Recent reviews by Ciarán Dorcha

This "game", for lack of a better word, is complete rubbish and "Run Away" is exactly what you should do with it.

The story is boring, uninspired, and almost unitelligible (I could've written a better story and I am terrible at the horror genre). There was no sense of drama, suspense or foreboding at all and it feels like whomever wrote this just wanted to get it over with so they could do something else.

There are too many inconsistencies in the game (characters names chanings, genders being called incorrectly, and one character who arrived with the group arrives again later by herself a few minutes into the game - what the huh?).

The artwork is unremarkable and looks completely stock and the effects used to make the background look the way it does just made this KN look cheap and sloppy.

The music sound like the devs sampled it from some of the B-Movie slasher films in the 80's.

My biggest gripe? Every time the scene changes I have to either
A) Shut to game off, restart, and continue until the scene changes again - when I have to repeat the process.
or
B) Open the menu, select and "return" to unfreeze the story and continue to the next scene.

There are some of you who would say "well, I only got this for the cards and achievements", but remember this: achievements are supposed to be special and indicate that you actually accomplished something. In most VNs that have them, you get them at the end of each chapter. With Run Away (and ALL of bch wave studio's games for that matter) the moment you start you get swept away in a flood of achievements - the majority of which are completely unclear on what they're for.

Do yourselves a favour and avoid this one. In fact, I would even go so fart as to say that you should just simply avoid any game made by this publisher altogether.

This was a gift from Bethesda because I have Skyrim and all the DLC for it. I'm not playing this version because I don't want to have to remod Skyrim all over again to play this version (and that is the ONLY reason I'm not playing Skyrim: SE).

But here is what I will say:

Those gamers out there who gripe and moan "Oh, paid mods! Bethesda's charging for mods!" need to pull their heads out of their collective backsides because they sound like a bunch of whining, priviledged, millenial FILTH with notions of entitlement!

If you don't want to pay for mods - then don't pay for mods!

This isn't brain surgery. We're not looking to cure cancer. We're not trying to solve humanity's ills.

These whiners all make it sound like the Creation Club is the only way to get any sort of mods for Skyrim. What they won't tell you is that for every modder that wants money for their work, there is at least 10 who don't, mod for free, and post that work on the Nexus.

All of this degenerate trash whining about paid mods make me ashamed to be a gamer. Do the world a favour and go jump off a bridge or something and rid us of your stupidity!

Now that I'm done trolling everybody and making all sorts of new enemies, it's time for the review of the game itself (and I'm gonna dedicate this to StormTehSinner)

I mean, what is there to say? Bethesda has always managed to bring their A-Game when it comes to the Elder Scrolls series and Skyrim was no different in that respect. With that in mind, you'd imagine that the "Special Edition" would kick it up a notch just like the trailers promised.

The realistic water effects were amazing and almost looked as good as a mod for the original Skyrim that did the exact same thing.

The lighting was impressive as well and I was able to enjoy an almost realistic twilight until something happened and Whiterun hold wound up plunging into a "dust bowl" because my computer's a tad on the older side (kinda like me). But that doesn't bother me, because I have the godrays mod for regular Skyrim that produces the same effect, so it's all good.

The clouds in the sky were also breathtaking and very reminiscent of the "Realistic Clouds" pluging I have for regular Skyrim's SKSE.

In fact, every single visual effect that we are shown in Skyrim: Special Edition was inspired by an SKSE Plugin, an ENB, or a mod that was created years earlier.

...speaking of mods...

You'll see everybody on this storefront lambasting Bethesda and deriding the for their "paid mods" that are offered through the Creation Club. These vicious and libelous allegations are completely false because there ARE no paid mods on the Creation Club - they are instead called "Creations". In fact, Bethesda has even been kind enough to warn it's users of the dangers of using mods that are made by third parties and distributed on places like the Nexus for free. The danger being that mods can conflict with one another, whereas Creations will not. In fact, the only thing that free mods could possibly do for players who wants to use them is to bring their achievement hunting to a screeching halt. This locking the achievemnts even applies to mods that fix the bugs that are always present in Bethesda's games (like the unofficial Skyrim SE patch). But in the grand scheme of things, that is a small price to pay to know that Bethesda's got your back.

The gameplay is unchanged as is the story, so there is nothing new worth mentioning on either those fronts. The other thing that is unchanged is the unsavoury looking charater models in Skyrim:SE. Just like with the original Skyrim, almost every character in the game looks like the homeless you see standing in line at your local soup kitchen looking for a hot meal and a handout. But that's okay, because you can download free mods to fix that at the Nexus. Of course, using them will block achievements, but hey! Bethesda's got your back guys!

Having read this far, I'm sure you're asking yourself the same question I am. What does any of what I have said about Skyrim: Special Edition make it so "special"?

....I got nothin....

Space Girls is not a "bad" game per se, but as it is right now it isn't that great either.

On the surface, Space Girls tries hard to be another "Deep Space Waifu" and it does match the quality of art in DSW on quite a few instances. Control and gameplay however, is another story. I played with a controller and the only bit I used were the direction pad and the A to shoot. There's no special attacks, the power-ups that get dropped were sorta "meh", and the game doesn't feel all that challenging.

A few things worth noting:
1) The nudity isn't really nudity. The girls' bodies, once exposed, don't show nipples or pubic hair (think Barbie dolls). So if you're looking for some T&A, look elsewhere - cuz there ain't none here.
2) You are free to go ANYWHERE on the screen. You can fly all the way to the girl's face and then drop back down to her feet again. So you DO get to see the girl's face, but you have to fly up to it to see it.

Even though you can't expect much for a dollar these days, I can't really call Space girls a MUST HAVE game. If you're looking to build your libarary with cheap games, get it. But if you're looking for a good schmup/bullet hell - Space Gals will not be able to scatch that itch for you.

(Yes, I know I overturned my own recommendation but if you can't recommend a game - dont)

I personally consider this game to be a parody of almost every single side scrolling beat 'em up I've ever played (with an abnormal amount of silicone injection to drive the point home). The controls are quick and easy to learn, but could use a touch more polish IMO. The game is pretty fun overall and I recommend it if you're looking for an NSFW game to kill some time.

The biggest reason to buy it though? The satisfaction of knowing that for a mere $10 USD you too can do your part to tick off both the Religious Right AND every single self righteous SJW who comes galloping through the comments section on their proverbial charging white stallion.

There are no words that can fully convey just how much I love this series. Nekopara has, in my opinion, been a shining example of what great VNs should do and its 'Overwhelmingly Positive' review status for each volume serves a testament to the art of "getting it right".
1) The series has great art and a great design style
2) The series has compelling stories that are a joy to read
3) The series has lovable characters that, while you may have a favourite, there isn't one you really hate
4) Numbers 1-3 stay consistent throughout the series when there's multiple volumes

NekoPARA Vol 3 is, at just under 7 hours of play time, the longest of the series (longer than the previous two volumes combined) and closes the series out with the final two catgirls, Maple and Cinnamon by showing a level of depth to each of them that may have gone unnoticed in previous volumes. On the surface they appear to many to simply be a snob and a pervert, respectively. However, this volume very tidily sweeps those notions away by peeling back that outer layer and showing us the vulnerable human qualities in both Maple and Cinnamon. Watching these characters being allowed to develop is a rewarding feeling and feels very true to life in the scope of the story as we get to see both Maple and Cinnamon realize what they want, stumble as they reach for their goal, learn from their mistakes, and rise above their self-perceived limitations.

With that said, I confess my bias: I am very fond of Maple. To see her doubting her own self-worth as being viewed as "just a catgirl" and then rising above that limitation almost in spite of of it was quite rewarding.

Just trust me, buy this VN - you won't regret it.

This game reminds me of something I FLUSHED once! I suppose that's what happens when you let your "little head" do the decision making when you decide to buy a game.

Seriously though, don't even bother with this one, fellas.
The controls are clunky, the visuals are grainy, the sound effects are awful, and the overall feel of the game is worse than an amateur hour offering. I mean the customization only gives 2 facial options - but then again, the visuals are so bad you'll never get a good look at what your character looks like.

I've already requested a refund and I am embarrassed to have owned this P O S (and I DON'T get embarrassed by the games I own/play)

I have played quite a few Match 3 games here on Steam, and Hell Girls has got to be one of the more enjoyable Match 3 games that I have had the chance to play.

The premise is simple: you have 3 different girls you can use: one whose skills are fire based, one whose skills are lightning based, and on who is ice based. As you play, you need to attack your enemies with weapon or magic attacks while you also maintain your 3 skills - Life, Mana. and Defense. Each time you increase these skills, you also attack your enemy so you can play defensively/conservatively and still fight back if you don't want to go pure offense. Obviously, as you progress, the baddies get tougher which adds to the challenge and the fun.

I also really like the artwork for this game, not just for the critters, but the girls as well. It's nice to see that all 3 girls recieved the same attention to their character design so that nobody feels like they were tossed in as an afterthought. Each has her strength and weakness and, once you get the hang of Hell Girls and hit your "groove", all 3 can be devistating.

The music is also well done and each girl has her own battle music that give her fight it's own unique feel.

All in all, go on ahead and pick Hell Girls up: it's a good little game and it's only $2

Wishmaster is a textbook example of what NOT to do in a Match-3 style game that has a 'story mode' in it..

The player will begin each round with 10 columns of 19 icons each and as you match them up and exhaust each column, the board shrinks down making each move hold more weight. The round ends when the player:

1) Matches all icons on the board, clearing it
2) Runs out of turns
3) Runs out of viable moves.

More often than not, you will find that #3 is the most usual outcome of each turn followed closely by #2. Most Match-3's I have played have a tendency to have all the action going on on one side of the board or the other. After a few turns, one of the middle columns will affect the other side of the board and the action moves to the previously unused side. This tendancy is mirrored in "Wishmaster" as well; however, due to the fact that this game only has a finite number of tiles for each round this quickly becomes a detriment. To be fair, the game does try to toss out a few tiles to 'help" on occasion as you exhaust your columns, but more often than not this "assistance" only serves to make things worse. So, get ready to have quite a few rounds end with two tiles on the bottom and the third tile you need to finish the puzzle on top of one of the other two (and unmovable).

You also only have 3 attempts: PERIOD. Not 3 attempts at each puzzle - simply 3 attempts. Now, I could undertand if this were just in a quick-play mode, but this is the STORY MODE we're talking about; and there is nothing that makes me want to keep playing a game more than getting to Level 3 and then having to strat all over again from Level 1 because I wound up going "3 and Out". When you do find yourself starting all over again, you'll find yourself having to view the opening "story" without an option to skip through it (yeah, you can spam the space bar to speed the dialogue up, but some of us just want to cut to the chase).

All-in-all, save yourself some money and the aggrivation induced headache and just pass on this game. If you simply cannot live for one more second without an anime Match-3 game there are far better ones out there than this that you'd be better off playing instead of this one.

Not a bad little game this, it reminds me a little of the old Golden Axe game way back in the day, but with a twist. The more you get beat on, the more it damages your armour. Eventually your amour will break minimizing and even neutralizing it's effectiveness (and render a generous amount of fan-service until you get it repaired).

The pick-ups are generous throughout the game and there are plenty of "we hid something in here so break this" destructible objects.

My real only gripes are:
1) The controls seem a bit too stiff at times and I have a hard time turning to face enemies that come up from behind my character quickly (but I'm sure that I'll be able to adapt to this as I play).

2) I don't usually use a controller when I play, but it almost feels like controller support was an afterthought. The ability to customize the controller settings would be something I wouldn't mind seeing in future updates so that the buttons make more sense in their layout.

All in all, a very good game that has a lot of potential and I look forward to seeing where it goes from here.

Now, for the devs:

You guys really need to have more confidence in yourselves as developers and, and this is important, DO NOT BE AFRAID TO FAIL! It just felt wierd to see you guys bring up the ability to get a refund from you if we don't like the game IN THE GAME. If players like it, they'll like it - if they don't, they won't. Just focus on making this a game that is a high quality and fun to play game as you ablity will allow and let the rest sort itself out, okay?

Nation Red is a very simple, fun, and higly addictive TDS that I am so glad I stumbled across (I'll wager that my friends as as well since I scored the a 4 pack availible and I am a fan of gifting)

It has a simple premise: Here's you, here's a zombie onslaught - SURVIVE.

It's fast-paced, quick to learn, and hard to put down. Be sure to bring some snacks while you play, you're gonna be here a while.