Exoplanet: First Contact
UPDATE below the original review, 23+ hours in the game
I currently have close to 9.4 hours in the game, and I’m at the current ‘end.’ As such, I’ll provide my thoughts thus far:
1st question most ask, is it worth buying? In its current state, at 10 hours of gameplay, that’s a tough sell, but having a chance to perhaps have some input on how the final product turns out may be the tipping point for some.
I’ve had fun. I’ve thought about this game between sessions, which is usually a good indicator that it’s interesting enough, even in its current Alpha state, to keep me guessing. I really hope this winds up as a completed project (have seen a few Alphas sputter and die, let this not be one!)
– Real player with 23.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Choices Matter Sci-fi Games.
What if Firefly and Mad Max had a Western themed love child…?
Add in a healthy dollop of Fallout and you’d be looking at Exoplanet: First Contact a real find for those of you lucky enough to stumble across it’s store page.
At the moment - Update 7, mid Jan 2018 - sadly almost nobody has heard of this early access gem. This game is a serious sleeper. It’s a clever, novel concept, the gameplay and the story suck you in from the beginning. I’ve seen criticism of the graphics in other reviews but I guess that was prior to the last update because the desert looks great to me.
– Real player with 12.7 hrs in game
PolyCore Defense
PolyCore Defense is an intense 3D tower defense game that will give you loads of strategic fun!
Build the perfect defense
Use your imagination to build an effective line of defense against waves of enemies with increasing difficulty. Pick and place turrets from your arsenal. Upgrade turrets with modules that enhance them with unique effects. Activate abilities in clutch situations or when you need a little defensive boost.
Lots of content to unlock
Unlock a variety of levels, turrets, modules, and abilities. If you are up for a challenge, try to complete a level without the core losing any health for bonus rewards.
Features
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Strategic gameplay
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Lots of unique turrets
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Loads of modules to install that enhances turrets in unique ways
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Activatable and unlockable abilities
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Steam Achievements
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Challenging levels
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Charming art style
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Easy to learn, hard to master
Up for the challenge? Get in there and defend your core!
Read More: Best Choices Matter Replay Value Games.
Revolution: Path of a Weaponsmith
Alternate History
It is 1989, due to a breakthrough success of the so-called Star Wars space defense program the United States has become a sole state entirely protected from a nuclear weapon attack. Its influence has since spread over most of the world through both diplomatic and military measures.
USSR weakened by a devastating defeat in the Afghan War has been swiftly overtaken. Many large cities lie in ruin, others are being controlled by the US military forces. While the occupants are establishing control over the new territories rebels are gaining more and more members each day, many of whom have combat experience.
You play as a scavenger-trader whose main source of income is to search remnants of your home-town for provisions, valuables and sometimes even weapons. Sell your findings to make sure that your loved ones are kept safe.
Stealth-action
The town is being overrun by military, bandits, and rebels. You are often outgunned and outnumbered so direct confrontation can often be deadly. Use stealth and explosives to turn the odds back in your favor. Gather supporters to help you or force enemy factions to fight each other making a room for your next move.
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Disguises - got a clean kill on a guard? Take his uniform and try to look as if you know what you are doing, most of his colleagues will not pay too much attention to you. But beware, higher-ranking officers can notice even the smallest mistakes in your disguise and become suspicious.
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Weapon visibility - civilians can’t carry visible weapons, but you can still have a pistol hidden. Or you can just fold your AKMS and hide it in your backpack to take it out when it is time for a more radical approach.
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Visibility - people will have a much harder time noticing you in complete darkness, choose your path carefully or just get rid of those pesky lightbulbs.
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Noise cover - guards will investigate suspicious noises unless of course there is heavy machinery working nearby that will cover that silenced shot sound. Pay attention to your environment and use it to your advantage.
Inventory Management
Food and medical supplies are scarce and hard to find. You will have to look around abandoned and demolished city buildings to scavenge for valuables and provisions. Or you can target some of the better-protected gang or even military warehouses. Alternatively, there is always an option of taking things you want from other survivors by force. The choice is all yours as well as the consequences.
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Loot - search the houses and enemy corpses for useful stuff. Some things you will be able to use directly, others can be traded for what you need.
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Backpacks - equip larger backpacks to be able to carry more, but be careful not to overexert yourself, too much weight would slow you down and make you get tired quickly.
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Gear - want to see in the dark? Get night-vision goggles and take them on, but watch out as they will make you look suspicious.
AI
The world of Revolution is filled with different people: bandits, USSR and US civilians, US military and rebels and honestly they don’t get along too good. Firefights between factions are happening pretty often and sometimes even civilians can pick up a dropped weapon to join one of the sides.
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Factions - members of rival factions would be hostile to each, that is when they identify each other as enemies which is done by judging clothes and also a location at which they meet.
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Civilians will usually run away at the sounds of shots, but sometimes they can join
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No seeing you through the booshes - don’t you just hate it when an enemy is somewhere behind the bushes where you can’t see them but apparently sees you well and can shoot right through, well not here!
Difficult Choices
You will face hard choices every step of the way. Do I help the rebels or the occupants? Do I trade or take by force? Does this family deserve to survive, or do my people need their supplies more? Every choice you make will have a varying impact on the world around you, but remember not everything is as it seems and more often than not you will have to choose the lesser evil.
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Story - become part of the epic story in which you will have to make hard choices between sides where black and white are hard to tell apart.
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Branching dialogues - choose what you say careful, choices in the dialogues matter just as much. In many situations fight can be made easier or avoided if you talk to the right people
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Characters - communicate with many different characters each having its own personality and preferences.
Octavian
Overview
Octavian is a procedural generated, platforming, twin-stick looter-shooter. Explore the galaxy with your crew of smugglers to solve mysteries, fight disgusting aliens, explore dungeons, and find exciting loot.
Classes
Choose from three classes (Commando, Assassin, or Engineer) and create your alien smuggler. Use procedurally generated guns, and other equipment to advance your skills as well.
Enemies
Within the depths of the many dungeons, there are dozen’s of horrid monstrosities to discover. These include procedural mini-bosses. The weapons and equipment you use will need to be carefully selected for different enemy types.
Familiars
Raise a cute little creature to defend you or obliterate your enemies with no mercy.
Universe
The Vectordic Union is a galactic government that presides over the majority of the Milky-Way galaxy. In the year 2386, following the genocide of the human race, the many other species became divided without any form of central governance. Douglas Simmons, a general in the Giraffe army, took charge of the galaxy by creating the Vectordic Union.
President Douglas Simmons, in his inagural address to the people of Milky-Way, famously said:
Eh yo man does anyone have some paper with which I could roll this plant matter into a cylindrical vessel?
Ever since this day, the galaxy’s primary social classes have become further and further apart, leading to an insanely profitable small set of corporate overlords. Current President Darnel Simmons has gone missing, and the balance of power is teetering for the first time in almost a hundred years. As part of a band of smugglers aboard a rickety nuclear-powered starship, an unbelievable mystery unfolds.
More lore can be found on our website as well.
Godlike
Pointless wouldn’t play if it was free
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
The game makes little sense , most of the time i die after a couple of clicks on random events
i once raided another settelment , got ripped in two
it took me a few minutes of gameplay to even understand that i can click on different houses in the settelment to make changes and hire men
its just not fun for me , it doesn’t cost much so if you want , give it a shoot , i did (still not for me)
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
Mech Farmer
Mech Farmer is a story driven farming RPG set on a terraformed world where you must provide the colonists with food, help them achieve their life goals and protect them from hostile alien monsters - amongst other things…
Howdy! Soon your ship will land in Moonshine Gulch and you’ll assume the exciting role of MECH FARMER. The colony was established to extract precious minerals from below the planet’s surface - some people say the heavy machinery used is aggravating the local fauna and causing attacks but that’s not gonna get in the way of profits! Besides, you’ll have a mini-gun on your left arm, a flamethrower on your right and rocket launchers sitting on top of that 20 ton mech of yours, so quit ya belly achin'! Just keep the colonists fed and alive, OK? And don’t be putting crazy notions in their heads, like the company is only interested in money and doesn’t care about them - we don’t want a rebellion on our hands, do we?!
FEATURES
Farmin'
Full day/night seasonal cycle with over a dozen crops with different requirements. Deliver basic crops to each settlement or use them to create hearty meals that will be greatly appreciated.
Fightin'
Pilot a customisable mech. Quickly switch between the tools needed for farming (Plow, Seeder, Harvester etc.) and equip your weapon systems if necessary. Change mech components for greater speed, armour or power - and throw a splash of paint on whilst you’re at it.
Livin'
The colony of Moonshine Gulch consists of five settlements, each home to a variety of colonists that will require your help in various ways. Perhaps a recent widower will ask you to take her son fishing? The saloon owner may need you to help in the production of her patented NovaCorn moonshine? The scientist may require you to capture a large, ferocious alien bug? The more you help the people, the more they will trust you and bestow certain benefits upon you - perhaps you may even find love…
Choosin'
Your actions will have consequences. Some may be fairly minor, perhaps somebody may be a little upset. Others will have major ramifications. Families may be torn apart, people may leave the colony - some may even die. Your choices matter.
Playin'
You have a job to do, sure - but that doesn’t mean you won’t have time for fun! Equip your laser harpoon for some fast paced fishing, take pictures of the more docile local fauna as you fill out your collection and if you’re lucky enough to be given a FarmBoy - collect and play arcade classics at anytime!
Fastest Hands In The WASD
Really nice simple idle with good mechanics.
The devs are also really nice and every problem I had they fixed!
The prestige system is painless and you can see the benefits quickly.
The clothes are silly and the skins on the weapons look nice (wish there were more!)
The pets are also pure RNG and are a nice little sink to put extra plats into hoping for the best.
I was playing before they added most of these elements and each one has blended in well.
I liked the first version and have had it open since!
– Real player with 1449.7 hrs in game
TLDR - Worth the money for the idle mode, and the idle mode is very good! Other sections of the game are fun for a bit but unpolished. Keep in mind this review was made during Patch 11 so things will undoubtedly change.
Idle mode is great, and is one of the best idlers I’ve ever played no doubt. There’s enough content and fun references to keep you entertained for as long or as little as you want. The animations are fun and clever; the weapons, elements, critical system, and hats are very interesting too. If I had to make one critique here I’d say the pacing is a bit off; it starts out sluggish for the first 15ish waves (can be skipped after getting an in-game upgrade) and then by the time you’ve got your fifth or sixth gold hat you literally can’t click fast enough to spend the silver you’ve accrued. After your 50th prestige it is a racing game for how fast you can click, and you won’t spend your money before it’s time to prestige again.
– Real player with 152.4 hrs in game
Quasar
As species.
We always needed a story to believe in
We need a hero to prevail
We need a challenge we can overcome
We need a tragedy to make us one
In the year 2056, the land was facing various problems with overpopulation and hunger.
Technology has evolved in a way that our civilization has already reached the stars, but despite having evolved a lot, we still lacks an energy base that would allow humanity to reach a new level of evolution, as well as being able to explore other solar systems.
Demons Ate My Neighbors!
1991 — it seems like any other sweltering July in the sleepy suburbs of Fairweather Valley…until a cursed VHS unleashes untold horrors upon the neighborhood, turns the residents evil, and generally makes April & Joey’s summer a total bummer. Our heroes must exorcise their neighbors from hell, fight their way back to the haunted High School and rewind their summer to save the world!
Evoking moody ‘80s / ‘90s teen-horror with Saturday morning cartoons and a manic, humorous tone, Demons Ate My Neighbors! honors ‘90s co-op classics as only an unofficial SPIRITual sequel could.
FEATURES
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Two heads are better than dead - Team up in local co-op, then pump, refill, and spill ‘em all with Splasha squirt guns, loaded with an infinite supply of holy water. Don’t worry about death - with infinite timelines, another April & Joey are ready to DAMN! or DELIVER all over again.
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Customizable and Upgradeable Splashas - Pump past the limit with Overpump and unleash holy hydro hell. Swap & pop Nozzles to drench demons with different shots, effects, and Overblasts - then upgrade the Splasha’s stats with Nitro Splashtanks found throughout the ‘burbs of Fairweather.
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Interactive, Procedural Environments - Knock over mailboxes, trashcans, and more to find household weapons that exploit monster weaknesses. Freeze Zombos, zap Zaplings and vaporize Vampunks with Garlic Pizza.
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Collect VHS tokens from Boss Demons- Unlock new permanent meta upgrades in The Hideout
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**Getting lost finding possessed citizens in procedurally-generated levels? **Not with the radical Radar Radio called the RadWatch. Level it up by slaying monsters to boost its range and ability to find survivors.
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Citizens can Tune-Out! - and transform to climactic combat challenges where one of three choices must be made: DAMN, DELIVER, or DIE. Be kind and rewind by draining their recharging stamina with a Holy Hi-Fi arsenal to DELIVER them from evil, or blast through with Lethal Lo-Fi weaponry to let them stay DAMNED.
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Yo! 16-bit characters feel right at home in this ever-changing top-down 3D world of nightmare nostalgia featuring a funky, thrilling dynamic soundtrack by Sonic Mania veteran Tee Lopes, Varien, Nice Legs, and Papoose!
The Light of the Darkness
THE LIGHT OF THE DARKNESS is a Metroidvania game inspired by the beloved classics. Explore the Lands of Oblivion, a cursed place between the worlds of Light and Darkness. Play as the first and unique hybrid, a creature of both worlds, yet bound to neither. Survive the hatred of the Pales and the Darks. Delve into a world filled with rich storytelling and an intriguing, original history.
Setting
“Ophelos: the world of Light, Zigardth: the world of Darkness and the Lands of Oblivion."
Long ago, a world divided between Light and Darkness emerged. Pales and Darks blinked into existence. Despite their world split in two by a cataclysmic event, it did not take long for the two societies to discover each other. War followed, fueled by the prejudice between them.
In a dark pit in a cursed land, a strange creature rises from a pile of corpses with no memories or knowledge about himself or the world around him. He is the first and only of his kind; a hybrid, with essences of Light and Dark. As soon he appears, the Pales and the Darks reject him for his nature, forcing him to face alone the dangers of those lands.
Follow this hybrid’s journey through the madness of war. Discover with him the strange nature of the world and its inhabitants. Help him on his journey to unite two clashing cultures, and learn the intriguing truth of his origin.
Caracteristics
- Episodic Metroidvania: Elaborate level design that encourages exploration and evolution of skills in an engaging manner.
- Essence Absorption: Absorb essences from other beings, allowing the player to gain strength, abilities. Discover a diverse combination of elements, natures, and personas that can be merged into a multitude of spell variants.
- Equipment, weapons, and more!: Access an arsenal of equipment and weapons, each with their own attributes, abilities and attack patterns.
- Immersive visuals: Cutting-edge 3D graphics with a dark, realistic style, different environments, and dynamic lighting. Encounter beautifully detailed models and environments with a fine tuned, intuitive interface.
- An epic tale: Immerse yourself in The Lands of Oblivion and unearth a mysterious world of mystical elements. Learn the rich history of the Pales and the Darks and what has led to their violent conflict. Play as the amnesic hybrid and collect clues and memories through flashbacks. Discover his mysterious past and what awaits him in his legendary saga.
