Recent reviews by ModZero

(Note that the game was developed by a friend and I tested it a bit)

Very solid combo tactical/card game that’s much more fun than I’d expect from the type, considering I’m rarely into card games.

Also, both music and graphic design truly smash.

I really wish I could recommend this game, AND NOW I CAN. It's beautiful, the atmosphere is spot on, the feedback loop is rewarding. And, moreover, there's now an option to save mid-run. So, recommending this one, hard.

It starts nice, then you realize the dev is a hardcore Musk bro in 2025 and you feel dirty about ever spending any money on it :(

Let's go lesbians!

The narrative and illustrations are just fantastically entertaining. The tactical layer might use some spit and polish, but honestly. it's fun enough as well.

But NGL, I'd get the game just for the music and the art.

A bit chaotic but in a fun way, definitely worth paying attention to.

So, imagine if your average 40k empire decided that instead of becoming the worst, _it's_ gonna become the scariest thing in the Warp...

Full disclosure, I know the devs, and did some small amount of testing before. Anyhow:

It's a really fun hybrid deck builder/tactical, with a fun theme, great graphic design and music that's better than it has any right to be. The story, while not exactly the focus, gives you just enough motivation to get going and realize your own doomed power fantasy, the music keeps you on point, and the UI is genuinely helpful.

It's also surprisingly easy to keep focus on even for an easily overwhelmed ADHD-afflicted girl like me, yet at no point I felt it was actually "simplified" - compared to some other "accessible" deck builders I've played, this one feels quite "rich", mechanic-wise, just presenting them in such a way that I don't feel the usual confusion and analysis paralysis.

Oh, also, the company is named after a delicious pastry. So that's another point.

I am definitely going to go and try to off some more elder gods.

It's great! If you're a transfem lesbian, anyway. Or, at least, lesbian. Otherwise I'm not sure why you'd play it.

One of the very, very few games that are by transfem people and for transfem people - I could see others enjoying it - especially some cis lesbians and trasnmasc folks - but the game has a clear audience in mind, and it's not them. I'd say, "transfem lesbians" is the best summary. If you see a man becoming anything of a character in this game, they're either not long for this world, or not actually a man. Which, for the audience, is great. If you're a straight dude it might be less appealing.

Writing is as good as you'd hope from a porn game, maybe even better - this ain't Disco Elysium, but it's fine. Notably absent are many of the cringes of porn writing. I kinda wish there was more trans folks who did elect to get bottom surgery, or to get unconventional options, but as is it's fine - honestly it's me asking for it to go above and beyond _even more_ than it does.

I love the art, and the clear heart that goes into the game.

Now for some flies in the ointment:

• At least one character is based on a real-life internet mini-celebrity, and that mini-celebrity is not exactly a great person.
  
• Controls can get annoying. The game has a certain repetitive routine at it's core. It's kinda charming, and there's something new for every day, and you can just skip that bit - but I do believe that routine should be as smooth as possible. In particular scrolling around maps is very annoying, especially as the game isn't in full screen.
  
• I actually like defaulting to windowed mode, but I think that should force some design choices. "Move your mouse to the edge of the view" and "windowed mode" don't mix very well.
  
• Full screen should be an option regardless.
  
• The coffee minigame is a bit too fidgety. It also highlights the control issues by far the most. Way way too much precision clicking on a timer.

Coming back to the coffee minigame - I kinda wish there was more to it. It's a nice past-time, but the game's structure somewhat encourages chasing the coupons (which might be a problem - though might also be thematically appropriate, at some point I realized they're not _that_ important and chilled the hell out about them, which is actually very much fitting to the game's themes).

In fact I'm going to say, one of the more impressive - though I'm not sure if intentional - achievements of the game is how it made me relax about certain routines. Early on, I wanted to grab all coupons, do all of the scenes, all that.

Eventually, I just enjoyed the story. Coupons were a plenty, I had by far enough for what I wanted or a random scene moment. I could see all of the mini-events eventually, no need to click through every venue if I didn't feel like it. The same way HC slowly learned to feel safe and tackle the challenges she chose - so could I.

So yes, even the "flaws" kinda fit the game. Relax and slow down, and they'll disappear like they've never even been there. Oh, you need to precision click? Slow down. You don't actually need to beat your score at the cafe every time. You don't need to finish the storyline in one evening. It's fine. Relax.

The best game about being an angry beetle that I know of.

Note that it's not really a traditional rhythm game, though a good sense of rhythm will help. Also, this game is surprisingly emotionally intense for something this abstract. Specifically, the emotion is anger.

I don't mean the usual 'this is unfair/broken' anger. I mean the game is about being an angry beetle in an angry world and it conveys that vibe exceptionally well.

Just... bland. Too many interactions feel like "press X to interact" instead of being evocative of anything. Too much checklist clearing. The protagonist is the same incredibly annoying Dutch person.

It's playable, sure. But it's kinda hard to say why I'd play this over anything else, unless really bored or pressed. I'll probably finish it, in a few years.

Performance issues come and go. The real issue is that the game is incredibly generic, basic, something you'd expect from an open world game made in 2010, not in 2023. In many ways it feels almost like a reskin of some sort of a "generic 3rd personal open world game." The same "you can climb, but only marked rocks" as in many games, in the ages post BotW. Outdated weird prompts to "press button x here" in the form of baloons floating in the air (why? Who put up the baloons? This is so weird). And all the obvious prompts make the landscape look weird, artificial, boring

And the force. The sabers are fine, that bit is nice. But, I have just played my 2nd walkthrough of Control - and force powers just feel so weak compared to that. It's unimpressive, it lacks any sort of spectacle.

The story is... unimpressive. Forgettable. Just an excuse to Move To a Location, and go through a relatively linear dungeon. Voice acting is surprisingly bad - some lines feel like they were read by a bored software developer.

Overall, it's kinda competent, but incredibly mediocre - and frankly, if you want the rush of powered fighting, you're better off replaying Control.