Recent reviews by DeadBird

Pure production line micromanagement fun! Cheerful and simple graphics make everything easy to recognise while you stretch miles of conveyors, train track & mine cart runs. No 'tower defence' or forced timers makes this such a relaxing game that allows you to play at your own pace. The logic system can be a little tricky to understand but once you grasp the basics, micromanagement can range from controlling a single unit to 100's of materials. Even each pawn has to be placed manually and given routes.

A true gem of a factory game that deserves a lot more recognition in the genre.

Sleep has left me!
400+ hours and addicted. Best I can explain is Rimworld / Prison Architect colony builder but with space travel, encounters and exploration added on. (Just imagine a Rimworld base travelling through space) Even though it's early access, the gameplay is pretty solid, dev_spajus (solo dev) is updating code daily, usually live on Twitch and super interactive with players. It's obviously a passion project and won't be left unfinished.

Gameplay is usual colony sim stuff. Locate and mine resources, gather & trade food and items, grow plants, etc. Feed, clothe and equip your workers and drones to work, research, fix, upgrade and expand your ship. Rescue more colonists or fight and defend from pirate and alien incursions. Explore infinitely rendered star systems, planets and derelict ships.

End game goals are to terraform planets and part of your crew leave to found a new planet colony... but you keep on going, gather more crew and keep exploring and colonising.
It might seem quit chill to start but don't underestimate pirates, asteroids and other encounters... they will ramp up and can seriously mess stuff up.

If that's not enough to pique your interest, all I can add is.... Cats... riding Roomba's.... with Energy Rifles!!!

Addicted!!!!

Brings back all the memories of playing H1Z1 Just Survive but with a longer game play arc I'd compare to something like Arma Exile. Also a solid & elaborate skill & crafting system comparable to Rust. And a personal health & well being system comparable to Scum's but not as overly complicated. Only criticism I'd currently have is some of the crafting UI needs a little more polish which the Dev's have already stated is planned.
With a lot more in development from the Devs who seem open about their work and progress, PZ is looking promising in the future.

Even though it's still classed as early access 9 years after release, the game itself is solid, no crashes or bugs so far and has a lot of game play already to go & still in active development with more on the way.

If you're a fan of games like Factorio and Satisfactory then you're likely love this game.
All the usual logistics of mining resources, endless miles of conveyors, sorters, splitters, furnaces, factories, etc. is so much fun to plan, build and min/max. With the 3D element also brings the ability to stack belts on multiple levels and make massive elaborate factories.... THEN...
Planet Hopping. Once you're into the tech tree, space flight opens up and the planet hopping starts, more resources, more factories and logistic management for cargo ships back n forth... THEN...
Star system hopping!!
You're factory can and will expand across multiple planets & star systems. And flying back n forth checking everything is keeping supply and demand just eats away those hours.
And the end result, seeing your Dyson Sphere start to form and grow is just breathtaking.

With the dev's still in full swing with development and more content on it's way, this game is still growing nicely.

Everyone should know it by now, it's Apex Legends!!!

I've played a few BR's in my time (H1Z1, Ring of Elysium, etc.) but nothing has compared to Apex Legends.
I'm loving it, and although the BR genre wasn't one I usually played, Apex has me hooked BIG STYLE! A Battle Royale that has it's history, characters & Lore tied in with the Titanfall series

The maps have been great, a good dynamic range for long, short or CQC combat areas, fairly easy to learn and always so easy to traverse from area to area. Not to mention hidden Easter eggs & extras from time to time. Maps even change from season to season, areas being redesigned as the stories literally shape the worlds & arenas.
Weapons are nicely varied from Pistol, Assault, Marksman, Shotguns, Snipers, annoying Bow, etc. the usual stuff but each handling noticeably different different and lends to combo's of weapons to suit a players style. And with new weapons added each season, the choice is growing.

The characters are becoming so much more than just a few random looking avatars in a game, each have expanding back stories, deep lore and a continuing story line in and outside the Apex games. The characters are constantly interacting in-game and reflect how their relationships are outside of the games. (Not to mention the voice actors are great fun, as a good few are streamers).
The animated trailers and short stories of each characters background have been great. The technical effort and quality that go into them is great and in return the stories make for some really interesting character lore and development which show each's of their reasons for being at the Apex Games.

Lastly, with Trios, Duos, Arenas (3v3 TDM) having ranked & unranked modes AND several limited time/seasonal game modes, Apex is still growing and won't be a "dead game" anytime soon.

Was great fun until they pulled the plug on the EU servers.

It's a great little puzzle game, akin to Tetris but with a very chilled music aspect.
Fantastic little time waster.

Only one BIG gripe though, all the game-mode options have timers/limits (with some strange unknown time extension rules) but ALWAYS cuts the game too short.
If the dev's are still out there, PLEASE give use a non-timer (or lives) free mode, like the original Chime game, where we can just place tiles and chill to the soundtracks.

I like the game & concept, but if you're interested in playing, I suggest looking at the original Chime game first.

80 hours in the 1st week says it all... this game is addictive.

It's like a crazy jigsaw puzzle in reverse. It's not as simple as just start cutting and pulling bits apart, you have to check the ship's cooling systems, power sources and fuel lines and meticulously switch off and remove systems to prevent fires, explosions, coolant leaks or a full on reactor melt down.

The physics and game mechanics are great, there's is a little room for improvement overall but even being early access it's more complete base game than some others I've tried. Best thing is the dev team are active, adding new content and patches regularly and are listening to their community feedback.

Could have potential as a great time waster for those OCD loot goblins like myself but right now I couldn't recommend.

UI - The in-game menu's are clunky to navigate, checking/selling stuff isn't too hard but navigation is a nightmare. While on foot, there's a mini-map pointer leading to an objective but no idea on range and with non-rotating mini-map option, it's tricky at best. Once in you truck, there is no mini-map or direction indicator and biggest of all, there's no map screen to know where you're at or if you're going in the right direction.

Gameplay - Driving distance seem strung out and long which is made worse by not having a map to navigate. Vehicle controls are dicey, mostly feels like you're driving on ice. No option to reverse vehicle cam controls and is currently reverse to almost every other car game ever.
General controls seem overly complicated, ie. You have to pick up an item in your hands with LMB then press E to store in your backpack.

Other - Stuff which probs can be attributed to in-dev is road surfaces burried under the grass, sometimes viewing left and right stutters & jumps. Game options are not saved (meaning you get deafened by that logo every time you load)

First (and last) time player impression.

Firstly, menu & UI is a little confusing, no clue how to set-up loadouts for characters. Did the spinny little 'crates' thing and gained some Gold/Silver character cards but can't play those characters unless paying gold coins to unlock?!?!?! Confused!

Daily objectives gave out a tiny amount of gold, so to unlock characters (you have these card things for) will take ages.

Matchmaking is so unbalanced, almost all games we one team of OP, top tier geared characters while other team seemed to be new starts and low level. Same goes for weaponry, I'd deal 10-20dmg with an SMG where an opponant would deal 100dmg in less time with the same weapon. Every attack/defend match ended with attackers winning, defence teams never won.

TL:DR
A lot of things just seemed to not make sense and game balance is so out of whack there wasn't an ounce of enjoyment here.