Recent reviews by favoredflav

$25 worth of wallop in a $9.00 can. You'll ooooohh and aaaaaah at the voxel-based explosions as your capital weapons rip through space. You'll shake your head in frustration as another run allllmost makes it across the line. I'm selfishly hoping this game is a smash success so that the studio will make a ton of new-ship DLC's.

Great fun, great price, runs like a champ. Didn't even think about any technical issues at all.

This is a delightful little game, proving that games can be little without being 'small.' Somehow encapsulate what makes Space Epic games great: Exploration, Combat, Mining (the best), and Trading. All implemented completely, not in some skimpy play-on-your-phone style.

This is going to be Excel's new best friend on my work machine.

Applause for a small developer; I've had AAA games with much worse experiences.

Whatever ineffable quality makes something like Diablo I/II, this game has got it in spades. Don't be fooled by my playtime on the full release: I played the demo version all the way through three times, something I never do. (~15 hours).

I have long wanted this exact game: Early Diablo Loot Itemization with the same snappy combat, but in space.

Bright, neon-soaked visuals pop, and the combat is smooth and satisfying. I played on a controller.

I had no technical issues, impressive for a small team in a first release. As noted, they had about 6 months of pre-release demo time, which had to help.

What I don't know about: The full campaign. The demo constrained you to the first act, roughly what feels like the Blood Raven area in Diablo 2-- a few hours of play. I sincerely hope the game continues to hold up, but i cannot guarantee you that.

I also have only sampled the demo area enemies, which show the limited variety you'd expect in an Act I demo. The AI isn't remarkable, but my expectations are always modest for ARPG's. I'm not expecting coordinated complex tactics, just shoot shoot the mans fall down.

This game would be a steal for me at twice the price, so the sub $30 price point feels very reasonable. Just like the Diablo series and ARPG's in general, there's immense replay value based on itemization and new enemy combinations.

If you like space games, and want something that's nostalgic and novel at the same time, 'Reality Break' is highly recommended.

I was there are launch, stopped for five years, and then took a re-look after the 2024 television show. It's gotten good, with most of the launch roughness smoothed out and patched over.

If you're a series fan, especially the Bethesda era, you'll definitely want to check this out. You can play for free these days, and the base package is always on sale somewhere.

'He's not going to get me with any cheap jump scares,' I smile, clicking launch on this game.

He got me with the first jump scare, possibly as bad as any jump scare ever has.

5/5, 7/5 considering its a solo developer effort.

A lot of fun for the price.

Polished demo of perfect length. You can get a feel for the finished product, but leaves plenty left to discover on release. Well done.

Profoundly disappointing. The bar was set pretty high for Harebrained Studios, based on their superb BATTLETECH and Shadowrun adaptations. I still play BATTLETECH weekly, all these years after its release, for example.

That said, this game is merely mediocre. The obvious point of comparison would be XCOM, if you took away the base management, research, compelling narrative, and squad management elements. XCOM and XCOM2 would both be fairly mediocre with those redactions, as well.

The presentation was fairly polished, but it didn't amaze. The music was good enough to be unobtrusive.

I think that this title was a miscalculation by HBS: Their real strengths have been adapting others IP. Lamplighter's League demonstrates that creating a compelling universe, whole cloth, is beyond them at present.

It was pointed out to me that HBS skipped Battletech 2 to do this game. A decision that was driven largely by the cost of licensing the BATTLETECH IP.

They should have kept the license. Disappointing, I'm sure, for the investors.

No way is this worth $50. At a $15 price point, it would be a good value.

A $1 game selling for $5. This, by cost per gaming hour, was far more expensive to me than Diablo 4.
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It's not bad, meaning that there is a game experience here, and there are a couple points where it gave me a startle. There were a couple graphical touches I thought were excellent. No crashes, which is more than I can say for many games by larger studios.
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Upon reflection, Project Proxima fits into the category of 'Tech Demos/Free Games' for me-- it seems like a portfolio piece for a small studio: 'Yes, we can design a small game. Here one is.' Considering how slavishly it copies Iron Lung's presentation and material, it seems like a perfect ad for a porting or total conversion-type job.

I hope the developers get that job, and you set your expectations very modestly. I wish that Steam presented a metric on 'typical hours to complete', that would have helped me evaluate this game pre-purchase.

The bummer is that I'm going to be just a little more careful on my next $5 game purchase.

Transcendental quality. A masterclass in horror implementation.

I've spent my whole lifetime (~50 years) gaming, and this is one of the top 3 narrative video game experiences I've had.

Although it's a bit older now, the graphics and effects hold up well, anchored by superior sound design and acting.

You owe it to yourself to experience this game once.

Disappointing when compared the fabulous dream game in my head inspired by their marketing: 1 Part Frostpunk, 1 Part Elite Dangerous, and one Part Tropico, all served with a generous dollop of rogue-like random replay elements.

The reality is a solid B game during it's finest moments: Thoughtful city building, with very light economic elements. There's some enjoyable dramatic situations, like running out of room, that builds tension successfully the first time it happens. The second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh time, it's unrelenting tedium. Honestly, it seems like this game could have been a strong AA game if it had just had more solid playtesting. All of the frustrations are incredibly obvious on even a casual run.

The soundtrack, courtesy Guillaume David, is one of the most incredible I heard this year. It's Brian Eno meets Squarepusher meets Art rock. It's textured nuance was as listenable the seventh time around.

The art was of consistently good quality, and was what initially caught my eye. I was disappointed after about an hour of gameplay, as there wasn't quite the feeling of life and vividness I wanted. (and competitor Frostpunk does so well)

I couldn't give this an unqualified recommendation at it's release price point, $40. If you are a fan of the city building genre, have a weakness for 2001-inspired visuals, and also happen to love ambient music, please go ahead. I think most gamers will be satisfied when this drops to around $20. If it's ever on a $10 sale, unqualified buy.

I think that there's a strong exoskeleton of a game here, and with about a year of patches and a couple DLC's, I hope that it will emerge into a Frostpunk level contender.