Recent reviews by {OTD} Deramin

The game that put survival city builders as a genre on the map. The game start is very hard (always save the moment you start a game because you might need a couple of tries to survive the first couple of winters. The early game is all about juggling limited citizens with resource and goods development. Not growing faster than your food supplies, etc. And gradually it gets easier in the mid-game, which is where a lot of reviewers say it gets too easy. But if you keep playing into the late game you can actually run out of map and be in a delicate balance of maintaining your population without growing because you're at your production limits. Trade becomes vitally important. It's a whole new kind of challenge.

I love this game. I've gotten all the achievements (which is mainly being persistent). It has a good balance of enough resources to be interesting without so many that they're hard to track (and if you want more there are a bunch of mods that add things or even reimagine the game). I enjoy the challenge and the spinning plates. It's an excellent companion to a podcast or a TTRPG show.

The graphics are pretty. I enjoy watching all the little people go about their jobs, and I enjoy the sound design. I also love that this game is basically a communist society working together to all mutually benefit, and it really set the tone for survival city builders in that regard, too. I always like seeing the story game mechanics tell in city builders. Like disease spread discouraging monocultures.

I've played hundreds and hundreds of hours of this game and I'll play hundreds more. I've only recently started experimenting with the mods that can really transform the gameplay even further.

I love this game. I think it's one of the best survival city builders ever made. It's challenging without feeling so hard it's demoralizing, especially if you prepare adequately. The different factions and game rules all alter the way you play in interesting ways. Every stage of the game is familiar but different. I'm slowly working my way through the achievements, which is pretty enjoyable since most are matters of persistence and not exceptional skill.

One game I have gone all the way out to 700+ years where I've hit the limit on resource production even mining all deposits of three meteors simultaneously. Most of Mars was terraformed green. It because a very different play experience but still enjoyable.

I really like the hex build grid with the triangular build areas in the domes. Placement feels very easy and because there are only three sizes of interior building I actually feel like I can get more variety in the setup rather than needing specific configurations for optimal placement. Just a lot of nice quality of life details like that.

Plus, I love the setting. Give me a world of idealistic space communism, please.

My favorite board game brought to life brilliantly. Very calming and chill, even though there's a competitive element. Gorgeous art. Simple concept, but hard to master the intricacies. I've worked my way up to doing well against the hard bots, but I don't win every game (partly it's the luck element combined with skill).

Easy to connect and play with other people if you want to. Hotseat works because nothing is secret.

Some people don't like that it's the same interface as the mobile app, but I have no problems with it, though it's mouse heavy. It's the perfect game for putting in a smaller window and watching media with (especially listening-heavy things like actual plays).

Highly recommended. It's a 10-minute game that's basically an interactive comic book. It tells a little story about trying to process suicidal thoughts and negotiating what you want to want with what you're capable of doing. It makes you interact with the ideas and be engaged. Even if it's only a few clicks, it makes you not just a passive observer. I really liked it.

there's a famous Tumblr screenshot joke that goes:
User: personsonable
me holding a gun to a mushroom: tell me the name Of god you
fungal piece of s--
mushroom: can you feet your heart burning? can you feel the
struggle with-in? the fear within me is beyond anything your
soul can make. you cannot kill me in a way that matters
me cocking the gun, tears streaming down my face: I'M NOT
F--ing SCARED OF YOU
User: miaislying
Hoy OP? What the F-- does this mean?
User: personsonable
decay exists as an extant form of life
User: miaislying
That's a terrifying answer, have a nice day

Cloud Garden is that meme as a very chill and relaxing video game where you make little artistic dioramas to solve a simple puzzle. You can't really lose, but it's so fun. It's very Zen. I had to redo a couple levels a few times, but even that wasn't really frustrating. I just get to make more art. It took me 45 hours to run out of levels (but more are forthcoming). I had so much fun I'd dream about it. Probably my favorite game of 2020. Well worth getting.

This is the most soothing game I've ever played. Everything feels quiet and normal. Some basic combat if you want it. Fishing started out almost unbearably hard but the game makes it easier as your character's skill goes up and it's enjoyable by level 2. Farming takes some planning, but Stardew Profits helps plan pretty easily. Stardew Planner helps design optimal building placement. The neighbors are fun to talk to and really make you feel like you're in the community and improving it. The wiki helps a lot. I bought it 1 month ago and already put in 132 hours. Fun to play while watching RPG shows or listening to podcasts. It's keeping me sane during the pandemic. This is my happy place.

It's a solid puzzle platformer in it's own right: the levels are fairly easy to get through, but hard to master. The per level chanelges of fewest knights killed, fastest time, and finding Jeff, plus the hidden level goodies on certain levels give you a reason to replay levels and think about them in a new way. I especially life the gold vs. purple ranks. This is one of the few games I've gotten really frustrated with my failures, and still not been able to put it down.

But the real icing on this razor blade cake is its personality, style, and dark sense of humor. It's a refreshing twist when the goal of most games is not to die. The most fun I've had since Portal.

This is one of the few games I've enjoyed enough to get every achievement in. The towers are well balanced and are all useful at some point. Both tall (few upgraded towers) and wide (many low level towers) builds work on most levels. The levels often have flexible path possibilities. Multiple modes for each level get you to think about the level and tower placement in new ways, and often force you to throw out your old strategy. Compound interest really rewards patience. Checkpoints are great for helping you fine tune a strategy, get perfect placement timing, or back up just a bit when you mess up. Global rankings give you a chalenge to aim for past a gold medal. Easy to play, but harder to master.