Recent reviews by Aurelia

Star Sonata 2, is a top down space shooter in an mmo world, with lots to explore and lots to do. With so many different ships and so many different pieces of equipment to mix and match, I don't feel it's very likely that any two people will be the same. The customization is extensive. There are different classes to choose from, which focus on different components of playstyle, though the classes do not lock you out of other playstyles. Respecing is also very inexpensive and readily accessible.

Coming past 200 hours on this game in 2 weeks as a free to play, I can say that while a free to play account does limitations on accessing extended areas and access to the last couple of skill levels, as a free to play player, you can still expect to play a full game here. Even still after the 200 mark, I took the Starter pack for 3 months of sub, and was entranced by the numerous additional areas that just unlocked to me. Overall, I feel like it's set up in such a way to feel that you get the normal game for free, then to pay a sub for an expansion, rather than feeling like you're constantly being shafted or blocked from normal gameplay until you subscribe like other mmos out there.

The gameplay is very fun. It has many various themed areas that I've really enjoyed playing through to collect themed gear and defeat themed bosses, and suiting up my fleet along the way. The only real struggle I've faced is some UI annoyances, where item menus can be a little buggy at times, and fighters for a carrier class being hard to access early on. Despite this though, i've not run into much to complain about. This is a game i've been unable to put down since i've picked it up, and I suspect I'll be continuing to play it for quite some time to come.

The community seems to be on the smaller end, and despite being an openworld pvp game (or seemingly), unlike every other open world pvp game out there, you can expect to wander and play freely without being gunned down by the random passerby. The community is very friendly and helpful with the occasional mature bar brawl in the discord, without the toxic waste, which is very refreshing, and is mostly focused on the end-game team vs team wars in the dedicated endgame areas, so you can expect to play without any rude interruptions. Imagine a place where people can legitimately dislike eachother and fight with eachother without constantly sounding like an immature toxic preteen brat. That's Star Sonata 2.

If you're into top down shooter rpg-style games, even if you're not into the mmo scene that much, i'd still recommend giving this a go. The game seems fully playable alone without demanding you join up with others, and anything you may struggle to obtain on your own can usually be purchased from userbases of users who spend time crafting blueprints and selling. Enjoy the bulk of the game for free, and subscribe if you stick around to reach endgame.

"Freedom of build, infinite customization", but what it does not tell you is that neither of those two things will let you succeed.

PoE while giving the impression that you may build your character and class your way, does not logistically allow you to do so. Instead, it confuses you with a large sklil grid that gives you the impression you can choose your path, but even focusing and dedicating towards a specific idea, even if not very abstract, making sure your defenses and offenses are specific, you will still find yourself getting one-shot, and your damage output to be insufficient.

This game used to be enjoyable, but now it is just frustration and nothing more, as over the years it has pandered to streamers and elitists who I suppose have never played any other ARPG in their life, failing to see everything that's wrong with it.

This game does not let you play your way. If you want to get anywhere, you are required to follow a specific build that has been studied in and out by people who have nothing better to do than pour days into going over every number and modifier just to get through it.

Oh, and don't forget to trade with other players, because that is the only way you'll ever get all the very specific unique items that are required for your specific build to be viable.

Make no mistake, though this is an early access title, it's current state is fluid, solid and full, and will not disappoint. For lovers of top down spaceship shooters, this is a top notch buy, leaving you much to do through your journey. Exploration, looting, crafting, trading, mining, even detailed fleet building (NOT generic hire-on ships).

Though not all features are yet present, the developer is very active and quite refreshing to interact with. He listens well and responds frequently, is very passionate about his game, and has not disappointed with the updates. In all the time i've been playing, I cannot count the number of bugs or snags i've run into on even a single hand. Each update is solid and stable, and does not leave you frustrated with complications. This is one Early Access title you can count on being worth your investment, or even just count on being able to enjoy a full solid game, right this moment.

It seems to only get better from here.

Planet Explorers stands proud as having the most creative freedom of any fleshed sandbox/survival game I've ever seen. From mining the terrain to collect resources, to crafting, colony creation and NPC recruitment, to being able to build your structures, weapons, armor, helicopters, jets, motorcycles and tanks, and even your very own Kitchen sink how you wish.

PE utilizes a fully minable voxel world, along with a building and creation system that lets you bring your imagination to life.

*The voxel creation system. You can build weapons, vehicles, and even armor through a voxel creation system that let's you shape, color, and even texturize. Not only create them, but use them ingame for their determined roles.

*Colony NPC recruitment. While there are plenty of games out there that have colony management, It's noteworthy to mention that recruiment in PE is about finding randomly generated npcs (aswell as pre-made npcs if you're playing story mode), that you can recruit into your colony for different roles. You can have them farm, gather resources, upgrade equipment, or patrol your colony to protect it from assailants. You may equip them as you wish, and even recruit them as followers to acompany on your journey. They all have unique appearences along with names (The names list is a bit short at the moment though..). They also come with their own sets of skills that you can have them train other colonists to have aswell.

*Sandbox Creative Storymode. This is a big one.. Pathea has created a sandbox creation game that includes a storymode, without any cut functionality from adventure mode. Not only have they done this, but they've also gone and made it multiplayer. You can either play this on a public server, or host a private game with friends only!

*NPC combat AI.
Monsters have been programmed to act according to what they are, rather than a default all-round AI slapped onto everything.. One creature will not engage the same as any other. Birds will keep distance, and swoop at their pray, or come in close temporary for a close range attack before swooping away.. Different bird creatures will even do this differently than others.. Not only do they have their own AI packages, but they also have their own animations specifically designed around them.

Humanoid NPC's, followers and colonists, utilize the different tools and weapons you give them based on situation. For example, you can give a follower a sword and shield, and they will engage into melee, until their hp gets low, in which they will withdraw a distance from the enemy. If you've given them a ranged weapon aswell, they will draw their bow or gun and continue firing at the enemy from a distance, while they heal. If they have an axe in their inventory, they will aid you in cutting down trees.


If you have an inkling for design, and would love to see your very own creations have a purpose and use in a sandbox world, Planet Explorers is a must!

This little game actually surprised me.. Quite a bit so.. It's very simple, yet complex enough to be fulfilling. It has done an excellent job of finally satisfying that craving for a simple space empire/fleet building game.

There are a few things that I feel could have been done better, and i'll cover those second.. But first, onto the positives!

1- Simple and effecient!
This is where this game surprised me. I am really impressed with the control and management given to the players in this form. Want to play rpg style with a single ship as your own? Or have a small fleet of escorts? You can do that. Want to play rts style where you tell a few ships, or large quantities of ships to perform specific actions? You can do that too. Want to just sit back, and stare at a spreadsheet and operate your vastly growing empire without directly controlling any ships? You can do that too, All the while not being hassled to mine/farm repetatively for 20 hours before you start your own empire. You can do that right off the bat. Additionally, while you do have control over your own faction ships and structures, civillian activity is present aswell. The structures you build will automatically spawn civillian ships which will act like free-willed npcs to participate in the growth of your empire. Whether that be mining, trading, or even bounty hunting. You do not need to manage them on your own, and there is no loss when they get their little pea shooter box-car bounty-hunter blown up by a dreadnaught pirate.


Unending Galaxy has managed to mash all this together in one simple and efficient design where one method of play does not clash with another, all in the same game session. Nor are you required to do one over the other. The controls are simple and straightforward enough, without the hassle of selecting gamemodes or setting things up. Simply generate your world, and off you go.

The AI works. You can assign different roles and goals for all your ships individually, or in groups, and the optional automation is self-sufficient.

Now. There is one thing need to be aware of though, and that is the graphics. While this does not hold a huge impact on my judgement for this game (as i've all but been able to see past it all), the game does not use original assets, and the most beautiful visuals are the planets. (Like, really beautiful!).. Some assets are open source assets, which included a ship i used to make my first mod in Endless Sky (That was amusing to see!)



One final note, is that when I first got this game, I was not able to launch it. I was having issues that was ultimately determined to be my AV.. But before that was figured out, the dev was very helpful in trying to get my issue resolved, and even offered that if my attempts to make the game work went past the refund policy for steam, he would send them an exception to allow me to refund it. I'm glad that it was not necessary, as I've had a lot of enjoyment with this game.

Where to begin.. First.. This game sounded like a wonderful taste for something I've been craving for a long time. A simple 3d space empire/fleet builder game..

However.. while I suspect that's possible, there are too many other factors that kept making me want to red this game.. Far more than made me want to blue it..

The first real issue in gameplay that i faced, was the controls required to play this. At first it felt like i needed three hands, which was resolved to a point by switching my controls around, but that didn't actually resolve the issue, when i discovered that Infact needed 4 hands. I didn't really feel like learning how to play games with my feet, so i did what i could.. Which wasn't enough.


The second issue I ran into was the impossibility of evading enemy gunfire. WHile the game does make it a point that "This is very possible, it just requires skill!" They don't emphasize enough, "SKILL, and 4 hands!"

The first, being nothing you have early on in the game, where your shields are made of cotton candy, your hull is made of paper mache, and the moment you get targetted by an enemy, it's time to reload the game, because there is no getting away. They have 100% accuracy so long as you're in range, regardless of how you're throwing your keyboard and mouse around trying to evade... Oh. Did i mention reloading -after- you get blown up? You will only survive about 2 seconds of gunfire, if you're lucky.

While you seem to only have about 2 seconds to fire your weapons before you run out of energy, Enemy AI's seem to be able to fire indefinately without ever running out of power. That 2 seconds isn't enough for you to get into even light hull damage of the enemy ship, but it's certainly enough time for them to destroy you.

Flying is a nightmare. Your thrusters, while having a high maximum speed, do not seem to provide much any thrust at all. Flying the smallest of fighter ships feels like you're flying a battleship with too few thrusters. You drift... and drift.. and drift, all the while trying to get yourself to go forward once you've turned around. Dogfighting simply doesn't work in this game.

Then there are the missions.. The few mission options that seem to have less than a 50% chance of not bugging out. Where ships that are supposed to be at a navpoint end up not being there.. Where the mission can drift on for 40 minutes without any flags being triggered for neither progress nor completion.. Where the mission just simply doesn't even exist at the navpoint..

One final thing to note, that, while I don't really hold this against the game as a game in order to pass judgement, is that you appear to be stuck with smallcraft ships only. I got this game hoping I could eventually fly a capital-class ship, but this does not seem to be a thing.

But, regardless of all those negatives, i do have a couple positive things to say about this game. First, the game is rather small in size, though admittedly, I feel like this is due to a lack of assets. The model range is very small, there's nothing super amazing about the textures. It is however a rather simple game. I am not sure it was meant to be much larger.

I would say that with some adjusting in both flight mechanics, the removal of the 99% hit rate of weaponfire, and replacing the paper hull with space worthy material, this could by itself be a decent game. But as things are, I cannot recommend this to anyone as a great game, especially for the pricetag.

You won't enjoy this game if you like dogfighting..
You won't enjoy this game if you like flying large ships.
You -may- however enjoy this game if you have 4 hands, and do not care about the above two..

Fun game for a few hours, but the complications were too much for me to enjoy further than that.

This game unfortunately requires you to have a computer network specialist on hand in order to play it, unless your ISP/modem happens to be set up in a specific unconvential way.

I purchased this game little over a week ago, attempted to connect, and was greeted with a "DELTA" error, telling me the service was not available. What went from a light browse for a quick solution quickly turned into being required to take a course on network administration. And I am not talking about simply forwarding a few ports.

After spending hours on end attempting every surface solution in the book and then some, aside from digging into all the advanced settings in my router, and spending even more hours restarting my router, and computer with every troubleshooting step, I am simply finished attempting to play a game through a service that I am not even hosting.

If they can't get their multiplayer game that -they- are hosting, to work for people attempting to play it, then there is something they are doing incorrectly. Again, i could understand if it was the players hosting the games, but this isn't the case here. They've done something terribly wrong.

At first, I really liked this game.. No real reason. It was aesthetically cute, and the cash shop was mostly there for little "pretties".

Unfortunately, I am writing this review as a negative, as I cannot suggest this game to anyone due to the practices of the company. In short, once you start buying points with real cash, if you choose to stop buying, they will ban your account.

I had been playing this game for a little while, and purchased quite a bit of points, but when my points started piling up and I just felt i had nothing to truly spend them on, I ceased buying, only to be greeted with an email a few months later stating that "for my protection" a ban has been placed on my account due to billing inactivity. They inform you to contact support on their website, and provide transaction histories that you cannot access, due to not even being able to log into your account. If you attempt to, you are greeted with a messege saying your account is frozen for "violation of terms of services".

Don't believe me? Run a google search. The issue speaks for itself. It is not that I did anything illigal. I did not violate terms of service. The company banned me for choosing not to buy "optional" points via real cash, on their "free to play" game.

Stumbling on Geovox for me seemed like a dream come true. My profession that I was never able to obtain myself was to be a modellor. Of both characters, aswell as landscapes. I absolutely love designing scenery, and have worlds stacked up in my head just waiting to be shared, so naturally I was already hyped about this program.. However, that enthusiasm made this program all the more frustrating. Within not half an hour of using the program, I encountered several bugs that prevented me from doing much anything at all.

The first time i launched the game, I was looking around the scenery. Not even touching any of the tools, and Geovox crashed. I dismissed it for the time being, and passed it off as an uncommon occurance..

The next time I loaded up the program, it did not crash, and seemed to be running fine. I was clicking through the tools, testing out different grass types, when instead of placing grass, i started placing only the initial rock terrain. No matter what other tools i tried to select, I could not place anything at all.. I closed the program and relaunched..

The third time around, I spent about 5 minutes continuing to try out the look of different grass types, when i noticed the undo stopped functioning. ctrl+z would not undo anything. I tried selecting it from the menu aswell, and it refused to work.. Yet again, i closed the program, and set it aside for another day...

The next time I got around to trying again, the undo was working again, and I didn't spend much time placing anything like grass or trees, but I was curious about the generator.. I set some of the texture types to various things, and the generator seemed to be working.. Eventually though, the undo stopped working yet again. This time, i saved the scenery, and exited. Upon reloading the program, i immidiately went for the generator again, but it kept getting stuck on 1%.. It would clear the terrain so all i could see was rock, and then nothing would happen. The bar would just stay at 1% for several minutes. I was still able to press the "undo" button on the generation progress though. I tried several times, and it kept doing it.

At this point, I headed over to the forum to see if anyone else was having these problems, and to my surprise it didn't appear they were, atleast I could not find any threads regarding them.. So i posted a thread describing what had been happening, and asking if the program was still being worked on. I was greeted by dev responses, which was nice, and even more so, a personal offering to contact them on skype to see if they could help me through it, when i had the time. I'm a busy individual, and my motivation for geovox was pretty shot by this point, so I put that on hold for a couple days.

Three days later, I returned to the forum to view the thread for his skype offering, so i could add him, because I was eager to get this working again. Much to my surprise, my thread was nowhere to be found. It had infact been deleted.

This quickly answered my question as to why i couldn't find anyone else having these issues on the board, or atleast In my view, it's a distinct possibility. I do not know why they deleted my thread, but I personally take that as a hint that they do not want anyone to see that anything is wrong with their program. For this reason, I need to give this a negative review, as is neither my geovox functional, but I cannot endorse developers who actively hide disfunctionality.

Beautiful artwork, atmosphere, and feelings fill this platformer with peace of mind even as you're struggling to get through the most difficult gameplay areas, but the self-fullfillment and emotional attachment makes even the difficulty curve relaxing.

I am not typically a fan of platformer games, though I do play a few of them. What past games have been exceedingly frustrating to overcome obstacles, leaving me putting the game away for an undefined period of time, Ori has managed to pull the game together in such a way that the experience is enjoyable even when you're faced with a difficulty you can't seem to overcome.

The people who put this game together are geniuses, to say the least. I would recommend this to anyone who asks about it, as it was an experience that makes me feel compelled to play it again even after completing it, which is not something I can often say for a linear game.