Recent reviews by Cipherpunk

I'm thoroughly enjoying this upgrade to the original game. There's a lot more exciting RNG now and most of the more tedious bits of resource management have been stripped out. I can't imagine going back at this point.

Balatro is way too good. This is one of the most clever roguelites I've played in a long time.

Having too much fun with this one. Lots of quests and puzzles. And there's a lot of flexibility in how you approach them. 10/10.

Feels like a cross between Jupiter Hell and Stone Shard, which is great! I'm really enjoying the creepy atmosphere and working out the tactical puzzle. 10/10

This is peak RL. Highly recommended.

All of the joy and tactility of solving jigsaw puzzles without the most frustrating elements. There's handy tools to help you find edge pieces and to make room on the table for sorting. I tried a few of the smaller puzzles before moving on to ~300 piece puzzles. I'm still working on it and I can already tell I'm enjoying my time with this. It's relaxing and challenging all at once and I couldn't ask for something better to noodle over while I sip my morning coffee.

Played the demo a few weeks ago and I did not expect enjoy it as much as I did. Gameplay is a cross between Slay the Spire and Dicey Dungeons but it very much manages to create it's own identity apart from both. There is something more nuanced here, less loud, more adult (sometimes literally, when it comes to risque monsters). It's deep and highly tactical and you will find that you are far more often killed by stupid decisions than unavoidable death.

Anecdotally, when I tried the first class, the knight, I was not impressed with the playstyle at all. I felt like there was nothing in the kit to help manage bad luck. I tried a few of the later class unlocks and had a much more enjoyable time with all the different strategies that they opened up. Out of curiosity, I decided to give the knight another spin and, to my surprise, it was suddenly much easier to pilot than the other classes! Nothing had changed but it was practically a different play experience, now defined by reliable damage and solid defenses.

That speaks volumes about what an excellent job this game does of teaching you to pay attention to the mechanics. You typically have the tools you need to survive but it's going to take perseverance to make progress here. You'll need to navigate a million little decisions that can each result in fortune or bust.

If I had one complaint, it's that the character screen contains what is essentially an ad asking you to share a link with friends to get an XP boost and help the developers boost visibility. Personally, I have no problem with helping small developers which is why I PAID FOR THE GAME. There needs to be an option to completely hide this constantly flashing ad for paying customers, there's really no excuse for it.

There's simply nothing to compare Slipways to. It's an incredible experience that I want to play over and over again. I played this for many hours when the demo was available during the Steam Festival and I just can't get enough of it.

There's nothing more infuriating than hitting artificial brick walls and being forced to start over to purchase required upgrades for future runs. I was wary of it from the beginning of the game and sure enough, Crown Trick eventually throws a boss at you with an HP pool that is an order of magnitude above what you've previously encountered, having provided no tools for dealing with it. The answer is to go back to base and start the upgrade grind. I refuse to support this kind of design and I feel sorry for people who enjoy having their progress spoon fed to them like this.

A smart, addictive, highly tactical roguelike that is gushing with style. Still getting updates in 2021!