Gangster Empire: Vendetta
IN A WORD: MAYBE
IN SHORT:
WHAT TO EXPECT: Crime enterprise simulator. Mature themes. Low budget production. Basic graphics and audio. Simplistic, limited gameplay. Good range of random dynamic events provide core strategy depth. Minimal supplemental gameplay mechanics. Very repetitive. Clicker like tempo. Played on fixed-resolution window. No settings apart from muting audio. Singleplayer only.
ACHIEVEMENTS: NONE.
STATUS: COMPLETE. A FEW BUGS. ONE CTD.
– Real player with 13.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Abstract Strategy Games.
Overview
If anyone seeks out REXCurse for an opinion about a gang-themed game (especially a gang-themed game involving management) you know ol' Il Pallino is on the job. With no sort of backstory and a mostly casual experience, Gangster Empire: Vendetta doesn’t have anything in the way of a “vendetta” against anyone or anything. Instead, there’s just turn-based strategy gaming in which the player controls a gang with a maximum of eight people and looks to complete the game by either satisfying requirements for money or reputation. Crimes involve petty theft, violent assaults, hacking, drug dealing, long-term schemes (which can be either violent or non-violent), and good old fashioned legitimate businesses. Sometimes the player may be asked to assign gang members to complete various tasks for outside bosses who provide large amounts of money upon completion and an increase in reputation the player can either hoard in hopes of reaching their overall goal or spend on attacking a rival crime boss who occasionally schemes against the main character’s gang.
– Real player with 8.8 hrs in game
Hot Brass
This game is just lovely.
This does have that SWAT 4 tactical style of gameplay, and it’s a lot of fun, even in solo. The game is very nicely polished and balanced.
While when I first saw the trailer, the icons instead of player sprites seemed a bit of an odd aesthetic choice, I quickly got used to them, and gotta admit that it was an appropriate choice for this kind of game. You get information about your unit and their weapons displayed very neatly and visibly and it puts more emphasis on the actual tactics. The minimalistic design of the game allowed the developers to polish the main gameplay loop to a point where it just… FEELS really good to play.
– Real player with 21.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Abstract Strategy Games.
Most of the complaints about this game seem to revolve around the theme of “This isn’t how I think it should be so it must be bad”. For every complaint I have read, I also see a lack of understanding about a game mechanic or tactics in general. There were a few instances where I had no idea why certain things were happening only to find out there was something about the game that was not specifically addressed in the tutorial or any particular level, so I did not know to look for it. But once I realized what it was (specifically, the icon distinction between holding a weapon and pointing a weapon), I could adjust. I played through the entire game solo with only a handful of trouble spots, so the whole “difficulty is built around multiplayer” argument is completely invalid.
– Real player with 20.3 hrs in game
CrossKrush
It feels satisfying when you blow up them cars……….Totally gotta try it.
– Real player with 6.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Abstract Casual Games.
This is a very fun game, it cheers up! We play as seniors who are compensated by the activity on the motorway roads. Help Henry & Florence regain respect for old age;)
– Real player with 3.0 hrs in game
New Ice York
This game is so much more than I expected it to be. At first, playing it- I was charmed by how weird it was but after playing through it, I found myself feeling connected to this universe and the characters within it. It’s intuitive- familiar, but totally different. Refreshingly fun, and an overall great release by magicdweedo, an artist I’ve really enjoyed since Mealmate™. Make sure to check out the soundtrack, too- it’s really catchy!
– Real player with 8.7 hrs in game
New Ice York has deceptively good writing. The first chapter is unfortunately slow, which is a bad problem for a game of this length to have, but that slowness does its job of lulling you into a familiarity with the characters that it uses as a platform to build off of. NIY unfurls in a way similar to Frog Fractions or magicdweedoo’s last major game, Ticket: breaking its own rules and shuffling weird mechanics around. Where the former games engage themselves in a game of zany one-upsmanship, though, New Ice York’s treatment of mechanics is much more narrative and constrained. Detective has an oblique resemblance to Deadly Premonition’s Francis York Morgan / Twin Peak’s Dale Cooper, and similar to those stories New Ice York’s descent into surrealism takes on a personal significance in the quest of the protagonist.
– Real player with 6.3 hrs in game
Murder Diaries 2
Murder Diaries 2 - with a good plot. Nice graphics and pretty good music. The gameplay is pretty simple, you fly around the white circle and piece together the whole story. The game is addictive. Recommend!
– Real player with 11.7 hrs in game
A very good and beautiful game with its own riddles and mysticism, it makes you think about the plot, it is pleasing to the eyes. It is somewhat reminiscent of an old game from my childhood, which was also about investigations.
– Real player with 11.3 hrs in game
10mg: Sealed Estate
So many nice little details packed together into this micro game, that conveys an excellent and cohesive experience.
– Real player with 4.9 hrs in game
Very weird, creepy, and disturbing. As soon as I got used to what was going on, something new appeared to feel uneasy. Simple yet effective.
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
Mind Shadows
An idea that really needed more work before being put up for sale
Pros:
Decent Scenery
Good use of the environment to provide a tutorial
Interesting concept
Cons:
Game jumps around randomly for no apparent reason from scene to scene
Voice acting needs work
No way of accessing options inside of the game to change, well, anything
Game honestly should have been a free demo or at least early access
Nothing even remotely scary or tension building in the game
No sense of threat or danger in the game
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Tutorial system is integrated very nicely compared with standards in the industry and the first person perspective is lovingly crafted to feel more vulnerable versus float-y. Lighting and visuals are deceptively tailored to always bring paranoia to the player and relies on minimal sound design for effective mood setting. Great for exploration minded gamers.
– Real player with 0.7 hrs in game
Who Killed Mr. White?
Mr. Arthur White is dead.
Who killed him? How? What was the motive?
Who Killed Mr. White? is surreal a turn-based Clue-inspired detective game where you get to solve a murder mystery by interrogating paintings.
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Uncover a short yet riverting mystery
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Interview characters (Sienna Roy, an architect, Patrick Mauve, and Teal Morris)
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Explore the house (investigate the dining room)
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Listen to a great soundtrack
Ring of Fire
Ring of Fire is a detective noir puzzler set in the solarpunk utopia of New London.
You play as Detective Grosvenor, a jaded, middle-aged woman hunting through the still-dark corners of the city in pursuit of a radicalised serial killer.
Using your powers of deduction you must solve the brutally gruesome murders of the Ring of Fire killer. Examine clues, interrogate key suspects, and cross-reference your findings in the police database to uncover the mystery.
SEARCH
Solve the case using text entry, meaning you can’t brute force the puzzle.
INTERVIEW
Push your suspects to the brink through branching cinematic conversations with meaningful consequences.
INVESTIGATE
Explore the 3D crime scene to examine evidence both visually and textually.
Chess Knights: High Noon
Incredible game!! This is definitely the most fun game in the Chess Knights series! I love western movies and this game has the perfect western vibe! In the other games, you could only survive, escapingfrom the enemies, but now you are a badass gunslinger and you only advance if you eliminate all enemies on the level! The puzzle continues with the same quality from Minimol games, but now we have the addition of Duel mode, which forces you to think and act very fast, just like in a real duel! I can’t wait for the full release!
– Real player with 2.9 hrs in game
I really like the games in the Chess Knights series. When I saw this game announced with this theme I confess that I found it unusual.
Well, what I can say is that this game just became my new favorite in the series.
In addition to the game being beautiful like the others, and counting very well elaborated puzzles (ranging from the simplest ones that present the mechanics, to the most challenging ones), the theme was very well implemented, including the duel, which is very well incorporated gameplay dynamics in a way I didn’t imagine for a game inspired by chess.
– Real player with 1.9 hrs in game