#shalmo's first impressions

[shalmonsgamons]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Figment

looks like this is the same devs as Back to Bed, which i remember enjoying my brief time with (i should go back to it sometime)

voice-acting is a mixed bag some of it is fine but then u have dad saying "o crap" extremely casually before hurtling into a traumatizing car crash

graphics/art direction are gorgeous though (bird alert)

pmuch my fave combo: static painted backgrounds w/texture-painted character models (the floating islands w/pathways rising & falling also feels a bit bastion-inspired)

OH the bad guy is singing now idk how i feel about that it seriously looks so nice though 🥺 these still caps aren't doing it justice--the texture-painting on the models is so good that the characters seamlessly blend in with their 2D environments when screencapped lol definitely want to return to this one, if only for the visuals

[shalmonsgamons]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Feather

watch out, we got another game-sized Bird Alert comin thru!

so the first thing i notice is that this game does an awkward interrupty thing where it rewinds u a few secs every time you crash and i was crashing a lot but i actually started getting the hang of the flight controls eventually and am enjoying chillin as marahute from the rescuers down under

i'm not really sure what you're supposed to do here, but i think that's the point? it's about chillin

i did notice that there are different bird skins, if the store page screencaps are to be believed;;;; i will need to obtain those;;;;;;;;;;

[shalmonsgamons]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Fearless Fantasy

well this is not what i was expecting lol so tbh i think some of my negativity is going to be a bit unfair

but the splash art for this game is just so, so intriguing i was really looking forward to a traditional JRPG-style game with that type of art (and the name gave the vibe that it was going to be Final Fantasy-ish to some extent)

but then the game starts up & it's just...very mobiley clearly designed for touch/swipe controls (so if there's anything FF-ish about this game, it's....theatrhythmish?) overall tone & voice-acting throwing me off (everything just seems kind of casual/jokey) the animated cutscenes aren't bad per se, but they don't match that wild advertised art style at all also it seems like the pacing of this game is going to be battle screen -> map/menu screen -> battle screen, etc no exploration to speak of which is an unfair expectation on my end, but it would've been so cool with that art style 😭 so on the one hand, i feel i should come back & give this game another shot, now that i know what it even is on the other hand, using the mouse for something that was clearly designed for touch/swipe is going to be a fundamental enjoyment blocker (again, imagine playing theatrhythm with a mouse) oh well at least it's another of those "what is this/where did it come from" games in the steam library, so the stakes were low lol

[shalmonsgamons]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Fates of Ort

this game initially caught my eye with its blobby (in a nice way) isometric pixelart

some brief character creation allows you to pick from a set of premade appearances--gotta have a hood!

so there's a weird mechanic in which time is actually stopped when you're not moving, but you can choose to keep it flowing by holding spacebar? seems to be more for battle mechanics than lore (though the NPCs seem aware of it in a tongue 'n cheek way) The opening sequence seems to be presenting you with a moral/class choice? but i'm not sure how much it actually impacts. i seem to have chosen do magic/be bad (i just like to do magic in any given RPG), but i wonder if it will be that straightforward ok, it seems to be more like a "but thou must" choice, since the story at large seems to revolve around you being forced to accept "consumption magic", which typically turns ppl into monsters (unless they wrote two different plots?)

i kept hitting buttons wondering where my inventory was, and it turns out you can only access it at these spire things? interesting, idk how i feel about that yet overall though, this seems pretty charming & i'd like to continue!

[shalmonsgamons]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Fate

this seems to be one that a lot of ppl who were kids in 2005 or so seem really fond of the child proportions + adult faces are really somethin';;;

i flipped through some of the randomly generated names and settled on "Eck" i apparently forgot to screencap, but i picked a cat named "Jek" (also randomly generated) Eck and Jek, on the prowl (the function of the pet seems very similar to the pets in Torchlight, so i have a feeling the overall game will have a similar vibe?) i wonder if all the purple text will be explained?

at first i thought it was just highlighting proper nouns, but nope... maybe it's just highlighting key words to be able to be skimmed quickly? i guess that's kinda helpful shouts-out gimbo tel

really enjoying that there are friendly undead NPCs w/zero explanation; this town is just that chill omg bird alert too??? Fate's NPC game is easily 11/10

did some dungeoning & then returned to town when prompted-- (shouts-out bloodhammer the ancient)

didn't complete any quests or anything, but just wanted to get a feel for things overall seems like casual fun, i'll prob poke at it again~

[shalmonsgamons]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: The Eternal Cylinder

visuals (scenery in particular) are pmuch an instant 10/10 i love this stuff 😭 music's really got a vibe too overall i think i need to spend more time with it to really form an opinion, but i'm definitely intrigued my one halfway complaint for the moment: i have such a huge weakness for surreal games with no dialog that i was a bit disappointed to discover that the game had a narrator it gave me enough of a Paper Beast vibe that i was kinda hoping for complete silence lol

[shalmonsgamons]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: The Enchanted Cave 2

(before i begin--i just had an important revelation: this game has what i felt was "grant kirkhopass" music, because....it's actually him lol. congrats to this little game for getting kirkhope!)

as for the little game, i'm actually enjoying it more than expected?? at the time of writing, i've actually gone back to play it a couple more times. nothing mind-blowingly innovative about it; just a pleasant looking dungeon-crawl roguelike with bump-combat.

its roguelike penalties end up being much more manageable thanks to the "escape wings" mechanic, a not-too-rare item which teleports you out of the dungeon at any time. (my first character is still alive thanks to these!)

[shalmonsgamons]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Euclidean Skies there are some obvious problems with the UI in this one, prob something to do with it being a mobile port, but otherwise, i'm feelin like this one was unfairly overlooked?? (41 reviews on steam as of typing this) stellar art direction & unique gameplay i guess i would describe it as "rubix cube puzzles"--turning different corners of the map around to find solutions protag also gives me Red(Transistor) vibes, but that's certainly not a bad thing

[shalmonsgamons]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: The Falconeer this entire game is a bird alert, so points for that but wow, ambitious!! kind of overwhelmingly so lol but that's partly due to me not playing many "dogfight" games, and i'm concerned nausea will be a problem (as it often is for me) there is also a bunch of lore thrown at you & the tutorial doesn't explain a whole lot, gameplay-wise? (maybe more is explained as u go) music unexpectedly reminds me a bit of the pathless i would cautiously like to revisit this one, tho i have reservations about it being a nausea trap 😭 apparently, aside from music/marketing, this was a solo dev game?? dang

[shalmonsgamons]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Dragon Spirits

i believe this one's an RPGmaker creature collector of sorts? always curious to see how ppl use the engine to handle that english translation is definitely on the janky side, but i try to cut some slack for small teams

(bird alert)

chose this fella from among the five "starters"

dragons are "caught" automatically when you meet the given battle conditions (i assume there's a variety)

these directional hints feel wildly unnecessary (there isn't really anywhere else to go), but maybe it's just for the intro stuff? aha there's an NPC you can talk to in order to turn them off. feels like a very RPGmakery workaround--i wonder if there's a better way that can be done?

overall, this is an odd mix of nice looking original(?) assets & RPGmaker stock. nothing against using RPGmaker stock, but i find it's actually a bit more distracting when it's mixed up like this--particularly the SFX (i don't know why that is, but for whatever reason hearing a stock RPGmaker sound effect takes me out of it more than just seeing the familiar RTP graphics 🤔)

[shalmonsgamons]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Arcanium

a deckbuilder with the interesting twist of having a party, instead of the usual single main character (making for some tougher choices when picking the single reward card after each battle)

each character occupies swappable "lanes" which can impact where cards can be placed overall i'm kinda diggin it it definitely has "casual/mobile" vibes, but changes up the formula in some fun ways and the animal characters add some flavor

(why's this thicc raccoon so futuristic though lol)

[shalmonsgamons]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Elderand

wasn't expecting character creation? minimal options, but kinda neat that it's there

the pixels are quite nice, even if the designs themselves don't stand out too much in their genre

(it took a little while for me to notice that there was such a huge statue in the background of this area--cool reveal!)

on the other hand, the SFX feel a bit out of place--many are too "bright" sounding for a dark fantasy mood (it's got that 'video game coin noise' when you pick up coins)

small thing, but i like that there are cute little save icons based on where you are overall, i'll probably poke at it a few more times, even if nothing in particular is wowing me

[shalmonsgamons]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Fallen Enchantress - Legendary Heroes

ok im sorry but my first impression is Laughing because it goes from dramatic introductory narration to the Tutorial Guy who sounds like he's going to guide me through DIY repairing my dishwasher;; friendliest voice audio quality slightly bad and then the tut character's name really looks like Lady Porcupine & tbh i'm a little sad it isn't

anyway, i tend to be kinda bad at these types of games (4x strategy), but often gravitate towards them regardless

one little aesthetic detail i enjoy is how zooming out far enough turns everything into a paper map + minis very cute

[shalmonsgamons]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Ember

ember is a classic example of "very generic, but oddly charming" someone is clearly having fun with the writing (without being obnoxious) & it's amazing how that can make me want to come back to something that's otherwise a bit dull.

i'm also kinda liking how it plays like a looter, except you have a party? but the equipment setup and stats are simple enough that the divvying process doesn't become overwhelming (at least not yet)

[shalmonsgamons]

First Impressions: Faeria

i guess the quickest way to summarize is it feels like simplified MtG that plays on a grid with more "literal" lands? so instead of land being like your AP, you automatically get some each turn & use it to build a bridge toward your opponent then the creatures get placed along those lands tbh, kinda fun?? art direction is pretty generic, but i might try it again i did notice that recent reviews are skewing really negative--seems to have something to do w/microtransactions and poor online play? so it's possible my total playtime will not be much, if there isn't a single player campaign after the tutorial sessions. but i don't have much of a horse in this race since i think i just had it from a bundle lol