Recent reviews by Фриуко

Rusted Moss is a great metroidvania that places more emphasis on movement and traversal than combat.
It does not mean that fighting is less good in the game, as bosses are varied enough and fun to beat, but I definietly spent more time traveling and dealing with movement puzzles than with any combat encounters.

As for the movement. The general tool for getting around is grappling hook which can be hard to master, but is esential for getting around and most sections revolve around. Later there is a rocket launcher, so there is rocket jumping in the game. Combined with your other tools this can get you almost anywhere.

The map is also really good, each section introduces a new movement mechanic and adds new meaning to the overall story. Most importantly never felt lost which is a huge deal in this genre.

If you are into this genre Rusted Moss is an overall great pick.

Thymesia is a pretty good souls-like with enough unique traits.

The most important feature that players will discover almost right away that enemies have this "green health" when damaged and it will heal back with time unless plague-weapons are used. Which makes combat reliant on two attack styles at the same time.
Not to mention that deflecting attacks is super rewarding and easy to learn here. It's quite similar to sekiro's system and I haven't enjoyed deflecting/parrying this much in the whole genre.

Over all combat is great and bosses are the strongest point of the game.

What I didn't quite like was the progression system.
The game has a hub, from where you can travel to three different themed worlds. But the problem here is that all worlds repeat the same maps with little to no differences. I would prefer more locaions with less reused stuff.

Still I can only recommend Thymesia if you like the genre and don't mind a bit of learning.

It's a short and sweet game about driving and chasing away giant creatures through different puzzles, but don't expect more than that...
The game is somewhat clunky and titan models are rather basic, but that's totally justified by the low price tag.
And the whole atmosphere and feeling you get while driving around in your trusty car is just great.

PowerSlave is an oldschool shooter that I wish I knew about sooner. Completely missed this game as a kid which made the full experience even more fresh. The whole game is themed around Egypt and egyptian lore which is complemented nicely by the level design and enemy varieties. Not to mention the metroidvania elements that made exploration the more rewarding, although somewhat repetitive when revisiting old maps.

I had a couple of gripes though. The player's hitbox is unreasonably big, this means dodging projectiles in a narrow corridors is not possible in some cases. And I wish there were diffirent ammo pickups for each of the weapons. The current ammo orb system adds way to much juggling between weapons. Lastly, I kinda wish there were traditional secret areas in the game.

All in all, the negatives don't take away too much from the whole positive experience and I would gladly recommend this game for fans of oldschool shooters.

In short, Hellpoint is a Souls-like set in space.

One of the strongest points of the game is the location. I've never seen anything like this in the genre so far.
The mechanics and gameplay loop should feel very similar if you ever played one of these games. Difficulty wise it is rather easy and the bosses are well-designed, combat never felt unfair. It has a couple of new gameplay elements like powered up bosses during a certain interval, although I'm not really sure how this is supposed to work.

On the negative side, I really hated the cryptic nature of the game especially at the start. Many key items are hidden behind secret walls, doors and without guides I do not think most players would find them. It gets better as you progress through the game though.
Enemy variety is a bit lacking but it is not a huge deal since the game is rather short.

Even with its negative aspects I can only recommend Hellpoint, but prepare for some jankyness.

Ion Fury is most likely one of the three biggest new gen boomer shooters and it is pretty good at it.
It has a great atmosphere and the game is set in a cyber-punk like world with seven playable chapters.
There is a big variety between enemies, but some of them are tiring to fight. Especially those that appear in the later stages. Weapons are quite uniqe and varied, the only thing the arsenal misses is an actual super weapon. Charging up the crossbow all the time is not that fun.

My only issue with Ion Fury is that, the game is just too long and monotonous. I know that chapters only have 4 levels at most, but almost all of them took me 25+ minutes to complete. Some shorter breather maps would be nice. Although this could easily be my fault since I went for 100% on the hardest difficulty right away, I had a feeling that playing this game for a 2nd time would be even more pain and I wanted to prevent that.

I'd like to give it a mixed rating if it was possibly, but since steam doesn't have that I'll stick to the positive one.

Cute indie game about the everyday struggles of Crow Reapers with challenging combat and some existantial crysis.

Olija is an action platforming game with simple game mechanics and a great story.
It's a short and not too challenging game, yet it hooked me in for the game's whole duration. I almost finished the whole thing in one sitting and also managed to 100% it in the meantime. Took me exactly 5 hours.
I Can only recommend it, but try to buy it when it is on sale.

Star Fetchers is a hidden gem that I found while browsing through free games on steam, and giving it a chance was one of my best decisions.
The game's atmosphere instantly hooked me, it has unique design and brilliant music. The combat also pleasently surprised me. I would absolutely recommend this game to anyone, and I would gladly pay for a full version.