Recent reviews by remorsecode

I think there's a great game here but it's still a little buried and could be brought out easily with a bit of fine tuning.

Right now upgraded tiles, mods, and other end-of-round rewards come too slowly and too few to really build synergies or huge point totals.

I think all that the game needs to truly shine is to have rewards doled out more often - perhaps after every word rather than every round. Required totals for progressing rounds could be adjusted up to compensate for the power boost to players.

This would make each run feel more unique and dynamic, and make choices feel more substantive since players would have more capacity to shape their strategy.

If you like roguelike first-person exploration with drafting/deckbuilding, puzzle solving, moment-of-discovery dopamine, and chill vibes (for the most part), Blue Prince is top tier.

The closest comparables would be bits and pieces of games like Outer Wilds, Animal Well, Tunic, The Witness, Return of the Obra Dinn, and Fez all mashed together. It's a wonderful goulash of puzzle-boxing euphoria and probably the best game I've played in a few years by a wide margin.

More than the sum of its parts, this game is the simplified combat from XCOM with deckbuilding at its core and a pile of (if you read comics) pretty formulaic and predictable... but well-written story. The characters are voiced (both in tone and in linguistics) like they should be, some of the emotional moments hit, and the stakes have some heft despite aforementioned formulaic-ness. The core loop (wake, adjust decks + upgrade + maintain relationships, mission, evening meetings, start again) is satisfying and offers a good variety of intensity and chill.

Metroidbrainia at its finest. Unique twists on itemization, challenging platforming, and more secrets than you can shake a tail at. Also, extra atmosphere, old school vibes, and lots of fun but subtle references to the classics.

So the closest analogue I can think of is DeepRock Galactic. HD2 is basically DRG with the exploration/mining/collecting removed and basically replace all of those things with more combat. Great emergent gameplay, stories to tell when you've had a wild dive, and all the stuff you need can be unlocked just by playing.

A good, shortish puzzler that is best suited to those who love linguistics, but shouldn't be exclusive to them.

Beware. This is an engine-builder roguelite set up around some of the base mechanics of poker, but it's actually a make big numbers bigger min/max paradise dream.

If you like Slay the Spire, FTL, and Into the Breach... this is sort of like a mashup of elements of each. Take the deckbuilding rogue sensibilities of STS, set it in a universe that evokes FTL (though admittely more 8-bit style), and with a dash of the "perfect knowledge" strategy of ITB. The art is cute, there's some story going on amidst the time loop runs (a la Hades), and there's a good variety of mechanics and systems to learn and synergize.

There are some QoL features missing at launch that could get added later (proper borderless fullscreen, more granular UI control particularly when playing with a controller, etc) but overall this is a complete package for roguelike deckbuilding strategists.

A worthwhile mystery. As is always the case - avoid spoilers, avoid looking things up, reap the dopamine hits from figuring things out for yourself.

This is a perfect chillout puzzler that largely draws on your internal drive to optimize, strategize, and streamline. Controls are simple but tight, and the ambiance and soundtrack has a very relaxed vibe, even when lategame gets chaotic.