While acting as quartermaster is fine, it doesn't seem unreasonable to hope that the core gameplay loop would bring a bit more to the table. While the in-game progression system is interesting in theory, most unlocks are merely upgrades of existing buildings or units, with minor efficiently bonuses. Limiting player customization to almost exclusively cosmetic oversight, rather than camp utility, does little to incentivize longterm play. One Military Camp gets the basics of base-building down fine, but asking anything more of it might be expecting too much...

Lockdown isn’t a bad game, it’s just one that already feels either dated, or incomplete.

Soulslinger: Evoy of Death is a stylish, fast-paced game that's easy to jump into for some quick action, and there's undeniable fun to be had mixing and matching powers. However, some frustrating design decisions hold it back on the macro level. I do like the world the game sets up, and if developer Elder Games ever makes a follow-up, I'll be there to hopefully check out some new corners of Limbo with some of the rougher edges smoothed out.

The visuals remind me of one of those old Flash games that would be posted on Newgrounds back in the late 1990's and early 2000's. So this means that while yes the game is ugly and amateurish, it also fills me with a warm feeling of nostalgia for a simpler time when I'd come back home from Middle School, and play crudely animated web games where I could subject crude caricatures of politicians and celebrities to cartoonist acts of violence. The style won't appeal to everyone, but it certainly worked for me.

Project Motor Racing is a visually stunning title with a lot of potential for hardcore simulation fans who love to tweak gear ratios and suspension settings. However, for the more casual racer or controller user, the experience is marred by uneven difficulty, frustrating AI behavior, and a penalty system that feels unjust. It's a beautiful ride, but one that might leave you spinning your wheels.

Overall, it is difficult to say who this game is intended for. Perhaps partly to those suffering from inescapable spells of ’80s nostalgia and whose best memories of that era consist of bad dialogue and ill-explained plots? Perhaps the local co-op option will make the game more enjoyable in the long run. For the lone player, the few redeeming qualities include the music and visuals.

I really wanted to enjoy Fabledom. It certainly has a certain appeal when you first jump in and immerse yourself in its most fundamental mechanics as well as its beautiful aesthetics. Unfortunately, at present, the actual gameplay loop stops being entertaining after the first hour or two. If you're at that point now and see that you're just under the two-hour mark, take my advice and throw yourself at the mercy of Steam's mostly-automated refund process. There's a great game to be found somewhere here in Fabledom's DNA, but its current plethora of bugs and odd gameplay decisions make it an extremely hard sell as is.

Yet I’m not a developer, I’m merely a humble reviewer who happens to prefer the hands-on approach that Horizon promises but doesn’t deliver. If you are like me, then the game is a tough sell.

There are moments of glory that show what this game could have been with more consistency, but a ton of frustrating deaths is its downfall.

Re-Legion is a great example of a good idea that is failed by the sum of its parts. It's not a bad game by a long shot, but it's also not what I would call great or even good. It's serviceable, it works (other than two frustrating crashes), it has a beautiful visual aesthetic and a great lead voice actor. But when you make a game centered around building a cult, when you set out with the intent of making player choice matter so that you have a real option of peace or chaos, you have to make it so.

Killer Klowns From Outer Space: The Game is wonderfully faithful in its aesthetic ties to the original IP. However as a game on its own merits, it struggles to give players the tools they need to learn and grow from the outset, and the inherently overly-sophisticated nature of its core gameplay loop, along with the limited roster of playable maps, lead to great concern over its potential longevity from here on out. I'm personally rooting for the developers at illFonic, as they seem an extremely passionate and talented team. However, sometimes hard truths need to be said, and Killer Klowns is going to have to work harder to prove that they warrant players' hard-earned money.

While it does some things well, namely its exploring and parts of its combat, almost everything seems like the “lite” version of what they should be.

No matter how fun a game is, or how hard the developers worked on it, I can’t recommend someone buy a title that doesn’t work.

Payday 3, from a performance perspective, is an unsightly abomination, which veers unpredictably and drastically between visually-impressive beauty, and screen-tearing, game-breaking insensibility. Its small map pool, inconsistent mission design, and low-quality cutscenes consisting merely of a few PNG files accompanied only by VO and the OST, all collide to form something that can best be described an an early access game. Something that, with the benefit of several years' redemption, might one day live up to the high standards it chose to set for itself. But today is not that day.

Sunday Gold is by no means a bad game, but its tonal and game mechanical confusion, created as a result of the developers' honuorable attempt at originality, makes it hard to whole-heartedly recommend for anyone looking for a casual pick-up-and-play tactical heist game.

Overall, Jotun is a very visual game with a very memorable art style that offers a well rounded combat system in a setting that does its best to stay true to its real-life inspirations but finds itself lacking in the plot department which is a genuine shame because it's clear that Thunder Lotus Games put a lot of time and passion into this kick-starter funded project.

You'll want to escape from Alcatraz all right, but not in the way that's intended.

Armikrog is a fun little puzzler. The puzzles are reasonably enjoyable and the visual style is just lovely. But the game just seems to lack a little polish, primarily in the inventory system and the story.

The constant barrage of random occurrences and the playful ridiculousness that comes as a result is Fire’s best element. Just don’t expect the invention of the wheel.

A competently silly, physics based puzzler. Its wonderfully simple dreamlike aesthetic and solid physics make it a joy to play for the majority of the time. The longevity of the experience is somewhat lacking and puts it at risk of becoming frustrating over longer play sessions. But taken in bitesize chunks with friends, it stands on it’s own two legs as a wonderfully stupid party game.

Definitely worth a look for fans of The Walking Dead and the original version of The Escapists.

Ultimately, Arslan: The Warriors of Legend is a game that - as far as gameplay is concerned - seems to accept what it is and just do it well. Combat is fluid and well animated if just as repetitive as we've come to expect from Koei Tecmo.

Heroes of Normandie makes a difficult transition from board game to video game, and because of this it looks and plays a lot like a board game.

As charming as it looks, Bounty Train feels a bit empty and uncomplicated. It’s an arrangement of potentially fun mechanics that just fail to gel together into something that is entertaining for more than a few hours. If you don’t mind the idea of mindlessly going from town to town vending your wares, you may still want to pick this up. If you want more, I’d let this train leave the station without you.

Overall, Soulstice daringly makes the plunge into several genres and subgenres simultaneously, and ultimately comes away, predictably, as competent enough in most areas, but exceptional in none.

KickBeat isn’t a bad game. KickBeat also isn’t a great game. It’s just okay.

Taking a position on this game has been very difficult, as on one hand I am an unapologetic day one fan of both prior Two Point games, and there is much in this newest entry's foundation that I do appreciate. However, the redoubled severity of the micromanagement required in order to play, in combination with the often-shoddy AI, makes playing a thoroughly unenjoyable experience. I admire the Two Point team's vision for what they likely intended this game to be, while also standing firm in my decision not to recommend it to players at this time. Take the time to instead go back and start a new run of Two Point Campus. It's well worth another go.

I have seen this game described as an "Open World", which is categorically untrue. While the level design has a degree of openness to them, giving the player multiple routes to reach their objective they are still decidedly structured. There is no seeing a mountain off in the distance and walking until you reach its summit. This is not a complaint, as I tend to prefer a smaller, crafted level with multiple pathways to a sprawling sandbox with little structure or logic. It helps that the game gives you some interesting travel mechanics to get around as well. After the first boss, you get a mechanical device that follows you around and allows you to fly for short periods of time, which is probably the single most enjoyable part of the whole game. I never got tired of zipping up cliff faces or floating onto the weird hovering islands that inexplicably dot the landscape. The game encourages this by sprinkling upgrade tokens and items but if I'm being honest I probably would have done it without them.

That said, I like the style, and could potentially see TinyKeep as a light introduction to the genre but it is hard to recommend to veterans.

Ultimately, the amount of enjoyment you will get out of Upwards, Lonely Robot hinges solely on how much you like score attack challenges. If that is your thing, you will no doubt get a lot of long-term enjoyment out of the game. For everyone else looking for something a bit more substantial, you may be best off looking elsewhere.

The narrative attempts to hit all the emotional beats, but the execution is fumbled as a result of not being able to control for non-linearity. Series veterans may appreciate the added lore this game brings, but don’t expect much in the way of a satisfying resolution. It’s great to see Gunfire Games refreshing the Darksiders formula — they just haven’t quite nailed the dismount on this one.

Overall, Scathe is a perfectly adequate shooter. However, it fails in its intended purpose of adequately supporting either a bullet-hell playstyle, or on the flipside, a slow-paced tactically-driven experience. Its current mechanics and balancing make it unclear what demographic the developers are attempting to chase. With a few months of sufficient patching and overhauling, it’s possible that Scathe could transform into one of the best Doom-esque indie FPS games currently on the market. For now, it’s definitely worthy of being added to one's wishlist. Whether it's worth purchasing outright, however, is a question worthy of far more doubt.

Conflicks: Revolutionary Space Battles is a strange game with an even stranger gameplay system. It meshes together in weird, uneven ways, yet it fundamentally functions well and has more than enough charm to carry it through its messes. I don’t know if I’ll play it again, but I don’t regret playing it in the time I did.

The game is fun and does have some moments that made me genuinely laugh out loud. Legend of Mana isn’t perfect and can get a little bit monotonous in the combat sections, but the story has a lot of heart. If you’re a fan of JRPGs then there’s probably a little something in here to interest you.

It's normal to expect less polish when you boot up an indie passion project from a first-time developer. This is something I usually factor into the overall grade of a game, and I try not to let issues like occasional crashes or graphical stuttering weigh too heavily against an otherwise engaging experience. Games are more than their occasional screw-ups. Unfortunately, when a game screws up as much as Vessels of Decay does, it starts to get hard to see the game underneath.

Rezrog is a solid idea for a game, taking what would be generic characters and turning them into fun, customizable classes that pair well with the miniature visuals. Yet the repetitive nature of the game, coupled with the absence of a story and the slow introduction, make Rezrog a tedious experience that is difficult to enjoy.

I do still recommend this game to anyone who has had their curiosity piqued by this title’s setting and enrapturing environment. From what I can see online, I’m in a minority of those who have encountered this game-ending bug. As such, I encourage your own exploration of In Other Waters into the depths that I just couldn’t reach.

I have a lot of complaints about this game, but even with its flaws, I enjoyed it. I just think it could have been so much better. That being said, I’ve watched so many campy horror movies that have done much worse than House of Ashes. They might miss the mark on story elements and character decisions, but I can’t help but like the experience as a whole.

Light is a cool idea, and has a wonderful style to it, but the gameplay choices the developers made have just made it too easy.

To a fan of platformers, I think you should give it a try. People who are looking for some casual, simple fun, however, probably aren't going to find it here.

All in all, if you are looking for a game to kill some idle minutes at your desk, you should definitely pick up Crush Your Enemies for PC, but if you’re hungering for an in-depth RTS game you should probably look elsewhere.

The visual and audible treats presented by Slave Zero X can only carry it so far, and even the unlockable customization options (overlay filters that range from pleasing CRT-styles to some that are quite painful to look at, and different character colour pallets) do little to increase engagement in those areas. While the combat is fun enough, it's not without its frustrations, and your move set from the first level is the same as your arsenal against the final boss. There's no growth there outside of player skill, and the ceiling isn't so high that the climb lasts even as long as the game's runtime, which came in at a punchy three and a half hours. It's undoubtedly cool that a sequel to Slave Zero exists, if only for the curiosity of it, but it failed to learn lessons from its predecessors in terms of repetitive gameplay and lack of total variety. Fortunately, if you want to see the story through, not a lot is asked of you to do so, but even conquering the game's frustrating points leads to little feeling of satisfaction.

Crazy Machines 3 is unapologetically a puzzle game about fixing, creating and customizing crazy machines. In that regard the game is solid. For puzzle aficionados maybe that’s all they need. However, in a year where we got The Witness and Steven’s Sausage Roll, Crazy Machines 3 does little to stand out from the competition and even its own series. Much like Peter Griffin and his failed breakfast contraption you might ask “What’s the point?”

If you’re really desperate for historical Total War content, then Empire Divided is fairly typical, but it’s certainly nothing new. And if you want a Total War game that better reflects crisis in terms of game design and narrative, then I’d say, just buy Total War: Attila.

Little Orpheus is an extremely short game. I suspect that most gamers will complete it in four or five hours. Being primarily a story-focused game, Little Orpheus has little to offer the player in replay value. There are no challenges to master, and no skills to perfect. The game does offer a new game plus mechanic in the form of The Lost Recordings, but this expansion is so pitiful that the developers might as well have not bothered with it.

So the sport hasn’t changed apart from an increased roster, but if you have a previous installment of the series, you may as well stick to it, unless having the latest crop of pro wrestling stars is of utmost importance to you. But, if you’re looking to get into some wrestling for the PC, then the monopoly 2K Sports holds on licensed wrestling games means that even though WWE 2K18 has a heap of issues, it is unfortunately still the best available.

Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star is a game that is made just for fans of the first one and does not stand on its own.

Once you’re past the steep learning curve, Automachef has a lot to offer. As you’re solving problems, not puzzles, there’s different ways to approach a task, which gives a fair amount of replayability. The chance to share player-made content with a budding community and bolster your options with modding capabilities means that this game could have some staying power - assuming that the initial difficulty spikes don’t spoil any appetites.

If you’re willing to search for it, then this may be a journey worth starting. Though only enthusiastic explorers should apply.

Maize, despite its problems, is certainly one of the most unique games I’ve played over the past year. I completed it in just under three hours, though players who want to find all the collectibles, each with their own humorous description, will certainly spend longer time on it. The jokes don’t land as often as they should and the gameplay is very straightforward, but for those looking for something weird, Maize is certainly a game worth your attention.

A good city builder provides a constant balancing act between keeping your people fed, happy and healthy. That should be doubly so for a city builder set on an alien planet with countless unknown dangers lurking in every corner. Aven Colony does little to deliver the struggle of a space colony, or any colony really, and that is a missed opportunity if I ever saw one. Even if you’re not looking for that experience, there is little to recommend it as a regular city builder - it’s just too easy.

Nazi Zombie Army is obviously meant to be played socially. The single-player experience gets boring and frustrating rather quickly.

The mechanics of the TRI work well, allowing a unique puzzle experience, but the frustrations of finding my way around the later levels ultimately diminished what could have been a much more enjoyable experience.

There is fun to be had here, but aside from a few moments of joyous parkour, it's the sort of fun you can have in dozens of other open-world games. There is certainly some added fun in co-op with a couple of friends, but in a world where we get another open-world game every week, I just cannot recommend anyone go out and buy Dying Light 2 at full price. Especially not when it came out right before Horizon: Forbidden West and Elden Ring, both of which look far more promising.

In a way, it’s a shame that In Sound Mind has the fundamentals of survival horror down so well I can’t help but imagine how much more compelling it would be if it weren’t let down by its heavy-handed writing and dull enemies.

What My Hero One’s Justice 2 does right in this context is creating a gloriously epic display of combat on-screen – invigorating gameplay with the same clamour and panache the anime series is known for. Fights erupt with the same sense of danger and intensity when on the small-screen, with individual characters hosting a bevy of unique animations to lay a good smack-down on their opponents.

So if you’ve got friends, Shadow Puppeteer may be worth a look at for some fun co-op puzzle solving action. Otherwise, it might be best to create some shadow puppets of your own on the wall.

Miasma Chronicles is a perfectly passable game, one with an admittedly long campaign that fairly justifies the modestly-high retail price. The problem is that the campaign in question feels far longer than it ought, because most aspects of its narrative and dialogue fail entirely to bring the player closer to the characters they're playing as, a critical failing for any game calling itself an RPG. Decent performances from the voice cast almost manages to redeem the game's storytelling failings, but never fully. The combat is often excessively repetitive, and the killcam system often seems more interested in capturing footage of the foliage presumably for a nature documentary, than focusing on the far more interesting bleeding and screaming enemy flailing around on the ground. Hopefully Miasma Chronicles does eventually get a sequel, because it does manage to lay down a lot of potentially interesting groundwork, albeit without ever managing to fully capitalize on it.

There’s comfort to be found in Cossacks 3. Despite its problems, it manages to replicate what made RTS’ of yore enjoyable with its vast armies and settlement building. Unfortunately, questionable UI choices, a lack of variety and poor AI result in an experience that leaves a lot to be desired.

To be upfront, this by no means is the best thing that has been released to the heisting genre, but having said that, it is also not the worst *cough Payday 3 cough*. Crime Boss has a lot to offer and is fairly priced unlike a lot of the games we see today. Players also need to keep in mind that Crime Boss is receiving continuous support and improvements with 4 major updates planned for the future. The one thing that lets this game down is the writing and poor NPC design. If you are looking into purchasing Crime Boss, I would recommend getting a friend to tag along with you, as the solo gameplay loop can get boring very fast. With how dedicated InGame Studious is towards this title, I have no doubt it is going to get better over time, but currently, there is a lot of refining that needs to be done.

For all its flaws, Croixleur Sigma does manage to neatly toe the line of 'easy to pick up, hard to master' – a balance which many games from much larger developers simply can't seem to manage.

Sprinter will only take you a couple of hours to complete, and you can go back and try and beat the Gold times for each level, but you may not want to.

Cross of the Dutchman is fairly average in most respects, but that’s not to say you can’t have a good time while playing.

Ultimately, the lack of single-player content, such as the boss fights and time challenges found in Transformed, leaves the experience feeling hollow. I don't know what critics are thinking calling this superior to Mario Kart World. At this stage, even Kirby Air Raiders is a better time than this middling pile of mediocrity.

If the game had come with more variation it might have made things a little different but in its current form, Pac-Man 256 just doesn't have enough new material to keep it entertaining for very long. Then again, for five bucks, you probably can't expect much more.

In reality, there’s nothing new to be found in Next Jump: Shmup Tactics. It has very basic turn based combat, and a space traversal system that lacks the options and variety of FTL: Faster Than Light’s five year old method. It’s cheap though, so it could be worth a couple of hours of your time if you’re looking for a quick blast of action.

Marlo Briggs and the Mask of Death is an action packed, brain-dead, budget thriller and if you are looking for a cheap release for all that repressed adrenaline, you will definitely be able to find worse things to do with your money. If, however, you are looking for a challenge to your intellect or a test of your skills, look elsewhere. The only thing Marlo Briggs will challenge is your patience.

Get it if you’re a huge fan of the stealth/infiltration genre and need to play everything on offer in that niche. Just be aware that there are superior games out there that will undoubtedly serve better to satisfy your assassination fantasies.

If you want to play alone, I'd suggest passing on The Jackbox Party Pack, but if you want to have some fun with friends and don't have similar-style board games lying around, The Jackbox Party Pack may be just for you.

So, the visuals have a retro look, the jazzy background music is kinda cool, there are some Worms-style comical weapons and although there are a number of different game modes and a range of maps to play, the gameplay is still pretty much the same for all.

On its original release in 1988, Gold Rush! would’ve been an impressive achievement. By today’s standards, there’s nothing here that would attract someone new to the remake.

Project Temporality is okay, and that’s the feeling you get from all aspects of the game. It’s well made, and some thought clearly went into the puzzles and story, but not a lot of thought went into how much fun it is to actually play.

Completely Stretchy is a very finicky game, and unfortunately has a lot of jank to it - I actually ended up getting soft-locked from one of the quests, seemingly one of the major ones to acquire an item that furthers progression. This occurred due to the game not really liking when the player character is moved by objects besides their stretchy arm, so became glitched outside of an elevator as it lowered down, There was a button up above to call the elevator, but it didn't appear to work. I went back a few times after the fact to see if it resolved itself, and even tried glitching back into place to try continuing the quest, but unfortunately there wasn't any luck. The only solution within Completely Stretchy would probably be to start a new save file. The game is short at least, so there's that, but losing progress is frustrating, even in a short game. If the softlock were fixed somehow, then it would be much easier to recommend Completely Stretchy, but as the game currently stands, it is enjoyable but rather flawed.

Third Eye Crime is a well built title that serves as a time sink if nothing else and while it is forgettable in terms of gameplay, the story, art, and music may make it worth at least one playthrough.

At the end of the day, I enjoyed my time with The Keep. I wouldn’t go as far to call it especially memorable, but the accessibility of its gameplay deserves recognition for anyone not-so familiar with dungeon crawlers. It’s the sort of game you can dip into, kill a few monsters and hop out again with a nice sense of achievement. Admittedly there is an elephant in the room, Legend of Grimrock from 2012 does almost everything The Keep does, except better. That isn’t to say The Keep doesn’t have a place, as if you aren’t familiar with RPGs and would prefer a much more casual experience, it’s still worth a look. The spellcasting has a surprising amount of depth too, so maybe if you’ve already tried Legend of Grimrock and want to play more, The Keep will keep you satisfied.

Blood Bowl 3, at its best, never manages to even equal the quality of its predecessors at their lowest, but it would also be wildly inaccurate to say that there is no hope whatsoever for some at least partial redemption moving forward, as Cyanide Studio desperately attempts to salvage both the game, and their unfortunately-marred reputation. Hopefully the hard lessons learned here will result in a more faithful, and less monetization-crazed, future sequel, whenever they get around to working on such. In the meantime, longtime fans and newcomers alike would do well to keep their distance from this particular bloody field.

For many turn based strategy titles it is the combat that keeps you engaged. The Great Whale Road has some really great writing but ultimately that is not enough to carry the game. The combat is so intensely unrewarding that this is one story I’d rather have read in paperback format.

Is Inmates one of the better horror games I've played? No. Is it one of the worst I've played? Far from it. Inmates has two things going for it, absolutely nailing it on the aesthetic of the setting and pulling me in with a desire to know the outcome of the story. It's a short chore to work through, but one that I can say that I'm glad I did.

As a follow-up to Of Orcs and Men, War Logs is a let down. If you only have $20, however, supporting a studio as intrepid as Spiders is worthy endeavor and there is fun to be had here. Still, caution is advised.

Costume Quest 2 is a likeable game; just not a very good one.

As a longtime Killing Floor fan, I was beyond excited at the initial announcement of a new entry. I was more than happy to speak briefly with Tripwire developers at PAX East about what they were most excited for with this newest release. Even with a rough start during the public testing period, the developers' commitment to transparency was laudable, and helped reaffirm the much-needed goodwill. However, the final product simply does not meet either the ideal or minimal standards expected of a Killing Floor game. While this may change over the coming months and years, it is difficult, if not impossible, to recommend this game as it currently stands.

Windforge sounded like an intriguing game when I first heard about it. An explorable game with a system similar to Terraria, but in the sky? Sounds fun! In reality, you are treated with a game that is its own worst enemy, preventing you from enjoying it through numerous technical issues and strange design choices. Which is a shame. I really wanted to build something with it.

Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged is a reasonably adequate racing game for beginners. Visually, it sets itself apart from many of its competitors. However, its floaty physics system, unappealing slow speeds, almost non-existent racetrack offerings, and awkward keyboard control scheme make it impossible to recommend in its current state.

I’ve got a soft spot for super-low-budget titles like this, almost always the product of passion and heart, but there’s no escaping that Supposedly Wonderful Future is an inconsistent experience that, while containing some successful moments, has too many that are dull or drag. It's clear that there are a lot of interesting ideas at work, but they aren’t packaged into an experience that functions well enough or as a cohesive whole.

It is commendable the rate at which the developers have been able to craft these individual stories. Considering the widely branching narratives (that seems no less complex here) there's always been a feeling that The Dark Pictures was handled by the B team, while the A team developed the standalone titles. The Devil in Me has the feeling of a C team development (or D team, if the VR titles have their own?). There's enough mistakes to make the whole thing feel like a freshman effort mistakenly placed at the end of a quadrilogy. The story and the setting deserved better than to be absolutely trounced by the poor quality parts, but given how quickly the developers iterate and respond to feedback there's plenty of hope moving forward. As the bookend to their first season of this experiment, though, they left plenty to be desired.

Overall, Asterigos: Curse of the Stars is a passable quality experience that excels when it leans into its Monster Hunter/Dauntless-esque multiphase boss fights, interspersed with more solitary bouts of exploration and subsequent discovery. Had the developers leaned further into this hypothetically simplified formula, while offsetting it with the existing rich and dense progression system, Asterigos could have proved its mettle as a more-than-worthy contender in the market. However, its poor control responsiveness, its often-needlessly ham-fisted approach to forcing linearity where it's not needed, and its debatable narrative quality, also collectively hold it back from reaching its full potential.

Immortal Planet is fine in just about every sense of the word. It does most things decently well, but never does anything exceptionally. It has a few interesting ideas, but it’s got enough drawbacks to even them out. I respect the ideas and what I’m sure were the goals of the project by a small development team, but it’s only been a few hours since I stopped playing and I’m already over it. I don’t regret my time with the game, but I don’t feel the need to hop back in and don’t really have any stand-out moments to look back on. The game may be called immortal, but the experience proves to be anything but.

Arelite Core is obviously born out of a great love of 16bit JRPGs and a lot of heart has gone into its creation. The first thing budding game designers are taught, however, is to imagine a game they’d love to play but doesn’t exist and think about reasons why that game doesn’t exist. This sets them up to design games that no one has played and to attack as yet unsolved challenges. I feel like I’ve played Arelite Core before. I feel like I’ve played myriad versions of Arelite Core before. Therefore, although I can appreciate the love and effort that went into creating it, I cannot recommend that you pick it up over the fantastic classics of the 16bit era already available on various platforms.

There's simply too much luck and not enough player influence to get a whole lot out of it.

TOHU isn’t the best point-and-click out there. The confusing story and tedious puzzle solving leave a lot to be desired. Point-and-click adventure games of this style live in a weird place today. This one seems to take inspiration from Humongous Games’ portfolio and it is just too hard to live up to the nostalgia of playing games like Pajama Sam as a child. The art and interactions in that game are unforgettable and the story was fun and educational. TOHU starts going down this path and succeeds in some of that world building and light-hearted story telling, but it barely even scratches the surface compared to what already exists.

The Golf Club has the potential to be so much more than it is. In my opinion it came out of early access too early, because the full game still feels very beta-y.

The core concept, while unoriginal, is at least interesting, and it's backed up by a broadly well-realized world. Sadly, the whole thing is scuppered by the absolutely comical AI, which single-handedly removes all tension from the game and transforms it from moody sci-fi horror into disappointing nonsense, frustrating and unintentionally hilarious in equal measures.

Freaky Awesome gets updated regularly, and so I’m hopeful that the developers will take feedback into consideration. That being said, my suggestion for a better player experience would be to keep the mutation system but balance them so that there are equal advantages and disadvantages in them all. This could be done to great effect when dealing with a set of enemies that complement each mutation’s abilities in different ways. My second recommendation is to guarantee more item drops, perhaps one chest item per floor. This would encourage exploration while giving you a fighting chance against some of the really difficult bosses. I think Freaky Awesome has potential to be a fun and unique dungeon crawling rogue-lite experience, but as of now, it doesn’t quite hit the mark.

It's satisfying to completely destroy each area, but only until the formulaic gameplay begins to wear itself thin. However, the little things Infectonator 3: Apocalypse does for humor's sake land nicely and I found myself laughing at some of the intentionally silly art and dialogue. Overall, it's a game that's fun in bursts and would probably appeal more to somebody who knows this sort of thing is their cup of tea.

For now, however, Sacred Citadel is only recommended for fans of the franchise or genre. There is fun to be had here but only in small bursts, so it's hard to recommend the $15 investment. With a disappointing combat system and ineffectual character progression, the game falls short of its potential.

Maybe Cris Tales has an audience among very small children but in almost every case you’d be better off digging up an old copy of Chrono Trigger. That said, this is Dreams Uncorporated’s first game, and while I'd hardly call Cris Tales a good game, it shows considerable promise in visual flair if nothing else. I’ll be curious to see where they go from here.

I want the readers to take this score with a grain of salt. I went with what I thought was fair without letting my complete lack of fun butcher the score. It's functional, and I can see how those who have run out of challenges would love to run through this gambit. But it's just not for me. It's not fun for me at all, not due to poor design but due to there being only so much I can take before I throw in the towel. Tormentor X Punisher, you win. You brought out the anger in me. Now please, get off my computer.

It's a horror game that isn't scary, an adventure game that isn't exciting, and a narrative-driven game that feels more like a glorified tech demo. There's nothing bad to be found here, but nothing worth writing home over either.