Recent reviews by Xyzzy

I turned myself into a movement shooter, Sorath! I'm movement shooter Devil Daggers!

Really fun city builder/strategy hybrid with a ton of potential. The core gameplay loop is engaging and the art style is nice to look at, but if you're expecting a ton of depth in its systems, I don't think this game is quite there yet. However, if you're skeptical of the early access tag, don't be - this game is more of a finished product today than the garbage most major publishers will release. If Timberborn seems interesting to you, or just like something you want to support, I highly recommend buying the game now, especially before the price gets raised to coincide with a full release.

UPDATE 11/2023: This game gets better with every update, with a great focus all areas of gameplay. Patiently awaiting the day when the full release drops, as there are still incomplete features and systems, though as before, this is still a more feature-rich and complete product than many day 1 AAA products.

UPDATE 12/2024: Another year, another Steam Awards badge major Timberborn update. The implementation of 3D water physics is a huge milestone for this game, though not to be overshadowed by new environmental hazards, win conditions, and expanded power systems. At this point they could just add statistics tracking and graphics and call it Timberborn 1.0, and yet they're still working on adding more (community-driven!) features. I can't imagine where the game will go from here but, regardless, it's in great hands; a real gem.

Plenty of people smarter than me have already said everything there is to say about this game, so to be brief: Outer Wilds is a perfect experience. Nothing else from the past year even comes close to the level of quality achieved by the team at Mobius. Period.

Pretty good simulator especially if you're into older stuff like Sim Hospital. Gameplay honestly starts to bore me once you get your first million dollar prison but if you enjoy making large structures and managing the systems within this is a good choice. Can't speak for the xpac but it's good to see the devs continuing work with this game even if it is behind a paywall.

Cute and chill puzzle game. Strikes a good balance between challenge and mindless fun.

Stellaris is a game that has and continues to impress me with the work that has gone into it, and the hours I've poured into it are indicative of a development team that gives this game the attention most games envy even at release. It really is impressive how much this game is going to change in the coming months, and I will continue to give my full support because it is rare to see this level of dedication from any other developers in 2018.

But what about the actual game?

Stellaris is my first 4X title, so having no prior experience before this game short of strategy games like Civ V as well as some RTS titles, it was remarkably easy to get into. Despite my first playthrough being an absolute trainwreck, it pointed me in the right direction for my next endeavor, and I was finally able to appreciate the concept of grand strategy. The tutorial, though it is impossible to teach new players all the nuances of the early and mid game, is adequate, but most importantly does not leave new players scratching their heads.

Early game is actually very fun as you try to expand as quickly as possible and maintain your small reserves of resources, and the ingame economy is very straightforward and easy to track. As you approach midgame, the sector system becomes incredibly tedious as a tool to manage your colonies (since you're more than likely just going to queue up buildings on every tile so the AI doesn't do anything you don't want), but in general, is fine. Some players will probably elect to dismiss the ship builder and just use autobest to build their fleets, and this is generally fine until the crises (more on those later).

A significant problem with mid to late game is how the game tends to mellow out a lot until one of the crises begins. There isn't a lot to do, especially if you're a federation builder with no option to go to war against anyone unless you take the time to change your stance on war. I personally used the time to do a lot of micromanaging and building my fleets out and the infrastructure to support them, but there was only so much I could do before I ended up literally doing nothing on fastest speed waiting for something to pop out of a wormhole. However, the time before a crisis shows up is entirely decided by the player, so this is a moot point should one choose to accelerate the time before a crisis appears.

However when the first crisis does show up, it is a genuinely fun but scary experience if you aren't yet equipped to handle it. It does wonders for immersion when you as a player feel like an underdog in a war you can't hope to win but will fight to the last man to do anything to survive and push back against a threat like the Unbidden or the Contingency. Of course, even more exciting is actually managing to defeat the forces of the crisis to achieve a brief, but glorious victory. It is incredibly satisfying and adds a lot of replayability to the game, and it's a great way of preventing late game from growing stagnant as is commonly seen in games like Civ V.

On a similar note, it is absolutely enchanting how this game is capable of immersing me into the idea that I am leading a galactic power. The visuals, even without mods, are stunning, and one of my favorite passtimes in this game is going around to my various systems and worlds and just observing them, outlining their societies and cities, their histories and cultures in my mind. It's indicative of care that has gone into this game beyond the strategy elements that expertly rounds off this very well polished product.

I highly recommend this game if you're looking for a strategy game that's a little more complex than standard RTS and turn based games, or if you just like the idea of leading an empire into the stars. That's genuinely all it took for me, and I couldn't be happier with my purchase.

I've played a lot of this game as of late as I plunge into my Steam library and give the games I own a go, and it's stuck with me for awhile now even though I've only played through the main campaign once. This game is incredibly good, perhaps even more so than Last Light because, above all else, the Metro series has consistently nailed its atmosphere. This is especially competent in Metro 2033, and, in my opinion at least, this can be attested to the way the game juxtaposes the environments of the surface and the Metro.

The Moscow Metro is not a happy place, and many would be hard-pressed to call it hopeful, and yet, the developers at 4A have made it a far more welcoming and enjoyable place to be than the frozen ruins of Moscow. A claustrophobic and rank hole in the ground, built upon the strong foundations of worldbuilding established by Dmitry Glukhovsky, is framed as the sanction it truly is, and in a rare case of genius, a player that hasn't spent a day in the pits of the Metro can feel more at home in even the most dangerous of places in the Metro (take Hole Station and Black Station for instance). For a player that has no stake in the world of 2033 to feel the same relief that Artyom does descending back into the Metro after his first excursion is simply amazing.

Upon leaving Market Station, Artyom and the player are both experiencing the alien world of Moscow for the first time. For both, it is a familiar yet skewed image of the world before the war, and it carries with it a deeply dark and dangerous air (no pun intended). It is no coincidence that their time with Bourbon is cut short, leaving the player to experience the world alone, absorbing each detail with Artyom. By the end of the first visit and descent into Dry Station, it is likely that both will have had their fill of post-apocalyptic Moscow and recognize that any hole in the Metro feels more homely than anything offered by the surface. Not only does the environment play into this, but gameplay features like mutant frequency and especially the use of the gas mask all serve to frustrate and scare the player back underground.

I feel as though this speaks for the rest of the game's qualities more than I ever could. The first rendition of Metro 2033 was already superb, but I believe 4A really outdid themselves with this Redux. Not only does the game feel much more fun and smooth to play, but most importantly, the Metro and Moscow above it have never looked more real and unwelcoming. It is truly, utterly unnerving to play this game, and the artists and level designers responsible have done such a fantastic job that this game deserves nothing less than an outstanding reception and rating.

This game is so much fun.

And that's it. That's all this review needs. The gameplay is fun, the story is beyond weak, controls feel good. The physics engine means every possible encounter has the oppotunity to dissolve into absolute mayhem, and that's where the game shines. What more do you want?

Buy it.