Court of Ashes
Full disclosure, I’m the brother to one of the Court of Ashes developers and brother-in-law to the other. That probably means my review won’t mean much to you but I still have a good reason to write it.
Over the last month I and some others have been beta-testing the game and providing detailed feedback. During my time testing I was very vocal in my comments. When something didn’t feel right I wrote it down and let them know right away. And no matter how often I or someone else brought something up did the developers ever make an excuse. When something could be better they made it better. Entire portions of the game were reworked based on the comments the developers received and the game had become so much better for it.
– Real player with 20.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Diplomacy Indie Games.
I stumbled on this game in my search list. I often browse indie games for little gems. This is one of them. This is a simple game that I believe is meant to teach you something about morality and service.
After the first 10 mins of playing the game, I thought there must have been a mistake at steam to give this game away for free!
Then I read the Dev message. I enjoyed this little game and would like to give you something in return (As Artimis may have said). “You have the makings of a thriving enterprise. You need only leverage the excess material at your feet, and like the fishmonger in my story arch who is told to turn low grad cuts into broth. Transmute what you believe to be refuse into accelerant.”
– Real player with 7.7 hrs in game
The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante — Chapter 1&2
Wonderful experience!
Much depends on how will the plot develop further but what is already seen in the game is incredible.
Advantages:
- Universe. Game world is interesting. I think a lot will be uncovered by further progress of the story, but what’s seen now makes me curious at least. Not sure about how much I like certain details, like miltiple lifes a person is given with (yet it’s well integrated with game mechanics). Overall, the universe provides for very interesting story developments and reflection.
– Real player with 7.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Diplomacy Medieval Games.
Never liked interactive fiction, this one seemed interesting though and had me hooked.
One of he good thing is that the choices are very hard sometimes, and that harder choices actually cost attribute points. If you’ve done a series of actions that has taken up all your willpower you might only be able to helplessly watch as some terrible thing happens before your eyes since you can’t muster up the will to act. This gives a new dimension to player choices which I had never thought of and is extremely interesting, especially when thinking of doing another playthrough.
– Real player with 6.4 hrs in game
Bleeding Moons
A unique and entertaining point and click adventure game in the vein of Space Pilgrim about war, politics, love and everything in between. The game is more of an interactive novel, the puzzle part is very easy, too easy I would say, so if you are expecting to get creative about picking things and combining them in the inventory, this is not the game for you.
The game tackles adult issues such as rape and abuse, but very tastefully, which is testament to the overall excellent writing. The world is rich with characters and they all have a story, even the many NPCs will tell you their tale. The creators really took their time with every detail, including some humorous: in a city with many stray dogs, of course you will find poop on the street :) … which should have been an achievement itself.
– Real player with 35.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Diplomacy Political Games.
First of all, I’m writing this review as a huge THANK YOU to the creator. I just finished the game and I’m absolutely in love with it! I spent about a good 10 hours playing through the story and because I’m that kind of guy that wants to know everything, I logged over 200 saves. I’ll be going back to my final save later this week to try something a little different. After that I’m likely to try again from the beginning to see what I might be able to change.
! I was surprised to find out I was locked out of Luna’s ending but the rest were available to me
– Real player with 13.8 hrs in game
Karen: An Outrage Simulator
I went into this game expecting 45 minutes-1 hour’s worth of silly little content that would give me, someone who’s worked in food and retail, a good laugh.
What I got was 3 hours of organ rupturing good humored, nail on the head scenarios that were so scarily familiar but also insanely ridiculous.
Without spoiling anything (yes, yes, there is a plot, and it is delicious), you go through a good handful of incredibly unique, inconvenient situations that could truly happen to anybody. No level feels like a repeat, no joke feels overused or like low-hanging fruit (unless you count the entire premise of the game as low hanging fruit). If you play on Normal mode, you have to figure out how to manipulate different characters to get what you want purely through intuition and guess work, WITHOUT you (Karen) becoming outraged and making a disaster of the place.
– Real player with 4.5 hrs in game
Similar to other reviews, I thought this game would be shorter…offering maybe an hour of content. I ended up streaming it for over 3 hours.
I played this with a couple of other friends and we all took turns voice-acting Karen and the other characters. We spent so much time laughing our sides were sore!
I’ve also worked 7 years in retail and, again like other reviewers, have encountered my fair share of “Karens” and this game accurately depicts the stereotypical Karen in her natural habitat.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
XO
(I backed this game on Kickstarter, and helped out with alpha and beta testing…)
XO has a lovely mix of tactics and strategy within a relatively short three to five hour game run. But learning XO well enough to survive that final run will take you much longer. It’s a game to be played many times as you learn more about the ships, the factions, the enemies, weapons and circumstances. Each time you’ll learn how to survive longer, how to make better use of the ships, systems and resources you encountered, and how to better choose through the event paths in order to win faction allies as you go.
– Real player with 89.9 hrs in game
I’ll split this review to what I enjoyed and what I did not.
What I enjoyed
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You really get the feeling of trying to build together a rag-tag fleet of military and civilian ships, fleeing away from a seemingly unstoppable enemy while building up your arsenal, firepower and the capacity to support your fleet. Awesome feeling. :)
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Lots of interesting concepts, boarding, resource harvesting, different kinds of weapons to counter different enemies. Really enjoyed different weapons, upgrades, ship types, keeping civilians in cargo holds (then performing a crew transfer to abandoned/disabled ships) and the ability build up my fleet. :D
– Real player with 51.9 hrs in game
The Pope: Power & Sin
The Pope: Power & Sin is a game inspired by the life of Rodrigo de Borja, who served as the pope in 1492-1503, as Alexander VI. Take on the role of the Pope, strengthen the authority of the Church State, fight for spiritual and political independence from pagans and the renewal of administrative church structures. The rule of Alexander VI is a torrent of numerous scandals, excesses and signs of moral corruption in the highest authorities of the Church.
Difficult times require quick, often violent decisions. Eliminate heretics who undermine your holiness.
Unite Italy, expand territory of your power, collect taxes and obtain riches.
Politics don’t always have to be clean; you don’t have to get along with everyone. Remember that you have God on your side, so any decision can be right.
Collect information. Any place is good, Vatican corridors or even a confessional. Many want the power, they want to be in your place.
Manage subordinates and, above all, take care of the family. Give them high positions and secure their future.
There is unlimited power in your hands, you are God’s representative on Earth.
Lies Under Ice
The future of humanity in space is under your control as you manage a moon base in the shadow of Jupiter. Will you play the political mastermind or rise above the fighting factions?
Lies Under Ice is an interactive science-fiction thriller by Joey Jones where you take on the role of the protagonist.
Build a scientific outpost on Europa, exploring the moon and the alien life that lurks in the vast ocean under the icy crust. Build a sprawling tunnel complex in the ice or bring about climate change to terraform Europa into an ocean world. Share your alien findings, or capitalise on the research for profit. Be a paragon of the human race or transcend the human form entirely.
Play as a female, male or non-binary president, captain, or commander: it’s your base… until re-election!
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Play as one of six unique character professions: diplomat, aerospace engineer, asteroid miner, pilot or marine biologist.
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Come from one of three distinct geopolitical backgrounds, each with their own separate intrigues: the ever-shrinking United Earth, the old-world Group of 81, or the fractious Libertalian Alliance.
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Decide what animals to bring to space: experience a catsplosion of kitties, or be over-run by escaped lobsters? It’s your call.
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Develop the base your way: prioritise the comfort of the workers, or try to maximise the scientific output; build luxury domes, mazes of ice tunnels or try your hand at terraforming.
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Involve yourself in romantic entanglements with your co-workers, or strike it alone.
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Develop your out-of-work hobbies. After all, you never know when astronomy, cooking, poetry, lucid dreaming and more, will come in handy.
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Make friends and enemies among the different political, scientific and corporate factions: you can’t please everyone all the time, who will you favor?
Star Dynasties
Infinite potential, incredible progress.
I started playing this game during the indiecade demo mid-2020, and the evolution this game has been through in just one year is massive.
Pros:
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Dev very responsive to Player Feedback
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Lots of Character Drama
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Interesting Events (Expeditions specially)
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Interesting Systems (Secrets, Justice, Gatherings, Favors and Negotiation)
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Powerful Modding Tool (Seriously, one could create a full DLC-worthy experience with it)
– Real player with 996.3 hrs in game
Addendum
Have changed review to - Would recommend.*
Only about a third of my gamer friends are big head enough to truly enjoy this game, but I know they will enjoy it immensely. I can see this one sinking hundreds if not thousands of hours into, and I’m already hopeful they go series with it.
I have a great deal of hope, if only because of how quickly the developers are acting on feedback and making solid changes. Meaningful save files now exist. There’s still a lot going on, so I’m not yet done with this review, but the nature and flow of the game are starting to make more sense.
– Real player with 122.9 hrs in game
At Eve’s Wake
High-quality visual novel with multiple endings, fantastic graphic and sound component, and intriguing premise.
The Good Parts:
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Fascinating set-up of family ties based on cult-like faith, bloody competition, and something outright paranormal with overall dysfunction taken to the next level.
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Great writing throughout. It manages to introduce a complex fictional idea in a manner that captures attention and makes you ponder.
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Atmospheric world-building. There’s sinister feeling intertwined with some outright shocking moments. “At Eve’s Wake” isn’t horror in the pure sense of the word, but more in a psychological one, so it has a very well-done horror element burning its way through the game, sometimes on slow simmer, sometimes as a wildfire.
– Real player with 11.3 hrs in game
Ahhhhh I was so excited for this to come out and it’s finally here! I’ve just finished my first playthrough and it lived up to my hype, if you’re having any doubts about picking up the full game then please try out the demo and you’ll see what I mean.
-Gorgeous art and music, just a delightful atmosphere throughout
-A well developed and intriguing story of mystery, murder and mishaps
-An incredible amount of dialogue choices with a variety of endings seemingly possible depending on them.
I love visual novels and narrative-driven games, so I feel that I know what I’m talking about to some degree, and I say this- At Eve’s Wake is a beautiful and eerie story that deserves your attention if you’re at all interested in Lovecraft, mysteries, visual novels, or graverobbing. Trust me on that last one.
– Real player with 7.2 hrs in game
Divided Reigns
I never review games. But I know this game is very new and I’d love to convince someone to give it a try.
Divided Reigns starts with your main character, Ailfred, who is the captain of an army who has just conquered a nation but committed atrocities in the process. But his conscience isn’t being silent about it, and his efforts to change course lead to a series of events that go far deeper then he could have ever imagined.
If you’re looking for a high quality movie style cut scenes and fifteen different ways to mash your buttons in combat, this is not your game. If you loved the classic turn-style JRPG’s (think Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger) and are looking for a fresh take on them with an impressive storyline, you’re in for some terrific hours of gaming.
– Real player with 171.8 hrs in game
This is an edited re-review
I’ll start this off with the positives:
This dev duo is incredibly responsive to their community. You never know what to expect when something comes out of an indie group, but they seem to go above and beyond trying to fix issues IMMEDIATELY after launch. My original review was a down vote because of the amount of major bugs I had ran into. I recorded them here and even emailed more to their developer-email. I can’t say if they’ve all been fixed, but I know at least one was rectified within 24 hours of reporting it.
– Real player with 67.7 hrs in game