Recent reviews by calmkat

I used to love Democracy 4, but the snails pace of content, even from the modding community, has made it basically impossible to replay it anymore and still have fun.

This game makes it look like a demo.

I don't even like puzzle games, unless they have a good story to string me along (Portal, Talos Princible, etc.). Despite having only bits of lore rather than a story, I can't stop playing! The adventuring feel of the game makes going from puzzle to puzzle a physiological addiction.

It would be perfect, but as I said, the story is a little light for my liking, and I can't talk to people despite seeing them. I know it would make spoilers way more likely, but some of these puzzles are so complex I don't see how words alone could spoil them. It ends up feeling like a social limitation, which does create a certain feeling like you see in Journey, but I don't think that's better than being able to hang out in general chat like you see in most shared world games.

Graphics, sound, basically every technical aspect is superb. It's limited by using UE4 instead of 5, but it's still better than you see in any other puzzle game.

9.5/10

I was beginning to think I just hated Roller Coaster building games, after I failed to get into Planet Coaster. But this game made me remember my love of Thrillville. I realized that the problem was *how* that game treats the park, which is like a business.

In Park Beyond, treating the park like a business takes a backseat to just playing the game and building coasters. When you start a sandbox mode game, the first option truly is a sandbox: unlimited money, all rides unlocked, etc. Then, you can open further parks with more restrictions, fine tuning it to the point that you find the game the most fun. Imo, all building games should work like this.

And this is all before mentioning the story! Here, the themes of business versus whimsy become a narrative itself, and further restrictions are put onto you. Despite the game feeling unpolished in many mechanical ways, the scaling in difficulty is polished to perfection.

Basically, the bones of this game are great, and the game presented to you is a little jank, but not enough to ruin it. (Even if you do feel it's ruined by the bugs, they're obvious enough that you can still return the game when you run into them.)

Currently my go-to game for playing with other people irl. No fuss setting things up like Among Us or other deduction games, just jump in and give your friends the lobby code.

Fun but short. Hopefully it gets new chapters added, since the narrative drive of "time-travelling problem solver" can do a lot more than just this one story. Until then, wait for a sale.

Pretty fun if you treat it like an arcade game, but very frustrating if you expect it to simulate real politics. They've also been updating pretty regularly, so even if you think it's boring you can play a whole new game in a couple months lol

Pretty great, has the clean UI of Democracy 3, with the depth of Masters of the World. Worth buying if you're into either of those.

Had to return it. $67 for a stylized Cities: Skylines lite is just too much for someone like me. Sorry Paradox :(

I was waiting to review this until they fixed a couple of glaring bugs and generally boring mechanics. The next update will flesh out some unecessarily abstracted mechanics to give them more meaning. On top of that, I love how Paradox are doing the DLC in this one as opposed to EU4, and CK2 is on its last legs. This game is actually keeping mods in mind when updating. They keep it easy to update mods, while providing more tools for them in the form of new mechanics and modding resources. It could still be improved (naval management is still boring) but the fact that it is improving means that I am recommending this.

I have never felt emotional about art. I have never thought a game could be art. This is the only art that has brought me to tears. Get it whether on sale or not, but just get it.