- By Ash
- in Reviews
Imagine being stuck in a 47-minute time loop where the main way to push forward is through therapy sessions. That's Rue Valley - a psychological RPG that's as much about solving a mystery as it is about confronting your own crippling anxiety. It wears its Disco Elysium influences proudly, yet still manages to carve out its own identity through intimate, grounded storytelling.
And while the pacing hits a wall in the middle, Rue Valley is rich with deep, emotional stories about mundane people buckling under the weight of ordinary problems - stories that feel very real and uncomfortably familiar. I'm sure we've all had sleepless nights where we just stared at the ceiling wondering where our lives are going, and Rue Valley does a tremendous job of exploring all of those mixed emotions.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
What does a bat, an axolotl, a gecko and a pangolin have in common? Correct! You can stuff all of them into a cannon, light a dozen sticks of dynamite, and then blast them straight into a tornado. They also happen to be the main characters in Windblown - a roguelite that's so fast-paced your fingers are at risk of falling off, and one with so many unique items it actually lets you ban dozens of them just so you can see them all.
Combine that with an absolutely insane world, and you've got yourself a game with some serious Dead Cells vibes - which isn't too surprising since it comes from the same team! And in true Dead Cells fashion, Windblown wastes absolutely no time before throwing you a pair of laser-hands and sending you to crash a New Year's party run by pirates - that is rats, who are also pirates.
But you don't have to laser a bunch of animals if that's not your thing. You can also stab them with pointy sticks, crush them with gigantic swords, set them on fire, cover them in gloop, or if you're feeling a bit spicy, even just eat them!
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Vampires used to be horrifying, bloodthirsty monsters, but somewhere along the way they turned into brooding prettyboys that stalk schoolgirls. V Rising says 'no' to all of that nonsense.
Here, you are a proper vampire - a true villain. You burn in sunlight, you eat people, and you even put pineapple on your pizza! But being the bad guy does come with some great perks. You get a cool coffin to sleep in, a pile of magical weapons, and even a swarm of... um, 'interns' to do all of your busywork.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Daimon Blades is a brutally fast hack-and-slash roguelite set in the wonderfully weird universe of E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy. You know you’re in for a wild ride when the game opens with a thesaurus explaining what the hell its name even means, then immediately dumps you into actual hell to fend off hordes of demons. Much like E.Y.E., it’s janky and cryptic, but also endlessly fascinating.
Hey folks, I’m Ash, and let me show you what Daimon Blades has to offer, where it excels, and also where it stumbles.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Survivor takes all of the chaos of Deep Rock Galactic and dumps it onto the shoulders of one poor Dwarf. No backup, no respawns - it's just you, a mountain of minerals to mine, and about a billion angry bugs.
Hey folks, I'm Ash and today we're gonna find out if Survivor lives up to the Deep Rock Galactic name, or if it stumbles around like a Dwarf after one too many drinks at the Abyss Bar.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Open world, crafting, survival, and Early Access - these are the four horsemen of the Steam apocalypse. You never really know what you're getting into with these games, so despite Enshrouded's promising exploration-heavy gameplay, I kept my distance for a year and a half. I've been burnt too many times.
But last week, on a complete whim, I finally bit the bullet and dove in. And honestly? I owe Enshrouded a sincere apology. Hey folks, I'm Ash, and today I want to show you what exactly Enshrouded is about, how it won me over, and what still needs work.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Eighteen years. That's how long I've been waiting for Titan Quest 2. And now that it's finally here, was it worth it? Well, slight spoilers, but yeah - it's pretty good!
Hey folks, I'm Ash, and allow me to show you what makes Titan Quest 2 good, what still needs a bit of polish.... and also where the game falls flat on its face.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Lex Imperialis is Rogue Trader's second major story expansion, and it tackles the most terrifying nightmare in all of Warhammer 40k - Imperial Bureaucracy! Over the course of its roughly 16 hour campaign you'll chase down shady conspiracies, team up with a grizzled Arbites agent and his adorable murder-mutt, and try your hand at the new Overseer class that lets you command a variety of weird but wonderful minions like the Psyber-Raven.
So, where does Lex Imperialis shine? Where does it stumble? And most importantly - should you play it?
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Wizard of Legend 2 is, in many ways, like a fireball - it starts with a bang, makes one hell of an impact, and then it just kind of fizzles out. A real shame, but at least it's a blast while it lasts! Greetings and welcome friend, I'm Ash and let's begin by immediately addressing the most common criticism I've seen among Early Access reviews: the performance issues and constant crashing. So is the launch version just as bad? Thankfully, no.
In fact, in my 16 hours with the game I've only encountered a single technical problem, though it was a recurring one. Sometimes, when the game is loading in a ton of enemies, there can be a brief stutter. It's nothing too major as it appears rarely and 'stuns' both you and the enemies, but I'd still like to see it get fixed, and soon. Aside from that, Wizard 2 ran without a hitch. I had no FPS drops, no crashes, and most impressively of all, no gameplay bugs of any kind. It just worked.
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Lost Skies, much like its predecessor Worlds Adrift, is all about fulfilling that primal urge of thrusting yourself into the unknown in search of riches, long lost civilizations, and most importantly, a chance to shoot a cannonball straight into a would-be god's face! While Lost Skies already shows a lot of promise in this regard, the unfortunate truth is that it has cut so many corners in order to launch into Early Access that it now resembles a well-polished sphere.
Without a shred of exaggeration, I don't think I've had a single 10-minute chunk of gameplay where I didn't encounter at least one major annoyance, and at the time of writing I've been playing for 28 hours! Saying this genuinely hurts me because when Lost Skies behaves itself and you get to sail across the skies in a ship of your own design it's incredibly compelling. If it wasn't I wouldn't have been playing it non-stop for the past few days, after all. But when my character randomly glitches through my ship and becomes a Lovecraftian monstrosity twisting and contorting itself through the cold vacuum of space, all I can really do is sigh.