CARSTEROIDS

CARSTEROIDS

One of those true hidden gems on Steam, which absolutely deserves more attention.

Real player with 42.0 hrs in game


Read More: Best 1990's Vehicular Combat Games.


Update: The developer has updated to game to address some of my concerns. That is very cool. ‘Easy Mode’ has been added, which is still very hard.

RE: Unapproachable Controls: Slight turns are now possible, and a fun drifting mechanic has been implemented. This is a big help.

RE: Powerups and road hazards look similar. Helpful icons have been added over power ups that help differentiate them from hazaards.

RE: Death walls. The walls of the arena electrocute you, and cause damage to your car. A front end collision with a wall is basically a death sentence. This is still a frustrating way to end a match.

Real player with 2.8 hrs in game

CARSTEROIDS on Steam

Time Loader

Time Loader

A wonderful little game

Not many hours are needed for completion, but the replay value is immense

You control a little robot, sent back in time to save your creator from a debilitating accident

You need to try and remove that which causes the accident to happen

On the way you will need to gather more capabilities

Tighten or remove screws with a screwdriver, or fix electronics with a soldering iron

Also, scattered throughout the game are glyphs, which you will need to collect to unlock the secret ending

Real player with 9.8 hrs in game


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Short but very lovingly designed puzzle platformer with a well-told story. The short duration of the game is not particularly bad, as it is worth playing through the game several times to reach the different endings. The puzzles are clever and playful, but will hardly overwhelm anyone. Some jumps need a bit of timing, but there are hardly any frustrating parts. The controls and the extensions that are gradually being added work flawlessly. Only the grappling hook is a little inaccurate.

Real player with 9.8 hrs in game

Time Loader on Steam

The Last Islands of Man

The Last Islands of Man

I wanted to like this game, but I can’t recommend it in its current state.

I played this game after watching a critique of it and liking the idea of a game which is brutally difficult, time-bound, and allowed for different classes for your own experience. The game is brutally difficult, but not in a fair way, its just blatantly unbalanced at quite a few points. The initial premise is that the world is being overrun in water, and people and monsters are fighting for the last few scraps of land that remain, you as the hero, are trying to find a solution. That said let’s go over the individual points.

Real player with 7.5 hrs in game


Read More: Best 1990's JRPG Games.


The Last Islands of Man on Steam

Creepslore

Creepslore

Welcome to the world of CREEPSLORE, where text shown in all caps means someone is SHOUTING!

Take part in a surreal, interactive arthouse adventure inspired by older Adventure Games mixed with Choose Your Own Adventure books and RPGs. Supported by it’s massive list of (112+!) characters, heartfelt story, and uniquely weird art style, Creepslore is here to make you laugh, cry, and question it’s creators' sanity and overall well being.

The game takes place sometime during the 1970’s, and is told from the point of view of a sarcastic character who gets suckered into an adventure after arriving on a monster filled island. Realizing there’s no way back, he now has to deal with a bunch of intoxicated creatures with idiosyncratic tendencies (ergo: they’re also stupid) who think humans are the de-facto best gourmet food option.

What this game offers:

  • surreal & tongue in cheek humor

  • a story with 5 completely different scenarios (no forced repeats of dialogues to unlock ‘extra’ content!)

  • 18 explorable locations, ranging from cities to swamps

  • more than 110 individual characters

  • pre-rendered backgrounds created in Quake

  • even MORE NUMBERS to grab your attention

  • text, text and some more text

  • a sad fish

What this game DOESN’T offer:

  • saving the world

  • cute anime girls

  • fan-service

  • a happy fish

PS: if you’ve ever wondered why the Giant Spider in Skyrim carries coins, and where the hell it puts them, we’ll, let’s just say we have the answer to that.

Creepslore on Steam

D: The Game

D: The Game

As a fan of the late Kenji Eno (R.I.P) and the now defunct WARP Studios games, I was really happy to see that D (WARP’s first game to be released outside of Japan) is now easily accessible on Steam.

D was originally made for the short lived 3DO in 1995 and was ported to the Sega Staurn, PS1, and MS DOS (which is this version). The gameplay is akin to 1993’s Myst, with the entire game being an fmv. Yet, unlike Myst, everything is fully animated. So if you want to get somewhere, you are going to have to walk there using a pre-set path. It’s kinda slow, but it really helps build the atmosphere.

Real player with 4.8 hrs in game

I own this game on Playstation, 3DO, Saturn and now on Steam, and I don’t regret paying for it again, even though it hasn’t aged well, and even though this is a fairly mediocre DOSBox port.

D is an on-rails horror-suspense game from the 90s. You play as Laura Harris, daughter of Dr. Richter Harris, a famous physician who, for some reason, has suddenly decided to murder everyone in his hospital and disappear inside the building. You have two hours (in real time) to figure out why, with no saving, interactive movie-style.

Real player with 4.1 hrs in game

D: The Game on Steam

Anachronism>

Anachronism>

Detailed review:

This is based on my own opinions.

I will try not talk about the events and details of the story in my review. I think the less you know about it before you start, the more enjoyable it’ll be!

Context:

1. Value for money

2. Gameplay

3. Story

4. Graphics and Art

5. Nice-to-haves

6. Negatives

7. Recommendation to players (+18)

8. Summary

1. Value for money

For the price I payed, I have definitely got my money worth from this game. I have 40+ hours and enjoyed most of the game. I personally think anything below $2 that provides 40+ hours of fun is worth it, for sure!

Real player with 44.3 hrs in game

The game was nostalgic for me. The sounds of the computer, keyboard, floppy disk are sensational and the fact that the game doesn’t have music gives you a very good immersion. The story holds your attention and you want to know all the endings. I loved this game, waiting for the second one already! :D

Real player with 7.8 hrs in game

Anachronism\> on Steam

Kare wa Kanojo

Kare wa Kanojo

i only did the sakura route but i thought it was awesome. It might not be for everybody but its free so you might as well try it. And as u can tell from my name, this was just the game for me.

Real player with 6.8 hrs in game

A very deep and meaningful story, some people are too quick on judging others for being different or what they wish to be. This is a one of a kind story I haven’t found any other visual novel as powerful as this one and I wished it got more recognition.

Great = Soundtrack, take My heart

Real player with 6.5 hrs in game

Kare wa Kanojo on Steam

Prank!

Prank!

I liked this little horror with several endings about guys who joke around a lot.

Jests that give pains are no jests.

Real player with 0.6 hrs in game

This is an amazing game!

Real player with 0.5 hrs in game

Prank! on Steam

Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade

Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade

Great port with one glaring omission: the lack of 4:3 resolution support. Running the game in full screen on my 4:3 monitor results in letterboxed 16:9, which causes two significant issues:

  1. Darius Gaiden cannot be played in true fullscreen at its native aspect ratio. You can either play in stretched letterboxed 16:9, or in letterboxed-and-pillarboxed 4:3. No matter what, it won’t fill the screen.

  2. Multi-monitor mode for the games that support it cannot be correctly lined up and scaled, because the “seams” of the screens don’t correspond with the monitor resolutions. Stretching the game past the internal boundaries of the game resolution just results in the image being cropped, even though there is screen space there; said screen space is just black. I presume this is also an issue on multi-monitor 16:9 displays.

Real player with 6.4 hrs in game

EDIT: It’s been almost a week and nothing regarding possible issues is coming, kinda scared they aren’t saying anything about it, not recommending until they at least give words for the issues on the port (That is, if M2 stops reposting Senjin Aleste Fanart in their goddamn Twitter…)

The price is quite excessive if they don’t fix these issues (It’s 2021, these issues shouldn’t be there in the first place, no, “M2 is not experienced with PC, that’s why BASIC stuff happened” is not an excuse).

Not a perfect port, but it’s been less than 2 days since it was released.

Real player with 5.8 hrs in game

Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade on Steam

Growing Up

Growing Up

Interesting spin on the “visual novel” genre that is lovingly crafted, but has its issues and is not quite as expansive as the store page makes it out to be. Still, considering the price, it is worth it, and given the casual nature and the topic, also suitable for people just interested in trying out this kind of games, or for those who would be turned off by weeb stuff.

Rating: 7/10

As is obvious, the game revolves around growing up and going through all of the early stages of life, and it does a remarkably good job at it too, at times at least. The characters, although in some regards laden with cliches, are fairly well written and I am not ashamed to admit, objectively looking at how I behaved and what I thought as a teenager especially, and what I remember of my friends, this is pretty spot on, lol. Unfortunately, the earlier stages of the game are quite rushed, and they are more of a short tutorial than anything, which is a bit of a wasted oportunity - the game really starts when you reach teen years.

Real player with 38.2 hrs in game

UPDATED REVIEW @ 22 Hrs:

Growing Up is a life simulation that fairly-accurately simulates the experience of growing up in a relatively affluent family in a reasonably well-to-do area of the United States in the mid-to-late 1990s.

I’m a fan of this game for a lot of reasons. The writing is pretty good, and the resource management gameplay is challenging enough to be fun while never feeling unfair or too difficult. The music ranges from unobtrusive to fantastic, and the interface is intuitive; simple without being too stupid (more on this below). If you’re a fan of resource management games, or if you like visual novels and don’t mind some casual gameplay mixed in, this is one to pick up even at full price.

Real player with 31.1 hrs in game

Growing Up on Steam