Recent reviews by Hydra

I definitely recommend this game on the (w)hole. But as someone who's spent a considerable amount of time scrolling through golf games to potentially buy, it can be a bit tricky figuring out if the physics will feel right, maps will have interesting dynamics, and the game will have some type of overall longevity. Here's some thoughts:

-This game is definitely tailored to a wacky and goofier time. While I'm absolutely competitive every time I play, I never never take this game seriously. A serious attitude will get obliterated the first time you try to ricochet a shot only for it to clip through the geometry and fly out of bounds, or your ball rolls to an impossible-shot corner and you're forced to take a 14-point L on a hole.
-The game has, without relying on workshop mode, a wide variety of both conventional as well as wacky holes. The last couple of maps they've released have been relatively tame given several of the holes released after it's first year or two were absolute bonkers.
-For anyone coming from Golf It!, this GWYF's roll physics are less sticky. A small putt is going to go a long way, and you'll find plenty of times that your ball is going to orbit the hole only to make you scream as it escapes the hole's gravity. That being said, a decent amount of holes have deliberately sunken bowl around the hole to help curb some of the ball's enthusiasm, but you'll still have several times when it decides to hop back out to the amusement of everyone except you. This game also has a control scheme that works for more calculated putts (drawing the mouse back to set the power, and clicking to hit the ball) instead of the mouse-swing from Golf It!, so the insane hole-shot attempts are much more doable.
-After a certain point, everybody is going to become extremely knowledgeable of each hole and how they play, and instead of feeling like 'who's going to play the best', it might start to feel like 'which sweaty try hard is going to putt a perfect game this time'? This is generally propagated by the previously mentioned control scheme allowing you to memorize power levels. This feeling can be sedated with a good ol' round with ball collision on, ball shapes randomized to cones and dice, or even turning the entire thing into basketball. I'd say the entire set of courses can become repeatable by turning on basketball mode to rejuvenate the game if you're tired of the same maps and don't want to resort to workshop maps.
-The game has gotten relatively steady updates over the last several years, and while they've never been super fast about it, the content built up at this point is worth the price tag. That being said, they don't ever seem to update on holes that have already come out, and all of the first main holes still have all of the geometry glitches and bugs as they released with. Their newer maps feel more polished, which is great, but for the foreseeable future don't expect any of the glitches you find to get fixed.

Blacklight Interactive is starting to get a little bit more into the monetized content recently, but with all the currently released maps and steady updates (in conjunction with the workshop maps), it absolutely makes this worth putting in your arsenal of 'weekend hangout games' to play online friends. It currently has Ultrawide support (not that it really gains you much in terms of mechanical benefit), and runs well on the Steam Deck too if you want to hang with friends virtually from the comfort of your couch (or play the local multiplayer option, though I haven't really messed with that yet).

See ya on the green!

It's hard to find anyone who doesn't know about this game if you're in the gaming community, but a legitimate recommendation is buying this as a gift for someone you love(to torture), and invite them to play in a group and have fun with it. If you actually missed the hype train from several years ago about this game, here's my main thought:

There are a lot of games that emphasize difficulty that actually just start off the player with clunky controls and an unbalanced stat system. Beating those games are less about actually being good and more about knowing how to skirt the main gameplay and cheese a victory over bad AI.

The thing I love about this game is the controls are consistent and useful. It is all about learning the behavior of those controls and getting proficient enough to best every obstacle the game has to throw at you. This game will make you feel irritated, anguish, and probably a good amount of anger. But when you beat this thing, you will absolutely feel accomplished. And that is the entire point of the game. If you don't want to commit yourself to a lot of frustration, that's absolutely understandable. But as far as masochistic games to dive into, this is one of the simpler and more concrete ones to dive into.

For anyone that has played this, I think we can all speak to just how difficult it is to put this game into words without ruining it. For those who haven't... it isn't any particular one thing. There's not going to be a single 'Aha!' moment where you catch the bad guy, and that's the secret everyone's holding onto. The entire game is the aha moment.

I'll speak to some of the odd details that I think will cue in those who will like this game and just can't tell yet, without spoiling the overall feel of the game:

- Mechanically, this game plays like a mix of Legend of Zelda (story and world construction) meets No Man's Sky (navigation and general aesthetic). It isn't going to have one specific puzzle that's hard, but an entire solar system that is puzzle-y in nature.
- There is almost zero exposition in this game. All information received is both useful mechanically and informative about the lore, and it is up to you to go find it.
- You do not need to know a lot about science to play this game, but you will absolutely be curious about science after this game teaches you some strong concepts. And none of it will feel like you're getting a school book thrown at your head! If you already are into science, get ready to be bombarded with some of your favorite concepts from Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and beyond.
- The longer you play, the more alone you will feel. I mean this two-fold: In the atmosphere of the game as well as in real life. It will not be until you beat this game that you will feel comfortable actually talking with people about this game. I thankfully was not very far into it when my SO decided to start playing, and after a couple interactions of "Have you been to... did you know that when... are you able to... ooooooh I can't talk to you at all, can I?" that we merged out play sessions together and beat the game together. I am so glad we didn't try to play separate. The entire point of the game surrounds your want and need to discover. You cannot watch a playthrough or ask people about parts without ruining the experience for yourself.

- All of the above points mean that this game is going to make your attention latch onto it. In our playthrough, we played this non-stop from Thursday through Sunday in a desperate attempt to finish before needing to go to bed for the work week. You should take mental breaks (which is easier after more recent updates they've made to in-game documentation).

I'll also say, as an aside, that this game plays incredibly well on both the Steam Deck as well as on ultrawide monitors!

I've seen some people go into this game cautiously, only to find they just weren't in the mental place to play it yet. And I can believe it! There is an incredible amount to take in when you first start. But for anyone wondering if this game is worth stepping into the daunting task of finishing it, I'll end with this: After 30 years on this planet without a specific game to consider 'my favorite game of all time', my answer is now Outer Wilds.

I have enjoyed the past half year of goofy shenanigans from this game, but given the recent aquisition from another publisher, I cannot recommend this game with the knowledge that it may stop being supported on Steam, may be removed from Steam all together, and/or require players to make accounts for a service they have never/will never use. For a game that is starting to grow into it's own, mechanically and aesthetically it's a good time. But the future of the game is looking pretty grim.

Simply put, this game is beautiful in it's simplicity. It's a ping pong table in a room with a few minigames, a few levels in bot difficulty (the bot is pretty fair in terms of each difficulty, as I've never felt cheated by the AI), as well as multiplayer. The physics of the ping pong are on point, with one minor issue that I'll get to later. It's got a very good gameplay/quality/online/audio control interface in game. All in all, it's not an extravagent game, but it feels polished and worth the price.

The only thing I'd say as a con currently, besides the lack of cosmetic options, is the fact that whenever I try to backhand, sometimes it feels like the shot gets boosted, and flings the ball further than I meant to. Front hand always seems like I can finess the shot down to a T, but back hands get a little iffy. That could just be my set up though.

It's like a trip back to when VHS ruled and Prince was king. The cheese factor is off the charts, and not in a bad way. "Cheap" effects are chosen carefully to keep the look while other effects are very well done. And with the lead (as well as writer and director) David Sandberg's smooth fighting moves, you'll believe some of the fighting was created in post as well.

"KUNG FURY" will surprise a lot of people with how much action and comedy it can pack into a little more than the length of a He-Man cartoon. It's corny, it's stupid, and it's everything wonderful. I cannot wait to see what David Sandberg brings to the table next, and will eagerly wait while sleeping under the magnificently-retro "KUNG FURY" movie poster. A-Freaking-Plus.

For those wondering about that poster, here you go: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0d/Kung_Fury_Poster.png