Recent reviews by OblivionPenguin

A game I've been waiting 14+ years for, has not disappointed and I'm not even done yet. More than worth the cost for entry, the bugs currently in play are minute and I have faith in the dev to fix them up as they have already dropped a patch. Thank you for making a game that brings me so much joy in a time that you have all struggled. Endless appreciation. <3

There are very, very few life sims I have ever played that made me want to play it over again. I just finished my fourth play through and am about to go on a fifth, and likely more. I am so absolutely taken by the writing, characters, world, art style and mechanical conflux of this game.

Go in as blind as you can, this is well worth your time if anything on the Steam page intrigues you. Love it to bits.

An eldritch dive into madness and knowledge, both entwined perfectly. The depth of this game feels bottomless at times.

Genuinely surprised and pleased by Chorus' fluid and fun gameplay loop. Travel to a quest point or mission, delve into the story beats, high octane combat ensues, mix and match and repeat.

Easy recommendation for anyone even kind of interested in space combat and sci-fi story telling.

A heartfelt story about coping, and not coping, with the grief people experience in their lifetimes. Unlike the first game in this series, I connected immediately to Alex Chen and saw her as I think she was written, as a healer. The game explores the wounds of both Alex and the town of Haven, and you must decide how best to heal them, or if you can heal them at all. The story beats of a broken family, lack of self-understanding and feeling lost in the world were all quite relatable.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a slower, paced out story that encourages you to take the time to feel the emotions it's based around. I could go on about the benefits, but I believe the above captures the core. Hope it takes you for an enjoyable ride as it did for me.

A dark, engaging and reasonably puzzling entry from City From Naught. The game makes use of misdirection to a reasonable degree and as long as you are reading information thoroughly but short of obsessing over small details, the results to the puzzles will manifest.

A standard play through is roughly three to four hours, the true ending is where your mileage may vary. The puzzles involved are interesting and not immediately obvious, but personally I enjoyed the vanilla ending from a thematic point of view.

Highly recommended, worth your time and attention.

Chernobylite feels like a mix of elements from STALKER, Fallout 4 and survival-lite games. It does all of them fairly well, if not better than many of its contemporaries and overall is worth your time if any of the above sounds remotely interesting. 17.5 hours to 100% the game while going at a comfortable pace, if you weren't aiming for completion you can get through it in 10ish hours and it feels well worth the price of entry.

More horror, less eroticism. The latter leads to the former in most cases, and you end up more horrified than turned on as anything "sexy" is disturbing. Super interesting visual design with the cited Giger inspirations, story was middling but kept me strung along to see the end.

Would recommend as I am not aware of anything bordering this genre and its fairly unique, if imperfect.

Pounding metal, intuitive gunplay, excellent ascetic. BPM dominated my free time with an easy to get into gameplay loop and satisfying atmosphere. Death is common but you learn with each attempt and continue to struggle to find the best run possible, as with many other roguelikes.

An easy recommendation, and exactly what it seems like on the tin.

After over 100 hours, a mix of that time spent playing on my own and with friends on a server, I can whole heartedly recommend Valheim.

This was a complete shot in the dark for me, a random survival game launched in early access that a couple other friends and I think is metal af because of the setting and trailer. Happily surprised that after getting into the game and learning what makes it special, you very quickly find yourself enraptured in its charm, mysteries and struggles.

The bosses scale quite well with difficulty between each fight, if you come in under prepared or undermanned you will be dominated by them. The world itself is massive, and the transport over seas (while slow at times) is immersive and can still engage with rogue encounters out at sea. Building is simultaneously intuitive, weighty and at times frustrating while learning but satisfying to master.

Like most games in the survival genre, Valheim hits its stride best when played with friends. There's a lot of room still for it to grow, potential PvP server options that can be better fleshed out for viking on viking sieges, and more in-depth lore. I'm excited to see what the developers can achieve with the level of exposure this game has received combined with the stellar job they've already done.