Recent reviews by raifield

Pretty much a contest between your left mouse-button and your left hand as to which will break first.

I can't believe the production values and plot to this game was available for free. Simply an incredible, well-written game with no H-scenes, but plenty of feels. Highly recommend!

There isn't a game on Steam that's going to make you feel like more of a badass than this one. Buy it immediately and exclaim in dull surprise at how awesome it is.

I'm four years older than the characters in this game, I graduated college in 2008, not high school, but once again Kyle Seeley manages to nail the atmosphere, experience, and emotions of being a teenager online and dealing with relationships in a world that was becoming increasingly isolated and digital.

You will find yourself nervous when talking with girls. You'll realize you're smiling as you chat back and forth with your girlfriend. And you'll feel the growing dread of anticipation once you realize...well, you'll get to that part too.

I made the mistake of purchasing this game alongside Doki Doki Literature Club Plus, so some plot twists in Emily Is Away <3 had me anticipating rather grim outcomes, but overall this is a wholesome game that, as an adult, you realize has a happy ending despite what happens.

Emily may be away, but Mat is forever.

Very fun real-time tile-based strategy game. The concept is simple: vikings of various types will sail up to the shores of your island and attempt to burn all the buildings down. You have three types of soldiers, each of which is a hard counter against some Vikings but are weak against others. Positioning is key in Bad North and using the island's terrain against the enemy is vital.

It plays somewhat similar to FTL in that you need to select levels with various rewards as islands behind you are consumed, but there's no randomness here. It took me about four hours to beat Bad North on the easiest difficulty level and it was an enjoyable experience throughout.

One thing I would've liked to have seen are a few large-scale maps that would allow more than four Commanders at a time. The battles are fun, but each one feels like a skirmish. A few large ones would've been nice.

There's nothing new here. We're introduced to all the characters (except for one) at the start of the game. All the tropes are reporting for duty:

* The Corporal who is a Father to His Men (nobly sacrificed, of course)
* Sergeant Hard-Ass (tragic backstory, crappy leader, and an alcoholic, check. Can highlight enemies)
* Your Wise-cracking Jewish best friend (who is captured, naturally. Also dispenses limitless ammunition for every weapon in the game)
* The New Yawker (walking grenade dispensary, no character development)
* The Nerd (carries a camera around with him and wears glasses. Walking mortar dispensary, no character development)
* And You, on which everything hinges. Oh, you also have a tragic backstory.

The flow of the game is predictable: start by storming Normandy beach, fight through some villages, a city or two. We've been here and done all this before. The on-rails shooting/driving bits are unpleasant, the cars and trucks handle like they're hovering over the ground and you'll wind up clipping harmlessly through most of the scenery anyway.

The one tank portion we get is inside a city, making it a semi on-rails shooter with the second-worst controls I've ever fought with. It's boring and frustrating.

The one plane portion: we're in a P-47 Thunderbolt escorting hundreds of bombers. We get jumped by Germans. The plane's controls are even worse than the tank's, but all you really need to do is keep turning in a circle, "lock-on" to a German fighter, then right-click to zoom in and blast it. Done.

Despite the player's character calling for air support we don't get to drop the bombs our plane visibly has. Mercifully we never get inside a plane again.

A lot of the game's pace is set by the player's division racing across the Rhine before the Germans can destroy all the bridges. The Russians, the other reason Americans were racing for Berlin, are never mentioned.

The only highlight is Howard, a black engineer who joins somewhat late in the campaign. What little we get of him makes me want to play the game that features his war service instead.

Graphically everything is great. The game looks and runs beautifully at 1080p 144hz. Unfortunately the gameplay is boring whack-a-mole and the writing consists of trope after trope.

If you can get this for free, play the single-player campaign, it may mindlessly entertain you for an afternoon. Otherwise skip it, you aren't missing anything.

I initially reviewed Civilization VI at release and gave it an entirely negative review. I complained about how closely the civilizations start next to each other, how wars are hopeless slogs of attrition, and that I regretted purchasing the game.

I stand by that, but that was two expansions ago. Civilization VI with Gathering Storm is a much more satisfying game and while civilizations still start pretty close to one another I've accepted that as a method to force interactions early and often. The "feature" of global warming is interesting, but not a huge variable in late-game play. Natural disasters, even catastrophic ones, rarely set you back.

Summary: Civilization VI with Gathering Storm and Rise & Fall is a good game. Give it a try if you abandoned it at launch.