Had Tons of Fun - Day 0
Wild Bastards is a roguelike FPS brought to you by the dudes that did Void Bastards and Card Hunter. Get a team of four outlaws (thirteen in the full game) back together in your time with the demo; Spider Rosa dual wielding pistols, Casino on shotgun, Smoky's ground burning fireballs, and the Judge with his trusty sniper. Cross the galaxy in a sentient star ship named The Drifter, gathering your teammates, mods to equip, cramm (money) to spend in shops, and ace cards to level up each character. From the Drifter, you can warp to the next system or move on to the next planet in-system – keep in mind, warping destroys gathered cramm / mods. Beaming down to a planet has you choosing a crew (usually a limit of 2 – 3 in demo) to loot the planet below. Once you have boots on the ground, gameplay switches to an overworld map, where you can see enemies / exits / events / rewards to help plan your route. Speed is the name of the game, as you are being chased by a gang you are feuding with, and will be in over your head if caught. The bottom of the screen will show you how many movement points you have remaining in your turn to explore nodes in the map. Your outlaws will ride in groups of two, so you can split up to grab more rewards / clear more nodes, and mix n match your bunch if they are on the same node. Outlaws have their own weapon, ultimate, plus upgrades (damage / drop chance) when levelling up. Any spots containing enemies can be moused over to see what units are present and in what number, giving you some wiggle room for planning. Items like emergency exit beacons, teleporters, aces, mind control machines, hired guns, and more can be found to give you an edge. Combat itself takes place in procedurally generated arenas, usually being short affairs. Outlaws can be swapped on the fly, any poison damage being paused while the character is benched. Juice power ups give you a charge for that character's ultimate and can be spammed if you line up some juice in a row. I honestly had a blast with this, makes me want to check out Void Bastards too. Looking forward to the full product. Wishlisted
Tower of Mask is a grid based first person dungeon crawler in the vein of Swords and Serpents / Legend of Grimrock, feeling greatly like a solo Legend of Grimrock minus the party. Pick from one of three classes (warrior / holy man / bandit) before entering the tower on your quest to vanquish the evil which lurks at its top. I'll be doing a lot of comparisons to Legend of Grimrock (LoG) due to how similar the two are, TLDR being that LoG is certainly the superior experience, though Tower of Mask puts in a solid effort. Movement uses W,A,S,D, in a grid system, Q & E for turning, the mouse being available to turn / look about as well. There are two different modes for your character to be in, a walking / combat mode and a 'hands' mode that lets you interact with levers / objects around you in the world. Inventory space is limited, expanding by two slots with each found pouch, so some backtracking might be required depending on your performance in the dungeon. Hands have three slots each to hold weapons / torches / shields – all equipment deteriorating with use. Puzzles are similar to LoG's; using an object to hold down a floor switch, interacting with wall switches to toggle doors in the correct order, light / shadow puzzles, etc. Combat is done by readying yourself with right click, then swinging with whatever weapon you have. Weapons will have different stats, meaning they might have a long wind-up animation depending on the speed. Strafing around in a square is usually enough to avoid hits from enemies once you get the hang of things. Tower of Mask ultimately makes me wish I was just playing LoG, not that Tower of Mask is a bad experience, just needs a bit more refining on the mechanics and getting a bit more of its own identity. I'll be keeping my eye on this one to see how it ends up reviewing. Wishlisted
Pipsqueak! is an action platforming metroidvania that surprised me in how much fun I ended up having, reminding me of handheld games of old. Play as a wee Skaven mouse named Tofu in a world of gorgeous, simple pixel art, cutting your way through critters and robots that bar your path. Movement is smooth, hopping / bouncing from platform to platform or scooting around enemies with your roll to avoid damage. Your sword can be used to deflect arrows and to bounce off of metal hazards in the environment. Chests are littered around levels, providing coin / earrings to help on your adventure. Earrings act as equipment, giving you a stat bump, like giving you an extra heart container. There is a stoppered potion in the upper left that acts similar to an Estus Flask in Dark Souls. Pipsqueak has excellent art, music, movement, and combat for what they are aiming for – recommend checking it out. Wishlisted
Thank Goodness You're Here is a 2D adventure comedy taking place in the wee town of Barnsworth in the North of England. Play as a travelling salesman that, to me, looks a smidge like Miles O'Brien., doing odd jobs for folks around town. I'm loving the variety of English accents on display in the voice talent for Thank Goodness You're Here, it goes that extra mile selling the comedy / vibe. Much of the game play involves walking from side to side, slapping everything you see in case you should get an item / conversation. I'm digging the hand drawn art style / colour palette of the demo – really helps bring the world to life / feel like a wee English town. A lot of this is going to come down to if you enjoy the comedy or not, which absolutely might not be for everyone, even so, I recommend checking it out. Wishlisted
Seafrog is a blast of a skateboard-lite, an excellent platformer that I could have kept on playing through if I had the full product. Play as a mechanic frog, skateboarding around on his wrench, with a USB drive that – in my personal headspace – has the voice of Mr.Krabs. Skate around on your wrench through skate park like levels, performing jumps / tricks / grinds to generate power for your tool. Power is used to fuel your boost, boosting being how you damage enemies (at the current power level you have stored). Launch your tongue up to motors that are taking on water, spinning about to get them repaired; a certain number of motors need fixing in each area before you can unlock the door to the next zone. In order to reach other ships, though, you need to gather barnacles stuck to the hull around zones to feed into a cannon that will launch you ship to ship. I'm a little in love with the chunky pixel art style and soundtrack going on in Seafrog, really charming. Genuinely a bunch of fun, and looking forward to the full product. Wishlisted
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u/CthulhusMonocle9d agoedited 8d ago
Had Tons of Fun - Day 1
Aero GPX is a bright and colourful futuristic racing game that really captured the nostalgia for me of playing F-Zero back on my SNES. I went through the Grand Prix mode, offering up five maps in different biomes / styles to keep things fresh. Choose from one of ten vehicles, each having their own breakdown of basic stats (top speed / sliding / flight / combat / acceleration), an advanced stat screen available too, helping break down things even further. I gave the Hydro Blazer a go, managing to come in first pretty smoothly. Zip your way around the track, gliding over boost pads to shoot ahead or use your own boost ability should you have the energy. Parts of the track will be lit up pink / green, replenishing your health / energy as you race over top. Slamming into other riders is an option to cause damage, potentially sending them (or you!) flying off the track. Parts of the track will send racers airborne, giving you the chance to gain more speed, dipping / spinning in and out of air streams. Digging the simple art style, the racer portraits, and the soundtrack doing its best to pump the experience up. Glad this was recommended to me, definitely recommend it to others. Wishlisted
Sunset Devils is a 2D top down shooter in a Western setting, featuring an excellent round of pixel art and a unique shooting mechanic. Inspired by spaghetti westerns of the 60s / 70s, take the role of Red on his journey of vengeance against those who crossed him, leaving him for dead. The draw of Sunset Devils is how each round needs to be loaded, cycled, aimed, and fired individually during combat – no running and gunning here. An example with the Derringer, one must open the cylinder (mouse wheel up), eject any casings (left / right mouse), put in new rounds (left / right mouse), close the cylinder (mouse wheel down), pull the hammer back (mouse wheel down), shift to aim, left click to fire, pull back the hammer (mouse wheel down), left click to fire, then repeat. Once you get into the swing of things, this loop of weapon use becomes second nature pretty quickly. Enemies drop some combination of coin / ammo / firearms / healing after putting enough holes in 'em. It is worthwhile to pick up firearms just to steal the ammo that might be within. Whisky acts as your healing item, needing to be uncorked, drank, then recorked. Water sources are your save points, refilling your health as a bonus. I'm all over Sunset Devils, really having a lot of fun with the gameplay / world. I think if this was out already, I would have been extremely tempted to pick it up. Recommend checking this one out. Wishlisted
Rise of the Golden Idol is the sequel to Case of the Golden Idol, a mystery detective game that has you gathering words as clues to solve a fill in the blank style mystery. The art style really sets the mood / vibe for a lot of the scenes you are investigating, each area being just big enough without seeming overwhelming in the amount of words one is given. Usually you will have to use multiple pieces of evidence in order to be able to identify who is who, being pretty easy to put together if one is paying attention IMHO. I haven't played the first game in this series, only having experienced the demo in a previous Fest, so I'm not too sure what kind of changes might be present between the two. With how big of a hit the first entry was, I can see this puzzler doing quite well for itself. If you liked the first one, check this out! Wishlisted
Had Tons of Fun - Day 2
The Alters is a third-person sci-fi survival base management game that feels like it has a Netflix series sort of vibe, if that makes sense. Play as Jan Dolski, the sole survivor of a wrecked spacecraft, trapped on an environmentally unstable world containing Unobtainium Rapidium; a resource that speeds the growth of a living thing. Your time in The Alters will be spent mining / gathering resources around the terrain near your unicycle wheel of a base, building / organizing rooms within the interior of the wheel's structure, managing resources for survival, and keeping the alternates happy. Due to being the only survivor – in what I believe to be an intentional experiment by the company – you are made Captain, instructed to create alternate versions of yourself (to fill roles on the ship) from scanned memories, Rapidium, and clones. There is a window of safety during the day when you can work outside before nighttime radiation levels kick in. The thing that surprised me most is how well my 1070 managed to run The Alters. I'm digging the concept going on in this game, sci-fi being my jam, feels like this is more managing relationships focused than any kind of intensive base building / survival. I'd say check it out if you are into sci-fi / base building. Wishlisted
Handmancers is a first person roguelike deckbuilder focused around the mechanics of rock-paper-scissors. A more wholesome feel comes out in the art style of Handmancers, sticking out in the design / use of colour. The scissors hero is available in the demo, the rock hero will unlock if you join their Discord; this just leans your deck towards one hand more than the others. Select three artifacts to give you a boost, then be on your way down a Slay the Spire style map. Engage in rock-paper-scissor battles, duplicate / reroll gems / artifacts, feast to boost your stats, and fight boss battles. Battles are straightforward, match the card that beats what the enemy is putting down (on the left) to cause damage. I was still causing damage I think even when I had a rock / rock match, which I'm not sure should be happening. As cards deplete from your hand, you will need to use SPRINT, giving you some more cards to play, plus a cramp card into your hand. Cramps don't match anything, not causing damage without the aid of artifacts, being best played in a lane with low attack. Seems like one could make overpowered builds rather easily, the addictive feel is definitely there as well. Handmancers seems like it is going to be a hit with a lot of folks. Wishlisted
Metal Slug Tactics is a tactical RPG in the vein of Final Fantasy Tactics, just with a lovely Metal Slug skin over top of it. Marco, Eri, and Fio are available as a part of your squad, each with their own set of weapons / abilities. Each character has one move / one action each turn, able to swap between characters freely to position / fire as needed. Since everything is on a grid system, your target has to be on the same line / level, plus in range, in order to fire your weapon; the range / AOE / damage being at the bottom of the screen when the weapon is selected. Adrenaline points are generated via combat, used to pop special abilities across the battlefield, either offensively or in support. Maps make up the zone you are fighting through, different paths (showing rewards) for you to choose. I'm a big sucker for Metal Slug stuff, I'm into the original games quite a bit, so I'm all over this one – check it out. Wishlisted
A sci-fi adventure RPG, Beyond Galaxyland is a great time. Play as Doug, trapped in Galaxyland, along with his Han Solo like guinea pig Boom Boom and sentient robot MartyBot, as they try to save the Earth. The demo is split between a prologue section / side quest later in the full game. Seems like there are going to be plenty of planets to visit with lots of side content to do if you choose. Enemies can be whacked to gain an advantage in combat; the usual array of attack / abilities / summons / items being your options in battle. Attacking enemies will generate ability points, so don't feel stingy about using them up. I'm digging the world of Beyond Galaxyland pretty hard, love the pixel art, setting, and music – Boom Boom is f*ckin' rad. I'm looking forward to seeing what the full product is like when it comes out. Wishlisted
