Recent reviews by Moth

Absolutely adore the artistic style they went with, as well as the tailor-made cutscenes that take their cues from the original ones. Having recently played through the second game in the series again, I am getting the same vibes and atmosphere which I have come to love from LBA.
I do have a few gripes with missing audio bytes, like picking up coins and hearts. These are little finesses that in my opinion fully realised the original games. In addition, with the swap from tank controls to a modern WASD setup, Twinsen's animations don't feel quite as smooth as in the original.
With that being said, if the rest of the game holds up as well as this demo, I am going to have an absolute blast showing this off to my dearest friends. And finally, I can only imagine what a little time and experience can mean for LBA2!

A very thrilling game to play with friends and strangers!

Sheer pleasure.

A game that lends a lot of its strength from the concept that creature collection games like Pokémon and Digimon use.
The objective is the same: [edit: Collect some of them; there is a maximum of 60 Solari per warden.] You start out with one of three Solari (grass, fire, water), and progress through classic quests while constructing your team of 6 whilst battling Lunari. After every battle (excluding Warden battles and several quests) you cure the evil Lunari to friendly Solari, and have the opportunity to capture these freshly cured Solari for your own. Solari are classified with stars ranging from 1 to 5, higher stars granting more experience after every battle, together with sporting increased stats. For every Solari you have the tools to customise three out of four skills. Furthermore you can boost certain stats with Essences you find whilst battling Lunari, leveling your Solari. There is a tool that allows you to extract skills from other Solari, allowing you to build a strong and unique composition.
Furthermore, every Solari has their own evolution phases (Tier 1, 2, 3, from what I've seen), boosting their stats and skills. However, you are not forced into this evolution (be it unwise not to), as it first requires certain dusts found in so called dungeons. These dungeons consist of several floors that feature special Solari that aren't found in the standard battle areas. A gold fee has to be paid in order to get access to a dungeon, but the payoff at the end is more than worth it, not to mention the interesting Solari you can acquire.
The game also offers Player versus Player, with a pre-drafted team (giving you 10 or so Solari whom you can build your team with) or by using your own team.

There is a certain vibe around the reviews for this game, calling it a grindfest or a mobile game. I partially agree with both.
Games like these that have you battling monsters over and over can turn into grinds, but it is naive to say thís game is based on grind, while pokémon is not. Both games build on the concept of leveling creatures and building a stronger team, but that grind is overcome by finding the creatures you like, seeing them evolve, and seeing them succeed in battle.

If you ever played an online game on your mobile, you might know about the 'energy' feature that a lot of games use to refrain people from farming or playing too much. But they also give you the option to reset this energy, thus giving paying players an advantage over players that don't. There was a similar feature in this game regulating the amount of times you could enter a dungeon, but this was removed with the Early Access patch, which I am grateful for.
Yet the game still allows you to buy bundles of creatures which is taking away from the collect-them-all vibe if you can buy half.
Another downside is the interface that is clearly made for swiping, which you notice most when you capture a new Solari (you have to swipe down, which must feel great on a phone, but feels clumsy when you do it with your mouse).
One final argument I'd like to make is that several quests that have me capture certain Solari and successively force me to use/evolve them, take away from the fact that I'm trying to create my own team, with the Solari that I want to use.

It is disappointing that developers who try a new genre get sucked in by the micropayments, and fail to see that these can really break a game if they are not balanced properly. However, The developers are very straightforward with their community and definitely use feedback to improve their game. Keep in mind that the game is in Early Access and things are subject to change. You might be surprised by how well the combat works, keeping you more on your toes with a timed-strategy feel to it.

So try not to take my negatives with too much grump, they are mainly focused on secondary aspects of the game. The primary mechanics, which are the combat and the customisation of Solari, are well fleshed out, allowing for many hours of fun battling and tinkering.

Lord of the Rings Online is a rather timeless traditional MMORPG. You've got quests, exploration, dungeons, and a rather intruiging storyline closely linked to the original story of the books/movies. If you enjoyed these, you'll get attached to this game very quickly, if you're not interested in story, the core mechanics of the game are still very solid.

Like with every free to play game, the developers/publishers have to get their money from somewhere, and LotRO does this with so called Turbine Points. Now, I played this game before and after the 'free to play' system got pushed in, and I feel only a slight difference: you do need to spend these points once and again to unlock areas to quest and level in.

What people don't tell you, is that these points are generously given to you through an achievement system, so called Deeds. They award you for exploring the world, culling certain types of mobs throughout the maps you're questing in, completing dungeons, and so on.

One thing even less people found out or know about, is that you can repeat these deeds with every new character you create. There is no limit whatsoever. And I think this is one thing that makes the game so successful and stand out from other F2P games of its kind. The in-game shop system actually works. So don't feel restricted by the in-game shop, as the game rewards you for trying out different classes (of which it has plenty), and exploring the game to its fullest.

This game is full of exciting features.

Though multiplayer is still flawed (getting network timeouts and not being able to reconnect/continue the session), along with a few interface titbits that would make the game more practical, it's a blast. It would be a great boon to be able to see the resources of your teammates. Furthermore being able to trade not just resources, but also equipment (without having to sell them to shops and rebuying them for higher prices) would add to the ongoing fluidity of the game.

The amount of genres (roguelike, tower defence, management) combined make for a wonderfully fresh experience.

A great game with a lot of potential. Feels a lot like DayZ, though with its own setting. Gathering is fun, though it can become a bit of a grind later on (especially when you have large projects in the works). Still, with more features added, this game shall amount to a lot of fun.

One of the downsides is the progress in updates. Yes, the updates are once a week, but I feel like the developer doesn't understand that adding more content is actually more useful to creating a proper game, than re-texturing trees/air/water etc. They did address this issue a few weeks back, promising a more content-focused mindset, but after the sky/water update, it feels like they aren't holding up to their promise. Especially after their recent announcement for a 'New UI', all good and well, but at this point content is more interesting than how 'shiny' everything looks.

Then again, they are also working on farming as of time of writing, so we'll see what will happen in the future.

Conclusively, if you like a first-person, open world, rough(!) survival game, where building and exploring play big roles, then this game will probably be right up your alley.

If you like fast-paced permadeath games, then you should definitely give this a shot.

Lovely pixel art, great gameplay. It feels rewarding to gather up great gear, not only because you actually feel stronger, but because you will start to play more careful.

Definitely something that you can sink a lot of spare time in!

Gargle, yum, argh.

Still in beta, but Starbound's tons of fun. There is so much to do, so much to see and the game isn't even finished yet.
The random aspect was a little non-random at the start. Things felt the same, even though they looked slightly different, but this was quickly fixed and I bet that is just the start!

So, if you don't mind replaying a few bits and pieces here and there, because it's still beta, go for it.

Frustrating, but oh so good. I say good, but I mean incredible.

WARNING:
The frustrating part doesn't just come from the game itself, which is insanely difficult, but mostly the GFWL addition and servers, which are a complete mess.
It is really difficult to connect to friends, though there are several patches (DSfix, DSCfix) that make the game and multiplayer aspect ten times more fun.
So, if you're willing to spend an hour beforehand to configure your game, you're set to have hundreds of hours of fun here, because this game has one of the best atmospheres and gameplay I have seen in a long, long time.