Recent reviews by berade

Highly underrated, lesser-known party game. Been a hit with the family over the holidays!

Rushdown Revolt is one of the more innovate platform fighters in recent memory. The genre arguably hasn't had this much of a shake up since Playstation All-Stars and its (somewhat ill-conceived) KO system. Rushdown differs in that its changes feels more at home with platform fighting tropes. Knockback scales with health, but at set intervals rather than granularly, which means combos are a bit more labable here. The 'spark' canceling system meanwhile greatly expands combo potential, to a much higher ceiling than it's been in other platform fighters. Think of it as what Marvel vs Capcom is to Street Fighter and you get the idea. That won't vibe with everyone (as some of the negative reviews express), but I think if you're fan of one, you really should give the other a shot. Updates also come quickly. It's patched almost every other day it seems, and they've taken community feedback on their Discord for the past year to shape the direction. I do have a few minor gripes: mainly I don't think the blocking system is nearly as good of fit as other changes. And I've got a few gripes with how my main (Afi & Galu) plays relative to the past. Since the devs are very iterative in their process, there's plenty of potential I see to sort the kinks out. In short: It's absolutely worth a shot. See if you like it, help shape it with feedback if you see potential as well.

Icons: Legacy Edition is a solid 8-character platform fighter for <$5. It wears its Smash Bros inspiration on its sleeve, sometimes to a fault, but still feels like well-rounded take on the genre in a small package. There are a few unique ideas are mixed in, like aimable ricochet shots (Raymer), a teleporting duo character (Afi & Galu), and a shield burst mechanic that reflects projectiles. With this release in particular, there's enough to distinguish it.

As others have mentioned, the netcode in this game is fantastic. It's the first rollback-based system in a platform fighter: like GGPO but custom tailored for this game's needs in particular. It's been further improved since Early Access, with 6-players and spectators now supported online. My matches so far have gone without a hitch, with only the *slightest* bit of input lag noticeable. And unlike previous builds, local play further cuts back the input lag. (Thanks!)

Character models are still the weakest part of the package, particularly Kidd. How much that spoils the game for you depends on personal taste. At least there are a lot of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and customization options that help mitigate the issue.

A quick note about Early Access reviews: Icons was previously F2P with a legitimately terrible monetization model. It also put its worst foot forward with its initial character unveilings and starter-roster, focusing primarily on its most derivative characters. There was speculation that two former developers had been involved in ending work on a free mod (of a different game). As such, Icons became the target of review bombing at its debut. Some recommended it with caveats, some were genuinely disappointed, others came to it specifically with an axe to grind or to dogpile.

That's all in the past now. Icons' assets and codebase was bought by a new developer, Vortex Games, founded by a boardmember who felt there was untapped potential to do something more unique with it. So Legacy Edition is a preservation of what the original team envisioned sans the F2P noise. The proceeds from Legacy Edition go towards development of that new project / continuation, Vortex Rising.

Fantastic short story-driven adventure game, good enough for me to stomach the fuzzy looking RPG Maker pixel art.