Gameboon 最近的评测

TL;DR: Incredibly boring game that falls short of its potential. This game isn't engaging in any meaningful capacity, whether it's the gameplay or the story.

I don't think I have anything positive to say about the game. I played it with friends and usually that makes a game bearable, if nothing else. The game's pace is glacial and it is altogether a poor experience. I don't even feel like doing it the dignity of writing a full review. Voidtrain is simply too sad of an experience to talk about any further.

TL;DR: Great concept and atmosphere but the execution is lacking in several crucial ways, to the point where I cannot honestly recommend this game.

Rarely has a game frustrated me like Ship of Fools has. It’s a… decent game that could have been great. But there are several design decisions that make me wary of ever buying anything by this developer again.

Things I liked
Before I go into those, let’s talk about the parts I like about the game. Ship of Fools has a solid concept with a simple yet fun gameplay loop. The visuals are pretty cute and the sound effects and soundtrack are on point. Not to mention that games meant to be played couch co-op are somewhat rare, and this one really does feel like it’s made for two players sitting next to each other. So far, so good.

Things I didn’t like
There are unfortunately a few issues that made me decide to not recommend this title. It feels like the developers tried creating a game that is both a “chaotic funny party game” and a “serious, hardcore game where you need to lock in”. This weird mix gets expressed in the strangest of ways, such as the friendly fire with the paddle.

Information provided in-game is severely lacking, and I don’t think players should need to rely on sources outside of the game to learn things. Especially when they could have simply included a bestiary and codex.

The game also has some weird controls that I never got used to even after playing so many hours, and there is no way to change key binds.

Players get insufficient information and their time gets disrespected
Frankly, the game doesn’t respect a player’s time. Let me try and explain what I mean with that.

First of all, there is a lack of proper information in just about every single way possible. This makes it so that you cannot make informed decisions when you encounter something (new). This eventually resulted in us consulting a Steam guide that has infographics on everything because matters simply became too frustrating.

For example, ammo types have different stats such as damage and magazine size, but these are not presented to you in-game. You either have to figure this out by trial and error and jot down the results or remember them. But there are so many different ammo types that it isn’t a realistic task to do so.

To give another example – there are cursed artifacts. If you pick up the cursed paddle artifact it simply says “paddle down” when you install it on your ship. What does that even mean? Apparently it means your paddle attacks will only do 1 damage but still manage to smack enemies away from the ship. Another cursed artifact makes it so that you lose 100 currency whenever your ship gets hit, which also doesn’t get explained at all. The devs intend for you to experience it rather than telling you beforehand.

The above situations where information is lacking get further complicated by the fact that the game is busy and chaotic enough that you don’t have time or attention left over to figure these things out in the heat of battle.

Finally, once you go into brightness level 1 (their prestige mode system), they mention that some hits are critical hits. Fine. You would expect those to do double damage. But no, they also change those hits from, for example, being a spot of fire that spreads but you have time to hit it with your paddle before you take damage if it lands on your vessel, to something that instantaneously does damage if you don’t reflect it. That’s a change in a core gameplay element that goes unexplained and ties in poorly with the friendly fire issues in this game.

Friendly fire is poorly designed, yet devs consider it a core gameplay mechanic
Players can hit each other with their paddles, and they will get smacked aside a bit and fall for a moment. In a “party game” this would be funny. But the game can actually be pretty unforgiving and using one’s paddle is a core gameplay mechanic. And that means it’s no longer entertaining at all.

Too many times now, things have gone incredibly wrong because my partner and I hit each other with a paddle. But you can’t avoid that because you *need* to use the paddle to smack enemies or reflect projectiles. Often, many things will be going on at once, and you need to be able to use your paddle as a line of defense, but you will interrupt your friend in the process.

The part that concerns me most about this is that I found a reddit thread where one of the developers explicitly stated that this friendly fire is a “core gameplay mechanic”. Reading this made me lose all faith in these developers and their vision.

This is not Magicka, where friendly fire is expected and easily recovered from. This isn’t Helldivers, were explosions are so big a casualty or two isn’t a big deal. You can lose a run in Ship of Fools simply because you hit your fellow shipmate once or twice at critical moments. You can’t just keep engaging in friendly fire with few consequences. And there aren’t even any trinkets that make it easier to deal with. It’s just frustrating because of the high stakes and fast pace of the game.

Gimmicky source of difficulty
Ship of Fools also derives its initial difficulty from gimmicks a lot of the time. Once you know them, the difficulty goes way down. But while you’re still learning new enemy types and areas, these can result in you dying quite easily. Again – this is because you will have to figure things out in the midst of a chaotic battle and you won’t figure it out until it’s too late. It’s not a very satisfying system of implementing difficulty.

Some sort of bestiary/codex would have been much appreciated, so that you can at least browse it and read enemy abilities after a run. This way, you won’t have to figure things out by yourself in the middle of a stressful situation. The same goes for everything else – ammo types, bombs, birds and artifacts. A compendium of some sort to browse through at will would have been an excellent addition. Because a lot of information is either missing or incomplete. Only the trinkets seem to have proper descriptions.

Control issues and lack of Keybinding
I’ve played the game for 14 hours at the time of writing this review. And I *still* struggle with the control scheme. I have never had this with any other game I have ever played. For one, you cannot re-bind your keys, which is honestly unacceptable. Other than that, using a mouse and keyboard, the buttons used for certain actions are inconsistent. And finally, the way you attach to and unattach from a cannon is incredibly frustrating and unintuitive. Trying to unattach from a cannon to go do something on deck is supremely annoying in the midst of a battle. I won’t go into detail here, but I am simply appalled by the control scheme and inconsistent handling of picking up/attaching to/grabbing things in terms of controls, at least on keyboard.

Interaction radius
The game would feel a lot smoother if the interaction radius around objects was significantly smaller, Currently, it is way too easy to accidentally grab the wrong thing if they are close to one another, especially if you temporarily have extra items such as chests on board.

Feels like the devs want to frustrate you
At the end of the day I got the feeling the developers are actively trying to frustrate players. Vital information is being kept from you, friendly fire is apparently seen as a core gameplay mechanic and the overall feeling I got while playing makes me wonder whether they even had playtesters.

The game starts at prestige mode (brightness levels)
The game feels set up in a way that makes it so the entire game pre-prestige is simply the tutorial. You can beat the base game in a few runs. I feel a bit scammed by this. If I compare it with, for example, Against the Storm, there the game up until prestige feels whole and complete.

Conclusion
I don't think I will buy anything from this studio ever again.

TL;DR: Fun little game that reminds me of Eufloria. Seeing as there is no campaign or multiplayer currently, I can only recommend buying it on sale.


Desert Kingdoms 2 is an entertaining little game. If you're familiar with something like Eufloria, this will be very similar to that game. I like the pixel art, music and vibes and of course gameplay of Desert Kingdoms 2. That said, because there is only a skirmish mode against the AI you will figure out how to win a match within a very short timeframe.


I feel that with a little more work on different types of AI, as well as maybe some gameplay tweaks to slow down the snowballing effect, the skirmish mode could get a bit more longevity. But a story or campaign mode with specific goals and/or restrictions would go a long way towards making this more of a polished gem. If multiplayer were possible, that would be a great addition as well.


As it currently stands, Desert Kingdoms 2 is a game that is great for short sessions in between other activities. And as much as I hope to see some advancements, considering the game has been out for a few months now, I don't think we'll be seeing the improvements I think the game deserves. Nevertheless, if it interests you pick it up when it's on sale.

TL;DR: Vertical Kingdom is a charming city builder with gorgeous pixelart graphics and a unique premise. Trying to achieve your city’s goals with limited horizontal space is a relaxing experience that still requires a fair amount of thinking.

I have explored everything that Vertical Kingdom has to offer, and I’ve found the game to be a neat little gem. First of all, the pixelart visuals are amazing. Buildings change shape and integrate with their neighbors in a natural manner and they look really nice. The game also automatically puts little flags on top of some houses and sometimes fills in the gaps between buildings or the environment with flags dangling from a rope, akin to a clothesline. As far as the environments themselves go, some are very practical, while others are absolutely gorgeous both in terms of fore- and background. You’ll find airships moving through the sky in the distance as well as boats traveling along the river in front of your city. In short, there are a lot of cute little details that make the game a feast for the eyes and provide it with a lot of atmosphere.

The gameplay itself is a satisfying loop of balancing various resources against one another, and planning ahead to make sure your city’s morale doesn’t plummet. While that might sound rife with tension, Vertical Kingdom is not a very hard game and the difficulty curve is very gentle and eases you into the experience. I would say that while playing the game well does require some thinking, it is in fact a very relaxing game.

There are various cards and artifacts in the game that will make your life easier, including one that allows you to break one of the game’s core rules. Thanks to this you can do some really cool things in terms of building placement.

Vertical Kingdom features three gameplay modes. A sandbox mode where there are no resources to manage and you can focus on making a pretty city as well a standard mode where you follow the game’s rules and play a level without any overarching goals. But most important and relevant is the roguelite mode where you progress through a campaign map, building wonders every now and then. You will receive imperial resources at the end of that journey to either make your next journey easier, or to improve the capital’s throne room.

The sound effects (clinking coins, the sound of flipping through cards/papers, placing down buildings and so on) are particularly good. They’re all very pleasing to the ear and definitely enhance the gameplay experience. The background music is fine – it’s calm and appropriate for the game.

The developer has in my experience proven to be extremely open to feedback because they clearly want to make the best game they can. They have fixed bugs in a timely manner and in general seem to care a lot about the users’ experience.

It’s obvious that a lot of love went into this game. The developer has an eye for detail and it shows. I had a lot of fun with Vertical Kingdom and I can definitely recommend it if you want a relaxing if somewhat brain-tickling experience. Oh, and you can make a city on the back of a flying turtle.

TL;DR: Quasimorph is an interesting turn-based yet action-packed game with a very particular vision. It's got atmosphere in spades and the gameplay loop is enjoyable. That said, balance changes, content additions and some polish are needed if the game is to become less controversial and more favorably received.

Quasimorph in its current state appears to have both strong supporters and detractors. While I understand why some people have certain issues with the game, I have personally had a good time with the game so far.

You work as the leader of a private military outfit and send clones out on missions. Successful completion of said missions will reward you with gear, reputation, trading items (for more gear!) and possibly permanent upgrades in the form of new mercenaries, item crafting recipes or classes to assign said mercenaries to.

Meanwhile, failure to complete a mission results in... death.

And there will be a lot of death and destruction in this game. You're basically a homicidal maniac tearing people part left and right, either in melee or with guns. Going on an "assassination" mission would be more accurately described as a "wholesale slaughter" mission. And all this suffering (yours and theirs) will thin the walls between dimensions, inviting in the various types of demons from beyond the veil.

Speaking of demons, these dudes are an important part of the game. The longer you spend in a level and the more pain and suffering occurs, the higher the quasimorphosis meter rises. Demons begin bursting out of the dying, eager to participate in the killing of humans. So you do what you do best - blast them apart as well and focus on your mission.

This quasimorphosis meter does something else as well. It changes the background music. And I have to say, the soundtrack is top-tier. It's fantastic. The fact that the songs ramp up in intensity as you get deeper and deeper into a bad situation is a really nice touch and adds to the atmosphere greatly.

In fact, the game is atmospheric as (pun intended) hell. The worldbuilding, both in terms of demonic forces invading the solar system and capitalist megacorporations running society, is quite engaging. The tone is well established from the start and this combination of demons and corporations brings a certain flavor to the table.

Now, no game is perfect, especially one that is in early access. Quasimorph in its current state desperately needs more content in terms of locations and storyline missions, as well as some balance changes and polish. That said, it's still a very promising project.

Overall, Quasimorph has a solid basis to work from and even in its current state I feel it's worth the asking price.

TL;DR: An atmospheric and visually stunning game let down by a mediocre story, poor gameplay and numerous unresolved bugs and technical issues.

The Ascent had a lot of promise, but failed to live up to its potential. That’s not to say it’s all bad, but I can’t honestly recommend the game.

The atmosphere in this game is very much on point and you can really get a good feel for the world and setting. The visuals are amazing and on these two fronts the game is a real winner. Unfortunately, that’s about all the good I have to say about The Ascent.

I played this game in co-op with three friends. While we had an alright time, it wasn’t without its issues. We encountered a game-breaking bug that made it impossible to progress through a certain mission in multiplayer, so we had to do a little workaround by having the host do that one in singleplayer.

Other than that, we had repeated freezes and crashes on the part of the clients, while the host experienced severe framerate drops at certain moments. All in all, not a very stable gaming experience.

Technical issues aside, the core gameplay loop is far from perfect. For one, the game does a very poor job of making kill or fetch quests exciting. This problem is compounded by the fact that the world’s layout is not always easy to navigate and getting from A to B has you traverse such distances that we felt like we were playing a walking simulator. While there is an in-game metro system and a taxi system, you can’t always use these nor can they always bring you exactly where you need to go. Either way, in between the action scenes was way too much obligatory walking and it sucked the fun out of those moments.

The actual core gameplay is mediocre at best. The gunplay and abilities are bland, and nothing about it excited me. You can use a single brain cell to get through most of the game, regardless of your build.

While the story was alright and did its best to be mysterious, everything gets infodumped and explained near the end, making the entire mystery up until then pointless.

Either way, I can’t recommend this game. Even playing it with friends I had an “okay” time, rather than a truly enjoyable and engaging experience.

TL;DR: An incredibly atmospheric cyberpunk real-time tactics game. While obviously designed for singleplayer, I had a good time playing it with friends. The gameplay loop is solid and satisfying if somewhat repetitive after a while.

Satellite Reign is a game that knows what it wants to be and pulls it off successfully. Like many other spiritual successors, they know what vibe they’re going for. And it shows in the quality of the product – the developers obviously knew what they were doing when designing this game. I never played Syndicate, but I can still feel what they were trying to achieve.

First of all, let’s talk about the (visual) atmosphere. There’s several areas with their own lighting and architecture, and this makes those areas feel fleshed out and real. The world is sizable and filled with all kinds of establishments. Satellite Reign really does its best to make you feel like you’re in a corporate-run cyberpunk dystopian city. Unfortunately, most of the world is just there to separate the mission-relevant secure compounds, and you cannot interact with random buildings. It would have been nice to send your guys over to a hotel or restaurant or strip club or something, but that isn’t possible. Nevertheless, these places do add to the atmosphere. It feels more like a city than a level.

The music is quite good and fitting for the aesthetic they’re going for. I can’t complain about the sound effects, but they weren’t remarkable, either.

Often overlooked in video games, the writing in this game actually does add to the flavor of the game. There is plenty of text that shares lore or mission context and adds to your sense of purpose. There are also a lot of optional notes that you can read through if you’re so inclined. But for those who dislike reading, the main mission objectives are always highlighted in a sentence or two.

Going from atmosphere to actual gameplay – the gameplay loop is solid. First you become familiar with a section of the city before gathering information about possible objectives there. After that, you infiltrate (or blast your way into) increasingly secure compounds. Each class can contribute in their own unique way and that does make them feel different. The main downside is that there is little variety in mission types, and the core gameplay loop does get a bit repetitive over time. But so long as you enjoy this core, it’s probably still entertaining enough. The level/secure compound designs are generally laid so that you can engage with them in several ways, and that feels satisfying.

To sum it all up – I had a great time playing this in multiplayer. The atmosphere is great in terms of visuals, audio and writing. It’s very immersive. The gameplay loop is solid. There’s very little for me to complain about. I might even try it in singleplayer just to spend more time with the game and world. I hope we’ll get to see a sequel.

TL;DR: Barotrauma is a unique submarine-in-an-alien-sea simulation game. The game boasts a great atmosphere and plays well with friends. There is a bit of a learning curve, however, and there is little in the way of quality of life features. Overall, I can recommend this game so long as you go in with your eyes open.

Barotrauma is as much a simulator as it is a game. And by that I mean that there's more depth to certain aspects of the game than you might expect from a cursory glance. But this also brings with it a severe lack of quality-of-life in terms of inventory management, crafting and item storage as well as UI design.

That said, Barotrauma is quite immersive. The gameplay loop is simple yet effective - complete missions, earn money and improve your gear and submarine to go deeper into Europa. While the game can be played just fine in singleplayer, I feel that most people would get more enjoyment out of multiplayer. Bots are very efficient at some aspects of the game and they work well enough for the most part. But for some players, the chaos that results from playing with only people will be a big draw.

The visuals are generally dark and moody, while the Europan wildlife looks familiar-yet-horrifying. I can't honestly say the game looks pretty, but the visuals achieve what they set out to do. They have a certain vibe to them and it works.

The sound effects are on point, the guns and creatures sound good. The background music is atmospheric and not very intrusive. Again - it fits the vibe that the game is going for.

Of particular interest to some will be the fact that you can design and use your own submarines. Over the course of the campaign my friend made several custom submarines and we had a great time using them. So while it may not be for everyone, I feel that the submarine editor is a great feature of the game.

I had a good time playing this with a friend until we completed the campaign. As far as I can tell there is little reason to keep playing after that. The ending itself is also a bit lackluster in terms of gameplay and story.

Either way, if you don't mind a bit of a learning curve and messing around with a fiddly UI and inventory management, this game can be unique and entertaining.

TL;DR: A unique third-person action roguelite with a fascinating setting. If you like the atmosphere and gameplay concept I can highly recommend it. Do be aware there’s some amount of grinding involved.

Arboria is without a doubt the most memorable game I picked up last year. The setting is unique and the atmosphere is remarkable. I don’t know what they were smoking when they designed this world and its characters, but it must have been some good stuff!

What immediately grabbed me was the combination of setting and accompanying visuals. The worldbuilding and visual design go hand-in-hand. I don’t think I’ve ever played anything quite like it. I mean, when is the last time you played a game where your right hand can change into different weapons (symbionts), your left hand can morph into different spell-effect-creating limbs (mutations), and you’re accompanied by a fairy that gets fatter and fatter the more crystals she eats?

The village on the surface where you start your runs gradually grows in size as you heal more of Father Tree’s roots, unlocking more weird NPCs that serve as vendors and upgrade stations. Each of these is quite the character. There’s a sentient symbiont turned arms dealer, a heavily mutated troll who became a mutation vendor, a sentient giant grenade-fruit person who serves as a farmer cultivating more traps and grenades for you and so on. There’s many more, each of them as quirky as the last. I cannot stress enough how odd and entertaining all of these NPCs are, and it’s clear a lot of thought and love went into making the village a strange place. It’s a vital part of the game’s vibe. And the voice acting for each of these characters does a great job of adding to their personality.

And this vibe continues down into Durnar, the giant dungeon you’re descending deeper into. You’ll discover more about the world and lore as you progress, and the visual design changes accordingly. From shroom-filled caves to sandstone-looking temple complexes and more (can’t say more due to spoilers), there’s plenty of variety. Each themed area has several floors and an enemy type that lives there, such as all kinds of insectoid creatures in the first area. I would say there is plenty of enemy variety, especially at first. If you spend many hours in the game, however, you do start wishing for a few more types simply because you’ve fought these so often.

Speaking of fighting – you’ll be doing that a lot. Arboria is without a doubt an action-packed game. The core gameplay consists of going down into Durnar, fighting enemies, healing roots and collecting crystals (Veri). Maybe you’ll even uncover some more lore or advance the (linear) storyline. Eventually you’ll die and you can choose a new troll to spawn as and spend your collected Veri on persistent upgrades.

The core gameplay loop is addictive and the combat system works really well. There’s sixteen symbionts to discover and probably a similar number of mutations. Each of these has their own benefits and playstyle implications. The combat in Arboria is quite skill-based, meaning it involves a lot of proper timing of attacks and dodges. At first this felt clunky to me, but it just took some getting used to. Now it feels like a flowy dance, instead. I recommend trying out each weapon type you come across in order to find the ones most comfortable for you. By now I have learned to use almost all of them, but I feel like the game’s balance is somewhat in favor of fast weapons.

The last gameplay element I want to mention is related to the roguelite aspect. Between floors you’ll end up in a Lock Room, where you can send collected Veri up to the village and install a Mod in your troll. These modifications improve your troll in one of many ways and tend to build on one another. Such as adding special effects to your perfectly timed dodges, or adding part of your mana to your armor rating and so on. They aren’t always game-changing, but they’re a lot of fun to play around with and allow you to create a troll that leans heavily in a certain direction.

There’s also a simple yet effective element-beats-element system with accompanying status effects (burning, frozen and so on). The interesting part is that you can use these elemental Essence drops to change your gear’s element or to change a Mod you found into a different Mod entirely.

Now, Arboria isn’t perfect. I encountered several minor bugs during my time spent playing the game. They weren’t gamebreaking, but they were there nonetheless. There’s also a general lack of polish to be seen – some loading screens have informative/tutorial images that are obviously from previous versions of the game and no longer mesh as well with the current visual design. There’s sound effects missing for one or two mini-cutscenes. And the English text hidden away in item descriptions, while filled with lore, could have used another pass-over by an editor.

Unfortunately, the last themed area before the final boss uses some different gameplay mechanics that I did not enjoy. It made traversing those floors tedious.

My final observation is that the game can be a bit grindy. You’ll need to collect a lot of Veri for upgrades. As you play more and unlock more upgrades I’ve found it becomes easier and easier to earn a lot, but especially at the start it can be a bit rough. Once you get over that initial hump and pick a few vital upgrades, however, you should be in a good spot to easily earn more.

If you haven’t noticed already, I can absolutely recommend Arboria. The setting and visual design are amazing, the core gameplay loop and the combat mechanics are great. A lot soul went into this game and it shows.

TL;DR: A short, fun game that feels like Spore's cell stage. Sipho has great replayability if you get satisfaction from the core gameplay loop and trying out different builds, but the scope of the game is very limited and may not be for everyone.

I’ll be honest – I was not expecting to spend this much time on the game. The gameplay is very simple and I defeated the final boss in about two hours of playtime. If you lose all enjoyment after beating a game then I would recommend staying away from Sipho, especially for its current price tag.

However, if the core concept of making weird cell-stage creatures does appeal to you, a lot of fun can be had here. The replayability will certainly be there if you don’t mind playing the same gameplay loop. For one, there’s a New Game+ mode that you automatically enter upon beating the game. You’ll be able to choose an upgrade relevant to one of your parts after defeating each boss as well as after defeating the “miniboss” present in most levels. Some of these upgrades can unlock completely different styles of play, such as an utility part becoming a true weapon in its own right (the Twister comes to mind after choosing a particular upgrade). To keep things interesting, each time you complete a level or defeat a miniboss the enemies will also get an upgrade. Once you finish New Game+, you’ll go into New Game++ and +++ and so on.

There are a lot of build possibilities and you’ll encounter a lot of pretty or unique enemy designs. It can be difficult to defeat enemies much larger than yourself, but having a solid build and knowledge of enemy AI behavior can more than make up for the difference.

The levels can look a bit gloomy at times, and I personally hate the soundtrack so much I turned it off. But general sound effects are okay enough and the graphics have their own kind of charm.

Finally, some mechanics like stealth or build synergies aren’t explained. In a sense, the game rewards experimentation and exploration.

If you’re unsure whether or not you will like it enough to get your money’s worth I can recommend picking it up during a sale, if only to experience the novelty of the concept. I certainly don’t regret paying the full price and enjoyed my time with the game a lot.