Recent reviews by lydocia

A very interesting premise that isn't like all the other cooking games out there. The RPG aspect of it all is entertaining, having the option to go out and hunt / gather your own ingredients. The game needs some time in the oven, though, as I'm missing a lot of quality of life things as well as some balancing in downtime between quests and the amount of time before the main quest starts progressing. All in all looking forward to more updates!

Played the demo, loved the demo, got the game, played the game, loved the game!

The right amount of "brain goes brr" combined with automation, cute little forest creatures keeping you fixated for hours and hours and hours.

This game is one of those weird games that smashed two completely unrelated game genres together and created something that is just magical, super fun and incredibly addictive. I can't get enough, and I can't wait for release!

Why do I love games that I'm so bad at? 😭

Honestly, this game is so much fun! It looks cute and simple (and it probably is to people who are smarter than me) but it poses a real challenge, urging you to make smart choices in which cards to choose or which production to pursue.

Tutorial-wise, it could be better. There isn't much really telling you what to do, and at first that annoyed me. I'd place my fence and cow and wheat, and lose the game. That didn't make sense. But through experimentation, reading the in-game info and pure dumb luck, you get better and better. No two games are the same, there are so many options through randomness and the perks you choose.

It has a lot of room for improvement, but I definitely recommend the game, even if you're not a fan of the genre in general.

Okay, so this is rather embarrassing.

When clickyland came out, like most Sokpop games, I thought: "ooh that looks great!"

I read the description: "you get 20 clicks every day" and I got so frustrated. Why would they limit a game to only twenty clicks a day? That's a lame way to force people to return daily. I would expect this from ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Facebook games à la Candy Crush or FarmVille, but not Sokpop. I mean, sure, they do every genre, but this is just lame.

So I didn't buy the game and didn't think about it anymore, until someone recommends it to me a couple of days ago. I relay the above story and they go "...Amy, you realise it's twenty clicks per IN-GAME day, right?" And I have to honestly admit, I didn't until right then.

So I bought clickyland and even though tower defense games aren't my thing, I really enjoyed playing it.

The game has an interesting premise, but the execution is extremely lacking.

I liked the idea of sitting together with my husband and discussing the choice we make, together. We started by playing the first level, which only had visual clues. We felt we didn't have much time to discuss the choices but accepted that there had to be some time pressure, so okay.

Next up was the "more nuance" level, which added speech bubbles with text detailing things about the two choices you have. Now our time was way too short and I couldn't even finish reading everything before the train made its own choices.

I gave it another shot today, on my own, thinking that maybe it's just not meant to be played like that and I would have a better experience solo, but even on my own, the timer is too fast, there is too much text in a hard to read font that is way too small. It's just not comfortable or accessible this way.

I had been looking forward to Fields of Mistria for a while and, upon playing it for the first time, was so frustrated with the keybindings / controls that I r agequit and refunded the game. Then the FOMO kicked in, I bought it again and put some effort into figuring out how to remap the keys, and I am *really* glad I did.

Fields of Mistria hits the sweet spot between farming sim and RPG. It has all the elements of getting a farm, till soil, plant seeds, water them, harvest them, sell them, throw a few of them in the museum, rinse, repeat - but it also tackles the entire quest mechanic really, really well. Armour means something, too. There are various skills to unlock both for the more domestic activities like farming, crafting and fishing, as well as mining and combat in the dungeon-like mines.

Compared to other farming sims, this game feels so well-paced. There is something to do every day, there are weekly events, daily quests, monthly collections, but there is also... NO RUSH. You don't have to complete the quest today, within three years is fine, too. That alone makes it a very chill, very cosy experience. Throughout the story line, you get to gradually upgrade the town, making it prettier, adding new functionalities, and inviting new characters along the way. It never feels rushed, it never feels overwhelming, all of it feels just right.

Add to that the frequent dopamine hits - my god. Everything gets a reward. Things level up nicely, giving you a reward practically daily. Cosmetics aren't uncommon, you don't have to jump through hoops to get them, so you get to customise your character whichever way and however often you want to. Treasure chests, both as rewards and randomly finding htem in the dungeon or through fishing. Such a rush! They *could* have just thrown items at you, but they didn't. They chose treasure chests with dopamine and items in them, and that makes all the difference.

It's not a finished game yet - there are definitely some parts that need some more time in the oven. Controls overall is one of those things, they can be wonky and not very straight-forward at times. There are various parts of the town (e.g. museum displays) that haven't been built yet, none of which is an obstacle to play and enjoy the game right now, it's just more stuff to look forward to!

And last but not least: you can swim and jump! It sounds so simple, and not at all impressive, but as far as I'm concerned, there hasn't been a farming sim that has done this before. You can jump over enemies (and even do jumping attacks), jump off cliffs, into the water, you can swim across rivers and ponds, you can dive for fish or treasure.

All of this maximises the best of all the worlds. Idefinitely, wholeheartedly recommend getting Fields of Mistria, it might very well be the best farming sim of this decade.

A review for Stonehearth has been long overdue. I have been playing this game on and off since 2018, for a total of over 400 hours. It’s safe to say that I love this game, I keep going back to this game and it is one of my favourite games.

That’s why it pained me so much to see it discarded as it has been.

Long story short:

The game showed a lot of potential initially, promising an advanced engine and flexible building mechanics. But early alpha builds were unstable, and updates were minor, failing to address core problems, which wasn’t good.

RIOT Games acquired the studio mainly for the developers' expertise in fighting games, not for Stonehearth, but it got acquired nonetheless. Post-acquisition, the original developers shifted focus away from this game onto their other projects, leaving the remaining team without clear direction. Despite promises, meaningful updates were rare, and key features were never implemented.

Eventually, RIOT pushed, the devs caved and the game was declared finished in a disappointing state, far from its potential.

An amazing group of modders volunteered to keep the game alive through the Authorized Community Expansion Project or ACE for short. What started as a mod to expand the game vastly, ended up being its sole saviour.

All of this to say, yes, the game was abandoned rather unceremoniously and that sucks, because it really was promising, *but* it is still a good game regardless, especially if you add all the wonderful mods that are still being maintained and expanded upon.

Stonehearth is a wonderful game in a cosy, voxel setting with the right amount of gathering, crafting, building and fighting to keep brain occupied for hours, even more so with mods.

I have yet to find another game with those same parameters that pulls it off this well.

When I was nine years old, I found a Tomba (although it was called Tombi here in Europe) demo disc in my box of cereals. I played that demo to smithereens, I loved it so much. I went to the local game store weekly, asking if they had Tombi, and was told weekly that they wouldn't even order it because it would not be popular over here and the copies would never sell. Disheartened, I kept playing my demo, and I kept asking the man from the game store every time I went there to browse.

UIntil one day, I walked in there and he excitedly greeted me holding a little PS1 game box that would soon be my most prized possession. He could apparently not see me sad one more time so he had paid a little extra to order just one copy, for me. I don't think I've ever run as fast as I ran back home to start playing Tombi, and I don't think I've ever run as fast ever since.

That's how much I love this game. It genuinely is my favourite childhood game, it holds a dear place in my heart and I have been looking forward to playing this again for SO long, I can't even express how much it means to me to see other adults hype over this game and love this game. I had never met anyone else irl who even knew about it, let alone shared my excitement.

If you were a fan of the original Tomba, then this is just one big nostalgia trip for you. Buy it. Play it. Relive your childhood. Notice you have become much, much worse at platforming because you've been getting older, slower, less focused. Weep.

Be informed that this is an emulator port, not a remaster. The game is 100% the same graphics- and gameplay-wise as the PS1 game, with a remastered soundtrack (that is on by default but can be toggled of in the settings for that full nostalgic experience) but it surprisingly still looks quite good.

And to put your concerns to rest: I, too, was miffed it was "just a port" and not a full remaster, at first. I thought about how well done the Day of the Tentacle remaster was and I wanted something similar for Tombi. But now that I'm playing it... nah. The game *really* holds up. I'm not even listening to the remastered soundtrack, because the og is so great. This *definitely* was enough, and potentially even better than a real remaster.

Keyboard controls are hardcoded on arrow keys and x and z which is... not ideal, if you're used to playing WASD, and they can't be remapped, so I recommend using a controller. Like it was intended to be played, one could argue.

Not sure how the game would hold up with a new player who isn't riding the nostalgia, but if you like platformer games and the retro feel, and you lower your expectations to a 1997 frame of reference, it's definitely probably a good game for you, maybe. Yes.

Looking forward to Tomba 2, Limited Run. Get on it!

Something about this art style makes my brain go brr.

Absolutely loving the game, progression is linear and well-documented, and the timing is just right (e.g. right as I was thinking "I have watered SO many plants, I wish there was something to automa-" the automation prompt came up).

Can't wait to sink 9687987564676 hours in this and then beg my husband for an irl sheep for my birthday.