Recent reviews by Suule

FFS, TobyHack finish your damn game

Lemme tell you. This game is hard to categorize. Point and click? Immersive sim? RPG? It has elements of all three - point is the game has some really complex mechanics and multiple approaches to solving a problem. You want a challenge? This game might be for you.

Now for more detailed description: You're either a reporter thrown into the prison to silence you or an undercover cop searching for a lead for a person that disappeared. Either way - you're in a hostile environment where a slight mistake might not mean game over now, but it can prevent your escape later on... or worse. You need to plan, scout, make notes, learn mechanics. It's overall a really great experience - it threw me back to games like The Great Escape (Yes! The ZX Spectrum one and it's Amiga remake) where careful planning and cunning was the key. You can solve things by smooth talking, fighting or stealth. Without too much spoilage - it's a worthwhile experience. But here's the biggest problem - there's a high probability you will fail at least on your first playthrough. But that's because you need to learn stuff. And honestly - that's the gist of it. Don't get discouraged - when you fail, that's experience you can put towards your next playthrough. Do it a few times and suddenly the game turns into a clever puzzle with a little bit of RNG for good measure. Now to make sure you don't escape too fast you will have to experience the story segments for the good ending.

SPEAKING OF THE STORY... lemme put it this way - it's not an oscar winner but it is enjoyable. But the story feels a backdrop to all of the stories you can experience in prison. And I think that's where the game is the strongest - the characters. For a colorful cast of characters, most of them have their routines, personalities, likes and dislike and agency. There's a big web of connections that you can unfold and use to your advantage. And honestly that's what kept me coming back - that one conversation I can eavesdrop on or that one rapport moment I can experience to know people better.

But yeah overall I just love the game, its' good, really good. And now that Bob's story is released... I need to play it again to see the other side of the prison life.

Oh how mighty has fallen. I've enjoyed Void Bastards - to a degree. The game has become too repetitive on in the middle-final stretch but it still felt a good mixture of action and stealth albeit a bit badly executed at times. But the art and gunplay was good so I've enjoyed it.

Now comes Wild Bastards - forget what you know about Void Bastards - the characters are all set, not randomized. The 'levels' are even smaller than those in Void Bastards. And more importantly - the gameplay? Absolute dogshite. Forget hunting down components or resources while making a run for it. 90% of your time is gonna be spent planning where to move next on the map and hoping your enemy won't do something brash... and that's the problem. The systems don't work in unison. What worked relatively OKAY in Void, got replaced here by plentitude of systems that just don't work well together.

This is not helped by the fact that the little combat instances are not fun. Sometimes you can spawn in and immediately get gunned down by turrets. That's it. Or ganged on by a whole team of snipers. This isn't fun, this is tedious.

Normally I would say that "I didn't like it but maybe you'll like it". Here I'll say - "Avoid.":

When I've first play Kathy Rain: DC I was pretty much going into "I'm gonna hate this game and this protag, because she looks and sounds like a snarky angsty, teenager", 2 hours in I was cheering Kathy on and having a blast with the story. It wasn't the greatest game I've played but I was entertained. Good pixel art and music and some snappy writing with some added Lynchian moments made the game for me.

Now that I'm playing the sequel - it's an improvement. In art department, in sound, in sound track and in writing. The voice work is fantastic and the returning and new VAs are doing a great job. This is a mystery that will get you hooked up. The detective work you have to do in this game has little to do with moon logic, most of the time you have to crosslink facts and look up dates or find a good attack angle to get information. That's how a proper detective game should be.

Add to that the signature Kathy Rain (TM) Snark (c)(r) and you're gonna have a great time. I can't recommend the game enough but it's best if new players get the bundle with the first game and play the first game before immersing yourself in the sequel. It's a bargain for how much of a good time you'll have.

I hope Clifftop games will continue this series because it's a banger.

Honestly? Forget about the original. This is a great way to play this classic. Dark Forces used to put DOSBOX in the state of fritz, but this source port does an amazing job to retain the feel of the original game and be as close as possible to the real thing.

I drew gay porn in the town square multiple times and got praised for it.

And the fishing is relaxing.

In short: Dead game. What could have been a decent little fighting game was a victim of bad team management, horrible work ethics, questionable balance changes and on top of that - not even a publisher change could save them. Unfinished Story mode, broken characters, balance thrown out of the window.

The game at this state is abandoned played by a circle of 20-30 people. It's hard to even get into that circle given that the skill level is unreasonably high.

Right now the game sits abandoned while still being sold.

It's a monument to how not to make a game - even if you have a talented team, at the end of the day - bad management and bloat will kill the game.

Despite being still a long way from being finished, this little gem fills that hole of 'base builders' that no one filled for a while - running a magic academy. While the earlier Klei-published offering "Oxygen Not Included" proved to be a mess where the only way to 'win' was to exploit the game, here it relies more on careful planning and smarts.

The game have you running a magical academy, so I'm sure all of the Harry Potter fans will salivate at the thought of little Nigels, Roberts and Bruces running about around being a bunch of English kids in the most safe manner possible. But I say it runs deeper. You think the potion class where making face melting potions was a health hazard that Magical OSHA would most likely send their Auror Death Squads after? While most likely parents have sent the necessary consent paperwork needed (at at least I hope so). This still pales to what this game does.

In this game, students can have a school of hard knocks by being send (I'm sure this is as a way to repay at least part of their tuition as the Goblin gold prices have been plummeting since 2020s) on an expedition with one of ther teachers to learn that an important part of being a wizard is looking death in the eye! And sometimes even being this close to it! Facing the horrors from the underworld or the Fog is just a learning experience! Which I'm sure most of these students will value for the lifetime either in from of a graduation, PTSD or a nice engraved gravestone as their ghosts wallow the halls.

As for the basebuilding aspects - the most important notion is that the way the rooms are 'made' relies mostly on the furniture in them, as well as, the room's shape. Now we can get into countless 4X arguments of tall vs wide, but since magic is a science, certain rules have to be abided. Meals can only be eaten in lavish big halls with candelabras, hanging from hard to see ceilings' lighting the surroundings. Towers have to be constructed to host facilities for researching wind and lighting magic and so on. So instead of relying on very cramped and otherwise 'optimized' layouts, one have to instead play this more like a block puzzle trying to fit and furnish the rooms.

On top of that it seems that the game is trying to do its 'own thing' by having this little world with some world building hinted there and there. Different races, different quirks of the races, habits, diets, all makes for an interesting game where you may want to balance both your student body and your staff to overcome challenges better. Hell even the artstyle, which still falls under the typical 'Old English Gothic adapted into a school' architecture modern magicians seem to love (I'm more or a man who prefers French Gothic for my Wizard fortress, thank you very much), has its own twist to it, which is most welcomed.

The finished product is exemplary - when the Early Access game felt easy sometimes, this can be a very challenging game. The systems are complex and the management side is very solid. The combat received an update and got really difficult. I'd say - the devs delivered what they sought out to be. It's a great little gem and I can't recommend it enough

This game is abandoned and I implore everybody not to buy it. The dev just gave up on it and claims it's in a 'playable' state.

It's not.

I once wrote a review for this game, because I thought it had potential.

When they've announced 1.0 update, my opinion of the game changed drastically. Here's why: The game in its early stages was promises and while yes - it was pretty barebones and had some issues it had a lot of promise with the dev constantly updating it and providing a lot of updates.

Then things started slowing down - we stopped getting new features instead some manner of 'fixes' that never addressed a lot of core issues with the simulation. There were workarounds implemented and some issues were addressed but the game was just too unstable in the long run. The simulation would eventually break and it was just a question whether you'll hit that wall early or late.

But that wasn't the problem. The problem was the state of the 1.0 release - street vendors were still unimplemented, the video casettes did nothing. There were no new cases/jobs except spouse cheating and assassinations, which more often than not were borked. The game lagged to oblivion and didn't work half of the time. And then the roadmap hit - after 1.0 there was nothing but 'fixes' and eventual mod support. It was clear that the dev was cutting the losses and quitting working on the game full time.

And sadly that seemed to be the case - we didn't get any new things during that time. And the biggest bone we were tossed was an update that added smoking. Woo frigging hoo. Now the game has modding support, which was the last thing on the roadmap. Meaning the game is most likely dead.

I advise anyone against buying it for anything other than heavy discount (I'd pay for it $10 tops). And even then, it just might prove to be a frustrating experience.