Recent reviews by shrewdlogarithm

Some interesting puzzles here but it needs a LOT of work to make it more user-friendly...

Some puzzles are poorly explained, the interface for interacting with some puzzles is clunky and the systems for progress/unlocking etc. aren't really explained AT ALL

This really needed more user-testing and feedback before being released...

Why have I never reviewed Beat Hazard 2 before - how did I not review this

If you look shooty-shooty, this is non-optional - I love it, you'll probably love it - just buy it eh?

It's another Cyanide classic - all the elements are there to make an interesting stealth game but absolutely none of them are connected together properly...

Controls are wonky, stealth rules are wonky, puzzles often require trial-and-error or make little sense until you've seen something you couldn't see before etc.

Credit to them - they keep coming-up with interesting ideas, put a load of work into realising them but have absolutely no clue how to make the gameplay experience feel good or even interesting...

I wanted to like this and for a few hours I enjoyed it but as the difficulty creeps-up, the game becomes more about 'luck' (getting the right drops in the right place at the right time) than skill.

There are permanent upgrades available but each is relatively tiny - grinding for hours to get a tiny upgrade isn't much fun either...

All the elements are here for a great horde shooter but there's a lack polish and balance so I can't really recommend it - especially as the developer's earlier game "Crimsonland" is basically a tighter/better version of this!

This starts-out promisingly but overall it's an untidy mess which I cannot recommend.

It throws loot at you, most of which is useless - skills aren't interesting or impactful - crafting is "tacked-on" but these aren't the worst things...

Difficulty is ALL OVER THE PLACE - combat is teeth-gratingly tiresome - puzzles are OK if a bit boring and there's a LOT of talking-about-nothing-interesting...

It's basically a mess - it needed a TONNE more QA and testing - it really is just a jumble of things which don't gel, sprinkled with a sizeable amount of bugs (at least one of which forced me into restarting)

There are LOTS of interesting puzzles which offer a sandbox of parts you can use to create interesting and novel solutions - this isn't one of those games.

Here, parts are limited (in some cases PAINFULLY so) to the point there is likely ONE solution to the puzzle and it's an exercise in frustration and repetition trying to find it.

Every puzzle I found myself thinking "if only I you could set X or change Y" but you can't because the designer has ONE solution in-mind and you've got the parts to make that and not much else.

YMMV but I found this game more annoying than fun - it's closest parallel would be TIS100 but even that (a game defined to be VERY limited) feels less "one track" than this...

Hades controls brilliantly, sounds brilliant, looks brilliant and is packed-to-the-teeth with stuff to find and play-with.

This isn't just elements thrown-together which happen to make a pleasing experience either - there is CRAFT here - things have been tuned and combined in super-interesting ways...

This is a "Super Mario Galaxy" level product - a game which is EVERYTHING games should be - in an era when games are often struggling to be that, we should be glad this exists...

A solid old-school ARPG with a tonne of content - if you liked Diablo 1/2 or Titan Quest, you'll enjoy this for sure...

Wolcen is a textbook example of "how not to make an online ARPG" - the developers have literally made ever mistake possible from massively overpromising, to having months and months of total silence to releasing a game full of exploits and finally to 'adding content' which took away player progress and killed the tiny community which existed around the game.

You're wondering if it's worth buying cheap - I'd say no - I'd say no even if it was free - I'm not even sure I'd say yes if someone offered to pay you because the whole thing has been a shambles from the start and everyone involved needs to take the L and get a job in another industry entirely...

I'm going to be honest - I don't really like these 'simplistic' RTS titles as a rule and so I bought this purely for it's aesthetic and my-oh-my is it worth the asking price for that alone.

If you like the videos - you'll likely enjoy the game too - I'm glad things like this exist and happy to support the developers!