Codename: Terranova
This game is such a hidden gem. I’m not sure what I expected when I paid $24 on an early-access co-op indie puzzle game, and to be honest I was worried it wouldn’t be any good. However, my buddy and I (who usually do such puzzle games together) were VERY pleasantly surprised. It almost felt like “We Were Here” in a way. One player is the Agent, and they’re the player that is required to buy the game. Their role is to move through the train room-by-room and solve puzzles given to them by the Operator, who doesn’t actually need to buy the game, as they use a web application with all the answers. I guess it’s also somewhat similar to “Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes” in that respect. My friend and I haven’t had a chance to finish the game yet, but we’ve both purchased the game and enjoy alternating back and forth between Agent and Operator.
– Real player with 5.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Asynchronous Multiplayer Online Co-Op Games.
This game is a lot like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, but the Operator (the one that isn’t moving around) is able to interact far more with the environment.
For being early access, I feel it’s quite polished in regards to visuals. No texture glitches seen while playing, no physics oddities, very smooth framerate.
In terms of story, I think there’s an overarching story told through the pre-level ‘briefings.’ The story however, seems somewhat fragmented and kind of hard to follow. Certain briefings seem contradictory to later briefings.
– Real player with 5.8 hrs in game
Get Together: A Coop Adventure
At first, I was a bit hesitant due to the art style seeming a bit too ‘happy’ for my taste with the bunny-like characters, but don’t make the same mistake.
Grab a friend partial to puzzles and dive into an interestingly novel gaming adventure. You don’t even need an internet connection - the puzzles are designed so that either of you receives only half of the needed information and you’ll need to communicate in order to get the whole picture and find out what needs doing.
The biggest part of the fun stems from exactly this communication - your imagination running wild trying to describe the mysterious symbols you find on your way and finding out if you both are actually talking about the same thing. Abstract descriptions of geometrical forms suddenly turn into scales that somehow again turn into a mushroom. What bobbles do you want me to touch? Oh yeah, I’ll just stand near the elderly butt, no problem.
– Real player with 4.3 hrs in game
Played through this game with my 10 yr old daughter. Made for some great Daddy/Daughter gaming. It was fun, puzzles were challenging, but not too hard overall. Had to ask Mom for some outside input a coupe times, but we had a great time. Would definitely recommend.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
Clandestine
Clandestine is one of the most underrated stealth games I’ve ever played.
I’ll start with what I don’t like: out of all the things to randomly place they chose collectables you’ll need to upgrade your armory.
The game is coded in Unity, so the facial animations are questionable, and the animations overall are very stiff and the collision detection on the environment isn’t great.
The AI is competent, but not particularly complex since guards won’t notice doors opened or trace left by the player.
– Real player with 61.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Asynchronous Multiplayer Hacking Games.
The quick recap
because who has the time to read my soliloquy
Clandestine is a genius and unforgiving stealth game in which mistakes are lethal. The only way to avoid the mistakes is to have a good friend in the van monitoring you and planning ahead of time. This is a stealth game where non-lethal playthrough is rewarding because the non-lethal options are numerous and cool, whereas the guns are pretty much all the same and do the same thing without much skill needed. No advanced objective requires a kill. You will succeed or fail based on your preparation, co-ordination and skill alone. Exploration is rewarded but not capital.
– Real player with 31.1 hrs in game
Space Food Truck
Mainly writing this because I disagree with what the majority of the negative reviews are saying, as someone who cranked out 40 hours of gameplay (split quite evenly between online and offline play) and who completed games on the hardest difficulty level. While I have ideas on what should contribute to a negative review, which will come later in the review, but let’s start by tackling the points I disagree with in the negative reviews.
I believe RNG gets the majority of the blame because a random event occurs at the beginning of every turn, and at every new planet, so it’s pretty much in your face all the time.
– Real player with 102.9 hrs in game
This game has the potential to be very fun. Myself and a few friends brought it and really enjoyed the game initially. But we quickly realised that this game is too hard, and not even hard in way that challenges you properly. We have been playing on mild difficulty, since the upper difficulty was seemingly impossilbe.
The game is hard beyond the player’s control, since much of the game mechanics are the result RNG. 90% of the RNG is bad! You receive negative effects that can see you wiped out very quickly. For example, we upgraded our shields to the max very early on, but in response, we started taking much more damage from RNG events.
– Real player with 44.7 hrs in game
Slappy Board
SLAP!
It’s your time to shine. Your moment to impress your co-workers. The time is right to give the best presentation of your life… or is it?
Put your reflexes and patience to the test as you go through your presentation slides before time runs out!
Levels are fast-paced, tense, rage-inducing and always full of SLAPS.
Compatible with all major PC VR platforms, including the Valve Index, Oculus Rift (S) / Quest 2 and HTC Vive.
Test the limits of your patience!
Slappy Board is designed to annoy you as much as possible, and leaves it up to you when you decide to go all out! This includes slapping your co-workers or throwing items out of the building to let off a little steam and bring the presentation back on track.
Play a different game every time.
Procedurally generated characters and obstacles with differently timed activations change up the gameplay every time you play.
Every level starts with a brand-new experience where you will try to keep your head cool.
Only one copy of the game needed.
Have a friend join in on the fun using the special spectator cameras. His job is to make your time hell by activating different disturbances that will make you lose your temper.
Axis & Allies 1942 Online
No game has made me hate my friends more……………love it
– Real player with 300.4 hrs in game
Whether it’s nostalgia for the board game, general interest in WWII history, or mere affection for turn based strategy games, you’re going to fall into both love and addiction with Axis & Allies 1942 Online.
– Real player with 44.7 hrs in game
Dominus - Multiplayer Sim Turn Based Strategy
Dominus: collect technologies, troops, and heroes with unique abilities as you build up a powerful tribal civilization and out-think your opponents in 4 player simultaneous-turn-based battles.
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Simple and quick to learn, even if you have no experience in turn-based games
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Set in a lush fantasy world of floating islands, savage tribes and raw elemental magic
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You are the warlord of a tribe bent on survival, expansion and ultimate domination
Revolutionary Simultaneous-turns system:
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All players plan their actions at the same time
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Then watch the results unfold in a cinematic action scene
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Skillful play is about predicting enemy moves and actions
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This leads to a lot of suspense, crazy bluffing and mind games!
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Also makes combat highly skill-based and tactical, without being overly complex
We’re currently in beta, keep track of us on Discord and be the first to find out the exciting features we have planned- taking this insanely fun core gameplay and transforming it into a huge multiplayer world of clans, empires and adventure!
We’re racing to deliver the game on steam as quickly as we can, don’t forget to add us to your wishlist to stay updated!
Mirror Layers
This game does more with the horror genre than just the standard “run/hide from the monster while solving mundane puzzles and piecing together a run-of-the-mill edgy backstory”, and I really appreciate that about it.
I really enjoyed this game a lot, and it was definitely worth the $20. However, it’s not flawless, so I’ll go over the pros and cons (focusing more on the pros to better paint the experience I had with this game).
PROS:
- Most of the puzzles leave you feeling satisfied. There are a few outliers (and I’ll go over those in the CONS section), but the vast majority of them get you thinking about them for a while, before fragmented pieces of information randomly piece together in your head, and you feel this appreciation for the ingenuity of the puzzle-design. Most of the times, all the hints are laid there before you, and there aren’t any red-herrings either. Unlike many riddle-based games, you don’t look back on the puzzle feeling cheated. Enigma 2 was a masterpiece in my opinion, and I’ve seen many other players share the same sentiment. As I’ve said though, there are some outliers.
– Real player with 31.5 hrs in game
(Edit: please play the demo first, it’s standalone from the full game and got different content and puzzles! It’s got its own different experience you’ll love it!)
Playing the game on ps4 controller, thankfully consistent with character movements and item usage and only need to use the mouse for accessing the in-game pc and menu screen.
It’s so good and atmosphere is really scary and the things you find out about apartment 12…
The in-game social media has an interesting checkpoint system where you never see posts from people posting at a later segment in the game so no spoilers from other players who advanced further (there’s a report button if you do find spoilers, but atm, the community is very good at giving tips without giving away the answers)
– Real player with 24.5 hrs in game
Mirador
I’ve logged 30+ hours already and I’ve read many of the other reviews, and the negative ones fail to take into account several things.
First off, this game just launched and they are constantly fixing issues and deploying them. Yes the issues have caused frustration. However, they have solved several so far, including the “standing still” glitch and infinite loading screens. And there are more fixes on the way. This is one of, if not the, best dev team in terms of their relationship with the community, willingness to listen to suggestions, and also fix things in a timely manner. Huge positives.
– Real player with 85.7 hrs in game
I of course made a video review of this game which can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMk91n7rwkU
If you don’t want to watch the video, and would rather read the script, ill just leave it here:
What is up ladies and gentlemen bois and girls, it’s your host Zulo back with another vid, today we will be reviewing Mirador, without further ado lets jump right in
Mirador is a hack-and-slash adventure game in which you can play solo or in a duo squad, and you will face challenging player-created boss fights!
– Real player with 48.6 hrs in game
Frozen Synapse
I’ve bought this game three times now and I’d buy it again if I had more free time. I bought it first as a standalone Linux game. Later I picked up another copy in a bundle that gave me a Steam key for it (it was part of a bundle and there were other games in that bundle I liked, but having a copy of Frozen Synapse on Steam was the sweetener that sealed the deal for me) and I subsequently bought it for Android because I couldn’t get enough of it.
My biggest problem with this game is it plays to my own desire to optimize and speculate on what my opponent is going to do in a turn-based strategy game. The core mechanic tends to lead me to a decision-paralysis. And I love the game intensely for it.
– Real player with 601.6 hrs in game
I love it when a plan comes together, and Frozen Synapse is my favourite turn-based game.
It’s similar to ground operations of X-COM, for example, but in a purer, simpler form. There’s no base management, inventory, RPG elements. All units of the same type have identical stats. And, unlike X-COM, RNG does not make much of an impact on outcomes of firefights, if any. The typical ‘chance to hit’ mechanic is replaced with ‘time to hit’. If enemy unit is in cover, your unit will need more time to hit him; if enemy units runs into your stationary unit, your unit will shoot first because he had a bonus to this timer, and the enemy had a penalty for running. Thus, if you can predict what your opponent is about to do, you can be 100% sure what will happen when they encounter one of your units. If.
– Real player with 93.5 hrs in game