Recent reviews by d3Nk

With flash's support getting cut later this year, it feels like a part of my past is dying with it. Henry is an icon in that scene, celebrating all things video game related with it's countless of references, so to see a fitting end for the character in an official collection preserving all the games feels like a celebration in it's own right - like flipping the ice berg during the final days Club Penguin.

And what an ending it was.. well, endings.

Well you can't even try it out anymore, so if you're longing for a similar experience just play The Cycle.

https://youtu.be/cM5rFGF8yqk

A smash game delivered from a different perspective - it's a fun twist to the genre, but falls short by overvaluing itself by a large margin, with it being barebones in terms of content and doing little right compared to it's many flaws, while being highly lucrative. The core idea still has potential, but the roadblocks set here make it an opportunity lost.

It's hot

Takes the roguelite subgenre into the first-person perspective and excels at it!

Featuring a very distinctive artstyle and aesthetic, a simple yet extensive movement system, great gunplay with a TON of variation and smooth animation; it doesn't overwhelm you with a truckload of complex controls and instead tries and succeeds at making the gameplay loop almost infinitely replayable and fun, especially with a partner!

Performance is also nothing to be complained about

Uses music-mixing that starts off from where you left off, keeping the momentum flowing even when it has been cut short (something that made "boss battles" great in Ori) and features a simple art direction consisting of plain shapes like Super Hexagon, while delivering intense- and complex gameplay with just a few directions to head to and zooming to distract you - all backed up by a great OST.

Frustratingly enjoyable, easily one of the best in the genre.

I never played- or owned a copy of Halo before playing Reach a few months back, when it was the first game in the series to set foot on PC. This was my first experience with the franchise, and by all means it was a disappointing one.

Porting-, pathfinding- and audio issues (which the latter still hasn't been fixed 6 months after release) aside, I found the story uninteresting, awkward and mediocre at best with character deaths seeming very out of place and easily preventable, even goofy to some extent. Visual clarity is awful, especially when compared to Combat Evolved (which I found a much more enjoyable experience all-around) with enemies blending into the environment and the whole thing just being much more unpleasant to look at. Shooting mechanics are frustrating, most weapons use their scopes as binoculars on top of being highly inaccurate. Enemies are sponges, especially on higher difficulties and levels themselves are built/structured piss-poorly, with checkpoints seemingly placed at random and oftentimes leaving you into a struggling state; them relying on endless waves on enemies for their set pieces at all times, which well overstay their welcome and it wasn't uncommon to get lost, having to retrace my steps multiple times.

The multiplayer isn't anything to talk home about as well, with the easiest description for all gamemodes being it's full of party-modes, with lackluster execution. I would easily consider Reach to be one of the worst experiences I tackled on last year, one which left a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the franchise.

A great chiptune album that comes with a equally good platformer.
Cheesy story aside; level design is smart and at times really puts you to the test - they're built with their gimmicks (teleporting, pistol..) in mind, so the game's special features are always utilized. Even though bats, which I find frustrating in platformers that allow limited control, are apparent: they don't take much value away from the fact that this is probably the highest-quality 1$ game on Steam.

The most non-flash-game flash-game ever made, and it's awesome!
From it's over the top gameplay to it's quirky artstyle and presentation that screams of the 2000's and early 2010's - that's being backed up by a fitting, energetic soundtrack: even though it has introduced us to a fresh concept, it's one of the most nostalgia inducing games I've played in quite some time.

Hence the game requires a lot of button smashing and quick time events, a controller is recommended

Looks and feels a lot like a indie Ori game, sharing an almost identical artstyle, map presentation and a few ideas - with stiffer animations, a quite "bland" OST, easy puzzles and less gimmicks. Still, I found myself enjoying the portal/dimension travel mechanic, the pace seemed great and the map was built well; even though I felt no incentive to explore it any further than what the story required, which could be problematic for a metroidvania.

Overall it's worth a shot, especially if you've traveled through the forest of Nibel or the land of Niwen beforehand.