Here is our review of the Review: CurBot Portable Curtain Robot.
Tired of wasting time opening and closing curtains? Hate the feeling of being woken up by an alarm clock? Installing smart curtain devices seems to be an excellent choice. But the time and cost of installing traditional curtain motors are too high. CurBot is here to help you out!
CurBot is an advanced smart home device that can turn any old-fashioned curtains into a fully automatic curtain system based on IoT technology. With CurBot, you don’t need any installation tools or skills, it can be set up in seconds, and it fits most types of curtain rails and rods.
A Closer Look
Setting it up
After you have charged the CurBot, its time to set it up. Download the Smart Life App and follow the instructions to add the CurBot.
You can then control the CurBot from the app.
Then just fit the CurBot onto your curtain rail.
Final Thoughts
Each CurBot comes with Rod, U Rail and I Rail attachments, and each one is different. There are also space grey, moon silver and pink versions of the CurBot so make sure to get the one that fits in best for you.
Fitting the CurBot was very simple – it took less than a minute. Everything you need is included in the box for your type of curtains. Just download the app and follow the instructions. These are really simple and only take a few minutes, then you are ready to use it.
There are different ways of having the device open your curtains – you can use the app to move it left or right, use the app to fully open or close the curtains, set up a schedule so that at certain times of the day and it can even open when it detects sunlight. There are so many options for you to choose from, however you want to use it, it will be easy. There is also a remote included if you don’t want to use the app.
The fully charged battery lasts for around 12 months depending the number of times per day it’s used – we haven’t tested this obviously but the app will show you how much battery you have left.
The CurBot is a great gadget for opening and closing your curtains without the need for doing it yourself. Sometimes at the end of a long day, or first thing in the morning, who wants to be bothered doing that – well now you can have it done for you.
And because CurBot is portable you can take it with you when you go away so that you have the same easy time.
The CurBot is available to order now on Kickstarter – the prices vary depending on what pack you want so take a look.
Quest for Infamy is a game I wanted to like a lot but sadly it falls short. Based upon the Quest for Glory series by Sierra Games this is a classic fantasy RPG-Action game that honestly, I wish I had played on PC. I reviewed this point-and-click adventure on PS5, and the experience was less than desirable.
The controls for movement which involves cycling through cursor options really isn’t suited to a controller and I often found myself using the wrong one and having to cycle through again to progress. This gets tiresome after a while and in a game as well detailed as this one, it made playing more of a chore.
The premise of the game is simple enough, you play the part of Mister Roehm, an unsavoury gentleman running away from being caught with a Baron’s daughter and trying to make a name for himself. You would think, with the title of the game, you could get up to all sorts of mischief and nefarious activities – but you would be mistaken. After this initial incident the game takes a rather tame turn. You can’t really hurt people, break things, or steal from the shops. If you do attempt such infamous acts, you will be chastised by the disembodied narrator. This can be amusing especially when the character breaks the fourth wall to interact back.
It’s a little disappointing then that the game almost forces you to be less infamous and more heroic as you go about the world. There’s also a level of apathy which I found confusing. The main character rarely seems to care about anything which begs the question why he bothers doing anything.
During the game you can elect to become a brigand, a rogue or a mage which gives you access to different storylines, items, and abilities. The game world is incredibly detailed and the depth of recreating endless pixel art backdrops for your character to walk through and interact with is evident.
Puzzles. Quest for Infamy does puzzles with exceptional strength. What sets these puzzles apart is that they aren’t necessarily based on random objects you might find. This isn’t typical in point-and-click games that employ puzzles and they are welcome to see and feel satisfying to solve.
Which brings me on to perhaps the worst part – the painfully badly acted dialogue. Honestly, it is so bad I wish they hadn’t bothered. I wonder if they are doing this intentionally to provide satire on the genre or if someone signed this off as good quality. Either way it was a terrible, terrible mistake. If you can get past it and continue playing then there is a lot to enjoy. It’s just very difficult to enjoy when every time you speak to someone or have the narrator speak to you, you’re reminded of just how terrible it is.
Despite this, the dialogue can be tongue-in-cheek and funny in some places. The overall plotting and story is also reasonably well developed, if not a little light. This is perfectly serviceable for a classic era point-and-click RPG but I expected a little more. It’s never going to be ground-breaking, and the tropes will feel familiar, but it relies a lot on nostalgia. This will always put a smile on your face.
The treatment of female characters is not something that should have been borrowed from those RPG games of old. Barely clothed in a chainmail bikini in one place for example just made me eyeroll. Combined with slightly uncomfortable attempts at humour it just makes the character, and indeed the game, feel sleazy.
Should I play Quest for Infamy?
For an indie game the sheer size and scale of the world is great. So to is the story and the fact each class has its own storyline. As well as this, the amazing puzzles. Quest for Infamy achieves a lot. It does some things very well and for a fan of those classic RPGs you’re going to love it. It will transport you back to the early 90s and that’s never bad. Sadly, the bad scaling and the atrocious voice acting are hard to get past. If you’re not used to this type of game the learning curve is steep and it may seem tedious.
What’s not to like about a great sci-fi adventure? They are full of aliens, badass one-liners, and likeable heroes. Furthermore, there are swathes of enemies, gargantuan bosses, and plenty of danger en route. You are normally thrown in at the deep end, and this is both overwhelming and exciting. Therefore, when I was offered Gunborg: Dark Matters, I couldn’t wait to see what I’d encounter.
Developed by Ricpau Studios and published by RED ART GAMES, this is an arcade twin stick shooter. It has science fiction at its core and guarantees to drive you crazy because of its tough ways. Now, it’s not in the same league as many of the 2D hardcore platforming titles. Yet, it still requires patience, precision planning, and a great memory.
Gunborg: Dark Matters is retro to the core.
Retro gaming is massive, but some titles merely play the part. Gunborg: Dark Matters is different! Every element reeks of old-school action, and I loved it because of it. From the excellent pixelated graphics, simple side-scrolling perspective, and hard-hitting audio, there’s plenty to enjoy.
The story, however, is a little weak. I admit I was confused from the off as the developers fail to explain what’s happened. Effectively, you are a female warrior who must escape from an abandoned spaceship. On her way, she encounters many aliens, traps, and objects that wish to kill her. She must use her guile, dexterity, and weapons to overcome the obstacles and get to the escape pods.
There is the normal selection of weapons to choose from, the usual traps to avoid, and the monstrous bosses to defeat. Yet, it still feels fresh and exciting to play. The gameplay is broken down over many short levels, and you’ll encounter a boss every four levels or so. You may think, “short levels, what’s the point?” Trust me when I say it, but they are the perfect length, as anything longer would be overwhelming.
Lasers, spikes, and many aliens!
Weaponry.
The heroine is armed with an energy sword and shield. As she progresses and kills aliens, she can steal their guns to improve her arsenal. Sadly, there is no way to reload your weapon, so once you are out of ammo, you chuck it away (no recycling here, I’m afraid). You’ll pick up rifles, grenade launchers, machine guns, rockets, and so forth. I adored the selection of futuristic guns and loved mowing down every foe I faced.
You’ll encounter flying discs, explosive beasts, sword-wielding maniacs, grunts, and more. Each hulking alien has strengths and weaknesses that must be exploited, and the further you progress, the harder they become. Therefore, it is essential that you empower your Dark Matter ability. This special power is armed as long as you achieve a large combo and don’t get hit. Subsequently, you are rewarded for your skill and this makes you much more badass.
Combat is only one part of the equation, however. As you explore the cavernous stages, you must avoid an array of obstacles and traps. You’ll avoid spiked walls, dodge lasers, land on moving platforms, and run under energy-infused cogs. Insanely, you must do all of this while fighting every foe you face. Therefore, you must plan on the fly and have razor-sharp reactions.
How can you defeat this awful boss?
Ranking system and 3 difficulty settings.
Like the great arcade titles of the past, Gunborg: Dark Matters focuses on an easy to understand ranking system. You will be marked on your speed, your deaths, the points you’ve collected, enemies you’ve killed, and collectables you’ve found. If you excel and perform perfectly, you’ll be awarded an S accolade. However, no matter what you score, you’ll always be able to progress.
Luckily, completionists and perfectionists can return to tackle any level at any time. Therefore, you can work your way through each stage and return to achieve top marks whenever you wish. I liked this approach as it keeps the action flowing. It would have been easy for the developers to make it more of a chore, but this would have undermined the arcade style.
To test veteran gamers, Ricpau Studios utilised 3 difficulty settings, easy, normal, and hardcore. Now, twin stick shooters are a genre I struggle with, so I found the easy option to be challenging enough. However, madmen or women can push themselves to their limits and try to defeat the hardcore option.
Gunborg: Dark Matters looks great.
It is easy for me to get swept up in the hype of retro gaming, as I love the nostalgic ways and the garish colours. However, I can’t deny that Gunborg: Dark Matters looks great no matter my biased point of view. The developers have done an amazing job with its buttery smooth action, brilliantly varied stages, and excellent neon hues. It captures everything that the 80s loved about sci-fi, but it adds a wonderful modern twist. Furthermore, the aliens look amazing, as they all have a unique appearance.
To enhance the retro style, there is a brilliant synth soundtrack that is aggressive, loud, and amazingly dated. Its hard-hitting ways add energy and drama to every stage you attempt. Alongside the great music are the fantastically futuristic sound effects. You’ll adore the booming explosives, the shrill sounds of each laser, and the ominous sounds of every alien. Like the graphics, the audio is well-thought-out and matches the theme and genre perfectly.
Don’t negotiate with the aliens.
Responsive controls.
When a game demands high levels of precision, you need the controls to be responsive and accurate. Luckily, Gunborg: Dark Matters does just that. Subsequently, it makes a tough genre much easier to play. Even when the action gets hectic and you have many obstacles to avoid, you won’t feel out of your depth. Therefore, I can confidently say that this is suitable for both veterans and new players alike.
Thanks to the array of difficulty settings, collectables to find, and challenging gameplay, this will keep you busy for hours. Furthermore, once you finish the main story, you must overcome three extremely difficult stages! These will test the best gamers and will potentially make you rage quit.
Gunborg: Dark Matters is a hidden gem.
I knew little about this title before it hit my desk, but wow, I’m glad I played it. The developers have got every element spot on, and this will appeal to fans of many genres. I adored the aesthetics, the level design, the array of weaponry, the aliens, and the replay value. Yes, I won’t be trying the hardcore mode, but I know my limitations. I absolutely adored it and I recommend you to buy it here! Can you work your way through the spaceship and get to the escape pods? Grab any weapon you find, kill the aliens, and avoid every obstacle.
If you live by the seaside, chances are that you’ve been attacked by a seagull! These sky rats are greedy, aggressive, and obnoxious. They’ll crap on you from a great height and take enormous pleasure in stealing your food. It is for these reasons I can relate to the hero in Dr Oil. The protagonist was bitten by a seagull and he’s hell-bent on revenge. His enemy is now referred to as Captain Seagull, and he’s an angry beast. Yet, our hero is Doctor Oil, and he’s angrier still. He despises every seagull he sees and plots how he can decimate their whole species.
Developed by Antena and published by Chilidog Interactive, this is a 2D hardcore platform title. Set across 5 unique worlds, this is a classic controller breaking affair. You’ll hate every moment of it, but you won’t be able to put it down! It demands accuracy, patience, and a lot of skill. Subsequently, if you have none of these things, you’ll rage-quit, swear, and despise every moment.
Dr Oil is infuriating.
Like its peers, Dr Oil punishes minor errors. You’ll need muscle memory, exceptional twitch speed, and an eye for detail if you are to succeed. Furthermore, you’ll grind your teeth to stubs, bite your lip in rage, and make noises you never knew existed. In short, Dr Oil is infuriating, but oh so rewarding.
When a title mocks you about death, you know you’re in for a tough time. Therefore, if you don’t like failing, or you get a little sensitive, Dr Oil probably isn’t for you. Subsequently, each of the 75 levels will test you in horrific ways. You’ll have to dodge spikes, land on spinning platforms, avoid ghosts, work in the dark, and so forth. Furthermore, there are flying bullets, plenty of sharp edges, and ledges that disappear. In short, it’s a nightmare to beat and will test the hardiest of gamers.
Avoid the spikes and stay alive.
Its concept isn’t unique.
Hardcore precision platformers aren’t a new concept. As such, it has a niche following that loves a brutal time. The genre is already packed with rage-inducing titles such as Super Meat Boy and OkunoKA Madness. So, how does this compare? Sadly, it isn’t as good as its counterparts. Yes, it is challenging and is enjoyable, in a sadomasochistic way. However, its concept isn’t unique and its peers do everything that much better.
Unfortunately, Dr Oil is lacking in the complexities that the other leading titles have. Moreover, the stages are much smaller and the levels lack flair or depth. However, this doesn’t mean it’s poor, because it’s not. I simply wanted it to evolve past the drip-fed mechanics and usual death-inducing elements.
Though I wasn’t overly enamoured by its approach, I liked the unique element within each world. This was a clever idea from the developers that kept the gameplay fresh. Furthermore, it added to the difficulty and kept you second-guessing. Whether it was the introduction of shifting platforms, floating spikes, cannons, or more, you had to think on the move. This quick planning and the constant shift in approach are where the title excels.
That is one big seagull!
Dr Oil keeps things simple.
The lack of complexities extends to the graphical approach. The blend of bright colours and dark tones makes it pleasant and interesting to look at. What’s more, the sprites are simple, yet striking, and this helps to navigate each stage. Other than the silhouetted level, the action is easy to follow. Sadly, I struggled on the low light stages as the obstacles and enemies were tough to see. This unfortunately increased my frustrations unnecessarily. Had the developers used contrasting colours, then the issue would have been alleviated. This aside, it was a nice looking game that is attractive, simple, and well designed.
The simplicity continues with the repetitive, but melodic soundtrack. The high tempo and aggressive music suit the risky and challenging gameplay. Sadly, though, its basic nature will annoy many gamers. Unfortunately, the same song plays on a loop and that’ll drive you mad. With no respite or sound effects to break up the tedium, it’s hard to play for long periods.
It is far too dark.
Easy controls.
Much of the action demands accuracy and tenacity. Therefore, it is lucky that there are easy controls to rely upon. Fortunately, the simple layout and responsiveness help to overcome the difficulties. The actions are well explained in the early levels and this helps to set you up for the challenges you encounter.
Unlike its peers, Dr Oil doesn’t have a speedrun option. Furthermore, there is no NG+ mode, and this was disappointing. Yes, the gameplay is tough already, but I expected more from this genre. However, completing every level is no mean feat, and subsequently, you’ll keep playing for hours.
Dr Oil ticks most boxes.
Getting everything right in this genre is a tough ask. Its fanbase is particular and wants to be challenged. Luckily, Dr Oil ticks most boxes, but I feel it doesn’t evolve enough. Sadly, there are a few things missing and this prevents it from fulfilling its potential. This being said, I enjoyed it and I recommend you to buy it here! Will you overcome every obstacle and get your revenge? Avoid every trap and kill that evil seagull.
Perhaps Persona 4 Arena Ultimax was re-released as an amusing reminder for why there are still fingerprints on my TV or perhaps it’s down to Atlus’s infamously odd release strategy, but there’s one thing for sure, no one’s complaining about this choice as part of Atlus’s 25th-anniversary celebration, with the excellent 2D fighter now brought to modern consoles.
Originally released in 2013 as a sequel to Persona 4 Arena, Ultimax contained adjustments and improvements to the gameplay mechanics while also providing a continuation in the story. It also had quite a lot of DLC, even including Arena‘s story, which now comes as standard alongside the Japanese audio.
If you are unfamiliar with the story of the Persona series (itself an off-shoot of the darker Shin Megami Tensei series), then this description is probably not going to help, as it doesn’t make a great deal of sense.
Essentially, it centers around high-schoolers who each control a ‘Persona’, powerful supernatural entities converted from an evil ‘Shadow’ spawned by their own negative thoughts. Armed with their Personas and together with their friends, they battle evil Persona owners in the same mysterious dimension from which the shadows originate, and is one that’s accessed……through a TV. Instead of the darker, moral side-choosing of the SMT games, Persona has a relaxed anime charm, and it’s likely this aspect that you can partly attribute the huge success of the super stylish Persona 5 to.
Persona likes to keep most of its hows and whys behind a huge cloak of mystery, which allows its mainstay characters to pop up without much explanation or interruption.
Disappointingly, there’s no trace to be found of the more recent Persona 5 and its characters, but unless you already own the original, there’s little reason why fans of the series – or fighting games for that matter – would come away disappointed.
This is partly because the amount of content available here is absurd, with the voiced visual novel/fighting story modes from Arena and Ultimax‘s own at the very least 20 hours, as well as excellent Arcade, Score Attack and Golden Arena single-player modes to supplant the online and local multiplayer modes.
Arena‘s narrative (a continuation of Persona 3+4) tells the story of the P-1 Climax Grand Prix, a strange battle tournament, used as bait to lure the cast to the TV world and is told through 9 different characters’ perspectives. Ultimax picks up where Arena left off but uses 3 separate branching timelines for its chapters – as well providing the ability to choose who you fight as when in a group. It’s more of a warm hug for fans than it is a shake-up in the state of affairs, bringing in new characters to provide the standard drama, but it’s still an enjoyable ride.
For those who aren’t particularly interested in the story though, you can take solace in the fact that the Arc Systems Works-developed battle system is undoubtedly the star of the show having lost none of its allure in the last decade, with a well-balanced roster of characters with distinct movesets and characteristics.
Your Persona has its own health, effectively ‘hearts’ shown as the blue cards underneath your health bar, and if they all are crossed out, you won’t be able to summon your Persona for a set period of time. This is a great gameplay mechanic as characters whose attacks rely heavily on them will be extremely vulnerable until it recovers, forcing you to adapt your playing style.
It’s not the largest roster in the world, but the action is lightning fast and the animation is beautifully smooth, emanating personality from the 2D models that make the action feel alive right from the well-designed intro screens and graphics. This is also helped by the fact that the game is never silent, with an exciting soundtrack supplanted with constantly chatting characters and a brilliant in-battle commentator that comments on your progress, praising you when you come back from behind to win and bemoaning your bad fortune if you lose from an advantageous position.
If you do happen to find it difficult though, fear not, there are 3 training modes to help improve your skills including a challenge mode that shows short videos of how the move actually looks – perplexingly, a feature missing from most fighting games – and breaks combos down into sections while showing you which parts you’ve done successfully on the screen. Further accessibility is provided by being able to launch a powerful combo by simply pressing ‘Square’ 5 times and another by just holding ‘Square’ down long enough for it to build up different levels on a meter. If that wasn’t enough, there’s even an auto mode that will fight the matches for you, before or at any point during the fight.
In the last few challenges of the Challenge Mode, if you try to access the demonstration it amusingly prods you to try it yourself without cheating.
None of this is to say that Ultimax is easy or overly simplistic though, as not a single soul will profess that the Risky level (the hardest of 5 difficulty levels) is a walk in the park and the battle mechanics, similar to Arc Systems Works’s Granblue Fantasy: Versus, are not only highly approachable but are deceptively deep, with numerous defensive and attacking features for those willing to put the time in to learn them, such as cancels and bursts which extend combos. Additionally, the SP meter (the bars at the bottom of the screen) also facilitates instant blocks and attacks without filling up too quickly during the fight, balancing the gameplay without the ability to spam any one particular feature.
The impressive amount of content doesn’t end with the story either with the 3 battle modes adding something different in each instance. Arcade mode adds a bit more story for each character with a set amount of enemies, Score Attack allows you to select different courses and difficulties and Golden Arena goes back to its JRPG roots with a level-up system with customizable moves in a limitless dungeon-like framework for the battles. You can even choose a partner that will provide you with extra skills and commentary. This makes each fight feel distinctly different from the last with a host of different variables changing the state of play on the turn of a dime – and it’s awesome. Individual battles are fun enough as it is, but these modes provide legitimate variety, and you can lose hours and hours getting stuck into them.
The JRPG-esque fighting mode provides a great deal of depth to the game.
If I’m being greedy, I would have loved to have seen a 3-vs-3 tag mode, as well as the different fighting styles, would really compliment and contrast with each other well, but it’s really hard to pick any faults with what we’ve been provided with here. Would you like more cake with your cake, good sir/madam?
If online is your thing then Ultimax doesn’t rest its laurels in that regard either. Admittedly, it has launched without the must-have in online gaming – rollback netcode – but in the few 1-vs-1 lobby fights that I had, there weren’t enough issues that won’t tide over the mode until it arrives in the summer (to all consoles but the Nintendo Switch).
I often bemoan barebone re-releases as quick cash-ins from publishers trying to revitalize their IP with minimal effort, and while Persona 4 Arena Ultimax does fit that criteria (as the DLC and Japanese audio were already technically available), in all honesty, it was already an excellent 2D fighting package that didn’t need improving. And with rollback netcode on the horizon to give the game more of a modern relevancy, there’s never been a better opportunity to jump in.
If you ask someone what they think about video games, chances are that the answer won’t be reading, or anything book related. After all, video games as a medium are all about interactivity, so, when someone thinks of video games, it’s very likely that they’ll think about a new release, an action-filled adventure, or an engaging game that had them glued on their chairs and couches for countless hours. However, every now and then, there comes a game that tries to do something new, or that brings a new approach to already established mechanics and ideas, and these games manage to create a special spark.
For the overwhelming majority of such creative cases, I’d dare say that indie games dominate this field. From time to time, I come across a few games that might not have a widespread appeal, but they’ll stick with me for years to come. For 2022, it seems that the first of such games is Prose & Codes, a game where all you do is decrypt excerpts of various books.
It’s such a simple concept, but I can’t think of any other game that tried to do something like this. The entire game is about solving substitution ciphers, where each letter of the alphabet has been replaced by a random one, and it’s up to you to find the solution to all of them. The game features a total of 350 ciphers, to be exact, and these are spread evenly across seven different genres. There’s Adventure, Children, Sci-fi, Drama, Notable, Mystery, and Horror.
There’s pretty much something for everyone, and what’s even better is the fact that, once you solve a cipher, not only do you unlock a synopsis of the original book, but the game actually rewards you by providing a direct link to the book’s page on Project Gutenberg. A lot of people might be familiar with this project, but, in case you aren’t, it’s essentially a massive preservation effort that seeks to store literary works in a digital form, and, therefore, distribute them online for free, for everyone.
In a way, I feel that Prose & Codes is trying to rekindle that fondness for reading that, perhaps, a lot of people have lost throughout the years. The truth is that, many people, myself included, have found that some video games have cultivated or sparked a long lost interest in something, namely reading. For me, this was the case with visual novels and text-heavy RPGs. However, Prose & Codes is possibly the best example of how you can captivate someone’s attention through an interactive medium and draw it towards the literary realm.
The excerpts that the developers have picked for each of the ciphers seem to have been carefully chosen in order to draw people into the various literary works. It’s almost as if each cipher is a tiny window through which you can only catch a glimpse of another world and another story. However, the great thing about it is that these worlds are only a few clicks away. It’s really quite wonderful. I’ve certainly have added quite a lot of books to my reading list that only keeps getting bigger.
Regardless, Prose & Codes stands out as a good game on its own, even if we’re not counting its connection to the Gutenberg Project. There isn’t really an ever-increasing degree of cipher difficulty that culminates in a massive cipher that would supposedly represent some sort of boss fight, but the game gives you plenty of tools to tailor the experience to your liking.
There are four different difficulty modes, Easy, Medium, Hard, and Progressive. Easy will reveal six letters right from the start, while Medium will reveal three, and Hard will keep them all hidden. Meanwhile, Progressive will make things more difficult for you as you make your way through each genre of literature.
As a non-native English speaker who learned English on their own playing games, reading, and watching TV shows and films while growing up, I have to admit that I spent way too much time trying to get through my first cipher on Hard. I then switched to progressive, but my success there was short-lived as well. It was then that I settled with Medium, as starting with a few letters already revealed was a huge help. Furthermore, you can always ask the game for a hint, and the game will then reveal a single letter for you, but you can only do this three times per cipher.
There were plenty of moments when I just couldn’t wrap my head around a few ciphers, and when I finally gave in to the temptation and asked for a hint, everything just started to make sense and it was like a flood of words coming through my head as I furiously finished the rest of the cipher as I could then easily figure out what was missing. Sometimes, all you need is a small helping hand. In fact, there’s also an option to enlarge the text, and there’s even a dark mode. It really feels like the developers have thought about everything extensively, but from my experience, the game can’t solely be played on just a mouse or just a keyboard, you have to use both.
Although these difficulty options are great to have, it should be noted that the game always presents you the books in the same order, no matter which difficult you play or if you start a new game. Therefore, once you’ve gone through the 350 ciphers, there isn’t any incentive to go back and try everything again in a harder difficulty, because you’ll probably just remember everything from your first playthrough.
I definitely wish there were more ciphers in the game, or that the game would always generate a random cipher in case someone wanted to replay the game, but I guess that just isn’t something that’s feasible to implement. Likewise, the dreamy version of me wishes that, in an ideal world, this game would simply be a tool that would allow anyone to add their own excerpts and ciphers to the game and share it with others. Maybe an idea for the future?
At the end of the day, there really isn’t anything about the game that I’d change, even if I could. Prose & Codes is something quite special, not because it’s groundbreaking in gameplay mechanics, but because it excels in being exactly what it set out to be. The ambience with the music and the background sound effects are phenomenal, and while the puzzles might not be everyone’s cup of tea, there is surely a very niche audience that will absolutely adore it for what it is.
Prose & Codes is more than worth its asking price. Still, I’d like to point out the fact that the developers mention that “a portion of every sale goes to Project Gutenberg”, but I was unable to find any concrete information regarding how much a “portion” actually is. Nonetheless, the fact that sales of the game support the Gutenberg Project is just the icing on the cake. If you’re an avid reader and enjoy solving puzzles, this will most surely be a great addition to your digital library.
Currently, the word oil is frowned upon. Whether you are an environmentalist, a homeowner, or a motorist, this black gold is costing you a fortune. Sadly, though, people are getting rich and the demand will never dwindle. However, I’m not here to discuss the heart-wrenching increase in fuel prices. No, I’m here to talk about Drill Deal – Oil Tycoon. You now have the chance to run your own platform and make your fortune at the same time.
Developed by A2 Software and published by Manager Games S.A, this is a Voxel simulation title. Like its peers, it has familiar mechanics, hectic gameplay, and rewarding outcomes. It is easy to pick up, challenging to master, but so bloody addictive that it hurts. You control every aspect of your drilling rig while preventing an array of quick time events from ruining your progress. Sadly, though, it isn’t an innovator, but it is fun and interesting nonetheless.
Drill Deal – Oil Tycoon demands you dive right in.
A2 Software has created a user-friendly title that utilises every familiar mechanic. As such, you can dive straight into the action with no concern. However, the developers aren’t that cruel, as they offer an in-depth tutorial to help you get started. Once you get through that, you must tackle each of the stages in order. There is an array of environments to work through, and each has unique problems to overcome. Furthermore, there is a limitation of how far you can develop your tech and the amount of equipment you can buy.
Now, this may seem restrictive, but it’s not. Fortunately, the limitations prevent the action from becoming overwhelming. What’s more, you don’t want to waste precious space or resources on unnecessary technology. Even though you couldn’t select everything at each stage, my creativity was never stifled. I loved the balanced approach from the developers, as it ensured the action flowed nicely.
Expand your rig and make a fortune.
Campaign or Sandbox.
As mentioned, you have an array of stages to work through. Each has quests and in order to progress, you must obtain at least one of the three stars. You will have to upgrade your rig, defeat pirates, prevent people from drowning, sell goods and more. Whatever the objective is, it is never as straightforward as it appears. Subsequently, each level requires a methodical approach, a meticulous eye for detail, and a fair bit of luck.
If you tire of the campaign, you can lose yourself in Sandbox mode. This never-ending option allows you to build the oil drilling empire of your dreams. Moreover, there are no restrictions placed upon you and you are free to do as you will. What’s more, you’ll still experience freakish events that will keep you on your toes. Drill Deal – Oil Tycoon offers the perfect blend of focused and free gameplay. Consequently, this was an excellent decision from the developer and fans will be kept busy for hours.
Is that it?
Obviously, the action revolves around the business of selling oil, but it isn’t that simple. No, you have many plates to spin at once if you wish to succeed. You must plan where to place buildings, hire staff, maintain happiness, and maintain cash flow. At times, it is painfully hectic, and one minor error can undermine hours of hard work.
Buildings.
You must contemplate where to place resource gathering buildings, staff facilities, and miscellaneous items. Dumping buildings willy-nilly is not advised, as this will impact morale, and will upset staff. Furthermore, there is a risk of fire and no one wants their employees to burn to death. Sadly, every building that produces resources also creates noise! This affects your employees and has to be considered. After all, no one wants to eat, sleep, or relax next to a chemical plant.
It was a brilliant way to make you plan your layout, but damn, it makes it much harder. As you begin, you’ll make mistakes, waste resources, and learn from your errors. Quickly, though, you understand what works and you’ll build a well-oiled (pun intended) machine.
Staff.
The bane of any business is the staff. These moaning cash-grabbing fools are never happy! They always want more, and they eat into your handsome profit margin. However, without a content roster of workers, you’ll never get oil. Therefore, you must balance profit and satisfaction very carefully. You must improve entertainment facilities, lodgings, kitchens, and more if you wish to succeed.
Sadly, though, this isn’t all you have to contend with! Employees have certain skills, and therefore you must hire the right person for the correct job. It can be a nightmare getting a fully competent team while keeping them all happy. Your brilliant operation can be undermined by unhappy or incompetent staff. Subsequently, keeping these cash leeches happy is a priority!
Cash flow and development.
Like every other simulation title, Drill Deal – Oil Tycoon demands you focus on cash flow and development. If you ignore either of these key elements, you’ll fail! Therefore, you must balance the books and improve every element of your oil rig.
Cash flow on paper is easy to maintain as you simply sell everything you extract from the Earth. However, things are never as simple as they appear. As you progress, every resource is used to create more advanced products. These make more money when sold, but cost a lot to get set up. Moreover, the more facilities you have, the more people you hire, and this is expensive. Annoyingly, it’s a juggling act that gets more complex the deep you go.
To add to this, you must research new tech to complete every task. This unlocks new items and improved equipment, but it costs money and resources. You have to weigh up every aspect of your plan before you invest heavily. Consequently, it’s a bit of a headache to get right and will test your patience and skill.
Bloody Kraken!
Drill Deal – Oil Tycoon looks great.
Now, I understand why people dislike Voxel games. I, however, love the simplicity and style. There is something endearing about the garish colours and blocky imagery. What’s more, its basic approach works really well with the genre. The developers have kept the levels of detail to a minimum and this was the right thing to do. With so much going on, it could have been messy. Luckily, the simple style allows you to focus on running your business. Alongside this, this excellent UI prevents the screen from becoming cluttered.
Unlike the graphics, the audio didn’t impress me. Yes, it’s serviceable and fun, but I expected more. Sadly, there is no interaction with your employees and this makes it feel shallow. Consequently, it would have been nice to hear some form of conversation to add to the realism. First, they are an emotional bunch, so why not show it? Second, it was easy to overlook your team, so some distinct audio would have helped massively.
I don’t want to fight pirates.
Excellent controls.
Simulation titles aren’t always easy to pick up and play. Drill Deal – Oil Tycoon, on the other hand, is user-friendly and simple to master. Helped by its fantastic tutorial, you’ll have the basics accomplished in under 20 minutes. A2 Software has done an excellent job with its responsive controls. If you are new to the genre, this is a great way to get started.
Its simplicity made it easy and moreish. Subsequently, I invested hours without knowing it. You’ll try and fail each stage repeatedly, but this matters not. Each attempt is a learning curve and you’ll enjoy trying out new things. Furthermore, thanks to the Sandbox mode, you could keep playing this forevermore. This being said, I would still like more content to be added. If the base game is enhanced or multiplayer gameplay is incorporated, then this will be an epic title.
Drill Deal – Oil Tycoon is a wonderful indie game.
This won’t be a tough sell for a fan of the genre. It’s easy to love everything that Drill Deal – Oil Tycoon offers. Yes, it’s not as in-depth as some of its peers, but its QTEs and stage-specific challenges make it fun. Consequently, it’s a wonderful indie game worthy of your time. I loved it and I recommend you to buy it here! Can you improve the fortune of every oil rig? Invest in your people, the facilities, and your partners, and make a fortune from the black gold.
It’s apparent within moments of starting Aztec Forgotten Gods that you’ve stumbled upon something fascinating and unique.
Opening in a mysterious cave that Indiana Jones wouldn’t feel out of place in and armed with a gauntlet that allows you to fly and attack stylishly through the air, you are put in control of a well-designed character, introduced to the game’s mechanics and mythology before being whisked away from that character forever and transported ahead in time to a modern Aztec civilization with flying cars and bright lights.
This unexpecting beginning then fosters an excellent and heartfelt story sandwiched between the gameplay of flying around this futuristic Aztec city and fighting humungous gods. Imagine the Aztec/Mayan design and structures in Sonic Adventure painted with a Cyberpunk brush. It’s such a cool idea that there are even plans for a live-action movie, I mean, really – what’s not to like?
It should perhaps come as no surprise that up-and-coming Mexican developer Lienzo was capable of such a feat though, as they also merged great aesthetics with Mexican culture in their last title, Mulaka, which focused on the little-known Tarahumara. Combining the secluded tribe’s folk stories and history with an exciting action-adventure world, it created something culturally significant in an industry that lacks diversity.
There’s a clear focus on making the presentation as stylish and epic as possible.
The story has our heroine Achtli help her mother uncover the truth of the scientific research they are doing on an ancient dig site, and inadvertently unleashes world-destroying gods onto the world.
This is where the prior-mentioned gauntlet comes in and it is this huge attachment that does all the heavy lifting in the gameplay department. It allows you to traverse your city to make your way to the next plot point, but it also works the same way in the boss fights, which are huge grandstand set pieces, allowing you to blast around the huge enemies looking for weaknesses.
For a gameplay mechanic that is so integral to the game, thankfully, it is a joy to use, as the controls are flexible and easy to learn. You can launch yourself upwards from a standing start, blast yourself forwards from the ground and adjust your trajectory mid-flight.
Photo mode provides a great opportunity to frame the awesome trailing blast from your gauntlet, and if you wanted to change how the city looks, you can always visit a shop to make the change the time of day, lighting the world completely differently.
Mind you, the gauntlet isn’t just a glorified flying Iron Man rip-off, as it’s also your only method of offensive. As you progress through the game you are given upgrades (in addition to ones you can purchase) – which add to your available attacks – that focus on each new boss’s weakness, so that by the end, you have a satisfying arsenal of moves such as a super punch, a ground stomp, and a slicing projectile.
The city itself also can be used as a parkour-like playground. You can grab onto rails and run along them, jump up structures like Spider-Man or slingshot yourself off them for a boost to your stamina, which flying slowly decreases. You can even land on the train that runs around the city or catch a ride on any of the flying vehicles or boats that run around the city.
This makes for a grand old time of just flying around with no goal and for no good reason – you do it just because you can, and it’s a blast (pun intended). If you did want something to do outside of the main story, the world also provides distractions in the form of purchasing different hairstyles, costumes, and gauntlet upgrades as well as minigames challenges like races and fights in order to earn in-game currency for said shops.
Just deciding where to fall – should I land on a train, a building or attempt a moving target, like a flying vehicle?
You can even talk to every single NPC that walks around the main city square which is yet another aspect that will make you wonder how this was made by such a small team. With this effort, Lienzo was essentially aiming for the stars, and considering how high you can actually fly, it doesn’t seem like they were actually that far off.
On the flip side of that coin, however, there are aspects of the game where the reality of a smaller budget clashes with its tall ambitions, but other than NPC designs that might make you do a double-take, there aren’t any that particularly affect the core experience. Yes, the map isn’t as feature-filled as it could be, and, true, the graphics and animation are at times incomparable to more expensively-made alternatives on the market, but the key is that the game never loses sight of its strengths – its empathetic story and epic battles – creating something both compact and impactful.
Erm, you don’t think you could’ve mentioned that the boss was a spider-like insect with claws? Ewww…
Other than the occasionally poor-quality visuals and boring fight though, every other aspect is like the cherry on the cake of this sub 10-hour action-adventure. There are only 5 human characters involved in the story, but their characterization and personalities are rich and believable. Humour, grief, and friendship are weaved together effortlessly and with every relationship given time to grow, scenes have an emotional weight – a hugely important aspect in any story that wants to take itself seriously – and can be really quite moving.
There is a particular scene where you need to separate from a character who means a lot to Achtli, and in-game this is as simple as walking across and exiting a map, but based on what it would mean for her, you won’t want to make the journey. Simply put – there won’t be a dry eye in the house.
Aiding the story is the very expressive – albeit repetitive – animation of character models in interactions which is excellently paired with emotive noises at the beginning of each sentence. It gives a palpable emotion and humanity in each conversation. As someone who gets lost in the Yakuza series for games at a time – with their voiceless side missions and often wooden expressions – this approach to conversation scenes is like a breath of fresh air.
It’s only a short ride that we get to go on with Achtli, but it’s a highly memorable one.
It would be remiss of me if I went without mentioning the titular Aztec gods which feature heavily throughout, as they don’t disappoint, with designs inspiring awe and fear in our heroine who already bears the pressure and fate of the entire city on her inexperienced shoulders.
Aztech Forgotten Gods is a highly ambitious project that undoubtedly has room for improvement, but considering what this action-adventure not only aims for but also achieves in under 10 hours of playtime, it can only be considered a resounding success. I for one hope that this isn’t the last we see of our witty heroine and Aztec gods as the lore and world is teeming with potential.
Strictly Limited Games, in partnership with Numskull Games and Undercoders are delighted to announce the upcoming limited physical release of Super Epic: The Entertainment War. This Metroidvania action-adventure with gorgeous pixel art has you join a raccoon and a llama on a quest to save video games as we know and love them, with tons of 2D combo-based combat and lots of humour, which can also be seen in the trailer.
With its satirical take on video game conglomerates, abusive microtransactions, and the important preservation of video games, this indie gem is well-aligned with Strictly Limited Games’ values and a worthy addition to their Partner Store. The game is coming for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 as a boxed Limited Edition and Special Limited Edition, with pre-orders kicking off on Thursday, March 10th, at 4PM CET, only at the Strictly Limited Games Partner Store and their partnered fan store Gamesrocket.
About the game:
The year is 2084. After a series of mergers, buyouts and hostile takeovers, only one video game development company is left in the world: RegnantCorp. A huge enterprise run by greedy piggies. All the fun in video games has been replaced with intrusive addiction algorithms used to control people’s minds and behaviour. But a rebellion of game enthusiasts is fighting back, replacing RegnantCorp’s software with classic games. Following a distress signal, Tan Tan the raccoon and his valiant llama steed Ola prepare to take on RegnantCorp and confront the pigs…
The finest quality ingredients can be found in this Metroidvania! A large interconnected world to explore and unlock, a responsive customizable action-set for combat and an in-game economy-based upgrading system, with lots of weapons and abilities to unlock and enhance.
Features:
Classic story-driven mode with handcrafted levels and multiple endings
Gorgeous 16/32 bit era cartoon sprites
RPG like weapon and armour upgrading system, with tons of items to collect and discover
Extensive combo-based combat system
An unlockable procedural “rogue-lite mode”
Fast-paced, non-linear exploration
Optional cross-media content
Strictly Limited Editions:
Strictly Limited Games is giving SuperEpic a definitive boxed release with two unique limited editions, available for pre-order exclusively via the Strictly Limited Games Partner Store and via Gamesrocket.
The Limited Edition is limited to only 500 individually numbered copies for Nintendo Switch and 300 for PlayStation 4, at a price of 29.99€, including a unique cover artwork and a colourful art booklet with game manual.
The Special Limited Edition is limited to 700 copies for Nintendo Switch and 500 for PlayStation 4, for 49.99€, including awesome additional collectibles:
Gaming is no longer considered a part-time hobby. With Esports and other competitive events, gamers can class themselves as professionals. Yet, though for many of us it’s a way of life, that doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy the odd casual title. Splash Cars aims to take away the serious edge while allowing you some good old-fashioned arcade action.
Developed by Paper Bunker and Eastasiasoft Limited and published by the latter, this is a casual racing game. Set in an isometric world, you must use an array of cars to paint the environment. You’ll collect power-ups, grab coins, guzzle petrol, and avoid police. If you can do all these things, you may unlock new maps and extra vehicles.
Splash Cars lacks complexity.
Though I enjoy the simplicity of a casual arcade racer, I don’t always like the lack of complexity. However, Splash Cars’ repetitive and basic nature is endearing, and you won’t be able to stop playing. Furthermore, the developers have successfully incorporated both solo and cooperative action and this ensures that it appeals to a wider audience.
Like many casual titles, this one has no story. Consequently, this may disappoint you, but thanks to the fast-paced and grindy action, you won’t give it a second thought. The aim of the game is to drive your vehicle around an array of maps. Each of these locations has houses, parks, roads, and other redeeming features. As you drive, you leave a wake of colour in your path as you try to paint as much of the map as possible.
Such a dull world!
It’s harder than it seems.
So the concept is quite straightforward, but it is harder than it seems! There are many things that prevent you from completing your job, and it quickly becomes a nightmare. You must avoid the attention of the police, who, for unknown reasons, wish to smash your car to pieces. Then there are the street cleaning vehicles that undo your work unless you activate them. Furthermore, there are tiny micro machines that do the same, and a long list of power-ups to gather.
Alongside the hectic hurdles that you must overcome, there is fuel and coins to collect. Each of your cars has a limited fuel tank, and it is your responsibility to keep it full for as long as possible. Consequently, if you run out, it’s game over, unless you wish to pay to continue. Trying to hunt down every fuel canister while being chased by the police is a tough but fun task. You’ll weave between buildings, dodge past trees, all while painting the ground beneath you.
Yet, you can quickly get the upper hand by collecting any of the power-ups you find. You’ll turn your vehicle into a magnet, shrink it, double its size, add a turbo booster, become a tank, or turn your pursuers into your allies. Subsequently, it was a wonderful twist to the gameplay that added much-needed depth. I adored the change in pace and the randomised nature of the gameplay.
Which car will you pick?
Splash Cars looks dated.
I loved the simplicity of-the-art style and the isometric viewpoint. However, Splash Cars, unfortunately, looks dated. Its blocky imagery, basic sprites, and smaller maps lean towards the mobile gaming market. Now, this isn’t a problem, per se, but it will put off some players. I, though, enjoyed how each level sprung to life once the colour was added. Furthermore, the retro imagery reminded me of Micro Machines and other early racing titles. Unsurprisingly, I had no performance issues, and the game played as smoothly as expected.
Sadly, I wasn’t wowed by the audio either. The shrill noises are annoying and hurt your ears. Subsequently, I found it tough to play this while wearing headphones. This issue aside, I liked the upbeat music that added energy and a fun atmosphere to the proceedings. Though much of the audio wasn’t to my liking, it was serviceable and, as expected, for a basic arcade title.
It’s tank time.
Why can’t you reverse?
The developer’s desire to keep things simple is applaudable. However, having no reverse gear in a racing game is an oversight in anyone’s book! Annoyingly, you’ll crash repeatedly and the police will keep ramming you. This wouldn’t be so bad if you could make a hasty retreat. Sadly, though, you must slowly turn while repeatedly crashing, and this becomes tedious. Other than this issue, the controls are responsive and easy to understand. With a straightforward tutorial to complete, you’ll have this mastered in no time.
Where Splash Cars excels is its longevity and replay value. Yes, it is a bit of a grind-fest, but it’s also enjoyable to unlock every car. Each stage has a ranking system of 1 to 3 stars, and these are awarded based on the percentage of paint you’ve dropped. Moreover, for every star you collect, a bonus is awarded. Whether it’s tickets to spend on a new paint job, coins, a new map, or the latest vehicle, there’s plenty to unlock. Alongside this, you’ll increase your fuel tank, the size of your paintbrush, reduce the speed of the cops, and so forth. Therefore, this simple title offers a lot more than first meets the eye.
Splash Cars is simple but addictive.
There was always a risk that Splash Cars wouldn’t offer enough variety. Fortunately, though, this concern is quickly forgotten. Yes, the action is basic, but damn, it is so addictive that you won’t care. You’ll adore racing around every level while trying to avoid the Popo. With many elements against you, you’ll love successfully painting every level and unlocking new and improved vehicles. It is an excellent casual title that can be played solo and with friends between other games. Therefore, I recommend you to buy it here! Will you paint every town, or will the Rozzers stop your fun?
Any Gamers out there who love and enjoy the farming lifestyle, but also would like full control of every part of the farm? Then Farm Manager 2022 is an excellent game to play! It takes the ordinary farming life up a notch by letting you work at a higher position in the game, and one thing you won’t have to deal with is being the worker doing all those chores. Instead, you will be the leader and to be more exact the boss. Everything that goes on the farm is all up to you, as you are the decision-maker in this realistic farming game.
That’s right, you’ll not be a traditional farmer who takes care of the chores like taking care of the farm animals, keeping up with constantly checking and prepping for new crops to grow, adding new buildings, new employees and so much more. All this rather than a regular farmer job like many farming games. It takes you a step higher where you’re in charge and really gets the true feel of how it is to be a farm manager for real!
How will it Feel to be a Farm Manager?
First off, I’d like to say that sometimes I can tell right from the beginning how good the game will be. Especially for a simulator, just by the game’s graphics, how well the character’s design has been done, and what personal features you may have control over. Specifically, the way they react and utilize everything on the game; realistic animation. One last thing I factor in is that if it includes, which by the way is a big part of the game and how fun it may be for me to play, is understanding the mapping on the controller.
I always love simulator games when it’s easier to know how to move the player, interact with objects other people, animals, or many other features required to know to play the game. In this case, it’s knowing just how to access and add new things to the farm as well as keep an eye on the workers. It’s a bit trickier, I won’t lie. However, a farm manager needs you to work from above and make sure to take care of tasks like buying, selling, and making sure to keep checking on everything. So in some way, it feels like a tycoon-style game and it is really a good idea to take the tutorial stage as it’s super helpful and if you are still a bit lost, take it again and again. Just till you get an idea on how to play.
Consequently, I will tell you my honest feeling about my first time playing and the many other experiences that I’ve felt while playing the game. To clarify one thing, I’m still playing this game as it’s not a short game and can go on forever. Especially from the different modes like the campaign, scenario, or the free mode. They all give the player like myself, a chance to build and change up each gameplay. So let me tell you about the results of my gameplay, which isn’t all great, but there are plenty of positive features, especially the design of the game and its challenges.
Short Example of Farm Manager 2022 Campaign in action
To start, this game had me a bit on edge it would be too difficult to control or know how to play the game correctly, but honestly it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Yes, it’s challenging at the beginning, yet it got easier after the tutorial stage, by it teaching me how to manage and utilize each component in the game as a farming manager. Especially, when you finally have plenty of things on the farm going at once. It really isn’t a simple walk in the park! So for those not too experienced with simulator games that feel as close to reality, it may take time to do certain jobs, and work with the mapped-out controller’s buttons.
A few assignments as the manager which can get tricky to keep tabs on is not just a few, but many of things like taking care of the many employees you hired and assigned as well as have to pay, keeping an eye on the animals you have on the farm, adding more buildings, the change of the weather, planting crops and making sure they are cared for daily, building a fund to use by selling, and the main goal, keeping everything from becoming a disaster and just run smoothly. Even I felt as a manager, it must be so much easier to just watch over others, but then reality hits and I realized it can be still just as difficult as an employee or a single farmer.
Now a few other things that I do feel were great with this game are the graphics, the music, the weather being so realistic in its ability to change from sunny to rainy, and one great love for the speed adjustment button. The speed adjustment will allow you to go from pause to normal speed, faster and feastest. So if one has to wait for something to be delivered, a building to be built, and even having crops grow, this button really speeds things up and allows you to get to the gameplay way sooner. Even the target goals you want to accomplish quicker.
Nevertheless, it all couldn’t be just as wonderful, there are a few parts that the game made me feel curious about why it was done a certain way or missing something to make it perfect. So here I go! There are a few slight problems I came across, not as many issues that will make anyone not want to play the game. Since they are mainly my own thoughts I felt about the game, just as what is missing or had been a bit difficult to play the game easily.
First off, the words on the screen tend to be a bit smaller than expected. I had to do a bit of squinting to read the TV screen. However, it could be that my TV is smaller than many may have and it also could be because the text is a bit long, and would be hard to fit it all on the screen without covering up the game in the background. I also had to move closer to the TV or skip some of the text to get a move on playing the game.
Also, I did feel a little curious why the group of employees the creators of the game only made them one race. There are females and males, but none of them are different in ethnic groups. They all are just white men and women. Is this to depict that farmers can’t be from any other culture or ethnic background? I doubt that, but the game really seems to make that a bit unfair to see other types in the employee choosing department.
To Sum it All Up
There is so much you can do in this game. It’s very well designed and the graphics are outstanding as well as the disasters and reality of how things move, and the workers work. I love when a game is so realistic in appearance and feels like the real thing, verse ones that are too easy or feel a bit like it’s in a beta stage of completion. Thankfully this game is perfect and one I’d honestly be playing on a daily basis!
Lastly, before I conclude this review. I did have that question, which I asked above about any gamer who loves the farm lifestyle. Well if this was a yes and you feel you have what it takes to be a manager, then this is the game for you! It won’t let you down, especially since Farm Manager 2022 has more than just the traditional barnyard animals or farming styles that many other games may not include. Such as having fun by adding fish, ostriches, or even many other animals to your farm. This game won’t just be challenging fun, but feel like a real-lifestyle manager job.
My video review with footage captured on my Xbox Series X, enjoy!
Mythology is a beautiful, yet bizarre thing. I’m no aficionado, but I enjoy it because of the wonderful stories and deep lore. Therefore, when a game utilises it at its core, I am keen to dive right in. The Mooseman is a strange, but striking title that’ll capture your attention from the opening gambit.
Developed by Morteshka and published by Sometimes You, this is a single-player adventure title. It uses a distinct monochromatic palette and relies heavily on tribal imagery. Moreover, it aims to educate its fanbase with knowledgeable titbits and real to life artefacts.
The Mooseman is confusing but intriguing.
With mythology at the heart of everything The Mooseman offers, I found the action to be a little confusing. However, this doesn’t detract from its fascinating concept or its wonderful style. Instead, it compiles its ideas in a surreal and dreamlike fashion. This didn’t come as a shock to me, as many of the fables have supernatural or religious undertones. If you decide to take this on, you’ll have to go with the flow. Consequently, it’s a wild ride full of drama, weird imagery, and unusual creatures.
The plot is based on the mythology of Komi as well as other Finno-Ugric peoples. The action utilises three key characters, The Mooseman, the shaman, and one of the sons of Yen (the creator God). The latter character must travel to the underworld to collect Shondi (the sun). Subsequently, if he fails his task, the world will be eternally cold. With many monsters to overcome, supernatural powers to utilise, and minor puzzles to solve, this is both beautiful and challenging.
Can you find a way through with the eagle?
An excellent blend of mechanics.
Where The Mooseman excels is its wonderful blend of mechanics. Moreover, the drip-fed elements prevent the action from becoming overwhelming. As you start your journey, you’ll use basic platforming controls and nothing else. This quickly evolves as you find a mask that enables you to see images from a supernatural plain. This special power allows you to solve problems, reach new heights and control surrounding beings. Furthermore, its brilliant use of monochromatic imagery adds to the striking nature of the game. If you put on your mask, you’ll move mountains with a turtle, or drag logs with a snake. It’s very odd but strangely alluring.
Furthermore, once you collect the Shondi from the depths, it acts as a shield. This illuminating presence protects the user from one hit only! If you are struck, the power diminishes and you must activate it again. Though it was easy enough to do, this adds a layer of complexity to the gameplay. You must time the use of this ability to protect yourself from relentless flying beasts. Consequently, if you don’t, you’ll die repeatedly. I adored the simplicity of the approach, as it allowed you to focus on the educational elements. On your journey, you’ll find artefacts that contain in-depth information about tribal cultures and the fables you are experiencing.
Will you solve every puzzle?
The Mooseman is stunning.
The developers focused on some interesting mechanics, but I loved their artistic approach. The side-scrolling nature of the gameplay, combined with the stunning tribal imagery, was amazing. Furthermore, the contrasting monochromatic imagery worked beautifully with the surreal theme. It could have been easy for Morteshka to dip into the realms of absurdity. Instead, however, they focused on the wonderful myths and awe-inspiring artefacts of the Finno-Ugric people. Alongside this, you’ll experience some creepy and weird monsters and some unusual but interesting landscapes. The standout level has to be the underwater area where the hero is chased by a fish. The scenery is utilised for cover as you dodge the fish’s attention. It was particularly spectacular thanks to the combination of every mechanic and the horrendous nature of the aquatic enemy.
Each scene was dramatic and was enhanced by the excellent audio. With a blend of haunting tunes and airy sounds, it’s hard to dislike what you hear. Unsurprisingly, clichéd tribal music can be heard throughout, which may annoy some of you. I, however, didn’t mind it as it suited the theme without being OTT. What I also enjoyed, was the excellent environmental sounds. There was nothing better than listening to footsteps in the snow, the sound of the wind blowing, or the splash of water. The realistic noises add to the experience while transporting you to each location.
So many artefacts to find.
Simple to play.
With an array of abilities to learn, it could have been complicated. Luckily, though, its basic approach is simple to understand. Using your special abilities is easy, and shooting your bow takes little practice. Therefore, this can be mastered with ease. Furthermore, the responsive controls help with the platforming moments. The puzzle elements sadly won’t test you, but they are interesting and enjoyable nonetheless.
With many artefacts to find, there is both longevity and replay value for completionists. Moreover, any keen historians will be interested in the story behind each trinket you find. Sadly, though, the main body of the game is minuscule! This is where The Mooseman falls short. I was disappointed that the action ended prematurely, as I was desperate for more. With only 2 hours’ worth of story, you will be left wanting! This being said, its quality makes it great value for money.
The Mooseman is brief but brilliant.
Though its mediocre length left me disappointed, I still adore it. It’s hard not to love every element on offer, as they are all brilliant. The strange but alluring story is captivating, and this is supported by the dramatic audio. Consequently, it’s touching, unusual, and will get under your skin. Therefore, I can’t help but recommend this wonderful indie title. Will you discover every artefact hidden within The Mooseman? Unlock your powers, explore the strange world, and save humanity from the eternal cold.
The world is a hectic and fast-paced place. No one has time for anyone else, and you can easily feel lost. Subsequently, it’s tempting to drop what you are doing and search for a simpler existence. I think this is what makes games like Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing oh so appealing. They sell a vision of a wonderfully relaxed lifestyle in a cute and colourful way. Therefore, I’m never shocked when I see new titles that are heavily influenced by their magic. Clouzy is one such game that aims to win over its audience with an unusual theme and sickly cute graphics.
Developed by Tinymoon and published by Freedom Games, this is an adventure farming simulation. It offers stress-free action and a never-ending list of quests to complete. Furthermore, there are some simple puzzles to overcome, and a loose story to enjoy. I loved the freedom to explore the moderate-sized map and the unusual inclusion of pet clouds. It won’t be for everyone, but fans of the genre are bound to fall for its unusual charms.
Clouzyis bizarre.
I’m all for a strange theme and unusual happenings, but Clouzy is just bizarre. The game opens like many of its peers. You are given a basic tutorial and then you set to work. So far, so good, that is until you are introduced to your first cloud. Now, I haven’t got anything against these rain carriers, per se. But in this setting, it’s just odd. You are tasked with cleaning, healing, and appeasing each one. You’ll have to cure illnesses, reduce their anger, make them less nervous, and so forth. The cures are found around the island or by concocting an array of meals or drinks. As I said, it’s bloody bizarre.
You control a farmer who runs a smallholding in the middle of a quaint archipelago. This minuscule piece of land must be upgraded and improved to complete every quest on offer. Like Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing, you must help the surrounding islanders by completing jobs, finding items, and exploring ruins and dungeons. However, unlike the aforementioned titles, there is a distinct lack of depth within the progression elements. Yes, you can upgrade equipment, get new recipes, and more, but it quickly plateaus. Consequently, once you reach the top and you exhaust the main storyline, there is little else to do.
Take the time to relax.
Abilities and crafting.
Where Clouzy excels is its drip-fed abilities and crafting elements. The adventure aspect of the gameplay expands as your pet learns new skills. Subsequently, the small world opens up once you complete puzzles and find dramatic landmarks. It was wonderful to revisit old areas as you were empowered with the ability to jump, could overcome cold temperatures and more. The larger world had plenty of collectables to find and an array of new ingredients to harvest. Moreover, you’ll discover chests with costumes, furniture, and special items.
The crafting mechanic forms a key component of the gameplay as every task relies on recipes, new equipment, and different ingredients. Consequently, you had to scavenge an awful lot of goods if you wished to complete each task. Cooking foods and blending drinks were completed through a simple mini-game, and this was a little disappointing. I wish the developers had made this more complex to increase the challenge. Sadly, this wasn’t to be and as such, you’ll tire of it quickly.
I wonder what a sick cloud would unleash?
Repetitive gameplay and many bugs.
Clouzy undoes much of its greatness because of its repetitive and buggy gameplay. Sadly, after a few hours, it becomes pretty tiresome. Unlike its peers, there is a lack of custom options and this reduces your sense of ownership. As you are searching and finding new items, it feels exciting and enjoyable. However, a lack of direction or hints stagnates progress very quickly. I’m not one for hand-holding, but absolutely no indication of what to do was a poor choice. Subsequently, I wasted hours expecting the quests to guide me, whereas all I had to do was to explore to stumble upon the solution.
This is compounded further because of the long list of bugs I encountered. Fortunately, most were annoying and not game-breaking, but they ruined the finish, nonetheless. First, I experienced the cinematic replaying every time I reloaded the game. Second, the tutorial repeated itself numerous times even though I didn’t initiate it. Third, my pet would become stuck on objects, ignore me completely, or I’d be blocked by its presence. Lastly, clouds in the pet area would simply vanish, never to be seen again. As mentioned, these weren’t game-breaking, but they were poor nonetheless.
Clouzy is cute as a button.
The developers have pushed the envelope to create a sickly sweet title. Subsequently, Clouzy is as cute as a button. Your character is larger than life and has soft doe eyes. This adds to the innocence and childlike qualities the genre is renowned for. Furthermore, the clouds have a unique appearance that matches their personality and ailments. I loved the attention to detail and the vivid colour palette. It was magical to explore the variety of landscapes because of the mellow approach and bizarre imagery.
The relaxed and calm atmosphere is enhanced by the soft piano music. Slow songs match each location you visit and play on a continual loop. This repetitive approach created a familiar and serene experience, but it was also tiresome. Unfortunately, Tinymoon got this wrong as their delightful and wholesome soundtrack quickly becomes tedious.
Who wouldn’t want a talented pet?
Messed up controls.
Clouzy gives the impression of a game designed for PC. Sadly, this is because the controls are clunky and cumbersome when using a controller. Attempting to move items or collect objects was challenging and not very user-friendly. Annoyingly, if you had stacks of items to transfer, the default setting is all or nothing. Therefore, you’ll be unnecessarily moving your inventory back and forth during every interaction. This issue detracts from the crafting mechanics and leads to unwanted frustration.
The genre is renowned for sucking people in for hours. Clouzy, on the other hand, will not! Yes, there is plenty to do, a reasonable amount of recipes to cook and unlimited tasks, but these won’t test you. Sadly, this won’t grab your attention and this affects both the reply value and longevity.
Clouzy could have been great.
From the opening, you could see Clouzy’s potential. The developers pushed for a cute and laidback adventure and that’s what you get. Sadly, however, it never really develops, and this impacts its appeal and depth. Despite its shortcomings, I enjoyed it casually and recommend that you buy it here! Can you nurse each cloud back to full health? Scout the landscape, find ingredients and complete each task you face.
Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream is the latest entry in a long-running series revolving around the fantastical and alchemical. When I say long-running, that’s no exaggeration. With 22 entries across 25 years, the Atelier series is a veritable veteran.
As a newcomer to the series, I initially had no clue about its tenure in the JRPG sphere, its dedicated fan base, or how it managed to retain both across two decades. However, after spending time in its world, with its characters, and behind a cauldron; I get it.
The Story So Far
Atelier Sophie 2 begins with Sophie, who you may not be surprised to find out is the protagonist, and her mentor/friend Plachta leaving town. They’re leaving Sophie’s home with two goals. The first is to get Sophie certified as a licensed alchemist. The second is to restore Plachta’s human body.
Plachta was once an amnesiac talking book. She helped Sophie learn the art of alchemy, which in turn helped her regain her memories, and gain a life-sized doll that she could use as a body. Clearly, there’s some wild stuff, and backstory we’re missing here. Luckily Atelier Sophie 2 provides a recap of the previous title which you can watch at any time to brush up on the plot. Or if you’re like me, to get a better idea of what’s going on.
Sophie and Plachta’s journey is interrupted when a vortex appears out of nowhere and whisks them away to Erde Wiege. A world created by the goddess of dreams, Elvira. Usually, she invites people whose dreams interest her. She offers for them to live outside of space and time in order to realise their life’s goal. Our heroes, however, never even met the goddess and Sophie wakes up in this world; Plachta nowhere to be found. So she begins a new journey to find her friend and figure out how she got here.
The story is fairly interesting in premise, but I never really found myself fully engrossed. It came across as very middle of the road, with few standout moments, lore, or characters. This can be a bit of an issue considering the amount of time you’ll spend here. It’s a long journey that will provide the player with an ample amount of playtime, around 50-60 hours if we include some side quests. There are a lot of people to meet, places to explore, monsters to fight, and of course a lot of alchemy to practise. This ended up being the saving grace for the game. Since alchemy is wonderfully executed.
When Will It End?
The abundance doesn’t end there though. Like some twisted rite of passage, this title barrages you relentlessly with tutorials. Many hours into your playthrough there’ll still be tutorials. You may think you’ve safely evaded the last of them. To your dismay, another tutorial will be slinking, cloaked in the shadows for that perfect moment when your guard is down. It got a bit ridiculous. How many mechanics can one game have? At times I seriously wondered if there’ll be a tutorial for the final boss. I guess this is what happens when you’ve had 22 entries to add systems and refine your formula. Thankfully for players returning to the series, tutorials can be skipped. This is handy when mechanics are familiar, or if you’re a rebel who wants to play it all with no help.
Although I have to admit, these tutorials are far from unnecessary. Atelier Sophie 2 is a robust, and sophisticated title in every positive sense of the words. Its main draw, alchemy, is so fully realised it becomes more than a simple crafting mechanic. In fact, the alchemy gameplay alone could be a set as a stand-alone game.
Making the Ordinary, Extraordinary
Like many crafting systems you may have encountered, you combine items to create a new one. However, here things are taken leaps and bounds further. Every item in this game has its own set of stats. These include a quality rating, an element (fire, wind, etc.), and traits (which are like buffs for your synthesised item). These stats are all taken into account when using them to make something new. This allows you to make an insane amount of different variations of the same item. As well as being able to synthesise higher quality versions as you improve your alchemy, materials used, and understanding of mechanics.
Once you select the ingredients required for a recipe, you start the alchemical process through a 5×5 screen where you place and group your items by elements. Your placement of elements is vital, as linking them in specific ways increases their power and quality. It becomes a kind of puzzle game, where you need to think a bit about the placement of your ingredients.
Atelier Sophie 2’s alchemy is really good. It’s complex without being convoluted or impossible to grasp. It will, however, take time to fully master. In this way, you step into the shoes of an alchemist. Knowledge comes through trial and error. Making better quality items requires you to deepen your knowledge of the systems that govern alchemy. There’s also an auto-synthesis option, which arranges ingredients on your behalf, saving time when you aren’t concerned about quality and traits. However, this takes all the fun out of the system. Doing it yourself will often be more rewarding, both in terms of gameplay and the quality of the things you create.
Stock Up & Square Up
In order to get the ingredients needed to learn more recipes, and improve the quality of your work. You need to go out and explore the world. It’s positively overflowing with items. Some can be simply picked up by hand or with special tools you’ll have to craft like fishing rods, scythes, and hammers. Other items are gained through more combative means. While Erde Wiege is a dream world, it’s not without its share of danger. There are all manner of monsters and beasts you’ll be trading blows with, from rabbits to dragons.
Combat in this title is turn-based. You and your team of friends and fighters engage enemies through basic attacks, flashy and defensive skills, and employ a variety of items you’ve crafted to give you the upper or a helping hand. There are also some tag-team attacks that allow you to use your skills a bit more liberally, without using up MP. I had little to complain about with regards to the combat. Yet at the same time, little to applaud. It’s simply effective in what it sets out to do. It’s responsive, visually appealing, and satisfying enough. However, it’s really nothing you haven’t seen before
Sights, Sounds & Cessation
Visually, Atelier Sophie 2 also left a little to be desired. It’s standard fare JRPG character and world design. Especially the town of Roytale, which is so much like the countless other towns, you’ve seen just like it. Erde Wiege has a pretty sheen to everything and makes good use of colour. The world definitely feels dreamlike in its employment of light and saturation. But I feel it could have done more to add a more surreal element to the dream world Sophie finds herself in.
I may not have been all that impressed by the world design, but the music that accompanies exploration definitely caught my ear. It’s a mostly light, uplifting, and ethereal soundtrack that makes great use of woodwinds, strings and percussion. It’s got an amazingly positive tone that is sure to put you in a great mood while exploring and creating. I often caught myself whistling along, which is always a good sign.
While this latest entry in the Atelier Series may not excel in every mechanic it employs, it has clearly mastered one. Its complete realisation of the alchemy gameplay is a consistent pleasure to play. Its shortcomings minor and major in its visuals, story, or combat are routinely overshadowed by the satisfaction of improving your alchemical skills. Provided you know what you’re getting into, you’re sure to enjoy your time stirring the pot.
