Recent reviews by ZappRowsdower

Charming, fun, and addictive. Lovely gem of a game and definitely worth playing.

A nice little sandbox simulation where you can watch evolution happen in real time. To be perfectly clear, this is one of those games you can have running while you do something else and then pop back in to check how things shake out. You can create creatures of your own design, modify the environment, place plants and boost/cull/move existing creatures, but that's about it in terms of your direct involvement. I'm a big fan of A-life or artificial life games, and the morphologies spawned by the game are pretty entertaining, but I do not recommend this for someone looking for something more involved or active. I am personally very impressed by the simulation aspect: around 30 generations in, I was seeing stuff that was very fish-like and probably would do pretty well in the actual ocean.

I've experienced some slowdown on my beefy PC with large amounts of creatures, but nothing that's made the game unplayable, though I may be fortunate in that regard.

Things I'd Like to See
- Improved performance
- Generation "snapshots" so you can see a family tree of your critters to see how they've adapted over time (maybe even a small section where you can put notes of things you did around that time i.e. "added cave" or "created new predator species")
- Ability to click on plants/sessile creatures after placement to check basic stats, like how often they're eaten by foragers
- Increased relationships between creatures besides just predator/prey and indirect competition for food (mutualism/parasistism? I imagine this would be insanely complex to add however lol)
- Ability to share saved creature data with other players
- More explanation on whatever the hell I'm looking at when I look at creature brains
- CRABS

All in all, a very neat game that I am eager to see expand and improve.

If you liked Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines but wished it ran even more like ♥♥♥♥, had a perk system that varied between overpowered or completely useless, a garbage RNG looter-shooter aspect with a terrible crafting system, and your clan choice meant next to nothing, you will like Cyberpunk 2077.

If you wanted the game we all saw in the 2018 trailer, you will not find it here.

If you're on the fence, wait a year or two.

Shelter and Shelter 2 are interesting games, more "interactive art" than traditional video games. The artstyle, as you can see, is gorgeous, and the soundtrack is simple but top-notch. The gameplay is a little bare bones, but that's not necessarily a bad thing if you know what you're getting into.

In Shelter 2, you are a mother lynx. There's a brief tutorial where you learn how to move, run, and leap to high areas (all while pregnant!). You find your den, give birth, and now have four little cubs to take care of.

This is a rather open ended experience with a large, open map and no real "finish line" other than keeping your cubs (and yourself) alive via hunting and avoiding predators. Even with your "sense vision" (right mouse button) it can be difficult sometimes to find prey, and sickness and starvation can soon set in. Cubs sometimes stray too far behind. Wolves and foxes can easily take out one or more of your cubs if your attention wavers even just a little. Losing a cub despite your best efforts is a powerfully emotional thing; it took me by real surprise, how awful I felt when my little cub slowly wasted away and starved to death. It made me all the more determined to protect and nuture the rest.

The core experience is short; my cubs are in their "young adult" stage now, about an hour in, and I've hunted and been hunted by everything that isn't in the DLC, which I am planning on picking up during the current sale. I bought the game full price and don't regret it, however, but these sorts of games are personal favorites of mine. I haven't encountered any glitches myself yet, but I have heard they are present.

If you're a patient gamer that thrives on atmosphere, doesn't mind vague goals or directions, and appreciates a solid experience, then Shelter 2 is a wonderful game I highly recommend for you. The more action-orientated or those who want concrete directions and goals may want to turn their attention elsewhere.

Great and educational game! Very simple but very fun: it plays a lot more like a "hands-off" strategy game than something like Civilization. You have a number of points that can be spent on using your trusty "Owlbot" to interact directly with a biome of your choice (currently desert, grassland, or rainforest). Adding plants, animals, and detritivores all consume these points. Successfully maintaining your biome unlocks a second currency that allows you to purchase additional plants and creatures to increase your biodiversity (there are NO real money transactions). The goal is to introduce plants and animals that are all in balance and can eventually maintain your ecosystem without your involvement at all.


All in all, I highly recommend it if you're a bit of an amateur naturalist such as myself. The graphics are nothing spectacular but fun and functional, and I really enjoy the gameplay, though someone looking for a more action orientated experience will be quickly bored. The photo mode is also a nice addition.

TL;DR - For the patient crowd interested in biology and ecosystem studies.

Great local multiplayer fun, and an excellent way to start off a nerd party.

Great start! It had some rocky launch issues but honestly AAA MMOs have rocky launches so I'm not going to fault them there.

PROS:
- Gorgeous game
- DINOSAURS
- Cool crafting system that runs on gathering materials and assigning level up points called "Engrams" which permanently gives your character access to a receipe even if you die
- Good survival mechanics
- DINOSAURS
- Fun soundtrack

CONS:
- Desperately needs optimization (this is coming!) **UPDATE 6/5** Optimization patches keep coming hard and fast, like Brannigan's law.
- Some of the crafting engrams seem superfluous/artifically increasing the number of receipes (why can I build a wall but also need to spend precious engram points learn how to build a doorframe?)
- Weird shark ballerina behavior
- A quickie tutorial wouldn't hurt

tl;dir: Super awesome dinosaur survival game that's still very rough around the edges for now, but hey, it's Early Access!

Very short but very, very sweet. It's a basic survival/exploration game, similar to Minecraft, but in an underwater enviroment. There's a story mode where you need to collect 9 submarine pieces to escape, a survivor mode (story with permadeath and increased predator spawns), and a sandbox mode.

Unique but short game length hurts it, and there's no multiplayer. $10 would be a much fairer price for what it is and I would recommend it at that wholeheartedly - at $15, make sure this is something you'll love and not regret putting $15 down for maybe 4-5 hours.

If I knew how to code/design/model/etc, my dream game would be very close to Subnautica. Beautiful, grueling (if you want it to be), and great fun - and the thing's not even done yet!

Paid mods are gone! Become a smooth talking cat man who steals only cakes and punch a dragon in the throat!