Recent reviews by Astro

As a disclaimer, I was invited to playtest Nominal with a group of friends relatively early in development, and have watched it evolve from an early tech demo into the fully playable game it is today.

Nominal is an asymmetric multiplayer party game, where a single player takes on the role of pilot of the doomed spacecraft Odyssey while the rest of the players work together as Mission Control to assist the pilot in correcting whatever onboard the Odyssey has gone awry. The pilot relays information to Mission Control about the various lights, dials, and switches in the spacecraft; Mission Control, armed with this information and the Odyssey's trusty Ship Operator's Manual, instruct the pilot on how get all the systems functional again.

While other party games with similar mechanics trend towards the abstract or even absurd, the team at Offworld Systems have crafted a believable and beautiful world for Nominal. Being the pilot in the capsule, you're greeted with the eerie ambient sounds of the spacecraft alive around you and a stunning view of the Earth below. Down in mission control, flipping through the thorough Ship Operator's Manual, written in-universe, you're met with detailed descriptions of the ship's various systems as well as some light 60's humor.

Developed entirely by one person, this game is an obvious labor of love, and I can't wait to see how it continues to develop as the game is supported post-launch. This being a party game, the group you play with does determine how good your experience will be, but with the right friends you're sure in for a fantastic time.

The Beginner's Guide is an extremely powerful game. However, I can't tell you how, for that you'll have to play the game.



About 2 hours ago I finished the game. My best friend purchased it for me after I said that it looked really good. I accepted the gift, downloaded the game, muted Steam and Skype, turned off all the lights, and played the game. Exactly ninety minutes later, it was over. I've spent the past two hours trying to make sense of it all. I still haven't. And I don't think I ever will. And that's okay.

This game will take you to the core of your being. It will make you rethink everything you know about yourself, the way that others view yourself, as well as your own perspective on your life and accomplishments.

I don't think I will ever open The Beginner's Guide again. Not because I didn't like the game. In fact, quite the opposite: I enjoyed the experience, but it was exactly that, an experience. To try and recreate it, now knowing not only the ending but also the fantastic journey that takes you there, would be only a shattered fragment of the game as a whole.

I will however, continue to ponder The Beginner's Guide, and it's personal meaning. The game itself offers no real resolution. Rather, it is expected that you will form your own conclusions based on the information given. I personally feel that an important message of the game is that we all have flaws, as well as expectations, and when one stops us from realizing the other, we can become blinded, misguided, lost.

I really feel that everyone has something that can be learned from this game. And part of the game's genius is that, being such an abstract and open game, it's up to you to decide what that will be.

One thing I will say that I personally took away from this experience is the idea of perfection, or the lack thereof. I am a 17 year old senior in high school, who is going to college next year for Computer Engineering and dreams of one day developing video games for a living. I've already developed some games of my own, a few of which have been released to the public. However, I've always been held back in my game development prospects by my hesitation to produce anything subpar. If I had an idea that I couldn't flesh out into something that I felt would be something that other people would like to play, that wouldn be considered successful by others, then the idea would be discarded as something that wasn't "right," something I shouldn't "waste" my time working on, no matter how much fun I personally thought I would have had. The idea of public acceptance of my game as a success has always been important to me, has always been my determination of personal success. And because of that I've missed out on a fundamental part of game development: taking your creativity and passion and making something fun out of it. Not something "successful," something fun. Or engaging. Or emotional, intelligent, artistic. Something meaninful, in any way, not bound by the confines of "successful" or "popular." While I won't stop the public release of my projects, from now on I won't let the potential for failure be a reason to never see them materialize in the first place. This game has encouraged me to stop making games as way to prove myself to others, viewing every project as something to be scrutinized by the public in the form of reviews, ratings, or sales figures, and instead to make something because *I* want to make it, because *I* think it would be something fun or engaging or emotional or intelligent or artistic or meaningful. It taught me to develop my games, my tools to express my creativity, for myself, for the fun and enjoyment of making something, producing something real, something tangable. This game has taught me not to make things for others. It taught me to make them for me. And for that, Mr. Davey Wreden, I sincerly thank you.

So I challange you: play the game. See what you learn about youself. It might just change you for the better.

This game is hours of fun! Sure, it takes quite a bit of time to get used to it, but once you understand the concepts, you can enjoy even WATCHING another match, let alone playing one!

The game itself is very boring. The same map every time, the same goal, it's all very repetitive. But when you add nine other real, human people, all of whom play different from each other, you create an experience that is unique, exciting, and absolutely worth every penny. Oh, wait, that's right! It's free!

That means you should download it. Now.

Edit: Nevermind.

This is an amazing game. I've a very tactical person, so the competitive mode is PERFECT for me. A lot of fun, I would recommend it to anyone who has the money!