Recent reviews by The Zealous Sea Cucumber

A truly perfect game. It teaches you how to play as you go along. If you're very smart there's enough hints to start figuring things out sooner and if you're not then it's okay, the game will provide you clues along the way. It's a peaceful walking simulator that tells a story through exploration and discovery instead of telling you what to think. I'm only five or six hours in and there's still tons to explore. It's nice to just walk and explore and if you ever get frustrated with a day don't be afraid to call it early and start fresh.

Edited at 14.1 hours:

So, I beat the game reached Room 46. It really is a perfect game. I see a lot of people refusing to explain and just saying you need to play it yourself, but don't tell you why. The reason is that the game, like many great games, teaches you how to play itself. It's a game where spoilers would only detract from the experience, and the reason to go in blind is because discovery is part of what the game offers.

If you get stuck then simply "Call It A Day" and start anew. There's no penalties, nothing's time gated, everything is at your leisure. One suggestion that the game offers which is worth repeating here is to keep a few notes. I found it very rewarding to keep a little notebook by me and have probably written out about a dozen pages of notes. That's not necessary to the game, though; I am positive you can complete the game with nothing but just your mouse.

It's the sort of game where any explanation is a spoiler and any spoiler detracts from the experience. The biggest reward of the game, aside from the voice acting, is the act of discovery. It really does feel like you are the protagonist cracking the clues of the house. If there is one spoiler I would give then it's nope! No spoilers! Not from me. If you really can't afford the game hit me up.

It's well worth the $20-30 they're charging. Even if I quit now it would be around $2/hour of entertainment, and I expect that, like many other little Indie games I like, I'll get a lot more time out of it.

One final addendum: I was pleasantly surprised to see Daniel Mullins credited for a special "thank you" in the credits. Daniel's Inscryption is a similarly perfect game. Bravo to Daniel and bravo to another person especially mentioned in the credits, Christopher Manson.

First thing, this is inspired by Inscryption. It scratches the same itch and provides the same satisfaction. There are sufficiently different mechanics that you get an entirely new experience, though.

First, the differences: this is not a card game, it's a token-game. I find the click-clack of the pieces crashing against each other and the tactile-sound feedback of them moving across the board to be very satisfying. This is also a game where you play the same protagonist (at least so far) throughout: what changes is the pieces you deploy. Finally, this game a bit more introduction into what to do. Whereas Inscryption just had you put down cards and play, this game tells you what you're trying to do and how to do it.

The similarities are in things that are fine not to change. You face a cryptid gamemaster and you are trapped in a structure with its own mysteries. The soundtrack is ASMR and the atmosphere is enchanting. I get the sense that while the gamemaster is cruel and alien, he's also lonely. Why else would you be trapped there, playing his game? Finally, it has tons of replayability. Whereas you'll see the same maps and stages, it offers you a new look at the strategy through which you can approach things. It hasn't gotten stale yet, and the familiarity offers comfort instead of boredom. The details in this game are absolutely gorgeous; I wish they came in a boxed set.

Overall this is a steal. Easily worth more than two movie tickets, it provides a tremendous amount of entertainment. I introduced my 13-year old to it and he absolutely loves it. I highly recommend you pick it up, even if you're only going to play it for a few hours.

Easily one of the best survival & crafting games I've ever played. What really sells it is the blend between the epic and the mundane. The setting is the Pacific Northwest's Olympic National Forest that's been overwhelmed by alien powers beyond human comprehension.

The danger is explained just well enough to tell you to stay away from everything weird, except for the weird stuff you need in order to survive. It's very much like Cultist Simulator and Book of Hours where a lot of the fun is just figuring things out. Everything is intuitive, too; don't spoil the experience by reading a guide!

I think the team did a fantastic job creating the atmosphere and mechanics. All the menus and interfaces really feel *right*; there's nothing that comes across as something that takes you out of the vibe. The way you begin each trip makes sense: they hide a fast travel mechanic in a really interesting trip planner. The way you end each trip is absolutely epic; I don't want to spoil it for you.

If you have the least interest in survival crafting then this is a great game for you.

I am changing my review to positive. The developer fixed the bug that was troubling me within the day, responded to my concerns promptly and helpfully, and has a predictable roadmap flush with features that I'm really looking forward to. The gameplay loop is inspiring and fun. The content (that is, summaries of what your character has written) are a little light right now, but for under $5 this is some of the best entertainment I've had in years.

I really want to like this game. It's a very fun and satisfying fantasy with nice little clicks and beautiful art. The engine in its current state, however, makes it almost unplayable.

I am unable to save a game. I hit random errors like "Unable to resolve to type r." Between the lack of a save feature and the crashes, I can't progress past stage 6 or stage 5. Unfortunately, that means I can't recommend it.

I am very, very hopeful, however, for what the game *will* become. I think it explores an idea that's hinted at by other games, but it's the first one to scratch this particular itch and is extraordinarily good at it. I can't hardly wait to see what it becomes and will never refund the game.

Again, I really want to like this game, but basic patches have to be done to even make it playable. Once that's done, I think improvements like a career mode that take it away from Turmoil-style gameplay and towards something else, whether it's Gamedev Tycoon or something new would be a lot of fun. Or a New Game+ where your new character tries to knock off the old one. Right now the driving goal of just unseating the top-most author seems a little... it's not quite what I want, but the journey to get there (when I can play) is very, very fun.

It's great for what it is: a village simulator, populated by exiles. Build a little corner of civilization in the wilderness. It's minimalistic and cute. There is a little bit of scale to the difficulty, but overall it's pretty tough (and rewarding) to see your little village grow.

Easily the best $20 I've spent on entertainment since Cultist Simulator. Loads of fun, perfect progression, tons of variety of stuff to do to keep things engaging.

My one complaint ~~is~~ was that some of the relevant data is hidden. It's impossible to see how many customers you have or project each night, how much your employees get paid, and some other little things that would make it a little easier to manage the restaurant aspect.

But after playing it some more, I don't know that it's really a problem. I've never been short on money and not having that system means that I can focus on the fun parts instead of looking too closely at optimizing things.

Still, the game is very chill, and I've never had to worry about balancing things too closely. If you don't like the restaurant part, it's easy to hire employees, train them, and have them do all the work. If you enjoy it yourself, you don't have to hire the help. Pretty clever system.

Overall it's a great casual ... I want to say roguelike, but that's not quite right. It's like Spelunky in that the level changes every run, but you never play a different character. There's a great variety of equipment and things to discover, though, and it perfectly scratches an itch I have for something relaxing and fun.

i should have learned to play the piano instead

This is one of those games that simulates a job, but not too closely. The execution follows the premise pretty closely: you're an astronaut who junks ships for money.

So, to start off with the bad: the storyline is very heavy-handed pro-socialist. Anti-capitalism, secret unions, corporate greed, and supervisory incompetence are all recurring plot points. I think that part is trite, childish, and the game (so far) has even worked in contravention of them: you're earning tons of money and on track to pay down a "debt" incurred at the beginning of the game. Maybe there's a twist, though, that'll come along later to derail you.

Anyway, the gameplay itself is really good. It's well-paced and a lot is either implied or builds on previously learned skills. I was priding myself on surviving several close calls until I finally needed a "spare" (the game's version of a continue) after a stupid mistake. The physics in the game were better than I realized, and when I used the gravity gun to try to push away something weighing several thousand kilograms (beyond the tool's capacity) of course it pushed me into a wall instead, crushing my suit and handing me my first death around eight ships into the game.

The music is really nice for the first few hours, but gets repetitive. The audio cues are really good, though, with a high-tempo track that drops in to indicate danger and HUD distortion for radiation. The overall "feel" of the game is very good, I just don't care for the story.

Anyway, it's a nice little puzzler. I strongly recommend playing open shift if you want a more relaxing experience. The other modes have a 15-minute timer and, along with an optional oxygen drain, I found that too abrupt to make satisfying progress in one session.

I've been reading a lot of books lately from the age of sail (including the Aubrey/Maturin series), and was yearning for a particular sort of naval game. Of course I've got Sid Meyer's Pirates!, which is a classic. I tried Assassin's Creed: Black Flag on a whim, but still haven't gotten to the sailing part. Then I saw this for sail, and it caught my eye.

It turns out that it's almost perfect. I don't particularly care for the setting; it's not attractive to play as Germans during WWII, but I can look past that. Everything has to have a reason, and sinking tonnage across the Atlantic is enough to play a Uboat captain.

It's obvious that a *lot* of care has been put into the game. From the very beginning, there's some warnings about realism, and they're well-justified. I have a mix between sim and realism, and have dialed it back some to enjoy things more. I used the presets to get started, but tweaked things to be a bit more fun. The game offers options all the way from playing in strictly first person perspective and using a hydrophone yourself to detect ships to a very basic simulation that requires only point-and-click, with a lot of options in-between. If you want to calculate torpedo solutions yourself, trying to set them to impact a moving ship on the high seas, you can do that. If you just want to fire away, you can do that, too.

The game lets you customize the enemy AI a little, too, which is very helpful. My first run, I thought I'd just sneak up and blow up a cargo ship in the middle of a convoy. With a fresh burst of confidence after sinking some ships in the tutorial, I was sure it would be easy.

I couldn't be more wrong.

The enemy warships should be respected, and I had to keep an eye on my visibility. It turns out Uboats are pretty delicate things, too. I suffered an impact, and in the course of trying to dive to hide, my descent became uncontrolled and I was sunk to the bottom the Atlantic in another Allied victory. After that, I got a lot more cautious.

It can be a lot of fun to go out in the Uboat. The environment is beautiful, and the developers have put a lot of love and care into crafting a great experience for you. The music stations are limited for now, but they're selling the game for less than $20. I'm surprised at how much they've already done with what they've got, and I'm really hopeful that they'll continue on their roadmap to create a perfect game.

My one, small wish is that the devs themselves or a very talented fan will make a total conversion mod for the game. Let us play in an alternate world where someone else has a Uboat Navy in a variety of scenarios; or better yet, let us play as pirates with letters of marque, capturing cargo, prisoners, and sinking ships for profit.

As it is, though, this is a wonderful, enjoyable game, and I'm grateful that I get to play it. If captaining your own boat in the industrial age is something you think might be fun, then I highly recommend you get it.

A really good management sim that requires little clicking and can be forgiving if you make a mistake. The game has a good sense of humor, winking at the player and indulging in a bit of fiction for the sake of fun.