Recent reviews by Seed Vault Pilgrim

Apparently this game started life as a university thesis and if this was a free to play game it would be an easy recommend. Unfortunately it is being listed with other commercial products for $15 (or $17.50 CDN). Clouzy! draws obvious inspiration from Slime Rancher, a highly polished game costing only $5 more, yet having more than triple the amount of content.

Clouzy! is a fun game; the open world map is a joy to explore, utilises familiar mechanics pleasantly, and offers a handful of puzzles that are simple in execution and somewhat clever.

Everything looks nice and if the so called 'cuteness overload' doesn't bother you, there is a solid game to be had here.

The problem is that the game in it's current state has far too many issues to recommend. I've detailed these numerous issues in this: Steam forum thread, rather than using Steam reviews as a bug reporting tool.

If the things mentioned don't bother you too much, then picking it up in a bundle or at a deep discount will give you a pleasant open world exploration quick fix.

Got this from a game bundle years ago. Not a good game even by the lower standards of visual novels; bad drawings, poor writing and an overall pointless experience. Avoid.

If you liked the minimalist game Hook by the same author, then this one is even better. Klocki introduces a few more puzzle mechanics and has a better aesthetic feel to it. For the same price as Hook, yet improved ideas, this game is easy to recommend.

A sub-par title published, but not developed by Artifex Mundi.

Drab and grainy graphics; lacks the vibrancy and lovingly painted fantasy look of A.M. developed games. Average hidden object scenes, but contain many object images that don't look like anything or are washed out enough that it is hard to identify what it is.

The story is silly, but that doesn't matter, some HOG's with a bad story are still fun. This game has a story sequencing error; the Brothers Grimm leave you magical telegrams to update you on what they are doing to support you, or inform you of some development. At one point the telegrams arrive out of proper sequence; they have broken through a magical barrier surrounding the town you are in, then later they inform you that they are working on breaking the magical barrier. That kind of chronological error is unacceptable in story telling.

It is recommended to avoid this title and anything else made by House of Fables. NOTE: Eventide 2, after a full year, they still haven't fixed the annoying bug that forces you to play the game twice in one sitting without exiting.

Blah.

"Being alone is part of survival."

Tom Kitchen brings us, not a game, but what he calls an "interactive vignette"; I like that phrase, it's apt, and better than the pejorative "walking simulator". Both are accurate terms; you will walk a lot in this game, but fortunately there is a run button for the impatient.

This review started with a quote from the vignette that really grabbed me. It strikes as truthful, and likewise one must to be alone with this experience. If you allow it to be a deeper reflection then you will probably get something out of it, but it's not a happy one. Regardless the creator is a good writer and has created an experience that is thoughtfully poetic.

Speaking more pragmatically about this project, the scenes are nicely made, the minimalist sounds and music are effective and it all runs smooth; technically no one should find fault here. There are 5 achievements in the game, and two full interactions of about 30 minutes each will be needed to finish the whole experience.

Yes, I do recommend this title to anyone that wants a short, introspective narrative that lacks game play mechanics. Also it is recommended that each run be done on two separate days rather than in one sitting.

"... what remains will fragment."

The Deletion is a minimalist puzzle-platformer, although a bit light on the puzzle aspect. It will provide a couple hours of enjoyable enough platforming fun to be worth trying out at a cheap price (a 90% off coupon helped me decide to buy).

There are 40 levels in the game and each one tries out different ideas; the fact that it never gets boring is essentially why I thought to recommend it. The game controls and runs smoothly enough as well, no one should experience any technical problems with it.

The only negative aspect of the game is that the final level is not very well designed; it uses a trial and error approach that spoiled the fun for me. Others may not be bothered by it.

We tend to get a lot of coupons and sometimes even the 90% offers aren't worth a second of our limited gaming time. The Deletion is a basic, but competent game that is worth getting at 50% off or better.

The first line of this game's narrative is "20 years later".

Twenty years later what? Twenty years later Zonitron will make a game people actually enjoy? Twenty years later I'll have played everything else in my account and be desperate enough to play this?

It's a bad game with ugly, unappealing graphics, lousy keyboard controls and only marginally fun game play mechanics. Stealth Bastard Deluxe uses the same concept and is far, far better; get that instead.

Yet another inferior game that thrives on the Steam store due to trading card drops. Uninstalled and permanently deleted from account.

3/10

Edit: for grammar.

While the game may have beautiful visuals and is entertaining enough, it is a bit strange and lacks any real coherency, but that's fine, some HOG's are just like that and can still be fun.

The worst aspect of this game is a progession-halting bug in the second last world that some will be unlikely to avoid unless knowing about it ahead of time, which I didn't.

One is supposed to be able to grab a lens object next to a genie lamp, but if you don't grab the lens before everything else in the scene the view closes as if completed and can not be reopened. Progression halted.

A known issue that still hasn't been fixed after 6 months. Do I really have to replay the 5 hours I put in just to avoid this one bug? Not recommended.

[Edited for grammar]

This strange, beautiful, pants-obsessed platformer is a surprisingly fun, hidden gem of a game.

Tiny & Big sat in my inventory for a long time, one of those titles I bought because it was on sale. The screen shots generally don't do it any justice making it an easily overlooked title; the name doesn't help either.

The graphics, although strange, are a suitable stylistic choice that fit well with the theme. Likewise, the music is unusual but enjoyable. A couple new tracks are hidden in each level, so finding them is a good idea if you want to expand the game's song list.

The most noteworthy design element in the game is the physics engine with the ability to cut pillars, statues, boulders and most other stone items. It feels amazing to push, pull, and hack apart such large objects and dynamically alter the game environment. The simple act of cutting objects at any angle without the use of voxels was something I had never seen before.

I appreciated how the designers encouraged experimentation; most of the trial and error situations encountered aren't that painful. Despite my low tolerance for gaming frustration and rather poor platforming skills this game won me over and I fought through. It's a short game at 3-5 hours, but it has a lot of replay value if you enjoy achievement hunting.

Those whom enjoy the exploration of platformers, will surely love hunting down hidden objects and discovering the various Easter eggs that Tiny & Big has to offer. I enthusiastically recommend this somewhat underrated title to everyone.

This game isn't much to look at, but in terms of game play it is solid.

Duke Nukem begins life here with this 1991 action platformer. It was originally released under an old-fashioned concept called Shareware. For games the concept was pretty good; Apogee would release the first episode absolutely free, no obligation. After playing it you could order the game and get all three episodes. Believe it or not the original DOOM was marketed this way too.

The experience of playing through 30 levels of Duke Nukem is a good one. As you can see from all the screen shots on the store page, the player has a health gauge so you won't die from touching the wrong thing only once. The challenge is decent because you can't quick save, you have to do the whole level in one go; saving is only possible between levels. The levels can be long and a bit confusing, but since there are so many goodies hidden all over it really isn't a bother to go exploring if you're lost. At the end of every level it is possible to score up to 7 bonuses. Some examples are: 1) shooting all the cameras in the level, 2) finishing the level without taking damage, and/or 3) picking up the letters D,U,K,E in the correct order. This makes for additional game play challenges if one is so inclined.

The only real problem with this game is that it was originally created for MS-DOS, so Interceptor packaged the game with DOSBox. GOG has been doing this successfully for many years, so it isn't really a problem, but you do have to be prepared for a truly old-school game; no mouse, no joypad, crude sound.

At a time when so many are trying to develop appealing retro-style games, here is a solid game from the era they are trying to capture. I can recommend it based on the fun factor alone.