In space... trust me, they can hear you screaming.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2251031460
It's Christmas Day 1993; you and your nine siblings are getting together to play Steve Jackson's 'Awful Green Things' during the Queen's speech.
Then someone discovers Mr Boddy in the Dining Room.
Rushing around, you realise that The Thing is tearing your team apart.
You call a meeting as flames of hysteria are coming out of your face!!!
WHO DUNNIT? What? No not me!
And then you are floating in space, betrayed by your family.
Repeat until your poor mum calls you in for dinner.

Hook
You are trapped on a spaceship on a routine mission.
One of your team is an imposter.
Find the imposter before the imposter kills your entire team.

Mechanic
Host a game, pick a mission, wait for the lobby to fill up.
- Minimum 4 players, max 10. Three maps. Away you go.
- an online game, once the game starts you are either a crewmate or an imposter

- crewmates each have several maintenance tasks to complete
- should all crewmates complete their tasks. they windows
- if you are killed by an imposter, you can still complete tasks as a ghost

- if you are an imposter, you can kill the crew - but between each is a cooldown period
- as imposter, you can also lock doors and sabotage equipment - forcing the crewmates into emergency maintenance
- imposters can also use a network of vents to scuttle around the map

- both sides can access a map to note task positions
- other crewmembers are only visible if you have line of sight
- both sides can call team meetings or special meetings if they find a dead body

- everyone gets to chat then vote during meetings on who the imposter/s could be
- if someone gets a clear vote, they are lethally ejected from the game

- if the imposters are ejected or all crew tasks done, the crewmates win
- if the imposters kill enough of the crew or cause a critical emergency to succeed, the imposters win


Accessibility
- there is a training mode to allow users to familiarise themselves
- menus are simple icon-driven menus
- bright colours, minimal text
- cartoon graphics, a lot of humour

- 'it just works' - tested with my family on three iphones and a laptop
- no problem with cross-platform compatability
- hosting online games or joining random teams are just as fun
- can setup teams by using unique lobby-codes then sharing - so yes, you can play with friends and strangers just fine

- can use microphones to talk during meetings or write instead if you prefer
- customisation: can change move speed, amount of tasks, how frequently imposters can kill, etc - so you get to play it your way!

In-App Purchases:
- on mobile, it's a free-app with adverts between games: in-app purchase to remove
- on steam, an up-front cost
- additional purchases allow for extra cosmetics like hats, pets etc
- no purchases improve ability to win - so all optional


Delivery
- fun to play, infested with humour
- genuinely involving and atmospheric as the paranoia kicks in
- simple to access
- easy to setup
- great little party game: enjoyed this with my kids. Violent-intent but not graphic
- a 'PG' rating spoofing '18' sci-fi horror movies.

This is a mechanically beautiful game, it's childlike animations and kid-friendly menus hiding a hell of a lot of great game design and coding. A perfect party game THAT JUST WORKS.

Pros:
- be the sneaky-bugger you have always wanted to be
- customise your little killer / victim in cute ways
- great variations of play
- genuinely great gameplay mechanics and strategies required
- lose your voice screaming at friends in indignation and cunning
- such fun: a slicey-dicey piece of heaven

Cons:
- the in-app purchasing may seem off-putting, but aside from exposing kids to adverts they are mostly harmless
- you do need a few practice games to get it

My Score: 9/10
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1748253455

Prepare to be part of a fantasy conveyor belt of banality: a great world served cold on a damp, uncaring server where bashing buttons and levelling up is all that matters. And pretty dresses.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2146003737
So many realms, so many different ways to explore, so many quests. So why does it play so plainly?

Hook
Now you can play Skyrim with many many others.

Mechanic
A flourishing and varied world, populated with many quests, exciting bossfights, some over-arcing story, ability to customise your player, join a pvp warzone, buy power-ups to make yourself look great, indulge in gambling-mechanics to win rare items... it really is a mixed-bag of ideas, some better delivered than others.

Explore a big old world
- find quest-givers and go on quests, making otehr quests appear
- fast-travel across teh worlds via discovered shrines
- buy safehouses to allow you to instantly teleport to safety
- grind monsters to level-up, earn more stuff to sell or enchant
- use real-world cash to buy exclusive outfits, mounts, pets and frippery
- open loot-crates to unlock rare items
- fight alongside others at 'warp-hole' boss battles where demons are summoned
- delve into many dungeons
- play in a big warzone in the middle of the map
- pay money to unlock parts of the world, guilds and other game bonuses

Accessibility
- not very gory, no nudity or profanity
- some typical monster demons and big scary bugs

Delivery
You explore, you mash buttons to kill, you level-up. And repeat.
It does get tired quickly, which is a real shame.
The second-to-second gameplay is really boring: from running across beautiful vistas to button-mashing combat.
On top of this, it is very easy to succumb to pay-to-play mechanics to help liven things up - except they don't. Yes, you look pretty and have a pretty horse, but it is still a boring game to play. No you do not have to pay-to-play to enjoy this game, but with so much locked or hampered with the vanilla game, the enticement is there.
But you can join guilds, play with friends and bash your way through dungeons aplenty. It almost seems like a kid's game with all the sophistication of the original Gauntlet coin-op.

Hack, slash, shoot, cast, yawn. Ooh a pretty dress.

Pros:
- there is a full and realise world here
- the world is beautiful to behold
- the NPCs are fleshed out and there is tons to do
- you can play the game your way and have lots of fun

Cons:
- combat is very basic and very boring
- quests can become flooded with other players
- the quests lack mechanical variety and it is boring to play through these oterhwise well-written quests
- the gameloop has no depth or real variety, other than superficial.

I've never liked Skyrim. I hate the premise of any campaign centered around 'the chosen one' and this dumb-as-Hawk-the-Slayer mythology is dumbed down further for an online spend-em-up. I mean grind-em up. And when your intricate quest is interrupted by half a dozen fellow questors, all chasing your goal - it really diminishes the experience: you are just on a conveyor belt in a fantasy factory.

My Score: 6/10
It is a slick machine: what Fallout 76 aspires to be I suspect. However it lacks sophistication and the combat, which is compulsory, is so damned dull.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1748251362

Stuck indoors, one way out.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2087303345
Do YOU remember the 1980s? Of course you do - it's on Netflix. Isometric games, sparsely coloured on a black backdrop were ten-a-penny, awkward to play. Simple, but honest fun. In this game, you have to escape a prison set in a bleak, toxic future: more Christopher Lambert than Vin Diesel - and more female.

Hook
Imagine 'Knight Lore' meets 'Eden Blues' meets 'HeroQuest' meets 'Robert Crumb' - but new!

Mechanic
First select a prisoner from a growing roster in a hub level
- it is turn-based, and nothing moves until you commit to your action
- navigate with arrow keys in isometric world
- collect potions to use with SPACE keys
- moving will make your prisoner slide across floor until they hit an edge, enemy or obstacle
- goal is to collect a key to unlock a trapdoor
- every 10 levels you meet a fence who can offer you power-up cards
- every 30 levels, there is a boss fight which, when beaten, opens up a new area in the hub
- replaying a section will show same maps but will flip and rotate them to add variety

Accessibility
- clean and clear interface
- violent, toxic, disturbing but not bloody or profane
- isometric grids take a bit of practice

Delivery
- Gloombones... oh my word, the artwork is amazing!
- slick gameplay, nice variety of styles
- dark prison but light humour throughout (love those hairy legs)

A dark delight, plays very well with a superb old-skool vibe and sticks to the basics: 4-way controls and a fire button - HEAVEN!

Pros:
- compelling gameplay
- great depth and tactics
- variety of enemies provides a lot of challenge
- world oozes its poisonous atmosphere
- great progression, challenging bossfights

Cons:
- isometric is disorientating, especially when drunk!