Recent reviews by Xuupi

Cute lil brain teaser. The puzzles are very elegant - they're never too long or convoluted and they make use of the game's mechanics in inventive ways.

If you want to be nitpicky, then the boss fights could be more polished and the difficulty curve is a bit strange (world 3 was the most difficult iirc). Personally I really liked the roller coaster bits and would have loved to see more of those to balance out the puzzles.

Oof, as someone that loved the first game, I really wanted to like TTP2, but it was just a frustrating slog for me.

- Most of the puzzles are anemic, leaving you thinking "That's it?" instead of giving you the satisfaction of figuring it out. There are some elegant and more complex puzzles, but these are few and far between. Each section of the game introduces a new mechanic, but they are never built upon enough to use them to their full potential. Instead the game moves on to the next shiny thing.

- The graphical demands seem unwarranted. My rig is mid-range and has no trouble running most current games, but my game kept crashing and I had to lower the graphics to the lowest settings just to get anywhere. Even then, my computer sounds like a vacuum cleaner when I run TTP2. And for what? There aren't really any novel or breathtaking sceneries that lower end computers aren't able to render. I realise beauty is subjective, but why cut out a large portion of your playerbase if the core of the game is puzzles and philosophy?

- The maps are too large. Maybe this is a personal preference, but I don't really find joy in looking behind every rock, bush and building just to see if there's anything there. The fact that you have to do this to get 100% achievements is a pain in the ass. Most people just don't have the time to search through large areas in the hopes of finding something.

+ The story, characters and philosophical snippets are well crafted, which is the main reason I have kept playing as long as I have and will finish the game. They're not as captivating as in the first game, but still enjoyable. I particularly love the many ways the game offers antidotes to misanthropy.

+ The final golden puzzles are where the game finally feels like the first game, but to have to play through 120+ puzzles just to get there? Ehhh ...

A short stress-free adventure game for when you just want to relax

Wow, what an adventure! Great acting and writing, captivating mysteries and puzzles, immersive visuals, genuinely hilarious and heartbreaking scenes - this game has it all and it does it all well. Don't let the mixed ratings fool you, this is a game you won't regret playing.

Boredom Simulator

The strength of this game lies in its visuals and atmosphere. There is no speech or written language to be found, leaving plenty of room for free interpretation. Even so, there are many ideas for the player to grasp on to and wonder about (death and rebirth, motherhood, children vs parasites, pleasure in pain, the quest for transcendence, natural vs artificial).

However, it is short for a game being sold for 40€ (not to mention the amounts pledged in the kickstarter) and underwhelming after the long development time.

If you're interested in this game, keep your expectations in check.

If only there was a neutral review option ...

I'm not a fan of the direction this game has taken. You have characters surviving in an adorable miniature world with a multitude of interesting insects, but the only interaction you have with them is killing them. Is this really the extent of the developers imagination? So much wasted potential.

That being said I can't say I hate the game - the exploration and discovery is definitely fun. I just wish the developers had done more with the premise rather than just another generic kill-loot-upgrade gear.

I've been looking for a game that would live up to the original 1994 XCOM for years, and I certainly didn't expect to find it when playing this humorous RPG adventure. But here we are! Not only can't your characters hit the broad side of a barn, they are quite capable of knocking themselves out or even TURNING YOUR ENEMIES INVISIBLE if you critically fail a roll. And it all meshes well with the story because you are a particularly unskilled group of adventurers that gets cursed soon after entering the dungeon.

In short, the combination of light-hearted humour and tough battles make this game an unforgettable classic for me.

Act 2 is kind of a snoozefest, but I'm mainly downvoting because I'm disappointed with how What Pumpkin has handled this game series.

More, please!