Recent reviews by Monstah

This game is a love letter to old-school space traders, with a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of content, and completely free. It has been continually developed since launch (albeit a little slowly - again, FREE). It has a strong vibrant community. If you don't believe it, well, just try it. Did I mention it was free?

It's hard to give this a thumbs down, since it's a genuinely good classic game, but if you're going through all the VM hassle to run this old binary properly, you might as well download it from other sources and save your money...

Stuck blindfolded running arbitrarily towards or away from voices left and right (no difference), like I was stuck in a loop on a dinner with a foreign warrior, or blundering through a dungeon, or fighting a totally random duel...

When the left/right swipe corresponds to left/right on the screen, the control is inverted. Except, the result is so random, sometimes I think it's implemented the other way?

I wish there was a "Neutral" review, but I'll tend more to not recommending it than yes.

It does have its pros: I like the design, the basic premise is good, manipulating objects feels nice. On the other hand, the puzzles are really simple and easy, sometimes made difficult only by clunky controls. They also *feel* like puzzles, rather than alien machinery. And the different locked boxes they come in are just ridiculous.

Overall, while kinda pretty and interesting, I'd pass. Or maybe get it when really cheap (like I probably did).

So glad to invite Dr. Blackwood to my humble house, unfortunately the food wasn't to her taste.

A nice slow game of discovery and crafting. Not for everyone.

Now, I know this game is like nearly 30 years old but, seriously, was this ever good? If I'm not mistaken, in the same year it came out I was playing Half-Life. And Duke Nukem 3d the year before. And Descent. And Terminal Velocity the year prior. Hell, even Goldeneye looked better than this (and the gameplay was amazing). I'm giving it shot because it has so many good reviews and recommendations by people I know of, but so far it's not looking good.

I had almost 500 hours of single-player Don't Starve, when I first heard of Don't Starve Together (which had been out for awhile already), and now I just crossed 1k hours of DST. I absolutely love this game, the art style, and all the constant updates (still going strong 6+ years after release) which are always good and both add content, and polish what's already there. Easily my Labor of Love nomination for 2022 Steam Awards.

I really want to like this game; I like the presentation, I like games with difficult moral choices and consequences, and I like a good challenging game that punishes your bad decisions. But, like many reviewers here, I don't think the developers of this game understand what makes a difficult game tick. The answer is *not* having no control of the situation, having no information, not having access to obvious options (like, you know, TYING your hostages or shooting their KNEES when they try to run rather than their heads, shooting them as soon as they run at you rather than wait for them to get to you, or having your guard or hacker actually do something on their own rather than having to command their every move, the list can go on and on - and this is just the first scene).

I've installed and given it a try three times already. Right now I'm giving it a go at the easiest mode available, just to see if I can get through this opening act and see what the game is actually about, but so far the only wrong decision the game seems to be punishing me for is having bought it. I'm leaving it running so I can get the cards, and then I'll never look at it again.

Wish I liked it, but it's a hard pass.

edit - oh, look, there's an even easier mode available. Will I demote myself this low? Yes, let's see this.

IN GOD'S NAME, WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DID I JUST PLAY??????

The rythm of the game is kinda slow sometimes, too much backtracking, some dialogues are too long and don't add much. But the story is compelling, the art is freaky as hell, the subject matter is dark and twisted and horrible (in a good way). It's like a Lewis Carroll version of Silent Hill, but point and click.

And you really, really want to reunite with Mr. Midnight. I love you, too, Mr. Midnight!