Recent reviews by Parallax Abstraction

I haven't finished this yet, but if you like Roguelites (especially Dead Cells) and/or Prince of Persia, definitely give this a try. Made by the devs who took over development of Dead Cells, this isn't just a Prince of Persia reskin. It has its own story, characters, mechanics and unique progression systems that make it stand out in its own way. It still has smooth controls and movement that lend themselves well to fluid combos and the enemy variety is significant and will require that you learn them well to have the most impact. What I also like is that there are story objectives that give a good reason to revisit previous areas where in Dead Cells, it was more just something you had to do if you lost a run.

The pastel shaded art style looks nice and fits Prince of Persia well and the soundtrack is a fusion of Middle Eastern and electronic music make and is pretty much straight bangers. It would be nice if the characters were voiced, but this was a game with a specific budget and I can understand why not. The dialogue is tight and doesn't waste your time anyway.

Evil Empire hasn't lost their mojo and as a fan of both the genre and Prince of Persia, I can wholeheartedly recommend this. Instead of constantly doubling down on the same formulaic AAA titles, Ubisoft should be funding more smaller games like this based on their IPs. SEGA learned this works, they can too.

So here's the thing about CYGNI: I totally get the mixed opinions on this one. It has a lot of problems and has not been well supported since it's launch. At it's regular price (which I bought it for at launch), I don't think it's worth it. But at some of the super cheap sales it's been on? Absolutely it's worth a go!

Most of the complaints you'll read are perfectly valid. The game looks great, but is not well optimized (I'm on a 9800X3D with a 9070 XT and at 1440p, it still can't always maintain 60fps). Some of the levels are way too large and a lack of checkpoints makes failure super punishing. The easy difficulty is too easy and normal is way too hard. The custom ship layout UI is incredibly esoteric, obtuse and not well explained. And there are so many mechanics that even if you do that way too long tutorial over multiple times, you'll forget half of them if you step away from the game for more than a couple days.

The thing is though, that last point can also be the game's biggest strength to the right kind of player. I love shmups, but most of them (including some of the best ever made) tend to follow the same basic core mechanical formula. This one upends a lot of that, introducing a lot of new ideas which while wrapped in a framework that definitely needs more done, make for a really interesting and unique entry in a genre that many (rightly or wrongly, I think largely wrongly) claim lacks originality. And like any shmup, practice makes perfect and even the brutal challenges of this one can be overcome with perserverence.

This isn't for everyone, as the mixed reviews its had since launch clearly show. But if you like the genre and want something different, try this because you might like it. If not, you'll know quick enough that you can refund it. Definitely don't get it at full price, but this has been on sale for as little as $4 and for that, it's a steal.

This is under an hour long and is a visual story with mild interactive elements. It's also of the hundreds of games I've finished, one of only three to make me cry. Sets expectations at the start and then completely upends them in a way I didn't see coming and suplexes your feels. At least try it if you're unsure. It's...wow.

A techno-murder mystery with surprisingly prophetic (for the time) themes about big tech, the rise of AI and the nature of human consciousness. Involves trying to reconstruct someone's memories from the inside. Not difficult, but has a number of outcomes and choices really matter. Not for everyone, but quite an experience.

There's been a lot of division among players about this entry in the series and I can see why. If anything, I think that can make for a more interesting experience because it's more dependent on the mindset of the player. At the risk of being a fence sitter, I see where a lot of the contention comes from and share some of it, but I still think this was an experience worth having.

Continuing Max Caulfield's arc, this takes place a number of years after the original and in a different place. One downside is that while the environments are nice, there isn't a lot of variation and you'll spend the entire game in only a couple of locations. Without spoilers, Max's powers take on a different form while intersecting with others that takes what appears to be a simple mystery story in the beginning to something a lot more complicated and supernatural. There are some plotholes and unfortunately like many things in this type of fiction, the story's advanced by characters often making the stupidest, most irresponsible decisions possible in a given situation. Often, you're the one forced to make those decisions and you might see yourself going "But I wouldn't do either of these things!" That happened to me multiple times.

The characters are varied and often interesting, though many aren't around long enough for us to really get to know them as well as I would have liked and there's more than a few (though thankfully short) cringeworthy attempts to socially virtue signal in the writing. Some characters also don't react in what I felt was a realistic way to certain revelations and others never seem to learn from their experiences, just doubling down on their flaws, even when certain events clearly show them the errors of their ways. I think this is what's led to a lot of divisive opinions and how much this frustrates the player will probably be down to the individual. At least from a story angle, if you like this series, I'd give this a try for yourself, but liking the previous ones isn't a guarantee you'll like this one.

The PC version also has some technical mishaps that have never been addressed. On my 9800X3D/9070XT system, it couldn't often maintain 60fps at 1440p, but if you turned down the secondary resolution scaler (which is what had the biggest performance impact), everything got noticeably blurry, especially when in motion. The game looks good, but an Unreal 4 title doesn't have an excuse for performing this poorly. The audio mixing is also sometimes inconsistent and some voice lines either never played at all or only played if I stood in a specific place, facing a specific direction. I also ran into a couple of scripting issues around side activities that didn't trigger, soft locking out achievements. Not that it matters as if you don't buy the deluxe edition, you can't 100% the achievements in this anyway.

So do I recommend this? I do if you are a fan of the Life Is Strange series because I think you should make up your own mind about it. The pretty even split in sentiment seems to bare that out. However, this release does have some rough edges and if you don't like the story it tells, you might really dislike it.

Rating this up because I think it'd be worth it on a deep sale for a very particular kind of player.

My full review on my blog, which includes an audio version: https://geekbravado.com/review-mafia-the-old-country/

"This isn't a full-priced title--though it's certainly not a value title either--and I do want to commend the normally very play-it-safe 2K Games for taking a risk of sorts here. They let Hangar 13 make something with AAA production values, but that was also a more focused, linear experience with a definitive end and wasn't trying to be yet another boring and bloated open world. That rarely happens now and as someone who is older and doesn't have the time for dozens of 50+ hour games a year, I appreciate that. The problem is that they could have achieved their goals of going back to the series roots by making something like Mafia 1, but in The Old Country. Instead, we got what feels like Mafia 0.5, where you're paying near AAA price to mostly watch a bog standard mob movie with just enough game play that it can't be called a walking simulator."

My full review, which also has an audio version: https://geekbravado.com/the-drifter-review/

"Even if you aren't into point and click adventures because you found them too impenetrable before, but do like good stories with good characters, I definitely recommend checking The Drifter out. Unfortunately, the demo is no longer available, but you can find plenty of playthroughs online or just use Steam's refund policy if you aren't sure. And if you are a fan of more hardcore adventure games, this story might still be enough to hook you in, even if the game play's been simplified.

Powerhoof is an indie dev to watch because they've now shown they've got chops in several different genres. Since they wrote their own adventure game framework, I hope this isn't the last one of these we see from them. I also hope they're able to get this out on more platforms too."

Found out about this from Jeremy on the Noclip Crewcast.

A very short, very cheap horror vignette about a dystopian future, where you're trying to hack...something that appears to be suppressing people. Very dark story, but impacts for sure and has a cool aesthetic.

I'd like to recommend this because it looks a lot like Robotron, but done up in a style that's a combination of Amiga demo scene and Jeff Minter. Unfortunately, it only has a demo's worth of content and even though it's not expensive, I think there are other games in a similar price range that offer more.

While it does play like Robotron in some ways, it's much more manic, there are no civilians to rescue (though there is a collectable in each stage) and not every single enemy has to be eliminated to progress. There's a set number of levels and there is no random generation or placement, so they are laid out the same each time. While there is a scoring system, it's minimal and there aren't any online leaderboards or even achievements, though there oddly are trading cards.

It's definitely challenging, but I got through all the levels in less than an hour and other than doing a run where you don't miss any collectables, there's really nothing else to do here.

It's not bad, it's just so light on content that it feels like a demo for a bigger game that doesn't exist. If you want modern Robotron, spend the extra coin on Nex Machina or just wait for one of the times it's on sale for peanuts.

A free, short narrative game told through an XP era instant messenger. Had this installed forever and never got around to it. It seems basic on the surface, but it's very much a choices matter game and teaches a life lesson I wish I knew back in the day. Curious to try the sequels.