Bionic Battle Mutants
Warning: Based on single player content only.
Game runs fine under Windows 10, not a single bug apart from texture layer issue on one level (very minor thing).
Enjoyed the campaign (around 12 to 17 hours), the few problems inherent to isometric view and line of sight/visibility in this type of games are pretty well delt with here:
Wall transparency/visible line of sight/visible covers are all one icon away during battles.
The AP system, a few attack options and consumables are what you get to work with, clear and enough options for a few different layouts.
– Real player with 19.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Retro Isometric Games.
BBM is an interesting take on turn-based combat with a small squad of warriors. I like the graphics style and the customization options. The game is not too deep or complicated, and is good fom some relaxed tactics for a couple of hours.
You team members can die in a fight, and reviving costs quite some resources, so it pays off to play carefully and avoid getting hit or charged, since most enemies are tough melee fighters
Good thing is you can replay missions to collect some more loot for the next upgrade.
– Real player with 16.6 hrs in game
Space Empires III
Despite the glitches and bugs, this game has that beautiful blend of design your own units and turn based strategy that I do love so much, but be ready for the eternity each match takes (on large with multiple players).
– Real player with 547.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Retro Strategy Games.
Absolute nostalgia. Wonderful to see this again, haven’t seen it since the mid 90s. A few gripes about UI and UX and the tutorial but those are minor. 7/10
– Real player with 17.2 hrs in game
Combat Chess
I cant believe this is even on steam. This is an old game i played when i was like 9 years old. I am so happy i found it and for 5 bucks on steam.
Its just a really fun animated chess :) Good for nostalgia.
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Retro Chess Games.
A knock-off of Battle Chess for all intents and purposes. Cheaper, though. Worth a try.
– Real player with 0.1 hrs in game
GraviFire
Puzzle game with very interesting mechanics and charming pixel art. Game is a bit short, with only 50 levels. Difficulty isn’t that hard, enough to make you think, but the lack of an undo button can get pretty annoying, and I feel that it adds some artificial difficulty, but the game is still pretty doable with patience. Having said that, it is pretty cheap, and is unique enough for me to be worth a buy.
– Real player with 4.3 hrs in game
gravifire is a sokoban-like/sliding hybrid set in space. block pushing comes into play by directly controlling a green alien trapped inside a strong body suit or something (there’s a short cutscene at the beginning), so you can move stuff around yourself, but the gravity changing mechanic moves all the crates in the same direction at the same time, hence the likeness to sliding puzzlers.
– Real player with 3.7 hrs in game
I am not a Monster: First Contact
One of the best games I’ve ever played. It is Xcom style tactical turn based strategy game and it is flawless.
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Visuals are stunning. Game is made in a way that it looks like as if it was made in the 60s. The graphics use old movie filter, the sound effects are “poor” quality, stereotypical (with game progress you’ll find out that they have much more depth) characters and the whole future concept from 60s movies about distant future. The whole 60s thing is done very well. Amazing.
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Level design is great and used cleverly. Many times game reuses same levels, but is done so well that those reused environments feel like totally new levels, I mean they are, they have different objectives and stuff, so they are completely new levels, just with same level design. But it is not reused because of lazyness or cheapness, it’s reused because it is needed for story progression. This is really smart design choice, I love it.
– Real player with 104.4 hrs in game
Literally, I started the game with no expectations. I knew people liked the multiplayer, but since I wasn’t interested in it, I’ve watched the game with suspicion. Once I learned that there was a single-player mode, I didn’t expect much from it either.
I was sure this was some sort of “alibi mode” to complement the multiplayer and even if it was good, it would be short as most indie game campaigns are.
Oh my God, how wrong I was! The game campaign is simply stunning!
It is very long, it takes 25-30+ hours to finish it. - That is a huge selling point for me!
– Real player with 44.8 hrs in game
Sabre Team
I figured this would like a cool little X-com: UFO Defense type of game, but I was mistaken. The UI is somehow even less user friendly and the entire objective of the game seems to be in finding ways to piss me off.
I expected better, honestly.
– Real player with 0.2 hrs in game
Wager
I really want to give this a good review but I have only been playing for a bit (5h or so of play) and I think I am done? No progression, unlimited cash, most runs. If it goes no where then what is the point? I have done a few runs and it seems very limited in variety. ALso, fix the numbers, add notation or something to that at least we can see the big numbers. This game needs some work to be worth paying for.
– Real player with 3.0 hrs in game
Fun little game, needs lots more items and has some balancing issues and bugs
On my first game I have found Assembly Line + Stacking Use ‘em is very broken, add some above and below 10 free money and you can catapult into the stratosphere very quickly.
I ended up getting so much money I caused a buffer overflow plunging me into negative coin values XD
Would like to see more than 28 items, as you get to know all of them and which ones are useful and which are not very quickly.
Needs some more work to make the gameplay interesting for much longer than half an hour or so
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
VirtuaCreature
This game is a huge improvement over the legacy version; with online play, revamped simple battle arenas, interchangable moves, being able to raise more than one virtuacreature, and the various QoL changes made, there’s so much more replay value to the point that I made my own builds.
As a game in itself, I really enjoyed the tamagotchi + pokemon aspect where it was easy to digest yet complex enough for me to be invested in. There’s so much freedom to raising your virtuacreature to the point that most of my gameplay time was just me borderline experimenting… not to mention, the simple battle arenas, coupled with the designs of each virtuacreature (Bearcub’s s-tier btw) made it easy to learn the mechanics of affinities, while being subtle so that it isn’t too hand-holding.
– Real player with 7.8 hrs in game
It’s like a mix of first gen Pokemon and Digimon. Taking care of the little monsters is like taking care of a Digimon keychain pet, and the battle system is a turn based system very similar to the first generation of Pokemon games. The creatures evolve into different things based on how you take care of them and feed them. You can even battle them online. It’s very nostalgic. I like it. Give it a try, you might like it too.
– Real player with 7.2 hrs in game
Chaos Sector 混沌宙域
Good job. 难得有一个游戏让我能想起同时玩大航海时代和超级机器人大战的感觉。内政系统让我想起圣魔大战和lost technology。最有趣的是捕获系统，同时用海盗的导弹巡洋舰和北天的光束扁海盗不要太爽。同时也很期待Chaos Galaxy正式版的上市，希望开发者健健康康，开发顺利。
下面是几个针对新的Chaos Galaxy的建议：
1. 目前试玩版里，每个行星有五个slot可以建造要塞。不知道可不可以增加别的建筑，比如提升商业/工业/防御度上限的建筑？防御建筑当行星被占领时自动被拆除，其他建筑保留。
2. 是否有可能增加行星驻守舰队？满额的5个要塞在战力5000以上的舰队（旗舰+1-2巡洋舰+补给船+1机甲）面前仍然很脆弱，而能组建舰队的将领数貌似非常低（初始=3），所以领地稍大一点貌似就会被周边势力偷家。同1，是否可以通过建筑/科技增加仅仅驻守在行星本地的1艘巡洋舰+2机甲？
3.是否可以考虑空降“巷战”？比如进攻方可以投入所有当前舰队机甲单位，行星防御按50点/100点/200点/400点生成1/2/4/6个、总统率力不超过25的本地机甲单位参战。攻击方全歼敌人则行星防御力下降至10点（即下一回合攻击方即可空降占领），如果未全歼（回合数到）则防御方仅损失机甲数*50的防御值。如果攻击方机甲被全歼，则防御方不损失任何防御值且民心+5.
– Real player with 41.8 hrs in game
Very nice, litlle one-man indie turn based strategy with retro touch.
Simple, but efficient strategy layer plus series of small scale tactical combats (at most 20 units on board, usually ca 8 turns) makes for fast paced game and prevent drag. Choices are minimalistic, but well implemented.
I found game reasonably simple (with beginning a bit more challenging) and needed 21 hours to reach all endings.
For negatives, there is little replayability. Game is somewhat unbalanced (submarines" are underwhelming), AI is passable, and plays by the rules (which is nice feat for such a small game), tlhough very predictable in tactical phase. RNG sometimes can be a bit annoying (but never ruined the battle for me). For the price I can really racommend game.
– Real player with 22.3 hrs in game
Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption
I can’t recommend Hero-U and I hate that I can’t. Quest For Glory 1, the VGA remake is a staple of my childhood and it is unavoidable that I’d compare the 2 games. One of the key pieces of Quest For Glory, that my young mind loved, was that unlike a standard RPG where your character just grew - QFG made you think about how to practice and improve the various skills you would need and how to fit that into your journey so that you succeeded in later goals. In fact, it did this much better in my eyes than games such as Skyrim did years later.
– Real player with 216.6 hrs in game
Harry Potter meets The Sims and that is a really good thing!
You play a student named Shawn O’Connor in a class for Rogues at a magical university called Hero-U. Taking place on a magic parallel Earth, you have one semester to battle through exams, plotting classmates, private wagers and competition, unlocking secret passages throughout the castle, exploration in the catacombs, and battling and or negotiating with monsters from rats to wraiths. This game is $35 on Steam and worth the dive for anyone who loves immersive adventure gaming, from arguably two of the greatest video game creators in the genre, Lori and Corey Cole.
– Real player with 80.7 hrs in game