Recenzii recente de Drathy

A "game" that is more than the sum of its parts. "Game" here is used loosely, because it is much more an "experience" and definitely falls into the art side of things. That's not to say it's not a game; it's just that it doesn't seem concerned about being one at times. There are game mechanics sure, and they are actually surprisingly deep and varied, but all haphazardly stitched together, much like Judero's graphics are modeled from clay, toys, and other bits much too does the game feel like it's made up these disparate pieces.

It doesn't take itself seriously except when it does, and you'll have to figure out how to navigate the two and which one is which, especially if you are not a Scot and innately grasp all the humour. It straddles the line of sardonicism, banality and hauntingly beautiful at times. This feeling is present in the dialogue, but also the music which is decidedly amateur, but intentionally so and amazing because of it. It is painstakingly hand-crafted, varied, and surprisingly deep, just like the rest of the game.

Through and through you'll find this similar thread running throughout; the game is the kitchen sink; throwing everything and seeing what sticks, but then leaving in what doesn't.

Judero is true creativity, uniqueness, and a breath of fresh air.

P.S. If you are like me, you will love picking apart at its seams and breaking things, going where you weren't meant to go or do, but then thinking maybe you were meant to because it does such a bad job of stopping you from discovering its flaws.

You've heard of boomer shooters, right? Well, I think we have a new genre with this one: zoomer shooters.

Friends vs Friends is an online PVP shooter, but also a card game, leading to some pretty frenetic, chaotic gameplay; managing your cards, playing them at strategic opportunities, playing countering cards against what your opponent(s) play all while jumping around like crazy and shooting at enemy heads.

The game oozes with style and the art, sound, and design aesthetic are all top-notch. The mashup of chonky retro graphics with dismembered, gored anthropomorphic animals is striking, to say the least. I think it's meant to be cute, fun, and friendly, but due to the skill ceiling and ranking system, it can get a bit heated and competitive.

A game like this lives and dies with its player base and balances its online play with skill-based matchmaking. The trouble with that in this case is the lack of players leading to sometimes very unfair matches. Because of this dynamic, I often let my opponents win a few times just so they wouldn't run away, and so I would have an opponent for more than a single match. That's only a side effect of its current state though. I'm sure this was less of a problem when the game was a bit more populated. As a reference point here, I played at a time when around 100-300 players were on at any given time.

Given that the current state of the game matches you against some less-than-desirable players, it's quite surprising how playable the game is versus people who are not in the same region as you. The game will of course match within your region, but will branch out over time if your wait is too long. The net code is quite good, although the hitboxes tend to get a bit wonky when the latency gets high across the players. I think it's more forgivable due to how chaotic the combat can be sometimes. Still though, de-ranking to somebody because somebody kept shooting you through corners and walls can be frustrating... not that rank even really matters especially when gold-ranked players can go against brand new players.

There's plenty to do here with seemingly every expansion and update adding more things to collect (skins, card backs, avatars), new cards, and characters with daily/weekly quests. After 40 hours in, I still have yet to unpack every card (curse you RNG!). It's a shame the game is kind of forced or pigeonholed into being a PVP game. Paradoxically, I think adding more single-player content into the game to explore everything here would bring in more players even if it would go against the very name of the game. There are bot matches, but most reward mechanics are disabled there and the bots are so bad you need to try to lose, even as a new player.

I think one of the biggest downfalls of the game currently is the performance. Don't let the retro-inspired graphics fool you. This game maxes out my 3070 with ease on the lowest graphics settings possible. The only way around this is to play at non-native resolutions or limit the max FPS to less than my monitor Hz is set to (144 in my case). If this is improved, the game would be much more accessible and possibly bring in new players.

Some of the combos can leave you with a bad taste in your mouth and will make you feel not very friendly at all. Those who save up their hot potatoes, garbage piles, and barbed cards will have some frustrating moments when they are more focused on card management than actually shooting. I may concede that is probably the intention or design, but in particular, some combos feel a bit unbalanced... *cough* akimbo *cough* any weapon... They also lead you to use those particular combos and likely scare off other new or old players never to return.

Overall, it's a great game with lots of love and countless more hours for me to enjoy; however, it has some serious, but fixable flaws.

PogoChamp is a hidden gem and sadly does not get the love it deserves.

It is a game about overcoming controls, trying things, testing your patience, and learning movement mechanics. It rides among other similar games such as "Getting Over It" or "QWOP", but much less frustrating. The controls aren't hard per se, it's just that they are difficult to master. I think the official description sums it up pretty well with "Fun, not Frustrating". It's a much smoother process here with learning; the starting levels just being simple tests of movement and learning how to jump. That is until you reach a "spike" in difficulty which has been said to be deliberate by the developer. This isn't really a problem though since the game employs a star system that allows you to skip some levels based on your performance. You can always come back... and I suggest you do. As you progress and learn more, those difficult levels will be nothing after returning later.

I started my journey in PogoChamp with a keyboard and mouse. I do not recommend that even though it is possible; listen to the starting screen: "Controller Strongly Recommended". The mechanics and controls of the game really shine when you have finer control of your movements which controllers will provide here. After 20 hours in the game, I could probably make it work with keyboard/mouse controls now that I am not absolute trash at it, but it was a rough start for sure.

PogoChamp features some of my favourite kinds of gameplay. Quick levels that you can play over and over again beating your previous score and competing in the leaderboard for the fastest times. Fortunately for me, and less fortunate for the developer, since there are not many players, I could get in the top 5 on some of the levels. Anything above that is pretty impossible for a more casual-type player like myself because a player named "WaltzingDucks" exists. This style of play is not for everybody, and luckily as mentioned above, you can just progress through the game more linearly if you prefer. You will need to replay some levels though to get more stars to unlock further levels.

The game itself is extremely polished; albeit, simple in design, UI, and concept. I will say some of the later levels get a bit muddy aesthetically, leaning towards more realistic or open-world scenarios. I think the game shines most with simple point a-to-b level designs. It's hard to even fault anything here though since those different levels serve to break up the monotony and add some wacky variety. There are plenty of secrets in some of these levels as well which adds another hit of serotonin for me.

It has other modes such as survival mode and daily challenge which provide ever-so-slight deviations from the normal level-to-level gameplay for extra challenge and variety.

Overall, this is an amazing package and a really fun game. With the permanent price drop, this is a no-brainer if this sounds like something you would hate, then enjoy.

You won’t find anoita game like this one.

Besides the puns to be made ad infinitum with the name, the game is a keeper.

You start as a wizard, or is it a witch? Yes, I guess it’s a witch. A witch with a hooded robe, potions and wands. I guess they do witches a bit differently in Finland. Noita literally translates to “witch” in Finnish, although it is supposedly closer in meaning to “shaman”, “witch-doctor”, or “medicine man”. The latter translations are much more apt to the character I find.

Semantics and language aside, Noita is a 2D platforming roguelite based in a lore-rich world where every pixel is simulated; the main gimmick of the game. A gimmick which I find to be a good selling point, but also one that leads me to frustration more than any other aspect of the game. Luckily lots of the inconsistencies of the pixel simulation have been tweaked and fixed over the great patches the team have been pushing out. A team of which includes the all-star cast of Petri Purho (Crayon Physics Deluxe), Olli Harjola (The Swapper), and Arvi Teikari (Baba Is You). You can easily see the inspiration of each of those games in Noita. It’s likely also a gimmick we will be seeing a lot of in the future with how successful the game has been and with the engine they developed for it (Falling Everything Engine) coming out for third-party use.

The game is hard, but mostly fair. The issue I alluded to earlier in regards to pixel simulation inconsistencies are what lead to the unfair deaths. Things like minecarts glitching out and killing you while walking over them. Single or double pixels of lava or acid killing you when low on health. Fire propagation running rampant even over water. Thankfully these kinds of things are rare, and you are instead left dying mostly to nearly one-shotting meanies that show up in the later levels, which is much more satisfying than accidently switching to a thunder stone while you are underwater. Pro tip: don’t use the scroll wheel for switching items. Overall, it’s a good balance of difficulty and challenge, although I think there are certain combinations of perks that you end up figuring out that lead to nearly 100% guaranteed wins, making the game feel very RNG-driven.

The amount of content here is staggering. You’ll likely still be discovering new things after playing 50 hours, especially if you are one of those people that don’t spoil games by reading Wikis. The randomized world generation mixed with templated, guaranteed locations walks a great line between intentional design and uniqueness brought from the procedural generation. Lore and mythos are feed to you piecemeal as you explore new spells, potions, perks, enemies, and discover new strategies that allow you access to new secretive areas. The game does an excellent job at building a world that you care to discover the secrets of.

It’s fun building your own arsenal of spells and wands. Piecing together different stats and abilities to build the ultimate wand is always a satisfying endeavor, unless you don’t read a spell closely enough and go to test it, killing yourself in the process.

Anyways, GOTY 2019.

A masterclass in arena shooter design.

It’s all so simple. The stage is set. This small arena is where you must prove yourself against a seemingly endless onslaught of ravenous demons. Devil Daggers is a game that invents nothing yet combines inspiration in just the right places and in just the right amounts. That simplicity makes way for complexity, but not in the way you might expect.

The darkness envelopes you. The dark atmosphere, the dark visuals, and the dark sound. A hearkening of shooter games long past yet packaged together as something refined for today’s discerning gamer. This audio/visual experience is something that immerses, and at time frightens; the demons dancing behind you in pseudo surround sound as you attempt to swing your mouse behind to blast the flying skulls away with your shotgun-hand only to fall defeatedly off the edge. The first of many face palms begins.

The game seamlessly blends a frenetic action-paced old-school shooter experience with the feeling you get from speedrunning. Small adrenaline rushes are feed to you as you try to get further and further. “Just one more run…” you’ll be saying to yourself countless times. That one more run of course turns into 2, 5, 10… and more.

You’ll convince yourself that you can do better; you should have done better. And you will. Progress is slow, but you will inch your way up, discovering new mechanics, new creatures, and new strategies. All the while, still in that small little arena. That arena that you now call home.

Lucah: Born of a Dream appears to be quite the bit of a "hidden gem" in the action RPG genre.

It's a game with an admittedly off-putting, but definitely unique aesthetic. While I personally think it adds to the charm of the game and story, it is at times inconsistent and at odds with other interface elements and typefaces presented. It led me to not be as fully immersed in the story as I would have liked to have been, given that the cryptic, abstracted narratives try their hardest to engross the player in its lore. And there's plenty of it.

The story and expanded narrative are really the focus of the game. The game is of course a top-down action RPG with the tropes you would expect like upgradable combat abilities and combos, swappable item pick-ups, and leveling; but I feel like it is really just a way to progress the story, more than the other way around. That's not to say that these things were not enjoyable; in fact, they are presented in a fairly unique way to provide not only a tie-in to the lore, but also an amazing level of character and gameplay customization.

Speaking of the combat; it is serviceable. I felt like there may be some issues with collisions in some areas where your attacks hit the sides of walls instead of the enemies. This issue is compounded by there not being enough visual clarity on attacks. You are sometimes left not really understanding why something missed or if it actually did hit the enemy in the end. This was somewhat uncommon, but it did put a damper on the great amount of customization you have over the combat by building your character and attacks in different ways.

The narrative is at this game’s core, which led me to scrutinize it deeper than I may have otherwise. I'll admit that I don't understand everything after the end and I kind of like that ambiguity and vagueness. I've only ran through once (getting what I believe to be a "bad" ending) and read the expanded "New Game +" story. I do have a few nitpicks with the writing itself. The Christian/religious themes seem to be a bit heavy handed and conferred with slanted perception. It’s also weird given that the game has no issue presenting other coded themes and concepts into the dialogue in much more subtle ways. The characters also seem to act in non-believable and non-convincing ways in several instances with a lot of them feeling one-note and samey as each other. The latter may or may not be an explainable phenomenon. It's a personal point of contention, that again, broke some of that immersion for me.

The exploration of this impressionistic and at many times, chaotic world feels great. It's a shame that the mapping system is not there to support this. The map feels disjointed with connecting pieces that don't actually connect and leads to much confusion, especially when exploring areas for the first time. It’s perhaps even intentional, but if that is the case, then I think there are much better ways to deliver this idea.

While my criticisms are many, I hope to emphasize that this is a great game, brought just a bit lower than what could be with a few tweaks here and there. These are nitpicks.

The game is really good and overall, a great experience!

Nuclear Throne is a post-apocalyptic roguelike-like (roguelite) top-down shooter. Its filled to the brim with irradiated mutants to blast, tons of powerful weapons (that can sometimes do more harm to you than enemies), and fast gameplay.

What started as a curious playthrough or two evolved into a slight addiction over the proceeding weeks. My goal was simple. I wanted to reach the Nuclear Throne and complete the game. The slight issue became that the game is pretty difficult. Nevertheless, I pushed myself further and set goals each time I made it that one step further. Unlocking new content, discovering secrets, and developing strategies.

While the game itself seems shallow on the surface, especially coming from and playing things like Enter the Gungeon; it takes awhile to discover the wealth of content that the game actually offers. While one may fault the game to hide a lot of this content away through cryptic means, it does add a lot depth for those seeking more content after getting their fill of beating the game, which I did end up doing (multiple times in fact).

So, about that difficulty thing; well, there's no denying it's a punishing game. In fact, many of your deaths will eventually feel like they are out of your control, especially once you get into the later levels. The procedural randomization that generates the layouts can feel unfair at times. You do get better at expecting certain things and developing strategies against these rare RNG nightmares, but it’s never in your full control. Luckily, I think that's where the faults end, at “rare unfair spawns”.

The rest of the game is top notch. The audio, the visuals, the style, the atmosphere and world it creates through its quirkiness. Although its sadly locked at 30 frames per second and in a 4:3 aspect ratio, these become very small nitpicks after playing it a bit.

While I was obviously late the party with this one, I ended up really enjoying the speed and frenetic gameplay that Nuclear Throne offers, even over its successors in the genre.

There's very few gaming experiences that transcend the perceived notions of what makes a game and totally immerses the player into the narrative itself. Gone Home is one of them.

It's unfortunate a large majority of gamers can't comprehend the intent of Gone Home. They strive to min/max and rush through asking "where is the game?". Doing this is a disservice to Gone Home and the story it tells, and makes you part of, over the brief couple hour experience it provides. The chills, the surprises, the sadness, the nostalgia, the empathy, and the perversion of peering through relics and stories of other people's wants and desires. But it soon becomes your life. It becomes your sister, your mother, your father and your story because of the level of immersion and realism in the narrative.

While there is little choice in your actions and your goals, the roller-coaster the game sets you on is masterfully crafted and designed to string you along, piecing together clues and stories to help you ultimately figure out all the questions you are asking yourself as you play. While the progression is somewhat transparent, everything wraps up beautifully, and rather unexpectedly (for me anyway, as I was seeing a much different ending).

The game also expects you to have some memory of the 90's. Ideally, you will want to be born sometime in the 80's to get the full effect of the emotions and connections to increase the immersion. This is not necessary, but I think these connections are what fully drove this home for me. While I wasn't a female growing up in the 90's, the artifacts and objects peppered throughout the game all hit those nostalgic buttons for me and made me connect further with the story and characters.

Besides the faults, In the end, I felt heavy; choked up. After a couple of minutes of contemplation and wrapping my head around my experience, I breathed in deeply and snapped back to reality, my reality. I don't care if it's a "game" or not (a common complaint) but why can't more games do that?