Recent reviews by DonLakonchinno

А мне здоровье Зефирки-1 дороже прохождения без сейвскама

MicroWorks more like MicroPe-
With that out of the way, great game, especially if you get a party going, but can be enjoyed solo too.

On their website, Cold Iron Studios pride themselves as a collective of AAA veteran developers.
With how underwhelming, lacklustre, dated and in some ways broken their first release is, I can confirm that.
From the lack of absolutely BASIC features, like ingame text and/or voice chat, drop-in/drop-out matchmaking, ability to reconnect after losing connection to host, or even a way to see yours or your teammates ping; bugs like your weapons losing all sound effects randomly for the rest of the mission, to primitive one note mission design throughout the whole 10 hours campaign, this game is only carried by its setting, amazing score and competent gunplay.
I am disappointed even though I've got this game for "free" through Humble, and feel sorry for people who paid money for this, especially the full price on release. I guess it's better with friends, but anything is, so that sentiment doesn't really matter.
The devs are already busy with their new game, so I guess they've moved on. Well, better luck next time!

Калибр+
OMEGALUL

I've been trying to write a review for this game for a bit now and I still can't express myself in a sufficient manner, because this game is surely one hell of an experience. Yes there is jank and flaws but it does so many things, some interesting, some original, some just insane, that I was entertained throughout the whole playthrough and it never felt like "filler", always coming up with something new or reusing what it already has in an interesting way, or just giving you time to appreciate the views in peace.
I'm cautious about straight up recommending it to anyone and everyone, but I'm confident in saying that it's worth giving it a go and trying it out to see if it *clicks*.

From the way description advertised this I got a feeling this DLC and what happens will influence the game much more than it actually does, this DLC being sort of an last act to the game. It isn't tho. Pro tip to the devs: don't ctrl+c ctrl+v bits from the base games description into the DLC description.
Overall it's great if you haven't played the game, if you're coming back - It's more of the same, which is great as the quality of the content is just as high, but some of the new mechanics are frustrating, to say the least, and one of the bits of the final puzzle was so obnoxious I'm happy I didn't try to figure it out myself for any longer and looked at the walkthrough. Beating my head against the wall for that long didn't help with experiencing the ending, which was, in my opinion, a letdown, but I must add that my expectations that I expressed higher also contributed to that. That said, the thumbs down is only because of the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sections (you know which ones if you played it) and that last puzzle (again, you know which one).

If only there was an option for “Mixed” review
I’ve discovered Wormwood Studios and Primordia in 2016, 4 years after its initial release and never forgot about the game after all these years, only regretting not getting it sooner. Everything about the game left me in awe: the art, the story, puzzle designs, characters, the list is too long. It was a wonderful point and click adventure that I enjoyed thoroughly even though I never was a fan of the genre, ever playing a few games, and finishing even less.
To say that I was excited about the new game, Strangeland, is to say nothing. I didn’t follow every little piece of information about the game, leaving everything to be a nice surprise once the game is released and I try it out myself, and was patiently waiting for its release.
The story never clicked with me. I feel like I never had a reason to care about the protagonist and his struggles, the woman he’s desperately trying to save, and pretty much any other character in the game. It also doesn’t help that “everything” is a metaphor for something, to the point you just stop trying to decipher the messages game’s sending you because there’s 10 more on the way and your brain can only process so much trauma deciphering at once. It does unravel at the end but still leaves some things unanswered/unexplained/left for interpretation, which is fine given how personal the theme can be. I also felt like the whole experience the protagonist is going through in the game is, well, meaningless, as in it feels like there’s no character development, no growth, no fighting your internal struggles and overcoming them, learning from mistakes and doing better; everything feels like “a thing to do”, or just another whatever metaphor. “I’ve done this and now I get to continue” – not because the character learned something about himself or ended up victorious in a fight with his own demons (after all, that’s what the game seems to be about: learning to accept tragedy, dealing with your internal insecurities and struggles, and, in the end, moving on), but simply because you did X and Y and solved the puzzle, and the metaphors for the sake of metaphors aren’t helping to associate yourself and sympathize with the character. There are developer commentaries and annotations that can help you understand intricacies better, bringing more insight into the story, but after finishing the game with an understanding of general outlines of the story I felt no urge to engage in them to learn more.
Other important thing to talk about is the music, as it sets up the mood and atmosphere, which I feel is especially important in a game that relies on surreal, fantastic and disturbing imagery, and, to be honest, I don’t remember a single track or melody from the game. I never at any point in the game stopped and listened to its tunes, not paying attention to tracks that play at all. Nothing really clicked or hit, same as the story. I don’t have much to say about it since it almost didn’t exist in my mind during the playthrough.
Puzzles are fine. They lean towards illogical a bit, but that’s because the setting and circumstances demand it, not because “we need to come up with some absolute nonsense to stop the player from continuing”, and the game never turns into “guess what developer had in mind with this one!”. One particular “puzzle” that required writing your name was fun, but felt out of place. Game also features generous tips on puzzles that are woven into it, which is always nice. Only time I used them out of desperation was deciphering Murmurs future prediction.
And even with all this negativity I can’t say I disliked or hated the game, just like I can’t say that it’s a bad game, that it’s haphazardly/carelessly slapped together, that there was no effort/thought put to it, because it is clearly a lovechild of the dev team, with a lot of craft and thought put into all of its many aspects, and the themes developers chose to tackle being challenging to represent or even work with.
It breaks my heart to say this, but I was disappointed in Strangeland and the experience it offered and can't recommend it.

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Good game, good devs.

I SAW MASTER HALO FROM HALO AND I CLAPPED!
...And then I played Halo 4 and lost all hope for humanity