Recent reviews by Lab

Most of my complaints are not about the game itself, but some of the misleading reviews. They're quick to compare RimWorld to Dwarf Fortress, but it honestly seems like most of them have just heard of it in passing and don't want to be teased for not knowing what a dwarven atom smasher is. RimWorld is somewhere between Prison Architect and Dwarf Fortress in complexity, and would best be explained as diet, caffeine-free, dolphin-safe Dwarf Fortress in a nice-looking can just as willing to run your colony into the ground with misfortune you can't help but laugh at.

The tutorials aren't the best, but if you're relying on those to teach you how to play, you're going to have a bad time. Take some time to explore the menus available to you and the map around you. There are no Z-levels, so you're stuck playing on and gathering resources from only one plane. Steel is not produced as an alloy, but gathered from salvage and compacted steel, the latter of which is dug out from any terrain you might happen to have on the surface.

And the game really doesn't need multiplayer, not that there is any at the time of this review. Honestly, that's just a recipe for disaster in a colony management game like this. If you want multiplayer, roll the same seed as your friend and pick the same starting zone, then compare how you both do.

So I guess I recommend it if you really like colony management games, because this one is already more finished than most of the ones on Steam. Not entirely certain about dropping 30$ on it, but I figured I've been spoiled by enough sales that I don't mind playing full price to give a game like this a go.

Let me start off by saying I might consider changing my vote to a tentative recommendation if the rest of the story isn't paid DLC when it's finally done.

I'm not complaining that the game is too short (it is, but a short game can still be enjoyable). My main gripe is that the "ending" is a terrible place to leave off in this adventure. Imagine playing Ocarina of Time and the game ends after you get two-out-of-three spiritual stones. That's how I felt when I beat the last level here. I actually had to check and make sure I just didn't see the "Early Access" label.

I didn't notice much for bugs outside the occasional 3D physics hiccup, but I'm usually lucky at avoiding that sort of thing. Note how I didn't say the game was bugfree.

They didn't just streamline the characters—they gutted their skills and abilities to pretty much the bare minimum. Where is Pontius's Hammer of Satisfying Thumping Noises? There is no upgrading or equipment of any kind. What you start with is what you get for the entire game. The puzzles are incredibly simplistic too, like they're trying to make the game accessible to pre-K kids.

All least it looks like a Trine game. And it's in 3D... but that's about it.

I got this game as part of a bundle and I still feel like it wasted whatever portion of it went to the game's developers. There is nothing redeeming about this game. Nothing. Gone Home is practically "Disappointment: the Game." If you want a story without having to do much, read a book. This game is a fine example of games as art, the kind of art where people project more meaning and quality than the piece actually possesses.

Also, what's the point of being able to interact with items if I can't shake a soda bottle until it explodes?

I have never had so much fun playing with a booger.

Some of the levels were challenging, but nothing really felt unfair. The art style was wonderful to look at, and the music didn't get annoying at any point in the game.

I'll admit it was a little short, but if you enjoy racing against the clock, I strongly suggest Flem.

9/10 Would sneeze again.

If I had to summarize this game, I would say it was "Dead Island" influenced by "Far Cry 3" with some "Mirror's Edge" mixed in to keep things awesome. Open world game—runs like ♥♥♥♥ on my computer because my motherboard is old enough that it only supports DDR2—with a lot of freedom of movement. The beginning is a struggle. Not because it's hard, but because you don't have the abilities or items that really makes things awesome *cough cough* dropkick *cough cough*. Your weapons are weak, you run kinda slow, and nobody likes you.

Skill trees are the same between characters, as far as I can tell, and each tree levels seperately. Parkour and kill stuff with the environment to earn agility, bash their heads in to earn power, and do quests/random events to earn survivor experience. The main difference between the skill trees is the order you spend your points.

Night time is intense. Don't go outside at night unless you're ready to hide or run, because that's when the fun zombies come out... and they're faster than you.

Fun game. Chucklefish is still developing the game and updates it quite often, but you'll only get immediate results if you opt into one of the betas. The stuff that makes it into the regular Steam version is the stable stuff with a practically nonexistant chance of breaking your game. Anybody who says the game hasn't been updated in a year just hasn't paid enough attention to the news posts or even looked on Chucklefish's site.

Starbound is a 2D sci-fi-themed sandbox game with spaceships, robot wizards, and Orwellian monkeys. Play it, enjoy it, follow it.

EDIT: This review was posted back when updates were frequent. That is no longer the case and the game feels unfinished. Thankfully, mods can fix the experience.

It's times like this that make me wish our choices were "yes," "no," and "maybe if it's on a really good sale because paying full-price for this game is like paying twenty dollars for a snack-sized bag of Doritos."

The setting is nifty, but nothing else really stands out.

It's a roguelite that doesn't pick up after a few hours, and the actual gameplay is more like a twin-stick shooter with upgrades. Some people might compare it to Binding of Isaac, but I've put dozens of hours into Isaac and still enjoy it—I was bored of this one in less than five hours.

This game is incompatible with current versions of PhysX, so you need to download Nvidia PhysX Legacy if you want to play.

The Orange Box is just one of those things you have to own if you have a steam account. Team Fortress 2 is a great game, and the only gripes I have with it are other players, not the game itself. People don't realize there's a trading server, or they're just too lazy to find one.

Currently my favorite "just one more try" game to play. Plenty of diffuculty levels for all sorts of players. Psychic dolphins. And—my personal favorite—an in game encyclopedia with everything you've already discovered.