Recent reviews by PyrosNine

This room escape game adds a clever twist: while solving puzzles and exploring your surroundings, you also have to talk down your captor—and sometimes even enlist their help to escape. Unlike the demo, where nearly everything leaned on AI, the full release uses AI only for dialogue. That means clean visuals, interesting character designs, and cozy environments.

It’s still in early access, so expect a few bugs and rough edges. Voice-to-text is clunky (and bafflingly still requires pressing Enter), but overall the game shows ambition. Beyond simply escaping, there are multiple objectives, genuine replayability, and an actual plot tying things together with more depth than you’d expect.

The AI integration is a mixed bag. On one hand, it prevents the game from devolving into the demo’s “talk to Catgirl about anime for half an hour, then ask to leave” simplicity. There’s more gameplay, more puzzles, and more structure. On the other, the chatbot often can’t provide new or useful information, especially for trickier puzzles. It’s also far too easy to get characters to like you—idle chatter alone routinely netted me the “best” ending on my first try, which clashes with the progression system that expects players to unlock multiple endings, including bad ones. As it stands, getting to the next story beat sometimes means deliberately tanking your own success, which feels awkward and forced.

The “quests” could use more variety. Instead of simply manipulating character affection or replaying scenarios, objectives like cook a meal for Catgirl, drink one of every potion, or offer five different items to the hologram would add depth. Some alternate endings (“escape but sad”) at least offer tougher challenges than the standard “best” ending, which helps balance things.

The standout section so far is the space scenario, which recalls other “alone on a space station with an AI” games. Here, the chatbot contributes more meaningfully: providing lore, explaining concepts, and becoming essential to the plot. Paired with stronger puzzles, it feels like it could sustain a game on its own. The problem is replayability—once you know the setup, the AI’s limitations show, especially when the most “AI-like” AI can’t actually guide you in-world. Immersion breaks quickly.

Across scenarios, it’s clear the developer is growing. Each one is bigger, more ambitious, and better constructed, steadily evolving from a meme-y proof of concept into something genuinely engaging.

The central issue, though, is the gap between what the AI seems to offer and what it actually delivers. A lot of interactions boil down to scripted responses you could just as easily handle with if/then logic, and the illusion of lifelike conversation often collapses into repetitive pantomime. Occasionally the AI smooths over frustrations—like when I couldn’t find a potion ingredient and the Witch just gave me one—but these moments are rare.

The dating sim aspects also fall flat compared to even modest visual novels. Relationships progress too quickly, payoff is shallow, and the loop resets with every scenario, leaving no sense of permanence. It’s hard to feel invested when simply flirting a bit unlocks someone’s entire character arc.

Replayability ends up feeling more like FACADE: amusing experiments with what you can say, but without real consequences. There are some easter eggs, randomized elements, and cosmetic unlocks, but they don’t meaningfully shake up the experience. And since you can essentially handwave items into existence through dialogue (“I give you X item”), progression feels flimsy.

That said, the game succeeds as an exploration of how large language models can fit into gameplay. Used not as a narrative engine, but as a companion, assistant, or knowledge gate, this system shows promise. Imagine a detective noir where the AI plays your spunky assistant, or a survival game where you rely on it for medicine, reminders, or guidance. The tech’s best role may not be as the star, but as the support that makes traditional mechanics richer.

I recommend it now as I see it can get better with each update, and there is actual depth of writing and creation behind the LLM facade- unique maps, mechanics, worldbuilding, and drawn art, turning it away from AI cash grab into an attempt at a more immersive experience layered on top of the standard escape room experience. And no microtransactions, some modding support, I'm interested in seeing where this game goes.

Amazing game! Story is tight, and while it has horror elements, the game is more of a quirky puzzler and more on the humorous side of surreal. I'd even compare it to a JRPG in terms of pacing. But there's nothing like perfectly setting up a combo and chain reaction that wipes the entire screen of enemies and takes out the boss. And there are so many unique encounters that mix things up or force you to rethink combat, like one where drawing cards is the wrong thing to do. Or the "guest" bosses.

The game does do some horror at least in making you feel anxious about your cards, but just like real life, you sometimes can't rely upon the same old tricks time and time again and have to try something new- and the game gives you so many new tools to mess around with. The curses on cards that happen when you win are there to improve them, or to suggest you try something new. Fortunately, after enough battles, they'll become uncursed. Similarly, the "nightmare" level is a misnomer- at higher levels of nightmare, you'll gain so many mooncoins from victory that the amount you lose is negligble, and if you think you're going to lose, running away wont' lose you mooncoins or whathaveyou. So by the end of things, you'll be rolling in mooncoins, and can buy all the cards you want.

I think there's a great bit of replayability too, as I went with cards and face parts playing it safe, but I could see dozens of other strategies that would be viable and fun to try out, and the New Game Plus lets you have all the cards and unlocks from the beginning. Difficulty is also on a slider, as certain combinations of face parts give you so little health so I wonder how some boss fights would go.

The aesthetic is the whole reason I bought this game on top of the tight mechanics- it is dreamlike, yet minimialistic, a mix of mediums- the phoned in and basic of simply using a edited photo layered on top of gorgeous hand drawn backgrounds and trippy CGI enemies. It feels like a fever dream, because it IS. I also like how elements repeat, because it drives in the things that really matter to the protagonist- everything else is a lie born of dream logic or up for interpretation as it's all just a dream. But just because it's a dream, doesn't mean its' not real or meaningful in the moment to the protagonist.

I recommend doing the Red and Green endings first (and don't worry about the inclination stuff) as they add more context to the Blue ending

All in all, an amazing experience to enjoy on a cold, stormy night (with headphones on and the lights off).

My cousin had a flamethrower, and I made a sniper's head explode across the map with mind bullets, then crushed a small horde of not-zombies while screaming that I was a GOD. 10/10 would Tide the Dark again.

The actual combat is great- it's L4D with little of the jank, enemies are easy to stagger, blocking is highly effective, and the toughness system means that if you and your team are all standing side by side, swinging blades wildly you'll take on entire armies with no health loss. With ammo almost always being a scarcity, this really forces the player to get in close and messy most of the time, and save their ammo for distant threats or special enemies. That said, the Flamer's large ammo pool and effectiveness at clearing hordes makes this the best flamethrower game since Killing Floor. Woohoo!

The classes play similarly enough, aside from the big dudes, but they all start playing differently as you level up - and loadouts can dramatically change the way a given class plays as well. My only early gripe is that Veterans often end up looking like the enemy when your in the thick of it.

The difficulty hits a lovely curve. Having played Destiny and The Division, where "harder" difficulty just means enemies are tankier sponges, that feeling isn't really there- bosses and certain special enemies are tougher, but still go down quick with concentrated fire at the right spots. Instead, the game gets harder by swarming you- being mobbed by zeds up close, set on fire by an enemy flamer, blown up by a living bomb, all while being sniped at with lasguns. And some of this will happen while you're fighting an abomination. The key is to stay close, keep tabs of your party members, and move in step. Seeing a party member start to go down, just running up to them and backing them up is just as good as healing them. On levels and gauntlets where healing is scarce, careful grouping can mitigate almost all damage. It's just that one guy who rushes the objective, and is immediately punished by the Emperor for his hubris by being pounced by a poxhound.

The "witches" of this game are truly unsettling- and you will always see a dumb new player see something werid, shoot at it, and then get dragged off by a horrifying Possessed Psyker. Good times!

There is some bad tho- the load times are a bit rough for story events, and the game's not the most stable- you will spontaneously DC or crash mid mission. Fortunately, you can usually just rejoin the last mission, but it's still a known problem.

All in all, a lovely time in really well designed set dressings in a non bog-standard universe, with colorful and likeable characters (or love to hate, HADRON). This game has like, 12x the characterization of Back4Blood.

A great upgrade, a decent campaign, endless possibilities! SDK updates can't come fast enough!

The sheer amount of improvements over Boneworks is amazing, and the fact that there are already attempts to port Boneworks into Bonelabs shows great promise! Levels load faster, areas look better, climbing mechanics are much smoother, and unarmed combat is less nerfed. The addition of a shotgun (Heavy ammo) feels good for the series, and the Avatar system really lets you change up your approach to levels.

Playing the campaign first is best, because the music is amazing, the level design and puzzles are more streamlined, but there's always a better route and so many hidden goodies to find. Fun fact: find the character dice in the lab before you get to On DA Moon, and then use it to change back into your NPC body. Instantly move faster. Then give yourself a lot of ammo, get the assault rifle with the most ammo per clip, and then use it as an ersatz machine gun jetpack by firing in the direction opposite of where you want to go.

The story is kind of a lesser version of Boneworks, with the twist that perhaps the loop is being weaponized, and makes mods and avatars exist within "canon", but it has some really good set pieces that look really good and are designed to be replayable for higher scores or for missed items. The mine cart ride bugged out on me the first time I played...but I couldn't complain because it was a highlight. After all, it apparently was what everyone wished for? ;)

Mods so far have been amazing. Entire maps from other games recreated, playing as a giant robot, trying to play through a custom level as a tiny catgirl. It's like someone gave VR chat more responsive gameplay.

The thing I hope for the most is enhanced SDK- I want to see custom enemies (which the game is sorely lacking), the ability to run cutscenes, and basically let players build their own custom campaigns with custom weapons and enemies. If someone doesn't think Bonelabs has a long enough campaign, let them try and do better!

Motion sickness really wasn't a thing for me, though I have a week on stormy seas on a tiny sailboat to thank for that- it's much prettier and smoother on the PC, but getting flipped over on the gokart was enough to get me a bit nauseous. Maybe buy some dramamine or get some ginger candy before playing? And play in small doses until your tolerance gets better, aided along by ginger, or ginger tea!

If anyone needs me, I'm going to be rocking through San Andreas as a Catgirl.

I deflected bullets at assassins so I could wall jump and stab a skinny guy with crowbar before dodging under a shotgun blast and grabbing a molotov so I could explode poorly placed barrels and clear out the room and get into a prime position to take on the next group of mobs who no doubt would be alerted by the explosion.

And then I remembered I could slow down time too! Man, that would have made that a lot easier....

Where's the DLC, it's been like, a year?

Amazing game that combines the "stay out of the dark" of Lit with FPS platform puzzles of Portal, with homages in every direction. The only thing it lacked was a "bounce light off mirrors" Zelda-ish puzzle.

The plot is funny, dark, and unveils itself slowly with minimal exposition- each character is well rounded and quirky, despite only two characters having speaking lines and another being a cat. Even the nameless, faceless, voiceless protagonist has some secrets to hide if you're paying attention.

I feel the game captures the idea of "dangerous new technology" incredibly well, especially since we are so close to the mind and perspective of the mad scientist behind it- the technology has amazing potential, it has some neat tricks and Virgil, our partner as we delve into the depths of Lightmatter, brings up all the possibilities inherent in the technology. At the same time, it also causes shadows to eat people, and his obvious egomaniac tendencies make you think maybe it's not exactly as "green" an energy as he keeps insisting. It makes me think of Steamboy the animated movie, where one character holds up this revolutionary new steam technology as being able to revolutionize the world and make everything better, and then less than 15 minutes later is casually using it as a weapon of mass destruction.

My one regret was not being able to slug Virgil in the face after all was said and done, especially considering he manages to get the "last world" no matter what.

It's a decent, if "excuse plot" game with cool mechanics and excellent multiplayer. In fact, the entire game is built entirely for multiplayer, with even the main storyline being a connection of multiplayer-ish levels against AI bots interspersed with fighting Akrid and boss fights.

Gameplay is a bit clunky- the over the shoulder view doesn't always have your character aiming towards your reticle, and soemtimes performign actions will skew the camera - throwing a grenade for example will adjust your view- and also tweak where you're throwing your grenade, making proper aim take practice. The grappling hook, while useful as always, is a bit short, I'd say even shorter than the first game, and timing it's aim is quite the pain the ass- you get a few seconds of movement before the "claw" hits an object, and god help you if anything hits your or happens to you in that time.

The thing you will curse 90% of the time is that you will be attempting to platform or make some precise jumps or move towards an edge to hookshot to a wall, and if you just ever so slightly fall off the platform, your character will make a "safety catch" where they stop whatever they're doing and hookshot back on the ledge you came from. This overrides all other actions, including hookshotting, regardless of whether or not there's safe ground below you. So say, you want to hop down a hole? Gotta have some distance, and JUMP down that hole, because ifyou try to just run off, you "catch" yourself. This action? It is very, very slow, and time consuming,and the only way out of it is to jump or drop, and the jump is more vertical and useless for clearing gaps, forcing you to hop back to the ledge you fell from, and try again. This makes the time trial training levels a sore pain because you'll find yourself running off a ledge just barely, and forced to waste 5 seconds pulling yourself back up, you'll make a jump and slide off the platform you land on, losing another 5 seconds, you'll hookshot a wall but inadvertently step one foot off the platform while doing so and thus lose another 5 seconds plus the time it takes to properly align yourself. In combat, this means thatyou're also completely helpless for 5 seconds because oops! Fell off a short ledge, better catch myself and let everyone shoot me dead.

Add onto this "stunlock", where being shot makes your character stop all other actions for a second- you cannot fire, you cannot run, dodge or hookshot. This makes any open firefight annoying, as you have a good deal of health but will be John Marston'd to death without even being able to dodge roll out of it. Platforming while enemies are nearby is impossible for this very reason, and the harder time trials are all about enemies with aimbot perfect accuracy pinging you with pistols. Naturally, at a few points in the campaign you'll also be asked to platform or navigate a large battlefield quickly while being shot at, making this quite frustrating. Certain inputs also edge out other ones, meaning timing your inputs in battle is important, or finding ways to do two things at once for maximum efficiency. For example, you can only move slowly while reloading, and cannot jump or run, and for a second after running, you can't jump or reload. However by jumping, then reloading, you'll move fairly quickly and perform a shorter reload animation.

Other than that, the gunplay feels natural, the "floaty" jump and hookshot let you pull off mean headshots from midair, with unparalleled freedom of movement while fighting.

Multiplayer is great, but finding people to play with is a bit hard, as GFWL is still on this game, and thus getting everything working takes possibly a degree in computer science, so you'll not see too many people playing this online. The game's also not interested in things like 'safe spawning' - enemies will spawn on top of you, you'll spawn in the same area as other players, and while you get some mercy invincibility until you fire your gun, expect to spawn, open fire on an enemy, have another enemy spawn immediately behind you and kill you.

Unlocks for weapons, skills, and character customizations are all random- you have a lottery adn all the item boxes you find just go into money for this lottery. Most of the time you'll just get nom de guerres- just names for multiplayer. Which are useless, because even if multplayer's scarce, a name isn't as important as getting a good gun- and in multiplayer your starting eqiupment is based on what you unlock! So expect to be curbstomped in even AI multiplayer battles, as they have a ton of equipment you haven't been rewarded with by random chance!

I recommend watching the lets play by "HiIamDan" and LithuanianDad on the LP Archive, as it gives a good look at the trials and travails of Lost Planet 2.

First workshop thing I found was a working Flutter from Megaman Legends, and my adventures began!

Short and Unsatisfying. The puzzles are fairly easy, or can be brute forced without much difficulty, and there are lot of loose ends with no real lead up or resolution, and the twist is unexpected but akin to finding out at the end of Myst that the main character was a Lizardman, out of nowhere and lacking any real connection to any of the previous elements.

I never actually knew or cared about why I was Leonard, why a game set in 1986, of all times, has some futuristic trappings, and while you get to see a glimpse behind the curtain of the room trap, it goes no further than that and you're railroaded all the way, barring some obscure hidden puzzle.

Puzzle solving at it's core is hunting for random stuff in the dark, and most of them are red herrings, so much so there's a cheevo for grabbing all the crap, which makes inventory management a little hard. I wish I wasn't being so dead honest about the nature of this game, it is nothing but finding junk in the dark, and finding ways to turn on the light so you can find said junk, and then using it to solve a puzzle.

I guess a good way to put how the ending makes me feel, is that I didn't really feel indoctrinated- Bioshock and White Night made you realize that you'd been playing to someone else's rules all along and hadn't noticed it, whereas this game's antagonists have a very low bar for conversion. I guess if you can solve random puzzles that have no interconnection or deeper meaning, you're okay enough for them, I guess?

Worst part is that if there's room for multiple endings, and I just got a bad one, two puzzles are so full of tedium, the lazy maze I could have coded in my sleep, and the one involving rotating 3D objects to form a 2D puzzle, which are slow, and imprecise, I'm not even interested in going back to the beginning to try something new, which I doubt exists, as the game is very linear. Even found a bug when I hit "continue" after beating the game that had me back in the locked room, with buggy access to my inventory, and forced to sit through the unskippable credits again.

Save up your money and maybe try something a bit more groundbreaking, like Layers of Fear or something.