Recent reviews by treehann

Undertale may be one of the only games I have ever played in my life that wasn't boring for a single moment. It is amazing.

The way every single choice affects the story is amazing.
The love and humor poured into it is amazing.
The battle system, with all its change-ups and challenges, is amazing.
The music is so amazing... Toby made 101 tracks for the game. WTF
The way it can emotionally shock and confuse you is amazing.

Play Undertale and be amazed too.

Deathstate is a lot more fun than I first anticipated. Having seen a lot of footage and information beforehand, I didn't see myself playing it for more than an hour. Once I started playing yesterday though, I couldn't put it down.

I'm going to do something unorthodox and break down the game based on its own description. Deathstate is a...

1) Single-stick shooter - this means that you use your controls to move, and the game aims and shoots for you. My first thought was that this would be annoying, but it's actually quite a positive thing. You target and fire at the closest enemy, which leaves you with the remaining responsibility to dodge and use items. And you'll need all the concentration you can get for those two things, especially later in the game when it gets hard. On top of this you still feel in control because the movement is so fluid and responsive.

2) Roguelike - There is permadeath. Game runs are quick and brutal when you first play. The game's progression through levels is linear (for the most part), but the content of each area is procedurally generated, meaning it's different every time. This includes the physical shape of the level as well as enemies and items. It makes each run feel fairly unique.

3) Bullet-hell - This descriptor may be a bit misleading for some. On the game's default easy difficulty setting, you'll be spammed with enemy bullets, sometimes in patterned formations, and in large quantities in the later levels. But it's not nearly as much as a classic "Bullet Hell" shmup like the TouHou games, so it may give a bad first impression to bullet-hell enthusiasts. HOWEVER: If you want a higher difficulty you will quickly unlock "Planar Altars" which start showing up in the early areas, and allow you to crank up the difficulty via the game's "Desecration" level. This shows promise in satisfying more hardcore gamers.

What else is cool about Deathstate? Here's some fun things that can keep you playing:

• Collectible monster organs that you stuff into your body and make it more powerful
  
• Artifacts and books that orbit around your character with active & passive abilities to, among other things, shoot more projectiles like magic missiles, laser beams, fireballs...
  
• A bunch of characters with different abilities and passive traits
  
• ^ You unlock more of the above nearly every time you play!
  
• Shops where you can buy items or gamble your money away
  
• GIANT chests!
  
• An awesome aesthetic of otherworldly awe, gloom, and eldritch horror in varying amounts, and good music to accompany it.
  
• All around smooth controls which can be remapped and also support Xbox & Steam controllers

And possible cons:

• Some of the visual effects may be bothersome to people. I forgot they were there myself, but they can't be disabled.
  
• The boss attack patterns can become predictable after a while
  
• There's a few buggy things in the Library's menus, but at the time of this review the devs said they are working on it.

I think this game is well worth the money if you like roguelikes, weird monsters, vivid colors, and blowing things up.

I bought Downwell thinking it would amuse me for a little while. Then I ended up playing it all night.

Pros

• Smooth gameplay and fluid controls
  
• Fast paced action
  
• Procedurally generated enemies & obstacles = lots of variety
  
• Unlockable different styles of play, some are more challenging than others
  
• All the guns are super fun to shoot
  
• Just a personal preference but the pixelated graphics look beautiful to me, as does the default color palette.
  
• You can change how the game looks!

Cons

• It's rather fast to discover all the possible guns and upgrades in the game. I'd like lots more.
  
• Some of the color palettes are really hard on the eyes, or its hard to distinguish what items are what.
  
  Really, this is incredibly hard to pass up for just $3 if you enjoy fast paced games.