Recent reviews by SabreCat

A delicious fusion of two eras of action games. Nova Drift has the frenzy of the oldest arcade shmups, unencumbered by anything--like story or cutscenes--standing between you and the accumulation of high score. But it's also got the addictive, cerebral metagame of the modern action Roguelike, devising builds and assessing synergies from among the random powerup options provided to you on each run. Everything clicks!

Since I picked it up, Nova Drift has become one of my go-to games when I just want to fill some time and get that sweet videogame neurotransmitter rush, no commitment, no guilt. Love it!

Some folks are disappointed that this doesn't have the variety, challenge, and raw volume of content found in The Binding of Isaac + its several expansions.

Me, I appreciate it for what it is: an enjoyable match-four puzzle adventure with a scatological mindset and a charming cardboard aesthetic. It doesn't ask too much of you, and that's OK! Maybe RNG will ruin a run here and there, but just as many times you'll squint at the puzzle board for a few moments, then find the line of play that brings you back from the brink of a Game Over. If that's an experience you appreciate, you'll likely get a kick out of Bum-Bo!

There are a few peculiar bugs, but in the ~8 patches since release, they've been getting fewer and further between. In my 40 hours of playtime, I softlocked only once or twice. Given that runs aren't especially long, that small risk needn't dissuade you.

("received for free": game was a holiday gift)

I'm not about to thumbs-down a small studio's niche title, that's just cruel. But a few warnings are in order:

• This is a non-interactive VN. There are no choices to make, no routes, just one ending, etc. Your only decision is when to advance the text.
  
• Folks aren't exaggerating about the length. If you read quickly and turn up the text speed, you'll be done in less than even the 2 hours most people are citing. There's room for the setup, a splash of characterization, the two lewd scenes, and that's it.
  
• The consent situation depicted is dubious at best. Depending on how you read it, the characters' relationship could be owner/pet, master/slave, guardian/child, caregiver/disabled-individual, or some mix--none of which is a green light for sexytimes. The authors attempt to mitigate this by making the latter half of the aforementioned pairs an extremely aggressive initiator, but that just leads to different flavors of squick. VN authors can do better.

Bought this for the Skyrim table, and man was I disappointed. I immediately requested a refund. The Skyrim table attempts to meld pinball with RPGs not with clever table rules, but by trying to cram an entire RPG into the table. You have to manage equipment, spells, and other widgets via menuing around with flippers and plunger, which is cute for a one-off video mode event but horrifically tedious for ongoing play. You have to manage your character's Health, Stamina, and Magicka, otherwise even your most skillful of table play won't do anything. Extra lose conditions on top of ballouts is what you've always wanted in a table, right?

I don't know what the DOOM or Fallout tables are like, as I wasn't interested in them to begin with. So if that's your focus, this might still be a worthwhile purchase for you!

Oof. This used to be a favorite go-to for 4-player game meetup shenanigans, but the 2.0 update seems to have hosed party matchmaking.

1. UX for partying up is really obtuse. Trying to go to Multiplayer dumps you straight into matchmaking with randos (do not want). You have to go read a sticky thread in the discussion forum to figure out the correct rituals for playing with friends.
2. If anybody times out when making a selection or clicking Ready, the UI completely breaks. Menus are layered over other menus and you can't interact with what's necessary to move ahead.
3. Even if you get everybody in with options selected on time... the fourth player's Ready button doesn't respond. So the game doesn't start, the timer runs down, and see #2 above.
4. Once you're in these situations, there's literally no way to extricate yourself other than a force quit with e.g. Alt+F4.

So, yeah. Pls fix :|

A lovely bite-sized tactical experience. NEXT JUMP gets kudos from me for attempting the intriguing task of adapting space-shooter shmups to a turn-based RPG-lite. R-Type Tactics it isn't, but once you get the hang of its exacting action economy and peculiar hitbox-based way of navigating hazards, you'll jump your way to shoot the core in no time!

Goofy but entertaining. A few unfair segments, but if you have any shmup chops at all you should be able to clear it on Easy if not Normal.

You'll do battle with disease-riddled ghouls atop conveyor belts, with vents belching forth streams of acid across the battlefield. You'll skirt pools of tarry asphalt, only to have them set ablaze by flame-throwing swine, choking the air with smoke. You'll tiptoe through the chilly halls of a suspended-animation facility, only to have a wild-eyed cannibal get hold of a rocket launcher and blow open the cryogenic tanks, reviving an ancient warrior out for blood.

And that's in between brokering peace between plants and bears, throwing laser cannons down a well to get a priest to teach you how to proselytize, and squinting at pages of almost-comprehensible Markov gibberish trying to glean clues as to the location of an heirloom pistol.

Get this game.

Hi! You're probably here because you got this game super cheap, or free, or in a bundle, and are wondering if it's actually worth playing. Good news: yes, it is! It's a flavor of tactical puzzle you'll not encounter anywhere else.

A few tips for having a good experience with Bionic Dues:

• Play on Ironman. The game vehemently tells you not to, but in fact it's designed quite well to play through accepting your setbacks. Savescumming sucks all the life out of it.
  
• Use the "Shorter Campaign" option. At default, the game is way too long, with the final outcome decided by halfway through and the rest of it a mere button-pressing exercise. Cutting it in half, though, is just right.
  
• Don't use the pilot who gives you all the Epic Exos, at least for your first game. Finding and unlocking those is a huge treat you don't want to deny yourself.

(Received for free: gift from a sibling)

This game could really use the following:

1. Soundtrack DLC
2. An option or mod to remove police, helicopters, etc. from the levels
3. ALL cutscenes and level intros skippable, not just a random selection
4. A "restart level" option that doesn't require you to reselect character and stage
5. Different buttons for "spraypaint" and "face camera forward"
6. A less janky camera
7. Less janky collision detection / physics on rails and platforms

Without the above, it's aesthetically cool with its cel shaded characters and wild music, but an enjoyable gameplay experience it's not.