BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION
For those of you who might be considering buying this as a Fallout-like game set in a post-apoc South Africa..don’t. While it may appear otherwise at first its entirely a point and click adventure game that while fun has little in common with Fallout. Combat is limited to a handful of incidents, always involves some sort of proxy, and outside of a single instance is purely optional. Something that can be missed if your not careful along with the bits it unlocks.
Now for the unpleasant bit.
! I really wanted to like this game, I really did. I found the setting charming, its NPCs well rounded, and the story had me hooked…right up until the literal last minutes of the game. When you finally talk with Darius after realizing (something I suspected since the start) that you were playing out a pre-written prophecy jotted down by an entity who does not see time as a straight line.
– Real player with 22.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Isometric Story Rich Games.
Wakanda place is this?
Move aside Afrofuturism, District 9, Black Panther, Elysium, Chappie and all you other African takes on sci-fi, because one thing’s for sure… I can easily tell you that I’ve never seen anything quite like the world of Beautiful Desolation.
If you are South African like me, then you must already know that you’re gonna experience it in a slightly different way to the rest of the world and may get a kick out of various elements that feel familiar to home. Beautiful Desolation is without a doubt, a whole new bag of Simba chips. It launches you into a future so far ahead that the South Africa you might know (and the people who lived there) are completely unrecognisable. The more this story of crazy futures and prophecies unfolds, the more interesting it becomes.
– Real player with 22.1 hrs in game
Shadowgrounds Survivor
Shadowgrounds Survivor is the unmistakable sequel to previous years top down horde mode shooter Shadowgrounds. Unmistakable because if you didn’t see the title you’d be hard pressed to tell them apart.
That’s not to say Survivor doesn’t introduce a few new features, multiple playable characters and a more detailed level progression makes the game a good deal more engaging as you go along. The storyline is as was in the original utterly forgettable and can be easily ignored.
The greatest strength of Shadowgrounds Survivor is once again it’s use of atmospheric lightning which does a good job at turning otherwise bland encounters with the alien horde into something a little more suspenseful, lending somewhat from the horror genre.
– Real player with 22.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Isometric Singleplayer Games.
Like its immediate predecessor, Survivor is a top-down shooter that hearkens back to the days of Smash TV and Total Carnage, except that there is a much more detailed plot and a heavy nod to role-playing games. As opposed to the blanket machine-part upgrade system of Shadowgrounds, Survivor has implemented a more refined approach, with unique class abilities, general class abilities and weapon abilities tailored to each of the three characters.
Basic gameplay is still kill or be killed, run and gun, etc. Every kill nets you some experience, which is banked toward increased levels, and each level brings with it some upgrade points. Weapon upgrade parts are still found on the battlefield, dropped by enemies, but now you also get class-specific abilities and character tweaks. These are what increase with each level. Using the marine as an example, you’ll be able to buy quick weapon reloads, tough skin and fragmentation grenades. This is in addition to the basic set of character improvements that all three avatars have: radar display, increased health, critical hits, and an “auto-doctor” that will dose you with a health kit (if you have one stockpiled) if you fall below 50% health at any time.
– Real player with 9.0 hrs in game
STASIS: BONE TOTEM
STASIS: BONE TOTEM is a thrilling and spine-tingling journey into the unknown fathoms of the icy ocean and the terrors that await a family. They will uncover a threat far beyond their wildest dreams.
Salvaging duo, Charlie and Mac scour the ocean for a living. They hit the motherload and come across DEEPSEA 15; A seemingly abandoned Cayne Corporation rig in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
A NEW STORY
Experience a new gruesome narrative with a fresh cast but featuring the same gameplay as STASIS.
Combine items, interact with computers, and solve puzzles while experiencing the gritty atmosphere!
Mac, Charlie, and their Super-Toy Moses will scrape the depths of resilience and descend into a sci-fi horror story that will test their resolve and relationships and push them to the darkest corners of mankind.
FEATURES
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Beautifully rendered isometric backgrounds
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Toggle back and forth between 3 unique characters
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Use an innovative shared inventory system
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Puzzles and story-based gameplay
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Voiced characters
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Explore a world full of rich deep history and lore
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Full motion video cut scenes
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Unique deaths
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Personal ‘self-destruction’ achievements
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Ultrawide screen support
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4k support
Created by the team behind STASIS, CAYNE, and BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION.
Read More: Best Isometric Horror Games.
Alien Breed 3: Descent
Long story short - 10/10, best game ever, this is how they did it back in the days, must have, old school…and why do this studio having this gem, creating other games, instead of a next part?!)
Long story:
Got first part for free on some giveaway long ago, and bought others with 90% discount.
Each part consists of 5 missions, if u play it slow, while checking all the map, u can complete each for 10 hours or so, I think, tops.
Bugs? There do u find them here?! And how?! The only four non-critical bugs I had, was in first and last part.
– Real player with 11.8 hrs in game
Team17, the developer best known for the creation of “Worms” and other such classics are the ones responsible for bringing us the subject of my next review, a lesser-known title but a particularly lustrous gem nonetheless.
The Alien Breed Trilogy is a series of third-person shooters. Like their more popular distant cousins the FPS, they too automatically come with an ‘action’ tag by association because that’s what we all (myself included) have come to expect from the genre. Though categorized as such, the three I’m going to talk about today could more accurately be described as atmospheric, survival games wearing Sci-Fi party hats.
– Real player with 7.6 hrs in game
Alien Earth
In the distance future, an alien race known as the Raksha have taken over the Earth, and you have been selected to be the prey in one of their deadly games. Released into the jungle to run for your life, you must face not only the dangerous mutations brought about by man’s nuclear assaults, but a vicious Raksha Lord as well. Legends speak of great ruined cities, brave freedom fighters, and even more wonderous things that lie beyond the jungle. Will you have the strength and cunning to survive to find out?
FEATURES
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Lush, fully-rendered 3D graphics draw you into the adventure
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Hours of intense gameplay
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Hundreds of detailed animations
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Dramatic rendered cinematic cut scenes
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Fully-digitized voices
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Intriguing storyline with dozens of characters, each with their own exciting personality
Greed: Black Border
Alright straight off the bat Greed might not be all that much, that mainly because it just isn’t. It has three standard RPG character classes, it only has three worlds divided into three parts. Normally I don’t like just three classes, but this is in a sci-fi setting so I’ll let it slide.
First time playing I didn’t think that much of it, it was slow and tedious, yet I kept playing for some reason. After spending a few hours in the game I got used to the slow pacing and sporadic enemies, turned out I was actually having fun.
– Real player with 108.6 hrs in game
Greed BlacK Border is getting much better and more interesting after the first 3-4 maps-levels, when you meet the Trader and finally you get off the spaceship on the planet surface. That is my personal opinion.
In general, the game is a Diablo-style with ranged-space-weapons, as you can see from various internet sources. It has a slower pace than the manster-mob-madness of diablo, thus being a bit ‘slower’ on action. It also incloudes a few of simple wriddles.
The first impression of the game is its worst enemy:
– Real player with 24.4 hrs in game
Shadoworlds
Deafening silence in the deep darkness of space.
The Magna 6 system is home to the most advanced weapons lab the universe has ever known. Two months ago, communications with the orbiting facility mysteriously went dead without any warning. If the cutting edge weapons in the station were to fall into the wrong hands, the results would be cataclysmic. Knowing that quick action is necessary, but unaware of what terrors might have caused the break in communication, you are called in to lead a small team of brave but expendable explorers through the imperiled space station with a mission to ascertain the fate of its crew.
Krisalis Software and Teque London’s gripping isometric squad-based sci-fi action RPG follows your team of four explorers as they trek through the dark environments of the Weapons Research Facility to uncover the mystery of what went wrong. Each member of the team is chosen by the player based on their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their personality and individual history. As the leader of the unit, you have full control over the inventories and actions of your squad, even down to deciding when to use headlamps to illuminate the darkness. But watch out – the inky blackness of space hides friend and foe alike.
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Traverse the dimly lit corridors of the Weapons Research Facility and beam down to the planet surface for terrestrial excursions.
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Craft weapons by combining interchangeable items found on your mission and use them to battle against hostile defense robots and other menacing threats.
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Marvel at the real-time dynamic lighting powered by impressive Super Photoscaping lighting techniques. Watch lamps and explosions cast lights and shadows on the environment, and use your squad’s headlamps to illuminate puzzles along your route.
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Take full control of your team of explorers as you manage their inventories, guide their individual actions, and keep tabs on their life-giving fluid levels.
Shadowrun Returns
Let me start out by saying that this is the first Shadowrun game that I have ever actually played. Yes I have tried the 1993 Shadowrun for the Super Nintendo but I could never get into it due to it’s… Interesting controls (read point and click with a controller). But the game concept and the universe intrigued me, Over the years I forgot the name of it several times but would bring it up every few years and try to find the name of it and feel that they should remake it for the pc where it ultimately belonged. Well a few months ago was one such time that It popped into my head, I did a quick search for it and what did I find but a new Shadowrun being made for its proper platform (psst its the PC). I instantly fell in love with the style and everything I say was just the best thing I have ever seen.
– Real player with 42.1 hrs in game
Heads up, I need a runner and you need the Nuyen, are we on the same page? Good. If you’re used to quick and easy jobs, well you’d better strap on tight. This one’s a slap to your senses, a bug in the system, a pair of fools in an all-star hand.
If ‘get the job done’ is your middle name, then that’s all I need to know.
Whaddaya say, chummer?
Shadowrun Returns is a lone-wolf style, turn-based strategy with RPG elements, set in the year 2054 within the gritty underbelly of Seattle, combining an urban cyberpunk fantasy with the abrasive narrative of a seasoned crime novel.
– Real player with 25.5 hrs in game
STASIS
The best thing I can say about Stasis is that is reminded me of Sanitarium from about 1999. I mean that as high praise. Overall, I think the game is very much worth playing for adventure fans, in spite of some flaws. It was simply so much better in some ways than it had to be, that it made up for the little annoyances.
For example, the animations and videos were very well done, giving the game a top-tier feel in spite of the somewhat dated appearance of the isometric locations. The atmosphere was creepy and suspenseful enough to make up for the somewhat overdone derelict ship horror sci-fi premise. I generally don’t love it when games tell you the story almost entirely by journal entries that you find lying around, but in this case, they are so well written with so few typos or grammatical errors that I actually found them a pleasure to read. They tell a story of developing interpersonal drama between the crew members as things went to hell, but more importantly, they are critical to understanding what is going on, so it’s good that they are so readable. Those logs aren’t voiced, but there are characters talking to you over transmissions who are fully voiced, and that’s done fairly well. I found the atmospheric ambient noises, music, and background transmissions to be much more effective than the voice acting, though.
– Real player with 16.3 hrs in game
I played through STASIS in basically one sitting. It took around seven hours to complete.
What STASIS basically does is pay homage to various movies like Event Horizon, Pandorum, and Aliens(you will find Easter Eggs in the game demonstrating proof of these influences) while crafting its own fairly well written story. The dark and foreboding atmosphere in STASIS really sets the tone for what was, at least in my opinion, a stellar gaming experience.
Story
The story in STASIS is centered around John Maracheck, who awakens from stasis to find himself alone. His wife and daughter are missing and the place he awakens in seems abandoned. The story in STASIS develops as John searches for his family while also trying to figure out how he even ended up alone and what happened to everybody else on Groom Lake, the space base he now finds himself on.
– Real player with 12.3 hrs in game
Unshaded
You like big Guns?
You like shooting your Way through hundrets of Enemies?
You like Bombing everything away that comes insight?
You like your Enemies hearing you coming in a distance from over 1000 Yards?
Wanna be like RAMBO?
Then you are wrong here. Sorry.
Here you will only have a Katana and your Skills.
You can be like SNAKE EYES!
Come on, thats the cool Ninja from the G.I. JOE Series.
BUT you have hundrets of Enemies!
Welcome to UNSHADED!
Somewhere in a dark Future, in a World ruled by Corporations, plagued by corrupt Police and Gang Wars you, the mysterious Fiend, are hired by one Corporation to test new Technology. Thats also your Chance to clean this World from the Scum that infested it.
– Real player with 5.0 hrs in game
I dont play stealth games often but this was actually not that bad. Apart from the gore it has. The enemies AI walk into thier own traps HAHA probably the most funny thing about this game I would say you should probably buy this when its on discount otherwise there are better games. Good game. Needs more Updates and Levels
– Real player with 0.2 hrs in game