Recent reviews by PathosMachine

Great product with great support. Amazing that it can be used free, glad there is an option to remove the floating fairy "watermark" with a purchase of $5 to help support. Worth every penny.

What an absolutely amazing game. It runs between 5-6 hours playtime for 100% completion (on the lesser end if you're good at finding the lightbulbs!). The puzzles weren't super complicated but there's plenty to explore and the story is worth every minute of the game in the end. If I could replay this game fresh again, I would absolutely do it over and over.

I was excited for this game at announcement and honestly, it really hasn't let me down. The colors and music are absolutely magical and I feel like it's impossible to feel stressed while playing this game. Even during times where you're not doing so hot for the challenges, I don't actually feel like I'm losing anything or anxiety about it. I absolutely recommend this game to anyone looking for a peaceful experience.

I'm very excited for the prospect of an unlimited mode for truly serene play. I wholehearted look forward to future updates.

I've loved this game since the first time I played it. It provides great social commentary about the state of private prison systems in the United States and is generally an extremely enjoyable Building Sim game.

The Slammer update added some much needed fixes to the game as well as some additional quality of life additions that make gameplay even better. I know users are upset about the EULA, but focusing on the game play itself, it's a great update.


READ ABOUT EULA BELOW.
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So a lot of users are trashing on Prison Architect because of the update to the EULA. Honestly, this is a pretty standard EULA that helps protect game assets. The two big hitters in question read:

"i) Create and make publicly available so called “Let´s Play Videos” containing the images and sounds of the Game through the social media channels such as Twitch.tv and Youtube.com, whether monetized or not. Soundtracks may only be made publicly available in the context of a Let´s Play Video. In relation to any Let´s Play Video, the following copyright notice must be displayed prominently: “Game © Paradox Interactive AB www.paradoxplaza.com.” If soundtracks from the Game are used, the artist and/or composer of each soundtrack must be credited as well."

AND

"By publishing a mod based on a Paradox game, you hereby grant to Paradox and its affiliates a nonexclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable and perpetual right to use, reproduce, modify, create derivative works from"

While I don't agree with what exactly they're doing , this isn't unusual from a company that deals with AAA titles. It's a way for them to protect their assets, but some companies go further than others. So, it only makes since that Paradox would do the same ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The battle between companies and streamers has been ongoing for several years now. Until a decision is made at the federal level about fair use for streamers I doubt we'll see any changes. The same goes for modders. Virtually every game with modding capabilities has a similarly worded EULA about modding.

If you're really interested in protecting the rights of streamers, gamers, and modders, please write to your federal and state representatives and ask for changes to be made in the laws that allow companies to write EULAs like this.

While this isn't really my kind of game, I'm still recommending it because I can recognize that it is still a good game, even if I don't like it because it doesn't fit with my playstyle.

Maple Story 2 has extremely cute animation, detailed story, and fun challenges. It does demand a lot of your time, and the server resets are kind of at an Awkward time for US players, but it still fun. Honestly, it's a free to play game, if you're on the Fence about playing it, I would encourage you to just check it out. If it ends up not being your cup of tea, oh well, if not, well now you've got a great new game you can play with friends!

This game is a load of fun. I'm still trash at making small efficent factories, but I still love expanding my building to see all of the mechanics and gameplay.

I honestly really like this game at it's base level. It introduces some new gameplay mechanics that really make the game great.

I do want to say that I feel like the majority of people giving this game a negative review have played a lot of CIV5 with all of its DLC and are trying to compare CIV6 to that. Well, yes, CIV5 with all the DLC is going to be better; they had years to tweak the game through DLC. But at their base games with no DLC, I like CIV6 better. And honestly, it's different enough that I could switch back and fourth and still have fun with both.

After reading the reviews for this game I was really hesitant to purchase it, but when it became free-to-play, my dreams came true; I would actually get to test out the game before I bought it.

Now, a LOT of people are saying that this is too similar to CIV 5 and that the gameplay is sub-par, but I don't think that. CIV:BE, while sharing a lot of aspects from CIV 5, is a completely different game. This game does not focus on a historical context at all. The methods in which things are done are different.

New Concepts:

• Hoards - large groups of aliens together in "nests"
  
• Technology Web - Instead of an almost linear timeline, this acts as a web. There are sub-points to each point in the web. You are not required to research the sub-points to move to the next major point. They are completely optional. Which direction you take, however can aid you in how you win the game.
  
• Orbital Layer - Fight and defend from above
  
• Miasma - A thick poison fog that harms your workers/soldiers/etc when standing in it until cleared
  
• Favors - Need a resource, but don't have anything to offer yet? Give favors. This allows them free resources at the expense of this favor later in the game, however.
  
• Quests - Tasks to complete set off by an event that give you added bonuses.
  
• Choices - A part of quests, gives you the oportunity to choose how your technology works. (The Thorium Reactor giving you either +2 Energy OR +1 Production depending upon your choice)

"Reskinned" Concepts:

• Health - Previously Happinss
  
• Aliens - Previously Barbarians (7 different species of aliens, however)
  
• Energy - Previously Gold
  
• Affinities - Similar to Ideology, but not quite. /almost/ a new feature.
  
• Covert Operations - Previously Spies

In my opinion, all of these reskins were concepts that needed to stay, but needed to be altered to fit with the game. What's so wrong with that?

Removed Concepts:

• Religon
  
• Great People
  
• Cultural & Diplomatic Victories
  
• Natural Wonders
  
• Luxury Resources
  
• Research Agreements

In my opinion, most of those don't fit with the game to begin with and they aren't huge game-changers. It got rid of Cultural and Diplomatic Victories, but it also gave you other victories that fit more with the theme of the game.

Ways to win:

• Domination: Essentially, a military victory. If a player captures all the other colony capitals while retaining control of their own, they achieve this victory. Players who don’t have control of their original capital can’t earn this victory.
  
• Contact: The player makes contact with a benevolent alien race by discovering certain sciences and building certain Wonders.
  
• Emancipation: Achieved by players pursuing the Supremacy Path. The player constructs a warp gate and sends a “liberation army” back to Old Earth.
  
• Promised Land: Earned via the Purity Path. The player constructs a warp gate and brings the population of Old Earth through to the “promised land” of the new world.
  
• Transcendence: The option for players on the Harmony Path. This victory is earned when a player triggers the merging of the planet’s latent sentience with the consciousness of all living things.

In my opinion, while this game is NOT perfect right now, it has a lot of wiggle room to expand into something great. However, it is a game that I recommend because it is not CIV 5.

This game is abosultely fantastic. The difficulty levels, game play, and graphics are all exicuted on an excelent level. Everything is crisp and clear and the game mechanics are easily understood. I got this game a week ago and have already invested 24 hours into it (which is a lot for me).