Recent reviews by Shadow

A combat focused version of the AoD experience, the challenging achievements require an element of scum saving but there's lots of ways to explore and thrive in the deep combat system.

A fabulous game for fully applying build optimization, hidden nooks well worth the dedicated build it takes to explore them and a lore that's brilliantly delivered. This game is merciless and challenging, but makes each success satisfying and immersive.

Absolutely incredible depth and lore seamlessly integrated. The UI is rough and the learning curve can be steep but the rewards are well worth it.

Fabulous learning curve and simple mechanics with a nuanced and satisfying strategy.

Crippling unit AI makes this game basically unplayable as humans.
Weep as your income gets set to 0 as two harverster units fight for the same resource, or trap themselves in a slight fold in the terrain.

Try to play as the 'Alien' faction where you can at least accumulate resources, but my opponent was able to get several ranged units with faster movement and range and camp me to death.

Macro gameplay fails to matter as constant micro is required to prevent catastrophic troop suicide.
This would be fine as an Early Access title, but for a fully released game my expectations are much higher.

Dating Sim meets macro economics and higher dimensional knapsacks problems, with some deckbuilding because awesome.

I absolutely love the learning curve. You fumble an understanding of fundamentals, refine those fundamentals, and slowly gain situational awareness for special cases.

All while juggling time and resource management and trying to befriend everyone in town, carrying their entire economy on your back as you ascend to potion godhood.

A well crafted narrative experience. It took around 15 hours for me to beat the gameplay elements.
The length of the game was about perfect, imparting the message and narrative and then finishing without drawing on or becoming repetitve.

I don't think the "mind-blown" component compares to portal or the stanley parable which the structure of this game mimics. However, it was a pleasant experience and a great way to spend a weekend.

Some nice quality of life improvements on Democracy 3.
I really enjoy chasing bubbles of synergy like private space programs and egalitarian societies and this version seems to have more of those.

Excellent core gameplay loop, the experience is satisfying and the difficulty curve is challenging with minimal grind. The NPC's have quirky and interesting personalities and I enjoy the puzzles.

The buff/debuff system tends to be exploitable, but remains fun and satisfying without being overwhelmingly overpowered.

The economy is a bit rough, especially early on. Healing/revive costs make every point of damage feel painful, but you can glug energy all day without even noticing the cost.

This game has the most euphoric, empowering, and entertaining spellcrafting system I have ever experienced.
I play a mage in every game I play, yet the flexibility and creativity I feel in this system has made the purchase worthwhile without looking at factions, story, or any other part of gameplay.

Want to be a powerful aoe caster? at least half a dozen spells with a cone range, another half dozen with death-ray aoe.
Want to smite your foes with weapons of mass destructions whilst standing behind an immortal aegis? Over a dozen customizable weapon and armor enchantments with unique effects and tactical tradeoffs.
Become an untouchable rouge, confounding and confusing your foes with illusionary copies of yourself and accelerated agility.

What's more you can modify spells beyond adding damage or cooldown, there are over 8 different accents that customize spells, my brain almost exploded when I was able to add magical flaming ice shards as a side effect of my spell.

And yet I don't feel forced into any of these options, the game kills me from time to time, still presenting respectable challenge, but whatever your fancy is, as long as you execute it well, almost any persona from your imagination can be made into a viable build.

Story-wise, there is tons of interesting content in the background ready to leap to your fingertips if you become so inclined, but content to wait until your emotionally invested enough to care. Some slight dissapointments where the game feels like it was going to offer you an alternative solution to a problem only to leave you hunting for some non-existant diplomatic solution, in particular I wanted to cross a bridge where the second-in-command wanted to mutiny and the leader wouldn't let me cross. I exhausted every dialouge option looking for a way to support the mutiny, but was forced to kill everyone in the area to cross the bridge.

There are also some minor immersion shortcommings, such as tooltips or menus mentioning things about characters not yet in my party, but these are tiny grevances in for a game that is otherwise immersive and exciting.