Recent reviews by Muu the Witch Matron

fps 30 with good vertexing. This game really does capture that ps1 feel. Not to mention the gameplay feels like an almost ape escape and has a variety of secrets lying around that I **still** cannot get. Any game that can capture the pseudoregalia feel is aces in my book.

Managed democracy only works if we get a vote to cast. Awfully undemocratic of you :(

its aight.

lotta mindless fun for cheap. seriously, game this cheap with this much love feels like discovering a raw gem. hoping gets more love in the future

its neat i guess

I'm just gonna keep this short. Wait for a serious sale and when you don't feel like playing Overwatch. The way it's being handled right now is akin to Monday Night Combat/Super Monday Night Combat, and I loved Monday Night Combat.

DEADBOLT

In a literal criminal underworld, it's you against the world. In a rather novel twist on gang life and the undead mythos, you play as a single entity to push the recently unliving to the afterlife, though there are greater things at play. It's quick action, so all your moves matter...which can be unfortunate in a lot of settings.

As said before, you play as a reaper. Just a reaper, not the Grim Reaper, just a reaper. That said, for a reaper, you're frail and easily outnumbered. Guns are your scythe and souls, your harvest. While the game is intensely challenging, a lot of it can be chalked up to AI acting weird, damage being inconsistent, and overall crappy placement of enemies when you get into the heat of things, leading to many a restart.

A reaper that is guided by a strange flame and a lotta neat guns. Plus you have connections with Charon, which is pretty cool in its own right.

You usher the undead willing to pass on back to the living by planting .32 calibre bullets right between their eyes or eyesockets. There's a story, but a lot of it is hidden behind RNG drops of "cassettes" that you may never actually totally acquire without grinding levels. You earn souls for completing levels and earning achievements, which help get some of the cooler toys that Charon offers in exchange.

Honestly? I have to say, the gameplay was less fun, more frustrating. The challenge is real, sure, but a lot of the time it was trying to get the right conditions. Sometimes a bullet doesn't instant kill something upon a headshot. Sometimes you die within the same frame of going into a vent. Sometimes enemy placement is different than the last time things went down. Sometimes enemies will hear you shoot the lightbulb in the floor below, and sometimes they won't. A lot of the game is summed up in "Sometimes it happens". It becomes muuuuuuuuch worse near the end of the game. The ending really does nothing and leaves one unsatisfied with the plot but satisfied that the game is finally over. It's a shame, since the people who have played this game said good things. I only found this to be "Hotline Miami" with a different theme; Story wasn't entirely apparent and required some hunting/grinding in certain situations, gunplay is amazing but the AI change behaviors inconsistently, music is pretty great. No trippy colors though.

I recently started my foray into Hardmode, but I'm not really sure if I want to dive further into the game on a difficulty that'll most likely leave me saltier than brined shrimp.

Like I said, the music is pretty great and the pixel art is impressive. The animations are fluid and well done, despite being pixel art. Even the housings were given a really nice "decrepid" look. Even the backgrounds are amazing.

Gotta say, while it's beautifully done, I'd really advise against this game. If you enjoyed Hotline Miami, and really need that frustrating fix, get this game on sale. If not, avoid.

Hexcells

A nice, relaxing puzzle game, set to a calm set of background noises and music that tickles the brain just enough to see it to the end. A super short game that doesn't take long to finish the game or even the achievements. It has a few flaws, but then again, what game isn't?

Hexcells is a short puzzle game involving numbers, hexagons, and a bit of thinking. It's short, sweet, not all that problematic, and fun for anyone looking for a little puzzle fix.

Its a puzzle game, pretty straight forward. No huge plot or anything.

The puzzle solver!

Solve the puzzles using the context clues and hints provided by clicking the different cells. Two counters appear at the top, the remaining blue cells that need to be revealed, and the mistake counter, which affects how many "reward cells" you get upon finishing a level. The higher your mistake count, the less you earn.

The aim of the game is to find all the blue cells while making few to no mistakes as possible. Finding all the blue cells and revealing the hint cells will finish the level. You need a set amount of "reward cells" in order to open up the newer levels, increasing in amount the further you go along. The game itself is an enjoyable experience, and, for the most part, not all that difficult. It becomes a little painful at the end, but the biggest complaint is how often "guesstimating" is your only option. You can easily narrow down where the blue cells will be, but more often than not you'll end up guessing about where the blue cells could be. Some are smart guesses, others are just "welp, I'm stumped!" guesses. It kinda detracted from the idea of solving the puzzle using smarts.

Messing up isn't the end of the world. You can simply come back to the level later to try for fewer mistakes. That said, one can simply get the solution by purposefully using the screenshot function, but that's more of a "last resort", so don't abuse it!

White background, orange hexagons. Kinda strains the eye after a while, so take breaks!

Really, especially for the price, its a pretty smooth game. Guesstimations aside, its a game that keeps you thinking, doesn't punish you too hard for playing the game and making mistakes as you can always come back to play at your own pace. The game also has several parts so you can easily extend your play sessions with different puzzles. If you're a hardcore puzzle lover, give this a pass. Too easy, exploitable, relies too much on guessing. If you just enjoy a good puzzle to pass the time, pick it right up!

I forgot to actually write a review for this one, I'm not sure if reviews were a thing when this came out. May as well start now.

"Papers, Please" is a unique point of view of one person doing one simple job, yet ends up in such stange turns of events that make any other job seem mundane, from secret orders to defusing a bomb on the job.

"Papers, Please" is an interesting play on the conflict during the early 1960's to late 1980's, in which Berlin, Germany was split into East, which was occupied by the Soviet during WWII and the Cold War, and West.

You, the player, take on the role of the border inspect those wishing to cross the border in Arstotzka to do whatever they desire, from immigrating to transitioning. This task is deceivingly simple, as you will learn very quickly.

As said earlier, you inspect individuals wishing to cross the border to go elsewhere, mainly their passports and any other documentation they must bring. You have to inspect every little detail on these bits of paper in order to determine what's kosher. The rules change almost daily, and missing a small detail will earn you that terrifying sound of paper printing and a citation. This may mean nothing at first, but it builds up over time.

The gameplay is simple: Check documents, check for discrepancies, and approve or deny people access over the border. That said, the game becomes more and more of a one-man juggling act as you continue to have more rules thrown your way. Not only do you have to deal with increasing piles of documentation, but you'll have run ins with, what I like to call, "Event NPCs", which give you the option to do a certain action, usually at your detriment. These Event NPCs can be one-off's to re-occurring characters that you sorta find yourself attached to. A side-task that appears after everyday is the status of your family members. They basically live off of your paycheck, which you receive day to day. You can choose to give them food, pay for heat, and for medicine should sickness occur. You can also move up to better rooms, buy booth upgrades, and incur unique charges to alter the game's story some. Whether or not you do any of this is entirely up to you. What you have no choice in is the rent due, which goes up if you move into better apartments.

The border is a drab, very militarized, very unfriendly looking place, with guns at every corner and an unhappy border-crossing individual at every step. There is only one main song that plays (there are others but those require special steps). The rest of the game is extremely quiet. While that sounds bad, it actually helps you focus on a task that requires a lot of cross-examination and speed. It really sets the mood for the place you're stationed in. You're not going to enjoy yourself for long periods of time, but there will be those Event NPCs to shake things up a bit, maybe even make you smile.

It's a super simple game, not a lot of action, but at the same time, it's super complex. If you wanna pretend to be a border inspector and meet some really unique individuals that'll make being an inspector like some kind of comic book adventure, then go for it. It's cheap, its pretty dang long, and the game has enough interesting twists here and there to keep you thinking "I wonder what happens tomorrow".

Short review for a short game:

Honestly, this game was...boring. Interesting environment, chilling ambience, and a slew of strange concepts that don't seem so strange once you keep poking in. So much care went into the dialogue and there's so much of it. I applaud the developers for their puzzles and interesting art. It's obvious they had some fun with it. That said, the game is fairly straight-forward. No risk for failure, no branching paths, just a lot of walking and exhausting your options. That said it's not bad. Certainly not worth $10 but still, not bad. I enjoyed it and completed it within an hour or so. If you like short games with a macabre-like setting, with a few mind-tickling puzzles, grab it. Preferrably on sale.

Short review for a relatively short game:

It's a puzzle game that's deceptively easy. You have to think ahead in steps and you only get 3 shots at a stage before you have to start over, which can become really irritating. The entire game is pretty laid back and casual, no time limit or pressure, along with a nice ambient sound/music in the back.

I'd recommend this if you like laid back puzzle gaems that aren't a pain and a half to operate.