Recent reviews by SHADOWELITE7

This is the best way to play the original Age of Empires II with all the classic graphics and music

Nostalgia is quite a powerful thing. You may be nostalgic for computers, games, movies, or a time period. While these reviews are mainly about games. What if there was a game that turned technology into a game? Well, there is such a game, and it’s fun. The game is called ProgressBar95.

ProgressBar95 is a game that takes inspiration from Windows and Macintosh operating systems. When playing the game, you already know how to get around it since it’s like using Windows or Mac. All the programs from an operating system are made to be built like a mini-game. Everything in the game is revolved around one thing which is a ProgressBar or the loading bar whenever you are downloading a new program or waiting for a game to load. The goal is to fill up the bar, however, there are different colored segments you will be used to fill up the bar. Each of the segments is great but some of them can harm you. Since the game is like an operating system. The game over screen is the Blue Screen of Death. The mini-game’s are based on programs and other games that ran of Windows and Mac operating system. Each of these programs will have a familiar name given to them like ProgressXL for Microsoft Excel and Progresstien3D for Wolfenstien 3D. Each of the operating systems on ProgressBar95 are based on the names for Windows and mac which are ProgressBar95 for Windows95 and BarOS for MacOS. Even one is named after Windows Millennium Edition as ProgressBar MEME.


As for games in general, there is a progression system in Progressbar95. You will start out using ProgressBar95, but you will see a bunch of operating systems that can’t be accessed. To progress, you can play the main mode which is the progressbar or the mini games. In the main mode, you will want to fill up the bar as much as possible. When you are finished, the reward screen will show you what looks like a leveling up bar and the tiers on that bar are computer parts. The progression is basically that every time you complete all the tiers. You will gain a new computer, a new operating system or an upgraded version of that same operating system. Sometimes you will need multiple upgraded operating systems like for an example, “ProgressBar95 Pro” so you can gain a special operating system that you can’t gain from the default progression. Some of these special operating systems can change the way ProgressBar95 can play or some like PBDOS are there for the nostalgia.

Versions? There are versions of this game? I thought this was only on computers. Well, this game is on PC via steam but is also available on mobile too. The mobile version is free with ads and microtransactions while the game on steam is listed with a $4.99 price tag. I’ve actually played the mobile version first to try it out and when I found it to be enjoyable. I bought the game on steam and didn’t mind starting over from a few months of playtime.
Largely the main difference is screen size and accessibility. For me, the Steam version for computer play makes it easier and more familiar since it’s like an operating system. Some of the mini-games like Progresstien3D are a lot harder to play with a touch screen versus arrow keys and space bar.
Aside from that, I prefer the Steam version because it has one feature that is exclusive to the computer version that mobile doesn’t have. The game has the option to render a CRT Display and simulate the refresh rate of a CRT Monitor. Probably why it looks like the mouse is moving at slower frames per second on your 60 to 100+ Hz monitor. To me, this is pretty nostalgic as I remember having a big HP CRT monitor for my Windows XP desktop which I still have to this day.


There are so many mini-games that are based on computer programs many people use on a daily basis and some games are based on games and certain media from the past. The mini games are quite addictive and simple to play if you are already familiar with them.

• Progress Browser
  
• Based on the Internet explorer browser
  
• Progress Browser in ProgressBar95 has the aesthetics of internet explorer and lets you explore the game’s version of the internet. Even some of the pages take quite a lot of inspiration from social media like Facebook (pbBook)

• Progress Defender
  
• Based on Windows Defender
  
• Progress Defender is a tower defense game where you are trying to defend yourself from the evil Clippy’s

• ProgressXL
  
• Based on the program Microsoft Excel
  
• ProgressXL is a Maze game that has the design of Excel. You can only cross on zeroes. Some numbers and symbols will harm you while others will give you bonus points. Going on a letter will corrupt your progressbar.

• Progress CMD
  
• Based on the command prompt in Windows
  
• It’s a text-based adventure in which you can use commands that are used in the command prompt. You can do whatever you want such as deleting system 32 in the game or putting the trash bin in a trash bin.

• Progress Commander
  
• Based on Total Commander file-sharing program

• Progresstien3D
  
• Based on the classic video game from ID Software “Wolfenstien3D”
  
• You play as a dog shooting at clippy’s and other known entities like calculators. While saving your precious puppies in the process.

• ProgressBall
  
• Based on the pinball games used in previous windows operating systems

• ProgresSolitaire
  
• Based on the classic solitaire game that has been bundled into Windows Operating Systems
  
• A more miniature version of Solitaire
  
• My favorite was Spider Solitaire for Windows XP

• ProgressTrix
  
• Based on a widely known arcade puzzle game called Tetris
  
• Plays very similarly to Tetris but the blocks aren’t like Tetris blocks. Makes it more challenging. It’s more based on Classic Tetris. There is no highlight at the bottom of the screen like in most modern Tetris games.

• Matrix
  
• Based on the hacker screen in the movie series of the same name

• 3D Screensaver
  
• Based on the outer space screensavers

ProgressBar95 is a cool game for those who want to sit back and relax to enjoy a game. Whether that is on your computer or mobile device. Whichever version you play is up to you. If you find this nostalgic. Then I think you will like this recommendation.

DOOM is one of the most famous and influential games of all time. It is the backbone of good game design for first-person shooters from the predecessor Wolfenstein 3D and Doom’s successor Quake. While other games have quickly followed Doom’s design principles. John Carmack would later release the Doom Engine (ID Tech 1) source code to the public under the GNU General Public License (GPL). This allowed the game to live long after its original release in 1993. Fans of Doom have been tinkering with the Doom Engine Source Code to make their own mods, Source Ports, and their own games like Selaco, Brutal Fate, Stellar Valkyrie, and Beyond Sunset.

Doom is a great game; I am not sure why you would say it’s not. Doom’s gameplay revolves around you making tight decisions on which weapon is best to kill a demon and managing your resources like health, armor, and ammo. Each weapon you carry can either share or have its own ammo type. This makes each weapon unique to its play style. The game encourages you to stay in the action, and never slow down, even slowing down just to play tactically is the same as suicide and no one wants that at all. Learning to play the game for what it wants you to play will be even more rewarding. Even listening to the game’s soundtrack makes it feel like you are in a gym on a routine exercise. Funny, the Doom lore states that Doom Guy can run 50 miles per hour on foot (not by vehicle).
From my experience playing these games. My first was Quake 1. Later on, I played Doom and enjoyed it, along with the use of source ports like GZDoom. Other favorites are Heretic and Hexen. One of the things I like about Doom is the constant flow of action from one level to the next. The same can be said for similar games, but here I am covering Doom and only Doom. The progression of weapons is pretty solid starting with your fists and a pistol to the BFG 9000. Each weapon is balanced to a certain degree that makes you feel empowered over all the demons on Mars, Earth, Deimos, or even the Demon’s home called Hell. In the Doom Guy’s perspective, it’s not a “you are trapped with them” but “you are trapped with me”. The only thing the Demons fear is you.
There are hundreds or even thousands of Doom source ports. I have not used them, even when playing Doom for the first time. I chose GZDoom as my main source port for playing Doom Engine games.
GZDoom powers most of the mods I know and enhancements for Doom. Some of these mods will be covered, but I will give out a few things I like about GZDoom.
GZDoom is based on ZDoom but instead of software rendering like most games from the 90s. GZDoom offers OpenGL and Vulkan Rendering which makes Doom engine games feel like a modern 3D but not a completely 3D game. GZDoom allows you to have a full mouse look, be able to jump (which wasn’t possible in the original game), being able to have widescreen support, and have a higher framerate. If you are a developer or someone who likes typing in Cheat Codes. GZDoom includes a Quake-style console so you can have a visual display of what the level is loading or see if that Cheat Code was put in there correctly.

Brutal Doom is a mod that makes Doom…well…BRUTAL! Brutal Doom adds more gore than the original Doom and finishing moves to make demons want to run away from Doom Guy. This also inspired Doom 4 (2016) and Eternal to add Glory Kills. Fans will love this mod as you can play Brutal Doom with its custom levels or replay with the original Doom levels from 1 and 2. People may have thought Doom was violent but Brutal Doom intensifies the violence to the extreme.

Voxel Doom is a visual mod that turns Doom into a full 3D game. Doom originally isn’t 3D, but a top-down shooter rendered in first-person point of view. Each sprite is represented in 3D form. A voxel is a 3D pixel. Walking around objects in Voxel doom will look 3D vs always facing towards you no matter the direction or position in which the player is at. The Doom engine originally never support 3D objects. Other engines from the 90s like Ken Silverman’s BUILD Engine for legendary Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, and Blood. Later versions of the BUILD Engine will use Voxels instead Sprites. Now I wonder what would happen if someone ported Doom or remade Doom in the BUILD Engine. But aside from that, Voxel Doom is a visual mod for those who are curious in trying it after years of playing the original game and realizing that it’s not a 3D game.

Way back in 1993, Doom came with multiplayer, but it wasn’t online. You could only play on the Local Area Network. A year later, DWANGO (Dial-up Wide Area Network Game Operation) came out and would let you play online using Dial-Up internet at the time. Nowadays we are on Broadband internet and don’t have to deal with Dial-Up connections. While this was new for Doom at the time. Is there a way to play classic Doom with broadband internet? There is and there are two different clients to play the same game but with enhancements since both stem from the ZDoom engine (What GZDoom is based on).
Most of my experience playing Doom multiplayer is from a nice community called United States Doom & Quake Community. I sometimes hop in and enjoy what they have to offer for Doom multiplayer events. The clients we use are called ZDaemon and Zandronum. Both multiplayer source ports are very similar but offer other things to differentiate.
ZDaemon offers a unique account system, an email isn’t required besides the one for the forum. You must make a username and password and your data can be used on multiple computers. ZDaemon does have a leveling/ranking system that does sync to a leaderboard so you can see which player has the highest level in the system. Leveling up at a certain level will give you the reward to have custom profile pictures in the client and the leaderboard. Nothing too fancy and there are no cosmetics either to make Doom Guy look pretty. ZDaemon does automatically install IWAD files and Mods when you join a server that has a community-made map or weapon types.
Zandronum does offer similar features that ZDaemon has but since it is a bit newer in comparison. There’s no account system like ZDaemon and its server browser is cross-platform so other clients can use it. Zandronum does support more mods than ZDaemon like Brutal Doom so you can play multiplayer on that.
You can play on both of these clients, doesn’t have to be one over the other and I think that’s what is great about them as some of them may offer a different multiplayer experience.

Doom is a fantastic game and so is the community. I enjoy playing the game as much as I enjoy discovering new things for the game. The multiplayer is fun and so are the mods like Brutal Doom. If you are a new player thinking about trying the original doom from researching or playing the reboots. I wouldn’t start hesitating to get it. I would recommend getting the game as you will find it enjoyable for endless amounts of hours.

In an age where Simulators/Simulations have to focus on one thing: "realistic as possible". Dwarf Fortress stands out and doesn't have to follow this #1 rule in Sim design. While Dwarf Fortress isn't new and is actually 20 years old. Started development in 2002. Came out for free in 2006. Dwarf Fortress has started a name for itself as "The most complex game ever created". With the new Steam version out which upgrades the game to be more accessible for players (like me) who couldn't get into the game but thought the game was pretty interesting. Even when looking more deeply into this wonderful game, you may be surprised that there have been a lot of games inspired by Dwarf Fortress like Minecraft, Terraria, and Rimworld. There are even several games that may look like Dwarf Fortress, and those games have their own spin. Dwarf Fortress even created its own genre called the Colony Sim which would make this game the first of its kind.


Well Dwarf Fortress under the hood is a World Simulator. When creating a world, you can set the parameters on how you want it to be. Instead of a loading screen like most games when creating a world. You get to see the world forming. In the text box in the top left corner. You get to see the dawn of civilizations, wars, plagues, and anything you can think of that would happen in a world that is generating. There are 3 different game modes, each in integration with the world you created. As it is a World Simulator. What you do in these game modes will change what you did in the world. The three game modes are:

1. Fortress
   
2. Adventurer
   
3. Legends

Fortress mode which is very popular is your Colony Management Simulator. You start with 7 dwarfs, all with their own personalities, thoughts, emotions, and what they may or may not want to do. Fortress mode does have a tutorial and it only teaches you what you can do at the start. The game doesn't hold your hand. the game doesn't give you any goals. You are set to make your own goal and see how long your colony will survive. The game will give you interactive book-long tips on how to do certain things and you can reread them if you can't remember or misread something. There will be many dangers and even if your colony didn't survive. You can always start a new one and see if you can improve your previous attempt in the same world. Remember losing is fun. You can't win in Dwarf Fortress and this game doesn't have a win condition or You are victorious. The world will keep on going as part of the World Simulator. Even if your fortress was destroyed. Instead of game over. Whatever year that fortress ended. The years will continue to the next fortress.

Here is my current run. I finished the tutorial. I saw a bunch of dead animals lying down outside of my hamlet "Erarthob Leadgirders". I had no dwarf set to hunt and began to worry about something. Once the traders came by but had nothing to trade. I saw a bear just lying dead on the ground. Several of my dwarfs caught a plague and it was close to winter. I found out on the DF Wiki that I couldn't make a farm in the winter but I could make one underground if there was soil or sandy soil. Surely enough I struck an elevation rich in red sandy soil. While I wasn't sure the kind of plants I had. I found out these 50 Plump Helmets weren't Helmets at all. Instead, they were purple mushrooms that had the ability to grow underground in any type of soil. I started planting them and I was able to survive my first year with plenty of food and Mushroom Wine. Thank you DF Wiki.


Adventurer is an Open World Sandbox Role Playing Game. You can do whatever you want as you see fit. You can even chat with dwarfs in your Retired fortress or explore your abandoned fortresses. You can go on quests, and set up camp. pretty much what you do in an RPG. This mode is currently not available in the current version of this game but however, there are pretty interesting stories that can happen. I would recommend watching Sseth review of the game. I haven't played Adventurer mode but I will when it's out or try it when I either retire or my fortress is destroyed.


Legends is technically not a game mode but more like a Book about the world you created. It has stories that are happening in your world. World events, wars, what is happening to your retired fortresses. If you are into lore, this would make you happy. Even when you do something in Fortress and Adventurer. Legends will change as well even if you weren't in it all the time. As I said, Dwarf Fortress is a World Simulator. Whatever is happening in the world will show up in legends. If you had a dragon come by to visit and destroy your fortress. You can find that same dragon's name in legends and realize. It wasn't a random event. Instead, the dragon was on its quest for a dwarven holocaust as one dwarf stole the dragon's gold. While the dragon couldn't find the thief. The dragon decided to go on a rampage destroying every dwarven kingdom until it finds the thief.

I recommend the game to anyone looking for Unique experiences. I have tried this game many of times and even bought a guidebook to learn how to play. But with the steam version with an in-game tutorial, mouse support, an official tileset made by members from the DF community, brand new music which also has dwarven language for lyrics, and steam workshop support for making it easier to set up mods. This game may end up being one of the games that you will be playing forever. This game is a labor of Love and the developers have been working on this game for over 20 years with the goal to "simulate all of existence". This game just like when it was released back in 2006 is nowhere near 1.0. The game is currently on 50.04 meaning it's 50% completed. This is a pretty Interesting and Unique game. Even if it took decades to be this good. I don't think other games that may take 2-4 years will have this much detail as Dwarf Fortress. As someone who never really like Simulators/simulations because they were trying to be too realistic which isn't appealing to me. Dwarf Fortress feels like a breath of fresh air to the genre and I think with this steam version. It will give new players the experience that many in the genre don't offer.

My original copy of Age of Empires II didn't come with the music. My first time listening to the music was in the definitive edition and I really enjoyed it. I listen to it when playing the game or doing other things outside of the game.

The music is phenomenal while staying true to the original music but modernizing it with Orchestral instruments. Check out my review of the game.
https://youtu.be/DCZtLv3wINQ?si=QHrSkcws-D0eqpdY

This is the definitive/modern way of playing Age of Empires II. Offering accessibility features such as auto scout. This game has stood the test of time and has stayed relevant even in its own genre.

"During my high school years. I saw a trailer from Microsoft about a remastered version of the Age of Empires game. I ended up having to wait to try out the remaster due to not having a Windows 10 pc and the pc I had before which ran on Vista at the time couldn’t upgrade to Windows 10. The wait was well worth it and I got the game when it was released on Steam. While I wasn’t too familiar with what a remaster was. I looked at it and it blew me away. From playing the original Age of Empires for almost a decade. The graphical upgrades were quite insane. While I never cared much for graphical fidelity. It was cool how they upped the fidelity to 11 but kept it very faithful. Even more faithful to the point that the remaster uses the same Genie engine used for the original game. Another thing they did that made the game sound pretty interesting was that they changed the music from MIDI Sounds too real orchestral music using actual instruments. One thing that was added was a narrator for the campaigns.

There were some things that were included in the remaster that are optional like turning on blood. Even though the original game doesn’t have blood. I did enable it and tried it for an hour. I Didn’t notice it and decided to disable it.

I never had the experience to play online multiplayer, let alone I never knew how to use MSN Gaming Zone around the time when it was still around when playing the original. I noticed the game would use the Xbox Live service for the multiplayer but good thing I realized I didn’t have to pay for it since I was on PC.

When I first entered a multiplayer Duel. I decided to message the enemy player by saying I was new to RTS Multiplayer. From years of experience playing by myself in the campaigns or random maps. I noticed the enemy player would use houses in place of walls. He did end up building a wonder, but I went on the other side of the map to send a bunch of Centurions to easily destroy the wonder. Only one was left remaining and I took out the wonder before the other player could cry out for victory. I decided to defend myself, I walled myself in but only left the other 2 sides open. Near the walls would have Babylonian towers and monks. While gaining more resources in the process. I was able to build a wonder. I successfully defended myself from incoming attacks and turned enemy catapults into my own using the monks. I angered the other player, and he sent out a message saying I lied and surrendered. I gained a victory, but it was a lucky one that lasted for two hours. I did end up replaying the campaigns I had finished all those years ago. Most of them were the same with some of the campaign titles different. I did like how they added the Age of Empires Demo campaign which wasn’t in the original release. While knowing everything and how to beat the game. I ended up having an Achievement completion in under four months of playing the game."
https://youtu.be/DCZtLv3wINQ?si=QHrSkcws-D0eqpdY

Remember that time when you first played a platformer game like Super Mario Bros or Commander Keen? You have beaten them so many times and realized you wish it was harder. Such a game like this can be brutal but easy to get into. Spelunky is the game I’ll be covering today.


Spelunky is a platformer with Procedurally generated levels and permadeath that have been borrowed from the Roguelike genre. You play as a Spelunker who is going on an adventure down to the caves, jungle, icy caverns, and the temple level. Pretty much, the goal is to survive, collect gold, and finish the game without dying. This may sound easy from hearing about it when playing other platformers. Since Procedural Generation and Permadeath are involved dying makes you restart the game, and the levels aren’t going to be the same. Making it so that mesmerizing the level layout is not going to work out for you. Each play-through allows you to experiment with other gameplay styles as you discover more items, weapons, and different ways of completing the level. Just don’t take too long or a Ghost will come to chase you to your grave.
Even though there is permadeath involved, Spelunky has a life system and unlike having to collect a certain number of points to gain a life. You have to save a damsel in distress to gain a life. This however poses a challenge as you won’t be able to defend yourself when carrying a damsel. Even dropping the damsel will let the damsel run for help to be saved. This will cause an issue for you as there will be traps that the damsel may activate, or you accidentally killed the damsel when fighting a hostile creature like a Giant Spider.
There are a lot of hostile enemies you will encounter. Even some NPCs will be hostile when provoked like the Shopkeeper. Either steal items or try to kill the shopkeeper, if you try to kill or steal from the shopkeeper, he will head straight for you with his mighty shotgun. If lucky, you kill the shopkeeper, you gain a shotgun. However, more shopkeepers on the other levels will have a wanted poster of you, and buying things may not happen again unless you want to take the risk to fight a shopkeeper. The majority of those kinds of runs will lead you to find a hostile shopkeeper near the end of the level waiting for you.


Spelunky Classic is technically the first Spelunky game. Originally came out in 2009 as a freeware game, along with its source code so others can make mods for the game. The game is made by Derek Yu, an Indie game developer from California. He had made successful games previously and was the artist that made the graphical tile set for Chaosforge’s “Doom the Roguelike”, currently known as “DRL”. The game itself graphically looks like a classic arcade game from the NES era. While I am not really saying you should try this game based on its graphics. What is this version going to give you in return?
Well, you won’t have to pay for it. The game doesn’t require a decent computer to run the game. You will have endless amounts of playtime as the game is highly addictive. This particular version of Spelunky does come with a built-in level editor if you want to create your own levels. Share the levels with friends and see if they can face the challenge you brought onto them. There are a lot of things you can have fun with within this version of Spelunky. Whether that is playing the game, making levels, or modding the game. However, even downloading the source code will require you to own Gamemaker or unless you have Gamemaker Studio 1 which supports gmk files that the source code uses.
I have had loads of fun playing this version of Spelunky. Spending countless hours playing, learning new gameplay styles, and figuring out how I can beat the game. That’s right, I haven’t beaten the game, but I still have fun playing Spelunky. Even if I do finish the game, it will send me back as if I haven’t finished it at all. The game does have a scoring system and it will show you how many times you died and how many times you won. There are secret rooms you can unlock in the score room but even I can’t tell you what they are as that would be a spoiler. You will encounter friendly NPCs along the way to do simple tasks that won’t restart when you die.


Not much has changed in this remake in terms of gameplay design. Visually, the game looks more like a comic book cartoon art style. While there are some differences compared to the classic game. You may not have a reason to switch but however, but you may want to read this more. The remake is made in a new game engine made specifically for Spelunky HD. The HD version comes with Multiplayer in the form of a shared screen coop and shared screen deathmatch. The HD remake does offer more content in the form of more playable explorers. Some of the explorers can be found in coffins or secret levels within a level. The HD remake does come with a journal so you can keep your progress on what you have discovered. This version does offer better parts of the game such as making the area dark which will allow you to use torches. In the Classic, you will be given a box full of torches but the levels themselves won’t be dark. The HD Remake doesn’t come with a level editor or official modding tools like the Classic version. However, the community has made some unofficial modding tools for the HD Remake.


Spelunky in itself is a very fun game. You will have many different playthroughs that will allow you to experiment with the mechanics of the game. Even if the game sounds hard to beat. but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad game. Games like Spelunky encourage replayability even if it means you didn’t complete the game on the first try. Whether you play the Classic or HD Remake. It is up to you to decide what is best for you.