Recent reviews by Rip

Definitely worth picking up, even in EA. Great party game, and even fun with strangers. 20 bucks is a good deal for the amount of hours.

Intravenous is great. It's a thoughtful and cerebral stealth game done in beautiful top-down 2D graphics. Not sure if any other stealth game is quite like Intravenous. I mean yeah, the mechanics are all tried and true, but having it done on a top-down 2D plane changes things quite a bit. The gunplay is surprisingly deep and the developer made sure to give you enough options that you could Rambo OR non-lethal your way through any mission.
I'm not actually a big stealth guy, so I played this game "loud" all the way through. I think this actually exposed the biggest flaws in the game:

The missions are pretty much all the same.

-AND-

The game is truly meant to be played stealthily. Going loud is almost un-fun because there are far fewer combat mechanics than there are stealth mechanics. This is fine, but the game somewhat sells you on "you can do it either way." But that's misleading, The only way you can win in firefights is to cheese it, usually by having enemies funnel into a doorway while you wait. Rinse, repeat.

But still, if you're a stealth fan, you'll love this game. It takes all the proven concepts of stealth kills, distraction methods, CCTV cameras, patrol patterns etc... and puts them all to use in a visually appealing tale of revenge.
If you're an action fan, you'll still have fun, but not as much as the stealth guy.

I really wanted to like this game, as the visual style and Cold War theme really appeal to me. But like many others have said, the game is frustration more than a fun. The fact that the enemy AI knows where all your units are all the time means that no matter what, you can never, ever, ever set up a successful trap of any sort. The AI will never fall for what you're trying to do. So what you end up with, is a campaign full of the same-ish missions which are really just puzzles meant to be solved pretty much one way. This is essentially a puzzle game disguised as a strategy game. Such a shame.

Blacklist Brigade is very solidly made as far the nuts and bolts go. AI squadmates aren't glitchy and respond to orders in a timely fashion, with tight pathfinding. Everything behaves as it should. Multiplayer is smooth as silk and again, no glitchyness.
Controls are tight and straightforward, there is even character progression and classes with unique abilities.

My biggest complaint is that the game is SO VISUALLY BORING. Everything looks like basic assets made to be used as a placeholder. Animations are uninspired and floaty. The menu UI is barely even placeholder status. It couldn't be more plain. This game could reach new heights if it was given a visual overhaul, because the bare bones are so, so solid.

I see a common thread amongst the negative reviews for Fireteam Elite:

Repetitive
Lack of content
Too linear
Not scary

I want to address these real quick:

Repetitive

This is pretty fair. ultimately you're in claustrophobic rooms and corridors wasting aliens, mutants or androids. However, difficulty settings, Challenge Cards, trying different loadouts and classes all spice it up. Plus what it is repeating, the combat, is super satisfying and fun.

Lack of Content

This is an unfair assessment to me. Sure, you can complete the campaign on the first available difficulty in like 6 or 7 hours. But if you want to max out even ONE class or unlock several weapons, then you still have MANY hours to go. I think the character progression is rewarding and worth pursuing. If you don't care about any of that stuff at all, then sure, I can see how there is lack of content for you. I just finished the campaign, and guess what, I want to play a ton more. More weapons, classes and abilities to play around with.

Too Linear

Yeah, it's pretty linear, true. But it wasn't advertised as an open-world or exploration game. Ever. And by the way, there isn't ZERO exploration. There are side rooms and halls to explore if you want to find loot chests, the locations of which randomize. But yes overall, it's linear. So? Lots of games are linear, why was this the expectation?

Not Scary

I mean I get it, the game is based on a horror franchise, sort of. But this game is also specifically based on the most action-heavy entry in that franchise, which itself has only some horror. But again, this was never advertised as a scary, horror type game. This was always promised as an action heavy shooter.


Look, not every game needs to be this big-budget, genre-defining, make-or-break moment for a franchise. This is a medium-budget game, where they didn't try to be innovative or take it into unexplored territory. They took tried-and-true mechanics and just polished it all up. Everything is just solid.
The game isn't wonky or glitchy. I've experienced zero crashes or weird bugs (heh). Both the enemy and friendly AI are perfectly capable. Again, not ground breaking, but solid. The UI to mess with loudouts, cosmetics, manage your team and start a mission are all straightforward.

They used all the usual RPG elements like profile XP, weapons XP, class XP, perks, abilities and modifiers. I think the "grid" system to manage your character perks and abilities is pretty cool.

Then they used all the usual shooter elements like ADS, cover, rolls, melee and weapon attachments. They made sure not to forget quality-of-life features like switching shoulders while ADSing.

Then, they took all the non-genre specific stuff like animations, narrative, voice over work, textures and models... they're all anywhere from adequate to very good!

Finally, they just poured a ton of franchise references and fan service all over it.

All of this equates to a just a modest, solid, well-made game. My only noteworthy complaint is matchmaking. I hate matchmaking in all games, I wish it was a server list.
It's not some future hall-of-fame type game that defines a generation like your Halos, GTAs etc. but if you're using the 1-hour-per-dollar model, this is certainly worth 40 dollars.

Brigador is a special game. You can truly tell the developers love this project, and took the time too flesh out the universe and lore. I can't wrap my head around the visuals. These are by far the most stunning 2D graphics I've ever seen in a game. The lighting looks like it's in a real 3D environment, I just don't get how it works but the artist(s) for Brigador is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ savant. Gameplay is good, solid isometric tank-control action, although controls are completely customizable.
My only knocks against it are I wish the roster of vehicles and weapons was bigger and the missions are, let's be honest, all the same.

The game is OK, but it's just so fake.


How could we be attacked by giant insects when everyone knows the last insect was killed in Arizona seven years ago!?

Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, or why we died. All that matters is that we downloaded this DLC. That's what's important! Valor pleases you, Crom... so grant me one request. Grant me a Steam sale or coupon! And if you do not listen, then the HELL with you!
I realize he is strong. If I die I have to go before him, and he will ask me "What is the riddle of steel?" And if I don't know it he will cast me out of Steam and VAC ban me! That's Crom - strong on his mountain!
So remember what is best in life: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, to hear the lamentation of their women, and this DLC!
And finally, never forget the Riddle of Steel: Steel becomes brittle, flesh becomes weak... but the will is indomitable!

Short version: Voidship is perfectly "OK." It's only a half dozen or so hours of gameplay. I recommend it because I think the developer put effort into it and has talent. They should definitely try a follow up. The art style and direction is good and music is great (but also repetitive). This would be good for someone new to the genre, however there are much better examples on Steam such as:

3030 Deathwar
Starscape
S.P.A.Z.


Long version: I'm a huge fan of the top-down space adventure RPG type of genre, and Voiceship is certainly inspired by its contemporaries.
I can tell there was a sincere effort on the developers' part to make this a good game. However, I think it fell a bit short.

The story is just like many of these games: Your people have been flung across the galaxy into vagrancy, and you're here with your sole ship to pick up the pieces.
Unfortunately, Voidship's take on this story is pretty vanilla. The details are uninspired.
The game tries to give you the illusion of choice.

"You come across a mining colony.

A) Quickly raid it for maximum haul

B) Be cautious and walk away with a little less"

It sounds like there is risk there. But there isn't. Every single encounter I chose the riskier, high stakes answer and I never, EVER paid for it. Answer the distress call? Yes. Charge the enemy fleet guns blazing? Definitely. This was disappointing, there's no thought needed by the player.

You are also given the illusion of ship customization. While you can build whichever modules you'd like in any configuration you'd like, ultimately you have a grid pattern you can build on. Eventually you fill up the grid and you just have a big square ship. There is no other configuration to run, you're just a death-square.

Combat itself is pretty mindless. The thing is, when you enter a battle, enemies are just plopped right on top of and around you, all in range and firing as you load in. There is no strategy here and every battle is like this. Every battle plays out the same way. It's extremely repetitive and not even a little challenging. Frustrating, but not challenging. Clicking the mouse button fires all of your weapons at once. This is very clumsy because there are weapons like missiles that home-in on your cursor. But then you have cannons that travel in a straight line that have travel time, which means you need to lead the target. If you lead the target, your missiles miss. So you have to choose if you want your cannons or missiles to hit. But you must fire both. There is an option to have your ship fight automatically, or you can take over manual control. Manual control is far superior in combat, I switch it on during my first battle and never, ever turned back. I actually forgot about it. There is also a pause function during battle, which I also never used.

The dynamic of the crew having a limited lifespan is good on paper, but I think the execution fell flat. It feels arbitrary. You don't really have control of when you get new crew just like you have no control over when they die. Since every hyperspace jump takes several years and you have to jump often, crew die all the time. The turnover rate is very fast. You don't really have to time to get attached to any of them and the perks they give you just aren't big enough to really make a difference when you replace them. In the end, if the entire idea wasn't in the game, it wouldn't make a difference.

Finally, there are some sloppy features in the UI that I feel make the game feel sort of "amateurish." Your turrets follow your mouse around in combat, makes sense. But then at the ship customization menu, the turrets there, the actual ones in the "store" menu as well as the ones on your displayed ship, still follow your mouse around the screen. Similarly, when in combat, if any type of dialogue pops up the screen, your weapons still react when you move your mouse to click on "OK" or "leave the battlefield." You click a button, all your weapons fire wherever that button is on your screen. Another weird example is when you're on the galaxy map and you choose to receive resources in exchange for entering battle, a dialogue box will pop up saying something like "You have received 900 resources" right before the battle loads. Then the dialogue box stays there throughout the loading screen, then it's still there when the battle loads in. Then you have to click "OK" at which point you fire all your weapons. These are all nitpicks, and not a big deal at all, but they feel like bugs that should have been stamped out before launch.


It sounds like I'm ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ all over Voiceship, but I'm not. It's solid. Fine. OK. Meh. It would be a great first game for someone trying the top-down space game genre for the first time.

Definitely feel in the middle on Party Hard. If I could give it a "sideways" thumb instead of a thumbs "up" or "down," I would.

I almost feel like the developer went down a checklist of game features that are currently popular, and called it a day.
"Outrun" retro style and themes? Check.
Retrowave/Synthwave soundtrack? Check.
Takes place in the 80's? Check.

But all these things, which I like too, don't make up for a bad game. Party Hard isn't a bad game, but if you strip away all of the features listed above, it's kind of mediocre. The gameplay is perfectly OK. There are some non-gamebreaking bugs here and there, some lazy animations, but it plays fine. Not great, just fine.
The different parties aren't that different, the traps aren't that different. The traps also aren't clever or difficult to use. The game is very forgiving when it comes to being spotted, the stealth element is not that strong. You can stab someone a few feet away from a witness and as long as they're not facing you, you're good. Or even if they are facing you with clear line of sight, they won't see any further than 10 or 15 feet. If you're methodical, every level will be pretty easy (and repetitive.)
I can see how the game could be fun if you actually cared about leaderboards and speedrunning and getting crazy and cut corners trying to complete the level as fast as possible. Not really my bag though.
The Twitch integration is also innovative and cool. Big ups for that. But if you're not a streamer, which I'm not, it won't do anything for you.

At the end of the day, the game is for speedrunners and Twitch streamers exculsively, for the rest of us it's pure "meh." I think the developers made a sincere effort at making a good game and fell just a hair short. They deserve kudos and I look forward to their next title.


I do have to say, the voice acting is bad... really, really bad. Like it goes from "bad," zooms right past "it's so bad it's good," and circles back around to "bad." Pure cringe.