Slay the Spire

Slay the Spire is a bit like Guild of Dungeoneering, except worth playing. It's a card based dungeon crawl, but otherwise, in almost every way, Spire is the superior game. Actually that's super harsh, I didn't mind Guild for the first hour or so.

In Spire you go from encounter to encounter on a branching map. Each node on the map has an icon signifying what kind of encounter is at that location. There are enemies, elites, merchants, rest areas and random encounters. Randoms could be a situation to navigate, a reward, or perhaps more combat. At the end of each dungeon is a boss to fight and a major stash of loot to pilfer.

Combat is fun and the mix of cards picked up along the way are enough to keep you playing. As in similar games, you play cards to attack, defend, etc and the number of cards you can play per turn is dictated by a skill attribute. There are also potions and items that change how your character works.

I only played through one class, a fighter type, but there are more to unlock and I'll definitely be giving them a go. At the end of my first run I unlocked a mage looking guy, so I guess he's next on the chopping block of my ineptitude.

Most importantly, you don't lose all your character/deck building progress between dungeons (unlike GoD, which got uninstalled for doing that to me). You keep it all so long as you keep your guy alive, but do be mindful that the game contains permadeath, so you WILL lose it all if you die. Just don't die, which is something I forgot to do.

I played Spire on my PC, on the couch via Steam Link with a Steam Controller, and on my tablet via the Steam Link app. All worked beautifully, as should happen in this day and age. A game that makes the effort to work across gaming paradigms get's a big tick from me.

My only quibble is the price. It's an eye watering $36AUD.

VERDICT: Great for sitting on your ass in a casual game session. I'm compelled to play more and that means a recommendation from me.

Final word: RECOMMENDED (but maybe wait for a sale, it's bloody expensive for what it is)

(game link)

Steamworld Dig

So you're a robot, living the robot life. You'll dig around underground (kinda like Terraria, but with big ass blocks and shitty music). Collect stuff from digging then go to town and sell it. Then buy some shit. Repeat.

Or so I assume, I hated every minute of playing it and opted out of the gameplay loop after 30 minutes. From the western themed robots to the platforming elements and onward (downward) to the entire story and general feel, it left me cold.

Look, obviously this game isn't marketed at people like me. Steamworld Dig has a decent steam review score and I admit my opinion isn't always the last word on a product's worth. Yet, here we are. I still say it's shit - don't buy it.

VERDICT: Shoot-out at the OK Corral between two robots that have no arms. Or guns.

Final Word: DON'T BOTHER

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Jotun

There's someone out there for whom this game was made but that someone isn't me. The hand drawn art is nice, I guess, and there will be people who are into the theme and visuals if nothing else.

Honestly though, I gave up after 15 minutes. It's a weird, exposition-y, action RPG - lacking on the action and big on the walking. I watched cutscenes, I ran from place to place on a boring map doing nothing much. It was something about a vengeance quest to...I lost interest. Sorry. Those with more free time and a love of the art style might get more out of it.

VERDICT: Yawn.

Final Word: BETTER THAN A SLEEPING TABLET

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Antihero

You run a thieves guild. Each turn you can move around and do stuff like upgrade, steal, put urchins in buildings to leverage the buildings stuff (like money or research points (lanterns)).

Feels like a mobile game. 2D, iso look visuals. Grid system for moving around and using up your action points. Plays a bit like like a board game: get resources, overcome obstacles the opponent throws at you, spend resources on stuff, advance to next turn.

VERDICT: Not for me. Played, bored, uninstalled.

Final Word: DON'T BOTHER

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Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup

The recommended rouge-like by lovers of rougelikes. I'm not a big fan of the genre, but I do play Tales of Maj'eyal and I've tried a bunch of different rougelike games lately to see if I can puzzle out the mass appeal.

From the 30 minutes I played it felt like a traditional rougelike; grid based movement, pretty complex, basic visuals (not bad, but not great), simple combat, permadeath. Might have another peek, but with Tales of Maj-Eyal and Elona I feel like I'm already getting the roguelike experience without the permadeath and endless dungeon crawl.

VERDICT: I think it's premium sushi. If you like sushi you'll fucking LOVE IT, if you don't like sushi I doubt it'll change your mind.

Final Word: GOOD FOR WHAT IT IS

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Elona

Now to be fair, I haven't played enough of this game to really comment, but that never stopped me having an opinion before!

Elona is top-down RPG. And it's free! The interface is clunky but there are a lot of options floating about (dig, cast, build things). It runs on top of a rouge-like engine, but otherwise plays like a regular RPG.

There's a big open world full of STUFF, including NPCs, items, dungeons, houses you can build, maintain and upgrade (and furnish). Looks like you can own shops too, or at least invest in them. From my limited much about it really does feels like I only scratched the surface of an interesting game. Also, I died on level one of one of the first dungeons, so it's either very difficult or I didn't prepare properly. I was allowed to respawn back at my house though, so it's not a permadeath rouge-like by default.

Came highly recommended so I'll persevere. Thanks to the CRPG Book Project for recommending it.

VERDICT: Looks like food court noodles, I've only sampled one bit but it seems complex like a good laksa. 

FINAL WORD: WORTH A LOOK.

(game link)

Duskers

You awaken on your spaceship (ok, so far a bit cliche) and then you find everyone is gone! Not just on the ship but in the entire universe (or so you think).

Duskers is a simple but fun premise; remote pilot drones through ships to find if they're all abandoned hulks, gather clues and upgrades, pick up new drones, avoid the hostile aliens who want you dead.

It's minimalist, top down, and plays a bit like a puzzle game. One novel aspect is the interface, you control the drones through a command console, typing relevant commands into a terminal window. Having only cruised through the first two or three ships, I remain undecided as to whether I like the game play (not being a big fan of puzzle games). Setting and visuals are a different story. The flickering, wavering terminal aesthetic and need to manually type the commands effectively drives the theme of sitting alone on a space ship, working with what you have at your disposal and guiding these fragile drones through dark, abandoned vessels. You feel that these machines are your only, tenuous, link to the outside world. A dead, hostile, frightening world you may no longer belong in.

VERDICT: I remain undecided about the longevity, but as a premise, Duskers hits the spot. The most drone based fun you can have without going to the park and looking like a filthy perv.

FINAL WORD: TENTATIVE RECOMMEND

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Eschalon Book 1

Eschalon is what happens when someone sets all the dials to cliche and pushes go. Then pours in a tin of treacle. God, everything is so slow - enjoy all that walking.

It's not bad so much as it's just slow (see above), plain, generic, clunky and dull. There's nothing here that something else hasn't done better, from looks, to UI, to story. What's the word I'm looking for...uninspired? Derivative? Well there's two words and it took me 5 seconds to think of them.

What is it? Fantasy guy wakes up with amnesia and something something, giant lizards instead of rats as starter beasts, you cast a spell and hack something then...Then I was bored.

There are so many better options for an indie RPG. Try Avernum, Knights of the Chalice, or one of the old Bioware games (they're remastered these days and cheap).

The BIG plus is that Eschalon Book 1 is free. Yes, free. That's the only reason I played it. Free doesn't mean it's worth your time, but at least you can decide for yourself without wasting a single dollar, peso, yuan or yen (or whatever).

VERDICT: Nah. Unless you've played everything else and can't wait for another sweet sweet, slow, sweet RPG fix. I mean, it's free. What can possibly go wrong?

FINAL WORD: MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND - IT'S FREE

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The Last Federation

In The Last Federation you start as a single ship in a system or quadrant or something and from there it's open slather to choose from a bunch of possible actions with the ultimate goal of creating a peaceful federation - the titular LAST FEDERATION.
Contains top down ship combat, you issue a move order (or special action) and attacking orders (selecting a firing mode, weapon) then it plays out in real time. Ships can be upgraded, technologies found, purchased, stolen or researched, outposts built, missions are carried out etc and so on. There are several options, positive and negative, for dealing with the local species as they emerge into the space age and these need to be considered and balanced to get the right number of civilisations into the federation.

VERDICT: Enjoyed the hour I played and wanted to keep going, try the next thing. That's always a positive sign.

FINAL WORD: CHECK OUT A PROPER REVIEW

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Forged Battalion

A dull, derivative and thoroughly unlikable RTS. The unit design is tedious, the battles more boring than titles 20 years old. I played this so you don't have to.

VERDICT: Kill it with fire.

FINAL WORD: GARBAGE FIRE

(game link)

Sword of the Stars

An older sci-fi 4X with RTS elements in the battles. Yeah, it was probably cool when it came out, but I don't have time or the inclination to delve into it's complexities when it has been superseded by other, similar games. Galactic Civilizations 3 and Endless Space 2 spring to mind. They're not 1:1 replacements, but hopefully you get the idea. If you loved Sword of the Stars on release you're still going to enjoy it, but if you're new to the market and looking for a good 4X, look at something contemporary instead.

VERDICT: Stale bread. You can eat it, but why bother when there's a whole fresh loaf on the counter. 

Final Word: DON'T BOTHER

2019 Update!

We're back in 2019! Now with many new micro reviews of all the games we get for free/via bundles that we wouldn't normally be interested in but tried anyway. We waded through the filth so you didn't have to.

Sudden Strike 4

It's an Assault Squad 2/Company of Heroes clone. Okay, but not as good as either of the other two (Assault Squad is far better).

VERDICT: It's like playing with off-brand lego.

Final word: DON'T BOTHER UNLESS IT'S CHEAP

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