Dystoria. A love letter to 80s and 90s kids.

Visual:
A fine example of how the Unity engine was meant to be used and a loving mix of 80s era goodies. The game reminds me most of an inverted Tempest. It does draw deeply from the Decent well too. A recent game that’s much like this is Vektor War. That game lacked the need for a sixth axis and played more like an FPS. The art styles and mechanics are similar. The ships you can unlock have a lot in common with vessels you’d see in popular movies and other games. Someone look at the one being serviced on the mothership and tell me that’s not an X-Wing. Ofc it isn’t but the look vaguely related. The levels look like either a Decent level turned inside out or maybe an intentionally  failed Tetris puzzle. They can get very complex early on.

Audio:
Dystoria uses a heavy synth-wave sound track. I'd expect something like this being unearthed in the backyard of Uncle Rico. It's practically "Savlonic the Game". Or at least very close to what I'd want one to look like if one were ever made. The game pumps nicely and matches the game's tone. The sounds have a satisfying crunch to them as well. When you get better at blow up baddies from a distance you start to miss the big BOOM and I caught myself intentionally getting closer in combat to get my ‘splosion fix.

Gameplay:
Oh boy. This game has a challenge curve to it. It’s not apparent right away either. Luckily it has full gamepad support and fluid controls. It feels like a casual mobile game the way the levels are broken up and tallies at the end of each level really remind you of a FB game or something from Google Play or App Store. Not in a bad way either. You collect salvage and nucleons in order to purchase upgrades. Even early on it is wise to go back to the mothership and see if you can afford an upgrade around the 4th level. Grind previous levels a few times for more salvage if needed. It’s easy to miss salvage that ends up floating too high and it’s too risky to attempt to detach and fetch it. People who look for the retro games in the arcade for a good challenge won't be disappointed. This game is tough enough that you'll be thankful for the ability to upgrade your ships.

TL: DR; This game is a bundle of Neon tropes wrapped up and delivered. Those who love this sort of 'future retro' aesthetic and challenging game play are sure to enjoy. The graphics are clean. The UI uncluttered. The music matches the game's style. Sadly the game's purchase price doesn't include a copy of the OST. There's no multi-player. Though you can easily compete for high score which means your buddies can competitively help you progress in the game. A nice bonus.

Osiris: New Dawn A final verdict of an Alpha game.

Visuals:

Even with the low res textures and low poly terrain the game looks damn good. You'll find gaps in the map further away from the typical spawn points. This is forgivable since you really have to travel pretty far afield and a long while before those cracks show up. The alien creatures are well detailed. The structures are also given the right amount of attention. This includes the textures which many similar games tend to skimp on. Your little droid companion is also lovingly assembled with the same care put into the player model which is spectacular. Even third person view doesn't do the player model justice. While playing with friends you might catch yourself admiring the graphical fidelity and fluidity of their characters. This comes at a cost. There is very little customization you can make to your avatar beyond recoloring components of the pressure suit. At the time I played the game there was no way to recolor other assets in the game. Being able to produce a custom skin for your assault rifle and handgun would have been a real hook for some. The weapons and tools also enjoy rich modeling with emission effects, particles and mapping that lets you visually differentiate between metals and polymers. I also recently noticed you character leaves tracks in the terrain. Sadly they do not persist for long.

Sounds:

The sound track is gentle. Almost cautiously so. Though it added to the aire of survival it also made tasks feel slow. The satisfying if repetitive slam of the mining tool fits in just as well as the whir of the multi-tool. The handgun shares the zap of the gun on the droid companion and both make satisfyingly crunchy sound when they score a hit on a hostile. When you character tires from running there is an aggressive but not intrusive panting sound that intensifies with more stress. The Head Up Display inside your character's helmet also give off several distinct warning tones. The music is also contextual. When mining or exploring the audio track sticks to softer pieces of the background music selection. It ramps up nicely and delivers a musical queue when hostiles are close. When your suit takes damage the puncturing sound is rightfully jarring and jolts the player into evasive action. When healing yourself or patching your suit there's a calming tone as your HUD acknowledges the change in state and reflects the repairs. Resource gathering and item construction also have their own set of satisfying tones. They do an adequate job of letting you know that you've made progress on your current task.

Game play:

I've stated this in so many place: I wanted to love this game. It's just not there yet. It was a love at first sight situation. The relationship started well but dysfunctions began to show up right away. As fixes have been made the severity of these issues has gone down. But there's still much ground to cover. The list of issues would resemble a diss-track by a popular rap artist. I'll ballpark as much as I can. Because outside of these problems in mechanics I see a lot of potential. First issue would be difficulty. Even at low spawn rates and lowered hostility the alien creatures are a tough bunch. You need items from them to craft weapons suitable to dispatch them without wasting ammo or risking losing a valuable gun. Even a salvaged knife would be a welcome addition if it could 1-hit immature mobs. A sharpened bit of wreckage with a salvaged rubber handle would do. As a child I made shurikens from laminated steel with tin snips. I'll take a few of those. When it comes to resources there's no guide telling you how to gather gases or liquids. Some basic materials become very hard to come by such as carbon. Being able to consume tree bark in a furnace to produce char and refine that into carbon would be a life saver. Getting raw lead from veins of radioactive material would also be beneficial. If I must travel to find these resources how about early in the game we have a craft-able hover pack upgrade for distance travel or some sort of rover? The map tool is useful but it doesn't really seem to scan for minerals. Even a hint in a direction to go to find carbon and lead would be nice. Having to rely on a Wiki page to find resources kills any immersion. In my last play of the game there were still different types of alien meat that do not provide benefits beyond reducing hunger. Why do we need over half a dozen meats that produce an equal amount of individual cooked meats? You could get back a lot of valuable UI space just condensing those into 'alien meat' and 'grilled alien meat'. This simple change would not disrupt immersion unless meat for specific mobs had special benefits associated with them.

This game has sadly turned into another Grav for me. An empty sandbox with no one else willing to play in it. You might get lucky and find a shard of glass or a cat turd in it. But if you sift through it hoping for a real gem your going to be disappointed until the dev takes on player feedback and makes changes needed to make the game worth 25 dollars on Steam. Quite honestly I would have asked for a refund. Unfortunately the game was donated. Apologies to the donor.

TL: DR; At the 25 dollar price point don't bother. It's not complete. Not even close. Improvements have been made. But the devs have yet to validate the price of admission.

Give it another year of core mechanic updates.

Nostalgia HO! Review of Spirit Sphere by Eendhoorn.

Ok, here’s the deal. Spirit Sphere is FUN. Even by yourself. But it makes a great party game. Let's dive in!

Starting out:
With a new file there's three basic characters. Lin, who moves pretty quick and has a good reach with her sword. Buster, who is fast on his paws and can return a shot quickly. Then there's Ozo, a wizard, who moves slower than most but has really good reach and powerful returns. You can unlock more but I’ve not gotten that far. Not yet. You also start with three arenas and two spirit spheres. Each arena is dynamic and plays differently. While the forest arena allows for a lot of item drops with forgiving goals by contrast the dungeon arena forces you to open your defenses to lower your enemy’s while balancing helpful NPCs with item drop opportunities. Killing a hostile NPC might give your opponent a power item. Killing a friendly NPC might get you nothing and you lose their help stunning foes. There’s also the spring arena which resembles a faerie fountain park without the fountain. It challenges you to use the angled walls to your advantage. The starting spheres come in two flavors. Normal and SLOW. The normal sphere is quick and responsive but the slow sphere moves slower. You can use the slow sphere to help train with as it is slightly more forgiving. Unlocks are chance driven. If you want to get new spheres, new arenas, and new characters you’ll need to play a lot in single player or invite friends over for tournaments, much like unlocking in arcade fighters.

Multi-player:
Spirit Sphere allows for 4 player local multiplayer. Plug in 4 Xbox controllers and play. It really is that simple. Using the Unity engine the retro aesthetic is joined by very pretty effects that the developer has gone to the effort of matching to the graphical style. The soundtrack is jumpy and energetic. It really adds to the ‘party game’ feel. Each character has various color swaps you can use in these situations. Everyone can play as Lin if they choose to. As your team winds down you may lose a couple of players. If you want to change it up for 2 player competition there is a Squash play mode. In this mode one player is always on the offense while the other defends. This role alternates. The attacking player bounces a sphere off the south wall and the defender has to return it. If you touch a sphere at the wrong time you’ll give a point to your opponent. If you're defending and the sphere hits the north wall then your opponent scores. More over the low required  specs mean even Windows 10 tablets can run this title. Couch multi-player in that situation would require at most a BlueTooth enabled tablet and Xbox One controller or a Wireless Receiver for Xbox360 controllers and an OTG cable. Sync up the controllers then start the game... ENJOY!

Feature Breakdown:Visually the game is a real treat to fans of mid 80s consoles and 90s handhelds. While it keeps the retro look there’s more to the visuals than you might notice at first. Sneakily tucked into the retro goodness are graphical effects that wouldn't see the light of day until after the millennium. Audio quality is top notch. Eendhoorn utilizes Gas1312's soundtrack really well as it drives the action and keeps the party jumping. The high energy of the music does an amazing job of keeping you engaged in single player modes too. Gameplay wise there’s not much to say. It’s just good fun. The features are complete. The game mechanics feel polished. Besides... watching two defenders try to return a sphere only to trip over one another and score a goal for you is pure bliss. The ease of getting into the game makes even young and newbie gamers viable competition.

TL/DR: As unity games go Spirit Sphere is a real killer. It gives you an energetic musical score, solid single player, amazing multi-player and (best of all) the unlock progress doesn't drag out endlessly.