Craftlands Workshoppe - The Funny Indie Capitalist RPG Trading Adventure Game

Early Thoughts by Jon Donnis

I have played the early access of Craftlands Workshoppe, this game has a long way to go, but I think the game makers understand this, and it does seem that they are listening to input from players. There is potential here, you find yourself as the new owner of a "dilapidated workshoppe" and your job is to build it up and make it successful, you will need to unlock blue prints, learn recipes, collect resources, and craft everything you need. You will buy and sell and hopefully eventually you will become a big success.

I think the camera angles need to be improved, and the control system, just doesn't feel right, although you can adjust a few things, it really needs to be a fully 3D environment with the camera able to view from all sides. The map could also do with being improved.

Like I said this is early access, play it yourself and make sure to let the game makers know your thoughts and ideas for it to be improved.

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OUT NOW! ON STEAM EARLY ACCESS

Does your job description include anything about depressed demigods and skeletons with short memories? Ours neither. But things work differently when you accept a job offer on an island in the clouds. Shoppe Keep and Shoppe Keep 2 Lead Developer Arvydas Žemaitis invites you to sacrifice even more of your social life in his most otherworldly adventure yet. Join the 350,000 players already sold on the series' sideways look at business sims.

Craft Your Way to the Top

A hastily scribbled note on Allcraft's door means you're now the proud owner of a dilapidated workshoppe. You know you're going to have to up your alchemy, cookery and blacksmith skills to get the sad old place back on its feet. But why does that creepy old guy seem so keen for you to make a success of it?

*Unlock the tools of your trade, find the resources you need and follow recipes and blueprints to produce potent potions, gleaming weapons and delicious food.

*Use your crafting skills to contribute to larger orders in asynchronous multiplayer gameplay – and reap the rewards!

*Improve your skills with cauldron, furnace and anvil to uncover the curious secrets of the weird-and-wonderful island cluster you now call home.

Sell Your Wares

It's all very well knowing how to craft items but your wares won't make you money gathering dust on your workshoppe floor. Luckily your slightly creepy acquaintances seem to want to help you out. Your own personal air skip? They're either unusually generous or they want something in return. Time will tell.

*Gain the correct permits to turn your rundown store into a thriving emporium.

*Advertise your creations and train up apprentice crafters to keep shoppers flooding through the doors.

*Keep an eye on the popularity of your products and ensure your workshoppe's fully stocked with them when the Customer Air Skip docks or shoppers will be heading away empty handed.

Master Your Crafts

The more you explore these outlandish islands, the more you realise things aren't as they appear. Becoming a master of three noble crafts and making a success of the workshoppe Allcraft kindly bequeathed you seemed like a worthy goal. But...it's starting to feel like your achievements are merely part of a much bigger story.

*Get to know a motley crew of wacky characters who will help you complete your adventure.

*Master every recipe and build every blueprint to fashion a key that unlocks an unknown realm.

*Oh, and did we mention you can also pet a dog? What do you get for it? Nothing but their unconditional love. Why, what did you expect?

Steam Early Access

REVIEW: Doodle God: Evolution - Xbox One

Review by Jon Donnis

Doodle God: Evolution is a tile matching game, you start off by combining 4 elements, air, water, fire and earth, as you combine them you create new elements, you combine those with each other and so on. Thats the game.

There are different puzzles and modes which have you trying to get to a certain evolutionary outcome by combining tiles in specific ways, there is also Doodle Farm, where you have to create animals.

I am not sure what else to say, this is a tile matching game, there is no real intelligence to it, some things that you match make no sense when you consider what they create, for example water + glass = ice. There are some nice animations, as you create things they appear on a globe. It is all very pretty.

This is a mobile game that they have put on consoles and it just does not work.

Console games you want to play for more than a few minutes, mobile games are designed often so you play for a few minutes and then come back to the next time you have a few minutes to kill.

The Good

The graphics are pretty

The Bad

This is not a game you will spend any time on, even the gamer points are not working for me.

Summary

This is a tile matching game, if you enjoy such games and are happy to spend time sat in front of your TV trying to endlessly match tiles, then this is the game for you, but for me, I just found nothing in it. Sorry, this is a mobile game not a console game. 1/10

Review by Jon Donnis

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Available for purchase on the PlayStation/Xbox stores (priced £10/€10/$10), Doodle God: Evolution offers an improved version of the much-loved puzzler Doodle God bundled with Doodle Farm too!

Gorgeous High-Speed SHMUP Puzzler Galacide Coming to Consoles

Fun-loving independent game development studio, Puny Human, has announced that their genre-mashing SHMUP-Puzzler Galacide releases on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on October 23! Currently enjoying a "positive" rating on Steam, Galacide takes the tight controls and speed of a SHMUP game and combines it with a match-3 puzzle system. Players journey across the galaxy battling hordes of enemy ships while simultaneously using their puzzle-solving skills to tunnel through the ever-advancing Bitwall.

It's up to you to stop the Alien invasion! Galacide requires players to walk a fine line between maneuvering through legions of enemy spacecraft and using their puzzle-cracking ability to keep the increasing mass of deadly alien technology at bay. Players must pair quick-moving skill to dodge attacks and eliminate enemies, with wits to solve puzzles, or suffer the deadly Bitwall! Bad guys will drop pieces of coloured scrap that players can fire at the Bitwall to match 4 or more same-coloured blocks and to create a path to advance through. A precise mix of speed, skill, and good old fashioned quick-thinking is the key to success and the safety of the galaxy!

Galacide comes equipped with a bevy of different game modes sure to please even the most particular of gamers. Jump into some solo-action with the Campaign mode to discover the source of the invasion and shoot your way to the finish line, or grab some buddies and team-up with 4-player local co-op. Once you've saved the universe and mastered the skills, try out the Endless Play mode and see how long you can last. For those pacifists out there, Puny Human has also kindly provided a violence-free Puzzle Mode, allowing players to relax their trigger fingers and focus on the brainier side of things.

 

Key Features:  

*Shoot Ships, Solve Puzzles: Engage in blistering SHMUP-style action, blasting enemies and dodging incoming fire, while using clever tactics to tunnel through the encroaching Bitwall

*Four Classes of Ship: Choose from the balanced Mining Ship, the tough-as-nails Freighter, the speedy, experimental Phase Ship, or the ferociously powerful Military Ship

*Never Tell Me the Odds: Employ lightning-fast reflexes to safely guide your vessel through a variety of sci-fi locales, including asteroid fields, planets, mining depots, and junkyards

*Go it Alone or Bring the Squad: Galacide features several solo modes, like Campaign, Endless Play, and Puzzle Play, or players can grab a few friends and enjoy 4 Player Co-op

*Galacide is currently available on Steam and is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on October 23.

Open the doors to the Nightmare Realm as Crown Trick launches today

Team17 and NExT Studios have today launched adventure RPG roguelike, Crown Trick, for PC and Nintendo Switch™, in which players join protagonist Elle on a perilous journey through the procedurally-generated dungeons of the Nightmare Realm. Featuring an eye-catching, hand-painted visual style, Crown Trick introduces a unique turn-based, synchronous mechanic where foes and traps only move when Elle does. Strategic thinking is key to overcoming and escaping the dangerous labyrinthine dungeon of the Nightmare Realm.

A clear strategy is key to successfully overcoming the Nightmare Realm, whether exploring its many rooms and corridors, or fighting some of the 100 monsters that players may encounter on their deadly run. Crown Trick’s synchronous gameplay means players have the choice to stop and assess the situation at any time, setting the dungeon in motion only when they move. Players can also use skills, Familiars, and weapons, and combine them in a multitude of ways for devastating results, while the procedurally generated dungeons ensure each run is unique and engaging.

Crown Trick key features:

Engaging strategic gameplay: Monsters and traps move only when the player moves; carefully thought out strategies are key to escaping the labyrinthine dungeon

Fight how you want: Create and develop a unique combat style with 40+ active skills, 60+ passive abilities, 30+ usable items, and 170+ special relics, all of which create different ways to cut through enemy encounters

Learn from enemies: Gather elite ‘Familiar’ skills by overcoming enemies ready to unleash on others deeper in the dungeon

Different dungeons every time: The procedurally generated maze ensures players have unique experiences every time they enter the Nightmare Realm.

REVIEW: Double Pug Switch on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

Double Pug Switch may very well be the hardest game I have ever played. As the official blurb for this game states "prepare to fail".

This is a side scrolling 2D precision platformer. And your character is a Pug called Otis. The general story is that there was an accident in your owner's (The Professor) lab, and you and a cat called Whiskers have been sucked into an alternative dimension. Your job is to find Whiskers and save him, mainly from himself.

So as I mentioned earlier this is a precision platformer, and as such you only control two aspects of your character, when he jumps and when he swaps to another dimension. This means that as soon as a level starts your pug is running, and as he runs you have to make sure he jumps to avoid obstacles or else he dies, but sometimes there is no where to go, so you press another button and you change to a slightly different dimension whereby some platforms exist in both dimensions but some only exist in one or the other. 

I know it sounds a bit confusing but it really isn't. You only have to worry about pressing two buttons. And as I said earlier, prepare to fail. You will die a lot. In fact that is in many ways part of the game, the action is so fast that sometimes you need to die a few times, just so you learn the timing to get past the level. And all the while you will be trying to pick up gold coins.

And just when you think you get the hang of things you will pick up a jump boost that hurtles you up high and far, or perhaps a speed up boost making everything even harder, and just when things couldn't get any crazier, you will pick up a miniaturization boost and suddenly you are teeny tiny.

There are 4 different "universes" with 8 levels in each one, as you play you collect coins that allow you to buy hats for your Pug. There are 40 different hats to unlock.

And of course you will end up having to try to get past Whiskers in the "boss battles".

The Good

The graphics are cute, the controls are simple, this is one of those games you can just pick up and play, and where as you may have spent an hour stuck on a level the day before, you will pick it up and pass the same level first time. It's one of those types of games.

The Bad

Not sure if it can be classed as a bad thing when it is part of the game, but this game is tough, and it is frustrating, but with that does come a feeling of accomplishment when you finally pass a level.

Summary

A nice little, simple, clean platformer, that will make you pull your hair out in frustration, but you will keep coming back over and over to try to beat it.

I score this game 8/10

Out on all formats on 22nd October.