Andrei Dumitrescu's Reviews
Wildfrost takes the core ideas of the very popular card-driven genre and makes enough changes to add freshness to it. It does take some time to unlock all the town buildings and the three tribes that can provide leaders and cards. But once that happens, the game offers a wide range of tactical options and it’s fun to discover how various combinations will perform against the capable bosses.
Beyond the Long Night is a fun, focused experience that makes good use of both the time loop and the associated rogue-lite structure. Combat might not seem hard but it’s very easy to lose a heart focusing on enemies rather than their actual attacks. The universe is filled with discovery potential but some players might struggle to invest in that.
The Library of Babel has a solid setup and some nice narrative moments. It’s well presented and the central quest is good enough to keep players engaged. The title’s problem is that it struggles to make gameplay fun or varied.
Murderous Muses is a rare full-motion video-driven video game that uses the concept in interesting ways. The central mystery is compelling and it’s worth exploring the weirdness of the island where everything takes place. There are plenty of videos to unlock and investigate and some decent extra puzzles to solve.
Wall World offers a competent mix of ideas. Mining is pretty boring but combat sequences are exciting and tense, with a big ramp-up when the boss shows up. The rogue-lite structure works but the prices on most things are high enough that pure grinding is required.
Nine Years of Shadows is a good Metroidvania with an impressive presentation and intriguing world. Gameplay mechanics will be instantly familiar to any genre fans and easy to understand for newcomers. There aren’t too many surprises in the narrative but it is imbued with a sense of optimism that kept me engaged.
Troublemaker has energy, even if it doesn’t deliver a ton of variety when it comes to gameplay. The fights are exciting at first but tend towards the tedious as the narrative nears its end. I wanted a little more variety when itcame to the challengers. The single sneaking section doesn’t really work,
The Great War: Western Front is a good strategy game that tackles a historical period most titles in the genre overlook. Both the strategic and the tactical sides feature interesting mechanics and plenty of choices that affect the course of the war. The computer mostly puts up a good enough fight while the multiplayer side has plenty of options to create varied situations.
Terra Nil is an optimistic and well-designed reverse city builder. Its gameplay ideas are easy to understand and each scenario poses specific challenges that take attention and care to solve. Gamers will love the feeling of hope that infuses the painstaking process of taking a barren landscape and getting it to a point where flora and fauna are in harmony and no human presence remains.
DREDGE is both atmospheric and mechanically engaging. The story threads are very personal and, at times, heartbreaking. Even though I didn’t catch all the species featured in the encyclopedia, I had plenty of fun moving around the world, trying to identify the best spots for certain species and mastering mini-games.
Tchia has heart, a beautiful world, and some cool gameplay concepts. The story is filled with emotion but also grounded. Exploration is easy and rewarding, with a lot of great sights to see and interesting characters to interact with. Even the ukulele mini-game associated with musical numbers works.
The Forest Cathedral is an interesting experience but does not fully work as a video game. The narrative it is telling is based on a real-world person but introduces many elements that are anachronistic to the period and to her life. Maybe the main character should have been named something else and her story should have only hinted at the real-world scandal surrounding DDT and other pesticides.
Rogue Spirit’s unique idea is great, enhancing the action game with its fun implementation. It’s a pleasure to move from body to body, discover their capabilities and then create a deadly chain of attacks, shits, and abilities. Bosses pose a clear challenge but are not unfair.
Have a Nice Death is a good combination of action and rogue-lite, with a good balance between the difficulty of the combat, especially the boss fights, and the pace of the unlocks. It pays to focus on one weapon and really learn how to use it and when to complement it with a spell or secondary attack. Boss engagements are all about patience and pattern recognition.
Clash: Artifacts of Chaos is an interesting mix of ideas, most of them familiar, with some unique twists. The hand-to-hand combat focus is good, although it takes a lot of experimentation to do everything right. The world is intriguing and surprising, especially when it comes to character and enemy design.
Rough Justice ‘84 has a very good core idea and impresses in terms of atmosphere. The music, the character portraits, and the design of the cases, all work together to immerse players and keep their interest level up. I would love to see a TV series that uses some of the featured agents.
Terraformers is an engaging game that can deliver that “one more turn” feeling that strategy fans crave. The interplay between resources, cards, leaders, and terraforming efforts requires careful thinking and asks players to make difficult choices. There’s a lot of variety both when it comes to scenario objectives and the planet setup.
The Last Spell is a great package, integrating great core combat mechanics with both management and plenty of progression opportunities. Trying to take down mutant waves by using the minimum amount of resources, while pondering what upgrades can improve character performance never gets old.
Aces & Adventures has strong deck building and an inspired twist on the card-driven combat concept. There are enough abilities that players can develop strategies and perform cool moves but poker combinations are random enough that the results are never guaranteed.
Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator has a good idea and some decent gameplay mechanics. It’s somewhat fun to discover the techniques associated with a new dish and then aim to create a perfect take on it, complete with a radical and interesting plating that will revolutionize the fine-dining world.