Recent reviews by Jragghen

Pretty early on, but a relaxing spacechem-esque game.

It's good, I guess

The Beginner's Guide is a short interactive storytelling game where you work through a series of "games" narrated by a friend of the person who had made the games in the first place. The games do not all have an inherent purpose, and the narrative is trying to understand what the designer intended when creating them.

It's very interesting from a narrative perspective, and well worth playing, but it's difficult to say why without giving it away

Disclaimer: I was given a key by the developer due to my having enjoyed other, similar games, which was a first for me, and was pretty cool. :) No request was made in exchange for this key other than general beta-level feedback. This review is simply because I genuinely enjoyed the game.

Tricone Lab is a 2D puzzle game where you seek to create a certain number of "tricones" by joining three individually cones into a catalyst. A variety of obstacles may be in your way, whether barriers, other catalyzers which will steal the cones, or needing to transport/clone/etc various tools in order to establish the final set of cones necessary in the proper location. A few of the levels are quite difficult, but there's an excellent series of tutorial levels which ramp the difficulty in a way that allows you to explore each newly-introduced mechanic.

The game is still in early access, and there's a few known bugs on the forum which are getting ironed out, but none of the ones which I ran into are gamebreaking or mess with the experience whatsoever - typically a graphical glitch, or the like, which can be solved by reloading the level.

The game has a complete set of authoring tools, allowing users to create their own levels which can be shared via the Tricone Labs website.

All in all, it took me roughly 5 hours to complete all the levels that came with the game, and it left me wanting more - I'm actually trying my hand at making a level or two right now, which is something I practically never do, and as I got the game for free, I bought an extra copy to gift to a friend, which is some of the highest praise I can offer. If you enjoy puzzle games, this is likely right up your alley.

Bejeweled 2 Deluxe is a classic match-3 game, which has held up well over time. In it, you are presented with a series of maps which have a variety of jewels of different shapes/colors, and can swap any two adjacent tiles in order to get three in a row, which will cause them to disappear and those above them to fall, potentially causing a cascade. Additionally, getting either 4 or 5 in a row will provide special power ups which can also help.

In addition to the classic "high score" mode, there's a variety of other levels with puzzles where you try to clear the board, etc.

It holds up well after all this time, and is certainly worth the asking price (or especially a sale price) if you're looking for some classic match-3 fun.

Tengami is a point-and-click adventure game which contains the look and feel of a pop-up book. You move, slide, and manipulate the surroundings around your character in order to find a path to your goal/solve the puzzles. That aesthetic is the primary draw of the game, and it succeeds to great effect - the watercolor drawing style matches well with the paper cut-out look, and makes for a wholly unique experience.

The puzzles themselves are rather simple, with only one or two requiring much thought - in some cases, backtracking is necessary to notice that something has changed, but otherwise they're relatively straightforward.

The music is pleasant and relaxing, and serves to fit the gameplay.

Ultimately, it's quite short - about an hour. Recommended for those looking for a relaxing, not terribly difficult, adventure game. Just keep the length in mind when determining the appropriate price to look for.

Dark Quest is a turn-based board game-esque fantasy strategy game, loosely based off of the old Hero Quest board game. In it, you play as three characters (Warrior, Dwarf, and Wizard) seeking to make your way through a series of dungeons to complete a set of quests which are posed to you. Along the way, you need to deal with traps, secret doors, and collecting gold to upgrade your equipment/spells back in town.

The game is quite short, taking roughly 3 hours to 100%. Combat is largely random, and there are other random events which can lead to damage to your characters, which can occasionally feel a little imbalanced because some runs you won't be touched, while others you end up getting into dire straits rather quickly.

It's moderately fun, but in my case it's likely at least partially due to nostalgia from enjoying Hero Quest itself. Consider the gameplay, and the length of the game, and choose a price point which seems appropriate to you.

Hero of the Kingdom is a point-and-click adventure/resource management game in which you play as a farm boy attempting to discover what happened to your father. You travel around the countryside collecting items and solving various quests in a series of drawn maps. There isn't much in the way of difficulty as there are a few different methods by which you can get as much money as you want, it's just a matter of figuring out your preferred method.

There are a number of hidden object quests throughout the game where you search for items in the background. This can be time consuming and is the primary difficult part if you feel like completing it.

The game isn't terribly long, taking about 5 hours to complete. But it scratches a zen-like itch for collector/RPG/progress fanatics, and I think you'll get your money's worth if you're into those sorts of games.

Synonym is a game in which you attempt to use multiple definitions of words to move from synonym to synonym to link two words which are disparate in their general meanings. It is an interesting concept, and can be neat to explore the word-map, but ultimately there's not much to the game - each pair is self-contained and there is no progression from challenge to challenge, so once you've gone through a single time there's not much variety (beyond the definitions in question, of course).

To someone who greatly enjoys words and reading, this might scratch an itch. But it's a very niche game without much in the way of replayability, so it is difficult to recommend to the general consumer.

Syberia is a point-and-click adventure game in which you play as Kate Walker, attempting to track down the owner of a toy factory in order to facilitate a sale. Through the game you move through a series of locations along a railway line, each of which has a series of puzzles which need to be solved in order to allow your trip to continue.

As noted in many other reviews, Kate moves rather slow, but can run if you double-click. However, when moving up/down stairs, or any other obstacles, she does move at a slow pace. As there is an unfortunate amount of backtracking involved in the course of the game and they frequently have these sorts of stairs, it can lead to a stuttered, somewhat lethargic pace.

The story feels meandering until you reach close to the end of the game, when it starts to pick up. As this game takes place in a fictional history, some items (such as how a railway would supposedly work) don't really make /sense/. If you're the sort of person where these sorts of things bother you, you might want to pass on this game. Ultimately, the question which needs to be asked is whether point-and-click adventure is something which appeals to you - while it can take some time to get truly gripping, the story is worth experiencing, provided you like that sort of gameplay.