Recent reviews by gr8m8

A colorful, musical, and modern take on the classic Tetris formula.

The game is visually stunning, has an engrossing single player "Journey" mode, multiple different "effect" modes to spice up the game, and multiplayer with multiple interesting modes as well.

The good:
-The visuals are REALLY good. Stunning, even.
-The music is quality, and the game has this trick where music effects are connected to Tetris piece drops/spins (see what it did there?)
-The variety of modes is high, including rather niche modes like classic score attack for the NES/Classic Tetris fans out there (Multiplayer head-to-head) and new takes like "combo" mode where you play to destroy series of garbage blocks with as many back-to-back line clears as possible
- "Connected" co-op mode is a very cool concept, and can be really fun when you have good teammates...

The bad:
-In "Connected" mode, teammates can grief you during the team attack phase by simply waiting and never dropping pieces, or by stacking them up to end the team attack early. This can be pretty frustrating. I do wish there was some in-game functionality to avoid or even report these users, but it doesn't seem possible.

VR really makes the world of Half-Life come alive in a way a tv/monitor never could. You never truly realize how large and scary headcrabs or antlions are until they're literally leaping towards you. You will not regret playing.

10/10 this game blew my mind.

Touhou: Luna Nights is an extremely enjoyable metroidvania/platformer game that does a brilliant job adapting the art, music, and even mechanics like graze of the main Touhou games into a cohesive and engaging experience. Although a little short (I spent about ~8 hours to achieve main story and extra stage clear, but didn't find everything) the core experience is so strong that it still makes for a worthwhile purchase.

If you're a fan of Touhou and metroidvania games in general, then you'll surely enjoy Touhou: Luna Nights and this is a must-buy. Otherwise if you're on the fence due to the short length, I'd still recommend purchasing but maybe wait to see if it goes on sale.


*tl;dr Is good Touhou game. Is good metroidvania style game. You will enjoy stopping time and slinging countless knives at magical foes.*

Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a highly engaging sci-fi spaceship deconstruction sim game that, despite its early access label, manages to create an enthralling world to slip into for a few hours (if you can excuse some EA bugs that the devs seem to be actively addressing).

The good:

The combination of folky/bluesy guitar playing over your space suit's radio, interspersed with alerts from your friendly shipyard attendant with a southern drawl, Weaver, really sets a good mood for the player to slip into a 'zen mode' where it's just you, your laser cutter, and a spaceship that's all yours to slice and dice. When the ship is in pieces, claim your spoils by using your grappling tool to create 'tethers', which drag them to either the barge or the processor to be collected/processed, in exchange for monetary compensation of course.

But be warned, shipbreaking is no easy (or safe!) task- compressed cabins must be safely decompressed, fuel tanks must be handled with care, and reactors are highly unstable and prone to violent and massive explosions if removed from ships incorrectly, so be careful and keep your wits about you! You'll probably blow yourself up at least a few times in the beginning, but learning exactly what order to deconstruct parts in and how to do it efficiently yet also safely is definitely a rewarding process. You'll also have to watch out that you don't destroy valuable items, run out of oxygen, or most hilariously: accidentally process yourself. (Pro tip: hold and click with the grapple tool on a heavy item, and use the right click to escape its pull)

So come on, sign up with Lynx Corporation (corporate overlords of Earth) to attempt to lift yourself out of poverty! You know it'll be more exciting than whatever you have going on on this trash pile we call Earth!

The bad:

- Some random crashes where you can lose a few hours progress
- Some slow framerates when performing tasks like cycling airlocks and pulling very large items into the processor/incinerator
- Some visual glitches, like some sections of pipes disappearing at farther distances, even though the rest of it moves like it is still whole
- Lack of a traditional narrative, outside of lore/world building and logs that you can read from data drives you can recover from ships. (but were you really looking for that in a sim game anyway?)

I absolutely, positively reccomend this game. Set in the wilderness of Wyoming, it unfolds a fascinating story shrouded in mystery and suspense following a man who's lost his love and secluded himself from his loss by taking a job as Firewatcher. The music really pulls you in, and the visuals are iconic, using a mix of HDR in the short range and cell shading for distant objects like mountain ranges. It really sets you in the protaganist's shoes. I just finished it last night, and I'm going to play it again right now.

I love this game. It's style is simplistic, and its challenges are brain-bending. Definitely good fun for anyone who enjoys difficult and inventive puzzle games.

This game is CRAZY! I love it!!!