Badge catalogue
315 badges for the good bits, the bad decisions and everything that earned a closer look.
The clown ratings
These add to the score from individual badges. How the scoring works →
315 badges
- Positive A Genuinely New Idea ✓
Story and writing
For once I could not immediately name three other games doing the same thing. More of this.
View badge → - Positive A Proper Amount Of Game ✓
Overall verdict
Plenty to do, and I actually wanted to do most of it. That second part matters.
1 post with this badge → - Positive A Proper Challenge ✓
Gameplay
A standout challenge worth learning and finally cracking.
View badge → - Positive A Proper Sequel ✓
Sequels and remakes
It understands the original and earns its place beside it.
View badge → - Positive A Setting Worth Getting Lost In ✓
Story and writing
The history and cultures affect how people live. I want to find out what else is going on here.
1 post with this badge → - Circus badge AA Budget, Half-Baked Game +2
Budget, ambition and jank
A smaller budget explains some limitations. It does not explain why so little of this works.
2 posts with this badge → - Positive AA Budget, Proper Effort ✓
Budget, ambition and jank
A sensible budget spent on the bits players touch.
1 post with this badge → - Positive AAA Money On Screen ✓
Budget, ambition and jank
The detail, performances and sheer amount of work on screen make the budget easy to believe.
View badge → - Circus badge AAA Money, Bargain-Bin Result +3
Budget, ambition and jank
Hundreds of people, years of work, enormous budget. This is what all of that produced?
3 posts with this badge → - Circus badge AAAA Money Furnace +5
Budget, ambition and jank
They added another A before checking whether they had made a decent game.
1 post with this badge → - Circus badge Abandoned Early Access +5
Early access
Updates stopped. Promised features are still missing. Somehow the Buy button works fine.
1 post with this badge → - Positive Absolute Rubbish, Had A Blast ✓
Overall verdict
A complete mess. I had a brilliant time anyway.
View badge → - Positive Accessibility Built In ✓
Accessibility
Accessibility designed into the game from the start. Proper work.
View badge → - Circus badge Account Required, Obviously +2
Monetisation, platforms and ownership
Another account before I can use the thing. How many of these do they think I want?
1 post with this badge → - Circus badge Acquisition Hangover +3
Money and management
Buying it was the easy part. Now they have to explain what the hell they are doing with it.
View badge → - Positive Admitted The Fuck-Up ✓
PR and hype
They said what they got wrong and accepted responsibility for it. A useful starting point.
View badge → - Circus badge AGI Next Tuesday +2
PR and hype
AGI remains close enough to raise money and far enough away to avoid showing up.
3 posts with this badge → - Circus badge AI Slop +2
Monetisation, platforms and ownership
Cheap machine filler shoved in where paid work should be.
7 posts with this badge → - Circus badge AI Translated +4
Censorship and localisation
Language, tone and intent fed into a machine to save a salary.
1 post with this badge → - Circus badge AI Wrote This +4
Story and writing
Polished sentences repeating the same point, with nothing specific to say. Sounds horribly familiar.
View badge → - Circus badge All Detail, No Art +1
Art and animation
Millions of pores, zero visual identity.
4 posts with this badge → - Positive All Killer No Filler ✓
Player time
Finished it and could barely think of anything I would cut.
View badge → - Circus badge All Mouth No Trousers +1
PR and hype
The announcement contains everything except a reason to care.
9 posts with this badge → - Positive Already Worth Playing ✓
Early access
Already had enough fun to justify buying it in its current state.
View badge →