Recent reviews by FuzzyLogicLlama

An amazing little game. The balance between environmental storytelling, atmosphere and gameplay is close to perfect. Never got boring, always motivated exploration, and finished just before the gameplay loop got stale. Absolutely recommended.

Highly recommended if you like exploration and survival games like Subnautica. I like how much effort has been put into making the operation of the car feel immersive. The exploration is also very atmospheric and every run brought something new for me. There is a slight drag in the mid-game but overall the game feels just the right length.

The save system builds tension and atmosphere alright, but becomes frustrating and tedious very fast. A pitty, really, because the presentation is good and the gameplay is something different than your regular X-Com for a change.

The game is entertaining enough until you reach a point where you can either a) play more games on "hard" that hold little to no challenge after a certain amount of progression or b) try a harder difficulty where you basically have to re-roll for the perfect map again and again because there is no chance to beat it otherwise.

My main gripe is that the mechanic of the game punishes you after one loss and grants no way to recover from it on any difficulty beyond "hard". This is not the "losing is fun" type of Rimworld or Dwarf Fortress (where ♥♥♥♥ ups are my own) but some random snowball effect that you can't mitigate unless you have (by chance) researched and prepared the right things.

I would still recommend it because I got 60 good hours of gameplay out of it. For the price point of 20 bucks, that is very decent value for money.

There is good gameplay in there somewhere, but the clumsiness that permeates this game is unbearable for me.

The good

• The scenery is beautiful. Every now and then, you explore around some corner and find this amazing view that makes you go “wow”.
  
• I like the minimal hand holding approach. You have a world to explore, and minimal clutter from quest markers or HUD elements.
  
• Area difficulty feels natural. As far as I could determine in my few hours with the game, enemies have a fixed difficulty and do not scale with your level. This makes exploration more interesting and atmospheric.

The bad

• Non-critical bugs, like dialogue options appearing multiple times right underneath each other, enemies getting stuck on or in terrain, etc.
  
• Many locations and assets seem unrefined. Like, e.g., the teleporters with their pristine high tech look just sitting smack in the middle of some ruins or wilderness with no explanation; or settlements looking sad and empty (and not because of the post-apocalyptic setting).

The ugly

• This game is in the “nightmare fuel” territory of uncanny valley. All character’s faces look some degree of ridiculous; the worst offender being your own son. The character model and facial features of that thing will haunt my dreams.
  
• The dialogue. My god, it hurts. One example that represents this well: in one conversation you come across, there is one person who preaches a positive outlook and the other, almost literally, says: “No, we are hungry and afraid” and then leaves. There isn’t even an attempt to convey feelings or atmosphere through contextual or behavioral clues. The game is jarring in how it throws what it wants you to experience right in your face.
  
• The story: I haven’t played the first game, but from what I can gather there’s the big bad from the first game who is now a good guy, and everybody is just fine with it. The main character all the time complains about how he is through with saving the world and then does it anyway, no motivation given. It feels like the laziest reset of a world, to start the story arc over again.

These points make the game feel so bad while playing that I can’t enjoy any of the atmosphere or gameplay that would undoubtedly be in there.

Excellent core game play loop that still hooks me 70h in.

Considering that this is labeled early access, it is a very well polished game. I have not encountered any significant issues that lowered my enjoyment of the game. The devs seem to be quite responsive, react to feedback, provide regular updates, and are transparent in their communication and roadmap.

If you like survival city builders, I see no reason to not get this.

An entertaining, quick rogue-lite that works well for two player co-op; keeps you engaged with swift progress and ways to vary your setup. You play as two crew of a ship. Your job is to operate the cannons of the ship (load ammo, aim, and fire) as well as to whack things around with a paddle.

In each run, you select your path through randomised encounters. Enemies come in multiple classes. Each class exhibits similar behaviour through stages, but varies slightly on each stage. End bosses are distinct and each has their own pattern and strategies. Apart from the randomised encounters, each run varies through the ammunition, equipable items, and ship wide buffs you can find.

We played in shared screen co-op mode, using controllers. Controls work well, though there is some potential frustration in hectic moments (e.g., quickly abandoning a cannon to do repairs felt a bit finicky). Visuals are clear and indicators are well visible. Even if there is a lot going on on screen, enemy attacks and patterns are easy to track.

The game progresses rather swiftly. Your power curve is a bit steeper than I am used to from other rogue-lites; there is a lot of tangible power increase after each run. This draws you in and keeps you engaged (“just one more run”). However, it also means that the game is over rather quickly. It took us just under 8h to beat the final boss in two consecutive runs.

For me, this is the only downside to Ship of Fools. It’s over quickly, and there is no real “end game” that you can come back to. No modifiers to increase difficulty, no additional challenges. Beyond trying out new builds, and trying to unlock all characters and items, there is nothing to do.

Still, the game is well worth the EUR 15 for what it offers. Absolutely recommended for some shared screen co-op entertainment.

This game can convince neither in the RPG nor in the RTS elements. The mix seems intriguing at first, but both aspects are lackluster and become tedious quickly. The RPG lacks any depth and the RTS parts suffer from fiddly controls, lack of overview options and arduous management.

This game should be a reference for any other action-adventure game in the Metroidvania style; only ‘Ori and the Blind Forest’ comes close. I recommend it almost without reservations.

Aesthetics
The visuals are done in a beautiful, hand-drawn 2D style with smooth animations. With the exception of a single fight, graphics also do an excellent job in clearly visualising attacks and hitboxes. And even though there is a lot of content, none of it feels rushed or carelessly put together. Everything gives the impression that this is a labour of love. Speaking of content ...

Content and Details
The amount of content this game offers for the relatively small price-tag is staggering. If you rush the story, you may be done in 15 hours (without consulting the wiki); 20-30 hours if you take your time to investigate nooks and crannies - the little bits and pieces of lore you can uncover really add to the game. And if you are into boss battles and difficult gauntlets, the game offers what is basically a boss rush mode in the end game (neatly tied in, without ever abandoning the inherent lore). I’d estimate an easy 50+ hours could be sunk into the game if you are up for that.

Gameplay
Controls feel precise, there are no weird or unexpected hitboxes or edges. The platforming is as much fun as the battles. Telegraphing of enemy attacks is consistent and sufficient. Exploration of the map is an amazing experience all around. There's a loadout system that allows some freedom in tailoring your play style. The difficulty falls in the ‘hard but fair’ category, I guess. I found all of the story and some of the end-game content within my league, even though I only play these kinds of games occasionally and casually.

There is only one thing I could be nitpicky about: the death/respawn mechanics, whereby you respawn at predetermined resting places on death and have to retrieve your ‘belongings’ from where you died. Thing is, the way back can be quite a walk, with platforming in the worst cases. And since some bosses are difficult, that Spiel can become frustrating fast (there are mechanics in the later game that mitigate this). That is my only reservation about recommending ‘Hollow Knight’.

I really, really liked this game - up to the point where it would not let me proceed.

Prey feels and plays like the spiritual successor to System Shock 2 and Bioshock 1. The tension is consistently high and keeps you on edge like I remember from System Shock. You hack, fix, creep or fight your way through a very detailed environment. There is almost always a variety of possible solutions to the situations you will encounter. Tons of lore and exposition are given through audio logs and documents, if you care to investigate.

Normally, I would immediately recommend this game to anyone looking for a first person action / survival adventure game.

Sadly, 25 hours in, I can't get the keycard I need to proceed. I visited and looted an area, returned for the main quest later and now the body that should carry the quest item has despawned. Together with the key card. With an un-fixed, game breaking bug I cannot recommend this game, however much I would otherwise.