Cogmind

Genuinely unique and challenging rougelike with virtually limitless build potential. Here's my honest and concise review around twenty hours in. [b] Pros: [/b] -Build potential is genuinely insane. The game allows for massive amounts of creativity. The game may heavily punish un-optimized builds, but it certainly allows it. -Immensely challenging. Most other rougelikes allow you to get to a point where you're practically steamrolling any non-boss enemies. This game does not even allow the briefest thought of a power fantasy. No spoilers but the game will humble you VERY fast if you get too trigger-happy. -Simple interface and controls. UI has adjustable amounts of data and a unique style, looks like it was made thirty years ago in the best way possible. [b] Cons: [/b] -The hit chance system is infuriating at times. I understand that the game is supposed to be challenging, but when the enemy is at point-blank range and I have a full rack of weapons targeting them at once, at least [i] something [/i] should connect. Like you mean to tell me that the massive brick-shaped machine two feet away from me wasn't even grazed by the twenty pounds of lead and plasma I slung at it? Unthi…

Lovely game

I have never wanted so badly to be good at a game and failed so epically. I feel like Steve Martin working on Bill Murray's teeth.

I wake up in a mysterious space, knowing nothing, with some scattered parts around me. I pick up some essentials to get my mechanical form moving. I wander around the small area and encounter a staircase, with nothing left to do I go up. This new area is peaceful, nothing but the hum of machinery, and the mechanical sounds of robots doing their job. An alert sounds, Unidentified robot in area, terminate on sight. I assume that it is me, it is too much of a coincidence for it to be another. Still, the area is peaceful, and I wander around picking up and attaching parts. Soon, I encounter something different, a bot that locks onto me the moment I come into view. It attacks. I panic. Repeatedly firing the my opponents direction. It dies, but I see more just around the corner. I flee. I run up another staircase hoping to lose them, I do. Things appear calm again, so I pickup weapons and upgrade my form. Ever once in a while I encounter a hostile bot, and brutally melt and explode it. I feel invincible. More arrive, hackers that corrupt me, and other reinforcements. I chew through them as they destroy my components, and their backups. The battle ends, and I limp away with a sin…

The lack of music allows me to really become immersed in the world that is Cogmind. The ambient noise of machinery as I type away on a terminal I found sequestered in a quiet corner of a level is a feeling that I truly believe modern games cannot emulate. An autonomous machine of epic proportions waits patiently for me to step away from the terminal so I can be obliterated into scrap. Until then, though, I'll be doing random queries in an attempt to gleam even a singular piece of new lore about this beautiful game.

This game may not be for everyone. For me, as a 41 year old gamer who grew up going to RadioShack for 5.5" floppy games, and onward, this brings back the feeling of the best of those moments. It has a very terminal-like look and feel. The music is moody and non-invasive. The buildspace is limitless, the interactions are novel and the game is incredible. It reminds me of when games thought big and didn't ask less of you to make you comfortable. The game is as good as your understanding of the operating perimeter. This game may appear very simplistic but the requisite thought to continuously evolve a build throughout a run as you lose parts and gain parts is incredible. Want to stack high DPS high draw weapons? Don't overheat.