Backlog Review!!
I work in higher education so we're off a few weeks for the holidays. Finally giving me the chance to go through my frankly insane backlog on Steam. I'm just gonna rapidfire through the ones I've completed so far with a brief review and recommendation if I liked it. In no particular order.
I like FPS games. Almost every game in this list is an FPS. I'm sorry. The backlog has a ton of other genres. I just haven't played them. Sorry again.
I Am Your Beast
I wouldn't even call it an FPS. High score and stylish takedowns are what it's about. It's so good. I've played close to 20 hours and have maybe seen 75% of the base game just from running the same level over and over again (there's a DLC that I will be buying). It feels good to play. The music, artstyle, and story are great. Huge props to the VAs. The performances are very good. Big recommend.
Colt Canyon
An isometric pixel cowboy-themed twin stick shooter roguelite. That's a lot of buzzwords but they all hit the nail. It about as cookie cutter as you can get. That sounds mean but the game really is just average. I can think of at least 5 other games that do this same thing but better. If I had one real complaint it's the artstyle. Performance is weird and it can be incredibly difficult to parse out detail in the monotone pixels. It's a miss for me.
HROT
I love this game. It's a love letter to čeština. There's a lot of commentary about the political state of then Czechoslovakia. The first level is called, "Kiss Me Gustav". It's not subtle. And it's very good. It plays like any good Quake clone should. Movement is tight. Shooting feels good. Exploration is heavily rewarded. And it's extremely funny. The Horse will forever be my favorite video game character. Show a Czech dev some love. Huge recommend.
PIGFACE
I just love this game's style. Something about late 90s early 00s shooters that I just can't get enough of. Sure it's nostalgia but there's something about the way these games play. There's no fluff but a ton of depth. PIGFACE is a great example of that. It's dead simple. You're a hitman. One the best. So much so that you get kidnapped and have a bomb implanted in the base of your skull. Take on jobs. Complete them however you wish. Get out. Get paid. Buy more tools to give you more options in how you take on more jobs so you can make more money. Easy. Each job is essentially it's own sandbox. You have a list of objectives. Complete them however you see fit. Stealth. Explosions. Maniac with a axe. Whatever. It's early access and there's not as much content as I'd like. But I'd at least recommend wishlisting until 1.0
:3
Mohrta
Tbh I haven't finished this one yet but I love it so much I gotta talk about it. It's like a weird hybrid between Doom, Morrowind, and King's Field. It's very good with a very charming artstyle and competent gameplay and progression. Exploration is the real draw with clever gags, useful gear, and exposition rewarding curious adventurers. The story is interesting and comes on very strong. You'll be fumbling around in the lore for a while. Even though I haven't finished it, I can still recommend this one for dark fantasy enjoyers.
Prodeus
This one is just straight up Doom. More Brutal Doom. The shooting is great. The maps are well designed. Exploration is rewarding. So much viscera. Tons of community content. It's solid and if you want a modern interpretation of old Doom, you can't get much better. Big recommend if that's your thing.
Selaco
Selaco has some of the best gunplay in any game ever. It's crazy what the devs did to make GZDoom, a source port of the original engine that ran Doom (in basic layman's terms that leaves out a lot of the picture), to run like this. Particle effects are going crazy, bullets are firing through glass, the enemies are shouting at each other in various levels of terror, smoke is coming off of...everything. It incredibly immersive...once you make it past chapter 2. The first 2 levels are kind of a slog. Tons of backtracking. Long moments of silence while you're just fumbling around lost. And listen, I love imm-sims. Deus Ex is one of the GOATs. But it feels out of place here and just grinds a really engaging experience to a halt. It improves a lot after the 2nd level and the highs become much more frequent. Recommend with a caveat.
SULFUR
Some folk (youtubers *derogatory*) have called this an extraction shooter. It's not. It's more roguelite than anything. And tbh extraction shooters are just roguelikes with more mechanics. You'll manage a stash, acquire and modify gear, and complete jobs as you move through various levels with diverse landscapes and great enemy variety. You always have the ability to teleport back to your home base at any point in your run provided your amulet is charged. The real draw here is the artstyle. It's fantastic. And complements the gameplay so well. It also just had it's 1.0 release and the devs just keep adding stuff. Huge recommend.
Transience
Transience is interesting. I avoided it for a while for a variety of reasons. Reviews didn't seem particularly favorable. All conflicting with each other. It's backed by a divisive YouTuber I wasn't familiar with. Gameplay didn't look very compelling. But then I played it. Then I played it three more times. The campaign is short. 10 hours on my first run but you can get it down to <7 if you're not secret hunting and know where to go. It plays like an old school tactical FPS (think R6:Vegas) and Splinter Cell. Stealth is challenging and effective but by no means mandatory. EXCEPT for a few levels where alerting enemies can put you in a soft lock. I think it's more of a conveyance issue but it's buggy in a few other places too. But the save system is generous and they never made the game unenjoyable. As a fan of old R6 and Splinter Cell games, I really enjoyed it. It seemed like a lot of people were just expecting very different things and weren't thrilled it was a secret third thing. I don't blame the game for that. Big recommend.
Dagger Directive
This just literally is an old school tactical FPS. It's in early access and while there is enough there to justify the price I would like a bit more. Fortunately the devs do seem dedicated albeit a bit slow. It borrows heavily from the stylings and mechanics of games like Operation Flashpoint and Delta Force. Mission variety is good. As is weapon variety. Multiplayer is a ton of fun but the solo experience is also worth the price. It fills a very particular niche and does it well. Big recommend if you want a single player Arma experience.
And that's everything I've played so far. Still playing a ton of Destiny. Really enjoy the dungeon and Lawless Frontiers. This is the rest of my backlog. At least out of what's currently installed.
