Recent reviews by Vetch

So I agonized over whether to give this game a negative review, as I find it very interesting and unique, but also unbalanced, counter-intuitive, awkwardly difficult, and needlessly frustrating. Ultimately the only reason I went with a recommend is because i was able to get a Steam key for under ten dollars on another site and at that price i would wholeheartedly recommend it to others to experience.

I'll lead off with the good because like i say, this game IS very much worth trying. First off, it is VERY impressive for a single dev game. The systems and mechanisms in Serin Fate go out of their way to be unique, which can be both charming and irritating depending on your take but i personally found them to be a breath of fresh air in a somewhat stagnating genre filled with seemingly copy-pasted gameplay. There is also the scope of the game, SF attempts to wear many hats, and by and large does so smoothly. For example, having the monster raising aspect overlap with the farming/livestock aspect highlights both of my above points. Generally, nothing ever really feels shoe-horned in, at least not to me. There is always something to do (sometimes TOO many things) so you only ever feel stuck in a rut when your trapped by a progression grind mechanic (more on this later). Also, I personally LOVE the soundtrack. This game wears it's love for (the SNES classic) Earthbound on it's sleeve, and as an obsessive fan of that series I appreciate the homages.
I just want to be clear, and i can't state this strongly enough: when you have a clear goal in mind and are working to accomplish it, the game SINGS.

And now for the airing of grievances.
The game is willfully, infuriatingly, self indulgently obtuse.
I'd like to start off saying that I am no stranger to games where i needed a guide. I played minecraft since the eeeeeeearly alpha days where the wiki may have well been part of the game, and frankly do not like having my hand held, preferring to skip tutorials and learn on the fly. Ienjoy the challenge of discovery, it is entertaining to me as most games attempt to be at least somewhat intuitive. Things progress in a seemingly natural way, one leading to the next. Not so in Serin Fate. Despite having unique, possibly innovative mechanics and structure, SF chooses to give you next to no instruction on how to progress, and there is NO solid or consistent structure for progression. Sometimes you need to construct a new tier of workbench, sometimes you need to unlock a new spell, sometimes you need to go find and complete a random quest from a random villager. SOMETIMES (warning, FEELINGS incoming), you need to unlock the next level of a spell for mining ore, and then GRIIIIIND in order to unlock a PERK, a perk WELL up the perk tree, in order to ACTUALLY MINE the ore you unlocked the spell to mine hours ago. Nothing in the game informs you of this. There is nothing to infer it from. There is nothing that even HINTS at the fact you need a PERK to use a SPELL you already unlocked. A spell you unlocked VERY EARLY locked behind a perk you unlock MUCH LATER. You must "figure out" such illogical things in much the same way you might use a fish to unlock a door in an oldschool pixel hunt point and click (/feelings). The fact that the wiki is rather barebones and lacking in detail, leaving you to read through/watch walkthroughs (IE have your hand held, ironically) in order to find your next step, doesn't help. All of which throws a large splash of cold water on whatever enthusiasm the game had justifiably built up to that point.

I have a few other complaints, like the perk tree being awkwardly ordered, seemingly at random in places (in order to get to the aforementioned mining perk i had to go through multiple fishing skills i didn't want, and several other perks i would not have chosen if it weren't the only way to get to a progression necessary skill) but none come close to the ways in which this game will leave you scratching your head in frustration when a simple explanation, or even a quest showing the way could have easily dispelled the confusion. Another example, you will get absolutely wrecked by monsters when taking a path you are instructed to take and have little idea how to strengthen yourself outside of griiiiiiiinding, as armor, weapons and accessories have no explanation of what their stats or bonuses are until you craft them, nor are you told that bonuses are randomized so it's encouraged to craft the same piece multiple times (despite many pieces being very resource intensive early game so that is not really an option and you just have to cross your fingers and hope, or save scum). All in all it feels like artificial difficulty, and rather than being challenging it ends up being exhausting.

HOWEVER!
With ALLLL that being said, I honestly and sincerely see a LOT of promise here. There is obviously enough genuinely engaging, origional, and downright FUN gameplay to be had to keep me playing, despite the things causing me to gnash my teeth and tear my hair. At the very least it's inspired enough strong feelings in me to pen this small novella, which is the mark of a strong piece of work. I would very much like to see another entry from this developer, maaaaybe with another person involved or on the team to hopefully offer some perspective and keep the mysteries out of the *mechanics* and in the *story*. But either way i look forward to seeing what they come up with next!

Looks like like an asset flip, plays like a dream.
I've played a LOT of survivalcraft style games, and I've got to say that NOS is hands down one of my favorites. Getting this out of the way up front: It's a wonky lil game, though I personally find that the wonk typically adds to the the charm. There are few if any gamebreaking bugs at this stage and most of the oddness comes from unusual translation choices (Press F for CLOSURE), various odd animations and some, interesting physics (sideswipe your truck with a pushcart and it will flip over) but The dev is constantly updating and i can see a lot of these things being corrected soon (tho i hope the engrish sticks around).

Now for the good: Where to start... NOS just feels perfectly crafted to scratch that S.C. itch. Base building is well balanced and scales well, with expensive some new automation structures added recently to provide endgame goals. The combat is adjustable so you can find your comfort level, with an optional horde rush that offers tower defense style gameplay to basebuilding. The map is HUGE and surprisingly beautiful, encourages exploration very well, with various resources being more readily available in various sections so you end up building more bases. The survival aspect of the game is challenging without being exceedingly tedious; NOS lifts aspects from a few other games (such as moodles from Project Zomboid) to great effect. Even the typically tedious aspect of inventory management scales with your experience as you can find (and eventually craft) larger backpacks to fill your handcart or truck with, and by mid to late game you're driving around a mobile warehouse. There's also the all important Psychic Pack Carry "bug" which helps tremendously and has become a stable gameplay feature by this point lol.

All in all No One Survived is a sleeper hit, a charming game with hidden depth you can easily get lost in, and one I HIGHLY recommend and at sixteen dollars an absolute steal.

I've played this game for approximately twenty minutes and I already want to fight the developer.
I do admire the pure sadism of it tho.
5/5 thumbscrews.

I just wanted to take a minute to promote a great game I've been playing the last few days: Spiritfarer.
On it's surface it's another farm management game with a twist: you build your little ecosystem (farms/villager houses/production buildings, etc) on an upgradable ferryboat, stacked on top of each other shanty town style, constructing and rearranging them to your liking. The art is whimsical and smooth, animated in a cartoon style which is immediately endearing. The main premise and gameplay are both solid, you're the new ferryman for the dead (taking over for the retiring charon) and your goal is to search out spirits and eventually lead them to the afterlife, gathering resources to create houses and meals as well as running errands for them in order to keep their mood up as they work through any lingering attachments. And this is where the game truly shines. The characters are far too fleshed out, too tangible for spirits, more three dimensional than should be possible for a 2d animation. Their writing endears their stories and personalities to you almost effortlessly, walking a silken thread between upbeat and melancholy. By the time they're ready to move on you will find yourself genuinely attached to them, and sending them off is a truly emotional ordeal, a simple act but full of emotion (tissues highly recommended). But then the next day comes, you build a new barn, recruit a new follower, and continue sailing forward. It's rare that I've found a piece of media that addresses such a meditative topic so well, remaining lighthearted while losing none of the import of the subject. I honestly cant recommend it enough, I can guarantee you will be enrichedstacked on

Very Burroughs.

I wasn't expecting too much but I was pleasantly surprised.
Unalive is a simple, fun, and absolutely addictive roguelike.
Give it a shot!