It's really good that you guys are trying to increase quality and number of reviews.

Would be nice if you added some kind of review filtering by date and rating. Very often I'd like to see reasoning for negative reviews and modern reviews are valuable for games that are still in development.

Oh, and review editing feature is really needed, I believe.

I have posted this on the game page, but it has yet to appear.

Written by Canadian author Bryan Perro and produced by Artifice Studio, Sang-Froid: Tales of Werewolves is best described as a strategy game with action elements. You begin the game as one of two feuding brothers. One remains in the cabin with your sick sister, while the brother you select to play, is responsible for protecting the homestead from the increasing waves and ferocity of wolves, supernatural and mythical beasties, which appear when night arrives. Your aim is simple – survive the night.

To achieve this, you set traps, fire your musket and swing your trusty axe. As the game progresses, you learn new traps and are able to upgrade your equipment by visiting the nearby town or Indian reservation. This includes blessing your axe and bullets in order that they may be more effective against certain beasts.

The story of this game unfolds during each day that takes place after you’ve survived a night. It’s a simple, but effective tale of omens, superstition, possession, greed and lust. It explores a conflict between good and evil that overtakes a small Canadian town and nearby forest. The voice acting is solid - I loved the Mayor’s confession – plus, I found the tale to be well scripted. I also loved how the story was presented. It’s a 2D affair using striking cartoon characters, beautifully rendered with strong colours and decisive design.

I found the gameplay straightforward. You begin with a map of the area that will be affected during the night by the next attack of supernatural forces. These are shown in waves. You are able to see the starting point of each group of wolves, werewolves etc., and can access details of the route to the building they will attack. This information allows you to plan your defence and place traps in the places where they will be most effective. You also plan how to use bait and scent to lure the beasts, plus traps can be combined to devastating effect. However, some beasts will escape, evade or be only partially damaged by your traps, which is where sharpshooting and your axe come into play. Once a night is set in motion, the game is in third person 3D.

Character development uses an RPG style skill tree. Here you improve your characters performance, the strength of your traps, the ferocity of your axe and length of your bonfires. You can also increase your intimidation, or fear, factor which is surprisingly useful. As stamina plays a major role in how much you can do, being able to intimidate means you gain recovery time. Yes, you can role and manoeuvre away from a beast, but this does deplete your stamina. In addition, if surrounded by a pack of wolves there is only so much manoeuvring you can do. Naturally stamina is an aspect of your character’s performance you can improve, but hard choices have to be made.

Sang-Froid: Tales of Werewolves drew me in, engaged me, delighted me and was an incredibly satisfying experience. The first three nights are instructional; the ones which follow gradually step the game up a gear, until what appeared to be a straightforward scenario becomes pretty darn complex. You don’t know if your strategy will succeed until you survive the night but, when your chosen brother steps out into the pool of light surrounding the homestead and you find yourself poised, ready to go, with your traps set and your plan for the first wave firmly implanted in your mind, you’ll know the game has entrapped you.

Grim Dawn

Do I submit my review here with link?

First post your review on the appropriate store page, then duplicate it here.

The first post in this thread also gives instructions :)

My review of Shadowgrounds

"I was expecting a game like Crimsonland or Alien Shooter.
What I got was more like a classic shooter with a feel like DOOM 3. You pick up many weapons including a railgun, a minigun and a rocket launcher. All of your weapons can be upgraded with secondary firing modes and more damage output. The game throws more than enough aliens your way for you to turn into so much strawberry jam.

Story-wise there is not much to say, an alien invasion attacks a human colony and Isaac Clarke... or Tyler rather, must shoot anything that can't wear a cardigan. You'll be spending a lot of time in the dark but DAMN the lighting in this game is good.

While there is co-op this game weirdly doesn't have in-mission saving, I really don't see why not. But other than this it's a fun shooting game with a awesome flashlight mechanic."

My review for The Lion King titled "Return to Pride Rock", I'd like to submit for consideration into the Roccat gear. ^-^

"Back in the day, platformers were king. And while I cannot remember everything about this game, this review is not through nostalgia but rather from recent views from playing the GOG release.
This is the MS-DOS version prepacked with DOSBox. You have your usual configuration options through Galaxy (or stand alone), and full controller support is there (I played on Win 10 with an Xbox One joypad).
With that out of the way, the game itself is a joy to play! I absolutely loved the platforming sections. The game comes to life through the music, while Midi in this, it still stands recognisable and singable. I found myself either humming or singing the lyrics to the well known songs and enjoying the sounds provided.
The overall visual quality is what you would expect from 1994, but obviously showing a lot better quality than some games. The game played rather fluidly with only a slight issue when moving. The controls while fluid did provide a bit of a challenge at first but you do get used to the way they operate.
The story is the basic story from The Lion King, it does assume some knowledge of the film I believe though. As you run through levels based on the scenes and settings from the film.
For what it is I can overall, recommend this game to platforming fans, as well as their children. It is well thought out and I have only deducted 1 star from what would have been otherwise a 5 star game, as the difficulty can be cruel at some points offering only short respite as you try to figure out what to do next.
The game is a challenge and to complete it will take some time, so for value for money, I recommend it completely. Just keep in mind it will make you pull your hair out!"

Here's my entry, a review of Bombshell. Usually not a review person but encouraged by the contest, I decided to whip this up, if more for pure entertainment than anything else.


------------------


Has the Shell, but not quite the Bomb

Bombshell, Bombshell, what do I do with you?

You set me up for a date with this Shelly chick, y'know, the one you get your title from... robot-armed and dangerous? Yep, that's her.

And it starts off like a wonder.

She's not the busty play-doll type, tell you that. Over the top, tough as nine-inch nails, throws crass humor around (calls her missile launcher PMS, you believe that? Haha!), she even breaks the damn fourth wall a number of times!

Easy on the eye, too, she is. Crisp at max resolution, if nothing too fancy. Her choice of music, boom, immediately sweeps me up! Guitar or ambient, doesn't matter, it just fits her whatever pose she strikes.

I fall for her very quickly.

But... when we start to dance... it goes awry somewhere along the way.

Her guns talk sharp and sweet, but she gets stuck in obstacles. Her map disappears. She steamrolls baddies one moment, swatted like a fly in the next... as if outta balance, y'know what I'm sayin'?

So we dance and... I'm starting to feel like I don't wanna dance anymore. I try to lead but she's... well, stiff. Has difficulties jumpin', too. Robot arm dragging her down, maybe? I dunno.

We dance for a few levels and... I meet her folks. Don't really seem like her folks, honestly. They're just her folks cause... y'know, to have a plot twist there?

As it goes on, I wonder more and more often... how did I end up in this mess?

Then, the date is over and I'm thinking Shelly will stay with me, guns blazin', fourth wall breakin', robot-armed and dangerous... but only in my dreams.

Y'know why that is, Bombshell? Cause I met this chick and I fell for her, she even got a place on my li'l desktop... but you keep throwing pebbles in the way of her and I. Small pebbles, irritating pebbles, but a lot. Most of them are shaped like bugs. Odd, huh?

They're not enough to make me hate Shelly, but what they're more than enough to do is... keep me from dating her. Ever again.

A real shame...

2.25/5

¿Puedo hacerlo en español? ;P

Hotline Miami Review

If at first you don't succeed, kill and kill again

"Run. Swing. Swing. Run. Throw. Finish. Pick up. Shoot. Drop. Swing. Throw. Pick – you’re dead! Press r to restart.

And you will restart, because you want to beat this game!

Hotline Miami is an action/arcade game in which you play as Jacket, a man receiving mysterious phone calls. The calls are thinly veiled instructions – ‘Got a few kids that need to be disciplined here. I’m at East 7th Street.’ You drive to the specified location, don a mask and proceed to kill everyone before moving to the next floor. It’s one hit one kill for your enemies, but also for you, so you have to plan carefully. When you finish the level, Hotline Miami does not change to a cutscene or any other such convention. Instead the game deploys the brilliant touch of requiring you to backtrack to your car, traversing the piles of bloodied corpses. The electrifying music of the level is replaced by a sombre drone, forcing you to think of your actions. One of the characters asks: ‘Do you like hurting people?’ How appropriate; killing enemies is fun – bright neon colours and excellent game mechanics make for addictive gameplay. Soon you will adapt a rhythm in your movement and actions, almost hypnotised by the beat of the music.

Death for the player is frequent, but rarely undeserved or punishing. You simply start again from the floor you were on, then adapt a different strategy. Since enemies always start in the same location, the game is like a puzzle. Progression through each floor becomes an elaborately choreographed dance of carnage, with bonus points for style and swiftness of level completion. Utilise various weapons to achieve success. Kill or be killed depending on your split second reaction timing. All the while pondering the questions provoked by the game: Who are the masked personas that visit you at different stages? What are they? Is any of this real? And most of all, are we becoming desensitized to violence? Actually, don’t worry about that. It’s just a game, one of crudely rendered, pixellated bloodshed that can easily be distanced from reality. Just a game. None of it’s real.

Hotline Miami brilliantly evokes a hellish nightmare of violence and retribution, thanks to its minimalist, abstract storyline and intense gameplay. Additional masks with bonuses grant replay value as different strategies can be tried. However, even without the masks I would play this game many times over. Highly recommended."

Very nice! Kudos! :D And congratulations to the other winners! I might write a review this month as well. So every game on the site is eligible? It'll be very hard to choose which one to review :P

Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl Review.

Not only a game... an experience.

"The sun is rising and I hold tight my rifle as if this piece of scrap was my life line against horror…

Why am I here?

In this slurry pit which is the Zone I thought I would find wealth, wonders… and glory maybe.

As a welcoming, this old crook of Sidorovitch sends me doing his dirty work with an old Tokarev and few disgusting rations. And it’s been few days I’m advancing cheating death at any moment.
I’m starting to lose my mind… so many of my dreams have turned into nightmares.

The Zone, the biggest quarantine in the world!
1986 was not enough apparently. It was needed to study again the whys and the wherefores.

And the tragedy happened again.

Fortune they said. You only find plants with exceptional proportions, radioactive anomalies that defies science, mutated creatures that defies understanding… and men who’s acts defies reason.
And in his hell he reigns supreme.

Some factions try to dominate the Zone whatever the cost. And it’s not counting with bandits and others raiders waste of humankind that massacre innocents and idealists like me.

But the Zone has always the last word because its children feast on our corpses.
It has a life of its own that spreads more and more.
I hear it… it speaks to me… these voices… they come back sometimes. Or maybe it’s the radiation poisoning that starts again.

A draft of this bottle and it will be okay right?
And next morning will be blurry with the stomach upside down and the body covered with injuries.

The sun is rising. Gun shots and screams in the distance.
So I make a fuss of my rifle. My only friend … because I’m a Stalker.

One more day in the Zone. "

N.B : [i]Stalker is one of the hardest games ever created where survival will push you to the limit.
The atmosphere is incredible and mods created by the community will hold you for dozens of hours.
Try AMK mod after you've beaten the game to feel how Stalker would have been when finished.
Its only flaws were its chaotic development and release.
A classic[/i].