Wil James
Bilkin’s Folly is a game that I could recommend to almost anyone in the mood for a treasure-hunting adventure. Its tone and characters highlight the experience and make the longer-than-expected time sail by, whilst its puzzling is largely engaging if drawn back by more obtusely difficult puzzles and some technical hiccups that will surely be fixed in short order.
A simple and effective game that never seeks to be an overwhelming experience. It mostly achieves its goals of offering a Pirate Mech roguelike adventure, raiding derelict spaceships for their booty and combating the obstacles and enemies along the way.
There are a lot of interesting ideas at play in Aztech Forgotten Gods, even if they have not all coalesced in a way that knocks it out of the park. Still, there are joys to be had when flying around an interestingly designed world and colossal bosses in a way that their size can be fully realised.
There are flashes of potential that could have elevated Wanted Dead to be greater than the sum of its parts, but these flashes are drowned out by its mission to be a throwback experience complete with jank.
When played in short bursts, Hellboy Web of Wyrd is a strangely compelling game, mostly thanks to its characters and defining art style doing a lot of heavy lifting. Despite its lack of compelling gameplay systems, there is something about the simplicity presented that offers some comfort in how you play the game, and the right person might still find some enjoyment in exploring the Wyrd.
It is almost uncanny how the story of Jumplight Odyssey is analogous to its current state in Early Access, with both the game and the flagship SDF Catalina in functional yet imperfect states, as both seek to work towards optimisation, development of systems and eventually the salvation of the Forever Star/ 1.0 Launch.