DeemonAndGames
2023
In the span of 20 days, I’ve killed Dracula like 3 times now, I don’t know why so many games have an obsession with him but I’m starting to pity the poor bastard, like, he only shows up in one puzzle and his purpose is to perish, now that’s a true tragedy…
During its initial release, a portion of the discussion around Storyteller revolved around how it really wasn’t what it seemed at first; from promotional material and even its descriptions, you’d be led to believe this is a game about creating stories, using the characters and options available to form your own visual narrative, an idea that even the game’s own opening text seems to be pointing towards, when in reality this is pretty much a puzzle game. In each of the levels you get a set of characters and scenarios and from there you need to reach a specific result, and for many this prospect was less enticing than that supposed original ‘’go wild and crazy with your imagination’’ idea, but I believe that throwing Storyteller to the side simply because it isn’t something that ‘’sounds cool’’ is silly at best, especially when what it really is still sounds incredibly promising.
Building up a narrative and creating a story to reach a specific ending is a fantastic concept, an idea so fascinating that can lead to so many cool experiments, and gamifying the act of forming a world, giving life to a set of characters with a finale in mind is far from being an idea always bound to backfire, it’s a genius one with a super strong premise… one that Storyteller fails to realize.
Being simple is a good thing, and then there’s being simplistic; each of the puzzles feel… barebones is the word I want to say, but I’m not entirely sure it’s the right one; no challenge is designed badly or unclear, but they also aren’t great. I’ll admit I definitively wasn’t a having a bad with the experience, but I also wasn’t feeling particularly excited or even just really that entertained, it’s a very ‘’going through the motions’’ kind of game, where none of the puzzles are particularly challenging and few have those moments where the pieces fall into place and you feel like a genius. As such it could be seeing as a cozy or pick-up-and-play style of game, but considering just how short it is and how little it attempts in that time to actually make it a super relaxing or enjoyable experience, I find it hard to call it one. You just do puzzles until its over… and without ever fully tapping into true ‘’imagination’’ territory.
It's hard to feel as a storyteller when there’s so little space of possibilities; as I said the fact there’s always one ending for each of the puzzles doesn’t bother me, but that the characters have a set of behaviors that you cannot change and that there’s basically only a single way to achieve said ending does. At first it’s fun to learn how each of the characters behave, but after a while it quickly turns into an automatized experience, where you see your objective and think ‘’oh yeah, I know which character has to do each thing’’ which might sound good, but in practice feels like placing pieces of the same puzzle over and over, sometimes rearranged, sometimes with a different set of pieces. The secondary objectives that some of the levels have as well as the stamps and the Devil re-tales are an interesting spin for sure, and especially towards the end this concept shows its highest potential, but it just not involving nor realized enough to be memorable or that fun.
The game doesn’t tell stories, just broken scenarios, and you aren’t tasked with forging them, just to fix the… I don’t know if that even makes sense, but what I’m getting at is that Storyteller, even at its best, doesn’t seem to strive for much despite shooting pretty damn high, and I’m left with the sensation that many other puzzle game accomplish the idea of creating your own path or solution much more consistently than the game about creating tales.
The game isn’t a incredibly ended open experience with player experience at its focus, nor does it want to be and nor it should be judged as such, but what it is is a overly simple, limited and average puzzle game that’s only somewhat enjoyable. It may not be something that it isn’t, but it also is not even close at being a true accomplishment of what it aspires to be, and that’s much, much more tragic than the former option…
During its initial release, a portion of the discussion around Storyteller revolved around how it really wasn’t what it seemed at first; from promotional material and even its descriptions, you’d be led to believe this is a game about creating stories, using the characters and options available to form your own visual narrative, an idea that even the game’s own opening text seems to be pointing towards, when in reality this is pretty much a puzzle game. In each of the levels you get a set of characters and scenarios and from there you need to reach a specific result, and for many this prospect was less enticing than that supposed original ‘’go wild and crazy with your imagination’’ idea, but I believe that throwing Storyteller to the side simply because it isn’t something that ‘’sounds cool’’ is silly at best, especially when what it really is still sounds incredibly promising.
Building up a narrative and creating a story to reach a specific ending is a fantastic concept, an idea so fascinating that can lead to so many cool experiments, and gamifying the act of forming a world, giving life to a set of characters with a finale in mind is far from being an idea always bound to backfire, it’s a genius one with a super strong premise… one that Storyteller fails to realize.
Being simple is a good thing, and then there’s being simplistic; each of the puzzles feel… barebones is the word I want to say, but I’m not entirely sure it’s the right one; no challenge is designed badly or unclear, but they also aren’t great. I’ll admit I definitively wasn’t a having a bad with the experience, but I also wasn’t feeling particularly excited or even just really that entertained, it’s a very ‘’going through the motions’’ kind of game, where none of the puzzles are particularly challenging and few have those moments where the pieces fall into place and you feel like a genius. As such it could be seeing as a cozy or pick-up-and-play style of game, but considering just how short it is and how little it attempts in that time to actually make it a super relaxing or enjoyable experience, I find it hard to call it one. You just do puzzles until its over… and without ever fully tapping into true ‘’imagination’’ territory.
It's hard to feel as a storyteller when there’s so little space of possibilities; as I said the fact there’s always one ending for each of the puzzles doesn’t bother me, but that the characters have a set of behaviors that you cannot change and that there’s basically only a single way to achieve said ending does. At first it’s fun to learn how each of the characters behave, but after a while it quickly turns into an automatized experience, where you see your objective and think ‘’oh yeah, I know which character has to do each thing’’ which might sound good, but in practice feels like placing pieces of the same puzzle over and over, sometimes rearranged, sometimes with a different set of pieces. The secondary objectives that some of the levels have as well as the stamps and the Devil re-tales are an interesting spin for sure, and especially towards the end this concept shows its highest potential, but it just not involving nor realized enough to be memorable or that fun.
The game doesn’t tell stories, just broken scenarios, and you aren’t tasked with forging them, just to fix the… I don’t know if that even makes sense, but what I’m getting at is that Storyteller, even at its best, doesn’t seem to strive for much despite shooting pretty damn high, and I’m left with the sensation that many other puzzle game accomplish the idea of creating your own path or solution much more consistently than the game about creating tales.
The game isn’t a incredibly ended open experience with player experience at its focus, nor does it want to be and nor it should be judged as such, but what it is is a overly simple, limited and average puzzle game that’s only somewhat enjoyable. It may not be something that it isn’t, but it also is not even close at being a true accomplishment of what it aspires to be, and that’s much, much more tragic than the former option…
2011
Even to this day, Sonic CD stands out from its Genesis companions, but where once that difference came from how elusive it was—only having a few scattered ports and being included in some random collections— and how few actually managed to even play it when compared to the rest, as it became more easily available during the seventh generation, now it’s because the mythos surrounding it seems to be a space more about disputes than agreements, a far cry from the rest of the original series. I’m not saying that there’s a set of absolute truths surrounding the other games, in fact I myself find hard to love Sonic 2 as much as so many, many others do, but there’s a certain consensus regarding all of those 3 games (& Knuckles) that seems to be lacking over at Sega CD Land.
There seem to be as many enjoyers of the game as there are detractors, and this division of opinions is very much visible to outsiders of the series, and that’s exactly why for the longest time I was both very interested… and weary of Sonic CD. Even so many years later, with its past that once was present behind and now facing the futures, the game is still surrounded by a mysterious aura, or at least it was to me: enveloped in uncertainty, a game so seemingly strange and unique, surrounded by positives and negatives from both sides…
… and yet, the one that ended up captivating my heart.
Despite my best wishes and attempts, I found it incredibly hard to actively enjoy both Sonic 1 and 2, I still wouldn’t call them terrible games under no circumstances, but their low points and my gripes seemed to made it game that I consistently liked, with only some net positives being completely clear… With Sonic CD, I’d end quicker by saying what I didn’t like, in fact yeah, let’s get that out of the way!:
Even tho it has some incredibly interesting ideas and the laser mechanic, Metallic Madness is easily the lowest point of the game, it’s where the game gets closer to the lowest point of some of the past games’ zones, and where much of what I liked from the rest of the experience seems to be missing a bit; it also shares the same problem with Sonic 1 on how actually 100 precenting it doesn’t grant much of an active reward aside of getting the true ending (sort of, we’ll get to that) and…. Uh… I guess some acts share similar design and I wished there was more of a difference in some temporal variations?... Yeah I don’t know I got nothing else… and I could have never seen that coming.
My Sonic Genesis experience has been filled with buts and wishes to be able to love it more, but now I arrive at Sonic CD and from start to finish the only thing I could find myself feeling was… joy, the way I could just gleefully smile while traversing Whacky Workbench, being completely fascinated at the sights and sounds in Palmtree Panic, the feeling of peace and realization at getting my first good future in Collision Chaos; from a first glance Sonic CD doesn’t seem that distinct when compared to the likes of 2 — or even 1 for that matter—, but it’s when playing that the differences shine.
Sonic games always incentivized replays and getting to know the pathing and mastery of its controls, but CD rewards knowledge even beyond that: levels feel MASSIVE, so expansive and open ended that no matter the way you go, you’re most likely going the right way, and it always feels like that. Every single zone is always so damn fun to explore, so many interesting to surprises to discover that it never feels as if you are going around circles or that you are somewhere you shouldn’t be and it’s this exploration that gets tested in the Past version of the stages since you’ll need to find Robotnik’s machine somewhere. What awes me the most it’s how, for a game with so many moving parts (both literally and figuratively), it never slows down, it’s here where I’ve reached the highest speeds more-so than in any other game, dodging and dashing, making use both of the spin dash and the super peel out in different scenarios and situations, and even when the game slows you down, it never feels as it stops you in your tracks and actively makes you wait or do precision platforming for which Sonic isn’t designed for (maybe aside of Metallic Madness), Sonic CD knows what it is and what it wants to do, and does so while looking beautiful.
All zones look incredible, they share a borderline abstract look that gets amplified in the future versions, the good going always for a softer more celebratory look while the bad futures create this overtly and violently mechanical feeling, one that can be seeing again in almost all of the Act 3s; it translates the ideas of the Robotnik’s conquest of this small planet to a tea, and seeing the much more natural, organic look of the past versions and seeing far more free animal where once robots stood it’s not only the perfect way to push players to get the good futures without saying any words, it outright looks incredible. The sprites and sights are a marvel to behold, and they really feel like actual, interesting places, places with history that have been subject to change and thanks to you can improve and hold a much brighter future… and I haven’t even talked about the music! I’ve been utterly lovestruck by the original JP/EU soundtrack, no matter what song, so matter what jingle, it never misses, a perfect dance of techno mixed with the most perfect of ideas to evoke feelings on the player, details like how the themes from the past feel a liiiiittle bit more compressed or how the power-up music ends just as the power-up finishes taking effect are so obvious yet wonderful I can’t stop loving them, easily one of my favorite OST I’ve had the pleasure to listen in a long time. Compliments to the original soundtrack used to be accompanied by a jab to the American OST, but honestly… I also like that too! Nost as much as the Japanese and European one, that’s for sure, but the American goes for a much more atmospheric feeling that it’s appropriate and works super well, the fact this game basically created to amazing soundtracks in one is the funniest yet fitting showcase of how this is a experience that goes the extra mile in every conceivable way, even when it’s not necessary…
A complaint that I’ve seen being predicated by some people over on discussions and even video-analysis is how you don’t really need to engage with the time travel in any capacity to beat the game or complete it to get the true ending, and that is true, but now I cannot scratch the felling that, maybe… that was the point. For how much I’ve talked about it, the past and futures of each of the two first acts of every Zone aren’t required in any way, they aren’t mandatory, and you can ignore them if you choose too, but I found it extremely hard to simply because of how compelling they are: getting to a stop sign and managing to find a way to achieve high enough speeds to time travel its fun on its own, but even beyond that, getting to see how a Zone was before Robotnik completely destroyed it, managing to impact it and actively foil its plans to achieve a better future, or to just witness the bad future or jump across space and time is such a creatively strong decision, it incentivizes speed, it incentivizes exploration, it generates wonder, and the fact that all of that it’s options isn’t a reason to complain, but instead to be marveled at the sheer amount of work at display and the open ended nature of Sonic CD, and it works, it works so incredibly well that I played it yet again after beating it just to try out different paths and time travels, something I had never done with a Sonic game so soon, but with this one I just couldn’t resists, helped in great part by the short nature of the game itself.
CD clicks in a way very few games of this series manage to do with me, a game which even its special stages manage to be a fun time worth mentioning (and far more 3D than 3D Blast honestly!); trying different, challenging ideas to a base formula doesn’t always work, but Sonic CD uses them to expand a world and create a beyond unique adventure, one that starts and ends with beautiful animations, and that across its many levels it just kept me wishing for it to keep going a little bit more, not attempt more unique albeit easy boss battles, to see more of Metal and Amy; Sonic CD is more than an experiment, it’s this world and character taken to it’s most open-ended and crazy potential, and seeing be a reality alone it’s worth admiring, but for it to be so good and inspiring while doing it is on a whole other level.
Sonic CD is easy to love for some, but also easy to dislike for others, it’s a strange game with a ton of ideas that don’t click for some, but honestly, I think it’s quite fitting, a game that attempts so many interesting concepts that gambles between a good future and a bad one, and it ended up getting a mix of some considering how people looks at it in so many different ways. And yet, it keeps on going, and I’m happy to say that at least for me, it creates a future worth fighting for.
Also, I know I’ve been complaining about Metal Madness quite a lot, but it’s all forgiven honestly, why you ask? Because it has this! Not other zone has peak character design! Look at it! LOOK AT IT! THE PUREST OF BOIS! LONG MAY LIVE MINI-SONIC!
There seem to be as many enjoyers of the game as there are detractors, and this division of opinions is very much visible to outsiders of the series, and that’s exactly why for the longest time I was both very interested… and weary of Sonic CD. Even so many years later, with its past that once was present behind and now facing the futures, the game is still surrounded by a mysterious aura, or at least it was to me: enveloped in uncertainty, a game so seemingly strange and unique, surrounded by positives and negatives from both sides…
… and yet, the one that ended up captivating my heart.
Despite my best wishes and attempts, I found it incredibly hard to actively enjoy both Sonic 1 and 2, I still wouldn’t call them terrible games under no circumstances, but their low points and my gripes seemed to made it game that I consistently liked, with only some net positives being completely clear… With Sonic CD, I’d end quicker by saying what I didn’t like, in fact yeah, let’s get that out of the way!:
Even tho it has some incredibly interesting ideas and the laser mechanic, Metallic Madness is easily the lowest point of the game, it’s where the game gets closer to the lowest point of some of the past games’ zones, and where much of what I liked from the rest of the experience seems to be missing a bit; it also shares the same problem with Sonic 1 on how actually 100 precenting it doesn’t grant much of an active reward aside of getting the true ending (sort of, we’ll get to that) and…. Uh… I guess some acts share similar design and I wished there was more of a difference in some temporal variations?... Yeah I don’t know I got nothing else… and I could have never seen that coming.
My Sonic Genesis experience has been filled with buts and wishes to be able to love it more, but now I arrive at Sonic CD and from start to finish the only thing I could find myself feeling was… joy, the way I could just gleefully smile while traversing Whacky Workbench, being completely fascinated at the sights and sounds in Palmtree Panic, the feeling of peace and realization at getting my first good future in Collision Chaos; from a first glance Sonic CD doesn’t seem that distinct when compared to the likes of 2 — or even 1 for that matter—, but it’s when playing that the differences shine.
Sonic games always incentivized replays and getting to know the pathing and mastery of its controls, but CD rewards knowledge even beyond that: levels feel MASSIVE, so expansive and open ended that no matter the way you go, you’re most likely going the right way, and it always feels like that. Every single zone is always so damn fun to explore, so many interesting to surprises to discover that it never feels as if you are going around circles or that you are somewhere you shouldn’t be and it’s this exploration that gets tested in the Past version of the stages since you’ll need to find Robotnik’s machine somewhere. What awes me the most it’s how, for a game with so many moving parts (both literally and figuratively), it never slows down, it’s here where I’ve reached the highest speeds more-so than in any other game, dodging and dashing, making use both of the spin dash and the super peel out in different scenarios and situations, and even when the game slows you down, it never feels as it stops you in your tracks and actively makes you wait or do precision platforming for which Sonic isn’t designed for (maybe aside of Metallic Madness), Sonic CD knows what it is and what it wants to do, and does so while looking beautiful.
All zones look incredible, they share a borderline abstract look that gets amplified in the future versions, the good going always for a softer more celebratory look while the bad futures create this overtly and violently mechanical feeling, one that can be seeing again in almost all of the Act 3s; it translates the ideas of the Robotnik’s conquest of this small planet to a tea, and seeing the much more natural, organic look of the past versions and seeing far more free animal where once robots stood it’s not only the perfect way to push players to get the good futures without saying any words, it outright looks incredible. The sprites and sights are a marvel to behold, and they really feel like actual, interesting places, places with history that have been subject to change and thanks to you can improve and hold a much brighter future… and I haven’t even talked about the music! I’ve been utterly lovestruck by the original JP/EU soundtrack, no matter what song, so matter what jingle, it never misses, a perfect dance of techno mixed with the most perfect of ideas to evoke feelings on the player, details like how the themes from the past feel a liiiiittle bit more compressed or how the power-up music ends just as the power-up finishes taking effect are so obvious yet wonderful I can’t stop loving them, easily one of my favorite OST I’ve had the pleasure to listen in a long time. Compliments to the original soundtrack used to be accompanied by a jab to the American OST, but honestly… I also like that too! Nost as much as the Japanese and European one, that’s for sure, but the American goes for a much more atmospheric feeling that it’s appropriate and works super well, the fact this game basically created to amazing soundtracks in one is the funniest yet fitting showcase of how this is a experience that goes the extra mile in every conceivable way, even when it’s not necessary…
A complaint that I’ve seen being predicated by some people over on discussions and even video-analysis is how you don’t really need to engage with the time travel in any capacity to beat the game or complete it to get the true ending, and that is true, but now I cannot scratch the felling that, maybe… that was the point. For how much I’ve talked about it, the past and futures of each of the two first acts of every Zone aren’t required in any way, they aren’t mandatory, and you can ignore them if you choose too, but I found it extremely hard to simply because of how compelling they are: getting to a stop sign and managing to find a way to achieve high enough speeds to time travel its fun on its own, but even beyond that, getting to see how a Zone was before Robotnik completely destroyed it, managing to impact it and actively foil its plans to achieve a better future, or to just witness the bad future or jump across space and time is such a creatively strong decision, it incentivizes speed, it incentivizes exploration, it generates wonder, and the fact that all of that it’s options isn’t a reason to complain, but instead to be marveled at the sheer amount of work at display and the open ended nature of Sonic CD, and it works, it works so incredibly well that I played it yet again after beating it just to try out different paths and time travels, something I had never done with a Sonic game so soon, but with this one I just couldn’t resists, helped in great part by the short nature of the game itself.
CD clicks in a way very few games of this series manage to do with me, a game which even its special stages manage to be a fun time worth mentioning (and far more 3D than 3D Blast honestly!); trying different, challenging ideas to a base formula doesn’t always work, but Sonic CD uses them to expand a world and create a beyond unique adventure, one that starts and ends with beautiful animations, and that across its many levels it just kept me wishing for it to keep going a little bit more, not attempt more unique albeit easy boss battles, to see more of Metal and Amy; Sonic CD is more than an experiment, it’s this world and character taken to it’s most open-ended and crazy potential, and seeing be a reality alone it’s worth admiring, but for it to be so good and inspiring while doing it is on a whole other level.
Sonic CD is easy to love for some, but also easy to dislike for others, it’s a strange game with a ton of ideas that don’t click for some, but honestly, I think it’s quite fitting, a game that attempts so many interesting concepts that gambles between a good future and a bad one, and it ended up getting a mix of some considering how people looks at it in so many different ways. And yet, it keeps on going, and I’m happy to say that at least for me, it creates a future worth fighting for.
Also, I know I’ve been complaining about Metal Madness quite a lot, but it’s all forgiven honestly, why you ask? Because it has this! Not other zone has peak character design! Look at it! LOOK AT IT! THE PUREST OF BOIS! LONG MAY LIVE MINI-SONIC!
Dracula, my friend, we sure are in quite the predicament; not only I’ve already defeated you three times each in different games, but it seems that you are quite the persistent rapscallion, and I need you to put you back together just to beat you yet again. Certainly an odd yet pretty fucking funny dance to have… but let’s make it memorable, shall we?
The first Castlevania is pretty straightforward in every sense of the word, a simple tale of a Vampire Killer that goes to Dracula’s lair to defeat him and free the land of Transylvania of its influence, and as many turns and ups and downs as that seemingly never-ending castle had, it still was a linear platformer. If that game attempted to realize a legend or a short myth made NES game, then this follow up tries to do the same for a full-fledged odyssey or saga, but even putting it that way makes it seem lesser than it really is, because in an era in which a surprising amount of sequels were already trying to differentiate themselves from their past outings, Simon’s Quest entirety identity and fundamental design, from the most visible of level lay-outs to the most hidden of secrets, revolves entirely around making Simon’s sad quest for what should have been his highest accomplishment a reality, no matter the cost.
I’ve never felt so conflicted about a game this much since… ever, now that I think about it; I struggle to point out parts of it that I truly enjoyed without also noticing stuff that irks me, I cannot mention definitive flaws without acknowledging that those manage to find some ways to work I adore, it’s a work I value, but also one I can’t really say for sure I enjoyed experiencing, and I cannot promise that I would have come out of this with my sanity intact if I didn’t use certain guides. Castlevania II is a game so unfathomably different to its original, so incomprehensibly ambitious, that I do not know if this is the result of an excellently creative mind or a completely mad one… perhaps both at the same time…
I think the subtitle of Simon’s Quest is the single most simple yet fitting string of words you could ever use to describe this, a true quest across the land of Transylvania with it’s riddles, monsters, secrets, weak to holy water walls and a mysterious ferryman that only brings you to were you need to go if you show him a heart and kneel, with it’s the single most metal thing I’ve ever seen in a NES game now that I think about it but I digress. The entirety of Transylvania is within a grey cartridge and the y and x axis, and it feels real, it shouldn’t, but it does: plagued by sessions changing between screens to make enemies respawn so you can farm hearts, the most of obscure and random of artificial steps you need to take so the game has mercy on your poor soul and lets you proceed, 2 feet deep lakes that immediately kill you unless you have a stone in hand so that the screen can move a bit down; all of this can be found in Simon’s Quest, and it’s as frustrating and mind numbingly complicated as it sounds, it’s not fun, but it somehow feels real.
Arriving at a town bathed in pale moonlight, a town with name and a place, you fight wraiths and dark spirits after the relief of the first sun rays of the dawn, which dissipate the evil for fleeting moments, letting the city breath in peace for the remaining of the day; the townsfolk mutter slowly, yet it feels too fast, to complicated to begin to understand it, others have very few to say, others sell, trade, and in some city even lie to you or spat out completely meaningless words, but after resting in the church (if you are lucky enough to encounter one), you leave once again, to the forests, depths and cemeteries of Transylvania, traversing terra ignota until you energy doesn’t let you act carelessly; perhaps you’ll get to another town, maybe you found the locations of one of the mansions, or maybe the night surrounds you once again, your enemies stronger and fiercer than before, and the only thing you can do is push forward. This, this right here, moments like these are were Simon’s quest has true meaning: the process of finding treasures and items that make you feel as if you were evolving, understanding the tricks and nonsense of Dracula’s curse in your favor, falling from invisible blocks time and time again but learning from it and getting stronger, beat the many mansions and getting Dracula’s remains thanks to the stakes and your own wit that has gotten you this far, and seeing the people of this land scream to you to get out of their town and how you made everything worse as you approach the remains of what was once the count’s Castle. In those moments where the game taps into the fullest potential of this open adventure, asking you to learn from it or fail, that is when Castlevania II achieves utter excellence… but by that you’d have to ignore pretty much everything else.
Beyond the occasional but very impactful slow-downs or the extremely samey aspect between pretty much every area, mansion and town besides the color palette, which are things that can be justified by how this is a entire open interconnected word running on a NinToaster (I had to throw out an AVGN reference at some point), Simon’s Quest fails in ways that put into jeopardy the very nature it tries to pursue. The design of the landscapes and dungeons themselves lack any of the intrigue and interesting architecture that the original had, and interesting enemy behavior has been thrown out the window in favor of different variables in the ways some approach you; bosses especially seem to have lost all the will to live despite never staying dead, and you know something’s up when that damage you more if you touch them than by their actual attacks, Dracula himself seems like the exception of all of this and the actual most challenging part of the adventure… until you start wailing on him… and you keep stunning him… and he just doesn’t move…. and the battle ends and you win… yeah… Simon’s Quest doesn’t really create challenge through interesting and complicated sections or enemy placement, but rather through endurance, how much patience you have to tackle the same enemies over and over again, how much you can you put up with ledge-jump after ledge-jump, with the only thing changing until the very end and in some very specific rooms being the damage you need to deal to defeat the enemies. The tricks of this land start to grow old and tired after a certain point, and those that don’t are to cryptic to discover them in the first place; I maintain that Transylvania feels real, yes, but does so while going through great lengths to sacrifice every possible aspect that could make it more engaging or fascinating to play beyond the base level, Simon’s Quest exists mostly to itself, but also for its torment, for Simon’s, for ours.
Simon’s Quest aimed for the stars and didn’t land among them, but it also didn’t quite miss, it’s out there, somewhere, occupying a weird space which can be both loved or hated, and in some cases both at the same time. I couldn’t end this review in good conscience without pointing out the many outstanding write-ups that many amazing people have done over here; Vee’s and poyfuh’s are outstanding analysis that value Simon’s Quest in a new light, while others like Kempocat’s view the reasons why the game fails while also recognizing its victories, and these are only a few examples, I’m beyond sure that this page is full of incredible analysis that bring new light to this game, each in a different way. I do no think there’ll ever be a point of consensus surrounding Simon’s Quest, nor I think I want it to, the passage of time has allowed the game to have more and more voices defending it, while others only see it as a mess speaking in moon runes (and rightfully so), and then there’s people kind of stuck in the middle, which I’m part of and I’m sure there are more like me that feel about this one similar to me, and maybe, by managing to create so many perspectives surrounding it, having so many possible interpretations and ways to see a game in which the characters only have one text-box of space to rely weird-ass info, maybe in a way, Castlevania II succeeds, and no matter what else could I say, both negative and even positive, I could never take that victory from it, and I’m so glad it has it…
… tho the endings being decided by how long you take to beat the game is weird as hell, like, ‘’Simon died because of his wounds after the battle’’, what are you talking about? I stun-locked the bastard with the golden knife for the entirety of the fight, the motherfucker didn’t even touch me!! What are you even on abou-
The first Castlevania is pretty straightforward in every sense of the word, a simple tale of a Vampire Killer that goes to Dracula’s lair to defeat him and free the land of Transylvania of its influence, and as many turns and ups and downs as that seemingly never-ending castle had, it still was a linear platformer. If that game attempted to realize a legend or a short myth made NES game, then this follow up tries to do the same for a full-fledged odyssey or saga, but even putting it that way makes it seem lesser than it really is, because in an era in which a surprising amount of sequels were already trying to differentiate themselves from their past outings, Simon’s Quest entirety identity and fundamental design, from the most visible of level lay-outs to the most hidden of secrets, revolves entirely around making Simon’s sad quest for what should have been his highest accomplishment a reality, no matter the cost.
I’ve never felt so conflicted about a game this much since… ever, now that I think about it; I struggle to point out parts of it that I truly enjoyed without also noticing stuff that irks me, I cannot mention definitive flaws without acknowledging that those manage to find some ways to work I adore, it’s a work I value, but also one I can’t really say for sure I enjoyed experiencing, and I cannot promise that I would have come out of this with my sanity intact if I didn’t use certain guides. Castlevania II is a game so unfathomably different to its original, so incomprehensibly ambitious, that I do not know if this is the result of an excellently creative mind or a completely mad one… perhaps both at the same time…
I think the subtitle of Simon’s Quest is the single most simple yet fitting string of words you could ever use to describe this, a true quest across the land of Transylvania with it’s riddles, monsters, secrets, weak to holy water walls and a mysterious ferryman that only brings you to were you need to go if you show him a heart and kneel, with it’s the single most metal thing I’ve ever seen in a NES game now that I think about it but I digress. The entirety of Transylvania is within a grey cartridge and the y and x axis, and it feels real, it shouldn’t, but it does: plagued by sessions changing between screens to make enemies respawn so you can farm hearts, the most of obscure and random of artificial steps you need to take so the game has mercy on your poor soul and lets you proceed, 2 feet deep lakes that immediately kill you unless you have a stone in hand so that the screen can move a bit down; all of this can be found in Simon’s Quest, and it’s as frustrating and mind numbingly complicated as it sounds, it’s not fun, but it somehow feels real.
Arriving at a town bathed in pale moonlight, a town with name and a place, you fight wraiths and dark spirits after the relief of the first sun rays of the dawn, which dissipate the evil for fleeting moments, letting the city breath in peace for the remaining of the day; the townsfolk mutter slowly, yet it feels too fast, to complicated to begin to understand it, others have very few to say, others sell, trade, and in some city even lie to you or spat out completely meaningless words, but after resting in the church (if you are lucky enough to encounter one), you leave once again, to the forests, depths and cemeteries of Transylvania, traversing terra ignota until you energy doesn’t let you act carelessly; perhaps you’ll get to another town, maybe you found the locations of one of the mansions, or maybe the night surrounds you once again, your enemies stronger and fiercer than before, and the only thing you can do is push forward. This, this right here, moments like these are were Simon’s quest has true meaning: the process of finding treasures and items that make you feel as if you were evolving, understanding the tricks and nonsense of Dracula’s curse in your favor, falling from invisible blocks time and time again but learning from it and getting stronger, beat the many mansions and getting Dracula’s remains thanks to the stakes and your own wit that has gotten you this far, and seeing the people of this land scream to you to get out of their town and how you made everything worse as you approach the remains of what was once the count’s Castle. In those moments where the game taps into the fullest potential of this open adventure, asking you to learn from it or fail, that is when Castlevania II achieves utter excellence… but by that you’d have to ignore pretty much everything else.
Beyond the occasional but very impactful slow-downs or the extremely samey aspect between pretty much every area, mansion and town besides the color palette, which are things that can be justified by how this is a entire open interconnected word running on a NinToaster (I had to throw out an AVGN reference at some point), Simon’s Quest fails in ways that put into jeopardy the very nature it tries to pursue. The design of the landscapes and dungeons themselves lack any of the intrigue and interesting architecture that the original had, and interesting enemy behavior has been thrown out the window in favor of different variables in the ways some approach you; bosses especially seem to have lost all the will to live despite never staying dead, and you know something’s up when that damage you more if you touch them than by their actual attacks, Dracula himself seems like the exception of all of this and the actual most challenging part of the adventure… until you start wailing on him… and you keep stunning him… and he just doesn’t move…. and the battle ends and you win… yeah… Simon’s Quest doesn’t really create challenge through interesting and complicated sections or enemy placement, but rather through endurance, how much patience you have to tackle the same enemies over and over again, how much you can you put up with ledge-jump after ledge-jump, with the only thing changing until the very end and in some very specific rooms being the damage you need to deal to defeat the enemies. The tricks of this land start to grow old and tired after a certain point, and those that don’t are to cryptic to discover them in the first place; I maintain that Transylvania feels real, yes, but does so while going through great lengths to sacrifice every possible aspect that could make it more engaging or fascinating to play beyond the base level, Simon’s Quest exists mostly to itself, but also for its torment, for Simon’s, for ours.
Simon’s Quest aimed for the stars and didn’t land among them, but it also didn’t quite miss, it’s out there, somewhere, occupying a weird space which can be both loved or hated, and in some cases both at the same time. I couldn’t end this review in good conscience without pointing out the many outstanding write-ups that many amazing people have done over here; Vee’s and poyfuh’s are outstanding analysis that value Simon’s Quest in a new light, while others like Kempocat’s view the reasons why the game fails while also recognizing its victories, and these are only a few examples, I’m beyond sure that this page is full of incredible analysis that bring new light to this game, each in a different way. I do no think there’ll ever be a point of consensus surrounding Simon’s Quest, nor I think I want it to, the passage of time has allowed the game to have more and more voices defending it, while others only see it as a mess speaking in moon runes (and rightfully so), and then there’s people kind of stuck in the middle, which I’m part of and I’m sure there are more like me that feel about this one similar to me, and maybe, by managing to create so many perspectives surrounding it, having so many possible interpretations and ways to see a game in which the characters only have one text-box of space to rely weird-ass info, maybe in a way, Castlevania II succeeds, and no matter what else could I say, both negative and even positive, I could never take that victory from it, and I’m so glad it has it…
… tho the endings being decided by how long you take to beat the game is weird as hell, like, ‘’Simon died because of his wounds after the battle’’, what are you talking about? I stun-locked the bastard with the golden knife for the entirety of the fight, the motherfucker didn’t even touch me!! What are you even on abou-
2015
Here, at the bottom of the dying sea, running through the last bastions of humanity, where even the machines screaming in sheer pain, rotten to the very core and with nightmares beyond our wildest dreams reshaping what was once built, down here, with life taking its last gasps for air… NOT EVEN HERE I’M SAFE FROM SPIDER LOOKING-ASS CREATURES OH JESUS H. CHRIST I’M GONNA HAVE A HEART ATTA―
Playing Soma has been one of the most difficult gaming-related experiences I’ve ever had, not because it’s a particularly challenging game ―most of its puzzles and monsters, while always superbly designed and distinct from each other while also managing to find ways to make everything fit in, are rarely difficult, puzzles being especially forgiving and never too complicated, and the enemies, while menacing, are turned into much more forgiving obstacles thanks to your surprising durability and the amount of opportunities given to you to breath and analyze the situation after getting caught by any of them―, in fact I’m pretty sure I only died two times across the entire game, and only one of those deaths was ‘caused by an active foe, so yeah, Soma is everything but a hard horror game, so that’s not why I took so much time to beat it, no… but rather because it’s one of the few pieces of media that’s made me feel actually physically ill.
The installations of Pathos-II only get more decayed and seem to be more poisoned than the last, a horrifying amalgam of organic life and metal that’s sickening, but that still grabs you with the beautiful seascapes of the deep blue, especially at the beginning. There’s still some beauty at the end of the world, some sense of lingering past glory remaining in what was once a glorious center point for investigation and progress, but that only gets blurrier and blurrier as the game goes on, to the point the only thing visible is sheer horror. This alone could at times make me feel dizzy, a repulsion I couldn’t really scratch off, it’s sci-fi visual horror brought to its more grounded and depressing limit, and yet, it’s gripping. Every single area, be it the outside in the dark depths or inside one of the many facilities, shares the same visual corruption of the WAU and the general architecture of Pathos-II, but it still feels ever changing, with each of the massive metal blocks serving a different purpose, and the WAU’s many experiments to accomplish its objective taking a more twisted form at every step, it’s such a tangible horror, but still one hard to comprehend at first sight. Soma’s visual style is one of nightmares, too perfect and too horrifying, forged by human and mechanical minds, but if Soma was only that, a trip across scary futuristic places with monsters thrown in there, it would still be a commendable visual achievement, but nothing more remarkable beyond that. Luckily, this tale has a few things to say.
Immediately after Simon’s ‘’photoshoot’’ and his awakening, the game gets what some would call ‘’spooky’’, there’s some really oppressing ambience and some pretty stressful situations, but it’s mostly just that, scary in a more perceptive level, simply because things look weird and there isn’t any context that allows to begin understanding it. And horror usually works at its fullest on those contexts, when you don’t fully know what you are up against, the fear of the unknown is a extremely powerful tool… and still, the more I learnt about Soma, the more logs and files I read, the more places I visited, the more characters I talked to, the more things I did… I was just even more horrified by it. From site Upsilon to Omega, Soma feels like a true hell, a hell made from dreams and run by an AI; the WAU and its monsters are terrifying to go up against, a legion of creatures forced to ‘’live’’, from walking automats forced to waddle along the corridors and seafloor as their mind is still stuck in a past that just isn’t anymore, to impossibilities of flesh and the abhorrent, engulfed by such a perpetual pain that the only way they seemingly can communicate it is through inflicting to others; this artificial mind is pretty creative when it comes to making what should be dead still breath, and its while gaining more understanding of it that more questions appeared, and it became more and more nightmarish. The WAU seems like a rogue AI, but in reality, it simply sought a way to fully accomplish its objective, in a way, this whole ordeal was still our species’ fault, a byproduct of the investigators at Pathos-II to maintain everything beyond its limits; even at the end of the world, humans still find ways to create unimaginable suffering… tho at this point, who’s to say that the WAU can’t really ‘’think’’…
Beyond its interesting history and rich future world, all so amazingly detailed and fascinating to learn on, what compelled me about Soma above of all else and what elevated all those aspects to a brand-new horizon are its themes. Soma doesn’t take too long to ask the question: At what point what we can still be considered human? What’s the limit before we stop being… us? This is not a easy question, to say the least, Soma explores every single possible angle of it, it never feels ‘’pretentious’’ because the game always finds interesting things to explore with it. Simon is the perfect main character to throw into this dilemma, a normal guy that took a coin-toss and ended up here, decades after his time, and on his new condition he can only ponder and question himself, his existence; he’s an amazing protagonist not so much because he says sensical things, but mainly because he’s as lost and afraid as we are, and every single task and act has a monumental conundrum tied with it in a way that makes sense and I honestly wished he had even more things to say. Catherine works amazingly both as its own character and person and a reflection of Simon’s thoughts, she isn’t cold, but she’s more decided about her own condition as a machine, more accepting and understanding of what she is or what she implies, both because she has a more in-depth understanding of how… everything about this works and because she just doesn’t feel as alien in its new form as Simon does, and as such, she doesn’t ask herself the same or similar questions. Simon and Cath bounce from each other perfectly, their conversations being either extremely calm or incredibly tense, and moments like their chat during the last descent are moments that I can only qualify as… beautiful… Their trip is one full of misfortune as never-ending problems carried from mistakes from the past, there’s no real victory at any point, and those moments where it should be one are short lived, and only bring more haunting memories or impossible questions.
Questions asked to you.
At each of the main sites, you may encounter persons, or rather its remains; the last humans put on a state of eternal life, corpses with each a story to tell if it hasn’t been wiped yet, and minds placed in robots that cannot fully understand their condition, and sometimes, in these encounters, there are decisions to be made. The game only has one ending, this story only has one possible outcome, but the game still lets you decide. You can spare other’s their suffering by taking a more difficult option or path, you can leave some people still ‘’alive’’, you revive a person over and over again just to get a bit of information that you need, and yet with every single possible path, the question always lingers… is their conscience, their mind, even real? And for those that are still human, is that a life that’s worth living? Many characters in Soma find their own, sometimes more extreme answers to that, while others never manage to find it, like Simon, but then it also asks you. The game throws these same questions at the player, and that’s where much of the horror plays out, when you begin to contemplate if you are truly inflicting pain to someone else or if it’s just a mere reflection of a past life, if you’ll do the same act that you once considered extreme not so long ago, if sharing the same mind makes both lives the same, or if one’s more meaningful than the other. This is when the horror of Soma shows itself, it’s not the monsters, the metal corridors or the spooky sea spiders, it’s what’s beneath it all, a question that doesn’t expect itself to be answered, one that maybe shouldn’t be done in the first place, or maybe it should in spite of the internal turmoil it can bring.
I took every step in this game with doubt and more questions than answers, with horror and shame, and it was not until close to the end, where I met a character that hadn’t shown up until that point, that the final decision was for me to be made, and this time the answer was clear, and in a mix of a final definitive realization and sharing those final moments, I could only feel my eyes get teary…
Soma is a narrative marvel, a story that I wasn’t expecting to cause me to ask so many questions and think about it so much, and in those moments after I stopped playing after a session, those stuck out of my mind as much as the terror, if not more, tho that’s part for the course since they kind of go hand in hand… It feels too real at times, too sickening, too horrible, but in the best possible form imaginable, it’s a horror that touches the soul, and it does so while looking astonishing and sticking with you, and it will stick with me for a long while; in a way, I feel as if there could be so much more to be talked about Soma, or maybe those are questions to ask oneself…
The game ends with yet another coin-toss, this time there may seem to be a clearer winner and loser, but in both outcomes, both lead to life in an endless abyss… but at least in one of them, the sun can shine again…
Playing Soma has been one of the most difficult gaming-related experiences I’ve ever had, not because it’s a particularly challenging game ―most of its puzzles and monsters, while always superbly designed and distinct from each other while also managing to find ways to make everything fit in, are rarely difficult, puzzles being especially forgiving and never too complicated, and the enemies, while menacing, are turned into much more forgiving obstacles thanks to your surprising durability and the amount of opportunities given to you to breath and analyze the situation after getting caught by any of them―, in fact I’m pretty sure I only died two times across the entire game, and only one of those deaths was ‘caused by an active foe, so yeah, Soma is everything but a hard horror game, so that’s not why I took so much time to beat it, no… but rather because it’s one of the few pieces of media that’s made me feel actually physically ill.
The installations of Pathos-II only get more decayed and seem to be more poisoned than the last, a horrifying amalgam of organic life and metal that’s sickening, but that still grabs you with the beautiful seascapes of the deep blue, especially at the beginning. There’s still some beauty at the end of the world, some sense of lingering past glory remaining in what was once a glorious center point for investigation and progress, but that only gets blurrier and blurrier as the game goes on, to the point the only thing visible is sheer horror. This alone could at times make me feel dizzy, a repulsion I couldn’t really scratch off, it’s sci-fi visual horror brought to its more grounded and depressing limit, and yet, it’s gripping. Every single area, be it the outside in the dark depths or inside one of the many facilities, shares the same visual corruption of the WAU and the general architecture of Pathos-II, but it still feels ever changing, with each of the massive metal blocks serving a different purpose, and the WAU’s many experiments to accomplish its objective taking a more twisted form at every step, it’s such a tangible horror, but still one hard to comprehend at first sight. Soma’s visual style is one of nightmares, too perfect and too horrifying, forged by human and mechanical minds, but if Soma was only that, a trip across scary futuristic places with monsters thrown in there, it would still be a commendable visual achievement, but nothing more remarkable beyond that. Luckily, this tale has a few things to say.
Immediately after Simon’s ‘’photoshoot’’ and his awakening, the game gets what some would call ‘’spooky’’, there’s some really oppressing ambience and some pretty stressful situations, but it’s mostly just that, scary in a more perceptive level, simply because things look weird and there isn’t any context that allows to begin understanding it. And horror usually works at its fullest on those contexts, when you don’t fully know what you are up against, the fear of the unknown is a extremely powerful tool… and still, the more I learnt about Soma, the more logs and files I read, the more places I visited, the more characters I talked to, the more things I did… I was just even more horrified by it. From site Upsilon to Omega, Soma feels like a true hell, a hell made from dreams and run by an AI; the WAU and its monsters are terrifying to go up against, a legion of creatures forced to ‘’live’’, from walking automats forced to waddle along the corridors and seafloor as their mind is still stuck in a past that just isn’t anymore, to impossibilities of flesh and the abhorrent, engulfed by such a perpetual pain that the only way they seemingly can communicate it is through inflicting to others; this artificial mind is pretty creative when it comes to making what should be dead still breath, and its while gaining more understanding of it that more questions appeared, and it became more and more nightmarish. The WAU seems like a rogue AI, but in reality, it simply sought a way to fully accomplish its objective, in a way, this whole ordeal was still our species’ fault, a byproduct of the investigators at Pathos-II to maintain everything beyond its limits; even at the end of the world, humans still find ways to create unimaginable suffering… tho at this point, who’s to say that the WAU can’t really ‘’think’’…
Beyond its interesting history and rich future world, all so amazingly detailed and fascinating to learn on, what compelled me about Soma above of all else and what elevated all those aspects to a brand-new horizon are its themes. Soma doesn’t take too long to ask the question: At what point what we can still be considered human? What’s the limit before we stop being… us? This is not a easy question, to say the least, Soma explores every single possible angle of it, it never feels ‘’pretentious’’ because the game always finds interesting things to explore with it. Simon is the perfect main character to throw into this dilemma, a normal guy that took a coin-toss and ended up here, decades after his time, and on his new condition he can only ponder and question himself, his existence; he’s an amazing protagonist not so much because he says sensical things, but mainly because he’s as lost and afraid as we are, and every single task and act has a monumental conundrum tied with it in a way that makes sense and I honestly wished he had even more things to say. Catherine works amazingly both as its own character and person and a reflection of Simon’s thoughts, she isn’t cold, but she’s more decided about her own condition as a machine, more accepting and understanding of what she is or what she implies, both because she has a more in-depth understanding of how… everything about this works and because she just doesn’t feel as alien in its new form as Simon does, and as such, she doesn’t ask herself the same or similar questions. Simon and Cath bounce from each other perfectly, their conversations being either extremely calm or incredibly tense, and moments like their chat during the last descent are moments that I can only qualify as… beautiful… Their trip is one full of misfortune as never-ending problems carried from mistakes from the past, there’s no real victory at any point, and those moments where it should be one are short lived, and only bring more haunting memories or impossible questions.
Questions asked to you.
At each of the main sites, you may encounter persons, or rather its remains; the last humans put on a state of eternal life, corpses with each a story to tell if it hasn’t been wiped yet, and minds placed in robots that cannot fully understand their condition, and sometimes, in these encounters, there are decisions to be made. The game only has one ending, this story only has one possible outcome, but the game still lets you decide. You can spare other’s their suffering by taking a more difficult option or path, you can leave some people still ‘’alive’’, you revive a person over and over again just to get a bit of information that you need, and yet with every single possible path, the question always lingers… is their conscience, their mind, even real? And for those that are still human, is that a life that’s worth living? Many characters in Soma find their own, sometimes more extreme answers to that, while others never manage to find it, like Simon, but then it also asks you. The game throws these same questions at the player, and that’s where much of the horror plays out, when you begin to contemplate if you are truly inflicting pain to someone else or if it’s just a mere reflection of a past life, if you’ll do the same act that you once considered extreme not so long ago, if sharing the same mind makes both lives the same, or if one’s more meaningful than the other. This is when the horror of Soma shows itself, it’s not the monsters, the metal corridors or the spooky sea spiders, it’s what’s beneath it all, a question that doesn’t expect itself to be answered, one that maybe shouldn’t be done in the first place, or maybe it should in spite of the internal turmoil it can bring.
I took every step in this game with doubt and more questions than answers, with horror and shame, and it was not until close to the end, where I met a character that hadn’t shown up until that point, that the final decision was for me to be made, and this time the answer was clear, and in a mix of a final definitive realization and sharing those final moments, I could only feel my eyes get teary…
Soma is a narrative marvel, a story that I wasn’t expecting to cause me to ask so many questions and think about it so much, and in those moments after I stopped playing after a session, those stuck out of my mind as much as the terror, if not more, tho that’s part for the course since they kind of go hand in hand… It feels too real at times, too sickening, too horrible, but in the best possible form imaginable, it’s a horror that touches the soul, and it does so while looking astonishing and sticking with you, and it will stick with me for a long while; in a way, I feel as if there could be so much more to be talked about Soma, or maybe those are questions to ask oneself…
The game ends with yet another coin-toss, this time there may seem to be a clearer winner and loser, but in both outcomes, both lead to life in an endless abyss… but at least in one of them, the sun can shine again…
Ah,Celeste, how much I missed being so bad at playing you...
The fact this was developed in little over a week makes me think that the team at Maddy Makes Games, on top of being masters at design, are capable of bending time and space. Fragments of the Mountain puts a beautiful bow tie to what was already an amazing 2D platformer and an outstanding story, a little treat that feels reminiscent of low poly platformers and the original Celeste itself.
Seeing this collection of memories of the mountain in 3D warms my heart and playing through this sort of open little world —that in retrospect really reminds me of the archipelagos in Bowser's Fury or if all of the Bowser Stages were placed around Tall Tall Mountain from Super Mario 64— is the definition of a blast. Madeline's move set lends itself perfectly to 3D, and even some new tricks are added that fit perfectly and really open up the potential for shmoving. Like yeah, going through the challenges normally is super fun, but it's even more fun to do a little bit of level-skipping and getting a strawberry you REALLY weren't supposed to, if a 3D platformer has those kinds of moments, then you know it's good...
Even at 64 too bits the challenge still feels the same, which at some points it can go a little bit against it since the control never feels as precise as its 2D counterpart, and as much as I love the tape levels and their Mario Sunchine sounding-ass theme, it sometimes feels like you either get the exact angle with the camera you need, or youa re completely screwed... wait a minute... it's exactly like Sunshine now that I think about it!
But what Fragments of the Mountain also has is the heart; never mind how lovably goofy Madeline and the rest of the returning cast look, but the dialogue (which to be honest I didn't expect to be any going in) between these lovable figments, the amazing Lena Raine's OST that brings me back to a childhood I never had and what's possibly the single most adorable Special Thanks section I've seen in my entire life make Celeste 64 far more than a simple tribute, and while it also isn't a full continuation, is amazing endnote that I hope to see one day followed up, and I'd love to see more of this tridimensional small world.
I got my ass kicked, yes, but I welcome it, it's good to have one last little adventure collecting strawberries, flying through feathers and collecting cassette tapes; it's a good final farewell to this mountain, before moving on...
The fact this was developed in little over a week makes me think that the team at Maddy Makes Games, on top of being masters at design, are capable of bending time and space. Fragments of the Mountain puts a beautiful bow tie to what was already an amazing 2D platformer and an outstanding story, a little treat that feels reminiscent of low poly platformers and the original Celeste itself.
Seeing this collection of memories of the mountain in 3D warms my heart and playing through this sort of open little world —that in retrospect really reminds me of the archipelagos in Bowser's Fury or if all of the Bowser Stages were placed around Tall Tall Mountain from Super Mario 64— is the definition of a blast. Madeline's move set lends itself perfectly to 3D, and even some new tricks are added that fit perfectly and really open up the potential for shmoving. Like yeah, going through the challenges normally is super fun, but it's even more fun to do a little bit of level-skipping and getting a strawberry you REALLY weren't supposed to, if a 3D platformer has those kinds of moments, then you know it's good...
Even at 64 too bits the challenge still feels the same, which at some points it can go a little bit against it since the control never feels as precise as its 2D counterpart, and as much as I love the tape levels and their Mario Sunchine sounding-ass theme, it sometimes feels like you either get the exact angle with the camera you need, or youa re completely screwed... wait a minute... it's exactly like Sunshine now that I think about it!
But what Fragments of the Mountain also has is the heart; never mind how lovably goofy Madeline and the rest of the returning cast look, but the dialogue (which to be honest I didn't expect to be any going in) between these lovable figments, the amazing Lena Raine's OST that brings me back to a childhood I never had and what's possibly the single most adorable Special Thanks section I've seen in my entire life make Celeste 64 far more than a simple tribute, and while it also isn't a full continuation, is amazing endnote that I hope to see one day followed up, and I'd love to see more of this tridimensional small world.
I got my ass kicked, yes, but I welcome it, it's good to have one last little adventure collecting strawberries, flying through feathers and collecting cassette tapes; it's a good final farewell to this mountain, before moving on...
2023
Pokémon Chess is an unbalanced mess... it really feels like a true official competitive experience, only instead of Landorus Therian and Urshifus, you get ice Queens!
I really do enjoy some of its ideas: I'm always up to a more chaotic reinterpretation of a game like chess, and changes like the type effectiveness and the complete erasure of the concept of check do transform it into a far more aggressive game in a good way. In here is doing or you don't, except that even if you do it, the game may say ''y'know? fuck you in particular!''.
If you ask, I'm not really saying it from experience, 'cause for some reason this game adores me. It has helped me to every single opportunity and saved me from every single fuck up, and you know, I appreciate the help, but you gotta let go, Pokémon Chess, it's not you, it's... no wait it really is you.
I know that Pokémon and RNG are intrinsically related, but the way the newly introduced luck messes with the base balance of chess completely ruins it. Sure, it's fun to get a critical hit and blast through your opponent the first time, but after a while it really sets in how fishing for those moments ruins the strategizing potential of the game and how the possibility of missing seems specifically added to either create an incredibly annoying mechanic or make le funny internet moments. Pokémon is, even at its most questionable, entirely designed around RNG, chess isn’t. And not enough changes have been made to accommodate such an inclusion.
It’s a gimmick that gets old fast but can be fun with friends, which is about what I expected it to be, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a little novelty and very little else, it really is what says on the packaging.
Having said that tho, the fact the low HP music from B&W plays when you are in ‘’check’’ is a damn good detail, that caught me off guard and was pretty cool, +5 points for that alone!
I really do enjoy some of its ideas: I'm always up to a more chaotic reinterpretation of a game like chess, and changes like the type effectiveness and the complete erasure of the concept of check do transform it into a far more aggressive game in a good way. In here is doing or you don't, except that even if you do it, the game may say ''y'know? fuck you in particular!''.
If you ask, I'm not really saying it from experience, 'cause for some reason this game adores me. It has helped me to every single opportunity and saved me from every single fuck up, and you know, I appreciate the help, but you gotta let go, Pokémon Chess, it's not you, it's... no wait it really is you.
I know that Pokémon and RNG are intrinsically related, but the way the newly introduced luck messes with the base balance of chess completely ruins it. Sure, it's fun to get a critical hit and blast through your opponent the first time, but after a while it really sets in how fishing for those moments ruins the strategizing potential of the game and how the possibility of missing seems specifically added to either create an incredibly annoying mechanic or make le funny internet moments. Pokémon is, even at its most questionable, entirely designed around RNG, chess isn’t. And not enough changes have been made to accommodate such an inclusion.
It’s a gimmick that gets old fast but can be fun with friends, which is about what I expected it to be, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a little novelty and very little else, it really is what says on the packaging.
Having said that tho, the fact the low HP music from B&W plays when you are in ‘’check’’ is a damn good detail, that caught me off guard and was pretty cool, +5 points for that alone!
2023
Maybe, only maybe, after all said and done, I got rhythm after all...
I did feel a bit nervous going into Hi Fi Rush, because even tho I’m not hesitant to show my love and appreciation for the rhythm genre, that doesn’t change the reality that is the fact I’m complete ass at them, so when mixing that with a 3D beat ‘em up combat style which, wouldn’t you know, I usually suck balls at too, then I was scared I’d be facing a doom or gloom situation. Either it all clicked, or I failed to catch its drift and begin to even enjoy it, I only saw those two possibilities and was really scared of the latter. I really wanted to love it, I really wanted to enjoy what seemed like a game made from sheer love and passion for the craft, and the prospect of not ‘’getting it’’ felt like some sort of looming threat over my head... Only now after beating it I realize that, even if that were to be the case, it wouldn’t change my feelings about any other aspect.
There’s so much to enjoy in and about Hi Fi Rush that I don’t really know where to start with; perhaps I could (and will) begin by praising the outstanding visual style, a wonderful mixture of colors and design that made me reminisce of the kind of futuristic punk seen in games like Jet Set Radio or even deBlob, with the difference being that the Vandelay campus doesn't hold back when it comes to being stylish. The corporation may be rotten, but fuck man, whoever oversees decorations needs a raise! Everything pops up with the beautiful cel shading that made me feel like I was playing through a moving comic book at times; seeing cinematics flow together into and after gameplay was a mastery of transition I was not expecting to witness, and how in it to its entirely dances to the rhythm in such a satisfying way.
I could (and will) also gush about the characters; the crew of Chai, Peppermint, Macaron and the rest of the gang with is hunger inducing names is a set of characters I really, REALLY wasn’t expecting to be so fond of, and hey, it’s nice to see a main character I can relate to... a complete idiot! I say that, but Chai manages to walk in the fine line that its between being lovably cocky and completely insufferable and coming out positively from it, and for such a simple and free of conflict narrative, it still manages to give him and the rest some incredibly impactful moments. Hi Fi Rush strays away for what I thought would be predictable plot points and instead tales a relatively simple tale with the perfect cast of goofballs, to the point I found myself wishing to see a little bit more or Peppermint’s struggles, more of Macaron’s character wise in general or that CNMN had more stuff to do ‘cause holy hell I love that fact spitting metal head so much (tho he gets the single best most surprising moment in the game so hey, you lose some you win some!). The villains are also a home run, never mind this game’s whole plot is about defeating dastardly suits — I’ve always wanted to bash a cybernetic CEO’s hed with a guitar!— but they are all so into being the specific trope or character they are going for that it’s impossible to not love to hate them, and honestly the big bad ends up being a bit boring personality wise compared to the rest of them (tho now that I think about, that was the intent, in which case it’d be pretty fitting to be completely honest), because they really are a riot.
Tho the funny factor isn’t limited to the big bads. There are so many jokes and gags that and that I feel like I’m watching an airport; whether it’s just the energy that the characters interactions ooze or simply the way they act between each other, Chais’ stupidity at the beginning (seriously I was laughing my ass off during that dream sequence), the way not just the main villains but the damn normal enemies are introduced and how you can discover that NONE of them were originally designed for combat despite being literal killing machines, or just incredibly funny moments like finding a random log of a disgruntled employee that decided to mess the coffee machine firmware, and for that to be a recurring joke THROUGH THE ENTIRE ADVENTURE, that, that right there, and I don’t use this word lightly (or use it in general for that matter), is PEAK humor. And what’s this? Very spaced use and references to memes that actually work as jokes in the moment and aren’t recent??? Hi Fi Rush, if you wanted my heart, you just had to ask!
Even if you think you know what you are getting yourself into, Hi Fi Rush always finds ways to surprise you. When you think you got this game nailed and it’s just combat sections between platforming and exploration zones then BAM!, it hits you with a new idea, a new enemy that introduces a new design, a new boss fight that completely changes how you approach combat, a new partner, a new cool moment, spaced perfectly between each other so they don’t grow tiring while close enough to keep you engaged. It never presents you with never seen before ideas, but it always finds ways to create jaw-dropping situations and mix and match concepts to create something that feels new, a sort of ‘’yoink and twist’’, if you will. There’s a never-ending feeling of ‘’wholeness’’ in this game, where everything works incredibly well when looked independently, but also as whole; it’s hard to not notice how much the game’s systems and ideas sip into one another and some things wouldn’t hit as hard if there wasn’t te other, like the music! It sounds good, they are fantastic tunes, but something is missing from them in re-listens, even the licensed ones... it misses the ASS-WHOOPING!
Seeing so many accessibility options calmed me down quite a bit when I started, but after a while, after playing and beginning the fights and the dance of combat... I was getting it! Not because I was good, oh no, my tempo is still very much far from perfect, and yet, I was getting it. The music began to flow through the sounds of fight and diging, the enemies attacking with the music the same you do, hitting the right times as well as dancing, it was a slow dance at first, but by the half-way point, I wasn’t going along the music, it felt as if I was making it through fighting alone. The new moves you get, the special attacks and interactions of your partners (which also make for some extremely fun platforming challenges) and upgrades nudge little by little, they compel you to be more daring, to dance faster, to be more aggressive, to know where to defend, to dodge and parry through your riffs and hits. Failing is part of the process in a way, it’s still really hard to get a perfect or even high rhythm score at first, and yet it’s fun, it made me want to keep trying, to be a rockstar.
It’s like a story or battle you’d imagine while listening to an intense rock song, only made into a 10-hour game full dream-like joy, and even beyond that thanks to the meaty post-game and incredibly fun side modes. An adventure with so many things to love that I even at this point in the review I wonder if was truly able to express them fully, Hi Fi Rus is a simple game in theory, but in practice is a wonderful, beautiful and funny odyssey, always hopeful and excited to keep going even when facing the clear dangers of such a conglomerate, always finding ways to surprise, to be welcoming, to make you feel like you got rhythm indeed. I know that many couldn't get into it even with the extra help, and I totally get it, it’s still a game that might reject you simply because it’s combat system is not fun or doesn’t click, that makes sense and I’m happy you at least gave it a go, but if you still haven’t, I implore you to give it a try, and even if you don’t jam with its battle system, who knows, you might find something else to adore about it...
Moral of the story? Finances are cringe, lesbians always win, Deemon can’t parry and 808 is best cat, that adorable (goof)ball is so precious...
I did feel a bit nervous going into Hi Fi Rush, because even tho I’m not hesitant to show my love and appreciation for the rhythm genre, that doesn’t change the reality that is the fact I’m complete ass at them, so when mixing that with a 3D beat ‘em up combat style which, wouldn’t you know, I usually suck balls at too, then I was scared I’d be facing a doom or gloom situation. Either it all clicked, or I failed to catch its drift and begin to even enjoy it, I only saw those two possibilities and was really scared of the latter. I really wanted to love it, I really wanted to enjoy what seemed like a game made from sheer love and passion for the craft, and the prospect of not ‘’getting it’’ felt like some sort of looming threat over my head... Only now after beating it I realize that, even if that were to be the case, it wouldn’t change my feelings about any other aspect.
There’s so much to enjoy in and about Hi Fi Rush that I don’t really know where to start with; perhaps I could (and will) begin by praising the outstanding visual style, a wonderful mixture of colors and design that made me reminisce of the kind of futuristic punk seen in games like Jet Set Radio or even deBlob, with the difference being that the Vandelay campus doesn't hold back when it comes to being stylish. The corporation may be rotten, but fuck man, whoever oversees decorations needs a raise! Everything pops up with the beautiful cel shading that made me feel like I was playing through a moving comic book at times; seeing cinematics flow together into and after gameplay was a mastery of transition I was not expecting to witness, and how in it to its entirely dances to the rhythm in such a satisfying way.
I could (and will) also gush about the characters; the crew of Chai, Peppermint, Macaron and the rest of the gang with is hunger inducing names is a set of characters I really, REALLY wasn’t expecting to be so fond of, and hey, it’s nice to see a main character I can relate to... a complete idiot! I say that, but Chai manages to walk in the fine line that its between being lovably cocky and completely insufferable and coming out positively from it, and for such a simple and free of conflict narrative, it still manages to give him and the rest some incredibly impactful moments. Hi Fi Rush strays away for what I thought would be predictable plot points and instead tales a relatively simple tale with the perfect cast of goofballs, to the point I found myself wishing to see a little bit more or Peppermint’s struggles, more of Macaron’s character wise in general or that CNMN had more stuff to do ‘cause holy hell I love that fact spitting metal head so much (tho he gets the single best most surprising moment in the game so hey, you lose some you win some!). The villains are also a home run, never mind this game’s whole plot is about defeating dastardly suits — I’ve always wanted to bash a cybernetic CEO’s hed with a guitar!— but they are all so into being the specific trope or character they are going for that it’s impossible to not love to hate them, and honestly the big bad ends up being a bit boring personality wise compared to the rest of them (tho now that I think about, that was the intent, in which case it’d be pretty fitting to be completely honest), because they really are a riot.
Tho the funny factor isn’t limited to the big bads. There are so many jokes and gags that and that I feel like I’m watching an airport; whether it’s just the energy that the characters interactions ooze or simply the way they act between each other, Chais’ stupidity at the beginning (seriously I was laughing my ass off during that dream sequence), the way not just the main villains but the damn normal enemies are introduced and how you can discover that NONE of them were originally designed for combat despite being literal killing machines, or just incredibly funny moments like finding a random log of a disgruntled employee that decided to mess the coffee machine firmware, and for that to be a recurring joke THROUGH THE ENTIRE ADVENTURE, that, that right there, and I don’t use this word lightly (or use it in general for that matter), is PEAK humor. And what’s this? Very spaced use and references to memes that actually work as jokes in the moment and aren’t recent??? Hi Fi Rush, if you wanted my heart, you just had to ask!
Even if you think you know what you are getting yourself into, Hi Fi Rush always finds ways to surprise you. When you think you got this game nailed and it’s just combat sections between platforming and exploration zones then BAM!, it hits you with a new idea, a new enemy that introduces a new design, a new boss fight that completely changes how you approach combat, a new partner, a new cool moment, spaced perfectly between each other so they don’t grow tiring while close enough to keep you engaged. It never presents you with never seen before ideas, but it always finds ways to create jaw-dropping situations and mix and match concepts to create something that feels new, a sort of ‘’yoink and twist’’, if you will. There’s a never-ending feeling of ‘’wholeness’’ in this game, where everything works incredibly well when looked independently, but also as whole; it’s hard to not notice how much the game’s systems and ideas sip into one another and some things wouldn’t hit as hard if there wasn’t te other, like the music! It sounds good, they are fantastic tunes, but something is missing from them in re-listens, even the licensed ones... it misses the ASS-WHOOPING!
Seeing so many accessibility options calmed me down quite a bit when I started, but after a while, after playing and beginning the fights and the dance of combat... I was getting it! Not because I was good, oh no, my tempo is still very much far from perfect, and yet, I was getting it. The music began to flow through the sounds of fight and diging, the enemies attacking with the music the same you do, hitting the right times as well as dancing, it was a slow dance at first, but by the half-way point, I wasn’t going along the music, it felt as if I was making it through fighting alone. The new moves you get, the special attacks and interactions of your partners (which also make for some extremely fun platforming challenges) and upgrades nudge little by little, they compel you to be more daring, to dance faster, to be more aggressive, to know where to defend, to dodge and parry through your riffs and hits. Failing is part of the process in a way, it’s still really hard to get a perfect or even high rhythm score at first, and yet it’s fun, it made me want to keep trying, to be a rockstar.
It’s like a story or battle you’d imagine while listening to an intense rock song, only made into a 10-hour game full dream-like joy, and even beyond that thanks to the meaty post-game and incredibly fun side modes. An adventure with so many things to love that I even at this point in the review I wonder if was truly able to express them fully, Hi Fi Rus is a simple game in theory, but in practice is a wonderful, beautiful and funny odyssey, always hopeful and excited to keep going even when facing the clear dangers of such a conglomerate, always finding ways to surprise, to be welcoming, to make you feel like you got rhythm indeed. I know that many couldn't get into it even with the extra help, and I totally get it, it’s still a game that might reject you simply because it’s combat system is not fun or doesn’t click, that makes sense and I’m happy you at least gave it a go, but if you still haven’t, I implore you to give it a try, and even if you don’t jam with its battle system, who knows, you might find something else to adore about it...
Moral of the story? Finances are cringe, lesbians always win, Deemon can’t parry and 808 is best cat, that adorable (goof)ball is so precious...
Allow me to present you with a question you might groan at the mere sight of witnessing it, fellow reader, that being: are videogames art?
To that I say a resound:... they are even better than that
I really don’t know where to even start with Katamari Damacy, much like with the weird kind-of-not-spherical bringers of chaos and destruction that give the game’s name, there isn’t really a beginning or end, it just keeps on rollin’...
I wouldn’t be the first to gush about its uniqueness, both in its completely bonkers yet adorably silly presentation and its rather peculiar control scheme, one that definitively takes some time to adjust to, but one you do it’s like riding on a bike. Managing both joysticks, knowing when to turn and when to stop, where to go and what to evade, it’s a waltz performed by a mystical otter that plays the accordion, and you may be thinking ‘’Deemon, that doesn’t make sense at all’’ and to that I say EXACTLY! It’s a hectic loop, there were times I was sweating wondering if I’d even come close to the required size to beat the game, only to steam roll while some of the most varied and oddly beautiful bangers play in the background, some even compliment you! And that’s when the stress starts to mix with an zen sensation, a melding process that culminates once you do it, you manage to reach the required size, and from your mind an profound and sound ‘’WOOOOOOOOO!’’ sensation appears as you begin to try to go even higher, reaching uncontemplated horizons by your small prince mind and achieve a perfect star shine... only for the King of the Universe to go ‘’You call this a star? Oh me oh my.’’ ...
It feels too chaotic, and yet, it’s perfectly calculated. There are so many maps that it feels like new surprises are neverending, yet there are so little that learning their routing becomes essential as well as pretty rewarding; there’s so much stuff that it may be hard to know where to start or on what you can even roll over, yet it’s placement is so finely tuned, so perfectly put together that it begins to be like a puzzle that gets easier as you go along, and even throws some extra challenges like finding the scattered gifts across the globe or trying out the constellation stages. Even when the King of the Universe throws you to repair his ‘’naughtiness’’ or time seems of the essence, there's always a moment of respite, a small victory whether it’s in pure calmness or pure ectasis, or something as simple as triying to find out a new crazy set up or what do they ask of you next. Going from having to just achieve 1 meter to the three-digit numbers was a feeling of progression that seems simple, but I wasn’t expecting to see so well-crafted in so little time, to make me keep coming back time and time again may to grab a scarf or shirt on the way, or get the biggest cow possible and make one hell of a Taurus.
The little intermissions, the songs, the movement... it’s such a silly experience, and I use that word with the best intent imaginable. Katamari Damacy is comfy and hilarious, stressful and maddening, a cocktail of emotions I don’t think a game has made me feel in such a way. There’s not a ton of games that say goodbye when closing them, and even among them, Katamari does it with an irreplicable sweetness, the same with which i does everything else.
You gotta defeat mouses if you want to go up against a Kraken, you need to see small worlds before going through the globe, and of course, if you want to make the sky shine, you gotta keep rollin’
And before I wrap this up, huge thanks to @Drax for recommending me this one, it was the reason I came back to it after giving it a go in 2022 and dropping it near the beggning and I’m so glad I returned, it was beyond worth it...
To that I say a resound:... they are even better than that
I really don’t know where to even start with Katamari Damacy, much like with the weird kind-of-not-spherical bringers of chaos and destruction that give the game’s name, there isn’t really a beginning or end, it just keeps on rollin’...
I wouldn’t be the first to gush about its uniqueness, both in its completely bonkers yet adorably silly presentation and its rather peculiar control scheme, one that definitively takes some time to adjust to, but one you do it’s like riding on a bike. Managing both joysticks, knowing when to turn and when to stop, where to go and what to evade, it’s a waltz performed by a mystical otter that plays the accordion, and you may be thinking ‘’Deemon, that doesn’t make sense at all’’ and to that I say EXACTLY! It’s a hectic loop, there were times I was sweating wondering if I’d even come close to the required size to beat the game, only to steam roll while some of the most varied and oddly beautiful bangers play in the background, some even compliment you! And that’s when the stress starts to mix with an zen sensation, a melding process that culminates once you do it, you manage to reach the required size, and from your mind an profound and sound ‘’WOOOOOOOOO!’’ sensation appears as you begin to try to go even higher, reaching uncontemplated horizons by your small prince mind and achieve a perfect star shine... only for the King of the Universe to go ‘’You call this a star? Oh me oh my.’’ ...
It feels too chaotic, and yet, it’s perfectly calculated. There are so many maps that it feels like new surprises are neverending, yet there are so little that learning their routing becomes essential as well as pretty rewarding; there’s so much stuff that it may be hard to know where to start or on what you can even roll over, yet it’s placement is so finely tuned, so perfectly put together that it begins to be like a puzzle that gets easier as you go along, and even throws some extra challenges like finding the scattered gifts across the globe or trying out the constellation stages. Even when the King of the Universe throws you to repair his ‘’naughtiness’’ or time seems of the essence, there's always a moment of respite, a small victory whether it’s in pure calmness or pure ectasis, or something as simple as triying to find out a new crazy set up or what do they ask of you next. Going from having to just achieve 1 meter to the three-digit numbers was a feeling of progression that seems simple, but I wasn’t expecting to see so well-crafted in so little time, to make me keep coming back time and time again may to grab a scarf or shirt on the way, or get the biggest cow possible and make one hell of a Taurus.
The little intermissions, the songs, the movement... it’s such a silly experience, and I use that word with the best intent imaginable. Katamari Damacy is comfy and hilarious, stressful and maddening, a cocktail of emotions I don’t think a game has made me feel in such a way. There’s not a ton of games that say goodbye when closing them, and even among them, Katamari does it with an irreplicable sweetness, the same with which i does everything else.
You gotta defeat mouses if you want to go up against a Kraken, you need to see small worlds before going through the globe, and of course, if you want to make the sky shine, you gotta keep rollin’
And before I wrap this up, huge thanks to @Drax for recommending me this one, it was the reason I came back to it after giving it a go in 2022 and dropping it near the beggning and I’m so glad I returned, it was beyond worth it...
2016
You know, the original Wild Guns was pretty alright, but you know what it was missing this whole time?... A DOGGO!
I don't think that saying the original game was pretty stellar would be a hot take; Wild Guns is a pretty damn fun and interesting take on shooting galleries, combining them with the platforming genre and delivering an outstanding visual style and setting —I've always had a weakness for the idea of robots and giant floating ships in the Wild West, and this game takes insporation from all kinds of works based on that idea— resulting in a game that the only reason I haven't ever returned to it being because I'm terrible at it.
While I can't think of anything particularly wrong with it, I wouldn't have complaint if some things were done differently; the lack of any kind of save feature, while making it very much in line with the arcade experiences it draws inspiration from and it isn't a lengthy experience by any chance, it would have still been welcomed, such as more mini-boss variety or a bit of re-tooling on the already present big bads. I didn’t know much about Reloaded going into it, but I thought it would be basically that; a retake that takes the chance to update and change some aspects, keeping the core the same while modifying and altering parts of the original experience, like so many remakes do. But... no, Wild Guns Reloaded keeps the experience the exact same, only adding to what was already there, and it honestly feels as if this was the game they wanted to make back in 1994.
Why do I say that? Well, Bullet is in it for one, but even setting aside that big and clear improvement, every other aspect that was in the original experience is brought to its best possible limit. The first game was already pretty, Reloaded is outright majestic: the pixel art is so detailed and perfected for both enemies and the stages themselves that the fact it still feels like the original artwork is honestly remarkable. The SNES game is still amazing to look that even to this day, but here I truly get the feeling I’m playing a forgotten real Arcade version; no big changes were made, nor was anything lost in the 22-year leap. Same sentiment goes towards the OST, I still LOVE how the original sounds, but the new remixes are takes that I also enjoy quite a bit. I don’t think that Reloaded puts these aspects of its predecessor to shame, but it’s a pretty worthy upgrade and accomplished what it was probably going for, the feeling that this could have been on a cabinet alongside the likes of Metal Slug back in the 90s.
In every other sense, this is quite literally Wild Guns... but more of it! Brand new secret stages, enemies and themes are already wonderful additions, but also having Doris and The Best Character in Gaming to add 4-player-multiplayer is one of those changes that wasn’t necessary at all but incentivizes replayability even more: Doris is an interesting character to play as, much more methodical but an absolute powerhouse if you manage it right, even tho it never clicked with me, I can totally see how useful it can be solo or with other players... and then there’s Bullet. Clint and Annie are fun to play, they are the original pair and they feel perfectly adequate to this curious style of gameplay, Bullet is the odd one out, and yet I prefer him so much more: were the other two sacrifice movility for the shake of more precise shooting, Bullet is te opposite, only being to auto aim in a sepcific part once the button is held down, but you are completely free to move while you do it. I adore this more agressive way of approaching stages and even if it can take a bit to grow accostumed, I find it so rewarding, there’s a reason I praised it even before getting to him, beating Kid’s ass never felt better.
Even more jaw-dropping visuals, more stuff to test and have fun with, same great game as always, and a nice puppy; calling Wild Guns Reloaded a ‘’remaster’’ feels like trowing out the sheer effort and work it was put into replicating the original and going even further than one. Still, I don’t see Reloaded as a replacement, but it’s a fantastic option to have nonetheless, is the same fun time after all, just flashier and with more to discover...
Big thanks to @DeltaWDunn for recommending it to me! I’ll be honest and say that before it was brought into my attention, I didn’t even know this game existed, but I’m so glad someone pointed me to it, so once again, huge thanks!
I don't think that saying the original game was pretty stellar would be a hot take; Wild Guns is a pretty damn fun and interesting take on shooting galleries, combining them with the platforming genre and delivering an outstanding visual style and setting —I've always had a weakness for the idea of robots and giant floating ships in the Wild West, and this game takes insporation from all kinds of works based on that idea— resulting in a game that the only reason I haven't ever returned to it being because I'm terrible at it.
While I can't think of anything particularly wrong with it, I wouldn't have complaint if some things were done differently; the lack of any kind of save feature, while making it very much in line with the arcade experiences it draws inspiration from and it isn't a lengthy experience by any chance, it would have still been welcomed, such as more mini-boss variety or a bit of re-tooling on the already present big bads. I didn’t know much about Reloaded going into it, but I thought it would be basically that; a retake that takes the chance to update and change some aspects, keeping the core the same while modifying and altering parts of the original experience, like so many remakes do. But... no, Wild Guns Reloaded keeps the experience the exact same, only adding to what was already there, and it honestly feels as if this was the game they wanted to make back in 1994.
Why do I say that? Well, Bullet is in it for one, but even setting aside that big and clear improvement, every other aspect that was in the original experience is brought to its best possible limit. The first game was already pretty, Reloaded is outright majestic: the pixel art is so detailed and perfected for both enemies and the stages themselves that the fact it still feels like the original artwork is honestly remarkable. The SNES game is still amazing to look that even to this day, but here I truly get the feeling I’m playing a forgotten real Arcade version; no big changes were made, nor was anything lost in the 22-year leap. Same sentiment goes towards the OST, I still LOVE how the original sounds, but the new remixes are takes that I also enjoy quite a bit. I don’t think that Reloaded puts these aspects of its predecessor to shame, but it’s a pretty worthy upgrade and accomplished what it was probably going for, the feeling that this could have been on a cabinet alongside the likes of Metal Slug back in the 90s.
In every other sense, this is quite literally Wild Guns... but more of it! Brand new secret stages, enemies and themes are already wonderful additions, but also having Doris and The Best Character in Gaming to add 4-player-multiplayer is one of those changes that wasn’t necessary at all but incentivizes replayability even more: Doris is an interesting character to play as, much more methodical but an absolute powerhouse if you manage it right, even tho it never clicked with me, I can totally see how useful it can be solo or with other players... and then there’s Bullet. Clint and Annie are fun to play, they are the original pair and they feel perfectly adequate to this curious style of gameplay, Bullet is the odd one out, and yet I prefer him so much more: were the other two sacrifice movility for the shake of more precise shooting, Bullet is te opposite, only being to auto aim in a sepcific part once the button is held down, but you are completely free to move while you do it. I adore this more agressive way of approaching stages and even if it can take a bit to grow accostumed, I find it so rewarding, there’s a reason I praised it even before getting to him, beating Kid’s ass never felt better.
Even more jaw-dropping visuals, more stuff to test and have fun with, same great game as always, and a nice puppy; calling Wild Guns Reloaded a ‘’remaster’’ feels like trowing out the sheer effort and work it was put into replicating the original and going even further than one. Still, I don’t see Reloaded as a replacement, but it’s a fantastic option to have nonetheless, is the same fun time after all, just flashier and with more to discover...
Big thanks to @DeltaWDunn for recommending it to me! I’ll be honest and say that before it was brought into my attention, I didn’t even know this game existed, but I’m so glad someone pointed me to it, so once again, huge thanks!
I always knew that investors would be the ones to bring the devastation of the world!
It's always interesting to see people that mostly operate in other fields of art give a go to videogame making; I was not familiar with MrSuicideSheep previously to this —and by that I mean that I had never heard a single song from them channel until now—, but seeing as their channel serves more as a space for compilations of different electronic music, I wouldn't have expected this in a million years... especially considering Sheepy: A Short Adventure is an extremely enjoyable bite-sized platformer.
It's full of little things that make it a joy to go through; it's bursting with easter eggs and details, from collectables to silly stuff like reach mach speed while running on top of a spinning chair, little moments and extras both in the open and some actually pretty hidden and rewarding to reach, small additions to an already vibrant and sound world.
You know you got some stellar sound effects when it's satisfying to navigate through the menus to listen to the jingles. The OST itself is pretty good, I'm usually not a fan of cinematic-electro songs but in here they work quite well, especially during the major set-pieces, but what had me in awe was the sound design as a whole, a perfect accompaniment that envelops your ears and makes every single action rewarding, and every single mistake hurt a little bit more. It's an immaculate work, a achievement that goes hand in hand with one of the sweetest character pixel arts I've seen in a while.
With some exceptions, the zones and level themselves aren't anyhing crazy, they are mostly carried by some smaller details and unexpected effects, but other than that this isn't any different to other post-apocalyptic underground setting you could think off and no area really stuck in my mind except the final one, but then there's the characters. Sheepy, Patches and even the scattered critters are beautifully animated, buttery-smooth levels of animation that would be impressive as a standalone animation, but instead we get to play and interact with it.
Sheepy isn't a ground-breaking game nor it presents a novel idea, in fact for most of it's length it's a pretty average platformer with no particularly engaging challenges, but it presents new interesting mechanics as it goes on that make it incredibly fun to move around and every time I got to use them was amazing, it pulls off some pretty fun boss fights, it tells it's story with all the words it needs. The team has already shown desire to expand or explore new ideas and I'm so glad they are, because the potential is already palpable, but even if they weren't, as a stand-alone game Sheepy is so damn easy to like.
It’s a passion project made by people that clearly loved what they were doing during the whole development, and that's clear from the get-go. I'll be looking forward to see if the next adventure of this adorable little sheep happens and what that will have in store...
It's always interesting to see people that mostly operate in other fields of art give a go to videogame making; I was not familiar with MrSuicideSheep previously to this —and by that I mean that I had never heard a single song from them channel until now—, but seeing as their channel serves more as a space for compilations of different electronic music, I wouldn't have expected this in a million years... especially considering Sheepy: A Short Adventure is an extremely enjoyable bite-sized platformer.
It's full of little things that make it a joy to go through; it's bursting with easter eggs and details, from collectables to silly stuff like reach mach speed while running on top of a spinning chair, little moments and extras both in the open and some actually pretty hidden and rewarding to reach, small additions to an already vibrant and sound world.
You know you got some stellar sound effects when it's satisfying to navigate through the menus to listen to the jingles. The OST itself is pretty good, I'm usually not a fan of cinematic-electro songs but in here they work quite well, especially during the major set-pieces, but what had me in awe was the sound design as a whole, a perfect accompaniment that envelops your ears and makes every single action rewarding, and every single mistake hurt a little bit more. It's an immaculate work, a achievement that goes hand in hand with one of the sweetest character pixel arts I've seen in a while.
With some exceptions, the zones and level themselves aren't anyhing crazy, they are mostly carried by some smaller details and unexpected effects, but other than that this isn't any different to other post-apocalyptic underground setting you could think off and no area really stuck in my mind except the final one, but then there's the characters. Sheepy, Patches and even the scattered critters are beautifully animated, buttery-smooth levels of animation that would be impressive as a standalone animation, but instead we get to play and interact with it.
Sheepy isn't a ground-breaking game nor it presents a novel idea, in fact for most of it's length it's a pretty average platformer with no particularly engaging challenges, but it presents new interesting mechanics as it goes on that make it incredibly fun to move around and every time I got to use them was amazing, it pulls off some pretty fun boss fights, it tells it's story with all the words it needs. The team has already shown desire to expand or explore new ideas and I'm so glad they are, because the potential is already palpable, but even if they weren't, as a stand-alone game Sheepy is so damn easy to like.
It’s a passion project made by people that clearly loved what they were doing during the whole development, and that's clear from the get-go. I'll be looking forward to see if the next adventure of this adorable little sheep happens and what that will have in store...
Death of a Shadow
There are two fights in this game, both against the same enemy, that I believe perfectly encapsulate the things I find myself loving with a burning passion and the worst parts of the entire experience respectively; one is a frenetic ‘’you die if you stay still’’ challenge that acts as the perfect exam for jumping and dodging, a movement test if you will, and it does that while creating an incredibly fun encounter that makes your heart race in a pretty simple but appropriate arena, and just when you think it’s over, it surprises you with a brand new set of moves that dive you the perfect chance to make your parry and guard skills shine as well as use what you may have learned about spacing in the last phase. It’s an unexpected yet perfect fight which the game had been quietly building up through its mechanics and the area that you traversed to get to it… And then the second time around you randomly encounter in a much more cramped, less interesting arena where the camera really likes to go to the great beyond —more than usual I mean — and I has NO new moves and it doesn’t get interesting in any way, in fact it’s second phase is fighting another enemy with the moves that it had at first at the same time.
It may sound like it has the potential to be a cool fight, and maybe it does.
In practice it just isn’t.
Some of the faults of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice come from the fact, despite playing and functioning in entirely different ways, it never breaks is ties with the Souls series. The enemy AI behavior and camera are essentially the same, and if the latter was already a point of contention in the best of cases and the reason many stopped playing in previous games, in here shit is fucked up. This is not a camera that was designed for encounters this hectic nor for a combat so fast paced, and even if most of time works, when it doesn’t it feels like an entire enemy of its own; it’s not weird to get backed into a corner when fighting some bosses or losing sight of a really big one in the open field, and if that happens then prepare to pray to every singular member of the FromSoft team, ‘cause the chance of you getting out of that situation without a giant slash across your entire body is pretty damn low. It is not a constant, but it happens way to many times for it to not be a pretty big issue, and the amount of times I’ve NEARLY lost entire fights because of it is a horror story in itself. Basically what I’m trying to say is, if you see a mini-boss in a rectangular arena,RUN.
Regarding the AI tho… maybe I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, but I want to make clear that when it comes to one-to-one combat, this game excels in so many ways that if I tried to explain it this review would be way longer than it probably is going to be already. It’s an exciting and terrifying dance where the enemy may decide the beat, but you are the one taking steps, and fights flow like water down the stream… but Sekiro isn’t entirely a combat focused game. Stealth makes up a huge portion of the game and there is no limit to the amount of options, paths and strategies you can take, and it’s pretty fun!.. except that it really doesn’t feel like it flows as well. The AI is extremely rudimentary, and enemies can be in three different states: clueless, on alert and on battle; they are predictable as they are completely impossible to understand, they always act and reset to their original position even if you killed half of the camp you are in, which kills a bit of the tension when you are always more mobile than any of them, so going away and returning is a constant safe option that never really punishes you aside of enemies getting their health back (which doesn’t really matter for non-bosses since enemies die in one hit if you mortal-strike them) and it sometimes feels like getting spotted is a total gamble that depends on some weird-ass enemy placement or just plain inconsistency. It feels oddly clunky, and granted, it only feels like that when you do something wrong, but I also really think that a liiiiiiiiiiiiittle more complex AI and things like more traps and more persistent enemies would have made it far more punishing but satisfying. One thing it does help is that because enemies act INCREDIBLY aggressive, fighting more than one rando at a time feels like actual hell, so going in sword blazing is never a feasible option, and that is a smart way to encourage getting rid of enemies individually… except that sometimes the game does force you to fight groups of enemies directly and it’s the sloppiest most unfun thing ever but you know what I think I’m gonna shut up now…
The artificiality is only reinforced by how the actual characters themselves act in big moments, you may be in the middle of a fight or an entire castle is being conquered right as you speak, doesn’t matter, even characters withing the building won’ say a word about… odd is the word I can really think of for it, it’s just too odd…
It really doesn’t help that quite a few of the optional content feels more like a chore. Getting exp and money for the items can be a really big time consuming process near the end, but I guess that comes in the package with it having RPG elements, and said elements are indeed pretty good so I can look past that. But fighting the Headless, doing some of the more impossibly obtuse quests and getting all of the prosthetics upgrades however, that’s a bit harder to ignore… they are amazing parts of the game contextually, but actually getting them is a huge investment that can be the most mind-numbing thing ever, even if the reward itself is more often than not worth it.
And funny that I mention the obtusity of the quests, ‘cause that reminds me of the narrative… oh, the narrative…
Seems you’ve grown… if just a little
I can’t recall being so torn about a story as I am on Sekiro’s, in big part because I actually fucking love it so much. The land of Ashina, its darkest of catacombs and its highest of peaks, is is a world that made me wish to be able to learn more about it even after spending nearly 30 hours on it. Is a deeply rich, highly folklore inspired tale of mysteries and tragedies, of smallest victories and massive losses, and its cast makes a huge part of that. Meeting the Sculptor and seeing the clear but deeply hidden sadness it hides made me immediately invested, and from them it never stopped the pace. The weird-ass merchants you meet along the way, the impossible to not love allies—like Emma, Kotaro or the Divine Child — and every single one of the major foes you fight. Some don’t even need to say a word, their design and animations already tell a story on its own, confirmed by some of the items you can fins, but generally, it speaks and if you can drink sake with them, it’s a character worth meeting… but at the center of it all, there’s a Shinobi.
The protagonist isn’t a mere unnamed assassin, nor is it a representation of us as players. The main character of this story is Wolf. It is Sekiro… one problem tho: most of the time he isn’t really a character.
By that I don’t mean that ‘’Oh he doesn’t speak much so he’s barebones xdddddd’’ no, that’s actually an endearing trait of his that I loved each time a character pointed out, it humanizes him and levels him down from what otherwise would be an unstoppable killing machine, but aside from that, the only thing I can say for sure about Wolf is that… he’s…. loyal to Kuro, I guess?... oh wait no, nevermind, there’s an ending where you can betray everyone including him HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH?????!
Wolf gets completely screwed over by the fact he’s the main character of game with a couple different options and that lets you kills some NPCs, so we get this conflict where we get a clear version of the character in a scattered cinematics and the intro, but it never gets explored meaningfully and it can all feel screwed if you just acted a bit whacky and decided to sometimes be the purest angel imaginable or a complete psychopath at the flip of a switch. Which it may not be as big of a deal as making it out to be, Sekiro isn’t an expansive, dialogue reach RPG in the first place, but there are times where the game does really try do some cool-ass stuff. I made fun of it before for the sake of a joke, but the decision you can make of either defining your father, the Owl, or joining him is incredibly compelling both ways, one that makes perfect sense depending on how you view Sekiro and a surpringly super meaningful choice, but in contrast to that we get thing like fighting the Owl two times, both fights amazing and some of my favorites in the entire game mind you, but never achieve an ounce of the impact they could have simply because Wolf is one stoic bastard and we had only really seen the Owl like… one time before the fight.
Characters like Isshin, Emma and the Sculptor seem to bounce well of Wolf, but a ton of the more interesting moments are ones you have to go out of your way to reach, and they don’t feel really that personal; it’s just feels like the gang telling you stuff that it’s REALLY interesting, but it gets speed up or brushed aside, and sometimes just an excuse for a fight that you don’t even begin to comprehend it until it’s over (they really did my guy the Sculptor dirty, man…) so the only really meaningful collection between characters we have is the duo of Wolf and Master Kuro… which to be fair is my favorite of the game.
Kuro is a super curious spin on a immortal character, especially coming from FromSoftware’s previous work, and his showings of Kindness for Wolf like cooking rice balls and Wolf’s diligence to protect him felt like a curious Father-Son bonding moments I wasn’t expecting to see, and felt worth hunting for and seeing. I’m glad that bond that gets stronger as the game goes is the one that moves the game, because I feel it’s a genuine moment of true direct narrative being perfectly showcased and not just another wall of text you read after killing a boss. I just wish that for once we got the full narrative and more character driven-moments, but at least what is there, what it’s for us to see and play, it’s excellent…
…huh…
... it’s funny… that’s a statement that goes for the rest of the game too…
Hesitation is Defeat
Three words from the mouth of an old legend.
I didn’t know it when I first heard them, but those three words were going to echo in my mind from then and onwards, and even before… I just didn’t understand them yet.
The highs of Sekiro are so high I could swear they broke my goddamn roof. This is not a game about ‘’getting it’’, it’s about understanding it. It takes a while for sure, there’s a reason the game makes a fight for you to lose and one of the major mechanics is having more than one life. Experimentation and learning is the backbone of the game, both in the long term and in the moment while a fight to the death, but it’s not only through battling that you’ll gain experience.
You are made for this world, even if it’s hellbent to screw you; Wolf’s mobility and arsenal is simple, but the amount of possibilities opened up by the zones and how the enemies act doesn’t make it binary, in fact quite the opposite; your mind and reflexes are constantly tested, you need to think on your toes while you approach it slowly, and then you’ll maybe be able to gain an advantage and a better view of the area or a perspective on a fight. Whichever the case, it feels like silk, Wolf has always a bit of delay when starting its actions (except for blocking, that’s instant no matter what) but it’s constantly delayed, and when you start blasting or jumping or grappling-hooking, the only think that’ll be able to stop you will be a sneaky enemy or a mistake of your on. Few things feel as satisfactory as breaking an enemy’s posture or getting the drop on a mini-boss, fin fact, no… none really compares, nor that I can think of at least.
When everything is going right, the combat of Sekiro is king of the accursed universe. I described it before as a dance, but that does for every little action, every decision like taking an item or using a prothesis in the right time is just another brand-new way to go around this deadly waltz, avoiding fear and poison, sometimes going even underwater, it doesn’t matter, it always feels satisfying, you are always in control, you just have to not let them take it away from you.
I complimented Ashina before, but aside from looking astonishing, the lay out of every single zone that encompasses the kingdom is jaw dropping. Not that it’s just ‘’well designed’’, it’s that I cannot think of a single room that feels out of place or badly put together, let alone an area. It never feels unnatural, and in the best of cases I wished I could be transported right into them, the build up in each of them and the surprises they hold a treat to be experience. The Divine Kingdom, Ashina Castle and Senpo Temple are not just my favorite areas in the game, they are some of my favorite areas in ANY game, FromSoft even managed to pull off a Fores Fog and Poison Swamp and make them amazing! The bastards actually did it!
They are only enriched by the small or most impressive moments: a knight from a far away land walking out of a corner, a soothing melody hiding the dark truth of an old village, a small hill full of pinwheels that act as a reminder of a dark truth yet to be known… or just a dude falling at full speed onto you while screaming his lungs out.
I wanted to make special mention to the Great Shinobi Owl fight, I mentioned before it was great, but the reason why I think that is that it grounds this world even more; a boss that uses cheap unexpected tricks unpredictable in every way and that even uses your tactics against you… it’s like fighting a mirror, which not only tells a bit of the relationship both characters have more than any dialogue, it feels so satisfying to, after facing warriors of thunder and mist, after looking into the eyes of beast and hiding from giant gods, have a fight where everything you know about yourself and the enemies you have battled till now is tested… a fight where you cannot hesitate.
This review could have been all about talking about the boss encounters, and you know, maybe that’s a write-up for another time, but for now I can only state the obvious. Sekiro’s combat is joy, it’s stress, it’s a learning process, from beginning to the very last sword slash, even at it’s worst, 90% of my deaths were because I doubted, because I didn’t do a Mikiri counter or broke my guard, those were deaths that I felt responsible for… but with abilities to use and tricks to employ, you’ll always have at least another chance…
Also, the other 10% was at Demon of Hatred seriously FUCK that boss, it isn’t even the one I died the most to (I think) and I still despise it, get back your annoying ass to Devil May Cry 2!
Return
I tried Sekiro for the first time back in 2020. You can imagine it didn’t go so well.
4 years later I still see the problems that I could feel back then, and the fact most of that not-so-good content is optional doesn’t really make it more justified, and things like the camera are just undefendable… but, and this may seem rich coming from the guy spent the entire first 1000 words talking about everything wrong with the game… I still adore Sekiro. It’s flaws do get in the way of me loving it like so many others di, but after 4 years, being rapped by its world and visuals, fascinated by it’s combat and celebrating each victory like no other, excited to discover and learn even more… and to end up victorious in the end, that’s a feeling I don’t think a game will make me feel again, at least not for a long time.
The last of Ashina are unique, special, and so are the challenges it holds… challenges I surpassed, even when I really didn’t think I do, ‘cause for every 20 deaths at some random Mini Boss in the early game, there’s a Genichiro defeat at the fourth try. Falling again and again, and the in the end to not hesitate… that’s what Sekiro is about.
And when it teaches it well, it’s wonderful.
There are two fights in this game, both against the same enemy, that I believe perfectly encapsulate the things I find myself loving with a burning passion and the worst parts of the entire experience respectively; one is a frenetic ‘’you die if you stay still’’ challenge that acts as the perfect exam for jumping and dodging, a movement test if you will, and it does that while creating an incredibly fun encounter that makes your heart race in a pretty simple but appropriate arena, and just when you think it’s over, it surprises you with a brand new set of moves that dive you the perfect chance to make your parry and guard skills shine as well as use what you may have learned about spacing in the last phase. It’s an unexpected yet perfect fight which the game had been quietly building up through its mechanics and the area that you traversed to get to it… And then the second time around you randomly encounter in a much more cramped, less interesting arena where the camera really likes to go to the great beyond —more than usual I mean — and I has NO new moves and it doesn’t get interesting in any way, in fact it’s second phase is fighting another enemy with the moves that it had at first at the same time.
It may sound like it has the potential to be a cool fight, and maybe it does.
In practice it just isn’t.
Some of the faults of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice come from the fact, despite playing and functioning in entirely different ways, it never breaks is ties with the Souls series. The enemy AI behavior and camera are essentially the same, and if the latter was already a point of contention in the best of cases and the reason many stopped playing in previous games, in here shit is fucked up. This is not a camera that was designed for encounters this hectic nor for a combat so fast paced, and even if most of time works, when it doesn’t it feels like an entire enemy of its own; it’s not weird to get backed into a corner when fighting some bosses or losing sight of a really big one in the open field, and if that happens then prepare to pray to every singular member of the FromSoft team, ‘cause the chance of you getting out of that situation without a giant slash across your entire body is pretty damn low. It is not a constant, but it happens way to many times for it to not be a pretty big issue, and the amount of times I’ve NEARLY lost entire fights because of it is a horror story in itself. Basically what I’m trying to say is, if you see a mini-boss in a rectangular arena,RUN.
Regarding the AI tho… maybe I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, but I want to make clear that when it comes to one-to-one combat, this game excels in so many ways that if I tried to explain it this review would be way longer than it probably is going to be already. It’s an exciting and terrifying dance where the enemy may decide the beat, but you are the one taking steps, and fights flow like water down the stream… but Sekiro isn’t entirely a combat focused game. Stealth makes up a huge portion of the game and there is no limit to the amount of options, paths and strategies you can take, and it’s pretty fun!.. except that it really doesn’t feel like it flows as well. The AI is extremely rudimentary, and enemies can be in three different states: clueless, on alert and on battle; they are predictable as they are completely impossible to understand, they always act and reset to their original position even if you killed half of the camp you are in, which kills a bit of the tension when you are always more mobile than any of them, so going away and returning is a constant safe option that never really punishes you aside of enemies getting their health back (which doesn’t really matter for non-bosses since enemies die in one hit if you mortal-strike them) and it sometimes feels like getting spotted is a total gamble that depends on some weird-ass enemy placement or just plain inconsistency. It feels oddly clunky, and granted, it only feels like that when you do something wrong, but I also really think that a liiiiiiiiiiiiittle more complex AI and things like more traps and more persistent enemies would have made it far more punishing but satisfying. One thing it does help is that because enemies act INCREDIBLY aggressive, fighting more than one rando at a time feels like actual hell, so going in sword blazing is never a feasible option, and that is a smart way to encourage getting rid of enemies individually… except that sometimes the game does force you to fight groups of enemies directly and it’s the sloppiest most unfun thing ever but you know what I think I’m gonna shut up now…
The artificiality is only reinforced by how the actual characters themselves act in big moments, you may be in the middle of a fight or an entire castle is being conquered right as you speak, doesn’t matter, even characters withing the building won’ say a word about… odd is the word I can really think of for it, it’s just too odd…
It really doesn’t help that quite a few of the optional content feels more like a chore. Getting exp and money for the items can be a really big time consuming process near the end, but I guess that comes in the package with it having RPG elements, and said elements are indeed pretty good so I can look past that. But fighting the Headless, doing some of the more impossibly obtuse quests and getting all of the prosthetics upgrades however, that’s a bit harder to ignore… they are amazing parts of the game contextually, but actually getting them is a huge investment that can be the most mind-numbing thing ever, even if the reward itself is more often than not worth it.
And funny that I mention the obtusity of the quests, ‘cause that reminds me of the narrative… oh, the narrative…
Seems you’ve grown… if just a little
I can’t recall being so torn about a story as I am on Sekiro’s, in big part because I actually fucking love it so much. The land of Ashina, its darkest of catacombs and its highest of peaks, is is a world that made me wish to be able to learn more about it even after spending nearly 30 hours on it. Is a deeply rich, highly folklore inspired tale of mysteries and tragedies, of smallest victories and massive losses, and its cast makes a huge part of that. Meeting the Sculptor and seeing the clear but deeply hidden sadness it hides made me immediately invested, and from them it never stopped the pace. The weird-ass merchants you meet along the way, the impossible to not love allies—like Emma, Kotaro or the Divine Child — and every single one of the major foes you fight. Some don’t even need to say a word, their design and animations already tell a story on its own, confirmed by some of the items you can fins, but generally, it speaks and if you can drink sake with them, it’s a character worth meeting… but at the center of it all, there’s a Shinobi.
The protagonist isn’t a mere unnamed assassin, nor is it a representation of us as players. The main character of this story is Wolf. It is Sekiro… one problem tho: most of the time he isn’t really a character.
By that I don’t mean that ‘’Oh he doesn’t speak much so he’s barebones xdddddd’’ no, that’s actually an endearing trait of his that I loved each time a character pointed out, it humanizes him and levels him down from what otherwise would be an unstoppable killing machine, but aside from that, the only thing I can say for sure about Wolf is that… he’s…. loyal to Kuro, I guess?... oh wait no, nevermind, there’s an ending where you can betray everyone including him HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH?????!
Wolf gets completely screwed over by the fact he’s the main character of game with a couple different options and that lets you kills some NPCs, so we get this conflict where we get a clear version of the character in a scattered cinematics and the intro, but it never gets explored meaningfully and it can all feel screwed if you just acted a bit whacky and decided to sometimes be the purest angel imaginable or a complete psychopath at the flip of a switch. Which it may not be as big of a deal as making it out to be, Sekiro isn’t an expansive, dialogue reach RPG in the first place, but there are times where the game does really try do some cool-ass stuff. I made fun of it before for the sake of a joke, but the decision you can make of either defining your father, the Owl, or joining him is incredibly compelling both ways, one that makes perfect sense depending on how you view Sekiro and a surpringly super meaningful choice, but in contrast to that we get thing like fighting the Owl two times, both fights amazing and some of my favorites in the entire game mind you, but never achieve an ounce of the impact they could have simply because Wolf is one stoic bastard and we had only really seen the Owl like… one time before the fight.
Characters like Isshin, Emma and the Sculptor seem to bounce well of Wolf, but a ton of the more interesting moments are ones you have to go out of your way to reach, and they don’t feel really that personal; it’s just feels like the gang telling you stuff that it’s REALLY interesting, but it gets speed up or brushed aside, and sometimes just an excuse for a fight that you don’t even begin to comprehend it until it’s over (they really did my guy the Sculptor dirty, man…) so the only really meaningful collection between characters we have is the duo of Wolf and Master Kuro… which to be fair is my favorite of the game.
Kuro is a super curious spin on a immortal character, especially coming from FromSoftware’s previous work, and his showings of Kindness for Wolf like cooking rice balls and Wolf’s diligence to protect him felt like a curious Father-Son bonding moments I wasn’t expecting to see, and felt worth hunting for and seeing. I’m glad that bond that gets stronger as the game goes is the one that moves the game, because I feel it’s a genuine moment of true direct narrative being perfectly showcased and not just another wall of text you read after killing a boss. I just wish that for once we got the full narrative and more character driven-moments, but at least what is there, what it’s for us to see and play, it’s excellent…
…huh…
... it’s funny… that’s a statement that goes for the rest of the game too…
Hesitation is Defeat
Three words from the mouth of an old legend.
I didn’t know it when I first heard them, but those three words were going to echo in my mind from then and onwards, and even before… I just didn’t understand them yet.
The highs of Sekiro are so high I could swear they broke my goddamn roof. This is not a game about ‘’getting it’’, it’s about understanding it. It takes a while for sure, there’s a reason the game makes a fight for you to lose and one of the major mechanics is having more than one life. Experimentation and learning is the backbone of the game, both in the long term and in the moment while a fight to the death, but it’s not only through battling that you’ll gain experience.
You are made for this world, even if it’s hellbent to screw you; Wolf’s mobility and arsenal is simple, but the amount of possibilities opened up by the zones and how the enemies act doesn’t make it binary, in fact quite the opposite; your mind and reflexes are constantly tested, you need to think on your toes while you approach it slowly, and then you’ll maybe be able to gain an advantage and a better view of the area or a perspective on a fight. Whichever the case, it feels like silk, Wolf has always a bit of delay when starting its actions (except for blocking, that’s instant no matter what) but it’s constantly delayed, and when you start blasting or jumping or grappling-hooking, the only think that’ll be able to stop you will be a sneaky enemy or a mistake of your on. Few things feel as satisfactory as breaking an enemy’s posture or getting the drop on a mini-boss, fin fact, no… none really compares, nor that I can think of at least.
When everything is going right, the combat of Sekiro is king of the accursed universe. I described it before as a dance, but that does for every little action, every decision like taking an item or using a prothesis in the right time is just another brand-new way to go around this deadly waltz, avoiding fear and poison, sometimes going even underwater, it doesn’t matter, it always feels satisfying, you are always in control, you just have to not let them take it away from you.
I complimented Ashina before, but aside from looking astonishing, the lay out of every single zone that encompasses the kingdom is jaw dropping. Not that it’s just ‘’well designed’’, it’s that I cannot think of a single room that feels out of place or badly put together, let alone an area. It never feels unnatural, and in the best of cases I wished I could be transported right into them, the build up in each of them and the surprises they hold a treat to be experience. The Divine Kingdom, Ashina Castle and Senpo Temple are not just my favorite areas in the game, they are some of my favorite areas in ANY game, FromSoft even managed to pull off a Fores Fog and Poison Swamp and make them amazing! The bastards actually did it!
They are only enriched by the small or most impressive moments: a knight from a far away land walking out of a corner, a soothing melody hiding the dark truth of an old village, a small hill full of pinwheels that act as a reminder of a dark truth yet to be known… or just a dude falling at full speed onto you while screaming his lungs out.
I wanted to make special mention to the Great Shinobi Owl fight, I mentioned before it was great, but the reason why I think that is that it grounds this world even more; a boss that uses cheap unexpected tricks unpredictable in every way and that even uses your tactics against you… it’s like fighting a mirror, which not only tells a bit of the relationship both characters have more than any dialogue, it feels so satisfying to, after facing warriors of thunder and mist, after looking into the eyes of beast and hiding from giant gods, have a fight where everything you know about yourself and the enemies you have battled till now is tested… a fight where you cannot hesitate.
This review could have been all about talking about the boss encounters, and you know, maybe that’s a write-up for another time, but for now I can only state the obvious. Sekiro’s combat is joy, it’s stress, it’s a learning process, from beginning to the very last sword slash, even at it’s worst, 90% of my deaths were because I doubted, because I didn’t do a Mikiri counter or broke my guard, those were deaths that I felt responsible for… but with abilities to use and tricks to employ, you’ll always have at least another chance…
Also, the other 10% was at Demon of Hatred seriously FUCK that boss, it isn’t even the one I died the most to (I think) and I still despise it, get back your annoying ass to Devil May Cry 2!
Return
I tried Sekiro for the first time back in 2020. You can imagine it didn’t go so well.
4 years later I still see the problems that I could feel back then, and the fact most of that not-so-good content is optional doesn’t really make it more justified, and things like the camera are just undefendable… but, and this may seem rich coming from the guy spent the entire first 1000 words talking about everything wrong with the game… I still adore Sekiro. It’s flaws do get in the way of me loving it like so many others di, but after 4 years, being rapped by its world and visuals, fascinated by it’s combat and celebrating each victory like no other, excited to discover and learn even more… and to end up victorious in the end, that’s a feeling I don’t think a game will make me feel again, at least not for a long time.
The last of Ashina are unique, special, and so are the challenges it holds… challenges I surpassed, even when I really didn’t think I do, ‘cause for every 20 deaths at some random Mini Boss in the early game, there’s a Genichiro defeat at the fourth try. Falling again and again, and the in the end to not hesitate… that’s what Sekiro is about.
And when it teaches it well, it’s wonderful.
1972
I noticed a weird bug where the ball went through the paddles sometimes, the devs really should fix that on the next patch...
There's something so cosmically hilarious in the fact the CEO of Atari saw what would become one of the most influential piece of tech to ever be made as a ''fucking piece of trash'', and the main developer, Allan Alcorn, thought of it just as a side project where he did some things haphazardly to make his bosses weird-ass demands happy. It grounds the legend around Pong while being even more inspiring un a way.
It wasn't the first arcade machine, it wasn't the most creative thing you could do with the tech even back then, but damn if those beeps and boops aren't charming as hell and if playing alone isn't some of the most oddly interesting fun you could have with a game like this, even if sometimes hitting the ball when it respawns is even harder than when another player hits it back...
I could go on about Pong for 4000 words... except actually no, I couldn't; it's Pong, and beyond its unbelievably important historical value and rich history, it's still a game, and even more than half a century later, it still holds up as one.
A legacy that other games from back then and soon after do share, but one still worth praising nonetheless...
There's something so cosmically hilarious in the fact the CEO of Atari saw what would become one of the most influential piece of tech to ever be made as a ''fucking piece of trash'', and the main developer, Allan Alcorn, thought of it just as a side project where he did some things haphazardly to make his bosses weird-ass demands happy. It grounds the legend around Pong while being even more inspiring un a way.
It wasn't the first arcade machine, it wasn't the most creative thing you could do with the tech even back then, but damn if those beeps and boops aren't charming as hell and if playing alone isn't some of the most oddly interesting fun you could have with a game like this, even if sometimes hitting the ball when it respawns is even harder than when another player hits it back...
I could go on about Pong for 4000 words... except actually no, I couldn't; it's Pong, and beyond its unbelievably important historical value and rich history, it's still a game, and even more than half a century later, it still holds up as one.
A legacy that other games from back then and soon after do share, but one still worth praising nonetheless...
1989
Some would say that all this ''vanishing you'' thing is getting tiring, Dracula, but I must say... I like to think I’m just getting the hang of it.
I didn't know what the hell to expect from Castlevania III. As a stranger to the monster-whipping saga till now, it's by far the game I've heard the least about regarding the original Famicon/NES trilogy, tho that may have been a given since the debate around Simon's Quest and praise for the original Castlevania have been pretty loud on online discourse, especially some years back.
But when I saw that III was going to completely backpaddle on everything II did, I would lie if I said I didn’t feel disappointed; I may not think highly of Simon’s Quest’s as a complete package, but that game did some incredibly genius stuff with its tone and design, and even if I don’t have anything against continuist entries in a franchise, returning to the closed walls of Dracula’s castle once again and play the same dance around from the first time felt like throwing out an insurmountable potential, to throw out the window a more aggressive a wild look into Transylvania for the sake of the jumping and falling that worked on the first go.
So yeah, you could say I was pretty cautious going in, I never expected to hate it or even dislike it, in fact the little I heard was pretty positive, but I was still scared that I’d end up not getti- Oh who am I kidding, you know where I’m going with this and it’s exact same rant I said for Hi Fi Rush, let’s cut the shit, time to gush!
Also, as you may have noticed but I failed to acknowledge till now, I ended up playing the original Japanese version of the game, since I was told that the NES version went absolutely batshit insane with its difficulty, even more than the usual I mean, so this is not Castlevania gaming, this is Akumajou Densetsu gaming and, I’m sorry, but that name actually goes pretty hard and is what I’m gonna call it from now till the end of times.
Now, where was I?... Oh yeah, I was about to START JAMMING!
I… is it too exaggerated to say that Akumajou Densetsu is one of my favorite, if not my absolute preferred, Famicon game? I cannot thing of other 8 Bit adventures with a similar structure that compare, it is so impressive both a sequel and even a stand-alone game that I’m still SHOCKED at the technical and design prowess it shows, and not because I didn’t think the team behind these games wasn’t capable of something like this, but because it goes further beyond what the series stablished, a series already accustomed with perfectioning and exploring new visual and gameplay ideas.
We may have returned to the 2D linear platforming roots, but that just means we have another way to explore Transylvania; Simon’s Quest managed to create a fairly grounded, sad world, full of villages and cycles, secrets and dungeons, that Transylvania had seen and suffered the effects of the first game and it showed and perfectly worked for what it was. But now we go back 100 years to the past, to the rise of the Belmont name and the adventure of Trevor, and this Transylvania is very different from last time, but so hauntingly familiar at the same time. We return to the vibrant, outstandingly looking visuals from the first adventure, scenarios beautiful as a painting and designed to each fit a different part that conforms this damned land, from overtaken resting grounds to ever rising mechanical towers. Long are the days of being confined to a singular building, or rather, it’ll be long before that fate catches up to Simon, and right now openness is the name of the game. Paths that branch with each level beaten feel exciting, like a constant plunge into the unknown that rewards you with new faces or progress; this goes beyond just being replayability candy, this is an honest to god odyssey that gives you the lead, and can go one way or another depending which way you decide to go.
It wouldn’t be a Castlevania game without some bullshit which, charming as it may be, it’s still bullshit, and Akumajou Densetsu, even in its not as completely deranged original version, it still provides some challenge that walks dangerously close into the ‘’unfair barrage of crap’’ zone, but for every moment like that that it has, it doesn’t take too long for me to be swept away by the artful platforming. This may just be my favorite collection of hazards and challenges I’ve seen a platforming sequel in my entire life, things like the giant spinning gears, the acid tears that melt blocks or the no-jump platforms are, too put it lightly, unbelievable amazing. More than ever before, every platform, every enemy, every giant swinging pendulum, it has a tangible real place in this world, it fits, and it’s so much fun to jump across and whip through. I still cannot believe the scrolling sections, which tend to be parts I do not enjoy in any game, were something I loved to see and beat each and every time, and the rewarding feeling I got from beating them was the same as beating Dracula in the first game, which is getting me in a boss fighting mood…
I never really cared for most of the bosses of the series so far, the original Castlevania had a pretty great roster with some foes that made the overall quality sour, and you could argue Simon’s Quest doesn’t even have bosses, just really big, really slow big targets that damaged you more by contact than through their actual attacks… And now I’m struggling to think about one boss I disliked even a bit! All new big bads are aggressive as hell, and that makes the challenge come to one thing; either be patient a find a spot that helps you to take your chances, or never. Stop. MOVING. They are all some memorable I could praise them all in different ways, like how much I love Frankenstein and its slow movement but hardhitting throwing blocks, the gauntlet of already seen faces and an amazing callback to the final boss of the original game that the Fire Spirit poses, the sheer terror Death produces with a rerise of its original fight a brand new phase, Fake Dracula being a super cool callback and a fun fight of its own that’s amplified by the platforms… I could go on and on, hell, even fights like the albeit simple Monster Grant stuck out in my mind as really exciting encounters! …oh wait, that reminds me… hi Grant!
Trevor is not alone is its voyage, even if I wouldn’t have bat an eye if he was; he controls exactly the same as Simon (or at least so similarly I didn’t noticed any differences) which might as well mean that he controls smooth as butter, he walks with the same calculated heaviness and jumps with requiting the same commitment as ever, he even still has the same tools as seen in the first game, which I kind of like, I’m probably thinking about it too much but I like how these items go so back in the timeline and how they still fit so well to the design. And still… there’s space for surprises. New faces show up as playable companions, always available to change into once you meat them, even if you can only have one at a time: they fit perfectly into the world, saving each in a different way and meeting them in completely different places, which is yet another way the game shows just how much freedom it lends you and the routes you can take, and no matter if you only come across to one in your entire playthrough, it always feels like you gain something. Grant is a fun slippery bastard, being able to cling into walls and roofs, he can go through places boring Trevor never could and go past enemies with so much ease it sometimes feels like another puzzle in itself; Sypha has a lot of potions available to obtain, and there’s a reason many players beat the game when being accompanied by her, the potions and special abilities make her eat through entire hordes of enemies and even bosses with the right the chance… but I’m sorry, my favorite has to be Alucard. As I said, all helpers are useful on their own ways and all are super fun, but there’s something so satisfying about going ‘’you know what, fuck this room in particular!’’, turning into a bat and skipping the entire challenge, and also his fully upgraded attack is like, the absolute best, my favorite just behind Trevor’s own whip.
Akumajou Densetsu is so far above being just a sequel that even when I was nearing the ending I was expecting it to surprise me yet again. The continuous levels and special challenges that go far above the usual 3 sections of the past, having to go back in a few stages which SHOULD feel tiring and boring, but instead is just another way the way poses a challenge in a different way, with even some surprises along the way. New enemies, new phases that make the original Dracula fight look archaic, with is easily the best evolution regarding boss fights the game could have ever hoped for, the path system, the different characters and item holding…
If Castlevania made me feel determination and Simon’s Quest a profound feeling of curiosity and sadness, Akumajou Densetsu combines all those emotions and adds pure excitement into the mix, excitement for the unknown, yes, but also to see this adventure of the past come true, to see things that shouldn’t surprise me completely awe me, the opening cinematic, as if a movie was beginning and the beautiful music enveloped my ears, perfectly encapsulates everything this series strived for and then some, being an epic as much as a sad tale, but once I reached Dracula’s castle, the emotions I should have felt like terror and caution weren’t there, instead, only a thought crossed my mind as I smiled…: ‘’I’m home’’
I didn't know what the hell to expect from Castlevania III. As a stranger to the monster-whipping saga till now, it's by far the game I've heard the least about regarding the original Famicon/NES trilogy, tho that may have been a given since the debate around Simon's Quest and praise for the original Castlevania have been pretty loud on online discourse, especially some years back.
But when I saw that III was going to completely backpaddle on everything II did, I would lie if I said I didn’t feel disappointed; I may not think highly of Simon’s Quest’s as a complete package, but that game did some incredibly genius stuff with its tone and design, and even if I don’t have anything against continuist entries in a franchise, returning to the closed walls of Dracula’s castle once again and play the same dance around from the first time felt like throwing out an insurmountable potential, to throw out the window a more aggressive a wild look into Transylvania for the sake of the jumping and falling that worked on the first go.
So yeah, you could say I was pretty cautious going in, I never expected to hate it or even dislike it, in fact the little I heard was pretty positive, but I was still scared that I’d end up not getti- Oh who am I kidding, you know where I’m going with this and it’s exact same rant I said for Hi Fi Rush, let’s cut the shit, time to gush!
Also, as you may have noticed but I failed to acknowledge till now, I ended up playing the original Japanese version of the game, since I was told that the NES version went absolutely batshit insane with its difficulty, even more than the usual I mean, so this is not Castlevania gaming, this is Akumajou Densetsu gaming and, I’m sorry, but that name actually goes pretty hard and is what I’m gonna call it from now till the end of times.
Now, where was I?... Oh yeah, I was about to START JAMMING!
I… is it too exaggerated to say that Akumajou Densetsu is one of my favorite, if not my absolute preferred, Famicon game? I cannot thing of other 8 Bit adventures with a similar structure that compare, it is so impressive both a sequel and even a stand-alone game that I’m still SHOCKED at the technical and design prowess it shows, and not because I didn’t think the team behind these games wasn’t capable of something like this, but because it goes further beyond what the series stablished, a series already accustomed with perfectioning and exploring new visual and gameplay ideas.
We may have returned to the 2D linear platforming roots, but that just means we have another way to explore Transylvania; Simon’s Quest managed to create a fairly grounded, sad world, full of villages and cycles, secrets and dungeons, that Transylvania had seen and suffered the effects of the first game and it showed and perfectly worked for what it was. But now we go back 100 years to the past, to the rise of the Belmont name and the adventure of Trevor, and this Transylvania is very different from last time, but so hauntingly familiar at the same time. We return to the vibrant, outstandingly looking visuals from the first adventure, scenarios beautiful as a painting and designed to each fit a different part that conforms this damned land, from overtaken resting grounds to ever rising mechanical towers. Long are the days of being confined to a singular building, or rather, it’ll be long before that fate catches up to Simon, and right now openness is the name of the game. Paths that branch with each level beaten feel exciting, like a constant plunge into the unknown that rewards you with new faces or progress; this goes beyond just being replayability candy, this is an honest to god odyssey that gives you the lead, and can go one way or another depending which way you decide to go.
It wouldn’t be a Castlevania game without some bullshit which, charming as it may be, it’s still bullshit, and Akumajou Densetsu, even in its not as completely deranged original version, it still provides some challenge that walks dangerously close into the ‘’unfair barrage of crap’’ zone, but for every moment like that that it has, it doesn’t take too long for me to be swept away by the artful platforming. This may just be my favorite collection of hazards and challenges I’ve seen a platforming sequel in my entire life, things like the giant spinning gears, the acid tears that melt blocks or the no-jump platforms are, too put it lightly, unbelievable amazing. More than ever before, every platform, every enemy, every giant swinging pendulum, it has a tangible real place in this world, it fits, and it’s so much fun to jump across and whip through. I still cannot believe the scrolling sections, which tend to be parts I do not enjoy in any game, were something I loved to see and beat each and every time, and the rewarding feeling I got from beating them was the same as beating Dracula in the first game, which is getting me in a boss fighting mood…
I never really cared for most of the bosses of the series so far, the original Castlevania had a pretty great roster with some foes that made the overall quality sour, and you could argue Simon’s Quest doesn’t even have bosses, just really big, really slow big targets that damaged you more by contact than through their actual attacks… And now I’m struggling to think about one boss I disliked even a bit! All new big bads are aggressive as hell, and that makes the challenge come to one thing; either be patient a find a spot that helps you to take your chances, or never. Stop. MOVING. They are all some memorable I could praise them all in different ways, like how much I love Frankenstein and its slow movement but hardhitting throwing blocks, the gauntlet of already seen faces and an amazing callback to the final boss of the original game that the Fire Spirit poses, the sheer terror Death produces with a rerise of its original fight a brand new phase, Fake Dracula being a super cool callback and a fun fight of its own that’s amplified by the platforms… I could go on and on, hell, even fights like the albeit simple Monster Grant stuck out in my mind as really exciting encounters! …oh wait, that reminds me… hi Grant!
Trevor is not alone is its voyage, even if I wouldn’t have bat an eye if he was; he controls exactly the same as Simon (or at least so similarly I didn’t noticed any differences) which might as well mean that he controls smooth as butter, he walks with the same calculated heaviness and jumps with requiting the same commitment as ever, he even still has the same tools as seen in the first game, which I kind of like, I’m probably thinking about it too much but I like how these items go so back in the timeline and how they still fit so well to the design. And still… there’s space for surprises. New faces show up as playable companions, always available to change into once you meat them, even if you can only have one at a time: they fit perfectly into the world, saving each in a different way and meeting them in completely different places, which is yet another way the game shows just how much freedom it lends you and the routes you can take, and no matter if you only come across to one in your entire playthrough, it always feels like you gain something. Grant is a fun slippery bastard, being able to cling into walls and roofs, he can go through places boring Trevor never could and go past enemies with so much ease it sometimes feels like another puzzle in itself; Sypha has a lot of potions available to obtain, and there’s a reason many players beat the game when being accompanied by her, the potions and special abilities make her eat through entire hordes of enemies and even bosses with the right the chance… but I’m sorry, my favorite has to be Alucard. As I said, all helpers are useful on their own ways and all are super fun, but there’s something so satisfying about going ‘’you know what, fuck this room in particular!’’, turning into a bat and skipping the entire challenge, and also his fully upgraded attack is like, the absolute best, my favorite just behind Trevor’s own whip.
Akumajou Densetsu is so far above being just a sequel that even when I was nearing the ending I was expecting it to surprise me yet again. The continuous levels and special challenges that go far above the usual 3 sections of the past, having to go back in a few stages which SHOULD feel tiring and boring, but instead is just another way the way poses a challenge in a different way, with even some surprises along the way. New enemies, new phases that make the original Dracula fight look archaic, with is easily the best evolution regarding boss fights the game could have ever hoped for, the path system, the different characters and item holding…
If Castlevania made me feel determination and Simon’s Quest a profound feeling of curiosity and sadness, Akumajou Densetsu combines all those emotions and adds pure excitement into the mix, excitement for the unknown, yes, but also to see this adventure of the past come true, to see things that shouldn’t surprise me completely awe me, the opening cinematic, as if a movie was beginning and the beautiful music enveloped my ears, perfectly encapsulates everything this series strived for and then some, being an epic as much as a sad tale, but once I reached Dracula’s castle, the emotions I should have felt like terror and caution weren’t there, instead, only a thought crossed my mind as I smiled…: ‘’I’m home’’
1991
So you are telling that not only has the Count tried to destroy an entire country multiple times employing the foulest, most monstrous forces ever conceived… but he’s also hoarding riches and making entire pools out of them Scrooge McDuck style? He really is a monster!
No but really, the fact that money can literally kill you is some next level commentary through gaming, Konami really was onto something back in the day…
Castlevania IV is… weird, and not because it differs a ton from its peers, but because of the complete opposite reason: the original NES/Famicon trilogy, as unabashedly hard and obtuse as it could get, was probably some of the most unique and impressive collection of games hat the 8-bit machine had to offer, but not only compared to other games, amongst themselves. For better and sometimes for the worse, each of the games are so distinct from each other at their core that if the team really wanted to, they could have created another two IPs, but they still feel deeply tied with one another and the connections, evolution and experimentation are what make them such an impressive trilogy. Even when Dracula’s Curse went back to a closer style of gameplay to that of the first one, it still felt different, but no matter what, it always felt like Castlevania. And hey, IV does feel like Castlevania too!
… and that’s about it…
Well, actually, even if it seems like I’m presenting that as a complete negative, that would imply this series isn’t the amazing bastion that is, and if even the first game in the series was already bringing the console it was on to its limits, Super Castlevania IV wasn’t going to break tradition: this game. Is. GORGEOUS. Some backgrounds aren’t the prettiest and some color selection stuck out to me as, to put it bluntly, pretty jarring, but I think that’s because the rest of the game establishes a standard that of the Mona Lisa. Simon and the foes he must face look flawlessly, perfectly horrifying, beautifully haunting, every single returning face is the most perfect translation into the 16 bit realm you could think of, and every new enemy fits with the crew like they’ve always been there. There’s a clear and palpable desire to make what wasn’t possible before, a wish to make the macabre feel alive coming being realized, make levels shift and spin in impossible ways, hearing the howls and growls of beasts as you make them fall, it’s uncanny in the best way imaginable. Even as someone who doesn’t really enjoy this OST compared to what previous outings had to offer, it offers that characteristic SNES ambience sounds that I enjoy and many people love, and for good reason.
Castlevania IV feels like the team behind it decided to make what they wished they could have done on their first go, and I mean, it’s meant to be a re-telling of that original adventure, but even beyond that, its otherworldly detail, its focus on ambience, its desire to be even bigger and greater, none of the stuff that IV does could have been done before… at least partially.
I wouldn’t call the game ‘’derivative’’ as much as I’d call I ‘’inconsistent’’, one moment you are presented with a super cool new idea, like the reworked whip and its seemingly endless possible uses, and right after you realize that, aside from the fact you can hook and balance through certain levels which is amazing, this is just more of what was seen in Dracula’s Curse, except it’s not even close to being as fun or inspired. Many of the hazards and level ideas are entirely lifted from that of the last NES entry, and when they aren’t that, either it’s because they are either a minor spin on a preexisting idea, an actually super cool challenge or layout that only gets used once and then forgotten, or a very simplistic and/or dreadful thing to have to repeat over than over, and let me restate, the original trilogy wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of completely fair design, but one thing is to be a meanie with the player, and then there’s the boss rush before Dracula that’s in her which… that’s just evil, man…
The game takes a ton of ideas from the works that preceeded it without really having the same tact or mindful design as something like the Clockwork Tower in Dracula’s Curse had, and even if it has snippets of excellent, creative concepts that make up for pretty fun parts of levels, it doesn’t last long before we are back to ideas already seen or that don’t really work. Even the aforementioned new whip control, which I fucking love, aren’t really that compelling to use simply because, aside of some instances when being on ladders, hitting an enemy that’s on an upper platform or when being swarmed by birds, there aren’t really a ton of instances where using it feels fun or well-thought out. Enemies still behave like they did the last three times, the only exception being the bosses, who are easy to kill at best or obnoxious at worst, so it’s not like they are the best example, to be honest.
It tries to tell a story that was already told by expanding it, but its idea of expansion is grafting more levels onto it that tell a part of the story that wasn’t necessary on the original and that, without the path feature from III, feels tacked on and is only saved because of how some scattered levels like Stage IV are pretty memorable, and that’s the thing, it can be fun, it can be creative, and in some places and moments, it clearly is, but it seems afraid to stay out of the shadow of its older brothers.
Effects may be pretty and the sounds stunning, but IV doesn’t aspire to be anything more than yet another vampire vanquishing adventure, and so its destined to be stuck at the halfway point, one that needs to be compensated with instant deaths and immediate fail-states, ‘cause no matter what, the game has to be difficult, this is Castlevania after all, no matter the cost…
It still isn’t quite what I feared Dracula’s Curse was gonna be, but it isn’t far from it either… moon-walking on stairs in the best thing in any of these games tho!
No but really, the fact that money can literally kill you is some next level commentary through gaming, Konami really was onto something back in the day…
Castlevania IV is… weird, and not because it differs a ton from its peers, but because of the complete opposite reason: the original NES/Famicon trilogy, as unabashedly hard and obtuse as it could get, was probably some of the most unique and impressive collection of games hat the 8-bit machine had to offer, but not only compared to other games, amongst themselves. For better and sometimes for the worse, each of the games are so distinct from each other at their core that if the team really wanted to, they could have created another two IPs, but they still feel deeply tied with one another and the connections, evolution and experimentation are what make them such an impressive trilogy. Even when Dracula’s Curse went back to a closer style of gameplay to that of the first one, it still felt different, but no matter what, it always felt like Castlevania. And hey, IV does feel like Castlevania too!
… and that’s about it…
Well, actually, even if it seems like I’m presenting that as a complete negative, that would imply this series isn’t the amazing bastion that is, and if even the first game in the series was already bringing the console it was on to its limits, Super Castlevania IV wasn’t going to break tradition: this game. Is. GORGEOUS. Some backgrounds aren’t the prettiest and some color selection stuck out to me as, to put it bluntly, pretty jarring, but I think that’s because the rest of the game establishes a standard that of the Mona Lisa. Simon and the foes he must face look flawlessly, perfectly horrifying, beautifully haunting, every single returning face is the most perfect translation into the 16 bit realm you could think of, and every new enemy fits with the crew like they’ve always been there. There’s a clear and palpable desire to make what wasn’t possible before, a wish to make the macabre feel alive coming being realized, make levels shift and spin in impossible ways, hearing the howls and growls of beasts as you make them fall, it’s uncanny in the best way imaginable. Even as someone who doesn’t really enjoy this OST compared to what previous outings had to offer, it offers that characteristic SNES ambience sounds that I enjoy and many people love, and for good reason.
Castlevania IV feels like the team behind it decided to make what they wished they could have done on their first go, and I mean, it’s meant to be a re-telling of that original adventure, but even beyond that, its otherworldly detail, its focus on ambience, its desire to be even bigger and greater, none of the stuff that IV does could have been done before… at least partially.
I wouldn’t call the game ‘’derivative’’ as much as I’d call I ‘’inconsistent’’, one moment you are presented with a super cool new idea, like the reworked whip and its seemingly endless possible uses, and right after you realize that, aside from the fact you can hook and balance through certain levels which is amazing, this is just more of what was seen in Dracula’s Curse, except it’s not even close to being as fun or inspired. Many of the hazards and level ideas are entirely lifted from that of the last NES entry, and when they aren’t that, either it’s because they are either a minor spin on a preexisting idea, an actually super cool challenge or layout that only gets used once and then forgotten, or a very simplistic and/or dreadful thing to have to repeat over than over, and let me restate, the original trilogy wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of completely fair design, but one thing is to be a meanie with the player, and then there’s the boss rush before Dracula that’s in her which… that’s just evil, man…
The game takes a ton of ideas from the works that preceeded it without really having the same tact or mindful design as something like the Clockwork Tower in Dracula’s Curse had, and even if it has snippets of excellent, creative concepts that make up for pretty fun parts of levels, it doesn’t last long before we are back to ideas already seen or that don’t really work. Even the aforementioned new whip control, which I fucking love, aren’t really that compelling to use simply because, aside of some instances when being on ladders, hitting an enemy that’s on an upper platform or when being swarmed by birds, there aren’t really a ton of instances where using it feels fun or well-thought out. Enemies still behave like they did the last three times, the only exception being the bosses, who are easy to kill at best or obnoxious at worst, so it’s not like they are the best example, to be honest.
It tries to tell a story that was already told by expanding it, but its idea of expansion is grafting more levels onto it that tell a part of the story that wasn’t necessary on the original and that, without the path feature from III, feels tacked on and is only saved because of how some scattered levels like Stage IV are pretty memorable, and that’s the thing, it can be fun, it can be creative, and in some places and moments, it clearly is, but it seems afraid to stay out of the shadow of its older brothers.
Effects may be pretty and the sounds stunning, but IV doesn’t aspire to be anything more than yet another vampire vanquishing adventure, and so its destined to be stuck at the halfway point, one that needs to be compensated with instant deaths and immediate fail-states, ‘cause no matter what, the game has to be difficult, this is Castlevania after all, no matter the cost…
It still isn’t quite what I feared Dracula’s Curse was gonna be, but it isn’t far from it either… moon-walking on stairs in the best thing in any of these games tho!
Was gonna start with some sort of intro or joke as always but now that I think about it I just wanna quickly say that I adore this game’s box art. The Castlevania series has always been synonymous with banger artwork but the composition and colors in this one are something else, and it’s probably the most menacing Dracula has ever looked in one of these so far… but that shield and sword that Simon is carrying are complete false advertising, that mf isn’t gonna use anything but the whip on this one!
The Adventure is quite a curious entry; as the last game of the series before Akumajou Densetsu, it would be easy to assume that this game was actually the true return of the series of its original roots — unless you count Haunted Castle and its Zelda CD-i looking ass… oh god I’m gonna end up playing that one aren’t I—, but actually, The Adventure feels more like an adaptation of that original adventure into a more simplified platformer, with even the losing power-up system akin to that of the Mario series on top of the usual health-bar and far more simplified and bare level design… oh and also if the original game was kind of a slog.
Christopher is a Belmont, and that means it should have the usual walk full of determination and commitment-based jumps… emphasis on should. The Adventure is s l o w, and when I say slow, I mean s l o w, and it not in a way that feels deliberated. I genuinely thought I was playing as the first protagonist in a game to have arthritis: Chirstopher’s movement doesn’t feel rewarding or like it has heaviness of it, instead it just feels like he’s sliding at a snail pace and like he’s being pushed backwards everytime he jumps, and you know, that’s already pretty bad, but I’m not even taken into consideration the slowdowns ON TOP of that!
I kinda associate this series with framerate problems, it’s always a price that the series has paid in service of its striking vistas and its spectacular boss fights and levels, and I’ve always refrained from mentioning it simply because it was never a problem that really got in the way of my enjoyment of past games and I every time it happened I just thought ‘’yeah, makes sense honestly’’. Here in Game Boy Land however, this old friend has decided to he’s gonna appear more than normal! From the moment the game starts it dawned on me that this wasn’t going to be a very pleasant adventure, and it never really got better, ‘cause even in those moments my jump wasn’t incredibly delayed, and enemies weren’t moving in power-point presentation mode, it didn’t matter because the base movement still sucked!
I believe that single HUMONGOUS problem caused a ripple effect in which other hiccups, some which were already present in previous and even future games of the series, were made even worse: ledge-jumping was a particularly annoying challenge in Simon’s Quest and it would return as the basis of many platforming challenges in IV, but at least in those two you felt in control of Simon, so imagine having to do the same on here but with a less responding character and the punishment being either to have to repeat an entire section or instant-death, at that point I’m sure it would be at least 10 times more fun having to clean Dracula’s own coffin for an hour straight.
The Adventure has interesting sections, mainly the eyeball bridge in Stage 2 and the entire first section of Stage 3, and other moments show snippets of a interesting and possibly fun game, but they are constantly interrupted by incredibly uninspired or frustrating challenges, inconveniences that feel like another level of tomfuckery — even for this series—, and the entirety of Stage 4, which I like to call ‘’The Gauntlet’’, and not in a loving way. If anything, this game has made me gain a much greater appreciation for Super Castlevania IV, ‘cause both games share that same problem, the difference of course being that in here they are much worse. And hey, some complain than in IV there aren’t any new secondary weapons or don’t feel as useful, but hey, in The Adventure there aren’t any to begin with and all your whip upgrades are gone if you are hit even once! JOY.
I’m not entirely sure how much this game being on the system it’s on got in the way of what the game wanted to do, and even if I can still commend the effort of translating a series into the handheld verse, I can’t justify its myriad of problems when nothing about the game itself gives a sense of unbridled creativeness or just general competency. Comparing this to even Simon’s Quest, my least preferred of the original NES trilogy, would be a disservice to the latter, because that game, even if in my opinion failed to bring to fruition most of its ideas, it tried, and in the process created a wonderful and original world and had many sections I do enjoy. In The Adventure, aside from two or three scattered parts in is three first levels, the only thing I got out of it is frustration and a profund sense of boredom.
All Castlevania games made me feel the former at times, but they always were much, much more than that. The Adventure has cool ideas, cool music, some cool visuals, and very little else. I’m sure there could be a good game in here, and maybe eventually there would be, but right now… I would prefer to not see the first boss in my entire life again, thank you very much…
The Adventure is quite a curious entry; as the last game of the series before Akumajou Densetsu, it would be easy to assume that this game was actually the true return of the series of its original roots — unless you count Haunted Castle and its Zelda CD-i looking ass… oh god I’m gonna end up playing that one aren’t I—, but actually, The Adventure feels more like an adaptation of that original adventure into a more simplified platformer, with even the losing power-up system akin to that of the Mario series on top of the usual health-bar and far more simplified and bare level design… oh and also if the original game was kind of a slog.
Christopher is a Belmont, and that means it should have the usual walk full of determination and commitment-based jumps… emphasis on should. The Adventure is s l o w, and when I say slow, I mean s l o w, and it not in a way that feels deliberated. I genuinely thought I was playing as the first protagonist in a game to have arthritis: Chirstopher’s movement doesn’t feel rewarding or like it has heaviness of it, instead it just feels like he’s sliding at a snail pace and like he’s being pushed backwards everytime he jumps, and you know, that’s already pretty bad, but I’m not even taken into consideration the slowdowns ON TOP of that!
I kinda associate this series with framerate problems, it’s always a price that the series has paid in service of its striking vistas and its spectacular boss fights and levels, and I’ve always refrained from mentioning it simply because it was never a problem that really got in the way of my enjoyment of past games and I every time it happened I just thought ‘’yeah, makes sense honestly’’. Here in Game Boy Land however, this old friend has decided to he’s gonna appear more than normal! From the moment the game starts it dawned on me that this wasn’t going to be a very pleasant adventure, and it never really got better, ‘cause even in those moments my jump wasn’t incredibly delayed, and enemies weren’t moving in power-point presentation mode, it didn’t matter because the base movement still sucked!
I believe that single HUMONGOUS problem caused a ripple effect in which other hiccups, some which were already present in previous and even future games of the series, were made even worse: ledge-jumping was a particularly annoying challenge in Simon’s Quest and it would return as the basis of many platforming challenges in IV, but at least in those two you felt in control of Simon, so imagine having to do the same on here but with a less responding character and the punishment being either to have to repeat an entire section or instant-death, at that point I’m sure it would be at least 10 times more fun having to clean Dracula’s own coffin for an hour straight.
The Adventure has interesting sections, mainly the eyeball bridge in Stage 2 and the entire first section of Stage 3, and other moments show snippets of a interesting and possibly fun game, but they are constantly interrupted by incredibly uninspired or frustrating challenges, inconveniences that feel like another level of tomfuckery — even for this series—, and the entirety of Stage 4, which I like to call ‘’The Gauntlet’’, and not in a loving way. If anything, this game has made me gain a much greater appreciation for Super Castlevania IV, ‘cause both games share that same problem, the difference of course being that in here they are much worse. And hey, some complain than in IV there aren’t any new secondary weapons or don’t feel as useful, but hey, in The Adventure there aren’t any to begin with and all your whip upgrades are gone if you are hit even once! JOY.
I’m not entirely sure how much this game being on the system it’s on got in the way of what the game wanted to do, and even if I can still commend the effort of translating a series into the handheld verse, I can’t justify its myriad of problems when nothing about the game itself gives a sense of unbridled creativeness or just general competency. Comparing this to even Simon’s Quest, my least preferred of the original NES trilogy, would be a disservice to the latter, because that game, even if in my opinion failed to bring to fruition most of its ideas, it tried, and in the process created a wonderful and original world and had many sections I do enjoy. In The Adventure, aside from two or three scattered parts in is three first levels, the only thing I got out of it is frustration and a profund sense of boredom.
All Castlevania games made me feel the former at times, but they always were much, much more than that. The Adventure has cool ideas, cool music, some cool visuals, and very little else. I’m sure there could be a good game in here, and maybe eventually there would be, but right now… I would prefer to not see the first boss in my entire life again, thank you very much…