Recent reviews by Jasung

Arf. Arf. Bark! *Wags tail happily.*

Spirit of the North is a casual game where the player explores Iceland-inspired environs as a red fox along with their spirit companion. The game is intended to be a relaxing experience with the world being beautifully generated (although it loses some of the crispness when zoomed in), and there are no enemies to encounter in the game. Gameplay isn't difficult and the game is quite accessible for most players including children. Apart from the skeletal remains of shamans and a few possible frightening moments and locations, the game is very kid-friendly.

While navigating through the game's world, players will need to solve environment-based puzzles and do some minor platforming using their supernatural powers. Unfortunately there is a good deal of backtracking needed to recharge the fox's powers before continuing further in many of the puzzles. Along the way the player's fox may discover the remains of shamans and will have an opportunity to put their souls at peace. Doing so will unlock new cosmetic skins for the fox. As players continue to progress through the game more of the textless narrative of the story unfolds via cutscenes and careful observations in the environment such as from painted murals and carvings.

Spirit of the North is a charming, enjoyable game, but lacks staying power. The game is pretty; however, the game is also straightforward and simple. On one hand it definitely fulfills its aim of being a cozy little game; nevertheless, on the other hand once a player explored and seen everything there's little reason to return. It does things well, but never in a spectacular way to leave a lasting impression. When it comes down to it, Spirit of the North is a good and decent game that many players will certainly enjoy (at least for one complete run). Final score: ~6 / 10.

Key points and other notable details:

• - Explore and solve simple environment-based puzzles as a red fox.
  
• - Decent variety of puzzles, but requires quite a bit of backtracking.
  
• - Intended to be a calm and relaxing experience with each chapter having its own aesthetic.
  
• - Character movement can be quite stiff which can be jarring in comparison to the environment.
  
• - The forest map near the end of the game is excessively large which invites frustration over the feelings of serenity.
  
• - The fox can run, jump, swim, and "fly", but more importantly there are buttons dedicated solely to allow the fox to bark and wag its tail! :D

Kitten's Wardrobe it a cute, little game. The titular Kitten lost its tail and a couple of friends, and goes on a quest to find them. Along the way, the Kitten encounters new friends and receives new items after completing their respective minigames. Most of the minigames requires picture tracing but abstract games like omak (aka gomoku) and the collapse-style, tile-matching puzzle game are also included. The story is told without text using hand-drawn scenes. It's mostly charming, but sometimes shocking, and the ending was literally heartwarming. ᓚᘏᗢ ♥

• Nice, chill game using adorable artwork and sounds. It's pretty cozy. :D
  
• At the time of this review (possibly after the July 2024 update), other than the [Esc] key no keyboard inputs are recognized by the game. Thus, keyboard movement isn't possible and screenshots through Steam cannot be taken.
  
• All the achievements can be easily obtained in under an hour even if a player took their sweet time with it.

Kill the Crows is an intense western-themed, top-down arena shooter. Runs are fast and furious with one-hit kills for both the player and the enemies (including bosses).¹ The entire game is set in a single ruined town where swarms of enemies rush towards Isabella, our bloodthirsty gunslinger, on her mission of vengeance. Kill the Crows is a skill-based game, and as such it may not be for everyone.

Fortunately, Kill the Crows never feels overly frustrating when a run ends and restarts are very quick. A player can swiftly change out their gear loadouts (and level modifiers) and can get right back into the action within seconds! Despite the single environment and a handful of enemy types, the team behind the game did such a wonderful job that it doesn't ever feel too repetitive. The pixel art is good and enemy types are easily distinguishable from one another so that priority threats like sharpshooters can be quickly identified and taken down. Shootouts are fierce and impactful as enemies are thrown back by one deliberate bullet after another from Isabella's revolver and amplified by superb use of audio. The various showdowns are ever eye-catching as our cowgirl heroine mows down waves of enemies by fanning her revolver in a deadly display of unadulterated marksmanship -- it's a downright joy to witness. :)

In addition, the developer/publisher team have been very receptive to player comments and have worked diligently to squash any bugs that players have encountered. As such, Kill the Crows runs very smoothly and is practically bug-free. At the time of this review, the issue with The Crimson Moon Rising achievement has been recently resolved so achievement hunters are now able to acquire all the achievements for the game.

For the price of a small meal, Kill the Crows is a thoroughly enjoyable arena shooter. It's a game I'm sure to revisit again and again. Easily recommended! Give it a try! Thank you for the privilege of your time in reading my review. Cheers!

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1. Although there is an item that can be unlocked that allows a player to survive a single hit during a run, the game is no less intense.

Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel (Demo) is a solid representation for the upcoming release of the full game with quite a bit of content in it. Jotunnslayer cloaks itself in the Norse mythology of the vikings and positively oozes its theme quite well. The game is a decent -- but not fantastic -- swarm survival, bullet hell game. It's fairly fun and it is visually pleasing, but it is also quite shallow in its gameplay and is unbalanced.

Unfortunately, Jotunnslayer lacks strategic depth with powers and abilities which are often seen in other horde survival games. Some deviation from the standard fare would help to make the game more interesting and unique despite its wonderful theme. Objectives and field bonuses require the player to locate them on the map and remain nearby until the meter is filled. It's very ho-hum. Furthermore, while the game is pretty it can also be hard to differentiate navigable surfaces from untraversable, background objects. The game is surprisingly resource heavy and will often lag when the game loads in new groups of enemies or visual effect assets. At the time of this review the demo is mostly bug free; however, on rare instances a player's character can "lock up" (usually when attempting to claim a field bonus) and is clearly not from a status effect or part of the gameplay that will prematurely end a player's run.

Nevertheless, the demo is a fun time-waster if formulaic, and does good job of what to expect in the full game. As such the demo version of Jotunnslayer has earned a thumbs up. On the other hand, if this was a review for the full version of the game (without significant changes in balance and gameplay from what was seen in the demo), then it would be difficult to recommend this game over other ones in the same genre. When it comes down to it, Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel (Demo) is entertaining enough, and if prospective players out there are interested in the game, then they should give the demo a try!

Thanks for reading the review and the privilege of your time. Take care now; cheers!

UNDEFEATED is a short, free title created by students when it was released about superhero escapism. It's a fun, little game to play for short stints at a time as you go about doing all sorts of heroic things like rescuing civilians in distress and beating up bad guys in the surprisingly detailed city. The player can acquire more superpowers as they progress but the fantastic power of flight is right there from the get-go! UNDEFEATED is a pretty decent representation of a typical day of mine during my off-hours when I'm not doing something else equally as impressive. True story, probably. Thanks for reading the review! Love you all, and have fun. Cheers!

Atan is an exploratory, climbing game created by students at Breda University of Applied Sciences. It is visually pretty, and is fun, and full of "goobers" to discover! The game is heavily inspired by another game called Jusant.

In Atan the main character uses his climbing and archery skills to overcome obstacles while traversing through the world he knows. While the game is enjoyable, occasionally a player can get softlocked during a stage's puzzle. Fortunately, save points are generous and one can simply return to their last save to overcome the softlock by "falling" off the colossus. There is also a bit of jank with the game's controls but it isn't all that bad. The game also has a stage select option allowing players to revisit stages they've cleared. All in all, this is a good game. Atan is offered for free on Steam so give it a try! :)

Random fun note: I first played and posted a review of Atan on 081624 (August 16th, 2024). Each double-digit date identifier is a multiple of eight in sequence. 08 = 8 x 1, 16 = 8 x 2, and 24 = 8 x 3. Thought that was interesting to note. ^^" Thank you for the privilege of your time and for reading the review. Cheers and be safe!

Minor edit: Removed a doubled word.

Steelrising has an interesting premise but is held back by very poor optimization and simplistic gameplay. The French Revolution that began in 1789 has been suppressed by an army of clockwork automatons in this alternate take on French history. The game's environments reflect that and along with clever level design gives the world a gritty, lived-in feeling with its period set pieces. The story's political and later philosophical topics are fascinating, but ultimately forgettable. Despite various weapon types, status ailments, and special moves the combat in this game is straightforward and relatively easy for a Souls-like game. For whatever reason, Steelrising is not optimized well which affects many players with unbalanced resolution and frame rates along with potentially delayed actions. Thus, a fairly robust machine is recommended to avoid any frustration.

Tangentially, I once asked a longtime French artist friend of mine of what he thought of Steelrising and its alternate history. He didn't say much beyond that he thought there were better games in the Souls-like genre, and then proceeded to send me several NSFW (but tasteful) pinups he had created. One of the games mentioned was Lies of P which is similar in theme to Steelrising but has smoother gameplay, is better optimized, and has tougher challenges. Nevertheless (and perhaps contrary to my negative recommendation), Steelrising is worth a try as it's an "okay" game and is somewhat enjoyable, but it is also marred severely by its poor performance. And hey, I defeated an elite enemy with a pebble so that was fun, haha!

Akatori: Chapter One is fun, colorful 2.5D metroidvania platformer where the player controls an energetic monk named Mako. It's not perfect, but this demo from the Code Wakers development team does a good job of giving us a taste of what the full game might contain.

Firstly, the game is quite pretty with lovely pixel art and beautiful backgrounds. The pixel art of the characters are detailed enough to make characters distinct from one another. The background environments compliments the 2.5D foreground environs as Mako traverses her world. There are hints of an interesting story from the game's denizens and from the little bit of lore found under item descriptions. It leaves a subtle impression of making players to learn more. Though unused in the demo, tantalizing sections of an upgrade and crafting systems can be found within. Movement and combat controls felt mostly responsive and on-point. Exploration felt rewarding where new abilities or life containers and even an extra miniboss can be found. Lastly, areas can change slightly over time as the corruption sets in which will surely be more of an integral mechanic in the full game.

That said, the demo also reveals several issues. The character you control can inadvertently become trapped out of bounds forcing players to quit their run. The game is also not very well optimized in certain areas such as Mirror Lake, and frame rates can be severely reduced resulting in choppy performance. Audio accompaniment feels lacking at times. It could be more dynamic in and out of combat, or lend itself more gravitas when the character's health is low. The map system needs more quality of life improvements. Once Mako enters a new area for the first time the entire "room" is immediately revealed on the map instead of being revealed more naturally by exploration. Mako's position and noteworthy locations such as save points, traders, or boss rooms are not shown at all. Also, there is no minimap in the demo. And finally, the game's dialogues between characters is laced with profanity with no option for a "clean" version. This is a concern for some Steam users when allowing children to play the game.

Overall, Akatori: Chapter One is a solid demo for the full game. It gives good opportunities for players to explore and ends after Mako defeats the chapter one boss; thus, giving an air of completion. Players should be able to get a good sense if they'll enjoy the final product and its gameplay by playing through this demo. Plus, it includes its own achievements for players to earn if they're interested in that as well.

Kingdom: The Blood is a Korean-themed, Joseon-era action game where you and your allies fight off hordes of zombies. It looks nice and it is ostensibly "free", but plays and feels terribly on Steam. This is due to the fact that it emulates a mobile game for PC-users.

As the game was clearly not originally built with PC-users in mind, it carried over a number of aspects that proves problematic for users on Steam. Many of the elements and user interface revolves around touchscreen interaction, and not necessarily for the classic mouse and keyboard combination or controllers. Players can indeed work around it but at times it is difficult to navigate and can be quite a hassle such as selecting rewards after completing missions. Visually, the game looks pretty decent once a player can get into the settings and go full-screen. The default setting is windowed with a smartphone design in mind with the game screen being quite small. The sounds are functional but not stellar. Detecting the location of enemies by sound is very much hit-or-miss. The controls are alright -- they can be smoother with less input lag but they work. The camera, however, is very bad. No amount of adjustments in settings to change camera sensitivity will alleviate the awfully slow camera panning. For an action game, this is a mortal sin. Along with these issues, the game has all the trappings of mobile MMO gaming with all the daily rewards, gatcha systems, limited items, and other aspects in place to nurture addictive behaviors in players and encourage expensive in-app purchases. Heck, at the time of this review, the game doesn't even have a Steam option in its login screen; though, it is playable through Steam without the need of logging onto other platforms.

As such, the game can be fun for certain players -- especially those that followed the show it is based on or have an interest in the themes and the setting of the game. Be aware however that it is a mobile game that's simply been ported over for Steam. Players are probably better off playing on mobile devices using touchscreens as how it was intended.

Edit: A single word was deleted in the body of the review.

"20 Small Mazes is a puzzle game with twenty small mazes.
They're good mazes, though."
-- FLEB

And it's true! Nice puzzle game with a small collection of various types of mazes. Dragging certain things out of the way is a bit floaty at times but it has a good variety of puzzles, and it's free. :]

Here are hints for a couple of the mazes that might trip some players up...
- Combination Vault: As you travel through each quadrant, the boxes that pop up will draw a shape of the number you need. No need to count the boxes.
- No Escape: It's a trick. See the hint here: https://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3162977826.