Recent reviews by trans rights

As a longtime fan, I was worried when I heard that Darkest Dungeon was implementing PVP. My fears were absolutely on the mark.

The online ranked play is unplayable; I have yet to finish a single match without being disconnected. But even if this weren't true, it wouldn't make the mode any less unbearable. Due to hair-pulling death's door mechanics that either give you seven failed deathblows in a row, or require you to waste turns to set up one deathblow with even passable reliability, damage is purely luck-based. That's it. You can land a critical hit for 49 damage on a hero on death's door five times in a row, and it will mean nothing. That's not even mentioning DOTs, which are absolutely useless aside from acting as armour-piercing damage or as circumvention of the Man-At-Arms' constantly spammed Bellow, as they DO NOT CAUSE DEATHBLOWS on 0 hp heroes. It's one or the other, guys; Either DOTs deathblow, or raw damage has more than a 15% base chance to deathblow. With both of these things in play, physical damage of all kinds is useless.

Stress is the only way to win, and that's all you'll see in ranked games for obvious reasons. Heart attacks seem to be the only means of deathblow with ANY sort of reliability and therefore, the only valid strategy is to spam multi-target stress moves while your party is equipped with the multitude of +% stress dealt trinkets. No strategy, no fun on either side. Every ranked match I've tried while not using this meta - that is, before my game is disconnected - has resulted in me maybe picking off one hero by focusing my entire party, while the enemy spams the same. moves. every. single. turn. with no variation whatsoever, leading to my heroes either dying instantly upon reaching 200 stress for the first time, or killing themselves on their first turn after becoming Masochistic.

Challenging friends is the only way to find some sort of fun in this DLC, because the only way to actually avoid the match turning into a game of stress-spamming is by agreeing to self-impose some restrictions. With the meta out of the way, the game manages to be very fun, exciting, and highly strategic - of course, until it gets to the deathblow part, where unless you have a Bounty Hunter and lots of turns to waste, it either turns into a back-and-forth of failed deathblow after failed deathblow, or a rage-inducing waste of time where you get 10 failed deathblows on an enemy hero only for them to get lucky and kill you on their first turn once you've hit 0 health.

All in all, I think this was an absolute failure. Unless the stress-meta problem has been fixed, there is absolutely no reason to waste your time on this DLC. Online ranked is boring, mindless, drawn-out, and completely void of strategy. Challenging friends is fun, strategic, and exciting, up until you get to the point where you actually need to be dealing deathblows, where the RNG erases any strategy you used in favour of dumb luck.

I'm not surprised, but am absolutely disappointed. Red Hook has always felt to me like a very active and receptive developer, so I'm putting faith in the thought that they'll quickly recover from such a disastrous release by listening to the community and the heeding some of the suggestions we've put forward. I'll be redoing my review in that case.

But as it stands, the experience isn't even worth the time it takes to download. My first 0/10. Unplayable without friends willing to agree to specific rules. ...Sorry.

People aren't kidding when they rave about Firewatch being a sort of masterpiece. I came into the game expecting a walking simulator with pretty scenery, maybe with a bit of park ranger action on the side... Needless to say, when the main storyline started to take shape, I was just as ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up over it as the protagonist was.

You don't need me to tell you that this game is beautiful, with functional (although sometimes clumsy) gameplay and great sound design that gets you fully immersed in minutes. You also probably don't need me to tell you that the story is one of the most unexpected and gripping narratives you can find in a simple game like Firewatch. Although a bit hectic, I appreciated that the plot managed to keep both feet in reality from start to finish. Plus, although the story is linear, dialogue trees and free-roam give you just enough wiggle room to prevent it from feeling constricting.

Though the map is reasonably sized and designed brilliantly to encourage you along certain routes, it can be easy to get lost, and switching between the map and scenery can be nauseating. Additionally, I was faced with a handful of freezes that forced me to load previous saves - quicksaving frequently should spare you from some of my pain.

Really, this game gets its praise from its stunning creativity, chilling story, and all-around impressive air. I would love to leave this review glowing, but the longer I think about it... the more I think that it's not worth the price. With next to nothing interesting or exciting to offer in terms of gameplay, no diverging story, and zero replay value outside of achievement hunting, Firewatch is seriously more of a movie than it is a video game - and who the hell spends 20+ dollars on a movie this day in age? I bought it on sale, and would consider it a near scam to buy it at full price for the whopping four hours of gameplay it offers.

This game is beautiful, and wonderful, and gripping, and I loved almost every minute I spent playing Firewatch, but I seriously think it would have been a better deal if I'd just watched someone play it on YouTube; It would have been functionally the same experience, and I'd be a few dollars richer. For this reason, I'll give it a 3.5/10. While I don't think it's a waste of time, Firewatch is unfortunately not worth more than ten dollars at the very most. Watch a silent playthrough or something and you'll be just fine.

I'm actually surprised by how smooth and expansive this game managed to be. Save the Light takes its mobile predecessor's core concepts and improves upon them to make a game that's actually deserving of the double digit price. The art and music are excellent, obviously - this is a Steven Universe game - so I'm going to use this review to go over the less artistic aspects.

Save the Light is a sequel to Attack the Light that takes a more open-world RPG approach, featuring more characters to build teams with, specialised point-based stat upgrades, weapon upgrades, and real-time combat. The core, timing-based combat from Attack the Light is carried over but made much more fluid and fun, giving you tons of new team attacks and even allowing you to fuse party members together! Even the open-world exploration feels less linear, with backtracking encouraged by better secrets and (very few) fetch quests, and a bunch of unique puzzles to encourage you to try out every party member.

The story, as I said, picks up just about right where Attack the Light left off; Steven and a select group of playable pals (including Greg, Peridot, and Connie as well as the Crystal Gems) have to follow the Light Prism's former owner, Hessonite, around the Earth as she tries to reset its memories and turn it back into a weapon. It's a pretty linear story with a sweet message of "nobody can tell you what's right or wrong; it's up for you to decide what kind of person you'll be". It also two endings - good and bad - that make themselves evident in the (really amazing) final boss fight. The story is kind by nature and very feelgood, just what you'd expect from a Steven Universe game!

Last but not least, I'll cover the technical aspects. The keyboard controls are clumsy and unintuitive but very functional once you get used to them, the voice-over is sparse most of the time and tends to overlap on itself (except during cutscenes, which are fully voiced), and there are a handful of camera-related bugs that I personally encountered but didn't break my game - though other people have reported crashes. It runs extremely well, which I was actually kind of surprised by due to its ambitious scale, and the quests and secrets are super easy to get a handle on (although some can be a bit more confusing if you're not super into the show, like knowing to give Lion Lickers to a sleeping Lion in order to coax a powerful badge out of him).

I'm a huge fan of the game. I think the different party combinations give this game a fair amount of replayability, although I think getting to 100% on one save file is more than enough for me. Just getting to 70%, though, has already taken me more than 20 hours, meaning I'm satisfied with the amount of time I'm getting out of the game for its 22 dollar price.

8/10 because of the unfortunate glitchiness and simplicity on the technical and story sides, but definitely worth it in my books.

Definitely loving it so far! There's a lot more sitting and watching than actually playing, I must admit, but the Universim is a game with great polish, humour, and care.

As far as sims go, there's not a whole lot to do so far, but that's par for the course with an early access game. The devs seem very active with their updates, so I doubt it'll wind up incomplete. The Universim is easy to get a hang of, satisfying to binge, and overall a really relaxing play. The graphics are amazing, with popping colours and clean environment/character designs, and the music soothes my sooooul. The gameplay is standard, but the addition of "God Powers" lets you get hands-on with your planet and its people. All in all, a really shining example of a solid world simulator.

I do find that it can get a little bit stressful at times when bugs pop up and disable your powers or delete your ALL save data (that one's definitely no good, guys), but most of them are tiny and easily fixed by a quick restart. Besides, once you've gotten a good handle on the game, it's easy to rocket back to where you were before.

All in all, a really promising start that's got me totally hooked. Not quite enough content so far (getting one civilization up to perfect standards takes about seven or eight hours), but what we have so far is absolutely perfect, and the replayability is fine. I'm looking forward to when this game gets out of early access and dominates the Steam awards!

7/10 for a lack of content and the currently unbalanced price : hours ratio I'm pulling in, but I have no doubt my review will be subject to change anytime now.

GRIS is a beautiful game, with breathtaking visuals and stunning music. The story is linear and very easy to follow, with no unpredictable twists. I'm a big fan of how the game managed to make itself completely combat-free and still remain entertaining with fluid gameplay. However, with so much focus on visuals, I'm afraid the story falls to the side.

Owning GRIS is more like owning a work of art than a video game. I seriously cannot stress enough how beautiful the world and cutscenes are, and how they make the heart swell, but there is a serious lack of content and story that means you'll be playing through two times to see all its secrets, giving maybe ten hours of gameplay at most. For the price, this is a serious let down.

However, I'd argue that its visual and musical appeal just nudge GRIS over a negative review. I'd go as far as to say that they warrant playing this game on their own. I think GRIS is a work of art and an experience, and leaves you feeling a little bit more appreciative of life's beauty.

6.5/10, just because of the high cost vs low replayability. But I definitely recommend picking this up if you're interested in having a simple but serene afternoon.

Okay, so if you got this for free upon release, you might as well play it. Skyrim is a timeless game and the special edition doesn't do any harm apart from the lack of a Steam workshop - but I recommend using Nexus mods rather than Steam mods for Skyrim regardless.

If you're new to the game, just get the regular version; It doesn't show up in searches but it's still in the store, just find a link to it. The difference isn't game-changing and you can mod the graphics for free anyways.

From the team behind Thomas Was Alone comes Subsurface Circular, a short, linear mystery-drama set in a single subway carriage many years in the future of the TWAverse (ha). As you ride the titular Subsurface Circular, you learn that you're a robo-detective for a city where human jobs are slowly being taken over by Teks like yourself. What starts out as a simple whodunnit quickly morphs into a story of morality and socio-political tension, all without abandoning the simple text- and puzzle-based premise.

This game is short. To see 100% of what it has to offer took me about five hours in total, but for the very low price you can get it for on sale, I'd say the experience is worth the price. It's a very tight-knit narrative that uses every advantage presented by the text-puzzle medium as best it can, with very clean and memorable visuals and great sound design. I'm also a big fan of how much insight is given into the development of the game through a concept gallery and developer commentary.

Though I admit the charm from Thomas Was Alone has not carried over to Subsurface Circular, the new atmosphere that the devs have brought to the table is every bit as enticing. I'm looking forward to playing Quarantine Circular after this!

You certainly get what you pay for, and what the game lacks in length and replayability, it more than makes up for with a great first impression. I really can't find any issues I have with it. I'd give it a 9/10 if only for the fact that one thread felt a bit too confusing, but all the same, I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a good, quick play that makes you think.

This game honestly impressed me. I had been hesitant to pick it up for the better part of a year - I've never liked turn-based strategies - but hey, when it goes on sale, you might as well.

If you're like I was and you're hesitating - don't. Just buy it.

Darkest Dungeon is the perfect mix of dungeon-crawler, turn-based strategy, and despair. It's very light on dialogue and story, focusing instead on plunging your party into the thick of things with a slap on the back and an awkward smile. Walking through dungeons is simple, with a few traps and curio to keep you on your toes, and the combat is simple but exciting. It's very harsh, yes, but that just adds to the thrill of escaping by the skin of your teeth.

But the dungeons are only half of the game. Actually surviving and remaining sane to return to the Hamlet is a real test of your strategy skills, but it's once you've come back to the surface that things get even better. As you push them forward, your party members will develop personality quirks that can be fortified or purged in town, you can level up their skills and equipment to suit your tastes, and you'll have to spend time and money to cure them of a plethora of diseases. With over a dozen characters to mix and match, creating effective and survivable parties can be done a hundred different ways - but the challenge never fades, and losing a mercenary you've spent thousands of gold on to a lapse in planning will bring you back to your senses real quick.

So, give it a try and enjoy. The only warnings I can give are that it's rather gruelling for the first few hours, is rather repetitive (in a good way, I think), and maybe isn't great if you're prone to raging. But, if you like a good challenge and can take a loss in stride, I guarantee you'll have a blast.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Klei?

Hamlet is absolutely on par, if not better than, Don't Starve's previous DLCs. Although not without its fair share of crashes (it's in early access, after all), the DLC so far is the perfect challenge that I've been hoping for since Reign of Giants kicked my ass. It's also remarkably easier to understand and get into than the other two. I really love the "city living" element of the game for its uniqueness, but the jungle/ruins exploration element is definitely up there as well.

I also appreciate that elements like sailing and unique seasons have been brought over from Shipwrecked. I've been dying to sail across those stupid ocean gaps between biomes in the base game/RoG FOREVER.

Make sure you buy the Don't Starve pack version for 30% off if you already own the other DLCs!

Definitely a fine game, I had considerable difficulty with the later levels but it never felt unfair. Nice to power through in one or two sittings, as it offers about one hour of gameplay. The graphics are clean and the sound effects are very calming. I'm also a fan of the simple mechanics that work well with one another and force you to stop and think.

Comparing to the price, 8/10. This is exactly what I expect from a one dollar game, and I'm impressed with the fun it brings in its simplicity.