Recent reviews by IlluminatiΔSweatin

Put some hours into it hoping to find some satisfying tactical combat and storytelling in a generic dark fantasy setting. I regret to inform you that the game actually contains slow, clunky tactical combat and minimal storytelling. The pace of progression is too slow to feel like you're accomplishing much. At least it's cheap. Pretty sure it came in a bundle.

A short, tight package of chunky gib, secret door, key collecting boomer shooter satisfaction with a cool synth soundtrack and good "bad" vibes.

Tl;dr: It's a simplistic action game that epitomizes the 360-era, but it's a fun and very nice-looking game that does some unique things relative to the games to which it's commonly compared. The gamefeel is also unique due to the way it simulates the movement of a hulking Space Marine.

My knowledge of 40k and its lore is baseline, but with the sequel out, I decided I wanted to go back and play through Space Marine since I passed it up back in 2010 despite interest.

The shooting gives you a lot of leeway on accuracy because this isn't a strict shooter like Gears of War, to which it's frequently compared. It's more like a character-action game like Devil May Cry with the gunplay dial turned up a bit. And instead of a nimble character like Dante, Bayonetta et al, Titus is a hulking behemoth in power armor and it absolutely feels like it to move him around the battlefield.

Another way it differs from Gears is its encouragement of Doom 2016-style push-forward combat, including glory kills on stunned enemies to get your health back.

Hacking and slashing through enemies is probably a bit more viable on lower difficulties, but on the hardest, you'll find you spend a lot of time picking off enemies from a distance so they can't actually get close enough for your Chainsword. When it does happen though, it can go from a satisfying popcorn-enemy stomping spree to a mildly more complex rhythm of slashes, dodges and combos.

There are some buggy animations and ugly textures in this mildly remastered edition, but overall, the game is a looker. Some of the broader vistas overlooking the iconic 40k megastructures provide a serious sense of scale and magnitude.

Short action-platformer/shmup hybrid in which you play as a cat with a bazooka and take down "not" Jeff Bezos while anime girls cheer you on. Played it on a whim after getting it in a bundle with something I actually wanted. Plays quite well and has that cheap, early-2000s doujin charm with sprites that don't look like they belong together. Kooky fun.

A chomp-sized sharktroidvania with some nice pixel art characters and a very cool looking voxellated/low poly 3D bit. Worth grabbing at a discount for a lazy couple of hours' worth of adventure. The main downside is how hard and grindy it would be to get all of the achievements.

Note before review: Achievements are broken and the developer has abandoned the game by all indication, but:

A surprisingly good 3D action-platformer. Think low-budget, film noir Ratchet and Clank. It's a bite-sized two hour experience with decently challenging platforming and combat, as well as a very thoroughly-applied and satisfying aesthetic. I think a follow-up using the same, but improved, mechanics and ideas would be a treat.

I didn't quite Perfect Game/Platinum it, but Sea of Stars is the type of complete package that begs to be experienced down to the most minute detail. Sometimes I felt the pixel art was almost TOO good, causing me to get (visually) lost in the environments, eager to not miss a single detail of the art. The workmanship on display is immense and that's not to mention the exceptional music.

The gameplay takes primary inspiration from three games: Chrono Trigger (most obvious in its presentation and base-level battle mechanics), Mario RPG (timed button-presses are an integral part of the combat) and Golden Sun (especially in its dungeon navigation/puzzle solving/obscured and hidden treasure chests etc.). All classic games that I personally love and Sea of Stars lives up to its inspirations.

I played the Messenger in preparation for this game's release and the connections to Sabotage's previous game through locations, characters and especially music were extensive enough that I would highly recommend playing through it before jumping into Sea of Stars, although it's likely you could equally enjoy the connections if played in the opposite order.

I don't play many JRPGs anymore primarily due to the time investment, but I'm glad I broke my hiatus to play Sea of Stars.

Very cool, bite-sized, roguelike strategy game in which you planet hop from one zany encounter to another, eventually ending up in ship-to-ship combat in full 3D space.

Combat pauses for you to give your ships orders for the next 30 seconds worth of fighting, then you watch it play out in real-time before it pauses for the next set of orders. When the battle is over, there's the option to watch it play out beginning to end without pause, which can be extremely satisfying after a particularly impressive or grueling victory.

It's fairly difficult until you learn how to use terrain and manipulate the enemies, but having beaten it once on the normal mode (which lasts a certain number of turns before your character dies of terminal illness), I'm excited to try out the longer "Hardcore" mode.

As someone who loves apples, I would compare this game favorably to apples in the way that it is crunchy, juicy and satisfying. I could eat a whole bushel of this game.

(It's a bite-sized Zelda-like with impeccable game feel. It could have been just a little bit harder, but at the very least the boss provided a good challenge. Can't wait to see what comes from a follow-up.)

+ Runs perfectly on Steam Deck

So far I've played through Escape from Terror City to completion once, and I definitely plan to go back and bang my head against the hard mode.
It's an over-the shoulder, semi on-rails shooter in the style of Cabal and Wild Guns with multiple paths through each level and secret shortcuts. Normal difficulty is moderate, but not too bad, especially if you've played a lot of bullet hell shooters.
The art style is right up my alley, with pixel art textures on low-poly models (think early-mid 90s Sega) and the dialogue evokes poor translations of the past but happens to be in perfect, enjoyable English.
There was one bug I encountered a few times in which barricades went up before you fully entered the next area, blocking you from progression, but checkpoints are very forgiving, so it was never too much trouble.
But otherwise, if you're looking at this game and have some inkling that you might like it, you probably will. Big recommend from me.