Game reviews – Savior Gaming

Romeo is a Deadman Playstation 5 Review

Romeo is a deadman is an action-adventure horror game sent to me by the great folks over at Grasshopper Manufacture, and I have to say, rarely do I play a game that makes me wonder what the hell I just played. I mean that as a compliment, by the way. You play as Romeo Stargazer, and as you are about to die, your grandfather saves your life by turning you into Deadman. You are given powers to fight with blood and are recruited by the FBI Space Time Police.

Using a sword and gun, and his helmet, Deadgear, you will fight all sorts of zombies and crazy monsters to stop time criminals that are using this catastrophe to cause all sorts of problems. You will also use this time to find your girlfriend, aptly named Juliet, who has disappeared. It isn’t long before you discover her, and all of this is closely tied together.

The fighting is tight, with sword and gun fighting easy to switch between and serving its own unique purpose. Some enemies have weak points that are far easier to shoot than to strike with a sword, while your sword does far more damage. A special attack powered by blood is capable of healing you, but must be charged with your standard attacks. It charges quickly enough for you to use it often, however, so feel free.

Bosses feel special, each with their own way of doing battle and with a unique look. The first boss alone can be tough on higher difficulty levels and will introduce you to the need to dodge and hit weak points while being fair.

This brings me to the one part of the game I did not like. The upgrading system does leave something to be desired. While there are a few weapons to choose from in both melee and range, upgrading your character feels like a chore with its pacman like mini game. While you can back track without losing anything to find the optimal path, it just feels like busy work rather than feeling rewarding.

The Bastard’s assistants fall into this same category; while growing them is simple, their growth in real time felt needless. You either need to spend valuable resources to speed it along or wait 10 minutes or more just to merge them and start the process over again, and it is the same resource used to increase your stats. This means you need to go grinding ( which is easy to do) or wait around.

This didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of the game; I still recommend this to anyone who finds it the least bit interesting. It is one of the better games I have played all year, and I have played a lot. It is a 9/10 experience. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Tavern Manager Simulator Playstation 5/Xbox/Steam Review

Tavern Manager Simulator is a tavern simulator game sent to me by the folks over at Ultimate Games, which I always appreciate. It is also available on Steam and Xbox, all of which I have played, and they have sent me. The games are all similar enough that I don’t feel the need to write a separate review for all of them.

The concept of the game is simple: you start with a busted tavern that you have to clean up and order some ale. You start out just greeting customers and selling this. Your pours can be bad, good, or perfect. This doesn’t change how much it sells for, but it does change your reputation. Once you get some dirty mugs, the game teaches you how to draw some water from the well and how to wash dishes. Later, you can get a fairy to do this for you.

The game continues like this until you can buy the first upgrade, which will get you some furniture and sausages. Honestly, this is all there is to the game. You sell things and upgrade as you become more popular and get different types of customers and things to sell them. Later on, you will learn to make stew, grill meet and be able to hire fairies to do much of the work you don’t want to do yourself.

There are some nice hidden things to find, like this bonfire or garden gnomes. The game, while simple, is fun with plenty to do and discover. For a $20 price point, I had a lot of fun with it, and I can see people who enjoy these games having a blast with this one as well. It is an 8/10 experience. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Dreadway Steam Review

Dreadway is a co-op horror title sent to me by Reality Twist, and I always appreciate it. I honestly don’t know where to start with this one because it has some great stuff to it. For example, the requirement to use a mic is inspired in the reason why, for example, certain monsters and doors have passwords and such that you need to say out loud for them to function, which is a cool mechanic. The issue is, this doesn’t always work. The proximity chat adds a level of intensity to the game. Knowing if the party runs off to do its own thing is fantastic and really adds to the horror aspect. Again, occasionally it just doesn’t work. I’ve had people standing right next to me not be able to hear me, even on the train, where you start.

Speaking of the train, this is a cool idea. The fact that you can start it, stop it, and store things there as a base is nice. A little safe haven in an otherwise unsafe world is always appreciated. It is one of many things in this game I appreciated, which is a small thing that adds up. The bunkers are also interesting at first; many look the same, unfortunately, and much of the fun in this game is who you are playing with.

While I can’t say the game is truly bad, there is fun to be had here, and at a price point of only $10, I will say if you don’t have a dedicated team of people to play with, maybe avoid this one. It is at best a 5/10 experience that most people won’t enjoy. There are other games out there that offer a similar experience that do it better. Some patches will definitely make this a better game, but I can’t see most people sticking around to see them. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Monster Lab Simulator Steam Review

Monster Lab Simulator is another game by Kiki Games that they were nice enough to send me, and it will be released into early access tomorrow, February 13th. The concept of the game is simple. You are a mad scientist creating creatures to fight in battles for you using genetic modifications. Now, I won’t lie, my own pet theory here is that you are a crazed fan of the in-game series from Table Battle Simulator and took it way too far, but I can prove that.

Now, I won’t lie, most of these monsters are super cute. I think that is part of how you know you play an evil scientist. He creates cute monsters for the battles and such. It isn’t all fun and games, however. You do need to care for them properly. Certain monsters prefer to live in certain elemental zones, and if you want the best creatures, you do need to combine them into bigger and better monsters.

The game isn’t all fun and games; however, things can go wrong, and you do need money for your experiments. This is why, while I do love these cute little monsters, I moved on to bigger and better monsters, so I could sell them. I assumed turning them into orbs and selling them isn’t painful. The game’s tutorial is excellent, by the way, so don’t worry about having to figure out how to play the game on your own.

This leads me to my one and only issue with the game: it does get repetitive fast, and I eventually felt like I was playing just for the sake of playing with no real end goal in sight. Now the game is early access with plenty of time for stuff to be added, and having seen others play the game, it seems like this may have been a me thing. The game is a solid 7/10, and I can see there being a huge fan base for this game. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Table Battle Simulator Steam Review

Table Battle Simulator is a game that really needs no explanation, sent to me by Kiki Games. You start off with a small store and build a game figure empire. The usual rules apply. Design your store, set prices, order stock, and hopefully turn a profit. Use those profits to expand the store and sell better things. There is a small twist this time around.

Instead of opening packs to simply collect or sell, you can set up battle tables in your store and join the battles yourself. Every person who walks into your store has a rank, and as you get a better collection, you might even beat some of them. Don’t think that just because you own the store, you are the best.

The problem with these games is simple: you either love them ( like me) or they just aren’t your thing. This game has a nice twist to it; unlike most of these games, you can actually play the game you are selling the pieces to. And while the employees you hire aren’t great, they never are. To be honest, having had many jobs in my life, many times your coworkers suck anyway. This may seem like a small thing, but the number of these games I have played where I wanted to know how my cards would actually play isn’t zero.

The game is releasing into early access on February 16th, and I look forward to seeing how it grows. The game is a solid 7/10, and for an early access title, that is all you need. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Adaptory Steam Review

Adaptory recently hit early access on Steam, and Stormcloak Games was nice enough to send me a copy to check out. Anyone familiar with Oxygen Not Included will instantly know how this game is played. You crash land on a planet and must survive by building basic things and researching new technology. This will include things like power plants for coal and solar, growing food, producing oxygen, and even beds.

First thing you need to know is hit the ground running, so to speak. The pause function is your friend and abuse it. Making good decisions can take time at first, and since everything is built using dirt, ladders need to be made to get to new dirt where you dig, and putting ladders matters. My first run was plagued by me just randomly digging and putting stuff in places, and by day 6, everyone was dead.

I would like to say runs 2 through 5 went better, but I can be a slow learner. The game does give you a tutorial, but some of it is a bit vague, I feel. For example, while it won’t let you build over an empty space, you can accidentally dig under objects and take them offline. Some things are very much trial and error. I am fine with this; however, I spent hours playing Rim World just building things, trying to figure out what wouldn’t get me killed.

Adaptory falls into the same category; in fact, most of the complaints in the reviews on Steam are that it is just like Oxygen Not Included. I don’t see this as a bad thing. How many games are there similar to Super Mario or Final Fantasy? A game doesn’t have to be brand new to be fun or even good. Stardew Valley is just like the old Harvest Moon games, and people, myself included, love that game. Adaptory isn’t for everyone, and it needs some work to be the heavy hitterthat Oxygen Not Included, or Rimworld is. At $20, it may not be for everyone, but there is fun to be had in this 7/10 title, and I do look forward to seeing it grow. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Encounter: The Lost Cards Steam Review

Encounter: The Lost Cards was sent to me by Encounter GG, which I always appreciate, and going into this, I knew nothing about it beyond this trailer, and I will say no $10 card game needs to have a song that goes this hard.

Seriously, the song is great, and perfectly describes how the game is played and what it is about. The game is all about managing your inventory, using your AP in the best way possible to kill enemies, defending yourself, and winning battles. The gameplay is as simplistic as it gets. Mastering it is a different matter completely.

The game starts out with a tutorial explaining everything you need to know to get you started, but it does leave a bit out. Knowing what these Minor tarot cards even do is a bit of an oversight in my opinion. As best I can tell, they help determine what sort of things you will come across in your run as you attempt to find specific Major cards for your charactors over all goal. This changes depending on whose perspective the game’s story is being told from, which I found to be amazing. I love the story and the direction it is taking.

The biggest issue I had with the game is that there are huge, sudden difficulty spikes. One moment, you are doing just fine, and the next, you are suddenly faced with what seems like an insurmountable battle. And sin and being honorable play a very large part in the game, but often you are faced with choices that seem to force you to sin, with only two options, both leading to sin, and the payoff being sin for a lesser reward or sin for a bigger reward.

The game does have a comedic tone that I enjoyed, and while some of the characters had a sexy tone, it wasn’t over the top. For the price, I found the game enjoyable and it is a solid 7/10 experience. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Escape From Ever After Playstation 5 Review

Escape From Ever After was sent to me by Hypetrain Digital, and I always appreciate it, and honestly, they are one of those companies you have probably heard of, even if you don’t realize it. This time, they hit us with a Paper Mario-style RPG that wears its homage right on its sleeve, and doesn’t even try to hide its love for the game it imitates.

You play as Flynt Buckler, Hero, Adventurer, Dragon Slayer. On your most recent attempt to slay the vile Tinder, your arch nemesis, you discover his layer is now home to Ever After Incs corperate office, and Tinder is now in prison and a shadow of his former self. So what is a dragon slayer and his new not-so-good buddy dragon to do? Get a job, of course.

What follows are hours of traveling through storybooks to meet characters like the Big Bad Wolf, which is apparently just a stage name, and combat that includes all the features you love, such as timed attacks and defenses, holding buttons until the perfect time, etc. Solving puzzles, finding ink to upgrade skills, and Sun Stones to buy powerful trinkets. The leveling system is the same: gather 100 experience and pick between HP, MP, or points to equip more skills/trinkets.

Don’t make any mistake, this is not a complete rip-off of Paper Mario. The gameplay may be the same, but this isn’t an easy game. It has different difficulty settings, and playing on hard will test your abilities in a way Paper Mario never did. There is also an optional tower that you will have to fight from level 1 to level 100 in one go, with no ability to heal except for items you bring with you. The rewards are great, but it is not an easy trip.

This brings me to my only real complaint about the game. The economy is rough. There never seems to be enough money to buy healing items, and the cost of healing isn’t cheap either. This doesn’t take away from the joy I found in the game; it is honestly one of the best games I have played all year, and I have played a lot of them already. This is a 9/10 experience that is probably the first must-buy RPG of the year. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Dwarves: Glory, Death and Loot Steam Review

Dwarves: Glory, Death, and Loot was sent to me by Sidekick Publishing and is a mix of RPG, roguelike, and Autobattler, and honestly sounds like it wouldn’t work. Picking a few dwarves, loading them with weapons, then watching them fight just doesn’t sound like fun. Doing this over and over again to unlock new things until you lose and starting over again didn’t sound too appealing to me.

I will be 100% honest here: this game won’t be for everyone. What I described is basically the gameplay loop in a nutshell. The battles get harder, you recruit more dwarves, some are better than others, and there are multiple difficulty levels. There are also plenty of things to unlock and jobs to unlock as you go.

There is also a weapon forging system where you can combine weapons into new weapons, sometimes it is random, but if you know what weapons to combine, you will get certain things, and yes, there is a book of recipes for you to unlock. The game is far deeper than you realize at a glance. Now you can get away with ignoring this, but it does make the game far harder than it needs to be.

Picking which battles to get involved in is important as well. Do you want the extra money and experience? Do you want the safe win? This is entirely up to you, and some enemies are even easier to beat based on your equipment. Maybe that goblin with the magic just isn’t worth the risk with your dwarf loadout. Do you want extra healers at the cost of DPS? These are all valid strategies.

For me these is an 8/10 experience that I very much enjoyed and will be playing more of. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Apartment No. 129 Xbox Review

Apartment No 129 on Xbox is another game sent to me by Axyos Games, you may remember I recently covered Ebola Village from them. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite publishers to work with because everything they send me seems to fall into the same B-game horror level, and I mean this as a compliment.

The story here is that you play as Emir, a man who creates content on haunted places, and you have found the holy grail, so to speak. Apartment no 129, a place where something so messed up, so demented, has occurred that the government has locked it off. The location has been forgotten, even hidden to the point that people speak of it as a legend. Thankfully, your brother knows a guy that lived in the building. The coward won’t go with you, but you are convinced to check it out.

The first thing to know about this game is if you are sensitive, emotionally, I mean, don’t play this game. A lot of games come with that sort of warning, and it is a marketing gimmick or a legal thing. This one is a valid warning. The game is quite creepy as you use your flashlight, which does require batteries every so often, to find your way through this dark and dilapidated apartment building.

Finding news articles and hidden writings is also important to progressing the story; doing so also means that once safe places may not be anymore. I don’t want to say too much about the story because doing so will spoil a lot of things, as the story isn’t exactly long and can be finished in a few hours.

The gameplay is honestly where this game suffers. It isn’t truly bad; it is simply unpolished. Enemies at times seem to be super spongy while dealing a ton of damage, and surviving certain encounters felt more like luck than skill. At launch, the game also had a ton of glitches, some of which were even game-breaking towards the end. I didn’t run into any, but I am told this also may have just been luck on my end. While the story is fantastic, the gameplay does leave a lot to be desired. This 4/10 experience is probably best left to wait for a sale, though I have read that the PC version doesn’t suffer from these technical issues. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.