Lew Pulsipher’s Doomstar
Doomstar is a nice, space-themed, turn-based casual strategy game with easy graphics and pleasing music, from a friendly dev.
This game was made for pvp, the whole campaing is just a long tutorial, so buy it only if you plan to play it with friends or community members.
The mechanics are partly close to chess - move with one unit at a time on a grid, fleets come out face to face - but it has significant luck factor too. If the opponents dont hesitate too much, a battle isnt longer than 1/2-1 hour, but Doomstar supports Steam Turn Notifications therefore you are able to play it considered and slow.
– Real player with 7.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Abstract Strategy Games.
The game features a small campaign full of unbalanced missions (the AI is given powerful ships in greater quantities), more fair skirmishes against the AI, and asynchronous online multiplayer. Doomstar incorporates the basic game rules of the classic board game Stratego (simple attack ratings, unknown ship attributes until attacked, highest ship number wins) with a reduced number of units for faster gameplay. The goal is to destroy the enemy command ship with any vessel. Mines don’t move but destroy everything except light fighters and carriers. Fighters can move as many spaces as they want across the board. Battle cruisers and dreadnoughts are the most powerful units on the board. Black holes allow units to move multiple spaces in a single turn, and two set of fighters can attack the same enemy in the same turn. The AI is decent enough at the game to provide a good challenge, although online multiplayer is where the true action lies. Fans of Stratego will enjoy Doomstar, but the feature set is fairly basic.
– Real player with 4.5 hrs in game
Beyond Critical
Overview:
Beyond Critical is a sci-fi versus game where players use unique abilities to battle for control over a super massive black hole.
In this game, exploding is the goal, not the end. Players in combat will choose to either grow until they explode or to sacrifice their mass for kinetic projectiles. Players must bend space-time itself in order to win in this unique and chaotic brawler!
Features:
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2 or 4 player versus game play.
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Play as a team or in a free-for-all.
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4 unique ability classes.
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6 different color options for customization and team selection.
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Supports Steam Remote Play Together to battle friends across the globe.
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Beautiful visual effects are complimented by reactive sound design.
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Full controller support and haptic feedback.
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Seamless looping sound track with progressive stages.
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Special ultra-wide monitor support that increases the play space.
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Optimized for high refresh rate gaming.
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Customizable arena configurations for varied gameplay and settings.
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Supports reactive RGB lighting on the PS4 DualShock 4 Controller.
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Can support a single keyboard and mouse pair with up to three extra controllers.
Ability Classes:
Photon
Lots and lots of lasers…Play as Photon and fire massive laser beams that stun enemies right in their tracks.
Electron
Control time itself…Play as Electron and slow down time for your adversaries and take the lead.
Neutrino
Speed is underrated…Play as Neutrino and fuel high reaction speeds with the ability to teleport in a flash.
Gravitron
No obstacle is too big…Play as Gravitron and push every opponent around with massive bursts of gravitational energy.
Details:
Players will battle for control over a super massive black hole. The goal is to stay on the central black hole to collect mass from it while strategically denying opponents access to it. Players must keep opponents at a distance just long enough to reach critical mass and explode, scoring a point for their team. Players have to be careful while in combat, as firing kinetic projectiles sacrifices large quantities of mass in return for larger projectiles. Reaching critical mass is the only way to score, so players should keep an eye out for micro-black holes that will give them a quick boost. The player or team with the most points at the end of the match is declared the winner.
Developer Note: “This was my first release game and senior seminar project. I spent a little over 16 months working on this title in my free time after class and work. All future content will be added to the game as free DLC. Thank you for all of your support. I hope you enjoy playing Beyond Critical with your friends!"
Additional Notice: Beyond Critical has no influence over the connectivity and quality of the Remote Play Together streaming service. We advise that the host be using a wired connection with at least a 15Mbps upload speed or higher to provide a good experience using the Steam service.
Warning: This is a Co-Op only game and is best played with controllers. There is no single player mode. Only one keyboard and mouse combo is possible at a time, if chosen over full controllers.
Read More: Best Abstract Co-op Games.
Construct: Escape the System
It’s a platform game in First person view, so it’s different from what we usually have platformer wise.
If your a platfromer fan you are sure to enjoy this one, it’s different from what we usually experience, but it still is great and thoroughly enjoyable game, do note that the game is fairly simple to play but there is a difficulty spike that will test your patience, but in the end they are all doable, winnable and killable…
The game is beautifully done, the level design, layout, look and feel is very beautiful, a lot of care and attention went into creating a very beautiful and visually appealing game. The accompanying sounds really enhances the overall quality of the game, with a soothing soundtrack to really set the relaxing mood for the game itself, the combination of sounds and visual art really comes together quite well.
– Real player with 38.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Abstract First-Person Games.
First of all let me say that this game will not appeal to everyone!
Now as for the game, the gameplay is nice, first person explorer/puzzle type. It starts off rather blocky as in any touch with a wall/platform/object instantly stops your movement. Once you get used to it, it’s rather fun and smooth.
Lots of areas to explore, Construct HUB, 4 HUBs, 4 System Core Acesses, 4 System Cores and several Ability unlocks. Each is fairly big and you will need to understand the mechanics to progress further.
– Real player with 17.6 hrs in game
Unlock The King 3
So, you haven’t learned your lesson and you’re here for your third outing on Black Friday. Set your watch and hit the panic button, because it’s go time. When the clock strikes midnight and myriads of strangers produce an assortment of cutting utensils—some legal and some not so legal—you realize you goofed, and it’s time to abort for the third time in a row. You shove strangers, but not too many since it’ll make it easier for the devil to follow you. Dodge descending blades, leap over toppled grandmas, and slap on your gravity boots so you can take to the walls and bypass the mob. You now understand the gameplay concept of Unlock the King 3.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
The bugs, poor camera, and annoying 3D boards of Unlock the King 2 are gone, but now the camera is Y-inverted, there are fewer levels, and it feels as though the developer just didn’t care about the quality of the puzzles anymore. So many sections of puzzles, including pieces and buttons, go unused – and not even in a “red herring” manner. They don’t serve to distract or confuse because there’s no reason to consider them.
It’s cheap and I didn’t hate it, but it’s not really worth the time. The first in the trilogy was the best.
– Real player with 2.5 hrs in game
MirrorMoon EP
OK, I bought this game a couple days ago and started by putting a couple hours on it. I made it through Side A (basically the tutorial) and visited a few stars in Side B (the main game). If I had written the review at that point it would have been a fairly negative one. The next day I decided to have another go at it before writing a bad review. My intent was to only play an hour or so… I ended up spending basically the whole day and logged about eight more hours on it, lol. Needless to say, MirrorMoon had really grown on me and I had slowly fallen in love with this game.
– Real player with 22.3 hrs in game
So far, this game looks like it’s going to be one of my favorite games of all time. However, I cannot say that it’s perfect or spectacular without a lot of bias. This game happens to have just about everything I love in a game, so of course I really, REALLY like it, but it is not without faults.
The reason why I like this game so much probably has to do with my favorite attributes to have in a video game. They would be: exploration, puzzles, atmosphere, huge size (why I like games that use procedural generation so much, which this game has) and space.
– Real player with 13.3 hrs in game
Exo One: Prologue
It’s a demo/prologue. Runs/sessions are 7 1/2 minutes each maximum.
If you pause the game and restart the level before that time limit you can keep the game running forever.
Put your own music on with songs less than 7 1/2 minutes and restart after every song and you’ll be at it for a while.
Grab a wireless controller. Get up, move with the ball, qigong it. (somebody else mentioned smoke: Double Plus Recommend for Double Plus Good time)
I have actually played that many hours. (That could be the review itself.)
– Real player with 176.2 hrs in game
Easter egg alert:
! Press the F9 key in-game a couple times, wink wink.
Actual review:
The creativity and absolutely incredible graphics of this game are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It’s one of those demo games you simply must try in order to understand their thrill and appeal. The scattered elements of an intriguing storyline give me hope for a deeper meaning to the game, apart from admirable beauty and fun mechanics. If you’re considering installing this art piece, go for it as soon as possible. I guarantee you, you will not regret it. Kudos to the developers for making such an eye-catching yet undemanding masterpiece, looking forward to the full version.
– Real player with 1.7 hrs in game
Lucent Bounds
As another reviewer mentioned, make sure to read the controls in the menus. There’s was one super useful jump that without knowing it you would struggle very early on.
Reminds me of Refunct (which you should check out) with a splash of Thomas Was Alone and a drop of Mirror’s Edge (one of my favourite games of all time).
Cool concept. Would love to see what the dev could do with a more intricate world or simply just expanded on the idea for the game.
– Real player with 1.7 hrs in game
Chill and challenging. The perfect game to unwind with and level up your platforming skills. Make sure to read the controls on the pause menu.
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
Spreadstorm
Nice puzzle game with interesting concept, mechanics and level design. Supportive developer and achievements are included.
Try for yourself.
– Real player with 29.2 hrs in game
if you like games that leave you to explore and learn by yourself with no explanation then this game is for you. it does not give you any kind of tutorials or hints, you will be like Carl Sagan, solving puzzles without knowing how did you solve it or why stuff happens the way they happen. if you are depressed and want something to do while thinking on ways on how to end it , try this game.
3.5 out of 5
– Real player with 20.6 hrs in game
Star Merchant
Cheaper than a cup of coffee! I’ve been gaming since the early days of home computers - seriously, my first was a TRS-80, so take it from me I’ve seen and played a lot. I had a warm deja vu feeling in the gameplay, and there are certainly similar elements to games I used to play and enjoy like Taipan, and even some elements of Santa Paravia and Fiumaccio. I have over 500 games in my library, but when I come home from work I’m really not interested in something that is going to challenge my speed and reflexes. Instead I want a game I can relax and unwind with over a cup of coffee. Star Merchant is that sort of game. It isn’t overly complex and you won’t need to spend ages learning how to play. While it wouldn’t hurt to make a few notes as you are playing, you can easily play it off the top of your head and do well. The developer has been adding a few features in the short time it’s been released and tweakig some things based on feedback in the forums, so that’s good as well. Just to wrap this up, I’ve noticed some negative feedback saying the game is broken - what a load of nonsense. People, take a look at the requirements for the game, as it is designed for a certain resolution and default font size. I’m running windows 10, and don’t have any problems. Seriously, it’s less than a cup of coffee at the moment. I know I’ve already spent several hours playing it and have my money’s worth.
– Real player with 8.1 hrs in game
Verdict: 3.5/10
I actually regret quite a bit to have to not recommend this game, mainly because it seems to be the labor of an honest, hard working and independent developer. However, that is the way I see it.
First of all, I have to say that despite some negative reviews denouncing this game as broken, I have to say I have not experienced any problems (Windows 10 with two monitors, which usually makes things more challenging).
Now, is Star Merchant a bad game? I do not think so, it is just so INCREDIBLY SIMPLE. As of February 2018 (Patch 1.26 I believe), I cannot really imaging anyone not beating this game, even playing half sleep, half drunk and half stoned (all simultaneously).
– Real player with 7.5 hrs in game
A Forgetful Loop
Pros:
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Simple mechanics that form some surprisingly complex levels
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Writing is better than it has any right to be for a puzzle game
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Music is top notch and rather catchy
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Honestly peak gameflow
Cons:
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Lost track of time during play, which is ironic really
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Existential dread about the nature of quantum mechanics
Disclosure: Was a beta tester for this, but purchased my own copy on release
– Real player with 14.5 hrs in game
This is a great, fast-paced worker assignment puzzle. it’s a lot of fun! As someone who likes time management/cooking games where you have to frantically cook multiple meals at once, I took to A Forgetful Loop immediately. It has a few bugs, which can generally be solved by closing and reopening. The story sections (which are text only) are sad and stressful and sometimes kind of horrifying, but you can skip them if you want to. I reported a bug and the developers were very responsive and nice. I would definitely recommend this game if you like fast paced time-management worker assignment games.
– Real player with 10.3 hrs in game