Recent reviews by AbbydonPrime

28 minutes. Why did it take me so long? A few reasons. Both the intro and the closing are unnecessarily delayed. That robot is really slow. You take a wrong turn, and it takes forever to get back. Also, I stepped away for a few minutes.

Anyways, the description definitely sums it up: Antenna is a short experience, an atmospheric expression. The only "game" aspect to this is the frequency matching and tone puzzles. Everything else is either pressing the keys it tells you to or moving the robot around.

The minimalist style and mostly ambient sound fits with the atmosphere. Anything else would take away from the meaning. It takes a bit of imagination to fill in the story about "A machine ponders its loneliness." The best comparison that comes to my mind is a dark Wall-E, and instead of gathering garbage, this thing is running an antenna array.

I can appreciate this 2-man art piece. However, it would've been nice if they didn't feel the need to throw their names on the screen 3 times. It just seems amateurish to do that, like "Look at me! I made something!"

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Finders is a bit different from the usual Alawar strategy/management games (of which I have played many).

• Untimed with infinite resources. By infinite, I mean there is always a way to get more of what you need.
  
• Different actions require certain resources and time. Some tasks are done quickly while others can take minutes.
  
• Buildings can be freely placed on an isometric grid. There aren't dedicated spots like most Alawar strategies.
  
• There is a decent number of types of resources that each have a purpose.
  
• Cooking can be done to use resources/ingredients to make food and stat boost items (faster workers, etc).
  
• Smelting to make more valuable ingots to sell for money.
  
• All items can be sold to raise money. Some ingredients can only be obtained by buying them from town.
  
• Later in the game, there are demand spikes that make random items worth 3x more than usual. Selling in-demand items is a good way to raise the money required for the very expensive vehicles, upgrades, etc.
  
• Random, optional objectives will appear that provide rewards if completed.
  
• The graphics have a bit more detail than the usual Alawar cartoony style.

There are also different mini games inside of the overall resource gathering and building part:

• Bejeweled-style Match 3 game for mining : 3 blocks is a standard clear, 4 gives one type of power up, and 5 gives a stronger one. Ore is trapped in the dirt that is cleared as blocks are matched beside them.
  
• Fishing mini-game : A dialog appears when a fishing spot is clicked. Bread (crafted) is used as bait. Different type of fish can be caught. One of them is used in crafting, and the others are either used just to replenish food or sell for money.
  
• Alchemy-style puzzles : There aren't many, but some objectives require this type of puzzle to be completed. A pile of items are shown, and they have to be combined in the right order to meet the objective. Doing it without making mistakes will get you a money bonus.
  
• A few different types of logic puzzles : By no means are they brain-bending, but there are a few other puzzles to complete as objectives.

There are some things that keep this from being a perfect casual game, but I wouldn't call them cons.

• Some of the words used are a bit odd. It's obvious that they are a case of "lost in translation". For instance, to fish, the action you take is "Put Out". That sounds like something you do on a date. I would expect "Cast", "Cast Line", etc. Landing the fish is done with "Strike". I would expect "Reel In" as the action. There are also a few oddities in the in-game achievement descriptions.
  
• There are in-game achievements that could've easily been implemented as Steam achievements. I like going after achievements, and I completed all of them in the game. It would be nice if they were also in my achievement collection.

I really liked the game. It was about as long as I expect almost any Alawar title to be, and the overall variety made it a bit more than a reskinned resource/time/worker management game. I got this game on sale for $1.49, and it was definitely worth it. The full price isn't too bad, either.

On a side note: I'd like to know how people are getting keys to publish reviews of partial play-throughs. I review fully-completed games for free. :P

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Please read completely before making full judgment. The TL;DR is at the bottom.

Before I purchased this game, I saw that the top reviews were negative ones. However, I liked the screenshots and description, and I am fairly open-minded with low expectations, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I think one of the biggest problems is that people are going into this expecting more than what it is. The popular tags really should include "Casual".

Overall, I liked it. It is a God game, but on a Casual scale. It does not reach the grandiosity of many other God games. I can understand how there are so many negative reviews, especially the ones made on release day at a higher price point. Considering Pocket Games planned to, and did release, an iOS version after PC, I think the design was targeting mobile from the beginning. This game is limited in scope, scale, depth, etc. I will go into it more later.

I have played the game to full completion, including all achievements. It took around 5 hours to complete, and then another 5 or so to grind the "Tree Expert" achievement. So, it is a short game. Does that make it bad? Not really. I like being able to complete games. It's perfect for people like me that don't have much free time due to work and family. I completed it over 3 nights.


The characters have a unique design to them. They are charming, but they are also fun to set on fire or strike down with lightning. They make noises and exclamations, but it's nothing complex.

The terrain design is well done. There aren't a large number of textures, but they fit the overall feel. The islands themselves include little scenic bits that might go unnoticed, such as a variety of flowers, ferns and other undergrowth. Being able to alter it is also nice. It's not as detailed of alterations as something like From Dust, which I played on Xbox 360, but it's still there.

The game is not that difficult. Due to the limited size of the playing field, there is only so much that can be done. During the campaign, there are caps on the number of each type of Furling other than Warrior. Only the sandbox allows more.

Each campaign "level" is just a variation of another. Since there are only 5 types of Furlings and just a handful of God powers, the only thing that makes each different is the island configuration, starting buildings on each side, and so forth. Also, I swear the AI starts cheating more. On the final level, it was like the end of days for my side. I was spending quite a bit of time putting out fires, fixing the terrain and creating replacement Furlings. I don't see how the AI was able to throw so many meteors when I had the same number of Priests and couldn't do the same.

The controls take some getting used to. However, once you've used them a few times, it's not so bad. Also, some of the things mentioned in older reviews have been addressed. Check out the discussions to see what the developer has said.

The key features are very deceptive. Here's a breakdown:

• Play God... : It sounds like they can be commanded. They can't. The description counters with "your people will live their own lives". Even the Warriors go all willy nilly when they get near the enemy. In almost all war strategy games I've played, if I put a target, my troops go after it. These guys use the Totem as more of a compass marker than a destination.
  
• Shape a beautiful... : Yes, I like the land. But, calling it a "world" makes it sound massive. So does the "take over the world" wording in the main description. In reality, each mission is a relatively small island or pair of islands (enemy on one side, you on the other). The only way to make it any bigger is to keep leveling it out into the water. But in no way is it global domination like it sounds.
  
• Feel the power... : Sorry, it's not "massive" natural disasters. They are fairly weak. Even the volcanoes can be countered. They are short-lived and have a short projectile range. Just flatten them and use Rain. Anything destroyed can be quickly rebuilt. Earthquake can only take out buildings in a close range. It's not as destructive as a real one. A well-targeted meteor might take out a building and set some on fire, but it doesn't cause a massive crater or such.
  
• Play the game... : There really isn't multiple strategies other than mixing up which disasters you use and when/where Warriors are sent. But, with the limited scope, there isn't any real replayability like bigger RTS games.

In the description, it says this:

learn skills to eventually forming an immense fighting force that you can unleash upon your enemy’s population to wipe them out

They don't learn anything as they are just created as one of 5 types (and only 1 is a fighter), "immense" is not an appropriate term for a standing army of 10-20 warriors, and the enemy's population is just as limited as yours. Wiping them out isn't that difficult.


+ Pleasant, but not overly done, graphics
+ Terrain design and control
+ Charming characters
+ Not too difficult, not too long (it's Casual)

~ The Furlings sometimes set up shop in strange places. Even when there is room near a resource, they sometimes build too far away.
~ Caps on the types of Furlings during campaign.
~ AI that seems to cheat.

- That stupid "Tree Expert" achievement. It's so out of place compared to the others. It's so annoying that I made a guide for it.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=658881594
- Even with a GPU that exceeds the "Recommended" (higher end) requirement, I had to leave it on the medium setting to run smoothly.
- Game gets laggy on sandbox once there are a lot of Furlings and trees. Loading my Tree Expert save would even cause it to go Not Responding for a while.


Even with the questionable and negative points, I still liked it, and I do recommend it for the Casual audience that wants something a little more than an Alawar strategy game. If you are looking for a world-scale God game with plenty of complexity, turn back now! The price is questionable. If Casual is your primary thing, then $4.99, about $1/hr, isn't too bad. I got it on sale for $1.24, and I highly recommend it at that price.

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This was an interesting worker management game. Unlike many of the others that involve simply assigning people, collecting resources, and then building, this one has some additional unique features. Most notably, the workers have job likes and dislikes, and they can become skilled in a particular type of trade, such as farmer or miner. They will level up, and become more productive, the longer they do a certain type of task. They can also be sent to school to skill up.

To gain money, resources and products can be traded with the mainland via the ship. New workers are also hired from the mainland this way. Specialty items have to be purchased from the mainland. Every now and then, a certain type of item will become more in demand and be worth more. This is when you assign as many workers as possible to collect and/or manufacture to fill the demand. As the game progresses, workers, specialty items, upgrades, etc, will get more expensive, so taking advantage of the demand spike helps raise money faster.

As part of the story, there are pirates to be dealt with. This is done by firing a cannonball at their "boat" structures. There are a limited number of balls, so they have to be aimed just right in order to cause an optimal toppling to take out multiple pirates. There are a few of these to deal with during the quest, and the final ones can get a little annoying. But, you can retry as much as needed.

There isn't any way to die and resources are infinite, so it really is a casual game. As with most Alawar games, it is very aesthetically pleasing with appropriate music and sound effects. I don't think it's worth $6.99 due to the relatively short play time and no real replayability, but it's worth picking up on sale if you just want to relax and not stress about losing.

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Have you ever seen a grown man cry? If not, have him play this game. If he has a soul, it will at least bring a tear to his eye.

This is less of a game and more of an experience. The further in you get, the more it hits you. I can't even articulate what it's like. The story for this game is very unique. I haven't come across anything like it in the years since I played it. I wish I could, though.

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I played the first one about 2 years ago. I enjoyed it, and I got 100% of the achievements. I recently got around to posting a review for it. For this sequel, I expected similar gameplay, but bigger and better. I wasn't disappointed.

Just like the first one, this is a casual game that plays like an adventure RPG, point & click, resource management, and hidden object all in one. The difference between the two is that this one has a much larger and varied world, more quests, more ways to "craft" and make money, and a bit more depth in the story. I'm very fond of the graphics, too. They have gotten better since the first.

For a game made by 2 guys (according to the About/Credits), this is a spectacular casual game. I wish there was some replay value to it, but there isn't really anything different to do once all of the achievements are unlocked.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=652838716

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This was one of the better casual games in my collection. It's mostly a point & click adventure with some RPG-like quests and trading built in. I appreciated what depth it did have without having something convoluted or difficult built in just to try to extend the playtime. The story is not complex, and it's fairly typical of this type of game, but it provided enough to give a feel of progression. I completed the game in one sitting as I was completely immersed in it.

I'm a big fan of this style of graphics. It has an older Ages of Empires or Stronghold feel to it. I enjoyed going between each area and completing quests just to see what all I'd see. The audio/music complemented the game well. It was just enough to make it enjoyable without being overbearing or out of place.

There is some backtracking to be done depending on what the quests require. Not everything is available the first time you visit a zone. The only annoying thing was the "Gather XX of Something" achievements. It just made it a grind and somewhat annoying, especially the eggs. It was like an Easter egg hunt without the color. Even so, I managed to complete the main quest and all of the other achievements within 7 hours.

The $5.99 price tag may be questionable for some. Casual is one of my primary game types, and for what this game has to offer, I could see paying it. However, I got this during one of the sales in 2014, and I don't regret buying it. If you're not sure if you should get it now or wishlist it for a sale later, there is a Demo available for you to try.

I have purchased Hero of the Kingdom II, so I will be playing that one next!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=252155507

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=252155304

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This game/VN is one of the better ones I've played. The art style is very much like a comic book as you can see in the screenshots. The stat system and selling parts of your soul adds an interesting element to it. I'm not going to rehash the description since the "About" sums it up pretty well.

My 1.5 hour playtime got 16 of the 24 achievements. I still need to do a few more runs to get the others. So, you can see how short it is. You may or may not want to get it on sale. The full price tag is not too bad, though. This VN kept my attention the whole time.

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Why am I here? What am I doing?

Luckily, I played it before encountering spoilers.

Up, up, and away!

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I don't care how long or short a VN is when it's free. It would've been nice if the backgrounds changed based on the dialog, though. You see all of them in the Store screenshots. Mainly, I think the trip through the mall could've used more backgrounds. The character design might be simplistic, but at the same time, it goes along with the ending.

To be cliché: I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING! Honestly, though, the 13 minutes was worth it.

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