Recent reviews by Colonel Shrubbery

Picked up in Humble Bundle 7, Nightsky is a physics puzzler from the era I would call "relaxcore" -- the series of zen-setting and ambient music puzzlers that appear initially relaxing but often prove devilish in their execution. Osmos comes to mind as another example. The soundtrack is fantastically serene, matching the pastel gradients of the backgrounds, and the various machines/vehicles were one of my favorite parts of the game. Excellent execution of a simple control scheme to a variety of situations. If you're stuck, be sure to check what every key does on that screen!

I only played the normal versions of the levels, but they didn't prove too difficult. A guide can be helpful for obtaining the stars, as the locations to explore aren't always apparent. At the end of the day, you will complete this game by your own skill rather than by having known where things are and which buttons to press.

A lovely game with a lovely story, and despite the years that it has been out that story is still developing. Gameplay is great, and you can certainly have had your fill of it before choosing to continue playing for end game content or deciding that you'll pick up and play later with the next big update.

Not yet completed the game, but it is one of my favorites yet even after replaying the first half on three different platforms. The combat system gives you room for creativity between brush strokes and primary and secondary weapons. The story moves a little slowly and the dialog can feel like it's taking too much time, but it's lively, the characters are engaging, and there remains a challenge to it.

It's ok.

I've completed about a third of the game, and the only other game I've played in the series is Saints Row the Third. The gameplay is identical. The weapons are wacky, as usual. The superpowers are amusing, it's pretty fun to run all over the place climbing buildinngs and then gliding, and the data clusters encourage exploration, but it feels like an unstreamlined collect-a-thon. The map is rich with missions, but like SR3, they get repetitive, and you can't help but wonder how much of it is luck vs repeating the same formula for success (looking at you, insurance fraud and destruction missions).

The online services are no longer supported, so character customization wil be completely up to you.

I'm fairly neutral about it. I got it in a Humble Bundle, but it's not something I would have gone out of my way to buy.

If you've been stuck space trucking in ED for what seems like forever... then do yourself a favor and fire up ETS2. Great scenery, fantastic mod scene, and the soothing sound of semis. The game only puts as much pressure on you as you want it to, the trucks are shiny (or not, if you don't want them that way!), and you'll get way good at your geography. Managing the truck company is painless, and you can choose to relax or try to min-max everything.

A very pure and minimalist game, Thomas Was Alone might more aptly be described as a narrative journey accompanied by puzzles. The pace is unhurried, calming even, and the sparse graphics leave you undistracted by what would be unnecessarily florid graphics if they were there.

The music fantastic, with the score weaving itself seamlessly into the gameplay. I even stopped playing at moments simply to soak in the sounds.

New mechanics or plays on old ones also appear at an easy to learn pace. Failure is frustrating enough to feel like failure, but not so frustrating that I ever quit in frustration.

The game itself ends quickly, but does not feel like it does so too quickly.

lovely atmosphere, difficulty adjusts itself to devilish sometimes.