DVS Gaming's Reviews
If you were fond of The Final Station, you'll probably enjoy The Only Traitor the same way. It's melancholic like the original game but more desperate, dangerous, and with some much-needed improvements. However, don't expect this to blow your socks off. If you weren't already on the hype train with this game, this won't change your mind. I still enjoyed it, but I won't play it more than twice.
Snake Pass is an extraordinarily fun experience that is reminiscent of classic platformers from the past, but still fresh and unique to play through, especially for those with a hankering for physics puzzles.
In the end, Shock Tactics is a good first attempt at a turn-based tactics game but lacks in polish and follow through. Point Blank Games nailed the important concepts and they seem to have the technical expertise to make good turn-based titles in the future. They need more practice and hopefully they will get it.
Voodoo Vince, while flawed, is a perfect defense for bringing obscure titles back from the dead.
Overall, Asura is pretty good outside of my bias towards the game. It still deserves praise for what it is: a great story that has engaging gameplay. There is some replay value with this game, but I'd say it's more up to the individual if they want to run through the game again. I applaud people who subject themselves to something like this; completing this game is not an easy task.
I'm of two minds about Utopia. On one hand I really like that the game has become more complex, more fleshed out as it were, but on the other I think that there isn't actually much new content added in the expansion itself. It has just been shuffled around and gated, extending the game. If you take a look at what Utopia and the Banks patch bring together—the Ascension Perks, Unity, Traditions, reworked government system, Civics, megastructures, species rights, new technologies, balancing, and hundreds of other tweaks—you can definitely see that they were developed as parts of a whole. Paradox just decided not to charge for part of the expansion.
I really liked this game starting off, but it lost its luster once the functions started getting hard. Ultimately, if you are interested in programming and want to learn, this game will help you get in the right mindset of what mentality is needed: a focused mind with attention to detail.
This noted, Monster Slayers is still a very addicting and solid game. I sunk a lot of hours into this game, and it's very cheap for how much enjoyment you can get from this game.
Waking the Glares is a game with a highly interesting lore premise brought down by an incredibly murky pacing and a repetitive objective flow that ultimately overshadows everything good the game has to offer.
My final score reflects that it is a well-designed game. It succeeds in what it sets out to do. If you like or dislike time management, the 80's or any of the other things I mentioned then feel free to add or subtract a few points to the score.
Honestly, I'd like to give Mass Effect a higher score. It's a fantastic game in the areas where it's strong. At the same time, it's also got a lot of problems that should not be this visible in a final release. This ultimately feels like a game of wasted potential, which is saying something because the finished product is still damn good.
Rain World is an incredible adventure and rewards persistence while being an extremely aesthetically pleasing game. Paying homage to older games with its design, it still feels like its own entity. To me, this is nostalgia done right.
NeuroVoider is a very strong example of an older genre being brought back to life with modern game techniques. Gameplay is filled to the brim with heavy choices through RPG elements and player reflexes, making every action exciting to behold. While repetition is sure to set in eventually due to the game's procedual nature, the amount of content available through level layouts and loot choices make such an event a long way off.
It's cheap, it's great and worth hours of enjoyment (as well as few jump scares to boot). The few issues in 2Dark are a testament to how good this game plays and feels. It's very important that this actually feels like a creepy game as well, otherwise the storyline wouldn't fit in well with the scenery. Overall, this is a great indie title to check out.
Atelier Sophie's highly addictive game-play through its alchemy systems help mitigate the blow the game takes from its ultimately underwhelming storyline, especially for a JRPG. Nevertheless, Atelier Sophie is an enjoyable game for those looking for a JRPG with a focus more on crafting rather than story-line or combat.
Torment is different to other RPGs, and cRPGs, and gave me more of an interaction focused experience than other games within the genre. It's complex, detailed, thoughtful, and it dares to be different. It's also a classic RPG with all it entails. It brought back memories from playing Fallout and Baldur's Gate and it underscores why I love this particular genre with the heavy focus on character interaction, exploration and solving puzzles.
In short, Leaving Lyndow is a magnificent example of interactive storytelling that keeps you enthralled in the storyline until it's rapid conclusion.
At worst, this is a well designed and well made Megaman-style game. At best it's hours of addicting yet frustrating gameplay to finish the main storyline. Given it's reasonable price ($10 USD), it's absolutely worth picking up for anyone who enjoys these style of games.