Recent reviews by TwistedHensley

I'm going to keep this simple. I'm a huge fan of Heroes of Might and Magic and so yes, this game gets a thumbs up from me. I would call it a successor to the Heroes of Might and Magic Franchise.

Also I'm going to keep it quick-

I have 4 Friends who bought this game, and they all love it just as much as I do and they don't even have any previous experience with HOMM, so I must not be nostalgia blind- and the game is truly fantastic. From the artwork, to the music, the tactical gameplay, it's great, and the only thing I wish for in team games is that we can view battles instead of just being forced to sit there and twiddle our thumbs.

Absolutely incredible FPS game, one that just oozes passion around every corner. I'm going to keep this brief as there's plenty of positive reviews that can do this game justice where I cannot. However, I am going to leave a thumbs up here

#zortchsweep

Absooooolutely charming! Love the game and these funny little pals

Best survival game I played in a long time

...Not much of a review, just putting in something positive

Absolutely wonderful experience, and worth every penny!

I feel like if I talked about it a little too much it would spoil a whole lot of the fun. Although after reading the developer notes on it... It seems like the project has an immense amount of passion and love for their creation. I wouldn't really describe the game as "horror", but more or less a charming collection of monsters and there's a ton of fun world building here too. A game that really demands your attention and, well, it's just sort of charming and I'd say it's vividly unique.

Don't get too upset about how "short" the game is, it doesn't overstay it's welcome and it's mechanics are fun for what they are. I have plenty of games that are just overly long that I bought for cheaper but never gave me the enjoyment this game has.

Only real critique I can give is sometimes the descriptions are a little... vague, and I can end up messing up what the creatures actually are. Although, you get some pretty entertaining dialogue if you do mess up so it's not a total loss. That and when I went into the game a second time I already knew all the answers and managed to deduce what I got wrong and 100%'d it

Bottom line is, I loved it, and I think it's definitely a recommendation for me.

This game is almost, and I do mean, almost absolute perfection. I don't feel like any game can be absolutely perfect without a few flaws, but this game is incredible, even if I would describe as niche. So! Let me get into what I really liked about the game and the things I didn't like with quick bullet points.

>>PROS

>>Story: It's not overly complicated and gets the point across incredibly easily. Magic, messed up our world, and we are going to have to put and end to it. The setting is incredibly dark and bleak as it makes sure that's rubbed in your face at all time with a biting sense of humor that perfectly balances out it's grim dark tone.

>>Gameplay: Absolutely sick, it feels fantastic to mow down large groups of enemies that aren't mere pushovers, and tickles the "strategy" part of my brain of what my next move is going to be. Same goes with spending money between "waves" of upgrading heroes or the town. The meta-progression though is there if you lose, but I never felt it absolutely necessary to obtain any of them, as the ones that are the most important are practically given out for free. Now I will say this, the game is definitely challenging but not outright impossible.

>>Enemy Design: I felt it deserved it's own section as there's a lot to choose from here. In the gigantic horde of enemies there will be elites and special variants that you have to focus down or play around with. Certain pieces of equipment and upgrades are available to you for you to deal with them. With the maps being built the way they are, you can easily prepare and even see beforehand thanks to the "seer" building on what you'll be dealing with.

Now this is where I will list the two things I find negative about the game:

>>A better explanation is needed for some of the game mechanics: This game can sometimes be a trial by fire situation at the very start. As it really doesn't teach you much in terms of momentum, isolation, and sometimes you can get caught in an endless experience trap. Many of these mechanics are incredibly important as it seriously helps you take down bosses and tasks that seem almost impossible. It took me way too long to realize exactly how "momentum" even worked with certain weapons.

>>Awkward weapon balance: Some weapons are better than others, just look at the two handed crossbow for example, the thing is absolutely useless. Then look on over at it's one handed counterpart with multi-hit and a lot more utility. I think a few weapons could need reworked, but that's about it. Maybe there's something I'm missing with some of the weapons, but I will always usually choose one over the other because another weapon just does it's job better. Like the one handed axe? I would rather take the two-handed one for it's bigger cleave radius, damage, and utility, while something else can fill that slot like a hammer or a sword.

...and I think that's basically my review for this game. I'm not sure if anyone will read this, but it's probably my favorite game of the year so far alongside Pizza Tower. Thanks for reading!

Alright, I've come back to actually edit my review after P and S ranking many of the levels, and getting a better and genuine feel for the game. A lot of my points still stand about this game being incredibly charming, fun and fast paced, and having a wonderful art style to boot. The character is a joy to control as you blast, roll and smash your way through the levels. The bosses are also a lot of fun to fight as well. The game almost feels like a cartoon I would've probably grown up with as a child.

Now there's only one problem with the game instead of me just showering it endlessly with praise. That would be the strange requirements for some of the S ranks and the balancing around it. To get 100% completion in the game it thankfully doesn't force you to go for P ranks, and S ranks still take a lot of effort to get. However, some of these levels are awfully balanced around getting these scores. Some of these being Peppibot Factory and Pizzascare with needing an incredibly high combo and at which point you my as well go for P rank. That and some of the S ranks are so laughably easy to get in other levels too to where it's almost effortless where you don't even need a combo at all.

I think that's pretty much my only genuine critique of the game, other than that yes I do say it's a must-get it just it has some strange balancing issues.

Barony is by far the best Roguelike I've ever played. I mean that in both a more traditional roguelike sense and a roguelite sense, or whatever terms that are usually used for this genre. It is absolutely able to compact what I like about both of these genres into one package. I only really call it a traditional roguelike as there's not much to unlock outside of knowledge and learning how to deal with certain situations.

Every single class is fun, every single monster race added in the dlc is fun, and I think that's what games just need to be half the time. "Fun"

And yes, the game when you're first starting out can be tough as nails. It has taken me almost an entire year of playing this game to even start winning consistently and understanding it's ins and outs. It can be somewhat of a time commitment to be honest, but it really is best when playing with friends. Not to say the singleplayer is bad, as I still kind of prefer both. Although there's something I find just magical about teaching my friends how to play the game. Or with them somehow teaching me things vice versa even after having over a 100 hours in it.

...Also the devs absolutely rock. I had a corrupt save file problem and my friend contacted them personally with a fix that was during the day it happened. Saving the profile and saving the run.

So yes, I do recommend Barony, even if I find the game niche and incredibly hard when you're first starting out. Although once you start to master the systems of the game, you feel completely unstoppable. It's not a feeling I get with many other rogue-likes. Also I feel as if this game isn't as brutally punishing as other roguelikes too. Sure you might die, but at least it wasn't in a 30+ hour run as most runs of Barony for me consist of 4-5 hours. Something I can play with friends over and over again with different builds and play-styles. You can also feel the absolute love put into the game and for all it's neat little gimmicks. It also seriously doesn't waste my time either.

At this point though I feel like I'm rambling, only real negatives I once had keeps getting fixed in every update they push out. So yes, I do fully recommend Barony.

STRIKE THE EARTH!

It's really hard to write a review for this game, as it's definitely one of the ones I love and there's reviews that do it better. So I'll just give my own quick experience and how I feel about it. It feels like I'm falling in love with the game again despite being a long time player. The UI, the tilesets, it's all really fantastically done and it also has steam workshop support. It also does have some built-in tutorials, just so players can get a basic idea of what to do.

I'm just going to drop my positive review, recommend the game, and that these devs dang well deserve it. It is everything I was hoping for in the steam release and much more. I never experienced crashes, bugs, or any general weirdness too. My expectations were blown out of the water and there's not many negatives I can say. The only thing I feel a little disappointed in is that adventure mode is not here yet. That's the only knock I can give, but other than that? Everything is here, and everything is...

Well, perfect.

Kobold being a playable race makes my brain very happy.

The memories I've created with me and my friends in this game are truly unforgettable. From the highest highs to the lowest lows on Hoxxes. To exploring alone on higher difficulties to doing deep dives with my friends. To the extremely wonderful community i've met with randos and the people who helped me and that I helped in return. This game is absolutely truly wonderful and I give it the highest rating possible. I won't be able to write amazing reviews like other people put out here on this masterpiece, so I'll be simply throwing a thumbs up into the pot

Thank you DRG for everything you've done for me

Rock and Stone