Recent reviews by Zekava

Price might be a bit steep for the amount of content but it's like if you took the best parts of Superliminal and expanded and iterated on them and added an actual story (not the best, not the worst, but it's a real narrative).

Playing with the photos is now one of my favorite gaming experiences; I can only ask for more. Wish there was a sandbox or post-game challenges/content apart from going back through to 100% it.

The experience of just existing in this game's environments alone is excellent enough that I very much enjoyed adopting a leisurely pace and sitting down to just be sometimes.

After the previous game from the dev didn't really have enough content for the cost, I'm glad to see just how incredibly much there is this time!

You can:
* clear each hole (126)
* minimize score on each hole
* play 9 hole and clear each type of world, of which there are 7
* play 9 hole on each world's challenge course
* play 18 hole for each world
* minimize score for each of those
* enjoy the insanity involved in the finale
* make custom levels
* play custom levels
* upload/download levels to/from the Steam Workshop
* play hotseat local multiplayer (ball collision optional)
* customize your balls
* do all of the above but using the marble race mode
* walk around and browse the in-game 4d art museum
* slowly come to wrap your feeble 3d brain around the 4d courses, never really ever comprehending the entirity like a Klein bottle failing to actually hold any liquid
* jam out to the dynamic music

Once this gets online multiplayer, I'm going to make my friends buy it too!

At first, it seems impossible. Then you notice the EXTREMELY HELPFUL feature where when you mouse over a cell, it highlights all the cells adjacent to it, which allows you to have a perfect arbiter of 4D adjacency, which basically just makes it just weirder Minesweeper. Which is great! Because Minesweeper is a good game whose main flaw is that you get sick of it after a while.

If you like Minesweeper, you'll like this as well.

This game can be myriad things, depending on how you approach it. For me it was a meditative challenge, a way to practice patience at the same time as skill.

My favorite part of this game is noticing that falls become less and less of a setback as you get practiced at getting past earlier parts. The mountain doesn't move, doesn't change to suit you - doesn't change at all. What shrinks the distances, the times, the obstacles... is just practice.

The second run will be a fraction of the difficulty of the first.
The fiftieth will be sumissible to a speedrun board.

I look forward to them.

I had completely dismissed the idea that Halo Wars would be worthwhile ported to the PC until I tried it myself. It turns out that the RTS mechanics that were simplified to make the game more accessible on the console were not necessary in the first place. There is still plenty to optimize and strategize, and making the transition to PC just means that you have a much more obvious degree of potential dexterity in the mix with the mouse. While I doubt the game is balanced well enough to support a huge competitive scene, there is still enough here to support at least a small one; as far as casual play is concerned there may be no limit to what one can get out of it.

The bottom line is: it's just fun! Highly recommend if you like RTSs or Halo at all.

Yer a wizzard

Pretty good, got it on sale for $0.59, but it's probably worth $2. It's thought-provoking, and potentially emotion-evoking.

As of writing, I'm past the first experiment, and my one complaint is that the result was not properly cataloged; my chosen survivor isn't referred to in the present imperfect tense anymore.

That aside, I can see the necessity of the slow paced transitions and whatnot: they establish tone and, well, pacing. Every action is very deliberate. You have plenty of time to think and to reflect, and so cannot use brevity as an excuse for your decisions.

I'd say "pretty great for an RPG Maker game" but the engine basically doesn't matter. Regarding such, what pleased me most was the borderless-fullscreen mode! A nice surprise.

To put it succinctly, there wasn't enough content for the price.

I have every achievement in the game, having scoured it for content and dialogue, and, well, you can see my playtime. I followed the development logs from day 1, as I was already in those spheres of the 'Tube (math, video game development). However, this just doesn't live up to the size expected from a $15 game, let alone one where there's more space per SPACE. This is the exact kind of game that I love to play, pushing limits and breaking new ground, but it kinda falls flat when you explore for 3-6 hours and are met with wall after wall, and you can't help but think, "is that it?"

I understand that the development was as ground-breaking as it gets, having to forge new tools to develop hyperbolic games. I hope that it doesn't go to waste, and that perhaps a sequel of sorts will come out now that all the prohibitively hard work is done. The story was alright, the graphics are far better than, say, Hyperrogue's, and most of the zones were mostly compelling and a thrill to simply exist in, until you get used to them. I did actively enjoy my time for about 80% of the experience, which is more than can be said for many games I've played and would still consider a good purchase.

The real issue is the price tag. $15 is far too much for a 3-6 hour experience. At $3, this would be a steal if you like math, and a decent price otherwise. At $5, this would be a decent price for nerds like myself, but would be a barrier to people trying things outside their comfort zone. I would still buy it at $8, knowing what I know now, but I am the exact target audience for this game. $10 would be pushing it. $15 is kind of ridiculous, and I would not have purchased it if I had known how small it was.

Maybe pick this up on sale if it seems sufficiently compelling despite its size, but $15 is an absolute joke for how small this game is... and how small this game is is particularly egregious considering how big hyperbolic space is.

I'm surprised that the promotional material underplays the instruction booklet aspect. That is one of the most unique and compelling mechanics I've ever seen, and I might not have played if I hadn't learned of it! In any case, this game is stupendous, and will appeal to anyone who enjoys exploration and secrets, or lovers of LoZ or Souls-y games.

If you want to help uncover the deeper secrets, join the discord! It's linked on the tunicgame.com website and is the first result on Google for "Tunic discord". (not sure if links are allowed, so)

This game is an absolutely scathing mockery of The Witness, and it performs its job perfectly.