TheDJMC

Story Outline: The gods (who are implied to be real, tangible deities) have disappeared, causing many to say that they are dead. The sun has stopped moving in the sky resulting in a perpetual daylight. Both Humans and Varl (horned giants) must once again rely on their tenuous collaboration between their people when the huge golem like race known as Dredge return from the north to kill and destroy all intelligent life that they see. That is until it is noted that maybe this new Great War that the Dredge are starting isn't of their own choice, but is rather a reaction to something far more unfathomable: the end of the world entirely. Pros: A mix between FTL: Faster Than Light, any of the recent Telltale games, XCOM, chess and the lore of TES V: Skirym Two games in one! The game is split into two halves: scripted & random encounters with decision making and a turn-based combat system that's visually similar to a mix between chess and XCOM. There are also conversations that play out like they do in Telltale's games (e.g. The Walking Dead) which is where most of the character development occurs. The combat is good and does enough to keep it a game rather than just a "choose your own adventure" story. An engaging story with likable characters and emotional plot twists throughout. It seems to be set up very well for the recently released sequel. A constant feeling of urgency is present which greatly emphasises the feeling of importance that every decision that's made carries. Thematic music and good sound effects, especially at the touching bittersweet end scene. Phenomenal visual design and animation. This could have easily become a movie instead ****. Cons: Because of the combat's simplicity, some people could find it repetitive and/or boring (personally I didn't). None of the characters are given enough time to properly develop/show their motives and relationships with one another, which leads to many likable characters becoming forgettable. Whether or not any of the characters can be considered memorable I think is in part determined by how quickly the game is played through. I finished my playthrough in roughly 17 hours (two consecutive days) with a few reloads (and toilet breaks XD) in that time and I found that most of the main characters were memorable. However, if you have very little free time then I can see it being much harder to connect properly with the characters. There isn't much actual animation which is a shame considering how good it is. The "war" mechanic was especially floaty and never gave much of an impression of change or importance aside from changing your numbers around. The music and sound effects aren't especially memorable or superbly epic like that of Skyrim (a high bar, I know). The first chapter is relatively dull compared to the rest of the game. There's an irritating inability to open the options menu during certain brief segments of the game. Maybe this should've been a movie instead ****. Conclusion: A game definitely worth you're time and money with the potential to replay it multiple times to see what happens. I'm looking forward to playing number two!

It's a very short, very easy point and click game. I've 100%ed this, achievements and all, within 3.9 hours according to Steam's playtime indicator and that includes some distractions here and there including a quick look at an achievement guide. With that said it's delightfully fun and has a very funny, lighthearted and quirky sense of humour. There's not much to comment on if you've watched the trailers. You're getting exactly what it says on the tin and I had zero technical issues. There's no real replayability past achievement hunting so keep it in mind that this is very much a one and done experience, not that that's unappreciated. I got this for 70% off during the Steam 2021 winter sale (£3.08 as opposed to £10.29) and I'm very happy with my purchase. I think I would've been disappointed with the runtime if I paid full price, but I've paid that much for far less entertaining cinema trips in the past so, y'know. I definitely recommend it.

This is a clone of Warfare 1917. It plays well and is quick to pick up. It's got a fun albeit indistinct art style and the action is really nicely animated. Unfortunately it's quite clearly a Pay-To-Win mobile game despite being developed by a Sony (1st party?) development studio. It's also got really slow servers and multiple bugs that required rebooting the game. If you want a modern Warfare 1917 clone try Warpips instead. Also, it's no longer playable so...

Fun but the UI scaling is nowhere near enough for 4k resolution. There's been improvements but some of the menus are still illegible without zooming in AND using Windows Magnifier (I have found an imperfect workaround for this issue involving the "Override high DPI scaling behaviour" option through Windows' compatibility options). There's also multiple tower defence features missing that have been standard for years now including: - No rotate function which often makes placing towers really awkward. - No speed increase/decrease options - It's not super clear exactly how some towers and targeting priorities precisely work. - Waves are called levels but towers also have experience levels, leading to confusion in some game mechanic descriptions. Other lesser gripes are the complete lack of art direction and a scant few very irritating MIDI style tunes for the game's music. Thankfully you can turn that off.

An SRTS (Stealth Real Time Strategy) game in the same vain as Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. In truth, it's a poorly executed clone of that game. Fun enough, with good voice acting, pleasant music and perfectly decent level design, it even evolves the team synchronisation mechanics common in SRTSs with slow motion and actual gunfights. Unfortunately a plethora of bugs, less attractive art direction than ST:BotS and seemingly tacked on inter-mission resource & equipment management make this game difficult to recommend above Mimimi Games' efforts. Also, now I know how specifically this period is/has been frequently used to justify Russian aggression towards its neighbours (e.g. Ukraine), it's hard to not come away with a bad taste in your mouth. Nothing to do with the game mind you, but still. I'll likely finish the game, but know that there are better alternatives.

Very satisfying to those who obey The Law Of Straightness (for those with pseudo-OCD tendencies, image search it). Calming music, pleasing aesthetics and a surprisingly emotional effect despite the minimalist game design on display. It's very short though and the price (£15.49 on Steam) is pretty steep for the amount of game available without much replay value.