Recent reviews by NoREM

I feel like this game is going to be a lot of folks' "No, wait, let me explain..." game.

Surprisingly good, it was recommended to me because it was fun to play, a good mix of dungeon crawling, action RPG, and Diablo like mechanics. Was not misled. I'd say if you got the spare change give it a go for yourself and be part of the club of folk who have to explain what this game is doing in their library.

Normally I do long detail reviews, but for this one I feel 2 words is all that is needed.

Competitive Depression.

A simple game but not a bad thing at all. Its like a casual platforming experience with deeper implications to a silent narration. The music is great and the atmosphere is fantastic for a mobile game. The monetization though is horrible with them selling a Journey pack for almost double what the actual Journey game costs.

I'd recommend everyone at least one play-through of it, and if it is not your cup of tea you've lost nothing but a few hours of your time.

What is this mess?

I do not have words to describe how badly designed this game is at every level. It feels like it was just trying to tick off boxes on a list that makes something a "game". It uses MMORPG mechanics, in a first person zombie survival game, with janky platforming and stated weapons that break and you need to repair? An MMO looter shooter that isn't an MMO? It has quests like an MMO too? What is this mess?

Nothing works well, none of the parts fit together, your brain will fight you trying to figure out how you are suppose to play it because nothing flows. Everything is just bad, there isn't a single positive I could give. The game is mostly in water and there is no water mechanics? You just fall and walk like the water isn't real but you can still drown? What is this mess!?

I got this for free and I feel ripped off! Avoid it for your own sanity.

Fall Guys is just good entertainment. Nothing here to take too seriously or get too invested in. Just hop in a match, see how good you can do, if you win, nice, if you don't, was still fun. It's basically platforming speed running for kids.

Probably one of the better battle passes out there as it will allow you keep getting it for free if you just pop in enough to finish the first few levels. Overall a solid game, one of my most played as of recent just for the mindless fun you can have alone.

EDIT: I have started to hit game breaking bugs one after another, and after finding out how much content was removed, to the point where it seems that was the cause of some of these bugs, I have to amend this review to tell folks to skip this game. It's broken, it's unfinished, and it should not have been released in this state.

Score: 7/10
Pros: An issue I had with Divinity Original Sin is addressed here, where each interaction with an NPC has some focus and animation, making it a much more engaging RPG. The game is very visually stunning, and the amount of dialog options, even if mostly just an illusion of choice, is very appreciated. You can find it easy to get into character here and move forward with the narrative without much need to suppress your own imagination. Customization of your character is nice, and there are fair assortment of classes to pick from. Multiplayer works nice as well with systems in place to keep it so each player isn't locked onto a limit space with the first player.
Cons: D&D 5e works alright for tabletop, and some would argue it is overhyped there, but D&D 5e is absolutely terrible for video games. The system is meant to have GM's and players using the rules as guidelines, while a game needs to be absolute. On top of that, they don't even take all of D&D 5es rules into play, meaning it just become RNG on RNG on RNG for some rolls. Have +10 and cannot fail a check? Not here, if you roll that 1 you critical fail, and if you wanted to see how that worked out, well ♥♥♥♥ you it's save scumming time. Combat is terrible, there is no point to being anything but a direct damage dealer as using 5e's already gimped rules on top of having to translate to a video game just makes buffing a waste of time. There is no option to pre-buff before combat and you'll just randomly enter combat without knowing where the line is before triggering it. If you wanted to have a certain type of experience, do NOT play multiplayer, as your teams choice 100% affect yours, and you can miss out on content and options cause your team wanted to do something silly or something opposite of what you expected, and you'll have to live with those choices.
The narrative isn't that good as people like to think as well, as it almost is beat by beat Divinity Original Sin's start. You find your self on ship/airship, with a McGuffin (collar/tadpole) forced on you, and you're quest is to remove that McGuffin with everyone having ideas on how to do that. Your enjoyment of the story is also gimped by the mentioned RNG from before, as certain narrative options require you to roll a die and see what happens. If you had your heart set out to go one way, well, you might as well just quicksave before talking to someone and just keep rolling that check until you get the number you need. If you are just going through it once without a care to what happens, then you weren't really engaged in the narrative in the first place so it's only hurting those who care. You can argue its the wrong way to play it, but they already had a system to change how the die work, why not just have a flat 10 system for those who don't want to roll every time?
Recommend to: People who enjoy CRPGs, it is still a great CRPG, and the quality is here, I just would suggest avoiding playing supporting classes as they've been handled poorly.
Overall: D&D 5e is trash for video games, even going back to use 3.5 could have been more engaging. Better yet, just make another system that is D&D themed that works better for video games. The game overall falls apart and takes too long if you want to be anything but a "hurr-durr big numbers make dopamine" damage dealer. It is overhyped overall, I'd say wait for a sale.

Score: 9/10
Pros: A slow pace experience game that has a grand world and story behind it's rather simple mechanics. You play as a slugcat, trying to complete each one's objective in a metroid-vania like world. But the big seller is that the game makes you feel like prey. Everything that could possible kill, harm or eat you will, and it's your objective to get pass all these while trying to learn about the world, eat enough to survive, and find shelter before the rains fall. The game does a great job of making you feel vulnerable without being unreasonable. Sometimes the deaths may feel unfair, but that's just how nature is. Caution is needed when exploring, watching and learning how creature interact, hell even learning how to tame some creatures to help you are all optional yet major parts of the game. Sure you can ignore all the nuance in the mechanics, but then you can play lesser games for the cheap and small hit of dopamine. Mastering the systems, learning all you can, and engaging in fun and unique ways really make this game. The art is fantastic as well, and the blends of styles are really quite interesting. The subtle soundtrack is absolute fitting and refreshing, never once did I feel the sound or atmosphere has hurt by it which is a rare feat these days.
Cons: It can be unforgiving and unfair cause it is trying to simulate a realistic nature with all the AI and coding going on. Rage quitting can happen after a long string of losing all the Karma you earned over and over from cheap kills.
Recommend to: Patient folks who like deep worlds and interesting mechanics and ideas. Fan of folks who like simulations and AI based actions instead of predictable and expected results.
Overall: Again, Indie devs nail it. Rain World is a beautiful peace of art that really deserves more attention then it got.

Not going to do a normal long review for this one.

It's probably the better Gundam game on steam at the moment. It is a Gacha, but if you are a fan of the Universal Century era, it's easy to think of it as Military Rations and you get what you get from Command. I don't advise spending any money from the store. If you do want to get additional suits and tokens, I would suggest the DLC as at least you will get confirmed suits from it and not just RNG.

It's clunky and slow intentionally to feel like piloting a Mobile Suit. If you enjoy quick rounds of combat and don't want to put too much excessive thought into it, I'd suggest this game. However if PvP scares you, then you are better off avoiding it.

It's not a great game, but it's quite a good Gundam one on the PC at this time.

I wanted to go into length and detail about what's wrong with the game, but then I realized I would be putting more effort and consideration toward the game than the dev's put into the game themselves.

Don't want to make them actually have to try, that would be rude of me to expect mechanics and decent balance in a game.

Score: 10/10
Pros: The 90s aesthetic is fully realized here, the fun cartoon nature of it is effectively in every part of the game's design. The move sets are organic, and complex at the same time, allowing for precision platform at Mach speeds with little difficulty. Adding to that, there are options to help change controls so you don't even have to have the up and down mechanics be linked to them, you can put them to any button you want. If you enjoy platformers, there is no reason to skip out on this one. Everything is well telegraphed for boss fights and combat, and there are crazy amounts of secrets to find. The best way to describe it is a merger of all the old platformers into one: Mario jumping mechanics, Sonic's momentum based platforming, Wario's exploration and combat. And it's all polished to a great feeling game. Chef kiss.
Cons: It's a bit short, but not that short for 20 bucks it asked for at it's start. It's really hard to find a con. But otherwise there is no major cons I can even think of.
Recommend to: People who enjoy high speed platforming.
Overall: Another good indie game showing off that old mechanics don't mean bad or outdated, and can be refined further to make an even better game. This game has my game of the year nomination already. Going to be hard to top this one.