Recent reviews by telopots

This is "The Room" of video games
Every voice actor is ESL and every voice line is more deranged than the last

If you were wondering yes, the gameplay is bad, and isn't even bad in a somewhat interesting way like Devil's Third (look it up) was, but it's worth powering through just to experience the rest of the game

sweden was a mistake

this game freakin' RULES !!!

thanks for not putting any cuss words in it, my mom would NOT have bought it for me if it had swear words

There is something genuinely exhilarating about getting truly lost in an open world game. Exploration is at the core of Miasmata, relying on an initially empty map, a clever triangulation mechanic, and making the simple act of walking around a possible danger.

Everything about the game makes you engage with its environment. All of the objectives you get, all of the plants you're supposed to gather, and all of the writing are delivered diagetically.

Its overslippery and tumble prone protagonist makes for some occasionally very tense chases where one wrong step could lead to a bad fall, leading to death or you dropping your precious flowers on the floor. Having to actually watch your step when navigating is nice, but it is frustrating more often than it is interesting.

It has problems outside of its clunky movement not always having the intended effect, like a shallow health system that is more of an annoyance than something you really think about.

Getting lost and getting chased through treacherous terrain by the creature have made for some unforgettable experiences. This game understands what exploration should feel like. Too many open worlds end up being already charted and safe territory, serving more as backdrops for a checklist of things to do and collect. Miasmata stands out by making charting and traversing its world the core gameplay of it.

Word of warning, it crashes a lot.

I liked when my computer dad told me to pull levers and that I did a great job

slide jumping really made the game click, it's pretty good

soundtrack is awesome and the game looks great, very nice faux retro style

the ghost operatives are packing some serious CAKE

The game has a solid foundation but needs more content and a couple of changes to truly shine.

On the one hand, the game exudes a kind of polish I really wasn't expecting form an indie game. The graphics are clean, sharp, and each zone has its own enemies (we'll get back to that) and unique look to it. The overall game feel is fantastic and the game runs beautifully. The core gameplay is quite fun, and the way they've done upgrades is very unique. Each Implant is slotted into an ability, which also includes busting the balls that are scattered around the arenas, and swapping weapons. They have an active and a passive effect, with the active effect triggering depending on which action you've slotted it into, when that action is performed.

There's some obvious nu doom inspirations in there, but they've cut out all the bad parts like the monkeybars and the cutscene glory kills. Movement has very little momentum to it unless you use an ability or a gun to launch yourself. Otherwise it kinda feels like walking around in overwatch. It sounds iffy but it works with the gameplay, forcing you to constantly pay attention to your dash and movement ability cooldowns.

The game is pure combat, with each arena connected to the next by a corridor where you'll sometimes find a shop, npc, or an upgrade hidden behind a glowing object you have to shoot.
The arenas are all hand crafted, and each of the game's 4 stages are always the same. Japan, German Factory, Russian Factory, Offices.

And this is where the game kinda falls apart in the replayability department.

The unique enemies styled after each zone are the only enemies you will find in that zone. This creates a bit of a problem, where every run goes through the same levels, with the same arenas, fighting against the same enemies, culminating in the same boss fights. This leads to every run feeling the same, because it sort of is always the same. The game would benefit immensely from at least giving the option to randomize enemies so they can be mix and matched from the different zones, as well as having more arenas per level to ensure you're not playing out the exact same scenarios every playthrough.

There also seems to be a bit of a balancing issue, where soldier's mobility and shell upgrades absolutely dominate the other classes, to the point I was able to clear the hardest difficulty on my second attempt without even completing the upgrade tree, whereas playing juggernaut even on normal feels significantly weaker, but I haven't played enough of all the classes to make any precise and constructive remarks, so take it with a grain of salt.

The setting behind the game is a very neat idea. An organization that trains a cyberbrain in VR scenarios so it can become the perfect killing machine when plugged into a combat shell, with the intent to take down megacorporations that have grown out of control.

Unfortunately the writing is genuinely abhorrent. It's typical painfully unfunny and annoying whedon/gearbox millenial writing, and would be seriously detrimental to the experience if there was more dialogue during runs, but the game is thankfully not nearly as verbose as some others who suffer from the same disease.
It's mercifully quiet enough so that I don't want to punch a hole through my monitor while playing, but it does hurt the otherwise neat setting.

I could never in a million years leave a negative review to such a tightly made, well polished indie game. It could use with more variety and replayability, but what is there is very well made, and was made with care.

I am excited to see what the future holds for gruby, Deadlink is very impressive for a first game.

r9 5950x and rtx 4090 struggle to stay above 40fps in some areas, avoid until some serious optimization work is done

This game's existence in the current year is a miracle

Video games should be more like Gungrave and less like Snoy movie games

A terminally autistic man embarks on a vengeful quest against spanish pfizer to end vaccines once and for all

i want to be reincarnated as Simoon's seat