Recent reviews by Hammer

Full disclosure: I beta tested this game a lot because it's THAT fun. Day 1 purchase for me.

TL;DR:
* Peggle + Rogue-like + dungeon crawler
* Fun, highly addictive gameplay
* Super charming and endearing aesthetic
* Delicious mix of adrenaline wrapped in a cocoon of accessible, easy controls
* Victory music feels like a dance party in your heart

Longer notes:
This game is freaking awesome. I've sunk hours into it! It's so easy to pick up and play. I can get satisfying sessions out of sneaking 15 minutes or going for 1.5 hours straight. It's Peggle, but with monsters you have to defeat. And you get to use skills mid-turn after you've fired your shot. The loot and upgrades are interesting and fun to engage with, and that's coming from someone who usually thinks of loot management or skill comparison as cumbersome. It's in the goldilocks zone of loot mechanics.

I find myself feeling chill and upbeat when playing this game most of the time. But there will be turns of exciting tension too! I've had some mega fist-pumping moments when I thought all was lost, and it feels AWESOME!

Buy this game! It's great!

Seasoned testimonial:
So I've played this game a TON in beta. And in my first retail run, I had this amazing thing happen. I'm the wizard, making my way through Act 1 for the first time. Things are going well; I've been dodging the skeleton rooms for the most part. Fast-forward, I'm in Act 2, and I'm feeling like a hot shot because I got lucky with some "full mana on room start" gear. I don't have pocket frogs when I reach the Cycloptopus, so that's kinda tense. But I get through, because you know, I'm pretty good at this game. Fast forward, now it's late in Act 3. I feel like I'm steam-rolling with "mana refill when breaking pots"... ain't nothing gonna stop me now!

And then it happens. Just one miniboss to go before earning that sweet, sweet relic and... SCREEN FIEND! My nemesis. I am always at great risk of ending my run when facing Screen Fiend. Suddenly, my confidence is shaken. Even as powerful as I am now, I think... "No, I could still wipe..."

And THEN, I realize I have a secret weapon. For the first time in my career of playing this game, I got a bonus that makes lightning work against skeletons. And not only that, but I can break skulls apart too. I feel emboldened. Her tricks won't work on me this time. I'm surging with power!!!

And I pwnt. Utter destruction. It was so awesome.

Wrapped up run with a respectable 2+ million score. Looking forward to getting back in there to break 3 mil.

It's real-time, but not so real-time as to be stressful. It's strategic, but in a puzzle-way versus a tactical-mastermind way. It openly encourages you to save-scum your way through the campaign, and so all guilt for doing so is gone. The puzzles for success will make you think a bit and do some trial-and-error, but not frustrate you or send you to YouTube to find a walkthrough. Perfect balance to make me feel smart without hurting my brain. Charming characters, rewarding levels and challenges. I found this game to be engaging and chill at the same time. Totally worth it.

For an FPS, the actually shooter mechanics somehow feel stiff. Over time, I found myself getting increasingly interested in the story, but less interested in playing. I solved this by turning the difficulty down to the easiest setting, and this game became much more enjoyable. You can clip along the gameplay sections at a great pace and enjoy cathartic and righteous Nazi-slaying. It's been years since I've played a game and felt like the cutscenes at the end of the level were such a reward... But with this game, they are! There's a lot of character infused in the cast, and I thought the script was fun.

Pick it up to support:
- Cool single-player games
- Fun story/characters
- Overthrowing Nazi scum