Recent reviews by Bloodsucking Girlthing

Everyone always asks "Where is the vampire?", but never "HOW is the vampire?"

A seemingly lazy Castlevania asset-flip that hides astounding depth in bite-sized chunks. True to its word, Vampire Survivors lets you "be the bullet hell" and it is ADDICTING. This game takes you as far as you want it to go with secrets galore but also good old-fashioned "turn off your brain" gameplay. The humorous tone of the bestiary is also a treat, with James Stephanie Sterling having been one of the writers.

This game is cheap, and so is its DLC. What do you have to lose except hours of your time over many runs?

It's all fun and games until you realize you may be the last one alive. Can you hear the dead screaming in your ear?

The true beauty of HROT is not in its weapons or movement, but its levels and the depth and love that each one is shown as gamified recreations of Czech landmarks. This game fills a dull and bleak color scheme of brown and beige full of historic character scored by a moody ambient soundtrack. There are plenty of small details and even more references, and by the end I felt I had actually learned something about a country and its history.

Yet as a boomer shooter, HROT does not hold anything particularly impressive for the average fan. Your jump is a stiff hop and you lack the ability to slide, crouch, or bunny hop, but most combat takes place in close quarters and the movement is extremely responsive otherwise.

The guns are mostly standard fare, going so far as to include a super shotgun and a BFG equivalent, but even without an alt fire or flashy abilities I never found them coming up short (except for the land mines, but I've always found such weapons at odd with fast-paced gameplay). You can run people over with a motorbike too, but that only features in a handful of levels. You CAN get wine drunk in most others, though!

But what HROT lacks in mobility and its arsenal, it more than makes up for in enemy variety and number of bosses with a staggering 51 entries in the game's bestiary. Most wear masks and carry a gun, but there are some stranger invaders threatening the homeland, too. There are some problem enemies (I will never underestimate wheelchair users again) while others could stand to take a bullet or two more, but they are thankfully rare among an otherwise mostly fairly-balanced cast.

The game is split into three episodes, with episode 1 having you meet the most common enemies throughout the rest of the game. Episodes 2 and 3 are where HROT really comes into its own, and that includes a sprinkle of Eastern European humor throughout. I won't talk about what each episode is about (and would have trouble doing so with how loosely the game connects itself) because I feel each surprise has the most impact when done totally blind. And by my memory, only two secrets can be made impossible to get by progressing through a level, so no need to fear if you're a secret-hunter.

Overall?

Grab your hammer and sickle and go save the homeland! It's full of charm and lovingly made, and I think that makes it more than just a decent boomer shooter.

EDIT: words, no major changes

"You will cease to be. It is just a question of who will bring your end: us, or you?"

It's a crime this is free. Go into this as blind as possible, you will not regret it.

This game scares me more than most horror games. Zombies can be deceptively sneaky...

Valheim sets an example for survival games, and though it's not perfect (perhaps a consequence of it still being Early Access despite the amount of content already present), the game never managed to feel stale or repetitive at any point during progression, as each area brings with it new mechanics.

Things I particularly like:
- You cannot starve. Eating only boosts your health and stamina, very idle-friendly.
- Death loops are much harder to fall into. You have protection against skill drain (though good luck getting back to your original levels before you die again as skill gain is slower the higher your level) for about ten minutes so you can retrieve your items, as well as a short-lived tanking buff so you can avoid immediate death afterwards. I'd personally like to see it raised to 15 because of crossing oceans, but otherwise this mechanic is great.
- The building system is intuitive and fun to play with. There is structural integrity and fires produce smoke that actually harm the player. forcing them to rethink their designs.

Tempting death has never been so fun.

I. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. HATE. FARMS.
The Scarecrows make me bunnyhop & shout "go duskboy go"

When they say "janky alpha build" they mean janky alpha build, so keep that in mind reading this review and playing the game, should you choose to opt in early.

I was highly satisfied with POSTAL 2 (even going so far as to 100% both the main game and the DLC) and POSTAL: Redux, so suffice to say I was hopping around when they announced No Regerts.

What I have seen so far, polish notwithstanding, tells me that Running With Scissors is shaping their newest title to be just as satisfying. Get it now if you want to support them during development, or wait for retail.