Recent reviews by Eric_Kei

A solid game, quirks and launch bugs aside, with plenty of polish thanks to an extended Early Access period. About as faithful to the tabletop rules as any such game could reasonably be expected to be.

A great colony builder game with a unique aesthetic and setting. They provide frequent patches and updates, giving players reason to come back again and again. Recommended!

Neat little game. All of the cat puns a guy could want, fun combat, it looks great. It's still a little rough around the edges, but the creator is attentive and receptive to bug reports, squashing them quickly. Not the longest game in the world, but it has potential. Worth trying!

A pleasant enough little time-waster. Go for Familiars ASAP (ideally via a "signup event") so the game can do the cookie-clicking for you. Don't waste your money on any of the exorbitant, full-price DLC; the starter packs frequently go on sale for a buck or so. Devs are slow to fix non-game-breaking bugs; on the other hand, they give out half a dozen or so goodie chests every day via Twitch (and one weekly via the email newsletter) -- A page on the Discussion section updates daily with said codes.

I picked this one up after checking out some videos and seeing reviews comparing it to one of my all-time favorites, Ogre Battle: MotBQ. I can see where they're coming from. It also reminds me a bit of Langrisser/Warsong series and, particularly in combat scenes, of Yggdra Union. These are all good things.

The UI -- and especially the encyclopedia section -- definitely need some polish, but the game is enjoyable and I think it has potential to be something really special. It's worth buying!

A solid follow-up to hold us over until we get more games/expansions in the series. It's XCOM-lite, but fun, nonetheless.

Early Access --

So far, it looks gorgeous, with great animations in particular. The sound and music work well, as do the controls. The game itself is exactly what it looks like: a modern successor to SotN. This is a good thing.

BLOODSTAINED: RITUAL OF THE NIGHT

(note : Reviewer received this copy as a reward for backing the KickStarter)

THE BASICS: Do you remember fondly 2-D games such as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and the GameBoy Color games that followed it? If so, this is the game for you. This game was Kickstarted back in 2015 with an unusual method to it: The game had potential full funding waiting in the wings, but they first had to prove to the investors that people wanted this sort of game. As such, the KS funds were to be used primarily for improvements to the base game and a slew of add-ons and new options in the form of stretch goals. The team making the game was headed up by Koji “Iga” Igarashi, one of the minds behind the great CV:SotN, among other games in the series.

Fortunately for them, the fans answered the call, to the tune of over $5.5 million pledged by nearly 65,000 total backers. This was enough to convince the investors to pull the trigger; now, despite s speed bump or two along the way, we have Ritual of the Night: a love letter to all things Castlevania...just from Konami, but from many, many of the folks who helped to create the MV genre, including composers, artists, programmers, and more – fellow ex-Konami employees of Iga's included.

THE FLOW AND THE STORY: In the late 1700's, The Alchemist Guild decided to seek power beyond what any human could achieve on their own. In order to do this, they began all sorts of experiments on fellow humans, such as embedding powerful magic crystals of demonic origin into their subjects' bodies. Those subject who survived the process were able to control these fell powers, and were known as “Shardbinders.” Naturally, the alchemists went a bit too far, ripping open a passageway into the realm of the demons, causing widespread death and destruction.

Fast forward by ten years, and, of course, nobody has learned a damn thing. The alchemists are up to their old tricks, and a huge, foreboding castle has appeared out of nowhere. Your character, Miriam, is one of the last two Shardbinders left, as the alchemists have sacrificed all of the others in search of even greater power. Taking care of things falls squarely into your lap, of course. Wander around the castle, leveling up, finding (or crafting) cool new gear, slaughtering demons and taking their powers, until you can finally confront the guy who decided to bring the demons back (no, it's not Dracula, nor even one of his kind). You get a robust home base (with a crafter, a farmer, a shop, and no fewer than three folks sending you on fetch quests for some nice rewards, a save room, and a warp room nearby) once the game proper begins, and you'll need it. So, go forth!...Oh, and try not to let your shard/corruption level get too high. That would be bad.

CONTROLS: Keyboard or controller (auto-recognized). Note that there is an option that reduces the (intentional) slight input lag in the game; the lag in on by default. Generally speaking: Smooth an intuitive, with some interesting new additions such as moving the right stick in order to hold Miriam's arm out (in any direction) in order to target certain abilities and to open magically-sealed doors. Otherwise, SotN fans will feel right at home. Of special note: certain weapons in the game can use special attacks – anything from throwing projectiles to power attacks to parries (and even auto-counters!). Once you get enough experience using a given special attack (hit and kill enemies with it; standing there and whiffing doesn't count!), you will Master that skill and gain the ability to use it with any weapons from that category...and man are there plenty of weapon types! You have the standard fare such as standard swords, broadswords, katanas, whips, etc, but you also have literal combat boots (which strengthen your slide move), staves, rapiers, and even guns! Note that guns have unlimited (weak) ammo, so they're always usable, but they can be powered up by equipping bullets with armor-piercing capabilities and more; all equipped bullets are stronger than what the base gun can do, often by a significant amount. Each weapon type feels different from the others – each with its own advantages (e.g. range, coverage, damage) and drawbacks (lack of range, speed, recoil) to account for.

GRAPHICS: Oooo, pretty. Lots of attention to detail, a thoroughly gothic-esque look. One major thing to the team's credit is that they took player criticism to heart when people complained (and did they ever complain) about the poorly-lit, washed-out look of the playable beta that came out a good while prior to the actual game...so much so that they extended the release date specifically to answer their players' concerns, resulting in a much more polished look to the final product.

SOUND: Music primarily by the lady who composed the SotN soundtrack, Michiru Yamana; as well as by Ippo Yamada, a veteran of the Mega Man series . . . and it shows. Classic and fitting. Thanks to the stretch goals, we also have David “Solid Snake” Hayter and Robbie “Alucard” Belgrade along for the ride, lending their voice talents to the project. There are even easter eggs – sit down at a piano, and Miriam will begin playing. If your faery Familiar is active at the time, it will sit on your shoulder and it will sing the song as you play.

OVERALL: You liked Symphony? Go buy this game. Simple as that. Not sure? Play the free demo and then see what you think. It's also actively being patched in response to customer commentaries. Note that there are some issues with the Switch port as of launch, but the patch should be up by the time this review is published.

Supports full voiceovers in English and Japanese at the moment (more may be added in the future); eleven languages supported via text.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Per console or, for Steam/GOG:

MINIMUM:
Processor: AMD FX-4350 / Intel Core i5-4460
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon R9 280X / GeForce GTX 760
Storage: 10 GB available space
Additional Notes: If you have a potato PC or above, you're ok.

RECOMMENDED:
Processor: AMD FX-6300 / Intel Core i5-4590
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon R9 290 / GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
Storage: 10 GB available space
Additional Notes: The only potatoes you use are the tasty kind.


REVIEW BY: Eric_Kei

STORY: 90
GAMEPLAY: 100
GRAPHICS: 95
SOUND: 100
FUN FACTOR: 95
ATMOSPHERE: 95

Pros:
Beautiful graphics
Amazing soundtrack
A return to the glory days of Igavania games
Handy-dandy Shortcut system to allow you to change out entire gear/shard sets on the fly
More than a dozen DLC's incoming over the next few months, with some already implemented; these were the KS stretch goals, so they're free to backers. Pricing not yet announced for other buyers (likely some free, some cheap)

Cons:
Many of the incredibly detailed background elements are just that – background fluff
At times, almost too many options to decide on just one in each slot

THE BASICS:
Sine Mora EX is a recent HD upgrade and expansion of the 2012 SHMUP Sine Mora; extra modes, stages, et al. You have a wide variety of planes and pilots, all of which play differently, with different special moves, attack patterns, and distinctive looks. The story mode introduces you to the characters you use as pilots, along with their motivations and (often quite dark) backstories, as well as to their individual prop planes, which are characters in and of themselves.
The game is presented as a 2-D side-scrolling shoot-'em-up, normally with you facing to the right, but the occasional stage segment or boss will have you facing left, instead.

THE FLOW AND THE STORY:
You play as a man – er, a buffalo-guy (everyone's an anthropomorphic animal) out for revenge, seeking to take out the man who killed his son during a wartime mission. There's a twist, however – He's capable of time travel, and of sending others back through time, as well. The upside of this is that he can send his allies to take on his enemies in multiple physical locations all at once, with the same starting point in time; several of the scenarios share dialogues in order to reinforce the fact that they are happening simultaneously. The only limitation is that any given pilot (and plane) can only occupy a given time period once – no chance of causing a temporal paradox by meeting yourself – but it also means that, if you lived through it when you were younger, you can't go back to any time when you were alive.
In any given stage, you start with a specified time limit, and that's all you have to discern your current damage status; there is no health bar in this game. However, taking hits will cause your remaining time to drop (sometimes precipitously), and yes, ramming an enemy ship or other properly dangerous object can end up with you getting one-shotted and facing the Continue screen. Simply running out of time causes you to explode, as well. You can stave off this fate by shooting enemies (each kill adds a little time to the meter, and few enemies die in one hit), by taking out mini-bosses, by reaching checkpoints, or by collecting time Extend capsules. That being said, the best way to conserve time is simply to avoid taking hits or running into the landscape.

CONTROLS:
Keyboard/mouse and native controller support. 2-player co-op mode available where one player controls the main plane and the other controls a little flying orb that can shoot in all directions. They can also be combined to add to overall firepower while sacrificing the orb's mobility.

GRAPHICS:
Simply gorgeous. There's no way to describe them. It's not often you see a shoot-em-up graced with visuals quite this tasty. The designers knew this, of course, and they take advantage of every opportunity to have your planes bank further into the player's field of view, allowing one to take a good look at the vessel's detailed models – even during pauses in the middle of boss fights!

SOUND:
Great sound – sometimes deceptively calm, often pulsing in all its glorious chiptune-y glory. All well-placed and really suitable for the style of the game. Great voice acting, as well, which helps to bring the static character portraits to life.

OVERALL:
Wonderful, HARD game that just gets tougher the better you play. Of course, you can only get the REAL ending after playing through the game on both normal and hard modes...Note: Rated M for language and sexual situations (mainly via story mode).

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Windows 7 or higher, Dual Core w/anything that supports DX9 or higher. Rec: Quad Core w/Nvidia 760 or better or equivalent and 6GB RAM

REVIEW BY: Eric_Kei

STORY: 85
GAMEPLAY: 95
GRAPHICS: 100
SOUND: 85
FUN FACTOR: 95
ATMOSPHERE: 95

Pros:
Looks incredible
Progressive difficulty (on arcade mode – i.e. the better you perform, the harder it gets); a good starting point for folks looking to get into “bullet hell” shooters
Clear, step-by-step tutorial unlocks abilities at just the right speed, and does a good job of explaining them
Detailed backstory, which you get to see more of as a reward for playing all difficulty modes
Solid voice acting

Cons:
Can be too difficult for some
Some story concepts and themes not for kids – but then, it's rated M – it's expected

TANGLEDEEP (EARLY ACCESS – Sept 29 2017 Patch)

PUBLISHER – Impact Gameworks
DEVELOPER – Impact Gameworks
GENRE – Roguelike RPG action/adventure; 2.5D, indie

THE BASICS:
Tangledeep is a roguelike RPG action/adventure sort of dungeon crawler. It's presented in a 2.5D overhead style, in a fantasy setting. Pick from three difficulty settings : in Adventure Mode, the default setting, the game just shunts you back to town if you die, albeit with a noticeable EXP penalty and the loss of all of your gold and Job Points. In Heroic Mode, the intended setting, uses permadeath, but your town progress and banked items remain intact. In Hardcore Mode, you get the classic Rogue-type treatment: Everything goes away, including the town, your bank, and the save file itself, if you die.

THE FLOW AND THE STORY:
An idyllic little forest town is being threatened by all sorts of monsters – sentient and otherwise, all just as brutal – and guess whose job it is to deal with their abuse? That's right! Thus, it's time to make a character, decide their starting class and passive buffs, then go and gear up, grab some food and healing potions, and wade into the dungeon as its floors just keep going up and up and up...Higher floors mean tougher monsters, as well as better loot! How high can you climb and still stay alive? Just how far will you push your luck, and will it run out before you can make it back home with your little town portal or not? If you're feeling lucky, many floors will contain a “Pandora's Box” that, once activated, increases the local monsters' levels and gives them a buff, allowing you to find more of a challenge.

Each time you get to a new “floor,” one day will pass back in town. Your tree garden (if you've planted any seeds) will be harvested for its fruit, gems/shards, and/or spices; the critters you've captured and placed into your monster farm will have a chance to reproduce with one another (making better ones) and grow stronger; new quests and items will also become available at the vendors in town.

CONTROLS:
Keyboard (WASD or numpad) w/mouse, controllers, or mouse-only mode are supported. 8-way move in turn-based style, “move” towards an enemy for a basic attack, numbers from the top strip for shortcuts to special powers and attacks.

GRAPHICS:
Good-looking, highly detailed sprite-based everything. A bit cutesy at times, but in a way that suits the game and the environment. If anything, this may lead one to suspect that the game goes easy on you...It does not, and that's a good thing. Just when you're expecting to clear out an area and move on to some new little bonus region to explore, a pack of ninjas and lightning-throwing slimes all show up at once and proceed to teach you some humility. Or, you move onto a new floor, only to find the entrance to a bandit hideout, with signs warning you to stay away and let them conquer your little world in peace. Naturally, your first instinct is to ignore that warning and go kick their asses...doing so unprepared, however, will yield a swift GAME OVER. Gear up, load up on buffs, and come back, and maybe...just maybe...

SOUND:
Amazing music all around – from something gentle at the title screen to something a bit more tense when it's all about to hit the fan. SFX for hitting enemies, explosions, lightning crashes, at all, are all properly “meaty” as well.

OVERALL:
Feels like a solid followup to games such as Dungeonmans. Great music and atmosphere, straightforward gameplay. Accessible and fun!

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
Minimal. XP SP2, Mac OSX 10.8+, Ubuntu 12.04 or Steam OS+ // 2GB Ram, CPU w/SSE support, DX9 or DX11 w/9.3 capabilities

REVIEW BY: Eric_Kei
Previously published on dlh.net

STORY: 85
GAMEPLAY: 85
GRAPHICS: 90
SOUND: 95
FUN FACTOR: 90
ATMOSPHERE: 90

Pros:
Gorgeous sprite graphics, heavy on the details and animation

Wonderful music that really helps set the stage (from Zircon of OCZ fame, Hiroki Kikuta (Secret of Mana), and Grant Kirkhope (GoldenEye 007 & Civilization: Beyond Earth))

The game gives you enough instruction to set you on your way with a feeling that you are ready to do what you need to do

Your monster farm, research archives, tree grove, and shared safe are all persistent between different characters, unless you play on Hardcore Mode.

Constantly getting patched; devs actively listen to players

You have the ability to change classes from time to time as you go.

Cons:
Some challenges that get thrown at you feel a bit harder than they really should be (e.g. “Kill monster X two floors up from your last checkpoint before losing 200 HP”)

Tooltips on non-usable items tend to be rather vague (e.g. gem “leaves”)