Recent reviews by Danikov

I'd love to write a more detailed review, but the game is in Early Access so it may get even better than it already is.

I've logged 140 hours. This game is Factorio-levels of compelling. And I gave myself the time it took the title screen to load to write this review because I'd really rather be playing it again, so... farewell

A good game doesn't have to do a lot well; Brigador has 3 things.

At it's core, it's a solid mech shooter with a stylish aesthetic, detailed environments, and a fun set of weapons and mechanics. It also has a stonkin' soundtrack and, if you take the time with it, a swimming pool of lavish lore and even an audiobook if you want to get fully immersed.

On top of those, the developers really care for the game, adding more and more free content to the base title years after its initial release. Watching a developer stream, you can tell they're having fun and funnelling real passion into their work.

The game is super-cheap for what you're getting and is regularly on sale, so if you like stompy robots don't skip this one.

Beautifully animated artsy little thing with a fun soundtrack and deceptively deep progression of puzzle elements. Accessible mechanics and hints system will help a more casual player while a sequence of challenge criteria and locked levels provide more varied and cerebral puzzles. Might feel a little short if you're only in it for the story and rarely the hints are a bit off/confusing (likely to be fixed in short order given developer engagement), but minor ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ in an otherwise solid title.

Wonderful, sometimes innovative story and game with engaging characters and many memorable moments. Not for everyone as it doesn't pace itself the way most games do, but those open to 'experience' type games might find the appeal.

Oh, and the developers are stand-up people who don't put up with racism and have had to endure review bombing by the mindless masses. Just on that point alone they deserve your money.

For those interested in a purist remake of the originals, look elsewhere (I hear Xenonauts is attempting this).

Instead, this game is an homage but also an evolution of the series. All the right things are there, the action system feels like a distinct improvement on time-units and there's a nice level of tactical and strategic depth.

The game does start atrociously easy if you know what you're doing- it's worth pushing up the difficultly level and exploring the more hard-core options for a real challenge... go on, challenge yourself instead of save-scumming each time your favourite soldier take a bad hit ;)

A top-down retro-styled thief 'em up, Monaco has a delightful soundtrack and makes a fun co-op game with the right people. By yourself you may find yourself playing far more cautiously and conservatively, fully exploiting the bag of tricks provided to you, but Monaco is at its most fun with 3 friends played as a hectic anything goes heist.

Difficulty curve for solo players may provide quite steep at times, especially the need to 'clear out' levels to advance the more interesting plot (which is well worth exploring right to the end to fully appreciate the whole story), while co-op with randoms is, as expected, a hit-or-miss experience.

Probably even better on a tablet but well ported to the PC, Sword and Sworcery EP is a bit of an art game that should be enjoyed with a nice glass of Merlot and a laid-back disposition. The music is sublime, the retro graphics perfect, while the game has a great quirky sense of humour and a simple, approachable plot that may have you in tears by its climax if you're willing to emotionally invest in it.

It's hard to not reflect on how short a game it can be (especially if one attempting to speed-run it- which one shouldn't) and how it feels a bit like a well polished prototype or experiment of sorts, but every second of it was worthwhile and, to those of the right persuation, I cannot recommend this game enough.

Fantastically trippy graphics and a thumping soundtrack make for a relaxing, easy-to-consume side-scrolling shooter.

Can stutter a little on weaker systems, so make sure your graphics settings are right- one wrong move and you're dead, so it's nice to not be blaming sucking at a game on overtaxing your machine.

Stupid amounts of fun attempting to launch rockets into orbit and it isn't nearly close to being 100% done. I half-wish the guys who did Spore could help out as it feels like that's the direction they want to be going in, but even as things are now, I can only expect this to get better and better as time goes on.

Can be a little technical/mathematical if you actually want to have any success with it due to a lack of any difficulty settings (beyond grabbing modded parts that have unbalanced stats on then, but hey- modded parts! how awesome is that?), but if learning a little about space-travel, delta v and the physics involved doesn't scare you, this can be quite an intriguing little game.

Edit: A recent update brought some fantastic new features, including a tech-tree and science experiments- the developers do not disappoint.

Superb little game, well written and lots of fun to play. Feels a bit short which is perhaps a nature of the maps and the limited challenges the game can pose, but what's provided is dressed up nicely and well justified by a small price-tag.