Vampire Survivors is the Ready Player One of video games.

It has a lot of flash, pushes a few nostalgia buttons, and is fun for a time. There isn't really enough of substance here to carry the game, however. The celebrations and numbers going up certainly feel great -- in the same way that Cookie Clicker can feel great.

The hook is that Vampire Survivors is stripped down, with only movement to worry about. It is a cool idea, but I am disappointed that the removed complexity isn't leveraged to add something interesting to the game.

Vampire Survivors looks ok, has ok sound, and feels fine to play.
There just really isn't enough here for me to particularly care about once I get past the cheap dopamine hits it delivered in its first hours.

I think I could play Tinykin forever.

If there were always more areas to explore, I would never get tired of this game. It's a beautiful hybrid of 3D platforming and stress-free, enemyless Pikmin, a combination I never would have come up with myself. Playing Tinykin feels like putting vanilla extract in your lemonade for the first time. (I'm serious, it's delicious, BUT JUST A TINY BIT DON'T OVERDO IT) This new combination of things I already loved has blown me away.

Now, 100%ing the game was a bit of a drag at the end, but I did eventually find every single Tinykin and every bit of pollen in the house. If I could change one thing about the game, I would have included an unlockable radar for both Tinykin and Pollen. Since there are two exhibits in the hub area that you're meant to fill (the drinks and the artefacs), radar/detectors being rewards for completing each of these would have been perfect. There's no real reward for completion other than achievements, but the game was so delightful that I wanted to play every bit of it that I could.

The story is wack though, I rewatched the ending twice and still can't confidently explain what really happened!

What I expected: Indie Pikmin. I mean Games Pass has already given me that before (Hi Wild at Heart). What I got? An incredibly colourful, charming and engaging collect-a-thon platformer that made me feel like I was back on my PlayStation hoovering up every item to find in sight.

This honestly was an absolute joy to play from start to finish and before I knew it, I had been playing for about 7 hours and was watching the credits scrolling. Everything about this is so fun, from the scaling of household items and rooms turned into levels to cramming them full of collectables, tricky jumping parts and bouncy music.

Sure the ending was a bit on the sudden side and part of me wishes there was a little more but I dont care. I had a blast and im left feeling very happy and content. I still have a few more bits and pieces to find so... I better get to it!