Niche Gamer
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[M]y personal feelings and challenges with this game aside, it really offers a unique style and a lot of content. If you are a puzzle game junkie this will offer a lot for you so check it out and get lost in the soothing magical world, everybody else, proceed with caution.
The different modes don't add much and the mystique of the game wears off in the first ten or twenty minutes, afterwards its coat of paint peels away and you're left with a milquetoast experience that leaves you wanting for far more than is present.
I only made such strong comparisons because Shovel Knight is very blatantly borrowing from Mega Man and Castlevania. The formulas for those games work so perfectly well for a reason, and while I am not saying that it is wrong to try and innovate on them, Shovel Knight could have, perhaps, found a better way to do so.
Seriously bursting at the seams with style and beauty from every corner, Astebreed is a must play, and will continue to be a must play long after you've beaten it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some more Filune ships to blow up.
It stands on good footing, but may not be approachable enough for modern players and gamers who didn't share Tex's original adventures.
Is Transistor worth your time? Well, I'm here to say that yes, it absolutely is. Stunning visuals, heart-breaking but well-written narrative (with a few rushed bits here and there), brilliant sound design, and a fun and rewarding battle system are some of the things you'll be signing up for if you purchase this game. And for a paltry twenty dollar pricetag (or your regional equivalent), you could do a hell of a lot worse. Transistor is a moody, atmospheric, tragic love story, and it's absolutely wonderful. A few pitfalls keep it from being perfect, but I'd still recommend it to anyone who loves games.
Anyway, if you are a horror junkie you will probably find something to enjoy here and I would recommend it for the thrill of the initial level alone if you are a fan of the genre. Otherwise, you wouldn't be doing yourself a disservice by skipping this one. I'm not going to outright not recommend it, by all means, try it out yourself if you want.
If you are looking for a fun and addictive game that will have you playing on your phone for hours, then look no further than Sparkle Unleashed. This is one of the best games I have played on my iPhone and would recommend it to anyone. Sparkle Unleashed will have you bringing light back into this dark world for hours on end.
It's hard not to recommend Cloudbuilt between it's innovative take on a third-person action adventure platforming game and it's easy price tag. It's also very easy to see that this is Coilworks first game as it lacks a layer of polish, but it's a valiant effort and I am personally excited to see what they do next. While most won't find much replay value once they beat the game those who come to master Cloudbuilt will certainly keep the community alive through ghosts and challenges.
In closing I'd like to reiterate how much I thoroughly enjoy Awesomenauts, and most especially the content seen in the new release. However, I do worry that the new content seen in Awesomenauts Assemble may not be quite enough for other fans to double dip.
All in all, Teslagrad is a captivating game that showcases the journey of a boy who is seriously good at using magnetic and electrical weaponry. Even though it has a few minor hiccups here and there, I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone needing to scratch that puzzle platformer itch, or just someone in need of a new game that has Nicola Tesla references.
What it all comes down to is this: if you enjoy your RPGs as challenging as possible without being so difficult they are impossible, then Blackguards was made especially for you. If you have the patience to work hard at finding the correct strategy to win each battle and enjoy obsessing over character builds, you may have just found the gaming equivalent of the Holy Grail.
It certainly has its downsides, as most games of this type often do, but if you are used to sketchy difficulty and paper thin dialog and just like the character building/dungeon crawling of the genre's storied past, then Legacy is what you'll be spending your next 50 hours worth of free time playing.