Recent reviews by inco

Excellent rhythm game with a roster full of earworms and a surprisingly deep necrodancer-style twist on the guitar hero genre.

Just like in Crypt of the Necrodancer, the game revolves around memorizing each enemy's attack patterns and working around them, all to the beat of the song. There are also several environmental obstacles to work around, though those are pretty simple. Completing a chart depends less on standard rhythm game skills and more on how quickly you can spot an enemy and input the corresponding pattern for them. Of course, having experience in other rhythm games definitely helps with timing and input speeds, but expect to have your pattern recognition skills challenged!

The artstyle is fresh and fun, and I appreciate all the effort that went into the animations. However, the enemy animations are sometimes distracting and can make reading a chart difficult, especially for songs with more densely-packed notes. Thankfully, in addition to practice modes, the game includes a pretty comprehensive set of accessibility options, including one to turn off enemy animations entirely if you need your focus.

The story is short, sweet, and simple, serving as a guided tour of the game's library with fun Rhythm Heaven-inspired minigames sprinkled between chapters. Although this game does take place after the events of Crypt of the Necrodancer, you don't need to play the first game to understand what's going on.

As per usual, BYG has knocked it out of the park with their soundtrack, with catchy tracks in a variety of genres that are well suited to rhythm gameplay. Every song in the roster is good, which is a rare feat for rhythm games.

Overall, I highly recommend this game. Its fresh spin on the genre makes it approachable for new players and rhythm game veterans alike, and its many tracks and difficulties offer impressive replay value. Just don't expect to be able to 100% it easily!

The story is phenomenal, and easily the standout part of the game. The themes of memory, generational trauma, and existentialism are eloquently conveyed through the story and heightened by the excellent voice acting and striking art design. I found it difficult to put down through the entire 5-6 hour story.

However, I can't help but feel like the game didn't take enough advantage of its medium. Most of the gameplay is walking around and interacting with things and people, which is made tedious by the barebones navigation UX, labyrinthine structure of some of the maps, and sections where you are made to walk back and forth between a handful of characters. There is minimal character animation and no lip movement- which is a completely valid artistic choice, but in combination with everthing else, gives me the feeling that this story could have easily been told in the form of a movie or a graphic novel.

P.S: Note that there are no options to adjust graphics settings- though the game runs fine on lower end PCs and the steam deck.

Overall, I recommend this game- a great 5-hour experience worth $15.

A short and sweet puzzle game with creative gameplay inspired by fractal art and revolving around perspective. Charming artstyle and intuitive puzzles, paired with a nice atmospheric soundtrack. Very relaxing!
The game is very short, though- I finished in just over an hour- so keep that in mind if you plan to pick it up.

A lovely turn-based RPG Maker game about a party of heroes about to fight a big bad evil boss.
You play as Siffrin, who becomes stuck in a time loop and forced to constantly relive the 48 hours before the final boss fight. Throughout the game, you unravel the mysteries surrounding the time loop, the backstories and motivations of your allies, and the cryptic origins and motivations of the main character himself.

The game does a great job with fleshing out the main cast and getting you attached to them throughout the story; combined with the engaging stories and lovely visuals, I found myself getting invested after only an hour or so of playtime.

The game also provides some nice quality-of-life features to reduce the tediousness of navigating through the same dungeon over and over, such as the ability to skip through dialogue, warp to specific spots in the timeline with all the doors unlocked, and easily avoid enemy encounters.
However, I still found myself getting frustrated with the number of times I needed to repeat the exact same actions- for example, looping to a floor with all the doors unlocked could cause me to lose all of the progress of the current loop, or in some cases, make some areas completely inaccessible, so if I missed something I would need to replay the entire loop (though I might have been doing something wrong). Though this frustration is narratively on point, I still felt like the latter part of the game was a slog and could be condensed- or at least have some more variety between loops.

Despite all this, I still recommend this game. The characters are fun and endearing, the ending was cathartic and lovely, and I find myself thinking about this game long after I've closed it. Good game!

PS: There is a lot to keep track of between loops, and no journal feature, so I recommend making a to-do list for your future loops to avoid unnecessary backtracking.

A great (but relatively short) metroidvania 3D platformer game, really reminiscent of the games I played as a kid on N64/PS1. The movement kit is very solid and versatile (though the wall jumps are unwieldy until you get used to them), and new mechanics are drip-fed to you as you progress through the game. Once you get used to platforming about, it's entirely possible to sequence break or get into unintended areas, which I find pretty cool.

Environments are nice, level design is intuitive, and the music/sfx are on point. Enemy designs are cool, though combat is pretty easy. One issue I have is that some of the save crystals and respawn locations are in inconvenient locations- I've had several experiences where I'd respawn right next to a hole in the floor or several rooms away from where I was. Not a deal-breaker, but definitely a bit inconvenient.

If you like the idea of playing a 3D platformer with a versatile movement kit, exploring varied and challenging locations in a dilapidated castle, or just playing as a furry, this game is for you. Highly recommend!

Also I recommend checking out this movement guide: https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3011855017

Great simple roguelike- really satisfies that gambling instinct without needing to spend any money. Now I understand those people at casinos who mindlessly stare at slot machines and pull the lever over and over for hours.

The gameplay loop is simple- spin a slot machine to make enough money to pay rent, which is due after a certain number of spins and increases with each payment. After every spin, you can choose to add symbols to the machine, which can have different effects and synergize with other symbols. After paying rent a certain number of times, the run ends and you can choose to move up to a higher difficulty with more restrictions imposed.
The game introduces some more mechanics beyond that, but that's the main gameplay loop. Easy to understand, simple, and addictive. Highly recommend- but I wouldn't pay $10 for this game. Get it on sale for < $5.
(Also the mobile port is fantastic as well)

Possibly the most satisfying and intuitive platforming mechanics I've seen in a game, with tons of challenging and unique levels to test your skills. The game is frustrating at times, but provides an assist mode if you ever get stuck on one part of a level.
Great gameplay, great music, great artstyle, great level design, great story, at a great price. Highly recommend!
(also check out the multiplayer mod!)

Very polished for an early access game, with loads of content to explore and mess around with and frequent updates and content from a lovely developer team.

This game isn't for everyone though- if you like the idea of building factories to automate increasingly complex tasks, you'll like this game. If that sounds tedious and confusing, this game probably isn't for you. This game does have open world survival crafting elements, but they're secondary to base building and automation.

Personally, I've had a blast and I highly recommend this game to any fans of the genre.

Excellent pick up and play party game, with mechanics that are easy to learn even for people who don’t play video games. Very quickly became my friend group’s go-to local co-op game.
Some of the power ups are complete ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, but that just adds to the fun of the game as players strategize and scheme together to take down players in the lead. The artstyle and sound design are also very good, with tons of free appealing cosmetic options.
Most of my playtime is on the switch version, but I highly recommend this game on all platforms.

Just a great jigsaw puzzle game, plain and simple.
The stained glass aesthetic makes for some interesting puzzle shapes, and both the music and art are top notch. Fantastic game for chilling out and killing an hour or two. Definitely worth full price for both the game and DLCs.