Recent reviews by 克美 (かつみ)

This is a gem. Very good atmospheric take on the World of Darkness Vampire setting. I really hope there will be a full game, follow up one day.

It is a disappointment, as much as it was the Beyond the Earth. Aside of one or two scenario the game has little to offer. The intriguing new feature, where your action would had been influence your progress is nothing more than a simple system where you need to do one tasks for each research or society development to half the time of the pogress. No real difference how to play, no real impact of the environment around you.

No environmental system either. It is now a trend since the V-th how Sid leaves out any kind of environmental issues from it's game. Shame. Also the game, since the fifth, slowly moved forward a Huntigton (Clash of Civilization book) view of civilizations, so it is not true that the game don't take sides on controversial issues.

Not sure about Rise and Fall DLC, but as far as I read it is worthier to go back to play Civ IV's mod of similar concept, which modelled bether the issue in hand.

If you want to avoid a huge disappointment go to some other and better titles of similar 4x game.

What could I say about this game?

The game has a lots of potential, which could go well beyond what originally intended. It is a first person survial game in the surface, but with the possibility to be a roleplaying game (if players on the servers agree or you run your local server with dedicated friends). It is definietly the adult version of minecraft - the building is amazing, with mods that extend the possibilities. It is easy to make new cities, castles, even dungeons if someone creative. I haven't tried it yet, but I can immagine to be able to make player made dungeons with NPCs (thralls) as enemies or guardians to make some story/quest to others without dwelling and learning some modding.

I think the key here is to know what do you want out from this game, and seek that kind of community online. In theory the server selection offers a loads of option to you to able to find what you are looking for. There are categories where you can set PvP or PvE feautures, the community type (from roleplaying to purist), and you can read the set up small details (the progression rate, the ability to damage buildings, etc). If you still unhappy, you can make your own server with your own settings.

The game is great for someone who loves Conan or sword and sorcery, but I seepossibilities to extend beyond that. WhileI am not sure (but I think) one can make their own map with modding, it might be possible to make your own setting. I can clearly see a Dark Sun setting made with extended modding in this game for example - desert settings are there, so does the hunger and thirst rules, crafing, slavery, etc.

There are problems with the ame, perhaps the greatest challenge for me comes from a positive aspect of constant updates, as it does affect the games already started, So if you want to wait something stable, wait until the final release.

Otherwise go ahead and find your cross Exile.

And in the seventh day Firaxis and Sid got tired...

I want to love this game. Really. Spaceships and planets! Exploring with your fleet and investigate different civilizations! Sounds a cool concept, also the maps looks amazing. I did not expect a really complex 4x game, but rather something with fun rules, easy gameplay but challenging enough.

And possibly, hopefully Starships executes that... but there is no real way to find it as the game full with bugs (and no, not the bugs from Beyond the Earth). It crashes for many people with the current built, so honestly I can't advice to anyone to buy at it's current state. Wait a couple of days to see what will happen.

Civ: Beyond the Earth was somewhat a disappointment and I am sad to say but Starships seems to go to the same route. A could be great and fun game who never fullfils it's promise. Please prove me otherwise Sid.

Velvet Sundown is truely an unique game.

It is a situational game, and as I only tested one of the pre-set situations my review might be limited.

You have a cruise luxury boat and a nunch of celebrities and crew aboard to play. All characters have a short little background and ideas how to play it, you have a rich Russian youngster, tennis player, Holywood star, the ship bartender or the first officer. Then you have some roles randomly distributed. You might be working secretly to an oil company trying to get your rival corps data. You might be a freelancer thief or just simply someone who bumped into the data. The simulation is limited in time and you have some personal goals to chase.

The game have many possibilities and great fun to play with... but it greaty depend on the players you end up with. All characters in game I played with someone, there is no NPCs, there is not much objects to interact with aside of the others.

I wish to see more scenarioes and more options to play with. Seductions, spiked drinks, misuse of drugs can be fun to have some game effect.

It is a free game, everyone can test it if the game is for you.

The First Seven Days of Dead State's Zombie Apocalypse Tactical Survival Game

The game as it is just a glimse into the final product, call it as an early access, demo or whatever, it is just the first seven days of the storyline with limited access to some of the features. Still, I am very impressed and excited by the game.

First of all it is a very traditional old school roleplaying game, the combat is great turn-based, very similar to Jagged Alliance 1 or 2, or Fallout 1 and 2, even to UFO series (the old ones especially). There is character sheets and stats to improve which have some effect in game. Obviously in the end game we might see better how these skills and attributes (and even perks that is not yet in the game but planned) will influence the game and give a boost to replay value.

The theme is from the Romero's zombie movies mostly. Zombies are slow, dead bodies, no mutations and freak abilities, differs mostly by the state of corpse. If you are fan of Romero's movies you would like this. If you are expecting a huge range of monsters then you will be disappointed. But if you can get along with it you might have a nice experience. The true enemy is the conditions, the lack of resources, other human beigns who compete for what left, ad your own group. There is a good amount of social dynamism even in such early state of the game and this will be just better. You influence your group morals by what kind of job you assign to them, who are you taking out to the dangerous scavenging missions, how much you listen to their advices and who do you listen to, and so on. There is a hint that there will be some power struggle among the group in later in game.

The tactical combat is good enough, if you learn the tricks it is not very hard, but honestly sometimes it can be difficult if you are not careful and the game can punish you very much if you are not careful or do a mistake. That is good in fact and makes the game just more interesting. If you are fan of turn based tactical combat, this game is for you. Weapons do have some special attributes, like cutting weapons can cause bleeding to living beigns, crushing weapons can cause disorientation, with some weapons you can knock your enemy prone and so on. Also there are some psychological conditions in effect, like panic when you are overrunned by zombies (a sure way to die quick).

There is penty of improvement to be made of course, and I list some which I think would make the game even in early access better.

1) Inventory screen: at this point I could not be able to reach the other survivors inventory at the base, and as you only able to command your main character in the area you have only a very ineffective way to equip your companions. A screen where your in-party companions could be equipped from the base storage would be great). Also it would be nice to be able to drop items to ground or just simply to exchange with others in the tactical maps. At the moment I only found one solution to trade items with companions, and that is to utilize the 'containers' already placed in game, put the items there and then change the control to other character and get those.

2) It would be nice to see some notes or hints in the maps you have. You encounter empty houses, or places with some corpses and you wonder what's happened there. It would add to the horror if either you might able to collect clues what happened or youhave your companions comment on the situation.

And finally I want to praise the music. It is great, melancholic, sad, but also in a way calming. It gives back something of the theme wandering in a city emptied of life. Well done and thanks fr th experience. I am looking forward to the final game and any updates.

A great game, call it role-playing game, adventure, strategy, even tower defense, does not matter, because it brings something new. A new concept, which could summarize in those videos above: what is in the next door?

The game still in alpha, but already very enjoyable and relaxing. Though it could use additional features (like a high score board, additional skills, etc), I would not hesitate to get the game as it is if you like pixel sci-fi.