Recent reviews by Plebles

🟡 If you’ve never played Prey, or need a refresher, I wrote a review of it. 🟡




I’d recommend finishing the main game before starting this DLC, to get a grasp of the mechanics and enemies. Also, I feel it plays better since you’ll have a better understanding of the situation at Talos I and how it affects Pytheas Moonbase story wise, and vise versa. Anyway, Prey: Mooncrash takes place around the same time as Prey, only this time the outbreak is on the moon. in Mooncrash, you take the role of Peter, a hacker working with KASMA who’s tasked with accessing a Transtar data vault.

I just unloaded a lot of names on you there, I know. Peter is effectively a throwaway character with a sad generic past conveyed through a few screenshots, a doll, and a photo. He has a family and it’s implied he’s been away from them quite a while. Outside all of that, he’s just a device to justify/explain how the gameplay fits in universe.

KASMA is essentially Transtar lite, or rather, that’s the best they can hope to be. From what I gather, they try to put on the appearance of success and wealth, but lack both. Any real success they have is due to whatever tech and corporate secrets they steal from the opposition via espionage and smuggling.





So let’s back up a bit. Remember when I said the hacker had a data vault? Well, the data vault houses the events that transpired during the Typhon breakout at Pytheas Moonbase, and can be accessed and interacted with using a virtual reality apparatus. Evidently, Peter has the skill to access the simulation and interact with a digital version of the base through the eyes of 5 survivors. Each one has their own story mission and skill set.

After you get briefed on the sim and story reason for needing to handle the situation as is placed before you, the adventure begins. Only 1 is available from the start In order to unlock the others, you have to fulfill certain criteria, all of which is rather simple and straight forward. Once you have all 5 characters ready to live and die by your hand, the goal is to lead all of them to an escape route all in one go.




So, now we come to gameplay. Prey is built from the ground up as a static adventure. Put another way, nothing drastically changes aside from how you play and the choices you make. Mooncrash on the other hand takes a more rogue-lite approach, randomizing enemy and item placements on a per-run basis. When you do unlock at least one other character, if you either die or escape with one, the same Moonbase instance will be what you get when the other character is thrown into the fray. If you run out of time, everyone dies, or a combination of dying and escaping, the run will be reset and loot/enemy locations will be changed. The run can be reset at player discretion on the character select screen, and any schematic collected will carry over to future runs. While the time limit is an ever-present pressure, you can find a fabrication plan for an item that removes corruption from the run (adds time). You can craft them, find them on the corpses of Typhon, and placed throughout the sim.




Everything you kill, every Transtar employee corpse you find, every fabrication schematic you pick up, all grant Sim Points. These points carry over across runs, and makes subsequent runs so much easier. You can manufacture anything you have fabrication plans for, assuming you have the material, and items you have plans for can be purchased using points before you dive into this simulated violence. In lieu of weapon upgrade kits, a weapon rarity system is used, with higher rarity equating to more upgrades applied.

Some enemies have hefty resistances to certain methods of attack. If a character has Psi Typhon abilities, they’re usually my first go to, because they usually make big enemies a cake walk. That isn’t entirely true however, as a new variant called the Moonshark hits the scene, and it bites. Actually they slam and you bleed to death, I don’t like them.

The original game has a survival mode, and all the mechanics it brings to the stage are here. Weapon degradation and traumas are the biggies, and traumas suck. If you get hit by the shark, you’re almost guaranteed to hemorrhage, causing you to lose 5 health every second you’re running or jumping. Thankfully you can find and stock up at the start if you have the schematics for coagulating gel, but I still hate them with a passion.




Everything the original game has is here, and a little more. The Yu family unsurprisingly has another family member in a position of power, and you actually get to play as her and gain access to some higher level stuff. The sim itself has lore bits, like where Talos I gets there supplies and how they work with other subsidiaries. Companions are added with some custom skin options. How does a Mimic wearing a top hat sound? Or an Elder Scrolls® decaled Operator? I’m not usually a cosmetics guy, but I actually low key love these skins.

If you’re a fan of the Gloo Gun, you’ll probably love the Gloo Charge. The little brother of the Gloo Gun, with a larger spash zone radius. Another neat addition is the Psychostatic Cutter, which is basically a Wrench that doesn’t energy damage instead of physical. I wouldn’t say one or the other is better, I just stick with the cutter.

Most tech will react negatively towards you if you have too many Typhon abilities, and that extends past turrets: the newly implemented Typhon Gates put up a barrier to stop anything with Typhon “material” from passing through, but you can get by if you use an electric charge or the newly added Burrow Psi ability, courtesy of a Moonshark scan.




Prey: Mooncrash is a decent addition to Prey. I’m unsure if I like it more than the main game since the randomization isn’t as intense as I hoped it would be, and the “play your way” style is slightly gimped due to how the DLC is constructed, but that’s to be expected and isn’t necessarily a con. It’s definitely worth checking out if you love Prey, but I wouldn’t sweat it if Mooncrash isn’t on sale or you don’t have the capital to throw Gaben’s way for it.

I played Prey for the first time somewhere around 2 years ago, give or take. I remember picking male Morgan and walking around just picking up and throwing everything at the walls just to see what I could do with what and what would happen. I stopped playing not too far in, and recently put myself into gear to start from the beginning and see my way to the end, this time going the female route. I chose Hard difficulty, though getting character upgrades is really easy to do regardless so long as you’re careful and resourceful enough, simply because you can manufacture talent by crafting these things called Neuromods. Despite the extra challenge, when reaching the upper echelon of god hood by crafting what is effectively skill points in item form, most enemies weren’t much of a threat. I still needed to put in some effort, there just wasn’t much that really worried me. Basically, I explored quite a bit, learned how to get what I needed, and got the skills I needed to help me get more skills, and had a great time doing it.

I wasn’t really sure what build I wanted, but then I saw my first refrigerator and the message in red “Carry - Leverage III”, and I knew: Throwing s*** was in my future, and I was ready.




Talos I, the space station this game takes place, is controlled by Alex Yu and Morgan Yu. Its purpose? Studying and isolating the innate abilities of humans and the alien creatures dubbed Typhon. The idea is sound: Take what they can do, and put it inside us. Surprising no one, playing god while isolated in space with an alien race led to disaster: The Typhon broke free.

You take the role of the amnesiac Morgan Yu. It’s revealed rather early that Morgan’s memory is shot with more holes than Swiss cheese, so you get to choose how he/she handles various problems throughout the station. There are 2 Operator bots claiming to be made by Morgan, each with conflicting ideologies and claiming to share his/her beliefs, One named December and the other January. And then there’s Alex, hiding most of the time occasionally hitting you with the “just trust me bro” rhetoric. All three are constantly in your ear vying for your favor, and can all be killed. It’s nice to have options.




The power to imprint innate biological abilities and extrasensory powers: Instant gratification and expertise in anything someone else has put the effort into becoming proficient at. This is the power of Neuromods and with them, Morgan can gain more health, better healing efficiency, hacking skills, weapon upgrading knowledge, and other abilities that aren’t traditionally taught through study like lifting refrigerators and cosplaying as a fridge cannon with a prejudice against Typhon, or more weapon damage.

Scattered across the facility are schematics for items and weapons. I never had much difficulty finding the essential plans (ammo, medkit, surprisingly Neuromod) and I ended up finding doubles of some too, so you won’t be locked out of some because you decided to hurl items or use mind blasts instead of investing in more exploratory skills. You can break down all the extra items you don’t need for crafting materials at Recycle Stations. In my playthrough, I 100% used this to my advantage and crafted tons of Neuromods, getting over half the skills before hitting the story’s climax, and I didn’t even need most of them. I was honestly just seeing how far I could go and flexing on everything.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3098030829



Prey is interesting to me when it comes to weapons. You’d think there would be flamethrowers, or explosive armaments, considering the existential threat the Typhon pose to Earth and those within the station. While nothing that extravagant is available, some pipes will spew fire or corrosive gas when damaged, and explosive canisters can be found laying around. The canisters are great for knocking enemies down, especially when thrown with the Leverage skill. I had a blast using them.

As for weapons, there’s the Silenced Pistol, Shotgun, Wrench… The standard array of weaponry And then Prey throws stuff like Recycler Grenades, and the Gloo Gun into the mix. With the Recycler grenade, you can recycle almost anything you see on the spot like say, couches and chairs, or the corpses of your former employees. Not great for damage, but it’ll net you some extra material, especially from sources you can’t break down in the Recycle Station. Then we have the Gloo Gun, a utility weapon that’ll sludge enemies in place, put out fires, plug up pipes, and create bridges for your wall running endeavors. This thing alone can get you though most of the game, and is fun to experiment with.

A Survival option is available which adds some modifiers: negative status effects enemies can inflict, slight oxygen management, and degrading weapons. You can choose which of the three you want, further adding to player control. It adds some challenge, more so if you get hit a lot and less so if confrontations are handled with finesse.



Creatures that I would define as the void incarnate, kept on a space station with security armed only with common small arms… All for the creation of Neuromods They’ll walk about, whispering some heavy existentialist babble, and attack any humans on sight. Even robotic entities aren’t safe, and can become corrupted.

Most classifications of Typhon have their own unique abilities that can be acquired by scanning them, essentially locking certain abilities until encountering them in live fire situations. Some are small and annoying, like Mimics. Basically, any item you see laying around can be one of them ready to get a cheap shot at you. It could be you, it could be me… Nah, they only imitate smaller, motionless items. Some are huge and imposing, like the Nightmares. They’re high health, high damaging goliaths, appearing every so often after an area transition. They are very much killable, so long as you spec in enough damage skills, and can also be handled by not dealing with them through skillful evasion. They are formidable in close quarters, as one hit basically ends you.



Exploration and creative execution is rewarded greatly, but not mandatory for completion. Prey is all about options, and finding ways to tackle what the game throws at you utilizing them. It’s one of my all time favorites, and 100% worth the asking price.

🟨 For more reviews written by me, check out Plebby's Place! 🟨

Hue is a side-scrolling puzzle platformer in which the titular main character, Hue, is on a quest to find his mother. His adventure is not without hardship though; many hurdles balk progress forward, and dangerous traps placed about will result in death. With the color wheel, Hue can manipulate the world around him, allowing him to successfully solve any puzzle, open up pathways, and work his way towards collecting more colors, all in the vein of completing his adventure.






The actual gameplay is rather simple, only needing a little thought here and there. Hue needs to acquire more colors for his color wheel and using these colors, he can make items of a specific color vanish and become intangible. There are cases where crusher platforms need to be triggered, balloons must be altered, laser traps need to be avoided and redirected, so on and so forth. For people like me and those that may have a hard time distinguishing similar shades of colors here, there is a colorblind option in the settings that add unique symbols over top them to help differentiate between each one.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3000193632






When creating anything, whether it be something tangible or digital, the design and arguably as important, the color, is one of if not the most important aspects to consider. A car may pull your attention if it simply has a more appealing color than the others in the lot, even if the model isn’t exactly what you were looking for. The color might not be one that your friend gravitates towards, they may not even care about colors in general. This is, in simplistic terms, what Hue insists upon the player as they make their way through the game.

Hue takes the concept of color theory and applies it to a puzzle platformer. The only constant colors are actually not technically classified as colors; black and white. All characters are drawn in black so they can be seen regardless of the color applied to the world, and white is generally used for water and accentuating objects like rocks. The color selected can change the feel of an area rather easily, and the beautiful part about it is everyone will see it the same way but perceive it differently, and thus feel differently about them than others would.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3000198592






The story is one of those “the beginning isn’t really clear and more gets revealed as it goes” kind of thing, so I’ll keep it brief to avoid giving away too much. Hue’s mother was able to unlock the full potential of the color spectrum using a ring of her creation, but ended up becoming an impossible color due to the ring shattering. Hue slowly realizes this potential, one color at a time, all the while making his way through an interconnected cave system.



Hue tends to be pretty straight forward and direct with its narrative. Whenever anything is spoken to the player, the dialogue is more often than not questions as apposed to statements. This works extremely well with the overall theme because of how ambiguous the concept itself actually is. Every so often, Hue’s mother will pose a philosophical question relating to color and how it effects our world or give a profound statement relating to visual perception as a whole. Overall, the importance of color is emphasized but not directly defined, as what we all see actually is so to speak, though how it is seen is not the same from person to person.

🟨 For more reviews on games written by me, check out Plebby's Place! 🟨

Back 4 Blood (B4B) is a first-person shooter zombie experience which is played either cooperatively with people and/or bots, or against other people playing as the humans or the Ridden (zombies). The Ridden and humans both get cards to bolster their abilities and grant skills (only exception is Ridden in vs. mode, they get a more traditional upgrade system), which dramatically affects how players will approach combat situations. All players can build their decks with a maximum of 15 cards, while each level the Ridden themselves get dealt a new hand of cards. These cards determine what mutators will be in effect during that level for basic Ridden (e.g. blighted – acid zombies), what special Ridden will appear, and any beneficial or detrimental field additions (Boss Mutation – boss fight in the level, Blood Samples – find the sample container for bonus money). Players are to use whatever weapons and accessories they find in a run, and each level players need to adapt to the ever changing Ridden threat.

There are 4 acts (base game), with a combined total of 33 levels. You could beat all acts in a few hours tops. The real value comes from the replayability, though 60 USD just isn’t acceptable. The game isn’t actively maintained anymore, meaning no more DLC, so getting this game is great on a sale and if you’re planning on playing with friends.



B4B starts out with a simple delivery to a fodder character. In a not so subtle manner, within minutes it is apparent that the world is not only on its last leg, but zombies are to blame. More over, the threat seems to have died down. Naturally, this first cutscene is when the dying dead become living dying undead again, and the mutation thing comes into play.


All throughout the game, random NPC chatter, story events, idle Cleaner chat, and the environment give context clues regarding everything happening in the world. Ranging from conspiracy theories, to “second hand” accounts, and doctors, it all slowly comes together. The idle chat alone reveals much, as younger characters reminisce their college days, as if they happened yesterday.



The fundamental mechanic in B4B is the deck building system. Everything ultimately revolves around it: how obnoxious the enemies will be, how effective players are at what, and when found and purchased in a run, can turn the tables in one’s favor. The Ridden, the collective zombie threat faced throughout, get dealt a new hand each level, changing the threat constantly, while players must rely solely on their decks to ride through the whole act. Combined with the random nature of weapon spawns and enemy placements, your way of dealing with a specific level will change frequently through multiple runs.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2950920070


Another important mechanic, though easily handled when everyone playing understands the game, is trauma. Whenever damage is taken, players take a small amount of trauma chip damage, basically removing an active part of your health and removing the ability to heal it. When dealt with timely and properly, it isn’t too much a threat, even on harder difficulties, but I felt it was worth mentioning since it is a prominent mechanic and makes going gung ho generally a bad idea.


Cleaners is the aptly given name to anyone whose job it is to clean areas of their zombie infection, and are the playable characters. Each one has up to 2 unique character abilities and one team ability, with rare exceptions. Cleaner Evangelo can break out of grabs, has a bonus 25% stamina regeneration, and grants +5 movement speed to the team, while Hoffman can grant an accessory spawn when killing a Ridden, has an additional offensive accessory slot, and another team ability of +15% team max ammo capacity.

Weapons and attachments work well in tandem with a player’s deck and Cleaner, in some ways too well. If properly built around a mechanic, like bullet penetration or reload speed, the gains are incredible. The weapons are your standard fanfare: shotguns, ARs, snipers, SMGs, the good stuff. When you start using a penetration weapon mod on a shotgun, or an effective range extending barrel on a sniper, you can reach a whole new level of weapon effectiveness, and can pull off some incredible feats.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2950920148


There are 3 game modes, but the basic principle is always the same: Ridden vs. Cleaners. The game mode most people start with is the Campaign, the vanilla pudding of B4B. Here you can experience the story and get a feel for what the opposition consists of. Swarm, the game mode in which you get to play as the opposition, is the PvP game mode. Players get to play as the horrid Ridden and spawn in as special infected. And finally, there is the Trial of the Worm. I recommend this mode last, or at the very least after you get really comfortable with the Campaign. Basically, all players choose between a set number of random levels with random cards, but the catch is you get a higher score the harder the level you play, so you are incentivised to add difficulty modifiers on top of all the cards.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2950925817

Code Vein is a third person combat heavy experience, designed around the concept of “trial and error”, all wrapped in an Anime aesthetic. Players are constantly walled by tougher and tougher enemies with differing resistances, weaknesses, attack patterns, abilities, and spells. Learning the mechanics and how the game handles even the littlest of details, as well as the visual and audio cues during fights, is crucial for success.


I feel I should preface my full thought piece by stating where I stand with the “Souls-like” genre: I’ve never played a single one, in any capacity, so I have no real frame of reference (for better or for worse) in regards to what would entail a good Souls game. For the sake of this review, even if I did play one, I’d try to explain what Code Vein is on its own merit, and not just write another Souls spiel. In short, if you’re looking for a review that encompasses what this game does well that others of the genre do and vise versa, this won’t be an informative read I’m afraid.

With all that said, if this is indicative of what this genre has to offer, I’m 100% into it.


This tale begins with our hero/heroine confined in a void, trapped with a woman. After going through her tutorial, our warrior awakens to the sight of a woman. She is simply called Girl in White at this point in our story, (her name is Io, and she’s best girl just saying) and both make their way over to a tree of some kind, walking through a seemingly desolate city. Its only moments later, that it becomes painfully clear they’re not alone, and shortly after they become unwilling scavengers.

The game progressively gets more interesting, but this foundation weaves a tapestry of a woeful world fighting to get by day to day. CV slowly introduces the concept of what our protagonist and most every other living sane beings are: Revenants. Creatures of endless death and rebirth, constantly thirsting for blood, else they lose their minds and become one with the ranks of The Lost, which are the creatures that appose our leading Revenant. In true Anime fashion, the protagonist is the world’s only hope and holds the power to help mitigate the suffering of those who haven’t lost themselves. Through their travels, our hero/heroine and Co. make new friends, and reminisce old ones using one of the protagonist’s many unique abilities. Our protagonist can read latent memories from Vestiges that happen to be laying around, or from certain enemies. This serves as a decent means of giving both context to what has happened in this world, who was involved, expanding on character lore, and unlocking Blood Codes which I will come back to momentarily.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2926475524
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2926475379

The story as a whole is… Serviceable. It isn’t inherently bad or doomed to fail and I did enjoy it here and there, I just have a few gripes with how events sometimes play out. For one, sometimes the friendship moments were layered on too thick for my liking. It felt like the writers were trying too hard to make the player believe that these people are truly your friends, and that’s fine and all, I would just rather it not be so forced. Another issue I have is with the progression of the story, with the goal mostly being a back and forth and not much else. There are loads of cool enemies to fight in between, and the story picks up a few hours in though so I was able to cope.


Throughout the game, players will unlock what is effectively classes that govern what abilities and spells can be used, known as Blood Codes. Each code offers a set of abilities and skills that can be unlocked for use with other codes in a sort of mix and match style, by either having them equipped with the class or outright buying them out. The codes also affect other combat abilities, such as the armor and weapons one can equip, and what spells/buffs can be used. Essentially, each Blood Code has its own letter grade in a given category and as long as the ability/spell requirements fit, and it has been unlocked, you can use it! Some abilities and spells are just locked to their parent code and can’t be shared, usually for game balance purposes.


The game performed somewhat optimally with all settings at their highest value, at 60 FPS. Any higher FPS value and things like elevators wouldn’t work correctly. I didn’t want to keep switching so I stuck with 60, and that was more than sufficient.

Very rarely, aside from the last few levels, turning corners too fast would allow me to see beyond the area or room, until the area loaded in. Rather Jarring, and thankfully didn’t hinder gameplay.

CPU – Ryzen 9 5900x
GPU – GIGABYTE RTX 3080
RAM – 2 x 16 DDR4
Storage – SSD


At the end of the day, I can say I really enjoyed this game. I wouldn’t quantify it as 10/10 or anything like that, probably not even 8/10, but I like this game enough to say with confidence that if other souls games are like this I’m interested in trying them. Most of my disdain at first came from my lack of understanding what this game is really trying to do. I can’t see any reason to not recommend this on a decent sale. 60 USD, at the time of this review’s publishing, is unacceptable and would be the only real reason I’d recommend against buying this.

If'n you liked this review, want to see what else I have opinions on, or just want to read more from me, check out my curator, Plebby's Place.

Blood and Bacon at first glance appears to be a ♥♥♥♥ post that attempts to be a FPS horde/wave based experience. Though it may look the part, and it kind of sort of is, Blood and Bacon offers quite a bit in the way of content. Being a wave based pig killing extravaganza with decent working mechanics, this game is alright for when you don’t have anything else to do and want a few hours of brain numbing violence, at a very low price point. Granted, the gameplay loop leaves something to be desired and will get old after a few hours, but them’s the brakes with games like these.

• Very Affordable
  
• Many Hidden Extras

• Gameplay Loop Gets Repetitive Quickly
  
• Recycled Bosses

Blood and Bacon doesn’t deliver on the promise of bacon, but it does have pigs to kill and exuberant amounts of blood. All alone (or with up to 3 other people) on a farm, with your only means of company being a farmer pinned to a wall of a barn with a pitchfork (yeah good sign right?), the dollar price tag becomes evident; weapon models don’t look and react quite right, poor graphical quality, the aforementioned farmer’s voice actor shooting off plosives like its a new industry standard, I could go on and on. Despite all of that, I really enjoyed my time with this game.

Though rough around the edges, it isn’t a full on ♥♥♥♥ show. I’ll start off with the voice acting; every character sounds like they all share the same voice actor, and the voice audio itself was definitely recorded using some low end hardware. This coupled with the random ramblings of The Farmer actually made me chuckle, and added a little charm. The “Mr. Blurry Face” bit is one of my favorites personally, and the delivery on it was fantastic in its own special way. Weapon reload animations lack any real animation, with most primary weapons reloading almost identically with a slap of the weapon’s clip and a tap on the chamber, and sidearms all reloading with a pull of the gun’s slide, even if the weapon doesn’t have one. Overall though, the weapons function well enough and the audio is acceptable.


When I got over the half ♥♥♥♥♥♥ reload animations and the muffled voice acting, I was pleased to actually play the game and enjoy it, more than I thought I would. The game spans across 101 levels, each one being an in game “Day”. The goal of each day is to clear the farm of all enemies and return to The Farmer. Before returning, pig giblets and corpses can be fed into a meat grinder, which in turn will grant items to players. Items cost a certain amount of, uh, we’ll call it pig coin, and if managed right, all inventory items can be maxed out within two or three days tops.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2917291089

Many of the days follow similar enemy layout styles and placements, with later days having larger quantities and/or stronger enemy types. This tends to get repetitive, as one might imagine, and the bosses follow suit too; every 10 days a boss fight comes, and each one is just a different variation of a previous one. The first 3 fights were cool, but the remaining seven were more of a chore. The last one was pretty challenging, but again more of the same. This boss here you fight at least 3 different times, with the same gimmicks and all, just a different palette.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2917277869

There’s also a game mode that grants the freedom to run about the farm and paint using a paintball gun (which is actually a side arm that can be equipped for combat too), a space adventure of sorts, and an endless mode which is very similar to the normal experience. I had my fill after my regular single player run, so I didn’t delve too deep into these modes, but they didn’t captivate me any more or less.


Blood and Bacon has quite a few items and secrets. Exploration will generally yield some type of reward, ranging from hats, to weapons, to even lore. I’m convinced I haven’t found everything and I almost have all the achievements.

The first 30 days have dungeon tunnels interspersed throughout, containing some cosmetics and other collectibles that grant access to additional lore. If you dig around enough, you can find answers to questions you may have, like “why does The Farmer seem to never die?”, and to questions you didn’t have, like “what does The Farmer’s ex wife look like?”. I only wish there were more of these, as it was nice change of pace and a great way to break up the slew of pigs and the sometimes incessant onslaught.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2917291534


I played Blood and Bacon using the default graphical settings, maintained 60 FPS (the game ran that value by default, and I didn’t bother upping it. 60 was more than sufficient), and had no glitches, crashes, or issues of any kind. The game performed well beyond my expectations.

CPU – Ryzen 9 5900x
GPU – GIGABYTE RTX 3080
RAM – 2 x 16 DDR4
Storage – SSD


I’m not defending or demeaning the game because of its price, nor am I praising it for doing something exceptionally well and ignoring what could be done better. The game is .99 cents as of the time writing this review, and I had a great time with it so I felt compelled to write a review. For what is offered, that price point is more than fair, especially considering that past all the graphical and audio imperfections there lies a competent and fun horde style FPS. As far as meme games go, and even indie games, this one is playable and definitely a part of the upper echelons of memery.

If'n you liked this review, want to see what else I have opinions on, or just want to read more from me, check out my curator, Plebby's Place.

Journey is a 3rd person walking simulator of sorts, presenting a narrative through visuals. This game follows the age old adage, “the journey is more important than the destination” to the T, as while I was playing I had no clear indication of why I was making my way over the horizon, and I was OK with that. The trek itself was such a treat it didn’t really matter if I was meeting god, or walking into a muggers hideout.

• Vibrant visuals
  
• Relaxing gameplay
  
• Co-op

• Can’t directly invite friends
  
• Short

Journey plays like a walking sim, with all the visual pleasantries one would expect from a game of this genre. The journey begins amid oceans of sand; sand falls, sand hills, sand everywhere in sight. You’re left alone to your own devices, walking aimlessly about all the while getting a feel for the controls. So you do just that, and eventually find a mountain in the distance, trekking up a mound of sand and being formally introduced to this pleasant experience.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2914648184

Though not explicitly told what to do, finding your way around isn’t difficult. Each area is designed in such a way so that one will rarely, if ever, get completely lost, with a primary focus on both providing a wonderous atmosphere and hiding away a few secrets.


Nothing that grandiose, but there are some rather neat wall pictures found throughout the world. “Ancient Glyphs” can be found in tucked away areas on walls, and each tell a bit of a story. Some expand upon the tapestries seen at the end of each level, while others offer tidbits of lore history.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2914651572

Travelers have 2 abilities: Jumping, and chiming. I know that may sound kinda dumb, but hear me out. The chime is not only a means of communicating with your fellow wanderers via sound, but a useful tool for progression and secret gathering. You chime at Ancient Glyphs and at the end of each area to manifest the image and move on, respectively. Jumping is a bit more interesting; each traveler has a scarf with distinct characters and designs which serve as a means to gauge your jumping limits. Though less hidden and secretive, you can find symbols floating about that increase your scarf length and by extension, your jumping ability. As you make jumps, the designs on the fabric fade away. Other fabrics and travelers can regenerate your fabric’s designs.


You, the traveler, may encounter other wanderers on your journey. I can appreciate why it is done the way it is, but my gripe with the co-op system is the lack of a lobby or means of inviting others; even so, I can’t necessarily fault the game for that. It became a pain when attempting to connect with a friend, though.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2914650469

Connecting with others for a co-op session in Journey isn’t as straight forward as it is with most other games. Players start up the game, play normally, and eventually another traveler will be within their line of sight or hearing. There’s no formal introduction or alert of any kind, you’re just connected. On one hand, it maintains immersion, while on the other, you have no direct control over who can play with you. This system of connectivity means you are in the most literal sense playing with a stranger you’ve never met, knowing nothing about them.

While short, I’ve met many players throughout my runs of Journey. The overall experience was fun and almost surreal; yes, it was just multiplayer with another player, but no voice chat, name, profile information... No indication of who it was with me was definitely an intriguing aspect of this game.


I played Journey with all visual settings maxed out, 120 FPS, and experienced only one issue: Crashes. Almost always, the game would crash on me while making my way past the first appearance of a specific obstacle, following a scripted event. It didn’t happen my first run through, but my second it took me about 30 minutes just to get past it, not including the time it took for me to actually reconnect with my friend, which in itself is trial and error until you just happen to be connected by sheer chance.

Aside from the crashes, everything worked very well and all the visuals and gameplay elements were fantastically implemented.

CPU – Ryzen 9 5900x
GPU – GIGABYTE RTX 3080
RAM – 2 x 16 DDR4
Storage – SSD


I’ve heard people express distaste for games of this nature, and as these games do tend to be effectively A – B experiences, I can understand their stance. However, the same can be said about a game that has stellar gameplay and terrible graphics; “ugly so no I don’t want to look at this meme”. Ideally, we want games that have it all, though there are cases where less is more, and this is one of those instances. I really loved this game because it was a simplistic romp through a desert with cloth and glyphs and sometimes, that’s all you really need. I enjoyed my walking experience, and was captivated by the beautiful visuals through and through. At its current price point of 14.99 USD as of writing this review, its well worth a go.

If'n you liked this review, want to see what else I have opinions on, or just want to read more from me, check out my curator, Plebby's Place.

Cloudbuilt is a 3rd-person platformer with an emphasis on speed. Each stage will test you in its own way, with early stages simply asking to get from point A to point B, while later stages demand more careful maneuvering. Threats ranging from obstacles of the explosive kind, to turrets and electric fences on walls, the fun never ends. For the competent completionist, the savvy speedrunner, and those that hate themselves, there are multiple game modes for each stage to further test your skills and, don’t worry, each one requires an S rank to get full achievement completion!


So begins the story of Demi, a wounded soldier on the difficult path of recovery. As she lay on the hospital bed, the machinery patching up her body, she’s left to rebuild her shattered mindscape, alone. Each stage represents a part of her mind’s space, for lack of a better term, and Demi will come to a different conclusion depending on the path you choose to take. What’s really neat though, is how the recovery process is presented to the player: Her perspective heavily influences the conclusion she comes to, leaving her either extremely torn or sad, rather happy and optimistic, or some kind of middle ground. Its not revolutionary story telling by any means, but it represents the struggle of coming to terms with what you cannot control and conveys the struggles the mind faces in times of trauma. Every stage is nothing more than an obstacle for her to overcome.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2893460936

As much praise as I’ve thrown the story’s way, the real meat of the experience is the gameplay. Stages are designed with an emphases on speed and branching pathways, basically offering more than one way to finish a stage and reward those with perfect precision. To get an S rank, you’re definitely going to need platforming prowess in spades, as well as muscle memory magic. The need for that finesse becomes most apparent when turrets and mines make their debut, sometimes even together in close proximity. Lovely!

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2893464411


She doesn’t, but what Demi does do is wall run, dash, and shoot things. The gun is useful for dispatching turrets and other enemies that just serve as roadblocks, and pulling off some cool jump tricks that I’m no good at doing, but them’s the brakes. To complete any level, assuming you’re playing one of the normal modes, you simply have to reach the end as fast as you can and before you run out of lives.

Level layouts can differ depending on the mode you select. I’ve alluded to these before, but the only two worth presenting to a reader interested at face value are the Normal and 2020 modes. Normal mode is what the game had to offer during release, level design and all, untouched and unchanged. If you feel the game is far too demanding is far too demanding, or just want a calmer relaxed gameplay experience, 2020 mode will be more your speed. 2020 mode was added in, well, 2020, and the stages have been revamped and the life system is removed. Its really nice that this mode was implemented, as it helps rope in more potential players, since some don’t want to pain themselves with such hard challenges, and fewer still can muster the will to complete the hardcore speedrun times needed for S rank in Normal mode.


The sound design is done delightfully well. The soundtrack has quite a few bops, but I’m very fond of the title screen theme.

Visually, everything has a filter that makes it look like the screen itself is drawn with digital color pencils. An interesting choice, it adds charm here.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2893460923


My Specs:
CPU – Ryzen 9 5900x
GPU – GIGABYTE RTX 3080
RAM – 2 x 16 DDR4
Storage – SSD


I had a lot of fun with Cloudbuilt. I really tried to go for all the achievements, even told myself I wouldn’t write this review until I did. You can see how fast I caved in on that promise, but for good reason. The time and dedication to get all those levels completed with S rank… Its inspiring to me people can muster the strength to get that far, speedrunning exploits or otherwise. If you’re a speedrunning enthusiast, or into platforming and obstacle maneuvering puzzles, this game is for you.

If'n you liked this review, want to see what else I have opinions on, or just want to read more from me, check out my curator, Plebby's Place.

Iconoclasts is a Metroidvania Platformer title that has little in the way of character upgrades and instead has players go about some segments in different ways, such as stealth and "hide and seek". While Iconoclasts itself plays just as one would expect from a traditional Metroidvania, there are instances of minor stealth and character switching that mix up the formula the game uses.

Imagine a world in which the majority of the populous believes a divine power outside of their comprehension oversees the world and its inhabitants. Now, imagine said world with many punishments and hardships for those that defy the teachings or fight against this entity’s will. Imagine if there is some truth to this divinity, but you’re unsure as to what exactly this god-like entity is. With that, you are presented with the general idea of what Iconoclasts is at its core.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt0c5tE5Gno&ab_channel=Plebles%27ReviewClips

As the name suggests, Robin, the protagonist of our story, accomplishes many different feats, including helping people and meeting new friends, sometimes making dents in the One Concern's plans along the way. She is an engineer, and initially gets in trouble when caught fixing something in a relative's house, which is a felony in this world. Robin encounters people that are devout followers and members of the One Concern, who worship a god-like power known simply as Him/He/His. She also meets people that believe it’s all nothing more than a means to control and interfere with their way of life, while more still slowly change their views as the story unfolds.

The story as a whole had me guessing at every turn. What really stuck with me after completing the story most, was how people lived: aside from the constant fear of assault from a benevolent force, most of these well meaning people are effectively brainwashed, whether it be through just sheer fear or unconditional love. I experienced the world through the eyes of Robin and to a lesser extent, her friends, but I couldn't help but wonder all the while about the innocent people. Every decision has a ripple effect, and thinking how every single human has to cope with all of this really makes me wish there was a little more focus on the common man/woman's life, just to see what day to day challenges they'd face.

Robin starts out with a stun gun and wrench, which the game refers to as “tools”. It’s amazing and outlandish to think she can effectively fight the many threats and enemies that get in her way. It works well enough though, and other more powerful tools are obtained later on that would definitely do some serious damage, such as the roller bomb shot. There are instances where the game requires the use of specific weapons and tools, usually for puzzles and bosses, and the standard simple puzzle to get you acquainted with said weapons.

Weapons can be charged, serving both as a solution to puzzles and combating enemies. The wrench is the ultimate tool: any nuts found scattered about can either be used as a means of swinging from place to place, slide on airborne rails, fight bosses, or even open doors and manipulate the environment itself to continue onward. Projectiles can even be knocked back towards enemies, in some cases being a very effective means of counter combat. The last mechanic I’d like to cover is the implementation of small bonuses that help out with general gameplay known as tweaks. Throughout the game, schematics can be acquired that grant Robin the ability to use these bonuses once the necessary resources are found. I didn’t use a large majority of them because I didn’t feel they were necessary, but I found "breathless" and "fleet foot" useful. Having more time underwater before oxygen deprivation became an issue and moving faster were very helpful and made all backtracking more bearable. Up to three tweaks can be used at a time, and duplicates can be made for use, so long as the material is available. Taking damage “breaks” them, however, and defeating enemies or destroying certain objects replenishes the tweak’s health. I don’t like how this was implemented, as one hit essentially removes 1/3 of your bonuses, but serves as motivation to get good at least.

Combat is handled the way one would expect in a Platformer: you jump and climb, take cover, and attack enemies with your weapons. There are a few cases where direct combat isn’t the answer, however, such as certain stealth sections. The stun gun is the fastest-firing weapon available, though the shots are rather weak. I feel it's not a great weapon, as once I got used to enemy patterns, it was just a matter of me using another weapon for more damage while dodging. It’s useful for dispatching weaker enemies and small crowds, especially since it has a form of aim assist, which makes aerial threats easier to deal with. The roller bomb shot is a rolling ball bomb, like one would imagine. Shots roll a set distance and explode after a short time, which can be useful in some combat situations. When charged, a missile is fired that won’t arm until it moves a certain distance. This means that if you’re too close to an enemy or object that obstructs the shot, it’ll just bounce off and land harmlessly. While competent, the combat isn't very interesting but works well enough.

Graphically, Iconoclasts ticks every box on my “great visuals” checklist: vibrant colors, pretty pixel art, and various locations with their own flavor. Enemy and boss designs are sometimes wacky, sometimes tacky, but always unique.


https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2613485380

The character designs are neat, but I personally feel more love and care could have been applied to certain characters, with the most prominent character design that I find kind of odd being Robin’s. It’s more than likely her weird looking chicken legs were intentional, but they throw everything else about the character’s look and feel off.

The soundtrack is phenomenal overall, with some tracks, of course, being hits and others being misses. The true beauty here is the variation in the genre and tone of the soundtrack as a whole: the game throws some chiptune style at you one moment, then later you may find yourself listening to some ragtime, and even songs that sound like a mishmash of many different genres serving as background ambiance. I love music, and I was quite pleased with the variation most of the time.


My Specs:
CPU – Ryzen 9 3900X
GPU – AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
RAM – 16 GB
Storage - HDD


I experienced no bugs during my time playing.

I’d recommend giving Iconoclasts a try, as the story is pretty neat and the variation in combat and locales is fantastic. There are cases in which just shooting at your problem or working out puzzles won’t work well, as scripted events call for different ways of playing. This is not very common, but it happens enough that it grants a refreshing shake up to the experience. For its price point, the gameplay to price ratio is fair.

If'n you liked this review, want to see what else I have opinions on, or just want to read more from me, check out my curator, Plebby's Place.

Void Bastards (VB) is a FPS rogue-lite game in which players collect parts to repair the Void Arc, a prison spaceship. Stranded in the Sargasso Nebula, you, the WCG Client, are tasked with fixing the ship while avoiding the many threats found throughout the nebula.

VB runs begin with a random WCG Client being rehydrated by B.A.C.S., the ship’s AI. Due to what he calls an “emergency staff turnover”, which is his funny way of saying every employee has been killed, he enlists the services of clients, which is his nice way of saying prisoners. You begin each run with random traits that affect gameplay, and a care package to get you going. From there, it’s a matter of scavenging the parts needed to build weapons, upgrades, and whatever story item required for progression from other derelict ships, as well as obtaining any fuel and food you possibly can.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2575441566

The very first thing players receive at the beginning of a run is a random set of gameplay altering traits. You can be unlucky enough to get one that cripples your run like “Smoker”, which causes the client to cough occasionally and alert enemies to your location, or you can be lucky enough to get one that makes life easier for you like “Gun Nut”, which allows an extra random weapon to be brought when boarding a vessel. Thankfully, there is a station within a certain ship type that allows you to remove bad traits and even grant better ones.

The star map allows travel between ships; each jump will cost one food and fuel, unless a trait or upgrade is in effect while traveling. Knowing which ship to board for parts and supplies, and which to avoid is integral. Most ships have a featured part, meaning that part is definitely available to salvage. There can be up to three modifiers and enemy types applied to a ship, either making it easier or harder for you to grab what you want from them. For example, it’s almost always a good idea to board a ship that has security elements subverted to fight for you, just as it is usually a bad idea to board a ship if the Citizens on board are from a deeper depth, meaning they are a stronger variant you'd fight on ships located further below on the starmap. As you progress through the nebula, you must go deeper to get certain parts for progression and upgrades. The deeper you go, the harder the enemies are.

Parts, as well as fuel and food, can be found in the same areas almost always. FTL rooms generally have fuel, while break rooms usually have food. This makes going into the harder difficulties much easier, as your first run may be difficult simply because you don’t know where a certain weirdly named part is. Certain ships themselves also have a focus on certain resources, such as food being abundant in Lux Dining ships.

All of those are your enemies, serving as obstacles blocking your way to victory. The Pirates are by far the most annoying, as they are very durable and can kill you rather quickly if you’re not prepared. Thankfully they can be avoided easily most of the time, assuming you have a route on the star map that isn’t occupied by them or if you have a torpedo on hand. Security can either be your best friend or worst enemy: if you can subvert them, the turrets and Secbots do most of the heavy lifting, allowing you to run about to do your business. The Citizens are malformed creatures with powers, each of which have a gimmick that makes the player’s life all the more difficult, such as the Tourist, a big blue ball with veins that explodes if you get too close. These pulsating monstrosities are easy to avoid usually but serve as a means to get you to take it slow or at least with more caution.

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2575441555

Players are allowed to have three weapons, one from each category: firearms, indirect, and devices. Firearms are used purely for offense, while indirect weapons are more tactical and have more specific case uses, and devices usually do very minimal damage while helping the player avoid or escape battle.

Combat is done on ships, and isn’t necessary in most cases. Players have access to explosives, ballistic weapons such as a pistol and a big staple gun that operates similarly to a shotgun, to name a few. Aside from available ammo, it’s always best to take the bigger firearms due to the pistol being far too weak late-run. Dealing with the security elements, such as the turrets, is an issue if you don’t have enough ammunition on hand to actually destroy them. The Zapper is a simple device that stuns them, and gives you time to run by and grab whatever you need to in relative safety. Stealth is preferable, but it’s nice to have weapons in case you’re spotted, as running away will just alert more enemies. I recommend taking a stealthy approach and avoiding combating the Citizens and security altogether, though. As for the Pirates… If they board a ship with you, there is no hiding or leaving unless they are dealt with.

The cutscenes play out in the style of a comic book, with vibrant colors and even the borders of the previous panels visible on the edges of the current picture. Enemies, weapons, backgrounds, even the outfits the Clients wear are nice to look at. Everything is bright and colorful, but not too hard on the eyes.

There’s not too much to say about the soundtrack. It’s decent enough, though I never feel more on edge or anything while it plays. It’s just there, and I have no love or hate for it.


My Specs:
CPU – Ryzen 9 3900X
GPU – AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
RAM – 16 GB 288-Pin DDR4
Storage - HDD


Enemy awareness is a little off. There are times I can run by enemies that can clearly see me whizzing by yet show no reaction to it. While this is kind of useful, it throws me off and makes the stealth too easy sometimes. When I should be caught, there are times the enemy at two or three feet away just looks and says something like “I hear you”, and I’m given a good four or five seconds to get away.

VB is a great experience with tons of replay value. Objectively, the game is rather repetitive and may not hold everyone's interest for as long as it held mine. I feel it'd be an injustice to say the game is bad because of that factoid alone, as it plays very well and keeps you on your feet, even when all the weapons and resources are available to you. If rogue-lite is your thing, this most definitely does the genre justice with very little to hurt the experience overall.

If'n you liked this review, want to see what else I have opinions on, or just want to read more from me, check out my curator, Plebby's Place.