Recent reviews by DPadGamer

As a preview for the full game; this is pretty good! It has a nice artstyle, lovely music, some interesting mechanics. That said, it does have room for improvement, which is hopefully possible before the full release.

Some things that come to mind:

• Some way to place structures on a grid would be nice, or just some method of keeping things organized.
  
• Same with the menus; some more organization would be lovely. Also; I think the Tab menu(s) could really benefit from having some kinda background. Either transparent like the pause menu, or totally opaque, because when you have a bunch of structure icons in the background, all those icons in the menu, it gets pretty messy.
  
• The resource page desperately needs to be split into rows at minimum. It would also be nice to visualize current gathering rates (getting X wood per second) but I can imagine that'd be pretty complex to track with all the different types, variable availability of resources, etc.
  
• I'm not sure if its in the cards, but being able to build bridges and ramps would be amazing for organization, ease of traversal (though the current movement system is quite good) and further customization of the islands. If you want to keep the building space limited to the island surface, you could always prevent anything from being put on the bridges.
  
• The game currently has an issue where its possible to overlap(?) menus; or just see the wrong crafting window on the wrong thing. Like looking at a furnace making gold ingots (requiring gold ore + coal) then looking at a different furnace making iron ingots... but it shows the ingredients and output of the gold ingot furnace. Not game breaking, but a bit annoying.
  
• I noticed that the 'respawn' system / teleport system between islands can sometimes place the player in such a way that they'll drop directly into the water. You can move in the air or jump to saftey, but it'd be nice to see this ironed out.

That concludes things that are on my mind. Looking forward to the full game, all the new stuff that'll entail and hopefully any adjustments / improvements as well :)

((Full disclosure; I am friends with the developer of this game, so that will no doubt affect my review. Also, the vast majority of my playtime was not through steam.))

Still, I enjoy Zardy's Maze, and would definitely recommend it.

The game was definitely made with past survival horror games in mind like Baldi's Basics & Slenderman: The Eight Pages. I think this helps it.

Zardy's Maze, at least initially, is spooky, unsettling, and deadly. However, once the confused panic from your first few attempts begins to wane, you realize the game is relatively straightforward.

Go into maze, slash glowey vine flower things, don't die, reach blue goal, celebrate. However, theres many obstacles that you must work through / around.

Zardy is always slowly following you, dragging his tool behind him. He can be outpaced, but that means not being able to go back that way. You can face him down, and use the light to briefly banish him. Unfortunately, the light runs out of charge quickly, and recharging is slow & lengthy.

Navigating the maze with the light off to preserve charge is doable, but you're likely to get grabbed by the outstretched vines of the Pumpkin Crawlers. Once attached, they slow you down until smashed, which forces you to focus down.

That can be dangerous for many reasons, but most interestingly because the Cablecrow might take that opportunity to zip on by. He's always moving between the maze's many wooden posts, and does choreograph his zipping, so tracking his position is key.

Around each vine & the goal, a Brute hovers around, acting as a guard. It always moves clockwise around the clearing, so timing is needed to get in and out without a deadly bonk.

Throughout all this, Pumpkin Jacks are laughing & leaping all over the place. You can't banish them with the light, but you can hide from them within the Maize. However, doing so only works for so long, because staying within the corn slows you down, dims the screen, and eventually kills you.

Still, cutting through the Maze to reach a different section of path or clearing can be worth the risk.

Simple, right? Well, yeah. And no. And thats the beauty of survival horror games like this. What starts as a confusing, spooky experience evolves into a challenging yet doable experience which is kept fresh with procedurally generated maze.

There is also a challenge mode which lets you modify the # and difficulty of the baddies, as well as set a seed for the maze's generation (meaning you can optionally use the same layout repeatedly).

Those things allow for plenty of replayablity for a real neat game, all for the low, low price of free.

This game is extremely disappointing. I've been excited for so long, but "infinite procedurally generated universe" is a shallow pond, rather than a deep ocean.

Here are some issues I have with it, that really become apparent the more you play.

• There are only a few types of buildings which you will see on every planet, no matter what type solar system its in.
  
• There are three alien races, and interacting with them is extremely limited. You always have three options, each requiring a certain reputation with their race. The options are randomized, but after a few visits you've seen them all.
  
• The creatures are pretty much pointless. You can find different looking creatures, and feed them if you want. They will either attack or avoid you, thats it. The only real value a creature has is being logged for the credits.
  
• The flying controls are awful. You're not allowed to get too close to the ground, and often times it feels like control is being taken away from me. To do anything you have to fly in your ship, and flying is not fun at all. It feels like a chore.
  
  This game would have been worth it if I had got it on sale for $10. At full AAA $60, this game makes me feel like I've wasted both my time, and my money.