ACTUALLY worth the full price. Considering that it is an indie game, utterly beautiful and a breeze to play, the devs totally deserve it! Great job!
So this is my first review ever. I decided to review this game because I truly believe it is on par with more traditionally styled rogue-likes when it comes to the necessity to "work yourself". This is something that you should definately want when playing STTE - or any rogue-like, for that matter. In my first runs, the game felt a bit like I was dependent on RNGesus, which kind of sucked a bit. Then, after my second or third run, I recognised its resemblance with other, "traditional" rogue-likes such as Tangledeep, Cogmind, Caves of Qud (modern, but traditional in design). By this, I mean that after every unsuccessful run, you start thinking about every small decision that you've made, and how any of those might have contributed to you losing. Obviously, there are runs which are "luckier" than others, but IN ANY CASE was there something you could've done better: wait longer with your repairs to save credits or metal, use more DIY nukes, optimise the ship layout so that the ways between "battle" and "normal" mode are shorter,.... you name it. I understand that you might feel pissed when you die and receive a sort of sarcastic "what you could've done better" note by the game. But this is truly what makes this game enjoyable for me - that your choices truly matter. Let me add that I don't consider this game a "FTL-clone". Sure, it is set out in space. Sure, you are the "meta-captain" and tell your units what to do. But FTL's mechanics are purified to a degree which actually lead me to prefer STTE over it. STTE introduces - resources system besides credits, possibility of your components being destroyed, limited inventory capacity - more layers of complexity, which translates, for me, to "more choice". Or, more opportunities to make mistakes and - hopefully - learn from them in future runs :) For Linux users, this game runs fine on wine, even though I believe that performance is worse and even though I WANT THIS GAME NATIVE ON LINUX!!!!!!1111
