Recent reviews by Crooked Beaker

I love playing Chungus Odyssey and Communist Monopoly on here
Peak 10/10

Nah but for real, it's an incredibly versatile program to play all kinds of board games with friends on and I use it all the time to play the stupidest stuff with friends. VR support is also really good lol. Fun stuff.

I make-a the pixel art :)

This game captivated me from the beginning with its premise, being a twist on the story of the Tower of Babel. I won't go too far into the game's story, as I feel like it's best going in blind.

The gameplay mostly consists of collecting various sigils and deciphering languages in order to solve puzzles and reunite the peoples of the tower. It's incredibly innovative in how all the information is conveyed, figuring out meanings through context clues and imagery. Each language also has different grammatical rules to make things more interesting, especially when translating from one to another.

The soundtrack is phenomenal as well with an orchestral theme for every other room.

Probably the coolest puzzle game I've played in a while, would highly recommend if you like that kind of thing.

I'm happy to have finally played it after years of watching its development, and let me start by saying this game is a trip. I'm sure you knew that already if you've seen any of the promotional content, though. This game is incredibly strong in every department I can think of. A masterpiece, if you will.

The story is well thought out and everything feels like it happens for a reason. It does leave a few questions unanswered to keep things interesting, or maybe I'm just missing something. There wasn't a single part that felt like it didn't matter. It goes really hard on the twists near the end, and most everything ties up really nicely.

The gameplay is something else. Battles are super interesting with almost every attack and ability hinging on the player's skill. Not to mention the hundreds of microgames across the entire game. Story beats are also broken up with other minigames to keep things interesting outside of enemy encounters. There are a couple that are frustrating (both on purpose and unintentionally), but that's just a consequence of having such a varied collection of gameplay styles.

The visuals are incredibly charming and well-made, having a very distinct style even if it changes from time to time, which only adds to the charm. All the different characters are incredibly lively, especially in battles. The transition to 3D every so often are very surreal, giving them an odd sense of importance.

Don't even get me started on the music. Every track is a banger, the sound design is phenomenal, and I'm gonna be having a hard time getting it out of my head. Easily the best modern RPG soundtrack, in my opinion.

Everything about this game oozes care and charm and is well worth the price.

Easily the most mind-bogglingly deep and intricate sim I've ever played.
I bought it because of its legacy and it looked fun and well
It was fun. Very fun.
I can't stop playing it, in fact.
I love the stories I've seen and created in it, so please get it if it looks at all interesting.

Having followed this game for a long time during its development, it's safe to say I've been looking forward to playing it for a while.

What you see on the box is what you get. It's an RPG about making friends in spite of a world that has it outlawed.

In terms of gameplay, it's very simple mechanically. The game has simple mini-games in place of a traditional battle system. Most boss fights end up having more of a narrative focus because of this. Battles outside of story events award candy, the game's currency, where losing takes some away. Outside of a few items for flavor or progression, there isn't much use for it.

The art is definitely one of the stronger aspects of the game with a cute and memorable style. The environments are very well done and the character designs are pleasant. If there's anything to remember the game for, it would be the characters, and not even just the main party.

The story is pretty good, all things considered. I won't put many of the details here as I feel it's best experienced firsthand. I will say, however, that I did feel a little whiplash from the sudden change in tone near the end of the game and the ending leaves me with a good few questions unanswered.

I do have a few small gripes with the game, many probably just being personal preferences. Firstly, there are strange difficulty spikes between some of the minigames, although many of these have been fixed with patches since I first started playing. Secondly, gameplay feels a little shallow in terms of RPGs. Enemy encounters don't really contribute to much in the grand scheme of things and in later areas I've skipped them when I could. Thirdly, the dialogue can be a little grating at times and has a tendency to break the tension, especially in the final act.

Overall, it's a sweet little game that's obviously a labor of love that's dripping with personality. Would recommend if you like these kinds of quirky little rpgs.

This game is a work of art. It's dripping with style and charm both on a meta level and within the game itself.

A mod of the cult classic Kataklysm, it takes its core gameplay and mechanics and runs with it. All the weapons are super satisfying and have their own unique uses, from basic double pistols to a sludge grenade launcher that summons rats to a chaingun that can be shot downward to enhance your jump.

Hackblood, despite being mostly relevant in the latter half of the game once you get the talisman, is a really cool mechanic. Collecting enough allows you to use the S-Blade to shoot beams, but you lose some every time you get hit that encourages skillful play.

The best part in my opinion is how Zane stuck to his original vision through and through. I suppose that part of him never really grew up, haha.

You like boomer shooters? This is another great one for the collection. 9.5/10

Now that I've gotten the chance to play this game for a while, I finally feel ready to share my thoughts on it.

I'll start by saying that it takes a lot for a shooter to get my attention. I tend to be fairly picky when it come to the genre, but this one got me.

Firstly, the gameplay.
The movement is super fluid, the weapons are unique and interesting, the enemies' designs and patterns are interesting, even the different fists you use as a melee attack are super distinct. Even with all of that, each weapon has different variants that give it unique properties, as well as a couple secret alternates that make the revolver and nailgun slower but more powerful. Each of the weapons play off of each other so well and there is so much tech that the skill ceiling is basically nonexistent. I could practice core nuking all day and still only hit it half the time in practice.
Health regeneration is done in a unique way as well, where you need to literally cover yourself in the blood of your enemies to recover, encouraging getting up close and personal.
That's not to say the game's easy. On my first playthrough it would easily take me 30+ attempts to make it through each of the major bosses of each layer on Standard. Let's just say I'm not looking forward to when the upper two difficulties come out. It was the most rewarding thing ever once they were eventually defeated, though, and once I wrapped my head around how each one worked, it just got easier and easier on subsequent runs.

The story is not something I focus on a lot in games, but I find this one to be particularly interesting. I won't go too into detail because I think it's better experienced first-hand, but it's more of a background to the game itself rather than something you experience as a player. Piecing together past events from bits left behind was definitely something.

The soundtrack is an absolute banger. I would easily buy this game twice over just to have it. Each level theme compliments them perfectly, many being very memorable in the raw emotion they deliver. I blame this game for getting me into breakcore, lmao

The extra content shakes the game up in very fun ways, too. Each secret level has its own unique style and goal to them, standing out against the slaughterfest that is the rest of the game. Not to mention what you gain access to when you perfect every stage in the prelude and first act.
Then there's the Cyber Grind, the endless mode. I've easily sunk a good chunk of time into this fully-customizable killing floor simply because it's cathartic to see how many you can take on before getting shot down, especially since it's just so fun to use every tool you're given.

This has easily taken the spot for my top game of 2022, and possibly 2023.
10/10 game, looking forward to seeing its conclusion.

Lunistice is a great game to simply pick up and play. The controls are simple, the levels compliment your movement nicely, and it's not terribly long.

Each of the levels has you playing as Hana, a red panda, running through linear levels themed around different places and associated emotions. Each level has origami cranes to collect, as well as four letters that spell out her name. Your rank at the end of the level (from S to D) depends solely on how many times you've died and how many cranes you collected. The game saves the highest rank you get for each, so you don't need to S-rank both at the same time, which makes completing the game a little easier.

I found the story to be very interesting as well, learning more about what is happening through the collecting of files. A lot of it is meant to be revealed while playing, so I'll keep what I found spoilered. Hana being trapped in an infinitely repeating dream because of a program by the same name as the game used to prevent the moon from destroying the earth with each time being a desperate attempt to get her to remember who she is and break free is something I certainly wasn't expecting. Regardless, it was fascinating to learn about so it could provide context to the game's events and levels.

Overall, this has been a really fun experience, and if you like this kind of game and art style, I would highly recommend it. I just got done 100%ing it, so that should say something. I give it an 9.2/10.

Zyphoid is one of those "so bad it's good" games, but not just for comedic value.

Compared to the dev's only other non-FTP game, Sword of the Black Stone, there is a very real sense of improvement between them. The gameplay is a lot more solid, the music is bearable, and the gameplay loop can be really enjoyable. It's an interesting mixture of Metroid 2 and Prime, where it's in a first-person view, but you still have to hunt down all of the Zyphoids with more areas being unlocked as you eliminate them.

That's not to say there isn't a fair share of jank. Some of the implementations of major features still makes me cringe, where the double jump just offsets the player's position rather than resetting the jump, and the way the weapons work.

The bosses are serviceable, albeit a little bit repetitive. The only major issue I have with them is the Zyphoid Queen, which I cannot for the life of me get past. During her third phase, she has what's essentially in instant death ray that always kills my run. It's incredibly frustrating. If anyone has a way to get past the fight or at least avoid the blast, it would be greatly appreciated.

But up until that point it's a very interesting game. There are a few things you can do in gameplay you'll need to pick up on to get through, but besides that it's definitely a game worth checking out if you're into this kind of stuff.