Recent reviews by T-wRecks

This is why giving an incentive to nominate 2021 games for awards to people who don't normally play year of release games is a bad idea. Just sayin'.

As for the game, idle games are such an incredibly narrow niche that I can't begin to say if anyone else will like it. It's free to play and 100% achievements can easily be done free. Up to you.

It's a somewhat inferior version of The Room series, which themselves are Mystlike lonely puzzle games with lots of tactile, grabby, pokey elements. With that said, there's room for entertaining games below The Rooms(?), and this fits in that space. The framing device here is a lot of Leonardo plus a bit of supernatural, instead of the "messing with elder gods" approach of The Rooms. But still, this even has the lenses to look through to find hidden stuff. I enjoyed it, but play whichever of The Rooms (and maybe The Mysts ;) if they weren't so ancient) you can get a good deal on first.

The game was softlocking on me most of the time loading up a match, and then softlocking after if it didn't before. Running as admin and windowed (not borderless, bleh) has seemed to stabilize it for me personally. However, many people have had to do other things or it just plain wouldn't run for them. So, even if I end up enjoying this myself (which is quite possible), I can't possibly recommend it to anyone else.

(April '21, looong after release, with '22 announced. It's safe to assume this is not getting fixed.)

Anyone that knows me on here much knows I like pinball, real and virtual, and this is the top virtual pinball title around nowadays. So it's pretty self-evident that I like this.

...Except to Steam, which requires me to write a review for a badge level. So here it is. I like this. Hope you're happy, Steam.

Supposedly, one of the factors for getting a game out of profile features limited purgatory is positive reviews, so I'll get over my laziness and help the cause here. As far as the game itself, I like the Logistical 1 model a bit better. But this has a few free modules (note the current achievements (limited to 100 due to the restriction) are in the paid module), and you probably already know if you like the series or not, so act accordingly. I do, so here you go.

Shockingly, whatever you think about all the other Logistical modules will likely be exactly what you think about this one. Imagine that.

This one probably isn't for everyone, but many will like it a lot, including myself.

It's a third person action-adventure game (Metroidvania?), with a good comparison probably being A Link to the Past amd other top-down Zeldas. There's a continent composed of square regions to explore, and underground areas below almost all of it. You start on a fairly linear path, and have it slowly open up by gaining abilities and new protagonists until the entire continent opens up. Then, of course, it's time to go save it. ;) There are also areas that you'll pass by that become accessible later with new abilities / characters.

Unlike similar games, you have 4 different protagonists (1 at a time), each with different ability sets. So they often have to move through an area in different ways, and some areas and secrets are designed for specific characters. Each character has to reach checkpoints / fast travel points independently to unlock them, so you'll be seeing the same territory several times (but often not in the same way), even above the amout of backtracking usually involved in this sort of game. Some people won't like this, which is why I say the game isn't for everyone. I didn't mind.

The graphics are in the cartoony "Warcrafty" style, which works for this, and they look very nice for the style. The sound is nice but not remarkable, no voice acting. The achievements are for finding individual secrets scattered throughout the game; 100% is quite doable on the first playthrough for diligent explorers. Apparently at some point losing save games was an issue for some, but supposedly it's been addressed and I had no such problems.

TL;DR: if you have a strong opinion (either way) about top-down Zeldas and similar games, expect to feel the same about World to the West. Myself, I liked it a lot.

Update: Revised to thumbs up, all achievements work now after a patch.

This is a solid enough representative of its series and genre. I'm not quite sure what to call that genre heh... maybe the construction foreman genre? Anyway, it's the pretty common casual game genre where you order a bunch of workers to build, repair, collect resources, and generally terraform a bunch of one screen maps as quickly as possible. Lots of examples, no good name for it. This game is one of those, and it does that fine. It's part of a series, with the distinctive bits being you have weather related spells to clear certain obstacles and enemies, and to reload resources for your workers to collect. Some items also have to be crafted from menus while you're managing everything else. Anyway, solid enough, and the achievements all work now after a patch.

It's a quite divisive casual genre; some people utterly despise these, others like them. I'm in the latter group. This title won't change your mind either way, but it's a better than average example if you do like them.

I played and finished this in an hour so you don't have to lol. It's bad, really bad. The worst HOG I've played to date. Low-res, which is awful for a HOG, reuses the same scenes and the same objects in the same places in those same scenes, and still only lasts an hour with that filler. The install was 12MB. 12MB for a non-pixel/non-retro game. Just no. Avoid like... whatever you personally really avoid.

Disclaimer: I was given a key for this game by the developer. It was expressly not in return for any consideration other than general non-review feedback. But since I've enjoyed it, here we are.

Tricone Lab is an untimed puzzle game. The setting is a view of stylized cellular level organisms, presumably looking through a microscope in a biochemistry lab. In each level, the object is to produce a specified quantity (generally 1-3) of a "molecule" called Tricone. This is done by moving red, blue, and green cone objects into the same cell as a catalyst object. There are many other objects that can make this process easier or harder. There are objects to break cell walls, to make new walls, to transport objects through walls, components to make other objects, to break things down into components, etc. So each level is about using the resources you have available to get the right quantity of cones through the present cells to a catalyst. I find the puzzles to be quite well designed.

If I had to pick a game to compare the mechanics to, it's probably Divide by Sheep. Both have a fixed quantity of resources that you have to carefully maneuver around the level to get them where they need to go. And both are very solid games.

Don't be concerned by the Early Access tag. While still technically a beta, this is a polished, fully working product. The core levels are already done, with possibly some slight future changes to get the learning / difficulty curve right. And with a level editor, the developer is also hoping to build up some user submitted levels. But in my opinion, the Early Access designation could be removed today and the game would be fine.

Story: You're making a molecule called Tricone from cells. Presumably in a lab. That's it and that's fine. It's a puzzle game, not a visual novel, adventure game, or grand rpg.

Visuals: Minimal 2D, but fitting the game. Cell walls are black with grey, black, and white backgrounds and resources. The exceptions are the cones and Tricone, which makes them stand out as the main objectives. The cell walls are a bit squirmy to sell the concept.

Sound: Also minimal but fitting. It's just a few short bits of music and sounds that sound unobtrusive and vaguely scienceish. Feel free to play your own music.

Length: I'm currently at 6.5 hours, about 85% through the stock levels. The remainder will probably be slower, and I suspect I've been faster paced than most will be to this point. There are also a couple of sets of user created levels available now, with more presumably being added over time. And you could choose to create levels. Update: I finished the stock levels (and got all of the current achievements) in 9 hours. It sounds like that may be on the quick side.

Difficulty: Challenging, but I've never been really stuck at any point yet. So in a nice spot for me. Others milage may easily vary.

Achievements: Straightforward, simply for completing each set of stock levels. 100% the stock levels and you'll get all of them. Possibly subject to change as it is Early Access, but the end result should be fair and reasonable.

TL:DR: I like it and recommend it. If you like puzzle games with a solid but not overwhelming challenge this is a good choice.