Recent reviews by MadcapJake

The Sims and Dungeon Keeper in Space! The visuals are great (gritty 80s sci-fi) and there are some neat post-processing effects to really bring home the aesthetic. I haven't gotten a huge colony but overall have had no issues with performance. During early access, the game has grown tremendously to become a really enjoyable sandbox game. I have not had a chance to try the campaign yet but I can thoroughly recommend this game just on how enjoyable the sandbox is. Simon is very responsive to player bug reports which is great to see. Also has been supporting this game on Linux (even some dev builds!) for years.

This is a great turn-based strategy game that feels like Risk - IRL Edition. The interface is a bit clunky but after a few games (and definitely do the tutorials) you'll be playing the world's wellbeing like a champ! Also, every turn there is a new tragedy to deal with and this can feel a little RND but really does add to the challenge and requires that you be a little more fungible with your strategies. I haven't played any online games yet but I imagine the game could only get more interesting with the addition of a human dynamic. My one criticism is that I'd love to see more hi-res and interesting icons/symbols with a slightly better system of laying out the information on the worldmap. Perhaps even having a zoom feature and moving the camera around to each election. I feel this would really add some nice visual feedback to the game. The mechanics though are unique and engaging enough to definitely play this rough little gem! The game is worth it just for the alternative look at world politics but keeps you hanging around for the enjoyable gameplay.

If you fondly remember Ricochet then you will feel right at home with Epigenesis, a graphically-modern future-sport with much much more. Two small teams bouncing around platforms, struggling to pay attention to the other players as the beautiful maps distract so easily. Then you see some plants popping up on platforms around you as players start scoring. Hold on, plants? in a future sports first-person shooter?! Yep and they are what makes the game something really truly unique. Each plant provides actual physical objects that either buff such as speed boosts, air control, shields, they provide new ledges (actually changing the playing area), turrets, mortars, and more! The game already feels really unique as you could coordinate a variety of different team playstyles but I am just imagining even more plants and drooling at the mouth with the variety! The sweet juicy variety!

This game is really original and fun it just needs more players! Get on this weekend, log in to a server. There will be tons of people playing on Saturday and Sunday for sure! You will NOT be disappointed.