Recent reviews by ZephyrFloofyDerg

Cobalt Core really is a phenomenal game in many respects. Inspired by other deckbuilder games and roguelikes out there it really does shine on it's own merits and provides a replayable and expansive experience that gets better each time you play.

The dialogue is witty and insightful, particularly your main crew of characters who always have a quip or comment on major choices you make throughout the run. The storyline of a time loop really fits in nicely with the roguelike mechanic and each run offers opportunities to embrace risk and try out new strategies. There are some incredible synergies to be had with certain card and character combinations which warrants multiple playthroughs. The secret character at the end achieved after obtaining all the memories is well worth pursuing for. Similarly the unlockable ships and bonuses really do encourage replaying the game. The normal difficulty is about right and still requires a decent amount of skill to beat. The harder difficulty settings provide a greater challenge for those who feel they are pro-level players.

The music is phenomenal, one track in particular I could listen to on loop. The way the music fades in and out of combat and when combat ends is really well done and the audio mixing is done well. The sound effects and character speech noises are just perfect.

The combat mechanics of moving the ship around, lining up your weapons and missile bay add extra strategy and it's not impossible to get in an unwinnable situation if you make some rash moves. It rewards careful planning in terms of which cards you keep or remove, what order you play cards in and what characters you pick. The characters each have different starting decks and acquirable cards which can dramatically change how the game is played. Certain rare cards can often give you a massive advantage and save an otherwise scuppered run.

Overall this game is incredibly well made and is something I come back to time and time again. While it runs nicely on PC, it is a natural fit for the Steam Deck due to the crisp vibrant visuals and the controls which fit the typical xbox button configuration really well. The rumble is a very nice touch as well.

This game is a really neat concept and the execution is great. In a sci-fi dystopia, you are tasked with taking photographs of a range of different subjects. It gives photographers and casual snappers plenty of simple steps without turning away pros either. The way that different lens types are handled is very nice and there's plenty of options that satisfy all tastes. Little collectables help flesh out the world and picking up film canisters gives you the opportunity to take bonus shots.

It has great vibrant 3D environments with puzzles and some subjectivity in terms of how you take the photo. For the most part it doesn't penalise you for thinking outside of the box or getting a unique angle. Do you leave out the messy paint can and graffiti or do you keep them in the frame? You may have to take a photo of 10 solar panels for example, which means getting into the right position. There's some basic parkour which gives you access to some of the best angles and this is a key part of getting around the maps. There's enough under the hood to keep people engaged and there's a world ready to be discovered and unearthed. I'm super excited for the future of photography videogames.

My experience with the game so far is a very good one. As someone who has been playing Magic the Gathering for the last few years and card battler games like Inscryption, I can see the game has influences while not being a direct copy of any one game in particular. The card variety is great and there are different cards to suit multiple playstyle. The cards have good synergy and for the most part, there aren't any 'broken' cards or ones that need a big nerf. The enemies you face have different decks and relics which may sometimes mean you need to reconfigure your deck in order to proceed. This is not a flaw, this is designed to teach you about the importance in knowing when to switch cards out and improve your flexibility. The in-game currency you earn from battles lets you acquire more cards, craft ones from resources and unlock new relics to equip.

The art style is very stylish overall and has a lot going for it. The variety in character design and the cards are really welcome. The story is compelling and gives you a reason to keep playing. I like the sound of the roguelike option and there's talk about a multiplayer feature later down the line. Honestly this is an excellent game and well worth your time if you like deckbuilding games.

Pawperty Damage is a fantastic game which recaptures that old-school feel of Rampage or being a giant kaiju monster like Godzilla. It's got some fun singleplayer options and has multiplayer support as well. In a recent update they added VRM support for custom models. I imported two of the main avatars I use online and it worked brilliantly, if things are not quite right you can also use a tool to tweak some of the hitboxes etc. While there aren't any virtual people running around, it still provides a fair amount of entertainment and should run on a machine that has modest specs. It works well on Steam Deck too.

While the game may not have had the smoothest launch (especially last-gen consoles) the game really has come along way since then. The new skill tree added in the 2.0 update feels natural and really gives the player meaningful skill trees and lets them customise their character as they see fit. The three origin routes at the start of the game add meaningful choices and give you that sense of belonging in the world. By the end of Act 1 I was immersed in the story and I could tell when starting Act 2 this would be something I would spend a lot of time in.

With shocking advertisements and danger on the streets Night City really does evoke a certain kind of setting that is really unmatched in other games. As someone who follows futuristic sci-fi series like Cyberpunk and Shadowrun I felt immersed in the world and that my actions had meaning. Being able to interact with NPCs and help characters out on quests was exciting and thrilling. Sometimes you have to pick a side and there isn't always a clear answer. Overall I love the game and can't wait to play more of it.

This game is a great experience. I enjoy the mix of roguelite action with the RTS elements of base building and follower management. The story is well told and the world does have a bleak feel to it, bringing you into the plot. The game does give you some tough choices, there aren't always easy answers and I think that plays to the game's strength. The early to mid game is tough since you're trying to keep everyone happy while progressing with the story. It gets somewhat easier later especially when you max out of your base camp since upgrading buildings at that point is fairly trivial. I was on Hard for a while but had to go down to Normal since the fights started to get tough for me. I'm looking forward to seeing what new features the developers will add later down the line.

Quite shocking that I won't be able to play this game after September 1st, 2022 because the game servers will be shut down after that date. Given that they sold this to people in the Steam Summer Sale, this is daylight robbery and is a shameful display. I am very disappointed with Ubisoft and for Steam for letting this happen. I will stop buying Ubisoft games on PC ever again.

This piece of software is fantastic. It lets you easily set up multiple redeems that chat can activate with channel points or bits. You can trigger these manually as well and play around with the settings. Overall this is a fantastic piece of software and is brilliant for systems like Twitch where the audience can interact with you. It imports easily enough into OBS with little fuss and is very good in terms of not demanding too many resources from your machine especially with the right settings. Highly recommended.

The Lich has thrown the world into a timeless loop and plunged its inhabitants into never ending chaos.
Wield an expanding deck of mystical cards to place enemies, buildings, and terrain along each unique expedition loop for the brave hero.

Loop Hero is a unique blend of autobattler, roguelike and citybuilder. The battles play themselves and you watch as your hero and allies fight against hordes of wicked enemies including skeletons, slimes, harpies, goblins, vampires and more. Enemies have different traits and abilites, some of them compliment others while some only act in the interest of the monster in question.

Character class is a big feature as well. Warrior, Rogue and Necromancer all play quite different and the equipment they bring to battle changes how your stats are balanced. Not only that, but class also plays a role in other cards that are played to. Some negate the benefits and some cards could even cause you harm.

What makes this roguelike different from others is that you set the pace and you decide how strong you want the enemies to be. Your character walks around a randomly generated loop. This circular road is your character's one and only path through the world. What you encounter on the way entirely depends on what cards you play. Even cards played on the field can occasionally cause objects on the roadside to appear.

If you drop too many vampire estates on the board, you may be facing some very tough battles. If you drop too many rocks and mountains, expect goblin camps to start setting up around your loop. Villages heal you, but creating several will create bandit camps who can steal your equipment and are a nuisance. Ranged enemies can attack you without risk of your counteract so beware.

There's a benefit to fighting enemies though, it's the way you get cards and equipment which makes you fight better. Equipment varies in rarity, the rarer the item, the more stat bonuses you get. Any excess of equipment or cards gets converted into resources which help you with the base building.

Inbetween runs, you can construct new buildings such as farms, watchtowers and mud huts. The more expensive buildings to research unlock extra perks and benefits along with extra cards and additional extras. The building tech tree is fairly complex and you'll end up with a lot of things to unlock by the end of it.

Even when you've unlocked all the buildings, there are buildings to upgrade and items to equip. These items are ones you permanently keep and they can dramatically affect the difficulty of the game. These will affect healing, damage to certain enemies and resource gathering.

The replayability of the game is very high. There are many cards which synergise or work against each other. Finding out all the hidden combinations is where you'll get some additional replay value and the chance to tweak the games's odds in your favour.

Make no mistake, this is a difficult game for many reasons. If a run is difficult and you face death, you can retreat but then you'll lose a large chunk of your scavenged resources. Bosses are tough and often make you rely on a range of strategies in order to defeat them. Classes each have their own benefits which you can use to your advantage. The warrior is useful for their defense buff and their defensive abilities. The rogue is great for gathering equipment quickly and unleashing critical hit bonuses on enemies. The necromancer uses skeletons to fight which can be buffed and put pressure on enemies.

After 35 hours of this game, I can see myself playing this a lot more to try and master it's intricate gameplay. Chapter 1, 2 and 3 will take you a while to beat, but that's not all the game has to offer. Chapter 4 is the 'full experience' where you tackle all the three previous bosses and then fight a new enemy. The time that you'll spend to beat this chapter is far longer than the previous ones, so it's very much a full experience intended only for veteran players prepared to spend time adjusting their loadout and tackling the strongest challenges the game can throw at them.

The sound and music are very much inspired by early retro games and the sound team did a fantastic job of making it feel old-school. Same is for the visuals which have a colour palette very much like the old school RPGs of 80s and DOS-era games. The story unfolds as you play and compliments the gameplay very well. Even the enemy dialogue is varied and helps make the world feel alive.

At £12.49 this game is very good value for money and I have enjoyed every minute of my time with it. I definitely recommend picking this up on Steam if you can.

Great product for storywriters and scriptwriters. It's particularly good if you have multiple main characters, different timelines to manage and a large world with multiple locations.
Very useful piece of software which is helping me a lot with keeping my future stories in check!