Rain World
Where to even begin with Rain World? There are three problems I have with Rain World: lack of player agency, occasionally broken controls and, screen changes.
The game tells you almost nothing. It shows you the very basics and then goes “Eat stuff and don’t be eaten”. It’s a Metroidvainia style roguelike where you pick up items in certain areas to help you better survive the game. But, listen to this. To get this game’s version of heart containers to increase your max health you have to find an area of the world where everything is all fuzzy, then die. Then you have to come back to that same area with full health and talk to a spirit. How is any player supposed to figure that out without a guide? Oh and, btw the “spirit” is also a giant, black, floating tentacle monster. The first one you encounter is before you’ll see any friendly creatures so any new player would probably just leave the area immediately and never get the life max increase. It’s just bad design, plain and simple. That’s just one example of which there are many. This is my biggest problem with the game, as a whole. It’s absurd to make a game about exploration and discovery but design it in such a way that you NEED a walkthrough just to play it.
– Real player with 167.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Difficult Exploration Games.
Rain World is an absolutely exceptional game I’m not afraid to call the masterpiece of the modern game industry.
Rain World is a well crafted combination of gameplay mechanics, philosophical ideas and charming aesthetics. This creation is unfair and absolutely is a niche game. It will make you frustrated and is not for everyone. For me Rain World became one of the most important video games of my life. Let’s get to the point:
- The world that feels alive. Getting chased by a Lizard while running under a random Dropwig waiting for pray making it jump on you but actually attacking The Lizard and making them lose interest in you while they fight for their lives. While you’re watching this scene no longer as a pray with momentary sigh of relief the Scavengers invade the area and start throwing spears towards the Lizard that is already carrying new prey in its jaws while a wild Vulture appears trying to steal a hard-earned meal from this beautiful creature. Do you think this is a rare situation in this game? Not at all. Rain World ecosphere feels as alive as it can get and physics based environment emphasizes this very well. Creatures hunt, fight, fool around and survive the same as you. AI in this game is simply amazing and even simply observing it is fun.
– Real player with 152.1 hrs in game
The Long Gate
The first thing you notice about this game is the grandeur and mystery of its environment, and it doesn’t ever let up; as I moved through the different sections of the game I marveled at the design of the machinery and rooms. The soundtrack provides an excellent backdrop to levels that are variously organic, mechanical, dark, and alien. The puzzles themselves are unlike anything I’ve seen in a game before. Built on the simple (and very much real) principles of electricity, the puzzles quickly take you from clicking on/off switches to troubleshooting gigantic electromechanical computers. Sometimes the goal is clear, other times not so much. This forced me to experiment and learn the principles before I could really solve anything complicated. The learning curve steps up quite a bit at some points, but not unreasonably so. A very satisfying challenge with plenty of those “oh I get it now” dopamine hits. Highly recommended.
– Real player with 26.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Difficult Puzzle Games.
Ok, so I’ve just finished the game for the first time (replaying soon because I still need that sweet, sweet 100% engineer mode achievement!) but I wanted to get my immediate feedback at 14.4hrs in onto paper :P
Firstly, a bit of my background. I’m a researcher in Computational Chemistry, and have a keen interest in quantum computing and electronics. I mention this as I think I’m not your typical audience, as not every gamer will have my experience with these kinds of things.
Onto the review! Spoilers abound from here on out so don’t read on if you care about those!
– Real player with 14.4 hrs in game
ADVERSE
Well the day has finally come, launch day! I’ve been helping out playtesting this game for a while now and It’s great to see how far it has come since the very first day I got my hands on it.
The game has quite a lot of levels, that being 40 levels across 8 worlds. The later worlds are usually longer and pretty tough mind you! So it’s welcoming to have a sort of challenge that gets progressively harder as you get further into the game. Furthermore the worlds has a very neat addition of interconnection between them. At the last level of the Pure world, you will start seeing trees and woodlands, leading up to the next Woodlands world. And the same for the end of Woodlands where you see a castle in the distance, etc. It’s a tiny thing but it really enhances the game experience!
– Real player with 20.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Difficult Relaxing Games.
Challenging! I love challenging.
This game is just what I’ve been looking for. A game to practise your skill at platforming and shooting targets that are NOT other life forms.
The controls seem to work well and I appreciate, as always, the option to change the key bindings for individual preference.
While you do get a better score for being fast, there’s nothing stopping you working your way through each level at your own pace. This makes it a more relaxing experience if that’s how you’d rather play. Though it can still be frustrating when you keep falling off, until you get good at it. Practise and patience makes perfect.
– Real player with 9.3 hrs in game
Bittersweet Birthday
You wake up, dazed… with no memories. While asking yourself where and how you got there, a strange voice breaks through the silence: “Hey there, bud”. Under the threat of unstable individuals hunting you down, the only chance of escape is to listen to the voice…
Maybe you’ll uncover more on what’s going on…
Bittersweet Birthday is an action game where every combat encounter is a challenging and unique fight!!
Learn your enemies, plan ahead and achieve victory!
Explore different areas and help their lovely residents with their everyday struggles while learning more about the world and its history!
With such unique features as:
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A story of mystery driven by endearing characters!
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Explore a lively village with friendly residents and their interlocking quests!
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Punishing combat where reading the enemy is the key to victory!
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A darts mini-game! Well, at least darts are being used…
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Cute pixel-art characters on beautifully drawn backgrounds!
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Fully re-mappable input and support for PS4, Xbox, and PC controllers!
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Dog??
And so much more!!
Sufoco
It’s alright
– Real player with 0.1 hrs in game
Bad
– Real player with 0.1 hrs in game
Slidungeon
If you want to test your endurance, ability to calculate and wait for the right moment, then this game is for you! Sometimes you want to give up, but knowing that just a little bit is left, you try again and again, again and again, and at the end, having achieved the result, you exhale with relief and feeling that the danger is behind, but in fact, your adventure is just beginning
– Real player with 1.6 hrs in game
Fomalhaut Flowers
Written for 1561’s Thoughts - Honest reviews, for busy people.
Fomalhaut Flowers :: noir, luck, and an unresponsive jump button :: side scrolling puzzle (?) platformer that comes off as frustrating due to the awkward physics and unavoidable deaths. 4.5/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPfPvDid2yE
– Real player with 0.2 hrs in game
GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon
So, my first thought about this game was: “Hold up, Konami’s making games again?!”
Second thought was: “….and it’s a niche title and NOT a more recognised name.”
Third thought was: “…. and sh!t, it’s quite good! Even for early access! You guys OK down there at Konami HQ? Just that you’re acting like…… well NOT Konami.”
…In all seriousness though, taking the rogue-like approach to a metroidvania title is an interesting spin, and fundamentally, it works well. Gameplay leans heavily towards being more tactical and methodical than it does being stylish and fast. And since you have limited ways of healing, you’re forced to consider how best to dispatch your enemies while taking as few hits as possible. It’s not quite dark souls, just enough to keep you thinking.
– Real player with 74.7 hrs in game
Writing this review while playing the v0.4.10 update (Nov. 4th 2021), and the game is in Early Access so take the review with a grain of salt upon further updates. I like this game and can’t wait to see how it evolves but at this stage I do not recommend anyone buying it right now, wait until it is fleshed out and hopefully perfected.
PROS:
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Beautiful artstyle, boss intros are honestly to die for and sometimes have me rewatching em cause they are so pretty.
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Good music that is nice but doesn’t get stuck n your head in a grating way.
– Real player with 69.8 hrs in game
Mosaic Maze
Mosaic maze is a precision platformer by Raw Lion Workshop
The first-impressions-video can be found here: https://youtu.be/rcE0fYFM-Ao
Here are some points about the game:
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It gets really difficult really fast
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No soundtrack, just soundbits
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Bonus unlocks and variety mechanics keep the game engaging
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Death can be unecessarilly punishing at times
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Reset button to get out of softlock would be nice to have
All in all I am pleased with this game and would recommend it especially to those people who like to conquer a challenging platformer.
– Real player with 1.6 hrs in game
Its a good game. The respawn locations are very inconsistent and very frustrating putting you very behind corners which you’ve already passed by. Untill that is changed I probably won’t go back to the game
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
BACK OF SPACE
Amazing game, i have every achievement in OLDTV, and i still play it, when i found out and saw the trailer for the new game, i was freaking out. I bought the game and i don’t regret it one bit. :) Would recommend this to anyone. btw C Y A N
– Real player with 18.0 hrs in game
IT’S FINALY OUT GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUYS
(ahem)
Of course it’s beta, but i REALLY like playing this, and also I got some flashbacks from PlasmaTV
The only question is…
WHERE IS CYAN AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
– Real player with 11.6 hrs in game