Recent reviews by Terminus_X

Having finally got my 100%, I've been thinking on how to properly review this. I played it's proof of concept game Chaos Sector a year or two back and so I shall start by saying this game builds vastly upon Chaos Sector yet the core mechanics remain recognisable.
Grid based ship and mecha combat unfolds as the galaxy's powers clash against each other; there are several kinds of factions, each with at least two contrasting starting positions and unit sets, and a staggering amount of combat depth once you figure out how to unlock your own ships and other factions.
The translation quality is best described as word for word over thought for thought. In other words, the Chinese is generally translated literally but legibly, but is often formed into... less common or logical structures than you might expect from a native developer. This isn't a point of contention though... as there isn't a terrible amount of story in this entry. Don't get me wrong, there is both lore and events for each faction, but there are at most four unique multi-line dialogues for each faction (most of which come from whichever characters serve as your adjutants, so there's not unique dialogue for anyone but the leaders themselves).
Functionally, this is a very satisfying game for its combat and flavour. There is enough variety that nearly all the factions felt and played differently, the music is good if a bit repetitive, and the developer has clearly learnt from their original game and corrected some... painful elements (such as the number and scale of the maps) and added more complicated diplomatic interactions.
To my joy, diplomacy in this game is actually useful. Vassals aren't just "conquer you later" like many grand strategy games (though annexing them is still often the way to go) and they are generally competent in battle and will properly assist you against your enemies.
One critique I would uphold is that... a large number of statistics are labelled with words rather than a number scale. This would not be a problem if it was explained anywhere what they did and at what levels things changed. Legitimacy for example is a crucial stat as it effects your diplomacy, vassalisation power, likelihood of attracting new commanders, and more; however, while you can see the number at any time it is nowhere explained at what threshold you can actually DO any of the late game diplomacy actions (vassalisation is somewhere around the five hundred mark and annexation upwards of seven hundred for nearly every faction).

Overall, this was a very fun (if occasionally hair-ripping) game and I recommend it to those with patience and a love of the beautiful pixel art style it embodies. I would also recommend it for those who want to try a less... eurocentric grand strategy game that isn't Japanese for a change (nothing against either type, but they have a stranglehold on the market).

I'll start by saying this game is not Advance Wars, which should be obvious from it not being called Advance Wars, but muscle memory is a pain.
This is a well put together NOT-advance wars style game; it has a lot of really good pixel art, tons of unit variety and skills, multiple game modes, built in map editors, what seems like a Dark Souls invasion mechanic on a turn based strategy game, and more.
However, while a lot of the units are familiar, they mostly play very differently from its inspiration. This isn't a bad thing, as it keeps the game fresh and prevents it from being a weak clone. On the downside, this is also the same with its user interface.
Now, don't get me wrong, this is a competently made game and it works fine. That said, the lack of a "unit go back" button (that I can see at least, though the tutorial I did first didn't show one either) is frustrating as the option to undo an entire turn's worth of progress because you misclicked on the last unit... is painful.
The dialogue, while very much in good humour (the tutorial manages to be both funny and informative) is unskippable in bulk which for the longer maps you may have to redo can get a little grating. Additionally, while Advance Wars has always contained campaigns you go back to, the sheer difficulty scale of Athena Crisis coupled with its star system means you can accidentally cheat yourself out of stars by whatever means and then have to go through the entire campaign up to that point again multiple times. Bonus frustration if you were playing a secret level for which you have to go back and unlock it again too. I've had to take a break for now as, despite the quality of the game, I was finding my constant campaign restarts were driving me insane in chasing stars I missed at one point by destroying the last enemy unit a turn too early.
EDIT: the developer was nice enough to let me know that you CAN bulk skip dialogue (see comments for details) and levels can be selected for replaying after you beat a campaign. So... disregard that entire segment I guess!


To recap though, this is a very well made game that manages to distinguish itself from its inspiration despite taking on many of its better elements. It has a lot of options, some of which I haven't even got to yet, and has a lot of replayability. It is, however, lacking a few anti-frustration features (perhaps intentionally given a lot of the multiplayer content available, but still) that leave obsessive perfectionists like me on the verge of losing hair and/or monitors!

Definitely recommended, just don't be as crazy as me unless you're smarter than me!

Indie games are labours of love. This is quite apparent within Chaos Sector, which homages the classic turn based strategy genre in beautiful pixel art style. The game is light on story, but rich in setting and mechanically solid. As the first in a series and basically a solo job by its developer, the game runs fine with a few flaws but has a brutal difficulty curve and no formal tutorial. Once you get the hang on what you're doing though, (battle tool tips and taking manual command via "make my own decisions" during the council phases 80% of the time) it becomes a gritty tactical matchup that's surprisingly well balanced.

I'll list flaws first as to end on a positive:
1 - limited battle maps. I struggled to tell exactly how many were in the game, because you play the same map(s?) in different positions rather than having smaller/dedicated maps per planet/node. This is generally not a glaring problem, other than how a lot of early turns can very much be "find the enemy" which can be quite frustrating combined with my second critique.
2 - the game homages classic fog of war TOO well in that the enemy knows where you are, you just have to find them. Surprisingly, this isn't an issue for the most part. As defensive missions will have them come to you and offensive ones only have them move to attack once you can see them/enter their range. Combined with the large map sizes however, it can make some missions very tedious.
3 - lets be honest, translating is hard. English is a horrible language to learn as a second because it has inconsistent rules and exceptions; Chinese, on the other hand, is complex and can struggle to convey exact meanings from its native state into another language. Don't get me wrong, the game is perfectly playable and intelligible, but there are a lot of little blips and oddities of wording (one example is the Imperial Crusade leaders having literal-ish translated names). It goes along with a handful of issues where sprites are partially missing (at least at my resolution) from certain angles. The game is a solo project and none of them crush gameplay, so leeway should be given on account of it working well despite these issues!
4 - the steal mechanic is great fun when it works, but an absolute nightmare to pull off most of the time. The pirate leader has a flat boost to the percentage which helps, but given how squishy most infantry are, capturing ships that are trying to kill you constantly can be a real pain. Especially in the endgame of the Pirate scenario where capturing the new ship type is critical to... not dying horrifically or losing tons of ships constantly.
5 - commander skills charge very slowly most of the time and some battles actually prevent you using yours if you're winning without losing ships or the enemy has no battle stations to charge it off. This is frustrating when trying to add the alien units to your collection because the skill that does that often means you're gambling as to what the final unit is on offence and few defence missions have enough enemies to use it at all.

Now, to end on a good note:
1 - while not an easy game, this is a solid one. Both scenarios are beatable, fleet compositions are allowed to vary (excepting nuclear ships are best countered by other nuclear ships due to sheer insanity), and different commanders genuinely affect how the maps play out.
2 - while there isn't a lot of story, the setting details and lore that are given are well crafted and interesting; the creator has clearly put time into the art style and you can see the difference between factions, characters, and weapon systems.
3 - Both sides have different units, but they're all balanced enough to compete with clever thinking. Plus, the pirates are better at stealing ships so can field both pretty reliably.
4 - this is a solid standalone game, but also in effect a proof of concept for its sequels. Despite its first instalment issues (and a lot of classic series have this), I felt engaged and determined to complete it all the way through. There is enough content and variation to make both campaigns worthwhile and interesting, though part of me wishes I could play any commander on a skirmish-style map (will have to look for the sequels).

Overall, I recommend this for those with patience who enjoy classic Nintendo-hard turn based strategy and/or who want to see a less traditional space-opera setting and style.

Writing this as the Steam Awards come out, so yes, it's a nomination for Labour of Love.
It says something about the quality of a game when they use it to teach games design at university... and that's how I discovered this. It's a roguelite semi-metroidvania combat platformer with a brutal but mostly fair difficulty curve, a very refined gameplay loop, and years of well-crafted updates and content.
Death isn't an obstacle, it's a beginning here. Go out, fight, take cells, invest them or die horribly trying, learn, repeat. Succeed.

It is far more accessible to new players than it used to be, both from exhaustive updates to balance and content, but also through accessibility options that come at no mechanical penalty to use if you're struggling or just want a less controller-breaking experience. Overall, despite it literally being handed out as an assignment at first, Dead Cells is one of my favourite games of all time... and possibly other than Dark Souls the one I have cursed at the most.

As a veteran Into the Breach player, I jumped into this thinking I knew everything and inevitably got slapped by the mechanical differences.
Writing this review as of 100% completion of the achievements list (and yes, I'm aware it's only been out two and a half days), I robustly recommend this under its own merits.
Mechanically, it shares a lot of its base structure with Into the Breach. Its core loop is roughly the same, though with a set map path. It has nearly every damage type, tile action, and mission event as its compatriot, but adds a lot of new ones (for example, things that might be called escort missions broadly have artefacts like cannons which have their own free move).
These similarities are not a bad thing, especially with the game's hero system/party composition allowing for more interesting setups with far greater freedom of choice at the start (a trade off, of course, for less flexibility later on). The addition of the four man (well, three and an animal companion) squad also allows for some really interesting teamwork.
Currently the game has four unique bosses, each of which is solidly designed, but always in the same place and always accessed by the same route. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as each attempt will always be a little different, but if future additions are in the works then more variety would add to the game's appeal. Steam doesn't let reviews have enough words to write a full breakdown of the changes and additions to the mechanics, but its not hard to pick up in play.
The game plays clean and I've yet to encounter any crashes or major bugs through multiple game clears. The achievements are fair and can be acquired reasonably easily (though some take a little patience... or the lack of it in one case).
The one issue I would pick with this game is its lack of a manual (at least, as of its release state). While there is a tutorial which admirably covers the basics, certain mechanics aren't explored in depth and the damage calculation formula isn't always clear (for example, if you push a shielded enemy and deal damage in a single move, it seems to calculate the push damage separately from the rest of the attack, allowing you to wound or kill the target unlike Into the Breach's all in one calculation). This I suspect will likely be overcome once fan guides and future support are in place.
As such, I wholeheartedly recommend this game, especially to grid-based strategy fans!

Okay, skipping a length preamble, this is my summary of the four key points of Othercide both good and bad based on my experience.

1. Atmosphere - both graphics and world building are excellent and bring the most out of a minimalist approach. The game's palette is limited, as is its lore; this does not mean it is shallow, more that there are a lot of intentional gaps to create some interesting mental scenery. Less is more. And yes, the artstyle is beautiful, but please don't buy it for the art only to complain about the gameplay.

2. Repetition - this is perhaps the most notable gameplay feature both good and bad. The good is the overall loop; live, strategize, advance, die/triumph, repeat. The core loop here is simple and elegant, leaving the fruits of your previous labours behind as your daughters change, perish, or revive and you unlock new and interesting additions to your gameplay. The bad of this is the lack of map and enemy variety.
The latter isn't too bad, as the enemies work well enough to create interesting and varied encounters, but the former is a pain as you will likely encounter the same maps within an era let alone a run; by the time you reach your victory run you will likely have memorised the maps. This is not always a problem, as some of the scenarios are much more varied, but others will even play out in almost identical manners (down to exact movements, attacks, and team compositions) due to non-adaptive enemy placement and variety and a relative lack of combat moves/strategies for the AI and player alike (though the player has a better and more interesting time of it). The major exception to this is bosses, more on this later. The other thing you'll quickly memorise are the voicelines. While the voice acting is good and helps set mood and tone very well, the lack of diversity amongst the lines will soon have you being able to finish their sentences, especially in the early game levels. To be fair, it wasn't a major bother for me and there is also the option to disable them. Ultimately, this point is fair game for a tightly wound game like this, especially given it's a turn-based RPG, but I can understand how that might put off casual or easily bored players.

3. Strategy- there is a lot to do and see in Othercide, not to mention a healthy dose of curious and interesting situations to encounter. Despite my notes on repetition, many maps and scenarios do have the appeal of being unpredictable the further you go in (scenarios like Rescue and Survival chief amongst them) which provide a lot of challenging combat puzzles to solve (or fail) where you have multiple ways for you to approach a complex enemy setup. This improves towards the late game, where enemy variety and character skills tend to be at their most complex, but even the early game has its moments. Everything in this game leads down to making difficult choices: play too well early on and get hit with penalty traits, play too freely and find yourself forced to pick a sacrifice between invested and heavily injured characters, play the fast game after clearing a few eras and meet a nightmare you are utterly unprepared to face. While this sounds less pleasant in text, the speed of gameplay and the lure of a better chance are compelling enough to keep at it.

4. Bosses - easily the most interesting parts of the gameplay. Pit everything you've got against a quintet (at current time) of powerful and challenging opponents. Fighting the bosses, even with the repetition of previous levels or the monotony of level-grinding runs, never ceases to be interesting, especially in later eras. There are numerous ways of approaching the fights, each of whom never quite acts the same way twice (first boss excepted, but they are more of a warm-up anyhow) and who can react to the player's actions or force them to play by their own rules. In addition to the clever phase-based combat and varied abundance of moves, the boss designs are intricate and the lore surrounding them dropping much needed pieces of the wider puzzles. It would not be a lie to say these are the highlights of the entire game and its overall crowning moments, especially with the incredible music that plays as you push them uphill. Additionally, while there are many who moan about getting slaughtered for having "the wrong team", there are few ways indeed to have an utterly unusable team and half the joy of the boss runs is that you will seldom have exactly the same team or strategy twice. Especially in the late game, you will likely be finding you and intricate ways to create your own amusement: fight armoured enemies without reducing their shields, field a team of only range/melee characters, build a formation to slaughter a boss in a single turn (can be done, even to the final boss with a strong setup), kill a boss entirely by interception or interruption attacks (far more painful, but just about possible), or just take your strongest and most beloved creations and let them unleash the full might of their max-level power against their foes until they perish. Honestly, not a bad word to say about the bosses.

Summary - Othercide is a quirky and atmospheric turn-based RPG with strong emphasis on learning from mistakes and pushing ahead. While it suffers a little from a lack of diversity in some areas, especially in early game maps and skill options (as two options per class per slot still provides choice, but not enough to make each new character seem overly distinct), it is redeemed by good design choices, exceptional world building, superb boss design, incredible music, and a strong replayability factor. It is a little expensive for a 20-30 hour game, but I feel it is well worth it and I hope it will be expanded on in future!

The verdict: Strongly Recommended.

Note: at present, the tutorial, while a great piece of mood setting and foreshadowing, is a little sparse on some of the actual command information. I have made a guide hoping to remedy this, but even without it you should pick up what you need soon enough!

I could go on and on, but here's the short version:
This is a hard but rewarding strategy game with a strong turn-based system, a lot of variety per run, and enough gameplay to keep you entertained for ages. The achievements encourage challenge runs and can spice up your game, but don't be afraid to experiment or play it safe until you feel confident.
I would recommend this, but not to those afraid of a lot of fail/learning curves.

First off, I played the original version of this game for the first time on my friend's Xbox 360 over ten years ago and was compelled to buy the remaster by powerful nostalgia. I have not been disappointed: the remake has polished the original game and maintained the feel and depth of the original while restoring content cut from the original, a few balancing tweaks, and remastered graphics. While nostalgia colours my purchase, the game is simple but fun, with plenty of hints, optional challenges, and obscure pop-culture references to entertain fans of the target age and beyond. I would definitely recommend it to series fans or those in search of a bright colourful relief from the tedium of unforgiving difficulty curves!

Update: The Sit Back and Relax nomination for 2020 because it is user-friendly, relatively easy, and full of gently nostalgia.

Let's be frank. If you don't know the series this game is based on, it will just be another fighting game; albeit one with a small roster of 10 (planned DLC notwithstanding) and a nonsense plot. Going from this point of view, there are the following points to be made:
1. The story is short and makes little to no sense without at least passing knowledge of the source anime.
2. In its current iteration (v1.02) there are a few minor bugs the most notable of which occasionally leads to multiple audio tracks stacking and rare crashes.
3. Combat is fluid, engaging, and doesn't require the player to memorise a million button combos, purchase new left/right sticks after every match, or use specific characters simply to survive.
4. Little to no explanation on one of the core mechanics (Bloody Valour) is included, requiring the player to figure it out for themselves. While in theory it is relatively simple, the AI has a nasty habit of winning these without warning (at least until you've figured out how to game that part of the system like I did).
5. There are multiple combat modes, meaning 1v1 matches are far from the only way to engage.

If you have seen the anime, this game's sheer existence should provide some fun moments and the plot of its story mode will sort of make more sense (probably).

Best thing: finishing anyone, whether computer or player, with one of the (completely unexplained) finishing moves. They look awesome and really crown off any match.

Worst thing: a surprising number of things aren't labelled or properly explained (like finishing moves, Bloody Valour, which side of the handicap meter does what, or the absence of tutorials for any character other than the Story's main).

My verdict: I saw the original show and bought it for that. That said, the combat quickly won me over with interesting challenges, the varied fighting styles, good voice acting, and a good sense of achievement for figuring out how things worked. I would recommend this game to most people, especially if they've seen the show, but not to those without patience or a certain degree of problem solving. This is a good game.

I have since written a guide explaining Bloody Valour. Hopefully this makes it all easier now.

Edit: Recommended, a little ironically, for the "Better with friends" award 2019.

To be brief and to the point, I think War for the Overworld is an exceptional game.
Here's why:
1. Endless creativity/replayability value.
- the game has both an extensive editor and a large number of levels to play across three core Campaigns.
- fully multiplayer capable with dozens of inbuilt maps and hundreds more fan-based ones to choose from.
2. Challenge for everyone.
- adjustable difficulties allow you to tailor your play however you like.
- difficult achievements provide suitable goals to strive towards.
- very rarely one right way to do everything.
3. Well supported.
- this game has an exceptionally hard working development team who are still helping people after the last main patch.
- provides links and forums for problem solving.
- actually listen to fan feedback while compiling bugfixes and other patches.
- the achievements aren't broken anymore.

The only major downside to this is that the game can crash or corrupt data if you have a large (as in 80-100+) number of saves. Delete a few every now and then and you're golden!

This game has my nomination for the 2018 "Labour of Love Award."
Hope this convinces a few people to give it a try!