Recent reviews by Lithobraker

Bug Fables is the game I've been waiting for nearly all my life, and I didn't even know it.
It's not like it's perfect or flawless, as is to be expected for nearly every game- but it's pretty darn close.

I always liked Paper Mario, and if you're like me and you enjoyed those games, it's almost certain you'll enjoy Bug Fables as well, but it wouldn't even be remotely fair to leave it at that.
This game may look like just a clone of Paper Mario, but I think it's more that it's an RPG in the same subgenre- the Hidden Chest described this kind of game as a "MarPG", and I think that's a better way to put it.

It's true that a lot of the game mechanics are lifted from Paper Mario, and this game wears its primary inspiration on its sleeve- but don't let that convince you it's uncreative, or a cheap knockoff.
Bug Fables has 'badges', it has action commands, it looks like paper, and it has 'FP'- but this is mostly where the similarities end.

-Gameplay-
It has badges- called medals- yes, but a great number of them are original concepts with no Paper Mario equivalent. Many of these medals are quite creative, and can allow for some really wacky builds! Build a character around being poisoned, focus on spreading status effects, make them into a healer- a lot of things are possible!
Many of the characters' special skills are also unlocked through leveling up, meaning you get a lot of choices to play with even without any medal-added skills.
Attacks are executed with action commands very similar to Paper Mario, but they're often a bit harder to pull off than they were in Paper Mario. There's also some control stick waggling and button mashing, but I didn't mind. It doesn't even matter, because you can just TURN IT OFF!

In this game, you only get three party members- to a Paper Mario veteran, this may seem like a downgrade in every way, but with the way these three are used in Bug Fables, I don't miss the partners. Not only do these three remain your party for the whole game- and thus, they get the chance to grow the whole way as they share screentime- but this also makes boss and enemy design far more focused, allowing the developers to design encounters with full knowledge of your capabilities.

As well, all three of them battle at once, and every single one is a fully-fledged character. They all share the spotlight, and get equal amounts of development.
This applies to battle as well. All three of them have unique abilities, as well as unique basic attacks. I'd go into more detail, but I just found out Steam reviews have a character limit... Suffice to say, the game is very well-built around these three and their unique talents.

Each character can swap positions in battle, but this doesn't affect turn order- the character in front gets an attack boost, but is also attacked the most- while the character in the back is attacked the least. You can choose which character attacks first completely freely, regardless of their order.
A huge part of this game's battle system, though, is Turn Relay.

Of course, none of this gameplay depth would matter- the wacky builds and the creative strategies- if the game didn't ask anything of you. Even in normal mode, this game requires you to at least pay attention to what you're doing, and think a little about how you play.
The biggest deal for me though, and the reason why the gameplay was so amazingly engaging, is the Hard Mode. You get access to a Hard Mode medal literally moments after the tutorial. Talk to the pink orchid mantis guy in the first room of the game, and he'll give it to you.
It costs nothing to equip, and it's more than just a flat stat buff for all enemies- the game was actually designed around Hard Mode, and made easier for Normal Mode after the fact. Each enemy and boss has a unique set of stats for Hard Mode, and some of them even have new attacks. Beating any boss in Hard Mode also causes the orchid mantis guy to give you rare and powerful medals for free as a reward- though you can still get them outside of Hard Mode, they're not cheap.

This mode starts out pretty standard, but it's quite a big challenge. The final boss had me stuck for a good while, but I adored the challenge! For the true masochists, there's even a Hard Hits medal on top of all this that makes you take even more damage- and a secret code inspired by Luigi's Challenge in Paper Mario Pro Mode. No leveling up, but you can equip loads of medals!

-Story-
You might expect that sort of thing from a Paper Mario-inspired game in terms of gameplay, but what about the story?
Well, if you were to just look at this game from the trailers, you might not get the impression that the story has much going on, but it gets better and better over time!

The plot isn't anything revolutionary, but it's very well-executed, and has a surprising amount of nuance and unexpected moments. The main characters, as I've mentioned, get plenty of development over the course of the game, as they're all participating at all times. Each one has a totally different personality, and they kind of butt heads earlier on, but as the game progresses, they really do grow closer together. The three become an inseparable team, and each one gets time to develop as a character.

The background lore is also great. Do you wonder why these bugs are able to walk and talk? Why are some other bugs seemingly just dumb animals? There's more I could hint at, but I don't want to spoil anything.
All of this is, of course, not even getting into how funny I think the game's writing is. It successfully captures that humorous tone I loved about the Mario RPGs, but, as is usually the case with Bug Fables, it does a lot of its own thing as well.

Some of you may also be relieved to hear that the paper aesthetic has nothing to do with this game's plot. Unlike Paper Mario, which seems to have decided the "Paper" is more important than the "Mario" these days, Bug Fables's storybook art style is just an art style, and nothing more.

-Soundtrack-
Some reviewers have expressed a mild dislike for the soundtrack, but to be honest, it's been one of my favorites to listen to. I honestly think I may enjoy the final boss theme even more than "The Grand Finale/In the Final" from Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, and that's high praise indeed.

The game is packed full of catchy battle tunes and intense boss themes, and I love it! The game's theme tunes for areas, story moments and character motifs are all on-point as well. You may even be pleasantly surprised like I was when a common theme you'd been hearing for over half the game suddenly switches over to an EVEN CATCHIER new one for areas in the second half of the game.

-- Conclusion --
I won't pretend like everyone on the planet would love Bug Fables. That's not quite true. But if this is the sort of thing that sounds like it's up your alley, I highly recommend giving it a chance. To dismiss it for its similarity to Paper Mario is to potentially miss out on something you may even enjoy more than Paper Mario.
It's tough to say for certain, but I think this may even be my favorite game of all time. Even months after playing it, it's stuck with me. This game ticks all the boxes for me- and when I say 'all the boxes', I really do mean every single one.

I don't miss classic Paper Mario anymore, and Bug Fables is the entire reason why. I don't much care about Origami King, because I know not even a true, 100% what-the-fans-want Thousand-Year Door sequel could make me as happy as Bug Fables has.

Playing in Hard Mode, this game took me about 41 hours to beat, and I hadn't even done all the quests. There's tons of optional collectibles, sidequests, cooking recipes, a boss rush, a much less tedious 'Pit of 100 Trials' sort of thing, a boatload of secret BOSSES to fight, a fun card game using the enemies you scan, essentially one whole optional CHAPTER, and an ultra-tough postgame superboss I haven't even been able to beat yet.

I used it to make my own mod- Litho's Armory.
It makes modding easier with its ExampleMod showcasing how to do a lot of the simpler stuff, so minimal coding knowledge is needed to get into it. The biggest hurdle is learning how to sprite.

As for using it as just a player... well, it's the only way to play modern Terraria mods. And there's so, SO much talent out there- so many amazing mods like Thorium, Elements Awoken, Redemption, Shadows of Abaddon, Ancients Awakened- with more on the horizon!
With TModLoader, the journey hasn't even come close to ending.

If you've come here looking for a nostalgic throwback to the NES days of old, you won't be disappointed, but if you're like me- a teenager who's never even touched an NES before, what you'll find when you crack open Shovel Knight is not a pandering nostalgia game that relies too heavily on its resemblance to the classic games of yesteryear, but, at least in my opinion, an incredible masterpiece full of genius game design, attention to detail, and PUNS.

Oh, soils below, the PUNS.

Shovel Knight is a proper adventure where you'll save your friend/love interest, pogo shovel on everything, and face off against a decadent dandy, flying propeller rats, the hattiest hat man that ever hatted, and a crazy bomb-chucking alchemist who also happens to have an entirely free playable campaign of his own, among other things.

This game is a treasure trove for those looking for great game design practice- the attention to detail is staggering. It seems Yacht Club has, indeed, thought of everything, and if you pick apart Shovel Knight piece-by-piece, you'll find it stays brilliant all the way down to the last pixel.

It's even beautiful! The pixel art is stunning, and you might find yourself admiring the view in the background on stages like the Flying Machine and the Iron Whale. It's not a major focus, but Shovel Knight is far from being an ugly game.

If you despise platformers with a passion, you probably won't like Shovel Knight, but then you probably also wouldn't have given this game a second glance, so...
I can't think of anything that's really wrong with it.

I swear, usually I have SOMETHING negative of substance to say about every game I love, but Shovel Knight doesn't really have any problems. If I mentioned anything it would be either nitpicking or entirely subjective.

It's not an extremely hard game (unless you pick Challenge Mode), but I guess if you're really bad at platformers you might not even be able to enjoy it. It's very fair, though. Never pulls dirty tricks on you like some 'hard' games do. Movement is very tight, responsive, and has a comfortable amount of weight to it. You are in full control of Shovel Knight at all times(except on ice), although Plague Knight can cannonball out of control if you're not careful.
That's his thing, though, and speaking as someone who just beat his campaign, it works.

The boss fights are tons of fun and whether you're digging their graves as the Blue Burrower or having a blast as the Birdface Bomb Guy, they will provide you with quite the fun challenge.

And the soundtrack...
I swear by the name of the great and holy Gaben that I have never heard such perfectly amazing chiptune ever before or since. It helps that Manami Masumae, composer for the soundtracks of the original Megaman games, worked on some of the tracks. Kaufman's compositions are so good, though, that you'll not be able to tell the difference.

And as if that wasn't enough, not only is the writing consistently hilarious (though that is more of a matter of opinion), but the story is also actually genuinely great. Yes, you do spend the game trying to save a female, but in the end, she helps you defeat the final boss! Shield Knight is no damsel to be rescued. You'll understand how she hasn't escaped once you get there, but be assured that she's more than badass enough to do it, were it not for the spoilery thing.

The word of some random nobody on the internet probably doesn't mean much to you, but as I see it, Shovel Knight is about as close to perfect as one can reasonably expect any game to get.

If you were to ask me if Shovel Knight was one of the best games ever made, I'd say yes, without a doubt.
I'm not one to put a single game in that spotlight, but Shovel Knight is most certainly up there with the rest of the best.

So if it sounds like a worthy purchase to you, then steel thy shovel, friend, and give this game a go!


Oh, also, Yacht Club is currently working on one more free campaign where you can play as King Knight, plus a local multiplayer battle mode where you can play as all the knights, plus the Enchantress.

And it has a Butt Mode.
You can't go wrong with Butt Mode.

EDIT: Spectre of Torment has been released! I haven't finished it yet, but suffice to say that it's EVEN BETTER than Plague of Shadows. Playing as Spectre Knight is incredibly satisfying, leaping around and comboing enemies.
It's very different from Shovel Knight and Plague Knight's campaigns, and the stages are completely different from before, even including all-new remixes of the stage music to fit the faster pace!
Spectre Knight controls like a dream, using jump combos to get around while simultaneoustly whacking baddies, as well as climbing on and jumping off walls. It's simple, intuitive, and brilliant.

Skyrim is like bread.
Like some really nice, fluffy bread that hasn't gone stale yet. But bread.
You aren't usually going to eat bread by itself, are you? It's not that interesting, even if it's really good for bread.

That's why you've got to add things to it. You can toast it, put something on it, like honey, butter, or peanut butter, or turn it into a sandwich, whatever you fancy.

Vanilla Skyrim is like some nice bread. Bread that makes a fantastic sandwich when you select the right ingredients.


By this, of course, I mean that Skyrim is a somewhat incomplete game without mods. It's a bit weird, buggy, and unbalanced as ♥♥♥♥. It's still rather fun, but you can fix all that with mods, and the DLC. If you pick just the right mods to add, Skyrim can easily become one of the best open-world action RPGs you can get your hands on, given a little work.

Mods can add all sorts of things to the game: Better balance with mods like Perkus Maximus, fleshed-out party members like Inigo, better UI with SkyUI, hunger and exposure mechanics in various mods, more difficult dragons, improved first-person cameras, better visuals, bugfixes, entirely new regions and dungeons to explore, more houses, the list goes on.

The only thing that mods can't fix is the mediocre voice acting in parts. It's certainly not bad, just not amazing.

At this time, I cannot in good conscience recommend this game. It's been plagued by cheater bots for the past four years at least, Steam playercounts have been massively inflated by idle bots, and to make matters worse, Valve have done effectively nothing to stop them, despite continually monetizing the game by adding new items to buy in the ingame store.
This game WOULD be very much worth playing if this were not the case. It's one of the best multiplayer games of all time, full stop. But right now, you can barely play it.