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TL-DR: There is a good foundation here, but a lack of clarity, explanation of core gameplay mechanics, systems & intended progression, and sheer difficulty spikes from the outset is severely hampering the new player experience. Wait down the line and see if it gets better.

Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash were some of my most favourite indie games to ever be made, so suffice to say I was extremely hyped (pun unintended) when this was first announced all those years back.

Now it's in our hands... And I'm genuinely sad to say this is currently in a mixed bag.

The world generation works well, procedurally spreading out intended objectives, structures, encounters and boss fights in a neat way, with plenty of traversal and mobility options to get back and forth.

Combat is too frequent and unforgiving, expecting you to navigate up to a dozen enemies per encounter.
Getting hit by even the weakest melee attack causes big chunks of your health to rapidly disappear. Ranged attacks from armed enemies and flying monsters are almost impossible to time dodges and parries against correctly due to projectile speed being way slower than you anticipate.
HP regeneration is too little, with nary a tuppence regained on successful parries, and your only sources of healing being collecting bushes in the world and bringing them to shrines in exchange for stims. The problem is, the latter game mechanic is barely explained or reminded to the players, leaving myself in frustration after every encounter that I have to head to extraction as I have no other healing items or mechanics to be able to reclaim lost health.

Speaking of game mechanics not being well explained - Part of the game loop revolves around visiting a world multiple times, with the intention being the loop getting too dangerous and hostile for you to complete everything 100% in one single run. You are meant to perform a portion of available objectives and places of interest in the world, escape with your acquired loot, rinse and repeat.
However, this core extraction mechanic is not explicitly taught, or reminded, to the player, resulting in frustration when you die, as your acquired gear degrades and then breaks permanently if you die too many times.

A danger meter steadily rises during each run in a world, with negative events happening every time a pip fills over time. The issue with this is that too many events happen too fast, with the game suddenly dumping encounter after encounter on you in less than 10 minutes into a run, blocking off sections of the map via meteor storm and forcing you to move away until things calm down, and summoning minibosses that you stand no chance against because you've been unable to acquire decent gear, weapons and equipment that can even put a dent into their HP.

PC configuration and settings are almost non-existent. Some basic shadow and terrain details, but that's it. No FPS cap, no VSync, no texture detail, no reflections, no resolution scaling... The irony of launching an early access game on PC-only, with no PC-focused settings.

It genuinely saddens me that I feel I have to leave a negative review, as I was greatly anticipating this with my friends. Heart Machine are one of my favorite indie studios for the tale behind the lead developer and his health complications, and I want them to succeed with this. But even after several years of delays, it's clear there is still a lot that needs to be implemented, rebalanced and polished up.

I will still play about with this now and then and revisit in future, and I genuinely hope the state of the game will exponentially improve from its current iteration at time of review, as I want to enjoy this after having waited so long for it.

Best of luck devs. You're going to need it.

(Disclaimer: I play the XBox/Microsoft Store version of this game due to no cross-save with Steam, so my displayed gametime here on Steam is NOT representative of my actual playtime. I have about 100h logged on the XBox/Microsoft Store version at time of writing this review)

Handled by Sumo Digital, who were responsible for the Sonic & Sega All Stars games back in the day, the dev team definitely know how to make all the great aspects of a kart racer, mixed in with some BR elements. 60 players, 3 rounds per series, with everyone scrambling to get out in front and secure their positions for the next race.

Game is very well polished and optimised, although a bug related to alt-tabbing can cause 100% GPU usage due to it running at uncapped FPS while minimized (Devs are aware at time of writing and should be fixed next patch)

Absolutely no pay to win, although expect to be grinding for kart upgrades a fair bit (and even without them you still have a good chance of winning with track and game knowledge, the upgrades are just a compliment), fantastic community and devs who clearly care about the game and aren't afraid to make changes to things to make the whole product feel and play better.

Absolutely worth a try if you're looking for a new racer to sink your teeth into!

This is genuinely one of the best live service games to come out in recent times that absolutely spits in the face of other "AAA" games that overcharges you for a mediocre product and then further tries to nickel and dime you with MTX and FOMO.

An exquisite blend of Titanfall 2 movement, precision slow-mo combat, INSANELY amazing drum & bass soundtrack all set to a backdrop inspired by the likes of the real-life Kowloon Walled City and Ghost In The Shell.

Unfortunately a fair bit on the short side - I completed the campaign in 4-5 hours - but absolutely well worth picking up, be it either on discount or full price.

A fairly short, but perfectly formulated package harking back to the golden era of 3D platformers from the N64/PS1 days.
The game refuses to hold your hand from the outset and figuring out everything on your own may be a bit intimidating, but the rewards reaped from gaining new abilities and ways of traversing the world is extremely satisfying.

Also goat lady. I approve of goat lady.

Roguelite Borderlands with robots, extremely satisfying gunplay and movement, a soundtrack that goes Hotline Miami levels of hard, and devs who clearly care about the game and the balancing.

Absolutely worth getting.

Genuinely surprised I haven't written a recommendation for this sooner. One of my favourite games ever made that oozes colour, atmosphere, worldbuilding, storytelling and ambience without so much as even uttering a single letter of dialogue.

Combat is blazing fast, tough but fair, and open to many various strategies to counter opponents.
Masterfully composed soundtrack from Disasterpeace that evokes isolation, desolation, ruined beauty and dread.

Please just buy and play this game. It's an experience like no other.

Suffers from a major lack of polish and the presence of microtransactions in such an early state of the game is bound to put off even more people. Core gameplay loop and movement is satisfying enough, but not a whole lot to do or see due to Early Access.

A genuine shame. HAWKEN was one of the first ever Steam games I ever played a decade ago, and while I was excited to see a reboot, the current result has left me with a very mixed sour taste.

There is potential here, as the foundations for the game are at least solid enough. Hopefully the devs take the feedback that is very loud and clear into account and fix the game up to a better state. But until then, I'd have to recommend giving this one a pass. The original HAWKEN is still playable via the PAX Client or the Hawakening project if you need your heavy mecha need.

Spiritfarer is a 2020 management game developed by Thunder Lotus, previously known for their hand-animated games consisting of Jotun and Sundered.

The philosophy of reflection on life, death, and what comes after sets the stage as you play as Stella, a girl who wakes up in a world not her own, tasked with being the new Spiritfarer by the deity that came before her; A ferrymaster sailing the seas, meeting recently deceased spirits, and helping set their last affairs in order before releasing them into the afterlife.

It's not all doom and gloom from first impressions. In fact, Spiritfarer has a lot of joyous moments, with a vibrant, lovingly hand-animated art style to it, as Stella leaps around the world with a grin on her face, gathering resources, meeting new faces and the like. There's even a dedicated hug button! (even if you only get to hug a character once per day...)

At its core, Spiritfarer has most aspects you would expect from a management game: constructing various buildings on your ship, creating resources from them and using these resources to help out with the routines that your befriended spirits may need, as well as further upgrading your own supplies and ship, which is required to open up new regions on the map. There's a loop that's quite easy to fall into, and one you'll be performing often - There's a fair amount of downtime as your ferry sails from location to location (or in some cases, a bit of back and forthing), but there's always at least one thing you can do, or that needs doing, during these periods, whether it be planting fruit and veg, sawing planks from logs or melting ore into ingots.
As previously mentioned, downtime is fairly frequent, as such the game can be a slow burner during the quieter moments.

What truly helps this game reach an uniquely unforgettable level though are the characters, writing and themes that go with it, hand in hand. Spirits will talk about their joys and regrets in life, their highs and lows, their strides and their struggles. Some of which many will be able to relate to to various degrees. Each spirit comes with a distinct personality, and an animal form that represents said personality. Atul the frog is a big, lovable, yet hardworking goofball who loses it at the sight of his favourite food, and is an overall perky guy to help you feel better on a bad day. But he's not afraid to talk about his own family problems when the both of you sit down amidst the hussle and bussle on the ship.
And he's just one of many characters you'll be helping to tie up their loose ends. People from different walks of life, different outlooks on their past and death, what it means for them, and even question if they were truly satisfied with the path they chose.
And by the time you send them off, it's not just a pat on the back and a "good luck out there, pal". There have been moments where I have genuinely cried when parting ways with a character I truly liked. It's because you form a real connection with them in the time you get to know them. Not just as an NPC or a game character, but as a friend.

The game's joyful and emotional themes are complemented even further with Max LL's masterful composition in the music department, always perfectly setting whatever scene may be playing out at any given moment, with slow guitar melodies being plucked away when all is quiet on deck as your ferry moves through the sea, or something more frantic and dramatic when rough weather comes into play and you're scrambling to gather resources before it passes. Each character has their own leitmotif which perfectly suits their personality and the part of life they come from.

As previously mentioned, Spiritfarer is a bit of a slow burner: Expect around 25 hours of game time if you're playing to the end while getting a considerable amount of side stuff, and then throw an extra 10 or so hours if you're looking to 100% it.
Progress will be slow in some areas, and it's in the nature of the game, it's not a rollercoaster rush every single moment you're on the ship or out exploring islands. It's very much a game meant to sit back and relax with.

Spiritfarer is genuinely one of the best games I've ever played on Steam. It executes a masterful presentation and atmosphere while daring to be brave with some of the unique and mature themes on display, and one that may very well with tears in your eyes, and a fresh outlook on life, the people around you, and what it means to say goodbye.
I truly cannot recommend this game enough.

Journey is a 2012 adventure game, developed by thatgamecompany. The game was originally a Playstation exclusive, however 8 years later, the game finally saw a port to PC. And what a painful wait it was, as this game has been heralded as one of the greatest of all time. Multiple playthroughs later, I can certainly affirm that this is the case.

Being dropped into a strange, magical desert land where not a single word of speech or dialogue is uttered, and not a single word of text is shown (minus the minimalistic, bare-bones title/pause menu), you take the role of a robed being, with one clear goal in view and in mind: Reach the summit of the looming mountain in the distance. And so your path across the landscape begins, surfing down sand dunes and riding alongside cloth creatures as you drift ever closer to your goal, as well as discovering the tale of the race that once inhabited it, and what befell them.

At it's core, if one were to call this game a walking simulator, it is somewhat justified, as a majority of your time will be spent roaming the desert, exploring the buried temples and ruins, in a semi-linear fashion. Areas are self-contained with a few secrets, puzzles and achievements dotted around them, with them all eventually connecting to the next area.

Graphics are clean with a cartoon-ish look, assisting the environmental storytelling in a grandiose fashion.
Sound design is also on point as well, hearing the howling winds rustle by and shift the sand you're standing on, however I've noticed that the audio quality seems to take a dip in some segments, as if it was slightly bit-crushed. I believe a recent patch may have addressed that, however if it has then I am unable to tell the difference.

And I haven't even touched up on what makes this game so special and what elevates it to an emotional level unlike most games I've played.
At any point throughout the game, so long as you're online, you'll run into another robed figure just like you. That's not an NPC. That is an actual living breathing player, and fate has decided the two of you are to share the journey together.
While you're unable to directly communicate with each other, only by small chirps and whistles, the way the game's experiences are structured push an amazing, undescribable feeling of companionship that stays with you throughout the game, as both of you face obstacles, overcome perils and push towards your mutually shared ultimate objective.
The connection that is forged between the pair of you is something that lasts for ages, even well after you finish the game. And you only ever learn their name once it is all over, something I wish more games would do, as it helps break down the bias and misconceptions that people may have towards players. There are no arguments of differing opinions, no disagreeing on which path to take or how to take it.
Just you, your partner, and the shared driven passion to attain your goal together.

Austin Wintory's beautiful score also helps elevate the storytelling and important moments.
Personal favourites from the OST are by far "Apothesis" and "I was Born For This", with a heavy emphasis on stringed instruments and a deep cello resonating all throughout.

The game is certainly on the shorter side of a spectrum, with a normal playthrough only taking 2-3 hours at most, however secrets, achievements and even a sense of duty to guide the newer players through the land is what keeps me coming back every time, to assist others with their journey.

Journey is also pretty well optimised and runs well, however I have noticed a problem where the game process decides to hog all of the CPU power available on your system, causing temperatures to rise quite a bit even though all that spare processing power isn't strictly needed. As such, I found it necessary to limit the game's amount of CPU power it can have, so my FPS does drop a bit because of this, however I would much prefer this than it conking out my fans because it's whirring all the time. I do hope they release a patch addressing this.

That technical issue aside though, Journey is an extraordinarily unique game with an emotional and unforgettable way to connect players together as they travel through the land. What may seem like a stranger at first glance may very well end up being your best friend by the end of the game.
I can't recommend this game enough, and I hope as many people as possible get to play this now that it's finally on PC and Steam.