Recent reviews by Pacal

One of the best games I've ever played!

Difficult to imagine the combat being worse than it is.

Pros:
- Pleasing Art Design
- Good Controls
- Primary Gameplay Loop is fun
- Charming Soundtrack
- Puzzles are never overly difficult
- Customization Depth

Cons:
- Fossil text can be obscured in some instances
- A few achievements are perhaps too RNG heavy
- One save slot

Fossil Corner is fun, relaxing, humorous, and worth your time if you fondly remember PC puzzle games of the 90s/00s. The puzzles have simple rules that are gradually expanded with new criteria and eventually new fossil types. I've enjoyed this game as a reprieve from games that are too involved or stressful to be enjoyed for a few quick minutes here and there. I didn't get too involved with the customization options, but they are fun and I could see people really getting their interior design fix from it. I highly recommend Fossil Corner if you value simplicity, focus, and charm in your puzzle games.

Pros:
- Good graphics and art direction
- Unique cosmic horror plot
- Achievements are reasonable
- Not too long

Cons:
- Menu navigation isn't bad but feels like it could be improved

Well worth the money for the entertainment you'll get!

Rouge and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.

Pros:
- Good graphics and art direction
- Quality voice acting
- Fun story
- Achievements are reasonable
- Not too long

Cons:
- Some visual glitches
- Movement can be kind of janky when stepping up ledges
- Save system is auto-save only
- No dialog skip feature

Old Gods Rising is a well-made walking simulator that I enjoyed my time with. If you played other cosmic horror-themed games like Moons of Madness or Call of Cthulhu then you will likely enjoy this. Despite the subject matter, I'd say OGR is more comedy than horror. The humor is a bit reference-heavy for my taste, but isn't overbearing.

The achievements in this game are not absurd and instead act as a guide for you to experience all the game has to offer, which is how it should be. This prompts comment on the biggest problem this game has...the save system.

I had to replay the game as it prevents you from backtracking at a certain undisclosed point and you'll almost certainly be missing a good amount of optional content when you cross that line. Unfortunately, replaying the game is a bit of a chore as there is much dialog and no way to skip it. I recommend playing the game once and then coming back through while listening to a podcast to mop up. Also, check out the last game news update for instructions on starting the post-game mode...I had a good time with it even though the dessert gameplay is very different from the main course.

Pros:
- Good art direction
- Movement and inventory controls feel great
- Fun puzzles

Cons:
- Short
- Minimal story

Like this developer's other game (The Search), this is a short first-person game. The game can be controlled in classic point-and-click fashion or with more new-school WASD+mouselook controls. The puzzles are fun and not too esoteric for the most part, but don't feel bad about looking up a guide. The story is barely present in the traditional sense, but the fun of completing puzzles and seeing color restored to the environment is a compelling enough reward for finishing the game. If you like walking sims, point-and-click games, and supporting artsy projects from solo devs, pick up Discolored. If you don't think a short "experience" is worth $8...wait until a sale.

Pros:
- Excellent visuals and audio
- Norse mythology education
- PC features feel great

Cons:
- Combat isn't great
- Confusing mental illness message
- More story than game

In short, Hellblade is a mid-budget third person action game that, in practice, is a walking simulator with some combat and a few Amnesia: TDD-style "avoid the monster/stay in the light" sections. The other characters are portrayed by actors in costume �  la Remedy Entertainment games. Humorously, it seems that the actress portraying Senua's mother was the only one to pronounce the name sen-yoo-uh rather than seh-noo-uh.

The combat is not great, but not annoying enough to kill the game. The main gameplay activity is finding objects in the environment that resemble various rune designs and "focusing" on them in order to open a door...so you can hear more dialog/see more cutscenes and find another locked door. If you like walking sims and/or story-heavy games then you might like this one. I was able to run at around 60 fps on a laptop RTX 3060 on medium settings at 1080p.

Pros:
- Pleasing visual style
- Claw machine controls aren't garbage
- Relaxing

Cons:
- It really is just clawfishing, walking around, and "vibing" as the kids say

The store page description is accurate. I had three dollar's worth of fun getting all the achievements and chilling for about 30 min, but it may take you longer if you stink at clawing fish.

Pros:
- Pre-rendered visuals are sharp
- Controls feel good
- Quality music and foley work
- Inspirational message

Cons:
- Voice acting isn't incredible
- Some may not like the inspirational message
- Ultrawide support is just chopping off the top and bottom of the 16:9 default

This is a very short game which feels like a very polished art project. The game uses classic point-and-click controls with pre-rendered 3d scenes, reminiscent of the Her Interactive Nancy Drew series, but feels more modern with higher resolution images and widescreen support. The "story" is about the player (an unnamed female artist) finding herself in a series of environments and learning about the creative process through notes and puzzles. The game is meant to inspire thoughts about your own life and creative projects with some pretty scenery and music, so I'd say this is more walking simulator than point-and-click adventure. If you don't like "artsy" stuff then you probably won't enjoy The Search.