Recent reviews by Soul Love Base

Its too early to say exactly what's good and what's great about this sequel. I know that visually it's super enhanced. I feel like this was exactly the right way to enhance the 1st game's visuals. That said, the gameplay, at least on this first playthrough, was particularly familiar. I'm not against that though. I think the game means to introduce you to the new stuff a little bit methodically. I already am noticing some differences though. Some familar mixed in with the new. It's pretty sweet tbh. Familiar enough to say, yeah this is StS, but different enough to consider that the experience is being improved upon. I just wish I didnt have to stop playing already. Need moar time!

I appreciate the developers giving us a chance to try this game in its entirety. Here's what I can tell you from my short time with the game.
1. It seems to have a focus on PVP
2. It has a decent tutorial that gets you up and running quickly
3. It feels pretty easy to learn and get into
4. The problems you'll have to solve while playing have mostly to do with determining what to build and when, whether you want to add another tower and which ones, or add to your economy. This balance between power and economy becomes the central problem you'll have to solve. There are tool tips that tell you how much power you should try to have at certain times in the game relieving some of the burden on the player.

For me as someone who prefers to play TD as a single player game, I found myself feeling like I didn't have enough choices to make the game interesting. I also wish there could have been a micromanagement mechanic like buying and selling towers at the right times to maximize revenue through interest or maybe even a guy I could control to fight enemies with. I noticed that at certain levels you do get spells, but i don't know how interesting that made the game since I didn't really make it that far before giving up on the game.

TLDR: I appreciate the chance to try, but it's not for me.

This is a pretty fun simulation game that requires some thought and strategy. That said, like many other simulation games, the trick is trying to figure out what's going on behind the scenes. While the game does provide some clues, fresh uninitiated players may find it difficult to figure out what they're doing wrong until they encounter some information on the internet about how to play correctly.

Some pet peeves of mine include not having a pause button to stop the game. This makes it feel like I'm losing time simply for clicking too slowly or failing to make up my mind as fast as I can. Then we have the review system, which granted kind of works, but honestly could give developers more slack on smaller projects. As a rule the only time I release a game is when it has more points put into its development. Otherwise the reviews score always turn out rather low.

If I had to say what I felt was missing in this game it would be polish. The game review screen for one could be a lot more rewarding and fun. Improved graphics and sound would push it up a few notches and might even make it more replayable.

That and a day/night cycle... our dudes gotta go home for the day. They don't eat live and breathe development, right?

Easily worth a purchase on discount. Have fun.

Fotonica is a very interesting take on the auto-platforming genre. You are set in motion forward in the first person perspective and utilizing a single button, determine your path towards the end, or not in endless mode. It feels very cyberpunk-y, like it could easily belong in one of those cyberpunk 2077 game cabinets as a minigame (too bad that didn't happen). And while I enjoyed my brief foray into the game, I didn't feel like there was enough there for me to want to keep playing. Maybe a more interesting progression system and unlockables could have, but then the game would have to go from being a short indy type game into something more commercial. I don't think that's what the devs wanted. I prefer the endless mode over the arcade mode, though the latter provided the most interesting visual audio experience. Give it a try if it looks interesting to you. You may even recoup most of the game's price by selling the steam trading cards you'll get as I have.

Dis game. DIS gaime! Two difficulties. Easy and .... TOO EASY. For real, bruh? You gaming us into playing hard mode!
Truth be told this game only has one difficulty. The too easy mode is exactly that... too easy. While the easy mode is exactly the opposite. Too hard...
There's a lot to love and like about this game. But in my opinion it has one fatal design flaw that makes hard to love. The late game is just too slow. There are a ton of interesting choices, to be sure. Some really fun min/maxin for strat heads like myself. But the feeling of the game is that it's really hard to justify booting up a new game knowing it could take upwards of three hours to finish a run... and still not beat it.

I don't know if the devs tested a faster paced version. Maybe they have and just couldn't figure out how to make it work, but as is the game forces the player to do a lot of clicking towards the ends of each level as you strategically move your toons from room to room and turn off power in said rooms in order to maximize your chances of survival (which rarely feels guaranteed thanks to what feels like a really hard to predict spawn timing).
Which brings me to a gripe. The game doesn't do a good job of telling the player what stuff does. I found myself relying on Chat GPT to help tell me what things do and how things work. And trust me, you'll probably learn things the hard way if you don't.
The worst thing to randomize is dust acquisition since the later levels can often become unplayable if you don't get enough of it quick. And it feels horrible to run into some really bad RNG on the final floor and lose an otherwise painstaking run because of it.
No sour beans from me though. I'm recommending this game because it is fun and creates a lot of fun yet difficult problems to solve. I just think it could be even better with a few adjustments.

Part of me wants to write something simple and brief. "Tell them of the beauty they will behold..." Yes, yes. It's a beautiful game. No pop in. The world maintains its illusion, mostly. The underground scenes in particular were stunning. The cave waterfalls... worth the price of admission alone. I felt like I was on the island.
And I also felt... which is good. I felt the despair, the resignation, the longing. A man left with no option but to write the final full stop to his life. And there's a beauty in that too, in the acceptance of the end as it draws near.
Part of me wants to also tell you that the voice overs felt too rehearsed, too out-of-body. It wasn't coming from my character. It was a voice from the past. I wasn't reliving a memory. I was the memory. I wondered at one point if this game was like found footage... only instead it was found writing. I still wonder that.
I wondered whether AI could be used in a game like this to create monologues for a character that changes based on my actions, based on what I'm looking at in the game. As I look at a boulder I hear my character ponder, "That's a big rock. I wonder if I could move it..." Then as I approach, "Naw. There's not a chance." Maybe one day we'll have games like that. Games made more human by artifice.
But until then, we have games that are human by human inspiration, blood and sweat. And I'm thankful for it too. Thank you Esther. You've been an inspiration.

Hello, you, wondering whether to purchase this game. I was in your shoes once. Honestly I was expecting this game to be one of those free games on the Epic store so I held back. But let me tell you, you shouldnt hold back. This is a really well made game. I really enjoy playing it. The only annoying thing is I keep accidentally uprooting my turrets and scarecrows. Everything else is pure farmers kiss. Enjoy.

#Update as of beating the game on year X (final year)
Yep, this game is definitely worth it. That said, now that I've beaten it on year X, it's time for me to move on to the many other games I am yet to play. Thanks devs at BBG for a fantastic ride! I should've bought the DLCs too! The only thing that I would have wanted added to this game would be couch co-op.

I can see why this game received really good reviews when it came out. This is one of those games that was ground breaking for the time it came out, but upon closer inspection, is lacking in many ways. Over the years, Quantic dream have done a lot to refine their formula and allowed their games to evolve into the amazing art form they are today. And it is nice to see the roots of where these games came from. But Heavy Rain is problematic for a few reasons I'll outline here:
1. It's paced quite slowly.
2. It's not tight enough.
3. The protagonist isn't developed in a way that makes me care about the story.

The game does a good job creating believable and detailed environments and some of the actions you can do in them (hello toilet, my old friend)... but these wonderful environments often feel wasted as what ends up taking place in many of them feels forgettable and frankly, sometimes boring. Splitting up a story to focus on many different characters sometimes works really well, but is also very risky as some characters may end up feeling less compelling than others and leaves little room to create meaningful bonds with the characters we do like.

I found myself not really wanting to see this one through to the end, and that's a shame. I've really enjoyed some of the newer games created by Quantic Dream, but I guess I came to this one too late, spoiled by the newer stuff...

So in my opinion, if you've enjoyed their newer games already like I have, this one might be hard to get into.

Hylics is a short, surreal RPG Maker game that stands out entirely because of its handcrafted artistry. The stop-motion clay, digitized textures, and lovingly strange animations create a world unlike anything I have ever seen in a game. It is not about story or characters, since the plot is deliberately nonsensical and there is little reason to get attached to the party, but the world itself is so carefully crafted that it pulls you in anyway.

The combat is simple, the systems are unusual, and the whole thing only takes a few hours to finish. As an artistic diversion it is worth the ride. Do not come expecting a compelling narrative; come expecting to explore a bizarre, lovingly realized dreamscape.

I think I gave this game a fair shot. It just doesn't reach its potential. It feels like a rough draft that could have gone through 3 or 4 revisions. Its premise just isn't compelling enough to make me want to get to know the world and its characters. I can't seem to be able to skip the dialogue, and it's just a chore to have to sit through it I feel like falling asleep after playing this game for just 30 minutes. I play games that require my attention. I enjoy them. But this one doesn't give me enough of a reason to. I feel bad giving this a thumbs down, like I just read my younger brother's short story and now I have to tell him truthfully that it isn't very good despite him being so very excited to share it with me. Sorry Elex, you aren't very good.