Recent reviews by DarkmanSec

Fantastic story, ran fine on the Steam Deck despite being listed as unsupported. Fair warning, it ends on a massive cliffhanger :(

I know what it looks like, but it isn't one of the thousands of gooner games. Wicked Seed is a bit rough around the edges, but it's made by a solo dev so that's excusable. This is a decent Parasite Eve - like title, with some quality of life updates to the systems that we had back in the day. The retry battle option is a great touch. Some sections did start to get a bit long, but overall I had a blast with this. Took me about 12 hours to wrap up my initial run, for $20, that's more than enough time to keep me happy. The recent addition of a randomized mode should help extend that for those looking to replay a few times.

If you're remotely interested and loved Parasite Eve, at least give the demo a shot. This certainly isn't AAA, but it doesn't deserve to go unappreciated and under the radar either.

Dropped in chapter 3, absolutely hate hide-and-seek elements - the more I fail the more frustrated and impatient I get, causing more and more failures. Gave it a good 10-15 tries, and just can’t get through it. The setting and graphics are nice, and the game is interesting, but this section ruined it for me.

Neat premise, but needs some more time in the oven, and doesn't appear to have gotten any traction or updates. This could be pretty fun, but the driving is a bit wonky still and frankly, the early game grind is rough. There's little meta progression (tons of options, but very slow gains) to make each run feel a little better each time, which ruins these types of games. If it get updated more, maybe it'll be worth it, but at the moment, I'd avoid it.

Difficult, but amazing. I struggled even on easy mode with assist options, but still had a blast with this. Happy to see achievements aren't locked behind difficulty options.

Nearly done, but I can strongly recommend this one. Few games really make you feel like you are progressing and getting stronger like this. Not even souls-likes have the same sort of feel to the strength and knowledge the player and Henry develop over the course of the story. It took a few tries before this stuck though, that first act is tough, Henry is pretty pathetic from the get-go and it takes quite a bit of time to get the hang of everything, especially combat.

There's 2 chunks of the game that just drag though, the Cloister and right before the end. Outside of these the game has been addicting, I played primarily on my Ally X and performance was fine. The Steam Deck ran into a struggle in the Cloister though.

Updated: Mouse & Keyboard update is great. Remote Play together is an option if doing Couch Co-Op mode + Phones, so Discord / Teams isn't needed anymore. Unfortunately, 2 M&K players can't host for a Mobile App player, so all players need to agree on an input mode.

The mobile app gimmick had to have hurt this, the game should be far more popular than it is. That said, I was very skeptical about mobile app controls after being burned on PS4 titles tthat had similar features until the apps stopped getting updates and the games became unplayable. That said, this plays fantastic and reminds me of a less hardcore Gloomhaven mixed with Mechs vs Minions. The game is a blast to play with friends and the mobile controls work quite well. Really excited to see the M&K update launch for additional control options. This was on my radar for a while, glad they announced the upcoming update, it finally pushed me into trying the trial out and that made it an instabuy for me.

Maaan, to call this story amazing still feels like an understatement. Pushing through episodes 1-5 in the first 24 hours of owning it and working through episode 6 now - I’m hooked. If you liked the TellTale games and disliked bumping around in the exploration parts, this is for you. Know what you’re getting into though, it’s more or less a tv show with some minor interactive elements, especially if you turn off QTEs. I’ve not replayed anything yet, but if it’s anything like the TellTale titles, that breaks the illusion that choice matters - even so, the animations and voice acting is great, and the story hooks you early. Absolutely worth a playthrough if you’re into stories told through interactive media or need a break from sheer gameplay hooks.

Neat idea, fun gameplay loop... Cloud saves added. Feels a bit like Alien Swarm, but adds roguelite mechanics. Performance is much better now on Steam Deck and Ally X. Controller inputs in menu and shops needs a bit more refinement.

Dead Cells is tough, but has wonderful accessibility options to tune the game to your time, skill, and capabilities. It's a ton of fun, and scratches that "one more run" itch beautifully. Some of the maps can be a bit long, and the early game is rough, but overall an easy recommend. Plays really well on Steam Deck and Ally X as well, which is a big bonus.