Скорошни рецензии на Coldsnap

Thumbs up for scope and concept, the devs are really on to something here.
However, this is still early days even for an Early Access title.
Do not expect anything resembling a finished game.

Sword physics are good and feels reasonably realistic. However, the game is still in early access and there has been no word from the developer in several years. In addition, there are some view centering issues with Oculus HMD's that severely impacts gameplay.

So sadly, another thumbs down for abandonware. :/

I was going to thumb this up, because the gameplay is mostly solid. It's basically your run-of-the-mill tower defense game with occasional "boss levels" where you can send waves at your opponent in addition to defending. However, the game ends abruptly and the final levels are not implemented. The game is still in Early Access and there has been no word from the devs for over a year, so I'm going to cry abandonware and give it a thumbs down. A shame.

Some other things worth knowing:
This game works fine seated, except for the 3 boss levels where you have to look behind you. Swivel chair saves the day!
There is about 5-8 hours worth of content, so if you grab this game on a sale it's kind of worth it. Just be aware that the game is not fully finished. Also, there are some issues with player height on Oculus headsets, the camera is clearly higher up than intended.

Some talented developers who happen to make their smash hit game early in their career fall under a strange and terrible curse. They become doomed to making the same game over and over again, for all eternity, without ever managing to recapture the magic that made the first game so good. No matter how hard they try and how many sequels they make, they cannot find their way back to that special place from whence the original game came.

All one can do is leave them to their fate and go back and play that first game, because it's really, really good. The sequels, ever striving but never quite succeeding, are best forgotten.

Updating this review after a full playthrough 4 years after release.

A steady stream of updates have fixed lots of the problem this game had at launch, and it is now (for the most part) an enjoyable experience. Sound and artwork are still excellent, machine design is fantastic, combat and sneaking mechanics are some of the best in class.

But.

The game is still riddled with bugs. Mission objectives that refuse to spawn, randomly taking fall damage on slopes, getting stuck in terrain etc. It's not gamebreaking, but bad enough to be a nuisance all the way through.

Story feels like an afterthought, tacked on and fails to engage despite some great background material. A lot of threads are left hanging when you finally run out of quests.

Voice acting ranges from hilariously 80's B-movie bad (which is quite enjoyable) to just... bad.

After a full playthrough, this feels like a missed opportunity. It's a fantastic setup for a game that turns out to be just that - a fantastic setup, and little more. I will change my negative score to a positive one, because I did enjoy it. It just could have been so much better.

Never did I imagine a city builder would be the first game in years to get me all choked up.
The emotional weight here is immense, the presentation stellar, the artwork amazing.
Frostpunk is truly a masterpiece. And I will be very, very late for work tomorrow.

Not counting the obvious lack of pull/tactile feedback, this is actually a great way to learn the basics of dual-line kite flying. As a game, it's a bit too simplistic, but still worth it if you grab it in a sale.

10 hours later: My town is now perfected! A marvel of technology, the pinnacle of engineering!
Hmm... I wonder... If I just move this over here...
10 hours later: My town is now perfected! And so on ad infinitum.

Promising, but sadly abandoned along the wayside. Avoid for now.

Edit for 2022: This review is for Elite Dangerous with the Horizons expansion, not Odyssey. If you are considering getting into Elite, Odyssey may or may not be for you. I suggest reading a bit about it before you buy. If you are buying this game mainly for the VR component, I strongly recommend sticking with Horizons for now as Odyssey does not have full VR support and still has framerate issues that can severely impact VR performance.

With that out of the way, welcome to the grandfather of space trucker games.
There is very little in the way of narrative here, instead you are handed a gigantic sandbox galaxy where you can more or less go whereever you like and do whatever you want. To enjoy this form of gameplay, you must set your own goals, carve your own path and think up your own narrative. If you do, the game can be absolutely amazing, and every little piece of progress becomes a reward. If you don't, it's an endless grind for numbers.

The learning curve is kind of steep, the game is actually not that difficult to play, but the information given in-game is very basic and you have to be prepared to go out of game to look stuff up. There is a number of third-party tools available, supported by a large and thriving community.

Elite Dangerous looks and sounds amazing. Which is important in a game that's partly about going to interesting places and enjoying the view. While the graphics quality is beginning to show its age, every ship, station and environment you come across is masterfully designed and full of interesting details, and the sound design is still as brilliant as it was when the game released.

Elite is a kind of semi-MMO; you can play in a multiplayer setting, with or without friends (though playing without friends will likely get you ganked sooner or later). You can also play it in single-player mode if you want to be safe, but the game world is still (somewhat) affected by the actions of the entire playerbase, which gives a sense of community even when flying solo.

Lastly, this game (again, Horizons only) has full support for VR, and it is AMAZING. The sense of scale is just breathtaking, and being in a VR environment takes handling your spaceship to a whole new level. If you're an Oculus/Meta user, be sure to buy the game at the Frontier store and you'll get keys for Steam AND Oculus store. (At least you did when I bought it, you may want to double check this.)

All in all, Elite Dangerous may not be for everyone. But it's worth a try, and if you like it you're in for an amazing journey.