Recent reviews by PrettyFrank

Hard to recommend it at this stage TBH. I played for a bit, it all felt pretty pointless, the building seemed a complete afterthought compared to most survival/crafting games (e.g. Valheim/Enshrouded), and while cute, overall it seems to be targeting young kids, not teenage/adult gamers.

PROS
- pretty world
- kinda fun button-mashing combat
- fun to explore and go off the beaten path (you'll be rewarded with loot)

CONS
- aimless wandering
- no hint at what skills you can unlock even do until you unlock them... then still no description
- progression seems more automatic than deliberate
- zero need (in the brief time I played it) to craft anything, or even consider what all the resources you've been collecting are for. I'm sure this changes eventually, but that's a pretty dull intro.
- combat is "cute", but super low skill

OVERALL
- this seems basically a "cozy" version of something like Breath of the Wild, where the goal is just run around admiring the world, collecting the hidden resource nodes, but doing nothing with them.

Took awhile to catch me, but it definitely has something a bit special.

I'd say the closest thing to it I can think of is Risk of Rain 2 - basically the same gameplay loop of risk vs reward as you try to scale hard enough to take down each phase boss.

Ultimately, each character plays pretty differently, and rewards understanding the skills, getting lucky, and honestly just perfecting the flow of the character (each being slightly different). Definitely rewards skilling up over pure button mashing.

Definitely would recommend.

Plays like crap... on a freaking 9800X3D + 5090.

This is a garbage trend of devs... releasing games so poorly optimized that even otherworldly setups like mine can't even play it at max settings. What did they even develop it on? Or who did they develop it for? Gamers in 2035?

I can't even maintain a rock-solid 60fps here at 3440x1440 (read: not even 4K resolution).

Boob physics simulator [barely] disguised as a poorly voice-acted action game. It's 2025 - we have websites that let you skip the game and see the real thing, or better yet, get a girlfriend and go a step further.

Couldn't get past the opening scenes, it was so cringe. Not sure what I'm missing, given the overwhelmingly positive reviews.

One of the weaker versions of a tower defense I've played over the years. Literally impossible to pass even the first level without multiple grinds and unsatisfying upgrades to accomplish. As a result, this feels slow, grindy, and far less about strategy or cleverness.

Graphics are cute, but don't make up for the rest.

See hours played. Fun puzzle/strategy/roguelite. Balance isn't great, and you'll likely end up funneling into a single strategy eventually, but pretty fun regardless, and the RNG helps keep it interesting.

Stacked up against its direct competitors (Vampire Survivors, Megabonk, Brotato, or any of a myriad of roguelite wave shooters, this just simply doesn't justify its price tag. Here's why:

PROS
Graphics: This is the one area this game does really shine. the effects are pretty and the graphics are great. It's really a visual spectacle...

CONS
Seemingly no effort at truly balancing the characters. Most characters struggle a bit early game... and then you have the tank. Theoretically the "slow start" character is hands down the fastest. Unluck sawblade and you'll have your next several levels within seconds, putting you at a huge early/mid game advantage over any other character start.

Some of the characters (like Tank, Engineer) seem overtuned, other ones (like SWAT) seem undertuned.

Then you have characters like Medic that you'd expect to be a healer/support archetype, and indeed there are a couple supporting skills, but she's no healer.

Overall, this is a fine, but barely adequate wave shooter. If it were priced under all the previously mentioned titles, I'd say grab it and play for a few hours - but realistically that's where you'll prob drop the game. VS, Brotato, and Megabonk, on the other hand you can easily sink 100+ hours into, making them MUCH better bang for your buck.

Amazing. Looks dumb AF but it's such a perfect retro-style wave shooter. With loads of achievements/quests to puzzle your way through, this has tons and tons of replay, crazy build potential, etc.

Feels like being back in the 90s!

Super fun, perfectly priced for the content. The wacky builds you can make via combos (esp character combos) is VERY entertaining.

I've been playing games since the Wolfenstein/Doom era (and beyond). So when I compare this game to others, it's not to the last few years of games, but rather the last few *decades* of games.

Clair Obscur, is simply one of the most beautiful masterpieces (a term I also do not use lightly) I've ever experienced, bar none. It's an incredible journey from start to finish, with a haunting score, an equally haunting story, the most jaw-dropping visuals and engaging gameplay. I'm not even a fan of the JRPG style in general, stalling for ages before pulling the trigger on this - and at full price no less.

Man am I glad I did.

The only sadness of it, and perhaps this is a blessing as well... is it was such a perfect/incredible story/journey that when it was over, it was... over. There was no replay in it for me, because it was perfect. It was a story told once, where a retelling would lose the magic, the soul.

"For those who come after."

1,000,000/10