Fun little graphic novel with some very Sonic-esque action segments. Props to Sega for throwing this together as a fun surprise.

It's a fun, relatively simple game from an independent developer. The UI could use some work, as some functionality, like switching tiles, takes a bit of getting used to. The graphics are limited, but decent considering this is a one-man project. My only complaint is that the repetitive music can get grating at times, but otherwise, it's an enjoyable little game.

I had initially not expected to enjoy Invisible Inc., but after getting used to the fundamentals of the game, it turned out to be a lot of fun! The game is often compared to XCom, but while it has a similar turn-based tactics style, Invisible Inc. is unique on its own merits.

One important difference is that the game is almost entirely deterministic. Your attacks won't miss, and you know almost exactly how the enemy will behave during their turn. As a result, you can plan out your turns in great detail, pulling off some pretty complicated heists.

The other major difference, and arguably the feature that makes Invisible Inc. so intense, is the alarm system. Every turn, the alarm increases, as well as whenever you kill a guard or take some other action that might trigger an alert. At every alarm level, a new risk is introduced to the level, whether it be extra guards being called in or new cameras being activated. This increasing tension is what makes each level so exciting, and forces the player to be frugal with the number of turns they're taking. Sure you can stay longer to try to get more money or items, but your risk of getting caught increases.

This definitely makes the game challenging, though there are plenty of opportunities to recover. An agent may be downed, but if you play it right, you can revive them, or drag their body to the escape teleporter. Even if you leave them behind, there are opportunities to rescue them in the future. On top of that, I've seen replays on Youtube of players running the game at the hardest difficulty (and then some) with only a single agent at their disposal, so even the toughest challenges are possible to succeed with, provided you have the skill to do it.

One other aspect of the game is the roguelike features. There are an assortment of items and upgrades that you can randomly acquire throughout the game, but although some items may not seem as desirable at first, one can come up with some pretty creative builds if you play it right. And while the levels can become hilariously unfair at the highest difficulties (such as a guard walking into your starting room on Turn 1), these difficulties can be overcome as you get more skilled in the game. (Always peek.)

The game is indeed on the short side, but with the wide array of agents and equipment it's meant for repeated playthroughs, especially with the DLC.

All in all, great game, highly recommended.

Radiant Silvergun is a fantastic game, one of my all-time favorites, so I was quite excited to see it finally released for PC.

--- The Game ---
With regards to the game itself, RSG is a masterpiece of a shmup, with a unique style of play when it comes to the player deciding how to use the multitude of weapons at their disposal. This system gives the player quite a bit of flexibility with regards to how they take down enemies and score with the chaining system. Many are familiar with Ikaruga's color chaining system, but while RSG's is similar, it encourages the player to leave some enemies alive, which further enhances the challenge. It's also key to powering up the weapons, which level up in an RPG style. This encourages scoring well early in the game to ensure the player doesn't fall behind later on, when the stronger bosses appear. There's much more to describe about the gameplay, such as the use of the Radiant Sword, the massive bosses, and the unique level mechanics, but going into all that will already make this long review even longer.

The visuals are gorgeous for the era during which this game came out, especially the very dynamic backgrounds that really bring life to the levels. Two games that came out around the same time that I tend to compare RSG to are Einhander and R-Type Delta, which, while having better defined backgrounds, are not nearly as dynamic. (Though both are great games in their own right.)

The music consists of stunning orchestral pieces, composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, who was also responsible for many well known RPG soundtracks, such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story. It's not the usual upbeat techno/rock fare of many other shmups, but its grand scope fits the atmosphere of the game's story very well.

Speaking of the story, RSG has a surprisingly deep one for a shmup, accompanied by hand-drawn anime cutscenes done by Studio Gonzo.

--- The Port ---
When it comes to the port, this is essentially a port of the XBox 360 port, so it contains many of the same features. Enhanced and redrawn graphics, which are fully optional, with various levels of detail that can be adjusted to the player's taste. Since the game wasn't originally released in the west, there are subtitles for the cutscenes. Many of the options from the Saturn are preserved (Arcade/Story mode, number of lives, extends) and several new ones were added (training stage select, the ability to select weapon leveling, saving weapon leveling for story mode, online leaderboards and replays).

Many of these features were already available in the XBox version (as well as the recently-released Nintendo Switch version), so I suspect some of the complaints about this release are due to expectations of added features for the PC. If you own it on those other consoles, there's not much new here, though as a PC game it probably has more longevity.

To address remaining complaints about the quality of the port, I'll have to first point out that I'm playing on a Linux PC, using Proton Experimental (at the time of this review, the stable release of Proton did not run on startup). I am running on an AMD GPU, and I haven't yet seen a single instance of the Fatal Error or any other crashes described. The game is completely stable and works well with both keyboard and arcade stick. (Logically, a gamepad should work fine too.)

With regards to input latency, I'll have to defer on that, as I don't have my setup for determining the frames of latency. If it's based on the XBox port, I'm assuming it will be around 4 frames, though to me it feels fairly crisp. (This is purely subjective, but I compared it to Zeroranger and Ikaruga, and it felt similar, so I'm sure the latency doesn't exceed 6 frames,)

Some complain about the 720p resolution, which I'm not sure is an issue. It's a game from the Saturn made in the 90s. Scaling it up past 720p would kind of be pointless. (I think this may be related to playing fullscreen, which is not a problem I've experienced.) Some complain about the framerate, but again, to my knowledge it's equivalent to the Saturn version.

The slowdown of the Saturn is NOT present (same with the XBox and Switch versions), but RSG's playstyle means this isn't as big of an issue as it would be in a Cave game.

There are definitely issues at the time of this review, such as being unable to remap the movement keys on the keyboard. Actually, the keyboard mapping was probably an afterthought, as the game was explicitly said to require a gamepad to play before release. There are also occasional UI issues (such as some messages not fitting the screen or text overlapping other text).

It also seems like the cutscenes won't play when running under Linux. This is often an issue with games out there, so it's not surprising. It's possible there's a way to fix it, but I'm still looking into it.

Some of these issues make me suspect that the final release was rushed (in spite of the delayed release), but from what I know, Livewire is pretty dedicated to supporting their releases. When the Switch version was released, it had 5 frames of input latency, but within a few patches, that was reduced to 4 frames. That attention to detail shows me that they listen to the community, and I've already seen them acknowledge some of the bigger issues, like the Fatal Error crash. I expect that many of the issues will be taken care of before long.

--- Final Thoughts ---
I can't recommend this game enough, and while the port has its issues, they'll likely be fixed sooner than later. Game runs fantastic on Linux with AMD hardware and dual monitor.

Skullgirls is a well made game, and I appreciate the Linux support, which is all to rare in fighting games. The art and aesthetic are quite nice, and the music is unique.

However, the recent changes that have been made to the game, most notably removing content that players have paid for, is disappointing to say the least. This game has had the content in question for nearly a decade, and yet now is the time to go back and remove it? It's not like the changes will draw new customers, just alienate old ones. And that's the sad truth. It's not being done for the benefit of players, but for pushing an agenda that was never a part of the game in the first place.

This goes on to be an even larger philosophical issue when it comes to purchasing a game and owning it. In the old days, when you bought a game it was complete, and devs couldn't change it without issuing a new release. Now games can be updated at a whim, and so the players put the trust on the developer that they will maintain the game that the player purchased. Sure there may be balance updates, but those are generally welcome, as they are done through community guidance. There may be new content, which is fine because it keeps the community engaged. But removing content is a betrayal of that trust the players put in the developer.

As such, I won't be buying any future games from this developer, as I've lost trust in them as a customer. (If they ever put out a new game. It seems like the talent that's been creating the games has moved on to other projects...)

I've been a big fan of Warsow for a long time, so I was very excited to jump into Warfork. At the time of this review, the game is very similar to Warsow, so I expect to update my review once the devs reach a final release.

Similar to Warsow, Warfork is one of the fastest Quake-style games out there, focusing on the same arena-fps combat, but with an added emphasis on movement and trickjumps. Once you master the movement skills, which can take some time, getting around the map quickly while fighting becomes second nature. Weapons are the Quake standard (Rockets, railgun, shotgun, etc) but tweaked to accommodate the faster movement pace. The graphics are a bit more simple and on the cel-shaded side, but artfully and attractively done. The netcode is some of the best fps netcode I've played, and I've had good experiences even up to 100 ping. Some players are even fine playing near 200 ping, though I feel that's a bit of a stretch.

There are only a few real downsides I see at the moment. One is that some of the models (mainly player models) are a bit ugly and low res, but the devs plan on changing those in the near future anyway. The other is that the sound effects at the moment are not great. However, they're pretty much placeholder, and the devs will eventually replace them with better effects. (Though some can stay, like the new Grenade Launcher sound, which I like quite a bit more than Warsow's.)

For the new player, there is a quick training session at the beginning that does a decent job of outlining the fundamentals. The bots are half decent while you get used to the game, but they'll never be great. Going online you'll probably run into a lot of players who are insanely good, as they've been playing Warsow for over a decade, and Quake-style games for even longer. But the community tends to be pretty friendly, so stick with it and you'll pick it up pretty quickly.