End of July Update!

Toem is a hand-drawn photography game. You are on a mission to get to the top of the mountain, but on the way, you visit different areas, take lots of pictures, do missions, and meet quirky and fun characters This game is absolutely adorable. The puzzles are creative, and there is so much little detail in the game. The art style is perfect for the tone. It truly feels unique in every way. The gameplay consists of you helping the community in each area to move on to the next one. You have to take pictures of your objectives, but you are free to take pictures of anything and everything you want. You can even name the pictures :D

It's cozy. It's wholesome. It's perfect for a bad day. If you want games like A Short Hike but with photography, then definitely check this out.

Steam Deck Compatibility: Toem is Steam Deck verified. It works great with no issues, unless you choose to name your pictures. You have to do it manually by pulling up the deck keyboard with steam + x. Unfortunately, even if hit at the same time, this also kept pulling me out of the game and into the library, not closing the game entirely but causing a minor inconvenience. Also, typing can be slow when naming multiple pictures, but it is well worth it!

Ice Age Scrat's Nutty Adventure is a 3D platformer, starring our favorite annoying little squirrel, Scrat. I've only seen the first Ice Age movie, but this looks like a stand-alone story with little plot, so no prior knowledge is necessary. This game wasn't awful, but it just felt kind of… lifeless. There are a lot of bugs, the levels were boring, and the combat was very surface level and repetitive. It just feels a little awkward to play. The graphics looked okay, and the humor seemed to be on par with the films. There isn't anything inherently offensive about the game; it just felt like one of those soulless movie tie-ins. If you are a big fan of Ice Age, then maybe give it a try. If you are just playing because you love 3D platformers like I do, then maybe wait for a better option.

Steam Deck Compatibility: This game is playable but not verified on the Steam Deck. Everything worked well, and I had no issues playing it on the deck. 

Shelter 2 is a survival game in which you are a mother Lynx who must survive and keep her babies alive until their adulthood. I have a love/hate relationship with this game, which is why I gave it a 5/10 rating. I love the idea behind Shelter, and I really enjoyed the first game. The first game was more linear, whereas this one allows you to openly explore the map. I didn't like the fact that there wasn't a clear goal. Unless you enjoy getting the collectibles, there wasn't any incentive to really explore since you gained nothing from it and it usually led to more deaths of your cubs. The game is very vague on what to do, which is a point of enjoyment for some but a point of heavy confusion for me. 

The art style is very beautiful. All of the Shelter games have this art style. It's very cute and unique. The Lynx cubs look absolutely adorable. I used to love playing the game "Meadow" before it lost most of its playerbase, so the art is very nostalgic to me. My only issue with the style is that the cubs really blend into the background, making it hard to see them and keep them alive. I thought there was a way to pull up the cubs names since you can name them. I tried everything, but as far as I know, you are not able to see the names you gave them. 

Overall, Shelter 2 struggles with the balance between realistic and boring. I say this with a very opinionated review since the game has received very positive reception. I thought the areas looked very bland, and the gameplay was way too simplistic. There is also a balancing issue. Believe it or not, during the entire first run of the game I played, I didn't run into a single enemy or threat to my cubs. Absolutely nothing happened. I did explore the whole map, but still, I only lost one cub due to hunger or cold.. It was a little unclear. But no enemies. no threats at all, other than their insatiable appetite. I then played it a second time, and ran into a few predators. This left a bad first impression because I was very nervous but disappointed at the same time. I didn't have an objective, I didn't have a threat. I spent the whole time just running around and biting animals. If you remove the threats, the game is very barebones. 

On the positive side, once you beat the game, you can replay it over and over by using the children of the previous Lynx you were playing. You can create an entire family tree the more you play the game. That's a really neat way to do a new game +. I still love the idea behind Shelter. The fear and hopelessness of raising your cubs in the dangerous tundra. Especially when they are so frickin cute. Who doesn't love lynxes. I would still rank this lower than other games in the Shelter series made by Might and Delight. Just for fun, I'd rank Meadow first. Back when they used to have a large playerbase. Now you can't really play Meadow at all. But that would have been first, followed by Shelter 1. After that, I'd put Paws, and lastly, Shelter 2. I haven't played Shelter 3, but from the reviews, I'm guessing that would probably be in last place.

Steam Deck Compatibility: Shelter 2 is not steam deck verified. The status is "unknown." I had a lot of issues playing with the steam deck. I wasn't going to blame the game itself since it's not Steam-verified. But after googling, it looks like the issues are happening to everyone who tries to play the game with a controller. The game says it is compatible with controllers, but it doesn't seem to be. The biggest issue is about 30 seconds into the game. The tutorial that pops up shows you how to jump, but you can't bypass that on the controller. You are stuck on the jump screen forever. I Googled a workaround and fixed it, but that and many issues appear if you play with controller. Overall, I do not recommend using a controller or a steam deck. Play on the keyboard and mouse instead!