Recent reviews by Metro

Janky and shallow RTS with a mild amount of charm. There are some RPG elements like picking level upgrades and loot with various stats but at its core the game consists of little more than throwing a pile of various units into another pile of various units with no micromanagement. The question is not so much is it worth the price (as it is bundle fodder) but rather is it worth your time to play it?

Geralt of Rivia dons a hoodie and does his best Adam Jensen impression in this low budget third-person stealth game. Given that it can be acquired for under a dollar the question is whether it serves as adequate bundle fodder. It does not.

DARK (all caps!) offers nothing in the way of mechanics that you won't find in more established modern stealth titles like Dishonored and the new Deus Ex series. Skills gained by experience offer (overpowered) powers that trivialize the game's only goal: killing endless rooms of guards without being detected. And even this limited gameplay is further constrained by shallow level design.

Mediocre on-rails cover shooter (bizarrely lacking a cover mechanic) with far too many scripted vignettes to be enjoyable. Tedious amount of explosions for explosions sake.

In a word: janky. Combat is awkward and unsatisfying. I gave up after puttering around in cities whose size served no purpose other than to give the appearance of content when maybe two or three locations are relevant -- and those locations are all 'instanced' and require loading screens. Didn't really get to the naval combat but there are better games out there for that. Not even worth the sixty cents you can get it for in an indie bundle.

Casual third-person stealth game with a 'rewind' mechanic that allows you to backtrack without reloading from a prior save point. While interesting, the game would have arguably worked better with traditional real-time movement. Level design is solid and the impressive visuals provide for an immersive setting. Like most modern stealth games, you can choose between lethal and non-lethal approaches. My biggest issue is that there are very few non-lethal options aside from manipulating objects to distract guards -- almost all of the gadgets in the game are designed to kill. The result is that a non-lethal approach, while more challenging, involves the tedious shifting of barrels and crates in level after level.

Simple yet well-executed rogue-lite that incorporates a variety of elements from the more popular games in the genre, predominantly Binding of Isaac. Survivors are controlled as a group and sent on missions to acquire weapons, passive perks, active abilities, and the food and scrap necessary to progress towards the game's win-state conditions. Fairly unforgiving on the higher levels of difficulty.

A turn based cousin to the Fate series with simple but well designed mechanics. Not as deep as Dungeons of Dredmor but a solid casual rogue-like. Quality bundle fodder.

Self-styled as a "roguelite," Darksburg is a generic isometric brawler more akin to a co-op MOBA. As you level up -- which is capped depending on the map you're on -- you unlock minor upgrades to your existing skills. The content is bland -- you mash your way through hordes of generic enemies and it feels like you're constantly replaying the Culling of Stratholme mission from Warcraft 3. Even if one were to look past those flaws, the major drawback is that the combat is clunky and uninteresting. Not even worth bundle fodder.

Extinction's biggest 'negative' is that the developers and/or publishers took a $20ish download title and sought to market it as a $60 AAA title. Because the game is widely available for as little as $1 these days, the shallow gameplay and procedurally generated levels can be forgiven. The narrative of fending off a never ending onslaught in an attempt to escape a doomed world helps disguise the mechanics of urgency in completing your missions before the 'fail' conditions trigger. The campaign mode is only about eight or so hours and consists of a handful of the same type of missions recycled several times. There's also 'Skirmish' and 'Extinction' modes that allow you to do one-of missions for score attack and experience points to level up various ability enhancements. Had this been properly marketed and sold as a $20 budget title, it would have been interesting to see what could be done in a sequel with more time and money dedicated to the franchise. As it stands now the game is quality bundle fodder and arguably worth the $4ish on Steam if you think you'd enjoy the gameplay.

RAD is the game most people thought Bastion would be: a beat-em-up rogue-lite with a good variety of power-ups and abilities. Keeping the same post-apocalyptic setting, it substitutes the 2-deep-4-u narrator with 80's arcade nostalgia sound effects and references. The average game takes about an hour or two to complete although, other than unlocking lore and various storyboard endings, the replay value will be limited unless you enjoy the core combat. Not worth full retail price but not bad on a sale or even better in a bundle.