Siege of Centauri
Siege of Centauri is one of the best looking tower defence games available and as a tower defence aficionado, I would say it is worth playing.
Forgive the comparison, but Siege of Centauri was clearly made by and for people who are looking to scratch their Defense Grid itch. It turns out that Siege of Centauri has some fairly obvious references in it that pay homage to Defense Grid, namely the interface looks almost like it was lifted from Defense Grid and some of the music too. It also has a similar story with advisers popping up between missions to brief you on what the mysterious enemy is up to.
– Real player with 48.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Real-Time Strategy Games.
I don’t play many tower defense games. It’s essentially a puzzle, where you try to figure out the most efficient combinations of towers and placements to defend your base. There are features that let you see what is coming, and once you learn the units and iconography, you can definitely develop strategies and plans ahead of time. There are terrific controls for difficulty, as well as mechanics that let you customize and upgrade your available tower selection. I also see capabilities for a survival mode (defend as long as you can) and custom map development. I think there might also be an intent to support steam workshop, so that mods and custom maps can be shared.
– Real player with 41.2 hrs in game
The Last Express Gold Edition
I think this may well be the greatest game ever made. Yes, the controls are clunky as all get out. Yes, for people used to today’s games the ultra-high-tech-for-1997-digital-rotoscoping technique looks extremely antiquated. Yes, you’re dropped into the game with no idea what to do, and you’re going to fail. A lot. But at the same time “The Last Express” includes:
- Probably the best-developed characters in any adventure game I’ve yet played (the weakest is arguably Robert Cath, who the player controls, but even he has an intriguing and irritatingly-largely-unrevealed-due-to-lack-of-a-sequel backstory). By the end of the game you know what they want and what makes most of them tick, and since certain bad things are more or less guaranteed to happen to a number of them the result is the equivalent of an emotional shovel to the face.
– Real player with 16.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Real-Time Story Rich Games.
Ahead of its time but stuck in the past
First read about this game way back when it came out, in a magazine I still have, where the reviewer was left in complete awe because of unique design for an adventure game. Ever since it occupied a small cluster of neurons in the back of my head, waiting for me to play it and its moment to shine. I should say I never played the original so my review will only address this 2013 port, with some inferior exceptions others have noticed.
It plays like Myst, from 1st person perspective with static scenes as you move around, but is set in realistic environment of an vintage luxury passenger train called Orient Express. The whole game takes place in the same 4-5 vagon carts with beautifully rendered backgrounds. You move by clicking edges of screen with mouse cursor that contextually changes functions to forward, backward and left or right turn, with interaction prompts for opening doors and object/NPC interaction.
– Real player with 9.8 hrs in game
One Shell Straight to Hell
(Review was updated on Dec 2021) I’ve spent many hours alpha-testing this game and decided to buy it on release day. Here are my thoughts so far, a list of positive and negative elements:
The good stuff:
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Uniquely witty main character.
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Good variety of unlockable skills and lootable guns, be it primaries or secondaries.
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The setting: a terribly haunted mansion property set in the 1910’s - 1920’s.
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The Padre’s voice actor probably smoked 10 cigars and drank too much whiskey. Fantastic.
– Real player with 43.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Real-Time Twin Stick Shooter Games.
One Shell Straight to Hell
There’s a brand-new Roguelike indie title on the streets; One Shell Straight to Hell. One Shell Straight to Hell lets the player experience the best of two worlds with its well-put-together Roguelike dungeon-crawling gameplay with a touch of base defense elements mixed in.
At first glance, the game seems to be simple enough with its Procedural Generation World. But as you cross the first stage after finishing a base defense wave, the game becomes something much more.
*– [Real player with 8.5 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198329404521)*
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## Shadows: Awakening
### Thou art already dead…
**Shadows: Awakening** may look like a Diablo-like on its face. But it has its own thing going on. Let me qualify that, as far as it being an isometric hack and slash with loot and levels — that's exactly what it is, however you play as a demon with other people inside of them — a devourer of souls.
Shadows is a bit more story driven than its contemporaries. And while you will be picking up loot and leveling, the game places significant importance on dialogue decisions as well as quests taken and completed. Some areas will have lite puzzle solving as well, additionally, many side dungeon/caves are available. — Now, enemies to do not respawn should you decide to travel back to a completed area stay for a few enemies that pop out of jars or some other environmental object. So, there isn't much reason to return unless you want to satiate the completionist in you that missed a side quest. You won't need — or even be able to grind levels or gear out of those areas once you've moved on.
*– [Real player with 45.9 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198064850410)*
You've been summoned from death, pulled back into life by a demon. As a puppet of his goodwill you fight side by side to prevent the world from total destruction.
Shadows Awakening is an action roll playing game. It's hack and slay in an isometric perspective with beautiful graphics, satisfying combat, an extremely deep story, very well balanced difficulty, tons of collectables, great puzzles, many different heroes with unique upgrade possibilities and highly enjoyable boss fights. The game does an awful lot very well but sucks when it comes to quest design and story telling.
*– [Real player with 40.7 hrs in game](http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197983740996)*
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