Recent reviews by Toddsnegh

Very fun! Easy to learn and difficult to master. The blend of simple and approachable controls with the ramping speed as you chain drifts together, combined with some occasionally unruly physics, makes Parking Garage Rally Circuit excellent at being both a fun party racer and also a challenging speedrun grind for time trials. Trying to eek out an extra drift in every corner and then balance the absurd speed with the limitations of the track is a fun ebb and flow.

The game also has plenty of charm, not just in its visual style and the many ways you can tweak it to your liking, but also being evocative of the Saturn era in its UI design and Ska soundtrack. Having a narrow scope allows the game to be filled with details that have you feeling the love poured into it, like the references to other indie games as posters in the mall stage or the choice of how the camera navigates the terrain when it zooms to you as a stage is loaded in.

MAZAICA is a soothing logic puzzle game evocative of solitaire in that it feels very intuitive and accessible and has a great capability of hampering the productivity of office workers everywhere by permanently occupying their second monitor. It makes sense that this was a mobile game first it very much feels like the type of casual game where you chip away at puzzles on the bus, train, or toilet. The satisfying feel of the audio and bright visuals could easily hypnotise all ages to finish a puzzle and think "just one more". At later points in the game, there are such huge puzzles that will demand you zoom in and out and rejoice in your creation, similar to the satisfaction of completing a large jigsaw puzzle. While the template for each level is set, the exact solutions are randomised, so, you could easily entertain yourself for countless hours. At such a cheap price, MAZAICA is easily worth it.

If you liked this game and are looking for more games that have a spin on the office-computer-like genre, I recommend Tametsi, a difficult minesweeper-like logic puzzle game, similarly cheap with tons of hours of entertainment to be had.

If you liked the soothing atmosphere and bright colours, I recommend Snakebird, a similarly colourful line-guiding logic puzzle game but in this case the lines are alive with personality and seek to consume all fruit and seek the exit by navigating a grid based environment.

Conscript excellently blends the tropes of classic survival horror with a gritty, gut-punching narrative. The way the game subverts your expectations in organic ways, such as when you loot an enemy you just killed occasionally dropping a photograph of a loved one that was motivating them (the first time this happened I was floored by its bluntness and harsh dissonance with the incentives of the gameplay loop.) Or how when an allied soldier is a crawling torso, clawing toward you, you can't interact with them whatsoever, can't offer first-aid or final words, only watch as they slow to a stop.

I did find there were some pacing issues toward the middle-late game if you wanted to min-max and pick every item up and play cautiously, however, in the first major patch pretty much all my gripes were addressed. As with any game in the Resident Evil style survival-horror genre, it is still down to the player with how slow/boring and cautious/tedious they play, but it is entirely beatable playing as reckless and/or pacifist as you want. Given the various endings and freedom of playstyle allowed by the structure of the game’s obstacles, Conscript suits itself well to multiple playthroughs.

There is a weird tonal balance with how much deference the game has towards its subject matter, with a narrative that, while simple, is one of the most effective video game stories I've seen, and the gamification of some elements. To at one point have an emphasis on the real nature of PTSD and the mental struggles veterans experience, and then to also have achievements like "War Criminal: Kill 2 enemy soldiers with one shotgun blast" or "Who Needs Artillery?: Kill 4 enemy soldiers at once with an explosive barrel", I wouldn't call it outright offensive but it definitely feels like an unearned dissonance. I can appreciate the need for levity, and there are humorous moments in the game directly, such as the propaganda or some of the dialogue, but it nonetheless feels too game-y. Such is also the case with the merchant and the borrowed exchange of treasure for upgrades and supplies.

The Resident Evil games got away with the suspension of disbelief surrounding so many of its more absurd mechanics because they were often ludicrous zombie games about evil mad scientists and cartoonishly corrupt mega-corporations, it's all so camp. Having the same framework applied to something which seems to want the player to take it more seriously, at least in a narrative context, begs for a consistent approach.

Not to say the game isn't allowed to be fun, or take video game-y shortcuts, as an act of respect for its portrayal of the harshness of war (although you could make that argument if you want this to exist as more than a commercial product). I don't feel as though Conscript is intending to make a political message in terms of the validity of the war itself, or at least the individual agency of any one soldier, let alone a conscript. People had to kill each other, for the most part you are expected to kill NPCs in the game. And the game goes to lengths to show the mental effects of such a scenario. However, letting the player revel in the slick game feel of some of the weapons, creating obstacles where enemies just happen to be having a chat right in front of a mounted gun, it’s a bit too indulgent.

Creating longevity and replayability in the game with additional difficulty modes with extra challenge, with ranking at the end of the playthrough, where each subsequent playthrough would have less and less appreciation for the tender moments the game has to offer and is instead a problem to solve as fast and efficiently as possible. Its as though the game wants to have its cake and to eat it too. Which, to be fair, is par for the course for video games, Conscript is one of the best examples of actually investigating this dissonance, but given it feels to only go halfway is what makes it particularly disappointing in that respect.

Overall, I would definitely recommend Conscript if you are looking for a fun twist on classic survival horror with a great narrative.

If you liked this game and are looking for more new survival horror, I recommend Signalis, if you haven't played it already, for its intriguing sci-fi narrative and similar love of the genre.

If you liked this game and are looking for more games that integrate the player-character's mental state with gameplay, I recommend Celeste for its tender narrative surrounding depression and self-acceptance combined with an excellent 2D platformer.

Leaf's Odyssey is an excellent logic puzzle game with barely any fat to trim, basically every level is introducing a new mechanic onto a small set of objects. The progression system of a bunch of keys is very charming, I like to picture the ferret fumbling with a ludicrously large keychain. Mechanically, it is also great. In having no fat, it doesn't make sense to allow the player to proceed without first learning the necessary mechanics for future levels, so, in that way it is not all that generous with its progression. However, in having a mutual currency of progression through keys, you can borrow progress from one area and use it on another to proceed in one direction for quite a while before you'll be forced to complete a puzzle you were stumped on. While it is probably not that different from simply having "unlock next area after beating n-5/n puzzles" having the keys and doors be diegetic objects in the world allows them to integrate with the puzzles themselves and feels more natural to the seamless environment.

The game also has a great feature in the journal, where all the attributes of the creatures that you have discovered so far are listed in dot points, all coming together to build the logic wherein you can feasibly solve the puzzle directly from. Unless the puzzle involves a new mechanic you haven't learnt yet, but in those cases the game feels pretty organic in teaching you while still being a challenging puzzle game.

The prospective longevity with an easy to use level editor and shareable worlds is very exciting, with the amount of subtle interactions any object has with another the limit is just your imagination. New favourite!

If you like the tile-turn-based logic puzzles of this game I recommend you also check out the similarly difficult Bean and Nothingness.

The best absurdist dystopian egg-cooking simulator on Steam! Apart from the charming and funny dialogue throughout, the gameplay is rife with funny and clever twists upon what you expect it to be. I especially liked the cheeky diegetic inverted controls to teach the chef to cook, and the desperate wriggling of the cockroaches who seek freedom from the pan. Many small details come together to make Arctic Eggs better than what it could've easily been, a quirky but forgettable walking-simulator with a mini-game as its central pull. Instead it is oozing with character and atmosphere. Even if all your interactions with NPCs are one-note, there is at least something interesting or entertaining about all of them. Whether it's expounding listlessly on their circumstance, or having an argument with someone else whom is on an entire different wavelength, everything is on the backdrop of a cinematic dialogue delivery, of controlled camera angles and swinging focus, breathing more life into the world and NPCs.

Highly recommend if you are looking for a weird experience that scrapes a gamut of feelings and themes, from comedic to unsettling, from melancholic to hedonistic. Also highly recommend if you are looking for a silly egg cooking game.

A great blend of two good puzzle games. Sokobond Express takes elements from both Sokobond and Cosmic Express and manages to create something greater than the sum of its parts. The pacing of the puzzles and iteration upon mechanics comes in such a steady flow that time flies by. The game never gets too difficult to the point where it will block your progression, with many branching paths, so, even in cases where you may get stuck, there is at least most of the time options to try other levels and come back later.

Having played both Sokobond and Cosmic Express, it's clear that this game could've been much more difficult but I think the game works well with where it is, at least in terms of the base game. I could picture a string of levels as difficult as the final level, and would welcome it, but I am greedy. The game's difficulty works well to make it widely accessible without remotely undermining the exploration of the mechanics, as each mini-world feels confidently iterated upon and each level is unique enough to warrant its own existence in contrast to the level before and after it.

Of the 12 Chilla's Art games I've played up to this point, Night Security is a clear cut above the rest. The format of scaling a building, floor by floor, and performing routine tasks lends itself well to being iterated upon and interrupted by the various setpieces.

With its simple and narrow scope, much of the narrative conceit, which I feel holds much of this short, pulpy, horror sub-genre back, isn't brought obtusely to the fore and the scares can exist in and of themselves in a well-paced and curated manner. Not to the say the narrative isn't there, in fact it is decent. As far as Chilla's Art games go, I prefer this more subtle and understated plot as opposed to the involved, linear, beat to beat plots present in Parasocial or Missing Children.

The spooks per minute (SPM) in Night Security feel like they're at least triple that of most of Chilla's Art games, even if the spooks are often predictable and cliche (to be fair, J-horror is endlessly evoking popular J-horror films from the late 90s-00s, cliche is part of the appeal), they are well executed and show a clear vision and intent.

Overall I would definitely recommend this if you are looking for some short, cheap, fun scares and if you like this game and are looking for more like it, I recommend The Caregiver, it similarly has a restricted setting that it iterates upon, and it also happens to be my second favourite Chilla's Art game.

Peaks of Yore is an excellent game that offers a lot of challenge and novel gameplay. It can be simultaneously very difficult yet cosy, intense yet soothing. It is surprising there aren't more games like it, a testament to how well it works that it already feels like a trendsetter of the genre, being first-person climbing. The game also oozes with character and attention to detail that make the game feel laboured over and the levels pruned to demand specific skills from the player.

The gameplay is surprisingly deep, with many different types of holds and tools the player has to contend with, in addition to a robust physics system you will have to grapple with and conquer to best the trickiest moments. The pace of the game ramps steadily from humble beginnings and familiar buildings, like a windmill and a lighthouse, to absurd monstrous climbs in the late-game.

The game also rewards exploration too, with many collectibles and alternate routes in climbs that enable the player to tackle the level in their own way and experiment with what they find easier. The collectibles also assist in you in amassing resources like rope and chalk, which are in higher demand as you progress and the levels get longer. You will find yourself in many instances where you are low on resources towards the end of climb and debate if you should use a rope where you are now to assist with the tough jump and save yourself from falling, or, brave the jump and save it for later where it might be more needed. Filled with such moments, and being a tiny mistake from falling all the way back down to the start of a long level, you'll find yourself with knots in your chest, held breath, and the sweatiest palms of all time.

My only gripe would be some mechanics feel under-explored, or don't add much, such as the level that takes place in a cave and visibility is somewhat of an issue. It would have been cool to have to work for more visibility or have it be a genuine obstruction, as it is you begin the level with a lantern immediately given to you that you strap to your belt and never think about again. Perhaps the visibility could have been worse but you would need to look down to your belt, pick up the lantern and hold it out in front of you to get a better view, then memorise the positions and place the lantern back on your belt. Or you would follow an illuminated route to find a lantern midpoint through the level which enabled you to backtrack and find the fork that was previously in the dark.

The crumbling rocks also don't feel like they add much, either you make them a genuine obstacle by making a section entirely built out of crumbling rocks, allowing only one attempt, but then if you fall you have to hard reset the level, which feels bad. Or you are forced to design around them and have at least a golden path of regular holds interspersed throughout the crumbling holds, in which case they just end up getting in the way and you're better off forcing them to crumble to clear space, which is OK, it just doesn't add much. I find this type of obstacle is already sufficiently explored with the tumbleweeds that force you to not over-commit to a hold and first clear it of -orb- first.

I liked the bouldering levels in that they withheld many tools from the player, and it makes sense that they are short, being boulder problems, but I wish more levels weren't afraid to withhold some tools from you. There is a bunch of interesting problems in the late-game that are trivialised by the crampons letting you gain crazy momentum that feels a bit cheap, and I imagine it is a pain to design around.

I look forward to any updates or DLC that would add more levels and modes, I would go crazy for a level editor with workshop support too. Not to suggest that I have depleted the game's content at only 35 hours, the You Fall You Die and Free Solo modes add plenty of goals for hardcore enthusiasts which I have yet to attempt but imagine will shave years off my lifespan from stress.

Overall, Peaks of Yore is a solid 9/10 game I would recommend to anyone with a masochistic streak and plenty of patience! If you like this game and would like more games in the same realm, the obvious suggestion is Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, but I would also recommend Bennett Foddy's browser based climbing game GIRP[www.foddy.net].

Lethal Company is some of the most fun I've had in a co-op game. Playing with proximity voice chat with friends is so much fun. Weighing up whether or not to buy and bring in a walkie-talkie for the global access of information and comfort vs having a free inventory slot but being alone and potentially unaware of your teammates all being already dead, the game is filled with similar risk vs reward choices that add a lot of depth to min-maxing and potential variety to your strategy.

Do you bring in a shovel and try to defend yourself? Do you buddy up with a friend and try a stun-shovel combo? Do you dedicate one player to be the guide from the ship, Denzel in The Bone Collector style, guiding others in and out the maze of treasure and monsters, making everyone else safer and more informed but at the cost of a whole player not contributing to looting? Do you even bother with a flashlight at all and just brave the darkness and fill your pockets?

For such a simple and at times bare-bones feeling type of game, Lethal Company seems to skirt so many issues endemic to the Survival Horror genre in regard to inventory. Oftentimes in something like Resident Evil or Signalis, the player has to actively make choices to make the game less tedious, like being fully equipped and picking up one new item at a time, taking it back to the storage box, and repeating for the whole game without taking much risk.

Lethal Company, being on a quota based goal system with time pressure elements, as the game proceeds you are forced to take more and more risks and play in more efficient and interesting ways else you won't be able to make your quota. You are also discouraged from making many trips back and forth from the facility to your ship because, as time goes by, even the outside becomes treacherous. The whole loop has great pacing and a looming feeling of ramping up. Exiting the facility and seeing it is already 9PM can make your heart drop since it often isn't as simple as the tedium of lugging everything back to your ship.

Due to the game's modular nature, I can totally picture this having huge staying power as more features and variety are added. I would like to see some moons play with the passage of time, oftentimes I feel like I couldn't possibly explore an entire main area, let alone the fire escapes, not to speak of even taking all the loot out with me. Although that is probably a good thing, enabling me to make value judgements on if my loot is already good enough or if I want to ditch my hairbrush for something more valuable that could be just a few rooms away. Nonetheless, I would like to experience longer runs, where the standard is around 10 minutes currently, it would be fun to vary that in some cases, going as far as 30 minutes. Although balancing this around how much a dead player is forced to wait around until the day is over could be difficult also.

The atmosphere has a great blend of grimdark moodiness, desperation, and absurd satire. The sound design, from the way voices have reverb inside and the crackliness of the walkie-talkie, to the abrupt and harsh thunderous footsteps of some of the monsters, it works well to sell the immersion of the experience. The fidelity of the game's graphics and style work well with the mechanics of darkness and the brutality and abruptness of death. Many of the models, if in high resolution and in clear lighting would become demystified and the game's edge would be lost. Oftentimes you are only catching a fleeting glimpse of a monster before it either goes round a corner or kills you in a blur, or you don't see them as you are hightailing it away from them. It enables much of the horror to be maintained in the player's imagination in a good middle ground of not abstract enough that it is unclear what something is meant to be but also not too realistic such that it can be scrutinised in the name of being clean for the sake of it. The game's seed based generation makes for some emergent gameplay moments that can both keep you on the edge of your seat from unpredictability and also create some hilarious interactions with friends, like entering the facility, opening the very first door opposite the main door only to have a turret pointing directly at the entrance, causing everyone to get killed or find a fire exit.

Couldn't recommend enough for a great time with friends! High hopes for where a full release can take the game with more features, but, even as it is, currently in early-access, easily worth the A$15!

If you like this game's chaotic blend of the grimdark and funny moments, I recommend SCP: Secret Laboratory for similar proximity chat antics while being chased by spooky monsters.

Cocoon is spectacular! Awesome sound design, an immersive atmosphere, gorgeous lush visuals, slick bio-mechanical creature designs, constantly engaging gameplay without any fat to trim, inventive puzzle mechanics. All without a single line of dialogue! With Limbo and Inside being two of my favourite games of all time, I had high expectations, and Cocoon didn't disappoint.

The amount of care and detail put into making this experience flow seamlessly is a huge achievement. Highly recommend to anyone!