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Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary edition is the 2014 Xbox One remake (originally released in 2001) that was ported across to steam in 2019. I never got to play the original when it was released but I can now understand what all the hype was about. If you’re a fan of FPS’s, and haven’t played it you should. I’d highly recommend getting the bundle, which has 6 Halo entries for maximum savings. One of the only downsides was having to link my steam account to a Microsoft account in order to play.

Story
You play as Master Chief, a human super soldier who is tasked with a variety of desperate missions in trying to keep humanity alive in the frantic fight against the Covenant, an alien collective that seeks to remove humanity from the galaxy. Paired with Cortana, a human AI that acts as an advisor and navigational guide you proceed through multiple desperate missions as the situation goes from bad to worse.

Gameplay
Gameplay is quite varied for a FPS (and supports co-op). It’s easy to forget that this was made in 2001, and as a testament on how well it was designed. Each stage is quite large, and usually broken up into multiple acts, while you work towards that mission’s goal. There are frequent autosave points, hidden collectables (which can expand the story for foreshadow events) or other Easter eggs to find. Each of the enemies spawning rates can be broken down into set enemies, a few waves of enemies, or in some parts late game endless enemies until you cross a checkpoint, but match the story on what’s happening at the time. I did find that the enemies are programmed to only attack from set areas, and once you pass that they will mill around waiting to be picked off (on legendary you take any help you can receive). Shielded enemies feel like bullet sponges, though the right weapon combination can make short work of them. Other than hunters, most enemies can be taken care of easily enough with a steady aim, though they are very good at dodging, ducking and weaving and making sure your shields are empty, where you have to hide and wait for your own shields to recharge.

Even though you are a super solider (and operate like a tank on easier difficulties) you can only carry two weapons (though the type of weapon doesn’t affect movement speed). Ammo is unique to each weapon, so there’s a bit of management between what’s available. Reloading often is advised, as there’s nothing worse than running out during a firefight. Each of the weapons are unique, and some have secondary fire modes. I thought all of the human weapons where useless when I first started (other than the pistol), but found a new fondness for them in the second half of the game, where they were much more useful against the newer enemies that appear.

There are plenty of vehicles to drive (as the Halo installation you are on is gigantic), and I found they take a little while to get used to as they go in the direction you are facing, rather than other controls. The fliers falling out of the sky when not moving was also a surprise.

You have total control over how you want to play the missions, from difficulty, the what additional modifies you want active (skulls) to music and graphic remixes. Replay value is high if you want a challenge, as there are plenty of modes to play in (score attack and par time), and lots of achievements to unlock.

Graphics
I thought the graphics looked great (remembering that the remake is 8 years old). You have options to switch between the original graphics and remastered graphics at any time, and there are a ton of visual options to tweak. Larger screens are supported and it doesn’t stretch the output to fit, and while it’s not using 4K textures the remastered graphics add a lot to the environment and landscape.

Each stage is massive, and well designed. There are varying environments, from corridor shootouts in temples and spaceships to vast firefights over beaches, swamps and snowy plains. I loved the fact that in the outdoor missions you can see the rest of the Halo ring in the sky (only using the remastered visuals). Enemy bodies do disappear after a set time, and I was a bit disappointed that some smaller enemies look like sheets of paper when they are killed, which I think is a limitation from the original. Some of the smaller enemies tend to have body parts that clip through doors, but this was the only graphic glitch I experienced.

Each of the enemy classes are well designed, though there is a fair bit of asset re-usage with the grunts (though the weapons and behaviour is different). The same can’t be said for the UNSC marines, who when they do appear are limited in options and could be clones except for those unique few.

Music
I wasn’t expecting much with the music, but was pleasantly surprised. The score had a wide variety of types including chants, string orchestra and plenty of percussion. The music was also remastered, and you have options of listening to the transcribed copies of the originals, or the remastered versions. The music seems to respond to how the player is performing, and increases in tempo as the fighting escalates in intensity, and fades right back to nothing after the danger has passed.

The voice acting was great for all the characters, and the side characters seem to have had a lot of attention put into their dialogue. I especially like the voice acting for guilty spark.

The weapon sound effects have been slightly improved between versions, with big improvements to the pistol, rocket launcher and shotgun, which sounds a lot more grunty. The Covenant weapons all sound like what you expect from laser weapons.

Multiplayer
If you are looking for reliving the nostalgia of when this first came out, unfortunately you’re not likely to have much luck unless your organising matches with your friends. The few times I checked there were only a few games going compared to the other entries in the series.

If you do have a available friend, you can play the campaign together, though I wasn’t able to experience this (some missions I would have killed to have some support).

Achievements
No. Just no. you would have to be some sort of masochist to try and get 100%. It requires 5+ runs on legendary and the multiplayer achievements might be hard to get without boosting with a few friends due to lack of available games.

For more reviews please visit https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/curator/31327216/

FF9 is a game that doesn’t disappoint, being a epic high fantasy adventure that takes a sci-fi twist, while also boasting a great soundtrack. This is a port of the remastered PS4 version, and while its configured for that it’s serviceable, though I’d highly recommend playing with a controller. The game does have flaws - a stupidly high encounter rate makes progressing and exploring a pain, and the numerous mini games are agonizing to play if you are chasing achievements, but I’d recommend it if you like RGPS or are a fan of the series. This review doesn’t factor in any of the available mods, which make the game more playable.

Story
FF9 starts off differently from others in the series, with you being hired to kidnap the princess while performing a play for the queen. From there it becomes a desperate race to evade capture, then slowly turns into a quest to stop countries going to war to saving the world for the disparage cast of characters, with very little mention of crystals or other staples of the series. The plot while dark is intermingled with lots of humour, which brings the tone into a much more cheerful space overall. Personal growth for all of the characters is first and foremost, with many going through an existential crisis at some point in the story though for some characters its takes an extraordinarily long time before they start to question their beliefs. I have to say I really liked the main story of FF9, it was easy enough to follow without being boring, and had plenty of twists that take it from a high fantasy setting into a sci-fi adventure without being too predictable.

Gameplay
I found the gameplay good, though the random encounter rate was high for my liking, and you are punished for being under levelled or not being prepared when going into new areas. Each playable character is locked into one of the series long standing roles eg Thief, Dragoon, Black mage ect), which makes party composition important, and for the first ½ of the game the party you have is picked for you, which leaves some characters under-levelled when you gain control of them. Each item you equip lets you assign abilities to the characters (like immunities, extra damage vs enemy type or auto cast spells), and can become a fixed, selectable skill when enough battles have been won with them (like the magic in FFV). Until you learn the skills there can be noticeable trade-off between an item with better stats and the ability you can equip. You can assign your characters to the front or back row, which affects how much physical damage they receive and take. Unused items can be merged together to make new items (which can teach new skills), and each map usually has a few hidden items that can make your life a lot easier which make exploring worth it.

Battles are usually against 1-3 enemies, though are quite frequent. Thankfully if you don’t feel like grinding the battles the port has boosters available that you can use blast through the game. These include fast forwarding, max damage or removing all encounters. If you don’t mind breaking achievements, then you can turn on god mode or max money or levels. Using the boosters (other than fast forwarding time) takes a lot of the challenge out of the game, but is great for those who just want to experience the story or are time poor. Unless aiming for achievements you won’t normally get anywhere near the max level, but there are options to auto battle to grind the AP required for unlocking abilities. A autosave feature is also now included, so transiting between screens results in a recovery point, though can cause confusion as the continue option loads the autosave, not your last saved entry (which can be newer than the autosave).

The game has plenty of side missions that can be done for extra items and achievements, but there’s no way to track them. There’s a chocobo treasure hunting game (which the speed booster makes much easier to play), a skipping game, running races, quiz contest, frog catching, moogle message delivery game as well as a slightly different card game. All of these offer different rewards and achievements, though all are optional.

Graphics
Having not played this when it came out in 2000, I can say I enjoyed the port. The FMV’s look nice, and there’s plenty of them, and can be paused or skipped if you want. Character models look better than what’s available in FF7 & FF8, though there is a decrease in the in-game FMVs which don’t look like they were updated. Max resolution size is 2560*1600, which on a 4K screen looked stretched, so windowed mode looked sharper. The battle animations take forever (there is a option to skip these) though the summons look nice. There are plenty of enemies, all with different animations, and there doesn’t seem to be too many reskins of enemies types (the end game boss gauntlet is a different story).

Music
I couldn’t name a FF game where the music is bad, and FF9 doesn’t disappoint. There are a ton of tracks, with the game incorporating 140 so there is plenty of variety. It has all the hallmarks from the series, with the chocobo song being a slower tempo and relaxing, while a few other songs from older games make appearances, along with the standard change to the battle music and main theme. A neat trick with the speed booster is that the music isn’t boosted (unlike in previous games), so while you can get through battles faster, it still sounds good. From what I’ve read some sound effects have been removed from the original, so if you are playing this for nostalgia it might be different from what you remembered.

Achievements
FF9 is another one of those time consuming, repetitive slog games where some achievements seem to have been added just to pad playtime. Things like 10,000 kills (which has returned from FF8) and mini game challenges like skipping 1000 times make this a time consuming slog, while the ATE viewer and treasure hunter make playing with a guide mandatory if you want to get the 100%. Its almost mandatory to have 2 play throughs for the required 12 speed run, though the boosters helps with that.

For more reviews please visit https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/curator/31327216/

Elex is a 3rd person action RPG, much like a mix between a poor man’s Fallout & Skyrim, but based in a off-world, apocalyptic setting. This works perfectly well, and I highly recommend it for its immersive world, great story and vast character agency, if you can get it on sale, put up with the janky graphics\combat and vast difficulty imbalance in the first ½ of the game.

Story
Set on a distant planet that was once thriving, life is now a daily struggle since a large meteorite crashed into the planet. The survivors have banded together into different factions, fighting against the mutated wildlife and each other while trying to harness the power of Elex, a toxic mineral which poisons the environment and strips emotion from those who do survive consuming it.

You play as Jax, a commander for the Alb army (the antagonist faction in the game) who want to strip Elex from everything on the planet including the remaining free people (the other factions). After being shot down in enemy territory you awake, robbed of your armour and possessions, marked for death by your former people and suffering from Elex withdrawal that leaves you extremely depowered. The story takes some wild turns at the end that I thought make you rethink previous choices you had made and question what you should do morally going forward. All of the factions have their obvious faults, but with everyone out to kill you you have to make the best of a bad situation.

Gameplay
I thought the gameplay was good (though janky). If you expect to be a hero and wade through enemies then you are will be in for a surprise. Everything is based off your current equipment and skill levels, and being slightly behind can make a huge difference in early fights. It took me a good 15 hours before I really started making any progress and getting weapons and armour that would let me survive more than a few hits. That said, in the second ½ of the game I found it fairly easy to demolish enemies, and had no issues taking on groups of them or any of the boss monsters. The power imbalance can be explained away by the story and setting well enough, but it is jarring how a few levels (or Elex potions worth) of upgrades can drastically change the gameplay.

The moral system is a little bit different, and is based off logic vs emotion, rather than good vs bad. It fits the story well as the antagonist faction are highly logical (they eat Elex to gain power), and see emotion as a weakness. Your actions, conversation choices and some items you consume can change the values – in most instances towards logic. You have a easy shortcut towards power and strength, but at the cost of your humanity. Some dialogue choices are locked behind where you sit on this scale, and can change future outcomes and available missions as well as the ending. I did like how choices in some quests automatically forced outcomes for other quests, and the game is fairly consistent with the fact that being a white knight often leads to worse outcomes for everyone. It quite often made me pick dialogue options I wouldn’t normally pick (I was playing the emotion path). The NPC’s you can team up with were all unique, though the 2 romance options were fairly binary (one want you to help everyone, the other wants you to only look after yourself).

You aren’t forced down any particular character progression path or combat style (your free to build a melee monster or ranged killer), and the character stats you increase determine what perks and equipment you can use. The 3 skill trees are decent, and there are a lot of good picks amongst all 3, with an additional 1 that is locked to each faction. I can’t say how different the factions play, but there does seem to be some set weaknesses to different weapons and enemy types, and you can enhance away any weapon you own if you have the required skills.

Combat is where some things fall apart and its jankyness shows. Trying to do anything in combat (like switch weapons or drink potions) more often leads to you getting killed or taking damage. It devolves into a battle of blocking attacks and then pummelling the enemy until your stamina run out, and repeating the cycle. Enemy AI is downright stupid, and runs at the opponents that has aggro’ed it the most (they will turn around mid-fight and move towards attacking someone else). I seemed to get stuck on lots of objects when in combat, which usually lead to taking unnecessary damage and the range you take damage on from some close combat attacks is crazy (you can be nowhere near an enemy and still take damage). There is a lock on to closest enemy feature, but it defaults to allies most of the time, which turns everyone hostile against you. I don’t know why this would even be an option. AOE damage also has the same effect, so for some of the few big battles where there are (20+ enemies on screen) you can’t use some of the most devastating spells or weapons you have. Ranged weapons more often than not miss even when they are directly over enemies (and the hit circle has changed colour to show that it’s on target). Companions seem to have random weapon load outs until they join you (this goes for enemies that spawn near you), and depending on what they have they can either be a great help all game, or useless.

Graphics
Elex isn’t going to win any awards for looking pretty, but does a good job of mixing sci-fi and fantasy elements together. The map and landscape is really well designed, as are all the ruined cities and buildings and there is a very strong incentive for you to explore everything to find hidden objects and lore (if you can risk getting killed by any enemies). You don’t have to purchase much, if you are willing to explore (and have items that show hidden objects). The map is always covered in a dense fog (like a Nintendo 64 game), and while this can be removed it won’t stop the monsters from spawning right near you. There are a wide variety of enemies and all of them are different models (not just reskins), though none of them are high quality. You don’t have much options in the way of character customisations, other that the weapon and armour you are weapons (and its always going to be the best you have). There is a delay in switching between “light” outside areas and “dark” inside buildings that seems overly long for no reason (very rarely is an enemy waiting at the entrance to attack you).

Music
The music was too bad, but it’s not really memorable either. If there are enemies near you it will auto switch to the danger music, which then ramps up into the combat music which switches back to the more peaceful tunes once the dangers gone. I liked the voice acting, though it does take some getting used to. You start out with a very stilted (emotionless) speech options from the main character, which seem to vary depending on what dialogue options you pick. I would say it’s great if your role playing a character in game, but is disconnecting when you pick an option and mid conversation your character’s tone changes to what would be either the emotional, neutral or logic/machine like answer. Your companion’s dialogues are usually pretty good, though they are all focused on what they want and done seem overly concerned about the greater issue.

DLC
The available DLC is the ART book, making of video and a copy of the soundtrack. I didn’t purchase this, so can’t comment but if you want to support the devs then this would be the way to go.

Achievements
Its easy enough to get 100% achievements in Elex, but you either need to play 3 times (some achievements are faction locked), or have a handy save in a few key points. It does require exploring most of the environment (for locked chests and safes), as well as killing a large quota of enemies and performing some other tasks.

For more reviews please visit https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/curator/31327216/

Indivisible is a ambitious mix of platformer and fighter that has a lot of unique elements I don’t think I’ve seen combined anywhere else, and while looking great doesn’t really make combat enjoyable. I can’t think of this game as a RPG (there is no agency for the player to change any of the characters in any meaningful way). I Initially bounced off it very hard and found it chore to play, but warmed up to it after a significant time and the story had progressed far enough. It felt drawn out at times and could really use some quality of life improvements but offers something different for those who are willing to put up with its faults. It won’t be for everyone and if you don’t mind supporting some reported scummy business practices you could do worse. If steam supported a ok or mid-ground approach other than the binary thumbs up/down I would list it there.

Story
The story starts off by launching you straight into the end boss battle (like Lufia), before it moves to the present where you take control of Ajna, a rebellious teenage girl. After learning the bare basics things go downhill fairly fast and you are forced to set out on your journey of revenge. The plot itself is good, dealing with adversity, revenge and acceptance and has a lot of different being themes – being a mix of fantasy (magic, demi human races), along with sci-fi (robots, flying fortresses) and a heavy mix of Hindu/ Buddhist influence (charka, reincarnation). The pacing is uneven (the earlier stages take a long time to move through), which isn’t helped by Ajna’s stubborn pig-headedness in refusing to listen to anyone around her (it does actually serve a strong plot point, but it takes a awfully long time in making it). There are a large cast of companions (many optional) to recruit along the way, all who join Ajna (willingly or not) and live in her head, which provides plenty of scope for jokes. The story is generally light-hearted but does go to some dark places quickly. Most of her companions don’t get the character growth they should, and the few who do are scripted events or the growth is locked behind very late game companion quests which is a shame as at that point you don’t really want to start back tracking everywhere to complete them. Other than a character ending during the credits and a palate swap it doesn’t seem to actually change anything.

Gameplay
Gameplay is a wild mix of metriodvania like platforming and 4-person squad fights. The platforming parts are really well explained, though you can’t fully explore any of the stages maps until you are right at the end of the game and have all the abilities unlocked. The map is detailed enough to show what special abilities are needed to explore, but could have used an icon to show which power-ups have been collected (uncollected power-ups you have seen are shown on the map). The later areas require good coordination as you need to be able to use all of the acquired abilities in succession to progress through. All the areas are connected, but it’s a time consuming task in moving between them (even getting back to the warp gates can be a long trek in game).

The fighting parts of the game have a basic tutorial (blocking, breaking guards), but the advanced mechanisms aren’t explained at all, which makes the fights frustrating. For a long-time enemies feel like damage sponges no matter what you do (all attacking at once by button mashing, juggling them in the air, racking up a massive combo chain, or attacking individually ect). It’s a shame as there is plenty of scope in the combat that doesn’t seem fully realised - all the companions have different style attacks with different effects, some can launch enemies into the air, some can use magic or heal team members. There is a shared super meter that fills up when attacking but drains when blocking (unless performing a perfect block) that can be used for unique super moves. Both you and enemies can be damaged by sneak attacks before combat actually starts. I found the concept great, but the execution needs a lot more explaining and polish. After 20 hours I still couldn’t explain what actually changes when you level up (attack power and health don’t seem to be linked to the level), other than what looks like an affection meter (which doesn’t seem to have any in game use).

The boss fights mix things up, and usually containing multiple rounds of platforming elements where you have to dodge attacks or break the bosses sequence before it launches back into the usual combat routine. It was the first time where I’ve had to fight a boss through its 108 separate health bars (it sounds worse than it is) and actually does a good job of testing everything the game has taught you.

Graphics
This is where the game shines, and you can tell a lot of effort was put into not only designing each area, but animating them as well. Each of the stages look amazing, and the stage design is really well thought out, every map has been designed for the player to back-track through, it’s a shame that the fights are off putting enough that you don’t want to really do it. Character animations during fights are extremely well drawn, they are smooth and there are plenty of different attacks for each character and the enemies. there are a variety of enemies, however there are quite a few reskins which just seem to add health. There are plenty of short movie animations throughout the game for important events, and these look great as well. the rest of the character interactions are sliding images of whose talking, these at least show the emotion of characters so they aren’t all static.

Music
I thought the soundtrack was really good, each of the tracks blends nicely, and there’s a good mix between songs with vocals and the varies instrumental tracks- there’s over 2 hours of different tracks. The default setting for the music seems to be very loud, it’s one of the few games where I’ve actually tuned it down. The rest of the sound in the game is good, each of the unique abilities you get sound different though you will only really be listening for the tell-tale sign of a hidden collectable. I found the voice acting hit and miss. Some characters are a voiced really well, and other characters I cringed when they spoke.

DLC
There are 2 available DLC, the soundtrack (which wasn’t too bad to listen to while playing the game), and a set of challenges. The challenges aren’t required for the achievements, and I can’t comment if they are worth the price.

Achievements
If you are wanting to get 100% achievements then it’s easy enough if you are following a guide. There’s only one achievements that’s proves difficult to get which is collecting enough power-up crystals to unlock all the upgrades (the guide will save you a ton of back tracking and un-necessary combat).

For more reviews please visit https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/curator/31327216/

Project Wingman is a combat flight shooter that looks great, has all the radio chatter and banter you expect and has a great main story. It does a excellent job of making you out to be a futuristic Red Baron, a ace in a mercenary group that make enemies quiver in fear of as soon as they see you in the skies. I highly recommend picking this up, it’s great fun to play.

Story
The world of the future has been through some tough times. Set in 500 year’s time, the earth suffered a major calamity which reset technology back to the Stone Age. Mankind has finally returned to where we currently are - fighting over resources. Geothermal mining for a highly volatile mineral that has exponential energy output is the cause of the new war that kicks off and your Mercenary group Sicario takes the contract to fight against the invading Federation and help Cascadia go independent. You play as monarch, ace pilot for hitman squad.

Gameplay
The single player campaign is really well done, and a lot of other games in this category could learn from it. Each mission has a detailed pre mission briefing (you don’t have to click on anyone to talk and can skip it), then you go to the hanger where you can buy new planes, change the load outs and then launch to sortie. The game gives you a ton of options. You can skip take off and landings, though they aren’t that difficult if you can get a good bead on the runway.

Each mission has a variety of different objectives (priority targets), while there are plenty of other targets of opportunity to make things chaotic. While these are all kill enemies (there’s no defend or escort missions) they are an absolute blast to play. I found the hardest mission one where there are tons of civilian targets you have to avoid damaging, having a target rich aerial dogfight while trying not to shoot down neutral targets was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Nearly every mission will have allies help you, though they are functionally useless (they do kill enemies, but not enough to help you).

The controls are quite simple, with the standard aircraft movement (yawn, roll and speed), toggling between the active weapon, and the secondary system if the plane is equipped with one. You have unlimited missiles that can lock onto enemy targets, but the real fun comes with the secondary weapons. You have a large mix of different anti-ground, anti-air and anti-capital ship weapons to carry, with some being homing, others requiring manual painting and others completely unguided. Each of the 20+ planes allow for different mixes of these, along with different thrust, yawn and secondary systems, and having the right loadout can make missions much easier. Flares are good in the beginning to dodge enemy missiles, but being about to do an instant turn with some of the advanced systems make the dog fights great. At the end of each mission you get a rundown of what you have destroyed vs your allies, and are given funds to purchase new aircraft (ally kills still give rewards, but at a much reduced rate)

The conquest mode is a escalating rougelite wave attack mode where you complete missions, earn rewards to purchase new aircraft, allies and weapon systems, but a death resets everything except unlocked aircraft. Speed is of the essence, as there is a timer that increases the type and difficulty of enemies encountered. The allies in this mode are useless. i thought I would really enjoy this challenge mode, but found I really missed the great radio chatter that’s in the story mode.

Graphics
I thought the graphics were really good. There are a large amount of environments you fight over and through, from cities, oceans, islands, deserts, heavy cloud cover, mountainous regions to around and over active lava fields and inside exclusion zones where visability is zero and your hud doesn’t work. All presented different challenges and added complexity to missions. You have the option of fighting from inside your cockpit, behind the jet, or from its nose, which I found the easiest to work with, and tinkering with different hud options. I didn’t get to try it in the VR mode, but it is supported. The fume streaks left behind the different missiles and jets look good, and I didn’t encounter any visual glitches or tearing.

Music
I thought the voice acting was amazing. There’s great banter between the different Sicario pilots/teams, and after a few missions the enemies start quaking in fear when they realise you are on the field. There’s a good amount of snark in the comments between different merc groups and the elites of the federation. If you have watched any movies with fighter pilots, then all the standard lines are in there (fox 2 for firing missiles ect). You don’t really get to listen to the music much in the story mode because of all the radio chatter, but the conquest mode lets you hear a lot more of it. I thought the music was good, but it gets drowned out when the action starts.

DLC
If you really like the soundtrack, then that’s the only available DLC

Achievements
If you are chasing 100% achievements, then you will have to play both modes a few times, finishing the story mode on hard, as well as unlocking everything in the conquest mode.

For more reviews please visit https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/curator/31327216/

House Flipper is a repetitive, but relaxing and simplistic take on flipping houses for profit. Imagine playing the original sims in first person but only focusing on the house you repair & furnish. If you don’t mind repetitive gameplay and music, and like to get creative then I recommend this game.

Story
Your breaking into the flipper market as a new company with next to no capital funding and little skills, and have to progress from there.

Gameplay
I thought the game was well designed. While the main goal of the game is to flip all the available houses for profit, there is a substantial requests area which acts as a tutorial and introduces you to the concepts you will want to master. Each of the requests has a few objectives, from fixing rooms up, tearing walls down or resizing rooms, painting and tiling, installing new furniture, cleaning, decorating ect, and the better you perform these tasks, the more of a monetary reward you receive. I’ll get this out of the way now, you will be doing these tasks a lot. If you don’t like having to perform repetitive tasks, then this game isn’t for you.

Money is important early on, as you need a healthy bank balance when flipping houses (you have to purchase the house, any new decorations, all new building materials ect), and if you go in too early you can be left with not enough to finish the job. Luckily you can always take on a reward task to quickly earn some more money if required. If your stubborn like I am and finish all the requests before taking on the houses, then there’s only a few houses that are outside your budget when you start flipping.

While the requests area has a quantifiable goal you are measured against, flipping houses doesn’t, you pretty much have free reign on how you can redesign things. Each of the potential bidders has a decent list of hidden likes & dislikes (some are displayed as hints when loading a house). The top 5 bidders show their comments on actions you perform (eg if they like that you are picking up rubbish, if there are enough beds ect), but the potential amount they will offer when you put the house on auction is hidden from you until you commit to auction. You can reject the offer to redesign the house for a penalty, or try and negotiate more if you don’t like the initial offer.

The game is forgiving when you go about fixing the house, as the order you repair things isn’t important - you can install pipes in walls without having to repaint, clean walls after painting or tiling ect. It’s also forgiving on paint schemes and furniture choices. You can do a remarkable flip if you spend enough time and effort on the houses and really put effort in. There are a good amount of different homes to flip (there’s even a castle), and a fair few joke homes as well – the home alone house, Kame house from DBZ with collectable dragonballs, and the house from Halloween.

Graphics
The UI is well designed, without being cluttered with options. You have a wheel to quickly select which tool you want to bring out (depending on the action you want to take), and a separate menu for purchasing items. You can manually search by category, or type in keywords to narrow the searches down. There is a minimap which shows where cleaning needs to be done or where pipes in walls are already installed, but doesn’t show where plaster needs to be applied to walls. You have full control over where items are placed, as long as they fit and the necessary pipes are installed if required. There’s a fair bit of animation that’s required for installing some items where you need to rewire faulty wiring, change circuit breakers, install water pipes, and the game does a good job covering those (even if they are simplistic). The only bug I encountered was trying to remove a cockroach nest, where they were all removed, but the sound effects stayed. The perk upgrade menu is also well laid out.

Music
There are only a few tracks for house flipper, and they are all quite relaxing and loop endlessly. At some points I did play music from other sources (I want something with abit more energy as I knock down walls or set rubbish on fire with a flamethrower). The 2 different tracks for the Halloween house and castle matched the spooky atmosphere those stages were designed for. The sound effects were ok.

DLC
The game has a fair bit of DLC which adds new missions, items and buyers to the game. Some DLC is free like the cyberpunk apartments and the preppers houses, while others are paid and cost more than the base game. If you want to be able to decorate the yards, have pets, develop luxury homes or get all the achievements then you will need to purchase the DLC. I can’t comment if the paid DLC are worth purchasing.

Achievements
Achievements are easy enough to earn in house flipper, but for 100% you will need to purchase all the DLC, as lots of achievements are tied to them.

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John Wick Hex is a isometric real time strategy game where you control the infamous assassin as he shoots and fights his way across multiple stages. It’s incredibly unforgiving, punishing you for the slightest mistakes, but really well thought out and well worth playing.

Story
Set before the movie series, Hex kidnaps both Winston and Charon, and the high table send John to kill Hex and recover them. The background is explained in between and during missions (comic book style), and as you finish missions Hex slowly explains his motives and how John threw a wrench into them, and why it’s personal. John has to proceed through different underbosses that are aligned with Hex, chasing clues as he hones in on his location.

Gameplay
Gameplay is all about resource management (focus, ammo and bandages), and the fog of war (line of sight) the enemies have to you. It’s very unforgiving and punishes you for mistakes that could have been made in the planning stage (where you can drop additional resources into missions), or from failing to dodge or managing fights better. Since everything carries over between missions (until you finish an area) starting a new stage on low health, focus or an empty gun can be fatal. It takes a little while to get used to it, but once it clicks together you realise they have done a masterful job of setting up an action sequence (with you as the director), the replays can be fun watch (depending on your ability).

As John you have a wide range of actions you can take, with everything displayed as how long it will take in a timeline (your quicker than most enemies). You move via a hex grid pattern, and can perform actions or chance stance to increase your aim or roll out of danger. You can melee enemies when close enough, striking them, or at the cost of focus either push them out of the way, or performing a takedown (which is usually fatal to everyone except the toughest enemies). If timed right you can parry enemies (which stuns them), which can give you the required time to escape, take an emery down or engage someone else. You start each area with your trusty custom gun, but usually end up having to switch to any of the cast off weapons by dispatched enemies fairly quickly. Each weapon has a different damage output and firing times, and i found it handier to have the quick firing weapons rather than the stronger guns that take ages to fire (and leave you open to getting shot). You do tend to get mobbed frequently, and being careless ends up being a death sentence. The underbosses throw a challenge into the game, as they usually have underlings with them, and recover their focus if you wear them down. It can make those missions a cat and mouse, as you take out the chaff, then go for the kill.

Graphics
The games stage design is quite good, and built around line of sight and testing your ability to manage Wick and the enemies. There are plenty of pillars and areas you can duck or hide behind or bottleneck your next victim, and enemies seem to be keyed to spawn at set points (though the enemy that spawns seems to be randomised). Using the stages layout is the only way you can progress. There are plenty of different locals, from inside buildings, warehouses, tunnels, parks, and large outsides to progress through. Enemies are carbon copies of each other (every “type” of enemy will be the same), but it easily helps with threat detection and you don’t need to click on every enemy to see their stats. Usually the melee enemies can be left until last, as its also more prudent to take out the gun welding enemies first (if you aren’t going to hide and make them come to you) in most cases.

Music
The voice acting uses the same actors from the movie (excellent), and Troy Baker (Hex) never seems to do a bad job. The game has a really decent soundtrack, which to me seems like a mix of something western (duelling pistol vibe with the guitars), with a heavy mix of techno and bass. Some of the guns don’t sound as grunty as I think they should, but that could be because of the pumping soundtrack.

Achievements
Getting 100% Achievements will require a fairly good understanding of enemies and how the game mechanics work (and a hefty dose of luck), as you need to complete each stage with the best rating and on the hardest difficulty. Finishing the game on the normal setting was difficult enough.

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Darksiders: Genesis is a isometric hack and slash/shooter that reinvents the series gameplay while introducing the last horseman (Strife) as a playable character, adds co-op and a light RPG element. I thought the game was fun to play, it’s full of action, the story is good and the stages are mostly well designed though object detection is the game’s biggest issue. I recommend picking it up you want a decent top down hack and slash, or are a fan of the Darksiders series.

Story
The game is set long before the events of the previous games, introducing War and Strife to some of the series reoccurring cast of characters. The council tasks War and Strife to investigate the power play Lucifer is making in hell, as it might upset the balance the council strives for. I thought the story was quite well thought out (since most players already know what will happen in the future), and it does a good job of expanding the existing lore without trashing what has been previously established. The character growth for both War and Strife is handed quite well, as both horsemen initially focused on only their own concerns, War on following the law to the letter without questioning the council, while Strife is still coming to terms with his guilt over slaying the rest of his kind and distrusts everyone around him, though they eventually find middle ground to combat the threat they uncover. The interactions between all the major players is really well done, and there are plenty of in series jokes for fans of the series to chuckle at.

Gameplay
Gameplay has drastically changed again, now being a isomeric hack and slash (think Diablo) with platforming elements. I couldn’t see how they could have gotten Strife’s gunslinging/kiting any better and the change in format suites it well. Using war as a melee hack and slash tank also works in this format, but Strife is the character you want to play with as soon as you find the right upgrades. Like the rest of the series there are tons of upgrades and hidden collectables to pick up, though unlike other games the souls currency seems to be in abundance in this game, one run should see you owning most of the upgrades.

The game has RPG elements in the way the newly introduced creature core system is introduced, and how they let you buff your characters as you see fit. You can collect cores from defeated enemies (random spawn), and each core can be slotted into a board where their unique buffs are applied. Each core is of a set type, and can be upgraded multiple times, and the board is limited in available slots of each level and type which affects your placement (and applied buffs). You could likely ignore this in the easier difficulties but becomes critical in hard onwards. I thought that it’s a smart gimmick, as it lets you slightly customise your character abilities and doesn’t require farming or stupid amounts of grinding. There are also different skins you can unlock if you want War & Strife to look visually different, but they are locked behind quests rewards.

The controls are well thought out (on a controller at least), and I found the game very responsive. The biggest issue the game has is its platforming element, it holds it back from being truly great. I found both characters got caught quite often on invisible objects either when dashing or jumping. Since you want to be constantly moving when playing as Strife it caused a fair amount of grief as I took unneeded damage (especially at harder difficulties). The forced platforming element for Leviathan's Landing (optional puzzle area) is an exercise in torture, its really poorly thought out. The Dagon fight also had some questionable design decisions, with being knocked off the edge restarting the map back at the beginning (the enemies tend to make you bounce uncontrollably in this fight).

The game also supports co-op, but I wasn’t able to test this feature. From what I’ve read it can make the game much harder but could make the game an enjoyable couch co-op venture.

Graphics
Other than the above mentions, the stage design and graphics were really well done. Each stage is highly detailed, and usually multi levelled. The puzzles were designed well, not really difficult at all and fairly generous with time and mainly used to break up the fighting. Both horsemen can ride their horses in some stages, which lets you reap the mob enemies. Each stage has plenty of hidden collectables (there’s a map for each stage that shows you where they are), and a few side quests that for performing certain feats. There’s plenty of variety in the stages design (foundry’s full of lava, battlements under siege, poison swamps ect). Most of the games cinematics are told in a story book fashion (loosely animated) with pages turning. I would have loved to have seen these produced with the same quality as the games intro, but they serve well enough to keep the plot moving after major events. Enemy design was good, and while some skins are reused it’s fairly easy to tell them apart. Each enemy has a telegraphed attack (they flash yellow) to show when the attack is about to launch. Bosses were designed well (except Dagon), and even then that’s more a stage mechanic than bad design.

Music
As with the other games in the series the soundtrack is very good. There’s plenty of tracks, and they cycle nicely on each stage, never eclipsing the action. Lots of the tracks are interwoven with string instrumentation or heavy on the orchestral vibe, which really suits this game well.

All the major character’s voice acting and dialogue was excellent, the initial bickering and joking between War and Strife that turns into something deeper as they confront what they have given up and received in return to become the horseman. Samael dialogue drips with menace and a promise of punishment to those who go against his wishes. Some of the mob enemies (skeletons and zombies) I felt could have used some work and additional lines to break things up.

Achievements
The game is quite easy to get 100% achievements for, compared to previous entries in the series. The hardest difficulty setting isn’t as bad as it sounds (as you can kite also every encounter with Strife), the arena is a lot quicker to get through, and each stages map shows where collectables are

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Helltaker is a stylish, light hearted puzzle game that absolutely nails its execution. While its simple to play, its puzzles are quite difficult, and it has the added bonus of having a poppy tune to listen to and humorous dialogue between the “maidens” you have conquered. Being free, I highly recommend to everyone.

Story
You wake up one day and decide you want a harem full of demon girls (why not). That’s all there is to the story without spoiling the ending(s) or epilogue. If you enjoyed the main story there’s additional content that’s set far into the future, with even harder puzzles which is also built into the base game.

Gameplay
Helltaker is mostly puzzle game, part visual novel. You have a set amount of moves to get to the demon girl at the end of the stage, and can only kick objects out of your way (as long as there is space for the object to move). Some stages have traps that consume extra moves if you hit them, and I can’t count how many times I found myself 1 move away. If you manage to get to the end, you have a short dialogue with the demon girl, and depending on your choices either woo them to your harem or meet your end (and have to do the stage again). There is a skip option (that the demons even comment on) to skip that actual puzzle, and a hint section that doesn’t actually help you, but provides running commentary from those that have joined your harem. This continues until you have conquered hell, with the boss fight being a departure from the above formula where it turns into a reflex and memory game for dodging attacks. It’s forgiving enough that you only restart from the phase you died at and not the beginning of the fight, but I died a ton of times to I memorised the correct patterns. You still have to woo the demon at the end, but the choices are much more forgiving.

The additional content mixes the game up, with some stages being purely reflex (unlimited moves) while others rely on you having genius level intellect to work out (some of them are seriously hard- don’t feel guilty for using a guide). Once you have beaten the game there’s not a lot of replay value left (unless you want the achievements).

Graphics
The game is extremely polished for what it is. The graphics look good and are animated well, with everything in chibi form as you move them around the stage. The puzzles are consistent (only increasing in difficulty), and the hud is minimal (the only counters you care about are amount of available moves, and your life bar (for those stages where you can take damage). The wooing screens are well drawn (look like any visual novel on steam), and the pickup dialogues are quite funny and don’t let you white knight the demons at all, and the correct answers aren’t always the most obvious.

Music
The music is quite catchy and upbeat, which is good as there’s not voice acting or other sounds other than the noises you make when kicking objects or enemies out of the way.

DLC
There is an option of purchasing the soundtrack and art book to support the dev, which considering the game was free isn’t overpriced.

Achievements
If you are chasing 100% achievements, then it’s relatively easy if you are really, really good at puzzles (or use a guide).

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Game Received for free by Steam Curator Review

Unshaded is a great effort from seems to have been developed and designed by one person (other than the soundtrack). Its lacks polish, and few tweaks could really improve the experience, but it offers a substantial gameplay, plenty of replayability for those who are interested in getting perfect ranks and a real challenge for those who are chasing 100% achievements. If you like stealth games and don’t mind limited graphics options (or games made in gamemaker) then I would recommend giving this a go. It took me just under 10 hours to get through all 100 missions, so for its going price it doesn’t seem too bad.

Story
You are kind of just dumped into the game and the story is slowly told to you between each mission, and has you playing the role of a Ninja who is out for revenge. Any more would wreck the plot and require heavy spoilers. The English translations (as well as mission objectives) occasionally suffer a bit of broken English and could use a bit of cleaning up, but otherwise it’s understandable and easy to follow.

Gameplay
Gameplay is surprisingly good. Each mission has different objectives, from killing certain targets, finding briefcases, blowing up objects or hacking computers, and requires a different approach before trying to escape the level. The harder levels might have multiples of each to accomplish before escaping. You can’t take you time, as hunters (super tough enemies that kill you easily) appear after a set time period.

You can move in any direction, and try to either sneak past the multiple patrolling guards or cut down those who are in front of you. Guards have a limited 90 degree field of view (FOV) and go into an alert mode if they find a killed companion (which has them randomly searching for you and they can see you hiding in shadows). Killing them from outside their FOV results in an instant kill, though you can be spotted by other guards. You generally want to stay away from combat, and kill enemies from the shadows or sneaking up behind them.

You can break boxes (which alerts enemies in a set radius) for the potential to pick up 1 use items, from kuni (throwing knives), bombs, health kits, grenades, mines and other items. Unfortunately, there’s no menu or manual that advises you of what items actually do or are, so you have to try using them and remember for next time. Most items don’t carry across through the stages (though the Kuni do) so there’s no point being stingy with their use.

Every stage has a collectable (guarded by tougher enemies), and you are scored based on how many times you were seen, how many enemies you killed, and on how much gold you collected in the stage. Some stages also have hidden secrets to find. You have the option of playing with different Ninja suits once you meet the criteria to unlock them, and all of them offer bonuses and disadvantages to mix up gameplay. You also unlock abilities (like a harpoon to drag enemies to you for silent killing, invisibility, teleporting and a rapid blade attack) as you progress.

Graphics
Unshaded’s graphics are good but could use some improvements and additional options. The game is isometric and the stages make good use of areas you can’t see to place traps that kill you to add that WTF moment when you die. Each of the stages are well constructed, and some of the later stages are devilish in their design. The actual stages flick between 2 types of graphic- park and wood and bunker until around 70 where a 3rd is added (with see through walls to make hiding harder). If pixelated graphics aren’t your thing, then then you will need to look elsewhere. It only supports 1080P as its max resolution so on 4K monitors the pixilation become more noticeable, however there is an option to run in a window to get it looking as it was intended. The games font also isn’t easy on the eyes (which is how all the story unfolds and mission objectives are displayed). The camera also has an annoying habit of zooming in and out at the most unfortunate times, it would be good if you could set it to stay zoomed out, or at least control it. Each of the enemies are easily recognisable which greatly helps when determining a path through the stages, and the death animations are executed well (as is the blood splatter).

Music
I thought the soundtrack was good and the tunes didn’t overshadow the action and just pumps away in the background. I couldn’t advise if the stages had different music or played the same track, but I didn’t mind it. A lot of the sound effects were good, with the guns (especially the fixed sentry guns) sounding grunty. There isn’t any voice acting (other than grunts when enemies are killed).

Achievements
If you are aiming for 100% achievements, then it’s going to be tough as one of them requires you to complete all missions with a S Rank. That will likely be the achievement that breaks most people going for it.

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