Recent reviews by Solumin

Monster Sanctuary is...really good! It's a Metroidvania with 3v3 Pokemon battles. Impressively, all of the ~110 monsters are competitively viable. (some more than others, of course.) On the flip side, there's a ton of information and skills and customization that can be really overwhelming. This was my second try to play it, actually; I tried it a couple years ago right after it released and quit after like an hour. The combat is also the main draw, so if it doesn't click with you, there's not much else in the game to keep you playing. The story is fine, but I don't think it's enough to sustain you if the combat doesn't. The best parts of it are the really cool worldbuilding ideas about the Monster Sanctuary itself. Thankfully, if the combat does click with you, you'll have a great time.

Have you ever played a bullet hell and wanted to be the reason it was hell?
Have you ever wanted to be the tower in a tower defense game?
Are you the kind of person who has too many games but can never bring themselves to play any of them?

If you say "yes" to any of these, then Vampire Survivors is for you! It's fun, it's easy to pick up, it's chaotic, and there's a good amount of depth to keep you coming back for more. It took me about 18 hours to get all the achievements, which is amazing for a game as small and cheap as this -- only $3 when I bought it! (I still haven't unlocked one secret character, I've been told.)

My favorite part was when I was a panda bear throwing cherry bombs in a dairy factory to stop lizardmen from tearing me apart.

I'd give this game a fair 7/10, I think. It's not a classic, it's not particularly memorable, but I've played it fully 3 times now and had a fun time doing so. (Note that I've always played with another player, never with the AI companions.) I enjoy trying to figure out how to execute a mission perfectly so the enemy never knows we've struck, and when that inevitably fails and we have to shoot our way out -- well, that's fun too. The plot doesn't try to be anything more than an excuse to kill a lot of drug dealers and corrupt cops, so don't bother playing this one for the story. The side missions add a little variety, or at least a fun diversion as you explore Bolivia. Overall, it's a good game. Not great, but not bad. Merely good.

It does have flaws, of course. There's one side mission type where you hunt down a truck convoy, for example, and quite often multiple convoys will spawn on top of each other, making the mission bug out and impossible to complete. A lot of the guns feel superfluous, and you'll likely end up only using a handful of them because the others just aren't good. Similarly, there's a group of consumable items, things like grenades and mines. Of these, I only end up using half of them, because the other half don't help solve problems you'll encounter in game. Take the "diversion lure," for example, an item that is supposed to distract enemies and draw them away from you so you can sneak in. All it actually does is put enemies on high alert so they're more likely to see you.

Similarly, there are a lot of skills that I never end up using. One skill tree is devoted entirely to giving you more items, so those aren't helpful when I don't use those items. Other skills actually make the game harder, or at least more annoying: a skill tree that makes your scouting drone faster has two levels, and the second level makes it nearly uncontrollable. There's another skill that makes you do more damage to vehicles. Maxing it out makes you destroy most vehicles with a handful of bullets, which is cool! Except a lot of missions require you to _disable_ vehicles so you can catch the driver. Blowing up the car just kills them, making you fail. Yet other skills provide bonuses so small that I don't bother giving more than one or two points total. So, by the end of the game, I have dozens of skill points I'll never spend because the skills aren't worth investing in.

Sometimes you just need some over-the-top, 80s action flick-saturated, neon-coated fun. This game scratches that itch like no other.

My introduction to the farming simulator genre was Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town. I've poked around at a few of the other games in that series and its sister series, Rune Factory. As fun as these games are, they always have their shortcomings, ranging from mechanical issues (The entirety of RF1, for example) to the more social and complex (the lack of gay marriage candidates is a big one).

Stardew Valley looks at Harvest Moon and Rune Factory and says, "I can do that better." And it does! I can say without reservation that this game improves on the games that inspired it in every way. The crops are interesting and varied, and the new farm layouts make every run slightly different. The skill system, allowing you to focus on particular items and skills (which gives you such options as increasing how much ore you find or increasing the sell price of gems, for example -- choose wisely!) adds depth to the game and makes you feel like alternate play styles can be fun. Combat -- a mainstay of RF games -- is simple but compelling. The fishing minigame is easily the best version of it I've ever played, from Harvest Moon to Pokemon. A signature plus is the sheer number of marriage candidates, and the lack of gender restriction when getting married.

Anyone interested in this sort of "fantasy" farming simulator, or anyone who remembers having fun with Harvest Moon: I highly recommend this game.

I'll admit that I'm a fan of Supergiant Games ever since I played Bastion. Their signature aesthetic and quality is all over the vibrant desolation of Transistor's urban environment. Those of you familiar with Bastion will find many similarities. The ever-present narrator (this time a companion instead of an omniscient old man) makes a return, once again voiced by the superb Logan Cunningham. Some of the same themes -- loneliness, what do with life when everything is gone -- make a return. Not that Transistor is a retread of the Bastion! Far from it; while Bastion was a story of discovery, grief and reclamation, Transistor is a story of revenge, and, at its heart, love. There is a much darker tone, and a pervasive sense of gloom or hopelessness. The story is heartachingly beautiful.

The combat both deviates from and builds on Bastion's weapon system. The main character, Red, wields The Transistor, a sword that can be enhanced with various abilities you find during the game. The combat is at once turn-based and continuous, in that you are able to pause, plan out attacks, then unleash them in a flash. Or, if you so choose, you can run around the battlefield unleashing havoc on your enemies. It flows really well, though some of the later enemies can be annoying.

The art is stunning. There's a much darker aesthetic in terms of palette and lighting, but there is gorgeous attention to detail that is becoming Supergiant's trademark. The game is interlaced with stillshot moments of calm, which are colorful creations that capture the moment. The battlefield is presented as a reduced grid-like environment that is overlaid on the normal city environment, giving you a cleaner arena to fight on.

The music, composed by Darren Korb and sung by Ashley Lynn Barrett (voice of Zia in Bastion), is as top-notch as you'd expect. It's almost hard to describe... Take Bastion's music, add a little more electronic, distorted-guitar-driven edge, and some stunning vocals. Let it carry you through the game. Darren Korb is a genius.

This game is worth every penny.