Parkasaurus

I'd consider myself a fan of building/management/simulation games, but perhaps because of that same reason, I'm rather critical of them. Regardless, I decided to try out a relatively highly rated theme park builder game by the name of Parkasaurus.

Looking at this game, and then looking at some similar games after, I drew the conclusion that perhaps the popularity of these types of games is due to their capability to appeal to many audiences. I'm definitely a challenge-focused person, but I can see how well these games can appeal to the casual player looking for artistic expression. There is not one correct solution, a lot of room to make things look pretty, or do them in some unique way... Of course the more liberty is given to the player (color palette swaps not included), the less the game has to be challenging, lest people be punished for pursuing these liberties.

To word this in a less roundabout manner: Parkasaurus is a casual game and I found it boring as hell. I have no interest in making a pretty park or admiring colorful dinosaurs. It's incredibly easy and features a lot of busywork. As I said, I can see the appeal for people who want to use this as artistic expression, but for anyone looking for any kind of challenge or interesting gameplay - stay away.

Nauticrawl

Nauticrawl is an interesting idea. I was lured in by the promise of having to figure out an alien machine, and navigating a world only visible through some sensors. This emanated the kind of discovery and learning that I hoped would be most enjoyable.

The initial impressions were fairly good as well. Sure, my first run ended with the battery dying before I had managed to start the engine, because I was fiddling with all the buttons and levers, but I had gained some insight from doing so. My second run went better, as I actually got the machine moving, even though I didn't know what everything did. It did end not too long after, as I ran out of fuel looking around my surroundings.
Every run had to be started from the beginning, which had so far not been a big deal, since my newfound knowledge very quickly let me skip the fumbling about I had done the previous runs. But on the third try, I already got reasonably far. Less because of my inexperience piloting the machine, and more due to lack of knowledge of the systems of the world outside, that run, too, ended in failure. That was the first time I felt that I did not really want to replay everything up to this point, because it was no longer difficult, but just a chore to demonstrate my mastery.

Embark on that fourth run I did, and due to my familiarity with the systems this time around, I started to notice flaws in them. A bit of background information first. Nauticrawl is mostly turn-based. Without spoiling too much, resources are only consumed when you perform some action. However, some things do occur in realtime, and a patient and wise operator will abuse them. Example: Your monitors may deplete energy, but are not necessary to perform any "turn" actions. You may conserve energy by turning them on, getting the required information, then turning them off to perform your action. As you can imagine, this is tedious. Another example: It is more efficient to inject fuel slowly. This has no other effect than making you wait longer, possibly as long as 5 seconds, to move again. Final example: For some bizarre reason, enemies act in real time, at least until their actions would begin to influence you. You have an infinite amount of time until something attacks you once they have planned to do so. So, uncloaked, all enemies will eventually gather around you and obliterate you if you don't cloak. If you're already cloaked, you can sit and wait for everyone to get away from you so you could uncloak and move without using energy. This waiting can take an incredible amount of time, but you'd be playing suboptimally if you didn't wait.
But even besides all that nonsense, the difficult-to-control machine very quickly stops being interesting as you figure it out, and starts being a nuisance to operate. I've already proved I can work this thing, yet I have to do it over and over and over again.

So, no. Nauticrawl is most definitely not something I'd recommend. While it has a great premise, it makes some very questionable design decisions and does not respect your time. The initial sense of discovery fades to tedium as you realize the machine is not difficult to operate because it's alien to you - it's difficult to operate because it's terribly designed. There's a story unfolding as you explore the world, which I was mildly interested in, but that was far from enough to keep me going. Gameplay, beyond basic operation that would be trivial with a good control scheme, was basically nonexistent as well, not leaving anything interesting to do if you knew how to pilot the machine.

Echo

I think I'll remember Echo for some time. It was a very unique experience. I have mixed feelings about it, and I don't even quite know where to start describing it. Perhaps a retelling of my own experiences would be best. Echo is definitely an experience, and I'm afraid that detailing the gameplay will spoil some of that experience, but I can not really talk about the game otherwise. I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum.

Echo starts off with a lengthy opening. Immediately, I notice that the quality of voice acting is amazing. There are only two people talking, but I very much feel inclined to listen to what they're saying, to the point that it doesn't bother me that I am simply walking for the first 30-60 minutes of the game. It also helps that the planet I am going to is like something out of a sci-fi dream. Snow, countless blocks, crumbling stairways and narrow paths leading downward, eventually into an endless building filled with winding pathways, halls of gold and splendor stretching to infinity... all eerily dark and empty, leading deeper and deeper still. Words do not do the sights justice. I'm fed bits and pieces of the story, of my past, and why I'm here. There's a feeling of some grander narrative, but information is vague, and our two narrators are unreliable. It's all very much just style at this point, and I worry if this will be a game, or just a gorgeous walking simulator. But honestly, I would not mind the latter for once if this keeps up.

The introduction also serves as a tutorial to the game, demonstrating the energy system. You use energy to break your fall on long drops, fire your gun, scan the area. You also have limited sprinting ability, opening and closing doors, vaulting over low walls, shouting, and some other things you can do. These tools will all come in handy when the game gradually introduces its enemy. These tools will also be your downfall, as your enemy is yourself. The game plays out in rather long levels, populated by clones of yourself. You can kill them, lock them behind doors, outrun them. It's all too easy, until the lights go out, come back on, and the cycle begins anew. Every cycle, everyone is revived, and they will learn all you did in the past cycle. Closing a door behind you will no longer work, they will sprint after you, they'll even shoot at you.

Echo is advertised as a stealth sci-fi adventure. I'd agree with the latter two, but stealth it is perhaps not. Sure, the enemies won't attack you if they don't detect you, but there are too many of them to sneak past them all. More than likely, you'll want to play it as an action puzzle instead. Analyze the level, figure out ways to deal with the enemies in some area using only a limited set of your moves, then use a different set of moves to escape them once they are revived the next cycle. It's great in theory, but I must say, I'm not quite so quick on my feet. Things won't go exactly as planned, so any deeper strategy will not work. I have a feeling this might have worked better as a turn-based strategy game, but that would have lost so much of the atmosphere. Speaking of which, Echo isn't a horror game, but the long empty corridors, eerie lighting, blackouts, and of course the many clones staring and chasing you create for a very anxiety-inducing atmosphere.

I've rambled a bit too long. I didn't ultimately like the game due to the gameplay. The story also dried up somewhat, as it kept up its rather vague tone, giving me few concrete details. Still, between that and the gameplay, I would have stuck around for the story, as well as the environments, which were sadly seeing fewer new elements over time than at the start. As novel as the gameplay was, I did not feel much of an expression of skill playing it. I did not have the time to properly think things through, and I did not have the in-game resources to shoot or outmaneuver the enemies. Sure, I got through with a combination of the two, but it just didn't feel like an accomplishment. It didn't feel fun, and worse still, it felt a bit repetitive.
I don't know whether to recommend it to any degree. I would, without hesitation, tell you to go experience the marvelous environments and atmosphere they crafted. But the gameplay isn't actually enjoyable, and the entire whole kind of falls off. I think they did a good job, just... not good enough to really recommend it.

Elephantasy

Hmm, Elephantasy was a moderately pleasant experience. It advertises itself as a 2D puzzle platformer, but I do feel it's more of a metroidvania, with how interconnected the levels are, how many sort-of-secret areas there are, and how much backtracking there is. It kind of reminded me of VVVVVV. Elephantasy doesn't seem quite as polished, nor are the puzzles as innovative or interesting, but it similarly has a very simple yet coherent aesthetic, and a large map composed of smaller rooms, each named.

The story is that you fell down, and you're now trying to get back up. To the sky, that is, not your feet. There's a wizard who will help you by loaning you his items in exchange for gathering gems for him from across the world. He offers you four items. Seeds - to make vines grow to be climbed upon. A ring - to make you stronger, and able to lift objects. A snorkel - to make you breathe underwater, somehow. And boots - to make you run so fast you can cross gaps, to compensate for your inability to jump as an elephant.
Each item can be returned to loan out a new one, and so you must use each of them to explore a different part of the world. Eventually, you'll gather enough gems to be allowed to loan two items at a time, allowing you to reach even further corners of the world. Eventually, three items, eventually four, and then maybe you'll get to go back.

Okay, I have to admit, I didn't get too far, so I don't know the details of how the end plays out. We're promised different endings, and possibly more items than the four the wizard initially lets us choose from. While I loved the level design and the art, the game felt a bit too simple to be enjoyable. Aside from figuring out where to go next, there wasn't any challenge. Grab an item, explore all the nooks and crannies of the area(s) you can reach with that item, then get another one. There wasn't much of a sense of "puzzling", just exploring. What didn't help was the somewhat slow pace of the game (note to potential players: set your game speed to max in the settings), combined with a lot of time spent backtracking, and then small frustrations from the character being very rigid to control. I would definitely attribute the last to a lack of polish on the character controller.

Overall, charming, not too long, very well designed map, but not enough of a challenge to be interesting. I would definitely say that this game is neither a puzzle nor a platformer. You might well enjoy it if you like exploration, or like collecting things. Me, I'm not that big on those two aspects, so I can only partially recommend Elephantasy. I think it's mostly well made and unique, but just doesn't tick the boxes for me.

Bridge Constructor Portal

I think Bridge Constructor Portal stood out to me because of its higher ratings than the other Bridge Constructor games. I had generally avoided them, because they reminded me too much of those casual games where you draw a series of lines to have a ball or something roll to the finish. Sure, instead of a ball, it's a sort of powered vehicle, and instead of lines, it has to be a structurally sound construction, but once you grasp the techinques of bridge construction, the game really does devolve into nothing more than drawing lines from start to finish. There's also portals this time, and other elements from Portal, like turrets and lasers, but they're all just fancy ways to connect or block off different parts of the map, changing from where to where you have to draw the lines. It's really not that difficult.
What can be difficult is getting the lines just right, so that your forklifts fly at just the right angle, but that's basically all trial and error instead of a science. This is one of the worse forms of difficulty.

The game would take maybe 12 hours to complete + 6 hours for the extra levels in the DLC. It's a total of 60 + 30 levels. I tried doing some alternate solutions to some levels, but the game really doesn't seem to like you doing that. No innovation, just take the path from start to finish that we had thought out for you. It's just boring.

Yeah, so, once you learn how to build a bridge, Bridge Constructor kind of loses its appeal. You did it. You constructed a bridge. Feel free to do it a few dozen more times in different shapes, but it's the same thing. Despite the fresh coat of paint, it's the same old boring casual game. So, that's a "no" from me.