Recent reviews by Varler

The game has great art, an interesting story, and well fleshed out characters (love 'em or hate 'em.) I was pretty emotionally impacted by certain story events that came up in my play though.

The game play is pretty easy, it's a mix of time management to raise stats and meet certain thresholds for different story events, and also a simple mini-game where you use the "memories" (cards) you collect throughout the story to make Poker-esque hands. You can focus on Strength, Intelligence, or Social/Emotional Intelligence and each has different cards and abilities as well as different story lines you can follow.

The game is meant to be replayed or even save-scummed, with that being mechanically part of the game as well as plot. (I've gotten 2 endings so far in about 30 hours of play.)

Exocolonist is very LGBTQ+ focused, which could turn some people off but is an even bigger draw to those whom it will connect to since we're lacking a lot of great media for that audience.

I'd give the game an 8.5/10 overall, could be a 9/10 but I found some of the grind tedious and annoying to have to re-cover ground I've already taken. Still, 100% worth the buy.

Fun and relaxing game!

If you want a chill Lovecraftian fishing game, this is for you! It's fun collecting the mutations, experiencing the terrors of the deep, and acting like a detective as you uncover the reasons why everything is how it is.

I'm usually hesitant to play Chinese games because of how many awful ones there are, but this one is a total gem. If you enjoy reading martial arts manga/manhua/manhwa, reading Wuxia or Xianxia, or are just into historical Asian settings, this game is for you.

The plot is engaging, the characters are likable, and the game-play is fun. There's a bit of grind, but it's been reduced in a recent update and the devs are listening to player feedback and still making adjustments.

8.5/10

Game is amazingly well made and very fun! It's also free!!!

Even if you're not into vtubers, you can still fully enjoy the gameplay, you'll just think that the items and stuff are random and weird (they are) since you won't understand the references. Give it a try! :)

Fun little adventure game! You can beat it in less than 2 hours and 100% it in less than 5 hours if you focus. The story is great, the characters are fun, but the controls and combat are wonky. (Especially if you're using a keyboard.) However, the combat isn't very important to the game, and if you end up struggling with any of the bosses, although most are easily beatable on the first or second try, there are options to make it easier.
I don't know about paying full price for it, since it's so short, but if it's on sale for less than $10 I think it's worth getting. (There is an endless, roguelike mode, but it focuses on the combat system which is the weakest part of the game in my opinion.)

Very cool and unique take on the rogue-like RPG genre. Also at a very good price.

However, not infinitely replayable because the maps are very similar each game, with the same enemies, similar items, etc. I've replayed it at least 6 times, which is definitely good, but I can't bring myself to 100% the achievements since it started to feel like a slog. Despite that, $10 for 30 hours of fun gameplay is still very good.

The game is a steal for $3. Lots of replay value even in its current form and it's still being updated. It's very similar to a mobile game called "Magic Survival", so if you liked that game, you'll enjoy this. I'll be listing off features I would like added to the game in the future, but don't think the game is bad just because there's a lot it can improve on. It's just a bit bare-bones right now but still a fantastic game for $3. (I'd buy it even at $10 and still rate it positively.)

A few things I'd like to see added:

More maps - Currently there are only 2, an map that's infinite in all directions, and a map that's only infinite East and West which includes a couple easter-eggs to hunt down. It would be nice to have more complex maps, maybe with hazards, loot, or puzzles.

More variety in enemies - Nearly all of the enemies only attack by dealing contact damage. There's one which explodes when it gets close, and a couple which coordinate movement, but generally the only difference between enemies is how fast they move, how much hp they have, and how much damage they deal. They all just run straight at you. It would be nice if there were enemies which had more variety in their movement pattern, attacked differently, had abilities, etc.

More interesting bosses - Right now, there are "bosses" every few minutes which spawn which are just larger and tankier versions of the regular enemies. Having real bosses which had attack patterns you had to dodge, multiple phases, special arenas, etc. would add more to the game play and make it less of a grind.

More abilities and ability combinations - One of the reason games like The Binding of Isaac, Enter the Gungeon, and Nuclear Throne thrive and have so much replayability is that there are so many items/abilities and different ways to combine them. Currently in Vampire Survivors, there are abilities you can upgrade and two specific abilities you can combine, but there isn't much variety since each ability works independently of the others and once you know which abilities are best, every run turns into a hunt for those same abilities. (If you've played Magic Survival, they let you combine abilities once you've maxed both their levels, and the combined abilities turn into something completely new and powerful.)

Active abilities - The game is great that you can play with just one hand, which means you can play on a laptop anywhere, while you eat, etc. But it only uses the arrow/WASD keys. It could very easily add the Space Bar as an activated ability and add more depth the the game play.

Saving mid-run - If you need to stop playing mid-run, the only option is to quit the run and lose all progress in that run. It would be really great if you could save and then come back to runs after opening the game back up later.

The pacing is a bit slow, but it's a really cool and unique game that does a fantastic job of making you feel like a piece of sh*t human being. I love games that can play with your emotions like that, personally.

The game play is a bit like a combination of a horror visual novel, a dating sim, and a mystery game. If you're into any of that, try the game out!

Loved the Civ series ever since Civ III. Civ VI didn't let me down. Great game!

(I do wish there were fewer DLC, though. Feels like they're taking us for a ride by trying to get more money.)