Recent reviews by Eric

The demo for this game was my favorite demo among all those in the most recent Steam Next Fest, so when it launched in early access, I was happy to pick it up. And yet, despite already coming into it expecting it to be a lot of fun, it's even better than I had hoped!

Every game mechanic feels well thought-out and well implemented. The core mechanic, the climbing system, is probably the best climbing system I've seen in a game so far! While the game is challenging, it's not a "rage game" where it feels like the controls are fighting you - the controls are fun and easy to use, it's the obstacles and the other things that lie in the dark that are what gives the game its challenge. Heck, where in some other games I may take a break when I lose a lot of progress, with this game I'd start to quit out... only to find myself almost immediately starting it up again, eager to begin another climb.

Even though the game is in early access, there's already a nice variety of obstacles, rooms, and items in the game, and despite having done many runs between this version and the demo, and despite seeing some of the same rooms many times, I never felt the game get stale or repetitive, and I enjoyed getting better at the game with each run.

It's already one of my favorite games as-is, and I'm really excited to see what gets added next! I highly recommend downloading the demo and giving it a try, and if you enjoy the demo, getting yourself a copy, even if you're normally wary of buying early access titles!

I might end up leaving a more detailed review later, but I figured I'd write something now since one of the Steam award badge requirements involves writing a review for a nominee, and this is my nominee for this years "Sit back and relax" award. Just keep in mind that I haven't made it to the final tech tree in this game yet, and most (if not all) of my playtime was before the 1.0 update.

With all that out of the way: This is probably my favorite factory-sandbox game I've played so far. I've tried others before (albeit mostly through demos and the like), but this is the only one so far that keeps me coming back to it. Part of this is just that it does a lot of things really well, like the pacing. Even when things are going slowly, I always feel like I have the option to make things faster if I'm willing to spend a little time improving my factory. There are other things I think are pretty neat about Satisfactory, which I'll go into more detail about below, starting with the combat.

While there are hostile creatures in the world, you don't really need to defend your factory from destruction like you often do with other games in the genre. Instead, enemies in this game are more of a threat to you directly, and you'll often only end up having to worry about them when you're exploring and venture into their territory. Fighting isn't super complex, often consisting of just paying attention, moving out of the way from enemy attacks, and whacking them with your best weapon. As you expand into more dangerous areas, the enemies start getting more dangerous, and you may end up wanting to develop ranged weapons to help deal with them easier. Creatures will eventually respawn in an area, unless you've built in that area enough (like by placing a mining structure down). So while there is combat in Satisfactory, it's not the main focus of the game.

Instead, the main focus is more on the factory building. Satisfactory does a really good job at having a factory system that encourages tweaking and improving your factory over time to make everything work better as you get access to more tools and options. There are several ways to manage both power and transportation, and you also have to consider the optimal layout of your factory. If you mess something up though (or want to change things later, which is likely to happen often if you're like me), you don't need to worry, as you get the resources back upon deconstructing something (as well as any resources it contained, if the structure was holding/carrying anything). If you're not just worried about optimization and want your factory to look nice, Satisfactory has you covered too, as there are several mostly-aesthetic things you can use to make your factory look nice. You also have placement options that let you snap things to a grid (and to each other) more easily, so you can make things look "cleaner" if that's your thing. You can also paint your structures, which I sometimes use to further designate different sections of the factory by giving them different color schemes.

Overall, I'd recommend this game to anyone who has an interest in factory building games, especially if they'd prefer to focus on the efficiency and/or appearance of their factory instead of the defenses of said factory.

Buddy Simulator is an interesting horror game-within-a-game that does a lot of stuff really well, but does have one or two pain points that I want to address up-front so I can then just focus on all the stuff I liked.

First though, I noticed the Steam store page had a lot of mentions of 'AI technology', and I just wanted to mention that the game was made before the 'hallucination-prone eco-unfriendly copying algorithms' we call 'AI' today was a thing. Instead, when referring to AI, the store page is referring to a sentient (or semi-sentient) being made of code. I only bring this up on the off-chance anyone looks at the store page but misses the date (or doesn't know how long present day ""AI"" has been a thing) and then mistakenly thinks the game uses stolen/copied content, which it doesn't, the term 'AI' just aged poorly.

So onto the actual game now, starting with the thing I didn't like. The only real issue I had with the game was just that there are a couple parts of the game that are tedious to re-play, yet it requires multiple playthroughs if you want to see everything. The main reason this I had an issue with this is that you only have one save/active playthrough at a time. If you could make multiple saves. While I feel one could argue that might weaken the story or impact of choices made, I feel the game could've potentially gotten away with it if they simply referred to saving and loading from 'another floppy disk'. On the one hand, there's instances throughout where playing through them multiple times lets you pick options you didn't have before, but on the other hand, in between those parts there's quite a bit of stuff that stays the same every playthrough. So overall, while not a dealbreaker for me (I still liked the game enough to 100% it!), It would've made the experience a lot less frustrating. I still think playing the game multiple times is worth it, it just could've been more fun.

With that out of the way, there's something I have a 'neutral' opinion on, but is interesting enough that I think it's worth going over here. (Tagged in case you want to avoid gameplay spoilers) The combat system of the game was unique, but not necessarily better or worse than more standard combat systems ('not better or worse' still means it's good, by the way!) It has a similar element to one often seen in games like 'Paper Mario' in that it's a turn-based combat where you hit a well-timed button press when you go up to attack an enemy or block an attack. Unlike Paper Mario though, instead of performing attacks being pretty simple with additional bonuses for getting timing down perfectly, you have to press a random button on your keyboard that pops up whenever you attack (but your block buttons are consistent), and if you misinput your button, your attack misses. Fortunately, you're given what I felt was a pretty generous amount of time to find and press the key, so the few times I missed were most often caused by me panicking and hitting the wrong key and not by me missing the input window. Blocking takes much better timing, but often still isn't too difficult, though it does feel like the timing window is a little early. If you're slightly too early/too late with the block, you still take damage, but less than you would've taken if you hadn't blocked. Successfully blocking refills your special attack meter. This system has it's ups and downs: On the one hand, the randomized attack inputs helped prevent the combat from feeling repetitive, as I'd need to actively pay attention to perform my attacks. On the other hand, it didn't feel as rewarding as systems with consistent inputs but more emphasis on timing, where getting the 'feeling' of combat down better over time pays off more (and where you can have the player still 'hit' but do less damage with worse timing, instead of the hit/miss system Buddy Simulator has), whereas you only really get that on the blocking side of things in this game's combat (where it does feel pretty good!). If having to find and hit the right key frustrates you, don't worry! There is a 'One-Button combat' mode in the options that makes it so you attack and block with the same consistent key(s), and while I didn't use that feature, it's nice to have! I wanted to bring this system up because I thought it was pretty unique, but also might not be for everyone, though I enjoyed it.

Now onto the things I really liked (which is most things with this game)! I enjoyed the visuals of the game, which I thought were pretty well-done, especially given the limited palette the game is working with. Outside of the gameplay stuff I mentioned in the spoiler section, the other gameplay elements of the game were pretty good too. The music is nice, though I probably would've appreciated it even more if not for the repetition issues mentioned earlier, as some of the more simple/looping tracks got stuck in my head for longer than I would've liked lol. While the 'game-within-a-game' and dark humor elements made it a little more difficult to initially get invested in the various game characters (after all, if they're not even real in-universe, why care too much?), they were still so charming and interesting that I often found myself invested in them anyway (I think my favorite character might be France, who I thought was awesome even though I'm normally not a fan of bittersweetness!)

The real highlight of the game is the story though... which also might be the hardest thing about the game to talk about, as I want to be able to praise it without spoiling anything, yet most of the story IS spoilers with this type of game. There are a few things I can say without spoiling anything, though! Firstly, if you're like me and enjoy enjoy exploring, seeking things out, and learning more about a story as you go along, then you'll probably find this game pretty rewarding. The game also does a pretty good job of tying it's story in with the rest of the elements of the game, so everything fits together really well! While I won't say I didn't have any questions by the end of it or anything, (the biggest being what is the other entity that is seen talking to Buddy in the neutral ending and giving them orders(?) in the top-left screen text in the glitch scene where buddy asks if the player is enjoying things/is their friend. Is it just an artificial subconcious? Original programming from the cheap friendship program Buddy comes from? Let me know in the comments if you have the answer!), there wasn't nearly enough vagueness for me to get frustrated or feel like the story wasn't thought through well or anything.

Overall, it's a fun, rewarding, and interesting game that has a story I won't forget anytime soon!

This is a really interesting psychological horror game! The gameplay consists mainly of walking around, interacting with things and collecting objects, but that's because unlike many other horror titles, challenging gameplay isn't really the focus of this game. Instead, the main focus of the game is on the narrative, environmental, sound, and visual aspects, all of which are excellent. The game does a really good job with it's atmosphere, with the shifting tone and ideas of the story being reflected in your environment as you progress. It also did a really good job at setting up characters that make you feel invested in their stories, and I tried to explore and get as much of the story as possible.

There were a couple ending-related thoughts I had after beating the game, but one's just a UI-related question and the other's more of a personal preference thing, so they aren't things that make the game objectively worse or anything. I'm putting them in spoiler tags here:

• I noticed that there were 3 item slots in the inventory that were still empty/"?". Was I missing something or are they just unused? If you know the answer, please consider putting a response in a spoiler tag in the comments of this review to help sate my curiosity lol.
  
• I'm not the hugest fan of ambiguous endings, but then again, it wasn't really a disappointment or let-down or anything considering the nature of the game, and I liked it better than the endings of some of the other psychological horror games I've played. Still, by the time I beat the game I was so invested that not having Haze tell Foxe "I love you" (even if they showed it through their actions) and instead just give a "..." to leave their mental state more open-ended at the end really put the 'bitter' in 'bittersweet ending'.

One other thing I want to mention is that the dev's seem to do a really good job with community feedback. When I played the demo back in June, one thing I noticed (and mentioned in my discussion board post) was that there wasn't a way to look over items in the inventory to remember what they are, but the final game has that feature! Even more interestingly, I had encountered a bug yesterday (the day I started playing the full game) after I had already made it pretty far into the game. I didn't want to reset my progress, so I filed a bug report, and figured I'd have to come back to this game another time instead of finishing it before/on Halloween. But to my surprise, today a patch was put out seemingly solely to fix that specific bug, allowing me to complete the game! Of course, it's entirely possible (and very likely) that these were both things the developers were already working on before I said anything, but either way it feels awesome to see!

Overall, Psychroma is probably the most 'Psychological Horror'-Psychological Horror game I've played, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for a well-crafted, dark, and horror-filled narrative experience!

The Don't Escape games were some of my favorite flash games I played as a kid, so when I saw that I could get the trilogy on Steam, I knew I had to buy it. The games are a nice twist on the classic 'point-and-click escape room' genre, and all three of them are fun and interesting experiences.

• The first game is the simplest, but if you want the best ending, it can also be one of the most difficult. Unlike the other games, as far as I can tell, there's only one solution to the best ending. In addition, some of the things you need to do/find for it are well-hidden, so it may take longer to complete than expected despite not having as many areas as its two sequels. It's a good introduction to the trilogy and its concept.
  
  
• The second game is probably my favorite of the series. It adds a (not real-time) time management mechanic, where certain actions (such as going to one of the other areas of the game or setting up a trap) use up the time you have to prepare before the zombie hoard arrives. Some things in the game can be done in several different ways, and the outcome and consequences can vary depending on the how you did something. The amount of options present in this game make it one of the most fun to replay, so I recommend going through this one several times and seeing what you can do.
  
  
• The third game has a mix of elements from both of the previous games. Like the first game, figuring out how to get the true best ending can be difficult, and you don't travel between buildings (though the spaceship you're stuck on is much bigger than the first game's cabin). At least two of the steps towards getting the best ending might even be callbacks to the first game ( You mix up a potion from 3 ingredients in both, and you have to step outside to find a well-hidden item in both as well.). As for its similarities to the second game, it shares the time-management element as well as having a wide variety of possible endings. Don't Escape 3 also has the most story (and the darkest story) out of the 3 games and is the most visually impressive.

Something I appreciate about the series (at least in the second and third games) is that if you want to do something, the game will often either let you go for it, or give you a reason as to why it doesn't work. This is refreshing because, in many point-and-click games, it's common to want to do something that seems reasonable only for the game to tell the player it doesn't work (and the actual solution is often more absurd, to boot!).

Overall, while the only thing that seems to be added is a cool menu and Steam Achievements, the Don't Escape Trilogy is a fun series of games well worth the $5.00 price tag, and I highly recommend getting it, especially if you enjoy puzzle or point-and-click games!

A fun little point-and-click game! While the gameplay isn't super complex, there's a variety of interesting endings to get, and it's a lot of fun seeing what's going to happen next. The events of the game can range from "horrific" to "cute", and there were many times were I was surprised at what ending I got (though it always made sense, at least in some way). If you have trouble figuring out how to get an ending, theres a shop at the main menu where you can buy hints using coins that you get for playing through it. If you already got an ending, you can also replay it from there. Overall, a pretty neat point-and-click game that's well worth the 1-dollar price tag.

(One of my favorite endings is where you break everything in the "Halloween" version of the room, and mom comes home, gets angry, and deducts your allowance... and then the game actually subtracts coins instead of adding them like most endings! I thought that was funny.)

This is a wonderful game that I'd recommend to anyone who likes metroidvanias and secrets! I don't want to say too much about the game, as it's a game that's best experienced without knowing too much about it beforehand, so I'd highly recommend not looking anything up/watching any videos on the game before giving it a go (instead, wait to consider looking things up until after you've done/found everything you think you'd be able to on your own).

What I can say about the game is that, even if you don't want to dive into the game to find its deepest secrets, it's still a solid metroidvania with a beautiful artstyle, fun puzzle-platforming-focused (and not combat-focused) gameplay, and great music.

There's not a lot I dislike about this game, and most my criticisms are minor and relate to late-game stuff, so I won't go into detail on those here. With that being said, the biggest issue I had with this game Is something can say without spoiling anything: There are a couple of areas in the early-game where you can end up getting softlocked / stuck, forcing you to quit back to the menu and reload your save if you want to keep going. In the following spoiler tags, I'll put the two instances of this that I found, in case you want to avoid In the room where an enemy flicks a switch that toggles the blocks above spikes on/off, you can get softlocked if the blocks covering the exit are "on" and you throw a firecracker and in a cave-like room full of stalagmites/ctites, if you destroy the stalagmites, you can get stuck as you'll have no way to get back up, can't do anything by going down, and can't die. This isn't a huge issue as long as you save frequently, but I still think they should have put in a 'unstuck' button that kills you or something to help prevent this.

Overall, a wonderful game that you should probably play if anything about it intrigues you!

This is a unique and interesting horror game that, while it doesn't take long to complete it, it does a lot with the time it has, pulling all sorts of tricks I haven't seen in any other games before. While this isn't the only game that's "horror with meta elements", out of the various games I've played in that genre, it's probably the one that does the most with the concept. The scary elements of the game are really good and are often very shocking and fresh. I don't want to give too much away, as I don't want to risk giving away any of the fun surprises the game has in store for you ;).

Overall, if you have any interest in this game, I'd recommend avoiding looking anything up about it and just get it and give it a try. KinitoPet truly is the best desktop buddy ever made.

This game is a lot of fun, and the price is really good [Just $2.99 at the time of this review, and that's not even on sale!], so I'd definitely recommend getting it if it looks at all interesting to you!

However, I must warn you that if you're a completionist, you better be ready to play a lot if you want all the achievements: There are two achievements that require you to earn at least $1,000,000 in "Double or nothing" mode (One in which you cash out, and one in which you lose it all), and because of the heavy RNG involved in this mode (and the amount of rounds you gotta win consecutively in order to get $1,000,00), you have to both be good at the game and have luck on your side (Twice!) to get these achievements. Here's a couple of tips that may help:

• For those that don't want to use glitches: The amount of money you earn when you first complete three rounds and get offered "Double or Nothing" is based off how long you took to get there. The longer you take, the less money you earn, so try to be quick or you may have to 'double or nothing' an extra time to reach $1,000,000. (Click here for a guide with more info!)
  
• A helpful glitch for those who don't mind using one: Don't want to have to speedrun the first round? Don't worry! When starting up a game of "Double or Nothing", play as normal UNTIL the shells for the round show up, then hold the "R" key to reset. Then, take the pills as normal and go to the dealer. and instead of asking you to input a name, the dealer should just say "..." and it should use the name you gave before you reset. Now, no matter how long you take, you'll have $70,000 when you reach the first "Double or nothing", so you can take as long as you like! (Thanks to this guide for the info!)

There are also a few hidden achievements, one of which also requires a bit of luck to get (but not NEARLY as much as the two non-hidden achievements mentioned previously). One more tip, for those who don't know: If you want to see the hidden achievements for any game on steam, go to the "Global Achievements" section for it, and you can click on them to reveal them! Some games will purposefully have a non-helpful description on these to make them even more hidden, but Buckshot Roulette isn't one of them.

While I like horror games, I'm not usually a big fan of the mascot horror genre (due to not finding mascots particularly scary, and in small part due to bigger mascot horror game devs often seeming to have questionable ethics). With that being said, I enjoyed my time at Indigo Park! The references to Disney's Fastpass (not to mention Bird Up!) were neat, there's a minigame that I thought was fun, and looking around the park was cool. I tried to get all the collectables, but I ended up missing one (Possibly due to brute-forcing one of the puzzles instead of going into a dark spooky area to find the solution). I thought Rambley was going to be irritating at first, but he didn't end up bothering me and I quickly warmed up to him. Overall a fun game, hope Chapter 2's development goes smoothly!