Memory’s Dogma CODE:01
So, imagine you see a luscious, appetizing cake, copious amounts of fluffy white cream topped with a juicy, plump strawberry beckoning you to taste it. You take a knife, cut yourself a slice, and lo and behold, to your delight, you see a layer of chocolate cream sandwiched between the two layers of sponge cake making up the treat. Mouth watering, you spear a piece on a fork, carry it to your mouth, anticipating the sweetness about to bloom on your tongue, only to discover the chocolate cream is, in fact, dog shit, what you thought was sponge cake is just regular dish-scrubbing sponge, and the strawberry is plastic. The whipped cream is the real deal, but will that make you feel any better? Memory’s Dogma is in fact just that: an attempt to pass a pile of garbage off as something appealing, at least outwardly. The core of it is completely rotten though.
– Real player with 56.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Crowdfunded Choices Matter Games.
Short story, most people will be able to complete it within 2-3 hours or less.
The story is actually rather generic anime plot and predictable, but I still enjoyed the content nevertheless. Just come in with low expectations and have the characters, environment, and music immerse you, since those are the selling points rather than the story itself. Art and CG is very good.
However, there’s a particular scene (actually, a character) that didn’t make any sense to me. Felt it was extremely forced drama. But if I rambled on about this character or this scene in particular, it would be spoilers. This character’s motivations are basically illogical and the story doesn’t give them a chance to redeem themselves and the point of this scene. Felt like it was just there to create some delusional pain or attempt to frighten the audience, but it didn’t quite work on me. This scene could’ve been much better but they failed to execute.
– Real player with 16.1 hrs in game
The Mims Beginning
The Mims Beginning Review
The Mims Beginning is a breath of fresh air in an increasingly stagnate gaming pool. At first glance, the game may look light and simple but very quickly you begin to see that this is a deep, well-designed strategy/god-mode game. The graphics are very detailed, the artwork is beautiful, the mechanics are flawless. If you think that because its a god-mode strategy game that it will be boring, then guess again. There is plenty of action/activities to keep you busy without having to micro-manage your units and economy. Research will increase the options and powers available during gameplay while continuing to upgrade and expand your alien colony. For any strategy gaming fan, I strongly recommend picking this game up. Most games are only moderately worth their sale prices, especially indie games. But this game is well worth the full price.
– Real player with 196.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Crowdfunded Fantasy Games.
The Mims Beginning
DISCLAIMER: I received this product for no cost for the purpose of reviewing. However, this does not affect my views and opinions of the game.
The Mims Beginning reminds me a lot of the game “Spore”, mostly because of the art-style, but also because they’re both game about managing a tribe of alien lifeforms to complete certain goals. I won’t reveal too much about the story but basically you are a god of some-sort going from island to island, creating living conditions, protection and technology for the lost Mims. You, as the god, have various powers and abilities to aid the Mims as well. Like most real time strategy god games, The Mims Beginning has other elements implemented into game like structure/city building, unit and resource management, as well as upgrading buildings and units. There are two game modes, the campaign and survival.
– Real player with 15.6 hrs in game
WORLD END ECONOMiCA episode.01
World End ECONOMiCA Ep.1
Genre: VN - Visal Novel/Reading Storytelling
Rating:
Gameplay:
Having played several other VNs where the player can choose the fate and ending of the story, this one is compleatly linear. No gameplay at all. If you were looking for action or plot twists, look away, you will be reading a lot.
Rating - 8/10
Other - 5/10
Graphics:
Grahpics are okish, capped normally at 1024 x 600 and fullscreened with little damage to the image of the storyplay. Anime style is a diffrence from S&W, more bold and less simple.
– Real player with 29.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Crowdfunded Linear Games.
Summery: A short Kinetic Novel (~10 hours) with mediocre content, but poor execution.
Story: 5 / 10
The story is about a runaway kid which does stock-trading on the moon. The futuristic moon colony setting isn’t really that necessary and I found myself doubting the correctness of the technical explanations on several occasions. There is still two episodes remaining, but as of right now it would probably have been better without the sci-fi setting.
One thing I loved about Spice and Wolf is that it presented trading and economic subjects in way which made them interesting. This was not the case with World End Economica 01, I found most of the stock-trading to be pretty boring.
– Real player with 16.1 hrs in game
WORLD END ECONOMiCA episode.03
And finally, number three in the WEE series. The story here is another four years on from the previous episode (why four again? They seem to like the number four). This time, we are playing financial lecture with romantic subplot. Hal makes a big bet, wins big, things turn to crap and he chases after the girl he loves and we get a nice, happy, romantic ending. But, they really went full on this time with explaining how things work and even give definitions for some of the terms used. Why they didn’t do that from episode one, I will never know. On top of that, they even give diagrams to show how some things work. Diagrams that simplify or break down how some of these investments work. Diagrams. DIAGRAMS. To me, putting diagrams in was wholly unnecessary because reading this you need at least a basic understanding of how these things work and because this is number three in the series, and you have almost certainly read one and two, I feel like everyone reading this has that.
– Real player with 29.9 hrs in game
World End Economica. An epic tale about greed, dreams, and moon stocks. Set four years after the second game this story concludes the series in one hell of beautiful finale.
First off, if you’re here to check out whether or not this trilogy is worth getting, YES. ABSOLUTELY. This series is great with each installment being an improvement over the previous which were already good and great games, respectively, in their own right. Be warned though, there’s a lot of economics terminology that may fly over your head, but even if you don’t understand a lot of the terms the underlying story is always easy enough to follow that it shouldn’t be a real issue. In fact, it may even interest you. At the very least you’re bound to learn something about stocks and the economy.
– Real player with 16.3 hrs in game
WORLD END ECONOMiCA episode.02
World End Economica 2. Even though my recommendation wasn’t exactly glowing for the previous one, I would definitely recommend this one if you made it through the first. In my honest opinion, it was definitely better than the first.
The story this time around is four years on from the end of WEE episode 1 and is still economics based but the plots shift a bit. He is no longer making money for the sake of some ludicrous dream. In fact, he is no longer making much money at all. He and some Swiss (?) noble attempt to fight the corrupt giants of the financial world and a romantic sub-plot creeps in. He is stuck in a love polygon between several girls (yes this is a visual novel) but, this being WEE you do not get a choice in the matter. Fighting for justice is not simple and Haru (this translation team changed his name from Hal) must learn this while walking the razor’s edge and not lose sight of what really matters.
– Real player with 21.9 hrs in game
Took five hours to burn through the entire thing in one shot.
If your think 13 bucks is worth five hours of reading, then buy this. ‘Cause it’s amazing. The game is full of references to the first game though, so if you haven’t played or read that, you’re probably going to be pretty lost for the first hour or so, upon which the information is reiterated so many times that you can probably piece together even if you didn’t know that yes, there was a WORLD END ECONOMiCA episode.1 even though this is episode.2. Really, if you’ve played one, then you might find the constant reminders irritating. I sure did after, what, the twentieth time?
– Real player with 13.1 hrs in game
HARDCORE MECHA
I adore this game. I grew up playing Metal Warriors and Assault Suits Valken with my older brother, and have had a soft spot for the 2d mecha platformer genre ever since as a result. The asking price is reasonable for the single player content alone, in that it rivals Valken, Leynos, Gunhound etc, and may possibly be my favorite thus.
There are some hidden weapons blueprints in the levels, and sidequest type achievements to bring completionists back for a second playthrough. I was at first worried a bit by the lack of difficulty settings, but the game provides an adequate challenge and feeling of badassery on the first run worthy of its spiritual predecessors. You’ll be OP in the earlier stages of a second run by retaining your end game stats/equipment, but more significantly by having mastered the skills necessary to beat the game at all..
– Real player with 72.9 hrs in game
Time for a review after finishing the game! I do a Single and Multi Part. Not too long though. Oh and how it feels.
People who say it feels clunky and such. They just can’t handle high mobility games. Hardcore Mecha gives you a lot of movement options which can be used to dodge or go in close for melee attacks. It feels fluid to me and a great experience controlling the Thunderbolt S. The rest comes in the Multi part.
Single Mode:
The Story is the usual Mecha? Not really when thought about it. There is the usual Fight against the other Organization but you belong to a team of Mercenarys. Which already changes a lot. You only do your Mission and help others if you want to. Or want them Credits… The Bosses are great even if sometimes underwhemling… Like the Final Boss. Should have been way more space and fighting room. And kinda anti-climatic. But still fun to fight! Like against the Crimson Flame which is difficult for a first timer for sure. It’s Melee focus and speed. The rest of the Single mode, when Arcade and such is missing for now. Is still a great experience. I still didn’t find every blueprint either! Gotta get to that. Everthing else. Great. Enemies are never cheaply placed. Even if it feels like that at once. They are never.
– Real player with 32.5 hrs in game
Guard Duty
Did not enjoy the gameplay even for a moment. Pains me to say it, because the graphics and animation were superb. The story was forgettable (I spent the first hour looking for my pants), and the voice acting was just okay (though plentiful).
Besides the fact that I was never invested in the story or the characters, this point and click adventure used a bunch of gameplay conventions that drove me crazy. Sometimes, there will be a scene where the landscape extends past the monitor, which is only visible by first walking to the boarder. Then, there would be scenes where items were inaccessible until something else happened, but there were no indicators that there were a new object hotspot. And lastly, the interaction of objects was not consistent, even the same object might be inaccessible at one time then be able to be pushed a few moments later.
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game
The adventure game genre seems a little oversaturated with somber detective stories. As much as I enjoy those, I love nothing more than some good laughs, some vibrant colors - and I’m a sucker for cartoons! Guard Duty fills that void on all counts.
It harkens back to gems of lo-res point&click comedy such as Simon the Sorcerer or Discworld. It’s got that lively, colorful, cartoony art and animation that’s just joy to these tired eyes. It’s crisp & elegant, with a well-chosen palette. Story-wise it might also remind you of the classic Discworld - as you assume the role of a member of the town guard. There’s magic, orcs and monsters, too! And time travel! If you enjoyed Sir Terry’s imaginative worlds (both the fantastic and the earlier sci-fi) & his sharp wit, you’ll be right at home - like in the novels, the main goal is simple: “Save the princess. Save the world”, but what elevates it is the characters, the interactions, and the humor. There’s some genuinely endearing slapstick, a few nods to the genre classics (concentrated in one spot mostly), but my favorite was the multi-layered bits, saturated with meta relating to modern culture, and even gaming. On the flipside - the game gets significantly darker when the main antagonist surfaces. Tondbert only gets glimpses of this dark side - but then, in the last act, we are transported into a bleak neon-lit future. Think Blade Runner or Terminator. It still manages to throw in a few jokes, and there’s your token geeky hacker girl to lighten up the mood - but other than that, it’s pretty straightforward sci-fi/cyberpunk. This bit feels shorter - with not much world to explore - but it makes sense. For one, given the situation, the world of the future wouldn’t be very lively & interesting to just roam around. Two: there’s been enough build-up, time for some decissive action!
– Real player with 9.2 hrs in game
DRONE The Game
One hell of a game. Although still a prototype, I think you’ll enjoy the public release. I was a backer for this project and I can say that the money I spent was more than worth it. If you paid mind to the game’s info, you likely saw the 12 backer tiers. I started out at Tier 2 (“Traveler”) when I first heard of the game. When they released the multiplayer demos I couldn’t wait, so I bumped up to Tier 3 (“Explorer”) a few months later. Last year I decided to upgrade to Tier 4 (“Operator”), and as of 2 July 2019 I ended up upgrading to Tier 5 (“Engineer”) because this game really has turned out so well. If you needed proof for how much these guys delivered, here you go.
– Real player with 51.3 hrs in game
This game showed significant promise in its early stages, and the main draw for me was being able to build and fly my own little fighting drones in the editor - with the hope of eventually being able to create land-based units with tank treads or mechanical legs.
However, development on this title unfortunately seems to have slowed to a complete halt: there hasn’t been an update, not even a bugfix, in over a year, and there’s been no word on how development is progressing in about 6 months.
They succeeded in their promise of delivering a functional drone editor, but even then a good portion of its features and place-able parts are unfinished, and at the moment users are restricted to basic cubes which they can cut into other shapes, as opposed to the totally freeform shapes seen in prebuilt designs. There’s also the slight issue of players being able to min-max their builds to obscene effectiveness by just putting a bunch of wings or something.
– Real player with 37.9 hrs in game
Muv-Luv (マブラヴ)
This is two games in one: Muv-Luv Extra, and Muv-Luv Unlimited.
Review for Muv-Luv Extra:
Main Character Density:
[x] Black hole
Girl can kiss the the MC on the lips and he’ll be like “What did she mean by that? What game is she playing?” and I feel the urge to bash my head into a hard surface.
Graphics:
[x] serviceable to good (for a VN) Expressive animation and movement, at least considering when this game came out.
Story:
[x] slice of life
[x] comedy
[x] harem
Main character has a superpower, in that he can say things that would get most of us slapped, and instead he gets rewarded with the heart of the girl he is trying to annoy. MC is a slob, a flake, a dork, pathetic, selfish, jealous, and infuriatingly stupid at times. But he has flashes of insight and self-awareness that make seeing the world from his perspective bearable. I found him quite annoying at times and wanted the girls to reject him to teach his sorry arse a lesson. There is some meta-commentary in the game about this, so the writing has some self-awareness that it’s a dating sim, but not overly so. The only romance I was rooting for was the main route, with Kagami, the girl next door. I fear for her in the next game, because I don’t see her on the cover art for the second title, even though she’s the #1 featured girl on the first title. Please… survive Kagami. I fear what lies ahead in Unlimited. Hopefully the MC is less hateable and I’m not rooting for him to lose.
– Real player with 118.7 hrs in game
It is very hard to judge just the first 2 out of 3 parts of this epic saga. Because while Muv-Luv Extra and Muv-Luv Unlimited are nice games on their own you will have no idea of what’s coming for you in Muv-Luv Alternative which is the last installment.
I think there is no other option than to complete the trilogy to realize just how important these first 2 installments are for the story. It neither makes sense to start with and just read Muv-Luv Alternative nor to stop after these two.
That said I will still try to look at Muv-Luv Extra first, then Muv-Luv Unlimited.
– Real player with 76.4 hrs in game
Root Double -Before Crime * After Days- Xtend Edition
Short review:
Having played Root Double, I’d easily recommend this to any visual novel fan, especially those looking for a story filled with mystery, suspense and a strong cast of characters. Not only is the story filled with many heart-pounding and emotional moments from start to finish, but the world, story and characters are all extremely fleshed out and detailed while remaining coherent, and are all tied together by the end to make for one of the most satisfying and ‘complete’ stories I’ve experienced. It’s easily one of my favorite visual novels, and my current favorite game on Steam.
– Real player with 107.7 hrs in game
Root Double: Before Crime * After Days -Xtend Edition (ROOT√DOUBLE) is a mystery/sci-fi visual novel video game developed by Regista and Yeti collaboration. It was first released on 2012. An updated version called Xtend Edition was later released in 2013 and finally 2016 for PC.
ROOT√DOUBLE is a beautiful game. 60-70 hours long of story. Nice visualization and bgm. Fully japanese voiced dialogues with mostly famous voice actors. All-round interesting/likeable casts. Several mysteries and plot twists will thirst a player with curiosity as they want to find out more and more. The great thing about this game is that every single phenomenon that represented here are explained by sciences which are all existed in real life topics. And most of time, plot twists and explanations are worth the wait. It’s well-educated writing that even rare to find in most sci-fi of a same genre or what not.
– Real player with 90.7 hrs in game