Sorted by Review Date

Dark Arcana The Carnival

Not one of the better ones. Unsure if I'm getting a bit tired of these but everything seems just a bit less polished than some of the others. None of the puzzles seemed overtly complicated which was good. Maybe it was the voice acting or characters? Nothing was actively bad, but very little stood out as memorable either. I'm pretty sure there will be nothing I remember a month from now. It also seems a bit short compared to others from them.

Cat Quest

Review Note: Game Completed means, Main Quest, All Side Quests, and All Dungeons Cleared.

I didn't think this one was going to sink its claws into me, but it absolutely did.

What starts out looking like a simple little cat-tastic adventure turns out to be a surprisingly meow-velous action RPG. The combat is solid, the progression is satisfying, and before I knew it I was prowling across the entire map clearing every dungeon and side quest I could get my paws on.

My biggest hiss-sue is the quest structure. The game constantly has you do Quest 1 Part A, then Quest 2 Part A, then Quest 3 Part A before eventually circling back to Quest 1 Part B. By the time I returned to some of these questlines I'd fur-gotten what they were even about. It makes the individual stories less im-paw-ctful than they could have been.

Other than that, this game is simply a good time. It's overflowing with cat puns, doesn't take itself too seriously, and never overstays its welcome. The whole thing is charming from whisker to tail.

I expected a cute little cat-nap of a game and instead ended up completing every quest, every dungeon, and every challenge it threw at me.

In the end, this wasn't quite purrfection, but it was pretty darn close.

StardewValley

Review Note: Game Completed means perfection achievement attained.

"I came for the farming, stayed for the people, and accidentally spent 239 hours achieving Perfection." - AI

Just plain fun. A game with 3 entirely different parts. Farming, Fighting, and being Social.

Great for the person that likes to plan and create systems. Buy the seed, plant the seed, harvest the crop, process the crop, sell the crop. Design and work with a system that makes the most money. Probably not for the person that wants to create a fully automated system like Factorio. I assumed that I would only play the farming and fighting sections of the game, but after all the hours, It just felt like I had to hear everyone's backstory. Maybe that's it's secret to draw you into the world.

Negatives are few. The long slog to "perfection". Not as bad as I feared, but getting the 10 Million for the clock was not fun. It seems the game really wants you to turn this into a huge factory farm, but that just didn't appeal to me. I eventually filled multiple sheds with kegs, which was really just a factory farm disguised to look nicer. And the spouse AI really needs some work. You marry someone because you like who they are in the game and after you marry them, they stop doing all of the activities that made you like them. There are mods to adjust this, but an odd oversite for the base game.

But the faults are minor. I played over 200 hours so of course I liked it. It's currently my 6th most played game on steam which is saying a lot.

Abyss The Wraiths

Fun enough. At this point I've played quite a few hidden object adventures, and this one feels very standard for the genre. Compared to the others nothing really jumps out at me. On a review update 6 months later, I really can't remember much of this one. Many of these are starting to fit the pattern of, I finished it, enjoyed it, and forgot it.

Fallout 4

It starts off great! Just a fantastic intro. After that it's fine and goes along a bit until you are outside, and now you have the ability to craft parts of the world. And now it fails. The crafting Controls are horrible. All of the controls to interact with the world just feel wrong and are difficult to understand. Was this designed for a console and gamepad?

Ok, now I can craft items. Let's rebuild this world! You can now create something new but it still looks broken and worn. You can't build things that look new. And don't get me started with the crafting controls. They are simply not that great. I did some back and forth with AI on this and it had a great comment that "You wanted "rebuild civilization." but Fallout 4 oftenonly gives you the option to "construct a better-looking junkyard." That's a very different fantasy, and it explains your reaction much better than the control complaints alone."

9 Clues The Secret of Serpent Creek

It's fine, just not one of the better ones from them. Reading this review 6 months later, I'm having trouble even remembering the game. Not a good sign.

Fallout New Vegas

I really wanted to like this as it's incredibly well regarded. The thing is, I like the style of Skyrim better. Fallout New Vegas has an incredible in depth and deep story but the world is rather bland. If you want deep story with lots of deep dialog trees this might be the game for you. If like me you would rather just wander over a hill and see what you find, Skyrim is the better choice. At this point in my life I just want to wander around and seek what the game world has. More like Minecraft. And the Brown colors for everything. Yes I know it’s the dessert, but man does that get old fast.

Spelunky

I really wanted to like this one, but the control scheme just doesn't work for me on PC. It really feels like this game was designed for a game pad. A shame as it looks neat, but I just don’t want to play with a game pad.

The Forest

It seems that I forgot to take notes on why I disliked this game, so I'm going to have to make some guesses.

I'm going to guess it didn't have any clear goals on what to do, it punishes exploration and experimentation, and the base building experience is lacking somehow. Either the options are few, or they are meaningless in that walls barely stop the monsters so you don't get that feeling of building something that will last.

Whatever the reason, two hours was enough for me to know this game wasn't for me.

Outward

The world felt surprisingly empty, and I never found a strong hook that made me want to keep exploring. One of the most common pieces of advice I found was to run away from fights whenever possible, which while it works is not all that heroic or the kind of gameplay I'm usually looking for.

One again, there is a lack of direction. Some players enjoy that level of freedom, but I generally prefer games that provide clearer objectives.

Other design choices didn't help. There is no fast travel system and travel times can be lengthy. Also, there is no base-building component to work toward. On top of that, the over-the-shoulder third-person camera is probably my least favorite perspective in gaming and one I actively dislike.

Dishonored 2

I liked it enough to complete it so that is a definite plus. But you have to know and remember that this is a STEALTH game and if you approach it like a FPS you will be frustrated. That said, I felt there were a lot of cheap deaths throughout the game. Many encounters seemed designed around already knowing what was coming. If you walked into a situation blind, it was easy to end up dead before you had a chance to react. I found that frustrating. That's what makes this a difficult recommendation. The story is good, the visuals are excellent, and many parts of the game are genuinely fun. At the same time, I can easily see another player bouncing off it entirely. Your mileage may vary.p>

On the humorous side, I spent nearly five hours solving the Jindosh Lock puzzle. I kept wondering how the developers expected players to figure something so complicated out and still enjoy the game. I later looked it up and found out that most players were expected to bypass the puzzle by working with one of the rival factions. The lock can be solved directly, but doing so skips a substantial portion of the mission.

House of 1000 Doors Family Secrets

From a new developer of Hidden Object games "Alawar Casual". The obvious competitor is the developer "Artifex Mundi". I think I like Artifex better. The puzzle sections in this game seem a bit to random. I had to use 2 hints just to get past the intro section and I've played a lot of these by this point. Things like very small objects in the room that you are "just supposed to see" or unobvious actions like moving the playing cards around because there is a key hidden under them. It's not bad, it's just not as good.

Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition

I've tried this twice before and this is my third attempt to get into it.

I would highly recommend installing the "Better Camera" mod. The default camera feels far too zoomed in. The mod allows you to pull the camera back and better appreciate the world and combat.

I'm going to sit this one aside until after I retire. I'm wondering if it's difficult to "get into" after a full day of work. Complex deep games just seem a stretch at the moment. In the past I've played and completed lengthy RPGs like Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Icewind Dale 1 & 2, and Never Winter Nights and enjoyed them. This makes it odd I'm having trouble getting into this one now. I will revisit later.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection

This review is a bit disjointed because Halo: The Master Chief Collection contains six games released over an eleven-year span. The most important advice I can give is to play the games in their original release order, not the order suggested by the collection. Start with Halo: Combat Evolved (2001), not Halo: Reach (2010). The series evolves significantly over time, and the story makes much more sense when experienced the way players originally saw it.

Are the games fun? Absolutely. Are there some frustrations? Also yes. If you enjoy first-person shooters at all, these are some of the most influential and popular games ever made, making them worth experiencing for that reason alone.

• Tight, responsive gameplay that still holds up well.
• Graphics range from good to excellent depending on the title.
• A compelling story with memorable characters and several strong plot twists.
• Watching the series improve from game to game is interesting in its own right.

• Several games do a poor job of communicating where you're supposed to go next.
• Levels can become visually repetitive, especially in the earlier entries.
• Backtracking is a recurring problem throughout the series.
• Difficulty occasionally comes more from figuring out what the game wants you to do than from the combat itself.

"Halo: Reach" (Halo 0)

I didn't initially realize that Reach was a prequel made nine years after the original game. Starting here made following the story a mess. It's surprisingly difficult and heavily focused on squad-based combat. I did not find this to be a sandbox type of game with multiple approaches. Most levels seemed to push a single intended approach. Vehicle sections often felt mandatory. My biggest complaint is that it's very difficult to figure out where you are supposed to go and what you are supposed to do next. I tried skipping to the 2nd Game in the series but it makes the plot impossible to understand.

"Halo: Combat Evolved" (Halo 1)

I nearly quit this game around the point where the Flood are introduced. While somewhat easier than Reach, many encounters felt more like puzzles than action sequences.

My biggest complaint was navigation. The game frequently leaves you wandering in circles trying to determine the correct path forward. The story, atmosphere, and cutscenes are excellent, which makes that frustration all the more disappointing.

Update:
After a six-month break, I returned and finished the game. The second half suffers from increasingly repetitive environments and level layouts. The navigation problems never really disappear, and I often found myself unsure where to go next.

Many fans point to the Flood reveal as the game's defining moment, but my favorite sequence was the Betrayal. The final escape sequence with the jump puzzle section very nearly made me rage quit.

Halo 2

Just 3 years later and the improvement in graphics is amazing. Lots of unique textures and levels with a visit to Earth keep things fresh. The level design has more variation and it does a better job letting you know where to go next. A nice twist is when you have to play as the Covenant.

Halo 3

So far this is the best game in the series when it comes to helping the player understand where to go next. I'll guess it's a combination of better level design and use of Waypoints. I was not a fan of Warthog escape run sequence as it seemed a bit arbitrary. It's fun the first time, not so much the 3rd time.

Story recap for future me: The Arbiter kills Truth, ending the Covenant leadership. Chief and Cortana stop the Flood, escape aboard the Forward Unto Dawn, and get stranded in space when the ship is split in half. Everyone on Earth thinks Chief is dead, but he's actually in cryosleep waiting for the next game.

Halo 3:ODST

Halo 4

Griddlers TED and PET

A great implementation of nonogram games. Just enough good graphics to be pleasant without being overwhelming with some great quality of life improvements. Interestingly I thought a couple of the levels were not solvable the first time I played them but on a 2nd or 3rd playthrough everything worked. Unsure if I just had a bad day, or if I learned another trick to solving them. If you like this type of game, this is a great version. I played for 76 hours, yep it's rather good.

Quake 1 and 2 (Series)

Note: $5 for each game and 2 hours played for each game

I was feeling a bit nostalgic so I decided to take these out for another spin after many years. So back to the games that picked up the torch from Doom 1 and 2. At the time they were marvels of programming the likes of which had never been seen. What would I think of them now 30 years later? Short: They are not bad, but not worth playing to completion. Fun for a short bit of nostalgia or if you missed them when they came out and want some history.

Quake 1
Floaty. Fast. To Fast. It's rather spastic. I mean the shear speed can be fun for a bit, but Halo is so much more grounded. I have to remember that the entire point of this game was to be a fast spastic shooter. The "single player" mission is not the point. It's claim to fame was deathmatch. Interesting thought, I don't think it was until Half-Life (1998) that the single player campaign took center stage.

Quake 2 (1997)
A Cutscene wow! Either it's just a touch slower or I'm more used to it. It also seems much less "floaty" so both of those are wins for me. But I just can't stand another "You need the Red key" to move past this point. Nothing kills the feel of constant movement like a bad puzzle. I want to shoot monsters, not just keep back tracking looking for a new door or key. I do not want a puzzle maze, I want a shooter. On the other hand, it's still amazing how well the graphics work and how responsive everything is.

A Short Hike

I played this for about 30 minutes and was ready to just stop given the incredibly pixelated graphics. It just made everything a bit blurry to look at and was starting to give me a headache. I looked at the graphic settings and I had it at the maximum resolution so I figured that was it. Thankfully I read a few reddit posts and someone mentioned "Graphic Mode - Tiny and Sharp". So, they hid the graphics qualities in a separate menu. Sigh.

Ok, Let's try this again.

This is delightful. Playing a character that can't fall since they can glide really makes this a far more relaxing game than it seemed. Initially I was worried. The explorable area was large and there were so many side quests I was concerned it would prove annoying to keep track of what you were supposed to do. The key seems to be that while there is a great amount of extras you can do, the main quest is rather focused and easy. Climb to the Top of the Mountain. I would give it a 5/5 if it was just a bit longer, but this is a real bit sized treat. If you can get it on sale, do so. It's great.

A Monsters Expedition

Nice art but the puzzles got really repetitive after a very short while. You knock over trees and move to the next island. After a long while you get 1 new game mechanic which is the raft. I was expecting a steady stream of new ideas and puzzle elements, but most of what I saw in the first hour felt like variations on the same theme. Kinda a shame as the art and style are wonderful to watch. I just wish it had more meat.

Picto Quest

One of the most popular nonogram games on steam. I'll compare it to Girdlers TED.

The time pressure and "battle" element is fun but there are a few quality of life issues that make Girdlers TED and PET just better. Specifically in Griddlers it shows you a count as you draw a line making it so much easier to color in blocks of 10 or so in a row. It sounds like a small thing, but for the larger puzzles it’s a game changer.

Eventide 3

It's a Story/Puzzle/Hidden Object game from developer "Artifex Mundi" so you know what you are getting. If you have played anything else from them this is more of the same. I rather enjoy playing these between my more serious games. They have an excellent hint system so there is no reason to get frustrated. The total length is short, but it's just a nice play experience.

Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition

Again, I'm trying a highly regarded game but just not enjoying it.

The game plays more like a click and point adventure than like a Baldur's Gate game or D&D game. It's much more of a talk to everyone game than a bash them in the head, so odd as I was expecting more of a Baulder's Gate 2 feel.

Very, very, slow. Difficult to figure out what you are supposed to do next. That old school vibe where you do something and now everyone is hostile to yo so you have lost and need to restart but it never tells you this. I had to restart after making all the zombies hostile. The hit box is bothersome.

I'm thinking that maybe I'm just not into a game where as AI puts it "The game is about Dialogue, Story, Reading, Character Interactions, and Moral and philosophical questions."

Brotato

Note: Review at 60 Hours to Unlock and complete level 0 with every single character.

Did you like vampire survivors? If you do, you will like this. I'll actually give it some points over vampire with the sheer number of characters that each play extremely different. There is something about an arcade like game where you can start, play, and finish in less than 30 minutes.

Also massive points to the system that weights the "card draw purchase items" you get during level up to subtly weight they items that you are interested in and reducing the dreaded "nothing useful" draw of games like Slay the Spire. And, the number of different characters and resulting play styles is incredible. Are some unbalanced? Yes. But there is something just fun about playing Baby using Landmines that is a riot.

The Wild Eight

It seems a fine game but again it's just not for me. It has some definite "The Long Dark" vibes but without the first person perspective it loses so much. It also didn't help that I got totally stopped in the tutorial after 15 minutes in when I could not figure out what to do for "Find the source of the power lines". Even after reading a walkthrough I think it's hard to spot just what you are supposed to do.

Roadwarden

So… much… reading. After trying "King of Dragon Pass" and not loving it, I figured I would try something very similar to see if it was just the particular game, or maybe I just don’t care for the genre. Seems, it might be the genre. This is definitely and RPG with "walls of text". I think this kind of game is just not for me. But at least it doesn't seem to be just a relationship simulator.

King of Dragon Pass

I really wanted to like this but I'm wondering if maybe I don’t like to play RPG's as much as I like the idea of playing RPG's. The focus on clan politics and managing relationships between groups didn't grab me. From AI it mentioned that "King of Dragon Pass is less of a traditional RPG and more of a tribal leadership and political simulation." Yea, that. Didn't care for it.

Eventide 2

A point and click hidden object adventure game. You know what you are getting from this company. If you like the others, you will like this one. I actually liked this one more than many of their others, but at only 3.5 hours it's shorter than most of the others.

Figment

If you really like point and click adventure games you might enjoy this more. I guess I'm just not a point and click adventure kinda person. Or at least not one in a game without a robust hint system.

On the other hand you might be even more annoyed by the constant arcade elements that are thrown in. It's a mash up I guess similar to the way a "Link" game works. I'm just really not a fan of games were you have to backtrack as much as this one to figure out and complete the puzzles. A shame as the artwork and many of the scenes are exceptional.

Alien Isolation

Add this to the list of "Games that should have been a slam dunk". I love Aliens and I love first person shooters. Heck I remember configuring *Wad files to mod the original Doom 1 to play the Aliens mod.

So how did this go off the rails?

It starts great with an incredible "you are playing the movie" vibe. And then, nothing much happens. I played for 2 hours and not only didn't I get to see any aliens I didn't even see a glimmer of one or even a jump scare. After that the sins just start to mount up. So much possibility, all wasted.

Including

• There is no one to like in this crew. I really don't care about any of the characters I meet
• The control scheme is just odd. I'm thinking it's probably designed for Console and it shows
• This is very much a puzzle game
• You can't jump. At all. Your character can be stopped by the lip of a door. Enter frustration

Eventide 1: Slavic Fable

And time for another series of Point and Click, Hidden Object, Puzzle games. Fun but short. You know what you are getting with these so there is not a lot to say that has not been said before. Interestingly while this is still published by Artifex Mundi they have a different developer listed as The house of Fables. It's hard to see if this is just rebranding, a spin off, or some kind of contracting arrangement

More Skyrim

Just a note to future Tim. When you are wondering what were you were doing between May and August the answer is playing a lot of Skyrim. Heck you even made an entire page dedicated to that game.

Graveyard Keeper

A difficult review. The game is part story based, part base building game with a wonderful little story and premise to tie it all together. This really should have been a slam dunk. It was not. A real shame as this could have been absolutely excellent.

So, it's really difficult to figure out what you should be doing. There is an early game "gate" where you need to get enough "Simple Iron Parts" in order to build the "Wooden Avil" to progress the story forward but good luck in figuring that out. There is a little bit of a tutorial, but you are really on your own to figure everything out. I play a lot of these and can't imagine how frustrating this would be for someone new to the genre.

For example

• Building the Wooden Avil is a pain
• Days of the Week are a thing but good luck figuring out how to manage them.
• Farming is not fun when you have to buy seeds every single time
• The Fishing Mini Game is not fun
• The wine of "silver quality" is just.. Stupid. It's so hard to notice there are different "qualities" of wine. Wait, you mean that little dot to the side is massively important? yep.
• The same for fish fillets
• Multiple, Multiple, Fishing Rod updates are… annoying.
• The optimizing burial quality loop, rows and columns.

The Summoning (SSI 1992)

Note. Available on GOG.

Part of the "Way Back" series.

I have errr…. Memories of playing this back in 1995 ish. What I most remember now is that I didn't know when you started the game and initially created your character that the stats were random but there was a "reroll" button. Missing this the first time I simple took the initial roll and played the game. This ending up being "expert" mode as the random stats I accepted were very poor. After suffering through the game for a bit I put the game to the side for a few months and later gave it another try. This time I did notice the "reroll" button and spamed the hell out of it. I created a god level character that steamrolled everything. Even so I never finished it and years later I wondered why I never did.

It seems that I never did because this is simply a horrible game. Moving with the mouse is painful, and moving using the Keyboard Number keys is even more so. So the Game is in isometric perspective, but the controls make it very difficult to move diagonally which is…. Bad. I think you would have to break your fingers to make the movement controls work. Remap the keys you say? Nope, welcome to early DOS hell. We don't have that option.

Looking online for some inspiration I found a playthrough diary from the "CRPG Addict". Reading his full review really didn't make me want to play this more as it took him 51 hours to finish the game, and he plays tons of these. Nope, I'll just read the notes of his playthough and be thankful I'm not the one playing.

As an interesting side note the Game Manuel is 97 pages long of which the first 32 are the back story. Gotta love early DOS games.

Hue

A crazy puzzle platformer with a color wheel.

So a side scroller jumping and puzzle game. The hook is that you have a color wheel that allows you to "see the world" in a particular color which has the side effect of making that color disappear. Have a RED wall in front of you? No problem, change the color wheel to see the world in RED and it disappears. There is a nice little story that goes along with it, but it's more for ambiance than game play.

t was fun and I enjoyed it. It also got rather difficult and I had to watch some playthroughs to complete it without losing my sanity.

Still, great controls, interesting puzzles, and a fun little story to tie it all together makes this a win

Hero of the Kingdom (Series)

Note: the 40 hours is over Six Games

Since I've now played all 6 of these, you can assume that I like them.

I played the first back in June of 2023 and had this to say about it. I could say the same for all of them in the series. They are all pretty similar so if you like one, you will like them all. I have no idea why I didn't write a full review for all of them, but I didn't.

"A mixture of narrative fiction, with some trading, and a bit of find the hidden object. If none of that makes sense, don’t worry about it because it all makes sense when you play it. For me this was the perfect game at the perfect time. Something to relax with while drinking a couple of beers guiding your character around the story. At 5 hours it's a bit short, but if you can get it on sale it's well worth your money and your time."

Hero of the Kingdom The Lost Tales 3

Ok, as of this moment, that is the last one available. They are still fun if getting a little repetitive now. This one is the tale from the "other side of the portal". Defeat the Dark Wizard and save your Dragon friend. Still fun. They removed most of the grind but it can be a bit hard to figure out just where you are supposed to go next. If you like the others, you will like this one. I really do wish they would have some kind of hint system. If you are thinking of playing this one, I'll just assume you know what you are getting into. If you like the other ones, you will like this one.

Heroes of Might and Magic 1-3 (Series)

Note: Completed the first map on each version.

I played the hell out of the first three games in this series. I recently saw them on GOG for $3 apiece and figured I would see what I thought of them 30 years later. Unfortunately this style of game just doesn't grab me anymore. When they first came out I utterly devoured them completing not only the first three games but all of the expansion packs as well. I spent a lot of time playing these. I'm unsure I just have more options now, over played them, or my preferences have just changed. Playing them today just seems, slow. Each map can take hours to complete and it's all very fiddly with keeping up with your characters, your cities, and keeping track of your opponent.

HOMM 1	HOMM 1
HOMM 2	HOMM 2
HOMM 3	HOMM 3

Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4

Note: Year 1 of 4 Completed

It's one of two Harry Potter Lego games. This one being the first and covering years 1-4 with a second covering years 5-7. I finished year 1 which is in 9 parts each taking 20-30 minutes to complete. On the Pro's side, It really feels like playing the movie with almost every movie highpoint shown and the comedy is great. On the downside there are no mid game saves. You have to play the entire 20-30 minute chapter all at once. I'm thinking this is likely a console port. Also, there are some not obvious puzzles and with no hint system you are going to have to find an online walkthrough unless you are very good at these types of games.

Enigmatis (Series)

Another point and click, hidden object, puzzle game series. Again, they are fun but you need to know what you are getting. I somehow played these out of order, but it doesn't matter all that much. In this case it worked for me as 2 and 3 were significantly better so I had incentive to finish the series. From a check of my previous reviews I rated this higher than Grim Legends but YMMV.

Developer: Artifex Mundi

Vermintide 2

It's a medieval Left for Dead. It really should work, but with the focus on close up melee battels of hordes of monsters it's just a chaotic mess. This really felt like a bad consol button presser. With left for dead you could plan and work together. This seems to be all about having a giant horde attack your group and you failing about till they are dead, and then you run along the path till you get jumped and you do it all again.

Hero of the Kingdom 3

The last (as of now) of the Hero of the Kingdom games. Still pretty fun and a nice quite game to play in the evening before bed. A small change in gameplay from the others but nothing crazy. If you have played and liked the others, you will like this one. I will say the first one is pretty darn good with a bit better story.

Grim Legends (Series)

This series was my first foray into the world of modern hidden object and puzzles games. I'll blame it on work and the shear crazy of the place making me just want to play something that doesn't take a lot of brain power at the end of the day. They are fun and entertaining for what they are. A combination of "point and click adventure game", "find the hidden objects", and puzzles. The hint system is good so there is rarely a reason to get stalled or aggravated. I enjoyed them. I have no idea why the first took me twice as long. Maybe it's just longer, or it could be I had to understand the basic framework.

Developer: Artifex Mundi

Grim Legends 3: The Dark City

Ok, I got this as a 3 pack with parts 1 and 2. Again It's another hidden puzzle story game. While good, I'm going to say that this one is just not as good as the first two. The puzzles are more difficult without being more fun and some (the stained glass puzzles are not great). I'm also let down by the story which feels way to much like a hallmark movie with everything working out for everyone.

My Lovely Daughter

I purchased this off of a PC Gamer recommendation mostly for the "shock" value. It's pretty much a mad scientist simulator with you being the Mad Scientist. Yes you are definitely the bad guy which is pretty easy to figure rather quickly. (You did figure out you were the bad guy, right? Right?).

The first part of the game gives you very few decisions and plays more like an interactive novel.

After that section is done, it moves to the "game" but there really is not a lot of game here. The game revolves around using the five ingredients Wood, Iron, Meat, Clay, Water to make one of 25 different Homunculus. You build them all and then kill them in order to fuel a captive soul you will use to reanimate your dead daughter.

If the interface made it easier to keep track of, I would have played longer, but it requires you to create your own notes on the side, and I really didn't feel like doing that. In this case that worked in my favor as I quit the game before burning too much time. When I looked up the possible endings, I found them "lacking". The big reveal is that you are really the bad guy and did it all to yourself. Not that much a surprise. There are There are 15'ish endings depending on exactly what you do and they are all of course bad to some degree or another. They are also all not that interesting.

Grim Legends 2 Song of the Dark Swan

It's another hidden puzzle story game. Very good for what it is. I did find it very much harder than the first one. These puzzle are difficult. I know the story is definitely not for me, but I felt this one was not as good a story as the first.

Terraria

The 2D Minecraft. I so much wanted to like this game and gave it multiple tries, but there is just something I'm missing. I love Minecraft, the exploration and building elements really hit a sweet spot for me so I was sure this was a slam dunk. It was not. Instead of purposely building I just felt like I was taking random stabs at building a base. And to add injury, this is the second time I've tried to get into this game. This time I watched a few tutorials before I played, and was still just meh.

The Book of Unwritten Tales

It's a fine Point and click adventure game. You can tell the stick is supposed to be humor, breaking the 3rd wall, and being "self-aware but it just feel flat. I mean there are lot of people with lots of different things they find funny, but this one is not for me.

Doom 3

Do you like running around in the dark with a flashlight that keeps turning off? Well this might be the game for you! But seriously, everything in this game is dark for the sake of being dark. And hey Quake was years before this and had a better weapon selection. And what happened to the 2nd trigger function? Skip this one and just move on to better games.

80 Days

Far too much of the bad from the old Choose Your Own Adventure Books. The presentation and art were great but all to soon it's the same old "choose from 2 or more random options and see what happens". There is never a way to know where your choices will lead and never a reason to choose one option over the other. While I guess this is supposed to be fun, I don't find it so. I was hoping for something more modern.

Viscera Cleanup

You know those games where you run around killing all the bad guys. Or some horrible accident kills most everyone. Well someone has to clean up after all of that, and that someone is you. This one definitely only has niche appeal, but if you ever liked playing with a power washer and have a very dark sense of humor this might be a game for you.

Black Mesa

A remake of the original Half Life in a modern engine. If you want to replay Half Life get this. On the downsides, it still has those ever so annoying jumping puzzles and it can be a bit of a slog, but you have to play far enough to get to level 15: Zen. In the original game you can see that they ran out of time and the level is mostly just a big blank black space. Now, they have fully fleshed it out and it looks like a scene from Avatar. It's Half Life, just better.

Tailsman: Digital Classic Edition

It's faithful to the original and it still sucks. You might as well play Chutes and Ladders for all of the strategy involved. The only reason to play this is because it's free and nostalgia.

Dicey Dungeon

Note: Review was done at 6 hours where I completed level one for each character.

And for something at the complete other side from Darkest Dungeon we have Dicey Dungeon. A lighthearted Rogue Like game of rolling dice to defeat a colorful cast of "monsters". You get some skills to help you along the way allowing you to modify the dice rolls and try and create interested combos. With 5 playable character each very different there is a solid 5 hours of content. About my only complaint is the "unlockable" levels where they play with the formula like halving your health at the start for a "twist". These feel way to much like puzzles and are really dependent on your dice rolls.

Darkest Dungeon

Assemble you band of 4 mercenaries to brave the dungeons. Incredible art style and sense of atmosphere. That being said, I just couldn't get a feel for the combat. All of the reviews that I've read talk about the incredible complexity of the interaction with different characters, but I just didn't see it. It's a shame as I loved everything else especially the idea that all of your heroes get emotionally and physically beat up with every adventure and you have cure them as best you can in between adventures. Each get more and more "Quirks" as you continue to throw them in the dungeon to fight monsters.

Grim Legends 1

A hidden object game with a bit of a story. Follow along with the story and try to find the important objects on each screen. Nothing mind bending here. Just a fun and well put together casual game.

Bad North

This should have been a slam dunk for me. It looks good, plays smooth, has character, etc. Just didn't grab me. I can't tell if the battles are a bit too chaotic or if I'm missing some important strategy. There is likely some way that the different unit types interact in a rock-paper-scissors fashion, but I could not discern it in the time that I played.

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain

Another of the Choose Your Own Adventure Book to computer game translations. Still the same issues of arbitrariness with the books, copied over for random encounter after encounter. A real shame there is nothing to the source material as the conversion is rather nifty looking.

Elder Sign: Omens

It's Yahtzee. It's a downsized version of Arkham Horror that loses everything in the process to make it simpler. Roll dice and hope they match the symbols you need. No real thinking involved.

Vampire Survivors

Do you remember enjoying playing Robotron? If you do, you will like this game.

A modern take with retro graphics this version has you battling 100's of enemies at a time as you try and stay alive. The entire point is to stay alive for 30 minutes so that Death can swoop in and kill you. They added some interesting power up mechanics and a bit of randomness so while it's still possible to lose, you have a good chance of just becoming insanely over powered near the end killing 100's of enemies every second. A fun little game to pass the time and scratch that old time arcade itch.

Slay the Spire

Note: The review was at about 60 hours

A Rouge like battling deck builder. This one is difficult to review. From the number of hours played I certainly got my money's worth but this one is an uphill battle. I originally purchased this off of steam and played it for 9 hours and only 1 win before deciding to just stop. I notice Alex had it on his Steam list and sent him and email asking if he ever got farther. And wow, does he love this game. 100's of hours played and he was very certain that the luck element I was seeing was actually just needing to learn how to play the game.

With that knowledge in had I looked up some tips and tricks and somehow to play videos for another shot. Another 30 hours in and I had finally finished the game with 3 of the 4 characters but my win percentage is still very, very, low. With the Alaska trip the next week and knowing I would have tons of time to kill in travel I figured I would see how the tablet version played.

It is excellent on mobile. It's so good it feels like it was developed for mobile as the primary and then ported to PC. On the trip I was able to Slay the Spire with the 4th and final character but I still never got to the point where I could win with any frequency. Experts seem to have a 90%+ success rate, so I must be doing a bunch wrong, but I'm a bit burnt out for now.

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

Released in 2006 I found this on a list of "Best First Person Games". Seeing it on sale for $5 I thought I would give it a try.

Unhappily this one just doesn't stand the test of time very well. The graphics are fine for a game this old, but it got old very fast walking around in circles trying to figure out what I was supposed to do next.

It was also hard, seriously hard. I never got the defense and attack mechanic down which probably fueled my frustration.

Sorcery by Steve Jackson

First Adventure Completed. The game has four.

A digital conversion of the Book written in 1983.

On the plus side it's a very nice looking and faithful adaption of the same. Unfortunately it's a faithful adaption of the book with all of the randomness and arbitrary choices that might lead to your death for utterly random reasons. It's also a rather fast game to complete a single play through so I'm not too fond of the value.

For some reason I was not able to take pictures from Steam or from a straight Print screen so I'll have to steal one from Steam Games Page.

Hero of the Kingdom 1

A mixture of narrative fiction, with some trading, and a bit of find the hidden object. If none of that makes sense, don’t worry about it because it all makes sense when you play it. For me this was the perfect game at the perfect time. Something to relax with while drinking a couple of beers guiding your character around the story. At 5 hours it's a bit short, but if you can get it on sale it's well worth your money and your time.

A Mortician's Tale

Do you want an idea of what a Mortician does? If you do, this is the game for you.

Ok, it's more of an interactive experience as you can't die or fail, but it's an interesting experience. I only wish it was longer than a single hour. If you can get it on a heavy discount and find the information interesting it's worth the time. It kinda reminds me of the flash games that were popular about ten years ago.

Firewatch

More like interactive fiction than a game but interesting. Some reviews have called it a "walking simulator”. I don't think you can actually die but it does manage this continuous sense of anticipation during the entire game. It's a first person game that mostly has you walking around the wood and interacting with random items. As you do so, you progress the story along to the conclusion.

The most difficult part is finding your way around. This is not a FPS with a heads up display giving you a location icon that leads you exactly where you need to go. This game as a map and a compass. It does take a little pity on you with showing your exact place on the map at all times, but it's a heck of a lot more difficult to use a map and compass for all route finding that you think it will be.

And before I forget, here is a special shout out for that introduction. That is a hell of a way to start a game. Hey, remember that movie Up and how fun the intro was? I think we should make that into the start of our game.

Spoiler: I was going to give this a 4/5 but felt the ending was a bit of a letdown. Yes it's a fine ending but has a bunch of plot holes. After all of the buildup I was really hoping for a more shocking ending or something with a crazy twist.

Gorogoa

Puzzle games are not for everyone and normally they are not for me, but this one is simply incredible.

Where to start? At its most basic, it's a sliding puzzle game. But it’s also sliding puzzle game were the puzzle pieces are videos that play with your sense of location, scale, and rotation. By moving, zooming, and rotating the pieces you allow your character to walk between the tiles pickup up items that you need to complete the game.

And did I mention it has an overarching story tying everything together? And wonderful art and style?

Just buy it already!

Superflight

Short and fun. Strap on your wing suit and try not to crash into the rocks. It's hard to complain much about a $3 game. It's fun for an hour or so, but don't expect more than what you see. The controls are responsive and everything just kinda works.

Deathtrap Dungeon

A digital remake of one of the choose your own adventure books from the 80’s. About 2.5 hours to complete, but fun for the price. Like most of these it's VERY random. In this particular case they at least give you 6 lives to finish the adventure with you only having to replay some parts when you die, but you have to be fine with the utterly cheap deaths to enjoy this type of game. I purchased the 3 pack and played the first to the end, but was not interested in playing the next few.

The negatives aside, it's a great way to get the feel of the books in an enjoyable way.

"A digital adaption of the iconic Deathtrap Dungeon trilogy of books by Ian Livingstone. Play as a novice adventurer and rise up through the ranks in this epic tale of deadly traps, fearsome monsters and devious adversaries." - Steam

Inside

A side scroller that just drips with atmosphere. The game not only looks fantastic but the controls are tight and responsive. There is a great twist to the game at about the 75% mark and it's just great. A must play. Similar to the game Limbo so if you like one, you will like the other.

As with all of these types of games there are a couple of annoying timing puzzles that I could do without but there is an excellent play through on YouTube I used 3-4 times as I'm just not into banging my head against a wall anymore. The only thing keeping this from a perfect 5/5 is the slightly ambiguous ending.

Universal Paperclips

A little free game where you ask "what could possibly go having an AI run your paperclip making factory".

In the style of other "clicker" games you earn money, purchase upgrades and repeat. If you like this gameplay style at all this is a must. Even if you don't the ending of this game is simply brilliant. A sci-fi short story wrapped up in a game. Bonus points for a game that has you create von Neumann probes that drift from the mission causing a civil war.

The Long Dark

This review is for the Story Mode. I have not tried the pure survival style.

A fun game and worth playing the first chapter. I purchased this game years ago when most of it was unfinished but decided to load it again after seeing a note about the most recent update. I can say that it's a complete game and worth a look. I purchased it as a survival game hoping for more in the vein of Don't Starve, but the story mode seems to be were the development went. Not terribly difficult but I did have to restart about halfway through as I burned through to many resources while learning during my play through.

Crysis 2

A fun first person shooter. I almost gave up on this because I was playing it more as a charge forward and kill everything game in the vein of Serious Sam and found it extremely difficult. This game was made to be played more like splinter cell where you creep around shooting people in the back.

Portal 2

Maybe I missed something, but this just seems like a level pack for Portal 1. Portal 1 was great and the novelty was incredible yet I kinda thought this was supposed to add something more. If you just want more of the same, this will scratch the itch. If you are looking for a new experience just keep going.

Dragon Age Origins

So much to like about this game but it's just not for me.

After a couple of hours of play, I got the same feeling I did when playing Assassin's Creed. Namely that I was just playing an interactive story and not playing game where I could chart my own course. The second major issue for me is the camera angle.

While there is a top down view available my guess is that this game was meant to be played using a third person over the shoulder camera view. By far my least liked. While this view is fine for walking around, it's horrible for combat which leads you to switching back and forth all the time which really kills the immersion for me.

Lastly, while it's really cool to have 6 different origin stories when you start the game, I didn't connect with any of the 3 I tried. Maybe bad luck, maybe I just like going my own way.

In the past I've played and completed Baulders Gate 1 & 2, Icewind dale 1 & 2, and Neverwinter nights, so I'm not a stranger to this type of gameplay but this one just didn't work for me but can understand it's popularity.

Banished

It's fun and well-polished but short. It seems that the "challenge" and long term play of the game is simply to grow a larger settlement and have more and more things to keep track of. The early game shines as a cross betewen a city builder and a survival game, but then runs out of steam afterwards. Once you have a stable settlement the point seems to just make the settlement larger and larger.

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing

Pretty much identical to Grim Dawn with all the same issues.

1. Your Character starts off to powerful
2. The view distance is small so ranged weapons are not that fun
3. You just get swarmed by monsters over and over without variation
4. When you get the options for skill upgrades there are no suggestions so you just go, meh?

Sacred 3

A very large departure from the other Sacred games and not in a positive direction. This game is not really even an RPG but more of a Hack-n-Slash in the vein of Gauntlet.

Assassin's Creed Director's Cut

It felt more like I was watching a movie than playing a game. To say that this game is "on rails" is an understatement. I guess I was expecting something with just a bit more freedom or at least some options.

What Remains of Edith Finch

Not as much a game as an interactive story. You wander through your old family house as the last surviving member of the family. As you wander about you trigger small set pieces about each of the 12 previous members of the family. While you can't die and there are not any jump scares, the game just gives this "off" feeling to everything. About the best I can relate it to is reading the old "Creepy Comics" as a kid, where every story not matter how wholesome it started was sure to take a dark turn.

While very short in game play, I could easily recommend this if you can get it on sale. It's unique and just does a great job leading you through the story. I'm only knocking off one star because it had an ambiguous ending. And I hate ambiguous endings.

Grim Dawn

It's a fine game but it didn't grab me. A pretty average CRPG identical to others I've played in the past like Diablo, Fate, and Titan Quest. This one just didn't have anything new to bring to the table.

It also has both problems I'm seeing with a couple other recent CRPG's.

1. Your Character starts off to powerful
2. The view distance is small so ranged weapons are not that fun
3. You just get swarmed by monsters over and over without variation
4. When you get the options for skill upgrades, there are no suggestions so you just go, meh?

Little Nightmares

I so wanted to like this game. It's very similar to Limbo which I loved so this one should have been a slam dunk. Great artwork and a really smart camera. The creepiness factor on this one is just way off the scale.

Unfortunately, the save points are automatic, and the 4th time you replay a section, it's anything but creepy.

I also found many of the puzzles to be unintuitive. I had this issue a couple of times in Limbo as well, but this time I hit three roadblocks in only an hour when playing this game. I'm sure I'll go back to this sometime but I really can't recommend it.

Sacred 2 Gold

Poor visibility and view distance seems to be the theme with last 4 games I've played and this one rounds out the set. The camera view on this is just horrible. You can switch to a nearly overhead view but you still can't see any reasonable distance.

Extra points for some of the worst character design in years. Who did the art design on this, a group of 13 year old boys? Wasp waists, big breasts, and boob armor with fig leaves. This is so bad it's more of a parody than real character design.

Tales from Candlekeep

Another game with plenty to like but hamstrung with poor tactical gameplay. I'm finding it very strange that they made a game entirely about small tactics, and somehow managed to miss the mark.

The problem with the game is that the area is just too small. To "reveal" a new area you stand at the edge of an existing area and then display the new area in a chunk. The problem is that the areas you reveal are only 3 or 4 squares wide and monsters move 5 or 6 spaces a turn. Compound this with a rule where monsters get to move right after you reveal and area and it removes any kind of movement or ranged weapon use. Even stranger is that the main character has a bow. A bow that is basically useless.

Rezrog

A small tactical dungeon crawl.

Let's start with the good. The graphics and style are a perfect 10/10 with a delightful little style. Everything about this game makes me want to like it. It also ran rock solid on my computer, so whatever bugs they had in the past are gone. But then things go downhill.

The first and largest issue for me was the lack of tactics. The rooms are so small that you can almost never use any type of ranged attack, and since the monsters move at the same speed you do, once you have started combat you can't run away. You will either finish it or die. All encounters then become a basic, open door, maybe get one ranged attack in, then stand toe to toe trading blows until one of you dies.

And then the Grind starts.

Side Note: While reading other reviews, it seems like much of the basic gameplay has changed over time, so by the time you read this you might or might not have a different experience.

At this time the rules are that once you start a dungeon, you must complete it to leave. If you "die" during the attempt your character is "captured". You must then use one of your free characters to attempt to free them. This sounds like an interesting twist on the surface, but it works poorly in practice.

• You don't know how difficult or how long any dungeon is until you try it. This leads to a lot of characters getting captured.
• Because you need multiple characters, you are always grinding multiple characters.
• If a character gets captured at the last second, you lose all experience and items.
• Since you can't do part of a hard dungeon, you are always playing the easy dungeons over and over again.

Truly a shame as there is so much to like here, but I just can't see grinding away at this for hours.

Skyrim

Yes I'm late to the party but yes this game lives up to all of the hype even 11 years later. Not a lot I can add that hasn't been said a hundred times.

In short, just buy it. The "Special Edition" regularly goes on sale a couple of times a year and will work just fine for you. It took me just over 100 hours to finish the main quest but I did get sidetracked a bunch. I could easily spend another 100 hours just poking around so it's really difficult not to get your money's worth.

Oxygen Not Included

Another fun game from Klei. Definitely more of a city building type of game than a survival game. While interesting I think it's almost mandatory to read some "getting started guides" before playing. I got far enough along to have done all of the basic base building activities, but kinda got lost with what to do next after finishing some basic structures like the barracks and hall. I had oxygen, food, and a relatively clean base and figuring out what to do next was a bit of a head scratcher.

Karateka (2012)

A fun remake of the classic from 1984. A side view of your character running down a path, meeting a bad guy, and then trading attacks before moving on to the next encounter. It sounds a bit simple, but it has some great cinematic moments and the controls are tight. With a playtime of about 30 minutes to complete a run, it does not overstay its welcome. A nice 3D look. Short and sweet, it's fun but not something you are going to play forever. If you remember and played the original, you just have to purchase it and try it.

Red Orchestra 2

First Person military shooter. An attempt to be more realistic, but just way to chaotic for me. I found it incredibly difficult to tell friend from foe, or even determine where the enemies were. The enemies on the other hand had no problem whatsoever in shooting me. I've not played Battlefield or modern Call of Duty so I don't have much comparision.

Ascension

A computer version of the Competitive Deck building game Ascension. You have seen Magic the Gathering, so you know what you are in for.

I loved that the computer version had the option to choose between 11 different expansion packs.

Reviews of the physical game on BBG are mixed to say the least. As I only played this game for 9 hours before calling it done and finished I would say I found it entertaining in the short term, but not really a game for the long term.

Many people agree that 2 players is the best experience. Or to be fair, they specifically say "only play this with 2 players. Do not play this with 3 or 4 players, it will suck".

Most negative reviews (which I agree with) cite the randomness, lack of combos, and lack of tactical opportunities due to the inability to know if certain cards will ever even be played in a specific game.

Antihero

A fun computer board game. Build and run your empire of thieves and take control of the city.

Enjoyable and good for about 8 hours of play. There is a campaign and skirmish mode if you want to play solo, but I got the impression that this was not the main focus of the development. While I enjoyed the campaign it was a bit short and could have used a bit more variety.

I would still recommended it but maybe not for the $15 full price.

Scanner Sombre

What if LiDAR was a game? You have a scanner and get a dot representation of the world around you as you scan. More of a tech demo than a game. A shame, as it has some interesting gameplay ideas and I would have loved to see a full story built around them.

Victor Vran

Another Action heavy CRPG. If you like this type of game this is well done. It reminds me of Bastion. Both are fine little games, but both are much more "action" games than a "rpgs". It looks nice and plays fine so if this is the kind of game you are looking for it's a good choice.

What does deserve a shout out is the great music by George Strezov which really hits that "Diablo" sound vibe.

F.E.A.R. 2

While I thought I had played this before, Steam has zero hours of me playing it. It's a fine shooter, but many of the interesting scares are really only super creepy the first time you saw them in FEAR 1. The bad guys are still smart and will flank you given any opportunity and the graphics are good. I've played about 1/3 of it so far and have just escaped from the starting hospital. I was going to call it as it had not grabbed me, but most of the reviews mention the first part being the least interesting so I'm torn as to continue or not.

Update: Seems the answer was not. Some reviews mentioned that the second portion of the game where you explored the city was more interesting but there was also some of the dreadful "sniper" areas where it was almost planned so that you would have to die multiple times figuring out the exact way across an area. Definitely an immersion killer.

Far Cry 1

Poor visuals even at max settings and horrible AI. Not that the AI is not effective, no they have super human vision and will see you and shoot at you a million miles away.

Released in 2004 this really doesn't stand the test of time. F.E.A.R released just a year later is an incredible superior game in every way.

PC Gamer had this to say about the game. "The original Far Cry stood out for its massive open environments and the aggressive AI soldiers within. Firefights didn’t take place in a tightly scripted series of corridors" but "with enemies that have acute senses and preternatural aim anyone would envy."

Besiege

Build a machine, then use it to destroy something. Think Polybridge, but it's in 3D and you are trying to destroy the bridge. Personally I found the game a riot. The do a good job switching up the challenges so that you have to keep changing your approach.

Difficult to find anything to dislike about this game. I'm only giving it a slight downgrade because of the tutorial. Getting a machine that can turn is essential to everything and the design they have you build is pretty worthless in that regard. I guess they expected the target audience to want to figure that out for themselves, but it's simple a lot more fun to at least have the base frame working before starting to experiment.

Bastion (2011)

A fun isometric shooter. If I liked isometric shooters I would easily give this a 4 or 5, but they are just not my type of game. I also died a lot. The Difficulty of this game really seems to increase way to fast. I'm getting less than 20 minutes of gameplay before I've got to the point where I'm dying every 5 minutes. Unsure if I'm just not good at them or if this is particularly difficult. I'm quitting because I'm tired of dying all the time. What really makes this game fun is the narrator who constantly narrates on whatever you are doing. It has a great sense of humor. The gameplay is similar to the old "Crusader: No Remorse" game.

Revision: So last night I fired up the game for one more play just so that I could get a few screen captures. Given my previous attempts I thought I would set a timer to see how long I could play until I just started dying all of the time. And of course, that meant that I didn't. After an hour of playing I was still happily going along finding new things. I'm really unsure what changed in my playstyle but a combination of being far more cautious in general with the occasional rush and run past everything seems to be the playstyle the game favors. If you like iso metric action games, I would definitely recommend this game.

Polybridge

Build a bridge. Watch it fall apart as soon as a car tries to drive over it. This is a riot. A must for anyone that likes to build things, or watch them fail horribly.

I played this over Christmas and was ready to put it away and then I noticed there was a way to compete with your friends for building the least expensive bridge that still survived. This led to a fierce competition with Alex that was an absolute blast. Given the free form nature of the game there are always multiple solutions, but some will be less expensive than others. Nothing like spending $10k on your masterpiece and finding out your friend completed the level with $8k and just staring at the screen wondering….. How!?!

Limbo

Some games have atmosphere, Limbo made from atmosphere.

A short (4-5 hour) side scrolling puzzle game. There are 38 Chapters each of which some have multiple puzzles.

I was ready to give it a perfect 5/5 but the last 3 Chapters were unlike the rest of the game and were all jumping and timing puzzles which are the ones I really don't like. I'm unsure why the developers just decided to switch at the end. That being said the rest of the game was very enjoyable. If you don't like hitting your head against the wall on some puzzles find a good hint site. There are plenty of good puzzles so there is no reason to rage quite because you can't figure out 1 or 2.

7 Days to Die

I've played a lot of 7 days to Die. 287 hours as of writing this. There is still more to see and it has not disappointed.

I purchased it on 7/2016 so I probably started with Alpha 14 or 15. Given that the base building aspect of Minecraft was one of my favorite parts and I love zombie games this one was always going to be a slam dunk. Add some co-op with friends and this has become my favorite game.

Do you like to build things? Do you like to explore? Do you like the idea of building a castle and fighting off the invaders? Then this game might be for you.

ROTMG (Realm Of The Mad God)

I loved this game back in 2020 and gave it another go to see what has changed.

So what has changed with "EXALT"? It got easier. While I have some reservations, it is very nice to actually be able to see some of the more difficult dungeons. But now they have the opposite issue, they just need a reason to even bother with the easier dungeons. The balance is better, but just not quite there yet. I feel like all of the dungeons before 20th level are a bit useless which is a shame. You can just power through levels 1-20 by doing the quest of the moment till you reach lv 20. There seems to be no reason for any of the minor dungeons. On the positive side as a long time player, it's nice to actually be able to play or even solo the Tier 4 Dungeons without paying money for better equipment. Hey I played another 30 hours so I must have liked it.

I first played this game back in 2009 when flash games were all the rage. I played it a lot, but never really figured some rather important pieces and more or less stopped as soon as I got to the "god lands". This time I decided to learn more about the mechanics and see what else there was to the game.

My thoughts the second time around? Still fun. I do recommended it, but that recommendation comes with a bunch of caveats.

This is a "Rouge Like" and you will die and loose everything repeatedly. Not, might die, but "you will die". And you will do so over and over. If you are the kind of person that is tempted to "rage quit", this might not be the game for you.

With that being said, how to describe this game?

It's an arcade, multi player, lite RPG with 8bit graphics. You have an overhead view of the world and you running around killing monsters and collecting loot. You work up from level zero to level 20 over about 2 hours while trying not to die a single time as that means you start from nothing. Ok, almost nothing. You have a chest with space for 8 items, but anything you are carrying with you is gone.

There is no player vs player combat, and the game has a shared experience system, so it gives you plenty of reason to play with others.

I had planned on a much more expansive "Let's play" for this, but I got sidetracked.

I played for about 120 hours later so I think I saw most of what the game has to offer.

Can I recommend this game? Definitely. It's a "free to play" so your cost of entry is literally nothing but some time. I spent maybe $15 in perks to make it more friendly.

Fate

A nice little Action RPG from 2005. Available on Steam for $8. Created in 2005 it bridges the gap between Diablo 2 in 2001 and Torchlight lin 2010. If you are familiar with those, then you know the gameplay. From start to finish it's about 14 hours to complete.

I played this game only a couple years after it was created and played a handful of character builds so I would say there is a good bit of replay. But what I really like and what brought me back to play it again is the inheritance system.

After you have completed the Game, you have the option of "retiring" a character and creating a descendent.

At that point you will no longer be able to play the original character anymore and the save will be marked as "retired", but you will be able to pass along one item that your newly created character will start with. The item will also have all stats raised by 20%. Hum. It just asks to be power gamed.

Lux for the iPad

A better clone of Risk than Risk itself.

I’ve acutally been playing this on and off for a couple of years now, and I’ve bought both of the expansion games “Ancient Empires Lux” and “”American History Lux”. It’s still being updated and sold by Sillysoft Games. This type of game is perfect for the iPad and they have done a great job of keeping it simple while adding at least a few user options. The best feature they have added is the ablity to create, upload, and rate, user created maps. The maps are free, easy to find, and rateing by the user community so they are easy to find. It makes for some great replay after you have played the classic game a couple times.

Agricola for the iPad

Another game that I really wanted to like and while an excellent conversion, just doesn't make it to the recommended category. In this case it’s probably that there is some subtle part of the strategy that Louise and myself are missing which is limiting the strategic element. The in game tutorial is very nice but if you are a brand new player I think you need the complete rules available to get the details. From what I can tell the conversion is rock solid, so I would really like the thoughts of someone who is familiar with the original board game.

Silver Sword for iPad

I liked this game but it suffered from interface problems where on my iPad the movement buttons were not in a good place. Given the placement of the virtual arrow key buttons on the upper right I could find no comfortable hand position to use them. This might work for a top down game, but for this type of game you really need to use the arrow keys a lot. I think it might have worked much better with keys on the lower right or left.

This is not a fault of the programmer, but it’s amazing just how bad touch screens work for applications that required a single button to be pressed repeatedly.

It’s a shame because this is a great reworking of the classic Bard’s Tale games. If there was a better movement interface I would easily give this a 5/5. I’m wondering if the movement keys are located for use with an iPhone. Personally I would find the text far to small, but many people seem to read from the iPhone with no issue, so I’m probably just getting old. I also read on the message board that Bluetooth keyboards are now supported. Since I’m planning on getting one, I’m very interested in trying this again.

Talisman for iPad

Gameplay is a 2. The conversion of the board game to the iPad is a 5.

Since I had wanted to purchase the board game Talisman for a couple years now (as it was the oldest item on my Amazon wish list) I was excited that a conversion had been made and the software was available on the iPad for only $7 and playable against the computer. Perfect for a trip we had coming up. The game looks great and is a textbox model of how to port a board game.

Unfortunately, the original game is rather bad. As one reviewer said “It’s D&D meets monopoly”. It’s mostly a luck of the dice game where the players don’t really have any meaningful choices to make and luck decides every game.

As I said earlier, this is a great conversion and I hope that the poor reivews of this game don’t convince other developers from doing more conversions in the future, I just hope they have better source material.

Note: The game sold as both Talisman and Talisman prologue (Single Player conversion with slightly different rules) but you can play the original against the computer.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Created in 2007, this is the next level in RPG games. From The Bards Tale, to Baldur's Gate, this is what RPG games have now evolved to. You can purchase it on Steam for $20 or wait a couple months and get it on one of their regular sales of $10.

Yes I know that this game has now been superseded by Part V: Skyrim but did you notice that in all of the reviews they keep referencing Oblivion? That’s because this is the game that it is measured against and for good reason. I just finished the main quest story line and it has an ending that is well suited to the grander and scope of the rest of the game. As far as “finishing the game” there are about 200 quests in the same so if you attempted to finish every single one it would take forever.

Just a few of the highlights

• The Gameworld is absolutely huge
• You could play for 100 hours and still have more to discover, or just play the main story quest and get a feeling of accomplishment and completion.
• A beautiful game on a modern computer where you can crank up the detail.
• Great and Epic ending to the main story quest
• A huge about of user mods so if there is something you dont like, you can fix it

The Bards Tale - Game Review

Personally I loved it. Consider it a trip down memory lane with the way back machine. This required it's own page.

FTL

It’s fun and good for a couple of hours. About the only negative thing I can say is that the end game is really way to difficult. I actually reached the last battle 3 times, and then lost each and every time. It’s only $10 on steam and regularly goes on sale for $6 so the price hard to beat.

One option to make the game more enjoyable is to turn ON the option for “Show beacon paths on hover”. I have no idea why the developer decided not to include this as a default.

Legend of Grimrock - Game Review

Do you wish they still made games like Bards Tale or The Dungeon Master? You’re in luck. In 2012 an independent producer created “The Legend of Grimrock”. It’s a “semi real time” grid based dungeon crawl. Similar to Dungeon Master from 1987 where you have a small amount of time to make your move, it’s not real a frenetic pace and plays more like a turn based game.

This is the game I wish they had made as an upgrade to the original Bards Tale. The graphics are great, the sound is great, the programming is great. Its smaller in scope than Bards Tales with only one dungeon, but they do that one dungeon very, very, well.

• If they made The Bards Tale today, this would be it.
• Great graphics, great sound, and just a solid feel to the game.
• It's only $15 on Steam with regular sales for less.

• The puzzles are slightly to difficult. Thankfully there is an excellent wiki online.
• The End Game sequence is more of an action game, whereas the rest of the game is more turn based.

Don't Starve and Don't Starve Together

With so many additions to the game since I last played it was time to give this another round of play. Somehow this is even more incredible. They have added enough content to keep you going for hours and hours and hours. I do think the entire boat mechanic needs some work so I did stop short of "finishing" the game. I did play long enough to kill the Ancient Guardian in the Labyrinth and I thought that a fine place to stop. Either alone or with a friends this is one of the best games of all time.

The latest video game addiction. Combine Roguelike perma death with Minecraft crafting and night and day cycles and add a dash of Tim Burton graphics and you have a wonderfully fun and frustrating game at the same time. Just when you think the game is to hard, it gets harder. On the flip side it just makes it that much more satisfyingly to finally survive a full winter in the game. You can purchase it on STEAM regularly for under $10 on sale. Hard to beat at that price.

Some of the highlights are

• When your sanity meter does down and all the graphics and music change
• Getting all your farms working by the end of summer, just to find that when winter starts, nothing grows
• Leading a pack of wolves chasing you into a heard of buffalo.
• Surviving to the last day of winter, and then meeting the giant one eyed killer deer
• Giving your Pig friend to much raw meat, and having him turn into a Werepig and staring killing everything

Left 4 Dead

Like first person shooters? Like end of the world Zombie movies? If you do this one is a no brainer. And yes, you can get it on sale from Steam for $6.

This was designed as a co-op game but I still found it fun to play as a single person. The computer will control the other 3 characters and while they will not be spectacular they will be adequate. I would not recommend "Left for Dead 2" if you are primarily going to play alone as the computer controlled NPC’s have difficulty with some of the scripted missions (notably the mission to fill the car with gas). I also did not see where the added complexity really added anything to the game play. That being said, I do see to be in the minority in view of this, so your mileage may vary.

Magicka

There is a lot to like in this game including lots of “in jokes”, good graphics, and an interesting magic system. I really wanted to like this and even tried playing from the beginning twice. Unfortunately it just gets way to hard too fast and I found it extremely difficult to remember the complicated casting system. If you thought Bioshock took some juggling you haven’t seen anything yet. After reading some message boards there were others that have made the same complaints about difficulty. The consensus is that while there are tons of spells, there are only a small handful that are super powerful that you ever need to use. I also found a mod or two that allows macros for the spells but it really didn't help. Definately a shame.

Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter

This is a remake of the original Serious Sam from 2000 using the newer Serious Engine 3 from 2009. It really doesn’t have a story, and the AI is about as dumb as they come. What it does have is fantastic graphics and a dose of fun. The environments are brightly lit and there can be hundreds of bad guys on the screen at the same time. Of course being less that $5 doesn’t hurt either.

F.E.A.R

Yes it’s a horrible tortured acronym, but it’s also a good game. This is the first of the modern first person shooters I’ve played with smarter AI. It does take some getting used to having the npc’s duck, weave and flank you during combat.

Bioshock

An absolute must play for any fan of first person shooters. Wonderful graphics with incredible attention to detail combined with a great story. It doesn’t get much better than this. Actually it does since Steam puts in on sale regularly for less than $10.

Minecraft