REAPER

this game is $3 usually, but I got it on sale for half that. at that price the only thing it has to accomplish for me to recommend it is to be technically competent (ex. not crashing constantly or falling through the floor) and not boring me to tears. this game accomplishes technical stability and is somewhat entertaining so that's enough to earn it a recommendation from me. The negatives I can easily say are that the game focuses on melee combat in an engine that doesn't support any complexity whatsoever regarding that. all the weapons are variations on attack speed since all any melee weapon can really do is hit directly in front. this also means that what little verticality the game has is rendered mostly meaningless. neither you nor the enemies in the game can utilize height differences since the attack range of everyone is so short. it's also incredibly short. I finished it in 1.2 hours and may well return to play it through on hard and perhaps easy just so I can feel more satisfied. I won't hold that too much against a three dollar game though. there are only two ranged weapons in the game, a staff and a bow. ammo is incredibly scarce in order to push you toward focusing on melee. the ranged weapons aren't really that different from each other. the arrows from the bow explode so using them in close range is a bad idea, but in every other way it's just the staff again. one other nice thing I can say about it is that while it's not gonna drop anyone's jaws graphically, the aesthetic forms a very cohesive whole. while not being particularly immersive it does all feel like it's a part of the same world. I can say this sits comfortably in the "cheap time waster" box and does a good enough job at being that. if you want something with more substance maybe look at games with higher price tags instead.