Recent reviews by treehann

This game rules! It's a rare case where I think a good trailer still doesn't quite do it justice. I didn't realize until I started playing just how hard the characters/story/writing were going to pull compared to other roguelike deckbuilders I've played. Cobalt Core provides precisely what I want in gameplay too: a rich battle experience full of tactical planning, a deck building experience where you can quickly (emphasis!) tune your deck, a map that isn't overly padded and where each encounter is equally interesting, tons of fun modifiers, and a snappy and well-balanced pace. As a cherry on top, the soundtrack is an S-tier synth/piano/jazz/mathrock monster. In short; this game has everything! If you also like roguelike deckbuilders and turn-based tactics, you gotta check it out.

LOK Digital is absolutely one of the best puzzle games in my Steam library. It's an inspired game with all the intuitiveness of the best word games, but a flavor that's entirely its own. The experience -- visually themed around cute ink creatures -- is all about discovering quirky neologisms (e.g. "LOK") made up by the game designers. Expertly-paced levels show you a new way to think about these neologisms and use them to solve the puzzles. Each area of the game will introduce either a new neologism (is that grammatically correct?) or a new game mechanic. (Incidentally, my favorite area is the conductor ("X") one and least favorite is the jumping-empty-space area.)

Sleek UI/UX, world-class puzzle design, and a fantastic soundtrack also composed by the main designer combine into an incredible experience for puzzle lovers.

EDIT: After the patch on March 31, 2025 (season 2 first patch)I can no longer recommend Tekken 8 in good faith. It has its pros and cons but one con I didn't mention last time is that some characters can repeatedly put their opponent into situations where they are forced to simply guess and there is no other counterplay. IMO in season 1 this was manageable as the defender - frustrating but it took up a percentage of the gameplay small enough that I found it acceptable.

For season 1, players of all skill levels from newbie to pro were asking for characters' power levels to be toned down and allow for more expressive interactions between attacker and defender. IMO, this would have perfected Tekken 8. Instead of doing that, the developers with this season 2 patch have added EXTREME buffs to offense for 90% of the cast, increased damage output, and expressly wrote in their patch notes that their strategy is to make it easier to pressure opponents with your character.

The current game direction for Tekken 8 is totally out of touch and corrupt. Not corrupt in some conspiratorial way but rather meaning that the developers are going in the completely wrong direction and fast. As it stands, I am hesitant to play the game any more as it was already too frustrating to defend before the developers dove off the deep end. To quote PhiDX, who is known for being generally positive about Tekken in the worst of times, "doubling down doesn't even come close to describing it."

Hoping for the patch to be reverted or a new game director to replace the current one. I don't think new players will enjoy being constantly put in a blender by every character and cannot recommend the competitive experience of the game right now to people looking for that.

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Tekken 8 is my first Tekken. I'm glad I got into it by watching Sajam Slam and not via the Reddit community because the surrounding community in general -- correlating with the overall negative score which I feel is highly inaccurate -- has a lot of bad faith commentary and I bet it'd negatively influence a new player if that player didn't form their own impressions. That being said, there is some legit criticism to be had of some aspects of this game's production. Here's my experience overall:

Pros:
* Battle mechanics and character diversity combine for an incredibly deep learning experience that's better IMO than any other fighting game series I've played
* The training mode is insanely detailed and awesome for studying and labbing
* Rollback netcode makes for mostly smooth online gameplay - and you can adjust settings for stricter criteria for your games
* Beautiful graphics and stages
* Top-tier soundtrack that sticks in your head. The sound effects also are super satisfying
* Character customization is easy and fun with a decent amount of variety

Cons:
* Expensive, but also new characters are locked behind a paywall. The worst part here is that you have to buy them in order to train against them in practice mode. If they were at least playable in training mode only for free, this would feel correct. Right now it feels scummy
* The menus are unstandard and therefore confusing for any new player; there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason behind how things are organized and it simply takes getting used to
* Sometimes the game loads you into a random Shop when the game launches instead of the main menu
* Battle pass is a boring, uninspired, and overused content delivery model that belongs in free-to-play games, not ones that cost $70. And the paid customization options for characters don't even look visually appealing

In summary, Tekken 8 is a fighting game that's rewarding and fun, in my experience, for those who are new to the genre and/or the series. The high skill ceiling, terrific training options, and active tournament streaming scene make it exciting to learn and grow as a player. The audiovisual appeal of the game is top-notch and adds to immersion. If I could talk to the game developers, I would advise them to avoid forcing players to interact with their shops and to make it free to practice against paid DLC characters in practice mode only. They should avoid design decisions that are pay-to-win, of which there is only one current instance but even a single one is not acceptable. However for me, it doesn't prevent me from recommending Tekken 8. Looking at it broadly, joining as a new fighter has been a delightful experience.

Balatro is most well-designed game I've played in years, and certainly my favorite PvE deck-builder I've ever played - I'd wager best in its class of all time. An addicting, short game loop with buttery UX and simple yet smart, intuitive ideas makes a wonderful play experience every time. The game is absolutely packed with content and synergies right out the gate. Terrific visuals and sound are icing on the cake. I'm sure the sole (!) developer is going to be proud of this creation for the rest of their life.

Duelyst is a turn-based, deckbuilding PvP game with amazing style, intuitiveness, and music. It gets a certain type of gameplay right that I think a lot of amateur tabletop and digital game builders like me dream about. Unfortunately, there is not enough variety in the number of playable decks and cards available. This is one of the few games I have to give a thumbs down due to my interest for the game outpacing the actual content of the game. After a few weeks I became frustrated that I'd run out of things to learn and the ranked meta quickly became stale. I would gladly come back to play a Duelyst game, including a sequel, if the devs somehow got the budget to scale the game 5-10x what the current scope is.

Simple concepts taken to extremely tricky ends, a classic puzzle game this is. Elegant as described and the audio is soothing. This is a straightforward game once you understand the mechanics. Some of the puzzles I end up just brute-forcing because the solution doesn't come easily to me. I would recommend this for anyone who likes Sokobon (box pushing) puzzles and not recommend it otherwise. Even for me, my enjoyment capped out after unlocking all the areas and I don't think I will ever complete it. That doesn't mean I didn't get my money's worth. I hope the creators are proud of making such a tightly designed game.

Being someone who doesn't care about Steam achievements, Crystal Quest is perfect for what it originally set out to do, and is still just as fun now. It's the distillation of the arcade game spirit: No story, fast amd extremely difficult gameplay, strange and exciting graphics and sounds, number go up. I just learned recently of its fascinating sequel Crystal Crazy and sincerely hope that one comes to Steam too. These are classic games that are some of the best of their time in pure gameplay.

Jelly is Sticky is great enough that I feel compelled to give it a day-one positive review. I think I'm almost done with the "early game" now, where each type of jelly is introduced with one-to-two-dozen puzzles each. The pacing could not be any better; there are lots of easy-to-moderate puzzles with a good stumper thrown in at just the right times. I suspect it will get much harder later on, but that would be fitting; the curve seems really stellar. On top of that, the designers seem to understand how to create a variety of types of puzzles; some are just visually pleasing, others look simple but are mechanically vexing, some are large, some are teeny tiny, and nearly every one presents a new twist of some sort. The game is rounded off by an elegant visual design and gorgeous ambient soundtrack -- probably the best puzzle game soundtrack I've heard since I played Bejeweled back in the day. It's also extremely easy to pick up and navigate; many points for the UX! My only criticisms are basically nitpicks; the idle "blinking" audio sounds like a notification sound which is startling. And the frame rate stutters for a few seconds when starting the game up, but it doesn't hamper playability. I haven't dug into the level editor much yet except to craft a "practice" version of a puzzle I was having trouble with (Swim). The editor seems a touch clunky but it comes with the territory; as long as it works... once I get to a satisfying conclusion with the main game, I am very excited to make some levels in this game and see what the community has made as well. Though it's not as mechanically unique, I think Jelly is Sticky is the best arcade puzzler since Baba is You, and an underrated gem!

The definitive Worms title with the following boasts over any others in the series:

• Highest degree of customizability of things like maps (see wmdb dot org), weapons, game modes, and team features.
  
• Best iteration of the Ninja Rope allowing for a very high skill ceiling and numerous exciting movement-based modes.
  
• Simple, clean, and cute visuals that don't overly clutter the screen like in later titles.
  
• Actually has a community that still hosts and plays tons of games to this day (written 2021).

The UI and lobby system are a bit dated but it doesn't stop the game from being fun as hell. Pretty sure I bought this game like 3 times in my life and it was worth it many times over. Get WA if you are into mechanics-based games with a heavy dose of strategy and a pinch of chaos.

I like to describe Tricky Towers as "Tetris meets Jenga". While you're not removing blocks a-la Jenga, the feeling of avoiding your tower wobbling and falling over is familiar and delightfully anxiety-inducing. It's a game for people who enjoy puzzle games (especially Tetris) with a heavy dose of competitive spirit. Players drop Tetris-shaped blocks in an effort to build a tower and often, to fit the blocks efficiently together. When in multiplayer, the goal is to do this the fastest. The game's twist on the Tetris formula is that once placed, the blocks are not snapped to a grid anymore, instead adhering to more realistic physics (thanks to the Unity engine) wherein they can tip sideways and fall over. There's also no Tetris row-clears, with the focus instead being on building. Tricky Towers makes you feel like a crazed architect who's had too much caffeine, and I didn't expect to love it so much.

Enough paragraphs. Here's a breakdown of some pros and cons, from my perspective.

Pros:

• A creative spin on a classic formula makes Tricky Towers feel unique and original.
  
• Multiple game modes & difficulties both in single and multi-player create lots of replay value and challenge.
  
• Harder difficulties contain powerups which can help your tower or harm others', creating new tactical opportunities.
  
• Rubber-band powerup-granting helps players who fell behind catch up a little bit and those "rarer" powerups are neat to discover.
  
• Easy to learn but has a very high skill ceiling.
  
• Tons of fun with friends!
  
• Beautiful UI with easy-to-navigate menus and delightful, albeit somewhat-limited visual customization.
  
• Has both local and online multiplayer. The online mode is very simple and easy to use, though it sometimes takes a long time to find a game.
  
• Finding "hidden" techniques using the physics and powerups is rewarding. The single player puzzle modes actually help a lot to learn the engine. Clever, emergent design abounds.

Cons:

• Online multiplayer has no matchmaking, so matchups can be extremely skewed.
  
• Online multiplayer has no option to select or filter game modes.
  
• There's no way to remap controls.
  
• The RNG of powerup generation can occasionally be frustrating. One powerup (the trowel) is plainly better than the rest of them but the powerups are received mostly at random.
  
• Nudging blocks as they're about to land on another block is extraordinarily difficult -- it feels like a 1-frame-perfect timing.
  
• The physics can occasionally feel buggy and inconsistent. Snapping an ivy brick to the side of another one for example doesn't always work. I've also seen a brick rotate and teleport underneath another one.
  
• I find the PC online mode a tiny bit laggy, while my build on the Switch has no issues with lag, on the same (gigabit) network. YMMV.

BTW, I disagree with some reviewers saying Tricky Towers is only worth a purchase when on sale. I've already squeezed many hours out of it on the Switch (full price) and bought it again for PC (on sale) because I wanted more people to play with, which has been successful. Buy this game if the above review and the marketing content gets you excited, keeping in mind that it's much more fun with at least one friend. This is an awesome party game so it'll be a hit if you frequently host gamer gatherings. Pass on it if you're not very competitive or if you're easily frustrated by physics-based games.