Zen Landscape Editor
A great game, relaxing and creative just like how it was promised. But there are some things that can be worked on to make it so much more amazing. For example, placing objects like bridges is really hard to get it where you want, but placing things like people is very smooth and easy. Trees are on sand like platform which kinda ruins the green of many islands. Most objects like the villages are red, but would be cool if you can customize the colors of the ships, people, and structures. Customized controls would be AMAZING, it allows everyone to have their own style. Finally, it is a bit hard to rotate the screen for me. M for mute does not work either.
– Real player with 1.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Sandbox Exploration Games.
This is sort of a non-working demo. Its to demonstrate the landscape editor for the game which is still being developed but God willing will be released soon. Hopefully this year. I’ve seen the demos and other information about the game, it is very good!
BUY THIS TO SUPPORT THE AUTHOR! ITS VERY GOOD!
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game
Atlas Architect
~ EASE OF PLAY~
🔲 My 90 year old grandma could play it
✅ Easy
🔲 Normal
🔲 Hard
🔲 Dark Souls
~ GRAPHICS ~
🔲 MS Paint
🔲 Bad
🔲 Meh
🔲 Graphics don’t matter in this game
✅ Good
🔲 Beautiful
🔲 Masterpiece
~ MUSIC ~
🔲 Bad
✅ Not special
🔲 Good
🔲 Beautiful
~ STORY ~
✅ This game has no story
🔲 Like playing Temple Runners for the story
🔲 It’s there for the people who want it
🔲 Well written
🔲 Epic story
🔲 Imagine Kingdom Hearts but on crack
~ PRICE ~
🔲 Free
🔲 Underpriced
✅ Perfect Price
– Real player with 46.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Sandbox Exploration Games.
Would I recommend this game? Yes! But to be honest, there are just about as many cons as there are pros, but first I will go to why I love this game so much -
Pros:
What can I say? I love each new thing added into the game. Every time the dev adds anything in, it seems to liven up my map even more. Things like smoke, water, and flags in the cities will move, and add a bit more life to something basic.
You can view your map in multiple ways, from grids to old time maps to elevation levels.
– Real player with 26.6 hrs in game
Galactic Civilizations III
NOTE: This is a review of the Final Release Candidate for the game, so it should apply to the released version.
Having been a long-time GC2 player, I eagerly signed up for the Founder’s Edition early-access over a year ago, and have followed the development of GC3 since then closely.
Let me tell you, getting a 4X game that incorporates all the features that hard-core strategy gamers want, while remaining both relevant and competitive, is really hard. As in, EXTREMELY hard. StarDock has done an excellent job with GC3. That’s not to say there still aren’t quibbles over the direction certain features have taken, but the reality is, that if you actually want to release a game, certain decisions are going to have to be taken, and you’re sure to piss off someone who wanted that feature and didn’t get it. But GC3 is a solid and entertaining game, if not a radically innovative one.
– Real player with 2842.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Sandbox 4X Games.
First of all it is critical to understand that the game is still in beta testing and therefore has some glitches. That said it has been pretty stable for me. (Four year old dell xps 8100 with 16gb and a 750 Ti video card). At present the plan seems to be to a go for a final release in May. There will be frequent patches before then and perhaps a beta 6 release (beta 5, with enormous additions, was released yesterday (Mar26). If you don’t like encountering bugs and reporting them to help the game, then wait for the release. Of critical importance remaining is tuning the AI to be smarter and more aggressive, imo.
– Real player with 2285.4 hrs in game
Guardians Of The Past
Great game, when you consider the stage its in! Wonderful Dev team who are always listening to ideas and issues, and quickly resolving them.
– Real player with 10.1 hrs in game
It’s a great game to play when your friends are around, though you need to find enough controllers for everybody.
But when you have found these controllers, oh boy, fun guaranteed.
Sometimes you need to explain the game a little, and for me it’s lagging a bit now and then but otherwise a really fun game.
– Real player with 6.8 hrs in game
As Far As The Eye
This game was incredibly brutal until I discovered the Council building and the Knowledge resource, and then it became an incredibly fair and deep city-building/roguelike/4x game.
The biggest problem with the game is there isn’t a good reference for how all the mechanics work. I think it will be better once an online wiki is available.
My tips for a winning initial game:
Opening:
1. Get 40 wood and build a sawmill. Assign one of your workers to be a gatherer and gather wood. Later, when you don’t need wood, switch this worker to be a food gatherer and build a fruit hut for 80 (you can do this earlier if you get a 4th worker). You should have enough rations for this, and the carpenter/fruit gatherer jobs share the first 3 levels.
– Real player with 26.9 hrs in game
I too believe that this is a nice game if you enjoy roguelike games.
When I first saw the list of buildable buildings I was worried the game wouldnt have much depth, as there are exactly 15 buildings which can be built.
So .. I was worried I will just figure out how things work and lose interest in the game after a few days, because I found some safe winning strategy.
Luckily it was different!
The overall difficulty is quite high. After the tutorial campaign you get to play 4 tribes with increasing difficulty (you have to start with the lowest difficulty tribe). However, even that tribe took me quite some effort to win with.
– Real player with 25.2 hrs in game
Dofense
Fun, challenging levels, the tower build queue is an amazing idea that I hope other games use in the future.
I do feel like many levels can be beaten easily by rushing the enemy spawner, but its up to you when you do this. I just wish the game made it harder, or more punishing to go for this early on.
– Real player with 7.0 hrs in game
Not your normal “generic” Tower Defense title - I like the way it challenges you beyond the norm (won’t spoil it!!)
Was initially put off by the lack of reviews, but was encouraged by the number of updates. Glad I took the chance.
Game forces you to carefully consider your priorities. Looking forward to progressing.
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
Deity Empires
Short description:
DE is the most faithful (playable) successor to Master of Magic. It has some
*4x Fantasy Strategy with seperate magic and civic research
*points to spend on perks at game start
*sophisticated economy
*incremential elements like resource upgrades and unit leveling ( (which you can turn off))
*Tactical battles and Rogue like dungeon diving (simplistic Rogue Like at the moment but there is more to come)
A negative point is, that this game is complex and/but has very limited manual (and no tutorial). As I understand it, the devs wait for the big and essential updates, before they spend time on manuals. The DE community is very welcoming. The forum search function is your extended manual.
– Real player with 783.5 hrs in game
This review is from the perspective of someone who has played a significant amount of the Age of Wonders series and the Fall from Heaven 2 mod for Civ4. I’ve also dabbled in Endless Legend, Fallen Enchantress, Dominions, and Master of Magic.
Right now this game feels like a cross of Age of Wonders and FFH2, and I love it. Below are some of my thoughts:
City Development (Tall vs Wide):
Cities start weak but can become incredible powerhouses given time and investment. For example, a starting city will produce approximately 100 gold per turn, which is enough to fund a low tier army or a level 1 improvement every 5 turns. My capitol in my latest game, however, produces 4000 (!) gold a turn, and is still not yet fully developed. I basically don’t have to care about income because this city is basically El Dorado.
– Real player with 357.3 hrs in game
Lost Scavenger
How long could you survive in a parallel universe where the Mist dictates its rules? Would you be able to find the way to your homeworld, or will you adapt to live under the Mist domain? Fight for resources, get together with other survivors and discover the secrets of this world. This is your story.
Lost scavenger is a hardcore game about surviving in an open world that is overrun by the Mist. You play as an ordinary guy from our world that has fallen into an anomaly and found himself in a world that has been haunted by the Mist for the last 30 years. How far could you make it in a dying world in which every step may be your last? Would you be able to find the way to your homeworld, or will you adapt to live under the Mist domain? Fight for resources, get together with other survivors and discover the secrets of this world. This is your story.
Features:
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Unique world. The postapocalyptic world shrouded in impenetrable Mist. Small anclaves of survivours are scattered around what has left of the world. Do you have what it takes to find your path through all this?
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Active pause. It triggers after your every action so you can thoroughly read your surroundings, make assessions and plan your further actions.
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One life only. Your characters live only once. If they die, they die. Game over. And yet, it is a cruel world you’re going into, and nobody says that you can’t expose your companions and sacrifice them in battle to save your own life!
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No grind. No character leveling, no skill trees, no EXP whatsoever. Instead, you have to learn to play better, use your strengths and compensate your weaknesses. Git gud!
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Randomly generated world. Different biomes, weather conditions, anclaves and quests make every playthrough unique.
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Immersive simulation. The narration is dynamic and depends on your world generation settings and actions that you perform in that world. Every playthrough is a new story. And it is not necessary to follow the storyline: you can just wander around the world to try yourself!
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Virtues and flaws. Choose what you’re good at and what you’re not every time you start the new game. Unlock new traits during your adventure. New traits will give you the access to new abilities and dialogue options!
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The vast crafting system that lets you experiment or craft unique items from recipes that may be found throughout the world.
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Battles with a wide range of tactical techniques.
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Realistic damage. Creatures have a complex damage system, including locational damage, bleeding, painkillers, infections and aggravation.
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Realistic metabolism: fatigue, hunger, dehydration, hypothermia, diseases, intoxication.
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Mutations: characters affected by the Mist might get their limbs or organs mutated, which will grand them unpredictable effects.
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Realistic inventory. A complex item management system with both weight and volume limits forces players to carry only what is most necessary to character’s survival.
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Hexagonal map. Travel through ruins, hills, forests and plains on a hexagonal map. Direct visibility, altitude and daylight affect the viewing distance.
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Settlements: meet other survivors in their enclaves. They may provide food, rest and medical care. If you have something to give in return.
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Scouting: use your gear to explore your surroundings.
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Stealth tactics: search hiding places, use camouflage and ambush your enemy.
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Hunting: hunt wildfowl for food and fur, or hunt down big ones for rare ingredients.
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Use your lockpicking skills to open stashes with precious loot.
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Foraging. Search for edible plants and water sources, and use special skills to determine what is safe to consume.
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World inhabitants AI. Everything on the map lives its own life. Creatures wander around, gather resources, hunt each other or gather into packs to higher their chances to survive, which means a great danger to the player.
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Dynamic weather: daytime cycle, temperature, precipitation - and all of that depends on a season. For now, you always start in the middle of the autumn, and if you’re strong enough, you will be able to live until winter.
Senalux
This is what I exactly want all the time, the best traditional light puzzle game I ever played.
Simple but stylish graphic.
Tricky but elegant puzzles.
Typical but colorful game mechanics.
Well-made to unleash the very potential of a light puzzle game.
A little suggestion
The shards reward in the some level may need adjustment, where player has no way to get less than 3 shards, for the number of mirrors that game provides is only the minimum, but sometimes the game still have the setting of 2 or 1 reward if the player could use more.
– Real player with 120.1 hrs in game
This game caught me by surprise. I went in expecting “just another light-beam” game, and was surprised by the depth and complexity of the levels.
The game takes simple tools, introduces them in a way that lets you know precisely what they do, and then ramps up the difficulty once you’ve got the idea. While it is by no means an “easy” game - The difficulty comes from actual puzzles and never from not understanding what is expected.
Since I bought the game, another free 72 levels were added as free DLC (Level Pack 4), with again - new tools which are easily understood but result in some seriously difficult puzzles. The developers for this are very open and have helped fix unintended solutions and other problems very quickly.
– Real player with 80.2 hrs in game
Before We Leave
I have personally been enjoying this game very much! I appreciate that I don’t need to worry about war or combat, nor must I consider the monetary value of my peoples (ie. slavery). It still can be challenging, and I was pleasantly surprised by the little challenges it throws your way (ex: the gremlins!). The aesthetic is very pleasing, and it isn’t very demanding graphically. I would definitely recommend this! I’ve written out some of my experiences and some tips! ♥
- The Tutorial -
Doing the tutorial is a good idea and I do recommend it, but the tutorial will take you through pretty much the whole game, or at least deep into the mid-game – this could literally be hours and hours lol. But I would suggest stopping after you have started to explore your second planet., then proceed to your own games.
– Real player with 59.2 hrs in game
At the time writing this I have little over 10 hours in the game! You tell me what I end up getting to :)
Check out this Let’s Play for More Visual and Audio Experince!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOdcC0ErbSc&list=PLjMDVXkLIQ3772ETUImsVXS_1AwZFdcKw
Before we leave is one the best games I have played in a long time for getting right into the game and understanding what to do. It’s not because it’s easy or simple. It’s because of the amazing job they did with the tutorial system and explaining the basics of the game.
– Real player with 31.8 hrs in game