Recent reviews by Pinstar

The original Reus was intense, tricky and admittedly a bit stressful.

Reus 2 is more puzzle game than RTS but that is a very good thing in my book. Biotica synergies, interesting combinations of civs, ages and biomes make each game unique. You should pick ti up if you prefer turn based over real time!

Nothing quite scratches the SRPG Itch like the Last Spell. Dynamic and deep difficulty with the mechanical parts to allow for runs that can end in defeat, a slim victory or a crazy overpowered breaking of the game (in a good way!)

The one main complaint about each run taking several hours long is a valid one, however I tend to see them like campaigns, meant to be played across several gaming sessions.

The Day/Night cycle gives you a breath of fresh air. Doing nothing but the nightly zombie grind or nothing but the day's econ mode would wear out its welcome but flipping between the two and having what happens in one have a huge impact on your performance on the other keeps the stakes high and each day and night interesting.

Elegantly designed, well balanced and pure fun. You do not need to "know" or be good at poker to enjoy (or do well with) this game.

This is a City Builder game at its heart, but it has been infused with the essence of a roguelike and even has boss fights. In both cases, the game is made better for the mixture.

If you are a city builder fan who loves the early and mid game of city builders but grows bored with the slog of end game. This is the game for you. If you grow bored after finding the "Correct" strategy in your city builder, this is the game for you.

If you are NOT a city builder fan, but are a roguelike fan, I still say give this a try. This could be the introduction to city building you need!

I'm not normally one to get into Mobile games, but this one has me hooked. I'm not even a big superhero fan.

Free to Play and non-preditory monetization means playing actually feels good.

If you are looking for a complex economic simulator, you've come to the right place. Navigating the political and economic landscape is extremely satisfying and watching the local and international markets act and react to your own economy makes for dynamic challenges.

The nuances of the game take time to learn and the tutorials are not the best at showing everything, but over time you will start to understand the mechanics.

If you are looking for a warfare-focused game, look to some of Paradox's other titles.

While I enjoy how the game handles and abstracts warfare, no more chasing down stacks of enemy troops, I can see how someone wanting a warfare aspect that was as detailed as the economic aspect would be disappointed.

As a Veteran of CK2, CK3, EU3 and Stellaris, I think Victoria 3 is one of Paradox's stronger releases compared to the base versions of those games.

Part Management game, part RPG, part visual novel and part deckbuilder: Potionomics is a strange but very successful mixture of genres. A fan of of any of the above genres will find elements that are familiar to them that scratches that genre's particular itch while the other elements are approachable to someone who might not have experience with them.

The characters are well written and animated and the UI is very colorful and fits with the tone, style and theme that the game is going for.

I'm doing a You Tube series on the game here.

Oxygen: First Breath is a survival city builder that seems to be a mixture of Surviving the Aftermath along with Frostpunk in its post-apocalyptic setting along with mission-critical central key building.

Like with other survival city builders, you must balance short term needs with long term projects, and planning ahead is rewarded. However, the cracks system is an interesting way to keep the player on their toes. I think the game is in a very healthy place for early access and look forward to its progress to 1.0.

It is addictive and very re-playable, like a good roguelike should be.

Terraformers is a turn based Colony builder where you try to survive and thrive on the red planet before your people get fed up with the mission and declare it a failure.

This plays like a single-player board game. With no other "players" competing for space or resources, you are free to expand however you want. However, that does not mean there are no challenges. Spreading your influence costs resources, as does maintaining support for your mission.

Even in its early access state, this game feels whole. While I did receive this game for free from the publisher, had I paid full price for it, I would NOT have any regrets.

The biggest joy I get out of this is the game's random nature and the abundance of meaningfully strategic decisions. Because you start in different locations and the contents of each tile and city map are randomized each time, no two runs will feel the same. The leaders and lifeforms you are offered can have profound impacts on your play and while you always have a choice, you can't always pick the exact one you want and have to adapt to the options you are given. The same goes for the projects you are offered each turn.

The game has an approachable skill floor for new players but a healthy skill ceiling for skilled players in the form of meta knowledge and higher difficulty levels. The game is already very satisfying right now, and the features named in the roadmap look to make it even better.