sh4dow

This is the first mainstream game since Sleeping Dogs (~10 years) that I have not only finished but 100%ed and couldn't put my controller down. That said... It is ridiculously easy. Granted, I watched some YouTube gameplay and was wondering what they're doing. So... maybe I just figured out good strategies. I did often wonder whether I circumvented what one actually has to do. And that's even though I imposed my own rules to make it at least a bit challenging, like only using Link's form when absolutely mechanically necessary. And not using platboom. Still, very easy aside from a few puzzles. And the blank slate stages in the sleep dojo, at least when aiming for the ideal time limit. Also, if this had been made by a decent indie company, you'd have attention to detail like being able to create multiple juices at once. Or restarting challenges in the sleep dojo with basically a button press. And so on. I get that it's probably a design decision - keep things simple. I think it's bad design. So, I've been wondering whether I should only give this am 8. But... despite these gripes, I just love its charm, the mechanics, the progression, the mini games, etc. so much.

What a fantastic puzzle game. Innovative puzzle mechanics and amazing visuals and sound design make it hard to put down. Controls feel very tight as well, which is important during the few bits where a bit of platforming is involved. But don't just take my word for it - they have a demo on Steam, GOG and ****!

So nobody is going to mention the fact that one of the first things the game does introduce you to these cute little creatures that it says "love you", to only a minute later forces you to beat them to a bloody pulp? (Otherwise, you can't progress.) It may just be a game but considering that one is still supposed to identify with things to at least some degree, I don't appreciate this at all. But in the few minutes up to that point, it was pretty to look at and decently written.

I was hesitant for a long time but am glad that I finally tried it. It's actually not as short as the title or some people may claim - in my opinion. At least not if you're a completionist. And with this game, you really should be because more feathers than necessary and special items that you will probably get after doing the "primary objective" make the way the game feels shift quite a bit. You do have to enjoy games that are mostly about exploration though. There are some optional races, a mini game and some puzzles that actually require some skill but otherwise, it's exploration, straightforward quests and steady progression. Sure, it's still "just" a few hours of fun but hey - it's a cheap indie game. Just enjoy. :)

​What a unique game. I stopped playing open world games at some point mostly because running around for long periods of time in worlds that are actually mostly empty became a time investment I couldn't justify any more after leaving school. Also, I stopped playing violent games and obviously, basically all open world games are focused on combat (or horror). Eastshade is very different in both of these regards. For one thing, even though there is a lot of gorgeous scenery to see and discover, it is relatively densely populated. One also receives multiple ways of traveling faster quite soon and so aside from the very beginning, it rarely happens that you have to actually run back and forth for a quest (one still might have to go back and forth but can use various modes of travel). Speaking of quests - that's another thing. They have actually created a game with quests and drama that doesn't require combat. Feels more like a first person adventure game. Personally, it reminds me of a mix of a dense Elder Scrolls game (quests, collecting ingredients, brewing and crafting things) and Dear Esther (gorgeous scenery). One actually doesn't paint as much as one might think. Many quests are about talking to characters and interacting with the environment. Painting is for the most part about earning money and progressing in the main quest. Now, even after months of patches, the game still has flaws (hence only 9/10) but since non of them are game breaking and this being the first game of a presumably small team, I am willing to look the other way and would still wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who is into adventure-type games.

What a shame. I find the idea of those small planets that kind of work like Russian dolls incredibly charming. As well as the overall whimsical presentation. Music, although rare, is great too (Some bits sound like folksy post rock. Very interesting and enjoyable...). But the mechanic of a time limit of 22 minutes per run has lead to a lot of frustration for me. One too many times, I FINALLY managed to get to a place that I wanted to go to, only to be caught by the time limit and ending up with yet another "There is more to explore here" note in my ship's log. (Everything you discover is stored in your ship's log permanently). And so I've decided that I won't put up with it any more. Especially since at least personally, I didn't find the story too engaging. It takes itself way too seriously compared to the otherwise cartoony nature of everything. And I don't really care about that mysterious alien race that died out and some weird "Eye of the Universe". What did speak to me was uncovering new areas and things (which are all really well designed) on the various planets. But as already mentioned - the time limit ruined that experience for me.

First of all, the writing in this is AWFUL. It is childish, heavy-handed, repetitive and goes on and on and on. I turned off the speech volume for a while but the problem is that then you also don't hear important info about the game. But I tried to tolerate it for the sake of the gameplay which I hoped I'd enjoy because I loved Dungeon Keeper (especially DK1). But for one thing, you can't really play the game at your own pace. Most levels are constructed in a way that you have to rush out there and be ready to defend quickly. Which means very little time for strategizing about how to build your dungeon. Some people might call it challenge, I call it annoying. And exploration doesn't really pay off compared to DK because the things you can find at least in the first 6 or so levels I've played barely have an impact. Furthermore, the UI doesn't feel too responsive at times. For instance when you pick up creatures from the list of creatures, it may take about two seconds for them to appear by to the hand of evil. So on my personal scale, it is actually lower than 6/10 but I felt that rating it lower wouldn't be fair because I can see how some people might not mind the gameplay aspect of having to rush I was describing. But the writing and other downsides - I think it's fair to assume that the majority of people will not enjoy those either.

What a delightful little game. The seemingly nutty idea of mixing pinball and metroidvania works surprisingly well. And the overall design of the game matches in terms of nuttiness. It's all so charming. Characters in the game will e.g. dive by lettings themselves get partly swallowed by fish and then the fish pulls them under water. Or climb by having animals bite plants and then swing around them - it's best to watch a video if you can't imagine this. And I still remember the very first couple of minutes gameplay when the logo of the game appears - I for one had to chuckle at the way that was presented. But not only does it ooze charm but it also handles very well. Pinball mechanics may not be particularly realistic but hey... you're playing with a beetle strapped to a ball. The important point is that it feels alright. And traversing the (huge!) map works a lot faster than one would initially expect because of all sorts of shortcuts and additional methods of transportation one eventually unlocks. Somewhere I read a comment that it can be annoying to go upwards since obviously the ball only falls down. But there are all sorts of flippers and lanes that fling/move you upwards, so I've never found this to be an issue. Oh and the map might just be one of the best I've ever seen - it simply zooms out the game so that you can see the whole world (although some things don't seem to update properly at times - a bit buggy). but you can also zoom in and pan around. The only flaw I've found is that it does feel very much like a children's game in that it's very easy. I've played quite a bit of Pinball FX and Pro Pinball and there hasn't really been any challenge. So I'm really just exploring and having fun discovering all those different biomes and new characters and quests. Of which there are many. It's like every couple of minutes that you come across some NPC to chat with. Still - most of the time, I run around with maxed out fruits and I wonder whether they couldn't have included some aspect where if you play well (which reminds me - there is no combo system, no time limits and all shots are easy to pull off), you get something - once fruit is maxed out, symbols change to something else and do... whatever. Or something. And since I know that length matters to people with limited finances - it took me about 7 hours to finish regularly (although I did many side quests and whatnot) and after about 10 hours, I'm at 97% and saw the "true ending". Now to find the remaining 3...

Just finished this game after almost exactly 6 hours. So, much like it's predecessor, it's a relatively brief experience. However, it's visually more appealing and at least as far is I can recall the original QUBE, this one feels more polished when it comes to how everything controls. There are unfortunately a bunch of problems with it though. For one thing, the puzzles are pretty easy for the most part. I think I only recall two where I was like "I'll come back to this tomorrow". And I'm not that good at puzzle games - as evidenced by other reviews where people write that they've finished QUBE 2 in 2 or 4 hours. Also, while the visuals are of course a vast improvement and largely very nice to look at - for one thing, there are some textures with oddly low resolutions here and there (broken lights), some lens flares (those of the big rectangular, red lights) lag behind and overall, I didn't find the design to have enough variety. At least the indoor sections. Outdoor is fine (and looks pretty stunning) but indoor could've especially used more variation in terms of color. It reminded me of that Mirror's Edge time trials DLC where each level felt unique because of its color and structure. QUBE 2 does offer SOME variety but in my opinion, not enough. Music seems a bit odd because sometimes, something fades in but most of the game is without. I think that they should've made a decision on whether there should be no music in general or everywhere. The story is pretty decent but be warned - once you've finished the game, your save will be purged and you have to play it a second time if you want to see a different ending. But... there are no special perks or anything different about that second run. There's no way that I will do that because while it was very amusing, without any incentive aside from a different ending - no.

This is an absolutely amazing game. The gorgeous art style, sound design, the idea of a stealth game playing as a mouse, how great the controls feel, etc.. As a result, Ghost of a Tale is very addictive - at least I'm always curious what's next, want to explore new areas and so on. Despite what some people are saying this is actually a pretty big game considering its price and that most of it was done by just one person. When people say "you play mostly in a keep", they're ignoring things like the forest areas (which have amazing vegetation detail), as well as catacombs and sewers beneath the keep. It's all designed in a bit of a maze-like manner too, so it will probably take you a couple of hours to find your way around. I can't comment how long the game is because unfortunately, the dev seems to have taken a page out of CD Projekt Red's playbook (reminds me a lot of the Witcher 2 release) and decided to release something that's only mostly finished but still quite buggy. So after encountering yet another possible quest bug, I've stopped playing (about 10 hours into the game) and will wait for 2-3 weeks until hopefully all major issues have been addressed. Kind of begs the question why if the game has been 5 years in development, they weren't fixed before the release. You only get one chance to make a first impression, after all. And while I'm willing to turn a blind eye to these issues since 95% of the game is done and stunning and I already feel like I've gotten my money's worth, not everybody may be as forgiving.

I don't get people who say that the game is short, easy, lacking in content, etc. I've played for 13h by now and have only finished the game once on Normal (4 islands), once on Easy (3 islands) and am half-way through Hard (2 islands). I've only unlocked a small fraction of the game (there is a whole bunch of different mechs and pilots to unlock - I guess that other reviewer "Rrichard" missed the menu where you can do that...) and playing Hard for the first time, I already had a moment where the grid was down to 1 point (at 0, it's Game Over...) and am not at all sure that I will be able to finish it. But even if I will be - it certainly was challenging and I can't wait to try out other mechs and complete all sorts of achievements (which are needed to unlock more stuff ingame). There's also a fairly large amount of variety in the missions you're presented with. Sure, after the 5th playthrough or so, you will probably have tried them all but... that's nothing to sneeze at in my opinion. And the more you play it on Hard, the more you realize how incredibly fine-tuned the AI is. I'm not sure whether they always attack in the ideal manner because often times when I thought about my next move for like 5 minutes and at first not seeing how I can pull it off without failing an objective or sacrificing grid power, I thought of a sequence of moves that would resolve those issues. It seems like probably no other combination would have resolved this better and makes me wonder whether NPCs intentionally attack in a way that there is usually a solution that requires very little sacrifice (if any at all). I don't know but I do know that it's a great feeling every time, just like solving a really tough puzzle.

I get the idea - you're supposed to try out different weapons and whatnot through multiple runs through the game. The problem with this in my opinion is that you have to repeat a lot in order to unlock things but the variety in enemies and thus challenges is not that big. You essentially have three kinds: things that you have to prevent from colliding with you, things that shoot at you and things you have to divert. Rather than adding bit by bit like in Plants vs. Zombies and having to deal with new challenges and being essentially done by the end of the game, it feels like a huge grind fest going through the game again and again just to unlock things. Which doesn't really feel satisfying to me. Then again, I didn't enjoy Rogue Legacy for the similar reasons - although... somehow, the variety in enemies and general challenges (due to platforming and whatnot) in that game felt bigger. I also don't like the fact that you can't reconfigure your octopus through a run but are stuck with your choices - I don't see the harm in offering that option for a small fee. But... it's certainly a unique idea, it's fun for a bit, the humor is quite alright and at about 10$, it's not exactly a huge investment even if you play through it only 2 or 3 times.

To me, this is the most addictive platformer I've played since Dustforce. It has TONS of content - I've played for 33 hours by now and still am only through about 2/3 of the game. A word of warning though - after the first third, it gets really, really tough. I wanted to criticize some elements like blocks that make you bounce in somewhat unpredictable ways and the fact that some mechanics aren't introduced to the player but you'll most likely have to see in a video on Youtube or something but... in the end... playing it is just so much fun. The only thing I don't forgive is the awful story about a whiny brat and the occasionally appearing douchy dude. In my life, I've met a number of people actually struggling with psychological issues (myself included - struggling, not having met myself...) as well as shallow, whiny ones who wallow in self pity while not recognizing all the things "fate" (or chance - whatever) simply handed to them. And even though there isn't enough context to truly judge whether Madeline is one or the other, the way she expresses herself and behaves makes it seem like she belongs in the latter category. Which is why I started skipping cut scenes about halfway through. Still... overall... controls are tight, challenges very varied (and sometimes feel more like a combination of puzzle game and platformer), art and music are fantastic and it's obviously incredibly addictive if you enjoy platforming challenges.

Many guides, articles, etc. make it seem like you can play this game and avoid predators. The truth is: you can't. Most areas that progress the stories are tightly patrolled by increasingly powerful predators and you can only distract them or fend them off temporarily. It's a bit like Amnesia under water. (I'm about 30 hours in but the high number of predators you can't really get rid of has me so frustrated that I'll either start using cheats or quit) Annoying as this is, it also means that there is no way to explore probably more than half of the game in peace. Most fans of the game then argue "just use creative mode" - which of course robs you of the story, the step-by-step progression and the survival in terms of food and water. On top of it, the game was released in a ridiculously buggy state. Even the save system is very flawed - when you load up your last save, you will probably have a different item equipped and it doesn't save which lights are switched on or off. Every time I load a save, I hear some announcement about emergency power and shortly afterwards that power has been restored because... in fact, my ship/base does have more than enough power. Fish can still glitch through the hull of the base. And they occasionally twitch around in ways that look weird, aren't physically plausible and probably happen because of bugs as well. The scanner room seems glitched - the list of things to scan for changes seemingly randomly. Different people say different things about what affects it. And then there are a number of design flaws. For instance, building new base parts generally reduces the overall hull integrity of the base. But you can only see how it affects it when you actually build it. No numbers are shown beforehand, so it's going to be a surprise whether your base will start to leak. Inventory management works very well but the list of blueprints is really annoying to browse thanks to HUGE icons.

The bad upfront: For some reason, no leaderboards, even though the game clearly tracks stats. It's relatively easy (I felt that only maybe 2-3 out of those 60 levels were a true challenge) and even though the UI was improved a LOT over the original Bridge Constructor, it still ****. You can't simply select, move and delete things like you would expect based on any other application that you control with a mouse (be it real time strategy games, graphics applications, etc.). When you jump to specific levels from the main menu, there is no preview of the level layout. And for some reason, achievements don't unlock immediately but when you return to the main menu. So... it seems fairly unpolished. One would think that with all their development experience, they would know better by now... Now for the good: The visual style is pretty good and it performs well (even on my low-powered Intel HD Graphics, it ran at relatively smooth 20-60 FPS in full HD - depending on how complex the bridge constructions are and whatnot). Music is very good, even though not varied enough. And even though the game is relatively easy, it still takes a bit of time and tinkering to figure out stuff sometimes and that makes it really fun. As well as the occasional humor - maybe not the best writing we've read/heard in the Portal universe but I still found it amusing. I for one was basically not able to put it down for days and did finish it after about three (24 hours for all achievements).

By far the best bridge simulator I've found so far. Especially because of its UI. The art style and soundtrack are fantastic as well. And it has TONS of content. I'm 18 hours in and only gotten through half of the levels so far! (I'm usually trying to solve them under budget and without destroying bridge parts though) One thing I'd criticize are the UI - although better than that of other games like this (especially Bridge Constructor), it still doesn't behave like 95% of all programs that deal with creating and moving around things since the beginning of PCs. It's also a shame that the engine they are using for simulation can't deliver the same result on every run. So sometimes, you might load a save game and it suddenly doesn't work any more. But - if that's the case, there is usually a major flaw in the bridge design anyway, so I find this negligible... They even offer leaderboard rank statistics that are meaningful despite cheaters (they basically generate a diagram where they cut off outliers). AND an overview of all ranks across the whole game - I wish more games would have something like this!

UI and art style that looks more like roughly 2002 instead of 2012 and awful, awful controls. Bridge pieces will seemingly randomly decide whether they are constructed with planes to drive on or not. Sometimes, you have to "cheat" by creating a piece and THEN move it to close a gap. In other words: godawful UI design. I'm glad that they fixed at least that in Bridge Constructor Portal but... adding this as a bonus with the purchase without fixing the controls first was a bad decision in my opinion. Unless they want to demonstrate how much people can learn in 5 1/2 years. (Not enough, I'd say... not enough...) Steam says that I've played this for 85 minutes and I say "That's enough time wasted".

It's a great game (amazing art style, unique gameplay, compelling story) but it is short. Apparently, some people finish it below 1 hour, although I wonder about someone's appreciation for the game if they're rushing through it like that. Took me about 2 hours. On iPad, it's definitely worth the price but on PC, for more than 10€, I'm a bit miffed that it's not longer. But... it's still an amazing game.

Innovative and great gameplay (e.g. during combat, the attacks of the enemies are designed in a way that one can anticipate them), lots of variety (the huge number of dishes they must've drawn is amazing), a long single player campaign but unfortunately suffers from some pretty severe flaws. For one thing, the writing gets really immature/cheesy later in the game. It's cringe-worthy and noticeable that this game was probably a student project. Written by a student whose mind is still stuck in high school. Plus, the amount of dialogue also seems unfitting for what's primarily a puzzle game. And the art style while quite beautiful overall (I especially enjoy everything involving the match 3 aspect) - there is something about slight inconsistencies in quality, lack of fluid animation (compare to e.g. Hollow Knight) and odd choices (e.g. one character at one point talk to a cat that... is part of the roughly drawn foreground. Which seems really weird) that makes it seem a tad off. Most of these criticisms may sound like personal preference but... you usually just don't find such things in games that feel professional and polished. Probably for good reason. It's an alright game to spend one's time with but one shouldn't set one's expectations too high. I hope that Trinket Studios will get a decent writer for their next game or at least keep the story to a minimum.

It seems alright at first. Nice art style, great soundtrack, tight and interesting controls (only two buttons). But then you get upgrades. And you have to execute jumps using double tapping and flying pressing both buttons at once. That's when it gets annoying. Really annoying. Having to double tap for jumps is ridiculous. Some reset points are spaced out too far for my liking. And some of the "puzzles" are simply annoying. Like having to figure out the order of 9 switches by trial and error while flying - are you f-ing kidding me?! That's why I eventually stopped playing. The creator claims that the game is "hard" but in reality, a lot of this perceived difficulty is caused by bad controls and design.

Tough to rate this one. I really wanted to like it because I love Metroidvanias and it's been a while since the last good one. And this theoretically looks and feels great. Aside from the stiff jump animation. But... there's a reason why one usually gets health recharged at save points in such games! And ammo pickups when the ammo is full already? Seriously?! Maybe they will patch this stuff in time but until they do, I sure as hell won't spend hours farming health. If they do, I'll gladly continue playing and adjust my score.

Interesting concept but lacks the polish to be a truly enjoyable game. Especially the map interface is annoying to deal with (you can't scroll around and there is no indicator of your precise location). But with a Metroidvania style game, the map obviously is really important. Controls feel a bit odd, character seems to move too quickly on just slight nudges of the stick. And the art style while intriguing in approach, also feels a bit like a student's project in terms of quality.

First of all, I'd like to point out the fantastic new travelling system. No more using resources for teleporters and having to worry about running out of them for upgrades. I also really enjoyed the new methods of moving throughout the world and the incredibly regular stream of upgrades one gets. As well as the number of challenges, secrets and generally quite big map. It took me almost 13 hours to finish at 100%. With the first Dig, it was almost 6 hours. Usually, I have a lot to say about games but here, I can only say that almost everything just feels right. The only downsides for me were that there are still not enough meaningful boss encounters. The only one stuck in my mind is the very first one. A funny cut scene and pretty decent mechanics. After that, until the final boss, there really aren't any encounters that feel as significant. And the last boss is very easy once again. Beat it on the first attempt, just like in Dig. Overall, I loved every minute of it and already can't wait to see what these bots are up to next!

Maybe it's because I'm not as smart as the average person (even though there's evidence to suggest the opposite) but it took me over 14 hours to finish this game. So I'm not sure where comments like "short" and "only 5 hours" and whatnot are coming from. Of course... I finished it 100%, getting the alternative ending before the regular one. But with an amazing game like this, how could you not? I'm still considering looking around the mansion to listen in on some dialog I may not have read yet. The concept is incredibly unique, design fantastic and the gameplay-wise execution almost perfect. The flaws are only minor - like not being able to rebind keys and the keyboard/mouse controls being very weird. It shows that the devs don't play much on PC and didn't bother to do research. And maybe one or two puzzles that I felt wasn't well-designed. I also would've appreciated more challenge throughout the game. Because until almost the very end, puzzles are mostly straight-forward. Basically just find 1-2 key things, use them and you're done. Although I have to say - on the other hand, I think there was one case where that wasn't enough and I was wondering "So what does the game want me to do?". I guess if they would've done more complex puzzles, one would have to have some sort of "clue progress indicator", especially since the player character moves very slowly and so one would spend ages just wandering around. Oh and they have a loading indicator that's not showing initially and it suffered from stuttering on my 7970 Ghz Edition card - which was able to play any game I've thrown at it in recent years buttery smooth. (I don't play big budget games though) It seems like they released this game with no thought of support after release. Because the lack of graphics options and keyboard rebinding is a shame. Or maybe they simply haven't earned enough. Which may also in part be due to the tacky title that kept me from trying out the game for quite a while too.

I'm not sure where all those high ratings come from because I still find this too buggy to be enjoyable. Most importantly - when your creatures are in a fight, you can't pick additional creatures that are not in a fight from your panel because the "these creatures are involved in a fight" thing simply doesn't work. Most of the time, the creatures are in the category "other". One would also think that it's pretty simple to only play a certain phrase only ONCE, not repeatedly until you finally finish a level. Finally, I find it pretty annoying how regularly you get hit by enemy waves in this game. There is barely any time to simply explore and plan one's dungeon. And sometimes not even for your creatures to get food and payment. I guess if that "creature activity" panel actually worked, you could pick creatures that are idle to fight. But... that's simply not possible. And you can't even pause to study the HUGE skill/perk/whatever tree in peace! Who the hell thought that that is a good idea?!

This game is absolutely gorgeous. No doubt about it. Between this and Hollow Knight, the indie scene has been blessed with some beautiful titles this year. But... when it comes to the gameplay, it really shows its age. Enemies dragging you along with them, invisible doors and other places with little hint about their existence (without which the game would probably be about 3 hours short), having to farm for gold, tedious character switching, boring boss battles (simple patterns and questionable collision detection). I was reminded of AM2R, where the creator kept the spirit of the game but adapted it to what one would expect from a more recent release. I think the modern mode of Wonder Boy would have benefited from something like that. I don't make the game sound all too exciting, do I? Well... it still is enjoyable and great to look at. And it took at least me close to 5 hours to do everything there is to do in the game. But considering that e.g. Hollow Knight is similarly gorgeous, offers vastly better gameplay, took me I think 5 times as long to finish AND is cheaper, I don't think it would be appropriate to rate this game any higher than I have. I do hope that the people who worked on the visual aspect of this (music is great too though!) will move on to work on more games with more modern gameplay.

I find it odd - one almost can't throw a stone without hitting a criticism about this game. Bad performance, bugs, bad map system and so on. Yet... I feel that is possibly the best Metroidvania I have ever played (and I'm always desperately searching out any that is released because on average, there is only like one good one per year) and thus find that the game deserves much more praise than it gets. Why? For one thing, no other Metroidvania has ever made me observe enemy attack patterns and adjust my own THIS much. If you blindly strike at enemies, chances are you won't get very far. Which is in fact also something that people have complained about. Probably because they simply don't realize that with this game, you need to take your time in most battles. And learn to dodge. Which is probably why there is the dash move instead of a double jump (which does exist but you get only very late in the game). For another, it is gorgeous AND really well-designed. Yes, those two are separate things. By the latter I mean the way things work in the game. It's not just the combat system that has obviously been thought about a lot and that is REALLY unique (the person at Rock Paper Shotgun who wrote that review IMO has no clue what they're talking about). Also the many details and mechanics in the world, such as the many characters one can find and interact with. Also like being e.g. able to achieve piece with a faction in the game which not only affects the bosses but also the surrounding environments. Widespread change in behavior that I don't think I've seen in a Metroidvania before. It is also HUGE! I've been playing for over 25 hours now and I'm still on my first playthrough! And it's not just that the world is big but there are over 100 different of those hand-animated enemies. The amount of work gone into that must've been insane! Now... I must admit that probably because of that, the animation quality varies. Some elements were obviously drawn with less frames per second than others and thus stutter a bit. But still... for a game priced this low, it's mind-boggling and I already feel like I've gotten my money's worth and then some. All of that said, Hollow Knight definitely has the flaws mentioned in the beginning. While I have not encountered bad performance myself (and I'm running this on a 4 year old midrange graphics card), nor any bugs, I doubt that people would make this up. (While it may be up to optimization in this case, I actually feel that it's great if a 2D game has so much going on visually that it requires an at least somewhat beefy graphics card.) And I do find the map system bad and also don't appreciate the relatively infrequent save points. Once the map is uncovered and you have some abilities unlocked and you can plan a reasonable route, it's not so bad but getting there does feel annoying at times, since one can't just play the game at one's own pace but has to look for the next save point if one wants to take a break. Plus, it always seems like a cheap way of making games seem longer than they are - having you repeat areas leading up to a boss over and over. And the game world is so huge that it wouldn't be needed - so I really don't get why they decided to do this. In the end, in my opinion the many original aspects of the game make the negative aspects lose almost all importance. Of course I hope that the sequel (there simply has GOT to be a sequel. Or at least a spiritual successor) will not suffer from these issues. But I'm still having one hell of a time with this game.

I don't think I can recall any other turn-based game since Xenonauts that I've enjoyed this much. But while people compare it a lot to XCOM, I actually wouldn't do that. At least not right away. To me, it oddly enough reminded me more of Lost Odyssey. Why? Well... because of RPG elements like leveling up characters and looting that to me feel more RPG-like than strategy-game like. Probably because the number of characters, items and abilities is limited. Don't get me wrong, there is still a fairly large number but still... it has the feel of an adventure instead of this larger scale simulation type thing that XCOM has. Similarly with the combat. In most scenarios, you only fight using 3 of your crew members. AND accuracy/timing is key for getting those important head shots (similar to the timing-based combat in Lost Odyssey). Of course I wouldn't deny comparisons with strategy games completely. Maybe saying that it feels like a blend of JRPG and turn-based strategy would be accurate. Anyway, there is also lots and lots of content to keep you busy for many hours. My current in-game profile says 22 hours but that's with a bit of new game+ already, I think my first play-through (difficulty "Experienced") took 15-20 hours. Speaking about difficulty - if you feel that the game is incredibly difficult at first - don't worry, it gets more manageable pretty soon (even within World 1 already, if memory serves me correctly). Also note that the game branches at times and some are a lot tougher than others. I also find it noteworthy that this may be my favorite game of recent years, period and that despite the fact that I absolutely can't stand steampunk!

What a great game - finished it in 2 days. About 16 hours... So it's definitely not a short game, especially considering the usual low indie game price. The only thing I didn't like were some of the later levels that seemed kind of lazy design-wise by forcing the player to memorize at least parts of the levels. Also, I wasn't fond of some challenges, like having to find secret rooms. Time constraints - fine. Item/Power/Weapon constraints - fine. But having to search around for a secret room and stuff like that - No. I was also hoping for more levels in the style of the earlier ones. I get that the developers wanted to mix it up and I guess every world has a bit of its own theme, even gameplay-wise and that's good - but I wanted more! It took me 16 hours, so... it's unreasonable to ask for even more. I guess what I'm really asking for is one or two or three sequels. Unfortunately, it seems that this game isn't particularly popular? So grab it while it's still fresh and the publisher can see that they should keep this franchise alive!! (One more unfortunate thing - I feel that the game could've relatively easily been improved by having a scoring system similar to Dustforce. Not necessarily speed but recorded plays on leaderboards across all published versions, even DRM-free.)

Most important thing one should realize: This is actually not really a rhythm-based game. What kind of insane claim is this, one might ask? Well... it falls into that category but thinking about it that way is misleading. I've played through Frequency, have gotten through some 9 feet songs on DDR, so I'm not too bad with actual rhythm-based games. "Crypt of the NecroDancer" however, is really more of a "stress game". As in - a puzzle game with insane time constraints. Which is horrible for people who need time to think like myself. The Bard and Eli are pretty much the only "playable" characters for me. Which is why I don't give it a higher score. The music is great, the concept interesting but there's just not enough content for slow-witted people like myself. Also, there's the frustration because you think for many hours that you will learn it eventually. But at some point, you just have to concede that "No, my brain simply doesn't work like this".

Wow, I think this is the first time that I agree more with the critics than the users on this site. By now, thanks to the free DLC, I've now sunk over 20 hours into this game and it is still a blast. I don't get what's not to like about it. The controls are spot-on, the gameplay is retro yet modern (check points, automatic saving) and similar things go for the visuals (it's 8 bit style but animations usually weren't as refined back then and the color palette not as varied). Also lots of content and unlockables. This is probably in my Top 3 of the last few years.

Everybody says this game is really great and I really wanted to enjoy it since the last truly turn-based game I've played through was Xenonauts about a year ago (which I by the way played on the hardest difficulty on my first try and finished it that way). But somehow, it just doesn't feel right to me. Even in the beginning on beginner difficulty, you have barely time to scout the area before additional cameras fire up, you have to repeatedly hack drones while you barely get any power after each turn, have to spend credits on both attributes and upgrades. Upgrades which get thrown at you in masses (at time literally more than you can carry) but mostly seem useless to me. Things I'd really find useful like more power per turn, having enemies stay KO for longer, extend wireless hacking range and so on I haven't seen so far. I gave it a shot twice but I'm afraid it's no use. I also find it interesting that I had the exact same experience with Shank and Don't Starve, two other critically acclaimed Klei games. The only Klei game I really loved and played through twice was Mark of the Ninja, oddly enough.

15 hours in and I'm at 90% map completion. This is my first attempt and I started it on "hard". I don't regret a thing. At first, it seemed incredibly tough and it certainly is even later on. But if you don't just run and gun but try to glitch enemies and lure them into places where they can't hit you, it's very manageable. As for the whole "Metroidvania" thing, I have to say... I did finish Super Metroid and I believe also Metroid 2. As well as all RPG-style Castlevanias and many other Metroidvanias. But the only game of its kind (Metroid, RPG-Castlevania or Metroidvania) I remember enjoying this much is Symphony of the Night. The art style is fantastic, the music as well and the controls as well as the huge variety of gameplay elements is just great. The only thing that bugs me a little is the fact that effort that it takes to get most pass codes if one doesn't just Google them. Also that the game does not mark found items on the map. As well as the occasionally inconsistent art style. And most importantly, I can't stand the fact that it's Steam-only on PC. This is really what finally made me knock off one point from 10.

What a great little game! I've been playing this for many hours these past couple of days and always have a hard time stopping. Excellent game mechanics and lots and lots of variety. In "enemies" (or food) and number of levels as well as secrets and puzzles. The controls feel really great, whenever I accidentally broke a combo, it was clear that it was my fault. And it's a lot of fun to try catch as many insects while not eating them, so one can combo them all. Which is also related to the point about the leaderboards which I find great that the game has even in its DRM-free version (I've unfortunately seen it time and time again that only Steam-versions of some games had leaderboards). There are just some minor things that I find lacking and which keep me from giving it a perfect score: While the art style is pretty great when it comes to the spiders, insects and how the webs look, it does partly look a bit amateurish regarding the environment. Like inconsistency regarding details, weird animation especially for human figures in the environment, etc.. Or maybe they just didn't have enough time to polish those? Also, I'm not too fond of some of the music - but it's largely quite alright.

It's an excellent game regarding its mechanics and basic concept. However, I find it falls short when it comes to various social commentary. Unless the social commentary you want to make is that even in war time, people behave like spoiled little brats. Because while horrible people all around are robbing, **** and killing, the biggest problem for my survivors was "We have no coffee" or "We have no cigarettes". It made them sad most of the time. Boohoo. I purposely never gave them anything for being such damn cry babies. And when I killed a bunch of psychopaths who had mutilated corpses lying around and were about to attack my scavenging survivor and I took their stuff (Because why not? They were awful people and they're dead...), one of my survivors got depressed, the others who weren't sad yet got sad. I find the game very lacking in these regards because it made me feel increasingly detached from the moral dilemmas it portrays. Which I found to be the best thing about this game when I first started playing. Anyway... until one full play-through is accomplished, it is at least something interesting, refreshing and challenging.

Lost interest right at the beginning. Ornithopters spawning like crazy - I'm sitting there just hacking away, barely progressing... so I asked myself: Why am I doing this? There is really no good reason to sit at my PC and hold down the mouse button when there is really nothing going on in the game. So I'll play something else. It's a shame because I found the first game very amusing.

GTA with style. This is how I would sum up Sleeping Dogs. I didn't care much for the story and characters in GTA, with all the stupidity and macho **** Of course you have part of that in Sleeping Dogs too, it IS about gangsters after all. Still there is a quite a bit of honor infused in the story instead of primitivity. Also, both story and characters seem deeper as a result of it. Besides that, it also features better gameplay than GTA. Virtually all the minigames, the shoot outs AND the hand to hand combat feel great. Alright, the hand to hand combat isn't as good as in the Batman games and there is one minigame that is damn tedious and you have to do a lot (picking locks on MANY lockboxes lying around town) but other than that, it's all great. Graphics look a bit dated, yet it still requires a fairly powerful system to run smoothly maxed out, so it doesn't seem like they optimized it very well. And those minor gripes about gameplay and graphics are really everything that keeps me from giving this game a perfect score. Oh, it also has quite a bit to discover. Maybe not as much as GTA4 but if you are a completionist, my guess is that it'll take you 20-25 hours to get everything. [edit]I originally rated this "only" 9/10. But I played through it twice already and am still listening to the Soundtrack on a regular basis, wondering about when a sequel will finally be released. And when I think back to the last couple of years and what great games I've played, aside from various indie games, only "Sleeping Dogs" comes to mind. It's a shame that the leaderboards are so screwed up, otherwise I'd probably compete with others every weekend but it doesn't change the fact that this strong urge of still wanting to play it means that it is essentially a perfect game.[/edit]

Idiot that I am, I actually bought this piece of **** game. I had weird issues with very heavy distortion even on low input volume settings and the latency wasn't that great either. I bought myself a Behringer UCA222 (20€!) to try and use my computer as an amp (using AmpliTube) and THAT actually makes those ultralow latencies that Ubisoft claims its cable has possible. So I thought "Hey, you know what? I might as well give Rocksmith another shot!". So I installed it again... but no luck. The Real Tone Cable has to be used. Now, I found some workarounds that are supposed to work but I'm REALLY pissed off right now because I shouldn't have to use things like that in the first place!! F-ing huge companies and their f-ing greed. I hope that encourages people to pirate all off their **** and give to decent indie devs who release their games DRM-free instead!

It's a decent enough game and I didn't really mind the platforming puzzles but I find it disappointing that the game was released unfinished and over a year later, there still has been no update on the other content that was supposed to be there. Also, if I remember correctly, the difficulty is a bit all over the place, with a lot of fights being manageable while others are just insane. This has kept me from finishing the game a second time with the second character and on the highest difficulty. I got to the first boss just fine but then I was like "You got to be kidding!" That said - it DOES take a while to get through the game even just once, so depending on what price you pay for it, it is still absolutely worth it. I just find it unfortunate that it possibly will never be finished and I'm also not a huge fan of the art style. It looks more like what you would see from a hobbyist on deviantart rather than a professional game artist (even if it's indie games - just check out Bastion, Braid, This War Of Mine, etc.).

It's a great game, although to help appreciate it, one might want to look up some strategy discussions on forums. Because at first glance, it may seem frustratingly difficult. But once you realize a couple of things, it becomes manageable and fun. I just finished my third campaign - all default settings but longest victory score (20000). Zeds were trailing at about 9000. So keep at it and maybe use Google if you're frustrated. That said, the campaigns are fairly short and the content is only lengthened by additional options and mods. Personally, I'm not really a fan of such artificial "game stretchers". **** doesn't offer a decent campaign and single player mode, I have no interest in it. And while the quality of the content of this game is very high, the quantity... just isn't that high. So I think whether it's worth it, depends more on what price you buy it for. I got it for 7€ on Desura and I'd say it's definitely worth that much. On the other hand, the ~12€ on the official site... I feel like that's a bit much for this amount of content.

I just found it annoying to run around in a vast space looking for sometimes tiny things. I almost missed a whole scene in the beginning because I didn't get yet how the game works. And without a walkthrough, I may have never found out. But personally, I'm not too keen on games that basically require you to either use a walkthrough or have way too much time on one's hands. I have more important things to do than run around a CG world for an hour looking for some item. Especially since it also doesn't look as great as people claim. The visuals are good but nothing groundbreaking. Then again, I've worked on digital art myself, so just like one of the creators of the games said as well - I am hard to impress in the art department. Also, I was hoping for it to be about a crime story that could be real but instead, it's just another fantasy thing. So I stopped playing after the fifth scene or so and switched on a movie ("New World") instead. And took a stroll in an actual forest and continued playing Puzzle Quest 2. Because with all of that, I get dense, high quality story, beautiful sceneries and gameplay that doesn't make me look for **** all night long.

Do NOT buy this game! It has been THREE years and there is still a bug which apparently has been there from the beginning and which causes the screen to just go black. You can still see the mouse cursor and hear music but you can't progress and at least I wasn't able to Alt+Tab out of the game, also unable to launch the task manager. I had to start the log off process and interrupt it in order to kill the game! Such severe issues are questionable even right at release. But three years afterwards?! Completely unacceptable!

Having just finished this game for the second time (this time on "insane"), I can finally and confidently write this review. Does the game have its flaws? Occasional bugs and a somewhat broken endgame mission? Yes. But compared to the overwhelming rest of the game, it's nothing. It's also nothing because this is the ONLY game (I'm aware of) that delivers an updated UFO experience that still stays very close to the original. ALL official X-COM sequels (except "Terror from the Deep" of course) are pathetic in comparison. THIS is the game UFO I have been waiting for for about 15 years (played "X-COM 1 & 2" a little late)! I generally have not played something this satisfying in a long while.

As someone who has loved all GK games and even enjoyed Gray Matter quite a bit (my rating: 4/5), I figured Jane would be able to handle herself and so I supported this with way more than any other game. Man, was I wrong. The alpha was quite a disappointment but I figured they might still refine it a LOT and so I wrote an extensive report on it. Unfortunately, the quality of the final product is very similar. The animation is awful pretty much all around, characters don't even look into each other's eyes and the shoulders of the main character make him look bizarrely deformed. With a delivery like that, how can one even care about the story? It's like watching a great theater piece being performed by some hillbilly amateur group that has only started to learn about acting two weeks ago. It just seems unprofessional through and through. Well, aside from the music. There's that. Speaking about being unprofessional - there are even spelling mistakes in the historical data. And there are words missing sometimes. I really enjoyed reading about some guy who "was talented Italian artist". But why care about such details, as if reading about things would be important in this game... People keep talking about the niche appeal, the low budget, etc. to try to justify the low quality of Moebius. As if adventure games "naturally" have to look like crap. So, how do explain The Book of Unwritten Tales, Gray Matter, Deponia, Machinarium, etc.? In fact, aside from the Telltale games, I don't think I've ever seen an adventure game that looked as bad as Moebius. And even though I don't care for Telltale's art style, I still find it acceptable in comparison. And, frankly - Jane Jensen's writing isn't that great to begin with. For crying out loud, it's mundane, somewhat cheesy mystery stuff! There's nothing innovative or meaningful to be found in there. That was the case with Gabriel Knight already. But the overall atmosphere of the games was what caused it be a great ride. Unlike Moebius.

I finally decided to give this a chance because I was really curious about the humor. Figured I'd be in for a lot of action and fun. Well... if killing the same random enemies on dumb fetch quests over and over, getting relatively worthless loot and thus hearing one joke per hour is your kind of fun, maybe this game is for you. The respawn mechanics are simply ridiculous. Enemies spawning during boss battles - alright. I'm not a fan of it when it happens so much but still. But then having to fight ALL enemies yet again after finishing a boss and backtracking (because why put a fast travel point maybe after a boss battle when you can stretch the game out by having the player go through the same **** multiple times) is unacceptable. And the loot system reeks of Torchlight. Within just a couple of hours of playing, you'll probably simply stop picking up white gear because it's useless anyway. There is so much useless loot that it's more of a chore checking it out rather than being excited about what one might get. Also, the controls don't really feel all that great. And It seems to me that the cel-shaded graphics make it more difficult to aim when you aim down the sights. It feels like a bit like a bad combination of COD and Torchlight to me. I don't understand why on earth people enjoy it that much.

This is actually an awesome game IF you set up your graphics card drivers properly. Unfortunately, for many there is severe input lag by default. I had it too for a long, long time and thought I would just have to deal with it and eventually, it made me stop playing the game. But then I toyed around with RadeonPro settings (and shortly thereafter found a guide) and now it feels like a whole different game! Incredibly responsive and fun to play!

I really wanted to like this game, since I loved Rayman Origins so much (took the time to get everything there except for the trophies on couple of levels). But boy, does this one stink in comparison. All they would've needed to do was use the same concept from Origins and expand on it. Instead, no more time trials, trunk chases and shmup parts (at least as far as I've played. There are different chase levels now but even the design of the first one already made me think "Who on earth designed this?! This is total crap". Then there are those stupid lottery tickets, the huge menus and the overall inferior graphical presentation. And then of course there's that uplay crap. No. Just no.

When I first played the game in closed beta about TWO years ago, I thought the visuals looked pretty promising although I expected they would still be a bit improved, the animations (both character and vegetation) looked a bit stiff, there was quite a bit of clipping while walking around, there were issues with footsteps being heard even though no enemies were around and possibly more. I felt that the gameplay was great and now they just had to work on the presentation. But over those two years, not ONE of the things I just mentioned was fixed (there is also no sound via SPDIF something I've never experienced before and an issue that was reported to them a long time ago). It seems to me they only worked on more and more content. And apparently, that's what people enjoy. Good for them. But not for me. Personally, I don't care about one playthrough taking 100 hours (or whatever I haven't actually finished the game and possibly never will). I'd rather have 20 hours **** that is all-around polished. And if you happen to feel like that too, try The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing instead. That felt a lot more like a top notch ARPG, despite having its own minor flaws.

For the mind-bogglingly stupid save system alone, this doesn't deserve more than 5/10. It completely ruins any appeal the game has. Sure, if you're a teenager, unemployed or for some other reason have ENORMOUS amounts of free time, you won't give a about possibly having to play parts over again because you're not quite sure when the game saved the last time. Or maybe you'll even finish it in one sitting. But weird as I am, I don't want to play for hours straight. I like to have pauses in between playing. I like to do other things too. Which is why playing Bioshock Infinite frustrated me to no end, since I kept wondering when I can finally stop playing. Until I realized that the save symbol only flashes for like half a second. Add the fact that the graphics aren't really up to snuff (the way this game performs on high end machines considering it's fairly low detail models and textures is just not acceptable) and you get to the 3/10 I have arrived at. It's a shame because I really wanted to like this game. I loved Bioshock 1 AND 2 and thought the story of this one really showed promise. But there's no way I am going to continue playing this game until they fix the save system.

Riddled with typos and bugs, this demonstrates very well what an indie game should NOT be. At least it was like that upon release. Since the developer, who I bothered to purchase the Collector's Edition from, did not even bother to acknowledge my report about those things (one of the bugs being that the game simply crashed RIGHT AT THE END!!! That is exactly what F*$)(ING saving is for!!! "Can easily be finished in one sitting", my ass! I don't want to sit at a game for 2-3 hours only to have some Windows-crash window stuck in my face!!), I immediately stopped caring about this piece of crap. Oh and... the visual really are a little TOO low resolution (in my opinion, Lone Survivor sort of visuals are about as low res as one should go) and I hated it that the dark space around the visible area wasn't even close to black.