Most favorite game:

Shattered World: Beneath a Stone Sky

I'm quite amazed at the depth that was put into this given the three month timeframe, especially considering that what is there is all fairly well polished. I'm a big fan of the TRPG genre as well, so this is a natural choice for me, but I liked this mostly because it actually expanded upon the TRPG formula in interesting ways. The ability to move after attacking, as well as the ability to use combos, made me feel like the battle system could exponentially increase in challenge and complexity as the game went on, if this were extended to a full-length project. This, in my view, is something lacking in some professional TRPGs like Stella Deus or *shudder* Hoshigami. The world needs more games on the caliber of FFT and Tactics Ogre, and with some more work put in to build upon the foundation that's here, Shattered World could easily reach such a height. I hope the author continues working on it.

Second most favorite:

Exile

I've always liked the synthesis of FPS gameplay with RPG-esque elements, but you just don't see it a lot outside of some shining examples like King's Field and Shadow Tower. Exile was a fun throwback to that kind of experience, and while it did lack a depth that those games have, it represents a solid foundation for me. I wish more people would develop in this genre. All in all, I just have to say I plain and simple enjoyed playing it, and that goes a long way towards determining the quality of a game.

Third most favorite:

The Twilight Realm

I like this one for two key reasons. One is the interesting premise; the idea of a "parasitic world" is kind of an evolution of the classic 80s story of "guy is sucked into a strange fantasy world" that for whatever reason, we don't really see a lot of today. That the world itself is given some kind of bizarre sinister agency in this process, rather than the characters just being summoned there by a wizard or something, stands out to me, and I'd like to see more of it. The second thing I like about it is the synthesis of gameplay styles, merging some RPG elements with shooter elements. It reminded me a bit of the Guardian Legend, but obviously also inspired by more recent trends like Danmaku. Definitely a unique experience.

Fourth most favorite:

Sleep Season demo

This is another one where I very much liked the premise, and was intrigued enough to press forward despite some gameplay issues. I think that, given enough time to hammer out the battle system and give it some more unique and interesting elements, this would be a very worthwhile project to continue, and I'd certainly follow its development if that happened.

Fifth most favorite:

The Singularity

I'm a sucker for sci-fi-oriented games, so I really liked the look and premise of this one. Unfortunately, I thought a lot of things were lacking in the execution. Specifically, the use of the different types of circuits – I would have liked it a lot more if they tied more into the things they are supposed to represent, such as emotion and knowledge, rather than simply existing as different types of "power-up" items. I realize this would necessitate grafting something of a story onto the game, but it would certainly make both the AI-building as well as the combat more interesting. In any case, I do like the basic idea, and think a game from the perspective of an AI could be really good; perhaps a worthwhile avenue to look at if we're ever going to get a decent Ghost in the Shell or Neuromancer game?

The fact that I can't find a headset to fit my budget, and the fact that I had to pay more in bills than I thought means that I probably won't be able to review the games the way I wanted to.

Hope everyone's fine with a text review.

EDIT: Ah, I thought voting ended this next Monday. Maybe things will work out after all.

Thanks kfharlock. I'm definitely going to be exploring the genre more.

My list is as follows:

After some careful thought:

- Dungeonmen - Men of Dungeons

I'm continuing to play this and enjoy it at the same time.

- The Twilight Realm

The concept is interesting, unique in my opinion. And the story is fascinating. Here's hoping you finish this, Kilin.

- Shattered World - Beneath a Stone Sky

Tactical RPG. I'm a sucker for tactical RPGs. And I enjoyed this one even though it was still a little rouch around the edges.

- Sleep Season

- Abyss Mage

EDIT: I know it seems a bit rushed to list my vote now, but I'm not going to have the time to play any further games from here on in. I'm beginning my job on Monday, and I have to go into the shop tomorrow as well for a demonstration on the equipment I'll be operating.

Please note, some games were simply excluded from my choices simply because I couldn't play them. Whether lag from games like "The War has come" or "Sleep Season" (although my computer is terrible, the lag made it unplayable), or an error screen when trying to run the game, like "Exile", some games I simply couldn't play and therefore can't make the list.

The Twilight Realm

- This game was great, I loved the gameplay, RPG shmup, I felt it was very inventive (from my perspective at least). I wasn't as interested in the story, but at the same time it worked for the game. I haven't played through the whole game, but it's one of the few that I plan to.

Kevin Rudd Farming Generations

- Although the graphics were somewhat… terrible… I actually ended up enjoying this game a lot more then some of the other games. That town is depressing though…

Dungeonmen: Men of Dungeons

- It's a pretty professional game, but it wasn't necessarily the funnest game for my tastes. I'm not a huge fan of having so much access to all kinds of content right at the start of the game (ie: weapons/armor) and having to either randomly pick something, or go through 10 pages of info to get proper equipment (that weapons info page was impossible to go through, you look at one weapon and it closes). But regardless, it was still probably the best put together game out of all of them.

Shattered World: Beneath A Stone Sky

- It's fun… but so is Disgaea, that's the main problem I have with this game, it felt too much like a clone. The more I played the more it distinguished itself, but it still pointed too heavily towards Disgaea, so it turned me off in the end. That being said, the game is big, and still pretty fun, but I didn't feel it deserved a high rank for "borrowing" so much of the game.

Abyss Mage

- I'll be honest, this is simply filling the last slot, the other games were unplayable for one reason or another. Didn't play that much of it, but I liked the idea of playing the bad guy and the game was running without any problems.

1. Dungeonmen: Men of Dungeons (I'm really enjoying this one

2. Shattered World (normally i don't like trpgs but this one is pretty good)

3. The Twilight Realm (great style and large class choices!)

4. Beluas and Castles (large world with many recruitiable enemies)

5. Sleep Season Demo (because nothing else can fit this slot)

Other things:

Tower of Doom: Since there's no where else to comment about this, i'll do this here. this game just didn't do it for me. RIght from the start, the title screen isn't even original, just the default for RPGVX, that's weak, it doesn't feel like any effort went into creating a serious experience. The intro is almost nonexistent. instead of the character telling us what happened, why not SHOW us what happened? would be a lot more interesting. The tiling is really bad, there are windows on a wall on the inside of a house…. and battles are incredibly unbalanced. my first battle was ME vs. 7 enemies!? you would think i would lose but no, they do no damage and i kill everything in one hit. what fun. Now i gotta uninstall this…

The Singularity: why do i have to download this… if it's a flash game? anyway super low fps for me, dunno why… i didn't like the controls, mouse to move and space to shoot? why not WASD+left_click? felt really weird. it being really slow it wasn't too fun, like an incredibly boring shooter.

Exile: unfortunately because i cannot play this game properly i cannot accurately judge it thus it is not on my list, which sucks because i defiantly think i would like it and could probably be at least number 2 or 3.

1) The Twilight Realm

2) Shattered World: Beneath A Stone Sky

3) Dungeon Men: Men of Dungeons

4) Abyss Mage

5) Exile

Sorry, I feel that I couldn't judge some of these properly because some of them like Sleep Season didn't seem to want to run for me. It looks like a really good game though so I am quite disappointed that I couldn't play it. I liked The Twilight Realm most of all because I felt that it had the best balance between aesthetics, gameplay and story. Some of them look great but feel unfinished in terms of a limited interface or controls and others seem to play great but seem to be lacking on artwork. I liked how Shattered World looked the best. Dungeon Men is probably one of the best executed ones in my opinion, but I'm not so keen on some of the retro style graphics hence why it's not higher up (some of the flickery tiles hurt my eyes.)

We're not allowed to vote on ourselves? Aww.

Okay, here goes:

1) Twilight Realm

I've always been one of those players who like Danmaku games, but too bad of a gamer to actually be able to progress anywhere. The RPG elements actually makes this game easy enough to let me get anywhere, even though it's still a bit difficult. I personally feel that the screen size could be a bit bigger to let you see stuff earlier, and some enemies feels like they attack you waaay before you can see them. But meh, back in the 80's we had to memorize our games to clear them, it's tradition. =)

2) Beluas And Castles

Maybe not the most graphically appealing game and a bit on the repetitive side, but has some pretty fun ideas that I'd like to see expanded and catchy enough to make me play it a good while longer than I intended to.

3) Kevin Rudd Farming Generations

Underestimated and quirky. Felt like a more mature version of EarthBound with a pinch of Spiritual Warfare added in (an infamous Christian propaganda pirate Zelda clone). There was a bunch of glitches (getting stuck in walls when going back to a room, fences not getting the correct subimage for a fraction of a second sometimes when you enter a room) that dissonated an otherwise quite polished experience, and while the graphical style works good for the main game graphics, the big "art" graphics looks misplaced in it.

4) Exile

Started out pretty well, but I started getting weird graphical errors with the enemy graphics after a while (coming and going unpredictably) so the game got more or less unplayable.

5) Walk

No soundtrack at all, but those graphics still give you lots of mood. Like a shorter and darker version of Journey. Could be better with some RPG elements, though.

1. Twilight realm - Pretty epic, looks good and is done quiet well.

2. Beluas and Castles - My sister is playing with my cousin on this game still >.>

3. Shattered World: Beneath A Stone Sky - I love RTS's.

4. Dungeonmen - I instantly chose pirate as my first class, I love all the classes in this game.

5. Abyss Mage - It's strange being the bad person for once.

I hope this is enough.

That's perfect, Pirate-rob.

As for games not working, it is fine for you to exclude them for this reason, but please be as helpful as you can in fixing any problems with the games.