Recent reviews by tatzelwesen

Ratopia ist ein sehr spaßiges, gut gemachtes Juwel.
Manche vergleichen es mit Oxygen not Included - ich finde Ratopia aber ehrlich gesagt besser. Oxygen war mir zu stressig und hatte mir zu viele Begrenzungen, während Ratopia mich absolut abholt.
Trotz Early Access ist die Spieltiefe bereits ziemlich ausgereift. Es erscheinen regelmäßig Updates.

Was man sagen muss: Ratopia nimmt einen nicht unbedingt an die Hand. Gerade am Anfang wird man mit seiner Rattenkolonie ein paar mal scheitern, bis man immer mehr den Dreh raus hat. Dafür fühlt sich die Lernkurve schön rewarding an.
Die Schwierigkeit lässt sich frei einstellen - z.B. neuerdings auch in einen Modus völlig ohne Kämpfe.

Von der Controllersteuerung können sich andere Aufbauspiele eine dicke Scheibe abschneiden.

i had a blast, and I'm still thinking about this game, many months after finishing it.

So, I promised to update my review, so here we are.

First things first: I have a love-hate-relationship with the fantasy genre. On one hand, it gives me life. But on the other, I've grown tired of the same old cliches and stereotypes in stories that lack true innovation or self-reflection. I'm also tired of the voices who claim that everything in fantasy is completely unrelated to real life, and diversifying the genre would be unnecessarily "political". Bleh. Tolkien, the father of our current fantasy genre, was a mastermind, but he also grew up in a time where old racist ideas were very much in fashion, and spent his first years in apartheid South Afrika. What he writes about the dark skinned orks is 1:1 what was written about Black people in order to justify their enslavement during the Atlantic Slave Trade. When racist ideas permeate culture, you soak them up, and it takes active work to get rid of them instead of reproducing them. But I don't want to argue. I just want diversity in fantasy. I want characters and stories that still resonate in current times.

And Pendula Swing really shows how this could be done.

In this game, you play a retired hero who has lived her (seemingly) well-deserved pensionary years on an island with her spouse. The game starts when she is forced to leave her isolation and to enter society again. A lot has changed there. The world is no longer black and white. Races that she once fought because they were seen as enemies have now migrated into the city. For the first time, their voices are being heard. It's a time of protests, civil unrest and change. How will she - or rather: you - respond to this? Are you still a hero of war, or did you commit genocide? Will you proudly wear your name or will you prefer to not be recognized?

Pendula Swing weaves together three different layers: The basic tropes and stereotypes reflect Fantasy, the atmosphere is set in the 20s, whilst the story centers on very current topics and questions. It discusses colonianism, racism and transphobia (briefly), among others.
Much of the game consists of exploring the city, finding out what people think and need, and helping them. If that's not your cup of tea and if you expect an RPG to have combat, then this will not be the right game for you.

I for one, had an tremendous amount of fun. The writing is witty, the characters interesting, and the world draws you in. I found it hard to lay down Pendula Swing once I started playing.

That said, there are a few things that diminished my joy with the game:
- First, bugs. I had to start over once because a bug prevented me from continuing in the main quest. In my second save, I couldn't help the homeless orks even though I think I fulfilled all the requirements. Those are just the worst bugs I encountered, and they were frustrating as heck.
- Some things seemed clunky. For instance, I was dating this person who clearly said they only wanted a monogamous relationship. Yet, when they met my other partner in my home, they said... nothing. (No one addresses a non-monogamous playstyle in this game.)

That's also part of another set of 'soft' criticism: Some threads of the story left me aching for more. I would have loved to have more content in the final quest with my wife, for example. Same as all the dating routes. I don't count this as a negative, though. Of course the game could have improved if more work went into it, if the team and budget had been bigger.

I still give Pendula Swing an enthusiastic thumbs up because I ache for these kind of games, I had fun and I can clearly see the love that went into the game. I'm hoping that the bugs will be smoothed out, and above all I hope the developers will make more games like this one. Gimme more immersive RPGs with that don't need traditional combat. Gimme more smart, innovative stories. Gimme more like Pendula Swing.

I'm very much of a casual gamer. If I get to a playtime of 15 hours of a game, that's already a LOT for me. I try games that offer an interesting concept, a unique silly humor or a compelling narrative. I'm picky.
I have now over 100 hours at Rimworld and I only want to play more.
Due to its costumizing options and active modder community, Rimworld can be many things. For me it's a bit like Sims but in the Sci Fi genre. I play at a low difficulty setting and with mods that let be build a complex life for my settlers in the way that I want it. (Hello, polyamorous tribe!) Every now and then a raid comes along; I smack them down, imprison the survivors and over time convince them to come join my tribe instead.
But Rimworld is good at many things. It gives equal joy to those who seek warmongering and adrenaline.
I also have to say that the simulation aspect is INCREDIBLY well done. I just recently realized that a pond in my area shrinks during a hot summer and only gets bigger again when the rain period in autumn starts.
There's lots of little stuff like that. You rarely have to fret about stupid AI, and if something does annoy you after a while, there's a mod to fix it.
Thank you developers and modders for this gem of a leisure activity <3

This precious little gem manages to weave many of the main philosophical questions about AI into a touching parable.
While your choices don't affect the scenes much, they do, however, have an impact:
You get to decide the main character's narrative: What she wants and dreams and what she struggles with.
And we can decide for ourselves what might be right or wrong in the supposed dilemma about Eliza. This kind of control over the story was refreshing to experience.
The game left me with questions and a soft, warily hopeful melancholy.

10/10 would play solitaire again

After already having a lot of fun with the first part, I bought D:OS2 while in beta and never regretted it.
The rounded battle system, how skills work, how it looks - everything is so darn well made.
But what got me hooked ultimately was the story. You'll read a lot of charming, a bit freakish, or funny lines. I often found myself laughing loudly.
D:OS2 is also cool as a coop game, and it even has a gamemaster mode to be used while playing Pen&Paper.

Full of bugs. Fun gets lost after a very few rounds - it's the same all the time.

This game is sweet and awesome. It has wit, it has a funny, well-made and complicated (those timelines!) story and a lot of love in the detail. I use to click on everything because I find Rufus' dialogues wunderful.

I've read so many spoilers that I know what will await me in the end. To the negative reviewers: stop complaining about the meal just because you don't like the style of the dessert.
If you are irritated by a 'unhappy ending', or when the character you play is not the typical good guy, don't play this game.
If you dislike fokusing on dialogues, keep your hands from it.
If you can't stand having to peer at a walkthough every now and then, this is not the right game for you either.

Else... Well. After 6 hours of play, I'd give 9/10 points. Absolutely in love.

Could you fix my heart again?

I cannot praise this game enough. It's smart and an unreasonable amount of fun.
I don't like Point&Click games - at least that's what I thought Deponia blew my mind.

The character you play, Rufus, is a constant thief, does what he wants no matter how much harm it does and generally is an egocentric b**** who doesn't give a ♥♥♥♥ about other people's feelings... Which is a pretty good metaphor for how we usually behave when playing an Point & Click adventure. Think about it. We take everything without wondering whether it belongs to us. We try out everything, and are delighted if it worked - even if we've caused wreck and havock. That's Rufus.

Somehow, Rufus has grown dear to my heart in spite of, or because of how the character was written. And he *cough* convinced me to tell you that you should buy this game. Full price. It's worth it.