Recent reviews by HuskyDynamics

It's a small meme car like the Lawn Mower and Sofa Car, and as such is really only usable against other small meme cars because... well, it's pretty obvious why. It's there for a laugh but you can't really use it in anything other than custom events because you pretty much just die when racing against normal-sized cars. Worth noting, however, is that the Bumper Car has better weight distribution and a much lower center of gravity than all of the other meme cars (the Pocket Rocket comes close, but is rather nose-heavy), meaning that it actually handles pretty well even on dirt. The big rubber ring around the bottom does make it rather unpredictable when landing a jump though, so be careful. It's got decent paint customization, but no further upgrades aside from the engine to change classes.

Pretty similar to the Killerbee S, but a little weaker and with the engine in the rear so it likes to go a bit more sideways. Otherwise, kind of unremarkable. It's fun to pull off some inside overtakes with, since it can pretty much zip through almost any gap there is, but in dirtier races you'll probably die pretty quickly. It looks decent and handles well (arguably better than the Killerbee S since the weight distribution makes it more predictable), but there are other cars that just offer more performance regardless of which class you put it in. The Buggy adds some nice flavor and is a good alternative to the two Killerbees if you don't like how they drive, but otherwise there's not a whole lot of reasons to use it. Kind of like the Rocket you start with, actually. There's nothing wrong with it or anything, but it's just kind of average and there are better choices available if you want to run at the front of the pack.

This is what you should be buying the DLC for. It's stylish, classy, sounds great, and drives a lot better than you'd expect when given enough power (I recommend A- or B-class; in C-class it's pretty underpowered - and please set the gear ratio to 4, because the default setting is just sad). It won't be a competitor in squeaky-clean racing because it's still kind of a boat, but in less-clean servers it can hold its own on longer tracks. It carries speed surprisingly well through corners as long as they aren't too sharp, accelerates quite decently, and is overall just plain fun to drive (even though you probably won't be at the front most of the time).

TL;DR:

Visually pleasing FOMO cosmetics grinder MMO. 2/10.


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Sky is an interesting game. To be honest even after 11 hours of playing it, I'm still not entirely sure what it is, but it's quite pretty. The overall concept is neat and it looks very nice, but there are a few major issues that mean I cannot recommend it.

== PROS ==

• Interesting gameplay and mechanics
  
• Social-based MMO is a neat concept
  
• Very aesthetically attractive
  
• Runs quite well

== CONS ==

• Either extremely grindy or pay-to-complete, no in between
  
• Very large FOMO element, seemingly encouraged by the developers
  
• Flagged as a malicious application by basically every antivirus out there

== VERDICT ==
Try Sky at your own risk, but be ready to either spend a ton of time grinding the same seven very pretty but rather empty areas over and over again or pull out your credit card. It's an interesting experience for a few hours to enjoy the scenery, but I can't recommend it for more than that.

TL;DR:

I kickstarted the Second American Revolution as U2's "The Wanderer" with the help of my amazing and possibly immortal dog while also becoming the most zealous Second Amendment enthusiast in the greater New England area.

Enjoyable game with a kind of underwhelming main plot, overall 8/10. I wouldn't replay it just for the story, but I had a lot of fun.


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Before I get further into my review, this is a disclaimer. I have not played any of the other Fallout games as of the time of writing this review, nor have I watched the Fallout TV show. As such, this review focuses exclusively on the quality and enjoyability of Fallout 4 itself rather than how consistent it is with prior entries, lore, etc.

Fallout 4 is fun. Though it's perhaps better branded as an "open-world exploration shooter" than a true RPG due to the rather limited options available for roleplaying (which I'll get into later), and bugs are not uncommon, it's an entertaining game that still holds up fairly well in terms of gameplay almost nine years after release.

== PROS ==

The game's setting, the Commonwealth, is a very large and mostly explorable world. It feels big even into the late game when you have access to a faster means of crossing it, and the ambient sounds and music combine to create a very immersive environment that lends itself well to exploration for the sake of exploration rather than just for story progression. There are tons of places that you'll only find if you go looking off the beaten paths, and there are very few spots that feel "empty" (other than the Glowing Sea, which is justified).

One of my favorite parts of Fallout 4 is the weapon and armor upgrade systems. Armor and Power Armor can simply be upgraded to more advanced versions which provide more protection, but you can also add further modifications to boost specific resistances, carry weight, attack damage, or other bonuses.

The weapon customization takes this concept and runs with it to the extent that every single gun and weapon in the game can be upgraded in some way that drastically changes its performance. You can put scopes and silencers on, sure, but you can also change barrel length, upgrade the receiver to do more damage or swap it for an automatic one, change the magazine type and size, and in some cases even convert the gun to shoot a different caliber entirely. As just one example, I have a Combat Rifle that I found fairly early on in my first playthrough. Over the course of the game, I upgraded it first into a long-range pseudo-sniper rifle, then switched it to a close-range high-damage build with a bayonet, then transferred all of the mods to another rifle that I picked up with a Legendary effect that made it shoot two bullets per shot (doubling the damage), switched it back to the original long barrel to improve the range, and then swapped the receiver so it now shoots .308 instead of .38. All one gun (technically two but I think you get the idea), but adapted for so many different scenarios. The best part is that the same is true for pretty much every weapon in the game. While some have fewer modifications due to their intended role (sniper rifles may not have automatic receiver options, for instance), every single gun can be upgraded or modified in some way to suit the user's preference. It's incredibly fun to be able to find a gun that you like and then tinker with it until it behaves just how you want.

Settlement building is also a fun element of Fallout 4. Though I have yet to dive into the benefits that a connected network of settlements can really offer (particularly in the late game), it's great to be able to have a place in the wasteland that you can call your own, building and decorating a bit to make it more of a home. It's not an essential part of the game by any means, but it's a fun diversion from doing quests and (like the gun customization) really lets you feel a little more involved and established with the general world of the game.

== CONS ==

One of the places that Fallout 4 falls short is the main story. It's not bad, but the earlier sections are rather forgettable and the later sections are fairly predictable with a few notable exceptions that I won't spoil. There were several times early on where I was enjoying exploring and doing side quests, then stopped and was like "oh yeah, I'm supposed to be looking for my son or something." The side quests are usually pretty good, but the main quest line generally isn't super engaging until you get closer to the end, by which point you're mainly focusing on it anyway. It's not a game I would come back to for the purpose of experiencing the story again, I'll put it that way.

Another downside is the dialog options when talking to NPCs. First, the brief text descriptions of each option don't quite match what the player character will actually say in many cases, with a few being rather substantially different. This is somewhat canceled out by the limited options themselves, though. Most dialog choices can be summed up as "Yes," "Yes but sarcastic" (replaced with "Maybe later" when being asked to accept a new quest), "No," and "Tell me again, I wasn't listening." While this simplifies things for the player, it makes the entire story feel more overtly scripted rather than player-driven.

Another thing I don't like is a general lack of emotion among the voice actors. I'm sure there was a lot of effort that went into the dialogue and scripting for the game, but the characters' tones and attitudes don't really change regardless of what's going on (or how many emotions they're implied to be experiencing at certain parts of the story).

One other annoyance that I have specifically with the story and quest lines is that the player character does practically everything. Canonically. I get that I'm quite literally the single most heavily-armed man in the Commonwealth by a mile and a half, but I'm not the only man in the Commonwealth. Leave me alone, Preston Garvey, there's like forty other Minutemen standing around doing nothing and I have guns to customize. Ask one of them to go find your settlement.

== VERDICT ==

Overall, I enjoyed playing Fallout 4. It's got some problems and the story isn't the greatest, but the world and the tools available to the player in terms of settlements and weapon/armor customization make for pretty great replay value, so I'd recommend it if you're willing to put up with some of the weak spots. It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn fun.

TL;DR:

Fun, low-system-requirements sandbox model train game with a lot of possibilities and the most user-friendly modding system I have ever encountered. 9/10.


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Rolling Line is one of my favorite games. It's a model railroad building game on the surface, but once you dive in you find that it's so much more than just that. It runs well (if you don't push it too far), has a visually consistent and appealing graphics style, is genuinely fun to play, and on top of all that it has the easiest and most user-friendly modding system I have ever encountered in any game ever (and I do seriously mean that).

Whether you want to build the model railroad layout of your dreams, drive a locomotive around the layout in miniature mode, or just sit and watch trains go by, Rolling Line is the game for you. It works in both PC and VR; the former is better for layout building, while the latter - which I have yet to experience - is more immersive for operating trains or in miniature mode. The game looks great especially on more detailed layouts like Paranapiacaba, while the graphics style gives it a lighthearted and casual feeling that is entirely lacking from other train games. Colors are vibrant without being glaringly bright, and there's just the right balance of detail to fit the overall look.

Once you figure out the rather unique interfaces (which were clearly designed with VR in mind, but still work pretty well in pancake mode once you get the hang of them), layout building is fairly intuitive. There's a wide selection of track styles, terrain shapes, and detail props available to work with, which offers literally endless possibilities in terms of layout building. There's no set rules, no boundaries (at truly excessive room sizes you start to run into floating-point errors caused by being so far from the world origin, but that's somewhat literally an edge case), and it's incredibly easy to just sit down and build something, as the trailers show. (That being said, there's a fair learning curve involved with how to make your layout really look good, similar to real-world model railroading).

Modding is almost absurdly easy, even for more complex things like locomotives. If you have a model file and a texture for it, you can set it up as a mostly functional locomotive in a matter of minutes if you so desire. All of the complex things like particles and lights are handled in-game with intuitive and simple GUI menus that allow for precise positioning and adjustment of all of the effects that really make a locomotive come to life (metaphorically, of course).

It's fun to run trains in large scale using the handheld remotes, but where Rolling Line really shines is in miniature mode. At this size, you are the same scale as the layout itself, which means you can drive trains right from the cab or explore the layout for smaller details you might have otherwise missed. The two modes are very different yet the transition between them is practically seamless, which further enhances the entire experience.


== PROS ==

Visually pleasing graphics.

Good performance (depending on layout size), runs on low-end systems in pancake mode.

Layout building is easy and intuitive once you get the hang of it.

Equally enjoyable in large-scale and miniature-scale, with quick and easy switching between the two.

Very easy game to just jump in and start playing with trains.

Modding is incredibly simple and easy to learn

Consistent, high-quality updates (from a solo developer, which is extra impressive for how many updates there are!). Every single update adds something new and interesting, which is more than can be said for a lot of games.

Several official layouts (each of them quite unique and different) and a practically endless number of player-created workshop layouts.

Good variety of trains even without mods, and more are available on the workshop all the time.

It's just fun!


== CONS ==

Performance can suffer on larger layouts, particularly in terms of RAM usage.

No multiplayer, so you can't have multiple people working on a layout or running operations. (Asking for multiplayer has in fact become a meme within the community, though multiplayer is pretty unlikely to ever happen due to the massive restructuring and extended support it would require.)

Lack of a defined scale (the track is technically New Zealand's Cape gauge but all of the official trains - even the American ones - are modeled to it), which makes some things rather inconsistent in terms of sizing and is a continued source of debate in the modding community. This doesn't hurt the game too much though if you're not as particular about such things.

Visual style of the game (as well as a few other factors) means that some locomotives are... questionable in terms of accuracy to their real-world equivalents. The DX, for example, has a model that looks good and fits with the style of the game, but is significantly shorter than its real-life equivalent, while the Big Boy reflects the lack of train knowledge that the developer had at the time it was modeled (particularly the tender). More recent additions (such as the AC44, JGR, and VL80) are generally much closer to their real-life counterparts, but the older ones tend to be a bit more on the stylized side.



Overall, Rolling Line is 100% worth the purchase. It's a great game with quality updates and a very active modding community, and the fact that it's all done by a solo developer makes it even more remarkable. Don't even bother waiting for a sale; it'll be worth every cent (and that's not something I say a lot!). In short, it's the model train set I dreamed of having as a kid and much more.

TL;DR:

Game used to be fun but the dev decided to make the UI practically unusable for no good reason, and a bunch of old bugs came back along with some new ones. Recommendation: Avoid.


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Vecter isn't a bad game per se, at least in concept. It's pretty fun at its core, an endless runner/shooter with built-in music visualization that fully supports whatever custom music you want to add. It captures the feeling of speed quite well, and has an attractive but simple visual style.

Or at least, it used to be pretty fun.

What lets Vecter down is the "Forever Update", Vecter 1.3. Specifically, the line "Updated menu so that it's completely wordless". I cannot fathom how this was ever thought to be a good idea. Now, instead of each option having a name and description that clearly states what it does, you need to navigate to the separate guide on Steam just to understand what you're looking at. The only "justification" I can think of is something along the lines of "making Vecter accessible regardless of language", but this could have been done much more effectively with a simple in-game language option that would translate the menus, rather than an unintelligible series of wordless symbols that require you to consult a separate out-of-game reference book just to know how to read the menu of the game.

The Forever Update also removed several other somewhat broken features (like the ability to play Youtube videos/audio in the game, which several people were unhappy about, but admittedly the feature only worked about a third of the time anyway) and did make the game more stable - but only some of the time, and apparently only for some people. The decision to remove words from the menus, though, was just a poor choice. If the player needs a standalone reference book to understand any of the UI, the UI is designed badly. Additionally, Vecter 1.3 removed one of the coolest features of the game - the ability to see "ghosts" of previous runs (both by you and by other players) - for no apparent reason at all.

Here are a few of the "highlights" from the 1.3 patchnotes, with my comments added:
- Removed Multiplayer [genuinely the coolest feature of the game]
- Removed Shadows [ghosts of previous runs] and Shadow Playback
- Removed Rebindable Controls. [WHY?!]
- Removed YouTube videos [sad but fair, they only worked like half the time anyway]
- Updated menu so that it's completely wordless [see earlier paragraph, but TL;DR this ruined the entire game]

Prior to the 1.3 Forever Update, I would have wholeheartedly recommended Vecter as a slightly buggy but fun fast-paced racer. Now, though, my recommendation would be to STAY AWAY. Vecter can still be somewhat fun when it works, but the 1.3 Forever Update obliterated any sort of enjoyment I and many others got from it by essentially taking all of the things that made the game stand out and throwing them away, in addition to turning the UI into an indecipherable mess. I can't recommend a game that requires a reference book just to understand the basic interface, even if it's free.

Suffice it to say that I will never be playing Vecter again, because Taranasus knowingly and intentionally put it into a nigh-unplayable state and has ignored any and all player feedback on these changes.

TL;DR:

Arcade WWII flight game with mildly questionable physics and limited attention to detail, but fun enough to be worth picking up on sale if you're interested in the genre. If you ever played Blazing Angels, it's a similar vibe.


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As several other reviews (read: most of the negative ones) have mentioned, Dogfight 1942 has no flight stick support. However, this is okay because it is an arcade-style dogfighting game, not a full-on simulator. On to the rest of the review...

Dogfight 1942 is pretty fun, though it has some noticeable flaws. The combat is fast and engaging, and for the most part quite satisfying. For being a decade old, the game's performance is quite good, and the controls and on-screen HUD are pretty intuitive once you get the hang of them.

However, the game has several flaws, the most notable of which is the complete lack of foliage on land. This is apparently due to something with the licensing of the tree-generating program that was used. Trees will appear fine, but only if the computer's clock is set back to 2012. The missing trees, on the other hand, only really make one or two missions actually difficult, but aircraft flying low to the ground will still be damaged by trees even if they are not visible. It's definitely one of the weirder bugs I've encountered, but it doesn't make the game unplayable or anything.

The other major problem I have is with some of the "historical accuracy". For example, one mission involves the player flying cover for a stranded PT boat in a PBY Catalina. Even if we chalk up the PBY's rather absurd number of bombs as "it's arcade-style game", there are still several other issues. First and most noticeable, the wheels on the PBY are not in the fully retracted position, despite being nonfunctional. Instead, they stick out to either side in a rather ugly fashion. It is not immersion-breaking, but it looks quite stupid when compared to the actual gear position of the PBY. The other main problem with this mission is that the "PT boat" the player must protect is actually what appears to be a two-tone fishing trawler, and looks nothing like a PT.

There are a few other realism issues as well. The maneuverability curve is far too minor: fighters feel reasonable, but the Halifax's turning is quite simply horrifically rapid, as one example. I get that it's supposed to be an "arcade-style experience", but this is too much. Also, the bomb bay doors are not functional on any of the appropriate aircraft, even in cutscenes, and occasionally the aircraft's control surfaces will not return to neutral when in a cutscene (this is particularly noticeable with the ailerons).

There is only one texture per aircraft (with the exception of player-selectable liveries), so ALL non-player Halifaxes, for instance, wear the name and markings of Friday the 13th. Additionally, there are some rather weird choices for the placement of custom decals. For example, applying a shark mouth (or other mouth) to the P-38 puts it on the nose of the aircraft, instead of the more reasonable (and generally more historically accurate) placement on the sides of the engine nacelles.

A few other gameplay issues exist as well. The campaign is pretty short, and even with the addition of both DLCs, takes only 4-5 hours tops. However, getting 100% is actually much more difficult and time-consuming, as the "Hard" mode is, somewhat surprisingly, quite challenging. Despite this, the campaign's infrequent "Ace Duels" are just kind of uninteresting, as the supposedly "ace" pilot's AI is not much different from the generic enemy AI. The "Simulation Mode" controls (no flight assists, fully free pitch/roll/yaw) aren't great, and the camera in this mode is exceptionally janky. Disappointingly, there is no cockpit camera view either.

Overall, Dogfight 1942 is a decent game if you're okay with overlooking some of the more glaring issues (or aren't particularly interested in full historical accuracy). The campaign's voice acting is surprisingly good, too, and overall the game isn't all that bad for being over a decade old with little to no support or updates since release. I was entertained for a few hours, at least. I can't recommend it at full price though, so definitely wait for a 50% sale at least.

TL;DR:

Literally my childhood game so I'm probably rather biased. It's aged fairly well and has been unreasonably good for what started out as a PC version of a 2014 mobile game, though the upcoming sequel is almost definitely going to be a better choice for new players. 9/10.


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Update: SimplePlanes has officially reached its End-of-Life stage and will no longer be receiving updates (other than critical bug fixes if necessary). Keep that in mind if you're considering purchasing it. Though I must clarify, it has not been "abandoned;" rather it has simply reached the end of its development cycle and the devs have decided to move on after almost a decade (i.e. the game is fully complete and isn't unfinished or half-baked, but the devs consider it to be "finished" and won't be adding any new content going forward). Anyway, on to the regular review.


I've played SimplePlanes pretty much from the day 1 release. Not the day 1 release on Steam, but the original release on the App Store. After the old iPad I was playing on finally refused to update it anymore, I purchased the Steam version, and after this many hours so far on Steam and who knows how many on iOS (several thousand at least, but there's no way for me to get an exact number), I figure I'm pretty qualified to write a review on the game.

SimplePlanes is my favorite game, hands down. It's got very good physics in terms of how things fly, and you can make those things be whatever you want. Really. I've seen things from 747s to X-Wings to literally a flying George Bush. You have the freedom to build anything, and it might or might not fly depending on... physics. There's also a ton of stuff beyond airplanes as well. Helicopters, tiltrotors, cars, ships, a few trains, hovercraft (hovercrafts?), mech walkers, and more. Imagine any vehicle, and someone has probably made it in SimplePlanes.

That brings me to the community. The Steam forums are pretty quiet, but the official website[simpleplanes.com] (where you can download all the planes you want) is very, very active, and you'll be able to find just about anything you could want. Some of the pictures on Steam are quite outdated, so I'd recommend having a look at the website to see what kinds of things people are building these days. It's incredible.

That being said, building your own aircraft (or other vehicles) can have a very steep learning curve. The tutorial gives you the bare basics of the editor, and most other tools are pretty easy to figure out, but actually building something that looks like a real plane can be... difficult, to say the least. Again though, that's why there's a website where you can let other people do it for you instead!


PROS:

Very good physics simulation (it might not be perfectly accurate, but it's consistent with itself and "feels right")

Unlimited creativity

Decent graphics and very consistent aesthetic style

Good audio effects

Great (if a bit dated) soundtrack that really fits the game (but can be turned off if you don't like it or want to listen to your own instead)

Once you buy it, everything's free. Download as many planes as you want.

Decent modding support (someone's even made multiplayer exist via modding, which is cool)


CONS:

Steep learning curve for more advanced building.

Build editor can be clunky and unintuitive, especially for players who have experience with similar games or more in-depth 3D modeling software.

The environment and terrain looks a bit like it was made in 2013... which it was. It works well, but it's pretty dated.

Higher part counts can lead to lower performance, and everyone has to find their own "part cap" through trial and error. For me it's around 1500-2000 before the game starts to lag, but it may be higher or lower for others.

Changing the weather (except for wind) is pretty much just visual, unless you pick one of the "fog" settings. Without mods, clouds are part of the skybox and can't be interacted with. It looks a little weird, but you eventually get used to it (or just get mods to change it).

Updates are few and far between. The game was released in 2014 (2015 on Steam) so it kind of gets a pass on this, but updates have become more and more spread out as time has gone by and the developers have worked on other projects (recently including Juno: New Origins, another Jundroo game I'd recommend especially for fans of KSP who want something that's more in-depth on the engineering and customization side). Update: As of September 2023, development on SimplePlanes has officially ceased, and the devs are fully moving on to other projects.


SUMMARY:

Overall, I'd highly recommend SimplePlanes. It's most definitely my favorite game, and I expect that it will always be my most-played game on Steam (at least for a good while yet).
Despite its age, SimplePlanes is still a quality game that works well and is surprisingly bug-free (outside of the wacky physics-destroying things that people sometimes make, anyway!). Definitely worth the price!

TL;DR:

The basic gameplay is fun but gets old. Other players are a coin toss between friendly and PvP sweat, and there's not much of a way to tell before encountering them in combat (or on the forums, where the latter seem to be more prevalent). Overall 5/10, don't bother if you don't have a few friends to play it with.


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Honestly, I'd give this a "Maybe" recommendation (but Steam doesn't have that). Do I enjoy the game? Yes. Would I recommend the game itself? Probably so. Would I recommend the community that has built up around and in the game? Absolutely not.


Sea of Thieves is basically the pirate simulator, and it has a lot of neat features and mechanics. When you join a server, you are immediately given a ship and basic supplies (a bit of food, some planks for repairs, and cannonballs for obvious purposes). From there, it's pretty much up to you what to do. You can gather more supplies from the outpost before setting sail, pick up a quest or voyage (more on those in a minute), or just raise the anchor and go. The entire map is open to you, and you can go pretty much wherever you want.

Before sailing away though, you may choose to pick up a Voyage. These can range from the stereotypical "go to this island and dig up a treasure chest or three" to the more exotic "these skeleton captains have been sighted on that island, go and kill them please". Voyage rewards increase as your reputation with the associated faction rises (usually done by, you guessed it, completing voyages), and are one of the main sources of money in the game.

Money is useful for one thing, and one thing only: Cosmetics! Sea of Thieves works in an interesting way, where all players are given tools/equipment/etc. with identical stats to one another. This means that if you are brand-new to the game, your pistol will do the exact same amount of damage as someone who has played for 1,000 hours, for example. The only difference will be in cosmetics. And there are a lot of cosmetics to choose from, some of which are locked behind Tall Tales (essentially longer, story-driven Voyages). Different weapons, a new hat, different hull liveries, and more. Pretty much every component of the player and ship have cosmetics available for them.

Sea of Thieves is (and always will be) a PvPvE experience. What this means is that even if you like to stick to PvE combat (fighting skeletons and the like), there is still always a chance that some other player will come along and decide to sink you (or, if they're the occasional nice - or deceptive - person, form an alliance with you). Point being, you're going to get sunk sometimes, and you will lose your loot sometimes. That's just how it is. The thing, though, is that the only thing you can really end up losing is time. However, it can be very frustrating to feel that you've just wasted three hours of your day when your fellow alliance member suddenly backstabs you and steals the loot you spent those three hours fighting for (often without their help).

As interesting and generally fun as the game itself is, the player community.... is something else. The Sea of Thieves player community is awful. From general insults and slurs to "well your two most-played games are farming simulator and truck simulator, so clearly this game isn't for you", the overall feel is extremely unwelcoming. New players are simply told to "get good or leave", while anyone who dares suggest a PvE-only mode is essentially told "shut up, go cry". In-game, harassing new players and spawncamping are not only not punished, they are accepted and, on occasion, even encouraged, on the grounds of "it's Sea of THIEVES, not FRIENDS", and "if you don't like it, get off the game".
TL;DR It is one of the most toxic player communities I have ever seen or heard of.


Note: For my usual Pros and Cons list, I will mention more things than have been described above. I'd go into more detail, but this review is long enough already..

PROS:

Beautifully immersive game environment

Sailing is fun and feels realistic without being an all-out rigging simulator

Lots of cosmetics

Wide variety of islands and environments across the different regions of the map

Different ways to play based on your preferences (PvP, PvE, sailing-around-running-into-rocks, etc.)

Easy-to-learn, hard-to-master mechanics (example: hitting stuff with the cannons)

Can run on fairly low-end systems on the lowest graphics settings (and still looks decent while doing so)

Perfectly playable solo, rather than in a crew (although you do have to be generally a lot more cautious while doing so lest a fully-crewed galleon sneak up on you)

Music is amazing


CONS:

Getting sunk isn't fun, and can end up feeling like you've wasted a lot of time for no reward (That being said, it's kind of a core part of the game, so this is more of a "getting sunk sucks, but it happens" rather than a "I wish it didn't happen" sort of con.)

Being betrayed is almost worse than just getting sunk by some random person. (Honestly debatable on how I feel on this one. Yes, everyone's a pirate, but like.... honor? No? Ok.)

Community is toxic beyond belief (read through the Steam forums if you want to see what I mean)

Many players see newbies as easy kills (though some are nice to them)

Hardcore/tryhard PvPers can make things miserable (repairing your own ship so you can keep spawning for them to kill you, that sort of thing)

Playing in a crew is best done with people you know (and who are also interested in the game / fine getting killed repeatedly)

Server stability is never guaranteed, and the servers will often get overloaded and go offline during big events

If you're going to play, make sure to commit to two hours at a minimum.



Overall, I'd like to recommend Sea of Thieves, but I just can't. It's a very immersive and fun game (and I do intend to play more of it), but the community is just awful, and there's pretty much no way to escape it. If you don't mind that though, you can for sure have a good time either playing solo or in a group with your friends. Make sure to have a read through of the Steam forums before thinking about buying though, so you know what kind of people you will more-than-likely encounter on the seas.

TL;DR:

Very dead but still entertaining (and surprisingly challenging) 2013 endless racer with a unique visual style that captures the feeling of speed quite well. Not much else to say, really. 7/10.


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The concept of Race The Sun is simple: stay in the light. Avoid the obstacles. Race the setting sun.

The execution though, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, is really hard. The standard Race The Sun world starts off fairly simple, but in addition to throwing more stuff in your way as you travel through the regions, the sun starts setting faster as well. This means that in order to stay alive, you have to travel at ever-more-ridiculous speeds, a task that would be difficult enough even without all of the aforementioned stuff being thrown in your path.

In addition to the standard Race The Sun world, there's also an unlockable Apocalypse mode, which is pretty much exactly what you're thinking. Yes, there's nukes in it. Yes, they try and kill you (more than normal). Yes, it's an absolute blast, and yes, I haven't ever made it past region 3. If all that weren't enough, there's also a full level creator and Steam Workshop support, and people have made some truly ridiculous (and really cool looking) stuff.

RTS' graphics are... about as minimalist as you can get. At the same time, they're oddly beautiful. The solar-powered Sunracer is merely a set of simple polygons (as is, well, everything else), yet it's instantly recognizable. The flat, monochromatic environment is barely more than a collection of triangles and squares, but it just feels "right", somehow. The whole game has a really good, fast-paced-yet-relaxed feel to it, thanks to the combination of speed and visual simplicity.


PROS:

Nice yet simplistic graphics and environment

Very good music

Sound effects from item pickups and such really have a nice reverb and feel "big"

Pretty much infinite replayability

Different challenges lead to flight-enhancing unlocks (turning thrusters, jump ability, etc.)

Fully decked-out level creator (though it has a big learning curve for sure)

Super low performance and storage requirements (runs on a potato)


CONS:

Obstacle pop-in is quite noticeable (though this can make the obstacles a little easier to avoid)

It's quite dead. The game released in 2013, and there's not much workshop content from more than three years after that. The online leaderboard seems to be permanently down, and the last time there were more than 30 concurrent players (according to SteamDB) was in mid-2019.

Level editor can be buggy and has a big learning curve

Challenges and unlocks cap at level 25, which only takes about 6 hours or so to reach

Repetitive; best played in short sessions



Overall I'd recommend Race The Sun. It's a fast-paced (yet somehow calming) endless runner, and is just fun to play when you've got a bit of time to kill. If you get tired of (or stuck on) the day's level, just wait for it to be reshuffled the next day, before resuming your mad dash to the sun. It's a very simple game, but it works for what it is.

Daedaluz is a neat game. The concept is simple: Try and make it to the end of the level without hitting stuff. However, unlike most other games with this goal, in Daedaluz a crash doesn't always kill you. Instead, a glancing blow might shear off one (or both!) of your wings, making your craft much more difficult to fly, but not immediately killing you. The graphics are simple yet attractive, and the controls are easy to get a feel for.


PROS:

Nice yet low-intensity graphics

Simple controls (W/S for vertical movement, A/D for horizontal, and Q/E or LMB/RMB for roll)

Very low hardware and storage requirements

Neat damage system, where collisions don't always mean instant death

Levels are simple yet challenging

Ghosts of your previous runs are super neat

It's free!


CONS:

Relatively few levels (and a few of them don't seem very challenging)

Missing many QoL features (controls can't be re-bound or changed, no control over music volume, etc.)



Overall, I'd recommend Daedaluz. It's free, simple, and quite fun to play. Just don't expect to log hundreds of hours in it, unless you really love challenging yourself in the Infinite mode. On a related note, I feel that this game could really benefit from a level creator/editor and Steam Workshop. It's got many different obstacles and fairly simple mechanics, and adding a workshop and level creator could really be an improvement.

*Note: While the music cannot be turned off within the game, it can be muted via the Windows Volume Mixer (right-click the speaker icon on your taskbar). As the game has essentially no sound cues, muting it has no detrimental impact. Once it's muted, you can play your own music via [music program of your choice].