Recent reviews by Snowmind

TL;DR: Bottle is a short and relaxing walking simulator but I was expecting better. Drizzlepath was a good first effort from the developer but Bottle is just "same-o" the original. Still, my first playthrough of the game was pleasant enough and deserves a thumbs up. But forcing me to redo the same walk 3 times for picking up all the achievements and at the same snail pace was excruciating boring, bordering on torturous and deserves a thumbs down (completed Noir mode walkthrough on autopilot while watching a movie). Buy only on steam sale.


-----
+ Festive and picturesque looking environment, with a winter setting (Noir adds a colorless filter)
+ Warm and somewhat pleasing enviromental effects, like snow, reflections, sparkly lights etc
+ Steam achievements (missed one note, so had to redo everything again for 100% completion)
+ Steam trade cards

- Spawns SteamVR, even though it is not a VR game (forced me to run it in full-screen-window mode)
- Broken options UI (720p res looks the same as 4K res, perhaps due to scaling)
- Limitation on the areas to be explored (tried walking up a hill but was blocked halfway)
- No interchangeable locations, just one path to follow (wasn't exactly expecting "Valley" caliber but more than single path)
- Repeated textures (e.g. the road is made of the same 2-3 textures repeated all the way)
- Repeated piano music score (though sometimes there are long pauses in-between)
- A limited number of facetious notes to be found (did not make much sense to me)

= There is a mention of a voice over in the credits but there was only 1 short line voiced?!?

Tiny Mage is a casual platformer. That's it, not much else to say. It is as short and exciting as a game as watching paint dry. I personally managed to finish it without killing a single enemy, with the most exciting part of the game being, standing idle on a platform and getting amused by the enemies not able to hit me when they swing their swords! Anyways:

+ Steam achievements. Easy 100% game for completionists (somehow it has a 96% completion rate!?!?!)
+ Currently 81% discount (might be worth a 10 mins distraction for children)

- Feels like another teen school project which made it into steam (I blame steam)
- You will be crazy to pay full price for this trash of a game
- Really short game (can you really call a flash app that can be completed in under 10-15mins a game?)
- 12 rooms/platforms, all of which are very easy to navigate (fixed, not generated, no increasing difficulty)
- Music is so repetitive and annoying, I was threatened to mute it or else by concerned family...
- Fixed window resolution (scales up to full screen). No options other than "mute" and in-game "pause"
- Surprisingly it is classified by developer amongst other tags as "adventure" and "simulation"!?!
- Crashes when exiting, with the game process still running in the background (needs to be manually be terminated)

= Couldn't be captured by either OBS or XSplit Broadcaster (minor annoyance)

Train Journey is touted as a short visual novel (VN) with a "hot" story. To be brutally honest, only 50% of that is true. As a hint I will only say that the "short story" is barely 30-40mins, so very short. And to keep up on this honesty path, charging money for this rubbish of a VN is sickening; but I blame Steam for accepting any trash these days without filtering under the guise of being visual novels.

I won't bother with a review, not worth my time, a look at all the negative scores should be a clear indication.

-----
+ I was so happy when I decided to uninstall it

- Hardly an erotic story, more like a naughty fantasy short from a teenager
- It is 3 pages, perhaps 4 pages long (if you were to read it from a book)
- So many bugs!! It is a frustration of black screens, freeze ups and restarts
- You can't skip the text, which loads at a snail pace, ending up in more frustration
- No saves (or auto-save), which forces you to finish it in one go (unless the above two happen)
- Abstract art blatantly ripped off "imgur" images and passed through low res watercolor effect
- Achievements galore, currently 992, all classified as spam (total of 1877 before steam's crack down)

Having gotten 100's of hours out of KSP (off steam), I can say for certain it is a great sim.

Unfortunately I am forced to uninstal it, as their new mandatory 3rd party EULA has ruined the game for me; the terms of the agreement under a number of headings are unacceptable, especially under the INFORMATION COLLECTION & USAGE heading.

The new 3rd party EULA effectively makes KSP a spyware, so as so many have already said, thanks but no thanks.

Two thumbs down and completely removed.

CAT Interstellar is a short sci-fi adventure which falls short on the most basic principle of a good story, having an ending. Any ending good or bad, even a cliffhanger, would have been acceptable. Unfortunately CAT Interstelar, which currently provides about an hour's worth of content, ended up so abruptly that left a sour taste and the thought of having wasted my time in mind!

Such a huge disappointment and wasted potential to a great could have been adventure, even to par with the likes of The Solus Project. It should have been labeled as a technology DEMO with no replayability and priced accordingly. I can only assume the developer either was lazy to provide an ending or ran out of funds and just abandoned the project in a hurry.

Still, as a tech demonstrator, CAT Interstellar shows enormous potential. Very good graphics and rich environments, which are hardly taxing even on a modest system (tested on an old GTX860M laptop). And even with its minimal interactions, the caves part of the story felt like I was back into "Gliese-6143-C" for the briefest of moments and then... the end.

Last but not least, the excitement of exploring the project's assetts that were supposed to be free (as a DLC), was dampened as the download option just starts the main executable. As such I cannot really recommend CAT Interstellar unless it is on sale and heavily discounted.

-----
+ Good graphics for 3-4 detailed environment locations
+ Interesting voice over one-liners for the bots
+ Provides 1hr's good entertainment and intrigue
+ Showcases IonizedGames's capabilities and high production values
+ Achievements and trade cards

- Way too expensive for what feels like a tech demonstrator
- Minimal interaction with the environments and underdeveloped actors
- Basic sounds and lack of background noise for an inhospitable place like Mars
- Annoying time wasting starting from "departures" location each time while achievement hunting
- Project assetts DLC not working
- VR implementation would have made it worth its price tag

"Hangover is a story rich adventure with multiple endings.", quoted directly from the game's description.

Let me start by saying, avoid this misleading garbage at all cost. I must have had a hangover when I got this game, fooled by the positive reviews and intriguing description. But here are some facts:

+ It has easy achievements
+ It's over so quick that is a blessing (under 10mins)

- Rich adventure? In under 10mins? An insult to the genre.
- Multiple endings? Why would anyone replay this?
- Just 9 side-by-side rooms with 2-3 items highlighted by mouseover each
- No menu, no options, no background music, stock sounds
- Lack of scaling, looks like a 640x480 flash game

-----
TL;DR: Hangover has been in my library for some time and now I understand why. GTT has counted 48 clicks from start to finish (for all achievements). So the best I could describe it, would be as a brief distraction and certainly not as a game. I have seen PowerPoint presentations with more detail and life and they were free. So save your money for something that's really worth your time.

NEKOPARA Vol.1 is a light visual novel (VN) about two "catgirls" working in their owner's new cafe. The game defines earlier on "catgirls" as the "genetically modified human-feline hybrids" which are kept as pets. They are also required to wear an IAP (Independent Action Permit) item fitted with a GPS tracker, such as a bell, if they want to go outdoors without their owners (after passing "The Test").

+ High quality art style with a lot of attention to detail
+ Entertaining voice overs (Japanese language)
+ Some catchy songs
+ Steam achievements and trade cards

- Very simple, straightforward and unintelligent plot for a VN
- The sub par plot (in comparison to the visuals) offers no alternative paths choices, thus no replayability
- Unless you are a "catgirl" fan, the storyline was bordering on uncomfortable
- Some small glitches, i.e. black screen, no video for end credits etc
- No achievements accomplishment; they dutifully drop after each chapter (+config change options)

Note: The review is for the standard steam version of NEKOPARA Vol.1, which even though it has a couple suggestive depictions, there is no adult material within (requires the purchase of external DLC to activate the explicit scenes).

-----
TL;DR: NEKOPARA Vol.1 strictly as a visual novel, suffers from a short, unintelligent and shallow plot but in contrast the high quality visuals, art and catchy songs perhaps will justify a purchase, especially at a reduced sales price.

Besiege is an addictive physics based building game, which at its core challenges you to build a machine to overcome a specific goal (level). Contraptions are engineered by putting together preexisting blocks, just like Lego. Using items such as wooden beams, wheels, cannons, spikes and many more, you can create simple but functional designs to lay waste on a battlefield or steer clear of a minefield or even fly to destroy airships. And if your patience, creativity and ingenuity know no bounds, Besiege will still allow you to construct some extremely complicated creations which will amaze all (free build mode) through the steam workshop (google search "Besiege Creations" and get ready to be awed).

+ Very high quality title for an Early Access game
+ Fairly priced for the amount of content in the game currently (with more to come)
+ The build editor is powerful and encourages creativity
+ A level editor was recently added; hopefully it will mature into a complex scenario builder
+ Support for steam workshop with 10's of thousands of user contraptions ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
+ Multiplayer is great fun, especially when competing against friends

- Campaign levels are on the simplistic side, with just a single objective (task) to clear each
- Allows the usage of steam workshop within the default campaign (stifling your own creativity)
- A handful of workshop contraptions are so powerful that can easily clear any level
- No steam achievements or trade cards (yet?)

TL;DR: Besiege is one of these rare gems of a game that keeps getting better with time. Grab it while it is still so cheap and you will not regret it! Highly recommended (for anyone creative or otherwise)!

Zup! is a minimalist puzzle game, which probably will entertain for upto an hour or so (30mins if you rush through it). It offers little challenge overall and the huge number of automated achievements leaves a "meh" impression.

Despite all that, it is still quite enjoyable if its taken for what it is, a short distraction from the regular grind. And for such a low price ($1) one cannot complain, especially when the last 10 or so levels are intriguing to some degree and provide quite a bit of entertainment. If only the rest of the levels were to par...

+ 40+ levels of minimal physical puzzle with explosions
+ More suitable to children than adults
+ Steam achievements and trade cards (4 card drops)

- Puzzle levels are too easy; puzzle lovers would be disappointed
- Too many automated achievements (pleasing but unworthy)
- It was over before even getting all the card drops (1 card drop)

Airport Madness: World Edition is the sixth release and a worthy ATC (Air Traffic Controller) RTS contender by Big Fat Simulations Inc within the Airport Madness series of games and beyond.

Released in 2014, almost 3 years after the excellent Airport Madness 4, it raised the bar of the ATC simulation genre to a new high, mainly due to moving from the current fantasy style airports into real world examples, in addition to improving gameplay in almost every aspect. Here's why:

+ A mix of 12 real-world famous airports (5x USA, 5x Europe, 1x Alaska, 1x UAE)
+ Efficiency/performance meter to benchmark progression
+ Optional cloud cover for increased realism and difficulty level
+ The addition of window mode (at long last)
+ Progressive rankings and leaderboards (with increasing difficulty)
+ Steam achievements and trading cards

- Would have liked a broader mix of airports from other continents/countries
- Too many Concords thrown in the mix for my liking
- Not as challenging and with less diverse achievements than its predecessor (AM4)
- No custom scenarios/challenges/disasters to solve
- The window mode is not scalable (looks really small in a 4K VDU)
- No steam workshop integration or any kind of customisation

-----
TL;DR: Even though Airport Madness: World Edition is an overall improvement over Airport Madness 4, it's predecessor felt more complete and satisfying overall, perhaps due to all the extras it included. Still, AM:WE is as addictive and as stats show the most popular title of the series to-date, so a definitive thumbs up from me as well.

-----
PS: Perfect game achievement was accomplished in under 20 hrs, so more seasoned ATC players should be able to get it much faster than that.