Recent reviews by Adelion

"What happened to you mom?"

If you consider buying Monstronomy expecting a monster-tamer game you are right. And you are wrong at the same time. The game has a lot of things, you will be familiar with. And at the same time, Monstronomy throws a lot of strange at you, right from the beginning. In order to showcase this, I will give you a summarization of the first 5-10 minutes. You start at a desktop. Files & folders are there, you can click through. Most important are the controls-file as well as the Downloads-Folder where you find and can start the actual game you expected. So you start the Monstronomy file inside Monstronomy. You wake up in your room and go downstairs where your mother tells you to feed your monster. You go to a chest in the garden where you can choose your starter. You have the choice between an Order-, Chaos- or Demon-type monster. You return to the house, your mother lying on the gorund, blood everywhere. Dead. You leave the house, dead people and monster everywhere and your first fight against a cultist. Here starts your quest for revenge.

The monster-tamer game is quite solid. I absolutely love the different monsters and their design. The choice of two final evolution forms for every monster is a really neet idea and later on, you can even switch constantly between the two. The strengths and weaknesses are well balanced as well as the whole game. You level fast, and in each fight, the whole group gains experiences. Overall balance is also okay. The game isn't really difficult but you have to pay a bit attention or go back healing. You can catch new monsters with chests and in the end-game there are even "legendaries". The attack-design I would consider on the weaker part though. You do not have move limitations but stronger attacks have lower accuracy trying to cancel it out. Overall, the gameplay is not as complex or deep as the most well-known competitor but it is functional and shines especially in the monster design.

Though, weird as it is - the game and the situation - Monstronomy shines the most in the moments it isn't a monster-tamer game. The story alone is already unusual. But it only gets weirder and at one point you find yourself intrigued. Trying to understand what is really happening here. Inside the Monstronomy game world a lot of - let's say disturbing - videos are scattered around. Often you find them on TVs, sometimes on random objects and sometimes they are unavidable during story events. Aside from the videos, you notice that NPCs start behaving weirder and weirder and across the game world, you have green and sometimes even red texts. Certain names reappear over and over again. Progressing in the story, also unlocks new files on the Desktop (where you start the game) although locked by passwords. All of this creates a great mystery, you might want to solve. I wouldn't call Monstronomy a horror game but disturbing on certain levels. And in the end-game I would call Monstronomy even a puzzle game where you try to solve the games puzzles & mysteries. You will try to find the "legendaries", trying to figure out the real story, trying to unlock the desktop files. All of this comes together in one fulminant ARG, leading you temporarily even outside the game. And while there exists a guide, telling you how to solve most of it, I would implore you dear potential buyer, to try figuring out all of this stuff by yourself first as it makes for a far better experience.

The games also has music which I am undecided on. It is only a few tracks and most of the time, you hear this happy-to-lucky overworld tune which doesn't really fit. On the other hand this discrepancy may be well intended. From the technical side, I have encountered one "critical" bug where the stops working after certain attacks during fighting and does not react anymore. I am not exactly sure what causes it but it happened most often for me with Wind-type attacks causing a status effect. So, saving often is recommanded to reduce frustration. Futrehmore, the game's movement feels kinda choppy. The game has also achievements which need you to solve most of the game's mysteries. The main story itself probably takes around 6-10 hours. If you go for the post-game endgame content, you can add another 5-10 hours if you try it for yourself. Less if you use a lot of help.

If all of this sounds interesting to you then apply for Project Dreamcatcher today consider buying the game. If you have more questions, leave a comment and I'll try to come back to it.

The forces of Chaos are rising again and the order of Wizordum has sent you to find the source of it because you are the best of the best basically the last one alive.

Wizordum is a FPS shooter similar to old Boomer Shooter just more casual. The game is set in a colourful fantasy world where you have to fight the forces of evil as a wizard. Hereby, you are wielding an arsenal of different weapons: a mace, fireball shooting fire rings, a penetrating gun, a rapid-firing and freezing frost staff, an aoe fire explosion and a magic orb (grenade). Most of this can be acquired early on and then be used throughout the rest of the game. Aside from killing enemies, the main purpose of the game is score-hunting as well as intensive wall-hugging in order to find the very well hidden secrets to get …. mostly more score. So far Episode 1 of 3 is done (although it will be rebalanced and polished). The colours are quite nice and not as dark as most boomer shooters and the secret hunting is annoying and fun at the same time. The game is overall not that difficult as even on the highest difficulty you have abundance of ammonition and health items.
The first episode currently consists of six maps and one bugged final boss fight. All levels are hereby adressing a different topic and feel quite diverse. You start in the Outskirts, enter the Canal Streets, go through the Sewers and the Graveyard, reaching a Harbour and go from there into the burning city. Aside from two more episodes, a spell system is intended to be designed to replace the currently lacking items. Also, a second character is planned. And of course more polish, lore and some refurbishing of not so well working elements/maps in the first episode, etc.
The game also has a map editor and very recently had it first Map Jam, resulting in some actually very good and interesting maps. Playthrough videos of these maps can be found online. So, aside from the campaign there are also multiple custom maps increasing content. And if the developer can keep the interest high enough, there should come a few more.

Achievement-wise the game is very fair and does not demand excessive skill or time and is centered mostly around story, secrets and some special conditions. Though, a few achievements are at the moment a bit bugged, so 100 % is not possible but a patch for this shall be released in February. Further development most likely adds new achievements as well. So if you want to help a nice developer, you can buy the game now (developers intend to increase base price when adding new content) and also visit his Discord where you can discuss with him directly.

If you have any questions feel free to ask and I'll try to get back to them in a timely manner.

Crystal Caves HD is a game about Crystals and Caves .... in HD.

No, seriously. I don't think there is much to explain. Everyone who is a bit older and was alive in the 90s most likely knows Apogee and also played a few of their games due to the shareware version system back in the days. While I did not play Secret Agent (also having a HD remake on Steam), I surely remember Cosmo's Adventure, Major Stryker, Monster Bash and obviously also Crystal Caves. Crystal Caves HD is hereby a full remake. A new engine has been created from the scratch and each level has been replicated with an additional episode being newly created. Aside from the new episode, the HD remake has been gifted with achievements, a harder difficulty (less health and ammo) as well as a level editor and workshop, spanning at the time of writing this review over 1000 levels (and some of them are actually quite good).

The game tells the "Story" of Mylo, an earnest man trying to get rich. In each episode, he acquires the funds for his (new) buiness idea by going to the mines and scavenging for crystals and other valuables, only to lose everything again at the end for different reasons.

The game consists of 4 episodes and each episode contains 16 levels. Each level is rather small and can be completed in 5-10 minutes. Depending on how careful/slow you are, it also might take longer. The game is a simple platforming game. As such, Mylo can jump and has a rocket launcher as weapon to fight monsters along the way. Aside from monsters, there are other various hazards including acid/lava, spikes, lasers, fire or falling danger signs and rocks. Most of the game is kept simplistic. As such the game is also mostly on the easier side. On normal difficulty, Mylo has three hearst per level, so he can be hit twice. And each level can be completed without getting hit. Only difficulty might come from ammo management although on normal, there should be more than enough.
In esprit to older games, Crystal Caves HD is a score-hunting game, meaning the "true" challenge lies in getting higher scores than others by playing on harder difficulty and collecting everything there is to collect.

Achievement-wise, the game is also mostly easy. There are some "story"-related achievements, some collection-related achievements and some specific task related achievements. The music is more of a weak point in the game. While not outright irritating, there are only seven mostly uninspired tracks.

The reason for recommanding the game - aside from being simple fun and being of good quality - is two-fold. First reason is the strong level editor which spawned quite a bit of well-designed and fun community maps (and also some ..... less fun). I have worked with the level editor myself and it is a nice feeling to share ideas and see other people playing the levels. The second reason for recommandation is the developer himself which has a Discord related for all his games where you can discuss with him about the games directly. Emberheart Games is in this sense very approachable and fun to talk to, even when generally busy with the different projects he is juggling. This alone made me appreciate his work so that I even decided to buy their current Early Access game Wizordum (despite not being exactly my genre). And I am also considering the Monster Bash HD remake ^^' At least when I have more time and/or focus again.

Look behind you, David! The moon is exploding again!

The moon has exploded and split into half. Actually, this happened already 8 months ago. The bad news? Due to the changed influence of the moon on earth's climate you are now living in a dessert wasteland. The badder news? As you find out soon enough, the moon is about to come down for good in four days. One would think that this is enough of a problem already. And while this is the largest problem at hand, David has also a lot of smaller problems. Namely that each day a new hazard is coming after David and he has to prepare to see the next morning. Hence, your new goal of surviving the next four days and finding a way to leave this doomed world. The only good news? Each night David has a prophetic dream warning him about what he has to face the next day, giving him at least a small chance to make it to the end. Maybe even further.

Don't Escape: 4 Days to Survive plays mostly like a classical Point & Click Adventure. You have different locations, search for items and try to find out how to best use the available ressources to your advantage. Main location is hereby the house you find directly at the beginning of the game which also serves as your base which you have to fortify in order to survive. However, you have to pay attention to a few things.
As mentioned, you know what danger is coming each day. As such you have to watch out which items may be useful and which not. Why is this important? Because you have limited space in your backpack and you can also only carry a certain amount of weight. Why is this double important? Because your time is a ressource as well. Walking from location to location takes time as does performing specific actions. As such, you have to move carefully and not to random for not wasting precious time and starting the night unprepared. There are a few mechanics which ease your life though.

• At the central location - the house - you will find a car. While it is broken at the beginning, it can be repaired on Day 1 (as well as the bridge to drive to the westside location. As the game is designed in a way that it can be survived without using a car (not in the best possible way though), this means that the car gives you a lot of spare time no longer wasted on walking. However, it needs regular fuel fills which makes it a tad annoying.
  
• As mentioned, specific actions - like barricading the windows in the house - take up time. This time is dependent on the specific action as well as the members in your group. Day 1 you are all alone. Then on Day 2, you will get one more companion story-wise with two more optional companions which can be "recruited". Each one of them cuts down the time needed for timed actions.
  
• In case you screw up the day completely, you will always have an auto-save from the ending of the last day which can not be overwritten.

All of this, gives you some leisure in what to do next and how to adress each days/night specific problem. And if you know what you are doing, you usually have a few hours left on the ticking clock. As an additional twist, the game has a random element. Namely, which danger you are facing the next day. There are three different scenarios for the first day, and two different scenarios for each subsequent day. These range from a deadly gas cloud, over a bone-melting heat wave to an acidic thunderstorm. As such, by replaying the game you may have to use a new approach over the course of the different days and an item completely useless before might now be your lifeline. Locations sometimes get small changes too and items are potentially only there if needed in the specific run.

All in all, Don't Escape: 4 Days to Survive offers a lot of fun puzzles, some replayability for at least two or three playthroughs and an interesting story which may or may not explain why David has these prophetic dreams, why your companion magically knows how to leave this soon-to-die world and also why the moon is exploding. Yet again.

This review was sponsored by Sidereal Plexus, leading tech company 1996. Buy their products today!

Adelion was struck by lightning! Again .....

The Caribbean Sail is the cautionary tale about people dying gruesome deaths at the mercy of the ocean. The Caribbean Sail is a ship sailing simulator with simple graphics and lots of Shantys. You and your three man crew are starting in London with the goal to sail to Nassau to check up on the outpost. On the different ports you can stock up on equipment for your voyages over the ocean, repair your ship or take on some simple sidequests. The gameplay comes mostly from some decision making on ship management and where to sail next as well as mini-games like fishing, sea battles or treasure hunt. Story-wise as mentioned you have to first set foot on Nassau. Arriving there you will be confronted with a choice:

• Report the pirate problem to your queen and follow the admirable live of service to the crown in subsequent escalating quests of stronger foes
  
• Become a pirate and loot everything.

While progressing these quest lines you will gain stat points to make your life easier like more resistence towards diseases. In addition you gain experience points for all sailing unlocking new ships to buy and new classes to start the game with. If you are not satisfied with the "historic" scenarios you can also activate

• Fantasy mode where you have a completely new questline and more fantastic scenarios like getting rid of the cursed ship, finding Atlantis or fighting air ships.

All in all, the Caribbean Sail is a fun game with simple graphics and A LOT of content and secrets to discover and many many things to do like:

• Harpoon a Fish
  
• Collect Shantys
  
• Sink the Spains
  
• Bring the pest to Nassau
  
• Harpoon a Fish with a Top Hat
  
• Catch a Mermaid
  
• Sink the Dutchs
  
• Play liar's dice for an achievement
  
• Harpoon a Turtle
  
• Become a Merchant
  
• Harpoon a Whale
  
• Sink the Englishmen
  
• Harpoon the Kraken
  
• Play liar's dice never again after getting your achievement
  
• Get struck by lightning
  
• Bring the faith to Nassau
  
• Get harpooned by a Narwhal
  
• Eat Whale meat
  
• Get typhus
  
• Watch your crew die
  
• Cross the Atlantic
  
• Play mexican stand-off with your crew during the weekly mutiny
  
• and much much more ....

If you have managed to read through this whole review there is only one question left you should yourself: "Why do I read reviews if I could just harpoon something instead?"

The Chaos Wastes expansion has been released!

If you need general information on what you can expect and how it plays out, I would recommand this totally random guide:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2459825552

That said, let me say some general words to the Chaos Wastes expansion. In a great marketing move Fatshark added its latest expansion for free, increasing the available content by a large margin while at the same time decreasing the necessary disk space.

Chaos Wastes is a rogue-lite mode taking place in the nothern area called the Chaos Wastes offering new gameplay with a far higher replay value than the adventure mode and 15 new locations (area size of the added locations is about the same size than the vanilla maps on release) with potentially changing paths on subsequent playthroughs.

Chaos Wastes has taken many critical points of Weaves and turned them around 180 °.

• For the Chaos Wastes there is no grind involved outside of the initial reach for level 30 to have all starting talents while for the Weaves you needed to regrind all weapons
  
• Weaves had no rewards for the base game mode - Chaos Wastes gives the normal loot chests (up to three on succesful expeditions)
  
• Weaves had static spawns - Chaos Wastes has random modifiers over random modifiers
  
• Weaves re-used part of the knows Helmgart maps - Chaos Wastes has completely new areas (outside The Pit of Refelction)
  
• Weaves had increasing difficulty and damage scaling - Chaos Wastes gets harder through the expedition but your character grows along offering completely new gameplay not possible before
  
• Weaves had been held back by the expansion cost, reducing the player pool - Chaos Wastes is free for everyone who owns Vermintide 2
  
• Weaves (Ranked) could not be joined during the run - Chaos Wastes can be joined whenever in the run, making unnecessary long waiting times in the lobby redundant
  
• Weaves (Ranked) did not allow for bots - Chaos Wastes allows bots (although they are useless by design for Legend+)
  
• Weaves had been static puzzles - Chaos Wastes has Twitch Mode

The Chaos Wastes has a lot of positive points and offers much and higher replay value than the adventure mode if you can get over the loss of some control in your builds (mainly traits and some properties). This is however more than compensated by the chance of getting several of the new ~ 50 boons. Generally, Chaos Wastes plays like Adventure mode, just that you get more powerful.

But why read reviews if you can play it yourself? Because you know ...... it's free.

Here, we have a review for the Winds of Magic DLC from Vermintide 2. With this DLC you get:

- An additional weapon for every character (with some class-locked though)
- The Cataclysm difficulty
- The Weaves-Mode (with a total of 40 reworked maps from the main game in an astonishing visual quality)
- The Beastmen (a new faction supplementing the current enemy rooster)
- 1 new adventure level map, introducing Beastmen and the Weaves

Objectively, you can see that you actually get a lot of content. So how does one explain this cluster♥♥♥♥ of reviews. Well, there are different reasons for this:

1. The WoM-DLC is skill-gated. Everything here is screaming to make the game harder. Cataclysm, Beastmen and the later Weaves, all of this makes the game harder and not everyone can accept that the problem is on their side. So they love to blame the game. If you have not at least some hours backing you up, you should for now refrain from buying the DLC as this is more or less endgame content. And I would say that about 70 % or more of the people who bought WoM should not have bought it because they are not ready for it. With the skill-gate though comes a serious problem in the form of the Weaves-Mode. People have paid for content they are likely never to see. Add to this another serious problem, namely the accessibility of the Weaves, and you have a mode which is currently not using its full potential. For the accessibility exists however an easy solution ( https://steamcommunity.com/app/552500/discussions/0/2763442118820887159/ ) which could soften the problem and I hope that latest for Season 2, Fatshark will adress this problem seriously. As you can see, people don't like improvement suggestions, they are more hellbent on destroying.

2. The WoM-DLC is mentality-gated. Apparently gaming is now work. And unless you get paid (getting loot or something else) for it, it is not worth doing anymore. So people decided to go ape about Cataclysm having the same reward as Legend and replaying Weaves only giving some minor Athenor. And, oh my god, there are no new skins, hence the world is going under. So if you are looking for more skins and loot the DLC will not be worth to you. Shame on people playing games for actually enjoyment of the gameplay.

3. People are missing common sense and understanding of game design. This can be best seen for the Beastmen which are a good supplement for the enemy rooster in addressing new threats and giving a harder horde and less reliance on specials and elites. But apparently people just wanted more fodder. If you are interested in some more arguments you can find them here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/552500/discussions/0/1638668751263331238/ As you can see, not a single person tried to even argumenting the points made in the thread.

4. People are hellbent on destroying the game because of ... reasons? If you read the reviews you will notice certain patterns. Often you read that people like overall the WoM-DLC but just one of four points irks them, therefore everything will be voted down. Then you will see people mixing up the 2.0 update and WoM. Because they didnt like the update, they are attacking WoM, effectively giving reviews on the wrong store page. Some childish people even went as far as giving bad reviews for every DLC and the main game because they don't like one point. And it isnt enough to make criticism for the game. No, they have to go through the forum and re-state several times how useless the developers are. They are taking this on a personal level which is quite amazing. Also some people voted it down because it was not a map pack with 4-5 new maps (ignoring the reworked new 40 maps for the Weaves including new areas and ways). This is fair criticism but it doesnt belong to WoM as the store page clearly tells what it contains. This should belong to the main game review. But like said before, people decided to just vote down both. So, there are a lot of double and displaced reviews. Also beware that if you showcase the missing logic and erratic behaviour of people that they will call you fanboy. Because everyone not agreeing with you is clearly blinded. Or .... people are just blinded by baseless hate.

5. There are bugs, lots of them. Also, some which already had been fixed and have now returned. This is actually fair criticism and has to be addressed by Fatshark ASAP.

6. People expect to get stuff free and are disappointed that they have to pay for something. Example here is Cataclysm which for magical reasons should be given out for free as the players themselves also work for no money apparently. However, due to the endgame nature of the WoM-DLC and the addition of Beastmen Fatshark had to either given out both for free or both paid as they cant be really separated.

So, can I recommand the WoM-DLC? Yes, if you have some miniscule amount of talent and have a mentality that makes you enjoy games for actually playing them and not for getting skins and loot then you can and you will have lots of fun with the DLC. The Weave Mode is really fun, and each of the 8 Winds of Magic looks great and plays completely different. However, the accesibility has to be improved. And also the presentation has to be improved. There are a lot of possibilities within the Weaves if the community just would welcome improvement. But yea, back then as phones become portable everyone complained too.
The Beastmen bring new stuff to the table but don't expect to get more fodder but something which challenges you. The Winds of Magic DLC is not for everyone though.

Welcome to Greensvale, a city full of mysteries and weirdness! Hidden under the normal looking surface you will quickly ask yourself a lot questions:

• Why is there a cow in the garden?
  
• How does it come that I see strange hints everywhere?
  
• Had this city always these portals?
  
• And why have not all people been evacuated 12 MINUTES before a fricking meteroite is hitting the town?

Ah right, the meteroite ..... so let's get to the point. You are playing Sean, a teenage boy escaping out of school to run home and help your parents with the evacuation. Only to find out they are already out of town. So now you are standing here: 12 minutes before the town will be annihilated and the only escape route broken down. 12 minutes to find a way to survive or how to avoid the approaching doomsminute.

In its core, this is an exploration based puzzle game where deductiveness and logic is rewarded. The game is separated into loops of 12 minutes. Each loop you start anew without any items. To make things a bit smoother there are two game mechanics helping you:

• Firstly, Sean remembers all previous loops. As such he creates Thought Maps with hints for some of the endings which will persists between the runs.
  
• Secondly, as he remembers previous loops, the game asks you at the beginning of each loop if you want to trade some time in return for progress on the main ending.

Speaking about endings. There is a total of 15 endings. There are two main route endings and 13 side endings. Many of the endings can be accessed right from the beginning if you just know what you have to do. However, other endings are locked behind progress on the main route endings either in form of crucial puzzle information or needed items. Like this, about half of the endings are obtainable easily right from the beginning with the remaining ones being "unlocked" while progressing. So there is always new stuff to discover.

As mentioned before, exploration is rewarded and heavily necessary. Hints for different endings are hidden all across town. And while sometimes the Thought Maps will tell you to which ending the items and hints belong, there is also a fairly large list of information you have to combine yourself. While a lot of this is based on weird logic it is based on logic. I remember only one ending where I had the feeling of being lucky and not being rewarded for my deductive abilities. Usually, everything you need to solve the puzzle chains is in the game.

Be prepared, however, that none of the above questions will be answered. Also nearly none of the endings how this stuff ended up in Greensvale will be answered. The game does not waste time on explaining its mysteries (mainly because they are just weird and unexplainable ^^). Only one major plot point is covered by in-game explanations. And this is fine. Because this is not a story game but a fantastic and fun puzzle game.

I really liked the graphics of the game as they are simple enough but have their own aesthetics and also a lot of stuff can be seen if you just look correctly. Music is bit lackluster probably. Most of the time the same doomsday track is running in the background with some additional snips at the endings. It is nothing which bothered me though.

So come to Greensvale, the town of mysteries and weirdness. Stop the meteroite and have a nice day.

Welcome to Aventuria!

Or more specific, welcome to Thorwal. The Orcs are threatening the city of Thorwal and you are asked to stop them. The plan? Quite easy, you have to find the legendary sword from Hyggelik and defeat their champion in an one vs one to earn their respect. The problem? Hyggelik took his sword with him to the grave and noone knows where he lies. And his descendants had nothing better to do then ripping the only existing map of the location into 9 pieces. Your job? Find the map pieces, find the sword and save Thorwal!

Blade of Destiny is quite a complex RPG with a lot of depth based on the 3rd and 4th rule set of the pen&paper of "The Dark Eye". And this is its greatest feature and its greatest problem. If you know the ruleset then you will see that you can create quite a strong group and you know what you have to pay attention to. However, the game has a very bad accessibility if you are new to "The Dark Eye". I think the most important thing you have to understand is that everything happening in the game is bound to the rule of the dice, in most cases the D20. For example you have values for attack and parry. To attack you have to get a random dice throw (invisible to the player) lower than your attack value. Since the general new level 1 characters have an average of 7 at best this means a probability of 35 %. And after that the enemy can still block. The same goes for every talent and magic spell in the game. They are always bound to three dice rolls concerning three abilities you have to succeed in to do what you wish to do. This means a lot of missing, a lot of failed spells and a lot of frustration especially the first two levels. And then depending on what you have chosen you have to take care that you have enough food, enough clothes for the winter in the mountains, don't carry to much stuff around with you and avoid sickness or your journey will end quite early. While playing with the survival settings on may be quite brutal I would suggest to still do it as it gives the game an interesting level of depth and challenge.

As for the game, you can either start with a pre-made group or make your own group up to six people. You can choose from about 13 character classes ranging from Dwarfs over Witches and Wizards to Elfs, Druids or Fighters. With the survival settings on you have to cover quite a bit of talents: hunting, treats wounds and sickness, orientation, drinking, dancing, make music, fighting, sensing danger, swimming, climbing .... While some talents are necessary for all heroes you usually have a group of specialist. Each member has its purpose and to balance them - especially without being familiar with the ruleset - is difficult and you can easily create a group not up for the task. So prepare to invest a lot of time and frustration in the beginning.
The game itself plays in three components. In the cities and Dungeons you move around in first person, visting traders, taverns etc where you can gather information or buy and sell stuff. For the overworld travel you will just see the map and chose locations and what to do while resting and then the fighting which is turn based (beware a lot of people were quite offput be the combat sprites because they are "ugly", personally I didn't care). Since the game has a rather steep learning curve especially at the beginning, it will take quite the time until you are finally into the game. But it is an experience which is worth as you will find a lot of interesting locations, sidequests, characters and challenges mixed with occasional random events.

So if you are up for a challenge and can accept the cruel reign of the dice you are more than welcome in Aventuria. Come and save Thorwal!


PS: There is so much more one could tell about the game, the lore and ruleset but I think the first and most important step is to understand that the early game is heavily dominated by low probabilities of success. If you have any more questions though feel free to ask in the comments and I'll try to get to them as fast as possible.

Sometimes no matter what we do in life the result will not change. And sometimes the most pointless things may may a change. What this has to with Nadia was here is something you can only find out by playing the game.

In its core Nadia was here is a puzzle game. This is something which can be seen all over the game. In the areas, in the instruments it provides you, in the amulets you can combine to create synergy effects and in the fights. Often it is the game's greatest strength and in some cases also its weakness. But let's go step by step.

Nadia was here story is not overly complicated. It gives some nice food for thought but especially in the first half of the game it is just happening as a side note. It starts with a short sequence of Nadia as a child somehow lost in a village and then switches over to Hogan starting his search for his lost shield. The third in the group, joining a bit later, is Tereshan searching for a specific item because he has an unpleasant foreboding.

The puzzles are mostly solved with the items you gater over the course of the game. Every few areas you get something new which makes up for some new puzzles. While this gives some diversity I often had the feeling that the area puzzles overstayed their welcome a bit. I wished they would have been a bit fewer and ended earlier. At the end of each area they felt tedious to me and I was glad if I was finally done. It may be different for you though. An enjoyable exception to this are the flower puzzles. Early to midgame you get a camera to make fotos of specific flowers which you can trade in for access to some special items (like one of the strongest shield and an item for the final sidequest). To reach these flowers you have to solve puzzles again. However, as they are bonus they are not solely tied to the actual area item but a combination of different items which makes up for smarter puzzles. However, this also means backtracking as you often don't yet have the necessary item at that point in the game. While backtracking often is easier due to some permanently changed map elements there are also a few places with this not being the case. Bioluminescent Caves for example are a pain to be backtracked.

The secret star of the game is the fighting system though. After the intro section you have your three characters: Nadia, the Thief; Hogan, the Shieldbearer and Tereshan, the Mage. In contrast to typical RPG's you don't level by fighting. Winning fights is mainly a question of strategy and especially later fights ask for very specific strategies to be used and can as such be considered a puzzle you have to figure it out. Each character has hereby a different mean:

• Nadia can use different weapons each with an unique ability. However, to use them she has to steal them from enemies before.
  
• Tereshan can use spells which he equally has to copy from enemies before.
  
• And Hogan can use different shields which can be bought at certain shops.

This is rounded up by the amulet system of which each character can wear a total of three to complement abilities and create synergies. Amulets can also be upgraded by using Dust which is dropped by enemies. As enemies are "limited" (each enemy can only be fought once) you get access to an arena mid-game where you can gather gold and dust and also learn spells/steal weapons you missed the first time.

There is also a bit of bonus stuff. I've mentioned already the arena and the flowers. Add to this two optionable bonus areas and you have quite a bit of content in addition to the main quest. And the final sidequest has some of the most interesting fights in the game.

Music was neither overly spectacular nor really annoying so I would say it was fitting enough. The graphic however is quite special and the first two hours I needed to get used to. So if you have trouble with just keep playing. Because afterwards I was impressed how natural and fitting it started looking for me.

For the achievement hunters: Nearly every achievement can be gathered in own pace (so don't worry about the game saving automatically) and after beating the final boss you can play "post-game" (although it is technically before final boss fight again). The only achievement which can be completely missed is the "Play whole game in 100 % fighting speed modus" so be sure to check this before starting the game and never change it back.

An additional reason for my recommendation is the developer which has been quite useful and talkative on different subjectives about the game. As always, I think this is something which should be honoured because it happens rarely enough (and maybe he will create a workaround for my achievement problem :P). So support him and buy the game and help the game not getting part of a bundle. Also as personal side note, I really like the epilogue so make sure to play till the end ^^


PS: If you have any questions feel free to ask and I will try to get back to them as fast as possible.