Recent reviews by Pumodi

So I want to start by saying that I loved this game for the first 7 hours I played. It's an engaging city builder and for those of you that like to get into the nitty-gritty of planning and management it's perfect. Unique concept and great aesthetic. My recommendation is for that kind of player specifically.

The thing is, I don't think I'm going to play it anymore. When I reached that 7 hour mark I'd realized that I screwed up somewhere along the way. My production facilities were no longer being as productive as they originally were. I was hemorrhaging colonists and suddenly couldn't power any of my buildings. It felt like I was being punished later in the game for mistakes I didn't know I was making earlier on.

It took me along time to reach the level of growth that I had achieved. And then it felt like I was told I did it wrong. The only path I could see to improve it was to start over and I just could not face that prospect. It's a slow, tranquil game. Even when you play at increased speed. It's one of its greatest assets but also one of the things that makes it hard to replay. I can only wait for so long.

There are a few things that I think would get me back into it:

1) Upgrading all roads or roads by sector. Having to choose the roads, individually, by selecting a start and ending building feels bad. It takes forever. I never WANTED to do it.
2) Better presented information on how the power grid works. I still don't fully understand if my power buildings help the entire grid or just the buildings in their sector. I felt like I was placing power buildings at random and had no way of knowing if I improved the situation.
3) I think having autosaves setup with a timeline that shows your relative efficiency and growth would be nice. If I could go back 1 hour to before I'd built a new landing site I could redo my work and dig myself out of a hole. There needs to be some way to fix systemic problems in your base with restarting the game or destroying all your buildings for resources.
4) Finer controls of your drones. Being able to define work sectors, give structures a hierarchy of priority rather than just one level, etc. It would all give me a better handle on what I'm doing.

I would say if you are the type of player who will take their time to ingest all the information, plan your base out carefully, and don't mind a little bit of uncertainty this is great for you.

Myself, I thought I was that player. I've devoured games like Frostpunk and this came across as a less-punishing version of that. Oddly, I didn't resonate with it as much as I thought I would. It's not bad, I think it's a great game. But unfortunately not for me beyond my first play through. It could be that I'm just bad at the game haha.

The biggest thing I'm sad about is that I don't think I've even scratched the surface with it. I haven't looked up spoilers or anything but I feel like I'm still in the 'early game' at 7 hours played. I just got past a major event and tech tree change. I will definitely look up some play throughs on youtube in the future to sate my curiosity. I commend the devs for what they've created, even if it wasn't for me.

Altogether it was a fun little puzzle game. Much like Q.U.B.E, the story to me was lacking. Nice, intimate plot with only a few characters and a great setting for a short story but there wasn't enough development. I didn't feel for the characters the way I wanted to.

Gameplay is great, just the right amount of frustration for a puzzle game. Somewhat unique mechanics as well. I'd recommend it for the puzzles and the environments.

This is one of those games that keeps you engaged. Interesting puzzles and a great soundtrack along with simple yet effective art direction make for a wonderful experience.

I would say that it is a bit short, however. I completed the game in 3 hours. Wish that the main campaign of the game was longer.

Eh...zombies get killed. You get killed. Better than a cup of coffee