Recent reviews by Kintak ヽ(´ー｀)ﾉ

I rarely write full reviews (though I do run a curator for mini reviews) but Sulphur Memories: Alchemist is good enough and unknown enough that I feel the need to write one.

SMA is a super unique take on the (traditional) roguelike genre. Mechanically similar to a roguelike, but the whole of character growth is through the acquisition of new potions and equipment that each offer something unique to dispatch enemies, obstacles, and other dangers. I loved the excitement of unlocking each new recipe and finding out what new thing it could offer me, and there was very little overlap.
The basic cycle of the game sees the player explore a 2 or 3 map sequence of fairly large randomly generated areas. Multiple area types exist with pretty standard fantasy offerings: forest, swamp, mausoleum, fortress, etc. The better prepared you are for the particular challenges of that type of area, the easier of a time you have with the dangers and the more ability you have to fully loot it. Enemies are well-balanced, often being very dangerous in the wrong circumstances but easily dispatched if you are prepared and play tactically. Your goal is to explore while looting the map of ingredients and knowledge (used to unlock new recipes) with each area having its biggest reward at the end and often guarded by a boss

As of the time of writing, SMA is in early access and it does feel like it offers less variety in enemies and areas than it would need to be complete, but it's still a very enjoyable play. I hope Spellweaver continues to add content to it because I could see SMA developing quite a strong cult following.

And a protip for any new players: Always put away your potions after you throw one so you don't blow yourself up while trying to loot.

Currently a no from me. The core game cycle is initially addictive and the equipment variety and build drafting are fun, but it becomes incredibly stale very quickly because there is no variety or decisions to be made. You either have the stats to win a fight or you don't. There's not even an endgame, just an endless mode where you eventually grind out the same equipment with upgraded rarity.
I do hope it gets some updates that add more variety and balance it around an actual endpoint. With some fixes this game could be a gem, but as is I can't see myself playing it very much.

Massive disappointment. I played a ton when Rend was released into EA and thought it had huge potential. However, the game bled players due to a few poor design choices that never really got addressed (zero incentive for a losing team to stick out a full "cycle" which can take weeks to conclude, and zero chance of a team putting in less hours to actually put up a fight with greater skill/coordination). Watching the devs continually miss the mark in their patches was a painful experience because I REALLY want this game to be good and popular, but it is neither. What's even more frustrating is that they never seemed to want to involve the community in development even though we ALL HAD THE SAME COMPLAINTS. They finally gave up after putting in the bare minimum of effort to walk through their development roadmap, though I don't particularly blame them since I'm sure they are seeing zero income from sales at this point.
I resisted making a review until now in the hopes FK would get their ♥♥♥♥ together, but they never did. Now I just want to vent. The sour taste Rend left in my mouth leaves me questioning whether I'd consider buying their next game. They seem to have passion and the drive to try out some original ideas, but they don't have the flexibility to pivot when their ideas fail (as many inevitably do).

Rise of Legions builds off of the history of tug-of-war games that originated in Starcraft, Warcraft 3, and Starcraft 2 custom maps. Like those classic maps, in RoL, strategy and tactics matter most in this game. Players summon units, create unit spawners, and cast spells all so that their armies can automatically push down the lane and destroy the enemy base. While it's a simple design to pick up, mastering it and fighting against the machinations of your opponents is much harder.

While the game is fairly young, having just been released into Early Access at the time of this review, it actually feels nearly feature complete. Players are able to build "decks" using units and spells from up to two "legions" (colors), and then battle them out against one another through matchmaking or custom lobbies, or face off against the AI in PvE mode. Though the game feels feature complete, it's also a bit rough around the edges due to its youth. However, the developers are actively balancing units and squashing bugs, releasing patches every day or so. Just over the course of a week since release, the majority of my balance concerns have already been addressed.

As a free-to-play game, the monetization of mechanics feels very fair so far. Players are locked into deck "queues" depending on the tier of cards they are playing (stone, bronze, silver, gold, or crystal), and it has been fairly easy to acquire all of the cards that I've been looking to use. Leveling up all the cards I want to crystal seems like a daunting task at this time, but all cards are available at the gold tier, so playing in the gold queue is perfectly enjoyable and not too difficult to achieve. Players may also purchase unit skins in the store using the ingame cash currency, and they are given a fair amount of the currency for free as they level their account.

In the community Discord server, the developers speak of new content on the horizon. Currently there are 3 complete legions (black, white, and green) and 1 partial legion (blue) to select from, but the blue legion is nearly ready for full release, and there are rumors of a red legion in the works. They will also soon be releasing 2v2 matchmaking as well as ranked modes for players to duke it out in.

Overall, Rise of Legions is shaping up to be a great game that I hope will be around and actively growing for a long time. If you enjoy those classic tug-of-war maps, if you enjoy flexing your strategic muscles, or if you just enjoy watching your warriors clash, you should give this game a try.

Much like Siralim 2 improved on some of the worst parts of Siralim, Siralim 3 greatly improves Siralim 2's gameplay.

For the uninitiated, the Siralim series focuses around JRPG-like combat using a party of up to 6 monsters. Players trek through randomized dungeons with randomized loot, collecting "cores" from wild monsters so that they can recruit them into their own party. Each of the 700+ monsters has a unique and very powerful trait, leading to an amazing amount of synergistic party possibilities. Plus, monsters can equip one artifact each, and each artifact can be enchanted with up to 1 of those monster traits. This means that at any one time, your party is juggling up to 12 of these unique traits.

If you like the sound of picking up oodles of randomized loot and trying to find overpowered synergies for your party, give this game a try.

This game is basically perfect.

Best game I've played this year. Cute, creative, hilarious, touching, and fun. Also great music. Make sure to at least do a "true pacifist" run, which gets you the best ending and shows you the most stuff. However, there's so much detail put into this game that it's impossible to enjoy it all in one run.

Great game. Harkens back a lot to the dungeon crawlers of yesteryear while also improving on them.

This game is neat. It's kind of like an arcade strategy game. You have to build up two sides of a war while also making sure they don't annihilate each other. It's pretty unique.

Really fun game. Plays like Heroes of Might and Magic but with more of a grand strategy flare.