Recent reviews by Prompter

An effective little horror game. I wish there were more games where you play as humanities scholars like that! The way you get to analyse the clay statue and use the in-game book to learn more about it is brilliant.

The last part where you stumble around was a bit boring, but considering how short (and free) this game is, it's a negligible flaw. Definitely check it out!

Still one of the best multiplayer shooters on Steam.

The good:
+ Inaccurate weapons and painfully slow reload times add a tactical twist that's not found in many other games.
+ You'll always find a public server with a bunch of people playing, despite the game being more than 15 years old and a little obscure.
+ Loads of weapons to fit any gameplay style.
+ Interesting and complex maps often featuring lots of verticality, secrets and unique mechanics.
+ Runs on a toaster.
+ Literally FREE.

The bad:
- It's a free Half-Life 2 mod from 2007. Temper your expectations to the appropriate level.
- It's not being very actively developed. There are many bugs, and the changes that do get introduced are often controversial.
- The mechanics may make it a little difficult to get into. Especially considering you won't be playing against too many newer players. Most people who are still playing FOF are regular players.
- To build upon the last point: the accuracy mechanic is often confusing and discouraging for new players. Even if you get the hang of it, some people will find the idea that their shots will randomly miss unsatisfying.

All of that ultimately doesn't matter, because it's free. If you give Fistful of Frags an honest chance, it'll almost certainly be worth your time!

Shadows of Forbidden Gods is a very unique strategy/sim game, and this would be enough for me to recommend it. There's just nothing quite like it on the market right now, which is difficult to say for many games.
You play an evil deity seeking to destroy a traditional fantasy world for one reason or another. You move your secretive minions across the map, cause wacky high-jinks, and cast the occasional spell. The world feels alive, AI characters are running around the map doing all sorts of stuff, and kingdoms are waging their own politics.
Even though it's impressive, it still has some significant flaws on release. I'll start with those.

Negatives:

• Awful interface. The game takes clear inspiration from Crusader Kings 2, including from its infamously unapproachable UI design. Many graphic design decisions create accessibility issues. Example: the player often has to choose from a variety of colour-coded options. To my knowledge, the game has no colour-blind accessibility option.
  
• Poor optimisation in some areas. If you're not using an SSD, you may be faced with considerable load times.
  
• While the tutorial does a good job of walking you through the basics, I don't think it gives the player a good enough impression of what they can do. This is partially compensated for by the wordy hint system. I think a couple more tutorials covering advanced mechanics and strategies would've still been better.

The game has an overall janky feel, but that's more on the game's presentation rather than the technical side. I experienced no noticeable bugs or performance issues during gameplay, despite playing on a budget machine.

Positives:

• Variety of gameplay styles on offer. This is less of a strategy game and more of a sandbox. The gods you get to play change things up dramatically, but the world itself also provides you with a ton of options on how to achieve your goals. You can mix and match and mess around infinitely. This also means a ton of replay value for the price.
  
• Simulated world. The game's characters live their own lives, and it really shows. The game takes a lot of cues from Crusader Kings 2 in how its map gameplay works, and just like in that game, you don't even have to play to see interesting things. There is a ton of entertainment value in just the simulated world and characters. I hope in the future it becomes even better and more sophisticated.
  
• Great modding support and community. There are tons of mods available for the game already, from new gods to spice up your gameplay to various quality of life improvements.
  
• Impressive customisability. The setup screen is somewhat cumbersome, but it lets you modify a ton of options. This means that you can tailor the game's difficulty in a very precise manner out of the gate, as well as turn on and off various gameplay systems to your desire.

Overall, Shadows of Forbidden Gods is very much a hidden gem. If you're a fan of map games, you should definitely check this one out.