Recent reviews by Dibby

I love games of this genre and have a mild obsession with 100%ing them for achievements (it's just SATISFYING lol) so was looking forward to playing FS2 given it has been sat untouched in my Steam library for ages. I wouldn't consider myself difficult to please with these sorts of games either because the gameplay loop of them is generally quite chill and enjoyable, however you will have noticed that I didn't recommend this one, here's why (I'm sorry devs lol):

• Janky UI: My god the amount of times I'd be trying to click something near the bottom of the screen and it'd take me back a room. Once or twice is forgiveable and perhaps my fault but during certain puzzles it'd happen way too often. Credit where credit is due- I didn't lose puzzle progress because of this but it was still intensely annoying.
  
• TOO MUCH STUFF: I can't say I recall ever playing a HOG before where I have almost three bars worth of items at once. It's legit overwhelming and turns a relaxing experience into a needlessly frustrating one. Add to that the heinous amount of available locations and it's a recipe for chaos. I rarely need guides for hidden object games (besides the odd puzzle that 404s me) but I tapped out and ended up having to follow a guide for FS2 because I got to a point where I just didn't know what to do with my hoarder inventory or where to put it. I don't like it when you're kinda relegated to the same four rooms in this genre but ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I felt like my head was going to pop off at times with this one.
  
• Story: I admit I haven't played the first game, so I know I'll have missed some callbacks which I didn't mind (it did a decent job at catching you up, to be fair) but the overall story itself just felt a bit nonsensical. I was doing x to achieve y but didn't really know why I was doing it. I felt like the story got more and more diluted as it went on and the ending had me sat there like wtf I DON'T GET IT-
  
• Achievement bugs: The biggest thing that made me not recommend this game; listen I get some people aren't as frothing at the mouth over achievements as I am, but I sank over 15 hours into this game to get 100%, and it still bugged out on me and won't give me the last 2 (I noticed in Steam's discussions quite a few people have had this issue). I used a guide for my 2nd playthrough and clicked every ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ clickable thing in this game and it still won't pop the two achievements I need. I refuse to sink another several hours into running this game for one simple reason: you cannot play through the game on a different difficulty without making a NEW profile! This means you have to run the entire game, on expert difficulty, without missing a SINGLE ITEM/COLLECTIBLE, because if you miss ONE single thing, you've gotta do it all again because one of the achievements is getting all of them on ONE profile. Honestly, the other stuff I can grumble about and move past but this decision by the devs is so stupid I really can't comprehend it. No respect for players time whatsoever, infuriating even.

Oh, but the art was nice. Now excuse me while I go sulk in the corner because this will forever be sat at 27/29 in my library, never to be played again.

EDIT: Found a solution for the folks with bugged achievements here in one of many discussion threads!

I'll admit it took me a while to understand what I was doing in Die Cook but with frequent references to the in-game tutorial tooltip I started taking it in. Enjoyed what I played of it and will definitely be putting more time into the game.
I feel like there's a lot of depth to it which is always nice in this genre of game, and I'm always a sucker for management games in general :P

I like that there's essentially a big tutorial flashcard you can look at whenever, and I'm not one for excessive handholding in games, but my only gripe with Die Cook thus far is there's not really much in the way of tooltips outside of the aforementioned tutorial screen. It can be a bit overwhelming to take everything in, although maybe that's just me xD

Was excited to receive a key for this as I've been enjoying the recent rise of these word-type roguelikes!

Firstly I love how clean the UI looks, everything is quite minimalistic and nice to look at. Love the light/dark mode option!
The new game menu, shop and end of level pop-up placements feel a bit off though, it doesn't sit centered like the others and sticks up from the bottom of the screen. I'm weird though, it just catches me eye! Personal preference etc xD

There's a great tutorial included, and essentially you start each round with 5 word attempts and five discards, with the aim being to hit the necessary goal score within those five attempts. In Letterlike you earn currency (coins) after each round completed and can then spend those coins at the shop. You get a selection of 3 'buff' cards (initially at least, there are 3 extra unlockable slots after more runs) and these can upgrade things like word multiplier, the points certain letters score and more. You can also choose to upgrade the multiplier of particular word lengths, and there's the option to redraw the list if you didn't like what you got. Another shop option is to upgrade individual letter tiles with special modifiers that can affect other letters in words you enter.

After beating a level, you'll be given 3 gift options to choose from; these sometimes include gems, which are your permanent upgrade currency also gained at the end of each game. These persist through future runs and are things like having more letters in hand, 'buff' card slots, Shiny (rare) card odds, etc.
I like the variety of upgrades available, I feel like it'll help keep things feeling fresh in terms of build options that you have, which is always great in a roguelike.

I haven't played enough to get a huge feel for builds as of yet card/upgrade wise though I like the variety I've seen so far. I've kind of just been building whatever I like while I learn, and I'm still enjoying it. Even though I haven't beaten a full five rounds yet I haven't felt frustrated or that I'm suffering from the ole roguelike RNG issue that some games suffer from. Difficulty curve has been nice and steady, although I'm one of those 'word games make brain go brrrr' (in a good way) people so I can see myself sitting and playing this a lot. Definitely hits all the dopamine spots for me.

Overall really enjoyed it so far, would recommend for lovers of word games, even if roguelikes typically aren't your jam this will tickle your brain in a good way!

I've really enjoyed Dexterous and I tend to rate roguelikes/lites first and foremost on their gameplay loop; is it satisfying, is the RNG acceptably annoying, does the progression feel gradual or like pulling teeth etc? So with that in mind...

• Unique battle mechanic of matching tiles to inflict damage/gain shields/life etc. I'm showing my age here but I got heavy Destruct-o-match vibes from my Neopets days xD (this is a v good thing lmao)
  
• Augmenting tiles to fit the run you want to play feels quite varied. I've had a few runs with different 'styles' so far and enjoyed the different playstyles you can go with. There appears to be a good amount of variety in terms of how you can proceed through each run.
  
• Runs are further augmented with relics much like Slay The Spire and can make a huge difference in the rest of the round. Much like other roguelikes these relics can come with side effects which adds a bit of balance.
  
• Great visual theme that all feels really well tied together, decent music throughout.
  
• You can upgrade your 'home' to add permanent upgrades to future runs using resources found throughout each playthrough.
  
• The character does a very Michael Jackson-esque moonwalk to return to their original position after an attack and it tickles me every time, so good!

• The relic icons seem to squish into one another throughout the round which can make it difficult to track what you're using; it seems to push the mouse-over tool-tip askew.
  
• Not sure if this is because of the above, but I do find it hard to track what is happening in combat sometimes because my character will do something that I didn't cause via blocks, so it must be a relic, but I can't always tell why x is happening (this may very much be a me thing lmao).
  
• Whenever you're on the map it seems to load in off-center. You can scroll up/down and horizontally across the map but for some reason it's not centered on pop-up.
  
  Overall I've really enjoyed Dexterous so far and can see myself playing more of it. Speaks volumes really that my only issues with the game have been small visual issues! I enjoyed the game-play loop a lot and would highly recommend fans of Slay The Spire, Balatro and the like try Dexterous out for size. Looking forward to seeing this game develop over time and thank you for the key! :)

When the lobbies are flowing, this game is fantastic. It's very simple to get a hang of and the devs seem pretty responsive which is always nice!
However, the small playerbase can cause issues with game flow and while the available translations are fantastic and show that work has gone into the game, it does segregate an already tiny population.

You make your own lobby if you want, selecting the language of the lobby, the time you get to type in and the various themes (up to 5) of your room. You can also set a password here if you want a private game, you blasted hermits.
The better themes are usually the broader ones, I made the mistake after playing the game for one match and went and made a room with themes like 'Words for thank you (in any language) because I am completely oblivious to everything logical in the world.

When the game starts a random letter will be raffled and you get to input your answers starting with that letter in each of the theme boxes. You only need to enter one in each box and once you've filled all five you can hit 'stop' to force end the round, potentially netting you more points.
The screen after this allows you to unvalidate/untick any answers that don't match themes.
On the scoreboard you can see how many points you can be awarded for answers at the bottom, if you manage to get the only validated word in a category you get the most, so hitting stop can really help you steal those points ;)

Prepare to have a few games where your brain just decides to fall out the back of your head, it's like being a rabbit in headlights sometimes, all while the peppy music loops in the background. Don't listen to the music though, finding a food that begins with X is srs bidniz, we all know this.

Occasionally you'll get lobbies with great themes such as 'Names for penis' and 'Names for other flappy parts of the body', you usually encounter comedy gold in these lobbies.
While the low player count does slow things down a bit, I've been in full lobbies beforehand too and they seriously just melt your brain.
There's some issues that have been flagged up in the discussions and the devs are aware, so hopefully the population will grow as the game does :)

• Plot: I thought the plot and premise was quite good. I don't know why but I kept thinking of a game called The Dig whilst playing this, got a similar vibe for some reason. I'll comment later on in the review how this was let down in some ways but otherwise it's one of the more interesting hidden object games on Steam.
  
• Aesthetics: Some locations look a bit too similar IMO but that doesn't stop the game looking pretty. The music was also quite atmospheric which is always nice in a HOG. The UI is okay but getting the inventory bar out of the way got a bit annoying sometimes ;)
  
• Achievements: While some might see this as a negative it was a nice break to play a HOG without any punishing achievements! Depending on the difficulty level you play through, you can also get them all in one run which may appeal to some people :)
  
• Value for money: I got just over 3 hours of play time out of this game and for once it wasn't one I'd leave running in the background while I wandered off to do something else. That was one full run through then a short play through just to get one of the achievements I'd missed, so to me this game has paid for itself in game time. There are games on Steam for more money than this that offer less content!
  
• Hints: I was getting butt mad and was going to review this game differently until I realised it was my own fault I was struggling! Use the little mobile PC in the bottom left of the screen, it contains a lot of information that will help you. I assumed it would just be like the typical HOG diary and log what you had done but it actually gives you some nice little hints ;)
  
• Puzzles: The puzzles in this game are a lot easier than other HOGs on Steam IMO but I didn't see this as a bad thing, the game more than makes up for it with the hidden object puzzles, of which there are a-plenty ;)

• Backpedalling: Maybe it's just me but I get bored quite quickly with hidden object games that require a lot of clicking back and forth between screens to trigger events. There isn't too much of it in this game, but there are times where you will be looking around for ages trying to figure out where to go and it's because the screen you were on ten minutes ago has an event but because you didn't go back to it immediately after leaving that screen.
  
• Cut scenes: Don't hate me but I can be super impatient, so waiting for an oiler to oil four seperate pieces of machinery really slowly just sets me off haha! I wish some of the actions and cut scenes were a bit faster, purely because I want to get back to the game. Just personal preference though ;D
  
• Text: The only thing I really disliked with any depth was the text in this game. I think the vibe the developers were going for was great, but it was ruined by multiple typos and poor translations. This isn't the only HOG on Steam to have this problem, and it doesn't make me think any less of the game but I think it's selling the game and all the hard work put into it short.

TLDR: A nice take plot wise, two seperate teams were an interesting concept. Marred by some poor translations/typos and occasional backpedal frenzies but otherwise a well thought out HOG that is definitely every bit a HOG! Lots of hidden object puzzles that are challenging at times. If you're looking for a relaxed game that is easy to 100% then Mystery of a Lost Planet is a bargain :)

For £0.15 this game was worth it, but by god the last puzzle with the bugs you have to slide around made me want to stick pins in my own eyes. Whether it sounds salty or not - it ruined the game for me.
You have this beautiful landscape to look at, and sure, the bug moves along at the slowest pace imaginable - I can deal with that, I just look at the pretties and whatever, but the last puzzle? Good god, seriously, if you removed the last puzzle or changed it or something, I'd pay more, I really would.
The other puzzles throughout the game are great, they get a bit difficult at times and I know from the game forums that people who are colour blind struggle with some parts, so to have such a road block right at the end of an otherwise peaceful, chilled game just shat all over it for me personally.

The music is lovely, the game looks wonderful. Your little bug dude moves at a snail's pace and while the game has hidden object elements it's relatively straightforward. Get ready to back track quite a lot however as these objects are strewn across several screens.

I personally wouldn't have minded less game time in return for less back tracking, it feels like you're being forced to just play for longer sometimes and that's never enjoyable in a game that is already pretty short. I would say the achievements are easy to get but I still just can't get past the last puzzle so I can't 100% :(

Also, the game doesn't feature a proper save system, so if you get mid way through a scene, DON'T quit, because you'll be forced to start the entire level again from the beginning (again, wouldn't be as much of a ball ache if the bug didn't move so slow). At present I can't bring myself to stare at that last puzzle for the 15 minutes I've already sank into the activity, but I recommend the game based on its otherwise pleasant presentation.

(....but really I want to be a petty bastard and click 'no' purely because of that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bug puzzle...can you taste the salt?)

If it weren't for this game's price tag, I would not be recommending it; it is worth the low price, even more so while on sale.
I have enjoyed a few of Jetdog's games, so I know they're capable of pumping out decent quality games, but I got more and more irritated as I went through this game (though I feel bad for that) due to several small issues.

• I think some of the puzzles in this game were really good, a lot of them didn't feel recycled and for the most part I think they were the highlight of the game. Making puzzles feel fresh is difficult in this genre so bravo, developers.
  
• The hidden object puzzles are relatively sparse and therefore easy, but the game isn't exactly overflowing with them so it breaks the game up nicely.
  
• I had absolutely no interest in the storyline whatsoever until the ending scene, which was a shame as it was a really intruiging ending!
  
• The character models gave me a bit of a chuckle with their wandering eyes, but I thought they looked good. The game looks quite nice as well, no complaints about the graphics.
  
• An effort was made with the voice acting, I've heard better and I've heard worse but it's nice when the effort has been put in to at least include voice acting.

• The UI in this game had me so salty, because if you click too close to the bottom of the screen on your inventory, it'll take you back a scene. I don't know why this annoys me so much in HOGs but it just felt like a simple oversight.
  
• I found most of the plot and game progression to be almost nonsensical - I'd be staring at the screen trying to use items and the one that made the least sense is the one I'd need. This made the game feel a bit comedic? I don't know if it was intentional.
  
• My big bug bear with this game was the poor English. I have no problem with translated games that are made in another language, I'm just glad to get to play another hidden object game, but some of the phrasing in the text and tooltips either makes no sense or has been translated badly. I doubt this will bother most people but I just think that attention to small detail like that makes a big difference.

TL:DR - it's an alright HOG. I prefer the Frankenstein game from Jetdog as it feels like a fully fledged HOG, but this feels like a tablet port at times. Again, the price is fair for the game time (which is quite short unless you get stuck on one of the harder puzzles). It has achievements but they didn't pop up for me until I exited the game, so don't panic if you don't see them straight away! If you have a bit of money in your Steam wallet and want a relaxed game to play for a couple hours, this is the one.
Thanks for reading!

Initially I thought I wouldn't enjoy this game very much, but the longer I played the more I ended up liking it!
It has its strengths and weaknesses as any other game does, and I recommend it for the various reasons listed below.
In short, if you want to play a hidden object game (HOG) that offers that little bit extra, this game is worth your time and money. At it's current retail price of £6.99 you get a fair amount of game for those pennies!

• I thought in terms of plot, this HOG offers more depth than a lot of others in the genre. While campy and a bit overwraught at times, it's refreshing to play a HOG with a sinister story that runs with that theme instead of offering the general comedic, almost kiddy-fied storylines. Because of the content I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to young kids - the story basically follows a guy trying to save his missus from a serial killer and features quite a few embalmed corpses that might freak some people out!
  
• I find a lot of HOGs scrimp on the scenery and details, but every single screen in this game is beautifully detailed and is a real pleasure to look at. However, this does have its downsides, which I will expand on below.
  
• The hidden object scenes weren't too frequent and are all arranged well, there's no maddeningly obscured, tiny items to break your eyes looking for but they don't feel too much of a breeze, either.
  
• I play so many (probably too many haha) HOGs, and I was surprised that quite a lot of the puzzles in this game, I hadn't seen in others. A problem I have with HOGs is that often the puzzles feel recycled, but this one had some pretty fresh puzzles. Some of them were a bit er, maddening though (more on that below!).
  
• The voice acting wasn't bad, it fit the mood. The antagonist taunts you throughout the game from speakers wired up around the environment and it works very well to set the tone and mood which isn't something that you experience often in HOGs.
  
• I racked up around 4-5 hours on this game (without starting the bonus chapter) and it didn't feel like that at all because as I mentioned above, the game is visually so nice and HOG scenes don't crop up 20 screens behind you, they, along with the puzzles, are slotted in at decent intervals. And there are a lot of puzzles :P
  
• There's a very detailed map included which is very handy considering how big the environment is. The map will tell you were locked doors are, puzzles yet to be completed once found, points of interest etc. All the good stuff ;)
  
• Better yet, if you're really stuck, there's also a strategy guide you can access in the game which while some people may find cheesy I think it shows the developers want people to enjoy their game, not get frustrated and stop playing when they encounter difficulty.

• While every screen is immaculately presented, I felt that at times the game had more style than substance. For example, in some rooms there is literally one or two items to pick up then you're done in that room. To me that just feels like a waste when you've created such a pretty game.
  
• As above, because a lot of the rooms don't contain a great deal of interactive points, the developers seem to have just added TONS of rooms in to the game. To prolong the play time? I'm not sure, but I was disappointed that a fast travel option wasn't included in the map purely because you have to do a lot of backtracking and there are so many rooms....so many ;_;
  
• In terms of the puzzles, I thought a lot of them felt quite fresh but at the same time some of them made me just exit the game and leave it alone for a while. A couple just made no sense to me whatsoever - maybe I was tired, maybe it will make more sense to other people, but I had to skip a few puzzles purely because I couldn't get my head round them!
  
• There are some interactive points that just don't stand out at all, so a couple of times I had to do the 'move the mouse over all the things' game which can get a bit annoying. Also, while a map is a great feature in any HOG, the one in this game didn't always update, so I'd have to backtrack through every room only to get frustrated and look at the strategy guide to find that a tiny interactive point was a ton of screens back and not indicated on the map.
  
• You find little notes throughout the game written by the antagonist which portray a rather awful childhood and lead you to the assumption that this monster was created, not born. I really wish the developers had expanded on this in the main game because it was quite an interesting addition.

Overall, I think that while the negatives offset what is genuinely quite an original HOG in more ways than one, the positives overwhelm them. I wish that there had either been less rooms/areas or more substance in the plethora of areas in the game, I think that's the major thing that lets this game down. However, as frustrating as it can occasionally be, Brink of Consciousness: DGS is a good game and even if you just don't understand some of the puzzles like me, the scenery in the game is lovely to look at and the creepy theme to the game just adds points in its favour.
Whether you buy it at full price or wait for a sale, this HOG is a great addition to the genre and is definitely one to play :)
Thanks for reading!

I saw this game go up in advance of release and was actually really excited about a new HOG (I probably have a slight obsession). It looked great in the screenshots but unfortunately even having passed a bad bug (see blow) I still don't recommend the game unless it were on sale due to other issues.

+++++

• Voice acting is pretty good, this can be hit and miss in the HOG genre. I found the non-moving lips a bit odd but it doesn't particularly put me off in a hidden object game.
  
• Two difficulty modes, essentially casual and expert. Hints recharge very quickly on casual difficulty.
  
• The game comes with achievements for those looking for a swift 100%, also cards.
  
• As you progress through the game the puzzles maintain a steady difficulty. There's a good number of puzzles too, it doesn't feel rammed with them. A couple of the puzzles felt quite fresh whereas some felt repetitive, but none too difficult. It's balanced well with hidden object scenes.
  

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• A neutral point would be the cut scene graphics. In the trailer they look pretty good, both cut scene and in game, but for some reason the game doesn't like my resolution (1920x1080) and it makes the graphics look poorer than they probably do for other sizes.
  
• I thought the music was a highlight of this game which was marred by poor audio mixing. There are choppy gaps between tracks and some of the ambient noises sound as if they're a different quality to others. I play with headphones so it might not be as noticeable on speakers. Still a shame though, loved the music.

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• In a few ways this game reminded me of those ported over from handheld devices. The tutorial arrows are a bit of a distance off what they're meant to be pointing at but this had me wondering if the problem was my resolution. The UI is also a bit of a pain in this way as you can find yourself accidentally nudging the return at the bottom of the screen trying to pick something up.
  
• I thought the map feature was one of the things that really let the game down. Some people prefer playing without using the map and that's fine, but as this game makes you go back and forth quite a lot it's a very useful feature and keeps the game moving along at a good pace. The map in this game has locations that are general, meaning you click on 'Harbour' and it'll take you to a crossroads between other places. I suppose having the feature at all is better than not having it but it just felt a bit of a let down that was compounded by other problems.
  
• **Why I do not recommend this game**: Eventually you will find a bird, help it, and it flies off saying it'll help you out. When you get to a certain point in the game where this bird is meant to appear, it just decides not to for some people. I spent way too long combing over every inch of every screen and could not find ANYTHING to progress the story. I'd had a fish rock in my inventory since I started nearly 2 hours ago but the bird can't sort itself out? Lazy :P Anyhow, as a result of this bug, I couldn't progress any further until replaying the game. It may take varying amounts of time to get back to that point but it still seems like a big oversight.
  
• This game is newly released, going by the Steam store page. The graphics just seem a bit washed out and dated. Again I worry that this is my monitor but other players have also noticed it in their reviews.
  
• The plot is there, but that's about it unfortunately. It serves as a good backbone to the puzzle part of the story but other than that it just kind of follows you about as you play.