Recent reviews by LadyOberon

Panoptes is a truly engaging game. It's classified as a horror Trading Card Game (TCG) and takes a Player vs Environment (PvE) approach as opposed to the more common Player vs Player (PvP) approach usually seen in this type of game.

Graphically, the game is unexpectedly beautiful. The artwork is unique and has a dark urban fantasy vibe to it. The soundtrack actually enhances this mood and creates a suspenseful experience.

The story itself is also engaging, and that's very unique to this style of game where storyline is generally minimal. The controls are very easy to master, but keep in mind that this is a game that doesn't offer controller support. It's strictly mouse and keyboard functionality.

Gameplay is also fully functional and easy to learn, even if you've never played a game of this type before. The premise for this game is that you're an agent of an organization called "The Club," and your purpose is to vanquish mythological and supernatural creatures.

Game objectives are met through the drawing and playing of cards, and deckbuilding is central to the game, as is typical with this genre. There's no mana, but instead "energy" comes into play, and it is spent and regained through the course of gameplay.

The game has more than 50 different missions and three character classes: Scientist, Occultist, and Hunter. Each class will have cards that are specific to the class while other cards are universal. Points are awarded for completing missions successfully, and those points are then used to obtain additional cards.

The ability to customize your deck and playthrough multiple times with different character classes means that this game has a great deal of replayability.

There are just two Steam achievements at this point and no Steam cards, but this game is in the Early Access stage, so it's entirely possible that we will see expansions to game content and extras in the near future.

I didn't experience any game crashes or game-breaking bugs, and overall the game feels and functions like a fully finished product. I'm actually very amazed at the overall package and excited to see what the developers will consider to be the finished version.

I recommend this game very highly to any fan of TCG and CCG games, as well as those who appreciate a darker gaming atmosphere.

It was really a tough decision for me when deciding the direction I was going to take with this review. I'm a believer that great reviews include not only those that explain why the best games are the best games but also why others receive lower ratings.

Era of Majesty is a promising game. It's what I would consider resource management. I concede that it could be classified as having RPG elements, but I have to assume that this description is more appropriate for future content as opposed to the game as it stands right now. RTS is also an appropriate description, as there is a certain amount of strategy that goes along with managing resources and allotting manpower for resource collection in an effort to build bigger and better structures.

If I were judging my rating based strictly on gameplay at this moment in time, I would have to honestly say that I don't recommend the game. However, I'm going against my better judgement and will instead recommend the game, but with a few caveats.

To begin with, the game is definitely in early access, as advertised. I think it's fantastic that developers can take advantage of crowdsourcing not just for funding but also to obtain feedback, observations, and reviews from scores of gamers who are essentially "paying beta-testers."

When attempting any early access game, I expect a glitch or two. It's certainly not uncommon to find areas in an early access title that still need polishing. However, a title that's as close to release as this one seems to be should not have the game crashes and game-breaking bugs that I experienced. This game is just barely tipping the scale toward being a playable game vs one that's completely unplayable.

Graphically speaking, the pixel graphics are attractive and clear. Graphics also include a day/night cycle and weather. The soundtrack is better than average, and the sound effects were appropiate for the game. I'd venture to say that the majority of the development hours have gone into graphics, sound, and framework for future updates.

The first thing you encounter is the tutorial, which is delivered in a text format that is confusing and incomplete. The tutorial is also full of poor grammar, spelling, and sentence structure. This is most likely due to poor translation. I also noticed that this tutorial cannot be turned off. My game crashed several times, making it necessary for me to begin a new game each time, and my only recourse was to hit the space bar multiple times to cycle through the tutorial.

Gameplay is also confusing. It's not readily apparent exactly what you're supposed to be doing, or how you're supposed to be achieving everything. The tutorial stated that right-clicking on a banner would allow me to move the banners and set the borders for my "town." However, I found that the gaming area simply wasn't that big, not more than 2-3 screens wide. I figured that moving the banners to each end would allow me the entire playing area that was available to me. I was incorrect about this, because I still had to right click and drag my mouse over items that I wanted to chop, mine, gather, or kill. Setting the border for the town was not all that was necessary for me to begin to gather resources.

Side-scrolling movement works as it should, but other controls didn't function as well. On several occasions, I opened the menu to save the game, yet my game wasn't actually saved. At one point, I lost the ability to move my mouse cursor within the top inch of my screen, which meant that I couldn't "reach" the menu options and had no choice but to use the escape key to shut down the game and restart.

I also experienced multiple occurrences of game crash with, "Fatal Error in action number 1 of Step Event0 for object o_enemy_unit." The only workable option for me when this happened was to click the "abort" key and re-launch the game.

The game refers to characters as, "units" yet it doesn't explain how additional units may be obtained. I learned through trial and error that I could level up those units, but it was not apparent to me how and when those skill points were awarded. It was also unclear what should be done when a unit dies.

The timing for the game is also unbalanced at this point. I played for more than an hour in between multiple game crashes, yet all I accomplished was the gathering of a small amount of wood, stone, mushrooms, and crystals. Keep in mind that this was while utilizing the fast-forward button to make gamplay speed up a bit. I was finally able to build the workbench, but I was never able to utilize it, because my game went from sporadic crashes to consistently crashing whenever I tried to use it. It's noteworthy that my gaming rig (ASUS ROG G752VT-DH72 17 Inch Gaming Laptop with a 6th Gen i7 Skylake processor, NVIDIA GTX 970, and Windows 10) is less than 2 month old and more than suitable to run the game.

On a positive note, the developers seem to be receptive to feedback and determined to see the project through to completion. There is also a fairly large player base already, so I think it's entirely appropriate to expect a finished product in the near future. If the building menu is any indication of what we can expect when this game is finished, I think it would be quite an entertaining game.

I've heard others compare the game to Kingdom yet most agree that this game has the potential to be even better, and therein lies the rub when it comes to my review. I find myself allowing potential to push my rating from "not recommended" just over the line to "recommended for a specific audience."

If you enjoy casual resource management games and are willing to be patient, I think you'll find an active developer and player community. If, however, you're looking for a game that is more along the lines of an RPG or one that is "plug and play" and "out of the box" ready, then it's best that you wait until this game is completed or pick it up on sale.

I'm extremely disappointed about the condition of this game. I realize that it's still in early access, but according to the news on the store page, full launch is expected by April 2016. It's because of this fact, and the posts indicating patches and updates that I decided that this was finally the time to take a look at it. I had really high hopes, even though I was expecting a minor glitch or two.

What I found instead was a game that I simply cannot play. Firstly, the game does not have full controller support, as indicated. At best, it's got partial support. I was unable to start the game, or even go to full-screen, without using the mouse. The menu didn't function correctly, and it appeared as if perhaps this was one of the features that had not yet been finished.

I began with the tutorial option, but it didn't work for me, so I decided to just try the play option. Again, I had to use the mouse to begin the game with "Book 1," and when the game did start, I experienced several difficulties and oddities.

Firstly, the screen would waver, like a mirror image or looking through water. I have no idea if this is intentional or because of a design issue, but it made it impossible for me to see my character and what I was doing. All the while, though, this side-scrolling platformer is continuing to move, so that resulted in "sudden death."

The next thing I noticed was a sudden slowing of animations and movement on the screen. This most often occurred for me while my character was in motion or in the air in mid-jump.

I attempted several times to finish the first level but couldn't, so I had the idea to see if I could go to "Book 2" without having actually finished "Book 1." It turned out that I could, though it's probably not a good thing that this was possible. Again turning to the mouse to launch the level, I made a few successful jumps, popped off a couple shots with my gun and noticed that the shots seemed to be moving much slower than they probably should. I figured that I could deal with that and just kept jumping, determined to play this game that I'd been anticipating.

This is when my screen started wavering yet again and then a very odd thing happened. I'd landed onto a lower building, but a split-second later, the building disappeared. My character remained stuck in an odd position in the middle of my screen, and everything just froze. I couldn't believe I was actually seeing what I was seeing, so I took a screen shot and then tried to restart the level.

Unfortunately, I was unable to use any of the controls or the mouse. I hit Alt+Tab and closed the game screen, but even that didn't work. Next, I tried to close Steam, but I kept getting an error message that Steam couldn't close because Guardians of Victoria was running. With no game screen to close, and no option to force quit, I had no choice but to reboot in order to regain control over my laptop.

I can't even express how disappointed I am. I love indie games, steampunk, and platformers, so I was truly excited about this game. I can see from some of the posts that the developer has had quite a struggle with this game, and I sympathize with that. Unfortunately, though, I really cannot recommend the game in it's current state. I will, however, invite the developer to reach out to me when the game is truly finished. At that point, I will absolutely give the game another try and revise my review.

I missed the sale on this, so when I became aware of the game, I purchased it. Judging by the tags which included Indie, 2D, Casual, and Difficult, I thought it was a platformer. It certainly looked that way to me at first glance, but I was wrong. This is actually an endless runner game with platforming elements, including obstacles.

Right off the bat, I had a little trouble with the game, because the full-screen option didn't work for me. When at full screen, I saw that the top half of the screen was black, and the bottom half was cut off after the play game option. I had no recourse but to play in windowed mode which created or exacerbated graphical issues.

The next hurdle I came up against was the lack of controller support. To be fair, the game is not advertised as having full or even partial controller support, but it's been my experience that a lot of games have inherent controller support, or partial support, even when that functionality is not disclosed or advertised. Now, armed with the knowledge that this was an endless runner without controller support, I launched JoyToKey, which afforded me partial controller functionality. I still had to use the mouse to click play, and there was no reliable way to exit the game except for using alt+tab to simply close the open window, but at least I could finally play the game.

Graphically, I had difficulty seeing a lot of the obstacles. The day/night cycles and weather element add depth to the game but made visual distinction even more difficult. As the screen got darker, or more muddled, I could reliably see less and less on this tiny windowed screen. This is not something you want to experience in a game like this where the screen is side-scrolling quickly, and you have little reaction time.

In regard to game mechanics, there's some solid work here. Once I began to utilize JoyToKey to enable partial controller support, I could tell that the controls were consistent and responsive. If a little more care was put into graphical considerations, I wouldn't have any difficulty playing this game, and it would still be a challenge.

There's no story or purpose to this game, other than challenging yourself to get a little further than you did before, so if that's what you're after, it's best to look elsewhere. There are also no achievements. This is simply a time-killer, a casual game that can be played in short spurts. Not every game has to be a "thinker," so I'm perfectly okay with that, and that fact did not diminish my rating.

In regard to level design, there wasn't anything that thrilled or impressed me, but there wasn't anything that I necessarily hated, either. There's definitely some repetition, and memory certainly plays as much if not more of a factor than skill when it comes to being successful at playing this game. While it's not something I'm likely to revisit, I can certainly appreciate it for what it is.

Overall, I can recommend the game to those looking for a casual game that can be played for short periods of time and without becoming completely consuming or engrossing. I can also recommend it to folks looking for an endless runner and those who like platformers but would be willing to try an endless runner that includes platforming elements.

I wasn't sure quite what to expect with this game, so I came into it with an open mind ready to play a casual game. Right away, I felt lost. There's nothing to indicate from the on-game screen or GUI exactly what the objective of the game is or how to play it.

A basic Google search for, "How to play Super Bomb Rush" led me to a post in the Steam discussion forum asking exactly the same questions that I had. "What do I do?" "How do I play" What's the objective?" I saw a response from the developer to, "adhere to the help menu," and of course, that was not at all helpful. Still at a loss, I went back to the game and looked at all the menus that were available to me. I came across the instructions stating to, "attack the directional arrows," but that just confused me even further. How can I attack the arrows on the left side of the screen when the bomb vibrates but doesn't move? Is it a racing game? A combat game? Tower defense? What the heck is this crazy little game?

I then came across a post from another player explaining that we were to, "copy the arrows." From there, I figured out exactly what this game is. It's like Simon, a game where you need very quick reactions to mimic button presses that are being randomly prompted by the game. Mimic the directional arrows with your joystick quickly enough, and the bomb is "diffused." This process then becomes more difficult with more complex combinations of arrows. Having gotten at least that much out of the way, I went back to the game prepared to diffuse some bombs.

It was at this point that my confusion turned into frustration and flat-out being underwhelmed by the entire experience. There were countless times that I knew I was completing the arrow combination correctly and quickly enough using the joystick on my XBox360 controller, and yet, the stupid little bomb blew up anyway. There just didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the game itself and no consistency to the controls.

Graphically, it was mediocre. The colors were bright and even distracting, but didn't appear to require much thought. However, when you're staring at the left side of the screen at the arrows, I guess it really doesn't much matter what's happening on the rest of the screen.

Audibly, there's also much to be desired. The sound effects give the impression of a classic standup arcade game from the 80s, and if you were gaming at that time like I was, then this bit of nostalgia might be appealing, but overall, there's just not much to it.

The user interface, sound design, and graphics all left a lot to be desired, and the lack of direction is noticeable to more players than just myself. If that weren't enough of a deterrent, the gameplay itself was inconsistent and underwhelming. I simply cannot recommend the game, but I do applaud the concept. It's got potential, but there's work to be done here.

I'm very disappointed with this game. I came across it several days ago and put it in my wishlist, thinking that it looked a little like a perfection-style (high energy and timed) steampunk/mechanical platformer. This seemed like something that was right up my alley, so when I saw that it was on a 50% sale today, I grabbed it up at $2.49.

When I sat down to game this evening, it was the first game I loaded up, and I was very excited to give it a try. Right away, though, I found my enthusiasm dwindling as my aggravation and disappointment levels climbed.

Firstly, the controls were not what I would consider smooth or responsive. I experienced a delay at times between button presses and action on the screen, and I also got the impression that little thought had been given to jump height and distance. It was impossible to properly judge distance for jumps consistently, and if your character isn't in motion, it won't make the majority of the jumps. I understand that this is meant to be a fast-paced game, so the jumps were likely designed for a character in motion, but they're missing the mark here for the game as a whole by programming from such a narrow perspective. Another issue was the texturing of the surfaces, which more often than not created a character sliding on ice effect, whether it was meant to or not. These factors coupled together create an experience that's a lot like a blind speedrun, and that inconsistency only served to cause confusion and frustration for me.

Also along the line of game mechanics was that some of the additions to the game don't seem to have a purpose. The most noticeable of these is the time clock that generally shows up in one corner or another during the arcade levels. I got the impression that going in the opposite direction of the exit to get one of these would result in bonus time to complete the level, but that's not what I experienced at all. Once I figured out that the only thing that really mattered was getting to the exit in time, it became important to bypass what little content there was in the form of coins, obstacles, and these time clocks. There was absolutely no enjoyment for me at this point, so that's when I threw in the proverbial towel.

Another negative is that the randomized levels really aren't so random. In obtaining the achievement for completing 100 rooms, I found myself cycling through a relatively few number of levels with a high percentage of consecutive repeats of the same level. This was made worse with poor level design. There just really wasn't much to these levels, even on hardcore, so I found myself wondering what the point of the game was, and I couldn't come up with a good answer.

I was also very disappointed with the graphics, which were pixel-style but severely lacking in detail and contrast. The overall effect was blurring with an inability to distinguish between the character, platforms, and obstacles. When you aren't certain where you're going, and can't get there reliably and consistently, it pretty much becomes "game over."

In regard to the soundtrack, there wasn't much to it, and the buzzing/ticking sound effects during gameplay became annoying enough for me to mute the sound on my laptop.

In short, I simply cannot recommend the game in its current state, and the fact that I was looking forward to this game, makes that an even more disappointing conclusion. My recommendation is to either pass this one up altogether or wait until it's on a major sale or included in a bundle. I'm regretting the $2.49 I spent on it, and that was at a 50% discount.

Onto the next one.

This game caught my attention for several reasons. Firstly, is was an ARPG with controller support, so that meant that I had to give it a chance. I've enjoyed gaming for years, but I really do prefer to game with a controller, so that was an absolute plus for me. I was also fascinated by the historical fantasy aspect of this game, so I was pleased to find during gameplay that this concept was maintained throughout with clothing and architecture.

The soundtrack was good, and the graphics were very vivid and colorful. The one thing I have to say about this, though, is that the color saturation seemed a bit off to me. I must have walked past the carrot patch a dozen times during the prologue, because they looked like beets to me, and I noticed that "ruddy" color scheme throughout. I'm unsure if this was intentional, but it was definitely noticeable.

Mechanically, the game is sound, but there is room for improvement. I felt like, at times, there was a bit of lag or delay between button presses and action on the screen, specifically with combat. That does improve later on with the addition of the sword, but the delay coupled with the lack of auto-aim made combat unimpressive and a bit more of a challenge than it probably should have been.

I liked the health, stamina, and combat upgrades, but gold is scarce in the game, so if you intend to obtain the achievement for having 1,000 gold, it's best to do that before purchasing upgrades. In my case, I hadn't reviewed the achievement guide beforehand, so I'm stuck at the end of the game with little to do but start a new game for that achievement. That brings me to replayability. If I didn't intend to replay for the purpose of attaining my last 3 achievements, I probably wouldn't feel the desire to revisit this game. That fact leads me to address the pricing. I feel like the price point could be lowered a bit. I wanted this game very badly, so I paid full price for it, but I'd feel a bit better about that if there was more content, or greater replayability. Since that's not the case, this might be a game you'd want to pick up on sale. In my opinion, even a dollar or two off of the full price would be a fair deal.

Also a positive are the number of destructibles and the looting aspect in the form of gold. While I wish that gold was of greater occurrence during the game, it is possible to attain all upgrades if you enjoy smashing destructibles and looting chests, like I do. What I would like to see improved, though, is layout. The gaming environment is relatively small, with a lot of backtracking or revisiting of areas as the game progresses. This world has tremendous opportunity for expansion, so hopefully, we'll get to see that in a future update.

Story and character development are also areas that can be improved. There's not much to the characters or the story, and a lot of the dialogue between characters seems to have been inserted as filler, as if the developers felt that something was needed but didn't quite know what, or didn't have the time/budget to do what they really wanted.

The game can easily be played from start to finish in an afternoon, and it comes with a lot of very attainable achievements. This will likely become my first "perfect" game, so if that is something that interests you, you might consider this when deciding if this is a game for you.

Overall, it's a perfectly enjoyable game with some unique elements. I'd encourage achievement hunters and ARPG fans to give this a try. I'd also encourage the developers to either revisit Cross of the Dutchman in the form of content updates or publish a sequel. I would definitely consider their next publication.

Edit 9/14/2016: I've played through this game twice now, and I wanted to add a little something to my review. While, from strictly a gamer's point of view, I still think that this game would benefit from some polishing and additonal content, I have to say that I have great admiration for the developers undertaking the challenge of an illustrated history lesson in video game format. I can imagine that the devs may have felt that, while considerable creative license has obviously been exorcised, they were attempting to balance history and historical fiction, entertainment with the limited information available about the real "Great Pierre." I have to admit that as much I love history, I was unaware of Pierre until this game. It's fascinating to me that he made such an impact in Dutch history and even somewhat to world history. Whether or not he was really the 7ft giant of a man wielding a 7ft sword in battle, the reputation was hard-earned. I now understand why Pierre came to be known as the Cross of the Dutchman.

This game took me by surprise. I was never a fan of card games like this. I couldn't get into Magic, and Hearthstone was way at the back of the bus when it came to games I wanted to get around to playing at some point.

This game caught my attention because of a promotion that the developers had to give you a "Gold Pack" which seemed to be a very nice head start for a new player. It was easy to get started, even if I did feel a bit overwhelmed at all the different types of cards and statistics that these cards have.

I soldiered on and was surprised that I actually enjoyed the game. The mechanics, once understood, make the game easy to play. Gameplay is very well-balanced, and while I'm not usually in favor of microtransactions using real world currency to purchase in-game currency/items, I see that it is very possible to obtain all the decks and enjoy every aspect of the game without purchasing crystals, the in-game currency.

There are a variety of characters, in the form of cards, and each has its own statistics indicating strengths and weaknesses. It's definitely a game of strategy, as much as it is the pursuit of the perfect deck.

There's a lot to enjoy here, and I definitely recommend that everyone give it a try, certainly enthusiasts of card games, but even those who've never tried this genre before. You may just find a new obsession.

This is a fun game. It's a combination shooter and platformer with really high energy. The story is minimal, and the soundtrack is rather repetitive, but overall, the game has got some really entertaining qualities. The controls are consistently responsive, but it was a bit awkward for me to get used to using the D-Pad and not be able to use the left joystick for movement. The scavenger hunt for weapons and upgrades is definitely a plus and enough to keep most players entertained.

There are a lot of levels, but I didn't notice anything spectacular in regard to level design. Most new levels were variations of others, but the introduction of new monsters and weapons meant that this didn't detract from my gameplay.

It's definitely rough around the edges in some ways, though. I'm the type of gamer who is busting every destructible and searching for every possible hidden area and surprise. In doing this, I found an oddity very early on. Upon entering the first doorway (level) I jumped up to the platform on the upper left and started hopping around to see what was there. In attempting to see if my character could walljump, she "fell" through what should have been a solid barrier all the way through to the previous area. When I walked back through the door, my progress had been reset as if I'd restarted the level. This oddity was easily repeated a number of times, but I could find no real purpose for it, so I was forced to conclude that it's simply a design flaw. I also noticed a placement issue, which was most noticeable to me on the second map. There are a certain amount of destructibles that can yield coins or hearts which grant healing. I found one of these green plant destructibles placed above a doorway to the left of the shop. However, it's impossible to get the heart that was dropping from this destructible. It seems to go either behind or through the doorway, and getting too close to the doorway takes you back a level, where there was no heart waiting.

Overall, this game has a lot to enjoy. It should appeal very easily to casual gamers, as well as fans of shooters, platformers, and arcade games. There's a combination of permadeath with checkpoints, meaning that you only have one life and that while you might have to go back a few levels, you won't have to go all the way back to the beginning of the game. In that respect, it's very much like Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams. The addition of a consumable lightpost also helps to reduce rage and allow even young and new gamers to enjoy it. Though I would encourage the developers to revise the store interface so that it's clear that the lightpost is indeed a consumable. I definitely recommend giving it a try.

Edit: Just wanted to add that the level design gets more interesting as the game progresses, and the placement issue is consistent throughout. Pretty much everywhere there is a shop, there is a doorway with a destructible over it, and I saw this on some standard levels, too. I also noticed that there are several monsters that you simply can't kill in a good area to ensure the coin drop. Many of my drops have ended up in the water or falling in front of one of these doorways. Easy come, easy go, I guess.

Rollers of the Realm is the most unique game I've played in years. The concept is what originally caught my attention. A combination of pinball and RPG elements, how is that going to work? Well, it probably shouldn't, but in this case it does.

The quirky pinball characters are unique and even funny. There's great replayability here, too, as you'll need to decide which character, or ball, is best suited to a task, considering width, height, weight, and special abilities, like healing, increased damage, or special attacks.The graphics are beautiful, and the controls are responsive. There is a challenge to some of these areas and puzzles, too, so experienced pinball players and puzzle enthusiasts should find plenty to appreciate here.

It's evident that a lot of time and attention went into the detail for the characters, environment, clothing, speech, and story. The outcome is a very consistent experience that's easy to get into and enjoyable. Gamers of all ages should consider giving ROTR a try.

One thing that I want to point out is that there is an interruption in flow as new goals are met or characters are introduced for the first time, and that can seem awkward at first. However, that interruption is part of the story and RPG aspect of the game, so it's definitely necessary, and it's easy to get used to. Afterward, the pinball gameplay is uninterrupted, and players can revisit areas to obtain loot or treasure they might have missed, without repeating the story. This is certainly not a negative, but it is something I noticed that others are very likely to experience. It was awkward for me at first, and I wondered if I was going to be able to enjoy the pinballing aspect of the game. I hung with it, though, and soon that wasn't even a consideration.

I'm fascinated by this game, and I applaud the developers for taking such a bold risk by pairing these gaming elements into one cohesive experience. I intend to play this game again, and I hope to see more.