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This user has reviewed 86 games. Awesome! You can edit your reviews directly on game pages.
Vertical Kingdom

A Unique Blend

Vertical Kingdom is an odd beast: It's a deck-building (kinda) roguelite mixed with city management elements. You'll have to juggle the limited space you have with the needs of the city and the resources required to continue expanding. The story is barebone, but I find the overall concept and presentation flavorful. You'll embark on a journey as an Imperial architect, building cities in various areas of the Empire, each trip culminating in the creation of a giant structure to fight off a mysterious fog that is encroaching the borders. The gameplay is fun. Having to adapt to the luck of the draw as you pursue your plans for the city is very enjoyable. The extra "tags" the cards can randomly have also allow you some improvisation and experimentation. The game isn't too difficult, however you can encounter a few pitfalls if you don't pay attention to the effects of some cards or actions (rarely buildings and actions have an ongoing cost, which can be devastating if ignored). The deck-building part is a bit lucklustre, as you can only add cards and each hand drawn is randomized from the pool of available ones (although you can control which categories you'll be picking from, and there is a limited power to "ban" individual cards). This means you can "brick" very easily if you aren't careful with what you add and if it's your first experience, you might have trouble planning ahead. Past this hump, however, the game is easy. Certain unlocks you can gain also help with the difficulty and the repetitiveness (which is a bit of an issue by the end). Leveling up your city increases your rewards, but also creates new problems, so it's a balancing act (if you are just looking to finish the run, though, it's easy to abuse by never leveling up and avoiding the more dangerous drawbacks). All in all, it's a fun experience, if a bit narrow in scope. I finished it in 10 hours, and I wouldn't mind trying again for higher scores or to experiment with the sandbox, so I recommend it.

1 gamers found this review helpful
Beyond the Ice Palace 2

A Visceral Action-platformer

Beyond The Ice Palace 2 was a pleasant surprise. Starting from the presentation, the game is solid: the pixel-art is excellent, and the soundtrack is also good, fitting the mood quite well. Sounds are also well designed, and generally the game does a good job of providing you with a pleasant feedback to your attacks. The gameplay is good, and from the very beginning it provides some fun mechanics. Your weapon will attach itself to rings (generously distributed through the levels) and will be used to swing, launch yourself, steal shields from enemies, pull levers for puzzles and much more. A charged attack is at your disposal to destroy certain barriers or finish off some enemies which would otherwise come back to life. You also have a dodge move, which doubles as a movement option (although both the charged attack and dodge will consume stamina, so you can't constantly use them). Finally there are a slide (very useful to move quickly) and a dive-kick (almost useless, given that you can't re-use it after hitting an enemy). Eventually, you'll unlock more powers, although they are all diffferent forms of movement options, actually (double jump, buff to the dodge to become omni-directional and a way to attach rings to certain surfaces). Still, you can also power up your character by spending crystals you find around the game (usually in secret areas or after bosses/challenges). Shops allow you to buy some utility items and equipment, although the selection is narrow. The game has flaws: bosses are often too easy to simply outdamage often, while the regular levels can sometimes be too challenging due to the placement of enemies or obstacles. The movement is great fun, and makes up for some of the frustration (the regular jump is anemic, but all other options are cool). I found some bugs, however the devs seem to be fixing the game so I hope it will be polished by the end. An interesting take on the genre, if you don't mind some frustration at times.

1 gamers found this review helpful
Plumbers Don't Wear Ties: Definitive Edition

Funny Enough To Deserve A Second Life

Most people know that PDWT isn't a good game: it's a weird visual novel using still images of real actors with a nonsensical plot, absurd consequences to your choices, a bad interface, and poor visual quality. However, the entire thing is meant to be funny: it's just a very surreal comedy experiment, and in my opinion, it's good for a few laughs. The silly disrespect for any continuity, the entire "fight between narrators", the manager going on a rant depending on your choices... Generally, most of the scenes have silly lines, matched with hilarious expressions or poses. This is horrible if you don't like absurd comedy, but funny otherwise. The definitive edition adds some nice touches (like the ability to skip through already seen scenes, a map for the story branches and so on) as well as some assorted extras: I think the best parts are the interview with Jeanne Basone (the main actress) and with the AVGN. The devs commentary track and the "historian" video are also nice, although the rest of the extra videos feel a bit too self-indulgent and self-referential. The upscaling was well-made, and they offer the original graphics too, which is a plus (I wish they had a CRT filter, though). On the negative side, the mini-game to unlock the extra videos is pretty bad (I like the idea of being chased by Thrasher as a nod, but a maze with 3 different wall colors and ultra-basic FPS mechanics, really? It's a chore rather than a little bonus) and they also didn't do a good job at offering basic functionalities like scrolling forward and backward during the unlocked extras (meaning that you have to watch the whole thing again if you accidentally exited a 70 minutes video near the 60 minutes mark). The UI is also not great in many cases and I noticed 2 minor bugs. Entertaining despite its flaws (although it might be good enough to just watch a playthrough for most), this weird piece of history lives on after all this time.

8 gamers found this review helpful
Yakuza Kiwami

Very entertaining, maybe too repetitive

Yakuza Kiwami is an open(ish)-world brawler, set in a fictional district in Tokyo in the year 2005. The game features an incredible variety of minigames, side quests and more, despite the relatively small size. Outside of the mini-games, however, the main gameplay is a 3D brawler, where you fight enemies in limited arenas (while you can free roam, once an encounter starts you are limited to a small section of the map). The combat gives you a lot of levers to pull, providing great variety early on, although later the enemy AI will push you away from certain skills/strategies (certain enemies can be very annoying, continuously dodging your attacks and forcing you into more reactive gameplay). The combat is actually very fun, it's just that it's also very uneven in the strength of the various abilities (some are almost completely useless, a good chunk are interchangeable with one another, and some turn the game into a cakewalk) and enemies (some barely qualify as cannon fodder, others are a true menace). The other negative aspect of the combat (and actually a good chunk of the side-content as well) is that it's kind of grindy/repetitive. Leveling up isn't necessarily slow, but the good stuff is kept from you for long. The side quests are fairly repetitive, gameplay-wise (if you like their quirky humour, which is a departure from the main storyline, you can have a lot of fun with those anyway). Speaking of the story, I must say it's not the greatest: while it has some solid ideas for the kind of game it is, a lot of elements feel contrived, and some of the pathos feels unwarranted (Yakuza 0, which is the only other game of the series I played so far, has a much better main plot). The story provides several twists and turns, but honestly the gameplay carries the experience. The presentation isn't astonishing, but it's not shabby and the world is very detailed. The music is very appropriate and will get you pumped for the action when necessary. Recommended.

1 gamers found this review helpful
Warp Frontier

A Rather Murky Affair...

Warp Frontier is a traditional point-and-click adventure game. Presentation-wise, the game offers detailed backgrounds, however the characters have animations that scream "low budget". Most of the game animations do, in fact. The music is not particularly memorable, but it works for ambience, and the sound effects are equally unremarkable, but passable. The story has some intriguing ideas, but honestly the main plot point, once revealed, will have you scratching your head, as it feels very stupid and contrived. It technically intersects with the protagonist's own story, but again it all feels a bit too convenient at times. While the game handles character drama well, the big ideas about droids, human consciousness and big conspiracies are fumbled and rushed. The game has a barrage of puzzles. Some are admittedly cool and/or smart (the game also has multiple solutions, and you can do better by picking "more appropriate" approaches), but there is a long, LONG set of busywork puzzles, which require you fiddle with the clunky inventory UI: scrolling with the mouse wheel doesn't scroll the inventory, instead it "auto-equips" through it, while you are forced to navigate left and right the TON of items you get by clicking the arrows on the screen. To top it all off, you have to walk back and forth certain screens over and over again for repetitive tasks. The way some choices can have long-term outcomes is ambitious, but the ending feels unfortunately rushed, which limits the possibilities on this front too. While nothing is horribly wrong with the game, it never comes together as a good experience. If the game had better pacing, or a better thought-out story or better puzzles (and shorter animations when flying from one area to the other!) this could have been a very solid adventure, however it shines too rarely to hide its flaws. As it is, it's too fiddly and confused to provide enough entertainment for the average adventure enthusiast. Wasted potential for much more.

1 gamers found this review helpful
Hollowbody

Does this even count as horror?

Beyond the well-made PS2-inspired graphics, the game doesn't have a lot going for it. I would honestly rate it lower, but I haven't played enough of it (and I REALLY don't plan to), so I'll restrain myself. Hollowbody is supposed to be a horror game inspired by the likes of Silent Hill 2, but sadly it falls considerably short of its forefathers. Pacing is dreadful: I can't believe this game honestly opens with a 20 minutes slow walking sim. This section does absolutely nothing to give us any insight about the situation beyond the few lines of text that precede it. Everyone speaks in vague terms, as if they are deliberately trying to be obtuse. I presume this is the author's way of keeping things secret for some reveals later, but sadly it doesn't work. The game then has a second start (this time a cutscene) and once again the dialogue is vague, the setting is unexplained/unexplored, and things are slow. We learn that we are looking for the person from the previous intro, and bam, we crash into the abandoned zone, and this opens with another slow walking section until we reach a healing item and then we can finally walk around. There is very little to examine, and even less that actually builds the mood or at least gives some back story, no dread detected. Sometimes, you encounter transmissions you can catch with the radio, but those are again vague or far removed from your current predicament and don't shed any light on the mystery. It's also unexplained why conversations from the past can be picked from the radio (the protagonist makes zero comments about it). We then have more empty streets until we reach an empty apartment block with more empty rooms and then eventually, FINALLY you start getting some horror elements. Not well realized elements, mind you, but at least it's something. The music is fine, but too subdued, gameplay is old school Silent Hill in many ways, but there isn't enough here to warrant trying the game for most horror fans, in my opinion.

14 gamers found this review helpful
CONSCRIPT

Not Terrible, Yet Disappointing

I was looking forward to Conscript after playing the demo, but the full experience is dull and poorly paced. As a "top-down survival horror" the game is seriously lacking in the horror part. Combat encounters feature too many enemies and large arenas, so the fights lose their edge quickly. There are long sections without anything but containers to search, and the backtracking is an issue, given how big the maps are and how slow you are in comparison. In the sections were enemies keep flooding your trenches, if you use well the turrets you'll save a huge amount of ammo, neutering that aspect as well. The game seems to try too hard to make a lot of the movement and combat awkward for the sake of it, sometimes in very detrimental ways. In Conscript, there is almost always a chance to miss your shots. Aiming has a reticle that slowly shrinks (and the spread is huge if you try to immediately shoot), plus it has weird hitboxes that favour the enemy (you can miss an enemy right in front of you, and the enemy can shoot through walls very often). While the arenas are large, enemies tend to match your sprinting speed, meaning that they are a bit faster overall, as they don't seem to tire (unlike your character). You have a roll, but enemies can kick you out of it, or at least so it seems (melee in general is awkward as you and the enemies overlap each other in close combat, making it hard to figure out at times). This makes running away from enemies a nuisance, especially since they almost always outnumber you. The puzzles in the first 3 chapters didn't feel too smart or involved (with a single exception). Music and sounds aren't bad, but it feels as if they are missing something. Despite my complaints, it's not an awful game, but, it's boring for me. There is too little story and personality to the characters, and the gameplay is too dry. The top down view takes away a lot of the tension, and while it somewhat captures the dread of war, it's not scary when playing.

4 gamers found this review helpful
Alisa

A Truly Unpleasant Experience

Alisa is a survival horror which both in style and presentation calls back to the PS1 classics such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill, while adding a pinch of its own flair. Visually, it feels on point in recapturing the atmosphere of PS1-era games (the fixed camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds truly feel like a contemporary competitor to the RE series), and the music/sound also feel well made and close to the goal. Sadly, the gameplay is both frustrating and lacklustre. VA is terrible, but YMMV. First, the game wants you to pay for each save, and you can't use multiple save slots. The UI is also bad (no shortcut to map or inventory, requiring an extra input from your equipment menu, and keys require you to manually select them from the inventory). Occasionally, the game also misses inputs (at least when using a controller). Money (in the form of clock gears) is dropped by every enemy you kill, and I believe it's used to unlock all weapons and outfits (which have gameplay effect) outside of the starting equipment. You are thus incentivized to engage in combat, but the experience is dreadful. Several enemies can stunlock you or at least chain 2-3 attacks if they get to you. If multiple enemies are present, this can turn into a death sentence. At least, money drops in decent quantities, however... ...There is no auto aim (unless you take a penalty at the start or buy it later on in the game). You get an indicator if your aim is lined up with an enemy, but you don't know which enemy, and the line of aim is EXTREMELY narrow. A good chunk of the enemies are fast and/or demand you also aim low/high, making it all annoying and hard to master without rote memorization or heavy manipulation of the pathfinding. Enemies will swarm you in certain sections, amplifying the frustration. Bonus point for inconsistent reactions to your shots. I'll refund the game. I love old survival horrors, but these controls are inadequate for what the game asks to its players.

26 gamers found this review helpful
Rauniot

Tough Puzzles, Rushed Ending(s) (7/10)

Rauniot is a dark, atmopsheric point-and-click, set in a fictional, post-apocalyptic 1975 Finland. The presentation is intriguing, if a bit flawed. The look and soundscape give a sombre tone to the game from the get-go, which is appropriate, given the themes (although I am not sure if the "horror" tag is appropriate). The music gets a bit repetitive (feels like there are 2 tracks) and it's set very low in the audio options (I recommend taking a look at the presets and changing them). Voice acting is mixed, but overall nice (only Finnish available). I was kind of surprised by the number of unique animations the game has for an indie adventure, and they are mostly well-done, as are the backgrounds and the characters. Less great are the animations for dialogues, and the inner monologues are a bit of a nuisance, since you can't skip during those and the pauses are too long. The gameplay is a very standard point-and-click adventure. You do have a limited resource in the ammo bullets, but you can finish the game without firing a shot, and they are mostly a "moral conundrum" (do I kill the bastard who's making my life hard with side-quests and is likely a murderer, or do I take the high ground?). For the rest, expect a mix of straightforward and complicated puzzles. None of the puzzles require leaps in logic (they remain fairly grounded) but some require focus, and the odd "pixel-hunting moments" don't help matters (some of the items are TINY). The ending feels like they had to wrap things up. Partly it's because of the story's structure (they wanted a reveal at the end) but even excluding that, it doesn't feel well thought-out. It's a bit of a downer, but I hadn't exactly built a connection with anyone but the protagonist, given the limited interactions. The plot itself is kind of weak (feels like too much happened off-screen, in the end), but it's propped up by the atmosphere. I think the game is a 7, but I'll round it down because it's full of missed opportunities.

24 gamers found this review helpful
SKALD: Against the Black Priory

A Very Forced Ending (And More) Ruin It

Skald had a lot going for it at a first glance: A great marriage between atmospheric graphics (if you aren't allergic to this type of pixel-art) and music, which creates a great mood from the beginning (the foggy beach after the intro is really cool, and there are many great locations), which compliments the chosen theme of cosmic horror. As an RPG, it offers skill checks, interesting dialogues and setting, and its own ruleset to play around with. Sadly, all that glitters is not gold: for example, the game offers a lot of uses for ropes in the first map, but outside of that map they are almost never used again, and this feels true for most tools and a non-trivial portion of your skills (at least on normal). The difficulty curve is all over the place: the early parts can be gruesome (especially if you picked a spellcaster), then it becomes easier and easier as you progress and your party grows. The final boss is a joke (I have had harder random encounters). The atmosphere goes from moody and spooky, to frankly a bit stale towards the end. Too many combat encounters also ruin the pacing (battles are SLOW with 6 party members and even more enemies). It feels like the cosmic horror works better the further away from it you are, and the dev wasn't ready to deliver on some appropriate story beats to enhance the premise. Characters are mysterious just for the sake of it, but unlike the character in a story which is found dead the day after he gives you a scary warning, the one playing mind games with you is a party member, so you are awkwardly stuck with each other after the foreboding dialogue is over, forcing you to roll with the clichè, even if it doesn't make sense in the situation. Most of your party is done dirty by the ending, in a way that diminishes your efforts a tad too much, even for this genre of stories. It all feels too railroaded (even before the ending, but especially after) and bizarre to stick the landing, leaving me with very mixed feelings.

36 gamers found this review helpful