Recent reviews by Chaz

So I saw this was available for a free weekend, and I'd been curious about it for some time. After taking this opportunity to play the game, I bought it in a heartbeat.

For all of its bizarre visuals and eerie music (Which I admittedly turned down in favour of playing my own music while golfing, sorry devs!), as well as its silly golf-cart physics and other shenanigans, buried deep beneath all of that is a surprisingly good golf game.

In particular, the game's advertisement of having "A swing mechanic designed to be satisfying" is actually spot on the mark - For a simple mechanic based on using your mouse to imitate the swing of the club, the game does a really good job of helping you feel the 'weight' of the club, and the guide ruler helps you angle your shot just right. I've had a lot of fantastically satisfying moments where I've chipped a ball into the hole from off the green, and it feels perfect.

My only complaint, one that is shared with other players currently, is that there's only one 9-hole course available at the moment, but honestly for the price (55 cents a hole when it's not on sale!) I'd say it's worth it.

I have not tried this game multiplayer yet, but I hope to convince a few of my colleagues to join me for a few rounds of ball chess soon.

Gameplay-wise, Forts is everything I hoped it'd be and more! Like a crossover of tower defense games and World of Goo, building a fort while smashing up your opponents is surprisingly fun!

I had a minor issue with framerate when this game launched, but this problem was fixed very quickly by the devs, so that tells me this is a game with an active, responsive developer, which is always a good sign!

A lot of people have sung their praises about this game's first adventure, the remastered edition of The House Abandoned. This praise is absolutely well-deserved, and I thoroughly loved it as well!

However, the episodes following this game have been something of a different beast entirely, and I mean that in the best possible way. I've played through The Lab Conduct and have started on The Station Process, and both games, while still involving typing text-based elements, also have more tactile, interactive interfaces. The Lab Conduct in particular was very interesting, asking you to solve puzzles by making use of lab equipment and following the instructions given to you.

This is a very fresh experience in text-based horror, and I am already in love. I'm looking forward to finishing The Station Process and playing The Final Session!

Driving along the road
See a police stop up ahead
Slow down so I can get breathalyzed (knowing full well I just had two beers prior)
Everything seems okay so far
Boy racer rear-ends my van so violently that I get killed
Police don't blink an eyelid at the vehicular manslaughter
My lifeless van rolls into a police officer
Sirens blaring from all directions
10/10 would revisit real-life car crash trauma again.

Now that I've got that out of the way, I have to say I'm actually pleasantly surprised with how this game is turning out so far! The idea of being able to build a car from the ground up is amazing (Although I have little to no experience building engines and will need to refer to some guides), and the sheer mundanity of driving to the shops coupled with the sheer inanity of subsisting entirely on beer, sausages and pizza while performing everyday tasks makes for an experience I rarely see in other games. To add onto that, I really like the ability to use a custom mugshot for your driver's license, as well as being able to customise posters, car paintjobs and even the flag that hangs up in your garage - naturally I swapped out the Finnish flag for a Scottish saltire, shhhh.

My main criticisms with the game right now are fiddly control issues (Like the fact that there's no "stand" button and I have to press the crouch button several times to cycle between crouching states, which probably makes me look silly to anyone watching) and some weird hitches with reloading a save (Especially in one event where I got killed in non-permadeath mode, and respawned short some money and without my van or the stuff I'd bought). That said, early access is early access, and I'm confident the developer will address them in due course.

I sincerely enjoy this game, and I've now found myself instinctively yelling "PERKELE!" at the minor inconveniences within.

This game has been really fun, the community has been pretty helpful, and I've even learned a little bit of javascript while tinkering about with making my own lock cracking scripts!

The soundtrack is also really really awesome and I can't wait for it to be released so I can listen to the hardline music all day long.

I backed this game on Kickstarter and received a pre-release copy a couple of days before launch, and I can say I am glad I helped support it!

I absolutely adore Creepy Castle and I've only played through the first adventure! It's very charming, cute and funny, and combat is mixed up with a variety of little minigames, ranging from a reflex-based "Press the attack button when you get the signal" game, to pac-man style maze games and even Pipe Dream style puzzles! (I'd also like to note that the dev team were considerate enough to include an 'accessibility mode' which make the duel minigames more forgiving for people who have poor reflexes or are otherwise having trouble with the minigames. There's no punishment for doing this either, it's specifically there to help you enjoy the game!

The graphics are very reminiscent of the SInclair ZX Spectrum, though a variety of palettes are available in the options, and if the tile-based movement is too sudden and jarring you can smooth it out while keeping it looking reasonably authentic.

All in all, definitely give this a look!

I've been anticipating this game for the past couple of years and I can definitely say the wait has been worth it. An immersive hacking interface, fun spy gadgets, and a very curious setting indeed! The feeling of solving a puzzle with a flow of commands and quick thinking is quite a fun rush, and with Workshop support I look forward to seeing players' custom maps and other fun things like that!

If you're a fan of hacking/typing games that allow you to manipulate the world through coding and commands (See also ComputerCraft for Minecraft, and Wiremod in Garry's Mod), I definitely recommend this!

I decided to pick up this program in the hopes that it'd help make customising sprites in RPGMaker a little easier (I'm using a DLC resource pack, and the sprites come with bases that I have to manually edit if I want to make a custom character). I'm pleasantly surprised at how well this program works, and how much easier it makes spriting! I am absolutely glad I picked this up, and I can foresee myself using this a lot in the future.

Thanks Aseprite, you've made my life a lot easier for my RPGMaker project!

Let me preface this by saying that yes, this game does run on a premium system, however the pricing is quite reasonable, and the game comes with a generous 3 months of full Premium time already paid up. (The best part about this is that the Premium time from buying on Steam isn't immediately applied to your account, you can activate it whenever you feel you're ready to start using Premium features). After that, Premium is priced on what features you want to use - managing colonies on planets in the Inner Systems, managing large-scale Industry, and taking part in combat are all counted separately, so if, like me, you plan on mostly running a manufacturing operation, you can pay just $1 a month and still enjoy what the game's got to offer for you. Personally speaking, I'm planning on going the full $3 a month anyways, this developer can definitely use the support!

As far as space games go, I've been looking for one that allows me to participate in trade and industry in a non-combative manner, and I've gotta say Ascent so far has pushed all of the right buttons! Think of a large galaxy and a player-run economy like in EVE Online, except entirely PVE, so there's no need to worry about more experienced players rolling by and ruining your fun.

Quite the opposite, the community has been super helpful for me so far, and I've gotta say I appreciate that kind of spirit!

The controls for flight are simple but not overly so - You can navigate between gates and stations using just the mouse, and flying your ship in combat uses the WASD keys to pretty solid effect.

The mining in the game also feels just right - No sitting around like in EVE, and no chasing asteroid chunks like in Elite Dangerous, but you have to match the speed of the asteroid to get a good bead on it, and then use your mining laser to heat it up to just the right temperature to get the best yield out of it.

I'm still just getting started with regards to building colonies and space stations in the game, but I really like what's been done so far! There are still some minor issues regarding framerate and loading screens, but the developers have been super active and engage the playerbase on a frequent basis, so I'd say even if you decide not to buy the game today, definitely keep a close eye on it!

This is possibly one of the most relaxing and yet addictive experiences I've had this year so far, I'm having fun running my farm!