Recent reviews by Frank Wuggles

Shadow Empire has a reputation for being incredibly complex, which it absolutely deserves, but critically it's never "complexity for the sake of complexity" - the interconnected systems each have a purpose and the player has relatively straightforward ways to influence those. You will mess up initially, but the game does a good job at explaining where/how you messed up (even if you only realize it a few turns too late).
The highly varied planet generation means that every playthrough will be unique and require you to strategize on your feet rather than fall back on a rote strategy. Overall, it's basically the best of what the 4X genre has to offer.

It's Superliminal, but Good.

It's got good bones. If the XCOM reboot didn't already exist then this would be an absolute masterpiece of game design, but as-is it's a solid take on that very strong existing formula... so if you like XCOM then you'll like this. That said, overall this is one of those games that I like but probably won't play more - it just feels too much like something that I've already experienced.

Two pieces of feedback that I think would really elevate Shardpunk:
1. Speeding up combat - it feels like every time I order a unit the action pauses while the animation plays. The waiting was stale by the end of the tutorial mission... I'd love to (like XCOM) be able to immediately tab to my next unit before I'm done with the first one.
2. It would be nice if my squad automatically emptied out their heat when there are no enemies on the screen, and if I could either move in real-time or get actions refunded at the start of battle. If there are no enemies then the optimal way to play is to awkwardly creep forward. That said, I didn't get very far so maybe a few missions in there are always enemies around and this is a moot point.

A different take on the turn-based tactics genre, which has converged around board game-like XCOM-style mechanics in recent years. It takes some getting used to the grittier, less precise feel of JA3's battles, but once you do it feels incredibly satisfying!

Baldur's Gate 3 is to video games what Elden Ring is to Dark Souls.

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Premise A bite-sized nonlinear espionage RPG with a surreal, whimsical tone. It absolutely oozes charm.

Deep Dive The action resolution mechanic does a great job at supporting the tone of espionage, where most encounters are social. When you make a stat check it works like this: you roll the die for your stat (which has upgradable faces as you "level up"), and your pizza dice (yes, you read that right - it's too much to explain here but it makes sense in the game, essentially they are another layer of character build options). This is contested by a roll from your opponent.

The twist is the rich buff/debuff system that also influences the rolls, so often to prepare for a challenging stat check you need to scrounge around for buffs that can help (which are also locked behind stat checks). Fail a roll and you'll usually land with a debuff. This system makes each encounter feel like an open-ended puzzle of how to get the right combination of dice and buffs (or circumvent it entirely with an alternate route).

Regrets Although the game does fully explore its mechanics, it is quite short and ends in a way that left me wanting desperately to see what happens next.

Assessment Recommended for fans of RPGs looking for a compact experience as a break from 100 hour epic "save the world" CRPGs.

Review library: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44326719-Uncharted-Depths-of-Gaming/

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Premise Collection of physics based minigames. Stretches the definition of "golf" to unrecognizability (in a good way).

Deep Dive The joy of the game comes from seeing what kind of crazy new thing is going to happen in the next level - you truly never know what you'll get. Minigames run the gamut from jokes/puns to a few genuine challenges that take many attempts to get right.

Regrets There are stretches of easy minigames that blend together and can become tedious (though few are completely trivial). Difficulty curve is fairly flat and resets on each world, so even late-game you won't be challenged (but arguably challenge isn't really the point of the game).

Assessment The definition of a "casual" (in a good way) game. A relaxing experience that asks very little from the player and will feed you a constant stream of surprise and delight.

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Premise A point and click adventure game - wait WAIT, keep reading - with minigames speckled throughout.

Deep Dive Redeems the sins of the point and click genre with intuitive puzzles and an unobtrusive hint system (press "h" any time for a tip on where to go next). While the puzzles are intuitive, outcomes are usually surprising - you may find yourself flung into a minigame or controlling a different character or you may get a totally unexpected reward.. Bittersweet philosophiccal tone may even make you feel feelings.

A lot of cozy games force you to wait through tedious sections while it jams the (often painfully repetitive) coziness down your throat but Tux and Fanny actually feels _quite_ fast-paced. It's true that the walking speed is slow, but everything else is blazing fast - the text is short and punch, minigames last just a few minutes, and nothing repeats.

Regrets The minigames are usually surprising and mostly interesting, but rarely good as standalone games. Fortunately they don't overstay their welcome.

Assessment Although this game seems tailor-made for me to dislike it (I don't like point and click adventures or "cozy" games) the constant drip of surprise and delight was a worthwhile reward to pull me along, and the intuitive puzzles and hints mean that I was never stuck for long.

It's just wild that some guy who doesn't even have a website can come out of nowhere and drop a masterpiece that's easily in the top 100 games of all time. If you believe that games are art then you owe it to yourself to play this. There's more innovation here than in the entire 2021 catalog of Ubisoft launches (and I stand by that EVEN if you include Immortals - Fenyx Rising from December 2020 in with the 2021 games).

I was kinda expecting to see a new spin on the core mechanics, or something surprising beyond the basic "arrange the items, put ammo into guns, consume items until full on health." It's possible that I just didn't get far enough to run in to the "new stuff" but I played almost half of the levels (according to the description) and did not have that experience and pretty much ran out of steam to invest more time.

I suppose it's unfair to accuse a game for not innovating when it bills itself as being literally the RE4 inventory system, so if you know what you're getting in to then have at it. As for me... I've unfortunately gotta give this a Not Recommended rating.