Recent reviews by suprcasualfraglisticxpalidocious

As someone who has played Rogue and NetHack, I can say that Spelunky captures the spirit of these games in a graphical platformer. In fact, Spelunky has a number of similar elements, including:

✅ Procedural levels with special landmarks, like shops, altars, and snake pits.
✅ Random level modifiers, including darkness, the undead, and... bees!
✅ Plenty of ways to get hurt, and several ways to heal.
✅ Ways to die instantly no matter how much health you have.
✅ Most ways of dying are obviously the player's fault. The rest are just bad luck.
✅ Angry shopkeepers.
✅ Ball and chain.
✅ Hidden passages, secret levels, and unlockable shortcuts.
✅ Hazards and items that you have to figure out as you find them.
✅ Non-obvious ways to use things that make sense in retrospect.
✅ Surviving becomes a lot easier with experience.
✅ The game is never so easy that it's boring. Even experts will have accidents and die.

Death doesn't break momentum thanks to start and restart being a single keypress. With the amount of dying involved, this little detail is a huge quality of life booster.

Daily challenges are fun, but I'm not sure about the death matches.

I look forward to Spelunky 2, but I'm not done enjoying this one yet.

At its heart, Warframe is a repetitive, addictive grindfest for rewards that only improve your grinding efficiency.

Update: It's been a while since I said that, and it's at least as true as ever.

Update: Steam asked me if I wanted to update my review. Still the same as before.

Update: Uninstalled. Recent updates broke controller support in weird ways making the game essentially unplayable for me.

2022-10-22: I finally escaped after recent changes broke controller layouts for me. Uninstalled. Let's see how long I can stay away.

2026-03-02: All desire to go back seems to be gone. Getting rid of the Warframe mindset is still a process. Still sometimes catch myself playing games like they're chores to grind through as fast and efficiently as possible. Getting better, though.

If you're a casual puzzle solver and not tempted by achievements, you're in for a light treat. Solving the levels can be tricky, but checkpoinits and infinite retries make it inevitable if that's all you need. Get the game on deep sale because it won't take you very long.

Difficulty and gameplay time ramp up fast if you want a decent score like "B" or "A" on every level. You'll need some patience to redo levels over and over until you get them right. Any sale price is worth it.

And if you want all the achievements, be prepared to retry levels dozens of times as you shave a few seconds off them here and there. Cheating's not really an option... you need dexterity and skills to achieve the best times. The game is worth the full price if this is your idea of fun.

I'm in the last group. Dying over and over is frustrating, but getting that "S+" is hugely rewarding. Clawing my way up the global leaderboards, a fraction of a second at a time, is even more satisfying. That's why I'm S+ on 34 levels so far, and why I've enjoyed most of the 57.5 hours it took getting there.

Update: I'm sorry to say, I hit a wall on the achievements and gave up. I may find a walk-through for the level I'm stuck on, but right now I'm not that tempted.

Edit: Rescinded my recommendation due to the way this game manages achievements. If you sample the free trial, it will mar your achivements stats until you purchase and play all the DLC. If you're a completionist, you should browse the prices in the store to decide whether that's worth it to you.

This is only about the free "Arabian Nights" table. I can't say whether the experience with one table extends to the others.

"Arabian Nights" is a solid pinball simulation. If you like that sort of thing, you won't be disappointed. The physics are good. Camera tracking is good. The animation is smooth, even when other programs are running.

I expected to get 40+ hours of play from this free table, but it was only about 12. Other tables will probably be a mixed bag. Some of them, especially the older ones, are much simpler games.

The target demographic is obviously "dudes with nostalgia and disposable cash". The menu music is generic rock. True to period, the free table includes a female voice that drips with innuendo. There's a lot of DLC, which adds up to an expensive game by Steam standards. If you need to justify it, remind yourself how much real pinball machines cost.

Usability and user experience have some glaring problems.

Customization options are a bit thin. If there is a way to remap the nudge keys, I haven't found it yet. Is there a way to check or change the screen resolution? I didn't see it.

There are achievements! They're stupid, and I hate them. Imagine: You're doing really well. You've gotten into a good rhythm, and the ball's racking up points all over the place. Suddenly a congratulatory popup appears! It uses Distraction! It's super effective!

Fortunately, like this review, they eventually run out so you can get back to playing.

About the achievements: The base game seems to include them all, but to actually achieve them will require you to purchase all the DLC. If you value your achievement statistics, price out all the DLC before even trying this.