Recent reviews by AmbiguousOne

I have never played a game where you are forced to blindfold clear bosses less than an hour into playing.
I'd rather be physically tortured than put another minute into this.

Cool game for the right person.

Nobody Saves the World is a grind-based progression game with quirky characters and eccentric humor. It may not tell the most complicated story, but the writing is bound to pull a laugh. The core gameplay involves mixing and matching abilities from over a dozen forms to traverse an explorable map and procedurally generated dungeons.

Some would consider the game's biggest selling point as its biggest flaw. You unlock new forms and upgrade existing ones by progressing through a massive list of quests, most of which involve killing a number of enemies in specific ways using certain abilities. This is always encouraging you to try out new unique combinations from thousands of options. What may feel grindy for some feels fun through-and-through for others. The more quests you complete, the higher your level and base stats rise. Maximum satisfaction for every accomplishment through its roughly 35 hours of gameplay if you include its new game plus mode.

There are a couple issues relating to unfair enemy combinations in dungeons with particular game modifiers, and a few of the escort related side quests were not well designed, but nothing truly took away from the core experience.

If you like leveling and progression systems, and can appreciate a cheesy joke, give this one a shot.

Subnautica: Below Zero is a strong extension to the existing content of the original game, but some elements will leave you unsatisfied.

Starting with the pros - Below Zero takes many of the best parts of the precursor and adds to them meaningfully in a way that satisfies its title as a sequel. Completely new biomes and vehicles, and tons of well-designed new plants and creatures were a welcome addition. Some of the problematic aspects of the original are removed or altered in a positive way, such as the previously limited locomotion of the prawn suit and constantly getting beached with the cyclops. The game also massively adds to base-building options, the most memorable being a jukebox that can bring quality funky fan jams surround-sound throughout your base.

The game's biggest addition is the existence of a below-zero temperature surface level, hence the title. A temperature meter functions as a reverse oxygen bar, only depleting when you're out of the water, which you'll craft new unique gear and vehicles to traverse. Unlike the fully open spaces in the former map, Sector Zero is tightened, in that the map does not reach as far below the surface, but is accompanied by a number of above ground zones. Much like you'll use geysers, hotsprings, and heated plants to keep your temperature up above ground, the sequel adds oxygen plants and fish to navigate these tighter spaces underwater. These elements combined get some heat in other reviews, but are actually a welcome change of pace to the vehicle-reliance of the original.

More importantly to many, Below Zero expands tenfold to the original story and mystery, with a pretty strong story hook. There's way more voicelog PDAs you'll discover this time around, and a far larger cast of characters, all voice acted terrifically. Those who enjoyed discovering 4546B's history in Subnautica will appreciate how it's expanded in the first half of the sequel.

All that said, about halfway through a playthrough, things sadly start to fall apart. Just about all of the PDA logs through which the story is told are discoverable in easy-to-reach locations, which leaves half the game feeling quite lore barren. There are less indications to point you in the right direction once it's announced there's something nearby, so you might find yourself going in circles finding nothing at the most tense moments of the game. The game rewards you for discovering underwater locations, but the rewards end after you find two-thirds of them. Finding something cool is a bit unsatisfying when you have nothing to gain and your PDA won't even provide you with lore.

The surface has some issues as well. You need two full sets of gear when exploring the ice - one set of land items and vehicles, and also all your water equipment. This presents some major inventory space conflicts that can be quite irritating to deal with. Worse, however, is the snowy weather thematic to the environment becomes a big problem farther up. 80% of the time, it's either dark or under heavy snow, so even if you can survive the cold, your complete lack of vision makes exploring far less fun. Either you hope to fumble your way into the right place in the dark, or you sit in a cave for five minutes until it's day again.

Many of the strides you make for better gear aren't valuable, since the game's recipes are far more reliant on common minerals. Why bother making a drill arm if there's nothing you'll need to drill? Subnautica needed a lot of rare resources to craft all the different equipment modifications and end the game, but in this one you need three or four then you're set for life. Finally finding a rare resource you needed for an important tool is less valuable if you never need that resource again. You'll have to make tons of trips for common minerals, but only once will you go to the lowest depth locations.

Below Zero's biggest disappointment sadly is the story in the second half. A character that makes such a strong entrance goes completely blank and useless midway through, and another core character who should have had a larger voice role only provides a few off-topic conversations or predictable reveals. With every piece of lore you pick up, the game seems to be leading you to discovering a particular truth about your sister, only for it to be thrown all away with such a mundane discovery. This made the other main theme of the story all the more unsatisfying, right up to the credits sequence.

All in all, Subnautica: Below Zero will have you at peak interest for the bulk of the game, and expands on existing concepts wonderfully, but some gameplay decisions lead to issues below the surface of the ice.

It's ok.

The Skywalker Saga brings plenty of new ideas to the lego series. The game brings excellent voice acting and charming traditional lego humor that can be very hit or miss. Hub worlds are massively expansive in both size and number, and the levels often showcase different scenes of the movie than previous games. Even though the massive character roster makes everything fall into a half dozen nearly identical sets of skills, you've got plenty of options for flair. This time around, the majority of the story takes place in the hub worlds, and levels are only introduced for space battles and boss fights, with a few exceptions, at a much shorter level runtime.

I rate this positively because the above concepts made for an enjoyable story mode playthrough with some minor hub exploration in between. Once you pass that point, you'll really start to notice the game's major flaws in design. So many minor irritations begin to add up over the course of full game completion. Look ahead to see what isn't great about this one.

To start, expect to crash and softlock at least a dozen times, each time in a different way.
It'll take you about 2 minutes from startup to actually get in game, almost none of which is a necessary loading screen.
Character selection, post-level, and certain other moments do not pause the game, which will lead to you forcibly dying without any opportunity to input.
Certain enemies go invincible or have massive damage resistance at awkward times.
The upgrade system lets you choose what you want at little cost. Not having the limitations and surprise of the red power bricks means you'll funnel your upgrade resources into abilities that allow you to become too strong, too fast. A separate list of upgrades allow you to take major powers (score x2, universal translation) or absolute cosmetics at massive prices with no in-between; obviously the cosmetics will end up ignored.
The hubs have 30-40 puzzles each, most of which extremely simple, but having the same puzzles in multiple hubs becomes repetitive.
Additionally, most of the 700 puzzles have a rumor told by a nearby npc, but having access to a detector so early means you'll end up ignoring those 5 hours of voice lines and just look for the blue circles around your screen.
Most characters have their own sidequest before you can purchase them, but once again, they are all very repetitive and hardly unique. There's about 20 of the same smuggle quest where you warp to a small arena to fight off 10 baddies three times in a row. Skywalker Saga is so heavily padded with this type of content, so despite a full completion taking ~100 hours, a lot of it is developer fluff.

The levels themselves are far worse, especially for free play. Boss fights are interesting the first few times, but all of them have the same patterns.
There's more than a few levels with a permanent alarm blaring the whole time, which can only go away if you remove sound effects entirely.
Controller rumble is far too much, especially in space battles that throw 20 enemies all firing on you at once.

These game designers were completely against free play exploration - there's many no-return points in every level that have no real reason to be there, which becomes more problematic when you consider this lego game has multiple paths through each level. Even in free play, the game will autolock certain characters for some sequences, forcing you to navigate an already difficult UI screen to return to using the characters you like, if it even lets you. The three challenges they've added to each level sound fun on paper but disturb the pacing of your exploration, since for a lot of them you only get one shot to achieve it.

All these small gripes simply make this game less fun than it could have been.

If you're a completionist, I recommend The Complete Saga for a much more enjoyable experience. But for everyone else, story mode of The Skywalker Saga will bring you a good time. Just make sure to stop at the end of the story.

Imagine if quality-of-life features were their own game. That's PowerWash Simulator.

All memes aside, PowerWash Simulator is actually an incredible game. I shouldn't need to mention how relaxing it can be, and it's a great game to play on the side as you watch Youtube or listen to a podcast. Clearing dirt off a monster truck cat or a shoe house may not sound that exciting, but this is a game for your unconscious self once you get in the zone of turning dirty into clean.

Other simulators can get boring quickly, but this one does not, thanks to its superb optimization in player enjoyment. Surface segments automatically clean themselves fully after you've cleaned 95 or so percent; you can crouch at two different vertical levels to best reach what's down below; many stages have a soccer ball you can push around for fun. Quality-of-life things like these really shows that the developers know what they're doing.

There's also a surprising amount of content here, despite its early access status. I counted 31 different vehicles or locations to wash currently, totaling about 20-30 hours of repeatable gameplay. There's different washers, equipment, soaps, and cosmetics to purchase with the ingame money you've earned. As you play, your clients will send you messages that you are welcome to ignore but tell a fun little story regarding the town surrounding you.

Maybe you won't believe it until you try, but this one's absolutely worth picking up to add variety to your game library.

I've given this game far too many chances to prove me wrong, to no avail.
I'm a big fan of roguelites, and Skul is the lowest of low, worst of the worst. Here's why.

Action roguelites are about finesse - dodge and weave through enemies finding the right times to strike. Skul tries to appear as such, but in actuality is no more than a dps check. For example, there is a point in every run where you have to fight 3 randomized bosses at the same time. You're going to get hit many times, no exceptions. The only survival is killing them fast enough.

That's the core of the game. Fight a dozen enemies at once each with different attacks, but no matter how well you memorize attack patterns, you cannot focus on dodging any of them without getting hit by the other 11. Not to mention there's no I-frames on hit, so expect to get oneshot by a single attack hitting you multiple times. Game design of each room is cruel and unfun, always forcing you through tight spaces to kill enemies with massive area attacks that pass through walls.

What's worse is how the game handles a player's power. "Skulls" that are the core of your build are either useless or absolutely destroy rooms. Items give you ridiculous attack power, and having that exponential power is required, so if you take any of the few defensive items the game offers you, you lose as soon as you hit a DPS check bossfight. If you happen to make it to the later floors, your strength completely plateaus, since your item total caps at nine.

But no matter how strong your build may be, runs are still hopeless. Even in runs where you mow down enemies effortlessly, the quantity and variety thrown at you force you to take hits. In Skul, there's almost no healing and if you take 10 hits, you're done. What this means is you lose out on the biggest part of roguelites - the feeling of strength and power. You don't get any dopamine from finding a great legendary if you know you're still screwed.

How this game actually has a following is beyond me.
At no point during my 13 hours was the game fun, and I have no interest in wasting my time any longer.

Do not buy.

Looking for a FPS roguelite? Here you go.

Gunfire Reborn is a game centered around making the most of your loot. Weapons have many modifiers of varying rarities to differentiate themselves from others with the same name, which keeps up your thirst for a better gun. Unlockable scrolls found throughout the game greatly enhance your power, and Gunfire isn't afraid to make a player overpowered through them. This can lead to some very satisfying runs.

Each character has weapon preferences that prefer specific weapon types but don't necessarily require them, meaning you won't feel forced to pick up the same meta weapons every game. Alongside this, you'll pick up loot based on your character's ascension - every character has its own ascension system to massively modify yourself as well as your primary and secondary abilities.

Here, there's a heavy emphasis on metaprogression. Gunfire has a large tree of 41 permanent buffs with multiple levels for all characters, and another 25 buffs to earn for individual characters. And unlike other games, it won't force you to choose some buffs over others - you get to keep all of them. The grind will take you about 80-100 hours to buy out the skill tree and hit every achievement. At the start of your journey, you'll enjoy getting carried by others of high level for great rewards. At the end, you'll enjoy just as much carrying others. With all that power you can take on more difficult versions of the game to unlock even more scrolls, with the last mode turning the game on its head.

Though all modes are reasonable to beat solo once you familiarize yourself with the enemy patterns and six bosses (some more fair than others), the game was made with cooperative multiplayer in mind. Being able to revive others seems to be a core aspect of the game's balance, meaning if you plan on playing solo, you'll be watching your steps. Multiplayer also essentially allows you to bypass the two gun hold limit and hit enemies together with all three elements, each combination releasing a different special effect on the enemy that the game sadly doesn't explain much about.

Sorry, Gunfire Reborn isn't about story or lore. Expect some funky translations and little background elements. With only three worlds to play through in early access, Gunfire isn't about exploration or atmosphere, it's more for those looking to get right into it and start shooting.

All in all, Gunfire Reborn is an excellent no-nonsense entry to the roguelite genre and though it has its flaws, I recommend you give it a try if I've said anything that's intrigued you.

Excellent game ruined by Ubisoft.

Ubisoft requires you to create an account with them to access the game, which will sell your personal information to advertisers if you do not uncheck a box on creation. Sick.

Worse, it appears Ubisoft have completely shut down the entire challenges portion of the game as well as the leaderboards, permanently. As someone who competed in nearly every daily challenge for gold and diamond cups back on the Wii U, it's extremely disappointing to miss out on a whole chunk of the game. Rayman Legends has some of the best speedrun tech of any game I've played; what a waste to not even be able to see how your speeds fare against others.

The game of Rayman Legends is outstanding and worth playing, but I cannot justly give a positive review after Ubisoft has massacred my boy.

Littlewood holds the record for relaxation.
If you need a chill game to smile to after a hard day's work, look no further.

The game paints the story after the credits have rolled in your favorite fantasy adventure movie. You are the hero of Solemn; you've just defeated the Dark Wizard and have lost all memory of the event. Now you can live in peace by forming a village with friends who watched you save their world. There's tidbits of lore all over the place from the past you can't remember.

Littlewood has a strong focus on aesthetic over practicality. Everything about your town is custom crafted by you. If you so desire, you can turn your map into a blank flat grassland and rebuild the roads, fences, and buildings in any place you'd like without repercussions. You want a lamp in your home? Here's 30 unlockable options to choose from. All 15 quirky residents in your town have their own furniture requests to fulfill from the list of hundreds of unlockable blueprints, and it's satisfying to watch their houses start out blank as you turn them into themed rooms of wonder.

Unlike other games in the genre, there's no pressure in anything. Time does not progress naturally; instead it moves forward with every action you take. Though it may not appeal to some, there's no real main story, no big surprises, and no wrong answers. Everything is simple; You can even play the game fully with a single hand. Nearly every character is happy and innocent. Everyone is there for you except Bubsy.

If you're looking for a game to last you a while, the bulk of the game is revealed over the course of 60 hours or so, and you can earn every achievement in about 80. Throughout this time you'll unlock new areas, discover new characters, level skills and relationships all the way up to 99, upgrade your buildings, gamble at the casino, adopt pets, level up farm animals, and even get married. There's even a fun miniature collectible card game based on the monsters you fought as the hero of Solemn.

Grinding is a big part of the experience, if you're into that sort of thing. You will collect and sell bulk of about 200 different items to use across the game's upgrades and blueprints. Sometimes you'll need to catch the right rare fish, sometimes you'll need a specific bug, or perhaps you'll need a ton of bricks. Who wouldn't like to grow 12 different types of veggies simultaneously?

All in all, Littlewood is the perfect game for the right person.
If anything I've said here sounds like something you'd enjoy, then I encourage you to give it a try. :)

I don't like water levels in games.
I don't like games that force you to manage oxygen.

But damn.

Subnautica has no tutorial. If you're playing the game right, all the information you'll need can be found within. Words cannot describe what this accomplishes for the immersion. You don't get instructions on how to find drinkable water, just as you wouldn't if you crash-landed on an alien world.

But the game gives you just enough info to figure it out all the same, and that's what makes Subnautica so engaging. Constantly being drawn into new biomes for resources and blueprints, each one deeper than the next, keeps the game fresh. You're always being pulled out of your comfort zone. Even though the game has plenty of glitches, nothing is enough of an issue to pull you out of the immersion of your survival.

You may not know how much of a story this game contains; Subnautica brings a new meaning to the word depth. For the most part, each story event is up to you as to how and when you interact with it, but your curiosity will always draw you closer.

Straight up, Subnautica is a horror game. I can't tell you quickly your heart will stop as you wait in silence for a leviathan to pass, hoping it won't lock onto you. But this game will stop your heart just to start it again. Each new area is more chilling than the last, and yet there are moments in the story that can make you calm just as much as anxious. Just as much can make you cry as it can make you laugh.

Many would argue it's the passages you acquire in your in-game encyclopedia which shape the story that make the game just so darn mysterious and intriguing. What caused your ship to crash-land? What's that mysterious structure on the island? Have other humans been here before me? Wouldn't you like to know.

Do yourself a favor.
Buy this game, and go into it blind - no wiki, no videos, no tutorials.
See how fantastic the depths can truly be.