Recent reviews by Graeldon

I normally play Steam games in alphabetical order, but I made an exception for this one. You can watch my review here: https://youtu.be/UwnO4iOLWCM

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Sorry We're Closed pays homage to the OG fixed camera angle survival horror games like classic Resident Evil and Silent Hill, layers in some modern sensibilities, a post-neon puink aesthetic, angels, demons, messy relationships, and a healthy serving of gore. The plot aims to explore the concept of love, and the power of redemption, while the gameplay encourages exploration and arcade-style shooting thanks to clever use of the ability to peer through the veil between worlds.
To top it all off, they've added multiple endings that change depending on which characters you choose to side with. PS: Never side with Darrel. Whenever possible, punch him.
Amazing game that deserves more coverage - can't wait to see what the devs do next!

I'm playing Steam games in alphabetical order... but not this time. You can watch my review here: https://youtu.be/Ep4LCt4EheE

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Everything is less of a game and more of an art piece or an audio-visual treat that will make you question your own existence in the best possible way. Start as one thing, then become bigger or smaller things as you explore all of the ways things are interconnected, from the real to the abstract. Your journey is accompanied by pieces of a lecture by philosopher Alan Watts, exploring the concept of what it means to be, as well as incredible ambient music.
There's not much to be had in the way of gameplay, but if you're looking for a game to relax with or to get lost in, it's hard to go wrong. Sometimes it's good to step back from the challenges life throws at you, or the ones that you throw at yourself, to just slow down and be present, and make sure you're comfortable with just being you.

I'm playing Steam games in alphabetical order, and you can watch my review here: https://youtu.be/axXnIS7hgAg

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This is one of the jankiest unreal engine asset-flips I've had the displeasure of playing. But it does have a neat idea at its core. In short, this is a third-person team-deathmatch shooter, where the first team to 100 kills wins. Every shot builds your energy, which is used to heal, so keep shooting to stay alive. Every 30 seconds, a new modifier is applied, which can change the game in wild, but usually unfun, ways.
Each round starts with a terrible cutscene, there's no pause button, no settings, poorly translated languages, games can be impossible to win due to NPC's spawning outside of the map, and there's a good chance the game will crash and relaunch in Russian. You can upgrade your health, damage, and weapons in between rounds. Upgrading weapons uses your currency but doesn't change the stats on the guns.
There's also no end, as beating the last level just loops back to the start.
100Wars in 100% Not Worth Your Time.

Fun puzzle game with some interesting mechanics and ideas, but a little slow paced due to the cutscenes between levels. New abilities are introduced at a steady pace and layed in clever and thoughtful ways - the dev clearly has a knack for puzzle design.
Definitely worth a look if you're a fan of spacial puzzles, and especially if you can pick it up on sale.

You can watch some gameplay here (Around the 41 minute mark) https://www.youtube.com/live/lB4GkhMiAIE

I'm playing Steam games in alphabetical order, and you can watch my review here: https://youtu.be/NDX_Q_FSeH4

Prefer to read? 100th Bug Brigade is a short (1 hour) Fire Emblem style tactical RPG created by a group of 8 students that goes way harder than it has any right to thanks to the passion of the devs. The art is lovely, the setting is imaginative, the music is on point, and the gameplay mechanics are clever, if unbalanced. The biggest drawbacks are that the game is very short (only a handful of missions) and there are some bugs relating to movement and infinite AP generation.
Don't go in expecting a AAA experience, but a neat way to see the talents of a group of students on full display.
Student projects are never perfect, and while this is no exception, it managed to leave me craving a full game, so I wish these devs nothing but the best with their future endeavors.

I'm playing Steam games in Alphabetical order, and you can watch my review here: https://youtu.be/e3w_b2AqKRY

100ft Robot Golf is part comedy, part golf game, and part 90's anime. Sadly, none of these parts are done particularly well, and they don't work together either. The anime cutscenes are lovingly drawn and detailed, but the purposefully bad voice acting wears thin quickly. The actual golfing has been redisigned to be more fast paced, with everyone taking turns at the same time, but there's limited interactions between players, other than just getting in the way. There's destructible environments, but for little reason other than to just clear a path every now and then. The golf mechanics are pretty standard for a golf game, and don't lean into the mech aspects other than a handful of different minigames that determine accuracy.
There's some good ideas here, but everything feels either disjointed, disconnected, or has unfulfilled potential.
The premise alone should've made this a slam-dunk win, but instead it's mediocre. Worth a play for a few rounds of couch co-op, but there's no replay value to keep you coming back for more.
Oh, and the McElroy brothers are the commentators. So if you're a fan of them, you'll overlook the gameplay for the humour.

I'm playing Steam games in alphabetical order, and you can watch my review here: https://youtu.be/yrkyUmCIzuU

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100animalease is a quirky JRPG filled with charm and whimsy, and more than a few oddities. It's rough around the edges, but also clearly a passion project for the dev, and there's something so intriguing about playing through a game that's intended to be experimental. As far as RPG's go, this one focuses mostly on light puzzle solving, with two instances of combat presented as minigames. It's about exploration and the characters you meet, rather than a world-ending scenario to prevent. Each animal has a unique personality, and joins your massive conga-line of animals that is needed to solve puzzles and progress to new areas.
It's also a fairly short game at 3-4 hours long. This game certainly isn't for everyone, but if you enjoy the weirder, slightly janky side of solo-dev RPG's, this will likely draw you in.

I'm giving this a negtatove rating for now, but I hope to change it to a positive in the future as I think there's a lot of potential here. Unfortunately in it's current version the tutorial does not prepare the player well enough for the full game. The mix of 3D and 2D environments is neat and the character designs are fantastic, and I overall enjoy the premise of the game. However, outside of the turotial it feels like you're simply doomed to fail because the game is obtuse with explanations and has an imbalance between achieving the overarching goals and simply staying alive.
If they can do more to make it feel accessible early on, I'll be excited to dive in and try again. When deaths feel undeserved or they feel like they were unavoidable, it sadly kills all motivation to try again.

Immaculate vibes and atmosphere, combat is tight, taking cues from Bloodborne by encouraging aggression. The post apocolyptic world is very intriguing, and the first impressions from the game are super solid.

Super cozy and relaxed game, loved the art style and presentation, and there seems to be a decent level of depth and complexity to the frog collecting. It's a bit expensive for what appears to be on offer, but if you love this genre, you'll love this game.