Town of Machine

Yet another dev who was deceitfully taught that UI is the optional part of software engineering. - No saving. A rare checkpoint/bonfire here and there transform the game into a backtracking simulator. - Quest items cannot be picked because inventory is full. Yay! More backtracking to the previous map, in case there wasn't enough disrespect for players' time already. - Protagonist stuck in the terrain. Guess what that means... That's right, more backtracking from the checkpoint. - Texts displayed one character at a time, with annoying typing sounds, the way the illiterate like it. Sure, it wastes your time while jellifying your brain, but at least it doesn't make you backtrack, for a change.

Town of Machine is a neat little indie 2D isometric shooter: in a few words, it's action packed, with engaging action and great weapons, but it also a game about survival since the amount of resources (health, ammo, armor) are limited in a given playthrough. The game compels you to explore each corner of the map in order to either find secrets or additional heath/armor/ammo to help you progressing. But you do not have to explore everything to be able to finish the game, even on Unearthly (the maximum difficulty): I might have missed about 30% of the containers to open, and I still made it to the boss (though it was a tough fight!). The game has a fair amount of replayability: your first playthrough will be more of a discovery, advancing slowly so you can figure out the traps - you never really know what the game will throw at you, so you are always on your toes. On the second playthrough you can already increase the pace, since you know more or less what awaits you, and you can just focus on the action. The game has NG+ and NG++ modes - I didn't make it yet to NG++, but NG+ is a lot of fun - it makes you rediscover the story but with much tougher groups of foes. It's almost like another blind playthrough. Finally, the game has its own little universe - connected to the previous games of the developer, Dimension Drifter, UNLOVED, Super Panda Adventures and Gungirl, there's a lot of easter eggs if you are familiar with those. Each place is very immersive to explore, you can tell the developer spent a lot of time fleshing out the details of the environment. Town of Machine has exceptional quality for an indie game made by one single developer, it is a hidden gem out there that surely deserves more recognition than it has right now. Hopefully this review helps the game get a bit of visibility! (for those curious how the game looks, I recorded myself playing, the playlist can be found [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN5EqXq0B0o&list=PLX5z5uWcCPxpmnJJjx3dxxRjho4gEVMt3]here[/url])

[b] Target Audience: [/b] Those wanting a solid top down shooter who don't have a problem getting lost [I] [/i] [b] Summary: [/b] It's a weird combination of good and bad in this case, and it's one of those cases where the first several hours of a game make it hard to tell how much the game has to offer going forward. On one hand, the underlying controls and top down shooting is solid. Sure, on the standard difficulty it can feel very easy at first, especially when you have helpers at your side that can take the damage for you, but then the fireball demons can take you out in the blink of an eye. There's some nice options here as the Unreal Engine is used nicely, and the aesthetic that feels like somewhere between the escapists and just an RPG Maker game actually works rather well here. A lot of what I have problems with could be fixed: things like no quest markers hurt the game, especially when you have to get one item to progress that is really hidden compared to everything else. Sure, the difficulty could be adjustable as you play too, as my early going showed a game I needed to ramp up the difficulty for. And while the game is solid, it also doesn't necessarily have a KO punch to make it standout from the rest of the games in the genre. Fundamentally, the game is solid, and needs tweaks here and there over the long haul to push up the ladder of things for you to play. I'm going to go with a thumbs up as I feel the game's heart, despite misstepping with some jokes here and there, is in the right place, and it definitely will be fun for those who like the genre. It's just not something you need to drop what you're doing and get right away. [b]Gameplay Footage: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/959526415 [/b] [u] Lists: [/u] [b]Positives:[/b] [list] [*] Solid controls and gunplay, expected from the genre but still works for straightforward action. [*] Weapons have punch and does reward skill based use. Goes for more shooting rather then less. [*] Takes advantage of unreal engine with various options for graphics, bindable keys, and is a lot more configurable [*] Presentation works in offering a unique look while still being playable. [*] Writing is weird and off the wall, but do appreciate the references. [*] Solid sound design that gives you an indication of actions. [/list] [b]Negatives:[/b] [list] [*] Just a lack of a killer feature that would move the game to the “definite yes” category. [*] No quest markers can lead to getting lost very quickly, and needing a singular item that's hidden in the environment end up really drawing out the frustration. [*] Getting hit by enemies who can see you off screen can get annoying at times. [*] Difficulty options would be really nice to change in the middle of a run as figuring out exactly where you difficulty lies at first can be some trouble. [*] Some awkward jokes that can make you uncomfortable, but in the way of “is this a language barrier or is that what he truly meant” [/list] [b] If you want more reviews/information regarding games I've reviewed, visit my curator. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/6861768/]Dragnix Curator [/url][/b]

"Wow, what ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ wrote your dialogue? ...anyway," Sums up agent Silverman's, and the rest of this games dialogues quite well. The game contains some blood, gore, and some graphical explanations so make sure you feel comfortable with those things before getting the game. Combat feels great, challenging, with a bunch of different weapons and upgrades. The bouncing shot on the pistols being my favorite weapon so far. Overall the game starts out easy and ramps up in difficulty, some spots can feel a bit challenging at first if you're not prepared. Companions does not feel useless and actually contributes towards the fights. Even if it might not feel like that at times when they run head first into 500 bullets and dies while you take cover behind them. Overall I've had a lot of fun playing through Town of Machine and while this game may not be for everyone I'd highly recommend you to check it out.

[i] My Experience [/i] This top-down shooter from BlueEagle Productions is a challenging product to review. The shooting feels good, the art style is crisp and satisfying, and the environments are diverse and interesting. I also liked the way that certain enemies feel particularly dangerous, and require you to engage them in different ways and with different weaponry in order to be effective. It often makes sense to save the ammo you acquire for some of your hardest-hitting weapons to be used on specific, nasty enemies that can quickly put you down. Where the game falls apart, in my view, is in the tutorial and level design. When I first started the game I got an empty pistol, but then I was able to rack up something like 70 bullets. However, whenever I tried to load the gun I got the message that I "didn't have enough ammo to reload." After bumbling around a while, I posted on the forums about it. Luckily the developer quickly got back to me, telling me that I needed to switch to the pistol before trying to reload. However, it might be nice to include some tutorial information in the game about the weapon switching - or failing this, a cheeky message like "you can't reload your fists" or "you can't put bullets in a melee weapon." After getting this sorted I picked the game up again, only to get stuck in a certain facility when I couldn't locate a red keycard. I did spend some time scouring, but it can be irritating to search around in this game since the save points can be somewhat few and far between. I again posted on the forums, and had two other players shortly afterward reply to my post who were stuck in the exact same location. In fact, you can find a lot of folks on the Steam forum for this game who are stuck at various locations and are having trouble figuring out how to proceed. I took a four day hiatus from the game while I waited to get a coherent answer on how to proceed, but then was able to continue the shooting and looting. I didn't get jammed up again until I met what I think was the final boss. I was a little exasperated with the game at this point, and only gave the final boss a handful of tries. Fighting it was miserable, and I agree with the points made by user [i]Mankybus[/i] in the game's Steam forums. I decided to cut my losses and just uninstall Town of Machine. There is a lot to like here, but developer BlueEagle Productions may need to complete a few more rounds of playtesting and patching prior to releasing their future titles.

Pretty frustrating game that feels unfair on several levels. - I played on Brutal difficulty (the second hardest) straight out of the gate. This felt challenging at first but got punishingly difficult later on (around the Asylum, for context). Unfortunately there is no way to change the difficulty mid-game so I was left with the choice of either restarting from scratch or trying again and again to proceed with my 5 health. - Most scenery is opaque, and if you go under them you get a little circle of transparency so you can see your character. Unfortunately this does not apply to enemies, so more than likely you will get shot a bunch of times by enemies that you cannot see. - Enemies can shoot you from outside your range of vision entirely. - I'm fine with enemies streaming in from newly opened doors, even with waves and waves of them, but spawning a bunch of high level enemies right behind you in areas you've cleared as soon as you press a button feels unfair. - Companion Ai is straight trash. They will either run forward straight into a room full of enemies, or completely ignore enemies that are headed right towards you. Only get this if you're a masochist. I clearly wasn't enough of one so I cut my losses.

Visuals are good, gunplay is ok, inventory is a mess, but the writing is by far the worse offender. Holy crap! This sounds like it was written by a 13yo who thinks "edgy" and "cursing" are personality traits. If the game was excellent aside from that and the story was just background noise I could forgive it, but when you're obligated to sit through pages of cringeworthy terrible dialogue I just can't recommend it.

Like a few other reviewers, I'm honestly stunned at how good this little game is. At first, I was thrown off by the strange name of the game, because it doesn't seem to make sense grammar-wise so it made me think it was one of the many low-effort cash grab games that Steam is so full of these days, but after playing it for a few hours I'm sorry I ever thought that way. The amount of enemies, weapons, and item combinations in this game makes it surprisingly deep. As you play you'll gain companions to fight alongside you, each with their own weapon of choice, and some with special abilities that help you gain access to more areas and such. You'll also get helpful upgrades that permanently give you new abilities like dashing around to dodge projectiles, and cross narrow gaps. It's sort of a Doom, meets a Metroidvania, meets Resident Evil, all presented in a top-down three quarters view, with a PS1-era-ish-sprites-on-3D aesthetic.. without the wiggly, jerky PS1 fixed-point polygons. Obviously it's a style, not an attempt at realism, and it looks very nice for what it is. The areas are designed well enough that all rooms and areas look different enough from each other. The sounds are fine and get the job done, seems like mostly stock sounds (forgive me if I'm wrong) but good ones. The gameplay basically consists of fighting your way through areas, scouring for loot to keep your supply of health, ammo, armor, etc topped up- finding keys or other methods to open up access to areas you couldn't go into before- combining items to make better items, craft ammunition, upgrade your guns, etc- and progressing through a story that has you unraveling the mysteries of the town of Machine, and mowing down all the monsters, demons, and demon-posessed humans that get in your way. Seems worth full price to me, and for certain more than worth the current sale price. I saw the developer has another game on the way, wishlisting that one now.

I received Town of Machine from a fellow member of developer Blue Eagle Productions' community and after playing it for a bit I'm glad I did. It's a fun and tense top-down action/survival shooter that combines elements of the dev's previous titles such as UNLOVED and Dimension Drifter: swarming, demonic enemies, retro-FPS quality guns and oppressive atmosphere, with Resident-Evil style inventory management, ammunition crafting and finding key items to proceed. In a strange, distant future, on the fringes of civilization, lies the bizarre, dying scrapyard Town of Machine. You are cantankerous, foul-mouthed exorcist Agent Silverman, and you are on the trail of fellow agent Armitage, who disappeared there years before. Your path leads downward, into the ruins of a forgotten civilization, populated by strange and hostile creatures. Are they demons from hell? Indescribable horrors from dimensions unknown? The physical manifestations of restless nightmares? All of the above? Who knows. They are legion, and in your way, and Silverman isn't having any of that. To that end, you can find and use a variety of firearms that would feel right at home in a classic 90s shooter- pistols, shotguns, assault rifle, plasma rifle, rocket launcher and more. Ammunition, at least on the medium difficulty I am playing and the point in the game I have reached, is limited but not altogether prohibitively so. Most of it will come from combining gunpowders a la Resident Evil 2, with different types resulting in different ammo. You can also combine health, armor, and "karma" items for greater effect. Karma is otherwise earned from killing enemies and is used to purchase weapon upgrade kits from a particular NPC. You can have up to four weapons equipped at a time, and given your extremely limited personal inventory space, you're going to be juggling weapons and items around in the finest survival horror tradition. For added packing problems, key items take up these same slots. Keep an eye out for those hip pouches and the precious slots they will add. Certain key items can be used to unlock new abilities for Silverman, such as dash shoes and night vision glasses. Thankfully you can make use of linked item boxes with a much larger, though still limited capacity. You'll also find glowing monoliths that autosave your game when approached. If you die, you restart from the last monolith you touched. As someone who has played a lot of top-down shooters, previous titles by the dev and at least some of the later Resident Evil games, Town of Machine immediately feels familiar and accessible, with responsive inputs, and In particular lacks the jank endemic to the latter series. Moving, shooting, switching weapons and interacting with objects, puzzles and NPCs all feels exactly like you would expect it to, with sensible default bindings. Only a small issue with trying to switch guns while reloading was of any annoyance, and that's already being addressed in a forthcoming update. Lack of good handling will murder a top-down shooter dead and Town of Machine simply doesn't have that problem. Aside from generally smooth gamefeel, Town of Machine has some decent artwork, excellent weapon sounds and amusing dialogue between the relentlessly misanthropic and overworked Silverman and the strange denizens of the town and its sprawling underground, some of whom will join you as AI squadmates, beginning with fellow Agent Mason- the guy with the fro in the cover art. You can have two followers at any one time, and each one that joins you tends to bring with them a meaner gun, at least that I've seen so far. They can quickly get beat down by larger and more dangerous enemies, but they'll revive after a fight if they do go down, free of charge. It seems like its fairly easy to die in ToM, but I've actually only died once so far, through careful application of health and armor items and use of the dash ability. So far I've found more supplies then I've needed, but I'm sure that will change somewhere down the line. Fans of the developer's previous games, top-down shooters and perhaps survival horror veterans as well will want to give Town of Machine a try.