Recent reviews by Technosapien

While Craft the World claims to be a mix of Dungeon Keeper, Terraria and Dwarf Fortress, I have to vehemently shake my head. It may bear a slight resemblance to Terraria, only because it has the same side/up/down scrolling interface. It is Not even close to Dungeon Keeper, Terraria or Dwarf Fortress.

It is however a unique game, as it claims. It has pleasant graphics, a tiny bit of humor, and is indeed enjoyable to play. I have enjoyed this game since Early Access and have only been pleased by the various additions to the original game itself.

While I think the Sisters in Arms DLC may have been worth the 5'ish dollars, I cannot understand why the Co-Op addon is DLC. It should have been a free update to the original game. This is one of the few cons that I would attach to the game. However, it is a very big one.

Overall, if you forget the claims that it is a mix of any of the other 3 titles and enjoy it for what it is, you will most likely enjoy this game.

I certainl have.

I picked up 'Dig or Die' on its release date for 2 reasons. The first reason was the introductory price of $3.00, and the second reason being that it looked like it would be fun.

The game is simplistic in concept: Explore, Acquire Resources, and prepare defenses for the onset of night.

But that simplistic concept becomes much more challenging as you progress through the various crafting tiers, not to mention the oft-occuring flash flooding. You begin to not only plan area defense, but also dig strategically placed water drainage ducts and dams.

This game can feel relaxing and safe one moment and then quickly become a frantic struggle for survival the next. For me it brings to mind that old school classic arcade game Dig Dug.

Dig or Die itself has a cutesie, arcady graphic vibe, but it works just fine for me.

The game, in its current state is very playable, very enjoyable and often fast paced.

As mentioned in other reviews, I agree that it is difficult dealing with the multiple tiered crafting stations. It can be very confusing when it doesn't have to be. This is most apparent when you are frantically trying to find that recipe you need as you are being swarmed by creatures at night and realize that the crafting station you need as halfway across the world. - However - with that being said, it does add a strategic element by deciding whether to keep these stations close together, or spread them out between your various attempts at bases - or - just decide if it is worth building duplicate stations at the cost of precious resources. ;)

In my opinion, with the game as it is in its current state could easily pass muster for a finished game at $7.00 and probably sell decently. But this game is in early access and therefore in constant development. I believe that the developer proves that this is a workable game idea which can stand on its own merit and NOT be compared to a Terraria/Starbound clone. I also believe that the developer knows what he is doing, has a solid roadmap for this game and a bright future is quite probably ensured.

My recommendation is to get this game now at the lower price, rather than waiting, because you know by each of these reviews that this game is definitely heading in the right direction. Get it at the bargain price now, or just wish you had in the future.

As soon as Godus hit Steam on Early Access, I was invested on that very day. I had sincerely hoped that this may be the rebirth of the God-game genre, and the regeneration of Peter Molyneux's credibility. I desperately wanted to see this product succeed.

The game was initially fun-ish, but I quickly realized how little polish there was, even in the content that they had implemented already. The land and people didn't feel alive, nor did the god-powers. And the most recent patch (many months ago) left us Godly beings feeling completely impotent as we watched poorly game-balanced storms destroy our many hours of work and provided no way to stop or fix it. 22Cans didn't even release a balance patch to fix that one simple annoyance.

Then, there were the 5 months of near-absolute silence in regards to both game and communications updates.

Then with the recent release of 2.x things looked like they might change. Were they finally paying attention to the product they originally promised? Were the Dev's listening to us?? Alas, after time has passed, the answer is still a very big NO!

This game does not, nor ever will represent what it was SUPPOSED to be. A real God Game, with challenging multiplayer. It will instead be a constant P2W, friendly fuzzy non-quite-game, because 22 Cans is smoking so much of Molyneaux's craziness. This project will forever be dubbed as what NOT to do in making a Crowdfunded game.

Yesterday I decided to purchase Signs of Life on a whim. I mean, at $8.00'ish dollars it's not a tough sell, really. I have to say that Signs of Life has impressed me greatly so far. I definitely LOVE the very colorful, beautifully crafted world, and already I can't get enough of this game.

I loved discovering that I could bash stuff with a torch. I laughed when I found out that I could 'suck' an item towards me, and watch the item launch somewhere when I let off the 'suck' button too soon. I found that if I sucked up the Impaler Spikes and let the button off to quickly, it would actually impale me. Tell me that small pleasures are the sign of a small mind, but either way, sign me up. :) I love that the Pickaxe has a more realistic approach to swinging in a true arc than any other 2D miner, and using the right button gives you the ability to do the little tappy-tappy semi-swings that let you work in smaller areas. I am discovering silly little things all the time, and it's great!

I own and play Starbound, Edge of Space, Terraria and Craft the World. As I've noticed, a lot of people are comparing this game to Starbound, so I'll work from that common perspective. So far me (and my kids) have put 142 hours into Starbound. But it's missing something. Perhaps there is just SO much randomness to everything in Starbound that it's difficult to identify with anything in it. My kids grew bored quickly with it, and I was trying to figure out why. It may have to do with dated graphics, which seem very washed out, but that's the art style they are going for and it doesn't bother me a whole lot, especially after growing up on ASCII games. The only thing I can speculate at, is that there is so much to do in Starbound, but not much reason to do anything. Hunting for food is a chore, and killing the 4-5 monster types on a planet gives me high marks on the yawn scale. And 'treasure chests' often go ignored because I know it's just gonna contain another Tier 1 weapon, or a copy of Tech I've already received 5 other times.

Now with the few hours I've had with Signs of Life, everything is fascinating. I want to discover as many new things as possible to see what I can build. AGIS (Aegis?) has a low and wicked sense of humor for an AI, and the creatures of the world feel life-like. Chickens lay eggs (and even have the animation to prove it!). The bugs( insects) are so happy being in the game that they do flips. What more of an endorsement do you need?! The monsters begin to differ as you dig deeper into the world, and they get tougher too. Every time I stumble upon a new life-form, I think, "What little surprises do you have for me to discover, my pretty?" The only thing that truly rings false to me so far, is finding sheep and goats living down deep inside the supremely dark and oxygen deficient caves and caverns. Perhaps that is a bug that may be fixed later.

Anyway, to sum up this extremely long post, Signs of Life has some serious promise, and for the few hours I've played it, it has been very enjoyable, fun, funny and I can't wait to put some more time into this game, to see what other simple pleasures I can discover in this beautifully rendered game.

Keep up the great work!