Steam Community :: Mantis

3.5 hrs on record

Trying to pull a fast one and gut the paid-for experience from the game to swap it with F2P garbage is top-tier scumminess. Even if they made the original available as a beta, this was only because the devs buckled to the pressure. They had no intention of giving us access to what we paid for beforehand. Never giving these crooks another penny.

Posted March 29.

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Recommended

23.0 hrs on record

[𝕊𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕀 - 𝕂𝕖𝕪 𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕤]

• Crafted by the creative minds at Dynamic Media Triad
• Hit the gaming scene in 2018
• A unique blend of Indie, Adventure, and Exploration genres
• Drips with a one-of-a-kind vaporwave aesthetic
• Gameplay is a delightful mix of exploration and brain-teasing puzzles
• Takes you on a wild ride through a virtual reality version of the old internet
• Dynamic soundtrack featuring the talents of Raúl Feliz and other artists
• Characters are a nostalgic nod to the old internet, vaporwave, and memes
• Performance is generally smooth, but watch out for some hiccups in the final world, Innernet
• Tested and reviewed on both PC and Steam Deck

[𝕊𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕀𝕀 - 𝔹𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕜𝕕𝕠𝕨𝕟]

Category

Score

Explanation

Story

13/16

Broken Reality's story is like a whisper in a bustling room - subtle, yet intriguing. You're dropped into a virtual reality version of the old internet, with a desire to investigate the enigmatic megacorporation, NATEM. The narrative unfolds not through lengthy dialogues, but through your exploration and interaction with the game's vibrant world and its quirky characters. It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle, and you're the detective.

Gameplay

14/16

Broken Reality's gameplay is a delightful cocktail of exploration and puzzle-solving. You start off with a simple 'Liker' ability, collecting likes from posters and around the environment. As you delve a little further you unlock more abilities, each adding new gameplay mechanics. For example, the Bookmarker which allows you to teleport and the Katana for cutting through computer viruses. The puzzles are clever, gradually increasing in complexity but never crossing into frustration territory. The game's characters aren't just for show - they're your quest-givers, guiding you through the various stages.

Performance

12/16

Broken Reality performs well for the most part, but it hits a bit of a wall in the final world, Innernet. This world can slow even the fastest computers to a crawl, a performance hiccup that needs some attention. The game also lacks Steamworks features, but the developers have promised to address this in a future update. (Hopefully before Broken Reality 2000 comes out!) Despite these issues, the game generally runs smoothly.

Longevity

13/16

Lasting around nine or ten hours, Broken Reality is a game I've revisited. However, the replay value could use a boost. The developers have hinted at a future update with quality of life features like better controller support, cloud saves, and Steam achievements, which could add some spice to the replayability. The game is a captivating journey that's easy to get hooked on, but the lack of these features currently puts a cap on its longevity.

Graphics

16/16

Broken Reality is a visual feast. The game's vaporwave aesthetic is a sight to behold, with a low-poly style that fits like a glove. Each world in the game is a distinct canvas, brimming with character and life. The attention to detail in the game's graphics is a testament to the developers' dedication, with designs that are bursting with personality and charm.

Sound

16/16

The game's sound design is a symphony for the ears. The soundtrack, featuring music by Raúl Feliz and other artists, is dynamic and immersive. The environmental audio is the cherry on top, adding to the overall immersion of the game. The audio loops are seamless, ensuring that you're always in the groove, never jolted out of the experience.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢺⡿⣶⣶⣤⣄⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠹⢟⢯⣷⣿⣻⣿⣤⡄⠀⠀
⠀⠀⢀⢠⢠⢠⢠⢀⠈⠙⢿⢾⣯⣿⡆⠀
⠀⡔⡕⣕⢕⢇⢇⢇⢇⠆⠀⠛⣽⣾⣿⡂
⢜⢜⡜⣜⢜⢜⢜⢌⢆⠣⡁⠀⣿⢿⡾⣯⠀⠀[𝕊𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕀𝕀𝕀
⢱⢱⡱⡱⡱⡱⡑⡌⢆⠣⡁⠀⣿⣻⣟⣟⠀⠀𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕜 𝕊𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕖]
⠀⠣⡣⡣⡣⢣⠱⡘⢌⠊⠀⣴⣟⣯⡿⠅
⠀⠀⠈⠈⠊⠈⠊⠈⣀⣤⣯⣷⣿⣻⠍⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣲⢾⣻⣽⣾⢿⣾⠋⠃⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢺⡿⡻⠯⠛⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Broken Reality on the Steam Deck is a bit of a mixed bag. The game runs fine, but the lack of official controller support means you'll need to create a custom controller profile. The absence of cloud saves can also be a bit of a headache. Despite these hiccups, the game runs decently on the Steam Deck, but be prepared to do some tinkering.

Score: 2/4

[𝕊𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕀𝕍 - 𝕍𝕖𝕣𝕕𝕚𝕔𝕥]

Broken Reality is a wild ride through a virtual reality version of the old internet, wrapped in a vaporwave aesthetic that's as captivating as it is unique. Despite some performance issues and a lack of certain features, the game offers a memorable and enjoyable experience that's worth revisiting. It's a standout title in the indie game scene, and a testament to the creativity and dedication of its developers.

Final Score: 86/100

Posted July 15, 2023. Last edited July 15, 2023.

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Not Recommended

5.8 hrs on record

Gotta be honest, I never liked Skullgirls. I've always seen it as a mediocre fighter that was given a free pass because it has big t**s and weebs**t. Rather convenient that it's currently getting its just deserts and isn't seen as a sacred cow for a change.

Posted June 29, 2023.

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Not Recommended

0.0 hrs on record

What a letdown. It's bad enough that those of us who already paid for DLC have to pay twice. It's very greedy but I could have actually looked past that if this was handled properly on a technical level. I mostly bought Plus for the Game Gear games. I loved a lot of those games a kid, and at a low cost per game it would have been worthwhile for me. However, the emulation performance and input latency is absolutely horrendous.

Now, even if I wasn't here for the Game Gear games and I was fine with just taking the Knuckles and Amy additions and extra challenges, I noticed that Sega didn't include any extra achievements with the DLC, so there's less incentive for doing everything. There's some kind of "secret picture" which is kind of a cheap stand-in for achievements You unlock parts of the picture by doing tasks. But some of them are really stupid.

And for the Game Gear games? Oh, they're in the picture. Yeah, you literally just launch one of the twelve games and that's it, job done. Yeah, that's what the legacy of Sonic on the Game Gear has been reduced to apparently!

In conclusion, crap emulation, weak new features, little incentive, and many of us got conned in the process. It just isn't worth it. I'm getting a refund and so should you if you actually bought this rubbish. If not, steer clear.

Posted June 23, 2023.

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Not Recommended

1.8 hrs on record (1.3 hrs at review time)

From my early impressions, I cannot recommend Town of Salem 2 at this time. I've played the original game for a lot of hours over the years. Excellent turn-based murder mystery multiplayer. It works because the concept is easy to learn but hard to master and the interface is intuitive. It's an overhead view and everything makes sense quickly to most players.

Town of Salem 2, they throw most of that ingenuity out of the window. For some reason I cannot fathom, they've decided against the locked overhead view and have opted for a modernised swooping camera in a 2.5D environment. Sure, it looks pretty for a few minutes but you'll quickly find it annoying. Everything is so zoomed in and you lose track of what's going on. You only needed a few icons in the original game, and they were self-explanatory. Now there's too many small icons.

I don't think that BMG's design decisions were wise, but I can see why they made them. They probably figured that the old look is stale and that a sequel would need a shiny new look. Unfortunately, that hasn't really worked out. Town of Salem is still popular today because the simplicity made it work. I don't know yet whether I'll give the second game more chances or refund it, but unless BMG makes some major changes, I think this will go the way of the dinosaur, while the original will live on.

Posted May 26, 2023.

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Not Recommended

0.5 hrs on record

I got this after seeing someone say "It's just like Mario Party". This is largely my fault for not researching it better but that comment was only true in the way that Forza is just like Mario Kart.

It's closer to something like 100% Orange Juice than Mario Party. It's a board game with items, battles, and no mini games. Even so, they're pretty different. 100% Orange Juice has online multiplayer and a thriving community. Still strong around ten years later.

This doesn't have online support, just streamed multiplayer via Remote Play. No lobbies for you always to be able to jump into a game with strangers.

Unfortunately, I don't find the story engaging and I find the battle mechanics very barebones. I realise that this was inspired by a certain NES game. It simply ain't for me.

Posted April 17, 2023.

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Not Recommended

21.1 hrs on record

Verlet Swing is one of those games I got from Humble that collected dust for years, but I was always curious about. Upon finally trying it, my experience has been quite mixed.

It's a first-person physics platformer with an emphasis on the vaporwave aesthetic. But from actually being true to that theme to the difficulty balance, it doesn't quite deliver...

Category

Score

Explanation

Gameplay

17/30

Verlet Swing has no story whatsoever. Probably a good thing if you're looking to get straight into the action. Simply grappling obstacles (without actually touching any) and swinging from point A to point B, this game is easy to learn but difficult to master. The first couple of worlds are really simple, which fits rather well with the chill vaporwave aesthetic. However, it maintains an optional high difficulty by using a ranking system. Getting the top rank takes a lot of practice in the majority of cases. If you want to 100% it you need to get near-record times on every level.

The progression is really weird. Things get more challenging in the second half of the game. But sometimes you'll have a few levels that are easy-peasy, even towards the end, then a rage-inducing one, then an easy one, then a hard one. It's a mess. Still, the vast majority of it is a walk (swing?) in the park compared to the final ten levels.

At first glance, it's easy to conclude that the developers just wanted to challenge the players in the final runs, but the design is rather uninspired in the last world, with developers taking the easier option of forcing a linear path rather than giving players freedom of movement. Now that I think about it, the last two worlds (more than 1/3 of the game) are much less fun than earlier on.

I made it to level 96 (yep, only a few from the finish line) and gave up. The difficulty spike feels completely unnecessary. Swinging through tiny corridors and crevices is not entertaining in the least. The devs didn't need to do this. If they'd maintained the standards they achieved earlier on I wouldn't be complaining. There was plenty of challenge to be had from getting good personal bests.

Performance

10/15

Overall, the performance isn't bad. You shouldn't expect a game this simple to give a computer much trouble. That being said, some levels cause performance issues on the Steam Deck (I'll explain this further down) and therefore may also do so on low-end desktops. It mostly runs okay through Proton for Linux support.

Longevity

8/15

The longevity isn't great. I feel like the developers knew this, given how many of the levels can be beaten in seconds. I believe they likely responded to this by creating artificial longevity with the various absurd difficulty spikes, especially towards the end of the game. Fortunately, the longevity is helped by the addition of Steam Workshop. I haven't tried the custom levels, so I can't say whether they match the quality of the official ones. I can certainly imagine them being better than the poorly designed levels in Crimson Court, the final world.

Graphics

13/20

Throughout much of the experience, this is one of Verlet Swing's strengths for sure. Ultimately the levels are mostly just an assortment of assets, but the first few worlds nail the vaporwave feel. Moai statues, CDs, palm trees, koi fish and even pizza!

Sadly, much like my complaints about the layouts of the last couple of worlds, they also completely nosedive when it comes to presentation too. Later levels are just dark and dull, and abandon the vaporwave theme altogether.

Sound

9/15

I think that the music is quite pleasant. However, for a game that markets itself so heavily as being vaporwave, it's a missed opportunity. Out of the whole soundtrack (which I think just plays on loop regardless of your progress) there's only one or two tracks that sound remotely like vaporwave.

There are plenty of sound effects. I love way you splat when you hit food obstacles like pizza.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢺⡿⣶⣶⣤⣄⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠹⢟⢯⣷⣿⣻⣿⣤⡄⠀⠀
⠀⠀⢀⢠⢠⢠⢠⢀⠈⠙⢿⢾⣯⣿⡆⠀
⠀⡔⡕⣕⢕⢇⢇⢇⢇⠆⠀⠛⣽⣾⣿⡂
⢜⢜⡜⣜⢜⢜⢜⢌⢆⠣⡁⠀⣿⢿⡾⣯⠀⠀[𝔻𝕖𝕔𝕜 𝕊𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕖]
⢱⢱⡱⡱⡱⡱⡑⡌⢆⠣⡁⠀⣿⣻⣟⣟⠀⠀
⠀⠣⡣⡣⡣⢣⠱⡘⢌⠊⠀⣴⣟⣯⡿⠅
⠀⠀⠈⠈⠊⠈⠊⠈⣀⣤⣯⣷⣿⣻⠍⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣲⢾⣻⣽⣾⢿⣾⠋⠃⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢺⡿⡻⠯⠛⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

If I recall correctly, I had some trouble getting it to run with the default Proton option. Valve hasn't rated it yet. I used GE-Proton7-43 which did the trick. Of course, your mileage may vary.

As mentioned, I faced performance issues. I think this was mostly with the last two worlds. The penultimate one has a Tron-style theme. There are some fancy effects on the floor that give the Steam Deck quite a workout. Similarly, the last world which is Hell-themed does not run as well as the earlier game. You'll still have a playable framerate but your Deck will produce a lot of fan whine which is always fun!

Score: 3/5

[𝕍𝕖𝕣𝕕𝕚𝕔𝕥]

Almost a thumbs-up, just not quite. Flamebait Games had a fantastic idea here. Unfortunately, it just seems it was rushed in the latter half of development.

Still a good game, but unless its final world is redesigned I just don't think it's worth the effort involved. If you really like this type of game, buy it, but only in a bundle or during a sale.

Final Score: 60/100

Posted February 28, 2023. Last edited April 17, 2023.

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Recommended

37.3 hrs on record (2.5 hrs at review time)

Early impressions (full review will follow after completion) are positive. This game world is very immersive and looks absolutely beautiful on high settings. I love alternate reality stories like this and find Atomic Heart's lore very intriguing. Soundtrack is high-tier.

I've only played a few hours so far, but I have had a taste of the actual gameplay beyond the intro. Movement is quite slow-paced which I don't mind because there's a high focus on melee combat, which controls pretty well. Battling the robots with the axe is fun. You often have multiple ways to solve a problem which is always nice.

The glove abilities are similar to BioShock's plasmids, which is honestly a good thing. As some have highlighted, perhaps the English dub leaves something to be desired but I've heard much worse. For the first playthrough I've chosen the dub because I don't think it's terrible, and unfortunately the subtitles are tiny.

Oh and a refrigerator felt me up. Now that was something, but I guess there's a first time for everything.

So far... recommended!

Posted February 21, 2023.

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Not Recommended

0.6 hrs on record

Incompatible with Steam Deck (old unstable Unreal Engine causes crashes galore) but yet verified. Makes me question the care that Valve actually puts into verification. Stop wasting your users' money by giving false compatibility promises.

Posted February 4, 2023.

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Not Recommended

0.2 hrs on record

Not Steam Deck playable. it will make your device dangerously hot and cause persistent fan whine, even on low settings, and for no good reason. Some beautiful games run well on Deck. This is just unoptimised, even on fast desktop rigs.

Posted January 19, 2023.

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