Recent reviews by Emrys

The game is absolutely great for the first 30 hours or so. It doesn't quite stick the landing, though.

At first you think it's all pretty simple - just get to the 46th room and that's it.
Then you start getting annoyed with the drafting mechanics.
Then you realize you can manipulate the draft.
Then you realize there's much more to the game than it initially seemed.
Each runs gives you new information.
Sure, you didn't get to solve those 3 puzzles that you have in the back of your mind, but you got 5 new clues to follow in the next run!
You start screenshotting every single possible clue and writing down everything that looks strange.
You now have 10+ clues to keep track of at any given time. How deep does this go???
You've seen the credits, but there's so much more to uncover. So you continue.
The game keeps giving you more though. It's like a puzzle hydra - for every puzzle solved you get two more clues to follow.
The puzzles get more and more cryptic.
It's still fun, but now it gets tiring to go through the motions of drafting.
But the game gives you more.
Surely, after I unlock the 8 doors with 8 sigils the game will finally end?
No. No it will not.
You find even more options to manipulate the draft. But you just want it to end now. It's enough puzzles. IT'S ENOUGH PUZZLES.
Here's some more puzzles.
I'm tired, boss....
And a whole new location. With more puzzles in it.

I don't think I have the tenacity to beat all of it. And that's the main problem: there is no satisfying conclusion to the game unless you force yourself into an obsessive hyperfocused frenzy. Even if you just want to finally see the true ending and CALL IT A DAY - cheats and guides won't help you all that much.

I'm still recommending the game. Because it's genuinely unique and it does something different. And because the first third (fourth?) of the game is really-really fun to uncover. Just maybe don't expect to actually beat it.

This is a very neat little escape room that you can beat in one seating. The puzzles are pretty inventive and punch through the fourth wall several times. My only problem with the game was that the final optional puzzle was a bit too open to interpretation, so I spent ~10-15 minutes just trying out different combinations after fully understanding what exactly I need to do.

You'll also need to scan some QR codes, which - I've heard - can be problematic on Android even with different apps, but I had no problems getting them to recognize.

Besides that - no notes, definitely grab it, it's clearly a product of love (there were even some free Steam codes for the game within the game!)

It's an okay-ish puzzle that you must (not can) beat in one seating. There are no save files, so you have to see it through. It took me ~1.5-2 hours with some distractions. There are 5 case files, for each of them you must answer 2 questions, using freeform text input.

I don't really see a reason for this game to not have save files, but it's not a huge problem.

The puzzles aren't too difficult but also not all that interesting. You just read through some documents and punch in some numbers into the computer, that's it.

Still, it scratched my puzzle itch and it's not super expensive, so I'm recommending it

It's very hard to write down something specific about UFO 50, just because there's SO MUCH of it. Basically - it's a collection of 50 fully-fledged NES/SNES style games, created by an imaginary game developer. Except they have none of the old-timey jank and have lots of new and unique game design ideas. And yes, it's literally illegal to talk about UFO 50 without saying "game design ideas".

There's a:
* Strategy game, where all your units are discs that you launch into enemy discs, to cause them to ricochet from one another. Imaging curling, but with ogres
* Rogue-like deck builder about making the coolest party in town, where you have to manage popular people, rich people and trouble makers in your deck
* Super Metroid but VVVVVV
* Proto-immersive sim
* Proto-uhhh, Civilization? Or Heroes of Might & Magic? I'm not sure, but you pray to cool dinosaurs
* An atmospheric first person horror point & click quest
* 2D Splatoon
* A platformer where you have to use your dead bodies to make it through the level
* PINBALL GOLF (greatest idea in history of humanity)
* Surprisingly interesting stealth-puzzle about being a chameleon

...and more.
Some of it even has couch multiplayer!

Also there's a greatest achievement system ever: each game has 1 achievement, and if you earn it - a cute little piggie will get a gift from that game. That's what I call motivation.

It gets a bit overwhelming if you keep playing UFO 50 back to back to back, but after the initial excitement of discovery wears off it becomes a great in-between game for Steam Deck - if you have some time to kill, then UFO 50's got options for ya.

Very chill and short puzzle game, leaning on the easier side. The mechanic of taking a snapshot of reality is very unique and it's fun to play around with, "breaking" some of the levels (I'm not sure I solved some of them correctly, but hey - those are MY solutions and they're going on the fridge).

One very important note though, before you start playing: go to the settings and turn voice volume to 0%. And disable the subtitles. The writing and voice acting are incredibly obnoxious from the word "go". The "holy shi did you just shift reality?!" kinda obnoxious. I've turned everything off 30 seconds in and haven't regretted it once - it was a pretty serene and chill experience. The plot did try to reach me through phone calls, but I ignored those as well. I can proudly say that I have no idea what this game is about and I'm happier for it.

Literally A Short Hike 2, but you're a mushroom and there are zero stakes, you just chill. There's a glider involved, and you can climb stuff (sorta). Also you can ride a capybara across the lake, 10/10 no notes.

I will say 20 euros feels a bit pricey for this, but on a discount it's very much worth it.

The mechanic is unique and the game gets a lot of mileage out of it. You will fry eggs (on both sides, as always), cigarettes, cockroaches, beer and more.
The dialogue is genuinely funny.
And it doesn't overstay its welcome.

Very weak dialogue and writing (though I suppose that can be said about previous Metro games too) that you're forced to listen to.
Completely broken sense of scale - super tiny chairs and desks, low ceilings, everything feels like you're looking at a toy version of it.
Shooting feels unimpactful.
First gameplay section is The Turret Section (TM) and judging from the other reviews - there are several of those, which I absolutely hate.
Refunded, gonna go buy Batman instead

I have slightly mixed feelings about this. I loved the game and the atmosphere. BUT I think I was expecting something else going in. The game is very intriguing and teases you in the beginning saying things like "you have to know some information about the outside world, such as roman numerals, greek alphabet, etc."

This is a lie. Not only is this a lie, it will lead you to believe some puzzles are way more complex than they actually are. I've 100%-ed the game and I don't think there's a single puzzle that relies on you figuring something out using your external knowledge - in fact, it can be detrimental to try and do so. The game does have roman numerals and greek alphabet and hex numbers and more. But if you don't see a clear solution - it's very likely that you don't have enough information and you have to search for a clue somewhere else. And by a "clue" I mean "an straight up answer written down somewhere". I think I've spent at least 20 minutes at the Greek Door puzzle trying to come up with a way to solve it - but you can't solve it. You have to find a solution somewhere else. So my advice to you: if you can't figure out a puzzle - don't overcomplicate it, go the other way and try to think of the most straightforward solution you can think of. And if you still can't solve it - go explore some more. And do take notes! I have several pages of those and they look like scribbles of a madman, I love it.

The name of the game here is "pattern recognition" and "having a big context window to remember what you saw and where". At least the first ~60-70% of the game is like that. However, as you get closer to the end the puzzles begin to ramp up in difficulty and become more convoluted. I really liked some of those and I loved the final one.

The other sticking point are the controls. The game is intentionally very clunky: there are LOTS of padlocks with digit wheels that only rotate forward, you have to press 6-10 buttons to get to the map screen and to back out of a menu you have to scroll to the top of the list each time. And to back out of the puzzle you have to select the "confirm puzzle" button, press it and then watch how the puzzle fails to be solved. This has been brought up numerous times in reviews, community discussions, reddit posts and more. The devs clearly either don't care or think that this is "the proper way to do things". I disagreed, so I made a mod to fix this: https://github.com/graynk/LoreleiAndSaneControls. It's also not perfect, but at least it addresses the issues above and I've beaten the game with it.

All in all, I still like the game. It's not perfect by any means, but it scratched my puzzle itch and it was stylish and intriguing enough to keep me hooked. Plus it gave me a good excuse to learn Unity modding!

I was thoroughly bored by this. As soon as the novelty wears off, it turns out that the game does not have much to offer. As a horror game it's not scary and relies mostly on jumpscares. As a story game it's not very interesting and doesn't have much to say. As a game-game it's a walking sim with a bunch of basic mini-games thrown in.

It's clear that some thought and care was put into it, but at the same time: only checkpoints instead of proper saves, no controller support, no cloud saves, running is allowed only in specific sequences (so you're forced to very slowly walk) and you can't skip dialogue (so you're forced to re-listen to everything if you decide to do other endings).

You can safely skip this game and not lose much, the hype is way overblown.