Recent reviews by ingeniousclown

Excuse me hi wow this game is addicting. I love that Slay the Spire came out and popularized deck building roguelites because between that, One Step from Eden and this, there is a vast amount of potential in this style.

Monster Train has a lot in common with Slay the Spire; card drafting, slow methodical gameplay, predictable interactions, fun synergies, artifacts, and bosses that make you want to tear your hair out. In spite of the similarities, the game plays so much differently that you could tell me that the developers never played StS and I'd believe you.

The thing I was most excited about once I finished my first run and realize that multiple clans existed was the breadth of different play styles that you can create just by mixing and matching each clan. Each clan has a completely different focus in how it plays: red is direct nukes and high damage creatures, green is tank and heals, blue is spells and... wait is this just Magic: The Gathering? Anyway, that by itself isn't so special... what makes it special is that you pick two of these clans for each run, which directly effects your play style for that run. Also, your primary clan comes with a champion creature that costs 0 to play and is always in your opening hand and can be upgraded with some CRAZY synergy powers, so there is DEFINITELY a huge difference between a Green/Red playthrough and a Red/Green playthrough because of this!

If you had even a passing interest in StS, you owe it to yourself to take a good look at Monster Train. I'm very excited to see how this game grows!

A fantastic blend of roguelite and deck-builder that lets you build your playstyle as you go. Pulling off combos and learning about the cards is incredibly satisfying, and challenging yourself to do better each time is a thrill as you get better at the game. One-of-a-kind and absolutely worth your time.

As far as I'm aware, this is the first TRUE metroidvania roguelite hybrid that's been released. Dead Cells is great, don't get me wrong, but it's not at all a metroidvania no matter how many people or how much the devs will claim it is.

All the metroidvania elements are here: gated progression, meaningful powerups with your weapons and movement, and bosses, fun exploration. All the roguelite elements are here too: permadeath, randomly doled-out powerups that will change from run to run, unlocks based on your performance, procedurally generated maps.

A Robot Named Fight (ARNF) draws a lot from Super Metroid and Megaman and ties it into a relatively small map with runs that can last a little over an hour. Control-wise, it feels like the movement was heavily inspired by Super Metroid which might feel a tad floaty at first, but is tight and precise as you master it. There's a lot of fun different item and weapon combinations that you'll experience over your different runs. One run might have you with a super-powered automatic rocket launcher, another one might have you relying on your energy-powered secondary weapons like the bouncing sawblade to deal most of your damage.

ARNF is a trailblazer in the "roguevania" space and makes me excited that my two favorite subgenres were successfully combined. There are still some sacrifices from each side that were required, such as the intricate world-building of a well-crafted metroidvania, but ARNF proves that the "roguevania" is real. And fun. And now that it exists, I'm hoping that it inspires many other game developers to try their hand at making one.

tldr: It's great.

If you're interested in an in-depth analysis on the concept of a "roguevania" with direct comparisons between A Robot Named Fight and Dead Cells, check out my video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpceV7GD6fg

This game isn't as interesting as all of the gifs and images you've probably seen from it up until release make it seem. These images got a wild amount of views around social media, mostly because the game looks cool. And at moments, it does... but the gameplay simply isn't there.

AI is trash, as mostly they'll just run in a straight line towards you until they die. The missions are shallow, bland and repetitive. The inventory system is completely uninspired and tedious to manage. The inter-mission gameplay tries to borrow from FTL (node-based travel/missions with random events) without understanding what made that system work so phenomenally well for FTL. Enemy design is weak and lacks variance. Dynamic spell shaping system is a neat idea but poorly implemented. Destructible environment is limited to the various structures and castles, and often break a part in a terrible way that leaves the scene looking REALLY awkward once the rubble clears. Entering buildings to loot things is a boring waste of time that should have been cut from the final game. Writing is pretty decent most of the time but the options your given seem very schizophrenic at times and never feels meaningful (this goes back to the FTL system I mentioned earlier).

The only really positive thing I have to say about this game is that the core idea has merit. Who doesn't want to be a super powerful wizard with dynamic spells? But the whole thing is implemented very poorly. It feels like a tech demo or a prototype that should have been refined much more. But it almost seems that the developers got so caught up in their own hype from all the images they've shared on social media that they couldn't accurately identify how to actually make the game FUN. Many things needed to be cut, refined, redesigned, etc.

The most fun you'll get from this game is in maybe the first hour or two, and it only really winds up being fun in the same way a physics sandbox is... but without the freedom. Occasionally you'll feel powerful when you get a new spell like a meteor or lightning strike, but the novelty wears off quickly.

If you want more info, check out my review on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1qqMl_hP10

Flat Kingdom is an adorable little puzzle platformer that won't break the bank. It's competently put together and adds a bit of a gimmick that keeps the gameplay interesting, with powerups that keep the gameplay evolving throughout the game.

The art style is absolutely wonderful, and the boss fights are intimidating, clever, and fun and pretty well-designed to boot.

I have two main complaints (these aren't as bad as the length makes them seem):
First, the sound design is pretty bad. Some sounds are way too loud, the overall composition isn't mixed very well, and the Circle form's footsteps are really annoying and actually sound like they're being distorted.

Second, the game's gimmick involves switching between three forms: a speed form, a jump form, and a heavy form. This is an interesting mechanic, but switching between them could feel much better. In a game like this I would have expected to be able to carry momentum through the air from one form to another, but what actually happens is that as soon as you swap forms your horizontal speed is immediately changed depending on the form you're in. This makes the movement of the game feel very rigid.

On that same note, I think I'd have preferred being able to switch forms with L1 and R1 rather than Square (X), Triangle (Y) and Circle (B), since X (A) is bound to jump. Having transformations bound to the same control set as the jump buttons means that it's difficult to do neat or clever aerial transformations without turning your hand into a claw. However, it still feels pretty good when you nail a transformation mid-air and cross a gap.

All that said, the game is pretty fun if you're into puzzle platformers, and at 8 bucks, it seems like a pretty solid value.

It's like Vagante and Spelunky had a baby together and then the baby grew up and developed its own identity separate from its parents. As far as roguelite games go, the movement is very fluid and the combat very challenging. Moving around is a lot of fun, and the combat feels very visceral in spite of the low-count pixel-art. It's fast, frenetic and you will die a LOT.

You might be wonder what the hell "pseudo-multiplayer" is. All it really is, is that other adventurers exist that are the same as your own character, complete with inventory items and potions and healing items and everything. Everything you can do, they can do. They're controlled by AI. I'm not a fan of "pseudo-multiplayer" as a term, but that's neither here nor there. These other adventurers can be friendly, they could care less about you, or they could just be absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and murder you. You never know how they'll react when they find you, and it adds an interesting layer of tension.

As you progress you can collect items, upgrade your equipment, find terrible potions, find helpful potions, gain blessings (pretty much just beneficial passive effects), and murder your fellow adventurers.

The game is still early but it exhibits a LOT of potential. For 5 bucks, I think there's a lot to love here and I can only see it getting better and better.


Gameplay video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6-clDHtzOs

Key provided by developers.

If you're looking for a game to capture the magic of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, this is probably the closest you'll get. It's a rogue-lite top-down shoot-em-up set in space and you're on a rocket powered surfboard as you fly through the black sea (re: space) throwing spears at space-fish and using your harpoon to violently rip body parts off of these space-fish.

It sounds like ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ but nothing I said is false or exaggerated. It's all genuine gameplay and it feels awesome. It feels great to rip the leg off of a giant space-frog and then finish perforating it with your infinite supply of javelins. The items all add significant choice of how you alter your gameplay, and the consumables are all fairly interesting. It's a fun roguelite with a creative setting and a unique aesthetic.

The description claims RPG, but I wish it were removed because the only remotely RPG-like feature is the inventory.

A few complaints:
- the terrain kinda sucks and is frustrating to move around and is pretty dull in general
- it's annoying/tedious to find things in the world because the sonar (radar) is small and local and doesn't show chests
- some elements of the UI don't quite match aesthetically, so there's a weird disconnect (minor complaint at best)
- the screenshots on this Steam page shows a lot of items but items seem much more rare than the screenshots suggest, leaving you starving for something to equip half the time
- chests are very underwhelming for how tedious/annoying they are to hunt down

These complaints are all acceptable to me considering how fun the game already is and the fact that this game is in early access makes me hopeful that the devs will address these complaints over time. And they've promised updates EVERY 7 DAYS. That's awesome!

Here's a video of my first impresions of the game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxHgPKkP37w

block'hood is a relaxing city-builder (or neighborhood builder I guess) with a charming blocky aesthetic and a potential for some really impressive looking structures. This city builder differentiates itself from the pack by making it more about resource management than anything else.

By my count, block'hood has (at the time of reviewing this) about 96 different things you can build to produce resources. Unlike most games where you build stuff, you don't require the resources at the time of building, rather they're required to output their resources. Because of this you can rearrange your city as much or as often as you please, as long as you constantly have input for any given building, or it will DECAY!

In my time with the game I didn't find anything antagonistic, so it really seems to be just about planning and executing. If that's something you enjoy, and if you're happy with a secondary goal of making something as beautiful as it is self-sustainable, then you'll probably really love this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uANeCBnrya0

This game ultimately disappointed me. I was excited at first because of the goofy premise and the fun (albeit sometimes disturbing) art style, but what I got was a disorganized mess of a game with frustrating controls in spite of the good ideas it has.

The game is a Tower Defense at its core, where you are able to build towers in predetermined locations. You control a hero (there are three total with slightly different playstyles) to fight them off. However, the mode of movement is weird. You click and your character goes there. This isn't like Diablo or similar games, but more like aiming a gun and firing a bullet, with the origin point being where your hero CURRENTLY is. This, while an interesting and unique idea, becomes un-fun very fast. You can to continue to click for max speed and you have to use this method of control to move around the pseudo-maze maps that tower defense titles are known for. You end up bouncing off walls very often or accidentally purchasing towers you didn't even want because you're clicking so frenetically.

There are three main factors that make the movement style so unbearable in this game: parts your screen and map are often occluded by the inconsequential textboxes of the fairy companion character, the fact that you get almost no time to breathe in between waves to collect yourself, reposition or place buildings, and finally, the necessity of running over coins to collect the money for kills. No vacuum effect for the coins, and they have a very precise hitbox for a very imprecise method of movement. Collecting coins is infuriating but required, and with so much to do you'll find yourself falling behind in one way or another, ultimately getting screwed out of a star or two (your upgrade currency) because you maybe hit a wall one too many times.

Further, most damage will be done by your hero rather than the towers. You damage enemies by colliding with them with your bullet-hero, which also deals damage to the hero. So you have to bounce between helping and going to a medical tent (which costs money to build in the first place, taking away from the money for your towers) to be effective. It feels more tedious and frustrating than fun.

Overall this feels like a game that would be more at home on Newgrounds. I can't see anyone paying 10 dollars for this and being pleased, especially when games like Kingdom Rush, which is in the same genre, came out 2 years ago and is much bigger in scope and much more competently put together, is the same price. Maybe for a buck or two this would be a good buy, but even then I think these frustrations are hardly worth dealing with.

Key was provided by Queen Bee Games and Dietrich Online Services.

https://youtu.be/LGYTTT3TheY

This is not a "no" because the game is bad, it's a "no" because it just isn't quite there yet.

I can't recommend this game in its current state to the average person. It's always tricky evaluating these early access titles because there's always a promised feature set, but I strive to give an impression of the game as it is and not what it promises to be. As I'm sure many of you reading this know, this type of game (the god game/city building game) has had a very harrowed early access experience with the terrible situations we have in Towns, Stonehearth, Castle Story and more. It's an awesome genre plagued by failure, and because of that (not the devs' fault here) I am very cynical about this genre.

There currently isn't a whole hell of a lot to do because it's still very early in early access and the included features are very limited. HOWEVER, I will say that the features that are in are working pretty damn well and the developers are VERY hard at work to improve the game day after day after day. The in-game change log is damned impressive and shows some passion for the work their doing. I believe that one day this game will be amazing, but right now it's just a pretty game with cool concepts and a lot of potential.

If you want to support this game and dive in, by all means do so! Like I mentioned, the developers are clearly passionate about what they're doing and are very communicative, which is an enormous selling point that inspires confidence. However, if you're more wary about your purchases, I advise you to just add this to your wishlist or watch list or follow list or however you follow early access/indev titles.

Now about the actual game, since I've rambled about early access enough:
The game features a beautiful voxel aesthetic and includes some neat ideas like shepherding wild animals into fences to create a ranch, cook complex meals with food, and buildings that you have to power with electricity-generating machines. The electricity part is very bare-bones at the moment and hard to do (because of reasons I'll mention in a bit), but that's a mechanic that, at it's core, is enough to really differentiate itself from many other titles in this genre. Not many care about electricity *at all*.

Another reason it sets itself apart: THE AI ISN'T HOPELESSLY BROKEN. They're a little confused at times (it's early access still, after all), but you don't have the AI pull a Stonehearth and just refuse to work ever again. The one time I saw it, it was identified by the devs and fixed very promptly! Nothing's more frustrating then lazy AI people.

Main reasons I can't recommend this game at the moment (aside from relatively small feature set) is because the game can become really tedious pretty quickly. The UI is clunky and the game is currently missing a lot of small quality of life things like farm auto-harvesting (must right click each individual crop and click harvest) or easy crafting of a ton of building materials (gotta click one at a time). Placement of building materials is a bit spotty, and the interface sometimes doesn't quite respond the way you want it to leading to a bit of confusion. Plus you're stuck with a measly 6 kin, so if you wanna go crazy and build a lot it will take about 50 years (hyperbole) to build anything big.

If you're like me and this is a genre where you desperately want a game to succeed and deliver, at _least_ watch this game to see how it grows over time. Follow videos and development. Or if you're excited, go ahead and buy it and speak with the developers! As far as I can see they're very communicative and open to feedback. If you wanna see this game in action, feel free to check out my video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOYDLyrx_0o