There's a joke about two huge lumps of coal somewhere, but I refuse to offer Sakura Santa even that. Whatever cheap thrills this visual novel does include aren't worth sitting through incredibly flat writing and a lack of substance for. If you're looking for shiny anime mammaries, hit the rest of the internet instead.
I really was hoping that Reverse x Reverse would turn out to be more than a merely average puzzle-platformer, but alas, it was not to be. Good level design and challenging gameplay sadly end up getting hindered by cheap shots, questionable controls and an underdeveloped premise. Code and Rithm may have been sent out on a quest to fix their game's technical issues, but it's a shame there was no one around to make sure the rest of it was as up to shape as possible as well.
Minor issues aside, The Deadly Tower of Monsters is a pleasant surprise indeed and a particularly impressive budget action game showcasing a lot of creativity.
To put it bluntly, Bombshell is a dud.
In the end, those who are more familiar with works of Nitroplus will get the most out of Nitroplus Blasterz (shockingly enough), but even those with no prior knowledge of the included franchises should easily be able to enjoy it.
While its true potential is unlocked when you have three friends to play it with (heck, one of the game's achievements actually rewards you for hosting a LAN party), Move or Die is an absolute blast and quite possibly one of the best party games on Steam.
Even for a game priced at five dollars, Ninja Senki DX is a letdown. What could have been another classic addition to the Tribute Games lineup instead ends up feeling like any generic retro-inspired indie game. It's far from terrible, but with so many other great games out there that do a much better reminding you of the NES days, there's no need to pick up one that does a sub-par job at it. Save your nostalgic urges for something with more meat on it.
In Too Deep isn't bad, nor does it fully suggest that The Walking Dead: Michonne will be a letdown. But if this helping was any indication, it would appear that splitting this side game up into an episodic adventure was a bad idea. As a first episode, this lays the groundwork for the rest of the game, but it doesn't find the time to do anything else significant as well. Hopefully Michonne's journey picks up some steam next time, but for now you'd probably be better off waiting for the whole shebang to assemble itself.
In spite of some of the fake difficulty it can throw at you, One Upon Light is fun, especially in unraveling some of the more trickier puzzles. The atmosphere and bits of story can easily help keep one hooked to it, so you may want to give this one a chance if you're up for a good puzzler. Just don't blame yourself if you pull the occasional hair out because your character has a lead foot.
We Are The Dwarves shouldn't be completely dismissed, as it still at least has some neat ideas, controls nicely and looks pretty, but it comes across being so viciously unfair that it can only be recommended to the most hardcore fans of this genre. I was constantly finding myself too frustrated at the game to enjoy it, but to those willing to invest hours upon hours of seeing dwarves die over and over, knock yourself out.
While Shardlight isn’t as much of a potential classic as some of the other games that Wadjet Eye has released, it is still quite enjoyable and worth checking out for a quick spell.
Much like last year’s treatment with Grim Fandango, Double Fine have successfully restored one of the true classics of the adventure game world and it is glorious indeed. While not as deep and story-rich as last year’s offering, Day of the Tentacle more than makes up for it in humor, style, unique gameplay and a truckload of charm. So put on some Janet Jackson, travel back to an age where adventure games were king and enjoy the ride. Now to begin the wait for Full Throttle Remastered next year…
Despite any faults listed above, don’t get the wrong impression: Sheltered is a fun and challenging game, especially if you’re willing to put a lot of time into the game crafting the best shelter possible.
Give No Shelter is another good episode of The Walking Dead: Michonne that showcases some slight improvements and sets the stage for a potentially great showdown, but still suffers from a few cliches and an all-too-short length that leaves you demanding more. Will the third episode provide a stronger conclusion that makes the game as a whole worth it all? We’ll find out, but for now, it’s still suggested that you wait for this season to wrap up.
Slain! gleefully comes off as the fever dream of a drunken teenage Iron Maiden fan, but unfortunately comes off as having been designed and programmed by a drunken teenage Iron Maiden fan as well.
One notable little detail in Enter the Gungeon is that every time you return to the hub area early on, the four characters keep decking out the little corner they've set camp in with more and more decorations such as bunk beds and pizza boxes, eventually becoming increasingly comfortable even as they keep heading back into the carnage over and over.
While Until I Have You has some bright spots when it comes to presentation, story and a few bits of gameplay, the rest contains a cavalcade of cheap deaths and notable spikes and drops in its various areas of challenge that would be enough to turn off more than a few gamers.
Dead Star is quite fun, unique and serves as a great spin on both old and new genres, but one can’t help but feel concerned about the game’s longevity. Hopefully Armature will spice things up with more updates in the near future, but as is, it’s still a fun little diversion that’s worth a whirl. So in the end, it’s not a real supernova in the multiplayer gaming universe, but at least it’s still a pretty light show amongst it all nonetheless.
Stephen Lavelle deserves a pat on the back. Creating a quality puzzle game with a concept as quirky as this is one thing, but going above and beyond to put so much care into crafting such a near-immaculate set of puzzles equally brutal yet forgiving is full-on applause-worthy. To put it simply, Stephen’s Sausage Roll might be some of the meatiest and most delicious food for the mind you’ll taste all year.
If there was a bit more polish to it when it came to challenge and variety in certain areas, LOUD on Planet X could be a potential rhythm game classic.