Chowder
Imported from Backloggery: Combat: Hard - Exploration: Normal
I enjoyed the highs of this game a lot. The tension, especially in certain scenes, is turned to 11. I love the fact that there were multiple sequences that I actually found scary and nailbiting. Jonah is more fleshed out and better than ever (he's so likeable). Croft ends up in a good place too. The graphics were surprisingly underwhelming, and the gameplay was super derivative of the other games in the franchise, but the focus on plot and puzzles made up for it.
I enjoyed the highs of this game a lot. The tension, especially in certain scenes, is turned to 11. I love the fact that there were multiple sequences that I actually found scary and nailbiting. Jonah is more fleshed out and better than ever (he's so likeable). Croft ends up in a good place too. The graphics were surprisingly underwhelming, and the gameplay was super derivative of the other games in the franchise, but the focus on plot and puzzles made up for it.
Imported from my Backloggery: (Took a break at D.o.H. hate that guy!)
Precise, thrilling, tense, and engrossing, Sekiro had me gripped through almost the entire experience. Although I never connected to the world like I did in Dark Souls, the atmosphere made up for that, with creative setpieces and a cinematic story. The gameplay is simple yet precise, and puts you directly into the mindset of a samurai, where combat is lethal, and seconds matter. At a point, the inputs dissappear, and fights become a complex dance that reels you in. Exploration was fun too!
Precise, thrilling, tense, and engrossing, Sekiro had me gripped through almost the entire experience. Although I never connected to the world like I did in Dark Souls, the atmosphere made up for that, with creative setpieces and a cinematic story. The gameplay is simple yet precise, and puts you directly into the mindset of a samurai, where combat is lethal, and seconds matter. At a point, the inputs dissappear, and fights become a complex dance that reels you in. Exploration was fun too!
Imported from my Backloggery: (Beaten on Survivor Difficulty)
This game opened really strong, running and looking great, with incredibly breathtaking action setpieces, but toward the last third, the game's quality fell off, I had trouble understanding Lara's motivations throughout the game, as she flip flopped back and forth with what she wanted. Once the end came along, the gameplay and visuals stopped being original, and just felt like a repeat of the first one. Overall, it's better than the first, but a massive rehash with some much needed streamlining.
This game opened really strong, running and looking great, with incredibly breathtaking action setpieces, but toward the last third, the game's quality fell off, I had trouble understanding Lara's motivations throughout the game, as she flip flopped back and forth with what she wanted. Once the end came along, the gameplay and visuals stopped being original, and just felt like a repeat of the first one. Overall, it's better than the first, but a massive rehash with some much needed streamlining.
2010
Alan Wake to me offered a hollow, vapid experience that reeked of 7th console generation design. Although the combat was generally pretty fun, with its snappy flow and quick pace, the story was never enough to keep me interested. The characters and tone are all over the place, never being able to decide if it wants to take itself seriously or not. It attempts to emulate Twin Peaks in that way, but ultimately fails. In many ways it feels like a different CBS show, something safe and made for cable that will register as inoffensive to the people its beamed to. It does redeem itself in the later half by playing with some interesting ideas and concepts, but it never leaned into that hard enough to redeem it for me.
2019
Imported from my Backloggery:
This game was a blast. The team did an incredible job updating the classic Resident Evil gameplay into 3D, which was a huge surprise. The graphics and sound design create absolutely terrifying moments. That being said, the puzzle design was super lacking. There was never any point where I even remotely had to think, instead I was charting routes from point A to B, which was fun. In boss fights, I got frustrated bc I didn't know whether to run or fight. The story was dumb, but I loved Leon.
This game was a blast. The team did an incredible job updating the classic Resident Evil gameplay into 3D, which was a huge surprise. The graphics and sound design create absolutely terrifying moments. That being said, the puzzle design was super lacking. There was never any point where I even remotely had to think, instead I was charting routes from point A to B, which was fun. In boss fights, I got frustrated bc I didn't know whether to run or fight. The story was dumb, but I loved Leon.
2013
Imported from my Backloggery:
This game is largely forgettable in its combat and story, but some of the game mechanics were super fresh. The combo creation system was inconsequential, but a cool mechanic nonetheless. The memory remix mechanic was great though. The visual design was amazing and is something that I will always remember. The game still treated me like a baby throughout and largely felt generic. It lacks impact, and is worth a skip.
This game is largely forgettable in its combat and story, but some of the game mechanics were super fresh. The combo creation system was inconsequential, but a cool mechanic nonetheless. The memory remix mechanic was great though. The visual design was amazing and is something that I will always remember. The game still treated me like a baby throughout and largely felt generic. It lacks impact, and is worth a skip.
Imported from my Backloggery:
Red Dead 2 will probably be a game I will really enjoy in a few years, but as it stands right now, I do not have the patience or energy to play a game like this. The first the hours were relatively unexciting despite having incredible sound design, music, acting, and graphics. In addition to this, the game was simply not fun to play. The auto aim felt way worse than it did in the original, and the way the recoil works doesn't feel powerful at all. It's overwrought with tedious mechanics.
Red Dead 2 will probably be a game I will really enjoy in a few years, but as it stands right now, I do not have the patience or energy to play a game like this. The first the hours were relatively unexciting despite having incredible sound design, music, acting, and graphics. In addition to this, the game was simply not fun to play. The auto aim felt way worse than it did in the original, and the way the recoil works doesn't feel powerful at all. It's overwrought with tedious mechanics.
2010
Imported from my Backloggery
Despite having enjoyable and sharp writing, that kind of reminded me of a Tim Schafer game at times, an interesting mystery and a cool vibe/art style, this game did not grab me at all. My biggest issue is that I really just wanted to see where the story was going, but I was interrupted by really annoying puzzles that felt cryptic and inconsistent. When I solved them, I didn't feel smart, I felt lucky. The way that they transparently make you feel bad for failing a puzzle bothered me too.
Despite having enjoyable and sharp writing, that kind of reminded me of a Tim Schafer game at times, an interesting mystery and a cool vibe/art style, this game did not grab me at all. My biggest issue is that I really just wanted to see where the story was going, but I was interrupted by really annoying puzzles that felt cryptic and inconsistent. When I solved them, I didn't feel smart, I felt lucky. The way that they transparently make you feel bad for failing a puzzle bothered me too.
Imported from my Backloggery:
I thoroughly enjoyed Metro: LL. In addition to be being expertly paced, the design of the world made for an incredibly immersive experience that had me lost in the world more than any other game I have played. I have never felt so engrossed in a game before. The emotional beats also worked really well for me, and I felt chilled to my core a few times. Serviceable gameplay. The only issues I have in the game is the romance with Anna, as well as the combat sections with kiting monsters.
I thoroughly enjoyed Metro: LL. In addition to be being expertly paced, the design of the world made for an incredibly immersive experience that had me lost in the world more than any other game I have played. I have never felt so engrossed in a game before. The emotional beats also worked really well for me, and I felt chilled to my core a few times. Serviceable gameplay. The only issues I have in the game is the romance with Anna, as well as the combat sections with kiting monsters.
2016
Imported from my Backloggery: Beaten on Normal
Classic then, still worth playing now. The story and environment especially are stars of the show. Each environment tells a story about the world of rapture, and draws you in. For the first time in a while, I actually wanted to look around and listen to each individual audio log. The twists this game takes are incredible and got me super invested. That being said, the gameplay hasn't aged super well. Visuals were okay, but the audio was awful. This could benefit from a real remake.
Classic then, still worth playing now. The story and environment especially are stars of the show. Each environment tells a story about the world of rapture, and draws you in. For the first time in a while, I actually wanted to look around and listen to each individual audio log. The twists this game takes are incredible and got me super invested. That being said, the gameplay hasn't aged super well. Visuals were okay, but the audio was awful. This could benefit from a real remake.
SotN takes and blends both of the aesthetic elements of Castlevania and Dracula X to create an absolutely lovely atmosphere. The music was absolutely incredible start to end and pending time in the castle was an absolute delight beginning to end, I loved uncovering all of the secrets that the game had to offer. I love that the secrets also culminated into a wonderful twist that really tied the whole experience together for me. There were some things that really stuck out to me, however, that preventing me from loving it more than I do. My biggest complaint is the difficulty. Compared to earlier Castlevania games, I felt as though I never really had to apply myself or plan out my strategy in each room. Instead, I found myself running at things and avoiding damage when it was convenient. I think it's something that is inevitable when the game is so open-ended, but I would have loved to see some enemy designs that complimented Alucard's moveset better. Unfortunately, a lot of the bosses followed the same trend. I ended up beating the vast majority of the bosses on my first try, which led to most of them bleeding together for me, despite having incredible designs visually. Although the bosses are undertuned, I think the problem is more fundamental than that. A lot of the bosses have annoying attacks that are difficult and finnicky to reliably dodge. This led to me trying to just out damage the boss rather than actually engaging with it. I think SotN still holds up rather well, but I think there are definitely some games that improve and iterate upon the foundation that this game laid.
2021
This review contains spoilers
Glad I didn't spend money on this one... It's a decent platformer with some moderately enjoyable combat sections, but there was nothing that truly grabbed me with this one. The story was alright, but it wasn't anything particularly special. There was one section (the gunk tower) that really stood out to me as beautiful and atmospheric, but I didn't get anything more out the game beyond that. The voice acting was decent even if it was a little spotty at times. The art direction was solid, even if it was pretty uncanny at times. I wish I had more to say than "eh... it was alright"
Abstract and deeply moving. In the short amount of time I had with the game, I found myself deeply moved in a way that made me feel heard. The level of abstraction in the art allowed for more relatability for me, and I very much appreciate that. After finishing it, I found myself laying on the floor for about 30 minutes just thinking. Also to whoever made this game, I hope you're doing okay <3
2019
Imported from my Backloggery:
This one was a tough one to rate due to the fact that I didn't really love playing a large portion of this game, a lot of the puzzles just turned out to be a little too hard for me, but I persevered and pushed through. That being said a lot of the puzzles were so satisfying to me. The story was also incredible, It got me thinking about human's place on the earth in a way I never thought I would. It's really well done, and I thought it was fantastic for that.
This one was a tough one to rate due to the fact that I didn't really love playing a large portion of this game, a lot of the puzzles just turned out to be a little too hard for me, but I persevered and pushed through. That being said a lot of the puzzles were so satisfying to me. The story was also incredible, It got me thinking about human's place on the earth in a way I never thought I would. It's really well done, and I thought it was fantastic for that.
2003
Imported from my Backloggery:
A lot of this game was a real slog to get through. Most of the gameplay in this game is dry, dated, and simplistic. Most of the mechanics that were interesting were unnecessary and had no need to be used. The dodge was clunky and the ground combat especially was poor. Story-wise, the first half of the story is dry and generic. What saves this game from a one star, however, was the second half of this game. The story become interesting and subversive, and the gameplay at the tail end was fun.
A lot of this game was a real slog to get through. Most of the gameplay in this game is dry, dated, and simplistic. Most of the mechanics that were interesting were unnecessary and had no need to be used. The dodge was clunky and the ground combat especially was poor. Story-wise, the first half of the story is dry and generic. What saves this game from a one star, however, was the second half of this game. The story become interesting and subversive, and the gameplay at the tail end was fun.