johnsoma's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Mini Arrows]

Interesting idea. But a little basic for a puzzle game. Only got truly complex at the final level. Music has no business going that hard, though.

[Shotgun Spire]

What an absolutely infuriating game! I think part of the problem here is the shifting camera throwing off your aim. With that said, this is a very well-made game.

[The Reboot]

Now this is addicting! There's a lot of different ways to approach this, and it's really fun!

(Best Score: 7502)

[Fantasy Madness: Bloodbath]

Since you're planning to sell this on Steam, I'm gonna go more in-depth than I would normally.

Presentation is absolutely on point. The music, the bombastic announcer, and even the subtle bee noises are great. The gameplay is tight, and some of the upgrades are quite fun! There are some balance issues, of course, but this game nails that addictive factor that Vampire Survivor has.

My biggest issue with this game by far is the equipment system. I get the logic. You want players to choose between getting an upgrade for the current run or selling the loot to buy permanent upgrades for future runs. The other, much more obvious side of the coin is that this system makes the player choose between passing up on gold for upgrades, meaning more grinding in the future, and losing out on an upgrade for the run. It just feels awful.

Beyond any praise or criticism, I want to end this with a question: Why should I play this game over Vampire Survivor, or any of the other clones on Steam? What does this game bring to the table? If you want my take, while it isn't shown in this demo, I gather there are gonna be a bunch of alternate game modes like area control and missions that shake up the standard formula. I don't think there are any other VS clones that have something like that.

NightSteed responds:

Big thanks! We are happy to hear you like it and for pointing out which aspects you admire. In regards to equipment and grinding - the player will also get gold for playing/accomplishing runs based on the final result, score and so on. Selling items will be just an additional way of getting more gold. Player should rather sell items only if his stash is full. We haven’t introduced any “income system” yet as it will be dependent on several factors that are not implemented yet + it will require some balancing. Although we need to admit that for a demo even an imbalanced economy is better than none so it will be very likely implemented soon.

Regarding alternate game modes - more of it will be available in a full game :).

[Armed with Wings 3]

Alright! The newest version of the Ruffle port works perfectly, so now I can give proper kudos to one of the best flash games of all time.

This game is just a complete package. Style, interesting story, platforming, combat, puzzles, secrets, this game has it all. An absolute must-play.

[Kobold Siege]

Now this is a top tier metroidvania! It's not as easy to get lost as most, but there are also enough shortcuts and secrets to keep you exploring. Speedrunning seems feasible with all the shortcuts. I'm pretty sure the shop items are optional too, but why would you do that to yourself?

My only thing: The Imp is an absolute bastard of a boss. Every other one, including the final boss, only took one try to beat. This guy took around ten. However, after finally getting through, I learned that giving eggs to the kolbolds on the truck increases your max health. That is probably why that guy was such a huge problem for me. I fought him with only 3 HP!

[CAKE QUAKE]

Neat ideas, but it suffers from a bad case of not explaining its mechanics. Some things like how the vents work are just not telegraphed until you randomly do the right thing. Ends up feeling frustrating.

It seems like you might have fallen for a classic game dev trap. You know the solutions and the mechanics that lead to them, so it's much easier for you than it is for people coming in blind. It's especially easy for that to happen with puzzle games. Maybe try having a friend play your game first and see where they get stuck.

[Loveblade]

Trickier than it seems at first, and also a lot of fun!

[DEAD PETALS]

Favorite randomly generated boss name so far is "Tortured Tormented Tormentor"

[Cross Strike]

This might be the best one yet. It's a lot of fun, especially that dash ability! Kind of easy to get lost toward the end, but I blame that on my consistent difficulty navigating metroidvanias.

Yword responds:

Thank you so much for playing! :)