Operation Deep Magic: Cryptanalysis
Operation Deep Magic is a detail-oriented, decryption simulator for learning how to break codes. Very good trainer. It’s defintely much easier to follow along the concise steps in this simulator than to study articles and textbooks.
I like:
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real code breaking experience and practices
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automatic math explanations for my analytical work
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puzzles that are super hard and also very easy
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all puzzles are real-life communication, math, and computer problems
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real, NSA-approved encryption that is adopted internationally
– Real player with 247.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Abstract Realistic Games.
Let me start off by saying that this is probably one of the most deeply technical games on Steam. The cryptanalysis techniques utilized in this are actual, real-life techniques used in academic cryptography and spy alike.
How do I know this? I’m a cryptographer. :)
By playing this game and learning how these techniques work, you will gain an understanding of how these attacks are performed. If you’re not familiar with the basics of cryptography, this game is likely too difficult for you, but there’s no better time to start than right now,
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
Progress Bar Simulator
5 Minutes “gameplay” but 1000 hours of grinding. There is really no reason to buy this game, since you’re ending up with using autoclickers or some idiotic shit like that anyway at some point.
I get it, this game is a joke. But there is nothing clever about it. No stunning secret or anything that would surprise you. It’s literally just hammering the keyboard to watch loading screens. In fact, it’s a mess. Except for the idea of having loading screens there is not even ONE good idea that went into this game. It’s trash and a waste of time, nothing else.
– Real player with 42.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Abstract Satire Games.
This is a bit of an oddball of a game. The game itself is pressing a button to increment through various historical loading bar screens. If you were born before 1990 you’ll recognize most of them. But to me, past the novelty of running through the progress bars a few times, most of the “game” is meta in order to get the achievements. I ended up using AHK to complete several. Some were through figuring out the console commands or other in-game tricks.
Ultimately I was torn how to rate this game, and gave a thumbs up, but barely. If you were born after 1990, you won’t get half the progress bars most likely, and the game won’t mean as much to you.
– Real player with 24.0 hrs in game
Defentron
Defentron is a pretty relaxing game, despite being a tower defense. The retro look and sound are well done and suitably nostalgic, without needing to rely on gratuitous particle effects, waves, or flashes like some other retro games or genres like to use. The different types of towers all have fun and unique properties, and the enemy variety and additions from stage to stage kept me thinking a good amount, rather than finding one strategy I liked and just using that on everything.
Being able to power up a given turret in a pinch was cool too, but if I have one criticism about that mechanic’s game balance, it’s that it feels necessary to use that function on the basic turrets (at least for the early game), which destroys them afterwards, and it felt like a bit of a waste. That is, instead of trying to plan out placement or turret types to counter different contingencies, I felt like I had to budget my resources to account for “necessary losses” rather than just “acceptable losses,” which made it feel less like a puzzle game at those parts, and more like the traditional gratuitous enemy spam TD games that I don’t like nearly as much as this one.
– Real player with 16.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Abstract Arcade Games.
Defentron is a fun tower defense, and certainly a challenging one. Many levels can really get you stuck until you figure out the right sequence of towers and upgrades to buy, but that difficulty gives the game a lot more longevity and replayability, specially if you are going to try and complete all achievments.
It took me 14 hours to complete everything the game had to offer, which I feel is a good value for the pricetag
– Real player with 15.4 hrs in game
Mr Zig
(Warning: Mr Zig features strong themes of Tobacco and may not be suitable for younger viewers)
Do whatever a Zig can with Mr Zig! A surreal adventure game ripe with dark humour and constantly varied gameplay.
Traverse a strange, warped and crumbling world littered with succulent meats and techno medicine just right for plundering.
Dare you wish to enter a zigs home? perhaps explore a fever dream or two?
Learn the dark secrets of the island and figuire out just what is going on at the abandoned factory.
Mr Zig may cause, but not limited to:
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Bone itchiness
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A fear of bright colours
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Dizzyness
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24 hour cold sweats
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Electronic arm spasms
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Advanced muscle delay
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An obsession for wearing odd boots
Oatmeal
I’ve never felt so deeply invested and emotional about a game about oatmeal. This game made me feel triumph and pain, made me hate space and ice, and I’ve also removed all the oatmeal from my house as a result due to the trauma.
– Real player with 3.8 hrs in game
Perfect in every single possible way, shape, and form known to mankind while also being perfect in ways, shapes, and forms unknown to mankind.
– Real player with 3.5 hrs in game
Terra Incognito - Antarctica 1911
This is a very fun game and for only 3 dollars. Good for if you are stuck at home and need to pass the time.
– Real player with 19.6 hrs in game
Great game. Addictive. You’ll keep coming back to it!
– Real player with 17.9 hrs in game
The Housewife
In The Housewife, you play an abused housewife cleaning the house before the husband comes home. However, the biggest downfall of the game is how it is presented. The ideas are there, but how it is given falls short.
The game is just doing chores, with the story just skin deep. The Housewife would of benefited from a story. How does the family get the house so dirty in one day? How did the dynamic of the husband shift to abuser? Was the husband always an abuser (how long has this been going on)? What are the ‘rules’ the housewife has (there’s only one that is given, never leave the property, or two if you add keep the house clean)? Did the housewife ever fight back? Does the housewife have friends? Why is the front door always open (What’s the point of it if you can’t decide to leave? The husband is never present when you have control. It would be interesting as other games addressed gamers are wired to complete tasks, and this could of played into this)? Is the housewife’s dreams tormenting her, or what? How do the kids play into this? Etc. This would help with us empathizing with the housewife, instead on how frusturating the first chapter can be. A character needs to seem real before we empathize with them, no matter how the message is frequent in society.
– Real player with 3.9 hrs in game
From aptly named developer, “Colossal Wreck” and published by repeat offending crapware shovellers, “Back to Basics”, in terms of gameplay this is a simple sandbox/cleaning simulator not too different mechanically from Viscera: Cleanup Detail, only far worse in quality. Gameplay aside, this is a cheap and morally bankrupt exploitation game hoping to go viral through edgy controversy as you play the role of a victim of domestic abuse.
Domestic abuse is not a joking matter, it’s not something to be taken lightly, and yet here we have “Colossal Wreck” trying to capitalise on it with this lazy low effort $5 cash grab. I’ve seen some very poor quality video games on Steam. Some insultingly, offensively bad. But this is the most disgusting thing I’ve seen, from the most morally bankrupt “developer” ever to disgrace the video game industry.
– Real player with 3.7 hrs in game
Botanik
So it’s a game that on your storepage even admits has 10 minutes of playtime, with the gameplay of watering plants and making a garden, with the core selling point being that you can also see the garden of everyone else that owns the game. How was this not going to turn into a plant graveyard?
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Botanik is an interesting game. You can mainly take care of your plants and visit others gardens, though presumably most people have abandoned their gardens and have left them dead. I wish there was more to do, but is not a bad game at all.
– Real player with 0.7 hrs in game
Fantasy Kingdom Simulator
Nope. Nope nope nope!
Me: Man these reviews are so harsh! There’s no way it’s as bad as the reviews! It’s got medieval econ/sim with 4x builder themes! That’s GREAT! WHAT POTENTIAL!
2 minutes after playing: Wow this is terrible! Not even good terrible! The UI is locked on huge, the only reason it calls itself casual is to make up for being so easy your cat could play it by randomly keysmashing, and the reviews are actually TOO KIND!
1 hour later: omg I still haven’t even unlocked the cards, of course not, what is the point? I’m not even playing anymore, why did I think this would get better, if it didn’t in the first five minutes, and actually somehow managed to slide downhill from there?!
– Real player with 72.9 hrs in game
This is a simple turn based/clicker game where you control a kingdom with 4 cities in it and defend them against random events. Choose where to spend your income each turn on soldiers, buildings, crops, that sort of thing. Basically if you had Medieval Total War, removed all the combat, armies, the map, and just had 4 towns that you micromanaged a little, that would be it. This is basically one of the menus from a different, complete game.
The game doesn’t launch, it just goes into a loop on the first time setup and hangs there. Because the game cannot be played (and probably wouldn’t be worth playing even if you could), I don’t recommend it.
– Real player with 63.2 hrs in game
Overseas
Overseas is an experience. Each of the games that are part of it have their own ambiance and feel. Honestly, the devs could expand on this model into a whole world of worlds that you navigate through.
For the brief moment that Overseas is, it was enjoyable.
A certain rain achievement evaded me until I stumbled across it and was very pleased.
I look forward to if/when the devs make this into a VR adventure, because that would be wicked cool.
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
Being kinda involved in the creation process as a tester and a voluntary assistant it is hard for me to be an objective judge but: 1) what I can say for sure: “Chernodyrsk” is a pure joy, especially for those who speak Russian, well worth the money, 2) “Sacred grove” is a satisfying audio-visual experience, spend more time there than in “Journey”, lol.
– Real player with 0.9 hrs in game