Recent reviews by tuxdelux

Like the Dome Keeper game with more puzzle aspects. What I did not like about the experience is that the puzzle objective can be easily obtained after getting enough upgrades, which are obtained through a slow search and recovery process. Any time during that process, the player might be killed by a monster or running out of oxygen. Then, the player is expected to restart the whole slow process again.

After playing Feed the Deep for eight hours, I got a chance to play Dome Keeper. Then, I said to myself, "okay, that's what Feed the Deep was trying to do..." Because even without playing the games that inspired this one, there felt to be something missing in Feed the Deep. It lacks a hook. Maybe the message-in-a-bottle writing was supposed to carry the weight of the gameplay, but it did not work for me.

I have a couple criticism of the gameplay: One is the key and treasure chest idea does not work very well, with the key needing to be placed too particularly and the items exploding out that causes them to fall downward, away off the screen. The second thing is that the terrain would too often disconnect the tow-line, causing the dragged object to fall - again downward, away off the screen. These two things were just some of the reasons that the gameplay mechanics did not feel satisfying nor made me want to revisit the levels, after I figured out the puzzle objective.

The Steam Store really pushed this game for the Deck compatibility. The developer made a big news item about it also. While game controls work great, the Deck's screen is too small for reading the game's lore messages (which play a big part) and the game-within-a-game console games are not well suited for the deck's screen either. While I appreciate the developer trying to get it working with the Steam Deck, it would have been a lot more appreciated if they had also made a SteamOS/Linux build available at the same time, to ensure best compatibility.

The only interesting part of this game is wondering why Square Enix acquired the publishing rights

Hope they have better success with their second attempt

It is an okay stroll through one of lovecraft's less-known stories. The developer clearly knew what made these stories successful, and you won't find any shotguns in this game. But there's not much else, either. The game can be seen in an hour, mostly - slowly moving in a crouch - down an unimaginably long, spiral staircase, and there are not any hidden surprises, either. There are a couple limited puzzle-like elements, but they are one-time use things. The two glyphs that you see on the steam store page are the entirety of that part of the game mechanism.

Basically, you pay a few dollars and you get a ticket for this carnival ride.

I had some technical issues. First there was a music file at the beginning that crackled in my headphones when it played. And then there was a graphical glitch that followed me throughout the game: A series of yellow dots always appeared on the right-side of the screen. These effectively took me out of the feel of the game, especially in the dark areas of the game.

This is probably a solo developer's first attempt at a large scale game, and I applaud those efforts. I liked the innovative use of two AI-generated pictures used. Further, they managed to tap into the magic of using a game engine to create a creepy experience, especially with those glowing light effects. I am sure their future projects will be more extensive and worthwhile, but for this steam store offering, I cannot recommend the purchase of this game.

Spent over a hundred hours in co-op mode, smashing down all the houses and forests across this huge world, so you know that I got my money's worth. For twenty bucks, you get a wonderful exploration game that has a huge open world. However, the game does gets repetitive quickly, with many areas feeling unnecessary even while looking great.

There is something so satisfying about breaking down game assets in any video game, and 10Tons used this idea as the foundational gameplay of DYSMANTLE. We struggled to resist breaking down all the iron fences and army jeeps, even after we realized that they would yield no necessary resources. They made the animations and sound effects so soothing and enjoyable, whether it is the ka-thunk of the forestry axe or the clang of the sledgehammer.

The combat mechanics are very solid as well, although I had wished for maybe more variety. The weapons all have different speeds and it is easy to change between weapon types - even auxillery equipment - in the middle of a fight. The roll-dodge is well implemented, and each enemy requires different techniques. There is an interesting boss monster that offered some excitement at the checkpoints, too. And difficulty scales based on the amount of time spent finding and cooking recipes. You have more upgrades when you meticulously search out every kitchen than when you speed through to the quest goals.

Later in the game, there are many aspects that are very unfortunately underused: The mana portals, the building construction, the rifle, befriending animals, and "The Ark" all come to mind as parts of the game that initially seem exciting but are not used for much. We spent so many hours collecting resources for the Ark Quest, only to find out that it is not used for anything in the main story line. The game teases mana portals and building construction, right from the beginning, but it never gets used for anything interesting. It feels like they ran out of development time to fully implement these features.

Those negatives aside, the amount of content cannot be overlooked. The game map is huge and the player can choose which direction to go, most of the time. After finishing an area, the game encourages re-doing the area again with extra difficultly. After finishing the game main story, the game encourages re-doing the entire game again - again with increased difficulty. The question must be asked: is it worth your time to do it again? You will have a lot of time to think on that question.

Really looking forward to 10Tons' next game with this same gameplay. I think they will have ironed out some ideas that were not expanded fully in this one. Even with my obvious disappointments, it is impossible not to recommend this game despite those complaints. This game got my wife asking for video game time together, which has never happened with action games before. Bravo to that! We played on a Steam Deck with a "deck dock" using two xbox-style gamepad controllers. We had no technical issues either with the game or Steam's Proton compatibility software.

Outstanding story of science fiction. Wonderful artwork. Highly recommend this no-cost visual novel.

What a great, no-cost space trading game! Almost ten years after the release and still getting updates. It's open-source too!
I played through the tutorial storyline and enjoyed the experience. It feels like a scaled-down Star Sector. Worth a try for sure.

A decent walking-sim, exploration-adventure with some nice assets that bring an authentic Quebec experience, such as French language voice acting and cultural references. But not for the $15 price tag. The gameplay and storyline should have been tighter for that price. Most of the locations have few meaningful gameplay objects or story elements. I never felt that I had obtained a clue that prompted me to go somewhere specific. I just wandered around, exploring a mostly empty game map, which - like I said - was a decent experience.
The user-defined tags used on the steam store are misleading. The lack of story signposting does not make this an "open world" nor a "detective" game. Just using campfires as savepoints does not make it "survival". Not sure how much the developers get involved with setting those tags, but the screenshots and videos also imply these gameplay elements are present. I looked at the Kickstarter page which sure says "survival-adventure game". Sorry but that sort of game store deception rubs me the wrong way.

You pay for an experience: getting to paint the level with a LIDAR device on an otherwise black field of view. At what do you value that experience? You get a few hours of moving around a straight forward level-design, with a couple of jumping challenges. That's okay. It's stunningly beautiful, but I am glad that I waited for a sale.

There were a couple of major bugs while using a gamepad controller. I can only recommend playing with a keyboard and mouse. I used Steam's Proton compatibility software.

This is my go-to game for some quick racing. It uses an unusual drift mechanic that requires braking, but it is easy to learn and re-learn after long breaks from playing. The music is great and the gameplay is solid. The developer put out a new release, with new tracks, music, and workshop options, which is years after my purchase of this game. And, it occurred to me that I never posted a review! Well, this game has survived in my Steam library for years, and I recommend you checking it out, too.