Recent reviews by Niles Caulder

As of today December 2, 2015, Obey is in Early Access but it's already fully functional. The various in-game rules are what's left to be finished, but you can enjoy the game already. Its weakness tho is that it's online only, and although there are bots, they are mostly to fill servers up, and so playing with them alone is not viable.

Obey is simply a game about power. Big deal, you might think, any videogame involves power. True, but Obey pares it down to its most important aspects: what one does to acquire and maintain it, and what other people have to deal with. Due to this, the game is designed to be played live against other people, and there's no single player. Although there are bots, they are mostly to fill servers up, and so playing with them alone is not viable.

Every players starts being "created equal", as a harmless bunny capable of little more than carrying and dropping items, and you mission is to amass a pre-determined amount of cash. Somewhere nearby them is a massive, weaponized tower, as the stand-in for Authority. It's the prime source of cash, and it makes itself felt in that most primal form possible: violence. Oh, and of course, only one lucky rabbit gets to control over. You can see where this is going.

The player commanding the tower (Robosaru) can just plain kill every other bunny with little effort... except there's no point in that, as they can work for him and help him get money faster. Either with the threat of violence or financial incentives, the enemy bunnies are exploited in order to make the Robosaru player richer. But of course, that player most likely won't rule forever, and can lose his Authority if he doesn't pay enough attention to hi unwilling subjects.

And here we have the most interesting part. Each bunny not already in the Robosaru can choose to be a loyal little worker, or try to sabotage and overthrow him. Players who choose the latter can skulk around the map and use various items to hamper the ruling bunny's flow of riches, and similarly, loyalists might get a reward by acting against a rebel. Or he might not. It's all up to the Robosaur's occupant, really. He can be ruthless or relatively benevolent, and the other bunnies might exploit that.

Because of this social element, voice chat is very important (altho players can use text messages), allowing the ruler to better express his wishes, and other bunnies to ask for favors. It might not look like much, but these conversations are essential to keep the game dynamic, and not allowing a single player to hog the Robosaur. Add to it a variety of items (laser fences, landmines, ammo for the Robosaur etc.) and the power relations can get complex.

It's only real drawback at the moment are the lack of players, but that's something that ebbs and flows. Overall, a very clever experiment on powermongering.

You know that sort of game that's from a genre you don't care about, but you give it a shot anyway and you're really glad you did? A Fistful of Gun is exactly that.

Extremely well polished, from interface to art design, AFoG takes you into a mock-Wild West flick full of arcade action. Whereas almost all such shooters restrict you to one control scheme -- indeed, some build the whole game around it --, AFoG allows you to select from a variety of such schemes, and also wildly varying weapons which directly affect gameplay.

Co-op is a great way to play. The various scenarios you will be playing in have varying gimmicks, and are slightly randomly generated. The scenery affects the action nicely, and the existence of power-ups also spices things up. So it has the usual shooter props, plus several great additions of its own.

The arcade mode is the main attraction, but the story mode makes for a great break, and it's quite different. It adds random events between stages and allows you a limited choice of your next stage, counting down the days until the last shootout.

AFoG is a perfect example of evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, gameplay. It consists of taking something established and old, and polishing it until it shines. And AFoG gleams indeed.

First of all, as of now the game is still in early beta stage, version 0.7.0.12 in 8 November 2015. It indeed has quite a few bugs and requires polishing, as the devs themselves state in the store page.

That being said, this is shaping up to be great fun. Everyone who's familiar with the original Harvest Moon on the Super NES will know it as the inspiration behind Wild Season, tho this game aims to go above and beyond. Adding extra skills in the form of cooking, mining and fishing, there are a lot of extra activities to fill up your time after you're done taking care of the crops.

Particularly noteworthy is that it allows your character to be female or male, and the townsfolk include several different eligible bachelors and bachelorettes. Add to it a plot regarding a secret of the town, and it's clear that this has had a lot of effort and care poured into it.

But I feel I must repeat: currently this is still decidedly unfinished, and players are acting as playtesters. If you don't mind bugs and rough edges, you can find a lot of fun, but if you want your game experience unspoiled, I advise waiting.

Made by a single guy, this game is a labor of love for exploration games.

You're free to roam around and slowly unlock new areas mostly in the order you want, and there's little to no pressure on getting things done. Can't find a given item? Just take a stroll in another section of the world, then come back later with a fresh idea, or maybe a new power-up and there you have it. Which isn't to say it's always easy, because the difficulty of the platforming ramps up in the latter sections, as well as in a bonus mini-game.

Not everything is pefect, of course. The common downside of being done all by a single jack-of-all-trades developer is that it's a bit rough around the edges. But the end product is what matters, and it's a very satisfying adventure. All in all, the game is a gem in the rough for fans of exploration-based puzzle platformers.