Recent reviews by cordinc

A novel bullet-hell game, where the player is the bullet hell. The player doesn’t need to shoot, your weapons automatically shoot for you on a set schedule/pattern - just like the enemies in a normal bullet hell. Start underpowered, running away from the enemies, and soon find yourself over-powered, blasting projectiles in a satisfying cacophony of shapes and colour. In later stages the biggest difficulty is understanding what is happening on a very busy screen! But not to worry, because games all finish after at most 30 minutes, then its time to start over. A simple game with plain graphics and sound, but the gameplay is so well designed it becomes extremely addictive. I do not normally like this sort of game, but this is a big exception. A great game!

Clever and compelling little cross-genre game. Feels more like a deckbuilder than a citybuilder or card battler to me. Collect packs to get cards and place them together to create new cards to build a village and keep the villagers alive in the face of starvation and constant attacks. Lots of achievements and goals kept me going past my usual 10 hour barrier for similar games. However, eventually it succumbed to the standard busywork problem (sooo many cards on the screen) and I managed to drag myself away.

Fast casual mini-RTS where the playing area is a grid of small circles each usually containing a bunch of enemies all drawn in a cartoony style. Very simple and not very deep, but then it is supposed to be casual. I like that it plays fast and this game delivers as exactly what it promised - I enjoyed it.

Nice fun game of solitaire. Not particularly hard, but kept me playing until the end.

Turn-based tactics and fairly faithful reproduction of the old 80’s tabletop miniature game (which I used to play). Teams of giant mecha blast eachother across a hex map. Beautiful graphics and satisfying turn-by-turn gameplay led me to finish the game over the course of a fortnight. To nickpick minor issues in a great game: 1) the uninspiring story that I skipped through as much as possible, especially as I could detect no impact to the conversation choices at all; 2) each instance of a particular mission type is similar to the others of the same type and always goes the same way, making the game more like a puzzle. Despite that, a very enjoyable game and pleasant trip down memory lane.

I really enjoyed playing this. I haven’t finished it (yet?), but playing over 20 hours in one game is unusual for me, and a sign of quality. I would go as far as saying that if you had the money for only one simultaneous 3D turn-based tactical game of spaceship combat (such a niche!), it should be this one.

You wake up, head throbbing, in a strange flat next to an unknown naked woman. What do you do? What do you say? One Stand Stand is a point & click story game that starts with that premise. You can try to get to know the woman better or sneak out or take a look around. Each game lasts around 30 minutes and your decisions can lead to 12 different endings. However it feels weird to replay the game as you already know so much about this woman from previous run-throughs - it seems unfair (just knowing her name is a spoiler). Still this short and tightly focussed game delivers its story well and never gives the impression of cheating or forcefully directing the player (probably because it is short and focussed). One of the more successful story games I've played and well worth a look if you enjoy this genre.

Incredibly addictive, I have to ration my time playing this or I would lose entire nights to trying to reach the end. This is easily my game of the year (2019).

I can't stop playing this game. Nearly every day I start it up and play a screen or too. Beware, this puzzle game is super addictive. The basic gameplay here is the same as the previous Hexcells games (identify certain cells of a hex grid according to various numeric position indicators - think Minesweeper but more complicated). However, the addition of a random level generator beyond the standard handcrafted levels means the game is now hugely replayable. Definitely recommended.

Is it a game? Is it an experience? No, it’s The Stanley Parable.

https://youtu.be/z_OGgGZ9t_A

Superficially a first-person walking simulator, The Stanley Parable has the player wandering around their abandoned office building – where is everyone? While exploring, a voiceover addresses what the player’s avatar is doing or thinking, often in a humorous manner. This narrative is key, as it examines what it means to play games and what exactly it means to be a player in such a designed environment. It is intended to be played many times and has multiple endings, but a couple of hours play will uncover most of them. Well-made, thought-provoking and funny; The Stanley Parable is closer to an interactive art experience than a game (in my opinion).