rek
2018
Many people claim this is the roguelike for people who don't like roguelikes. I fall into this group but alas, did not enjoy the game.
Everything seems fairly well designed, the visuals are nice, the voice acting is good (but some characters are annoying to listen to) and the systems all work as you'd expect. Unfortunately the gameplay was not very engaging to me and felt button-mashy and grindy. This is made a bigger problem thanks to the repetitive nature of the genre, for me the game is just not interesting enough to justify the grind. For people who enjoy the gameplay I suppose this is not a grind, but for me it's not inherently rewarding to play.
Something else to complain about would be the poor visual clarity at times, there can be a lot of enemies on screen at a time and with projectile attacks it can be difficult to tell where I'm taking damage from.
Everything seems fairly well designed, the visuals are nice, the voice acting is good (but some characters are annoying to listen to) and the systems all work as you'd expect. Unfortunately the gameplay was not very engaging to me and felt button-mashy and grindy. This is made a bigger problem thanks to the repetitive nature of the genre, for me the game is just not interesting enough to justify the grind. For people who enjoy the gameplay I suppose this is not a grind, but for me it's not inherently rewarding to play.
Something else to complain about would be the poor visual clarity at times, there can be a lot of enemies on screen at a time and with projectile attacks it can be difficult to tell where I'm taking damage from.
I picked this up in the Humble Overwhelmingly Positive Gems Bundle but I can't tell if this game is bad on purpose or just bad.
The performance is good but the camera movement seems locked at 60 fps or something so it feels awful unless you cap it there. Also the camera is directly behind the player so it's unnecessarily difficult to gauge the range of your weapon. The controls should be better since the combat is so simple but for some reason I have to move left in order to swing my sword right. The game seems really low budget in general which is almost okay since it leans into it a bit. I'm just amazed at the reception of this game considering it costs £15, it felt more like a freeware game to me.
The combat is totally amateurish compared to something like Chivalry so it has no appeal to me but I suppose most people haven't played that game.
The performance is good but the camera movement seems locked at 60 fps or something so it feels awful unless you cap it there. Also the camera is directly behind the player so it's unnecessarily difficult to gauge the range of your weapon. The controls should be better since the combat is so simple but for some reason I have to move left in order to swing my sword right. The game seems really low budget in general which is almost okay since it leans into it a bit. I'm just amazed at the reception of this game considering it costs £15, it felt more like a freeware game to me.
The combat is totally amateurish compared to something like Chivalry so it has no appeal to me but I suppose most people haven't played that game.
This game is a mashup of a bunch of ideas, I'm not sure if they particularly compliment each other but I had fun with it. For the most part you can expect an experience similar to Uncharted or Tomb Raider but with a more open level design. The environments are mostly beautiful and provide some decent exploration but it's not designed to be immersive. For me, it was engaging enough to be interesting but straightforward enough that I could easily play without thinking too much, perfect for lounging after work.
The combat I would describe as souls-lite in that it worked okay but felt way too floaty and inconsistent compared to what you see in a FromSoft title. This extends to the boss fights which were pretty bad and contained numerous cutscenes and quick-time-events. I played on a lower difficulty so as to avoid the flaws becoming a problem and I think that was a good decision, I felt pretty powerful at the end. The combat is supplemented with a skill tree and force abilities that are unlocked as you progress through the game. Force pushing enemies off of edges never got old and I think that was a real strength of the gameplay that they should have leaned into more.
The story was fine, I found the characters to be mostly bland and predictable. It wasn't a big deal though since the pacing is fairly fast like Uncharted.
Something that deserves praise is the super smooth engine but I had a lot of stuttering issues caused by shader compilation. I managed to fix this with a 3rd party tool but it's unacceptable to have this in the game and it was a blemish on the first half of my playthrough. There were also a few bugs with the controls and boundaries on the levels being weird. If the game took itself more seriously, these would have been bigger problems than they were.
So overall it's by no means a must-play but if you like Uncharted style gameplay, the Star Wars IP, Tomb Raider puzzles and a bit of metroidvania/souls on the side (I like all of these things) then you should have a decent time here.
The combat I would describe as souls-lite in that it worked okay but felt way too floaty and inconsistent compared to what you see in a FromSoft title. This extends to the boss fights which were pretty bad and contained numerous cutscenes and quick-time-events. I played on a lower difficulty so as to avoid the flaws becoming a problem and I think that was a good decision, I felt pretty powerful at the end. The combat is supplemented with a skill tree and force abilities that are unlocked as you progress through the game. Force pushing enemies off of edges never got old and I think that was a real strength of the gameplay that they should have leaned into more.
The story was fine, I found the characters to be mostly bland and predictable. It wasn't a big deal though since the pacing is fairly fast like Uncharted.
Something that deserves praise is the super smooth engine but I had a lot of stuttering issues caused by shader compilation. I managed to fix this with a 3rd party tool but it's unacceptable to have this in the game and it was a blemish on the first half of my playthrough. There were also a few bugs with the controls and boundaries on the levels being weird. If the game took itself more seriously, these would have been bigger problems than they were.
So overall it's by no means a must-play but if you like Uncharted style gameplay, the Star Wars IP, Tomb Raider puzzles and a bit of metroidvania/souls on the side (I like all of these things) then you should have a decent time here.
2023
The combat is really bad which is a problem because this is a hack-n-slash game. Other interactions with the game are also not engaging, it feels like I'm just pressing buttons rather than actually playing a game, let alone being immersed in one. I'd say it's like a flash game but that would be unfair on flash games. The content seems so lacklustre which is especially concerning as the total runtime is only a few hours.
Every character in the game spams you with a 'quest' which is just a to-do list, I guess to keep engagement up. This is about the only success of the game in that it activates enough of your completionist ape brain neurons to keep you playing even though it's not good, like f2p games or a crappy show that ends every episode on a cliffhanger.
Also the camera is limited to certain angles like in a top-down game even though it's a 3D action game with open environments. It doesn't aid gameplay in any way from what I could tell so I assume this was a budgetary decision.
On the positive side, the visuals are halfway between interesting and weird. The game is easy to follow and functions well enough.
Overall I'd say this game is bad, I think people are letting a lot of the problems slide because this game is aimed at kids but I don't get it at all. Why would you want your child playing this when they could play Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet & Clank or any Nintendo game? I quit after 1 hour.
Every character in the game spams you with a 'quest' which is just a to-do list, I guess to keep engagement up. This is about the only success of the game in that it activates enough of your completionist ape brain neurons to keep you playing even though it's not good, like f2p games or a crappy show that ends every episode on a cliffhanger.
Also the camera is limited to certain angles like in a top-down game even though it's a 3D action game with open environments. It doesn't aid gameplay in any way from what I could tell so I assume this was a budgetary decision.
On the positive side, the visuals are halfway between interesting and weird. The game is easy to follow and functions well enough.
Overall I'd say this game is bad, I think people are letting a lot of the problems slide because this game is aimed at kids but I don't get it at all. Why would you want your child playing this when they could play Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet & Clank or any Nintendo game? I quit after 1 hour.
Generally mediocre gameplay but the cool world and IP make up for it. It's a bit like Uncharted in that the pacing keeps things fresh enough to keep it entertaining. Except instead of blasting enemies you give them the punchies. I liked the environments and over-the-top characters but will admit that it got repetitive at times, not enough to diminish my enjoyment but enough that you know it's a game from 2009.
2017
Solid metroidvania with plenty of content. While the mechanics are simple, I found it enjoyable for the first 20 hours or so while I explored and got the basic ending.
On it's own, that would have been strong 8/10 since it was consistent and polished. Unfortunately I found the post-game experience to be poorly signposted and overly tedious which definitely left a sour note. I don't think the game design holds up at the extreme difficulty levels but a lot of people say this is the best game ever so your mileage may vary.
On it's own, that would have been strong 8/10 since it was consistent and polished. Unfortunately I found the post-game experience to be poorly signposted and overly tedious which definitely left a sour note. I don't think the game design holds up at the extreme difficulty levels but a lot of people say this is the best game ever so your mileage may vary.
2022
Great ambience but the resource management system does not perform well under scrutiny; play poorly and the game fails to follow through on its warnings, play well and the only reward is your decision making becoming redundant. I also found the questlines to be samey in terms of plot development.
2017
Super fun and well designed platformer. Highly recommended if you enjoy the floaty movement in Super Meat Boy.
2014
Unique and quite interesting at times but not good from a gameplay perspective.
Hack-n-slash with a really cool theme. This is the first time I really got into a game of this genre. The combat is decent if a bit repetitive but the world and general attitude of the game is what sold it to me.
It has a lot of wacky ideas thrown in that aren't always perfectly implemented since it's a 2010 era action game but generally it's well done. The lore is really cool and the environments are good if a bit big and empty at times.
Overall I liked it a lot and I'm stoked to try the rest of the series.
It has a lot of wacky ideas thrown in that aren't always perfectly implemented since it's a 2010 era action game but generally it's well done. The lore is really cool and the environments are good if a bit big and empty at times.
Overall I liked it a lot and I'm stoked to try the rest of the series.
Classic Trine gameplay works well enough in 3D. It's been a while but I recall the level design being a bit better in the prior games, it was fine in this one but trailed off towards the end where they clearly ran out of development time. It's still Trine in 3D though so it's got that going for it.
2021
The appeal of this game is the wacky world and zany characters. I liked it a lot but felt like it has a fairly niche appeal. The gameplay is very simple fetch quest and QTE stuff that you'd expect from this kind of game, it's well done but not the main draw. Overall it's not going to blow your socks off but if the humour clicks with you then you'll have a good time.
Also this isn't important but I thought the sound effects that play during dialogue were amazingly done.
Also this isn't important but I thought the sound effects that play during dialogue were amazingly done.
2022
Didn't capture me at all but it was short enough to be inoffensive.
2017
Overall decent and polished but generally uninspired and surprisingly gimmicky.
A lot of moons are filler or too easy which kills the pacing and they don't feel rewarding as a result. The 3D Mario series is not known for it's difficulty but Nintendo have clearly prioritised people new to gaming with this and either not considered or don't care about how boring that makes it for experienced players.
The game is still fairly fun but I can't hide my disappointment, Super Mario Galaxy does everything better than this game and it's 10 years older.
A lot of moons are filler or too easy which kills the pacing and they don't feel rewarding as a result. The 3D Mario series is not known for it's difficulty but Nintendo have clearly prioritised people new to gaming with this and either not considered or don't care about how boring that makes it for experienced players.
The game is still fairly fun but I can't hide my disappointment, Super Mario Galaxy does everything better than this game and it's 10 years older.
2022
Stylish retro survival horror. I think it's a call-back to Resident Evil but I've not played any of those games so I'm not sure.
This one starts well with amazing atmosphere and great puzzles. The story is pretty confusing but interesting enough.
Unfortunately, the combat is annoying which was fine at the beginning because it incentivises avoiding enemies but later on the game turns into an enemy-spam fetch quest. This was a real let down because the immersion was so good at the start but the frustrating combat really hindered that, and when you take away the immersion you are suddenly left with not much worth praising.
This one starts well with amazing atmosphere and great puzzles. The story is pretty confusing but interesting enough.
Unfortunately, the combat is annoying which was fine at the beginning because it incentivises avoiding enemies but later on the game turns into an enemy-spam fetch quest. This was a real let down because the immersion was so good at the start but the frustrating combat really hindered that, and when you take away the immersion you are suddenly left with not much worth praising.