Recent reviews by Big The Challenge

This is a review for the DLC as well as the base game and the various free updates from over the years.

I spent a lot the start of my year getting sucked back into this game for the first time since launch. I put several times more hours than my original run, and even started with an attempted run on survival mode, which got to credits twice but hit permadeath at the start of the woolhaven DLC.

This game really does something to me. I love it a lot. It kind of reminded me of getting sucked into stardew, but unlike Stardew I didn't get burnt out through attempting to be hyperefficient.

Moreover, and this is going to sound crazy, I find myself comparing the experience of caring for my cult akin to the chao garden in Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. Small, functionally innocent creatures that I need to take care of that I could very easily mistreat, and in order to care for them properly, I need to regularly go out and play an action game.

This is especially the case with the Sins of The Flesh update, which adds mechanics around having your followers mate, which produces an egg that you have to have to spend time caring for, hatching into a baby, and then raising that baby to adulthood. The baby will take penalties if you neglect them for a day, such as by going on an overextended dungeon run. Between their high-pitched cooing and reading their innocent thoughts that go from absolute love to a strong sense of guilt and sadness, I was deeply fixated with caring for them.

As for Woolhaven, I found it a strong addition to them game. I enjoyed exploring the new hub, caring for the animals (which in many ways felt like a more toned-down and guilt-free micro-scaled version of the usual mechanics), and getting to meet a cast of new characters, several ghosts of the lambs that were killed off in the game's opening premise.
That being said, at times I couldn't really get a vibe on the player character. I get what's at stake, but they almost feel entirely divorced from a place that is supposed to be their home. Sadly, such is often the nature of the silent protagonist.
Definitely a highlight for me was The Executioner, who is guilt-ridden about killing the lambs in the name of the base game's villains, and runs from the player until they are finally cornered and forced to face their guilt head-on. The fight features lyrics in the game's fantastical non-language, emoting the guilt and sorrow she is ridden with.
Choosing to spare her is not the very end, however. She spends some time in Woolhaven, much to the chagrin of it's non-survivors, before you are once again given the choice to kill or indoctrinate them into your own cult. I found it a deeply compelling narrative arc for her. And of course I had to spare her and care for her. How could I not?

Overall, diving back into the Cult of The Lamb was a strong start for my year. There's so much more packed into the game since I first played it 4 years ago.

Captain Wayne is a game that wears it's influences on it's sleeve. Aesthetically, it draws heavily from the toonier end of action shonen and seinen, in particular One Piece and Lupin the 3rd. Mechanically, the game is retro shooter that runs on gzdoom and draws from titles such as Rise of The Triad and especially Duke Nukem.

Our hero, Captain Wayne, feels like a fusion between Duke Nukem and Daisuke Jigen, with a light sprinkling of a Jotaro Kujo. Given the marriage of western and eastern cartoon influence, it seems only fitting that his rival, Stan S. Press, evokes the uptight-yet-bumbling nature of Inspector Zenigata and his distant cultural descendant Inspector Gadget. The antagonist's look and feel like parodies of villains from grim yet comically violent works such as Fist of The North Star, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and Ricky-Oh: The Story of Ricky. Self-obsessed weirdos who are led by a more charismatic self-obsessed weirdo.

But more than all that, the game evokes someone who really likes those things and is trying to recreate them in their own even cartoonier spin on things. It reminds me of various webcomics and web animations by inspired amateurs who went on to go professional, such as Ian JQ.

This is to all say that it is very much concert with Wario Land inspired platformers such as Pizza Tower and Antonblast, but decided to take that energy and put it into the realm of the first person shooter.

As said before, the mechanics feel very much in line with titles like Rise of the Triad and Duke Nukem 3D, with the high-speed energy of titles such as Ultrakill. Captain Wayne's gameplay relies very heavily on the quick-melee attack, a kick evocative of Duke Nukem's "mighty boot". So much so that instead of resigning it to C or V, as if often the case, the quick-melee button is set to Q, firmly nestled within the other movement keys. By jumping and kicking, Captain Wayne goes into a jump kick that covers a significant amount of ground, as any enterprising player will soon find they need to keep up with the game. Additionally, this quick-melee function is fundamental to combat. Need to close ground? Jump kick+shotgun. Enemy next to a cliff? Kick him into a death plane. Enemy needs to take more damage while between shot? Kick him! Carrying something important or useful? Your hand might be full but your feet sure aren't!

There is a particular enemy type found throughout the game that is a boxer inspired by the Punch-Out titles. He blocks your shots and taunts you when your firearms seem fruitless. That is until he gets tripped up by the force of Captain Wayne's mighty boot. For me, he was a valuable lesson in the combat applications of the quick melee in ways other shooters almost make it feel tacked-on or secondary at best.

The weapons at your disposal also play around with the "arsenal" of FPS titles in fun ways. Captain Wayne's prosthetic left arm also functions as a gun. Several weapons operate by him slapping on an accessory and loading the forelimb with ammunition. The shotgun and the punch are available from the start (who needs a glock you've got bigger things to kill?) and his arsenal constantly expands into bigger, louder, and more absurd weaponry. Every time you get a new weapon you think "oh my god, it can't get crazier than this, can it?" as you unleash a whole new kind of destructive force onto your enemies. And you think that until you get the next new weapon.

Also of note is the health system. The classic FPS model is that you have "regular" health/armor pickup that cap at 100 and "overheal" pickups that can go over. Captain Wayne decides to split the difference: all items can overheal, but the overheal slowly drops over time. This emphasized a constant momentum pushing forward and keeping your eyes peeled for anything that can help, with rationing only really mattering once you've truly run out of things to kill.

Captain Wayne is truly an impressive retro shooter. It oozes with action and personality and excitement. Funny thing about all that is it's also a bit of a detriment. The game can be extremely overstimulating, and is best played in short sessions.

A short satisfying narrative game about perspective. I appreciated the 2 and a half hours I had with this experience of ecuadorianculture from the perspective of a child. I get a strong sense of the melancholy of childhood in a strange and difficult time.

Fun game! Overworld design was mechanically closer to Paradise Killer than I expected, just in a truck instead of on foot in first person. Characters were strong and interesting. I definitely recommend it if you enjoyed Paradise Killer, weird grimy japanese games, or RGG business side stories.

This is a really good Picross-style puzzle game! Good puzzles amplified by the presence of fun characters, funny writing, great pixel art, and an incredible soundtrack. This is the platonic ideal of a casual puzzle game.

You, a fool: Atlyss is an extremely horny furry game, but it's also really fun to play.
Me, enlightened: Atlyss is an extremely horny furry game, AND it's also really fun to play.

(Looking forward to updates!)

Never before have I seen a steam game so blatantly and unashamedly made by and for queer online furries. Truly a beautiful game.

Currently my indie GOTY for 2023. Incredibly strong title. Great gameplay, aesthetics and writing. Feels very Pratchett. I should try more of Suspicious Developments' titles.

I first saw this game when it was run at AGDQ 2023, and it stuck in my head ever since. Last night I decided to stream it with some friends in a discord VC and has an incredibly fun time.

Incredibly funny game whose gimmicks never overstay their welcome.

The marriage of party game and visual novel is quite enjoyable in this. For maximum entertainment with a small group, I suggest reading the dialogue/narration out loud and having all the players play their own character.