Recent reviews by SamTMJ

Don't let the seemingly simple graphics fool you, for the overall game experience is excellent with a surprising amount of complexity.

GAMEPLAY: 5/5
The core gameplay, comprising of diving and restaurant management are both unique, solid and rewarding. There are boss battles and special events spread throughout the story progression that ensures sufficient variety in the core gameplay. In addition, there is also a huge variety of smaller mini-games, each with different mechanics. The core gameplay and mini-games are connected via overall resource management with the requirements and rewards from each game feeding off each other.

Game pacing is simply excellent, the game does not overwhelm you from the start with all the complexity of its various mini-games but rather opens them up layer by layer via progression via the story and side quests.

The game will definitely appeal to those who love light management type games like the tycoon-type or simple business simulators but at the same time it is not too complex, not too difficult nor too monotonous, hence it will appeal to a much larger audience.

STORY: 5/5
The cutscenes and in-game dialogue are simply hilarious and yet at times touching. Bosses and special event characters are funny caricatures of their real-life equivalents/stereotypes. There are also various popular cultural references spread throughout the game for which most people can relate to.

If this was a movie, it'll be an action-comedy with some drama, thriller and mystery thrown into the mix.

GRAPHICS: 4/5
Whilst this looks like a 2D platformer from the start, this game actually utilizes 3D rendering for the core gameplay and most mini-games.

One big advantage is that the low graphics requirements makes this game relatively easy to run on older PCs and mobile platforms e.g. Steam Deck.

AUDIO: 4/5
No idea who composed the music but both the music and audio cues are great. The music is relaxing and can be listed to for hours. The music for cutscenes is engaging and fun.

OVERALL: 5/5
I highly recommend this game to everyone. It's a fun, relaxing and rewarding experience that would work especially well on the Steam Deck. The game is what I would consider value for money - and is one that I would purchase at full price.

Great game even though it is quite short. Immersive environments, an engaging story and a unique game perspective makes this game highly recommended!

An amazing game and brilliant sequel to the 1994 original "Beneath a Steel Sky"!

Just like it's predecessor, this is similar to a "point and click" type adventure game where gameplay is relatively simple, composed almost exclusively of puzzle-solving, with no combat, no character development and a simple inventory. In this sequel however, the world is navigable in 3D.

The focus is on the storyline, dialogue, and world of which this game excels at. The story arc is interesting and keeps one engaged throughout the game, the witty dialogue is well delivered by good voice acting (with diverse accents), and Union City (the world) is beautifully reconstructed in 3D. The 3D render style is similar to Borderlands, giving it a slight comic-book effect.

The game's core gameplay however - puzzle solving - is a bit simple and is dependent on one particular mechanic (hacking). The gameplay is probably meant to be relaxing, allowing one to enjoy the story and dialogue with little frustration and can be completed anywhere from 10 or probably more hours (I skipped quite some of the audio dialogue relying on subtitles)

Story = 4/5
Graphics = 4/5
Audio = 5/5
Gameplay = 3/5
Replayability = N/A
OVERALL = 4/5

My overall impressions are - Well Recommended

A great fun engaging game to play. It's a wonderful mix of hack and slash RPG, twin stick shooter, Base Building and Tower Defense all rolled into a single package.

The diverse gameplay would appeal to a very wide range of casual audiences whom play a mix of these genres. Fire this up and you'll get a dose of each in every session.

Whilst there is not much in the way of a story, that isn't necessary in this case. The excellent graphics (it even has ray traced shadows) accompanied by a superb memorable soundtrack makes playing this both a visual and audio treat. The hardware requirements aren't very demanding and the inclusion of AMD's FSR tech makes this even easier on your system.

Take it slow and enjoy the journey - this game does not rush you to its endgame. And once you do complete the single story campaign, replayability is provided in the form of survival mode.

Some tips:
- There is a console command to enable camera zoom - zoom out for increase situational awareness but this also increases cpu / gpu load. Press the tilde (`) key, type camera_enable_zoom 1 then press enter key. Then use the mouse wheel to zoom in/out
- When building your main headquarters, remember the most important resource is water sources in the form of mud (brown) or slime (green) pools. Always ensure your main base walls enclose a healthy amount of these. All other resources can be either farmed or "synthesized" elsewhere and then "teleported" to your main base without a physical connection. Liquid resources require a pipeline which should be protected within walls

Despite the mixed reviews, this game is actually really great value for the money spent, especially if it is on sale. A significant portion of the negative reviews probably stem from the negative feedback associated with the excessively priced microtransactions, which are mostly cosmetic in nature. So do keep that in mind.

The Gears 5 single player campaign this time is focused on Kait DIaz's story arc and the discovery of her connections with the Swarm, the Horde which was resurrected anew in Gears 4. The open world portion of the game may be relatively limited, but it is a small step in the right direction to add variety to the gameplay - besides, the Gears franchise has always been known for its cover-based linear "corridor shooting" action anyways.

Where Gears 5 truly shines is in its co-op and versus multiplayer. The addictive and exciting Horde mode from Gears 4 makes a comeback, coupled with a new Escape mode. New abilities, new enemies and new weapons and the ability to play as Jack the robot make for interesting, albeit welcome changes to gameplay dynamics in multiplayer co-op.

A decent single player campaign with co-op option coupled with 2 co-op multiplayer modes (and other versus modes) make it a great game to play with friends and family.

Scoring breakdown as follows:
Gameplay: 4/5
Singleplayer: 4/5
Multiplayer: 5/5
Graphics: 5/5
Sound: 3/5
Music: 4/5

OVERALL: 4/5

This the most amazing desktop wallpaper program - the free steam workshop wallpapers make this so worth the tiny asking price.

This is an excellent game that not only approximates the PC building process, including both hardware and software installation; but also simulates the operation of a one-man PC hardware business in its "single player campaign", complete with a simple model of the economics / profitability, logistics, and customer relations of the business model.

Of course, this does not fully simulate everything there is to PC building, similar to how any other game genre does not typically fully simulate the real-world. it cuts out most of the tedious and intricate steps thus presenting an overall concise but somewhat accurate process of building a PC, and in this way making it user friendly and accessible to someone who has never built one before.

However, the PC troubleshooting process in its currrent state ought to more closely simulate the real process in order to depict a more accurate picture of this complicated aspect of PC building. For example, components should not show up immediately as defective when immediately removed from the PC because in reality, faulty components are isolated or ruled out by testing with redundant hardware (among other methods). Similarly, software installation & device setup in reality is quite a bit more complicated then presented in this game. If the added complexity may be daunting to newer players, an option to turn more complex simulations on/off akin to a "difficulty settings" should be implemented.

Do not be put off by the "Early Access" label as this simulator in its current state is almost close to a fully finished game and it does receive periodic significant updates from its dedicated developer. Moreover, this means there is still significant leeway for more significant gameplay mechanic changes for the better.

Both graphics and music are really nice so not much complaints here really, though there is room for optimization of hardware requirements to run full graphics settings at high resolutions.

PC Building Simulator would serve well for PC hardware enthusiasts who devote time to following component design, configuration, building and comparison of metrics like performance versus price. It would also cater for those who have always wanted to build a PC but do not as yet have the opportunity or would like some kind of virtual "training ground" before actually committing to the real thing. Basically think of it like PC Part Picker lite but with the building process simulated.

The enjoyment derived is well worth the time spent and the game's cheap price point.

This game has NO forced grinding, NO micro-transactions, and NO pay-2-win mechanics making it very different from today's sadly unethical, greedy and coercive cash-grab efforts defining the vast majority of the shallow mobile trash out there parading as "games" or worse - an unwanted mobile imitation of a famous PC game title.

We as consumers can at least appreciate and reward the developer of PC Building Simulator for sticking to an ethical business model.

Don't let this game's detractors fool you. This is probably one of, if not THE best co-op game ever! It has challenged and since then altered my perception of what constituted the standard of "cooperation" for co-op games.

No doubt there is the perception of lack of content and numerous annoying bugs, however these have been slowly but surely addressed by Fatshark. These aren't game breaking bugs and in fact some add extra challenge to the already inherent difficulty.

A typical player can easily rack up a hundred hours in this game. That is an indication of the content and abundant replayability in Vermintide (that or player fanatics). The game has 2 game modes (aka Story and Survival) in 17+ maps with 5 classes, each having a multitude of melee & ranged weapons. There are so many possible combination of playthroughs to keep the co-op experience alive and unique.

Due to Vermintide having a heavily player-skill-based melee system coupled with the possibility of ramping up the difficulty all the way to suit the player, it is both easy to learn yet hard to master. Forget about starting in anything less than Normal or Hard, you'll only fool yourself into burning through the content quickly. Ultimately, this game was designed to be played on the NIGHTMARE difficulty.

To me, Vermintide is an unforgettable flurry of intense action, great music, epic moments, interesting backstory and fantastic co-op experience which I'll always cherish.

I've met and made some of my best Steam friends through the gameplay whom I'll trust to guard my back in ANY other co-op game. THAT is how dependent this game is on sticking to each other and working together, which is like probably the 2nd commandment after "right click". I even bought my very first gaming headset for Vermintide just so I could use the mike to better communicate in-game.

Unlike other co-op games, there is completely no room for the elements of self-survival, highest kill-count competition (and the accompanying "money" rewards per "round"), showboating, camping, griefing or other nonsense. Please don't go looking for that kind of experience in this game. Vermintide co-op is all about working together as a team to ensure everyone stays alive to complete the mission.

Maybe you are so used to camping safely in a corner and "stealing" zombie kills from your team mates with your grenade launcher to get highest kill count. Maybe your modus operandi is modeled after some badass "lone-wolf" elite-special-forces-ghost-sniper-warrior capable of taking out half the enemy army himself with little support from anyone. In which case then I challenge you to consider buying this to treat yourself to a real paradigm shift.

The biggest negative is that the vast majority of the early playerbase have probably exhausted the content / gameplay and are feeling "burned out". Therefore in Non-NA regions, there is probably a great shortage of available players.

Overall, Vermintide is well worth the money spent on both the base game and its DLC(s). I mean come on, for that price - what were you expecting? Most AAA games costing thrice the price are exhausted in 30+ hours of gameplay with little multiplayer to offer. Solve the player base issue by buying Vermintide with 3 or more of your closest friends!

Plays more like an interactive graphic novel than a game, replete with an engaging storyline and beautiful music.

We just can't wait for episodes 2 and 3...