At the time of writing this game is in early access, so bear that in mind if reading this review in the future. With that being said I really did enjoyed the heck out of it despite it not being feature complete yet. I know Early Access can be a mixed bag and may put some people off but I have to stress it is a completely functional game as of now and the devs have not cut corners; it has 3 maps, a final boss and 3 champions to choose from (although they have to be unlocked through playing). The game play is a Slay The Spire / Into the Breach love child with battles on a hex grid. Not only do you have to move around the board, but you have to rotate your units too. Everything has a frontal arc, and getting flanked means you or the enemy doesn't get to counter attack. The tutorial will explain this and a few other key concepts very well so don't worry if this is starting to sound complex - the combat is actually quite straight forward in terms of the basics, but there's some really nice hidden depth to it. And while StS and ItB may be the 'meat and potatoes' of the game; the visual design, music and atmosphere seem to draw inspiration from Super Giant (Bastion, Pyre) which personally ticks all the right boxes for me. Here are the negatives as of now; some items have place holder art, the UI can have bugs on the map screen and there needs to be a little more balancing done - which you would probably expect for a strategy roguelike at this stage. I'm crossing my fingers however that these can all be ironed out because this really is a potentially great game in the making.
Rivals FTL in it's replayability and design (another indie gem worth checking out) If you like the sound of a rogue-like game with a challenging difficulty curve, an interesting atmosphere and a 'just one more go' addictive quality - then this should tick all the right boxes for you. I'm writing this review partly to correct a misconception that I do see online sometimes and which a review here on GOG seems to fall into. I just want to make it clear though, I'm not judging you for this opinion because I too felt frustrated at first when playing StS and thought the same - it's very easy to feel like there's a overwhelming random quality to the game play, that RNG plays far too big a role. The reality is though, that with the right strategy you will win about 70% of the time. There are youtubers who specialize in streaming their StS runs (who share their thought process btw) and they will agree on this. And you can tally up the victories to run ratio yourself and it does check out. Here are some basic tips/tricks: -Each character has 3-4 key strategies that you have to mould your deck of cards/relics towards. For example 2 key strategies for the 2nd character with the ox head is poison specialty, or activating as many cards in a turn. Regarding the latter, there's a fairly common card available that does bonus damage for every card activated. Prioritize that card and any relics that give a bonus per activated card too. Find what a character is good at, and stack as many bonuses as you can to multiply that advantage. -Every run has 3 maps. The first map is the easiest (kinda obvious) but what this actually means is that you have a short amount of time to mould your deck/strategy as best as you can before the difficulty spikes in map 2. Prioritising relics therefore on the first map is a must. And getting some good cards in your deck, either through victories or the shop is also important. -You do NOT have to take a card every time they're available.
There's a line between minimalist and just lacking featues/gameplay variety - I'm sad to say that Pan Pan falls more into the latter. It does have cute look to it, and at first you are somewhat charmed by both the game's appearance and the small clever puzzles, but after a short while the lack of variety drags the experience down. And even the puzzles (after playing for just a short amount of time) seem to be very similar to each other too. Still worth a look during a sale, but just a little lacking for those who aren't really into puzzle games.
I feel a little conflicted writing this review; this game is a passion project by a single developer and like most people I love a good under dog story - but it's better to be completely honest in these situations. This is a very average game at best, with a lot of rough edges. -The default controls are strange, I was able to remap them in the options menu so not necessarily a problem right - well certain things can't be changed, such as pressing 'down' to interact with characters and going through doors. (there's no tutorial to speak of so I had to mash buttons to find that out) -The main character floats a little bit making some platforms tricky to jump on. -The level design is very 'meh', both visually and in terms of how things are placed in the scene. -The enemies are quite fun to kill in fairness and have different attack patterns that reward good timing. But their visual designs are kind of boring and their placement in the level and how they spawn is also a little weird at times. This is a game that does have some charm to it and it's not terrible by any stretch. But at the same time it's very obvious that this is the work of a single person. A few extra hands or months in development would have done it a world of good. I'm going to give it 3 star instead of 2, because it's so cheap, I had roughly 2 hours of play time and I still feel I had good value for money. This might be worth checking out in a sale if you REALLY love action platformers but be wary of it's lack of polish.
While I can see why some people would not be into this kind of game, I personally found it really engaging. It scratches a particular itch incredibly well and doesn't out stay it's welcome. You have to make sure your character doesn't starve or freeze to death like in all survivial type games, but on a top of that you have a minimalist crafting system. Your inventory will be twenty odd items instead of hundreds, and items can be crafted with small quantities which takes away a lot of the annoyance that you can experience when there's too much micro-management. This is a game that oozes charm as well, inbetween 'levels' you're drifting down a river on a makeshift raft and occasionally you hear country music recorded by a close friend of the devs. I'm by no means a fan of most country music, but it's hard not to have a smile on your face when those type of moments happen. Later on in the game however things can get a little bit samey; it would have been nice to have a bit more variation in the environment as well as some other aspects. (the ending is good enough to make up for it though) But even with these small flaws, I can still safely recommend this for most people. I'd definitely take a gamble on this when it's on sale if you're currently on the fence.
A nice step up from the first game, this sequel is a nice visual upgrade both in terms of art style & technical lighting effects as well as more levels. Escape Goat is one of those games where you can switch your brain off a bit and just go into a zen like state of puzzle solving. It's not about super quick reflexes or adrenaline rush gameplay, it's more patiently thinking things out. Each level gives you infinite lives and a quick way to reset, meaning you can take your time (for the most part) and try out different ideas if you can't think of what to do straight off the bat. The levels are smartly designed as well and there's enough variation between each section (which containing 4-5 levels each) that it keeps the gameplay fresh and interesting. Escape Goat 2 is a great, polished puzzle platformer that's worth checking out if you're into the genre or fancy a nice change of pace from other more frantic games.
I'll start by saying that I'm not the biggest fan of this genre, I dip into it every now and then when I hear that somethings particularly good. This game was supposedly in that catergory but I just could not get into it. The writing and characters are very bland, it's set in the post apocalypse and yet you could in all honesty use the same dialog in a different setting with no real problem - everyone seems to talk in a contrived way about dull things. Was that suppose to make things relatable? The only effect it seems to have is that there's no sense of atmosphere or 'punch' to anything. Add to that the antagonists being cartoonish and the main character being made of cardboard and you don't have much in the way of narrative to keep you going. It's all down to the puzzles at that point and they are competent but uninspired sadly. Avoid unless you are a die hard fan of the genre or this developer.
...but I still enjoyed playing Deadlight, it's got good writing and characters, responsive controls and a world with an atmospheric sense of dread. It's a 2.5D survival game where you're tasked with shooting zombies and staying alive long enough to find out what happened to your loved ones. Simple enough right. But let's cut to the chase, as most other reviews have mentioned, this game is about 3-5 hours long. You will know already if this passes your own personal judgement on value. For me, it's worth a punt when it's discounted, but stay clear when it's anywhere near full price.
You want to enjoy this game, you really do. It's story is compelling and the art style is fairly unique - but after playing for a few hours the realisation dawns on you - this is an interesting narrative wrapped around a tedious game. It's basically resource management on every single level (which is represented by different scenarios for the characters) But despite the change of scene there is nothing to break up the sense of doing the same thing over and over. Other reviews here have mentioned that this is a game that feels like it's been made by artists rather than game designers - I would have to 100% agree with that verdict.
