Recent reviews by CountingWizard

Do you like games that exceed your expectations or what you thought was possible? Then you'll like Startron.

The experience is overall enjoyable. There are multiple dungeons, organized by quest. Gameplay is about exploring and managing your health as a resource to risk going deeper or turning back, and incrementally improving your character equipment and stats. I like that treasure is central to advancement in this game, and that each quest area has it's own unique art assets and color theme. The art style itself is pretty good even though it reuses art from previous games. It's cool how each room has it's own furniture layout to match implicit purposes of the room (burial, religious, sleeping, etc.). Combat is swift and fast paced; which can be a good thing if you want to emphasize the other aspects of dungeon crawling.

The weak parts of the game are that character classes don't feel different/distinct from each other. A dwarf is going to fight exactly like a warlock would; character advancements every five levels let you choose a new skill from a random selection, but every class has access to the same skills. Different effects like "stun/paralysis", "confusion", or "poison" are difficult to recognize the impact of due to speed of combat; in general conditions and effects feel completely irrelevant, and there are no spells. Interaction with the dungeon is also very limited; I haven't found any secret doors, interactive objects other than chests and the occasional magic symbol in the boss room, nor have I had any interaction within the dungeon other than straight forward fighting (i.e. no parley, dialogues, factions, etc.).

Some specific improvements I could recommend for the next iteration:
* Occasional room descriptions in a text pop up upon entry (helps players navigate the dungeon, builds dungeon "presence" within the player's mind, and provides novelty.)
* More interactive non-combat elements to supplement the shift in emphasis away from nuanced combat.
* Tactile elements of combat (i.e. push "a" to initiate each attack rather than just autoattacks)[see zAvatar game on Cyber1 PLUTO Mainframe for an example]
* More distinct character classes, abilities, and capabilities.
* Bring back spells (can be done in autobattler format by having magic-users randomly (or intelligently) select spells to use, adding casting time, and random factor to whether it is successfully cast or resisted).
* Multiple resources to manage other than just health in a dungeon expedition.

In conclusion, the game is a much needed revisit to the Mordor/Demise series. It is worth the money and the framework holds even greater promise for future releases. Keep it up. You may want to revisit some even earlier titles like Avatar, Oubliette, and Moria; or even the original inspirational source 1974 D&D to identify very novel elements and mechanics that were left behind at the time due to technical limitations of computer systems and enshittification of later editions of the rules by profit motives.

The game feels like an evolution of the developer's approach to the Mudrunner franchise. Expeditions was focused more on off-roading exploration far from any civilized infrastructure. This game is focused more on building/rebuilding civilized infrastructure, and building paths/roads across terrain obstacles/hazards to help get your specialized vehicles to their destination.

The focus of the game significantly departs from prior titles; there is no vehicle damage, no fuel usage, no wear and tear, and no vehicle part customization. The only fail state is getting stuck and having to recall to base. Most of the vehicles you drive will not have winches, and every vehicle serves a specific role. The main gameplay loop is pretty addicting; you will be incrementally building out transportation infrastructure, setting up logistics via npc convoys, then building/repairing industrial/electricity/pipeline infrastructure.

The game is visually the best looking in the franchise, framerate performance is top notch, and coop functionality looks fun and functional (plenty of activities can be broken up into separate tasks between people in a meaningful way). The game is fun, and I've enjoyed my time with it so far. It stands out as unique, novel, and well made.

Not all secrets and puzzles lead to the end of the game, but they do reward you with worldbuilding and occasionally a leg up. Enjoyed my time at Tegel Manor, and you will too.

I played the heck out of the demo. This is a game of extraordinary vision. I'm looking forward to exploring the rest of meat world.

What kind of game is this? It's a vibe, a world, a story, and characters built around a collect-a-thon and a timed choose-the-order-you-play-cards-game. It really shouldn't work, but like Paradise Killer, it just does. And it does it well. It's worth at least 20 hours of your time. Give it a shot. You will remember this one.

I played it for a relatively short time. It feels pretty innovative and fun, but I'm going to need much more time with the full product. I've progressively gained more and more enjoyment out of every iteration that Saber Interactive has put out of Spintires. The past three games have felt increasingly innovative. Expeditions was a departure but I still really like it. This feels like a return to the rebuilding mission structure found in Snowrunner, but with detailed mechanics for reconstruction. Based on the quality I think it's safe to say I'll be buying this game in the future even if it's not everyone's bag.

If you are a fan of games like Rez, I would say this game is for you. You will see sights and sounds like no other.

The game feels as fresh as the original did and even more dynamic. I'm looking forward to years of enjoyment in the new engine.

I've really enjoyed my time with the game. I plan on spending a lot more time with it once the spaceshuttle/planetary mechanics become a bit more interconnected.