Recent reviews by DRIFTER

12 Labours of Hercules III is the third installment of the time management games loosely based on the Greek hero. While this sequel fails to bring anything new to the table, it still provides a nice casual gaming experience.

• High quality artwork, as expected
  
• Catchy orchestrated music
  
• Easy to play, challenging to master
  
• Different difficulties and a leaderboard, if scoring is your game
  
• Five additional stages, unlocked by a completion and a simple jigsaw minigame
  
• This time, a couple of stages did have multiple solutions which gives it a little more dimension than previous games

• For return players, a distinct lack of variety. No new elements are added, and the "boss" stages with minigames are all gone. This game is pure time management only.
  
• The music is good, but it's all the same from the last two games
  
• Low replayability. Once you get all the achievements, unless you plan on tackling expert mode and/or leaderboards, not much to do.
  
• Two stages in my experience actually have dead ends, meaning if you didn't plan correctly, you have to restart the stage. Being how the stages take only a couple of minutes, however, it's not a big deal
  
• On one hand, the developer scores provide a welcome challenge. On the other, they are difficult, and I'm not sure some stages can be beat easily without a lot of trial, error, or planning. You also need to know that clicking birds is a hidden score addition, which isn't included in any tutorial.
  
• IMHO, this game isn't for the story, but what story it has comes of as silly. At least, I feel that something is lost in translation, because it's not clear why the events of the game happen to the hero. I wouldn't mind dropping the rhymes if it meant a more cohesive script. This is a tiny complaint on an otherwise well made game.

The 12 Labours of Hercules series is a simple time management game, meaning that you direct a cast of workers to gather resources and complete objectives. As levels progress, it tries to spice it up with special abilities, jigsaw puzzles, and additional characters. It has all the elements of a good casual game, and especially so if you like this genre.

I feel a little let down that this game doesn't introduce anything new, and I was a little disappointed to see the removal of clicker minigames. Not that it needs them, but something - anything - to add more variety and punctuate the stages was something I missed. I still feel that the expert difficulty can be very difficult for a newcomer, and some stages almost feel impossible to complete in gold times. Potentially more aggravating are the developer times, which I will be honest, I only did the minimum required for achievements, they're that hard. But some people may love a good challenge, and in this respect, the game definitely delivers.

Achievement hunters: 100% is relatively simple, but once again you may find yourself stuck on "beat 10 developer times." Here's the trick: First, the description is wrong again, only 5 are needed. Second, you can get this easiest in the earliest game stages (since shorter and less complex design), personally I found 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 the simplest. Beyond that, requires some strategy and definitely requires clicking birds that fly by for more points. The forums and guides have some good advice, and with some effort and persistence, it's doable. Don't give up.

12 Labours of Hercules II is the obvious second in a series of time management games loosely based on the titular hero of ancient legend. While lacking any cohesive story, it is easy to forgive in light of excellent music, visuals, and gameplay. Casual gamers, this one's for you.

• Professional artwork, fantastic visuals
  
• Catchy orchestral tunes
  
• Simple controls, all mouse based
  
• Mini-game boss stages and returning special skills provide variety
  
• Has simple achievements and a much more challenging expert mode this time
  
• New gameplay elements: Resource thieves, aerial work hazards
  
• Also new, a pixel-hunting puzzle piece added to each level, then complete a jigsaw to unlock 4 bonus stages

• This game has virtually no replayability outside of leaderboards. Many levels appear to only have one linear way to tackle the level in the fastest time, so replays would only be to try to work faster doing the same sequences.
  
• The developer scores can be incredibly difficult, and even more so if you don't know how scoring works. Considering there's an achievement tied to this, you might find yourself stuck. (see tips below)
  
• To be fair, if you're playing this game it isn't for story. But what story it has is made sillier by the limericks read in five short animated sequences. The wording is strange and sounds like something was lost in translation just to make it fit. This is a simple thing to fix, and would be a nice touch on an already perfect game.

Once again, your mission is to direct a cast of workers to gather resources and build, repair, toggle switches, etc. in pursuit of a level goal. It keeps itself fresh by adding mythological characters, special abilities, clicker minigames, and puzzles. This title isn't anything terribly different from the first game, but it succeeds in pushing the bar a little bit higher. Add the impressive audio and visuals, and you've got a simple recipe for success.

There really isn't much to say negative about this game, but if I were to improve on it, the expert difficulty needs to be more balanced, and the game could use a more detailed tutorial. On one hand, it's nice from the perspective of letting the player learn through discovery, but on the other, it can be frustrating to figure out how to beat the developer times, when certain details you may never find. Ultimately I gave up on challenging dev scores beyond the achievement, because some of my best efforts were thousands less than the posted times. I'm still not sure what I'm missing.

Achievement hunters: This is a relatively easy 100% aside from "beat 10 developer times." Here's the trick: First, the description is wrong. You only need 5. Second, you can get this easiest in the earliest game stages (since shorter and less complex design), and the "boss" stages, the 10th of each section. These are simple to complete quickly but will require you to click birds out of the sky to get the extra score needed to beat them. With a bit of practice, it should take under an hour to do. You may need to exit the game for the achievements to register.

Hot off the heels of The Room, this direct sequel picks up where the last left off. It follows both in story and gameplay to deliver more of what made the first one great: manipulating all manner of improbable mechanical contraptions to win your freedom.

- Sharp, high-resolution graphics. Has settings to support low end, too.
- Ambient music that fits the mood and is never intrusive.
- A hint system that you can disable at your own pace
- The creative touchscreen inspired controls are back, and are a breeze to use
- A variety of locations, unlike the first installment

- Quite short. 2-5 hours tops.
- Virtually no replayability, since the puzzles and solutions are all the same.
- Being a direct sequel, it largely is more of the same, so if you're looking to be amazed, you might be disappointed that there aren't too many new ideas in this one.
- The next to last chapter isn't a room or puzzle at all. I believe it is there to set up the ending, but it really serves little purpose.

In case you aren't familiar with The Room, the story follows you, the unnamed protagonist, in search of a vanished researcher who was chasing after the legendary element "null." You are stuck in a series of rooms, all belonging to different places and times. The Room Two brings this short tale to a conclusion, but it's still a delightful time if you enjoy working with your hands. The game involves "safe cracking" all manner of mechanical wonders to try to escape the room. What makes it particularly unique is that it was one of the first on mobile devices, so it has a realistic feel, since you need to turn keys, flip levers, and so on, using touchscreen gestures.

If you're new to the series, do pick up the original first, although it is not necessary to enjoy this installment. And much like the first, I still recommend picking this up on sale. It's quite short, and there's no variation to the content on replay, so much like a fine wine, savor it while it lasts.

If you are reading devs, please bring Room Three to steam as well. Fullscreen PC versions bring it much more to life.

Achievement hunters: This is an easy 100% (simply complete the game)

Originally developed for iOS back in 2012, The Room was a surprise hit to its developers and for good reason. Although being insanely compact in content and developed by just a crew of two people, it scratches a specific "tinkering" itch other puzzle games haven't. Add to that its eerie but calm soundtrack, crisp HD visuals, and hints of mystery to solve, it's got all the elements of an enjoyable hour or two.

- Sharp and high-resolution graphics. Supports low end devices, too.
- Ambient music that fits the mood and is never intrusive.
- A hint system that you can disable at your own pace
- Creative use of touchscreen inputs for a "hands on" feel
- A mixture of puzzles, not just mechanical, but visual too.

- Short. 1-3 hours tops.
- Low replayability, since the puzzles and solutions are all the same.
- The touchscreen controls are part of the charm, but I feel it could have been revisited for use with a mouse; opening lids in particular required swipes, which is not very intuitive with a mouse.

The Room is essentially a safe-cracking puzzle game, with you pursuing the articles left behind by a vanished researcher in pursuit of the enigmatic element "null." The entire game is a series of contraptions in the center of a table, while you rotate the entire circumference looking for things to fiddle with. It's difficult to say much more about The Room without spoiling some of the fun; If you like working with your hands, you will love the intuitive control scheme and a-ha! moments it brings.

The Room is part of a trilogy and as of this review the 3rd has not been announced for steam. I look forward to playing the sequel next-- are you reading, devs? :)

Due to its length, I recommend purchasing it on sale. Took me about 2 hours with interruptions.

Achievement hunters: This is an easy 100% (simply complete the game)

Four years. That's how long I've visited Palamecia, and it's hard to accept it's about to close down forever. It represents one of SquareEnix's most risky ventures to date: The creation of a top quality mobile game in the Final Fantasy universe. If you happened to put this down thinking it's just another gatcha game, my condolences. You've missed out on quite an incredible experience. Final Fantasy Mobius was an experiment that dared to push the boundaries of what could be crammed into a mobile game, and while its loot box elements can be rightfully detested, the level of quality and care put into its core components truly raised the bar like never before. There has been, and currently is, no worthy (mobile) successor to this game, among anything SquareEnix has made, or its competitors.

Notice: The game shuts down June 30th. If you've started, do everything you can now.

https://steamoss.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1668882580
✅ Stunning visuals. The best looking mobile game of its time
✅ Simple, turn-based battle system that hides a wealth of strategic options and unique enemy gimmics to overcome
✅ Fully voice acted cinematics. 50hr+ campaign
✅ Franchise tie-in events: FFVII, VIII, X, XIII. All of the stories are canon. Creatively recreates the original systems inside the mobile framework: Command Aeons in X, shift paradigms in XIII, draw and cast in VIII.
✅ Incredible soundtrack. Honestly, tied for best of all time
✅ Gallery-tier professional artwork for card illustrations
✅ F2P friendly. I'm no fan of gatcha, but it was not hard to pull important banners and get the good jobs. However, this required careful research and self-control. Premium currency was farmable monthly, and given freely in events.
✅ PvE multiplayer was easy to slip in and out of on the fly
✅ Titles. A later introduction that served as stat-boosting in game achievements.
✅ Optional high-difficulty areas and challenges kept the game interesting

https://steamoss.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1225885346
❌ Lack of advertising. Few people know this game exists.
❌ Lootboxes. (Initially) opaque draw rates. Terrible odds to draw important and necessary cards
❌ Outdated cards remained in draw pool for a long time, devaluing pulls
❌ A trap for collectors and completionists. Many limited time cards never returned. Regions were removed from the game.
❌ Constant need to connect and sync after every little scene, battle, and change of location. Basically, loading screens everywhere
❌ Overused NPC models, character animations, and low-res environmental textures. Admittedly, these are consequences of space limitations on mobile
❌ Login issues (players locked out for weeks a year ago), crashes, attempts to reinstall 5 gigs+ of data on mobile even today. Something about the coding and compatibility seriously needed to be addressed.
❌ Crushed under the weight of its budget. More on this below.

https://steamoss.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1568536966
Mobius is a legitimate entry in the Final Fantasy franchise, incorporating familiar elements: A nameless protagonist goaded into becoming the Warrior of Light (hereby referred to as WoL), Cid, Moogles, Chocobos, Tonberries, and much more. It takes place on a planet called Palamecia, which is threatened by a reviving evil called Chaos. But there's more to the tale than that: Chaos gives rise to despair, in turn, the Warrior gives people hope, and that hope is then harvested and sent off to worlds unknown. In Season One, you break this cycle, and in Season Two, you witness the consequences.

WoL is not your typical FF protagonist. He's sarcastic and cynical throughout the adventure, constantly expressing doubts as to his role and purpose. And rightfully so--the people mindlessly obey a so-called prophecy, and it seems everything he does is made to fit the narrative. As it turns out, there is a third party pulling the strings, and this confrontation comes to a head in the game's penultimate climax. Throughout this time, you'll meet heroes who join your cause, befriend former enemies, and even meet a handful of fully-fleshed out franchise cameos by way of collaborative events.

Mobius is a turn-based RPG with customizable decks. You choose a job, then equip 4 cards. Cards can broadly be classified into attack and support, but it's more complex than that. Enemies have two gauges: HP and Break. Very similar to FFXIII's battle system, you can try to deplete an enemies' HP directly, but if you break them, not only can you deal massive damage, you also stall them from taking turns.

Mobius' primary focus was its single player campaign, with not only a multi-chapter story, but also seasonal events, anniversaries, and franchise collaborations. Multiplayer was available, but only as PvE. Together with up to 3 other players, you could fight familiar summons from X through XIV, and earn additional cards and resources. Party balance required consideration of a support, attackers, breakers, and rarely, defenders (tankers). The game did have a competitive aspect, by way of battle towers. These were the true testing ground of the game, requiring a comprehensive understanding of the game's mechanics, debuffs, unique enemy gimmics, and stall tactics, to survive just one more battle. Most players never got to see this side of Mobius, but make no mistake, there was a real elegance in this game's ability to make its simple framework devilishly difficult.

All of the above sounds great, right? So why is Mobius closing? As egregious as it may be, this game does not earn enough to be worth the effort. When compared to Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius and Final Fantasy: Record Keeper, both games outperform this one multiple times over; They are 2D pixel games, whereas this one is full 3D cinematics, voice acting, pro-level artist commissioned illustrations. And we didn't even talk about the actual staff assigned to this game: Mobius boasts the creative directors behind everything from FF7:R to XIV, Chrono Trigger, and Kingdom Hearts... this wasn't some outsourced spinoff game. But to pay their salaries in addition to everything else, the money just wasn't there to justify its ballooning budget.

And then there's the matter of power creep. Mobius may have very well boxed itself into a corner by the end of Season 2. Enemies everywhere were being given "damage reduction" status, because cards and jobs were becoming simply too strong; Players saw the introduction of version 2 buffs and debuffs to outclass the existing meta. It really begs the question what the next move would have been, other than to merely raise the damage reduction cap even further.

Sadly, when Mobius shuts its server down, there will be no way to replay its story or experience its gameplay outside of Youtube archives. Naturally, players who invested significant funds into this game won't be getting anything tangible for those efforts, outside of the memories they've made. Once again, I find myself musing about the worth of games as a service. Do we really want to fund games with a destined day of demise?

Mobius was not a perfect game. But I look at its departure with a feeling of loss. Few games come close to its production values, its strategic depth, or its F2P accessibility. And those delicious collabs... who knows what creative twist would have been cooked up in the next cameo? One can only imagine.

Thank you Kitase, Toriyama, and the entire team at Square Enix for a memorable adventure. I look forward to your future projects...and just maybe, to meet our heroes once more.

Achievement Hunters: Impossible to complete solo. The exploration regions were removed 2 years ago, and after 6/30, will become unplayable. It is still possible to device share with an existing player's ID, but good luck finding someone willing.

Hailing from the STASIS universe, CAYNE is a game based on the same ethically corrupt corporation central to the story. You play as a surrogate mother who wakes up in an unfamiliar facility, heavy with child, trying to escape.

• Improved graphics over its predecessor - fully rendered 3d characters and objects, superimposed on handmade HD pre-rendered backgrounds
  
• Scaling and resolution options are available - STASIS lacked these
  
• Decent voice acting, and a good amount is voiced at that
  
• Ambient sounds, sound effects, and music are well made
  
• Possible to complete in one sitting, estimated 2 hours without getting stuck
  
• Contains a nice little easter egg achievement set that requires some decoding skills, if you like a challenge.
  
• Comes at the lowest cost ever: Free

• The melodramatic and sometimes cheesy voice acting of the first is back, at times, it is grating
  
• Flavor text is still sparse for the most part, and puzzles don't necessarily tell you what the goal is. You may end up brute forcing solutions once again because you don't really know what the main character wants or needs to do
  
• A large part of the text is yet again diary entries, and since what's in them is about all the story you're going to get, it breaks pacing and might feel like a chore by the end
  
• Some odd design choices such as allowing a critically injured man to scream non-stop while you're searching around and trying to solve a puzzle. I like their sound design but at times it is purely distracting.

If you're a fan of STASIS you'll definitely want to pick up CAYNE to get your fill; if you are new to the series this might give you a taste of what's in store if you're on the fence about STASIS. Either way, it's a decent point and click adventure, but be warned that it contains some profanity and gore, as well as some disturbing content surrounding the characters, which is not suitable for young audiences.

Achievement hunters: You'll get all the story achievements automatically. Only the easter eggs will require some work, and the last one could be challenging without some knowledge of ciphers. Happy hunting.

12 Labours of Hercules is first in a series of time management games loosely based on the titular hero of ancient legend. While possessing a paper-thin plot, its excellent production values shine through for what it was made to do: provide a top-notch casual gaming experience. The breakdown:

• Professional artwork, clean and crisp presentation
  
• Fantastic musical score, featuring a range of instruments
  
• Simple controls (point and click) and easy to pick up
  
• Tight and well-tuned gameplay, responsive
  
• A range of special abilities that very per level that add a welcome twist
  
• Boss stages in the form of a series of mini-games
  
• Features fairly simple achievements and a leaderboard to re-challenge old scores

• Pretty easy game; might not be enough of a challenge for some
  
• Achievements are likewise low-effort for the most part, requiring tasks you'd complete anyway over the course of longer levels
  
• Other than beating your old score, not much to replay here
  
• It is possible to get stuck in a handful of levels if you don't plot your route well. This means restarting the level. Unsure if this was intentional design.
  
  This game is short and simple: Direct a cast of minion workers to gather resources and build, repair, toggle switches, etc. in pursuit of a level goal. It keeps itself fresh by adding characters, special abilities, and to a limited degree, puzzles in the sense of planning your route ahead of time. It mixes things up with clicker minigames in the form of boss battles. I also want to give extra praise to the devs for excellent visuals and audio, this is as good as it gets for a casual game.
  
  It's a delightful romp and worth a run through - highly recommended. Looking forward to playing the sequels.
  
  Achievement hunters: This is an easy 100%

STASIS is a point-and-click story set in a sci-fi setting, with a dark and streamlined narrative. Without spoiling anything, let me give the rundown:

• Above average voice acting
  
• Well produced visuals
  
• A rather unconventional 3/4 isometric presentation
  
• Simple interface
  
• Casual-gamer friendly puzzles (most are solvable in 1-2 screens and inventory never exceeds a handful of items)
  
• A compelling atmosphere
  
• Not particularly scary
  
• All achievements can be obtained in one run

• The voice acting, while decent, is quite melodramatic and sometimes forced
  
• Contains gore that may be off-putting to some (suicide achievements?)
  
• Too much emphasis on digital diaries to drive the plot, skip them, and you miss important details
  
• An overall lack of flavor text for many things, including inventory, which may push the player to brute force solutions for sheer lack of information. When the puzzles do make sense, they're often too simple, which might disappoint challenge seekers.
  
• Unskippable cutscenes and autosaves - beware, achievement hunters - save often
  
• The plot feels rather empty with only 3 active characters in the entire game
  
• About ~5 hours to complete without rushing, no alternate endings, and little replayability outside achievements

Overall, STASIS succeeds in telling a compelling story of a man in search of his family, but it is nothing particularly mind-blowing. You'll hate the stereotypical villain and cheer and cry with the unfortunate MC. The visuals and sequences are quite reminiscent of the Alien film franchise and will make you want to see the mission to the end. Although it advertises itself as a horror story, I find it to be more suspense, since the isometric presentation inadvertently creates a distance between the player and the action. It tries very hard to shock and disturb with moderate levels of gore, which for the most part, I found detracting and over the top. But STASIS maintains fairly even pacing from start to finish and wraps it up with an ending befitting its universe: cold, dark, and alone. For mature audiences only.

10 Million is, simply put, a match 3 game. While it boasts "rpg elements," they are extremely minimal and 99% of the game is spent on the puzzle board. If that's your kind of game, then look no further. This title is best suited for casual gamers.

- Cozy pixel graphics
- Entirely mouse controlled, fast response
- "RPG lite" element that allows you to spend resources to upgrade damage, defense, and other perks
- Objectives, or in-game tasks, are used to gate progression, giving you a sense of achievement.
- The alchemy lab potions allow you to customize your gameplay further to help you reach your goals

- Short. Only a couple hours to clear
- Low replayability after game completion outside of achievements
- Watch out in using items. If you are racing through and click an item before the character stops in front of the enemy, the item is wasted. This was a source of much frustration in speed runs. This behavior isn't explained in game.
- The chiptunes were nice at first but grew old fast. There were only a few, and they became distracting on the harder levels.
- This is a personal gripe, and probably minor, but I didn't see the upgrade button above the rooms until late game. I wish it had been more visible, and not grey. (Don't make my mistake and wait for the end to upgrade!)

Achievement hunters: You must exit the game for the achievements to register. Hopefully this saves you extra runs thinking you didn't hit the score achievements. Also watch out for the last two that require you to hit 10 million on lower difficulties. Jose especially becomes somewhat luck based to spawn a "clear path" to goal, took me many resets.

Happy matching!

Blockwick 2 is a unity-based, candy-coloured block sliding puzzle game.

- Vibrant colors and a crisp presentation
- Mixes it up by adding block behaviours, like sticky blocks, sleeping blocks, and snake blocks
- Allows you to skip challenging levels via a mini-game, finding a pearl buried in each level
- Want more challenge? Try beating the levels by matching the symbols on the blocks to their grid locations. Adds another layer of difficulty, and is completely optional
- Has a beginner series of puzzles that was added later, giving you even more for your money

- For some, the music may be distracting. Luckily there is a mute button.
- The difficulty didn't progress smoothly. There were some dastardly puzzles in between otherwise simple ones. Not sure if this was by design.
- The tutorial is very sparse. In specific, I found that the sticky blocks had a behaviour that I only discovered by accident. It would have been nice to explain these better to avoid getting stuck (pun intended)
- Undo only goes back one step. I was forced to reset in some sleeping block stages, where it is quite possible to become trapped.

If you enjoy casual puzzle games, Blockwick 2 is a good deal. But if sliding block puzzles aren't your thing, you probably won't be won over by Blockwick 2. I found this to be an excellent way to take a break in between tasks by leaving it running in the background and solving a puzzle here and there. Walking away and coming back to it got me past some of the more challenging levels. It's also why my playtime is so exaggerated, pay it no mind.

I strongly advise picking this up on sale. As much as I support the hard work put into Blockwick, I can't say it's worth the full sticker price.

Achievement hunters: Assuming no use of a guide, may provide a fair challenge when trying to illuminate all levels. But nothing that time and persistence won't overcome. 100% is achievable.

(Review updated 7/2017 for better clarity and formatting)