Recent reviews by Ben W.

Got this as part of a humble monthly bundle. Interacting with the computer is a little clunky due to the keyword recognition, but overall this was a fun and charming game.

Nice graphics, interesting story, interesting mechanics. A nice callback to the text-based games of old. I beat it over the course of an afternoon. There are alternate endings, but I opted to find them all online, rather than replay the game from the beginning.

Personally, I wouldn't pay $20 for the game due to how short it is (except to support the developers), but I did enjoy the experience.

The game has its ups and downs, but it was a truly enjoyable cinematic experience.

Closer to Soul Calibur than Way of the Samurai, but still a lot of fun. Obviously not without it's share of bugs (early access).

Fez offers some really cool and innovative gameplay elements, and is often very intuitive in how it cues you to discover game mechanics and solve puzzles on your own. The music and the game world design is charming and beautiful. The sound effects are also great; they feel gratifying and they let you know when you've done well. It's not without it's quirks, but it was a very refreshing and rewarding game to play in short bursts.

That said, the game really suffers for lack of plot direction. I'm about three hours in with more than a dozen rooms completed (everything to do there is done), and I still have no specific goals beyond "collect all the stuff". On top of this, the combination of tiny levels and the lack of distinction between whether a door leads to a new area or a room makes completing individual areas really frustrating. The game will keep tossing you from one level to the next in rapid succession, and the go-anywhere design feels more like aimless wandering than liberation.

Some of the game's challenges are especially complex and require special effort. Discovering a QR code on the wall of a room containing a hint was fun and neat, but keeping track of the game's custom alphabet/cypher so that I could decipher the gibberish speak and hieroglyphs throughout the game was a little more effor than I was willing to invest.

While there's a lot to like about the game, it's also really easy to get overwhelmed with some of the puzzles, and the back to back platforming, as there doesn't seem to be a lot else to the game besides that. While the game can be played via keyboard, I highly recommend using a gamepad.

So should you give Fez a try? Absolutely. Did the experience feel worth the full $9.99 price tag? Well...maybe not.

7.5/10

A solid space-baced RTS with eye-candy. Jump from system to sytem to conquer planets, and upgrade those under your own domain. Micro or macromanage your fleet of ships and capital ships (hero units). Bid auction-style to send the pirates to attack and distract your enemies. Research to unlock new ships/structures and upgrade old ones.

A great game to play with friends, typical game length ~2+ hours.

Absolutely a worthwhile buy. GTA meets RPG set in Hong Kong, with a refreshing soundtrack, a fighting system you can legitimately suck at, and an interesting and fun game narrative. My only real criticism is the lack of follow through with the dating quests.

Meh gameplay. Very touching story and soundtrack.
Shhh. No tears, only dreams now. 7.5/10

Thomas Was Alone is a really neat game with a fantastic soundtrack and a witty, charming narrative, but it is also incredibly unforgiving. A few pixels makes the difference between failing a jump, and checkpoints are far too infrequent. At least two levels have design oversights that will have you entirely restarting the level at the slightest misstep. Need a break for the game? You can't start off exactly where you left of, you'll have to replay the chapter from the beginning.

Do not expect to play this game in one sitting and maintain your sanity. If you aren't a hardcore gamer, I seriously recommend finding a Let's Play that goes through the entire game and simply watching the experience, as the soundtrack and the VO are truly wonderful.

I've been looking for a game like Yoot Tower for years, and this is the first thing I've played that's come close to offering the same experience. I've only played 3 hours so far, but if you're a fan of Tycoon games and City building sims, this game is for you.

Edit: Many hours later, still an excellent buy.

Definitely not a masterpiece, but many hours of multiplayer fun. Get it when it's on sale (~$5), and don't expect too much.