Recent reviews by Oz

This game makes me want to fight and die in a real Space War(TM)

Very fun body horror adventure game where you tackle an eldritch cataclysm as some unemployed goon. All the pixel work done is brilliant and the music is fantastic. Really easy to get sucked in right away. Just be cautious about picking fights until you can find friends for your party.

Helldivers 2 has been, at best, an ok game. It's universe and lore is acceptably hammy and can be likened to what you can see in the Starship Troopers movie. The gameplay is fine, but there are a number of flaws that stand out and have kept it from really shining.

The game is poorly optimized and has been plagued with a number of bugs and an exceptional amount of crashes since it was released. Although the problems with server capacity were quickly addressed, the crashes have been slower. The game has full crashes to desktop just enough to be problematic, and are often mid session.

As for the proper gameplay, there are a number of guns, armors, support weapons, and support strikes you can use. People can argue about whatever is the current "meta" all they like, but that meta has arisen because the majority of the guns don't do enough to stand out and be useful. The devs put out changes to various weapons with each patch, with some alright buffs to certain weapons but include nerfs to others that seem outright pointless. Armor can largely be glossed over. There is a variety of armor that is there mostly for looks. Too many of the armors all just do the same thing, so they all tend to just blur together.

Support weapons and support strikes (strategems) have plenty of variety as well, but the weaponry has had the same problem as the regular guns. With some being nerfed into the ground after being shown how they shine in certain situations.

And now there is the issue of requiring PC players to register and link playstation accounts to be able to continue to play the game. This as it looks currently, will result in locking out PC players from the game if they don't comply. Hopefully the decision will be reversed, but we will see.

To summarize; Helldivers 2 is overall, a 6/10 co-op game. Months after release, it still has a lot of flaws that keep it from standing out.

This game kicks ass. I wish miners were real.

Looked like a fun little zombie shooter. A lot of the designs for enemies are nice but the gameplay itself is annoying. You walk at a snails pace for some reason, and with an FPS option I wonder if this wasn't something more DOOM-esque at one point at another. I can't recommend it unless someone masters the art of walking. Please, just use some kind of normal movement.

I got this game on sale, and that's the only way I would recommend buying it. A 15$ price for a game that just barely scrapes 3 hours of play time is pretty awful.

The game has a lot of filler to where you're having conversations with these succubi you someone to try and unlock different endings with them. These conversations lose a lot of impact primarily because to have the different conversation options, you have to unlock different skills, and to unlock different skills, you have to get your summoned succubi full of essence and then kill them. The gameplay loop is basically summon some succubi and then put them through the grinder. This makes both the endings with the succubi and the story ending itself feel unsatisfying.

I think the games premise itself is pretty interesting, and I have to wonder if it would have been better off as a completely different type of game. An RPG or just a Visual Novel would have been a better choice than a management simulator.

The only real compliment I can give to this game is the art direction. A lot of thought went into the character designs of all the different succubi, with just enough detail to make them look feminine and demonic.

Overall I can't really give it anything more than a 3/10. Interesting premise, lackluster execution.

Whether or not you're looking into this game because of the Merchants Guild, it's still a pretty good game.

Combat and character building are relatively straight-forward if shallow, but there's still a lot you can do with it. A playthrough of the game will take you roughly 15hrs, and exploration is thoroughly rewarded. However, it is advised to play this game with a guide, as there is a LOT about the mechanics (especially about gear) that just isn't explained, and even with a guide, I got to the final boss and beat it by complete accident.

What I liked most about this game is that it's the kind where you can recruit enemies into your group. That's something I always like to see in a game, but even if it isn't something you spring for, there are plenty of unique characters you can meet and recruit to your party.

The game's sprite work is very impressive, as each monster has 1-4 different sprites to help make them more varied, however it would be nice if you could change their sprites once you recruited them. The art for the unique characters is almost pure beef because that's pretty much the only thing the dev can draw. I'm not kidding, even the unique women are drawn with the boxy bodies of someone who only knows how to draw men. I don't want to say any of the art for the unique characters is that bad, but it is clearly for a specific taste.

The story itself is pretty straightforward, though there's a lot about the world you can learn via some of the more unique dungeons.

Overall I'd say it's a 7/10 game. Worth the time and money.

This is one of those games where I definitely hope they make a sequel. The world building is delightful, colorful, and charming. The entire cast of characters were adorable and surprisingly real. The cast offers a pleasant and wholesome amount of examination into the nature of relationships be they romantic or platonic, and its all interwoven seamlessly with gameplay about catching colorful critters.

All of the setting design was done nicely and each area was small but thoughtfully put together. I didn't encounter a single technical bug during my fifteen hours of play time. The only complaint I really have that is that the puzzle solving required for some of the Snax was mildly annoying, and some of the tools could have been changed to something else to suit those needs. It didn't ever become frustrating, and things still fit together.

I give it a 9/10.

A blatantly unpolished product that should not have been published. The main system of the game is combat, so the most blatant errors show when enemies repeatedly get stuck in or on terrain, or just phase through it.

You can't even pause the game. Vile.

Overall I would give this game maybe a 6 or 7 out of 10. That isn't to call the game mediocre, it's pretty fantastic, but there's a lot of small annoyances that have piled up.

Cult of the Lamb is like if you took Binding of Isaac, Rimworld, an old school Disney cartoon, and threw them into a blender. The resulting smoothie is a fine blend. There's a lot to love with this little gem. Initially when I was first told about it I thought it was just a cult builder/simulator, but was impressed when I played the demo and found a very competent dungeon crawler. I think that part is where the game shines the most. The dungeon crawling, as well as the art direction. Everything is cute and delightfully toony, the music is comfortable and relaxing, and everything fits together nicely.

Where the game has some shortcomings is the cult simulator side of things. I've only gotten through to the first three tiers of the technology you can unlock, so take everything I say with a grain of salt, as I haven't unlocked everything. The actual building and maintaining of everything is a hassle, and the AI isn't complex enough to do much of anything besides gather resources in your base. Your cultists can chop trees for wood, build buildings, and pray. They can plant seeds and water the crops, but I have yet to observe them actually harvest anything. There is a fishing minigame where you can gather fish, but you're the only one that can do so, you can't send a follower out to do it (or make any kind of water access at your base). You have to cook all the meals, as the followers can't be made to do so, nor can they be instructed to clean up after themselves until you get to the third tier of the tech tree. Said tier unlocks outhouses and janitor stations. So yes, that means until you get to that tier, your followers will poop wherever, and *you* have to clean it up.

Some things I would hope to see are some kind of assignment/job board so you can more easily organize your cultists into what jobs they should do, and maybe some improvements to the tech tree. The farming station, seed storage, and fertilizer storage, could all be smushed together into one building, a barn maybe, which could also then serve as a deposit point for crops. There is also a "body pit" at the first tech tier, which you can throw corpses into. If the outhouse isn't made available earlier, why not also make a "dung pit" or something to that effect?

Overall the game has a lovable atmosphere and a highly enjoyable dungeon crawl that is dragged down somewhat by the micromanaging necessary for maintaining your cult. Hopefully things become more streamlined later down the line. But regardless of these annoyances, I still recommend Cult of the Lamb.