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An enjoyably unique romp through a creative and bleak world. The worldbuilding is interesting all throughout, and the character writing builds in confidence and quality as the game goes on.

The combat is ranges from simplistic to trivial, harkening back to King's Field in a way that is a bit less than interesting for today's players. But, while there are plenty of other games that do combat well, few handle the world as well as this one does. Just know what you're in for and don't expect it to be something it's not.

I enjoyed my time with this, even with that caveat. It scratched that Morrowind itch in my brain very well in terms of aesthetics and vibe, even if not in gameplay, and I really want to see more in this vein.

Good:
- Classic dungeon crawler gameplay, with visuals reminiscent of the SNES era, right down to the amusingly fake 3d turning.
- Very SMT inspired. Party construction plays more like the newer games, so it's relatively easy to get the group you want. If I wanted a reference point for the series, I would say Strange Journey is probably closest.
- Dungeon design is reasonably varied and interesting enough. Some of them drag on a little long.
- The shmup portions are on the easier side, and can be made even easier in various ways, so don't worry too much if you're not great at that genre.
- Has literally every Touhou character, available and usable in your party.

If I have to grump about something, it's that the writing is nothing special. You're not really here for it, but it didn't particularly grab me in any way. The references to all the various Touhou material may either be interesting or offputting, depending on if you're into it or not.

The high encounter rate can be a little tedious at times, and, as of the time of this review, there's no way to reduce encounters, so if that is a problem for you, bear it in mind.

Overall a fun romp in a genre that is woefully barren these days.

what? what.

no, really.

what????!?

Really, really clever game.

Never have I been so perplexed digging a path through half a dozen different rooms just to set up a successful bunny trap.

I like big numbers.

Orb of Creation is a hybrid of an idle game and a strategic building sim, where you plan out both of your spells and upgrades in orrder to efficiently raise your limits and also to gain the resources to reach them faster, in increasingly elaborate (and surprising!) fashions.

It's still in early access, but it's already got a good couple dozen hours of gameplay in it, and you can, uh, keep going like I did if you happen to want to push things far beyond where the new things stop showing up. Number go up. Forever.

The Second Sky is, without a doubt in my mind, the height of the DROD series. That comes with the caveat that it might be a struggle to get into if you aren't already familiar with earlier games in the series, like Gunthro and the Epic Blunder, as it ramps up rather quickly, but it does so much right that I can't help but place it amongst my favorite games.

To those new to it, DROD is a turn based 2D puzzle game where you play a guy with a Really Big Sword, which takes up space in front of him, and each step you can choose to move or turn your sword. It's separated from its contemporaries in puzzle games by having a heavy focus on combat with enemies that also move when you do, each of which have their own quirks and behaviors.

Chronologically, The Second Sky, is the last part of Beethro's story in the DROD series, which started from King Dugan's Dungeon, and was followed up by Journey to Rooted Hold and The City Beneath. If you're new, it does include a short recap at the beginning of the game, but there still may be a lot to catch up on here if you're invested in the lore of the series.

Relative to previous games, Second Sky has less focus on trying to carve your way through hordes of enemies, opting instead to lean more towards smaller, focused, and less combat intensive puzzles. And, that, it does this extremely well, with every room having had considerable amount of thought and design placed in it, always interesting and always offering something new to you. ... But also occasionally devilishly hard, too.

If some of the puzzles are too difficult, and it's very likely you'll struggle pretty hard with quite a few, there's an extensive hint board on their forums for virtually every room in the game. Just about any potential question you could have, without outright spoiling the answer for you, is answered there. Don't be afraid of being stuck, we're in this together!

If you're looking for an introduction to the DROD series, Gunthro is not only the best bet, many of the main works of the series are DLC of it, so you might as well start here!

DROD is a turn-based 2D puzzle game series where you play a guy with a really big sword that takes up space in front of him, that you can either move with or rotate once per step. It stands apart from its puzzley contemporaries for its heavy focus on combat with enemies, all of which have their own unique quirks and behavior, moving in step with you.

Gunthro is a strong introductory game to modern DROD level design, not just introducing all of its gameplay in an accessible way and having a great number of clever puzzles in its own right, but also telling a story independent of the main series.

And, if it leaves you wanting more, you can pick up the original trilogy as DLC for another 80 hours of gameplay: King Dugan's Dungeon, Journey to Rooted Hold, and The City Beneath. JtRH is a personal favorite of mine and I definitely recommend it the most of the three.

Got picked up, tossed onto a trap, launched across the map, where the enemy I landed next to finished me off.

Would play again.

SpaceChem is an engineering puzzle game, in that the puzzles are about figuring out how to build a machine to process objects rather than to directly find your way through what's already been placed there for you. If that sounds appealing, this is probably the puzzle game for you!

Just as you're building machines, it's building you into a machine maker. There's very little in the way of filler, and virtually every assignment offers something new for the player to learn from and apply, which is excellent pacing. That can be a bit frustrating when you're stuck on one without other options available, but perseverance will win the day.

Highly recommended for puzzle game enthusiasts and programmers.

Best "figure out how to not die for 5 to 20 minutes" simulator of 2014. Good balance, quick pacing, just different enough each time to keep you from falling into a pattern, and not so long that it starts to feel like a slog.

Still in Early Access but no major bugs, on either Windows or Linux versions, and more than playable. It's still in need of some more content to finish up the end, as 3 zones feels a bit short, but fortunately that's on the way. Recommended.