Recent reviews by EELuminatus

The game's procedural stories, detailed lore, credible fantasy world, and abundant choices make it hard to compare to anything else (except for King of Dragon Pass, of course, which I also enjoyed, years ago).

A few hours (= many years) into my first attempt at this game, it has already been such an interesting ride: I saw a bunch of gifted children grow up, each of them taking their own, totally unique path. I lost my best heroes, either to old age, or to an unexpected strike of a sword, or to the crushing power of the gods. Several times I thought I messed up, seeing my clan fade, starve, being defeated over and over again, but recently transformed the worst crisis into a big, new chance. It's not over, yet, but I'm curious how things will go on.

Most importantly: so far every event has been unique. Not only the big stories, but even the recurring raids just don't get boring, because of the complexity of the world that determines their importance, as well as their (likely) outcome.

"Their likely outcome" leads me to a couple of fair warnings about aspects that are certainly a matter of taste:

• (almost) nothing is safe: luck can play an important role in single events, although good preparation certainly helps you succeed in the long run
  
• there is a lot to read, and it actually matters: knowing the lore helps a lot in many events!
  
• there is a lot you will not understand, and a lot you will never know for sure - keeps things fresh ^^
  
• you may lose things, and it's not possible to save/load whenever something went wrong - but the experience is best when you just try to deal with it, imo
  
• yes, it can be frustrating... but how else are you supposed to stop playing, at some point?

It may look simple, may be wacky, may not have a whole lot of content - but it's incredibly fun and more strategic than it might seem.
(In case you know the itch.io version: this one has more maps, improved physics and aesthetics, as well as online multiplayer.)

It's best with 4+ players. Not a well-known title, so don't expect to easily find strangers to play with online (the dev's Discord channel helps a little, but it's still not easy). Better prepare for local multiplayer (one screen) or convince some friends to get and play the game online with you. It's worth it!

This game is far from perfect (as you can see in various other reviews), but nevertheless: it's very enjoyable with one or more friends.

Don't expect an RPG or exploration game - it has very little of both.
It's an action game with extraordinarily beautiful scenery in the first place.
And: it's clearly a multiplayer game in the first place, both for local and online play, flexible, even possible with changing groups and characters. It's not deep, it's not really innovative, but it's easy, quick fun for a reasonable time (potentially even a very long time with multiple playthroughs different characters / skills and combinations, as well as challenges / arena mode, but I really only had a glimpse at all these options so far).

I cannot think of any game more deserving of the "better with friends" award than this one.

It's not only an absurd, funny game, it even feels very polished - especially with the new/changed attacks, now!

While the content is rather limited, it is also very well done: There are only a few maps, but they are beautiful, play quite differently, and most come with their own gimmicks. You only have three attacks (joust, shoot lance, hammer), but they are all useful in their own very special way. At the same time, they all make you vulnerable in some way, allowing for interesting counter-play. And even though jousting probably is the standard way to defeat your enemies, its mechanics allow for a bunch of tricks already, and you can often use the other attacks to surprise your opponent - giggling and feeling sneaky.

The soundtrack and other audio (including commentary) are hilariously appropriate, graphical style is adorable and the animations are sooo enjoyable (pin another knight to the wall with your rocket lance, see them sliding through the dirt and into a tent when their rocket exploded at full speed etc.). On top of that, they give you good indications of attacks, and collisions/hitboxes seem way more accurate than I expected in such a fun/wacky game. Didn't even run into any glitches or bugs so far.

Personally, I'd not play it against AI, but with 1-3 other players*, it's such a good game!

*) even duels are amazing, and if you have more players around: it's fun to watch and a rocket knight's glory tends not to last very long, so there are many chances to pass on the controller and let someone else play

DISCLAIMER: I'm meanwhile making official updates to this game, so I'm certainly biased. I wrote this review long before, however (when I didn't even remotely expect to ever be a dev for this game), so I believe there's nothing wrong about leaving it up.

I would not have expected Tooth and Tail to be the strategy game I wanted, but it is. Here's why.

Most important points you might not know about, yet:
(The singleplayer campaign is cool, but I'll mainly write about what makes multiplayer excel.)

• very, very reactive gameplay AND extraordinary freedom in multiplayer (because you need to adapt, but there are often multiple ways of doing so; you can choose any unit composition at the start and quickly change strategies during the game... actually, you often have to change strategies and/or fool your opponent)
  
• many important choices, less micro management (that does not mean no micro, because good micro can still win some battles, but you only command one or all of a maximum of 6 groups at a time, so it requires far less keyboard mashing than many other RTS games; generally good choices are more important, than perfect micro management)
  
• quick battles at a reasonable speed (most matches take only 6-12 minutes WITHOUT rush, so you can play a game or two even in narrow time slots; and it still doesn't require twitch reflexes... everything seems well paced)
  
• simple controls, ability to switch between keyboard+mouse and gamepad anytime (both are good even for competetive play, although keyboard might be slightly better for micro, because hotkeys for units are easier to use... I'm still mostly using gamepad, because it feels more comfortable)
  
• simple rules, but high strategic skill ceiling (while the basics are easy to learn and even numbers are easy to remember - the game uses mostly standard values, e.g. 20, 60, 120, 180 for all costs - there's always room for improvement, mostly by learning new strategies and keeping your mind flexible)

A few things might not meet everyone's tastes, even though they fit well with the game's general concept:

• randomly generated maps might be unfair (though the campaign meanwhile runs with standard map seeds by default; random map generation keeps the experiences fresh, however, and even advantages for the opponent might only be the stage for your own brilliant strategies to nullify them, because I daresay you always have a chance - also: keep in mind the games are short, so even if you lose one, just play another one... and: there is a bunch of balanced maps on the Steam workshop, now, and some tournaments will be played on these)
  
• simplicity (RTS fans are often used to more complex games - this one is simple in many ways, but I'd say it really lets you focus on what you actually want: strategies... and even after 300+ hours, you can keep improving them and your micro skills)
  
• high skill ceiling despite being easy to pick up... experienced players will most likely crush new players easily in PVP, and even the campaign missions (and some heroic achievements) get tougher than you might think (update: meanwhile you're be able to slightly adjust the difficulty by entering map seeds for the campaign)
  
• not the usual factions and tech trees, reselling structures at full price (this might just sound weird to strategy veterans, but it works incredibly well, giving you much more strategic freedom than conventional RTS gameplay)

So, summing things up: it is a really fresh take on the strategy genre - don't expect it to be like other RTS. Give it a try, and enjoy the difference!
If you want to take a closer look, I suggest: https://www.twitch.tv/toothandtailtv/

Bonus points:

• helpful and amazing community (on the developer's Discord channel, you will find a lot of welcoming people to answer questions, give you strategy hints or just organize some nice 2v2 games or tournaments)
  
• active developers (the developers are around on Discord, too, with open ears for the players, doing streams or just posting cute, armed animals in chat; update: the developer started working on a new game - they've still got an open ear for the community and a few things in their backlog, but with all planned features implemented, their focus has shifted to the next project; new content for Tooth And Tail will probably depend mostly on mods from now on)
  
• Vyeshal: the game's own (phonetic substitution cipher) language (pookaws: vwyo nawt?)

Agenda is an enjoyable and fast strategic resource management game - unfortunately (for it's fame), it suffers from a lack of explanations (devs are currently working on these), wrong expectations and (not so much) a few bad design decisions.

Here's what I liked and disliked about it on my first playthrough:

PRO:

• it looks cool... dark, simple, never hurting my poor coder eyes
  
• it kept me busy... very short waiting times, a lot to do
  
• it surprised me... because the world is changing dynamically all the time
  
• it made me wonder... because many aspects are not obvious at a first glance
  
• it made me decide... "make friends or supress their media? - destroy their military power or let them wage war?..."
  
• it made me balance pros and cons... long term effects vs short term effects, faster route to victory or less suspicion?
  
• it made me do only useful stuff... no minigames, sidequests or stuff like that - the game concentrates on what it is
  
• it is mean/political... be the people's benefactor (gain influence, lull them, control them), send troops to fight terrorism (well, actually only to decrease military power) etc.
  
• responsive developers

CON:

• sound is sometimes really quite harsh and repetitive
  
• many things are left unclear - I usually enjoy finding out by myself, but some more explanations would be good for this game (the devs are currently working on this issue, though)
  
• you need to click unnecessarily often - really, some things could be solved with one click instead of two... or I'd like to automatically conduct the same operation until my goal is reached, instead of manually starting it again
  
• some regions are very small (Britain and Japan) and hard to click on when you're zoomed out and got several operations running in there
  
• it's hard to keep your eye on everything... that might be (positively) considered a challenge, however

Since there are lots of negative reviews, here are some comments on their points:

• there is difficulty - perhaps not on the easiest setting, but the higher difficulty settings made me struggle (and restart)
  
• there is replayability - because you can choose different strategies (and goals, that is trying to reach the different achievements)
  
• the "skilltree" proved quite useful to me, at least the financial, media and military skills (didn't try the others, yet)
  
• money is not necessarily short while all the other resources are abundant: it really depends on how you play/skill etc. (on my first playthrough, I got more money than anything else... on my first attempt at higher difficulty, I failed because of a lack of money)
  
• perhaps in some cases it's just not sufficiently obvious what the use of certain skills or operations is? I certainly wouldn't have found out how to use them in less than an hour (meanwhile I got a far better idea, but also some questions even after 2.5h)
  
• the interface & font sizes seemed ok to me on 1920x1080, definitely bigger than in Crusader Kings / Europa Universalis :P (I meanwhile tried 1280x1024, too, and that's really a bit uncomfortable, I admit)
  
• I'll definitely replay, on high difficulty, trying a different approach, probably going for some achievements - and with more than 2.5h in, I'd say it's already worth its price

This is Madness!
- This is TRI!!!

CDF Starfighter is VR done right!

I only played it at Gamescom 2016,* and that experience was already worth the game's price.
It's probably the most immersive VR game I have seen so far, because it gives you all the freedom you'd have in a starfighter:
- look down and check your ship's controls and radar,
- turn your head to see the enemy approaching,
- barrel roll and dodge some shots, with your eyes still focused on the attackers,
- fly close to an asteroid (look up briefly to check the distance) to shake them off,
- lean to the side and look down to see your prey below,
- roll again (don't get sick!) and engage!
- Kaboom! :D

The game is still in development, some parts are far from being balanced, but the developers are very responsive and they still have awesome (almost creepy) ideas in mind on how to deliver an even better VR experience than they already do.

Their marketing, however, is a glaring understatement. The trailer is not even close to showing the full potential of VR free look and lean, although much of it is already implemented in this game.
If you try the game, I urgently recommend you experiment with your VR possibilities:
Don't just sit there staring straight forward! Look! Move! Roll! (Maybe get dizzy!)

I hope the game still gets better (more content/variety, balancing etc.), but even if it stayed like this (in it's very unfinished state) I would not regret buying it.

*) Right, I did not yet have a chance to really play it at home, but I will update my review when I did and say more about the missions etc. when I can. So far it's only about the core mechanics and general feel of space combat.

Brilliant!

Just as tough as I like it, and almost anytime you die, it's totally your fault!* Luck is involved, but if you feel the beat and know your enemies (and your own equipment), you can survive (almost?) any situation.
So I can still laugh about myself getting killed, about my own stupidity or about the crazy situation (confused > teleported > bombed etc.) that lead to my death.
... and then I feel like: "one more run!" - until my fingers ache... well, ONE more...

After about 12h (which felt like 80h of awesome) I was so glad to have defeated the NecroDancer... only to find out I'll have to groove down into the Crypt, again. With the third story character (Aria) the game's difficulty increases drastically, and it actually never stops challenging you. It even includes characters (Coda) and challenges (all zones / low%) that make the best speedrunners out there sweat.
Mortals: don't expect to beat this game 100%.

*) Nominated it for the "Killing Me For A Reason" Award.

What an incredibly well done couch/party game!
Pretty quick, entertaining runs; easy to learn, (moderately) hard to master; weird ideas; very different monsters, traps and items; excellent retro style.

The game might not seem fair every moment, because sometimes the hero gets bashed without a chance or monsters squished like bugs, but fairness comes back by the game's leveling system: the more the enemy heros level up, the more you can improve your monsters. That way even players with bad luck or lower skills advance.

Even in Early Access Crawl already is more enjoyable and has a higher replay value than many (if not most!) finished games. One of the few things that should be improved (especially concerning balance) are the boss fights, but even if the game stayed exactly as it is, I'd still love it. (In fact, I wonder how much better it can possibly get...)