Recent reviews by GrunzJr

Crime Scene Cleaner delivers exactly what it promises, plus some extra. This is one of those "sit back and relax" games, hence my nomination for the aptly named Steam Award, and hence the existence of this review.

Potential spoiler warning.
Stepping into the shoes of a father of a child dependent on continuous medical care and the soaring bills that come with such misfortune, you find yourself expanding your janitorial business taking jobs from less-than-law-abiding persons, soon jumping into bed with the big boss. Without asking too many questions, you're tasked with purging a variety of locations of the mess left behind by bad decisions, greed and alcohol. The protagonist is surprisingly cynical and dry, often making comments that some might deem offensive, so keep this in mind when considering the purchase of the game.

During your career, you will be presented with a number of different sub-tasks involving collecting trash, mopping/power washing stains, retrieving misplaced items and setting furniture back into place. You're aided by a kind of sixth sense, visibly marking messes yet to be taken care of. The game furthermore features a classic skill tree progression system, which allows you to cherry-pick those skills you want to excel at. As mentioned previously, Crime Scene Cleaner delivers precisely what you would expect while adding its own unique sense of style and humour to the mix.

I recommend this to people who, like me, would rather clean a virtual crime scene than their own apartment; which is not to say your apartment can't become a real crime scene one day. Food for thought.

I am a fan of simulation games, so when I found this one, I went into it with only the impression I got from the screenshots thinking it would be a rather simple PCR simulator. I got what I was hoping for, except in a very different way than I expected. As a side note, sharing the same name as the protagonist created a more immersive experience than I sometimes would have liked, albeit that is not to be taken negatively.

Not For Broadcast places you into the role of a control room operator for a news station, assigning you various tasks ranging from mixing different video sources to playing sound effects at appropriate times. Mechanics are gradually introduced to you, scaling difficulty as the game progresses. While certain rules have to be obeyed, the game leaves a lot of room for personal choice, in more ways than one might expect at first. These features also allow for replayability, trying out new choices, perhaps to hunt down some of the many achievements.
Gameplay itself is rather straightforward as the player is confined to the production control room, which makes them focus more on the many recorded segments themselves.

The player will be able to follow a multi-month long story, both from a personal and from a nation-wide and global perspective, operating as a news channel CRO. The story is, however, very much dependent on player choices, creating multiple differently branching storylines that can be explored individually. The player will furthermore find themselves facing split-second decision making many times, possibly making them question their choice afterward.

Not For Broadcast relies heavily on recorded, real life video segments. The surrounding environment is kept simple, yet pleasing for the liminal space the player finds themself in. Over the course of the game, a few changes can be noticed, but the main design remains steady.
Similar to visual design, the sound is almost entirely composed of real life recordings, with a few sound affects added.

Not For Broadcast places a surprising amount of power into the player's hands given the limited tools they have at their disposal. Able to choose between two main diverting storylines, the player can mix the news broadcast very much to their liking, with corresponding consequences. I would not call the game difficult in itself, this is however dependant on a player's own expectations. Not For Broadcast has implemented a few ways to even encourage challenge-seeking players to give it a go, with multiple game modes to choose from.

I've nominated Not For Broadcast for the "Most Innovative Gameplay" award in the 2022 Steam Awards, which is also my reason for composing this review. It turned out to be a game hiding so much more content than visible at its surface, requiring players to observe and choose carefully to uncover every secret they can find, and it does so in a unique way with an obviously great amount of effort put into it by the developing team (during COVID-19 restrictions, nonetheless).
Not For Broadcast is by all means a must try for anyone interested in simulation as well as peculiar, random, witty and sometimes even distressing story.

I'm nearing 1,000 hours of playtime, and the 2020 Steam Awards give me a reason to finally write a short review for this game, so here goes.


It's the successor to a flash game, yes, and you can tell, but that doesn't make it bad.
ShellShock Live has a core objective as simple as can be: Select a weapon, fire it and defeat your opponent(s). The great thing about it is that it's easy to get into and become addicted. It's a game anyone can pick up and start playing without much introduction. It's one of those "easy to learn, hard to master" games, because if you want to "git gud" and be consistently victorious, you'll have to develop a feel for it.

An important aspect of a game like this is replayability. Its variety is limited, in a way, but ShellShock Live overcomes this quite well with an impressive arsenal of different weapons (unlockable in various ways), a neat selection of game modes - some more difficult than others - and ultimately, allowing and encouraging different playstyles. It can become grindy; if you want to reach the highest level, unlock all achievements, or reach that #1 spot on the leaderboard (good luck), you'll need to invest time. But none of this is a requirement, you can just as easily set up a round with your friends and mess about for an hour or two.

This game doesn't need an in-depth review, there is not that much to tell. Having just been released from Early Access, if it looks at all interesting to you, give it a try. It's not big, so it downloads quickly, you're not going to spend the first ten hours getting used to it, and hell, if you really don't like it, it's not very expensive. It's a simple game that has grown up.

All good things come in threes, that's how the idiom goes and it is most certainly true for the third installment of the The Room (Three) series. I was already highly excited to play through it, but yet again, my expectations were surpassed at every corner.


The Room Three keeps all the core mechanics from its predecessor, i.e. interaction with the environment, progression through the game etc. However, it expands on these elements by introducing a larger scale with more dynamic, increasingly difficult, but similar puzzle types the further along you progress and an overall much more intricate design. You won't progress linearly anymore, but rather branch out from a central hub to explore different locations that all contribute to your ultimate goal. The Room Three even allows you to discover different endings, increasing the replay value of the game greatly!


Utilizing small cutscenes and the well-known letters you find scattered around, the player will be able to familiarize themselves even more with what they are actually solving all these puzzles for. Again, the story does not play a great role in the game, so even players who don't care for story much will be able to find great enjoyment in The Room Three!


I recommend reading my previous reviews, because it is difficult to praise something again without repeating myself. Every game in the The Room series has astonished me with the beautiful visuals and the wonderful, almost surreally fitting nature of the ambience noise and sounds. Combined they give the game an uneasy, yet somehow almost relaxing vibe which will keep you on edge even though you know there are no jumpscares.


I can only say what I said before: The The Room series is a fantastic adaptation of the point-and-click escape the room genre that will keep you wanting to explore further until you reach the very end. I can guarantee that the even the third installment will not feel like a remake of the previous games at all, but will present you with a completely new, unique and well-crafted experience that you will find yourself wanting to see through all the way, and maybe even again.

Following up on my review on this game's predecessor, The Room, I can only say good things about The Room Two.


Just like its prequel, The Room Two requires you to solve various puzzles of very different types to crack into a certain central object in order to obtain an item to progress to the next stage. This time however, the developers went a couple steps further and broke all the boundaries, creating completely different scenarios and puzzle variations.
Not only did they introduce new mechanics to explore and learn, they also changed the progression of the game while following up smoothly on The Room. I was very eager to get into The Room Two and I'm pleased to be able to say the game surpassed my expectations by great lengths! This is as much as I want to spoil.


In The Room Two you will learn a bit more about the lore of the game. Once again, the story does not tie to gameplay and is not relevant, however it is fascinating to read how the events of the game actually unfolded. If you don't care for story, you don't have to worry with this game.


Once again, The Room Two improves upon its predecessor with even more intricate and original scenes and soundscapes. Many of the transitions are surreal looking and will keep you on edge about what is going to happen. Animations are smooth and fluent and work very well with the style of the game. Subtly creepy and moody sounds will follow you throughout the game while the volume will swell up during major cutscenes. Overall it creates a wonderful atmosphere to lose yourself in while you attend to the puzzles.


If you haven't played The Room, I advise you do so to prepare yourself for The Room Two. While you can play this game perfectly on its own, you may be let down a little if you go back. For a fair price you will receive a couple hours worth of borderline magical environments that await exploring. The puzzles again sustain a decent balance between challenge and satisfaction and reward you with very pleasing visual changes. I absolutely recommend The Room Two even if you're not a fan of puzzle or point-and-click games!

I am rather inexperienced when it comes to point-and-click puzzle games, but I was highly pleasantly surprised while playing through The Room.


In The Room you are required to complete a series of puzzles revolving around some object that you're trying to crack open. You will progressively find yourself in different levels of scaling difficulty. As with any point-and-click game, you are restricted to using your mouse to inspect and interact with objects.
While the puzzles themselves aren't particularly difficult, I found them to have a good balance between pleasant pacing and challenge. Some of the puzzles could be a little more intricate, often you will find yourself looking for small clues. This however does not diminish the experience in my opinion. In-game hints may assist you in case you get stuck, but I can assure you that you will be able to complete the game without referring to any solution guides.


The Room offers a small amount of lore usually presented in the form of notes. It's not relevant to gameplay, but nice to have nonetheless.


Even though you won't find a large scene, The Room provides you with dark and moody ambience and smooth animations. You will experience horroresque background noises (don't worry, no jumpscares are awaiting) as well as the occasional transition sound queue. Overall your main gameplay is accompanied very well by realistic, yet imaginative visuals and a very fitting soundtrack.


I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed The Room. Some might say for its price you won't receive enough content, but I disagree. The game will keep you busy for a couple hours and is furthermore perfectly playable with someone else, either in the same room or through unconventional methods such as screen sharing. It feels very polished and complete which is a huge plus. I absolutely recommend this game for people who are interested in puzzles and/or a low scale creepy experience.

The premise of Quick Maths: addition and subtraction may be valid, but as a game, it is not worth it. Addition and subtraction are arithmetical operations that have been learned and practiced by most humans much earlier than the age of 13, which is the required minimum age for a valid subscriber agreement with Steam.

I do not recommend this game as it cannot be classified as such, a "game". It barely offers any content and the idea behind it isn't fun. I advise against a purchase.

So... I'm a little bit ashamed to admit that although this game isn't actually particularly scary - the most horrifying thing are small jumpscares -, the few random events still got me. If you're a horror rookie like myself, you probably want to start with a game like House of Caravan.

This game combines the solitude of an abandoned family mansion including low light environments, hidden staircases and the everlasting howling winds outside with classic horror puzzles such as key locating or clue finding. It's nothing special, nothing we haven't seen before, but it is a pleasant (albeit lowering your self-esteem kind of) way to spend an hour or two. There isn't much story to be discovered, for the more patient player some documents will give a little insight into what is happening.

I recommend House of Caravan for an evening of brain teasing and some spooks, although you will find yourself running back and forth a couple times. Maybe wait for a sale.

Originally posted by Loot Box Quest:

I'd give it a 7/10.

EDIT: I had 100 % completion at the time of writing this review.

After 46 hours of play time and 100 % completion I feel comfortable sharing my thoughts on this game as well.

In my opinion Just Cause 4 is a worthy successor in the Just Cause series.

I started playing Just Cause 3 when the base game plus DLC was on sale and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The gigantic open map to be my playground, the different utilites I could mix to create mayhem and of course, plenty of explosions. Just Cause 4 follows up on that in a new and original way while keeping the primary mechanics and building upon them.

Setting the game in Solís and implementing four different, huge biomes with their own unique characteristics brings forth a fresh set of creative ideas to mess around. Whether it is wingsuiting across the vastness of the desert to the beautiful soundtrack, discovering ancient temples in the karst-like rainforest or battling the Black Hand in ground, water and air fights in the valleys. Just Cause 4 is a prime example for why video games are as amazing as they are: They let us do things that would be impossible in real life, thus creating immemorable experiences.

Just Cause 4 also implemented completely new features, such as the upgraded grappling hook and of course the different large scale weather scenarios. In my eyes, they might look underwhelming to some people, but they are a lot of fun to play around with. The mechanics have been noticeably revamped, so using the grappling hook or the wingsuit might feel a little different at first compared to prior games, but I do think it was changed for the better.

So why is Just Cause 4 so heavily downvoted?
The way I see it, people raise their expectations too high. Fair enough, the game still has many bugs and problems, but from a software standpoint, it is an incredible amount of work to make sure everything works perfectly. You shift your mindset a lot when you have to deal with those issues yourself. Nonetheless, the developers are actively listening and working to make the game as perfect as possible, which to me is respectable.
Furthermore, people like to go along with others, for whichever reasons. It seems similar to the snowball effect, a couple negative reviews caused more people to just go along with it, without even creating their own opinion. I advise heavily against listening to reviews from people with very few hours of playtime.

Overall Just Cause 4 does what a video game should do very well: Create a different world to get lost in, display the creativity of humans, let us do things we couldn't do outside and most importantly, deliver fun and enjoyment without any harm to mind or body. If you liked Just Cause 3 or it's predecessor or you're intrigued by this review or the Steam store page, I actively encourage you to purchase this game and play it for yourself. Just keep an open mind and don't go in full of prejudice.