Recent reviews by Vapor Dosh

sudo apt install supertux

Classic known to every Linux user with any interest in games, Supertux is good amount of fun with endearing presentation. It's still being worked on, but community level packs are more than enough to keep you occupied for a longer while.

Let me be clear from the start that I did not hate this game and this is closer to a neutral review or a contrarian view on it. It would be absolutely unfair of me to say that this is a terrible piece of trash that you should not touch at any cost, but I can say that in my opinion this is probably the lowest point for the series.

The reason it doesn't completely click is a subtle shift towards melodrama. There is still a really fair amount of humor, but you might think there's something off when the first episode that is mostly the same old Sam & Max fare starts and ends with the monologues of the new character, the Narrator, whose job for most of the season is seemingly to make you forget you're supposed to be playing a comedic adventure game. There's also the overarching story arc, which I wouldn't mind on principle since season 1 and 2 had their own as well, but without getting into spoilers, in 3 it felt more rigid and dramatic. From stuff I can praise, episode 2 had a clever kind-of-but-not-quite-time-travel structure and framing device, and the second half of episode 3 was unexpectedly interesting.

As for the other aspects, I got used to it, but I would have preferred to keep the classic mouse-only adventure control scheme over instead of the WASD/controller movement. Graphical fidelity improvements are welcome too, but since the series was cartoony in the first place and I had to turn down some settings anyway because my current computer is pretty weak, it's not really a huge difference.

If you're fine with toned down wackiness, this could still be completely up your alley. Personally, I have really mixed feelings about this one, since I liked the sweet humor, but other parts soured it a bit. Just know what you're getting into, I guess?

The original ending for CrossCode wasn't bad, but it did leave me wanting a bit more, and there was that one unresolved plot thread teased at in the stinger. A New Home is basically what I wanted, the "what are they up to now?" for the cast and taking care of that last mystery. There's a nice deal of additional content, as well as some challenge. (let me tell you, the boss of Ku'lero Temple is BRUTAL)

If you enjoyed the base game, this DLC is a must buy.

Sokoban clone with cool art style and demon girls, short and to the point. And it's free, so you have no excuse not to try this.

Worthy successor to the first Shan Gui and Bai Qu, stepping up the presentation even further - backgrounds look as pretty as in Bai Qu, if not prettier, and the comic book transitions work surprisingly well. I just wish they already released the rest of the chapters.

I can't remember the last time I dropped the game, was Ace of Protectors the last one? I usually stick till the end even with bad ones, I freaking finished even Simon the Sorcerer 3D. Wings of Vi makes me sad because there clearly was effort and talent put into this, but I reached the point where I can't force myself to proceed any further. Really, this boils down to two issues, both of which are bad enough, but only make each other more unbearable when they are together.

First, the optimization. My current setup is not usual, nor is it optimal (Linux, therefore Proton for Windows games, and really cheap GPU, because my previous one happened to die recently and I'm too poor for a proper upgrade), but I thought it would be enough for a simple game like this. I was ready to blame framerate problems and input lag (the latter especially unacceptable in this kind of game) on my PC, but plenty of people in other reviews and the forum reported the same problem. One of the solutions proposed in the pinned thread (making a new save... not removing an old one and starting anew, just making a new one and loading the old one... WTF?) removed the input lag and reduced the framerate issue, but didn't entirely fix the latter, so I somehow still had lag in a 2D platformer that I could have played last decade. I would be willing to overlook it if it was just me and my hipster ways, but it appears to be quite widespread, so it's hard to ignore.

The other problem is the general design. Combat feels terrible - it's hard for me to put in words, but neither close combat nor projectiles (you obtain those later) feel good to use, especially when it comes to regular non-boss mobs. There are two specific types of enemies that come to my mind, one appearing very early in the game, which moves erratically and is really hard to hit, and the other (appearing later) with an attack next to impossible to dodge without TAS-like reflexes. These are the two most egregious examples that come to my mind right now, but there is more to this than that. There are other annoying mobs, some boss attack are plain BS (the one that prompted me to write this review has an attack that to me appears to be LITERALLY undodgeable) and add to that pixel-perfect jumps. All of this would be irritating enough by itself, but add bad framerate that I mentioned earlier, plus poor controls (which I guess is what results in poor combat, but also slide/flutter behavior), and you get the perfect anger fuel.

Again, this is really sad because there clearly was an effort. I really like the graphic style, the music is okay, and I like how there are plenty of unlockables and various secrets. If you're lucky enough to not get lag up the wazoo, then MAYBE this game will appeal to you, but I just can't in good faith recommend this, and I say it as someone who likes having a challenge to overcome.

Nice, simple (but not easy) little puzzle game that could use some more attention. Gives me strong MS-DOS vibes.

Really short, but makes up for it by letting you sit on Führer's lap.

I could never get into the MMORPG genre. I didn't get far in the first MMO I tried, dropping it before it supposedly gets good, which probably wasn't helped by me being an asocial git, and getting XP by myself got old fast. Luckily, there is a way to experience the thrill of MMORPGs in a single-player RPG - CrossCode!

You play as Lea, amnesiac girl who undergoes a rather unusual "therapy", playing a VR MMO that she liked before losing her memories. The in-universe MMO, CrossWorlds, has some lore you can bite your teeth into, but for the most part it just serves as a backdrop for gameplay, Lea's interactions with other players, and the proper game's story. Honestly, I feel the plot is one of CrossCode's stronger points, which is in part thanks to really endearing characters; the almost-mute protagonist manages to have way more personality than many chatty heroes from other games, and the party members are no slouches either. (Emilie best girl) Solid twists, comedy scenes, serious moments, the game has it all. The only thing worth complaining about I can think of is that the good ending is currently rather bare-bones. Supposedly it's going to be remedied by post-game content that's going to released later, but right now it kind of just makes you thirsty for more.

The devs cite Legend of Zelda as one of their inspirations, mostly for the way dungeons work. I don't know if it was intended, but I feel some 2D Ys vibes from it too, mostly when it comes to combat, though it's definitely distinct from both of those and I have no idea what game would be the closest analogue. Lea can fight in melee, but she also relies a lot on ranged attacks, which together with her high mobility and additional unlockable skills make the combat system both deep and very fast paced at the same time. Some of these abilities are unlocked as you progress through the story, but you also have a skill grid that lets you pick various combinations of traits; if I remember correctly, Final Fantasy X had a similar leveling system.

Graphics really speak for themselves. They're stylized to resemble a game from late 16-bit era, and if it wasn't for certain effects that the old consoles couldn't handle, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Nintendo should have put it on SNES Mini. Pretty pixel-art aside, what really blows my mind is that the game runs on HTML5. I am not kidding, you can even play the demo in the browser. Truly a technological curiosity, but the game has two technical problems, one minor and one major. The minor issue is that if you're playing in fullscreen in aspect ratio other than 16:9 or weirdly stretched window, the Steam overlay will have problems: https://i.imgur.com/4rmJutY.jpg Nothing gamebreaking, but it's annoying when you're someone who loves making many screenshots. The big one, though, is the performance. The game doesn't look taxing, and it usually isn't, but I experienced some memory leaks here and there, which tank the framerate hard, especially annoying if it happens during an important cutscene. I don't know how much of it is on my side, because I've seen threads of people with the same problem, but it doesn't appear to be universal, so maybe for you it will be buttery smooth 100% of the time.

This game feels seriously overlooked, maybe because it was in Early Access for a long time and people kind of forgot about it. It definitely deserves way more attention, and is a must have for fans of action RPGs.

My La-Mulana 1 review was short and to the point, and I still believe it deserved being called my favorite of 2012, but now I think "ifs and buts" do apply; risking sounding like a gatekeeping hipster, let me say the game is not for everyone. It has little mercy and asks for much, and so will scare away many, but will endear those that persevere. Some of those come back to the game, trying to unlock everything, even speedrunning, but there's only so much you can do before you know the layout of the ruins by heart and even Dracuet's antics no longer surprise you. If only there were other ruins I could explore...

La-Mulana 2 is logical evolution of its predecessor - it's a metroidvania with more focus on solving puzzles than action, but don't think action is a cakewalk either. Lumisa, the new protagonist, controls better than her dad in the previous game, with more freedom of movement in the air, but still retains some inertia when jumping. Besides that and her ability to crouch and crawl, she has basically the same arsenal as her dad, starting with whip and getting various additional weapons and items. The game has some other small quality-of-life improvements, such as way more lenient behavior of fairies, or letting you have more than one software combination saved. Other than that, the heart of the game is still the same, you still have to deal with some really difficult puzzles that will make you feel like a genius if you manage to figure them out yourself.

The presentation is a noticeable step up from the first game, though it also ties into my two main complaints. The OST is great, it has some really memorable tracks and it's at least on par with the original game's music, even taking my nostalgia into account. As for graphics, the improvements are really easy to notice. LM1 wasn't an ugly game, it had really well drawn sprites and backgrounds, and so does LM2, but switching from their own engine to Unity let the developers put some nice effects like reflections on shiny surfaces, and even lighting that most wouldn't expect in a 2D game. Now, I predict that quite a few of you reading this review shuddered at mention of Unity, engine whose bad fame is mostly undeserved, but I don't know how else to explain issues with performance other than devs not being used to this engine. My PC is not powerful, it's basically the same thing on which I first finished remake of LM1, but it still doesn't feel right to me to see slowdown in some areas, and from what I read in the forum people with stronger machines had greater performance impact than me, so that's rather odd. (I think it handles multiple cores in a weird way from what I read, but I don't really know much) While we're here, let me get straight to the second complaint that I hope will be patched out as soon as possible. Take a look at this screenshot:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1460765391
Notice how there are black borders on upper and lower parts of the screen. Also notice that there is the "background" on the side, which is something you turn on when you have a widescreen monitor which the game can't fill entirely without stretching and ruining the aspect ratio. There is literally no reason for this thing to be on when I'm using an old 5:4 monitor. Besides fullscreen you get only two windowed resolutions: 1920x1080, which I can't fit, and 960x540, which is really tiny. If you have 16:9 monitor, then it's not really an issue.

I backed the game on Playism not too long after the main Kickstarter campaign finished and I don't regret it at all, I say it's even worth the full price. If you liked the first La-Mulana, there's no reason not to give 2 a whirl.