Recent reviews by Servo

An excellent traditional roguelike that brings a lot of new and interesting ideas to the genre. Things like stamina, weapon movesets, telegraphed enemy attacks, and multi-tiled monsters are all great innovations. The classless progression, varied biomes, and overall structure of the game make for a lot of replayability. There's a LOT to like here and I'm really enjoying my time with the game. Getting a win is up in the air as the game is tough as nails and one false step will lead you to yet another stupid death.
To put it lightly - the game's good. Traditional roguelike fans should support it by purchasing it.

I've always wanted a shmup that uses the mouse and this delivers. Really cleverly designed. Chasing high scores doesn't interest me much but it's fun enough for a go around every once in a while.

I will say without a doubt that Caves of Qud is one of the best roguelikes - maybe even one of the best RPGs - of all time. I can't stop playing it and I hope the developers keep coming up with more insane ideas. I've been playing this damn game on and off since 2012 or something and I still can't get enough. I wish I could write an essay about this game but that would be cutting into time I could spend actually playing it.

Much like the original DEIOS (which I could never finished because of those damned boss fights), Deiois II // Deidia can described as such: A mystery that I cannot solve.

Perhaps the meaning behind the game is to invoke that sense of mystery, that sense of that there is a secret hidden deep within this game that you are supposed to find. Maybe that secret exists only within yourself.

Maybe I'm just stupid.

I've finished the game, or at least as close as "finding the end screen," allows it and while I would recommend this game to anyone that enjoys experimental indie games, there are a couple of things that might turn people off. I think most can get past the cryptic elements of the story and just take the game as a whole work but there is one thing that cannot be overstated: the controls.

BARCHboi, I love your music. I love your aesthetic designs. I bought Deios and ended up buying the USB of this game AND a copy on Steam (because I honestly thought that I was missing files, you sneaky dev.) The general wonder of Deios, DeityNet, and DEIDIA keeps me coming back for more but my man, these controls actually *hurt* my wrist. They are floaty and imprecise, and the wall jumping can sometimes just come down to mashing. You've built it into the game well enough but when it gets to the point where I have to strain my wrists in order to get through some parts, it ain't working.

Regardless of that, BARCHboi has created something utterly unique. Depending on how much you spoil yourself you might not stay very long but just the work that went into the visuals is something else. The music isn't anything to scoff at either, this guy makes bangin' tunes. I hope to see more of his work coming on Steam.

Streum-On Studios made one of my favorite games, E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy. It was a flawed gem with an utterly insane story, fun weapons, crazy psychic powers, and a lot of jank. They botched the release of that game, but quickly turned it around. It was never what it felt like it COULD have accomplished, but it was great fun.

And so Streum-On Studios botches another release. Performance issues, a god awful UI, multiplayer that is half implemented, crashes. Does the AI live up to the promises in the trailers? Not sure yet. It *seems* like it. The sound effects and how they are used are terrible.

At the same time, I think that all of this can be fixed in time. It feels and runs like an early access game. Is that what you sold us Cyanide? An early access game without the label in order to make us feel like we are getting a deal?

I like the guys at Streum-On. They've ramped up their production values a lot and I can see it. But it's just not enough right now to warrant a purchase. I wanted to buy this in the hope that it was good and they could make E.Y.E. 2.

I'll keep this short and sweet: Do not buy the game right now. If it improves in the future is anyone's guess. Until then, don't buy it. Don't even buy it on the hope that it will improve.

I hope they do the right thing and start fixing the hell out of this game.

***EXTENDED REVIEW BELOW***

BANISHED TO HELL FOR SOME REASON NOW YOU CAN SHOOT DAGGERS FROM YOUR HANDS
GET GEMS = POINT MORE FINGERS
THEN YOU CAN SHOOT BLUE DAGGERS

IF YOU LIKE THE IDEA OF A FIRST PERSON BULLET HELL WHERE YOUR ONLY GOAL IS TO DETHRONE YOUR FRIENDS (OR PEOPLE ON THE SCOREBOARD) OR TO PROVE TO YOURSELF THAT YOUR PAST YOU WAS A ♥♥♥♥♥ WHO ONLY GOT 60 SECONDS INTO THE GAME THEN BUY THIS

MY REVIEW IS IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE I JUST PLAYED THIS GAME FOR LIKE 2 HOURS AND IT FEELS LIKE I DRANK 666 REDBULLS

ALSO THE ENGINE, AESTEHTICS AND SOUND DESIGN IS AMAZING


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Devil Daggers coutinues to amaze. With every update comes new enemies and challenges, but be warned, this content is usually locked to the best of the best. It's a shame because the second large difficulty boost really puts your skill to the test. I'm slowly getting there, but that is the point of Devil Daggers. Die, die, and die until you overcome. Then start it up all over again.

My biggest reason for extending this review is because I feel like in the time that I've played Devil Daggers, I have literally become a better FPS player.

This game is like bootcamp for fast, movement heavy shooters such as Q3A, CPMA, Reflex, and (shoutout) Neotokyo.

Movement, positioning, situational awareness, timing, and aim. All of these play such a big part in Devil Daggers that as long as you keep pushing yourself here, you'll keep getting better at everything else. How a game can be so focused on its objectives to the point where it spills over into other shooters in the genre shows that the game should be up there with the greats. Truly inspiring stuff.

Hail Sorath.
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orc_pain.ogg

dear toby fox:

you and your team did an outstanding job. this game is something incredibly special. the music, the story, how the game tracks your progress in crazy ways. some people might not like how meta the game gets but i swear this game is good meta stuff.

i also hate you for making me cry.
bravo.

I find it difficult to put into words how I feel about this game but here is my best attempt.

In 2007 (2008?) I was beginning to gain interest in, "indie games." One of the games that I saw was the most highly acclaimed was Immortal Defense, reborn on Steam after 8 years.

I was never very good at tower defense games, and to be honest I'm still not good at them. Back then I tried to get through as much of the story as I could (on difficulty 00 never the less) but I think my brain stopped being able to handle it around the half way point of chapter 3. The game is difficult and can take a lot of thinking to fully understand. Part of this is because there doesn't seem to be an, "optimal," strategy for each level. There are ways that don't work, but especially later on you can figure out many different ways to beat them. I ended up cheating my way through a lot of the game from that point. Sorry Paul, I did it back then and I might have to do it again. I'm just not clever enough for your later levels.

The visuals, while simplistic, make up for it in terms of color, style, and how fitting they all are. The game looks really damn nice now. Still simple, but even more juiced up with all kinds of interesting effects.

The music can range between infectious and grand with some great melodies but you can definitely hear that it was a bit of a budget affair. I spotted some midi bass that seemed out of place.

But the real thing that makes Immortal Defense so special to me was its story and how it affects the gameplay. You play K, a person who has given up his body to defend his home world from invaders, detacting himself from the physical world to defend it from pathspace. K left all he loves physically - but not mentally. In pathspace, K uses parts of his being, mainly his emotions manifested into towers to destroy enemies in pathspace. They speak out in the middle of the game with character, making the battlefield feel alive.

K's journey is a philsophical one that tackles a lot for a game: what matters to a person, what drives them, what the nature of reality is, what the nature of truth is, how powerful you can become and how it influences others, and how it would be like to live alone, forever in a place away from any mortal eye.

The writing is very well done. It is never these huge philosophical rants, rather the characters give you information and story through the use of subtle phrases that you can put a lot of thought into.

Not only that, the levels range from abstract to very purposely made symbols that represent what is happening in the game.

The point is: The story and mood of Immortal Defense seems into every crevice of the game. Every element in the game seeks to bring you into the story of K. His story is a hypothesis on what might it be like if you, the player, were to embark on this grand journey a million years long.

I finished the game long ago in 2007 (2008?) early in the morning. It made me think about my own place in the world, made me feel profound emotions and has given me a quote to live by to this day. Rethinking about the game gives me chills and to this day fills me with the feelings of...I can't really put them into words.

Maybe it was me being naive and being sensitive. I'm a sensitive guy, what can I say? But this is my experience from the game. Even if no one else feels the way I did, this game hit me hard and inspired me in many ways.

When you have nothing left, you must create your own reasons for existening. Some people cling to the past, others surround themselves in their own creations.

Here are two quotes that have stayed with me all these years.

"There's one thing you can rely on in this universe: being as wrong as often as you are right. So whether you're right or wrong -- Be exceptional at it. That's morality."

and

"I love you grandpa."

Thank you Paul and the rest of the developers behind Immortal Defense. I'll never forget this.

scholar of the trash bin
heide's tower of mixtapes
no man's barf
huntsman's ♥♥♥♥
etc etc

a lot better than the original version of dark souls 2.