Nedávné recenze uživatele Padre Snowmizzle

Don't normally put my two cents in on Steam, but screw it. Haven't done a 'review' in a while. Going to be semi-brief, spoiler-ish-free.


I'll rip the band-aid off and state the hottest of takes... Squeaks, and to anyone reading, it is an okay game. A really chill okay game, at that. I had a pleasant time playing the 2023 edition, as it felt like a natural experience. What you'd expect from a game of that era created by indie devs who wanted to jump onto the newest console and get the financial backing for it.


I remember playing a much earlier version of this game a few years back, might still have it on a flash drive even. The other edition/gamemode that you unlock for completing 2023, that experience felt pretty similar to that initial build. The minigames, the spooks, etc. were moderately changed, but at heart remained the same.

That is not a bad thing, let me state that now. I recall telling Squeaks that the BIG scares didn't have as much impact knowing how they were delivered, but not what was delivered. What was delivered, in both the old build and this release build, is very good... in small, unexpected doses. What I'm getting at, I think these could've been built up much more, and I remember making a similar comment during the early build. Small scares or odd details to make you think you glimpsed something, that's what I was hoping for more of. If I were to question myself more and more, I'd be more distracted/nervous for when something big actually arrived, thus having more impact.


To be broad, as to not push too far into the game's narrative, the more discoveries you make, the more danger you're in. You'd think, "Okay, the game's trying to stop me, gonna try to get in my way every now and again."

First: enemies are exclusive to certain areas despite being mentioned they can tail you anywhere. When I tell you I was praying for an odd enemy or two to sudden appear out of nowhere in the hub, a place I'd feel the most safe, I was on my knees. Never happened, which feels like a real shame. I was expecting this after gaining access to a specific area, and they didn't actually appear until much later when they were first mentioned. In a way, I felt spoiled knowing what to expect, but not so much when to expect it. I hit the plaza and just knew, despite there being a lot of hiding spots beforehand, that I'd be in danger.

Secondly: a jumpscare every single time you're seen/spotted is not needed. Adds to the prior problem of the game having too many BIG scares in quick succession if you know what you're doing. Actually ended up dying pretty unfairly at some points because of this, and having enemies either teleport on top of me as I was running away from another enemy, or trap me in a hiding spot, causing me to die.

Lastly: I didn't really feel much of a threat was approaching once I figured out the enemies were going to put me in a timeout corner where I had to find a code to leave it. Knitpicky, I know, so take that with a grain of salt; as a more user-friendly experience, I can respect it.


It wasn't too much, but I think there were too many puzzles that relied on video watching/editing to even start thinking about what to do. Reliance on YouTube is dodgey due to it not always being there and available. Had that happen at least once or twice, and I'm not sure why? Without certain videos, I couldn't solve puzzles, and thus, had to look at guides. I feel I shouldn't have to look at a guide, but some puzzles were really profound. Then a few manuals are added in, top that off with a whole separate program to install externally from Steam... it had to be dialed back. IMSCARED respected the boundaries, kept external sources to a minimum, and most puzzles could be solved from within the game. Didn't need to learn musical key signatures, or cipher, or anythin' like that.

I will say, it was all neat the first time, but after that, one after another of writing many numbers/clues, some of which were designed to lead to nothing... it lost my puzzle-solving enjoyment. Felt more like a slog of running around, backtracking, getting set back by enemies, guessing and failing several times. For the record, I did 100% it, including secrets, so I'm not speaking out my rear.


Generally, there are some things that should've been toned down in favor of a longer, enriching experience that's meant to emulate the idea of an old game that gets more corrupt as time passes. More levels could've existed, more character moments, anything to connect me to the in-universe game, and make the impact of it all falling apart without my knowledge all the more stronger. None of this is bad, but it wasn't what I was expecting, and at times, hoping for. If you enjoy it all, awesome! There's moments to enjoy, for sure.


The in-universe game. All of the characters, both in-game and corruptions. Music. Cutscenes. All of it, well done. I wanted more time with it, and it makes me yearn for the two gamemodes to coexist as one, where the main focus is still the game and the in-game characters. Minigames were simplistic and enjoyable; could be made for any age (although wall-jumping is a right pain, lol). The puzzles, the first time, were really creative! I'd recommend this, absolutely, but this is the sort of game where you should know what you're getting yourself into. Hopefully that's insightful enough, and I certainly don't mind discussion on the subject matter. Have a lovely day.

Studio Snowspot and T. Allen Studios' The Emulator was created in an extremely short amount of time for Scream Jam 2018, which is a thing people seemed to have missed within their reviews, and from a polishing standpoint, the game's vastly improved from what it was in the past. I'm gonna lay down the reasons as to why I think the game shouldn't be getting as much crap as it has been from certain reviewers, and why you should give it a fair shot considering it's free. Of course, be mindful for spoilers!


The Emulator has a really weird way of structuring the foundation of the game's lore, given this had to be whipped up to then be executed into a functioning game. The characters base roles are all pretty straight forward, I suppose: Sarah's the daughter who's the average one, along with her mother to a degree, while her father's in a cult and the son's locked away doing God-knows-what on the deep web. It's almost like there's some sort of A plot and B plot, A being the daughter and mother being concerned for the father's cult interests, while the son is exploring the terrors of the deep web in B. These plots do connect, as the son probably mistakenly purchases this Emulator (or shapeshifting imitator/mimic) and brings the disguised being into the home. The father blames himself for his cult following being the cause of the monster, but knows enough about it to provide Sean, Sarah's boyfriend who went to visit on Halloween and serves as our protagonist, information about how to beat it in a particular ending. Unfortunately, I was unable to get any endings in my first-time playthrough, so I can't provide details, even if I wanted to. I think if you interpret the story as two separate plots that meet together for when the game takes place, then it kinda makes sense.


While yes, I agree that The Emulator still suffers a bit from lack of instruction for secondary objectives beyond, "Find a way to survive," and the stealth being pretty minimal in most cases to make it seem like a word thrown in to appease people, these same people don't quite seem to get how the monster works, and then rant when they can't get far into the game without dying out of the blue. If you actually read the game's description, or get far enough into the game to read up on it, this shapeshifter will take the shape of objects within the house, most of the time being blatantly obvious (it'd lose a game of, "hide and seek," almost immediately). Patience wore people down, which is where a lot of the mixed reviews come into... which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, considering you should at least know what you're talking about in full before you go and rant, but ey, what do I know, right? Honestly, the mechanics are just fine, if not pretty creative for a game made around this time of jumpscares and restrictions-on-movement galore. You should always feel like it's hunting you, because in reality, that's of course what it's doing in a tiny property like that. The lighting works well with adding to the challenge, although it wouldn't hurt to throw in an option to adjust the brightness.


The Emulator nails the PS1 graphics... shame it does hurt to look at after a while, but at least they were generous enough to provide an option to make the game sharper, so that little attention to detail is warmly welcomed.


If there's one thing I agree with the majority on, it's that The Emulator has a limited, annoying track problem while in-game. Having that loop fade in after an encounter with the shapeshifter, and then fade away sometime after, would be a perfect opportunity to allow for ambiance to really work its magic for the Emulator, not the environment so much, although that'd be more than welcome.


The Emulator was clunky and rough back during the initial release, but now it's pretty damn polished, like I've mentioned. There may be a few visual issues, like doors and cabinets clipping through other doors, cabinets and walls. Perhaps a cabinet may even open one way and flip to the completely other side as it's, "closed," but don't let this take you away from the game. The only other thing I may mention is the blood spatter from taking damage being a bit too much, but that's really up to preference.


The Emulator has its flaws, as most games do, but at least the developers stuck around and bandaged up their errors before their game hit the dust. These patches made the game much more playable for the patient and attentive, making evasions from the shapeshifter all the more rewarding. You'll get annoyed, sure, but the experience overall is an enjoyable one I couldn't recommend any more than what I already have... and it even won a few awards within Scream Jam 2018! Seriously, try it for yourself if you don't believe me. Thanks for readin', and I'll see ya'll again soon!


The Emulator was played on my channel, so why not watch little ol' me play it to see what my reactions were firsthand? Here you go... and also, I roast reviews a bit at the end, so enjoy: https://youtu.be/jB7KhnpHpj0

INTRODUCTION:

Bezerk Studios' Just Shapes and Beats was well worth the approximate four years of development, and has definitely earned the praise it's received so far... but why? How could a game that's simply comprised of simple-colored shapes and bass-heavy beats be so well liked by those who have played and seen what the game has to offer?Welp, who else better to talk about this musical masterpiece than a fellow musician and gamer like me? Let's talk about why this game is one of the best experiences of 2018 that I'd recommend ten-fold to you viewers! Spoilers, of course.

STORY/LORE:

I think the most simplistic aspect of Just Shapes and Beats may not even be the shapes or beats, but rather the classic stories of, "good vs. evil," and, "devil vs. angel," that make up the gist of the lore. The game begins with the good cube versus the big bad devil going at it... even before the universe is created, so this rivalry stood the tests of time before time was even a construct. The good cube manages to contact a magical set of triangles that allow it to essentially be God and create their own world, banishing the defeated demon to a cave deep underground. While exploring this world full of nature, the good cube and a follower come across the demon's cave, waking it from its slumber and causing it to seek power from the triangles. Breaking free from its prison, it creates carnage and transforms the world into its own image. It's up to the cube and its followers to banish the demon once more before it completely wipes the world to start fresh. Within the end credits, we see that the demon is wearing a set of blue headphones and DJ-ing a blue DJ booth, which bears a striking color similarity to the good cube. Yes, this means the demon has seen the error of its ways and didn't quite like the power surge it had to feel gaining power once more. The good and bad now live in harmony to create music together in a satisfying ying-yang message: you can't have good without the bad, as both coexist wherever you may be.

GAMEPLAY:

Are you a fan of Undertale? Deltarune? Well, Just Shapes and Beats is pretty much the, "Toby Fox: The Musical," of gaming right here. Out of all the rythym-based bullethells I've seen and played from Steam releases, this by far hit the bullseye the closest. In Story mode, you get a surprising mix of hub action and track action so it isn't just limited to the tracks being the difficult part... but as I say that, it seems you can't die within the hub, which is strange, but whatever. My only request is a Level Editor, but I can understand if the concern is people using licensed music without the artists' permission.

VISUAL AESTHETIC:

Just Shapes and Beats is very simplistic in appearance, considering we're only dealing with shapes. With this said, even I can appreciate all of the work that was put into the coding behind every single movement, between the positioning and the timing to the music. At least they were kind enough to have an option to toggle, "I'MGONNAHAVEASEIZURE," mode on and off, hahah.

AUDITORY AESTHETIC:

The music producers behind the soundtrack of Just Shapes and Beats are a whole crowd of talented folk. Even if you don't want to play the game, or you'd rather have Party mode enabled for your party, just take a bit and listen to these artists. They've outdone themselves, and they're still working to this day to send out even more tracks and levels!

BUGS, GLITCHES, AND OTHER ISSUES:

Just Shapes and Beats is a fantastic game that wasn't quite spotless at release. According to patch notes, the game was fixed up within the first couple of weeks of release for hit registration, but even then, I still find that to be an issue both in online Challenge mode and Story mode. Whether it's for lag compensation or not, if I see that I'm gonna be hit, don't hold back on the punch. At the very least, find a way to make it more consistent, as this is my only major issue with the game other than a lack of a workshop being put in place as of right now. I suppose another request would be for more bosses, but then again, it's only a minor complaint.

OVERALL?

Just Shapes and Beats is well deserving of any and all awards it has or will eventually get thanks to Berzerk Studios. The killer soundtrack is crucial to the visuals and core gameplay, and without out, it wouldn't be recognized as one of the best musical games of 2018. My best regards go out to the entire team, the musicians and artists, and their family and friends! Thank you all for reading this review, and I hope you're having a wonderful day so far!

YOUTUBE PLAYTHROUGH:

Just Shapes and Beats was played while me and my friends were screaming in terror and joy at the pretty shapes coming to kill us, so here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhqh8Eriu6Q&list=PLXbc-BwqTyirPHULwK-d6GOGqEwFzbwW4

INTRODUCTION:

You know, The Strangers was just one of those games I recorded months ago and never chose to upload the footage for numerous reasons. For the most part, it was because it was a lot of complaining about the many flaws this game had being made in the FPS Maker. To save you all the trouble of hearing my repetitive comments aloud, and considering the footage has long since been deleted, I'm going to give you my thoughts on this game.

STORY/LORE:

Looking back at it now, The Strangers was amongst this short little trend of home invasion horror games that surfaced around the time of Welcome to the Game 2. With this said, you can pretty much guess how the story goes, and if not, let me summarize it for you. You're alone for miles and a crew of killers decide you're their next target, eventually steering you into their home. After you discover their home and escape, you're immediately captured again to die. As far as I recall, that's the gist of the game's story.

GAMEPLAY:

The Strangers will tend to have unclear objectives to the point where you're wandering around for at least twenty minutes before finding the solution to a objective. Most of the gameplay commentary can fall under the second-to-last section, so I'll reserve those comments until then.

VISUAL AESTHETIC:

Well, I'll say that at least The Strangers features one of the more eerie environments to come out of a FPS Maker horror game. Unfortunately, the game relies on a lot of darkness at some points, making navigation and seaching for items extremely difficult, therefore making it all the more frustrating to endure. My personal tip is to make sure completing objectives that require small items or certain events to occur is not happening in the same space or time as extreme darkness without a handheld light source.

AUDITORY AESTHETIC:

The Strangers had a mixed bag of audio production. On one hand, some sounds did indeed work, and I remember that I admittedly got a bit tense after hearing the first stranger come into the protagonist's home. On the other hand, the audio had a tendancy to either not fit the mood, or bug out.

BUGS, GLITCHES, AND OTHER ISSUES:

I could be here for at least an hour discussing the many minor flaws of The Strangers, but there are a few that outshine the tiny mistakes by a landslide.

• The first stranger was a pretty disappointing death, making me think he'd actually chase me down instead of giving me a stare down before it cuts away. This set the tone for the rest of the encounters with the strangers to also end up disappointing. It's a shame too, considering the delivery beforehand.
  
• The game crashed a few times for what seemed like no real good reason, which fueled my disinterest in this game by quite the significant amount.
  
• Objectives were very unclear regardless of the tip. Finding the solution to completeing some objectives was a brutal time waste that shouldn't have existed in the first place, and sometimes it was because of the dark or poorly detailed environments, which is why I personally recommend against using the FPS Maker for a horror game unless you're 100% confident in not just your technical skills, but with your comprehension of how a short horror should flow almost seamlessly.
  
• To top off all of what I said prior, I wasn't a fan of the ending, reassuring me I wasted over an hour of my time on crashes and poorly executed gameplay.

OVERALL?

The Strangers are probably long since gone, but I would highly advise people to watch a content creator play a FPS Maker game made by the same developer of the game you're interested in before purchasing it. Sure, the refund option exists, but wouldn't you want to know just a lil' bit of what you're about to thrust yourself into? It's simply my opinion, you do whatever you please with your cash. All I'm doing is recommending against this game because it falls under the same sort of issues with most FPS Maker horrors, which consist of many technical errors and lackluster horror that can wear off when you're stuck on an obscure puzzle for almost half an hour. Watch for what you buy before charging in expecting a fantastic time solely based on a few positve reviews. You are your own reviewer; decide for yourself, I'd say. I'm simply telling you what I experienced and felt towards this game.

INTRODUCTION:

Well, I'll be upfront with those who are reading this review... American Patriots: The Swamp Fox is still 100% guaranteed NOT worth six bucks. Let me break it down as to why you probably shouldn't get this game from Cult Software, and instead get one of their other games if you're into board games or American history.

UPDATE:

I have not been able to play the latest gamemode that was inserted into American Patriots: The Swamp Fox quite yet, but to be honest, I'm not entirely sure I'd want to check it out. I'll fully update the review when I get around to it, but this may or may not be up-to-date pros and cons, so keep that in mind when reading on.

STORY/LORE:

The whole game is spent reliving an ambush scene from The Patriots... yeah, that's it. Look up the scene from that movie, and you'll get the gist of the game.

GAMEPLAY:

Again, watch the scene. The gameplay is made for you to eventually die off from the mass floods of redcoats, which isn't really fun and ruins any possible replayability that American Patriots: The Swamp Fox may have had.

VISUAL AESTHETIC:

The environment in American Patriots: The Swamp Fox is green, swampy, and muggy. The redcoats are faceless, but I will say that hitboxes have been fixed up; it may not help for the rest of what I'm about to spout it, but it is something to consider. The pellets that are shot from the redcoats' muskets look almost like Bullet Bills from the Mario franchise, which ruins a bit of the emersion when I know that bullets the size of cannonballs are getting shot at me. Speaking of the bullets, they also lag a lot, along with everything else, so judging their movement speed and timing is really funky. Finally, motion blur has to go; I normally wouldn't get sick from motion blur, but I actually started to feel ill from looking at the screen after a while.

AUDITORY AESTHETIC:

The redcoats of American Patriots: The Swamp Fox don't make any distinct noise when they're walking up on you, but only when they shoot at you. Easy gameovers occur from running circles and not hearing a redcoat walk up behind me. Let's not forget the flute music in this game that could cause auditory seizures... wait, that isn't a thing? Aight, imagine nails on a chalkboard combined with a flute playing the highest note they can right in your ears.

BUGS, GLITCHES, AND OTHER ISSUES:

Apparently the guy behind American Patriots: The Swamp Fox promised, "zombie redcoats," but I saw nothing of the sort. For a, "Halloween," game, there isn't much spookiness to be had from this. Seems more like an Independence Day-esc game more than a horror-filled treat. Hitboxes were crap at times, the idea you cannot really live for more than a minute or so is kind of a joke, and the game is so laggy and disorienting that I simply couldn't take the sickness anymore.

OVERALL?

American Patriots: The Swamp Fox is, simply put, a game to avoid. This Halloween game is nothing more than a laggy Independence Day game with the intent on making sure you can't even live more than a few minutes to enjoy a SINGLE aspect of it. Play one of their board games on Steam; they seem aight.

YOUTUBE PLAYTHROUGH:

American Patriots: The Swamp Fox was played while I blathered about possibly beginning Twitch streaming and such, so here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWkLr9blXnk

Glowstick Entertainment has quite the interesting team working on Dark Deception. Vinny's previous work was Dead Acres, while Nikson's previous work includes The Joy of Creation: Story Mode. You'd imagine with both of their programming prowess that this game could go off without a hitch, bumps, or scrapes... but that may not be the case. Then again, I may be wrong, since this review will be covering Chapter 1 as of October 22, 2018. Let's see if the experience in horror from Vinny and Nikson pays off!


More or less, the main story for Dark Deception is pretty straight forward. You, the player, did something horrible and are in a purgatory-like state to determine the outcome of your death. While this is only Chapter 1, we already have two characters that conflict with our ability to trust either one, so we'll have to see how these relations with the characters develop, and what exactly we did as the protagonist to get into this purgatory state of being.


Ever play Pacman? If so, then you know what to expect in Dark Deception... minus the enemies. You have three lives, you can earn XP and levels to use towards upgrades and abilities, and you have a map, but the enemies differ every map. They each have their own mechanics and means of dealing with them, which is always appreciated to give the game some variety. I can also respect the added challenge to include intelligent AI for the Murder Monkeys so you can't simply chain them. I have a few suggestions on power-ups within the current map, but that'll be discussed further within the review.


Coming from a character artist, I can dig the designs of each character and the foes you encounter in your playthrough of Dark Deception. With this said, I hope this trend continues with the expansion of maps and character designs to give the game that much more flavor. As a tiny knit-pick, for one, I wish the character animations within cutscenes would idle after so they aren't still statues. The other knit-pick being that Bierce has lip-syncing at times within the lair, sometimes not. Lip-sync would be nice, if it could be done.


All of the directional audio within Dark Deception is well done, simple as that. The voice acting is professional-grade and fits for the characters in question. The only thing I should mention is the almost unnecessary... light awkward noises coming from Bierce within her lair as she idles? I don't know, those idle noises just seem weird to me. Personally, I can't focus on hearing footsteps when I have intense music building up my anxiety to distract me, so I kinda had to turn it off. I don't think that's really important, but I figured it'd be worth noting when the team is working on future foes and their soundtracks.


As far as I'm aware, Dark Deception didn't have any bugs or glitches I came across within Chapter 1. Earlier I had mentioned how I have a few suggestions in terms of the current in-map power-ups. The power-up to see enemies should work to where there's a medium sized-radius that you can have permanently provided you don't die; it'd be fair/useful enough to get yourself out of a pinch to avoid getting cornered in a loop. As for the stun, I feel like enemies under the effect of the stun should create a blip on the map for a second or less so you can at least see where you have to go when they become active again. These are just suggestions, so feel free to comment on what you think of the current power-ups, or whether you like or dislike these ideas!


Dark Deception had quite the climb, going from the Unity engine to the Unreal Engine, and it's certainly improved over the years thanks to the efforts of Vinny and Nikson. With a horror-Pacman vibe and a potentially interesting backstory, the game deserves the award it earned. However, I would wait for the season pass before pressing to purchase the next chapter immediately in the worst case scenario that the quality degrades over the months. Research before you buy, I'd say, but don't let me stop you if you want to support the game; it's your call! With all of this said and done, thank you for reading my review, and I hope you have a lovely day.


Dark Deception was played on my channel, so why not watch little ol' me play it to see what my reactions were firsthand? Here you go: https://youtu.be/duwVzfz2m-s

Big Robot's been known for a few titles, mostly being Sir, You Are Being Hunted where a goofy gaggle of English robots take over and find enjoyment in the sport of human-headhunting. Seizing the opportunity, they took the idea of that game and removed the goofiness and sunshine, giving us The Light Keeps Us Safe. Before I begin, I would like to thank Big Robot for providing me a free copy to evaluate their work for each update. With that out of the way, will we find that this is a proper successor to Sir, You Are Being Hunted, or find ourselves lost in the darkness of repetition? Let's take a look, fresh from playing the game as much as I could in its current Early Access stage.


The Light Keeps Us Safe has little to offer in terms of who we are, but we're told by a mysterious feminine voice via comms to get the hell out of our bunker and away from the killer machines. Many can speculate what happened to make these machines killers, but if you glance over to the game's description at the top of the page, you'll find that they are created by aliens. There are structures very similar to how the robots are designed, which I'm assuming is draining the lands of this planet's life. There's even a being made of light that you may spot along the coastline a few times. Other than these observations, there isn't much to go off of until more about the game is revealed.


As I mentioned, Big Robot took major inspiration from their previous work and stuck it into The Light Keeps Us Safe, but how much is actually in there? Well, there's a wide variety of foes that keep you guessing as to how they'll approach a confrontation, but they all share the commonly annoying zap attack, mostly because it throws the player off if they're in a pinch and they're surrounded. This leads into my main problem with the enemies: If you're stuck into a building, pinned against an elemental spotlight orb circling the building, a spotlight tower right outside the door, and a gigantic f*ckin' ship with two spolights constantly hovering over the building... you might as well give up. I had that exact scenario happen right at the end of my series of recordings, and all I managed to pull off was to crash my game in the loading screen after 12+ tries of sneaking and sprinting away from the building. Basically put, and I'm going say this as lovingly as possible:

Rebalance the bots and assume the player may be holed up in a building with one exit; other than that, the bots are pretty dumb.

I love everything else aside from the abysmal chance of getting medpacks in the later levels. Finally, I would be glad if the medication (you know, pills and all), could actually heal you by a tiny amount, because they did nothing for me. No noticeable speed buff, no health regen, NOTHIN'. One final note is that fall damage is way too harsh; you can fall a somewhat short distance and recieve a LOT of damage, which can screw you over in a pinch.


I'll give credit where credit is due, The Light Keeps Us Safe can be a very wonderful game to googley-eye at if you sit and watch the scenery without being hunted by threats. The initial areas at the start of the game are beautiful, and the style of the Corroded Streams are my absolute favorite thus far. The color scheme is perfectly shown: red means bad, blue is safe and hidden.


The Light Keeps Us Safe has some pretty disturbing robot noises, the environmental audio is reasonably varied, and for whatever reason, the player's feet are directional to the left and right of my ears for every step I take. I think they should be centered so I'm not thrown off when I need to listen for said disturbing robot noises. Generally speaking, the audio design's not too bad.


This list is currently compiled from me playing The Light Keeps Us Safe on the 19th of October, 2018...

• There are some pretty wide spaces where trash cans are set beside buildings, yet you cannot squeeze through them, which led to a number of irritating deaths. There are some objects on the ground you can't see that you'd get caught on in a chase, as well.
  
• Getting spotted results in lag, which is pretty annoying when you get stuck and you try to slip away, only to die because you couldn't move. This lag will stack with more robots catching you.
  
• The elemental spotlight orb is pretty overpowered and has no clear way in countering it. I would consider shining your blue ray at it until it permanently converts into a majorly less-harmful blue orb to be a nice counter for such an OP enemy when you're pinned.
  
• The crab-walking robot is honestly quite pathetic. It could really use a massive speed buff to make it quite the terrifying foe to avoid.
  
• The spotlight spaceship is absolute garbage since it will camp a building you're pinned in, making escape impossible at that point. Have it move on after not detecting the player outside, if you think that can help.
  
• Make melee-based humaniod automaton spotlight enemies based solely on the ground that can chase you into buildings, and maybe a variant for sneaking up on the player only to turn their light on and scream, surprising the player. Why do I say this? Well, the mine-looking robots hover, so... don't you think they should be able to hover vertically too so players that scale obstacles will have a bit more of a challenge? This should come at a cost of hover speed, since then I'd imagine the hovering robots would be less common than the ground-based automatons.
  
• The cloaked robots should be fully revealed with the eyebeam powerup, thus maybe allowing them to be buffed a bit to where you can't see them until you tap them? I dunno, or maybe when you're extremely close? Something along those lines.
  
• Medpacks spawn too little from looting in the later stages of the game, especially when you need to recover health to allow you to survive longer in a chase after being pinned. Pills should also be able to heal you, but for less.
  
• Shielded passageways and switches that require the blue beam to light up the respective switch should have some way to guide you to that switch other than, "Eh, it's around there."
  
• The game is poorly optimized, lagging and crashing at some points. The loading screens are horrible to sit through after every death. Give me the option to lower the quality of the game to make playing it that much easier.

The Light Keeps Us Safe is an interesting revision from Big Robot's previous work. The concept is really good, but the execution is severely lacking as of right now, both in some quality and mostly performance. I would hold on to your $20 until we see a completed project, but if you're really confident in the game, by all means, support it now. Thanks again to Big Robot for providing me a copy of the game with no charge! Thank you for reading, and I do hope you enjoy the rest of your day.


The Light Keeps Us Safe is currently featured on my channel, so why not watch my reactions firsthand? Here ya go: https://youtu.be/f2J49P0nTbw

SEPTEMBER 1999 is one of 98DEMAKE's pieces of experimental art, and this stands out as an interesting experience. Lately, I've been playing games that rely too heavily on jumpscares and questionably programmed AI to add a sense of iffy creep factor to the latest indie horror games. No surprise to anyone, but 98DEMAKE flipped the common nonsense upside down and created yet another short test, treading the waters for what to do, and what not to do. Let's get into this review that is going offer up a lot more than the mere five minutes the game was worth, shall we?


Ah 98DEMAKE, you thought some of us wouldn't go out of our way for a few minutes to look up the closest relation in events to the events of SEPTEMBER 1999? Well, there is actually a story in this game beyond the whole, "killer records his work for posterity," bit. Remember the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies? Those movies reflect the real Texas Chainsaw Massacre and serial killer Ed Gein. In 1999, Ed Gein was convicted of his many brutal murders, and got into serious trouble when they found out his wife was heavily abused. The game goes beyond mere abuse and the killer easily being arrested, but this was the closest connection I could find. Well done for that clever reference, if I'm right!


Want five minutes of unnervingness lead into shock and awe? SEPTEMBER 1999 has you covered. For the short amount of time the game allows you to play, you get to be a viewer of a killer's pride and joy. It's a walking sim, but a well designed walking sim that captures the feeling of finding disturbing lost footage you'd expect to see in the deep-end of the web. Short, simple, and straight-to-the-point without relying on cheap indie horror tactics, especially jumpscares.


SEPTEMBER 1999 is damn near one of the best representations of recorded footage via a crappy camera as of the day I create this review. The transitions between scenes are reasonable enough to pass, and I do like how the game just closes out. Perhaps creating a more, "interactive," experience geared towards the player would be in order? Maybe to the extent of a deep web horror that decides for you just how far you progress as a sense of worthiness to continue? Just a thought! Anywho, the scenery is pretty realistic too, especially with the recorded footage vibe offered up. Not bad at all.


SEPTEMBER 1999 pinned the tail on the donkey and made it scream with nice directional audio. In addition, the voice acting was pretty convincing, and the music was offputting enough to work!


As the final fifth of my new review format, it wouldn't be complete without mentioning bugs, glitches, and other issues I come across. SEPTEMBER 1999 is pretty much an exception excluding the door that leads into the killer's room. Pushing the door too far to the wall will cause it to freak out and whack the player a lil' bit away from the doorway. It isn't a major issue, but I thought it'd be funny to note.


SEPTEMBER 1999 took the safe route, and it paid off quite well with over 100 positive reviews and rereleases on Gamejolt and Itch.io. Considering the game's absolutely free, I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to experience this piece among 98DEMAKE's various works of experimental horror. Thank you for reading, and I do hope you enjoy the rest of your day!


SEPTEMBER 1999 was played on my channel, so why not watch little ol' me play it to see what my reactions were firsthand? Here you go: https://youtu.be/MlLwX9YjPYc

I'm late considering the day I uploaded my video on this, but here ya go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UQgxgVMVG4

With that said and done, it's time for me to review this driving horror game. Around the time another driving horror called Beware came out in it's super early access form, I wanted to experience one of the first driving horrors that released on Steam. I'm delighted to say that it was a crazy, rage-inducing, yet super stressful game... and with those good ol' spoilers coming close, I'm about to tell ya why.

-The story's pretty simple, if you ask me. The protagonist arrives at an old hag's home seeking the one thing they want in life. The hag banters on before agreeing and sends on your way to perform the ritual across town. Once you request something from the dark powers, a demon arrives to collect your soul. You rush out to your car and must drive back across town to the hag while purchasing a book, bell, and candle from different towns you drive through while maintaining your car, physical, and mental health. I'll leave the ending vague for those who are hooked so far to allow you to find out yourself... plus I couldn't reach it, so eh.

-The gameplay varies on each run... which translates to how lucky you are as you stop at each town looking for cash and items. Will a carjacker get you, or will it be a car not bothering to get out of the way when they are clearly driving on the wrong side of the road? Who knows, and as much as I raged at this game for it's randomness, I enjoyed myself because driving in a clusterf*ck of a road with natural and unnatural obstacles had me at the edge of my seat. Unlike Beware , the roads are very linear, and you only move left and right, as well as accelerate and reverse. However, don't take this as a negative, because this actually adds to the tension of making sure you avoid obstacles and such. It's hectic and enjoyable, let's leave it at that.

-This is a pixelated horror game, so of course the audio has to become distorted and add several layers of, "f*cked up," every couple of seconds. Each event triggers based on your sanity level, so the more insane you are, the more the audio's going to distort, which is a nice detail to feature!

Dead End Road may have outlived it's popularity a while ago due to Beware becoming popular for a while, but this remains a classic experience to veterans of the indie horror genre. Hell, even newcomers can get scared sh*tless by this game's creepiness. I may not have been able to complete it, but I still believe this blends stress and terror pretty well as a driving horror experience. If you want to make sure you can save acouple of bucks, try it for less than two hours, then see what you think of it in case you aren't particularly fond of the game. Thank ya'll for reading this far, and I hope I've enlightened you enough about this game to help with your purchase. Have a lovely day, folks.

Yada yada, some link to a video of mine for this game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtB66jY-alI&t=8s

UPDATE: So... a dead community with a developer who only gives out keys... that sounds really odd. Why, it sounds odd enough for me to switch this review result to a Not Recommended. Communication, man! You need the communication and the actual changes to show within the game for reviewers like us to provide more constructive (and generally better) feedback! My thanks go out to the Horror Network and Fragnostic for pointing that out, and aditional apologies for not digging into the grave that is the game's community. The original review is right here, and it still pretty says what I want to say, but adressing this matter was my priority after what I discovered. For a straight 10-20 minute run without being a completionist, this is not worth two bucks, sorry.

Now with that said and done, let's get right into this game. Given to me through Steam Curator by Matthew, I was delighted to provide feedback for someone who spent so long working on this series in conceptualization, but how well did it perform during it's execution phase? Welp, let's find out... and yeah, there's spoilers of course.

-The story... well actually, this is only the first chapter of a series, so I can't really say much about the overall story, including backstory. I can keep it simple by saying that a mother passed away due to some reason, and her husband blames their daughter for their loss. Additionally, there's some shadow figure that bothers the daughter, who's the main protagonist. This being convinces Kara to betray her abusive father's trust and steal the family's car to drive to, "Paradise Park," which I could only wonder what that could mean. However, I'll reserve my overall judgement of the story until I experience an entire story, m'kay?

-The gameplay reminded me a bit of My Safe House, a game I played to provide feedback to the developers. This game, much like My Safe House, has a pretty realistic setting with decent gameplay to boot. However, it's only a bit less minimalistic. While there is something looking for you, it's only your father. There's no real tension or build-up to give a real reason to fear Kara's father other than, "He's abusive," which just isn't enough for me. Show me a very good reason why I, the player, should fear this man that I can't outrun. Which also reminds me, it's strange how he just forgets about you once you lock him out, and he especially pretends like you never exist if you enter his bedroom. Lastly, this particular chpater is just way too short, and should be free so people can get a taste of what's to come before they go all in, like how Telltale handles some of their content as of recently. Other than these flaws, I'll give credit where credit is due: there's some humor sprinkled in to boot with multiple ways to distract the father, which is always appreciated for gameplay variety!

-The audio's generally alright. I can appreciate an original score and voice acting to boot.

Yeah, there's not much else to say really. This first chapter is generally too short to provide a great deal of feedback, but this shows promise if the game's steered in the right direction, especially one covering such a topic as abuse. With all of this said, thank you Matt for letting me try out your game, I hope ya'll thought of this as a good review, and I'll see ya soon!