The Book of Unwritten Tales 2
A charming, hilarious and fun adventure with the perfect balance of puzzle difficulty. This point and click has my favourite puzzle design because they are not too hard to figure out, but also not too easy. The characters are unique, interesting and lively, and the graphics are gorgeous without putting too much strain on a computer (as a laptop gamer, I especially appreciate this as there is nothing sadder to me than a game I really want to play with specs that my computer can just about manage with lags). As in the first game, Wilbur is an absolute treasure, Ivo is as great a female character as ever and Critter is quirky, sweet and loyal. Nate has grown more likable in this game as well as gained a fair amount of depth and development.
– Real player with 92.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Singleplayer Linear Games.
If you played ‘The Book of Unwritten Tales (1)" you will probably enjoy this sequel. It brings back all the main characters from the first game and introduces a few new ones.
The textures and rigging are a little better than the first and the mechanics and walk paths are a little smoother but I still found that some of the walk paths (especially when you are switching between characters) are a little weird. You don’t have to do any pixel hunting because you can highlight all items that you can interact with so it’s hard to miss something. Some of the puzzles are not very logical to solve but most of them are reasonable.
– Real player with 61.5 hrs in game
Hardland
This is legitimately one of the best games I have ever played. The world building is truly world class, and the game is in many ways a technical masterpiece, fast travel is literally 1 frame, and the lighting… I am not kidding, rivals Red Dead Redemption 2, and this was all done with a custom engine. A team of 2, 1 Artist, and 1 Programmer.
To fully appreciate it though, you must understand that even though it kind of looks like zelda, the game is more like monkey island or another adventure game- you are solving world scale puzzles through interactions with the NPC’s and exploration, and the combat is intended as light gating for certain areas, not as a main focus of the game. It does not hold your hand at all and for this reason it can be hard to tell what you are supposed to do next. There is no journal, nor quest tracker, and the world is big and everyone seems to speak in riddles, but i promise you if you keep picking at it everything starts to come together. The first few hours are for exploring and meeting people. The dot connection will come, but you have to pay attention to the world and what people are saying.
– Real player with 42.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Singleplayer Conversation Games.
This game for me was a hidden gem, its a flawed gem but quite a unique one as well. I should probably say that this also isn’t a game for everyone as there are some design decisions that may scare off the less adventurous.
The greatest strength of this game is by far its world building and writing. This may sound strange but you spend almost all of your time talking to NPCs, hearing what they have to say and thinking about what it means. The dialogue is almost always a prompt to continue but sometimes you have to make a dialogue choice. This sounds boring but the dialogue is really part of a puzzle for you to discover then figure out and that is what makes the dialogue so engaging. The game warns you in the title screen to pay attention to what is being said to you and they were not kidding. Some small comment a random NPC makes or some item description can lead you to an important item, character, piece of information or situation. You slowly discover this strange world and who all the players are through paying attention to your surroundings, it feels like you are a detective connecting all the dots. The writing is also quite funny, some dialogue exchanges had me bursting out laughing.
– Real player with 39.3 hrs in game
Fire And Thunder
Become a Greek-like hero and set off in your own odyssey! Kill monsters from Greek and Babylon mythology, pillage gods palaces and dungeons, save women and claim their riches. Let the FIRE and THUNDER leads you on your way!
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Use magical artefacts to slaughter enemies.
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Discover new weapons and their powers.
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Defeat gods and their boss puppets.
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Unleash unstoppable power by using your own, custom combination of artifacts.
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Explore the ancient cities and dungeons.
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Travel through mysterious land of gods.
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Admire the appearance of structures inspired by Greek and Babylon architecture.
Read More: Best Singleplayer Indie Games.
Greak: Memories of Azur
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Review by Gaming Masterpieces - The greatest games of all time on Steam.
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Is this game a masterpiece? Yes, in the end I think so, but it does have some irritating design choices as well - this is no run-of-the-mill platformer!
The game takes place in the lands of Azur, which is mostly overrun by an Urlag invasion. It is a single player platformer, but you will control three siblings with unique abilities during the game: Greak, Adara and Raydel. While playing only one of them, gameplay consists of jumping, climbing brushes, swinging on vines, diving, killing (respawning) mobs with your sword, fireballs or crossbow, collecting items, and talking with the few remaining inhabitants of the land. You can double jump and dodge roll, and you learn new fighting abilities, like an upwards thrust or a smash attack. Adara can glide through the air with her dress and reach places Greak cannot, she can also hold her breath far longer than her brother. The third sibling joins them later in the game and is very strong… but can’t swim. As long as you only play Greak, the game is nothing special, but as soon as you have found Adara you have to alternate control between them.
– Real player with 34.8 hrs in game
*Note that the follow mechanic has been modified since this review was posted.
Playing status: 100% achievement, 3x playthroughs
Grindy Achievement(s): No.
Optional Achievement(s): Yes (14 achievements).
Difficult Achievement(s): No.
Intro
Greak: Memories of Azur is an atmospheric 2D platformer where you can control up to 3 characters at once. Areas will be filled with enemies and puzzles that utilize this mechanic, whether it’s for their number or unique abilities.
– Real player with 20.6 hrs in game
Siege of the Swine
I like it! Very super mario bros feeling. I think it was great and I thought it got pretty crazy as the pigs really started coming.
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Final Winter
A fast paced rogue-like where combat is more about the amount of time lost for the xp gained. You have 10 minutes to get as deep as you can before the curse takes your life. This takes my usual approach to rouge-likes of careful, deliberate precision and tosses it out the window. The game compels you to take each floor faster than the run before to get deeper and grants you powers that help you traverse the floors with greater speed and yet the cave isn’t exactly the same as the runs before.
Enjoyable, challenging and leaves me feeling accomplished after a good run, and yet still feeling like if I could only run it faster than ______ wouldn’t have died. Who is next and how many can I save I wonder?
– Real player with 7.0 hrs in game
Monster Fighting? Check. Puzzles? Check. Well made characters? Check. Good story? Check. This game has everything you need to keep you entertained for many hours. I have played through once (and lost) and it was very fun. I will be playing again. That being said I don’t know the replayability of the game. But it is for sure worth the cost for the hours of enjoyment.
– Real player with 6.7 hrs in game
Scarleth
First look at history
You wake up from a deep sleep to continue your search…
This is the journey of a young hero whose destiny is to know about the unknown Highness Successor of the kingdom of Scarleth.
Game features
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A vast world to explore! Enter a place full of secrets, mysteries, peoples and enemies that you face on your journey.
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Unique accessories and items! Mythical and sacred elements that will allow you to play with the strategy that you prefer.
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Discover powerful alchemies! Combine different resources to create magical powers.
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Explore from caves to secrets! You will be able to collect minerals and valuable rewards.
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Level system and upgrades! You will be able to level up, in addition to being able to improve your weapons, armor and alchemy in exchange for pieces of ore and gold in a smithy.
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Full xbox controller and keyboard support! You can control the game as you prefer.
Note: the final content may vary depending on the development of the game.
Styx: Master of Shadows
SLIGHTLY IMPERFECT BUT WELL-EXECUTED AND TRUE STEALTH GAME
There are three things you need to know about this game.
1. It’s chock full of potty-mouthedness, including from the main character.
2. It is NOT a game you want to play if you like being the alpha badass.
3. It ranks up there with the original Thief games and others (skip down if this is all you care about).
I’ll address these and more in sequence in this review. It’s a long one, but maybe worth the read.
First off, as regards #1 above, if you’re too young, or if you, your parents, or your professed god do not approve of you being exposed to cussing and other adult humor, skip this game, cuz it’s not for prudes. That said, it’s all just words, put-downs, and sarcasm–only a little more advanced than the stuff that your average first-grader might hear daily on the playground or in the back of the school bus. I didn’t see any nudity or erotic content, so you won’t have to worry about that. Nobody was particularly racist, gay-bashing, etc., although masculine status does get insulted in a few spots. There was at least one subtle joke about masturbating–again, nothing that kids don’t know about already. Guards pee, and you can see the stream from any angle, but the source organ is never rendered; in fact, pants never come down, although associated movements do occur. I’d give it a PG-13 if it were a movie.
– Real player with 138.0 hrs in game
Caveat: the recommendation is intended for existing fans of the stealth genre. If you’re not familiar with espionage/infiltration gameplay, you’re unlikely to gain an appreciation for it in “Styx.” Though the story is decent, that plot progression is gated behind some maddeningly patience-trying stealth sequences, especially at the end.
Hope you’re looking for a challenge, because “Styx”, like DMX, is gonna give it to ya. Some of this difficulty is deliberate (enemies such as Knights and Elves, difficulty selections such as ‘Goblin’, mission insignias, etc). Sadly, some of it is a consequence of mixed design goals and sloppy controls/interface. What’s more frustrating than getting caught because, instead of dropping off the ledge to slip past a patrol, you instead slid across that same ledge and climbed up onto the next platform? Rather than the clever use of environmental interaction that worked in the same situation earlier, the same commands now send you on a completely unanticipated course, like some kind of slapstick scene in a comedy show. And in full view of the two Knights and elite crossbowman who had nothing better to do than hang out on the same balcony. All. Fucking. Night. The answer my friends is nothing. Nothing is more frustrating than that.
– Real player with 74.6 hrs in game
The Dragons' Twilight
I bought this game with no expectations, but ended up pleasantly surprised. For a first effort and for the price, Dragons' Twilight is a definitely a game worth checking out.
The maps are a bit sparse and there are a few grammatical/capitalization errors. However, what the developer does do with the more limited game map is fairly impressive. Never did I feel like there wasn’t enough to explore. The story also is quite engaging with some rather decent character development. This development does fall away a bit toward the latter part of the game, particularly with the introduction of more characters. I actually found myself wanting to know more about certain characters and their connections to one another.
– Real player with 184.1 hrs in game
I really enjoyed the game, and very reminscent of 90’s RPG’s, which I loved. It was very straightforward, overall easy to figure out controls, etc, and what puzzles were included weren’t overly complex. Challenging but not frustrating. Even if you missed some weapons, armor or magic, winning battles and the end bosses was still possible. The few drawbacks in my opinion was that it was a bit heavy on the “gay” jokes at one point, there were regular but minor spelling errors throughout, and there weren’t changes in visiting locations or dialogue after a major event that was supposed to prompt them.
– Real player with 42.9 hrs in game
Avalom: Ancestral Heroes
Giving a final review update after extensive time and hours playing the game..the old original first earlier impressions will be listed below the latest updated info (this will be long but should help give extensive information to people)..
Latest update after many hours playing through the game and starting more than one character as well (this should help people wondering if the game has longevity and replayability).. - So after much more time with the game I can say without a doubt this game is definitely worth the money and is very cool. The amount of game play here for less than $20 is insane and I have personally not seen any other steam indie game in this genre that is less than $20 with this much content in it. At first the full possibilities are not clear and the game may seem a little sparse because it does not have a triple A budget, but as you play the game more you will see many interesting things open up and see the uniqueness of the game world and variety and depth to the combat and character skills/builds.
– Real player with 95.5 hrs in game
As an indie game developer myself, I believe this game shows a lot of promise. It could use quite a bit of polish in regards to UI and localization but I do enjoy playing the game. As the developer keeps adding new free content I feel it is worth the price being charged for it. The animations could be as little smoother and fluid in some cases.
This is not a AAA game and they are not charging the $60 for a AAA game, so one shouldn’t expect it.
– Real player with 16.7 hrs in game