Recent reviews by Junkles

I have developed an emotional connection to a homeless ginger Action Man doll and the magical mythical world he lives in.

You think you've seen all typing games have to offer just because you've played Typing of the Dead or uh, Mavis Beacon? Well you haven't seen Cryptmaster.
The more I play the more I see the genius of the design. Typing isn't just a shallow means of interfacing with the world, and letters themselves are used in ways I've never thought a letter could be used. They are attacks, defenses, vulnerabilities, experience, hit points, rewards - they are the very fabric this world is made from. The expected mechanics of a dungeon crawler RPG within a typing based framework comes together in such an interesting way that it's no wonder the game won the IGF Excellence in Design award.
It's delightful to type in the stupidest word you can think of in a situation and get a unique reaction from it. Kind of staggering to think about the amount of these reactions the devs thought to include, I expect there would be thousands of unique voice lines to be found. I spouted some bussin zoomer slang and no cap giggled and clapped my feet together when the Cryptmaster had something to say about it.
The art is very distinct and unique, they are going for an old school TTRPG guide book ink illustration style and totally pull it off.
Writing of course is great and a core part of the game. A mixture of grandiose high fantasy with plenty of jokes that doesn't take itself too seriously.

All in all, I highly recommend this game and guarantee you haven't played anything like it before.

Not your typical puzzle game, a lot of the challenge seems to be learning how Rusty behaves and how to guide him around a level, which for me has been mostly trial and error. Be prepared to die a lot, and learn from those mistakes. Only a couple hours in so far and I think it's a nice learning curve, just when you think you've got the hang of one mechanic something new is introduced and creates another level of complexity.
Things get interesting when the levels start branching out into new areas locked behind gates (unlocked by collecting enough brains of course). I've already unlocked an optional area and hit a tricky level which I abandoned, decided to follow down the other path, but I know that level is still going to be there when I'm feeling smarter. I'm a big fan of that design, creates a good sense of exploration and means I'm not forced to bang my head endlessly against the same puzzle to make progress.
I can't say much about the story as you are thrown into this underground clockwork world with nothing explained, being either guided or taunted by two unseen narrators (fans of Conker's Bad Fur Day may be able to hear some similarities in voice acting). I'm gonna guess more pieces of the story will be revealed throughout the game, perhaps it will all make sense by the end.
What really stands out to me about this game is the insane amount of polish that has clearly gone into it, no aspect feels cheap or rushed. The art really is top-notch - very crisp pre-rendered sprites give it a unique look for a modern game, and lots of tiny details look great up close. If anything, the detail can be a little overwhelming and it's a puzzle in itself to decipher how the level flows and what can be interacted with. Speaking of, the way you interact with the game is all very tactile and it's evident it was designed with touch controls in mind. The minor quibble I have with it is placing objects by sliding tabs and pressing buttons can be a little cumbersome when in a rush. Waking up Rusty at the start of a level by giving him a scratch is a novelty at first, but does get a bit tedious when restarting levels often and you just want to jump back in.
All in all this is a great chill-out game at a great price (almost too cheap), I look forward to chipping away at it one puzzle at a time. The truly impressive feat is that something of this quality is made by a two-person team, hats off to Gory Detail.

All the greatness of the original game, but just made betterer - what's not to like? And on top of that, if you owned the original your good friends at THQ Nordic just give it to you for free like it ain't no thang. Those guys are the best.

Definitely recommend this game for colony building/management sim fans! So far it's been scratching that Dwarf Fortress itch for me, and even in early access it has that signature Klei polished presentation. But don't let the cutesy art style fool you, there are some pretty deep mechanics and things get complicated enough when you are trying to keep a sustainable colony with enough food, oxygen, and clean water for your horde of duplicants.

Oxygen Not Included is absolutely worth buying in early access, there is already loads of content to keep you occupied, and Klei do a great job of communicating when the next content update will launch. Really looking forward to seeing how the game evolves, and with support for full modding on the cards that will really open up the possibilities!