Recent reviews by math crab

fighting game of the generation

Best 2D platformer of the past decade and it's honestly not even close. The controls are minimal and rock-solid; the level design rewards straight-line speedrunning as much as it does careful exploration; the pixel art is as good as low-fi gets and the soundtrack likewise. One surprise success is the story, which is not only 'good-for-a-platformer', but just plain good. Play long enough to start the B levels and I assure you your only gripe with them will be that there aren't more to conquer.
If you would ordinarily be the type to pass up yet another indie pixel-art platformer on Steam, reconsider- this is what those games dream they could be.

One of the most interesting games I've ever played. Rain World plays differently to just about everything I can think of, and while I don't think it's a game for everyone, I do think it's a game that will receive more and more attention with the passage of time.
Play is divided into cycles, in which you wake up from hibernation, hunt or forage for food while avoiding predators, gradually uncover more of the map, and then go back to shelter and sleep again. The mechanic that makes the game so interesting to me is one that seems to be frustrating a lot of players- the karma system. Karma is a persistent resource that increases by one when you live through a cycle, and decreases by one when you die. In order to enter- or exit- different areas of the map, you have to have enough karma.
This can be seriously frustrating. If you find yourself in a difficult area, you can end up dying over and over- losing all of your karma- without actually making progress. Imagine a roguelike that gets harder every time you die! That's what Rain World can feel like sometimes.
But it starts to make a lot more sense the more you play. From moment to moment, your purpose as a player is not to explore the world and make progress, even though the game feels a lot like a metroidvania. Instead, it's about finding ways to survive- consistently. It's about finding enough food to make it through the day, and often, rather than running to a new shelter, you'll end up heading straight back to the place where you started the cycle.
And eventually, you get better at it. You start to understand the way the map fits together without having to look at it, you get a feel for what areas are dangerous, you can feel where the food is going to be this time- you start to actually understand the world from the point of view of an animal that lives in it, rather than a Samus Aran or an Alucard who just wants to move through it.
A few hours in, I found myself completely stuck in the Chimney Canopy area. I would wake up, throw myself into the world, and die, over and over. My karma was already at rock bottom- I didn't feel like I had anything to lose. But then I found a little golden flower- if you eat it, it protects your karma from decaying after a death. But only once. All of the sudden, that life mattered. I couldn't die, or I'd lose it. I knew I had to find food, I had to play safe, I had to get back to the shelter. And I did. And I did it again, and again, and again, until my karma was maxed out. That kind of experience- that kind of sudden rush of hope and overwhelming will to survive- I've never felt that in a game before.

There are also some obvious things to love about Rain World. The presentation is spectacular, the combination of intelligent AI and procedural animation makes the game look like a nature documentary, and the level design is quietly brilliant. But I think every review makes note of these, and you can see most of that for yourself just by watching the game.
If you're on the fence about buying Rain World, keep in mind that it's not a game for everyone. It is brutal and occasionally downright unfair, the karma system can be very frustrating, and checkpoints are few and far between. Pretty much every criticism reviewers have thrown at this game is well-founded, and if those throw you off, you may want to save your money. But if you give this game a chance, I think you'll find that it's not like anything you've ever played, and a lot of the frustrations people have with Rain World are rooted in the fact that the gaming community has never really seen anything like it.

Brilliant racing game with an incredible feeling of speed. Maps are all very unique and surprisingly memorable, with no wasted space. Some of the later maps require extraordinary amounts of concentration to beat in any respectable time- but it's well worth it, because nothing feels better than perfectly nailing a difficult turn. AI plays fair, but also incredibly well- the longer races are grueling.
On the presentation front: the soundtrack is quickly becoming one of my favorites, and the songs are brilliantly paced- especially Europa. The low-poly visuals are a treat, and they run like a dream. Flying through Cairo or Volcano takes my breath away sometimes.
If you don't own a controller, don't worry- keyboard controls work perfectly fine. Some maps are easier on controller, some are easier on a keyboard. It's a basically equal tradeoff. Either way, your hands will hurt like hell. This is one of those games that makes our caveman brains think we can go faster by pressing the buttons harder. Take breaks.
In general: I made the mistake of overlooking this game last year, as did many people. Had I started playing it sooner, it definitely would have been one of my favorite games of the year. There's so, so much content here. If you're worried about getting your money's worth, just try the demo and I promise you'll be on board instantly.

45% what a bunch of babies

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Very good arcade style fun. A better roguelite than nearly anything else available on steam, for only three dollars. Get it.

positive review that contributes to steam percentages, to make sure that all potential customers are aware that this game is seriously ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good

Buy this game if you are an artist of any form. Be cautious otherwise. Do not expect another Stanley Parable.

Tries to sucker you in with half a quadrillion arbitrary delays on progression (you have to wait 24 hours between each level up, crafting a single item takes anywhere from 6 hours to 3 days, low drop rates on most items...), which is typical for free to play MMOs, but in this case it just drags out the game so much that I've gotten seriously discouraged.
Gameplay itself is fun, even if line of sight is ♥♥♥♥♥♥ and some innocuous enemies do absurd amounts of damage.