Recent reviews by SlobodanM

Deadzone: Rogue is a highly enjoyable roguelite that delivered exactly what I needed. While I wouldn't rank it as the absolute best in the genre, it kept me thoroughly entertained and engaged until the very end.

The standout feature for me is definitely the movement. Your character is incredibly snappy - sprinting, jumping, and changing directions feels just right. The developers absolutely nailed the "weight" of the combat; there is a satisfying crunch to hitting and killing enemies, and the reload animations (especially that subtle screen shake) are easily on par with the modern Doom games. It genuinely gave me those Titanfall 2 vibes in terms of how fluid and responsive everything feels.

Surprisingly for a roguelite, the story is actually worth following. The mystery of the abandoned ship is intriguing and kept me pushing forward to see what happened. Even the "shock factor" moments hit the mark. While the protagonist is a bit generic with some average commentary, it didn't bother me - I didn't need him to be ultra-charismatic to enjoy the gameplay.

The progression system provides a great "power trip" from run to run, though I did unlock all the upgrades a bit too quickly. Once that happened, my main motivation was simply finishing the story and seeing the final boss or a potential secret ending. I really appreciated that I didn't feel forced to obsess over "meta" loadouts or perfect builds. The game was so pleasant to play that I just enjoyed the ride without over-analyzing stats. It offers a solid challenge as it is, but for those who want to push themselves, there are plenty of missions and higher difficulties available. Personally, as someone with "older" reflexes, Hard was more than enough.

On the technical side, the game is perfectly optimized for the Steam Deck. It runs flawlessly without a single stutter. However, a small heads-up: it is significantly more challenging to play this on a gamepad compared to a mouse and keyboard.

I got my fix of high-quality shooting in a roguelite setting and I'm very satisfied with the experience. It's clear the developers put a lot of love into the gunplay and optimization - it really paid off. Highly recommended.

I was pleasantly surprised by how good everything looks and how much detail is packed onto the screen. In certain moments, while moving with Goldman, there’s a full-on animation spectacle happening around you. You can tell the team really went all in on this part, and it shows.

Controls are tight and precise, and platforming feels solid and responsive. The demo is surprisingly long, it took me around three hours to finish. You can definitely finish it faster, but I had a few backtracking moments and didn’t rush it. I was honestly a bit disappointed when it ended, but at the same time, giving players a 2.5–3 hour demo deserves respect.

What really stood out to me is that almost every living element has subtle idle animations with slight edge movement. Because of that, the game doesn't feel flat. It actually reminded me a bit of Cuphead, but here the overall image feels richer and more layered.

It’s clear a lot of care and effort went into this. Really looking forward to the full release - supposedly it’s coming soon.

The developers of MIO: Memories in Orbit have shown clear potential - potential that could, in the future, lead them to creating a widely popular title everyone talks about. MIO is a fairly high step toward that goal. There is still a lot of work and time ahead of them to fully master the key elements that make a metroidvania truly great (not just solid, but genuinely excellent).

The French studio Douze Dixièmes started working on MIO with only six people, and by the end of development, the team had grown to around 20. It’s easy to see their inspirations: Hollow Knight, Hades, Tunic, Ori, Celeste, and Super Meat Boy. As someone who has played all of these games, I could clearly recognize those “borrowed” ideas - but they’re altered just enough that nothing feels like a direct copy. They leaned on strong role models and used them well, shaping a clear vision of how everything fits together.

Story

In the distant future, humanity is forced to search for a new planet to survive. To do so, they build a colossal ark - a massive spaceship carrying an entire civilization, supported by robots with divided responsibilities. AI systems handle complex auxiliary tasks, while humans still control the most critical functions. Biologically connected to spheres, humans oversee the Ark’s core systems: the Spine, Breath, Eye, Hand, and Heart.

For centuries, they drift through space in search of a new home - until something goes wrong. A conflict between the spheres escalates into war, and during this catastrophe, entire ecosystems within the Ark collapse and lose balance. This is where MIO enters the story - a small robot who doesn’t know why she is where she is. Like any metroidvania protagonist, by exploring the map piece by piece, MIO uncovers the truth behind what happened and ultimately decides the fate of both humanity and the Ark itself.

Visuals & atmosphere

The artwork is absolutely stunning and highly distinctive. I honestly can’t recall encountering a game with such a beautiful and striking visual style. The entire world is presented in watercolor-like visuals, in a 2.5D perspective with strong and obvious cel shading. Colors blend smoothly, backgrounds have real depth, and every ecosystem has its own clear visual identity.

Thanks to the visuals and artwork, I kept pushing forward even when the gameplay wasn’t always at its most enjoyable. The atmosphere is perfectly depressing - which I personally love. Everywhere you look, there’s hopelessness, loss of purpose, melancholy, and loneliness.

Gameplay & combat

Like any metroidvania, the game is full of boss fights, and while they are challenging, they are still enjoyable. The music during these fights is energetic, rhythmic, and never intrusive. Bosses clearly telegraph their attacks, but execute them quickly enough to demand a high level of concentration - especially since MIO only has a few health points.

MIO’s combat options are very limited: a simple three-hit combo, and every fight boils down to squeezing in a hit between dodges and jumps. Because of this lack of move variety, the gameplay often felt rigid, and that feeling stayed with me throughout the game.

Exploration

Metroidvanias demand a lot of movement, exploration, revisiting the same areas, and most importantly - fluid traversal. This is one aspect that really needed better execution here, especially in a game that otherwise has a smooth and pleasant basic movement feel.

If I’ve already passed through the same biome a hundred times, I don’t want to slowly admire it for the hundred and first time. I just want to reach that one hidden item as quickly as possible. And yes, I’ll say it again: the map is everything in a metroidvania. Near the end of the game, when I wanted to uncover as much lore as possible, I had to use an online map to find all the items. Some of them are hidden in such illogical ways that I never would have found them on my own.

Final thoughts

The story hooked me from the very first sentence, and along with the artwork, it pushed me to finish the game in about 19 hours. There is no power fantasy here - MIO never becomes overpowered - but I’m still glad I stayed until the end. The story is genuinely beautiful and deals with life dilemmas and existential questions. While thematically very different, parts of it vaguely reminded me of Expedition 33.

I recommend MIO: Memories in Orbit to fans of the metroidvania genre. It’s not for everyone, and for me, it’s still not better than Hollow Knight, Ori, or Prince of Persia - which remain my top three metroidvanias - but it’s a strong and promising step forward for the studio.

In the last seven days, I’ve been drinking a lot more tea than coffee.

Steam describes Wanderstop as a cozy, narrative-driven game about change and making tea. All I really knew was that the main character, Alta, is a warrior lost in a strange forest who somehow ends up running a teahouse.

This review contains light story context, but nothing that ruins key twists. I just needed to put into words the feeling this game left me with.

I started playing with a lot of skepticism. It looked like every “cozy gamer” title you’re supposed to play in a fluffy hoodie, with cat-ear headphones and a pink mechanical keyboard. Cozy music, cozy graphics, cozy visual novel-style dialogue, cozy gameplay… But something pulled me in, and before I realized, I got completely absorbed, just like Alta in that magical forest.

Alta is a perfectionist, a dedicated fighter, a competitor who has never lost a single battle… until she suddenly starts losing. Fight after fight. No matter how hard she trained, she couldn’t win anymore. In despair, she tries to run away from herself, collapses in a forest from exhaustion, and even loses her sword, the very extension of her arm, the weapon of the victories of her past.

She wakes up on a bench next to Boro, a gentle giant who carried both her and her too-heavy sword to a clearing, right in front of the Wanderstop teahouse. Alta hates losing, but hates the truth even more: she’s burned out. Boro suggests she put on an apron and simply make tea. Or not. Nothing is mandatory. No quests, no objectives, no rewards. Just rest.

From that moment, a simple but charming gameplay loop begins: strange visitors arrive at Wanderstop, each ordering even stranger teas. Alta reluctantly makes them at first, but each cup reveals a new fragment of their stories. An overly positive father who suddenly wants to be a knight, a demon hunter who isn’t sure how demon hunting actually works, lost corporate “suits” who just want coffee… You boil water, mix herbs and fruits, pour the tea, and serve it. If you match the requested taste, the story continues. If not, try again.

And if you don’t feel like making tea, you can plant colorful herbs around the teahouse, decorate vases, sweep leaves, trim thorny bushes, or feed the penguin-like birds wandering in your yard. Guests never rush. Your pace is yours alone.

As someone who obsessively clears every question mark in open-world games and completes every side quest before touching the main story, I didn’t realize how much I needed a game like this. At first it feels like the opposite of every progress-driven title, but as the narrative unfolds, everyone will find a part of themselves in Alta. Wanderstop becomes a kind of digital therapy session.

It teaches how nice it is to simply be present, to let go of the past, to stop overthinking the future and to sometimes just trust in yourself. How valuable it can be to do nothing and just be bored for a moment. From boredom and small tasks something beautiful often emerges and you meet people who briefly pass through your life, leave a mark, and move on. Only memories remain.

The game is cozy in every possible sense. The music is soothing, the broken Wanderstop radio sometimes catches a chill station before it fizzles out again... No one wants to fix it, because that imperfection fits perfectly. The colors are soft pastels and the whole world feels dreamlike.

I had no idea what to expect from gameplay or story, and I’m genuinely glad the game surprised me. Even after reading this, there’s still so much that can only be felt firsthand. Maybe I just played it at the perfect moment and got emotionally swept away and maybe at another time I’d call it repetitive.

In the last seven days, I’ve been drinking a lot more tea than coffee.

I love discovering indie games like this. I’m glad I did give it a try.

The game lasts exactly as long as it needs to. I spent around 17 hours on it, even though it can be finished faster. What slowed me down (in a good way) was how strongly the opening atmosphere pulled me in—the sense of the unknown, and fear of venturing too far too soon. I spent several in-game days fishing and selling basic catches just to slowly upgrade my boat so I’d feel brave enough to leave the starting area.

Once the world opens up, the real fun begins. The map isn’t as huge as it first appears, but each island cluster brings something new—different dangers, new fish species, and fresh mechanics that are introduced naturally as the story progresses.

At first, I thought Dredge would be another one of those cozy upgrade-loop games you can play while listening to a podcast. But the music and sound design are so good that I never felt the urge to turn them off or tune out. The soundtrack is calming, the ocean sounds—wind, rain, waves—are immersive, and even the fishing and dredging sound effects are satisfying. Fish aberration design is also top-notch.

I decided not to go for 100% completion since requirements are a bit much. Instead, I focused on what felt like a natural checklist to get the most out of the story and world. I did enough side content to fill in the lore, but skipped the grind.

Highly recommended if you enjoy atmospheric exploration, a touch of horror, and smart, satisfying gameplay progression.

Because of this game, The Last of Us Part II had to wait. Absolutely great RTT game, brings back childhood memories :)