Recent reviews by Curly Hooligan

For fans of BeamNG, Need For Speed, Mudrunner, Euro Truck and Transport Fever.

The best features of all the main driving sims, coupled with the logistics and economy of the better tycoon and transport management games, with added MMO elements, in a nice and light package (at a very low price).

I started out renting a scooter to deliver pizzas, drove like a maniac to make big tips. Rented a bus and did a few routes, rented a truck and did some farm-to-shop routes until I could afford to buy and customise a box truck for longer freight trips.
Could eventually afford a garbage truck and did some routes. Eventually traded it in for a bus and hired AI to run the route on the starter island, while I ran coal and oil across the mainland in a rented truck.

If you like any of the games I've mentioned above, and wish you could play them simultaneously with 200+ other players in a living economy - with leaderboards and addictive progression - then I can't see a good reason for you to avoid this game.

Bonk

Easy to learn, difficult to master online party game. Brings a cartoonishly macabre twist to classic table games.
Good with strangers, great with friend.

Animal Crossing (minus housing) with fewer barriers to interacting with the rest of the community.
Plenty of progression for those who still crave gamified dopamine, with XP, upgrades, random encounters, gambling, music and hidden items to find.
Otherwise, pick a spot, cast your line and chat with your new friends.

A really promising military sandbox to rival Tarkov, with an interesting open world / MMO feel. Combat can be intense, and a great rush when you do well and leave with some decent looted gear.

I've updated this review as the game has developed. It's still frustrating to get invested in due to some minor graphical bugs, frame rate stutters and (if you don't configure the graphics right) random crashes during combat that make you lose your gear.

If you can stomach that, there's a lot to look forward to with this satisfying MMO-like extraction FPS.

Seems fun! The mini games weren't too much bother, even when doing them a lot in a short space of time.
I like that it hasn't tried to create stress to force engagement, it's as chilled as you want it to be, but you make money faster by being faster to get jobs done - and in the best order.

I can see it getting samey as it becomes a bombardment of the same handful of tasks over and over, which might get too tiresome after a few hours, but it is basically what you sign up for with this kind of game.
I've given it a thumbs up because, for the price, it seems like a good example of the genre that a lot of people will enjoy.

I was disappointed that there was a lot of AI usage, refunded due to this mostly...
Also the fact it feels like it would benefit a lot more from multiplayer for an 'Overcooked but chilled out' experience, and many similar games now have multiplayer - even at this price point.
I'd like to work the bar and clean the customer areas while a friend cooks and takes in deliveries.

I thought the 'LI' in the title was a 'U', bought in error, but Steam won't refund me for "hygiene reasons".

I bounced off Rimworld the first time I played. An RTS with basic graphics and the colonists just ignored what I asked them to do - For that asking price?! Uninstall, Refund, blah blah blah.

I returned a few months later after hearing some funny stories online of what people's colonists had been up to. "No way that's from the same RimWorld I played..."

I gave it another go, and treated it more like The Sims and things began to slowly fall in place.
I set out my *intention* for how my colony should grow, but the personality prisms of my colonists refract that against their own agenda. Embracing failure and randomness - like exploding batteries, lighting strikes on my wooden walls and raiders breaking down my doors during my lowest points - adds to the drama and depth you don't get in the countless other colony sim games where boredom, grief and individuality aren't a factor to the little blob characters who are reacting to the events.

60+ hours on PC (while online), probably the same again not recorded offline, and at least 50 hours on the console version.
I appreciate the price tag is a wall many aren't willing to climb on just a recommendation, however RimWorld is now a staple game I'll return to indefinitely as a timeless, charming story generator.

A co-op Half Life parody that borrows from the likes of Prey, Alien Isolation, Project Zomboid, Rust - and even a bit from Soulslikes. All to answer the question of what System Shock would be like if it was made in Garry's Mod.

In a market saturated with Early Access Survival Crafting, the tongue in cheek retro tone and multiplayer shenanigans draw you in. However, with a deceptively detailed survival system, set in a slowly expanding corporate facility full of plot, intrigue and conspiracy, it's hard to put down.

Make sure you cuff the guy whose face was half removed by your shotgun.