Recent reviews by EdenStarGazer

Whether you're a civilized gamer or a troglodyte, this game is great. Grab a mug and turn up the speakers for the great music. Get ready to do dwarven stuff. It's all good.

I've been playing this game since 2020, and love it! I decided during lockdown to put the time to good use and learn a language... German. I unlocked all the languages here in Influent and I found myself so absorbed in the language fun that I soon launched out into improving the Spanish I already had, and adding Brazilian Portuguese, and added Duolingo onto this game. Going on three years now, and I can read basic German, Spanish, and very easy Brazilian Portuguese. It all started here, running around the little apartment.

I enjoyed discovering Chabouté's Yellow Cab hardback comic this past week in the Braz. Pt translated from the original French. That was a great feeling, and quite rewarding personally. But, the feels gained from learning something new is nothing compared to seeing the world through the eyes and words of a human being born worlds away. I feel like I've been born into three new lives... and isn't that what video games are all about?!

The newest release in the Victoria franchise is probably the most accessible for beginners, and has a niche appeal for economic and society simulations. The music is beautiful. I am sure future dlc will expand on many elements of the game as with all Paradox games, but it is a great game right off the starting block. The historical framework provides many hours of realistic gameplay and promises many more immersive scenarios to come.

Victoria allows you to run the political aspects of the country you choose. In my opinion, Victoria 3 gives you a satisfactory level of society and government control, added to the economic simulation, which is really the bulk of the game. So, its a best of both worlds situation, And, the game has a lot of replay value.

***Edit: I've played earlier iterations and enjoy the changes. If society sims and political management games are your thing, then you may enjoy this change in Victoria as much as I do.

Perfect Buy-in Time for this Gem!

If you're like me and eyeballing the new Forza 5, don't overlook the most recent predecessor. Four is on sale now at 65% off for everything. I've not had it too long, and it still has a lot of replay value. It's the best racing game I've ever played, hands down. Now is the best time to buy in at these sale prices. I like the fact that you can enjoy the game, even if you are not one of the better racers. There's a lot of crash-em-up fun as well.

There is much to love in this already solid early access city builder game! It reminds me of some other city builder titles; like Dawn of Man, Ancient Cities, and Nebuchadnezzar. But it gets right what a lot of other games miss. There is an ease of play to the mechanics that make it seem like a more developed game. The devs thought of a lot of what the gamer would need. It is already perfectly playable in its current state. The story background is an apocalyptic future where the beavers out-survive the humans. There are ruins scattered around the map, presumably from the fallen human civilizations.

What it does not have is any type of combat. It's a struggle with nature. The only weather element so far is the water cycle: drought and flooding. It looks as if seasons may be more fully developed in future updates. The city building is complex enough to allow the player to use strategy to combat nature... a typical PVE game. It employs hunger and thirst elements, as well as a need for basic resources to build with, like wood and metal scraps. I already get a deeper, more visual feel for the way the water cycle works than anything you can get from just reading books. Good models are like that.

What I am enjoying immensely is the realistic engineering and landscaping. It allows so much more gameplay in this area than in games like City Skylines, which I do love. I love the ability to shape the land and use dynamite. I love being able to edit and create my own maps. I am also enjoying the trading elements of being able to trade between districts. The whole district component is a fun part of the game.

What I look forward to is the addition of more factions and expanded gameplay features that are sure to come. But, most importantly, I would love the addition of a workshop to play maps that other gamers create and share. I think that multiplayer competitive and cooperative could be perfectly do-able in this game in the future. I also could see the addition of scenarios... which I don't care for very much myself in a game. But, some people like that. I certainly look forward to more maps and BIGGER maps. It's all good!

The music is an enjoyable experience. The artwork is very good. It's a fun game that will provide hours of enjoyment. And, its well worth the money spent, since I already have over 80 hours in the first week and a half since release. I can't quit playing. I highly recommend this game for people who love city builders.

I love this game! That's all.

I do not typically review a game with only 12 minutes playtime. But, I made an exception here due to the gameplay. The concept is built around a beautiful book. Animal Farm the book is a classic much loved, as it should be. But, the execution ends up being nothing more than a click click visual novel. That may be what a few people are looking for. But, my imagination had taken the word 'choice' and ran with it, so I had expected a text-based choice game. Instead, it is more like the little anime novels where you read and click to advance, with an occasional choice of which animal will respond to the previous script with a neigh or something.

That's fine if that's what you are looking for, but if you expect meaningful choices, then you are probably looking for something along the lines of say Choice of Robots, which was a text-based choice game which I loved. But, I don't see this as something that even kids would enjoy, as it is currently executed. That is just my opinion.

But, for the positive. The soundtrack is good. I kept the game for the soundtrack. It is a nice change-up in sounds to add to my gaming playlist on my phone and pc. The tunes are somewhat classical, and remind me a bit of Tchaikovsky's Peter and the Wolf, or other classical pieces.

No hate intended. If this is what you are looking for, by all means buy it. But, just so you know what the gameplay style is... here's my opinion.

It's a dog. We've played thousands of hours without a dog. Why are you reading the reviews?! You know you want YOUR dog now! You can train him and give him treats and he will find your harvest for you. Then you give him treats. It's all good. Five out of Five I would totally buy it again.

It was a fun ride while it lasted. I bought into the Ultimate game over a year ago while the base was still 'Free to Play.'
The MP was never really all that busy. But, it was a decent game. WAS is the operative word here, because recently after some updates, all my progress was wiped and they've now removed the Free to Play and are calling it only Snow- The Ultimate Edition. Supposedly this allows owners to continue to play. Supposedly, a button was added to the menu to fetch all your old stats, etc. Of course, for many of us, everything is gone, and there is no fetch button.

I've waited around for a few updates more, and yet I still enter the game with no fetch button and its sitting there with nothing, waiting for me to start the Tutorial for the first time. They say the MP is all but dead now anyways. This is certainly not worth a start over for me. I got one year out of my $22+ dollars. And I'll be uninstalling now. They can shovel it!

I'm almost speechless, when it comes to this game. It is just a special place of its own. It is a very relaxing game as well. You find yourself engrossed with collecting the birds. There is plenty of challenge, and especially with multiplayer. You have to play it to see for yourself. I own the board game and expansion table top board game versions as well as the Steam video game format, and spend a lot of time with both. The cards are great to have on the boardgame version, but I think the video actually does this game even better.

Why?
1. Bird Sounds: Calls, songs, trivia, etc. make it such a great experience.
2. The Bird Encyclopedia: You can click between the birds listening to the sounds, and sort them by features.
3. Visual movement of birds adds much to the experience.

The only thing missing from the video version is the Latin names, which are printed underneath the Common name on each of the cards in the Board Game version.

Nothing else needs to be said here. If you are not looking for a game that takes you somewhere in your mind where there are no words, some childhood place of fascination with flying, chirping, singing winged creatures; then skip Wingspan. Otherwise... here you are.