Recent reviews by thainen

I really wanted to love this game. But as far as boomer shooters go, there's one unforgivable sin that makes a game unplayable for me, no matter how good the gunplay is (and it's pretty good here), or how awesome the aesthetcs are (and they are gorgeous). For the love of the Emperor, do NOT make a boomer shooter's level design about closed-off arenas with teleporting enemies. Not only they aren't fun, they go against the essence of the old day shooters. Did Doom have them? No, it didn't until the 2016 reboot. Did Quake 1-2 have them? Nope. Neither should your game.

A game so good that it has ruined the rest of the genre for me. No other roguelite that I know of has such a massive variety of entities (powerups, levels, enemies, etc) that come together into such a rich variety of combinations. For years I've been looking for a game that could come close, and haven't found it yet. So beware!

Reimagining one of the oldest boardgames in existence is a genre of its own, and Shotgun King is one of the best in it. The premise is simple: you play as a lone black king against a whole army of white pieces -- but you have a shotgun. With several game modes, a bunch of different guns, and a wealth of abilities and game modifiers, Shotgun King has an almost endless replayability.

An amateur work in every aspect. If it was mine, I'd be ashamed to take money for it.
Technically, it lacks any quality of life features, like text speed options, or, well, ANY options. It seems to be the creator's first shot at making a visual novel. This would be forgivable if other aspects made up for it, but, alas, they don't.
Art is the best part, even though it is almost exclusively monochrome, with only a couple colored sprites. There's a lot of it for such a short novel, end even a handful of animations, but it would look better as a 4 pages long comic.
Text is absolutely basic. The characters get no, well, character (which is important for a visual novel), we learn almost nothing about them, as they only have a short dialogue before moving on to sex. That part takes most of the novel, and is absolutely cliche. The whole thing is as touching and sensual as bashing two plastic dolls together, while screaming, in all caps, "OH MY GOD! HHNNGGG!".
I hate leaving a negative review to a solo indie developer's project, but I can't recommend it in good conscience either, unless you really want to support the artist, or are really really into this specific genre of erotica.

This brilliant old-school survival horror game uses some well-known tropes: a creepy abandoned amusement park, infected vaguely humanoid monsters, a rich family with some dark secrets. However, it feels anything but tired, as it manages to give these old tropes a new spin to deliver some brilliant plot twists and strong ending. In gameplay, it manages to combine the look and feel of old games with the modern standards of user friendliness -- no stupid technical issues to distract you from the dread. Recommended for all fans of the genre, old and new.

A short, surreal game about feeling lost, confused and uncomfortable. You become a refugee in an alien city, trying to fit into an unknowable system, trying to understand what it wants from you.

Addictive gameplay, coupled with TOTALLY RADICAL art style. Delightful.

I always love to take a peek behind the curtains and get some insight on how games are made. Plus, since the base game is free, it's nice to be able to support the creator!

Tiny, creepy, amazing!

Back in the day, when this game was released, it became an indie darling. Everyone lauded its creepy atmosphere and laconic monochrome visual style. Today, while still beautiful, Limbo doesn't hold up as well. After the first quarter, the atmosphere takes the back seat to the endless crate moving puzzles. Limbo came out before it became normal for games to tell a story or create an atmosphere without presenting some kind of obstacles, even if rudimentary, for the sake of having a gameplay, but it became an important step towards the advent of less gamey and more artsy games.