david.reviews: Games!

david.reviews: "Is This Seat Taken?"

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: A cute little constraint solving puzzle game about shapes with a lot of feelings. There's just enough story to keep things engaging and there are a lot of micro stories that come through the NPCs and their preferences (like needing to sit near, or away from, their manager). I was especially charmed by the art and sound design: everything makes funny little pops and boops as you move them around. It's just delightful. There's great level variety and the whole thing just oozes style. Not too hard, either.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Upalu Mundi"

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: A great mix of rail organization and true puzzles. Fun story to boot! Read more in my full review!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Hamstermind"

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

★★★☆: Great puzzle variety and presentation, but weak endgame puzzles. Lot of fun overall though! Read more in my full review!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Ghost of Tsushima"

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Beautiful presentation. The near lack of UI means you can focus on the gorgeous world around you. Favoring contextual guidance over a floating compass makes for a much more immersive experience than similar games. The story also punches way above its weight, adding context to (eventually repetitive) missions and driving big emotional beats in key moments. I also loved its focus on little moments, like letting you write haikus in especially picturesque spots.

The combat takes some time to get going, but really clicks once its does. Gets stale eventually, mostly due to the lack of enemy variety. Enemies get a little spongey, but you have enough tools that it's never too boring. The duels are cool, really capturing the essence of a tense sword fight. Stealth was decent, if basic.

The overall gameplay loop is a safe one: big standard open world faire (including the cluttered map and identical collectibles). But there's a reason the genre is popular: it's fun to run around and just exist in this world. If you don't mind the lack of originality, you'll have a good time. Everything's nicely polished.

I played the DLC as well and found it only ok. There's an ok plot, but mostly it's just more of the base game. More of a good thing is good, but I'm at an age where "more" is the last thing I need from these expansive open world adventures. I also didn't love the focus on hallucinations, a plot device I find tedious. That said, there's some nice narrative payoff for Jin before you wrap things up with him for good.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Vampire Survivors"

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Game's gone through a lot of improvements since I played it last and it's official: it's got the juice. There's an actual arc to the levels and there's a lot more weapon diversity and ability to make builds (even through the RNG). Weapons are fun and combining them tickles my brain in cool ways. Music is great. Graphics are bad, but it doesn't really matter. It hits what it needs to. DLC is great too!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Astro Bot"

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Delightful romp. The game oozes style and sets the bar for how the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers can be used in games. The world is vibrant and varied, doubling down on the Sony nostalgia. I especially liked the pastiche levels of other PS games; they really did their homework. Being able to play the levels fast or slow was good too - you only had to to find extra bots if you were excited to. The boss fights were only ok (all of the combat was, really) but the game is delightful anyway.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Chroma Zero"

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Does a great job capturing the exploration aspects of Outer Wilds. It explains very little and sets you loose to understand the rules of the world. It expertly uses color theory as a base for most of its puzzles, slowly expanding what you can do an how you approach the world as you encounter new mechanics. Its stark, low-poly environment was a fun playground to explore and its concentric boxes are a wonderfully unique and alien setting.

It's tough to know if/when you're making progress at first. But there are little glowing dudes that give you pointers as you find them, which adds a light structure to the game. Navigating can be a little annoying, since you can lock yourself out of certain paths. The game encourages you to reset the world early and often, so you're never too suck, but it lead to a little more repetition than I wanted once I knew how to solve a puzzle. I ended up using a hint guide pretty aggressively, since I wanted to see the whole game but got a little impatient with some of the later puzzles.

Great time overall though, and a great soundtrack!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Lok Digital"

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: I never played the book, so I was glad the game seamlessly made the transition to digital. Finding paths through the grid is such a simple concept, but executed flawlessly. The puzzles themselves are clever and add new words and rules with care. The hint system worked well for unblocking us without just handing us the answers. The animations and overall presentation are delightful too.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Strange Jigsaws"

Sun, 28 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: There are few games as whimsical and engaging as what FLEB puts out. They're perfectly sized, surprising at every turn, and playful without compromise. I loved how every puzzled involved some sort of jigsaw, but their application and the process behind solving them varied wildly, so gameplay never felt repetitive. I love its eclectic art style and the experience of literally never knowing what's coming next.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Leap Year"

Sat, 27 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Wanted to play the DLC, but had forgotten enough of the mechanics that I needed a replay first. Game still rocks. The environments are so elegantly designed, only allowing moves in each room that fit the puzzle. Just as fun the second time through!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Monument Valley III"

Fri, 26 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Absolutely stunning presentation. Every frame is gorgeous, every animation a delight. The music is pleasant and the puzzles are fun, but not especially challenging. There's a bit of story that's pretty abstract, but stays out of the way. More than anything, it's a very relaxing 2 hours, absorbed into this pastel world.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Dragonsweeper"

Fri, 26 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★☆: Clever concept that took some time to wrap my head around. The minesweeper gameplay is good, but felt like it leaned too far into randomness vs the (closer to) pure strategy of real minesweeper. Props for trying new things though!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Öoo"

Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Öoo is both the name of the game and the sound I constantly made while playing this extremely tight little puzzle platformer. Elegantly teaches you mechanics while ensuring you understand them before progressing to the next area. Packs a remarkable amount of gameplay into a deceptively simple experience.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "The Rise of the Golden Idol"

Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: [DLC 4: The Curse of the Last Reaper] A thrilling end to the Golden Idol DLCs. There's a cute nod to Obra Dinn, plus the standard clever piecing together of events. Had a blast, per usual.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope"

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★☆: Like a good sequel, it improves and streamlines the bumpy parts of the first game. Gone are costly weapon upgrades, replaced by "just leveling up" and cosmetics.

The tactical gameplay I liked from the first game was back, but the open-world levels were more filler than focus. The story levels themselves were varied and interesting, but there were plenty of random encounters that were too easy. The big cast could have dropped a few characters without missing much. And, the story was pretty bad and missing much of the humor from before. Also, the shopping wasn't especially compelling.

It scores this highly on the strength of its core gameplay, in spite of basically everything else (like how badly it ran on the Switch).

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Total Reload"

Sun, 16 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★☆☆: Decent enough puzzles held back by a lackluster narrative. Read more in my full review!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "A Case of Fraud"

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★☆: Decent deduction gameplay that was a little too easy for my tastes. But a great finale to cap the whole thing off! Read more in my full review!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Orbyss"

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Exquisite UI coupled with tons of great puzzle mechanics & an atmospheric setting make for a dynamite time. Read more in my full review!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Spooky Express"

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Clever little puzzles and superb atmosphere make for a great Halloween experience. Read more in my full review!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart"

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: A second playthrough made for a fun plat. The game could have used a little more enemy variety. But the omega weapons were fun and the return of the bolt multiplier is always good. Still gorgeous in motion. Was fun to revisit the world!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "The Rise of the Golden Idol"

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: [DLC 3: The Age of Restraint] Great scenario, fun concepts, good puzzles. Felt on the easier side, but I liked the way everything tied together. Felt tight.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Sifu"

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★☆☆: A beautiful, intense game that I unfortunately liked the idea of more than actually playing.

On the one hand, Sifu has a lot going for it. Its environments are starkly beautiful. I also loved the way playing later levels unlocked shortcuts through earlier ones. It's a simple yet elegant solution to streamline the process of playing through levels repeatedly. Every animation is precise and fluid, which makes it feel like you're in a Jackie Chan movie. You get to play through his chaotic, 8 vs 1 brawls in close quarters with plenty of environmental interactions. Their vision here was clear and I think they nailed it. The dodging animations were just as good as the punching, so getting into a rhythm felt great. The age system, which lowers your health in exchange for more damage as you die, is a unique twist on the genre.

On the other hand, the combat itself felt tedious. Once you learn the enemy attack timings, fights (especially bosses) become these drawn-out slogs where you dodge, get two attacks in, and then have to wait your turn to do a tiny bit more of damage. And you'll learn the timings pretty fast, because there's not much in the way of enemy variety. The outfits change, but there are only about 4 basic enemies you'll square off against (plus a few varieties of elites). But the number of times you run through the game coupled with the repetitiveness of it all makes for a shine that wears off quickly.

I also didn't care for the progression system, which lets you slowly unlock new moves for your current run. But when you reset, you lose anything you haven't unlocked 5 times. For a genre that's so muscle memory dependent, having an attack work now and stop working later was consistently frustrating rather than rewarding.

Great care clearly went into Sifu's production and that attention to detail shines through in every moment. But In a game that's all about combat, fights really need to knock it out of the park. None of this is helped by the fact that I don't really care for fighting games. In the end, I dropped the game to its easier difficulty and sailed through, but I was disappointed that it came to that. I think there's a game in there I would have liked more, but this wasn't quite it.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Cryptmaster"

Sun, 28 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Mixes strategic combat with typing better than I would have thought possible. Guessing the words to level up worked well and getting letters as rewards is an ingenious bit of design. Remembering what combos I could use got increasingly tricky, which was fun.

Exploring the world was great, even if the minimap left something to be desired. The music is unexpectedly top-tier and the stark art style works great. There's also great cast of NPCs that bring the world of the undead to life. And I'm a sucker for a game with a in-universe card game that everyone plays. Matches could be inconsistent, but it acted as a great change of pace when regular combat was getting stressful.

The game played a little fast & loose with cooldowns and when exactly the enemy would attack. While I suspect it was cheating a bit in my favor, the lack of precision sometimes made planning hard. But, these complaints are minor. Was pleasantly surprised at every step of the journey.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age"

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: There's a lot of game in this game, but much of it is good!

It did a great delivering the tried-and-true JRPG formula: lots of gear / stats / abilities, repetitive turn-based battles, and rewarding you for going the extra mile. It felt good to be back in the saddle, since I don't always have patience for these. The crafting system was pretty good, adding a level of skill to a system that's usually just a menu. The pace of the battles reminded me a lot of FFX, which is always good. I really liked that you could set your whole party to CPU controlled, so battles would fight themselves. That let me grind as much (or as little) as I wanted, which was huge when the game was so long. The world is large and well-realized. There's plenty of things to do. The series' cheeky humor is on full display, which leant a lighter air to some more serious goings-on.

The worst part is probably the pacing- there are too many endings in this game. Being a legendary hero was fun, but they needed to know when to quit. The difficulty was also on the easy side (maybe because of the aforementioned auto-grinding), but there's a setting for that if you want a hard mode. It's also a little silly to complain about, but there's maybe too much of everything? In addition to the whole main quest, there's a whole separate series of 2D sidequests I basically never touched. They act as a love letter to the rest of the series, which is cool. But at some point, there's just too much if I'm going to play anything else this year.

That said, nobody is doing very traditional JRPGs better, so if that's what you're in the mood for, DQXI acts as potent comfort food.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Thirty Flights of Loving"

Sat, 13 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: A non-linear heist. What it lacks in gameplay, it makes up for in storytelling. There's a lot there in between its surrealism. Weirdly, the cinematography is what stood out the most to me. Everything is "shot" very precisely. Music is great too. It's a fun, odd, tidy little package.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Gravity Bone"

Sat, 13 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★☆: Odd little interactive experience. Weaves a bit of story into its walking. Builds a lot of world in a very short amount of space.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Slider"

Sat, 30 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Just killer. Clever little puzzles, tons of mechanics, cute side characters, simple yet expressive art. Not too long, but engaging. Enough variety that the same base mechanic (sliding puzzles) never gets boring. Good music on a few of the levels. Can get tough, but there's a good hint/answer system posted online by the dev. And you can't beat this price!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Wilmot Works It Out"

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Small and delightful. The relaxed jigsaw-centric gameplay is a step up from the fairly frantic order fulfillment of the first game. I liked the little narrative that moves everything along without taking center stage. The whole thing is pleasant and just thinky enough to keep you engaged without being punitive in any way. There's a cool new game plus mode as well! It's a rare sequel that improves on its original in basically every way.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Arranger"

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Delightfully tight puzzle game. Takes a simple mechanic, commits to it, and really explores the space. Art is beautiful, soundtrack is nice, story is just thought provoking enough Art is beautiful, soundtrack is nice, story is just thought provoking enough. Doesn't overstay its welcome either. Loved the whole thing!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "The Rise of the Golden Idol"

Sun, 03 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: [DLC 2: The Lemurian Phoenix] Some good puzzles and a great non-linear narrative to tie it together! Maybe my favorite yet.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Kaizen: A Factory Story"

Sat, 02 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Relaxing, tricky, and heartfelt all at once. Great presentation overall. Heartening to see the Zachtronics folks return to form. Read more in my full review!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Cipher Zero"

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Tough but stylish. Loved the puzzle variety and overall design. Puzzles get pretty punishing towards the end of the game. Lots of great mechanics though. Read more in my full review!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Fire Emblem Engage"

Sun, 27 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Flexible, tactical gameplay at its very best. The engage system a little over complicated and takes some time to get going, but it adds a lot of strategic depth and customization to the game. They've streamlined a lot of systems that used to be more cumbersome than they needed to be, so everything flowed well. I especially liked the refinement and weapon systems. You get to spend more time battling, though there are a lot of menus. I loved walking around 3D maps after a battle to really hammer home the sense of scale you lack in a top down view. There's plenty of fun cameos if you've played a ton of these, but newcomers won't miss much. The gacha for extra rings seemed pointless, but doesn't get in the way. The story is also dreadful- tropey and boring. Most of the characters are 1-dimensional and forgettable, but the voice acting is good, per usual. I really waffled between a 3 and a 4 rating, but ultimately the glaring flaws didn't prevent me from being glued to the game for nearly 65 hours. Feels like a big step in the right direction for the series overall.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Later Alligator"

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★☆☆: Cute dialogue and a funny premise, but punishingly boring minigames soured the experience. Charming and nicely animated overall, but doesn't really work as a game without gameplay.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Blue Prince"

Sat, 28 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Stunning in its vastness and meticulousness. Dense, deep puzzles and a continuous stream of discoveries kept us engaged for nearly 100 hours. That's extremely rare for any game, much less a puzzle game. The pacing was occasionally frustrating and the RNG worked against us as much as it worked for us. The sheer scale and specificity of everything outweighs any flaws and untied loose ends. Everything about BP's design was just so graceful. I was constantly impressed with how precisely every game mechanic fit together.

The actual deck builder was fun in its own right, but it blows my mind how deeply connected every inch of it was to the underlying meta puzzles. Every inch of this game was precise and rocked. Though there was actual in-game progression too, I loved the knowledge-based power curve. The more we knew about the house, the more successfully you could build and navigate it. Some could be a little obtuse, but marinating on the puzzles and/or some (eventual) light web searching kept us moving. Each time our interest waned, we'd find a New Clue that would pull us back in.

I also took more notes than I've ever taken for a game- probably 100 distinct pages, plus countless screenshots. Gameplay wise, we drafted more than 2,300 rooms across 83 in-game days, taking more than 7,400 steps across those runs. We hit the initial credits after 17 hours or so, but that was basically just the tutorial.

This game was a blast, gripes and all.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Poly Bridge 3"

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: A charming physics-based puzzler. Loved the attention to detail and the wide variety of possible solutions for each level. Read more in my full review!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Pushmania"

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★☆☆: Some cool mechanics and a lot of passion held back by muddled visuals and uneven puzzle design. Read more in my full review!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Trails"

Sun, 01 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Cozy, clever, and tricky. A contemplative outing that's well worth your time. Read more in my full review!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Turnip Boy Robs a Bank"

Tue, 20 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★☆☆: Had some of the charm from the first game, which is why I tried it in the first place. Unfortunately, they replaced the simplistic but compelling exploration & combat with a twin-stick roguelike. It felt like a cross between Enter the Gungeon and Minit. There was still exploration, but only for a few minutes at a time. There's more to the gameplay, but not much more. Instead, it's repetitive more kludgy than fun. I liked the weapon variety, but it felt like there were a few standouts and "the rest of them". I'm glad the devs got to try something new, but I wish they had stuck with what made the original formula so fun.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "PowerWash Simulator"

Tue, 20 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Played through all the Muckingham Files, plus some bonus jobs. More of the same. None of the levels were too annoying, which I appreciated. It's frustrating to do too much nook & cranny work.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Dungeons of Hinterberg"

Sun, 11 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★☆: Hinterberg leans heavily on its presentation and characters over depth of gameplay. Joining Persona-style social links to progression felt great. There was good puzzle variety and the unique spells in each world kept dungeons from feeling too samey. The story was surprisingly engaging- it really grapples with the impact of tourism on a small town and how each of its ensemble feels about the associated changes. The sore(st) thumb here is the combat- it starts clunky and never really gets better (just easier). Customization is decent and I loved the charm system (passive abilities that you can "shrink" over time). Too bad it was wasted on such forgettable fights.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Nine Sols"

Thu, 01 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Nine Sols has a lot going for it- beautiful hand-drawn animation style, engaging exploration, and blistering parry-focused gameplay. The map is intricately designed and there are tons of nooks and crannies to explore. Combat is tough, but generally fair. Getting your parry timings down takes some practice, but it just so rewarding when you nail it. Rebuking every attack before turning on a boss never got old. There's very little required backtracking which kept everything moving along nicely. Upgrades generally feel meaningful, rewarding careful play. The story is also pretty good. Yi's relationship with the ensemble supports the action and learning more about the world slowly as you slay bosses provided ample reason to keep at it. Difficulty felt right up until the final boss. I ended up cranking down the difficulty because hey, life's too short to keep banging my head against this thing. Proud I made it that far though!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Another Crab's Treasure"

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: This was basically my introduction to souls-like games and I quite enjoyed it. But I also feel like I "figured out" the combat in a way that made it probably easier than they intended. But maybe that's part of the fun! In any case, the combat felt pretty good overall. It starts slow, but once you get some skills and gear, it really opens up. There's a nice rhythm to the whole thing: attack, block, attack, block. There are platforming sections that provide a nice break from combat despite being a little finicky. The best part is probably the overall presentation. It's a sort of dark story, in the end, but told with big Bikini Bottom vibrancy and tongue-in-cheek humor. Environments are mostly colorful and there's a constant stream of fish puns, jokes, and fish-related curse words that kept the vibe from getting too heavy. The story tackles current events both political and environmental without feeling out of place. They did a good job contextualizing the protagonist's feelings about his whole adventure in a novel way, which I admired. Felt like a good place to start with the genre!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "The Electrifying Incident"

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: A small, tight puzzle game with some cool Sokoban mechanics. It's pretty short, but there's no cruft. Read more in my full review!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Have a Nice Death"

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: What if Hades, but about death? Like, even more explicitly than the original. Good art direction with smooth animations and good weapon feel. The gameplay loop is unoriginal, but well done. Procedural map is fine, but the floors are too small to actually make exploration a thing. Weapon, spell, and upgrade variety is pretty good- there's a lot of options. I wish there wasn't such a big divide between the good ones and the bad ones, but at least it's easy to stick to the good ones. The health system is overly complicated and I still don't fully understand it. There's some story which provides direction without being in the way. The side characters were occasionally funny and fine otherwise. Difficulty wise, it was inconsistent. Basic enemies were too easy and bosses dealt too much damage. But, there's an easy mode that put the whole thing in a great spot- challenging, but forgiving. Coming up with weird interesting combos was fun, per usual with this genre. I've got other minor complaints, but ultimately I was glued to it for a week, so they clearly didn't stop me from enjoying myself. It doesn't have the staying power of Hades or Dead Cells, but I heartily enjoyed my time with it.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Eternal Strands"

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★☆☆: A bunch of good ideas that came together in a less-than-satisfying way. I liked the art direction and vibrancy of the world. The story was intriguing (if jargon-heavy) and the characters were wonderfully voice acted. I liked the idea of the physics powers mixed with combat. Unfortunately, using the powers felt weak and clunky compared to just hitting enemies with a sword. Exploration and backtracking got old quickly. The crafting system felt rewarding and had some cool design touches (like being able to improve parts of the item without redoing the whole thing). The bosses were cool at first, but they also only actually had a few variations (tall one, flying one, etc). Outside of bosses, most of your time is spent doing basic combat, which got samey (even in my short time playing it). There's a lot of junk resources and inventory management got old as well. It was tough that quests were only ever "kill a thing" or "find a thing" (and good luck with the latter). On the whole, a mixed bag that I liked the idea of more than actually playing.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Neon White"

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: A fluid, high-octane platformer that shouldn't work as well as it does. The abilities are nicely varied and zipping through the impeccably designed levels never got old. The over-the-top anime writing ranged from decent to cringe, but it didn't distract too much from the gameplay. The story itself was fine. I wasn't crazy about the boss fights, which felt more frustrating than exhilarating. I finished at rank 19 without much backtracking, which I'm quite pleased with.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Indiana Jones and the Great Circle"

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★☆: The story is the star of the show: you get to live an Indiana Jones movie. And, much like its inspiration, the narrative is fun but the details (and gameplay) are lacking. Don't get me wrong- bonking Nazis on the head never really gets old. But the simplistic brawling and plodding platforming drag the good parts of this down. The environments were well designed and fun to explore, but there wasnt much reason to. Combat upgrades and money never felt rewarding. The sidequest stories were good and supported the main narrative well though. It really leans into it's "Indy" vibe and does well with what it's got. But if it were an original character, most folks wouldn't give it a second glance. Make of that what you will.

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "The Rise of the Golden Idol"

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: [DLC 1: Sins of New Wells] A focused addition to a great game. There weren't new mechanics introduced, but the puzzles were good and I liked the short arc of the story that tied into the wider universe. Difficulty level was good- puzzles were tricky off the bat rather than doing any tutorializing. I'm excited to see where the next DLCs go!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!

david.reviews: "Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector"

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

★★★★: Mechanically improved from the first game. Loved the "away missions" and push-your-luck mechanics. Exploring a galaxy was better than one big station, but it felt like there was less variety for actual activities. As a sequel, does an interesting job changing the vibe from wide and choice-heavy to more linear and exploratory. Not better or worse, just different. Great cameos from the first game if you played it (but not much is lost if you didn't). The emotional story beats hit hard (especially when there are no right answers). Some of the bigger-picture stuff falls flat, but the good parts made up for it. Does a shockingly poignant thing with the design of the post game which I really admired. A worthy sequel indeed!

FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and supporting the indie web!