Recent reviews by the4thnobleman

If you enjoy Peggle, this is is for you. A roguelike with randomized elements, the template puzzles are refreshed with the various enemy types. Pile onto that the random encounters/events and you have a recipe for endless repeatable game loops. The only real dislike is occasionally you get some bad loops. This is to be expected from Roguelikes. Some runs feel super easy, too easy almost. Others are doomed from the word go. The music is limited, but good. The graphics are pixel. The action is solid. Honestly if you remotely enjoyed Peggle this is a must-buy.

There comes a game in every generation wherein the rules of how to make a complete game perfectly align with the stars to form this one game where everything just feels right. Vampire Survivors is it this generation. It's a simple premise. Avoid the bad guys. But there are a LOT of bad guys. Couple that with an expansive list of characters each with a unique quirk. Add a sprinkle of hidden allure with unlockables that require specific functions you would not normally perform. Then Sprinkle some crack on it, to hook you. Its that good stuff. Every wave you destroy makes you feel amazing and more powerful then stronger enemies come along and it's a struggle and then you get more powerful again and then those baddies fall just as easy as the ones before. Its the premise that mobile games dream of acquiring. It's great no matter your skill level. Its infinite replayability and the fact that rounds only last 30 minutes at a time create a near ritual that will have you returning time and time again to continue right where you left off. AND ITS CHEAP! This game has every right to charge more than it does, and yet its still as cheap as it was upon release. It also follows the good path for early release titles. Active updates, community feedback, and balance tweaks keep it so you cannot simply walk in, kick ass. You'll work for everything. With a smile on your face. Obliterating everything in your path. You owe it to yourself to at the very least try this game.

The Quality of Life improvements make this aging gem fresh enough to follow thru a second(third? tenth?) time around. The humor was always darker and less comical in the original game compared to the sequels, but the occasional extra testicle and less toes made it so that it wasn't completely left to you as the player to create your own fun.

The game performs well with zero downtime, lockups, or quirks aside from the occasional traversal issue. Getting stuck in rocks is an issue that exists because of the freedoms afforded to you and not due to any gaps you mysteriously fall thru.

The only real gripe was the AI, which is fun for the most part. However, when in Fight For Your Life(FFYL) mode, they have a tendency to understand you are now stationary and will THEN engage the AI to begin to hide and retreat from you. It breaks up the gameplay when you get to the last 2-3 enemies in a particular area and are downed in FFYL and then when looking for an enemy to destroy to get yourself back up again you are left looking like the popular Travolta meme where he looks around the area for the thing he needs and coming up short handed. It breaks up the action enough to warrant a mention.

Another issue is the placement of specific quest markers. The original game was frustrating when it came to these markers on points of interests for quests. Find X items. And then you come to the point of locating the item and the marker is actually not even close to where the item is. Or its tricky in its placement above or below your marker. The Map improvements help in this regard, but the issue still exists. If you find yourself unable to find an item, fear not. It's.....around that particular area.

This game is infinitely better with co-op friends. Find them, keep them, nurture them. They will reward you with hours of ongoing fun in playing, replaying, and overcoming the challenges the game has to offer you.

I enjoy all the customization options and the overall look of the UI is worth investing in. Easy to use. Just wish it wasn't so full of some of the same designs with <insert fantasy anime trope here>, but wading thru those to get to the neater stuff can consume plenty of time all the same.

Tinybuild continues the trend of bringing forward great talent with Lazy Bear Games and thier unique ideas that feel familiar enough, but are wonderful additions to the collection of games that endear to the fizzy parts of our brains that feel great by completing what equate to menial tasks. This game will feel instantly accessible to those of us that enjoy Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, and the sort. It has a 16-bit aesthetic to the graphics with various flair that says its moreso than that. Leaves and pixels ripple with wind, water appears to flow, and ambient light glows with a satisfaction that just has to be seen to appreciate. The music is something incredible that flows quite well with the theme of the title. It's fresh enough to be enjoyable and it doesn't jar you nor does it bore you to death. You can listen to it for hours while completing various tasks and it never feels like it gets old. The game is fun, lengthy, and paces with how well you pick up on the game concept. If you're lost, it will feel like a longer experience, while veterans playing thru multiple times can get to where they need to in progression in a fair amount of time.

I'd recomment this title if you're remotely a fan of the following:

-Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, and similar Farm/Life/Sim sort of titles.
-Fan of the 16-bit era of gaming or pixel art.
-Fan of good videogame scoring and music.
-Occasional goofy humor with a strong emphasis on spiritual tones. This is witch-hunt-era theming, so the church is the "bad guy" and is definitely staged as such through the game.
-Micromanagers! You'll love all the things you can tweak, control, and pace to your liking.

I cannot recommend this game for the following:
-Prefer bleeding edge tech in your games.
-Hate pixel art.
-Need 3D in your gaming.
-Want a Multiplayer experience.

If the NES and SNES was in your timeline of gaming history, you owe it to yourself to try this game. I don't need to decree how much you should buy it after you've tried it. The gameplay and concepts are a mash of several of gamings most iconic titles. You'll instantly feel like Mega Man from the hardened difficulty, then you'll get a quick whif of Castlevania as you explore from location to location. You can't stop there as you're immediately taken to an era where 8 bit music was kind, and the shovel hop is nearly identical to Ducktales, with new takes on getting you to places unreachable without such a skill.

The level design is solid and every level is as hard as you are as a gamer. The story is good, but also harkens to a day when story was just overall less important than that sweet sweet gameplay. I was immediately taken in with the controls. They play with SUCH familiarity that I felt like a pro gamer having just started hours prior and here I was using everything I ever learned as a gamer up til now on this wonderful journey into what was.....and what can be again! You simply must experience this if you grew up a gamer as an adult at this time.

I'm now a fan of this development team. I'll follow you and your work. I had nothing to dislike about this game, unless you count wanting more new experiences with more games from your team.