Recent reviews by patricia batewoman

Diluvian Ultra is a fun little retro shooter with an incredible art style that really pops and makes a name for itself that I can't wait for more!

Overall, I would recommend this game for $10-15 with the current content (one episode) but more seems planned.

The main gimmick of the game seems to be a "health and armor" mechanic system that tries to emulate some of 20XX DOOM's weapon switching, and I think it works well here. Enemies, and yourself, have armor and health; and your armor is like a 'shield' over that health, dictated by your current health.

The game encourages you to switch weapons or use the weapons in different ways to accomplish this: for example, a beam rifle that does armor damage, or the shotgun's attack turning from health to armor based on distance. I like the mechanics and risk/reward balance of this, and it rewards player skill in a good way.

I really liked the sword's mechanics - the attacks feel incredibly satisfying, and the reflect upgrade is fun and feels actually usable (commonly, the window in games for this is extremely small and difficult), and the weapons all have some really really unique visuals.

The upgrade system is very permissive - right out of the gate, you can spec out into the weapons you like using, however you want - and this is another really great feature.

This game is BEAUTIFUL. Like, the art is really well done, the experience is incredibly cohesive (the UI, the weapons, the world textures - they all *fit together*). This is probably DU's peak, shining point, and I can't give them enough credit for this. It's very, very well done. I said this above and I will reiterate here: the cutscenes, the HUD, the items, the enemies - everything.

However, Diluvian does some caveats:

Some of the gameplay is a bit buggy. One major critical bug I had seemed to be patched the second day I'd installed the game, but by then the bug already really affected my game and I'd had to restart entirely (the save is still busted, btw - I'd happily share it with the devs if requested)
However! I gave it another shot and ended up having a BLAST. There's some rough edges, but the devs seem to care quite a lot.

The movement. As a fellow retro fps dev, I totally understand how REALLY hard this is to do. Overall, I can't complain too much - it does work, including stairs - though some of the platforming feels rather stiff and difficult; I often felt like I was fighting the controls to jump to secret areas more than I was the level design. I think the issue here is largely air control values.

Personally, I don't like the respawn mechanic. I'm a bit more old school in my preferences, and while there's nothing outright wrong with the system, I just don't love the Prodeus style where enemies don't reset, and death is more of a debuff rather than a 'restart' experience. It's a great idea, but currently, it feels like there isn't much depth to it, and I find myself wishing for a 'just die' option instead.


Unreal engine is a choice. My PC handles it just fine, and I don't have the most top end rig, but for a game like this UE is extra demanding. I hope the developers can put that extra tooling and things to play with in EU to good use. Having spoken with the graphic artist, I fully believe this is something they can pull off with astounding quality. I don't consider this last point to be a full minus, but just something worth thinking about.

I want to say all of my issues come from a place of love: I really like this game, and I want to see it be the best it can be, and I wish the developers luck in the future!

Overall: Worth a buy, if you are OK with some things associated with in-development early access games - if not, absolutely worth watching for the future and wishlisting.

Yeah, this is the new premier GZdoom mod/game. This is incredible stuff that I did not expect. Love the artwork, music, the gameplay, and the unique spin on RPG mechanics in a Doom game.

Sublime. A 10 out of 10. Ridiculously cohesive.

+ Excellent movement with buffered jumping and strafing

+ An arsenal of well-balanced and FUN weapons and powerups

+ Very interesting level design and layouts with good puzzles, clear main objectives, and a range of difficulty in secret hunting

+ Incredible visual style and sound design. Very simple, but effective environmental storytelling. Andrew Hulshult's music for the game adds so much to this experience.

+ Secrets go beyond just finding a secret area, but also mechanics: the game not only allows you, but expects you to "cheat" in some very creative ways that also feel fun and thought out.

Even just for the single player episodes, DUSK is 200% well worth a buy. Oh yeah, it's got pvp multiplayer. Did I mention that?

Game has charm and a very unique identity. I enjoyed all of the levels except for one, where the platforming kinda works against the player. Highly, highly worth your time. Excellent shotgun and weapon loadout with fun mechanics. Wish there was more.

this game was the first game that i've ever played where you could jump in the air, look down and keep going as far as you want in circles rather than hitting a limit vertically and that changed me.

movement feels excellent and reminiscent of Titanfall 2, but much much better and with many more options.

the music is incredible, and there's many fun weapons to use, with different game modes to play (score attack with modifiers, or even a roguelike mode).

however, the amount of levels is limited and eventually you will come to be overly familiar with just about all of them in a way that leaves you craving more.

highly worth it especially on sale

+ the shotgun is actually a grenade launcher that uses pellet shells
+ actually, all of the guns hit hard and feel weighty, and are fun to use with seemingly good situational ups and downs for each
+ music and sound design adds heavily to that feeling of weight and action. nice amen break here or there.
+ world, enemy, and weapon textures are very well done and lovely to look at

+/- difficulty scaling sometimes feels overwhelming with enemy count which can make some areas pretty tough if that bothers you

- ACAB includes Shelly Harrison
- options menu leaves a lot to be desired
- levels are convoluted and confusing in a way that really slows things down sometimes. Exploration is fun, but sometimes it's unclear where the player should even go to progress the story, let alone seeing "10 secrets remaining in this area..."

Enjoyed a lot so far, for $10-20, has a good amount of entertainment and I feel like I've gotten value already out of it.

I haven't played *too* much yet and I will come back to update this review as I get a bit more into this one.

Preface: the videos do a particularly good job explaining what this game's *gameplay* is actually like and if it might appeal to you. Moving, flying around with a sword - I can't describe that any better than a video could show you.

As for the other stuff, some first thoughts:

+ I really like the soundtrack a lot! The different rooms in (one of? perhaps there are more) the safe zone all have very unique and charming tracks to fit the characters there.
+ The aesthetic in general - if you liked Cruelty Squad's gruesome assault of shapes and colors on your eyes, as well as the kinda bizarre world, this isn't terribly far off. The 2D world art is really nice, also.
+ My sword shoots things
+ I haven't seem a shape as abstract as yours, maybe ever.
+ Huge zoom factor. Bounce on the mushrooms! Go fast! Strafing. "Surfing" (though a bit different from Source engine surfing). I'm sure there's more tools I haven't found yet.
+ I have 0 idea what the heck is going on! There's some odd stuff to figure out and it's refreshing to have no idea what to do in a game and not be told anything.

- Options menu a tad sparse. Like, no controls sparse. If you want to adjust the mouse sensitivity, which I really recommend, you gotta do it in the main menu, in between loading screens. Bit clunky.
- Talking with the characters is also a bit odd. It'd be really nice to have a 'skip to next line' feature.
- I have 0 idea what the heck is going on! Is this game a roguelike? Does the run restart totally? Are there save states? What are the controls?

I recommend this game for $6-8 so far - if nothing else, the soundtrack and sprite work is lovingly done.

i frequently forget to eat because i'm too busy playing factorio for 10 hours straight, yea its a good one

You're in the business of liquidation. Acquire a more corporate mindset. Invest heavily in the organ market- brains only go up, right? One day they'll crash. You'll be watching. Waiting. Fishing. Selling at the top.

I cannot recommend this game enough.

NEO Scavenger is a hex based, turn based, interaction based RPG that's kinda like the classic Fallout games but played like the newer Civilization games - and I cannot stop playing it to get an accurate depiction of life as a deranged crackhead in the Michigan wilderness, beating up everyone for their shoes, plastic bags and lighters.

There are (sadly, only a few) mods you can get online with new items, mechanics, traits and locations. While not that straightforward to get into, the game is very modder-friendly.

The story is rather short and not incredibly detailed, and the lore of the world is about the same. However, the gameplay mechanics are really interesting, with complex health and injuries, a lot of different conditions, and ways to interact with your surroundings. Different traits will give you unique options when scavenging, looting, fighting, talking, setting up camp, making food, making a sweet four-wheel drive cargo-haulin' shopping cart, the list goes on. It's a fun world to struggle in, and even if there are various mechanics in the game that are a bit exploitable, there's a lot out to get you also, and it's a really good time you can pick up and put down at any moment.