Recent reviews by Aurin

Certainly a cool management game, and quite a tough one at that. If you're a fan of the SCP universe, then you'll be right at home here, though be warned that games from Project Moon have infamously steep difficulty curves.

You're responsible for producing a certain amount of energy each day, which you get my sending your agents to work with abnormalities. There's a wide variety, some beneficial, the vast majority dangerous on one level or another, and with their own stories as well. Each new day, you get new abnormalities to work with, so the overarching task becomes managing an increasingly-lethal facility, with missions and other gimmicks thrown in for variety.
Thankfully it's not completely masochistic, as working with abnormalities also gets you the ability to create weapons and armour to protect you from when they inevitably break out. These items and mission rewards are kept between resets (and the game expects you to do that often), so I suppose you could call it a roguelite, even though I never really thought of this game as being one while playing. The music is also great and the story does enough to keep you interested.

One thing to note is that if you get frustrated at some aspect, there's most likely a mod to lessen it. Some people might say it's not the true experience, but in my opinion there are some parts that simply involve grinding for the purpose of grinding, so I didn't feel bad about tweaking the game at all. In addition, the game has some QOL issues and bugs that were never fixed, up to and including abnormalities and stat buffs that simply don't work as designed. There are a couple of mods that fix these too, however.

Overall it's a nice intro to the Project Moon universe, and a fun albeit very difficult management game.

It's okay, but it's not perfect by any means. Despite the new games being often touted is being fast-paced, I didn't really feel that to be the case with this game.

The way that the main campaign is set up encourages you to constantly pause the game to scour the map for collectables, which really breaks the flow of the game. If you don't do this, it's extremely easy to get lost within the levels, mostly because the colour palette is only mixes of red and yellow, or blue. Alternatively, you'll miss out due to the random points of no return, forcing you to replay the level.
Fighting enemies doesn't feel much better, since despite having a decent variety of weapons and alt-fire modes that you can swap on the fly, you won't be doing so often, and they don't feel very satisfying to use. Even the execution-style glory kills feel somewhat weightless. In the latter parts of the game, tankier enemies appear, so weapon viability inevitably goes down, even more so during boss fights that tend to keep you at range, ensuring close-range guns are out.
The story of the campaign is relatively basic, but acceptable enough for the type of game it's meant to be. However, there are still bugs that can occur where you can get stuck, and you'll have to reload the last checkpoint if you want to progress.

On the other hand, the multiplayer is surprisingly enjoyable, and so is the arcade mode. The medal system lends well to replayability, and the multipliers are far more satisfying than scouring the map for secrets. The map editor system is also neat and has tutorials, albeit being somewhat basic.

Overall it's a decent time if you just want to have a shooter where you can turn your mind off, or if you want to play multiplayer. If you're an achievement hunter or want to find all the secrets, you'll have a rough time due to having points of no return.

I originally got this game through the Seventia bundle along with Natsuki Chronicles. Despite releasing earlier, I think I prefer this game more. I played this game exclusively on Steam Deck, and it ran totally fine.

This game is a vertical shmup that primarily takes place across multiple separate stages which you select via a menu, along with a shop where you can buy and equip new weapons and other equipment, labelled as the Story Mode. There is a more classical "Score Attack" mode where you can select pre-equipped ships, but there's no Arcade Mode that lets you play through all the stages in order in one sitting.

It does have more stages than many other shmups, which may be appealing to newcomers, however there are some strange design decisions in some of these stages. Some stages are simply a marathon against a single boss (some with absurd attacks), others have a gimmick such as avoiding searchlights.

New weapons and equipment upgrades can only be unlocked by clearing certain stages, some of which you won't be able to do for a long time, as the hard difficulty is only unlocked after clearing the normal difficulty stages. In this way, it has the opposite problem of Natsuki Chronicles, where new items are unlocked through grinding player levels.

The pseudo-3D perspective, despite being a staple of Eschatos, felt like it hindered more than helped here. It was sometimes pretty difficult to notice new obstacles, enemies, and bullets that appeared because of this, as well as when destructible enemy parts appeared or disappeared.

Even through all this, I still enjoyed my time with the game, though I don't think it's all that replayable due to no Arcade Mode. If you're interested, I'd recommend getting it through the bundle with Natsuki Chronicles, which goes on sale for a couple bucks occasionally.

I originally got this game through being interested in horizontal shmups and Qute-style shmups. After completing it, I'm not sure I'd recommend it for others in the same position. At least it ran totally fine on Steam Deck.

I'd categorise this game as "hard, but forgiving". Now, what does that mean?

The game is hard. Bullets are numerous, quick, and chaotic, especially at higher difficulties (Not in a bullet-hell way, but in a classic shmup way). The difficulty itself may seesaw between stages, and may vary depending on your choice of weaponry. Enemies may appear from unexpected angles, such as dropping on you, advancing from behind, or hiding behind stage obstacles. There are some very strange design decisions, such as a survival stage where you get a heavily-armoured ship and are expected to survive a barrage of bullets, but it feels more like a waste of time as you have too many shields to care.
These issues are especially evident in the Arcade Mode, where you go through all the main stages in order, where you can't deterministically pick your loadout, and are instead beholden to power-up RNG.

However, the game is also pretty forgiving. By default, you have a set of 3 rechargeable shields, which already makes the base experience much easier for newcomers. During your regular playthrough, each stage and difficulty has a separate level which you gain experience through playing it. Higher levels give additional layers of shields which don't recharge.
The Arcade Mode gives additional Continues each time you fail, but power-ups also give layers of shields. If you lose the shield, you lose the respective power-up too.

The game also features a variety of weapons and defensive options. Unfortunately, many of them are direct upgrades of lower ones, which are unlocked through grinding stages. It felt like this game had the opposite problem of Ginga Force in that department, where in that game weapons are only unlocked by clearing higher difficulty stages.

Finally, this game features an option to enable bullet trails, either for the more powerful shots or for all shots. Ostensibly this is meant for newer players, but I'm not sure how effective it ended up being for me. Many times even the lesser option felt overwhelming, and didn't really help me in dodging them. Thankfully, you can turn it off completely if you prefer, and for the vast majority of my time with this game I did so.

Overall, if you are interested, I'd say to wait for the occasional Seventia bundle sale, where both this game and Ginga Force are discounted to a couple bucks together. It's not quite for me, but it might be for some.
If I could give a mixed recommendation I would, but I think the drawbacks aren't too numerous, so I'm still recommending it.

When I originally got this game, I did so with the intention of getting used to the Steam Deck with a simple open-world racing game. 120 hours later and with all achievements completed, it's been a great experience on Medium settings and I now know about a bunch of cars that I've never heard of!

The main gameplay loop consists of doing various events to level-up your rank in various categories such as road racing, speed traps, or drift zones. In the course of these, you'll also obtain credits, used mostly for buying new cars. Besides these, you can race online (in regular races, co-op hourly events, or a battle royale mode), complete challenges created by other players, as well as DLC regions, including a LEGO-based region.

However, there are some drawbacks to the way this game is set up:

-The seasonal system (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) in the game works in real-time, swapping to the next season on Thursdays. Some activities are exclusive to certain seasons. This means that you may need to wait up to a month to complete them if you happen to miss an exclusive one.
-Some cars are no longer available, so you'll never be able to get a full collection. Not just exclusive to buying from other players via the Auction House, completely gone, such as the Hot Wheels DLC cars. This is a very small portion of the total though.
-If you're an achievement hunter, you will not be able to get all of them, since some are tied to online events that aren't available anymore.
-This game uses Teredo for networking and multiplayer, so you may experience connectivity issues depending on your connection setup. For me on Steam Deck, I had to perform occasional restarts of the whole console in order to connect online.

However, if you don't mind these issues, it's still well-worth your time, with tons of cars to get from many makers and plenty of races and open-world events to do across 3 regions (if you get the Ultimate Edition, which you should). Just get it soon, as the game will be delisted in December 2024.

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is a truly special puzzle experience, from one of the most underrated studios out there, Simogo, who I first noticed when checking out Device 6 and Year Walk.
On your way to unravelling the story you'll definitely want a notebook by your side (even with the ability to keep any documents you read memorised through the character's photographic memory), as many puzzles have solutions elsewhere, and there's no hint system.
Reviews may mention the one-button control scheme as a downside, and while it surprised me at first too, I honestly got used to it pretty quickly and barely noticed it after an hour or two.
Everything flowed quite smoothly, and that's with the art style being pretty unique and daring on top of that, as it's mostly black and while with bits of red, which give an interesting contrast and help important parts to stand out.
Lots of excellent atmosphere as well, despite there not being any enemies to fight, and it only draws you in further and pushes you forward, to the next puzzle, to the next story beat.
Expectations are also played with, in a good way, where you're never quite sure what will happen next, and just as it seems like you've got the story figured out, another curveball is thrown your way to keep you guessing.
I only got truly stumped maybe once or twice in the entire game, and even if that happens to you, you often have multiple leads to go on at any given time, so you can almost always leave a puzzle for later if you don't know the solution right away.

While this game definitely is not for everyone in multiple ways (and Simogo said as much, they do not expect everyone to be able to finish the game), those that it does capture are sure to delight at the experiences and feelings it gives.
Entering and peeling back the layers in the story, thinking about puzzles every which way, and having those "Aha!" eureka moments are irreplaceable.
If you think this game is remotely something up your alley, I'd really encourage you to give it a try.
Simogo has yet again created a wonderful game, with a striking artsyle, excellent soundscapes, interesting narrative, and of course engaging and unique puzzles.
Such a game I will not forget anytime soon, as I'm listening to "Enneahedron" on repeat, wondering what Simogo will come up with next!

Great co-op game with a passionate community and devs.

Between the last two major content updates, a year has passed. Unfortunately, GGG appears to be a small indie company backed by Tencent that doesn't want to invest in a robust server infrastructure for their always-online game.

The actual game, as an ARPG, is great. There are endless amounts of builds of varying complexity, tons of endgame content to try of various types and test your character against, and of course, tons of loot. Unfortunately, that all goes out the window if you can't play the game. That is why I cannot recommend this game as of the start of Mercenaries league.

Another great game from Uchikoshi. While not completely on the same level as the first game, it's still very interesting and enjoyable in its own right. Comparing it to the 999 series, it's probably below VLR but still much better than ZTD (Which I honestly still found plenty of fun to play though). It even has a spoiler toggle if you haven't played the first game, so that's nice.

Minor spoilers continue below...



The story is relatively linear this time compared to most of Uchi's other games, with only a couple of branching paths. This probably makes it more enjoyable for the average person unfamiliar with these types of games, but I found it just a bit too standardized compared to other games from this dev. There's definitely still twists and unusual reveals, but ones that you'll have to think over to get the full effect, as its pretty sudden with little buildup besides your own observations. Some are done better than others, which may put some people off, especially after the first game.

Due to the above, most dream sequences are fairly linear. They do seem to be easier than the first game in general in terms of time management, but each one is more unique, with its own gimmicks, and the key system helps confused players understand how each one works (though I must admit, I almost never used them myself besides for additional lore). One might be more investigative, with clues to pick up and store, and others might be a quiz or monster battler. There's difficulty settings available too if you still feel pressured, but the ability to replay them with no time limit is nice for finding collectables.

There's a few other differences and additions compared to the first game as well. The first is the 'VR' investigation mode (VR not actually required), where you recreate a crime scene to see what a criminal did there. If you've ever played the Investigations spinoff games of Ace Attorney, think of it like Kay's 'Little Thief' sections. A fun addition, which seems to mostly replace the 'interrogation' sections from the first game. Another addition is the ability to solve puzzles outside of somniums. Unfortunately, there's little QoL here to review clues, unless they're present in the log, and you might find yourself being asked a question suddenly. Highly recommend having a notepad nearby to solve these. There's also small additions like a tamagotchi minigame, which is alright.

Overall still a very enjoyable game, but not quite at the level of the first one. I would still recommend getting this whether you're a new player or old, and if you ARE new and liked this, definitely try the first game! Looking forward to potentially a third game in the future.

Highly recommend this if you like story-based exploratory sidescrollers (Metroidvanias?). Colourful visuals, chunky story, and excellent music and boss design. Definitely hits some hard topics and yet still manages to appropriately intersperse humour to get a well-paced game. I really enjoyed my time with this.

Collectibles come in the form of crafting materials, but you by no means need to find them all to finish the game.
Additional content is available in the form of a couple of secret bosses and a 1-HP mode.

Besides the story, the best parts by far were the boss fights and music composition. Each boss feels like a different encounter, which you will need to figure out on your own. Likewise, the wide range of music created for this always sets the mood appropriately. I still listen to it occasionally.