Recent reviews by Andy Bumpkin

Absolutely wonderful character driven, turn based, tactical experience.


But ugh...flippin' Steve Clark.

Quality game as I'd expect from these devs - took me a while to get it (oops) but it was worth the wait!

The second to last book was my favourite but they were all good and well presented and had interesting themes and environments.

It's hard to put into words why this is so good.

A lot of my closest gaming friends would not enjoy this.

Yes, they didn't enjoy Slay the Spire or FTL but that's not why. It's more fundamental, they don't have the same need I do to find and play these really special indie video games. Games that can tell a wonderful short story built with limited tools and resources. That can surprise you with how you relate to the characters and their interactions while still providing great game play mechanics. Also the soundtrack is so up my street it's walked up my drive and is knocking on my front door.

For me that's why I enjoyed this so much. It's not so much a game to return to for challenges in my opinion (although I've still not defeated Cleo...) but i got 35+ hours out of enjoyment from it.

And finally for those who are on my friends list who have it on their wishlist (I see you), knowing the other games you've played I'm pretty sure you wouldn't regret getting this.

Very much enjoyed this.

It's a great looking game with a time-reversing mechanic, but you already know this before even seeing this review. I reckon it works really well. There were definitely a few where I had to pause for thought and one that got me very frustrated, but it'd be wrong for a game of this genre to not get me like that once or twice.

Here's something I'll say in challenge of those reviews that are "it's all the same puzzle". Most of the puzzle chambers are similar in nature. But then so were Portal's.

What it *also* does like portal and it's sequel is use the time-reverse mechanic in non-puzzle-chamber settings such as residential areas, museums, control centres which offer that world building side of the game that immerses you in the story.

I've played through to the end once. I'm not sure if there are any additional endings (nothing in the discussions, perhaps a dev could reply and tell me :D ) but I'm definitely going to play through again anyway to get the "hat" soon!

I got about 10 hours out of this and I feel like I got my money's worth.

Nice idea with the time portal, the whole game was very in keeping with Portal Lore and mindset.

Definitely a must for adventure game fans. Some of the puzzles in this are great, I especially enjoyed the mid-section of the game and the puzzle with the state of his hand.

If I had any criticism at all it would be about the quality of the sound for some of the voices (not the actual voices themselves, they were great). The fact that it's fully voiced is awesome though.

Also, the "Outrun" music! :D

Great card game that, for me, really scratches that slay-the-spire itch.

It gets pretty addictive once you find your rhythm. Planning ahead is essential, don't let yourself get cornered with low health!

Artwork is great. I think if I have any criticism it would be regarding the music which can get a bit repetitive.

Overall fantastic fun :)

I really liked this iteration of the Xcom franchise.

The pacing was great - I didn't feel in a major rush all the time. There didn't feel like there were too many gumpf missions standing in the way of doing bigger things.

I liked the squad having their individual personalities and weapon traits. Picking unusual squad combos led to some interesting, and sometimes useful, results. Some characters I initially dismissed as being pointless turned out to be very helpful in the field.

I think some further character development would have been good, since they have personalities. I would have liked some more internal squad story based on who you picked. That way I'd be interested in playing through again a few times to see what outcomes I could get.

Combat was fun, I far prefer the initiative based system in this than the older move-all-at-once idea. I think it worked well with this game in particular.

Overall: I very much enjoyed it. More games in the series like this please!

It was never my intention to complete the game before writing a review. In fact, like many of us, I rarely complete games I own on Steam. However this was just too good all the way from start to finish *not* to see to it's conclusion.

I'm going to keep this brief-ish because you're all busy, but please believe me when I say this is something special. Its blend of "point and click" style adventuring with platforming mechanics works way better than I expected. The puzzles were almost all intuitive and the moments I got stuck led to some very rewarding "Aha!" moments in the end. (For instance when you steer a remote probe and there's a password and...ah well, you'll figure it out).

There are times with the platforming that can drive you crazy, The mechanics that switch the direction of the action in particular caused mild rage. In fact this is poked fun at later. But generally the platforming is great fun especially when you gain further powers. Also you can give Ben a piggyback.

Story wise this feels more coherent than what I recall of the previous game (I didn't bother to replay it and it's been...what, a decade? since I have). The calibre of the humour is top notch, but do I think that because I too am British and a small portion of the dialog based jokes are very self depricating towards current British society? Hmm, nah, that can't be it.

I especially enjoyed the digs at walking game simulators.

I'm going to mention a single thing that caused me problems:
The game camera mucked up about three times during my play through. By the time you read this it might be well sorted. But if you ever think there's a moment where you can't see everything you should be able to see I recommend just quickly restarting the game.

(Oh but that other thing that keeps happening? You know the *thing* yeah? Well, don't believe everything you read in the updates for the game, that's all I'll say)

All in all then I'll be surprised if you don't enjoy this. Ambitious, eclectic and hilarious, I'd recommend it to anyone. Don't let this end up being one of those games that you end up getting at a massive discount, or in a bundle later on and think "Gosh, I would have paid full price for this..." Get it now and be proud of yourself for supporting it before everyone else knew it was amazing.

I like Maths.