Across the Abyss: Voidborn – 8 minutes completed a run in defeat. This really felt awful to play overall. You aim with your right stick on the controller and have to push RB over and over on the Series X controller to attack. It’s a mini arena play as long as you can collecting orbs game. It gets very repetitive quickly and there are zero level ups or things that are in Vampire Survivor likes or even some arena games. I didn’t see where the praise came from in this and the hit boxes felt a bit off. I was getting hurt a lot when I felt I didn’t need to get hit. Pretty good music and graphics aside I didn’t like this at all. 5/10
An Aisling – 8 minutes. I really didn’t like this a lot. It’s pretty much a narrative adventure game where you play some kid in a shark suit thing exploring a pretty simple looking area, with somewhat weird controls, some mini games are around and OK, and I just didn’t feel much of a point. The inventory management was horrible, and I got stuck after an elevator to a giant strawberry. The music is simple, but OK enough. One thing that drove me nuts was a vibration every jump on the Series X controller, and I couldn’t turn that annoyance off. Just feels unpolished, but may have something OK to say for those who can make it through it. I would only get it bundled. 5.5/10
Arashi Gaiden – 60 minutes finished the demo about 2 full stages. This one is a strange supposedly turn based (not for some bosses) game where you dash in whatever direction you go in small room. You stop when you hit obstacles (like boxes) or the walls. You need to defeat enemies and avoid traps along with some timed (turn based actions timed) puzzles. This one had a cool look to it and sounded good too. I just didn’t like the gameplay as much. The bosses were a nightmare at times, and relied a lot on abilities you get which are throwing stars and this change of direction attack to win. I liked the 2nd boss more, but I was ready for the game to be done. It wasn’t bad at all and was quite polished, but the gameplay loop already felt repetitive for me. This was better done in another rogue lite I tried, but I forget the name now. Another bundle only game for me. 6/10
As We Descend – 100 minutes defeated one biome. This is an innovative card deckbuilding rogue lite game where you have units in zones vs enemies attacking your mobile generator thing. If all your units die or the generator dies you lose. You can do stuff in the city between attacks which empower units, gain units, gain supplies like copper and healing, and other things to hopefully defeat the super big bad at the end of a few cycles. Each cycle you also go and explore except the boss and mini boss (halfway through the biome). You get items that help parts of your city. This is cool and almost feels tower defense like, except your units are your towers of sorts. A good game for sure and challenging even on the easy difficulty. 8/10
Ballionaire – 96 minutes did a few runs. This one is a pachinko drop the ball and earn enough money to pass the current goal like Luck Be a Landlord. You get new symbols every ball drop and can reroll to try to make some synergies. It’s a bit luck oriented and some permanent relics really screw up some strategies. It’s a fun enough one though although I can see it being very repetitive after a short while. 7/10
BRUTUS MAXIMUS – 10 minutes died on one run. This is a very unpolished Vampire Survivors like with a dead roman skeleton fighting other dead roman soldiers. Everything looks pretty plain, the sound mixing is not good (very loud sound effects), the controls are a little wonky but control okay with the Series X controller, and the level up stuff was a little hard to decipher. I died versus a first boss, and was not going to play another run. This one I’m not even sure I’d pick up bundled. 5/10
Butcher’s Creek – 6 minutes died in some tunnels. This is one of those go around slowly with clunky movement and fighting controls horror games with a filter making it look like an old video tape. In this one you go around finding VHS tapes and beating down masked people attacking you. I’m not into these at all, and other than the decent aesthetics and generally creepy atmosphere, I wasn’t feeling this at all. 5.5/10
Cairn – 24 minutes. This is a climbing simulator playing as character trying to be the first to navigate to a summit. It’s very weird controlling on the controller for climbing, but I’m sure with a lot of practice you’ll get used to it. It’s not as good looking as a previous climbing game that came out last year. That one was also a bit easier to play. There is also light survival elements with cooking, water and energy. There is also a weather thing to where you have to camp until the weather gets better. Honestly, It’s pretty interesting even though the climbing outfit of all wraps and no shoes doesn’t seem as smart. I would only get this bundled, but it was unique and felt like more of an experience than anything. 6.5/10
Calcium Chaos – 65 minutes completed first world and demo. This one is kind of a Binding of Isaac rogue lite with some bullet hell, but mainly kill all the enemies in a room and move on. Every level has something at the end, but it may not be a boss, but instead a cutscene, or a weapon to unlock. It’s alright overall and looks very indie, and it plays well with a Series X controller, but it’s pretty repetitive. One of the main things that makes it unique is combining different weapons to give levels to a certain weapon. The final weapon has characteristics of the combined ones. It doesn’t really say what characteristics, but you’ll see after you shoot it after the workbench. I would only get this bundled, but it’s a decent enough quality game. 6.5/10
CatboyZOOM – 29 minutes completed tutorial demo level. This one is a simple looking, sounding and decently controlling with just the keyboard first person running around parkour game where you try to complete the challenges as soon as possible. It’s all about gaining and maintaining speed and making sure you keep your momentum. This is a speedrunner’s dream and even though my fingers hurt, I can tell there was a lot of love put in this. Only thing I feel is a bit weird is the wall jump, but with enough practice you will zoom (pun intended) through the levels kind of like a Super Monkey Ball game. Would get this very cheap or bundled, as these are generally not my type of games. 8/10
Claire a la Mode – 3 minutes, but it felt like forever. I didn’t like this one at all. First of all, it has pixel graphics that distort heavily on a bigger screen (the original window was tiny). The music and sound are okay, but the next bad thing is the controls. These feel very floaty on a Series X controller and the jump height is tiny. This makes some areas very tricky. You can lift and throw things to beat down enemies and solve puzzles. It just wasn’t very good to me, and felt like something I would have played many years ago with its limited gameplay. I would only get it bundled. 5/10
CODE: BLUE – 2 minutes lost on 2 runs with both characters. This feels like a super clunky unpolished mix of hack and slash Hades like action and Vampire Survivors. I didn’t like the controls at all, the enemies were very HP spongey on medium difficulty, and I died super quick. This has a lot of positive reviews, but it was not for me at all. 4.5/10
College Fantasy – 25 minutes completed demo. This one is an alright adult simulation game about a guy going to a new school and trying to do okay there and meet some ladies. It was pretty fun except for the stealth missions. These aren’t terrible but can be hard. Overall the graphics/music and all was fine enough. 7/10
Commander Tiberius Troubleson – 13 minutes died at boss after a few levels completed. This is a Risk of Rain like that feels a lot more unpolished. The graphics are alright and the controls just OK with the Series X (some movement feels very clunky). The gameplay is moving towards these pump things that need to be stopped while shooting monsters and collecting random stuff from chests. You don’t get level ups like Risk of Rain, and instead of abilities in this you get single use spells usually a few at a time (from chests) or 1 at a time every now and then. I don’t like this system as much as the abilities in Risk of Rain. The music is excellent and the sound Is nice too. If the gameplay was more refined and less repetitive this would get a low recommendation. As it is I would only get it in a cheap bundle. We really do need more Risk of Rain likes, but I would want some cleaner gameplay. 6/10
Conquest Dark – 53 minutes completed demo. A simple Vampire Survivors like in a round arena where you survive and have some RPG elements (equipment, skills, lots of stat percents). I don’t know why you start out as a nude male or female, and I think that’s unnecessary. It’s very low poly, but it’s there including dongs and boobs. I still enjoyed it even though it was a bit repetitive. The enemy variety was surprisingly nice, but I’m not sure of the build variety. It has you going through levels so it feels like you’re unlocking things, and there is faction XP to unlock things as well. I enjoyed this one enough even though it looks simpler and a little unpolished. I think this compares to Death Knight, but I haven’t played that yet. Would get it on a heavy sale or in a bundle. 7/10
Cosmic Call – 7 minutes completed a few runs cause you die so quickly. This one is an arena FPS boomer shooter game where you get random weapons to start and go to portals and shoot enemies and collect ammo while likely dying in 2 hits. On some levels are bosses with lots of health and all. I liked the look a bit, but didn’t like the hit boxes of my own weapons or enemies on me, and felt like you die super quickly. I’m not sure if there was a strafe or any movement stuff, since the game just throws you in it. This one also has a lot of positive reviews, but I disliked it myself and would only get it in the cheapest of bundles. 5/10
Cupiclaw – 3.3 hours. This one is a claw like rogue lite machine. It’s more about filling up the machine with better prizes and getting symmetry between the prizes. It is very, very hard and has a lot of real time to it like a real claw machine. It took me forever to win the demo, and even then, I barely got by the skin of my teeth. Used the nature items if it helps anyone. A pretty fun game although it’s very hard and I’m not really sure of unlocks and such. It’s a good demo though for sure. 7.5/10
Deadzone: Rogue – 24 minutes lost 2 runs. This one is an arena FPS with rogue lite elements and RPG like elements too with equipment. You pretty much go around killing everything in the arena with your weapons and on cooldown grenades. It’s a decent enough game and looks quite excellent. The music and sound are also high quality. What brings it down a few notches is the gameplay which is okay feeling enough, but already feels super repetitive. Also, I don’t know why (unless it comes later) there isn’t an ability other than dash. This would probably help the repetitive feeling of the game. The enemies are HP spongey, but not to an extreme amount of the second difficulty. I would get it in a cheap bundle, but I’ve played better FPS rogue lite games and better FPS arena games as well. 6.5/10
Death Howl – 14 minutes died on first run. This one has cool graphics, decent story and some turn based card gameplay. What I don’t like is I’m not sure what the enemies do unless I get hit by them. It tries to be a turn based Slay the Spire, but isn’t as clean. While the graphics are stylized for some things it’s just hard to tell them from the backgrounds and some enemies seem like they’re missing details. I think it has potential, but they really needed to explain the combat system a bit more. Also, the exploration was super slow and sometimes clunky to go around with the mouse alone. I would get it bundled, but I wasn’t crazy about it. 6.5/10
Dice Gambit: The First Act – 90 minutes completed a few missions. This is an interesting dice rolling turn-based game. You use dice to activate abilities as well as a class specialty. Pretty much you take it to the end of a level choosing nodes Slay the Spire style and fight and level up among other things. The main thing is to power up to take on very hard missions (believe this is what ends the demo). It’s a bit repetitive but really fun in shorter bursts. I love the art style and the controls with the mouse are OK enough. The story is quirky but good enough. Overall, I think this has a lot of potential although the levels become a little repetitive since the enemies are mainly blobs. 8/10
Dunjungle – 12 minutes. A monkey I believe is going around in a Dead Souls like rogue lite game. This controls, looks, sounds and feels so much worse though. It’s not terrible, but with so many enemies in little arenas sometimes everything feels like a mess. I was just not having fun, and died 2 times already. 6/10
Elite Exorcist Miko – 7 minutes completed tutorial. This is a bullet hell featuring a vtuber. It controls pretty well with the Series X controller other than the melee being weird. You need to use melee in this as the ranged attacks run out. It seemed OK enough, but I think it will have a big grind for unlocking things. It feels like an okay bullet hell, but these games aren’t for me. The graphics/sound/music were all good enough though it might be a bit too pixelated full screen on a wide screen. Another only bundle game for me. 6.5/10
GLUM – 33 minutes. This one is an action combo centric first-person kicking game where you go beat up a bunch of people and complete tasks. I think this one feels too open ended overall as I didn’t know anywhere to go and just beat up a bunch of random people in a pretty large open stage. The voices, graphics and sound are good as well as the controls with the keyboard and mouse. Just the overall feel of the missions wasn’t to my liking. 7/10
Godslayer Arena – 105 minutes. Probably almost the most nongame autobattler idler kind of Diablo game. In this one you have traits, equipment and spells that guide an automoving character around to beat enemies and survive. You gain XP and between levels gain spells which gain a level on 3 of the same level skill (3 for lvl 2 and 3 lvl 2s for lvl 3). Weird enough game but OK music, graphics, sound and watching gameplay makes it an okay bundle game. 7/10
Grid Force - Mask of The Goddess – 53 minutes completed demo. This one is a way more frantic Mega Man Battle Network type game. It has pretty good graphics, decent enough Series X controls, and the story was OK enough though the cut scenes can go on and on. One weird thing is how sometimes your ability just changes after level ups. I’m not always sure what I have there. At least the basic attack and force attack (I believe that’s what it’s called) are always the same. You can switch between party members for different attacks and to attack weaknesses. It’s very frantic and a big thing about it is reflecting normal attacks. This game has been out a while and supposedly is filled with bugs. I did encounter one where it was massive slowdown going on but eventually went away when I changed characters. Overall if it ever gets bundled or is extremely cheap during a sale, I may get it. One Step from Eden is a better game overall, as well as many of the Mega Man Battle Network games. 7/10
Heretical – 6 minutes. This one feels like a mix between Diablo and Gauntlet with some slightly floaty Series X controls and I just wasn’t feeling it much. It felt OK enough but the fighting and all was just there. The boss fight was cool enough, but I was already getting bored. This is an alright alternative if you want another Diablo like game, but I’m sure there is others out there that feel better than this. 6.5/10
Hop 'n' Marty – 25 minutes completed demo fully. This one is a classic Banjo Kazooie inspired N64 type platformer. The music is very repetitive, the open world area pretty nice enough for collectibles and the controls decent enough. It’s all pretty good, but not great. It doesn’t have the magic of the N64 Banjo games or even DK64. Still would be a good bundle game as it’s a bit pricy for what it is. 7/10
Idle Colony – 117 minutes ascended a few times. This one is a gathering item from trees in a wok and you go for goals and when you get them you feed your followers to the maw and get some permanent upgrades. It’s pretty fun overall even if it’s not my usual type of game. Still is pretty high quality although it gets repetitive starting from scratch every time. 7/10
Ink Inside – First Page – 54 minutes. This one is an RPG more on the lighter side like the Mario & Luigi RPG series. It stars some unfinished doodle who has visions of a girl (a creator) who drew him and the others in the area he is at. He is missing an arm, and has a vision of being a hero. The gameplay is kind of like dodgeball where you hold a trigger button on the Series X controller and release to throw a ball thing. You can miss and they go on cooldown. If you have shoes equipped (this is dumb) you can dodge. Why this is relegated to equipment I’ll never know. The characters are silly and the main character is really, really annoying. This feels like it was written for preteens with some edgy humor in there and a kind of lax writing style for the dialogue. I frankly got tired of it quickly and it made me not want to talk to NPCs and such. I hear the full game ends on a bad note, and the developer is already preparing for a sequel. I was getting bored already and just not enjoying myself, though it was higher quality. Overall, for me it’s a 6/10, but it feels like it should be higher than that. Only a bundle game for me.
Into the Dead: Our Darkest Days – 36 minutes conducted a few searches. This is an interesting zombie survival 2D game where you start with 2 survivors and have to explore to thrive and conquer. Your base area has timed things to make food, weapons, whatever. It is very, very hard when you go out without weapons. If you play this prioritize the food making station and the weapon station. This looks good, controls alright and with refinement will be fun. The sound and music are excellent and moody as well. An easy one to recommend bundled, as I’m usually not one for survival games. 7/10
Into the Grid – 45 minutes. This one is a Slay the Spire like game taking place in a bunch of nodes in a mainframe, I think. The graphics are simple, the enemies look alright and the gameplay instead of energy uses clocks. It’s easy to play and the main quirk is gates on the board which open through certain things and different nodes on the way accomplishing different tasks. Honestly, it’s a bit slow, but fun enough. The graphics I believe for the characters are AI generated, as they don’t look amazing, and it feels like I’ve seen stuff like it before. Overall, I would get this on a heavy sale or bundled. It was fun enough, but maybe played it a bit too safe as the cards are considered. 6.5/10
Jupiter Hell Classic – 22 minutes. This is probably just an okay version of Jupiter Hell, which is in turn a version of Doom the Roguelike. It plays alright but it is very hard to dodge. It looks OK enough and sounds are alright. It’s very clunky for inventory, and controls very much like those classic ASCII roguelikes. I like these games more than others and loved Doom the Roguelite, so I’d get this one cheap or bundled. 7/10
KAMiBAKO - Mythology of Cube – 9 minutes completed the 15-minute demo button game. This one is a strange puzzle game mixed with light settlement builder with some trading as well and exploring a map. There are also battles where you distribute energy to eventually get out powerful attacks (like a limit break). I wasn’t enjoying any of this other than the somewhat mobile like graphics. The puzzle solving wasn’t fun, the RPG battles very basic, and the settlement building OK, but very mobile like feeling. This felt like a jack of all trades kind of boring overall game. 6/10
Love Me or Die – 26 minutes completed demo. This one is a weird adventure game about a girl who doesn’t fit in and gets picked on. You pretty much clumsily go around her kind of lame area with a pretty bad school and near the end she decides on an idea to change everything. Honestly it was well animated enough, sounded cool and was a bit mature. It’s rough around the edges, but I felt there could a good story to tell here. From the game page it likely gets dark and tragic. 7/10
Magicraft – 54 minutes. This one is a kind of Binding of Isaac like where you have a wand and spells on it and use it to shoot things. The spells you put in the wand are cast in the order and can be affected by other boosting spells. This feels a bit unpolished in the movement and the graphics, but it plays pretty decently. I thought the spell crafting was unique, although the localization had a few typos. It’s not amazing, but it’s playable and I would get it bundled. 6.5/10
Master Key – 10 minutes. Just boring. It’s a hard to see black and white Zelda like with ok graphics and sound and music. You’re just thrown into the overworld and that’s it. The combat is clunky as all heck with a weird slowdown effect that makes things harder likely. It’s just weird and I got tired of randomly looking at this land where stuff wasn’t always clear cause of the limited color palette. 5.5/10
MINDWAVE – 25 minutes completed demo. This is a Warioware like game with minigames about a girl who is using her platinum ticket in a competition. The competition has you playing mini games against an opponent and is pretty fun overall. Between matches you have visual novel like story that can be activated by going around the floor and talking to bright people (all the others are not lit up). This was okay interesting, but not super interesting. The graphics are really cool and unique and the music is excellent. I was jamming with the one stage they had. This is a really good game and is on
Kickstarter. This one seems like an obvious get on a sale unless it’s a good price at release. These are the type of projects I support. 8.5/10
MiSide – 38 minutes completed demo. This one is a very weird mix of adventure and horror game about a guy playing a mobile game over a few days and some mini games are there taking care of a girl in a house. Eventually the girl character says she wants to see you and brings you in the game. This game’s atmosphere is excellent with a lot of weird quirks of the character herself and the setting. I’m intrigued enough and I really liked the music, sound design, graphics and it had great voice acting as well. I hope it turns out to be something special. I would get it on sale or bundled. 8/10
Necromorphosis – 8 minutes completed a few levels and demo crashed. This one is a Vampire Survivors like where you play a skeleton building itself up with only an arm and a weapon to start. You get marrow from enemies and can get keys to open chests, which usually contain enhancements or weapons. The graphics, music and sound are simple, but nice as well. I was having some fun before the crash and there is a blocking system as well. It controlled well with the Series X controller. I would get it this cheap or in a bundle. 6.5/10
Neon Blood – 17 minutes finished demo. This one is an RPG/Adventure/Detective game in a cyberpunk future where there is RPG battles for fights, some mini games, some QTEs and some dialogue and adventuring around to get things done. The graphics are excellent in this and the soundtrack/noise are solid enough. The story seems interesting too. The navigating around seems natural enough with the Series X controller (this is also releasing on consoles), but a little clunky and it has very slow running. Overall, this was solid enough and looks to be worth a buy on sale or bundled. 7.5/10
The Nightwatch – 25 minutes died on one run. This one was a really, really boring Vampire Survivors like. The enemies became HP sponges and the upgrades are basic ones like basic attack up and speed up. You only have arrows, so it’s important to get the more arrows/piercing/rebounding to modify your attack. There is a quirk where there is a talent tree you build as you gain levels and scrolls can be found in chests to reach different stores. It feels very basic overall and looks and sounds it too. The boss fight was horrible with how much HP it had and the gimmick to get it to lose HP. This would only be a bundle game and it would have to be very cheap in the bundle for me to get it. 5.5/10
Onikura – 52 minutes completed demo. This is a pretty nice sounding, looking, controlling with the Series X controller, and action. This is a boss rush game where you fight bosses with little life over and over and over till you beat them. It’s pretty tough and timing especially for parries is necessary. Between battles you can upgrade with choices made according to your fight style. This is a pretty good game, although not for me at all because of the difficulty. If it was more Metroidvania I would probably forgive the difficulty a bit. Still solid enough. 7/10
Maki: Paw of Fury – 7 minutes. This is another one I didn’t like much. It was a okay looking 2D beat em up, but the controls with the Series X controller felt floaty and a bit inaccurate. All the enemies seem to be HP sponges and take quite a few hits to beat. The graphics look nice, and the music is a bit grating. I actually bugged the game out and got stuck on the right side of the screen. The dumb AI for the enemies never saw me over there and I had to quit the game. Would only get in a very cheap bundle. 5/10
One Iced Latte With Your Breast Milk, Please! – 15 minutes completed demo. This is a visual novel and simulation game where you play a guy who is down on his luck and goes to a coffee shop. He asks for an iced latte with the owner’s breast milk and runs away. Later he goes to apologize and the owner doesn’t really remember and says the shop is doing well. Here you start making coffee, developing recipes and earning money to pay your own rent and hopefully make the restaurant prosper while getting closer with the owner and a friend. It has nice graphics, good enough music, good enough sounds and the translation was very readable. There was next to no adult content in the demo. Overall, it’s a nice one into that genre of visual novel simulation games. Some I’ve tried to play recently are broken or have horrible interfaces. This one is easy to understand. 7/10
PEPPERED: an existential platformer – 55 minutes completed demo. Just a weird very well animated and sounding 2D platformer choose your own adventure game thing. It has an interesting story and some infuriating platforming at times. It’s hard to dodge things and when you’re in your chair the controls are worse. It’s really interesting although I would probably only get it bundled. 7/10
Pest Apocalypse – 81 minutes. This is a really unique delivery game mixed with Vampire Survivor like gameplay where you play as a driver in a vehicle and have characters that do damage and give abilities in a skill tree. If you max out a skill tree of a character and have the item for them, they can evolve as a level up ability and give you really strong results. The unlock system is a bit strange where you get some points for each run. It’s all pretty random, and the characters/items gained through it are usually needed for the maxed character evolutions. This one is a good one and is worth it once you get used to the gameplay (you really try to get the pizza deliveries done and avoid enemies. There are some power ups that appear as well that give you temporary abilities or can give health and such. I liked it and would get it cheaper on sale or a bundle. 8/10
Pimon – 4 minutes. This is just one of those live on your desktop virtual pet things similar to a Tamagotchi. I wouldn’t mind the idle ones, but this one tries to be active for feeding and such. The window is tiny on a wide screen monitor. There really isn’t much to this, and I would never buy this and wouldn’t even really want it in a bundle. Just a bit too simple and not for me. 5/10
Prescience – 13 minutes. This one was an OK black and white stone skill game where you pull stones out and match them to moves to do stuff to your opponent and try to win the match. On the map are different nodes and one is a boss. This game was OK, looked and sounded nice and was easy enough to play. The key is the stones have to be in the matching order to play skills. This one didn’t excite much, but it played well enough. 6.5/10
Quarterstaff – 41 minutes completed many tutorials and missions. I liked but also didn’t like this turn based grid strategy game where you play a guy with a quarterstaff taking down enemies. The graphics are good enough, but not great either. The cinematics are slide show quality and a bit slow. The story is the same old bad guys ravaging land and there is a big old tower where nothing grows in the middle. The game is a bit quirky as movement-based attacks can happen without attacking leading to free actions. There are also spell abilities that can be used. Every mission has three objectives which lead to 3 points to upgrade your basic stats. This one had a lot of loading for everything and it was slow (not on an SSD but still slower than most games). Overall, it was fun enough, but I would only get it bundled. It never excited me at all, and sometimes I could just not get the moves to work correctly (was very uncommon at least). 6.5/10
Redline Crooks – 22 minutes. This is one of those driving overhead action games kind of similar to the old GTA games. In this one you need to boost to get to an end of a level and take out cars by ramming them to get health (ambulances) and money/speed sometimes. Cops and other cars may attack you too or try to ram you. At the end of a few levels, you get a shop with stuff to buy to upgrade your car. Each driver has different stats and special abilities. I didn’t see unlocks, so this is more of an arcade type game. One weird quirk is every level starts with your car driving at a different angle. Sometimes this is behind, to the side, or top down. Behind the car driving feels very quirky, but you can get used to it. It controls very well with the Series X controller and everything looks and sounds alright. I could see getting this bundled, but it’s not really my type of game. 7/10
Revenge of the Mage – 29 minutes lost about 3 runs. This one is an arena wave FPS with a mage and spells. You have some on cooldown and you need to survive and gain levels to eventually get a boss crystal to spawn, of which you can then go to that arena and face it. At this points everything is HP spongey and you need to use more of your dodge to avoid attacks and hopefully beat the boss. I didn’t for the first. This feels unpolished, but not awful. I did fall through the geometry once on activating a skill. The music was just OK and the sound fine enough. There was also no story. I probably wouldn’t bother with this one unless it’s bundled, but it has potential. I played a few in previous Steam Fests that felt like this but a bit better. I also feel both Ziggurat games are better than this as well. 6/10
Robinson Alchemy – 4 minutes. This wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t too my liking. This looks like a mobile port of a combining alchemy game like Doodle God. The main issue is this stupid eh sound effect every time you mess up combinations, a weird hint system that doesn’t seem as intuitive, and much worse a hard to navigate inventory of symbol system. It’s supposed to be about exploring and surviving on an island. The music was extremely repetitive as well. I didn’t like this much at all. 4.5/10
Rubinite – 39 minutes completed demo. This one is a boss rush in an apocalyptic world where people are slayed for their blood which makes diamonds and such. You play a little girl has blood red eyes and is hunted because of it. The story has something about being a princess in flashbacks after major fights and you have some companions around you. The graphics, music and sound are excellent for this. The pixel animation is really detailed and the game controls very well with the Series X controller. Between the tiny bits of story and interactions with your companions you will face bosses. The key to this one is they really can’t be damage highly unless focused on which shows their blood diamond weak spot. You can get up to 3 levels and can do a non-basic attack once you have one level. You can also charge while being attacked and dodging (most of it is done this way). You need to figure out boss strategies and counter when you can. If you end up winning you get more story and also blood crystals and other currency to unlock talismans (can equip up to your limit), skill tree (not in demo), and other stuff like blood vials for healing. This is pretty neat and a really good type of this game. I would get it on sale for very cheap (don’t play these games often) and bundled. 8.5/10
Second Rate Superheroes – 2.3 hours. This is yet another Vampire Survivors like, but this one takes place in a small environment. You play a superhero and get to set up two turrets. In the back is a mayor which if either you or the mayor loses all HP the run is over. You start with some basic abilities and some passives for the hero. Some of them are a lot more adept at using certain weapons. The graphics and sounds are OK enough, but a bit unpolished. The music is generic hip hop music that should be turned off if you’re going to play the game long term. This is almost a tower defense of sorts except you move around and can taunt (all heroes can do this) which draws in all aggro and protects the mayor from damage at first. The weapons are cool, but I’m not sure they scale well right now. I may need rawer permanent passive first. You also chose a sidekick who gives usually passive bonuses while alive. One major gripe is your general slow move speed and sometimes AOEs are hard to predict. There is a lot to unlock and lots to grind at first. You need to get money to unlock things, and I don’t think just surviving gives money. Overall, I enjoyed this quite a bit and it’s cheap enough that I will probably just get it. I can see it being in a future Fanatical bundle. 8/10
Silence of the Siren – 22 minutes. This one is an OK HOMM like. The battles are similar but a bit more basic. It has base building and finding equipment for your commanders. They also have skills and can get spells. It’s decent and looks decent enough (animations are a bit flat though). It didn’t really excite me at all, but played well enough. The map in the demo was quite big that they give you two commanders. Overall, I would only get it bundled, but it has potential. 6.5/10
Silly Polly Beast – 45 minutes beat demo. This one is a very interesting exploration game that has some sketchy stealth elements in a weird looking war turned world that eventually leads to another world. There are some weird elements in this. The graphics are solid for what they are and the controls are relatively good with the Series X controller. It controls like a twin stick shooter of sorts. There were unpolished bits around, but overall, it was pretty neat. I would get this on a heavier sale or bundled. 7.5/10
Sol Cesto – 79 minutes. This is one of the most RNG dependent games I’ve ever seen, and it’s kind of fun, but very frustrating. Pretty much there are 4 floors and 4 rooms. You randomly get 1 of them at a 25% chance each. They can contain chests, strawberries giving 1 health, bigger chests and enemies of the physical or magic variety. You have to do a certain amount of choices before you can move on to the next stage. Between a few levels you can pull teeth to give higher chances for good things (like strawberries/chests) and that includes bad things (more attraction to magic/strength monsters or traps). It’s so random and even if you’re highly atuned for good things, RNG may make you choose the lesser usually worse choice. I think this has something, but it’s so random at times. I would only get it bundled, but it is interesting. 6/10
Spirit Mancer – 48 minutes defeated one boss. This one is a decently animated 2D action game kind of like Mercenary Kings. The story is not super interesting, but there is some queen who wants to defeat everyone. There is action and the gimmick is every enemy has shield withs a color. It can be beaten by melee, guns, and summons. If you stun them by taking away all the shields you can absorb the enemy as cards to become summons. It pretty much is okay overall, with not my favorite art for cutscenes, but the game action has good art. The music is generic Mega Man sounding and the sound is good. Overall, I didn’t like it much, but it is pretty polished. Just feels very generic. 6.5/10
SuperTaxCity – 15 minutes completed demo. This one is very similar to Luck Be a Landlord except the citizens run buildings that do things. There are different types of buildings that synergize together. One main issue is it’s very hard to see the icons, but pretty much it’s a get money and make some goods to do good things. I enjoyed it for what it was and would get it on sale or bundled. It’s simple but easy to understand. 7.5/10
Tempest Rising – 15 minutes. Did some Skirmish in this very Command and Conquer feeling game. It’s pretty much a newer feeling Tiberium Sun. I barely fought anything and just built stuff, so I don’t have much idea about the game. The graphics were a bit fuzzy and indistinct for units, but it’s alright. I mean it’s an RTS and without a story and not much action, it was pretty boring. Still felt like quality. 7/10
Throw Bro – 14 minutes. Just a floaty feeling kind of Gameboy throwback 2D Platformer where the main gimmick is picking up items like Super Mario Brothers 2. I wasn’t super impressed by the graphics, music, sound, controls or anything. This just felt like a lower quality bundle throwback game. 5.5/10
Tower of Babel: Survivors of Chaos – 16 minutes. This is a very boring feeling Vampire Survivors like. This one has a weird chibi Darkest Dungeon look and you go around fighting enemies and learning abilities. You do gather equipment, but must wait till the end of the level to put those on. This just didn’t feel special at all in this crowded field. It didn’t control badly with the Series X controller, but it just felt bland. Would only get it bundled 6.5/10
Unduster – 17 minutes. Pretty much an old lady version of Celeste with a vacuum cleaner. Some of the movement is very hard to do (particularly the downward boost). The music and graphics are OK. The controls are a bit wonky, but you can learn them. This is alright, but doesn’t feel as good as Celeste. I would only get it bundled. 6.5/10
Vivid World – 77 minutes completed first dungeon and demo. This is an auto battler rogue lite game where you party are gem characters and you collect them to get their abilities and symbols (collect them all for more stuff usually passives). You go around and fight enemies and also gather up parts of gems to eventually get real gems which you can choose one a turn as the caster to use. Most of these have countdowns so it’s good to have a bunch of gems. This is a sequel to Vivid Knight. I liked that one enough, and I like this one too. It really shines on like a portable system like the Switch as it gets really repetitive otherwise. This is a wonderful play a dungeon a day game. Just more of the same of the first game except with better graphics. There is an information overload for passives and skills, in that it feels more like a mobile game there. 7.5/10
