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Wyv and Keep is a great puzzle platformer with a few twists. It's important to note that this might look a bit like games such as Spelunky. While the theme is similar, the gameplay isn't. Basically you control the two treasure hunters - either alone or in coop with a friend. You'll have to avoid enemies and traps rather than fighting or destroying them.

The goal sounds simple: Reach the exit door. However, it's typically not that easy. You'll have to avoid pits, traps, and enemies, while also triggering buttons, moving boxes, etc. Some things can only be solved involving team work. For example, one character might have to fill a gap in the ground, while the other pushes a box over. On another map a wall might be too high, so you'll have to move a box, jump on it, and then use your friend as a stepping stone.

I've been playing this game since its initial Desura release and it can be lots and lots of fun. The game's pixel art is well made and tries to emulate late 16 bit era games (i.e. Super Nintendo and other 2D consoles). Some parts of the game are higher resolution though. If you're not a fan of pixelated game and prefer HD graphics, better skip this game.

The game offers replayability through challenges: Beat a level as fast as possible, beat it with as few retries as possible, and try to collect as much money as you can. Also, the old Desura release had its own level editor. Accordin to the devs (see comments under this review) the editor will return once Steamworks integration is working/complete.

Loadout is a nice little Free to Play Third Person Shooter (what a genre name, eh?).

The monetization is fair (pure cosmetics apart from XP/money boosts). Everything significant can be earned ingame.

However, don't expect a game you can play casually vs. bots and have fun with. The bots are... in short: ridiculous!
They'll never miss, even if you jump and they jump at the same time, they'll just headshot kill you mid air. It's literally impossible to dodge enemies. They'll sometimes turn around instantly to start shooting you, probably killing you in one or two hits, if they're using any of the launchers. If they miss or shoot against walls, it's typically due to some obstacles the AI seems to ignore (like crates, rails, etc.).

In PvP the game is a completely different beast, although it's really hard to rate this properly so far, since the player base is still rather small and everyone starts out similar regarding the matchmaking system.

A nice space shooter, a (somewhat) fair, but grindy game.

Unfortunately there's no "maybe" rating for this review. The game definitely isn't something for everyone. It's possible to have fun with it, but at times its really just boring.

At first the game might look like a perfect "pay to win" candidate, considering there are several DLC packs available unlocking ships for you. However, that's not really the case.

All ships available as part of DLC offers or to be bought with real world currency are more or less sidegrades or shortcuts. The most powerful ships however, can only be unlocked by playing the game. That's very nice and fair.

And here's the catch: Unfortunately, you can describe the game with three words: ONE HUGE GRINDFEST. And to be honest, that's sad, very sad, and also the reason why I can't really recommend this game without warning about this.

Let me explain the game in a few sentences:
You start out with the factions' basic ships. To obtain bigger ships, you'll have to earn "sync" points. With these you're able to level up ships. Once you've leveled a ship, you'll be able to unlock the next ship in the tech tree that's usually a small upgrade or a new ship fitting a different role.

In addition, you're able to upgrade parts of the ships or more specific modules that are installed on them: a primary weapon system (turrets), secondary weapon systems (typically missiles), a ship specific special ability (not upgradeable), and two support abilities. The problem: Upgrades won't transfer between tiers.

So game progress looks like this:
- Obtain a new ship.
- Invest (ingame) money, mission rewards (or real money) to level up the ship modules.
- Level up the ship to improve its power and unlock the next ship.
- Obtain a new ship and start over again.

And that's it, unfortunately. I guess I don't have to say that leveling the ships appears to take ages. While it's perfectly fine to not "finish" the progression part of the game within a week, it's really slow and tedious. Add to this the fact that the game's population isn't that high (typically 1000-3000 players online right now according to stats in the game), it happens that you'll have to wait one or two minutes to finally get into a PvE game. Queue times for PvP are usually slightly longer (sometimes 5 minutes or more).

And here's another problem: Due to the low population (and a very limited number of PvE missions), you're usually fighting with or against significantly stronger enemies. It's not uncommon to die within seconds versus a sniping frigate that's simply out of range for you. Once you're dead, you'll either have to wait 30-60 seconds (seems to depend on game mode) or till the next stage of the mission (in PvE). In addition, most mission stages take only two or three minutes, but there's a full minute of wait time between stages.

"Fortunately" there are ways to progress faster: You can buy the classic "booster" to gain more points, but you're also able to buy different ammo that will double your synergy gain. The unfair part: The costs! The initial price of the ammo module is 2 Standarts. That's not a lot. However, once unlocked it no longer shows any price. Although the module will still take 2 Standarts for every round you're playing. You won't see this unless you're paying close attention. And some of the costs... To upgrade a weapon from level 2 to level 3 you'll need something like 30,000 units of mission rewards: You'll get about 600 per mission - or buy the upgrade with real money. Do the math yourself.

And one more thing to remember: This game can only be played using keyboard and mouse. There is no controller support (neither gamepad nor joysticks). Also there seems to be a significant amount of auto-aim involved or there are really just big hitboxes. It's definitely far easier to hit enemies as it is in other games of this genre.

TL; DR: Star Conflict is a nice space shooter with great graphics (especially for a free to play game) and good sound, but overall the whole game is just one huge grindfest, which is sad and lowers the overall gameplay experience a lot. If you don't mind not progressing for a while or really having to start over several times, give it a try. You might like it. But don't expect to win dogfights from the beginning or progress in one straight line.

Awesome game for those grown up with the classic 2D/top-down Zelda games (and those who wish they would). The randomness is the game's biggest strength but it can be its greatest flaw as well. This is no game where you'll easily win every round and not every round will be a real challenge.

Pay money for a freeware game. Sounds odd? Yes, but you don't just get the (otherwise free) game, you also get an updated soundtrack and high resolution graphics that look really nice. If you value the old translation (this one got an official English one that doesn't match the classic/third party one), then it's able to fix that too (hints can be found on the Steam forums). If you're not sure, look at YouTube or download the freeware version to give it a try. It's really nice and feels a lot like a mix of Metroid and classic Kirby games.

A great jump and run game that feels almost like the old Donkey Kong Country games, minus apes, plus physics. Difficuilty isn't too high, but there are also several secrets for added replayability.

Combine very simple but still addictive gameplay with neat and simple graphics - Flight Control HD. It's quite a nice game for quick breaks. It can get repetitive rather fast but the replayability is quite high, especially when split into smaller, more frequent sessions. The game provides control schemes for mouse, mousepad and touchscreen gameplay, but I wasn't able to test touchscreen controls yet (probably the most intuitive way to play it). Just "Drag 'n' Drop" incoming planes to their landing site or let them circle while waiting.