Recent reviews by Myr

Wingspan is a super cozy and beautiful game that really captures the vibe of the board game. I love the chill music and watching all the little birds come to life. But it’s a bit annoying that you can’t take back some moves, even if you haven’t finished them yet. It’s like, I just misclicked - please let me fix it! Still, if you’re into birds and strategy, it’s a really fun way to spend some time.

Friends vs Friends is a fast-paced, fun, and quirky deck-building FPS that blends unique card mechanics with colorful, cartoon-style visuals. The gameplay emphasizes chaotic and unpredictable matches, as players use cards to unleash special abilities or sabotage their opponents. However, the randomness of card effects might frustrate those seeking more strategic depth. Overall it is a creative and entertaining multiplayer experience but to be good at the game it's a big advantage if you have a certain amount of experience with competitive shooters.

In a world of chaos, a crew takes the stage,
Animals filthy, unleashed from their cage.
A heist to remember, with laughter and glee,
Breaking all rules with wild anarchy.

All objects are flying, alarms start to wail,
The vault’s bursting open—will they prevail?
The loot may be shiny, the stakes running high,
But teamwork and madness will see them get by.

In the shadows, where whispers dwell,
A dark tale spins, a cursed spell.
Black Book calls with its whispered lore,
A witch's fate, forevermore.

A female "Zorro"-like adventurer on a noble mission in 17th century Spain with a pinch of humor like what you would expect in "Puss in Boots."

We take on the role of Adalia de Volador, a rapier-wielding defender of the oppressed population. While we fight for justice wherever we can against corrupt law enforcers, we also duel with formerly loved interests and our crazy but likeable brother. The story is about our arch-enemy Conde-Duque stealing or embezzling the people's money and putting it all aside on his treasure island. It is our duty as a major troublemaker to stop him. So here, our epic adventure begins.

"En Garde!" is a fast-paced action-adventure game for PC created by Fireplace Games and released in August 2023. The game features a vibrant, humorous, and stylized world and focuses on fast-paced, cinematic sword fights in which players must outsmart and outmaneuver their opponents through skill, cleverness, and interaction with the environment. Combat and movement are largely fluid, very enjoyable, and intuitive. The parry mechanics are certainly a bit tricky for a newcomer to the genre as the time frame for actions is often very short. But the focus of the game is clearly focused on these duels or how to avoid them. Therefore, it is important to adapt to the different enemy types. Each enemy has its own approach: The Lackey who doesn't block or parry while also being easy to slice up, Soldiers who need to be lured out of cover and exhausted, Elite Soldiers who regenerate their cover, Shieldbearers who must first have their shields removed with environmental mechanics, and Duelists dodge your item attacks but are not actually much stronger than elite guardsmen. Nonetheless, towards the end, in particular, the battles against the Duellists and Elite Soldiers become quite a challenge, especially when there is more than one in the duel or whole flocks of enemies attack you. There are also Grenadiers who throw firebombs at the current position, which can also be helpful, as the enemies are also hit and are therefore more easily thrown off balance for quick attacks. I sometimes let the Grenadiers live for this purpose to help me control the mob. From time to time, defeated opponents lying on the ground comment on their loss, which is sometimes quite funny but often confuses me, as I then think I've forgotten an opponent running around.

Using the environment in combat is the key. We throw everything we can get our hands on at our opponents. Buckets blind the enemies and make them stationary, kicking barrels at them knocks them back and surprises them, and lanterns can trigger cannons that blow away everything in front of them with one shot. There is also chili powder that stuns the enemies temporarily so that you can take care of individual enemies, ase podiums and cooking pots that deliver the final knock on the head, weapon stands to bury fighters underneath them when they are kicked against them, and every ledge is an invitation to kick down the careless opponents.

The graphic style of the environment and characters is strongly influenced by games like "Sea of Thieves," but you can see that someone has put a lot of work and love into the level designs. The Spanish street sections, palazzos, and locations are truly breathtaking. Beautiful scenarios and level design that leave you wanting more depth. Rooms are filled with a lot of variety, and they would invite you to explore them, but the urge to explore is rarely satisfied as we only run through most of them because there's not much to do here. In addition, we are very often faced with closed doors or one-way corridors that hint at paths but never open them up.

Unfortunately, what happens far too often is that you simply wander through large sections of the level without any deeper interaction. Sometimes, entire levels are loaded in which I only fight two enemies and otherwise just run and jump through the level structure. Finding your way is rarely difficult. In addition, guiding wind lines help even the most clueless players not to lose direction. Sometimes, I wish the level design would challenge me a little more. Thrillingly introduced chases are completely without pressure and invite you to wander rather than run. Secret level sections allow insights into cute areas and exploration objects with descriptive texts, but unfortunately, that is all. With this kind of reward, I didn't feel motivated to search the levels in a focused way. The game has some lovely references to popular culture, such as the White Tree of Gondor from Lord of the Rings or some reference to Monkey Island's Insult Sword Fighting. However, these are mostly only found in the texts of the surrounding objects.

When we come to a level section transition, we usually open a final door, which often reveals that there is nothing behind it when we swing it open. It’s mostly darkness, but sometimes there really is a dead-end room behind it or a corridor that ends immediately without doors. This seems almost inappropriate in a game that is so in love with detail. After completing a whole level, we are shown alternative objectives, such as eliminating a certain enemy in a specific way or finding a special location, etc. I'm not sure whether these alternative goals will persuade someone to play the level again. Unfortunately, it has a rather low replay value for me. Sometimes, I would have liked a few features that I don't normally enjoy myself, like alternative costumes for our protagonist, timed chases, or other mechanics that make us feel like we're really dealing with something.

Dialogues are fully and lovingly voiced in English (with the exception of some item descriptions), which adds to the atmosphere and mood of the whole scenario. In general, the game is short - it took me about 6-7 hours to reach the credits at a relaxed play pace. For the effort that went into the voice acting, gameplay, and level design, that's okay, but not impressive. I think they could have made a lot more out of the unspoiled setting and the characters with a bit more content. There is an arena mode that offers different levels of difficulty and a variety of perks. These perks help you and/or make your opponents stronger. It's quite exciting to test your skills as a duelist against crowds of opponents, but for me, it doesn't offer enough variety for long-term use.

The game also offers some family-friendly additional options in the menus, such as invincibility or automatic parrying. I imagine this is quite nice if you want a younger target group to enjoy the game.

During my playthrough, I had few to hardly any bugs. Once, I got stuck between two chests and another time; I could stand 2 meters in midair near a cliff. There are also some imperfections, such as very blurred distant structures (at high to ultra settings in the graphics) in the distance, which seems weird.

On the start screen, the game makes it clear that it is intended to be played with a controller, and I have to say that it plays great with one. When playing with the keyboard, the game feels very awkward, even if parries are easier to achieve with a mouse.

In summary, however, "En Garde" is a well-designed and nicely narrated game that can be finished in just a few sessions. I had fun playing the game and actually felt quite entertained.

Story –⭐⭐
Graphics – ⭐⭐⭐
Sound –⭐⭐⭐
Gameplay – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Fun Meter –⭐⭐⭐

VERDICT
+ Fresh dynamic combat system
+ Environmental Interaction
+ Humorous and light-hearted tone
+ Intuitive and nice level design
+ Excellent visual style and characters

- Short game length
- Shallow story
- Repetitive gameplay
- Inconsistent difficulty

The Force is calling me, letting me roam the most exciting locations in the STAR WARS universe as Darth Vader's henchman.

The game features a classic single-player campaign consisting of a sequential series of combat-oriented missions. The infrequent environmental puzzles in which my Force skills are needed feel mostly simple and straightforward. Almost too easy. The real difficulty here lies more in the controls. But more on that later …

The story starts off epically. We get to clean up Kashyyyk as Lord Vader himself and easily get rid of the pesky furry creatures (Wookies) with our powerful Force attacks. However, one thing is immediately noticeable in the first few minutes. The levels are very linear, which makes further exploration or getting lost impossible. By the end of the first level, I realize that I will not remain in the role of Vader, but that I will be following the story of Darth Vader's apprentice, Galen Marek. Our Sith Master Vader sends us on a series of sequential and combat-oriented missions in which we have to fight our way through various enemy types. After a few levels, however, it becomes clear ... the structure is always the same ... In each level we are given a mission with a main objective, which usually consists of eliminating a certain target person. In addition, we are given three secondary objectives. A mission-specific special objective that usually involves destroying objects, reaching a certain score (which is achieved by killing enemies) and collecting holocrons. There are up to 15 of them hidden in the levels which, despite the linear stages, are often very well hidden, but sometimes very obvious. But especially these old Jedi relics bring us a lot of old knowledge and with it upgrade points, lightsaber colors and crystals or even costumes.

These help us to become stronger in order to overcome the specific enemy types. In general, you feel clearly superior as a player, since the enemies are rarely a real challenge. The only weapon we have at our disposal against the many enemies is our lightsaber, which we use to slaughter the enemies by executing combos, sometimes on purpose, sometimes at random. In addition, we have access to our Force abilities, which allow us to unlock special combat skills. Some are unlocked automatically with the level progression, others we can unlock ourselves. For this we use three different upgrade points (blue, red, yellow) which we get with every level up. This is obtained by defeating enemies or finding holocrons.

The only displays we need to keep an eye on are health, which recharges by killing enemies, and Force power, which is self-regenerating and should limit how often you use these Force skills. This also makes sense because these Force skills are very powerful. Sometimes you stun an enemy briefly with a Force push, sometimes you send Force lightning on them, sometimes you throw the many crates and environmental objects at them. However, throwing, grabbing and moving objects with the Force skill is very clunky. I usually miss 4 times before a crate actually hits an enemy. Since there are rather few missions where the exact movement by the Force skill is needed, one can ignore these weird controls here. Another shortcoming is that you can't really cancel the combos, which occasionally leads to unintentionally attacking over the edge and falling or hitting the explosive barrel close to the enemy.

The game is mainly played in third person view, where the camera moves through the levels with the player. In the boss fights, however, the camera takes a fixed position to show more of the arena. This makes it very difficult to properly estimate your own and your opponent's position. I frequently miss my opponent with my Force push because I can't aim properly. Still, the boss fights are a welcome challenge compared to the rest of the opponents, as you have to learn their attack patterns and weaknesses in battle. But there was one “boss battle” on Raxus Prime near the end where the directions on what to do were not really clear. I had to find a solution online which kind of broke the epicness of the scene.

The story and plot of the game is presented after each level with the help of nice cutscenes. We get to know some of Galen's companions, enemies and allies, but they didn't really become close to my heart due to their rather flat character. The story itself is exciting, but Galen's motivation is hard for me to understand. The game is relatively short and can be played through in just 8-10 hours.

In summary, the game offers simple action and an exciting excursion into a slightly different STAR WARS story. Perfect for several cozy after-work sessions with the controller on the couch and receives the Seal of Recommendation from me ... May the force be with you!

RATING:
Story – ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Graphics – ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Sound – ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Gameplay – ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Fun Meter – ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐


+ Nice excursion into a somewhat different STAR WARS story
+ Solid gameplay and controls
+ Varied levels and enemies
+ Cool lightsaber battles and a powerful gameplay experience
+ Many costumes and lightsaber colors

- Controls and camera perspective during boss fights are weird
- Levels tend to be too linear
- Grabbing, moving and throwing with the Force skills behaves weirdly
- Enemy AI is rather simplistic
- Little character depth in the side characters

“I love the smell of burnt orc in the morning!”

We return to the underground dungeons, castles and mines from the prequel and take on the role of either "The War Mage" or "The Sorceress". And we have only one task. Hundreds ... no that is not enough ... thousands ... mhhh rather millions of orcs have to die. How are we going to do that? Traps, traps and even more traps have to be summoned. Similar equipment as in the predecessor is used here again.

Why do the orcs actually attack? They want to reach the surface and bring terror and destruction to the world. They reach this through the "rifts", which are portals to the surface world. Therefore, Orcs Must Die! 2 is a variant of the tower defense genre, in which we have to build traps instead of the usual defense towers. Later we can also summon guards to fight for us.

The green hordes break through heavy gates at the beginning of each level and head straight for the rifts. Politely, the orcs take a generous break after almost every wave, which allows us to recover and place new traps. However, placing traps and guards costs coins, which we receive in limited quantities at the start of each level. All other coins we have to earn. Every orc we kill drops a small amount of them, which is immediately transferred to our account. In addition, enemies also leave coins on the battlefield from time to time, which we can collect. In a case of need, even traps that have already been placed can be sold again without a deduction.

We learn how to summon the various traps almost always by unlocking them in our spellbook. In addition to traps, equipment and weapons are also available here. But unlocking and upgrading costs orc skulls, which we can pick up when completing missions or, in rare cases, in the middle of a battle. Unlocked traps, equipment and weapons remain with us permanently and can be upgraded 3 times each and specialized with one out of two bonuses. But no stress. Wrong point distribution is not fatal since you can reset and redistribute your points at any time.

Unlike in ordinary tower defense games, we can place traps not only on the ground, but also on walls and ceilings, depending on the type of trap. Flying enemies like to make life hard for you, and here the ceiling and wall traps are a necessity. Because every creature that breaks through your defenses and makes it into the portal lowers your Rift Points. So only a few orcs may slip through your fingers ... or you lose.

Often the combination of traps, status effects, positioning and your own equipment determines whether the rift portals are stormed or you can victoriously defeat all orcs. What I personally often found annoying was that now and then streams of enemies were announced by magical guiding lines, but in the coming wave they came out of another gate, or sometimes the breakthrough of a new gate was announced and sometimes not. This quickly creates stressful moments (perhaps intended by the developers) where one is glad to be armed as a character itself.

In Orcs Must Die 2 you also have the opportunity to defend the dungeons in a duo for the first time. Some levels seem to be designed especially for this, because there are often long distances between the two identical sides, which are difficult to master alone. Unfortunately, since only online co-op is supported, I was unable to test the game in two-player mode.

For those who want to max out the game experience or unlock the whole spellbook, there is an endless mode for many levels where you will encounter ever stronger growing waves of enemies. The Complete Pack DLCs each offer 3 new levels, associated new unique enemy types, new weapons and traps to try out. Often, the DLCs require you to use special tactics and exploit weak points that you could often ignore in the main game.

About the story behind the game: We pick up quite seamlessly from the Prequel. The master of "War Mage" did not die as originally thought, but is responsible for "The Sorceress" escaping from her own out-of-control horde of orcs via a portal to our "War Mage". Unfortunately, the story doesn't get much more depth. Why do the Orcs attack? Where do they come from? Too many open questions.

This game is for the short action but still requires some skill. There are no long intros or other gimmicks here ... just solid TD gameplay. And it can do that very well!

Story –⭐
Graphics – ⭐ ⭐
Sound –⭐ ⭐
Gameplay – ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Fun Meter –⭐ ⭐ ⭐

VERDICT
+ More action for a TD game than expected
+ Movement & weapon handling feels good
+ Different locations and maps
+ Really keeps you entertained
+ No bugs or glitches

- Very reduced story
- Repetitive building order
- Unlocking in the Spellbook needs some grinding
- Sometimes attack paths are not clear
- No Couch Co-Op

The Steam version contains 16 campaign missions, 8 special operations missions and 8 great battles missions. The game is about collecting resources (plastic and electricity) and using them to build structures, vehicles and troops while fighting the enemy army (coloured in light brown). As usual in an RTS, each structure/soldier requires a certain amount of resources. The stronger the unit is, the more resources are needed to build it.
Army Men: RTS is in its core a basic real-time strategy game. There are some missions where you have only a small squad of soldiers, but in most of them you are allowed to build a base and produce troops. In these cases, you'll start out with a bulldozer that is used to build structures like the HQ and the resource depot. There are several types of infantry and vehicles like the tank and helicopter that support your infantry. You need to build a balanced army in order to survive encounters with the enemy. You have to know the strengths and weaknesses of the different unit types. For example, tanks can't fire at air units, bazooka men are effective against vehicles and medic vehicles can only repair units and buildings.
The campaign is about chasing after a rogue general who joined the enemy army. Your crusade to hunt him down will place you on different battlefields ranging from a backyard, basement, kitchen countertops, etc. Good thing that the owner of the house, where the battles take place, is really messy. There are toys and garbage spilled all over the place. This really gives you the feeling of being small and some of the things lying around can be used to harvest resources. Each mission also includes two secondary objectives. Completing one goal will grant you a silver medal, while finishing both will give you a gold medal. These medals will unlock new battle scenarios.
Missions start with hero units from time to time but Sarge, the protagonist, is found in most of the missions. The other heroes are special versions of other basic troops. Their presence adds a little character to the basic elements in the game. Also the cutscenes between every mission help adding a bit to the heroes' personalities. The humour of the game in general seems very forced and is anything but deep.
One of the games biggest weak points is unit pathfinding. Units will usually find their way around obstacles with ease if they are alone, but if you have a large group, they will have real trouble trying to get around each other. This can make attacks very frustrating because your front-line units may block other units, leaving weaker support troops unprotected. Also that way only the front units attack while the other units try to get around very slowly and inefficiently. In addition if you're trying to destroy a structure, the troops will stubbornly go after the enemy, forcing you to continuously select the structure they should attack. Troops can only attack or retreat and have no patrol or guard options available. Dump trucks automatically go after far away resources without any type of command, and often get blown up when entering a mine field or enemy base.
The sound is very basic and does not bring surprises or innovations. Music, while not memorable, makes you feel as if you're marching in a military platoon instead of playing with toy soldiers.
The game is now about 20 years old and you can really feel it. It wasn't graphically impressive in 2002, and it just looks outdated now. The frame rate is extremely choppy during in-engine cutscenes, and though explosions and other displays of special effects can cause things to chop up a bit during gameplay, it's otherwise pretty stable.

Hardcore RTS gamers may be put off by the simplicity of the game, but novice players should be able to jump right into the plastic wars quickly.

Story –⭐ ⭐
Graphics – ⭐ ⭐
Sound –⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Gameplay – ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Fun Meter –⭐ ⭐ ⭐

VERDICT
+ Basic RTS in a fresh setting
+ Various units and enemies
+ Different locations and maps
+ Has a story and cutscenes
+ No bugs or glitches

- Pathfinding out of hell
- Repetitive building order
- Graphics didn’t age well
- Unit AI is very limited
- Spamming helicopters wins ever mission

In murky shadows of metal and wire,
A mechanical spider starts to aspire.
With nimble legs, it scales the heights,
Up and down, a daring acrobatic sprite.

Upward it climbs, defying gravity's hold,
My steel vessel, both daring and bold.
Its metallic limbs like strong arms,
Moving with precision, devoid of alarms.

Through the clouds it crawls, a wonder untold,
A creature of circuits, so agile and bold.
A robot spider, conquering any height,
A symphony of movement, a remarkable sight.

So let us marvel, at this mechanical art,
As it dances up and down, playing its part.
For in the world of walls, it stands tall,
A spider of steel, defying limits, above all.

The start of my journey resembles a movie intro, soft sounds guide me, already in the first seconds the strengths of the soundtrack and the sound design are revealed. But suddenly... a system crash... The in-game interface reports an error... we are gently rebooted and find ourselves underwater with Dr. Ellery Vas. We are in a fully automatic diving suit a few meters below the water level on the planet “Gliese 667” which seems to be completely covered by the sea. Ellery asks us to continue on our way and to take over the navigation. Slowly I realize ... I am not with my colleague in the diving suit ... I am the diving suit ... or to put it more precisely I am the AI system which controls and operates the suit. My operator, Dr. Ellery Vas, is an astronaut and xenobiologist in search of her long-lost colleague and partner Minae Nomura, who may have made a groundbreaking discovery. A dark secret that wants to be unfolded.

Immediately noticeable is the unique user interface which has been designed with great attention to detail and color harmonies. A feast for the eyes of any graphic designer like me. We quickly learn the reduced handling of the suit and explore the rich underwater landscape, which we can only capture ourselves based on the minimalistic data input. Little by little we unlock simple tools that help us open up new areas.

With the new areas, there also come some survival elements and mild resource management. (but mostly you get all resources where they are to be used.) In addition, it is important to examine and document every found creature and object in our home base to fill our encyclopedia of living organisms on "Gliese 667" piece by piece. Here you can also unlock sketches of the life forms which have only been described in text form so far, but you have to finish the research on them first.

What is crucial is to read the numerous but passionately and carefully written dialogues, descriptions of the environment, research reports and journal entries. Every line is full of detail and emotion. This is where the atmosphere, the sense of this world, and the true immersion is created - in the narrative and not in the visual input of the game. If you don't like to read or if you just navigate quickly through the areas, a crucial part of the story is missed. We can respond to the occasional questions from our partner Ellery with yes/no answers from time to time, but I doubt if it has any effect on the gameplay.

A good sense of direction is required, because an overview map is only accessible in the home base, which serves as a starting point for our research trips. So it can happen that you get lost in the labyrinth of paths from time to time and overlook a nice dialogue or a research object.
During all our journeys I began to like Ellery very much. In the dialogs and journal entries, you learn a lot about her relationship with the missing Minae, the fate of our Earth, the ambitious company "Baikal" for which she is working, and about herself. But most of all about her love for this vivid world filled with life. The story of Ellery, Minae and this strange world is revealed piece by piece and unfolds in a touching way.

Is it a visual novel, a walking simulator (swimming simulator) or even a visually beautifully packaged short story? It's a bit of everything, but above all a well-told story full of deep thoughts and an ambitious thirst for the unknown. This game is for patient reading enthusiasts who are willing to take the time to explore and experience a story. It receives the Seal of Recommendation from me.

RATING:
Story – ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Graphics – ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Sound – ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Gameplay – ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Fun Meter – ⭐ ⭐

VERDICT:
+ a deep and detailed built storyline
+ refreshing visual user interface
+ exciting description and sketches of the alien underwater life
+ comprehensible character motivation
+ no achievement pop-ups (disturbing the immersion)

- missing mini map feature
- repetitive navigation and sample collecting tasks
- unfortunately no spoken audio dialogue (would have been amazing)
- little variety in level design
- lost potential in more home base features (some are constantly offline)