Chopping Block: November 30th 2025
ΔV: Rings of Saturn
I didn't really know what to make of this game; ΔV: Rings of Saturn. It's a space simulation game with an emphasis on mining, and despite the opening hour being saturated in tutorials I found my grasp on the mechanics slipping away. I can't deny that the game is bold and unapologetically embraces its own sense of gameplay conventions. Which is probably why I didn't really connect with the mechanics; the mining, the physics based cargo hold, and the in-game economy in particular. I liked the art style of the main game game, however the art style of the U.I and its overall design to be overly complicated and everything was saturated with informational noise.
My first play session was fine since I was occupied mostly with learning the mechanics, working through the tutorial sections. Every subsequent session I felt I'd made no progress. I know there was more in the game from it's blurb on the game's Steam page and just based on what I observed of the developers design philosophy, game mechanics aren't going to be spoon feed to players.
In the end ΔV: Rings of Saturn felt like it angled itself into the category of a Job Sim game that made the mistake of cramming in to much work *AND* to much simulation. Despite this the simulation is what I enjoyed about the game. Not many games capture "space" very well, usually everything has odd scales. ΔV was smartly built to be realistic without being bogged down in heavy CPU usage. Setting it in a planetary ring like Saturn's for example lets space feel full something that so many games neglect by using the science fantasy trope of an "asteroid field". ΔV: Rings of Saturn had the misfortune of crossing my path around the same time as the Elden Ring DLC; Shadow of the Erd Tree. The fact that I didn't immediately didn't fall in love with ΔV meant it was competing for my mental bandwidth with a game so good it's DLC is considered Game of the Year material. ΔV: Rings of Saturn is not prohibitively expensive and it has a demo worth checking out.
Creeper World IXE
Creeper World IXE follows in the footsteps of Noita
Creeper World IXE is a pixel simulation type of game, introducing considerable novelty over the other Creeper World games. That novelty seems to have come at the expense of other aspects of the game. The gameplay and story were more or less in keeping with Creeper Worlds standard fare but The visuals are more in-line with Creeper World and Creeper World 2’s gameplay style. That seems like an odd choice since the developers seemed too have moved on to 3D visuals. It’s not that the visuals are bad they just feel more like a step back. Lots of new mechanics; gravity for example, compliments the dynamic fluid system. The chemical materials and their combination effects where enjoyable and unexpected.
There were many positive qualities to the game except it doesn’t stand up well to other games in the franchise. Optimization was less present with noticeable lag on the campaign levels. If you know anything about Creeper World games it’s that player made maps are what usually push the limits of these games. So to see vanilla campaign missions struggle does not inspire confidence. The U.I and controls weren’t great, for whatever reason buttons just didn’t want to cooperate. They included animated and voiced tutorials, a nice feature to have given all the new mechanics but it ignored the audio setting so it was always jarring and abruptly loud compared to the rest of the game.
The new features were fun but didn't have the appeal of earlier Creeper World games. The games short length didn’t help the situation and it was the first creeper game I felt no desire to experiment with the rest of the content after the campaign.
Anvil Saga
Anvil Saga Was one of two blacksmithing games I played that month; the other being While The Iron’s Hot. Both ended up being a bit of a let down.
It has a cute pixel art style and a good sense of humor at points. I did like the arrival of special quest requesters; they were modeled after characters from popular film and games which were always fun to see in that art style. The gameplay loop was solid from a foundational standpoint. The problem was that foundation only supported a thin veneer of gameplay depth. Despite being theoretically a blacksmithing game the bulk of my time with Anvil Saga was watching different meters fill and empty. Sure there were an assortment of upgrades I would make to the workshop, hire new employees, fulfill commissions. But it always came back to watching meters, making the game a protracted grind and from an early point in the game.
The story was a high point. It mixes multiple tiers incorporating factions, competition, and branching narratives together without becoming difficult to follow. The comedic themes were well blended, blacksmithing, in medieval Europe, under the threat of war, and political machinations. It is satirical without feeling farcical even when Geralt of Rivia or Dracula come by to do a little shopping. As much as I’m a sucker for a crafting game I’m also very demanding and I didn’t find Anvil Saga’s systems to be impressive enough to analyze.
