Recent reviews by timecage

A very enjoyable adventure shooter with rpg elements - provided you don't think too deeply about things around you and just focus on tinkering, exploring and shooting.

I regret buying this DLC. And this is coming from someone who has gathered all achievements in Rebirth and Afterbirth. The developers seemingly know only how to make this game harder and more tedious - to the point of it becoming dull.

I consider myself a good Rebirth player, I've reached Platinum God achievement. Rebirth really is one of my favourite games.
One could say Afterbirth is just more of the same. That should be good, right? Well it's not exactly more of the same.
For some reason the developers were not satisfied with only adding new content. They felt the need to change some rules of the core Rebirth gameplay, to add more difficulty. But this game doesn't need it. It gets to a point similar to Dark Souls 2 - difficulty for the sake of difficulty. And because Rebirth was very difficult to begin with, anything more just turns into less and less fun. The item pool is so ridiculously large it's even harder to get nice items throughout a run, forcing the player into grind and repetition. Stopwatch was modified to not be a lucky find anymore. Krampus now randomly fires spinning brimstone only to catch the player off guard. Megasatan's arena got smaller. There are chests that hurt the player and also chests which can give nothing but consume keys. Secret and super secret rooms are even less rewarding through introduction of buttons which simply spawn enemies but give no reward. Many rooms now place enemies either right beside the player or in a configuration which simply means instant damage, almost always. The Hush boss in on a timer because reasons I guess, because hurrying is fun apparently. The game can now spawn tiny bossrooms with no regard to the type of boss which in some cases equals unavoidable damage. The list goes on and on.
So do I enjoy Afterbirth? A bit. Do I regret buying it? YES.
The developers should learn the difference between fun and f*** you.

I know this game by heart. I've seen it played until completion many times. I've played it for hours. And still it's as good as ever.

So initially I was quite enthusiastic about Sakura Spirit. But after giving it some time it's more of a mixed bag.

Pros:
+ nice writing and I mean technically, well crafted and interesting dialogue all around
+ mostly pretty girls mostly drawn very pleasingly
+ decent story with good pacing

Cons:
- this is not a full story, it's a 'prologue' but you get to know that only after you finish the game which takes whopping 2-3 hours
- too few character sprites and artwork make scenes too static and often not in sync with text
- there is no decision making, no gaming factor, at all
- the shrine deity (whatshernameagain) is kind of lacking in prettines department but definitely not in snacks supply
- there is no replayability, no continuation, no part 2 or another chapter, nothing

Read the above and decide what for you makes a good visual novel.
I'm not recommending this one because the developers are just lazy and they don't seem to be planning on not being lazy anytime soon.

From the moment I got to know about Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning it was in a comparison to Skyrim. This seems to me as an inescapable fate. So what is this game about anyway?
I've been playing a lot of mmorpgs and that's what Reckoning reminds me of. It features a moderately big, open world and hundreds of quests for you to do in spare time. The lore seems rich but it's not for me to decide if it's very likeable or interesting. The overall gameplay mechanics work fine and combat is pleasantly dynamic. Reckoning works well with both a gamepad and mouse & keyboard. To sum it up - a good game. But if you're looking for major epicness to strike your heart I don't think this is the right place.
Some of the pros:
- Fluid combat, movement and world interaction.
- Open world and lots of stuff to do.
- Not very difficult but there are challenges.
Some of the cons:
- You can't jump freely! (the person who made this game design decision should be kept away from gamemaking for eternity)
- The world is open but your movement is not. You can't fall off cliffs and die if you so desire.
- The face animation of npcs is often funny but not in a good way.
- There are bugs and they won't be fixed. Ever.
Too bad the developers are not around anymore. After fixing some bugs and some minor changes this would be a much more epic game. Even now it's great. But in a humble, subtle way.