Lower East Side Reviews

Honest, full-length game reviews from a guy in NYC. Strategy, builders, roguelikes, survival horror, whatever is worth the hours. Devs: open for keys to review.

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

Somewhere between 350 and 480 hours. Stardew is the game I load on a bad week because I know I will feel better two hours later. People call it cozy. It is a planning game wearing a cozy game as a coat.

Full review. @ConcernedApe
https://t.co/VqH4RtKVwu

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

Dredge is a fishing game until the sun goes down. Then the fog comes in, the fish stop looking right, and the game never tells you what is out there with you. Most horror games dont have that kind of discipline.

Full review. @BlackSaltGames
https://t.co/T3H25nUPvh

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

Halfway through Next Fest and the pattern I keep seeing in my lanes is builders you can't win, only last longer in. Frostpunk turned that into a genre. The ones I want are where losing feels like my fault and not the dice

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

@FutureGamesShow @CarryCastle @voskip Any strategy or colony sims sneaking up that list? Feels like the builders always get buried under the action demos during Next Fest

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

@Team17 @hokkogames $7.99 is a good price for a sandbox builder. Is it mostly decorating or are there systems underneath, like resources or villagers with needs

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

@ARCRaidersGame Couple hundred hours in and my favorite moments are still the clean extractions that fall apart in the last 20 seconds. Hoping a few of those made the bracket

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

@dungeonautomata Haven't gotten to it yet, it's next up. Question before I start, does the logic you build carry over between the two floors or do you rewrite it for each one

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

@trollheimgnomes Trolls as neighbors instead of just enemies is a cool angle for co-op survival. Most of my co-op hours are Rust and ARC Raiders with friends so I'm curious how 8 players works when nobody is fighting each other. Can one group start a troll war the whole server has to deal with

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

@tobspr QA devlogs are underrated. After a lot of hours in Factorio I'm convinced factory games have their own category of bugs, the stuff that only shows up when someone builds something ridiculous. What was the hardest one to reproduce

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

@join_indie_io A builder where the goal is lasting longer instead of winning is right in my lane. Frostpunk and Banished are favorites for that reason. Does the food pressure come from the siege cutting off supply or are you managing scarcity from day one

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

@11bitstudios Stardew is my most played game so a horror take on the farming loop has my attention. Curious if the dread is built into the systems, like what the farm needs from you, or mostly in the story around it

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

@AgeOfEmpires The attack move toggle for buildings is the one I've wanted the most. Too many fights lost because half my army stopped to hit a palisade while their archers shot it up. Also curious how the Crucible plays in co-op with the new missions, that could be a good night with a friend

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

The factory is never done. Factorio is a system that is completely honest with you. No luck, no AI deciding you had it too easy. Just the thing you built doing exactly what you told it to. Closest thing I have to meditation.

Full review. @factoriogame
https://t.co/OQRFdmreXt

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

Next Fest runs through Sunday. The demos worth your time are the ones that show the second hour, not the first. Anyone can make a good tutorial, I want to see if the systems hold up once it opens up. Drop the strategy, builder and roguelike demos that actually do that

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

@Team17 @hokkogames Solo dev building the world tools himself is impressive. Is it purely a sandbox or is there a goal layer, like villager requests, for people who like a little nudge

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

@CreativesCursed Funny premise but it kind of makes sense as a roguelite, every run is literally a tower that can collapse. Do the toppings work like relics where they change how the next layer behaves

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

@Dark_Gnosis Turn based roguelike with area spells, Im in. Does the meteor hit your own units if you misplace it? Friendly fire is the kind of rule that makes every turn in these feel heavier

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

@StudioDaimon SRPG with roguelike runs is a lane I dont see enough of. Five to six hours in a demo is a lot of respect for the player too. Adding it to my Next Fest list

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

@tinyBuild @trainfort_game A mobile base on rails with four people is a great setup. Feels like the fun is going to be arguing over who hops off to grab parts while the train keeps moving. Does it ever stop or is it always rolling

[Lower East Side Reviews @LESideReviews]

@PdxInteractive Ideology spreading across borders sounds like what was missing for me. I bounced off Stellaris pretty quick because the midgame felt like managing menus between wars. Is Ideological Reach something you actively push or does it mostly tick on its own