Recent reviews by Skiah 40k

Ubisoft is undeniably awful and I hold no love for them, but this ended up possibly being the best dollar I ever spent. I got it originally because the discount was just too much to pass up but didn't expect to enjoy it nearly as much as I have and will continue to do. This title made me realize I love racing games.

I don't know how deep any of the activities are compared to the competition in the genre but it's pure good fun. There's lots of variety in event types and tons of vehicles with impressive customization. The drawbacks are that the characters are insufferable, just about every line of dialog is cringe inducing and the voice acting is wretchedly bad — but fortunately none of that matters in a game like this. Maybe that's a plus if you can laugh at it, but for me skipping just about all of it is mandatory.

Just turn up the music and drive! Or fly! Or sail.

Oh, Athanasy, where can I even begin?

The issue is not that I can't find the words to describe Athanasy's narrative merits. The problem is that I cannot say them without damaging the very things that make it so great. This story definitely falls into the rule of "the less you know, the better". Going in blind is best and my speaking of events or showing anything in detail would harm the experience for anyone interested in it.

To get the technicalities out of the way for those concerned, the sound, music and art designs are all top notch and highly polished. And the writing is excellent, as is the translation. There are a couple of grammatical habits that could make one wonder if this isn't a native English work (and it isn't) but to me those things fit the universe and style in a way that complimented the mood rather than distract from it.

Athanasy might not be for the faint of heart, but Its absolutely breathtaking.

There's buckets of body horror certainly, but Athanasy isn't shock value schlock. It also has heavy threads of psychological, existential, religious, geopolitical, medical, science fiction and eldritch horror sewing up its messily stitched up, bloody seams. The story is also as thought provoking and philosophical as it is uncomfortable. The result is something disturbing and oppressive, akin to Cronenberg nightmare fuel blended with a pervasive, Kafkaesque sense of dread and despair that never lets up as the story continuously gets worse with every turn of the page.

And yet, somehow, despite the high stakes, all it's complex ambitions and many themes — Athanasy tells a concise and simple story that doesn't get lost inside its own brilliance. And at its core despite being seemingly unknowable, there is an incredibly human heart to be found beating there within its eldritch shell.

Athanasy is grotesque and terrible but it is also painfully beautiful. So very beautiful.

Each path and every ending is vital to completing the whole picture and the experience as a whole. Despite its brutality nothing is needless, nothing is wasted and nothing is gratuitous. It is one of the most creative and impressive things I have read in a long time, and it will stick with me far longer.

Athanasy is special, a genuine experience that resonated with me on an existential level and hit a mood and feeling that only a handful of other things ever have. I hesitate to name any of them openly because they are all also unique, nothing like each other and nothing like Athanasy so I don't want to mislead with comparisons. But if you're like me, constantly seeking for that evasive, elusive something that's so hard to explain, I can't possibly recommend Athanasy highly enough. By now, you'll probably know if you are.

Its heavy and so very dark; and some lines hit like a truck but there is a method in the madness and a point to all the suffering. I won't say the 'ending' is worth it singularly because no two are similar and all outcomes have a place in the narrative and in understanding what's really happening.

But there is definitely payoff. In more ways than one.

It's a shard of pure brilliance, even though that brilliance is ruined and corrupted beyond repair.

...Or is it?

Perhaps hope is the most human thing of all.

Balrum is a wonderful old style isometric RPG with a surprising level of customization and depth, along with a lot of quality of life features absent in those games of yore. The most charming aspect of it to me was the ability to have my own map where I could build my own little homestead in this dark and unforgiving world. While a lot of the main story is very dark, my house and my livestock, my farm and my pet added a lovely little layer of wholesomeness as a contrast to the ruins just outside my door.

The lore is perhaps rather standard RPG fare but its done well and pulled me into the story, and while brief the ending was satisfying and good. It would be lovely to see what happens to our young hero in a sequel, as while everything is wrapped up nicely an entire new set of challenges await him.

I recommend this wholeheartedly to those that enjoy games like the Spiderweb RPGs (Avernum, Avadon, Geneforge, etc) and especially to those that loved the Eschalon series, which Balrum shares a lot of traits with.

To anyone that plays this with the idea of getting all achievements from the start, I heavily recommend playing on an easier difficulty for a little bit to become familiar with the gameplay and systems, then restarting on Grandmaster difficulty. I feel the game is far too long to play multiple times, and the biggest hurdles like hunger and thirst are easy to overcome on Grandmaster once you understand your options, and combat is also manageable but once you are familiar with it. These three hurdle are the complaints I see most often, but I personally didn't find anything unreasonable once I was comfortable with the systems.

Also I recommend reading up a little on guides before deciding on how to build your character because on Grandmaster you don't have room for certain mistakes. For example, if you are an archer you need to learn smelting or you will never have enough arrows — I went through mine like crazy nonstop, and vendors don't restock supplies fast enough to keep up with that demand unless you're at least partially self sustainable.

Though it was tough to complete, Balrum was a wonderful experience filled with charm and heart that I fully enjoyed.

Wholesome, whimsical and way too much fun — from its hummable soundtrack and bright colors, to its frantically entertaining gameplay and constantly climbing difficulty curve, I've enjoyed everything about PlateUp! despite my initial misgivings.

It was one of those games that I had on my wishlist for a while, with other games in the same genre also on my radar for a long time but I was always on the fence for one major reason: I intend to play fully solo. That will make for a lackluster experience, right?

Thankfully not at all!

Well, I can't say anything about other games like this one but what I am certain of, is that while PlateUp! is no doubt a different experience when alone, its still great as a single player game. Late stage/higher level play becomes questions of how much of your processes can you streamline and how many tasks can you automate before it all comes crashing down on your head. Rather than a game about teamwork, its all about efficiency as you slowly turn your restaurant into a food factory, more and more parts in the system swapped out for appliances that do more of the work for you since you're going to need more than two hands to feed these crowds.

For a moment, imagine one of those old time management sim flash/browser games. Now greatly expand on and modernize the gameplay loop, add lots of recipes, a leveling system, upgrades, customization, roguelite elements, random drops, random events and the ability to be in control of your entire layout and restaurant design. Polish it to a mirror sheen.

PlateUp! is also filled to the brim with charm and happiness. Don't let that fool you, though. Your guests have no patience, are constantly demanding something and they all hate you. But isn't that what running a restaurant is all about?

As much as I want to say nice things, being charitable to the game and the state it is in, is quite difficult.

I do want to note that I used this fix from the forums to help with some of the most common glitches and add some of the missing content back. Without that, playing Necronomicon through its more frustrating sequences would have been even worse. I also freely admit I used a walkthrough on more than one occasion as this game does indeed commit a lot of the sins of classic P&C gaming (moon logic, sheer trial and error required at times, obfuscating where you need to go next for no real reason, giving deliberately bad instructions, etc.).

The game is also quite ugly, and I say that as someone that enjoys games from all eras, including ones much older than this one. But there's something appealing here anyway. I like the clunky animation, the stilted dialog, the strange puzzles and the creepy atmosphere. For certain, it could have been so much better but I had an enjoyable evening with it all the same.

I assume many people (like myself) have a copy of this game in their steam backlog, or have thought about grabbing it when it dips to 90% off. I can recommend getting it in a bundle or on the cheap, and dusting it off for a spooky evening if you're okay with its shortcomings, can forgive the clunkiness, understand all the frustrations of this genre during this time period and particularly if you're a fan of Lovecraft's work and cosmic horror in general.

It wasn't great but it also didn't overstay its welcome. The lore it builds from its obvious inspiration is honestly much more interesting than the story itself (budget constraints?). Yet it did get manage to get under my skin a couple of times, which I didn't expect. Because of that I give this game a mild recommendation for a select group — but only with the fix and when using a guide, otherwise you're likely to have a bad time regardless.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Starsand. It was a wonderful and memorable experience.

I see a lot of the critical reviews stating that this is a very niche sort of survival crafting game very few will like, with some saying its best left to those who love the genre and have already played everything else. Well, this is my first game in the genre and its made me realize I enjoy this type of game, though I can still understand the reasoning behind that sort of opinion. And now I worry that perhaps nothing else will give me the same enjoyment I had playing this hidden gem.

Because while Starsand can be tough, is always tense and high stakes... It's not fast paced, nor is is it primarily an action game. In fact the only combat there is, is simply a mechanic to force you to keep moving and reinforce the idea that its dangerous to linger for too long in one spot (until you're in a much better position to hold your ground, at least).

When it all began I was cast into the cruel and unforgiving desert with nothing but the clothes on my back and a small water bottle. But each and every little bit of progress I eked out in the harsh landscape was rewarding — from marking and filling out the map, to gathering supplies and learning how to make the most basic things, to learning more progressively complex crafts, to finding my camel friend, to eventually extending the caravan to 3 camels, to riding a sandboard along the dunes for fun after a long day in the desert, to catching and collecting bugs, to building a sprawling oasis home to call my own and thriving there, to finally triumphing against the odds and learning why I was here in the first place. I enjoyed every moment of it.

The story is compact but brilliant from start to finish and the poignant ending is something that I will remember for a long time. The way it unfolds felt truly magical, and the upgrades you get from a certain point forward opened up the world in a way I never would have expected. Every single piece of the puzzle interlocks in a thoughtful and imaginative way, meshing the gameplay and the story together to make for a truly immersive experience.

The atmosphere is fantastic, as well. The sound design is good, with a minimalist but effective soundtrack. The environment, as sparse as it can be at times, is gorgeous. The dual moons at night and the sunrises and sunsets are breathtaking, and while there is an awful lot of sand that's not all there is to see. There are far more sights (and sites) to encounter than one might expect at first.

Perhaps the threat of getting lost in a sea of endless sand, the long treks from place to place, the harsh sun and the constant threat of dying of thirst and excessive heat will deter some but for me that early game struggle was part of the magic. The exploration was a lot of fun and the air of mystery was excellent. But then, when I had explored everything and landmarked it all and always knew where I was there was a special sense of accomplishment in that — something that really made me feel as though I belonged in this hostile wasteland, that it had become my home. And to that end I built a fine one.

That's another thing about Starsand I appreciated. There's no need at all to make yourself a home. You can simply throw a tent down and be done with it. But the ability to make something elaborate and with a personal touch truly added a layer of enjoyment that wouldn't have been there if building had solely been used as a required mechanic for survival.

Starsand definitely is a survival game with crafting and base building but I believe its best described as a mediative game rather than an action one. Because at its heart, Starsand is a lonely, desolate, existential, solitary meditation on the cosmos. And I fell in love with this brutal world and its history, its magic.

That tainted, desiccated desert; it's deadly, but its beautiful. And I love it there.

Yes, that's a stupid joke, but not meant as an insult to the VN itself. I appreciate that this VN exists and for all the countless hours of hard work CoZ put into patching it. And from a moment to moment standpoint, I really enjoyed reading C;HN. It got me through being on bedrest and made the time pass very fast. Its pacing is great, the tension is held through most of the read time and it built up a very interesting story with a pervasive sense of creeping dread.

So why the thumbs down?

Simply put, I have never been let down so much by any (good) thing I have ever read, before.

The murder mystery, the strange broken world, the shadowy creepy villains, the existentialism, the denpa vibes, the masterminds behind it all and sadly even the science themes of a game in the Science Adventure series, don't matter. At all. There's nothing to piece together, nothing to figure out and nothing to ponder over. Everything about the world building, the atmosphere and intrigue turn out to be complete throw-away, to the point that even calling these elements "meaningless set dressing" still might be implying they matter more than they do.

Everything boils down to "just because" with no real depth, and all the things that made me interested and kept me hooked in the setting and narrative had no pay off.

So what I was left with in the end was a solely character driven narrative. The problem for me with this angle is that the characters themselves, while decent I suppose, just weren't interesting, deep or compelling enough to make the experience worthwhile; nor was there any real room for growth or character development during the short time frame the story spans. One thing I will praise here, is Takumi. Despite being the most unlikeable protagonist I have ever experienced, he's truly fascinating and his voice actor does a great job of bringing him to life. Takumi is the star of the show and while in all fairness this is his story, he's just not strong enough to hold up the entire rest of the novel's shortcomings by himself.

When I finally reached the true end, I was left with this disappointed sensation of "that's it???" with every single thing I cared about being rendered pointless. I had no real emotional reaction to the resolution of the cast's struggles either and I tend to be a bit of a sap most of the time. Instead I felt exhausted when it was over and the end just fell so flat for me.

That said, I've read many VNs with higher levels of cruelty, gore and traumatic events taking place but with all of them, there was a much greater reward for doing so. I'm not name dropping nor trying to say that every story must be held to X standard, but the reward for suffering through the awful scenes in C;HN just wasn't there for me at all.

Its not a *bad* story per se. It's well written. But it didn't resonate with me one bit, left me feeling hollow when it was over and in the end, it was nothing but a very compelling bread crumb trail that ultimately lead to absolutely nowhere.

Its hard to explain without spoiling, but if you're ever experienced a bait-and-switch VN where everything seems like a mundane high school slice of life until it hits you in the face with a harrowing and total mind**** reality, this story feels like the exact opposite of that, which it turns out is not nearly as interesting.

Of course your milage may vary, but if you have the same interests in narratives that I do, I warn you: the mystery is so contrived, the science fiction is so soft and the intrigue shoved so far into the background they might as well not even exist. Even the mystical vibes the story delves into later are exceedingly shallow. Don't waste your time trying to figure things out, jotting down notes or making extra saves to review later.

C;HN succeeds solely as a character study on Takumi, but fails in all other categories it presents to the reader. Whether or not that's enough to warrant the actual price, time cost and mental taxing of admission is definitely subjective. For me it did not, and I look forward to the day I completely forget certain scenes.

But a lot of people really love C;HN and SciAdv as a whole is often recommended, so my opinion is obviously not the majority one. I wish I did have a more positive experience but I did not and I offer a different perspective.

Instead of excitedly starting what I expected to be the beginning of a long trek through some of the highest rated VNs of all time, I am now hesitating to read anything else in the Science Adventure series because if they all boil down to these same issues, its really just not for me.

"Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves."

Vampire Survivors is an example of indie gold, and early access done right. The game was presented in a highly polished state even when it was still in early access and offered incredible value from the outset. Its only grown from there, and even after its full release its still updated frequently.

The game has a straightforward yet incredibly fun action/reverse bullet hell gameplay loop. Graphics, music and sound effects are also simple but streamlined, and the experience is polished and very satisfying. Its addictive, charming, feels fantastic to play and is an obvious labor of love. Along with many characters and abilities to unlock, a large spread of achievements add to the replay value beyond just surviving. Its definitely one of those "just one more run" games.

And its a perfect example of how a good concept executed well and made with love can be vastly better than a soulless cashgrab, regardless of the budget or the size of the dev team.

I implore you. If you think you might be interested in this game at all, be careful. I went in blind and that is most certainly the way to go. If you carelessly search around, watch someone play too far into the gameplay loop, or read much about it you will totally spoil what I can only call an experience that you can't get back.

With that out of the way, I'm afraid I can only say that my review must be vague and shallow for the same reasons.

Inscryption is creepy as hell, deeply stylized, dripping with atmosphere and charm, and continues to draw me in further the more I play it. Its quite a clever premise, and I suspect this 'style' might be one of the next big things that other devs attempt to copy or capture the magic of.

At its core, it certainly is a deck based card battle game with roguelike elements exactly as described on the tin. It might seem really difficult at times during the early stages but once you're familiar with the mechanics and make progress, the core gameplay loop is so very satisfying to play through. But Inscryption is so much more and that's the essence of why knowing as little as possible beyond the main points is vital to enjoy it to the fullest.

The game has already thrown quite a few surprises at me and the deeper in I go, the weirder it gets and I love that.

Its phenomenal.