Recent reviews by Ruby Maelstrom

What a fantastic story. Toxic romance, indeed! Ethel can be a bit frustrating with her boundless self-deprecation, but I suppose it must be a difficult existence for her as well. What a beautiful ending! I kept being afraid that something would happen to ruin it, but nothing did. If you like any of ebi-hime's other stories, especially the yuri ones, give this one a try.

What a cool game! And what a crazy trailer too. They've got Al Lowe, Tim Schafer, and Steve Meretzky...in the trailer, not all involved with the game, haha. But if you read those names and you imagine a certain type of humor, then you're pretty close to what to expect with Thaumistry.

It's a modern-day fantasy style game, and casting spells is an essential part of solving a lot of the puzzles. Think LOOM but in a modern setting and you're an inventor rather than a weird little cloak guy and there's no graphics and also you don't have to play music to cast spells... Ok, maybe I just wanted you to think about LOOM, isn't that a neat game?

This one is definitely worth playing for the humor and the footnotes (yes, footnotes, with external links and everything)! The price is definitely right for the amount of gameplay you have here - by which I mean it's really cheap! Give it a try.

Love that parser! This game has a traditional setting of an exploration/mystery game taking place during the 1800's (as far as I know from what I've played of it so far), but the really cool part about it is the text entry system itself! It's got a great autocomplete/suggestion feature, where if you start typing "look" for example it will automatically list out all of the things that you can look at in the area you're in. I've seen that some people think that this is annoying as it removes some of the mystery of poking at things and seeing what works and what doesn't, but I personally find it very useful. This is one of the rare parser games that's in multiple languages too, so if you speak Russian this might be a fun one to try. Also, it's free! So why not give it a try?

I really like the humor and setting for this game. Taking place in a far-off future(?) setting out on the edge of an unknown solar system, The Pilgrimage really puts us in a place where there's a lot of leeway for what's possible. It's a bit of a jokey game (the first puzzle involves you fighting a vat full of semi-sentient meat with a spatula), but it seems really well put together from what I've played of it so far. Even though it's set in the future, the initial town definitely has a very medieval/renaissance type of vibe to it. The parser is really complete, letting you look at, use, and talk to just about everything you can lay your hands on, and the writing is entertaining without being too full of itself. This is a longer game, I didn't finish it on my first playthrough, and I feel like there's a fair amount still to go. Also, it's free! Check it out.

This game is pretty sweet, actually. You've just talked the local cute goth girl into finally going out on a date and now it's up to you not to screw things up. Honestly, Penny is very nice, but you're going to have to pull off some interesting stunts in order to impress her enough for her to not say "let's just be friends" by the end of the game. It's a very British game in dialogue and personality, and if that's your cup of tea then you're all set. It's not super long either as you can get through a playthrough in 40 minutes or so, although if you're taking your time and trying for the highest score possible it'll take you longer. Also, it's free! Try it.

Does OpenTTD still need a review after all of these years? This is the definitive transport...tycoon type game. I mean, those two words basically define a genre now, don't they? But back when this was released, it basically was the genre. After it's been in active development pretty much nonstop for all of those years, it's even better. Seems like you should probably give it a shot, huh? Especially since the price is right.

Such a lovely, comfortable story. The romance in this one is light and at a slow pace, which seemed just perfect for the two girls involved. Also, I adored Alice's obsession with lolita fashion, and the many references made towards real brands. It was a nice touch that kept me entertained!

The art in this one is beautiful as well, and really fit the tone of the novel. Well done to the artist for depicting those pretty dresses so perfectly.

An interesting story, well-told and brief enough not to overstay its welcome. I loved Sillyselly's art as usual, and it really fit the overall tone here well.

I definitely never found myself liking the protagonist, and reading that they were based on a real person made a lot of sense to me. I hope that whoever they are, they took the message that was given here seriously.

Such an adorable story with a lot of tasty-looking food! Ebi-hime is always an entertaining writer, but sillyselly's art is really what makes this game so enjoyable. If a sweet story about a cute demon and a semi-tsundere girl meeting each other and flirting a bit sounds interesting to you, then I definitely recommend checking this out! There are multiple endings too, and the branching paths reveal a lot of additional dialogue, so it's a good value for the price.

It's hard to believe that I haven't reviewed Ooblets already, considering how much I enjoyed it! The visual style is great, and if you enjoy the traditional farming sim gameplay loop, but want a little bit more of a gotta-catch-em-all vibe, then Ooblets is a great game to check out.

When I was reviewing my nominations for the Steam Awards I found that Ooblets was my top pick of the year in three different categories. Maybe if you don't like cute things and enjoy colors then Ooblets isn't the game for you. Otherwise, it may very well be!