Recent reviews by Tembies

A roguelike so simple in play it could nearly be called an idle game. Yet at the same time it offers a very wide and somewhat deep level of build and theorycraft. A few simple mechanics are wrung out for all they're worth and it's especially fun to discover new ways to absolutely break the system in new ways at the highest cycles. The absolutely charming developer art is so lovely and helps build an atmosphere both special and mysterious.


While this recommendation would come with more caveats, with the existence of the demo I can tell you to just go try that to see if this is for you.

Been playing Qud since like 2008. Someone described it the gameplay as "Turn based sci fi Morrowind" and I think that it pretty well captures the vibe of the game.

I'd say it's actually a pretty weak roguelike though. Once your character makes it past level 12 or so, there's very little outside of mechanical ignorance or comically bad luck that can kill you. So if you're in it for the permadeath/run based aspect of it, that might be something to take into consideration. Of course this can be easily compounded by screen/stair dancing to avoid otherwise deadly encounters.

However, for me, to this day it's still an incredible game to dive into.

A quick preface: While I tepidly recommend this game, if you can handle older graphics then I would greatly suggest picking up Mount and Blade Warband or Viking Conquest over this entry.

Just a quick comparison to the previous versions, I might come back and write an actual review after I play a whole game through. This Mount and Blade title is strange to say the least. Very little of it is an overt upgrade. Obviously graphical fidelity and little bells and whistles are present. The perks are different, but wouldn't really say better or worse. But man what a shame the state of politics and personal relations are in this. Companions used to have character and now they're just spreadsheets - actually everyone is just a spreadsheet with no real personality. Lords and important people seem to just default to whatever the opinion of their clan leader thinks of you. It also seems rather easy for not only the lords, but they player to replenish hundreds of troops out of nowhere.

Of course mods can fix a lot of these issues. Mods have added thousands of hours to the hundreds that I enjoyed in previous Mount and Blades. Unless you really want the shiny graphics I think Warband is better bang for your buck out of the box.

Never played any halo before, received this game as a gift during a sale. Expected to play through coop.

Went fine for the first half of Halo CE more or less, but constant consistent desyncs past chapter 5. Haven't been able to finish coop on any chapter past 6 because of it. Apparently this has been a problem unaddressed in all the time its been out and across every game. I'll play through SP but between the janky menu UI and the horrendous netcode I can't very well recommend this outside if you're just going to play single player. Even then it remains to be seen, but it's been okay so far.

But still. When the reason I was gifted the game in the first place doesn't work, there's no way it's every going to be a recommended title.

An extremely fun and cute little experience. What you see is more or less what you get. The camera only holds 7 or so pictures before you need to find a machine to develop them, but there's always a machine nearby. While it does kind of feel like the game is being held together with chewing gum and hope at times, for me it adds to the charm. A simple little walk around a cute park with cute berry people.

One thing I will mention is upon first completing the game my save was somehow corrupted and changing areas with used film in the camera would cause it to freeze on map transition. I tried to get dev help to see if there was a fix but I suppose they're no longer active. The game is extremely short and while initially sad when it happened, the game is very short and I ultimately don't mind - it's not a game about progress.

A fun experience to come back to once in a while when you need a little happiness and calm.

Picked this up on sale for 5 dollars. Since it's one of the few AAA games I've played and actually enjoyed I figure I'd give a very quick write up. It has all the stank of a capcom pc port: playable and few bugs/crashes due to port, but odd UI design and ux decisions. The controls don't seem to suffer much at all being on a keyboard.

Gameplay it's fantastic and refreshing for an action rpg. Storytelling is odd, mysterious, but in a good way. A good soundtrack. Don't expect Oblivion, it's more akin to a more arcade-y (and personally) more fun dark souls set a world not quite fallen so low. While there is npc interaction and dialogue it's certainly not the focus. The general vibe of adventuring and slaying monsters is what the game is about. You can grab and throw smaller enemies, grab and climb on larger ones, and most enemies have some sort of location based hitboxes that shake up strategies. There are 9 classes and not a one feels like it underperforms. The magic is absolutely brutal, summoning tornadoes and meteor showers at the highest levels with the lower level spells always maintaining use. I mainly played a mage/sorcerer and I loved the long cast times of the high level spells, the spectacle, and trying to get them cast in a hectic fight.

This game is a very easy one to recommend. Especially on sale.

Because I've seen a lot of "AC6 waiting room" memes here, and this game deserves better. It's a better AC game than AC6 is. If you were at least in middle school when the first AC game was released you're probably old enough to understand. It is a lot more arcade-y than old ACs but that's a property most other modern mecha games in this style share. If this game is on sale for 25 dollars or under, it's probably a better deal than any other similar mecha game on steam. That includes AC6.


Aesthetically the characters are goofy anime, but the actual mecha hold up nicely. The story is, well I didn't pay attention I didn't care. There's a great amount of customization options for variety of playstyles.

A fun visual novel. While not long, even for the price asked, you do get a lot of quality and heart. You'll likely play through it a few times just to see most if not all the content within. However this is a small experience I can see someone coming back to once every few years to enjoy again.

Humor is very subjective component but it's likely the biggest decider on whether or not to purchase. Some of the minigames can be very slightly janky, but usually it adds to the experience. The art, animation, music, and writing is all top notch and internally cohesive.

The game is fantastic.

However, since 2020 or so. Certainly sometime past 2018. Some update or another has rendered the game absolutely unplayable, constant crashing. All sorts of bugs. All exacerbated in multiplayer. Just a frustration.

It's a fantastic little game that does manage to capture a lot of the spirit of PS1/2 era Fromsoft games. Or just weird Japanese first person rpgs in general. If you've no idea what that means, be prepared for something more focused on dungeon exploration than character building. The music is absolutely killer, and the visuals top notch. Even small things like minor purposeful misspellings and somewhat jilted text add to the coherence of the game.