GameGrin's Reviews
Despite a few quirky animations, Herald provides an excellent story supplemented by a beautiful art style. This is a small scale point-and-click affair; if you're looking for a bite-sized drama, you've found your game.
Rime is a triumph of storytelling and game design. The beautiful hand crafted world is a joy to explore and the puzzles are fun to complete. Stunning visuals and a stellar score, combined with a deeply personal and emotional story create a truly unforgettable experience that will resonate with players for years to come.
Deceit is a game of deception and co-operation. A concept excellent on paper. In practice though, it does fall flat on itself. It has a problematic community which can be tough on new players. If Deceit allowed friends to play together it could make for a great party game. Unfortunately, this is not the vision of the developers. They'd rather see strangers forced to work together in dire situations.
A fairly solid attempt, the changes to multiplayer bring out a large mix of good and bad responses from me. In the end I believe that they have pushed away from the original DoWs a bit too much. They still need to return to their roots! I am sure they will do it eventually.
Shiness:The Lightning Kingdom is a reach too far for a small indie studio to handle and it shows. While the game plays well and looks fantastic, the lack of a decent story shows that the developers were under tight budget and time restraints. If they would have had more time and money I believe that Shiness could had easily been a better game. While Shiness has some positives like the overall design and the combat, the lack of a compelling story ruined the experience.
Prey is a deep, challenging sci-fi adventure that is more than the sum of its various influences
The Sexy Brutale is a delectable slice of murder and mystery. The exquisite art design, twisted puzzles, and excellent audio design combines to create a truly memorable experience. The unique setting and thoughtful tale will remain in the memory long after the case has been closed.
Playground have managed to extract the awesomeness stored in the collective hive-mind of every "big-kid" out there that wants to be able to play with their Hot Wheels sets without strange glances from onlookers. It's a fun outing for the series as a whole and something I hope to see more of down the line.
The pros just barely outweigh the cons for me in this puzzle game. Since the puzzles are less than impressive and the animations seem to have taken a step back, it's only because the addition of the alchemy minigame and the extra easy completion that I would recommend this game. Without a doubt, this is one of the most forgettable Artifex Mundi titles.
A fun, simple game, let down by misguided design decisions.
Akiba's Beat is a music based combat game that rarely misses a note. When it does miss, however, it loses its beat.
This one is fairly straight forward, since it is clearly built for a particular audience. Fans of oldschool 2D run-n-gun games will probably enjoy this game. While the difficulty may turn off some casual gamers, most people will know what they're getting into when they just look at the screenshots. If shooting bad guys and tons of gore is your thing, this one's got you covered.
Adventure on Clover Island is a good starting point, and shows that the team have the ability to make something great. Unfortunately, most gamers decide games on a price=hours basis, and that's something Skylar & Plux doesn't deliver. However, if you're up for a strong platformer that has a great script to waste some time on, it's a definite recommendation.
For want of a better term, What Remains of Edith Finch is a playable family tree. Hidden revelations and unpredictable tragedies complement what is an unnerving but somehow warming experience.
Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 is a serviceable open-world first person shooter with some great sniping mechanics, yet it's low production values and lack of polish completely ruin what could be a very enjoyable experience.
Behind some rage-inducing problems Expeditions: Viking is incredibly good. It enhances everything established in Conquistador and brings the setting to real life. Whether players will want to struggle through a sea of crashes and mistimed saves to experience it all is another factor altogether.
The Surge may be inspired by games like Bloodborne or Dark Souls, but it doesn't rely too much on their mechanics and it is truly greater for it. It shows that the title can stand on its own two feet, and I can see it becoming a truly successful franchise that could potentially fill the ever-devouring hole that Dark Souls has left in most of us. Or for those of you who haven't played any games like this and are looking to pick this up, this game is for you too. The combat feels and plays great, and the change in setting is what the genre really needed.
Hyper Light Drifter is unique, it highlights the issues of a real person in an abstract way. This game plays very smoothly, and offers stunning visuals and rigid difficulty. Hyper Light Drifter is a lot of fun, and it's beautiful too. It's a memorable experience, and can keep you interested the whole way through.
Astervoid 2000 takes the classic Asteroids game and adds a solid twist to the gameplay that turns it into a fast paced, reflexive arcade game that is a blast to play on the couch with a group of friends.
The Crow's Eye is excellent platform puzzler with an intriguing story. I can't consider it being an actual horror title, especially as a psychological terror that the developers, 3D2 Entertainment describes, but as an atmospheric first-person adventure, it has a lot going for it. It can be easily recommended for fans of puzzle-adventure titles shrouded in mystery.