Andrei Dumitrescu's Reviews
Styx: Master of Shadows is not a great game and the timing of its launch is somewhat unfortunate as many gamers are probably still enjoying the stealth approach in Shadow of Mordor, but for old school fans of the genre it does offer a solid experience with some nice level design and cool character abilities.
Switch Galaxy Ultra is a very niche experience, but for those who loved Wipeout or the idea of moving fast across space lanes, it can deliver challenging moments and very fun levels.
Waves of Steel is not a simulation and does not want to be one. This is an arcade experience through and through, designed to give gamers a lot of options and keep their adrenaline levels up at all times. The ship design element adds to the core loop, offering space for every player to think up and then try to implement their perfect approach for each mission. Make sure to use the unlock all option in the designer to see the kinds of ships that one can put together.
20 Minutes Till Dawn is an interesting action combat with a rogue-lite structure. The narrative elements are minimal, the presentation doesn’t impress but makes the combat easy to read, but the core gameplay loop is very satisfying. The variety of heroines also gives players a range of play styles, which get further boosted when mixing and matching level upgrades in new ways.
Knight Crawlers had the good idea of mixing ragdoll physics with a set of classic action game mechanics. And it is fun, for the first few hours, to learn how enemies move and then find the best way to use the environment and the knight’s attacks to eliminate them. The entire experience is solid given that it was created by one developer.
Bleak Sword DX is dedicated to anyone who wants a Dark Souls-like experience in 2D, delivered in small chunks, with good mechanics, hard difficulty, and a grimdark setting and presentation. Fights are very quick, which means it’s easy to play a few in a session just to decompress, without the pressure to make progress or explore some complicated narrative thread.
Dead Ink’s core gameplay is built on ideas inspired by the very popular Dark Souls but it is not part of the forgettable recent wave of titles that simply copy them. The vertical layout of the tower is a big twist with major consequences for exploration. Players need to move carefully and pay close attention to ladders and ledges that will lead to new places.
The Settlers: New Allies has a good core loop that, unfortunately, lacks a solid connection with the series' history. There’s too much military action and not enough focus on delivering products to citizens. The land-claiming concept is interesting but under-used.
Fear Equation is a hard game that can frustrate players but offers a unique mix of management and terror that fans of both strategy and survival genres should try out.
Knights of Pen and Paper 2: Here Be Dragons is a good expansion for those who loved the base game and wanted to see a new class in action while also finding ways to take out the powerful new dragon enemies.
Punch Club is yet another example of how small teams that focus on gameplay that's engaging can offer interesting long-term experiences even if they do not feature impressive graphics or stories.
UnderRail shows that classic ideas and mechanics can deliver impressive gameplay results even in an age when even the RPG space tends to lose its identity under the assault of improved graphics and the need to make combat the best way to solve every situation.
King's Quest – Chapter 2: Rubble Without a Cause shows both the strengths and the weaknesses associated with the episodic game series.
Valhalla Hills is a solid management strategy game in the vein of the classics of the genre and everyone who has ever enjoyed Settlers deserves to give it a chance and spend at least a few hours guiding Vikings in their quest to get into Valhalla.
Game of Thrones - The Ice Dragon is a good closing chapter for the first season of the video game, managing to deliver some satisfying final moments for the main protagonists and to confound the expectations of players to some extent.
ROOT is a hard first-person shooter, an experience clearly designed for players who love the classics of the genre and feel that modern releases are too cinematic and too focused on narrative for their good.
Volume has a carefully considered set of mechanics and it will certainly appeal to those who love stealth action and are interested in completing each of the levels as quickly as possible, moving smoothly and without having to get saved by the checkpoints.
Tharsis offers some interesting mechanics, a story with little innovation but plenty of space for the player to create his narrative, and a lot of replayability but all of that comes at a price: the difficulty level that can make players abandon the title before they see everything it has to offer.
Grand Ages: Medieval is a game targeted at a niche of gamers, those who might find even classic history-based titles like Europa Universalis IV or Medieval: Total War lacking when it comes to the economic department.
The Westport Independent might be set in the '40s, but its commentary feels very modern, seeing how we live in an age where newspapers, even if they do not wield the same influence that they did, still represent one of the main ways for the public to learn about political, social and economic events.