Yooka-Laylee
Yooka-Laylee notably became famous before it was even released, since it broke a crowdfunding record, and this accomplishment, due to context, was glorious on its own. This is common knowledge to many readers, but just in case, a recap: A bit over 20 years ago Rareware made a series called Banjo-Kazooie that became possibly the most beloved 3D platformers of all time. A third game was announced but due to Rare getting sold to Microsoft, delayed a while, and what people ended up getting was a fairly unrelated vehicle-building game with the Banjo license grafted on; worse still, it’s publicity and script constantly lambasted the original formula as outmoded. The game bombed, many staff left Rare, and this was already karmic, but then the rogues went on to twist the knife by forming Playtonic, launched a Kickstarter promising a new game that brought back the old BK style, and made nearly 2 million pounds in under an hour. As such a huge middle finger to those in Rare who betrayed old fans, Playtonic deserves great applause. By now, though, Kickstarter has become infamous for how making profits from appealing concepts alone allows developers to skimp on their execution, and though not without its good points, Yooka-Laylee continues that trend.
– Real player with 44.4 hrs in game
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Huge, empty worlds that are gorgeous and exciting to explore for the first time, but are painfully tedious to scour for the last few collectables?
Only 5 worlds and a hub, but they’re all unnecessarily massive?
A bunch of annoying physics puzzles, racing challenges, and timers?
Hidden bonus challenges that make you want to tear your hair out?
Wait a minute, this isn’t Banjo-Kazooie. This is Super Mario Sunshine!
Seriously, Yooka-Laylee makes more sense when you look at it as a successor to Sunshine, a game that got just about as much hate as it got love. Like Sunshine, I feel that Yooka-Laylee simultaneously deserves all the love it gets, but also all the hate it gets. I haven’t felt so perfectly ambivalent over a game in a very long time. I had a lot of fun with this game, hence the thumbs-up, but I can perfectly understand why some people don’t like it. If you had a love/hate relationship with Sunshine, you can probably expect to feel exactly the same about Yooka-Laylee.
– Real player with 38.5 hrs in game
Dwarrows
I first found out about Dwarrows by watching YouTube Lets Plays before it was even released. I bought it as soon as it came out (payed full price) and, so far, I am enjoying it just as much as I thought I would. If you play games like My Time in Portia or Ni no Kuni II, then I believe you will love Dwarrows. So what do I like about the game?
Likes
I really enjoy the slightly simplistic styling of the game. It isn’t hyper realistic, but more of a cartoony (is that a word?) feeling, that adds it’s own charm to the game play.
– Real player with 78.9 hrs in game
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Oh my. Dwarrows is a little masterpiece.
Here are some notes on happiness:
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Visual: The wood elves reminded me of Sesame Street characters – a bit of Bert and Ernie and Grover.
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Audio: Enjoyable. :) I liked to run into a group of bluebirds just to hear them tweeting as they scattered. I liked the piped-in suspenseful mini-melodies when I was trying to solve a puzzle.
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Travel: This game handled fast travel really well. Having three characters to port around could have been a hassle, but instead so many workarounds were provided: teleport scrolls in inventory (with options to transport one character or all three), teleport fountains at puzzles (to bring all three to help), and teleport stone rings (for one or three). Plus it was nice to have the three characters spread around the map sometimes – I often left Gloia in town to build, while the other two ran around to explore. Really well done.
– Real player with 76.8 hrs in game
Tower Princess
Once upon a time, in a Far Away Land, an Evil Dragon took prisoner every royal heir he could meet. Lots of worthy suitors of every kingdom tried to face the beast, without success. Now it’s your turn! You’ll have to do your best to beat the dungeon, defeat the dragon, and manage the most perfect date!
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Every run is a unique adventure
A fresh gameplay combination of 3D platforming & roguelite. Choose your knight, invite the princess and take them to the Castle full of procedurally generated dungeons and traps!
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Choose the weapon that suits your playing style!
Take a sharp and mighty sword or a long rifle that allows you to fight from a distance and upgrade it with extra abilities!
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Cheerful & light-hearted atmosphere
Dive into the cheerful atmosphere full of encouragement and support. You don’t have to be a perfect knight to succeed!
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Let not the charming visual style trick you!
The game is inspired by the classic adventure games, 3D platformers and the Dark Souls series and not as casual as it may look at a first glance!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1138650/Tower_Princess/
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A Hat in Time
Favorite game.
I just want to give kudos to Pascal Michael Stiefel for the music and the integration of music into the game.
Different parts of the forest for instance have different themes, and it changes as you move between them. You get a bouncier version if you drive the scooter, but most of all the linear levels have music that escalates as you make it further in the level, and he’s invented a new genre of music, music that makes speed running levels feel satisfying!
11 out of 10.
Also, kudos to the art design. Kudos to the level design.
– Real player with 634.4 hrs in game
Such an incredible and cute game!
When I first started playing A Hat in Time, it kinda threw me back into the PS2 era of epic platformers and stuff - collecting things and reaching the areas as per usual. I really love all the areas and map designs, as well as all the cool characters.
The OST in this game is remarkable and it really just gives you more to the entire level design, y’know good vibes and stuff. Unless you’re like… Somewhere else, eerie place maybe? Everything about this game is so cool and good and it’s super fun to play it with friends. The DLCs are amazing, too!
– Real player with 112.6 hrs in game
AWAY: The Survival Series
I played through the whole story mode, and lemme tell ya it was something. It started off fairly decent, I liked the first few minutes of the game. Then you get to this part with a horde of “black widow spiders” that attack your little squirrel family and you have to fend them off and escort your mom as she just keeps strolling leisurely towards your next destination. This part was a little irritating but you could look past it. Then the bird shows up. A vulture takes your mother and sister and you spend the rest of the game chasing after it.
– Real player with 8.1 hrs in game
UPDATE: Happy to say the latest patch has fixed the performance issues. I am now able to play on Ultra high and the FPS is locked at 62FPS. There is the very odd dip to 60FPS that is noticeable (but that could be the camera).
Now I can play it, I LOVE the ambience, and feel it now showcases what the devs were trying to achieve.
I personally love how Alan (as I have named him) is controlled, and the way he gliders though the air seems very realistic (based on not much experience of sugar gliders and their gliding) and very relaxing.
– Real player with 4.7 hrs in game