Recent reviews by dangerPhil

I rarely complete games - but I completed this one. A great ride!

For me, two aspects made The Talos Principle 2 a masterpiece:

Having a great graphics engine and beautiful assets is one thing, but designing stunning - and I mean it - visuals is something else. This is the only game, in my many years that I'm playing stuff, that I deliberately took screenshots in. It's just gorgeous, and whoever is responsible for the visual design is a real artist.

Many other reviews state, that TTP2 is easier than its predecessor - and that's true for me, since I didn't complete the first one because I didn't want to look up solutions. However, I don't see this as a negative at all. A good puzzle doesn't have to be hard in my opinion; instead, it has to make you change your way of thinking and stimulate your sense of achievement after solving it.
The developers managed to make most puzzles unique and interesting.

These are my main points for recommending this game, however, there are other positives like the story, which throws classic philosophical quandaries at you and has some likeable and distinctive characters.

Nothing is perfect, as the game tells you again and again, and it's true here as well: There are missable achievements, which means you will have to play the game several times or savescum if you want to get them all. Also, a few puzzles rely on exact positioning - not a fan of that. And a last thing: The music is great, but can get a bit repetitive.

All in all, one of the most entertaining puzzlers I played in over 20 years of gaming.

I played Space Engine for years for free, before it came to steam. I recommend it to everyone I encounter who seems to be interested in our universe. This coming to steam enables the developer to continue with an awesome project - and include new features, like VR, which makes the whole journey even more breathtaking.

Now, this is not really a game - you won't get a story, progression or even goals here. This is a sandbox and it's fascinating.

If you are interested in space or just want to get a feeling about how small and insignificant we are, Space Engine is perfect for you.

In my opinion the greatest MGS and one of the best games of 2015. Even though the campaign kinda repeats itself after the 50% mark, there is still so much stuff to do that you will be entertained for a long time.

Design a production hall for a car company and get lost in all the fine details of LEAN layout planning, space optimizing and outwitting your competitors.

Right now, it feels not quite as smooth and polished as Big Pharma, which is one of my favorite games. I'm convinced it will be a great game, though, and Cliff's interaction with the community is exemplary.

Astroneer is currently in pre-alpha, which is communicated thoroughly (even when you start the game), and in the hours I played it I already managed to see all current content. Thus I will speak about the potential of the game, not necessarily about the depth of gameplay at the moment.

Short version: It plays like a mixture of No Man's Sky, Kerbal Space Program and Slime Rancher. I would definitely recommend it if you like those kind of games.

Graphics are nice to look at and animations are smooth. The music sounds okay to me (nothing grand, though) and the environmental sound is great.

As for the gameplay: There isn't much in terms of a tutorial, you have to explore the concepts for yourself. Without spoilering it: The modular approach to basebuilding is continued throughout the game and already seems very polished. I can see that there is an enormous amount of potential for new gameplay elements, and I think this will become one of the best space planet survival games out there. The fact that it is supporting multiplayer coop is a huge deal in my opinion.

All negative aspects I could list at the moment relate to the state of the game being pre-alpha: A few bugs, performance isn't that great after a while and gameplay is still pretty basic in comparison to where it will be in some time.

To sum it up: I had great fun and expect to have a lot more of it a few months from now.

A very good game. Starting as a lowly footsoldier and slowly working to build your own empire, eventually becoming king and leading your troops in battle against other empires. Even though the graphics are a little bit outdated, you get lost in the immersion.