Recent reviews by rootCompute

if you like video games that are fun then you should play this

p.s. the car looks better than the cybertruck

Simply an underrated gem, especially for people who don't care much about graphics and are searching for a gameplay experience off the beaten path. This game pulls off the feat of acting as a wonderful on-ramp for those who are curious about traditional roguelikes, while simultaneously offering something new for veterans of the genre looking for an experience they can easily sink their teeth into.

Traditional roguelikes differ a fair bit from other games you might see referred to as roguelike/roguelite, they adhere much closer to the turn-based movement on a grid along with simple graphics seen in Rogue (1980) and its spiritual successors. Path of Achra is no exception, but it does differ from its brethren in some key ways that newcomers might appreciate.

The main focus of this game is creating an overpowered character build. Through a combination of traits, level-up skills and equipment, you are building a strategy to defeat an onslaught of pixelated enemies with your synergy. Effects from each part of your character should feed into each other, producing some completely bonkers results if done correctly. For example, if you deal a certain type of elemental damage, you should purchase a trait or equip a found item that takes that damage type and channels it into another effect, such as healing or adding stacks of Inflame/Stasis/Charge/Poise/Repulsion etc. Through careful planning, you can chain together countless effects in a single game turn, where text scrolls by at a ludicrous pace and enemies are turned into piles of dust before you can blink.

The more tedious parts of roguelikes are mostly absent from this game, shaved away to provide the player with a quick but satisfying dungeon crawl. Complexity pretty much comes down to deciding which combo of gear/traits yields the best results. Some character builds will let you stand still or teleport automatically and wipe out an entire room of enemies, so movement/exploration is not much of a focus. Inventory management is basically just equipping the right gear and tossing what you're not going to use. Story elements are minimal, some nice poetry included but not necessarily an aspect for the player to put much brainpower toward. You can complete a run in less than 30 minutes, so players searching for a "coffee break" roguelike should get some enjoyment here.

I truly appreciate what this solo dev has brought to the table! The game displays perfectly on my CRT monitor but I can also sync the save file in the cloud and play it comfortably on my Steam Deck if I feel like it. I love all the different colorful icons, the pixel art and movement style kind of reminds me of Civilization 2 units. It's been a perfect game to accompany with a podcast, video or music playlist. It deserves more exposure and positive reviews, so I wanted to make sure to add one while I had a chance. Check this out, for sure!

If Steam had a neutral/informative review option, I would select it here. My main interest in the Super Mega Baseball series has been the custom team editor, so this review is biased toward this point of view. If the new modes & additions are the main appeal to you, I'd say definitely check out Super Mega Baseball 4 to see if you'll enjoy. There has been an outpouring of positive support for the game from what I've seen, and I'm happy for the people who like it.

So, the custom editor in the game appears to be nearly identical to the editor from Super Mega Baseball 3. This isn't horrible, as it could have been totally axed or changed beyond recognition under EA's supervision. HOWEVER, one notable downgrade to this game is that custom teams are locked to a single custom league; you can no longer easily swap teams between leagues.

In SMB3, you had a global pool of teams that you could choose from to construct leagues. This sadly does not exist in this version, and it's a shame, because it diminishes the possibilities for fictional local/single-player leagues (promotion/relegation multi-league setups come to mind). I wish I could believe this was an accidental omission, but the UI of the team customization menus along with the new free agent pool feature seem designed from the ground up around this new limitation.

I believe SMB2 only had 16 layers of customization and a comparably limited selection of assets. SMB3 was a considerable upgrade, going to 32 layers and bundling in all the previous assets that were released as DLC. It seemed logical to expect a similar jump from 3 to 4, but instead it feels like an afterthought in this version, with no upgrades to speak of and barely any new assets.

Due to the current lack of a 3rd party transfer tool, the previously mentioned custom league downgrade and overall not much to distinguish team customization from SMB3, I wouldn't recommend that anybody pay full price for SMB4 if they have a similar viewpoint to me. Stick with 3 for now if you've got it, wait patiently for updates on this version and maybe a discount.

It would be nice if Metalhead could look at this section in the future and update it, or bare minimum release DLC with new assets, but part of me wonders which changes (or lack thereof) were more in the "design philosophy" column, rather than "oversight that will be patched later" column. Others have brought up negative aspects such as custom jersey visuals appearing downgraded, poor in-game sound design and lack of ability to simulate large numbers of games at a time. I'm hoping these are the types of issues that would get patched out in the future, but for now, SMB3 is still available for purchase and has been discounted significantly in the past.

Unbelievably petty of Epic to de-list this entire series from Steam. Can't even find these titles on their own garbage storefront, what gives? We should be preserving the history of games and making them all widely available for anybody to enjoy, this is a sad state of affairs. Play "any way you can"

This game has Mr. Clanky in it. 10/10

An excellent modern re-imagining of an old computer game that I remember from the Windows 95 days, originally bundled with the Microsoft Entertainment Pack. It shares similarities with the arcade game Qix, where you have to box in a moving object inside the lines that you create around the board.

This version has a few different game modes, it's not going to hold your attention for hours but nevertheless a neat little distraction game that I'm glad exists on Steam. If you have any nostalgia for the old days of Windows, this is a pretty good game to add to your collection! It deserves quite a bit more attention than it currently seems to be getting.

This is the most enjoyable and feature-complete college football management game I've ever played. NCAA Football 14 with the CFB Revamped mod has the gameplay edge, but this includes modern day elements like NIL deals, transfer portal, boosters and pod conferences. Certain systems such as roster management and even recruiting might feel more streamlined to you, as well.

It's not quite as deep of a management game as something like Out of the Park Baseball, but that might actually be a good thing if you just want to jump in and micromanage your own CFB program as quickly as possible. Amazing value for the price already and so much more content is on the way, pretty much a no-brainer if you like this sport!

Ridiculously in-depth team creation game with a fun little baseball minigame attached! All kidding aside, Super Mega Baseball is truly one of the greatest sports video game series ever and a worthy successor to the "Backyard Baseball" CD-rom games from the '90s and early 2000s. I might still consider Out of the Park Baseball the best baseball series on PC, but as far as actual gameplay goes, this one takes the cake.

The third entry is a fine place to start if you're new, it's got the most refined gameplay and expanded features. Start a franchise, simulate a season or playoff bracket, design or download all your favorite teams, create your own fictional league with up to 32 teams, it's all up to you! The gameplay mechanics are tight, the customization is as open-ended as it gets and the fun is turned up to the max!

SMB3 has the distinct advantage of having the best team creator tool in the series as well, I've really enjoyed creating all kinds of real life and fictional teams in the editor. A lot of the custom assets are not as useful for creating accurate real-life logos, but learning to use shapes and text characters to fit the puzzle can produce some surprising results in just 32 layers. Check out my Steam Guide for this game if you want to see some examples of what I've made.

I highly recommend Super Mega Baseball 3 to anybody who loves sports or is curious about baseball in any capacity, it nails that balance between arcade and simulation feel with polish rarely found in non-AAA sports games.

One of my most cherished indie games from the late 2000's is on Steam, and this time I don't even have to pay a dollar! The Xbox 360 used to have a pretty exciting Live Arcade/Indie scene, where experimental games such as this were more widely accessible on mainstream consoles than ever before. Definitely worth the short playthrough whether or not you are curious about the history of indie video games, it plays well solo or with up to 4 local players on a controller

Tower Unite isn't easy to describe in full detail to someone who's never played the game. The phrase "Tower Unite" doesn't convey an idea to me and I think the logo is even less emblematic of anything the game represents. That said, here are all the reasons that I believe everyone should add this game to their Steam library.

In my mind, this game is the perfect example of how a non-corporate centric "metaverse" can thrive, provided the correct vision. It feels more like a platform than a game, in a manner similar to F2P games like VRChat, Second Life and Sansar. It may cost money up front, but in my experience Tower Unite is more feature complete and playable than those others listed (most of the time). I've seen other players describe it as a digital resort, which feels like a succinct way to convey the general idea but almost sells the potential of the game short.

Players are encouraged to express their individuality through Steam Workshop skins, accessories, emotes, interactive items, game cosmetics and in-depth condo builds. You can weave in and out of the countless activities with ease, most can be played alone but are almost always made better with a group. The condo building system is an entire can of worms on its own, and in many ways exists as the ultimate "goal" of the gameplay loop. For the amount of content here, there is an impressive amount of optimization that has been done, though more is needed in spots.

There is a distinct lack of friction, log in and get to your preferred activities as fast as your computer will throw them up on your screen. You're not dragged into forced tutorials or cutscenes, there are no season passes, microtransactions or in-game currencies tied to the real-world economy, and any timed events are designed in a way to give you plenty of time to complete them, rather than exploiting a fear of missing out. Unlockables are all earned through gameplay, a stark opposing view to the current status quo for most big budget game companies.

Tons of activities here, including but not limited to: mini-golf, bowling, billiards, arcade and theme park-type attractions, trivia, music, videos, drinking, gambling, dancing, racing, fishing, shooting, typing, jumping, flying, exploring, building, customizing, chatting and general shenanigans.

If I had to try to sum up why Tower Unite is one of my favorite games, I just have to come back to the fact that it allows complete freedom for the players. One minute you can be playing a casual game of golf, the next you could be touring someone's surrealist condo, stockpiling arcade tickets while watching a TV show on another screen, or drinking too much at the nightclub as you shower a bunch of strangers with your vomit.

I've learned how to set up my electronic drums & piano to play for other people in-game, as well as how to play videos outside of YouTube on the media player. A pumpkin in my condo sends people to my Discord server with a couple of clicks. I was murdered repeatedly by a capybara as they played sad music out loud. My Game Boy Color in the condo shows Pokémon gameplay videos in the correct aspect ratio, and that was before they just straight up gave us gaming handheld items with in-game emulation. There's text just outside of view in a ball race map that says "Absolutely nothing". Countless hangouts inside the workshop tree house! There is a condo where everything is made out of toilets. These are all just smatterings of the silly and wonderful experiences I've had that can't replicated in another game.

I recommend that you check out Tower Unite if you're looking for a more casual, change of pace type of game compared to something more serious with a steep learning curve. It's become my favorite game to just turn off my brain and enjoy pure dopamine when I need to decompress. It ends up being an enjoyable experience solo, but it really takes off once you start to cultivate a regular friend group, or even just see what others are up to in a populated plaza server. It's easy to pick up, has hundreds of hours of content already and a bubbling potential underneath the surface that could elevate it to another level.