Recent reviews by ChromeAlum

This doesn't quite deserve a thumbs-down, because at its core, its well designed when everything goes right. Playing with a controller feels great. Some levels are awesome. It's the same engine as Battlefront 2, so it looks great and sounds great.

And that's about it. It has many of the same flaws as Battlefront 2, namely, a bad single player story. There is nothing to get me to want to keep playing it. Once I've experienced one cool dogfight, I've seen all Squadrons has to offer.

Since when did EA made good games?

Signalis presents itself as a classic zombie survival horror game. Under that pretext, you discover a setting of government oppression pulled directly from 1984. Yet at its core, Signalis tells a story of loss---deep and personal loss. Horror within horror within horror. Each more innocuous than the former, yet more insidious than the last.

There are no cheap tricks needed for scare factor. Each door brings a slight hesitation brought by the fear of the unknown. But I must press forward, I must remember our promise.

Signalis perfectly captures the emotions it wants to present: instilling a terror which hit my very core. An achievement in storytelling; Signalis will haunt me for the rest of my life.

On a first playthrough, I was stunned by what appeared to be a labyrinthine concoction. On my second, I realized it had all been smoke and mirrors. Inscryption unfortunately contradicts itself in this regard. It basks in mystery, drawing you in as you must learn more. Once you've exhausted all of Inscryption's nooks, you'll wish you had never lost that feeling of wonder.

The Gnorp Apologue hits that sweet spot of an idle game which doesn't overstay its welcome.

In a typical KOTOR conversation, you are presented with three options. The first, implausibly stoic and obviously belonging to the light side. The second, a boring neutral answer. The third, a comically evil action.

Disco Elysium throws that storytelling mold out the window. There is still a comically evil choice, but the others never sound perfect. It's an impactful change, one which challenges the player at every step.

The other striking aspect is the sheer size of the game. After completing the story once, I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of what Disco Elysium has to offer.

Some game studios interpret "cozy" as doing trivial, repetitive tasks. This is one of them. None of the mini-games support the story being presented---they only pad the game's runtime. My immediate recommendation would have been to turn this game into a walking simulator, except Jotun proves that would be a bad idea for this studio.

Thunder Lotus Games does what they always do: aesthetics right first and foremost. Everything else is left to the wayside.

I went in biased by People Make Games's report on the work conditions which produced this game. I left disappointed.

Florence plays poorly on a PC, antithetic to Wong's goal of inclusive design. Wong's narcissism seeps into the story and cracks the foundation which it stands on. Some of the ideas present are neat, but none novel. None of this game justified the abuse of the developers who helped make it.

I can't recommend any part of this game, even for die-hard indie fans.

Peak game design--Everything meshes perfectly. From aesthetics, to music, to game-play; Balatro has achieved the ideal form of itself.

As more roguelike-deckbuilders enter the foray, it further cements Slay the Spire as the one to rule them all