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The meteors are coming in thick and fast, and the wild momentum of my lander makes it very easy to mess up my interception trajectory and miss them. The emergency barrier erected by the survivors on the surface is still holding. But the impact rate is high, and they will probably be exposed to the void before the evacuation if I don’t step up my piloting. So I boost right into the path of an incoming meteor, which obliterates it but also does a number on my limited hull integrity and on the psyche of my pilot. He’ll probably need days of therapy if we make it out alive and accomplish our mission. A good turn and another strong boost and I get a health boost and some extra fuel. The problem is I gained too much speed, and my lander has now left the screen, which activates a self-destruct countdown. I stabilize and try to get back, while cosmic stones are still pummeling the surface. I make it back in the nick of time and even pick up a special shield along the way, ...

The snipers are a bit much. I can deal with fast-moving drones that avoid bullets and then tend to explode once shot. Normal soldiers, with their limited body armor and tendency to move more than they shoot, are also easy prey. The zombies, despite their weird ability to throw things at my character, also don’t pose much of a problem as long as there’s space to maneuver. But the long-range attacks coming out of the darkness are annoying. I’ve already navigated a big mine area, apparently for nothing, because Shelly has to move through open ground, with no support, to get to a hidden facility where I will be able to upgrade her bionic arm. So it’s time to focus less on pumping lead into enemies and more on finding cover to make sure the snipers do not get her before she can get up close and deliver some righteous justice. Once that’s done, it’s time for a more traditional first-person shooter experience, with rooms loaded with enemies and both ammunition and health ...

There’s just one more big robot army in the lands of the tribes I control directly or as vassals. The Prophet, backed by catapults, one soldier with a modern rifle and lead slugs, and a few melee fighters with warhammers, is ready to deal with them. A good sign for the human tribes but also a way to gain some extra resources, once my workers get to the ruins and tear them down. Unfortunately, I have to turn back to protect a city after the All Mind drops a massive robot from the sky and targets one of my districts. It takes the combined efforts of my main army, a relief force, and the garrison to deal with it. Fortunately, I don’t have to use acid or radiation to weaken the machine, which would get me in trouble diplomatically. I’m in the process of upgrading science districts to level two but I push those to the back of Meida’s build queue to replace losses and make sure I can deal with another threat. I also queue up another worker because I want to put down a mi...

There are stories that need plenty of time in order to get ripe enough to debut in front of the audiences. Sometimes the wait time proves to be too long compared to the end result, other times the creativity and flair justify the hype. Harold Halibut needed 10 years before it was presented to us. Let’s see if it was worth the wait! And why did this production need a decade of development? While the story is touching and the characters are detailed, the main reason can be considered to be the stop motion animation technique. Although the end result has an unmistakable feel to it, this technique is seldom used in cinema due to its complexity, and it is even more of a rare occasion to see it in video games. While in a movie you are confined to the limits of a script, in videogames there are plenty of interactivity that the developers need to consider and animate. Harold Halibut - just like the other few productions using this style - has that unquestionably unique atm...

The enemy group doesn’t have enough ranged weapons. This is understandable given how hard it must be to source working rifles after a nuclear apocalypse. And it’s great news for my party, which I kept well-stocked with ammunition. I use a choke point to limit their movement options, we trade fire for a few turns, and, even if Ella and Mad are a little banged up, we win the fight pretty handily. It’s time to get back to Merredin and get a reward. Maybe we can also find an assistant for a character we’ve recently met. I am using the Barter Crew origin and feel compelled to also deliver philosophy books for a library and some comic books. The people need a good trade link, especially in uncertain times. Finishing these side quests might also offer more insight into two settlements and their power structure. I know I should be looking for a way into Kalgoorlie but none of the presented options seems appealing. More options will open up as my party explores more of the ...

The small bridges are a problem. Chenxiang is nimble enough to avoid all incoming damage via dash, as long as I make sure to spot incoming attacks in time. But he needs space to dance around enemies, especially when large numbers of them get close. This temple area consists of two halves connected by a bridge, and I’ve already taken damage twice while crossing, mainly because of my poor directional control. Thankfully, I’ve got a skill that sometimes leaches life when I take down enemies. And my character is an expert with his sword, dealing both direct damage to those he slashes and able to launch blue magic ones that actually track their targets. It takes around two minutes to deal with all the enemies and find the exit, which gives me three potential rooms to choose from. I pick the shop and cautiously decide to get extra healing. I clear a few more rooms, picking up improved fighting abilities and upgrades along the way before I engage the Tiger boss. He has pl...

My detective might be unfamiliar with the circus and its unique language, but he can spot when someone is lying. I’m currently interviewing Rolf, who loves animals and doesn’t mind paying other people’s bar tabs, trying to understand why he is lying to protect another of the performers and whether his calm appearance conceals the potential for violence. I push him as far as possible before leaving the stables, with some answers but also a couple of new questions. I have one action left and I use it to explore the fair location, which yields exactly one interesting observation that’s added to my list of topics. The game then switches to the magician, and she has a different set of priorities as well as some insights the detective lacks. I get her to start a conversation with Aideen, the fire-breather. She was best friend to dead Hattie and was featured in her knife-throwing act so she should be able to shed more light on social interactions and connections. If all g...

Should I go for the Power Orb, which would give my character mana and a chance to launch more attacks before the end of the turn? Or is it a better idea to avoid all enemy attacks by using my entire movement reserve? I chose the latter. I already dealt a lot of damage this turn, and I want to preserve my health, even if it means a longer fight. The constantly shrinking combat area can be a problem with this strategy. All enemy attacks miss but they crowd around me, meaning my avatar can smash and eliminate one of them and then bonk two skeletons with targets on their heads. I also activate a shield, a useful bit of protection, and pick up another power orb. But my main foe, Janus the Malformed, will reach me with an area-of-effect attack. A few demon heads spawn and I start to think that trading some movement range for extra attack wasn’t a great idea. A few bonks and a jumping strike destroy more skeletons. But there are enough left that I will only have 2 hit poi...

The yak are taking up too much damn space. I like them, might herbivores willing to do hard work at altitude, but I don’t have the extra tiles to give them on the lower slopes of this mountain. I could put down more pastures, but it would involve uprooting a significant part of my population. I’m starting to understand that even the lowlanders might need to learn to live higher up, while I dedicate the more fertile area to resource production. I need to put down some barley fields to get people some ale. At least the need to protect everyone from avalanches means I have the foresters required to provide trees that will get turned into charcoal. Building this high up, using small patches of suitable land, is a challenge. I need plenty of carts and a lot of artisans to move things around and it’s getting harder to find opportunities to increase efficiency. But as long as my monetary flow is positive, there’s still some space to expand into. Laysara: Summit Kingdom i...

Based on the launch trailer, Shines Over: The Damned promised to be a walking simulator with a dark atmosphere and horror elements, with a particularly gloomy atmosphere. Being a fan of this kind of game I couldn’t wait to try it. But after I have finished it I am still wondering where is the game that I expected.   There are short games out there. Some of them are lacking story or feature wise, some of them work as stocking fillers for the holidays and some of them are memorable experiences. And then there is Shines Over: The Damned, that would deserve its own category. I have played demos that lasted longer and were free. The shock was so big after finishing my first playthrough of the game that almost immediately I booted it up again. I was not sure if I missed something, if this production was so abstract and subtle that perhaps I needed more time to find the essence well-hidden by the developer. After an unusually long struggle I have arrived at the conclusion...