Recent reviews by Alienhell

Full of classic and contemporary references, DGGWare is a delightful riff on Destiny's career through a surprisingly wide range of mini games! Also relatively tough, still trying to match that rhythm game perfectly.

While I'm still not done with Satisfactory, I've got to say that I never once imagined a game like this would suck me in as it did. Of all the games of this type that I chose to play, I'm deeply glad this was the one that I chose.

A rich world, some genuinely funny writing, simple-to-understand but engrossing mechanics and a relaxed atmosphere mean you can take a lot of Satisfactory as you'd like, rather than how other games might force you to.

Whether that's creating a neatly organised factory, or a sprawling mess of spaghetti lines - the choice is yours and it's a joy to face the challenges of supply, productivity and power. And that's not even getting into the arachnophobia mode that saved me from the terror of some spooky arachnids, but made them look like cat JPEGs instead.

Well worth your time, so much fun.

Can't recommend it enough.

Absolutely fiendishly addictive. I was hesitant to pick up Balatro for a lack of familiarity with Poker and a general reluctance to engage with card games in general. But once I started, I found it deeply difficult to stop. Even 40+ hours in, I'm still going on long runs to try and pick up the last few jokers that I don't yet have in my collection, just to broaden my ability to stack up those deeply satisfying combos.

You don't have to be a poker pro, or a genius, to play Balatro and have a ton of fun with it. Pick it up and give it a shot - once it gets its hooks in you, you'll love it. Really one of the best indie games of the past five years, a remarkable little rougelike.

A lovely, silly little game. The dialogue is superbly written and very well paced, reminds me a lot of Roosterteeth's old style of comedy. You'll clear this in less than an hour, so make the most of those conversations.

Maybe not worth it at 45% discount? If it gets knocked down to £1.50 or your equivalent, I'd say it's worth it.

Still, a very enjoyable experience that makes me excited for the next one!

For what it is, Thirty Flights of Loving isn't exactly worth the price of admission - even as a £4 title. It's just too short and, for what is there, lacking in the narrative "oomph" needed to really make a mark. There's plenty of fun ideas here, neat visuals and quality atmosphere, but you hardly get into it before it's suddenly all over. Moreover, non-linear narrative aside, there's just not enough here to constitute a meaningful arc for you or your companions. The result is that it's just not that memorable and I wish there was an extra 10 minutes of detail here to flesh out what ultimately feels like an early draft. The cynic in me would view this as a relatively shallow interpretation of "games as an art form".

By contrast, Gravity Bone, included as a bonus - is much more rounded in its simplicity. There's very little notion of player relationships to draw on (for good reason!) and, what is presented, acts as a much more satisfying bit of absurdity that makes all the difference. It's a deeply enjoyable little game and one that takes the best parts of the aesthetic both games aim for and produces an experience that actually feels worth the asking price. I'd gladly play it again next year.

It's a shame, I'd give this a neutral rating if I could. I feel like Blendo Games really had their heyday in that late-2000s to early 2010s period where gaming was going to very exciting places because of companies like Valve doing their best work and ideas about gaming as an art form suddenly came to the fore. There's a lot to like here but I'm only really dropping a recommendation because of Gravity Bone. Both are certainly worth playing, but I wouldn't say both have much stopping power.

Does exactly what it says it'll do on the tin and does it beautifully. Well worth your time as a cosy experience, with a surprising amount of depth that emerges from its city-building and the build-up of detail over time. Truly, creating my own Night City is satisfying.

Genuinely very spooky. A little moon logic-y with some of its beating and a little empty in its more surreal presentation, but deeply compelling for much of it and generally very enjoyable. Certainly atmospheric throughout and it's hard not to feel sucked into this intimidating, slowburn experience.

It is March, 1922 - two years after the creation of my first ever Blockbuster Inc. studio. My latest feature (an Action Vampire flick, because I've only just wrangled together the sixth researcher necessary to get more genres) "Save TF2", named after the YouTube video I'm watching while playing (also lagging horrendously due to the game's poor optimisation hogging my GPU) is released.

Having already swept the annual awards twice, there's no doubt in my mind that it's a hit before the reviews even reveal themselves. On our opening weekend, Save TF2 makes $4.8M dollars on a budget of $174K - that's almost $90M in today's money. I don't linger, now is the time to strike. With my now $6M in store, I buy up all the remaining stock in two other film lots. For the remaining four, I don't doubt I'll have them by the time our next project rolls around. But now I'm making an income passive enough that I don't have to worry about keeping my staff or actors paid - the investment pays for itself. I'll never touch that loan button, not a chance.

I really wish this game had released in Early Access, because I'd at least have a lot more tolerance for this kind of problem.

Other reviews have already highlighted the numerous issues with the game so I'll refrain from listing them here and, while I don't really think this is a finished project, I want to be optimistic. Like many other players here, The Movies was a critical game from my childhood and I'm optimistic that the small team behind Blockbuster Inc. will see it through to a near-par quality.

But, this current showing on release is just too easy. Lacking in complexity. I practically zerg rushed productions for the first hour (with no consequence but a still rising profile!) and now I'm two years into what's supposed to be almost 100 years of in-game time and already dominating. I'm sitting around and waiting for research to finish because there's nothing else worth doing other than filling the overflowing coffers yet again. Even if I wanted to discount the personality that's missing from the game here, there's just something too straight-forward about this gameplay loop that practically makes the creative choices themselves worthless for players. If there's no potential consequence or risk to releases, other than choosing the $100K "Hard" start, what's the point in putting in effort? The system feels surface level in a discouraging fashion.

Again, I don't want to rag too much on the game here (I know it's a small team and there's not a huge asking price) but, while I am enjoying the game, I'm equally sceptical of how long that enjoyment will last. I sincerely hope this game gets the shot in the arm it needs because there's potentially something great here, but it's obfuscated by a spreadsheet-like approach to the in-game finances and review/audience reception that infuriates enough to only make me miss The Movies more.

Also, a very obvious bug report for the devs - please make it so the seemingly intended "Continue" button of the play icon on the main menu actually loads the latest save and not the autosave, please? It's caught me out a couple of times and I just don't get it, thanks.

This was a great little game. Though short and heavily scripted, there's a delightful array of well-voice-acted characters that make this a deeply enjoyable experience. The writing is great and, although the game doesn't wholly encourage you to figure things out your way - there's a neat enough gameplay system for clues, evidence and putting it all together. It's a great game for couples, I'll say! Cutesy in a fun way.

My only critique: maybe a little short for the price point. I know that's kinda' harsh, but when we're approaching the £10 mark, I'd expect something that keeps me for at least five hours, not less than three.

Other than that, would absolutely love to see another iteration of Duck Detective. Whether that's a DLC, or an entirely new installment, I don't know - but I'll be ready to pick it up when it comes!

The Outlast Trials surprised me. I'd given the game a brief run on its Beta-access stage back in 2022/23 and wasn't particularly impressed, despite my enthusiasm for the prior two singleplayer titles. Yet, when it received its 1.0 release, I dove back in as an optimistic "I'll give it two hours and see how I feel".

And 50+ hours later, I'm pretty enthused with it. Red Barrels continue to triumph in their aesthetics, now putting their own sordid twist on the 1950s and eschewing explicit narrative for inferred meaning and lodging your actions as part of the broader Outlast lore. It's a daring one, but one that's ultimately paid off - with plenty of sensible opportunities for co-op horror to feel meaningful and often bug free. Mechanics are clear and functional, punishing but rewarding - with much of the progress made transitioning gradually from upgrades to unlockable outfits and customisation options. It's nothing incredible, but what's here has kept me engaged for far longer than I ever anticipated.

I've not said much about the game itself here, but do give it an honest crack if you're interested. As a solo experience, it can be surprisingly enjoyable thanks to a crossplay-fed matchmaking system. That's not to say the system is without its kinks, but I've had a great time playing this uniquely Outlast PVE survival horror.