Recent reviews by TheDanman

I came

Dankest raps in gaming

Absolutely delightful.

I found While I Sleep I Am Debug to be a trippy and surprising journey punctuated by heart-stopping moments of glitch horror. ;)

I'm finding Skytroplis to be an almost meditative experience. It's so calming and forgiving (at least so far). I recommend playing it in VR and, rather than standing, sitting the floor. This gave me a feeling of being a kid building a lego set, or constructing some huge toy; all of the controls still work this way. City building isn't something that immediately comes to mind when thinking of ideas for a VR game, but it really works here.

The team clearly demonstrated their experience designing VR controls. The rotating table menu is a neat idea and the movement, zooming, and interacting with buildings always feels intuitive and comfortable. Another stand-out feature of the game is the soothing, upbeat soundtrack. It doesn't make itself too known, but aids that meditative feeling.

I'm enjoying Rule with an Iron Fish so far. The environment art is lovely and spurs me to catch more fish to see it all. I used to spend a lot of time catching fish in Animal Crossing just to read their one-liner descriptions, and this game recaptures that feeling. The writing, like many have mentioned, is great. Expect to subtly chuckle about fish more than you're comfortable admitting.

As a Kickstarter backer I am impressed with how Iron Tides is coming along. One thing that wowed me was how good the audio is. The sound effects in battle are weighty and the short grunts from the Vikings add character. In general the game does a good job of comitting to the Viking theme; even the short quotes in the loading screens *feel* Norse.

The tactics mechanics seem well thought out and thoroughly playtested. Gaining action points (Rage) for kills is an exciting mechanic that maintains the feeling of a Viking raid. I haven't gotten to a point where I have been challenged much, but I am only just past the 3rd story mission.

I'd call Astervoid 2000 a fast-paced couch multiplayer arena shooter with an impeccable sense of style. Right from the start screen the music and visuals combine to grip the player with an acid-retro aesthetic in the same vein as Hotline Miami. The game rewards skillful maneuvering with the space-warping explosions of your opponents. A clever Kamikaze mechanic can provide some exhilerating moments with your friends as your final breath takes your attacker with you to the void. An obligatory Survival Mode gives you a space to practice alone before your next multiplayer gaming session.

Spellforge stumbles upon a kind of retro 3D feeling. It's interface, graphics and sound have a distinct EverQuest-y feel; the presentation in general is quite cohesive. The addictive feedback loop of an MMO is also present. The rewards are tuned very well, such that there is always a juicy new spell, or spell upgrade just around the corner. Throw in some interesting boss encounters and it's hard to not want to see what comes next.

Note: my playtime is low on Steam because I have already played the game on Android.

As a former part-time developer on the project, I spent a lot of time with TASTEE. However, as a UI programmer, I didn't play any role in developing the core gameplay. This left me able to look at the game critically as it evolved over time.

If TASTEE wasn't as engaging of a multiplayer experience, my playtime would be much lower. I actually went home and played matches after a day of working on the game. TASTEE takes the cerebral gameplay formula of Frozen Synapse then adds more depth and wraps it all in a polished presentation. There is an impressive amount of strategy required to master this game, and it all looks and feels great.

The single-player aspect of TASTEE is a fully realized feature that may be worth the asking price alone for turn-based tactics fans. The presentation is just as polished as the rest of the game and it's a great way to practice the basic mechanics before going online. Unlocking new mercs is a nice carrot-on-a-stick to push you to the end of the story and a gentle way to learn the units.

TASTEE is a must-play for turn-based tactics fans and Frozen Synapse fans. Even after ~315 hours of playing and working on this game I'll still be coming back!