Wanted to come back around and expand on my thoughts of the game since TTYD on Switch just released!

I think the general sentiment amongst old head Paper Mario fans is that this game isn’t good because it didn’t carry the RPG formula. I understand that. Theres also a crowd that claims this is an incredible game because of the story. I also understand that.

Super Paper Mario does a lot with its characters and its story, but much of the gameplay I feel is at odds with itself. It’s a platformer, but more of a puzzle platformer, but also wants to keep the Mario staples such as jumping on enemies and collecting items. This is kinda where issues start to arise. In the game you are able to use various “pixls” to your advantage to solve puzzles much like you would in the overworld of the previous two games. You can also change perspective into 3D, showing solutions to puzzles, which feels more like a gimmick at times, especially when the game doesn’t necessarily get past the “let me reveal a door or pipe” phase. My problem with the game is that it feels like it doesn’t know what it wants to be. All “traditional” platforming moments are extremely basic and/or confusing, especially in the last half of the game (the Overthere, for example, is a long and tedious vertical map that has you jumping across multiple platforms generally not knowing where you’re going). The additional characters allow for more interesting platforming but having to switch between the characters when you want to glide or fire breathe is an annoyance.

Another problem I have is with the amount of dialogue. Not for the moments that contribute to the greater story, but with some of the lower grade NPCs. I remember for the Floro Caverns section, being stopped by multiple characters between platforming sections and being annoyed that I wasn’t actually playing the game. And Chapter 4 is probably the worst offender, being an extremely basic shoot ‘em up section that doesn’t keep your interest for very long. The level design mostly falters during the last half of the game, becoming more confusing to follow than fun to navigate.

I understand the love for the story and art design though: one thing I feel like isn’t touched upon much is the way the series shifts from paper drawings to digital art landscapes. The whole game carries a digital, computer art program aesthetic, from the “3D health meter” looking like color swatches in a digital art program, to Mario having a cursor cross over and create a bounding box over him as he switches from 2d to 3d. Characters are more geometric this time around, almost as if created with MS Paint shape presets (this is a compliment, trust me). Theres also a big contributor to this aesthetic: Francis. Using L33t speech and shouting computer jargon like “CTRL ALT DEL”, Francis embodies 2000s internet forum browsers in a way that’s very funny and endearing. This really hammers home the digital aesthetic of this game and sets it apart from the rest of the series, and I applaud it for taking “Paper” Mario into the “advancement” of illustrating in a digital age.

Despite my love for the story (which will stick with you years after playing) and the incredible sound design, the gameplay is a shallow attempt to blend the overworld puzzles of past games into a traditional 2d
platformer. It fails at reaching the complexity of Mario’s mainline 2d gameplay due to its confusing level design and unsure mechanics. But I still believe it’s worth your time if not for the fantastic story and art design.

Believe the hype— Animal Well is a metroidvania that will most likely become a cult favorite in the genre and remain amongst some of the best games to come out this year.

Animal Well on its surface looks like a simple, indie platformer with pretty, pixelated graphics, but it is so much more complex than one might consider. From the bat, this game entrances you with it's engrossing sound design, one that is a mix of old school sound effects and atmospheric foley noises. The dark, moody color scheme and atmospheric lighting all help to create a foreboding, ominous atmosphere, one which might not feel too far from a game like Super Metroid. But what truly sets this game apart is its map and puzzle designs combined with environmental storytelling.

The items in this game are paced extremely well, with each new item not feeling too soon or too far from the next in succession. Each item you get can be used in tandem to traverse, get past enemies, or solve a particular puzzle, and it really makes you feel like a genius when you're able to use them to the best of your abilities. The puzzles in this game are so impressive that I am amazed this was mostly made by one person. The heart of the gameplay is simple, you only have one jump, one speed, and no combat. Matter of fact, most of this game is spent running away from creatures who are out to eat you. This choice to forgo combat and focus mostly on puzzles reminded me a lot of Adventure on Atari, so much so that I feel this might've been influenced. Nevertheless, I loved this choice narratively and conceptually. I've noticed that more popular indie games have the need to feel more "ambitious" or more "triple A", so it feels nice to play something that chooses not to have any sort of combat, especially in a metroidvania.

Speaking of narrative, there is no dialogue in this game. Not a single line of text. And even without this, I could still understand and piece together what is going on. The items you find are mostly kids toys, and no humans are found in the entire game. I assume that this game takes place deep in the Earth, maybe once nature has reclaimed its place after humans have left? Even without all of the context, the game's setting enthralls me. Supernatural beings are out to get you, parts of the map look more like factories, and animals are locked up in cages. Not to mention the post-game secret ending stuff (trust me, I won't spoil).

Without saying too much, this game is full of ARG type secrets and Easter eggs (literally) to find. Even after rolling the credits, I wanted to do more to find everything I could. The map has a numerous amount of secret walkways and cubbies to explore, which will keep you busy well after beating the game.

Speaking of the map, on a first playthrough, it is so incredibly easy to find your way around. For the first few hours I really didn't need it; the level design naturally guides you to find where you need to go. Backtracking almost never felt like a chore, and the moment the map might become too big, the game offers you a nifty way to fast travel. On the map screen you are provided stamps for ease of use, and eventually you can find a pencil that allows you to draw whatever you want on the map, which is much welcomed in a genre that heavily relies on maps.

Animal Well is a game that surprised me. It surprised me in how well it functions as a metroidvania and as a piece of art. If this game has been on your radar, don't hesitate to try it out! At only 7 hours of playtime to the credits, you will be impressed with how much content game dev Billy Basso was able to fit into such a small package.

I had a great time with this game. The atmosphere created by the wondrous dream-like landscapes really took me aback. Especially towards the tail end at Kiln of the First Flame. I was seriously in awe of this area. The sand-like ashes and the charred structures combined with finding out that Gwyn has a flaming sword was a superb piece of environmental storytelling, and is the least of what this game has to offer in that department. Anor Londo was a big standout to me with its beautiful sunset and maze-like interiors. The Abyss was also a standout with the entrance and the boss fight. I truly feel if we are looking at this as a follow up to Demons Souls, then they knocked it out of the park with the world design. As with most souls games, the story is something you feel, and the details come in if you really want to look for it.

Some of my favorite bosses included Gwyn and Ornstein & Smough. Definitely some of the most challenging bosses but that's what made them all the more satisfying.

Wanting to revisit

I've put about 50 hours into this and I just don't think open world Souls is for me! I admire the world design and sound design immensely, but the lack of direction and constant fear that I am going to get absolutely clobbered after entering an area completely overpowered compared to my build was too overwhelming. I really loved lots of it, but after going back to revisit it recently, I was completely lost and no longer could remember which way I should be going. Maybe I'll revisit one day! But after 50 hours I think I've experienced enough.

I bought Bloodborne back in 2019. I had heard so many great things about it and wanted to use Bloodborne as my entry point to the souls-like genre.

5 years later I finally beat it.

Now having several other souls games under my belt, I knew I wanted to come back to this. My first attempt all those years ago was horrible, I truly didn't know what I was in for. The blood vial system, the lamps, the horribly british Yharnamites, the RPG character creation and builds systems, it was all so new to me. Thankfully after returning to it in the last few days, it instantly hooked me and I lost the track of time. I essentially went through the entire game (minus cleric beast) in the span of two days.

Bloodborne is an all time classic playstation game and definitely my favorite game that Fromsoftware has put out. The Lovecraftian, Victoran era art direction and world kept me engaged in what the story had to offer, even if a lot of it flew over my head.

I could go on and on about the amazing combat system (with weapons splitting into two types) and the incredibly satisfying parrying and engaging enemy AI, but it has already been talked to death. I want to focus in on something more specific.

Something I've noticed throughout many souls games and especially Bloodborne is how the game presents itself to the player. Many gameplay moments have you coming across enemies and bosses with little to no fanfare; and I think this is what makes the worldbuilding so enveloping. If every enemy was given a brief tale before I fought them, or I learned about them through a text box, I seriously don't think the world would be as effective. Enemies will just appear in this game and you're learning more about the world through these enemies. What happened to these people? Why are there random little alien dudes? What's up with the birds who just chill on the ground? Why do I fight a big dumb spider in the same arena that Demise from Skyward Sword is fought in? All joking aside, you just come to accept the world and the beings that live within it. Every character design is appealing or at least interesting to look at. Every part of this world feels realized, and the level design emphasizes this. Every area weaves into and loops around each other in such a cramped but intriguing way that I feel is so unique compared to a lot of game maps.

The bosses in this game are incredibly fun and almost none of them felt cheap to me. I went for the true ending of the game, and fighting Gehrman truly felt like a battle I had to learn. Every time I died against him I knew it was my own fault. And what an epic battle! Moon Presence was a good battle, like a bonus for defeating probably the hardest boss in the game. But Moon Presence was kinda easy.

The music is also so good. I really need more classic, orchestral arrangements in my games. Like seriously a lot of these tracks sound so wonderfully haunting and fit the game atmosphere so well.

Already I'm finding myself starting up a New game plus. With the amount of incredibly fun weapons you can find in this game, I'm sure I'll do another playthrough sometime.

When I think of games that have enormous potential for deep thematic messages and social commentary for children, Psychonauts comes to mind. Psychonauts at times exceeds the original and presents more of what I loved about the first game. The unending quirkiness of the character designs, brilliant writing, and hilarious pun-like items and enemies create such a fun and cohesive art direction that I feel is some of the best in the game industry. This is elevated in Psychonauts 2 with beautiful graphics and serene landscapes. Every character model is very appealing to look at, at times reminding me of painted models. Much of this game has you going from mind to mind completing platforming or combat based goals, with a few puzzle solving elements. What I really loved about this game is how consistent it felt compared to the first game, where gameplay really feels like it comes together. The combat is still very basic, but any annoyance is alleviated by the dodge mechanic and the abilities you acquire. Grabbing something random and throwing it at an enemy felt satisfying and using psy blast and the "slow down" ability made enemies a breeze.

What I think falters a little bit is some of the minds. There's a lot of good here though, I really enjoyed Forsythe's mind, Lobotto's mind, Cassie's and Boole's, and Psi King's was great, but there seemed like what I could really only describe as "fluff" with Ford's fractured segments. The main minds they really knocked out of the park, but the in-between moments felt like I was just trying to advance and learn about the story. Which eventually paid off! But I think some of the minds don't live up to the most memorable and creative moments in the first game, which handles its social commentary a lot less obtusely.

I really dug the story. At points I was curious where they were going but it really plays out like a mystery. By the end, I was really satisfied with how they built up Raz and Lilli and their families. The lore and worldbuilding actually felt substantial to the conflict.

Psychonauts 2 succeeds in bringing more of the same while delivering a more grand story for those that have stayed on.

Side order was really fun but slightly repetitive towards the end. I found the cycle of choosing a weapon and going through 30 floors really engaging, but once you’ve upgraded the “hacks” it becomes a lot easier with certain weapons. That isn’t to say it doesn’t feel good mowing down enemies with the slosher though. I really loved the level design too, different objectives kept it fresh most of the time. I wished the reward for completing all palettes was a bit more substantial though! All in all I’d recommend this to any splatoon fan who wants more story content.

I’ve already played through portal multiple times, but I’ll use this to talk about the very creative Bonus Maps included in the Xbox version (now on switch). There’s not much to say other than these maps are on par with the original game. One of my favorite maps had you going up into a cube dispenser tube and having to push the clogged cubes out. There was also a few stealth ones, one in which you are having to advance around some turrets while on a moving platform. Another map had you quickly placing portals to escape gradually smaller rooms in which each room had a spiky ceiling being lowered down to crush you. It’s a shame these bonus maps aren’t even on steam.

Penny's Big Breakaway is a game I had been excited for since its announcement. Sonic Mania veterans Christian Whitehead, Tee Lopes, and others have created something wholly unique, and while a Mania sequel would've been great, I really love that they went on to do something as creative as this.

PBB to me feels like a mix of more classic level design, with each level containing a somewhat linear progression, mixed in with momentum based movement of more recent 3D platformers. PBB definitely takes inspiration from Super Mario Odyssey with Penny's moveset allowing you to stay in the air and use her yo-yo to attack and reach new heights, very similarly to Cappy from Odyssey. Within the first few levels I was immediately enamored by Penny's moveset, which felt easy to learn but hard to master. Everytime I fell off a platform, I felt like I could learn what mistakes in my "moveset planning" led me there. I love platformers that take an unconventional and new approach to movement, and PBB is no exception. Much of the level design is based around speed, and the game rewards you with new areas if you're capable enough to surpass a daunting obstacle. Many times there will be a ramp that you need to roll off of with enough speed to reach a collectible, for example. Throughout PPB's runtime, I felt like Penny's moveset was adequately used, with some exceptions.

The presentation of this game, graphics wise, is spectacular. The game has this bright, dreamy presentation that really catches your eye, and many times just starting a level the camera is panned out, allowing you to take in the gorgeous visuals before you enter. I've seen some people note a few glitches, like clipping into objects, which I've encountered but only 2 times through my runtime. Which is a shame. Hopefully there is a patch soon that fixes some of the rough edges, but overall I think the presentation is very well done for a studio's first game.

This game also tends to prioritize speed and a point based system, which I find really interesting for a modern 3D platformer. At the end of a level, you have the opportunity to score some extra coins/points by going through a quicktime event called a "busker bonus". Honestly, I didn't really care about how many points I accumulated by the end, so I think these events were more annoying than anything, and I think the reason I didn't care much about points is because there is hardly a reward for getting a high score. What I did enjoy, were the 6 "collectibles" throughout the levels, though. I ended up getting all of them, and some of them were tough to pin down at times. But I felt like they were perfectly challenging. Not too easy, but also not too hard.

Another point of the gameplay I really didn't care for were the penguins. I get why they are here, they motivate you to keep going through the level as fast as you can, but when I'm looking for collectables or trying to look for more health, I found them more annoying than anything. They weren't a huge issue, but just a small annoyance.

I think if a sequel were to be made for this game, I'd love for there to be even more cool yo-yo movement options. I think what they have here is great, but I can see a lot of potential for the future. Also, the wall jump was rarely used, which I found a bit confusing. Wall jumps are fun and I wish the level design allowed for its use. There's like one bonus level that centers around it and it uses it well, so to me it felt like a conscious decision to keep it away from the main game, which felt odd.

Also, really didn't care for the story, partially because I think the cutscenes felt like an after thought. I think the story pacing was just a tad weird, though I enjoyed the characters and their designs.

I really enjoyed PBB. While it doesn't completely realize its ideas, what is here is remarkably creative and very fun to play.

Coming back and reflecting after a few months, I think in some aspects the story feels to bloated and a bit rushed, but there are story beats and character arcs I loved nonetheless. Surprisingly fun are the young Peter sections and side missions. The total 180 on this game especially on twitter is wild. I think it’s just a case that mainstream audiences see this and say “game of the year” and the self proclaimed “real gamers” have to say “uhhh actually this game is so mid, baldurs gate is better” as if that’s even a good comparison to make. Very excited to see what they do with DLC.

Rayman Origins really feels unpolished, yet you can admire it for its ambition. Going through this game I tried to 100% complete it, which means getting all 6 Electoons throughout each level, which includes 2 electoons that are hidden in the level, 1 electoon that is at the end of the level, 2 electoons that are obtained after reaching a certain Lum count by the end of the level, and 1 electoon that you aquire after completing a time trial for a certain level. There's also a Lum medal that is awarded for getting 350 Lums for any particular level (minus some smaller ones which have a lower Lum count). I did not think this was going to be as painful as it was.

To begin though, I want to say that I think casually, Rayman Origins is a very fun experience, albeit a little repetitive. Levels kind of run out of interesting ways to present themselves, and throughout the first half of the game you are gradually obtaining your entire moveset, which at least spreads out some level design ideas a bit. For example, there's a wall run ability that allows you to run on a wall as long as it has a slope, and this mechanic is fun, but not used until you get to world 5, where you obtain it. After you have seemingly finished all 4 worlds, that have about 5 levels each, the game pulls a fast one and says "actually there are about 20+ more levels to complete, with about 5 more levels per world. I was kinda okay with that, but completing each level requirement to 100% was getting very tedious, as you at least have to go back through a level one more time if you want to do the time trial. But most of the time, I sadly had to redo a level because my Lum counter was not at 350, and the game, while it does let you go backwards on occasion, for some reason locks you into the final room of a level and will not let you go back to find more Lums. This is a decision that truly makes me scratch my head. Why force me to completely redo a level, find all of the Lums I had previously found over again, just because I missed one or two? This was a pretty frustrating challenge and a lot of the times, levels barely had over 350 Lums, which requires you to scour entire levels to find the ones you need. I did push through, but dear god I really was debating on quitting the challenge and finishing the game casually.

Time trials were actually a fair enough challenge and were pretty short. There are also what I call the "chase levels" which can be either really fun or somewhat annoying. What I've found is that Rayman Origins encourages fast, momentum based movement with the movement options you have, but the chase levels actually don't encourage this at all. You'll quickly learn that the moment you veer off the "intended" speed of these chase levels, everything falls out of sync. So sometimes these levels just feel like they're actively fighting what you are able to do as Rayman.

There are some smaller quirks with this game that kinda add up to feeling a lot less polished presentation-wise than Legends was. The art style is very nice but sometimes animations can feel unpolished compared to its successor. Another issue I think really soured my experience was the music. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of songs, especially the ambient ones, that I truly enjoy. But a lot of tracks are simply repeated way too much. Many times replaying levels and going through a world you will hear the same 3 to 4 songs, and honestly, there are some I find a little bit annoying. One particular song in the water section was repeated so often I muted my tv because I really didn't want to hear it another time. Then it played during the credits and I muted again LOL. I think this is a matter of taste but I really just did not care for the high pitched singing voices sometimes and the Jazz, spy like instrumentation in one particular track (which was very weird for an Ice themed world), as well as a track that kinda felt like if a white guy wanted to come up with what he thought Mexican music sounded like LMAO

So basically this game is good but flawed. A completionist nightmare and doesn't really have a lot of new ideas to stretch across its runtime.