Recent reviews by Urist McFrend

It's a great game! It's just really really good if you're looking for an intense and wholesome* co-op experience.
If you liked the original Helldivers, or are coming from a modern co-op like Deep Rock Galactic or any of the 'Tide games, you'll love it immediately. Two very different factions to play against, with a third likely coming sooner rather than later.

Only problem is, at the time of writing this review, there's been major problems with server capacity and matchmaking. The devs are working on it literally around the clock, but if you can't stomach a bit of a wait and a bit of a faff to get a group of randoms together, maybe wait a month before buying.

But it's definitely worth the money.

Speaking of money: worried about microtransactions? Don't be; the game throws enough "premium credits" at you during normal gameplay to not require you put any more money on top of the initial purchase. Nothing is truly locked behind real world money, and even spending real money won't give you immediate access to different stuff, you'll still have to put the hours in unlocking everything.

*) Example of wholesomeness is the "hug" emote, allowing you to give your teammates hugs before boarding the extraction shuttle, while turrets and orbital bombardments chew through the assaulting hordes.

A fun little castle defence game very much in the vein of Bad North or Kingdom. The core gameplay loop is fun and forces you to make meaningful decisions every game day on how to distribute your meagre gold amongst your economy, army and defences.

The defences are mechanically solid but some might be bothered by their pre-determined placement. Army units are fun and effective once you learn their strengths, but getting them set up is a bit of a faff and could use another pass in Early Access. Having to ride to the other side of the map to personally pick a group of units, and then wait for them to totter along to where the battle is, is hardly kingly work.

Just having the ability to select a squad (number key, assigned in ascending order as barrackses are built) and calling them to you ("To the king!") would improve army management manifold without complicating the controls too omuch.

The drip-feed of unlocks (personal weapons, perks and building upgrade paths) keep the game fresh. At the writing of this review the game had 4 scenarios, each with a distinct feel and varied challenges. No strategy immediately pops to mind as being the best all-around, each scenario requires a slighly different approach.

If you enjoyed Bad North, Kingdom or any of the other low-fi strategy builders popping up lately, you'll likely love Thronefall.

Really hoping they come up with a proper single player campaign, too!

Good stuff. It's fun on a desktop PC with a controller but really shines on the Steam Deck, with about 2,5 hours of unplugged play on a full battery.

Best online co-op FPS that keeps getting free content year after year. Also the dwarfiest.

An excellent space ship/colony sim that has expanded in scope throughout its Early Access period, with still more to come. Complex and sim-y enough to give a Dwarf Fortress fan a run for their money but enough direct control, a slick and well thought-out UI and such gameplay and expansion loops that will also make a more casual colonybuilder feel right at home.

The focus here in on day-to-day life aboard a space ship (and later in development, alternatively a space station), of which ship-to-ship or crew combat is an enivitable part as you run into pirates and slavers (or go on a pirating spree yourself), or when you run into unexpected things while scavenging the multitude of wrecked ships littering procedurally generated galaxy, slowly building up your ship and your crew to take on bigger and bigger challenges.

While it's mostly "survival mode, forwards and upwards", there are several stories running in the background which you get a lead on by exploring the aforementioned wrecks. The devs have done a good job at fleshing out the post-apocalyptic space age universe without blowing a barrel full of exposition at players' faces from the get go.

The EA nature of the game has never prevented me from playing it to the fullest, no crashes or bugs worth mentioning, even in the experimental branches that come out about 3 weeks before each "stable" release.

I keep getting back to this game every half a year, and there's always a major update's worth of new content waiting for me. The devs are super-committed and not afraid to change or scrap their ideas if these come in the way of gameplay.

Overall, I consider Space Haven to be the best that the rather niche genre of space ship colony sim has to offer at the time of this review.

If you disagree or want to showcase another good entry, leave a comment!

Edit: Unfortunately Mountaincore has been abandoned as the company (actually a solo dev by now) developing it has gone under due to middling sales. Its predecessor King Under The Mountain has been released as open source under a very generous license, so if you're interested in a free version or maybe even picking up and continuing the work (potentially to release it commercially yourself), take a look at https://github.com/rossturner/king-under-the-mountain

A laid-back but surprisingly robust dwarfy colony builder, somewhere between Rimworld and Dwarf Fortress in complexity. The game wears its inspiration proudly on its sleeve, but is not afraid to try new things.

Even though the game is in Early Access, the core gameplay loop is solid: striking out with your 7 dwarves, building up and surviving your first winter to get migrants and managing an increasing complexity of industries, all the while anticipating the arrival of all sorts of fun.

The UI is okay and there are currently almost no hotkeys in the game, but these are all the kinds of the things that are being ironed out and improved by the Early Access process, along with adding content to the game. The developer is very responsive in Discord and clearly appreciates player feedback.

The game runs solidly, there are hardly any crashes and the bugs are pretty minor, getting hotfixed soon after they are reported.

Overall, I heartily recommend Mountaincore even in its EA state to any fans of Dwarves and/or colony simulators. Strike the earth!

This game was excellent already when it came out back in 2011, but now I'm loving it again for one important reason: it's one of very few games that are easy enough to play without frustration with my 4- and 5-year olds in local co-op.

There are almost limitless solutions to each puzzle area, so as a last resort, I can just use the wizard to levitate them through. Definitely a great entry point for kids into the world of platformers and controller-play.

Proper MechWarrior action, close enough to MW4: Mercs.
The feel of piloting and fiddling with the variants is good, but the game could use better map and mission variety. Do yourself a favour and use mods from day 1, as some game mechanics are not very refined without them. Top of the list: Side Hustle, Scrappy, Sounds of the Succession Wars and especially Pilot Overhaul.

Solid foundation for what will hopefully become the definitive gladiator game on the PC as the wheels of Early Access turn. A lot of the planned content is still missing, is being implemented in a timely manner. Loads of replay value as is. Very dedicated solo dev that listens to his community.

It's the same game many of us have been playing for the past 16 years, but with a much modernized graphic pack and excellent soundtrack. The new controls will take a while for old players to get used to, but you can rebind everything that has a hotkey - which is not quite as many things as before.

Dwarf Fortress is above all a story generator, and this version of the game make those stories easier to follow.