Don’t Give Up: Not Ready to Die
“Don’t Give Up” has relatively simple mechanics, but they work very well within the game context.
The game raises existential and philosophical questions that make you ponder but without being too pretentious.
Even with a high challenge level, the game keeps you engaged and makes you want to go forward to see what happens next. Recommended!
– Real player with 6.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Pixel Graphics Crafting Games.
This is an adorable game with a lot of bugs. I would recommend it to others under the guidance of prepare for things to suddenly not work for inexplicably no reason. I honestly love the story enjoyed the visuals and find the concept engaging.
But if you dislike mechanics blowing up be warned. At one point one of my inventory squares was inaccessible meaning that 10 mins into the game I could not craft items that required all the inventory squares. But I am a determined person and taking the name of the game as an instruction “I did not give up” and decided to push through playing until I had 10 mins left on the clock.
– Real player with 4.3 hrs in game
project BLARI
For a game coded by a single person, Project BLARI is a game that at first, seems to be a simple retro / horror game like any other, but I can tell you it isn’t !
Pros :
-
The Enemies you encounter are easy to predict and counter if you know how to, a brand new player will have some trouble at first but after some playtime, you can basically counter all enemies easily. (this can be a Pro and a Con, depending on personal opinions)
-
The attention to realism is well made ! you can’t just turn your camera and check behind you, your view is represented by Terence ! The LORE of the game only adds up on it, the small details can tell you a lot about the complex story this game has !
– Real player with 18.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Pixel Graphics Horror Games.
very old school game with several routes and endings
but watch out its also creepy and spooky
i love that mechanic of spamming a button to run instead of just pressing it, its kinda more stressful in a way which fits the situation
– Real player with 7.2 hrs in game
The Final Station
Pilot and manage a train, struggle with the needs of rescued survivors or just let them die, explore abandoned and destroyed ruins, outposts and towns while trying to piece together a story of a dying world.
You’re a conductor managing a train in a dystopian world, with humanity on the brink of extinction from something called a Second Visitation. The world is very well realized in great pixel art which conveys all the desolation and starkness, but also the rare moments of beauty and I love how accentuated the colors are in the shades of grey bleakness of the ruins and the darkness of the mobs always lurking in them. Music sets the mood very satisfyingly, but is sparse and kicks in occasionally which brings it a much greater gravity when it hits since it usually signifies something important. Ambient sounds are excellent, punches and gun shots sound meaty and really echo in the silence.
– Real player with 18.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Pixel Graphics Post-apocalyptic Games.
Riding to the End of the World
The Final Station is an atmospheric Survival game that for what it is, presents itself with a stellar atmosphere and tone but starts bogging down with a structure that rarely shakes things up til it’s too late.
Pros:
-
It’s combat and gameplay is incredibly solid and tight.
-
The atmosphere is bleak, well-composed, and incredibly immersive, with it’s well-composed visuals and music
– Real player with 11.7 hrs in game
Until We Die
Edit: On review, of this review, I have realised that it does not, in fact, help players decide whether to not to pick up the game. This edit is to prevent potential players purchasing the product without fully understanding what they’re buying.
-
Rather than marketing Until We Die as a completed build, it should be under the category of Early Access. Keep that in mind.
-
Is this game worth $17 USD? No. There is only one scenario that players can play, totalling 20 hours (highly variable) to fully complete on all three difficulties. That comes out to 1.17 hours per dollar.
– Real player with 97.2 hrs in game
The obvious caveats:
-
Save feature still needs to be implemented when a full ‘run’ is 2.5 hours
-
Only 1 scenario thus far
-
Launched with one game breaking bug that has since been fixed
Some people describe this as metro + kingdoms but its more like metal slug + metro + farmville + fallout shelter. I’ve beaten it easily on normal and am struggling to get past the 2/3rds mark on seasoned, so I know how this game works. It is mostly a game of LEARNING how greedy you can be with clearing and looting the map with returning to base. High level gameplay is all about knowing the patterns of each scenario to best optimize your strategy. If one side has no attackers one night, that is critical information. If another has a mortar or giant, that is also potentially going to end your game if you aren’t prepared. It’s almost like a 2.5 hour dance choreography or starcraft build order. It’s also a bit of a relay race running from one side to the other hitting all your egg timers to maximize your economy. Time is the most valuable resource.
– Real player with 52.2 hrs in game
Wayward
TLDR: BUY THE GAME YOU WON’T REGRET IT!!
First, let me start by saying, My game play style is usually casual. I’m normally not a fan of rogue-like, perma-death games at all. Games that even have the words rogue-like or perma-death, I wouldn’t usually even give a chance…..BUT…..A friend that is, and always will be a rogue at heart in every game, that has played Wayward long before it even came to Steam, repeatedly tried to get me to play saying, “just try it, I think you will like this one” managed to get me hooked on this game.
– Real player with 1437.5 hrs in game
TL:DR -
This game is extremely good. The updates are pretty slow so that part sucks, but otherwise it’s pretty playable as is. There’s a decent exchange between the community and the developer, he’s super active on the game’s subreddit. In terms of community outreach I’d say the guy has been doing a phenomenonal job.
Having said that, some things can get a bit repetitive. One of my biggest gripes is how you can’t craft things in batches and instead have to do it one by one. This may not seem like a huge issue initially, but when you’re crafting 120 strings where each crafting action takes ~250-500ms then this adds up rather quickly (another good example is if you want to craft wooden arrows in bulk. You need a bunch of sticks first, and one of the best ways to get a bunch is to chop a few trees for logs and to dismantle them into bark and sticks, not mentioning gathering the feathers that are also required. Excluding the time required to gather the required feathers, it takes about 5 minutes to craft 120 arrows. 120 arrows may seem like a lot and it is if you’re fighting stuff on land, but if you’re fighting stuff that lives in the sea then each arrow is lost on a successful hit. It’s very easy to go through a lot of arrows in the process. I do like this mechanic of losing your arrows since it mostly makes sense, though I think you should be able to salvage a few if you carve up the monster’s carcass. It’s just a hassle to make more and more arrows, especially if you want the higher-tiered ones like iron/stone arrows). You need to use your mouse as well to craft stuff, so my mouse has taken a bit of a beating because of this.
– Real player with 284.1 hrs in game
Castle Formers
You can tell this was a game created to be enjoyed by gamers. A lot of love here.
– Real player with 9.3 hrs in game
This is a cute and fun little game, worth buying to support independent game producers, but . . . A wee bit more of a tutorial would be helpful. There are whole upper floors of my castle filled with people that I have absolutely no clue what they do apart from take my hard earned gold. D__n it I smashed a lot of pots and picked the locks of dozens of treasure chests that some benevolent person randomly leaves out on the lawn to get that gold. Not to mention the kindly watersprite that lives in the well who also donates generously to the cause. For their sake, if not for mine, kindly tell me what the devil these random strangers are doing in my castle!
– Real player with 8.6 hrs in game
Forsaken Isle
6/27/2018 Edit: game is good as dead, Dev vanished without a word, I stand by my review, but understand this is an unfinished game, although it is still playable and enjoyable.
(leaving my thumbs up because I do honeslty enjoy this game.)
Minecraft, Terraria, Stonehearth… All are great Survivor/Collector/Adventurer/Builder games.
Forsaken Isle puts a fresh spin on these greats with an early access, but solid concept with the appeals of some of my personal favorite types of games. After my first few deaths from starvation, wraiths, and other carnivorous monsters, I began to get the hang of this little game. before long, I was mining ores for weapons and armor, farming too much food to eat, and catching the all too cute piggies for my pig pin. I’ve been chopping through forests, fighting tribal tiki people deep in marshy jungles, and fought hordes of zombie pirates and goo balls in the cavernous depths below my growing homestead. before I knew it, 6 hours of my life were gone, and I had only bought it 7 hours ago.
– Real player with 126.6 hrs in game
Forsaken Isle is a sandbox crafting game where you start with nothing and advance by crafting more powerful tools and weapons (wood to stone to copper, etc) while exploring the region and fighting monsters. Although it is Early Access, it is very stable and fun, but could use a bit more polish. I’m still having a lot of fun crafting items and designing my home base, however.
PROS
-
Simple, effective controls make gathering items and fighting monsters a breeze
-
Large overworld with multiple biomes and underground cave systems to explore
– Real player with 20.5 hrs in game
Kingdom: Classic
This game is simple, but addicting. I wasn’t sure it will last me for more than few hours, and I usually don’t approach games thinking that I’ll stay up all night playing, but I got lucky here. This game is all about management and choices. It’ll start innocent, but quickly becomes pure evil the more you hold on.
Gameplay
You control most of the things indirectly. You’ll start small, and you’ll make a lot of mistakes while trying to get bigger. I can’t promise you that you’ll get hooked the same way I did, but after having few tries on my own, I’ve started seeing the game differently. It is based around trying it over and over, and I didn’t get sick of it. Despite what I’ve heard, every part, even the beginning, becomes an endurance run. Since you have to control everything, you can’t stop.
– Real player with 95.7 hrs in game
So, after over 40 hours spent playing the game I felt it’s time to finally write a review.
First of all, I really enjoy this game tremendously, but I’d say it’s not for everyone. If you read other reviews, you probably have a good idea what the good part of the game is, nice art, awesome soundtrack (first time I ever bought a game OST, and not regretting it one bit). These are the two things I think everyone can agree about.
Then it gets more tricky. The gameplay isn’t for everyone. It’s literally discover everything for yourself. including how your own guys behave, even how your own horse behaves.
– Real player with 49.3 hrs in game
Sheltered
I have updated this review after I tried the release 1.0 version. My verdict is largely the same.
The game has definitely improved since my impressions from Early Access, and can, if the developers keep improving it here after release 1.0, in time have enough gameplay to make it fun (not quite there yet). At the moment it has some flaws that makes the game unbearable to play for me.
No in-game pause:
One big flaw is the fact that this the inability to pause in-game.
This is a game about survival where you have to manage a lot of things that constantly degrade and break down and the more people you have and the bigger your shelter gets, the more this will require your attention. Sure, it is no problem at the start, but it quickly becomes a problem. Many of the things require attention fast and especially when a lot of things are happening at once does this problem really show itself. Only way to pause is by going to the options menu where you can’t see nor interact with anthing. It is unnecessarily stressing and just makes you frustrated in stead of adding anything to the game.
– Real player with 103.3 hrs in game
Sheltered is a little bit This War of Mine, a little bit Fallout Shelter and a touch of… something altogether different. All in all I really enjoyed this game and felt like I really got my monies worth. I picked up Sheltered during a Humble Bundle survival sale but I would have gladly paid full price for it. The following is a detailed summary of what Sheltered does well and a couple small areas where it falls a bit short.
Graphics - I list this first because visuals are highly subjective. I loved the retro styled pixelated graphics of Sheltered and often found myself impressed by how well the minimalist graphics were able to convey the gritty emotions of a post apocalyptic world. For some this visual style may be a turn-off but I recommend giving the game a chance anyway.
– Real player with 54.8 hrs in game
The Escapists: The Walking Dead
Perhaps one of the strangest crossovers of the 2010’s. I didn’t even know this game existed until i bought it in a bundle that contained the original escapists and the walking dead version. So yeah, uhh. The game itself is good, the the world and items are more detailed than the original version, the game looks very nice. And overall feels more polished than the original escapists. Not that the original didn’t have polish. I have never experienced a bug/glitch in a escapists game or any other team 17 game. It’s just that the walking dead escapists feels more detailed. Anyone who has played both games probably knows what i mean. This game is much more story based than the original escapists. You are sort of in charge or something and you go through different levels completing missions, and doing your daily routine. Not doing something on time will make the zombie% rise. The higher zombie% is the more zombies spawn on the map. However sticking to the routine will give you less time to complete missions. You can use guns in this game. This works fine. It’s good but i never got through the 3rd level. I wasn’t that interested. I also played the survival mode. It’s just like a survival mode in any other zombies game. " Use guns to kill waves of zombies that get harder as you go on " You can play as 3 different characters each with their own difficulty in this mode. This was ok. I enjoyed it. The “survival” format just dose not work as well in an escapists type game. It’s still good though! So this isn’t a bad game. I still had fun with it. Worth the money. If you enjoyed the original escapists consider getting this.
– Real player with 102.0 hrs in game
I’m only putting this as not recommended for the current build (As of October 6th, 2015). While the game has good points, right now there’s some flaws that make it so that you would be better off waiting for a while to get the game. Hopefully in a few months all the kinks are worked out.
That said, I DO enjoy the game! The game still feels super Escapist-y, you have a schedule, you do chores to keep down the zombie meter (Replacement to the Heat meter), there’s a lot of crafting in this game, but with being ported into the ‘Walking Dead’ world, there’s also a story, that follows the comics more closely than the tv series. I’ve not seen the comics, so I can’t confirm how close it is myself. Other reviewers might though. The levels are short, but it doesn’t feel unnecessarily short, as long as you take the time to explore each level without rushing through to the next.
– Real player with 62.0 hrs in game