(Big thanks to @Scamsley for reminding me that this was a thing that existed and encouraging me to play it!)

Would you look at that, it's December 10th! What better day to beat and review Sigil... than the day that Sigil 2 releases!... Dear god I’m terrible at organizing these things…

You may have caught on to this, but I really, REALLY like the original DOOM, even after arriving too late to the party and having played the modern side of the franchise first, that didn’t stop me from having the time of my life with it; it was a fantastic shooter, to tightly designed and fun that I could just not stop playing, and even after the admittedly cold shower that was Thy Flesh Consumed, I needed MORE.

And it’s not like I had a shortage of content; even when ignoring the existence of DOOM II, the community around the original game is so massive, so unbelievable expansive, that I’m convinced that I could play only fan-mad Doom WADS and Episodes for an entire month or two if I wanted to. Hel (on earth), there are even some expansions that have been made kind of official through their release on the Steam version of DOOM, something that also eliminated the hard process for my weak and feeble mind that is installing GZDoom, so I quite literally had no excuse for not playing AT LEAST one of them.

However, one of them in particular was brought into my attention, one that I remembered noticing it when it released simply because of the impact and excitement it generated through the internet and even in some of my closest friends, and how it could not? It’s not every day that you get an expansion made by one of the fathers of the game itself. In every instance I’ve talked about DOOM, I’ve refrained myself into diving deep into its creation and the people behind it, simply because it’s such a well-documented part of gaming history by people far more capable than I that it would be hysterical of me to try to add something to the discourse in any major way, but I just cannot talk about Sigil without at least mentioning John Romero, simply because how intrinsically tied one its to another.

A figure controversial (Daikatana shall be a story for another time…) as it is beloved, the pedigree of one of the masters of Doom incredibly interesting at times and fucking ridiculous at others; it also turns out he was also born in a 28th of October, so me releasing the DOOM review on that day ended up being even more fitting! But ignoring funny coincidences and other tales, Romero has made efforts to be remember more-so by its successes than its mistakes, and can’t say the man hasn’t succeed: to this day, he’s a very prominent figure in Doom community, participating in events in conferences dedicated to it and beyond. At a glance, one could easily thrown him with the pile of people living off their past legacy, but good ol’ Johnny decided to go one step beyond, ‘cause some legacies last forever, but Doom’s… Doom’s is eternal.

Sigil’s release in 2019 was already a pretty surprise even to someone that wasn’t really into the original back then, and now here I am, having beaten it to the very end, and the only thing I can say for sure is that… this makes look Thy Flesh Consumed even worse and I didn’t thought that was even possible. I sheer fact this wasn’t an actual official release boggles the mind, Sigil is not good, it is absolutely outstanding. It’s still more DOOM, there are no crazy additions or changes, nothing of the such, this is just taking everything that the base game had and going all in with it, and my fucking god if it does. The demons, weapons, secrets and looks, at a glance, it all feels taken straight up from the three original chapters but it goes even further; the set pieces like cacodemons rising from a crater that reaches the depths or hell or walking past passages filled with imprisoned Lost Souls are unlike anything seeing in Inferno or any other chapter; there are no two exact same passages in this megawad, everything feels so distinct and cathartic, which is something that could be said the level design as a whole.

In my original review I defended Inferno and said I really like how it experimented with a ton of cool ideas, and I wished that the game expanded upon there even more… Sigil is exactly what I wished for multiplied by 100x. Don’t get me wrong, there are some really noticeable bumps; M5 as a whole feels extremely confusing and even a bit messy, and the whole ending of M7 feels unfun to move through and the lack of ammo given to you in it makes up for a frustrating time rather than a tense one, but the rest? HOLY CYBERDEMON THIS IS FIRE. Each map feels like a complete world of its own, not because of its structure and how it experiments with mechanics like the teleports in fancy ways or the way every location feels incredibly different and feels like your are reap and tearing through actual hellish locations, but because of for. E4 also did both of these things, but meanwhile in there the result was often confusing, jarring and it sometimes even feels artificial, in here it feel like how it should be, and the results just speaks for themselves: creative and original challenges, masterfully designed areas, some of the most tense and fun combat I’ve experience in ANY Doom game, and a fantastic OST on par with the original pieces to go and with it. I still get shivers thinking of that final stretch in E8, or the tension of going through all the passage ways in E4, it has given me an experience that I could have perfectly been playing just after finishing the original game, this feels like DOOM, it is DOOM.

To me, Sigil is right up there with the best moments in Knee-Deep in the Dead and The Shores Of Hell, which it’s the best thing I could have ever hoped to say about it. It is technically harder than Thy Flesh Consumed, and it is, but minus all the tedious stuff that plagued that chapter. It is not the first un-official work done by Romero for DOOM, but it is done with such care and respect it truly feels like it could have really been some kind of modern DLC. It is not a magnum opus, nor does it put the original as a whole to shame in ANY shape or form, but it feels like a culmination, the result of everything that base DOOM should be turned into 9 maps, a sawm song dedicated to each end every person that has worked on keeping this game alive through amazing and incredible WADs and fan-episodes, and it’s kind of incredible to see and play.

If you enjoyed the original DOOM in any way, I cannot recommend Sigil enough, I didn’t expect to love this so much, but it’s not the first time this year I’m surprised like this; a wad that got me in awe at some holes in the ground and it showed me how truly good the plasma gun is, truly impeccable…

You know what's hilarious? While trying the free mobile version, I died (which quickly became a common occurrence through the game itself, but I digress) and then the game basically said ''Hey ol' buddy ol' pal, you seem to be sucking balls at this game, would you like to watch an ad to revive immediately and to not lose any progress?'' and it was one of the first stages so I didn't mind re-trying from the beginning, so I promptly said no... and then it showed me the ad anyway. I could be fuming or complain to no-end at the fact that’s even a thing that is allowed to happen, but I'm simply in awe, truly yet another amazing mobile gaming moment, just unbelievable.

I’ve been through a little bit of a Sonic phase this year, and by ‘’Sonic phase’’ I mean I’ve beaten two games like 5 months apart from each other… which it’s still far more consistent than the past 5 years so hey, it is a faster pace! The first that I beat was of course Sonic 2, I talked about it and said my piece on it just after beating it, and even tho I still pretty much agree with everything I wrote on there, there was one thing that was echoed through my review and a topic of discussion in the comments: What it’s, at its core, the design that makes a Sonic game? To me, I always saw Sonic as a series that invited you to go fast, that encouraged you to replay it over and over, taking and discovering different paths, and the level design reflects that with interesting, momentum based mechanics that even when they slow you down, you always keep moving forward. That view of course is highly influenced by my experience with Sonic Mania, my favorite game on the series so far, and now I realize that it may have been a bit dumb of me to reduce the series to what that game did; some people thing that these games are also about screwing up and learning from those mistakes to the point of going through the stages seamlessly, others might enjoy its more linear aspect and enjoy reaching absurd levels of speed while grabbing some collectables, and I know that there must be some sick fucks out there that considers Sonic Spinball to be the gameplay style that suits Sonic the best. All of these are completely fair and in their own way correct views, each player prefers a certain design philosophy, and many groups of players gravitate towards different games within the franchise because of that; but even with these many differences, they still have a ton in common, especially in the 2D side and the games released in the ‘’Boost’’ era, and universally there are some aspects in which pretty much everyone agrees upon on what a Sonic game should have… but then we have Sonic 1!

Look, I didn’t want to be known as the ‘’has beaten Sonic 2 but never played Sonic 1’’ guy, I wanted to be the ‘’has beaten Sonic 1 after Sonic 2’’ guy; it was a matter of time that I’d eventually play this, like a hedgehog shaped Damocles’ sword. It seems to be like chickenpox, many people go through it and for some it fucking sucks, but putting aside terrible unfunny jokes at the moment, the truth is that I was extremely interested going into this. Sonic the Hedgehog was not only the first step for the series, it was a massive cultural phenomenon, it’s an incredibly piece of history directly tied to the success of Sega during the 16-bit era, the marketing during the console wars, and a direct competitor to the juggernaut that Nintendo what was seen as. Sonic was born because of that, to have a mascot that could look at Mario directly to the eye, and it took a ton of work and time before the Sonic we know became what it is, and it was a success… oh sorry no, I’m sorry, I meant to say it was a MASSIVE, GIGANTIC success. Sonic became a 90’s icon, a brand so important that even after 32 years it won’t die. Despite my cheeky remark at the end of the last paragraph, I fully expected this to be different to other Sonic games; despite its commercial and critical success, nowadays Sonic 1 is referred to as the one that set everything in place for the other games to happen, a basis if you will… but still, I expected this to still have what it was marketed as: a fast paced, more open 2D platformer that would make look like Mario moved at snail’s pace. This is what Sonic was made out to be, a direct competitor to the plumber, but also the antithesis of it, and Sonic itself was designed as such, both it looks and in the way it controlled, and… yeah, during the first zone, it definitely is that!... is anyone else getting a ‘’Déjà vu’’?

I’d argue that at this point all three acts of Green Hill Zone are as iconic as the likes of 1-1 from the original Super Mario Bros., and it sets the tone perfectly; the visuals and music are simply stellar, a true showcase of what the Genesis could do what also managing to look amazing on its own right (and that’s the case during the whole game, this time around I consider the OST an absolute home run, what an amazing collection of pieces, it introduces the fairly simple premise of ‘’Pissed off mammal’’ against ‘’Five Below Evil Mario’’, it introduces the enemies and small power-ups perfectly, and it shows the potential of this more open level design; all paths lead to the same ending (with some exceptions), but each may hold different secrets and surprises that make you want to see everything possible, to see if you can go faster and more cleanly than last time; and the momentum based movement is a blessing, Sonic’s more slippery traction makes reaching high speeds so fun, and Green Hill teaches you the basics of this and Sonic’s whole move set masterfully, going from small slopes to entire loops, and it’s so satisfying. This, this, right here, is the Sonic that I love, the Sonic I didn’t expect to see so early, but here it is, and it’s wonderful, it is exciting, it actually feels so good to play-HOW DID THEY FUCK IT UP?

Marble Zone is infamous at this point, it sets a complete change in the way the levels are designed, and one the game never recovers from, at least not consistently, but I think people just don’t realize why is that many hate these stages so much so much. You see, Marble Zone isn’t bad because it’s slow and sloppily designed, Marble Zone is bad because it goes fundamentally against what it was taught to you during the last stage, it’s a complete diversion from what was presented to you at the beginning and it actively punishes you NOT for going recklessly fast, but for going fast in general when the character you are playing as is basically forced to either go really fast or have zero momentum in its jumps, as the act goes along the bullshit just keeps piling up and it comes to a point you realize later acts are basically remixed versions of what precedes it with the only thing that changes is that now it has more cruel and utterly unfun level design that, again, doesn’t fit Sonic in the slightest simply because doing precise platforming as this fucker is worse that having your hands tied down to an electric fence AND it’s also slow and sloppily designed. It’s just so… weird, it’s like they attempted something different and cool, but then became scared that players might not liked so they decided to design stages as you would do for any other platformer (minus the branching paths of course) and decided to make that the bulk of the game. Worst part is that Marble Zone is not terrible, not even that bad, it, along as the rest of the levels, have a interesting thematic that connects with one another really well, and it has some interesting ideas like moving blocks around to activate switches, but it’s the repetition its Acts (something that even affects Green Hill Zone) and just how painful it is to traverse what make it so jarring and a huge let down, ann it’s not like it gets much better, the downward spiral is just beginning!

Spring Yard Zone is marginally better, it has some cool ideas, but it still can’t reach the same highs as the game did at the beginning, and then Act 3 comes around and it felt like being put through a time loop of repeating stuff over and over; it wasn’t fun, the boss was a buggy mess, and it didn’t feel like it offered any kind of interesting challenges. Then after that hell I arrived at Labyrinth Zone and not gonna lie the thought of ending it right there crossed my mind for a second; just a barrage of nonsense and unpredictable physics made it so fucking miserable, if the previous levels really loved to stop you on you tracks, this right here is the prime example of the worse result possible of that idea, and the chasing Robotnik at the end made me yearn for the sweet release, just… why? It took more attempts that I’d like to admit, but I don’t care, it was DONE, and I don’t have to see that place ever again! And next it was Star Light Zone and… it was my favorite part of the game by a wide margin: it was like the second zone should have been, more opportunities to fail that still feel fair, super interesting ideas that I didn’t expect to see in this game, and capped by far my favorite, most creative and open fight against Robotnik in the entire game. I… really didn’t expect this, and it game me hope, hope that Scrap Brain Zone would keep up this and turn into a fantastic end- it was instant game over hell, there’s no other way to put it. Nothing was as bad as some stuff as the such of Marble purgatory, but still, the cool visuals and some excellent ideas really save this one… until Act 3 where it BECOMES FUCKING LABYRINTH ZONE AGAIN WHAT THE ACTUAL LIVING FU- ok, I’ll give it this tho; it has the most interesting different path and secrets of the entire game for me, and it at least was shorter than anything in the zone that shall not be named. It was tolerable, the final boss was tolerable. I. Was. Done.

It's funny though, the last two zones were far better than the Sonic 2 ones-

Sonic the Hedgehog is an actual mess, the difficulty spikes are as random as the ones in quality, it has some fantastic ideas that for some unholy reason decides to use as a hinderance instead of its basis, it lacks the speed, the urge to explore, and the fun in learning that the other games have in some way or another… and yet I can’t fully blame the game itself for any of those. There’s a clear vision behind all of this, one that it just got lost along the way, like it was still scared to not be what it wanted to defy, like the sloppy first steps in a long marathon; it’s frustrating, but it’s the perfect showcase of a bright future and so, so much potential. Maybe it’s because I know can fully see it like that that I.. actually don’t really dislike it as much as I was expecting, specially during some sections; I for sure didn’t enjoy it all the way, but it had fun parts, and sometimes, even at its most bullshit, it’s hard to ignore the passion and craft that was put into all of this. It’s a commendable effort that I wish I could say I enjoyed, but ultimately was more preoccupied with giving something that may have been more familiar instead of giving us something different, something that embraced its spirit, something that was Sonic.

Also I would like to add that I beat the game with what it was one life in each level, which meant absolutely zero checkpoints. Did that happen because of my stupidity? That’s irrelevant, what’s important is that I did it, I beat Sonic the Hedgehog… What’s that? What do you mean there’s a 2006 gam-

If you thought that the hidden-cat-like games were thriving this year, wait until you see how the introspective-cooking genre did this year; we got a ton of them and the ones I played were bangers!... Sure, I might just have played two, but still!

There's a sweetness to Venba that feels distant and incredibly familiar both at the same time: the elements that comprise its story aren’t anything new, these beats and themes have been seen time and time again in a myriad of ways, but what makes this little tale so special is how it uses all off them to create something unique, so deeply personal, like a delicious meal which contains ingredients time and time again, but prepared in such a way it forms its own special flavor… or like tasting food that now only persists in your childhood memories.

I’m completely alien to Tamil culture, a statement which I sadly could repeat when talking about many others, and I was raised in the land my family and ancestors were born, and yet nothing is lost on me; far more capable and intelligent people than me have talked about this in great length, but the globalization and specifically the ‘’Americanization’’ of the west is a sight that bears terrible results in the long run; instead of different cultures interacting with one another and understanding each other’s traditions and evolving and changing together, we see how little by little everything changes into not an unification, but to a macroculture of sorts imposed by multinationals and enterprises in every facet of the day to day life, only taking what sees of value and implementing it while treating the rest as lesser or nothing more that a novelty to look at and treat as a toy, like a hoarding dragon burning everything on its wake but adding the shiny stuff he finds to its pile. Venba doesn’t analyze these problems directly, but it speaks about its consequences through the life of a immigrant Indian family in Canada. Kavin neglects its culture not because he doesn’t care, not because he likes that his schoolmates call him Kevin, but because he’s terrified at the idea of being cast away by his peers and society because of it, he’s deeply scared of presenting himself as ‘’odd’’, as something that doesn’t fit, something alien. That sentiment persists through adulthood, only now its peers treat his past which he couldn’t really never connect as something ‘’neat’’, a cool thing to put on TV that’s aesthetically pleasing, something that can only exist on its vacuum, being judged while expected to be nice to look at. The moment Kavin finally reconnects with his mother and what he didn’t want to face is beautiful for many reasons, but one of them is that is an act of defiance and perseverance, and even if he doesn’t know everything about his roots, it doesn’t matter, he’s learning, he’s improving what came before and completing it, all through just having a nice cooking session with his mother, and that’s just… beautiful, there isn’t any other way to put it.

Preparing said dishes isn’t nothing really complicated or actually involved, but it manages to make it feel like it; you aren’t merely clicking and dragging on sone stuff, you are deciphering and learning ways to prepare plates of Venba’s past, seeing her remember in what order everything is needed to be done until everything is second nature to her, and it’s appetizing as it is cathartic. The game has achievements for making everything perfect, but also for screwing up, and I cannot think of another way of showing what this is all about beyond the game itself; it doesn’t matter if you fumble de bag, you are cooking, you are learning, and maybe you’ll do that mistake 4 times more but it doesn’t matter, ‘cause it’s still fun and fulfilling… and that’s what brought back memories.

I was originally gonna make fun of a moment that reminded me of that scene in Ratatouille (you know the one) but then I realized how insincere and condescending I sounded, ‘cause it’s also a moment I myself have experienced, the memory of my parents, my mother, my father, showing my how to prepare food, how to make desserts that to this day I cherish, but some that I haven’t tasted since then. Venba is not only a story about culture and its loss, it also can be seen about family and bonds, about sharing the little moments, both good and bad, and of ultimately you yourself deciding what you want to do or who you want to be, but your true loved one being always there during the whole process. It’s about regrets, the regrets of Venba, the regrets of Paavalan, and the regrets of Kavin, and the hardships of them all.

A stroll through the steam reviews shows just how many people have connected to this story, many driven to tears, to remember their past and their lives, reflected through this little 90 minute experience. I myself connected to it in a different way, and I just look at Venba wishing it sometimes was a bit slower, that it took the time to explore certain ideas, because I really wanted to see more, to experience more passages of this fragmented story, to see this family’s life, both in its happy and sad times.

And still, in just seven chapters, Venba makes me relish the past, my own memories, and it’s simple worth being seen, worth being valued… and why nor, worth crying for.

This year, over here a staggering amount of kids and even teenagers celebrated Halloween during the 31 of October and 1st of November, effectively making the festivity that would usually take place in Galicia during those days, Samain, completely ignored, and with it, its specific plates and traditions. As I said, at the end, everyone is free to choose what they wish to do, what they wish to celebrate it, and I’m not villainizing this fact whatsoever… but I want to truly appreciate those that still kept the tradition because they truly wanted too, because they really like it, because they consider it a part of themselves, and that goes for everyone in the world, of every country, of every culture.

That isn’t something to be ashamed of.

That’s something to be celebrated unlike any other thing.

You know… I’ve passed on the opportunity to play the Game of the Week basically every time for no apparent reason, despite the ones selected usually being exceptional games and sometimes very easily obtainable freeware, and instead of any of those, I play Lizard Lady vs the Cats… and this is one of the reasons I sometimes look at the mirror wondering why I make the decisions I decide to do.

An overall score of 1.1 over here is one hell of a prospect, one which I don’t usually tend to gravity towards; I like to think I value my time, and I’m not that keen on spending it on absolutely despair inducing games, and so, I wasn’t planning on even nearing the general location of this game. But then something happened, a couple of people left actual positive scores and reviews talking about this one, and I couldn’t believe it, mainly because… I mean… look at it-BUT STILL, that did spark my attention. Maybe once again I judged a book by its cover too early, maybe there’s actually something to enjoy here, perhaps it’s a hidden gem! And so, yeah, who am I to say no to a work? After all, they always have something to say, and this looking like it could actually hold more value than I thought of at first, why not at least give it a try? Worst case scenario, it sucks but at least get an interesting experience out of it, so yeah! Let’s go! I did it! I played it! I beat it! I beat *Lizard Lady vs the Cats! And What did I get out of it?!







…nothing. Absolutely nothing. The silence of the void deafens my ears. The abyss beckons and looks back upon me its laughs echoing through nothingness. I keep staring at it in search of an answer. I get nothing in return.

It’s not that terrible of a game, nor is it a particularly competent one. It works and functions well enough, and there aren’t any specially jarring design decisions that make this an absolute horrendous experience, but that’s not because it does something good in return, it because it doesn’t do… nothing in general. That isn’t to say that it doesn’t screw up badly: it doesn’t really have an art-style as much as filter applied over all the models and scenarios, one that doesn’t take into account shadows and doesn’t seem that interested in being visible, which isn’t even that excessive or heinous to even be funny. The shooting and combat feel like if someone that never even touched and FPS in their lives tried to make one in all the worst ways; the camera is ASS and the enemies hitboxes are small as a toothpick, you do get seemingly infinite range in return, but it doesn’t do much when aiming is so incredibly painful and the level design is a bunch of corridors and mazes with zero thought that I’ve already forgot about as I wrote this. Honestly, I would complain about this more, but it’s not like the game is difficult or frustrating enough for me to even care, it’s just…nothing. It doesn’t even work as a joke game, ‘cause it isn’t neither funny nor does it commit in being utterly awful, but it also doesn’t work as a more serious one since the most ‘’interesting’’ (and I’m using that word very loosely) part of its story is represented through a infinite-score mode of a game which’s gameplay puts me to sleep. I genuinely don’t know which of the two this game was trying to be, because it fails at being either of the two, and it also doesn’t feel like it does enough to do a commentary on the little it has or is.

Do I sound mad or angry? Because I’m really not, but maybe I’m sounding too… condescending may be the right word, and I apologize if that’s the case, it’s just… what more can I say? I can’t even make a joke like ‘’this looks like it was made in Dreams’’ because that would be a huge disrespect to the amazing games made in there, and again, not because this is horrible, it’s because is… NOTHING!

The last game I talked about made some things choppy or clunky for the sake of its vision and I really appreciated, and maybe I would appreciate this game in a similar way if I managed to see what the hell was its vision in the first place. This is dumb, but not the type of dumb that knows it and makes some kind of statement or commentary about it, it just… exist, floating forever in the void, and I could have used the 25 minutes I spent on beating it on watching paint dry and nothing of value would have been lost, aside of the opportunity of writing a review which is always fun. So yeah, congratulations, Lady Lizard vs the Cats, playing you gave me the opportunity to write about how empty of an experience you were.

Maybe there’s something I’m losing here, maybe I’, just thinking too much about it and I shouldn’t be talking about it this much; maybe I was filtered, maybe I do not get something, maybe this is truly awful and I’m being soft, I don’t know about all that, ‘cause I didn’t get enough out of this to even come close to getting any of those conclusion.

Anyway 10/10 only because of the way the melee enemies were animated, that was the only part of the game that actually made me smirk in some capacity.

Y’know? Despite not growing up playing neither of the inspirations for this little adventure, that being King’s Field and RuneScape, this game did manage to bring me back to the past, to remind of the old days… days I’d get dizzy as fuck playing rather crusty and busted-ass first person PC games to the point of getting a migraine… good times!

And that’s a kind of perfect way to start this, ‘cause FlyKnight feels like an homage first and foremost: an hour long nostalgia trip to those who grew up playing its inspirations of games that looked and played remotely similar for some, a little look into that brief period of time where early 3D gaming looked incredibly freaky in the best of ways for others that didn’t get to experience it, and a bit of a headache for a few. It describes itself as a ‘’little piece of a grand, much larger adventure’’, and buddy, don’t know how to tell ya this, but I think the length is as perfect as it is, because… well, hear me out…

Before 2023, I wasn’t that familiar with Game Jams; not trying any game that spawned from one helped that a lot, and so I sought to correct that as the year went on, and I’m extremely glad I did, because I like to think I’ve grown to not only respect all the games that spawn from these competitions, but also to have a better understanding of why some of them are the way they are. On some occasions you may get some absolute bonkers and fantastic full-blown experience like the amazing Yo-Noid! 2, but most of the time they are simple, short tales that either experiment with a particular mechanic, visual style or something that you couldn’t even imagine, they may sometimes turn into complete and longer experiences later down the line, but in the moment they are just a little bite, the kind of bite that has the potential to be delicious; the best Game Jam games I’ve played not only have a ton of heart and work poured into them, but they are also those that understand perfectly what they are, a concise, small experience with not that many mechanics that stills manages to feel complete a vision of the author/s idea realized into a format suitable to be developed in a really short time frame. And despites FlyKnight’s statement on its own page, this is a perfect example of a game that checks all of the boxes, almost to a fault.

If I had to describe FlyKnight in just two words, I’d probably choose ‘’controlled clunkiness’’, which aside of sounding like the most dumb term I’ve ever come up with in my life, I really think it’s the best way to define it: the camera is so slow and sometimes unresponsive that feels like the game is played using tank controls spite of using the mouse; attacks and just about every form of movement feel organic and like the character is taking the time to do the actions you command it, yet the hitboxes and complete lack of perspective in combat encounters make it feel super choppy; all the enemies are incredibly well designed and they even have independent health for each body part which can create different for the encounters to play out, but they are also super difficult to tack with the camera (specially the motherfucking punching beetle, I hate that son of a beetch with all of my soul) and the way the feel completely disconnected to the world and areas is both surreal in a good way and in a confusing way; the health system is very forgiving except foe when it decides to screw you over and do a bit of a , what we would call it in Spanish, canallada; the final boss is actually super well design and their area is the most visually stunning of the game, but avoiding area attacks taking into account how the stamina actively works against you it’s like trying to not get hit in dodgeball while having a blindfold on. Every single thing in this game is just tolerable enough to be playable while completely broken on purpose to be endearing, it’s not just an amazing looking game, it actually feels like what it wants to replicate and then some, and that’s an effort I respect, and effort that results in a charming, almost cute experience.

And that’s why I think it’s fine the way it is, because even if it lacks enemy variety or the weapons don’t feel distinct enough from each other or even if it does lose entirely the puzzle and maze like aspect of its inspirations and instead is way more linear and combat focused, I’ll take that over the game having those things and being longer in return, ‘cause in that case, the whole sloppiness would have been less tolerable. I like the way you are, FlyKnight, even tho I wouldn’t complain if another game gave a try to this visual style, with this gameplay, 1 hour is juuuuuust the right amount before it gets insufferable, as it is, it’s a joy of a bug-like adventure…

Also, do not ask players what they think of the final boss, believe me, you do NOT wanna know.

Halfway through this I realized how much Mr. Coo reminded me of the Little Ceasars guy and now I can't unsee it; I've been cursed with this realization, and now everyone else shall be too.

In the multiple reviews I’ve written, in only a few of them I’ve tackled how the conditions or outside factors affected directly to the development of the game in question; I’ve always loved talking about the design processes and ideas that take place within the minds of developers during the making of a work and how this impacted the game or in some cases the whole industry as a whole, but when it comes to talking about what actually happened behind the curtain, the only times I’ve really done that were in my Journey, Sticker Star and Sonic Adventure reviews. And it's not that these kinds of tales are uncommon, I don’t think I have to tell you how sadly this pattern of difficult conditions is something that is as common as the sunset, time and time again it happens and time and time again it fucking sucks, and the only reason I haven’t talked about it as much it’s either because it luckily didn’t happen in many of the games I’ve written about or I didn’t see fit to mention it (or in some other it may be the case that developers haven’t even spoken about it). Games are still a form of art and they will always be that, and it just happens that in the way I review art I try to focus on the final product and the impact it has or may have had, and the reason I’m saying all of this it’s because for me to talk about The Many Pieces of Mr.Coo in any meaningful way, it’s imperative that I mention everything that happened before and after its release, ‘cause it’s one of those cases were both the game itself.

When looking at Mr. Coo’s little adventure purely on its own, without knowing anything else, talking about is pretty straightforward: It’s a visual delight in every single way possible; the work put to create the animations that give life to the characters and backgrounds that make up the scenery of this funny and dark surrealist world is beyond commendable. I’m kinda liking this accidental tradition of playing one surrealist adventure game per year, because the result is always so special; The Many Pieces of Mr.Coo has charm and creativity oozing from every possible angle, it’s a nonstop barrage of absurdism that works incredibly well, and not only it does serve to produce jaw-dropping visuals and a blend of styles that doesn’t feel jarring in the slightest, it also creates an amazing collection of puzzles that are as crazy as the game itself. Some of this are perhaps a little too weird and fall in that same Same & Max paradox in which it becomes sometimes impossible to really figure out what you need to do next, tho in this case the hint system helps a ton, and it incentivizes trying to think of the solution before using it, and sometimes some hints still require some stuff to figure out that are much more manageable. During two thirds of the total chapters, it’s a joy to play, a little fun adventure that’s displays some insanely good visuals and fun challenges…. But then the last batch of sections happens. It’s not that it gets worse, as in these final moments we still see some really cool ideas in both visuals and puzzling, rather, it’s like witnessing a plane crashing down as it tries to land in the airport because suddenly every machine possible decided to break down.

Even almost three months after its initial release, these final sections are plagued with bugs and glitches that completely break the game. This is no simple minor issue which I’d usually ignore, this are glaring problems that either break your immersion (like Coo’s legs just casually walking below the background or the click register sometimes being completely broken) or straight-up break the entire game, forcing you to quit and restart from the beginning of the section, and keep in mind that we have that luxury only now, when it first released there was no saving system, so if it the game made it impossible to progress because it decided to.. have fun starting from the very beginning! These problems come together in the final challenge, one that on paper was very interesting and fun, but in practice feels sloppy, unfairly hard and has the risk or completely breaking in a certain point, all culminating in that ending… oh god the ending… One thing is to have such an cliffhanger after a finale that was seemingly crumbling down, and another thing is to tell you to replay the game to get 100 sloppily put and hard to get collectables to get a secret ending that amounts to nothing, it really takes some cojones to make people feel like they completely lost their time. And the worst part about all of this, the single part about the whole game and the whole third act, it’s that it wasn’t gonna be this way, but it was forced to be released broken beyond repair.

Creative director Nacho Rodríguez hasn’t been shy about the sheer incompetence and unprofessionalism of Gammera Nest, studio that was helping both developing ang publishing the game. They were pretty much rushing the game out the door, fully knowing just how unfinished it was, and Nacho as well as well as the rest of team of animators tried by all means to communicate with Gammera Nest to try to give the game more time to polish, but it’s not that the company shut down those request, they didn’t even bother to acknowledge them. The game was basically kidnapped into stores, forced to released even tho it need more time, more work, more polish, and Gammera knew this, Nacho knew this and tried everything to make it right, but in the end it happened, and now we have a game that could have been so much more from the get go and a legal battle that it’s creator never wanted. And the saddest part about this is that it shouldn’t surprise us: Gammera Nest has a long history of poor communication, complete and insulting unprofessionalism and even intimidation; they are the team behing Spain’s PlayStation Talents, a complete joke and embarrassment of an initiative that treated indie developers like an used tissue and that made many scared to speak up about what was happening in there, and many others to outright leave the industry as a whole. It’s CEO, Daniel Sánchez, has made clear multiple times that he doesn’t see art in this industry, he sees an opportunity to make some bucks at the cost of others, and he has made sure to build the company based around the idea and as well as to spit out some completely meaningless and dumb things over the years. They had struck gold like so many times before, but refused to see anything beyond the many they could make out of this ‘’product’’, and that’s what makes me sad, what makes me mad, what makes me lament Mr. Coo’s fate…

And yet, despite this, despite the finale to this story, despite releasing broken, what Nacho and the rest of the team pulled off despite it all is worth standing up and clapping. They built the most visually crazy and interesting game I’ve seen the entire year with some really cool puzzles and made this shine despite the conditions and despite its unfair fate. They deserve all the possible respect and appreciation for their work they can receive, there really is something special under the bugs and glitches, something that shines at full force and made me both smile and laugh. The Many Pices of Mr. Coo didn’t deserve to go through all this, none in the team did, but even in the worst circumstances, is worth appreciating the good, and in this surrealist, colorful little world, there’s a ton to love.

Here we are; the past being retold, a tale from a time generations ago, whose echoes have being beginning to fade for a while now... an old friend I never got to meet, but one whom I knew pretty well, and now, being face to face, it's when I can truly appreciate it.

Super Mario RPG is perhaps one of the most influential spin-offs of the entire franchise under the Italian plumber umbrella, if not THE most important out of all the many of them, and I say this with full confidence despite the fact I played very little of it and that we never really managed to get it on this side of the world; so I do not claim this from the perspective of a die-hard fan of this game specifically, but from the experience of growing up with and playing the games to which it inspired. While the 1996 titan would never get a sequel, what originated as such would eventually turn into Paper Mario, and it and its sequel are to this very day elevated as some of the best RPG in their respective consoles, and then there’s the Mario & Luigi series, who shares practically its main identity and DNA with the SNES original, and after beating the remake that fact only became much more apparent and obvious to me. Even after the original was seemingly vanished to the Nintendo and Square’s vault, only being able to see the light of say with select Nintendo Virtual Console releases, the impact and its legacy would resist the test of time; when people don’t shut up about a game or ask non-stop for a character that appeared once in a 90’s game to be included in the funny game where Diddy Kong can punch Minecraft Steve, they do it for a reason, because it matters to the, because it’s a truly special work, and in this specific case so much so that it’s torch was still being carried by other developers… but even this flame was starting to turn into ashes…

From Super Paper Mario onwards, many of the RPG elements that characterized the two originals were ç starting to fade, and the problem would only worsen with the release of Sticker Star; this is not to say that they are bad games, Super Paper Mario and Origami King are considered exceptional by many, and even Color Splash has its select group of fans, but with that possible debate aside, it’s obvious that something had changed, that same influence and spirit that spawned the series wasn’t there any more, in favor of a more sanitized, more common interpretation of the Mario universe; whether that’s a bug turn-off for your or it isn’t, that’s to each their own. The Mario & Luigi series never really abandoned its roots, even with the more grimly looked upon Paper Jam it was clear that despite some restrictions at place they were still managing to create something unique and that didn’t distance itself much from the origins of the series, which is something that could be said about the rest of the not-so-popular installments, but it would be the two 3DS remakes of Super StarSaga and Bowser’s Inside Story what signed its death warrant, tho we could call this more of a death by poor financial decisions than anything else, but that’s a tale for another review (Rest in pepperoni, Alpha Dream…). No matter how you look at it, one thing was very clear: by 2020, the Mario RPG sub-genre as we knew was pretty much gone, and this probably wouldn’t be as much of a tragedy if it wasn’t because it was something that happened due to restrictions imposed upon Intelligent Sytems and the death of an entire studio; I’m not here to preach about ’’SupRA MeRIO WAs betteR BefORe!’’ or something like that, because in many ways I kinda like that Paper Mario managed to completely craft and identity of its own (even more than before I mean), but I would be lying if I said that an entire legacy being gone, and with it a series that I hold very dear to my heart completely disappearing, didn’t make me a little bit… sad… the games that already exist aren’t going anywhere, so there’s that, but I guess nothing is really eternal… or perhaps some wishes do come true.

Many see this remake as an opportunity to go back to past times, to re visit a small wonderful part of the SNES library in a brand new way, and will see almost as a miracle that it even exist; many others will be and are thrown off by it, remakes aren’t exactly looked in a very good light, specially in an age where preservation seems to be at the bottom of videogame companies priority lists, the original games being lost to time is a real fear, and I can only hope that won’t be the case… plus, some will just see this as an outright downgrade from the original which it’s completely fair in its own right. Me? I have a bit of a different, more nerdy perspective from those two; I see this as an opportunity that me and many others never had, as an encore that could bring a bit of a new era. It’s not that I wasn’t even a thought by the time the original game released, it’s that Europe and some other regions never even got the chance to even smell this game; the whole thing I spat out about this game’s legacy is something I can only know now after growing up a bit and looking more into the series past, ‘casue I’m pretty sure that the number of people, specially kids, that didn’t even know this was a thing is staggering. Even with those Virtual Console releases, no official translation was ever made to any languages beyond English, wish even tho that wouldn’t be a problem for me right now, I can assure you it was when I was younger, and it still is for many people. Fan-tasnlations only can do as much when you have knowledge about them and how to apply them (even if I have nothing but respect for each of them), and when it came to an official, commercial and generalized localization, the future was looking pretty grimm… and perhaps the thing I value the most of this existing as a remake, is that it made those translations a reality; the game now exists in European store-shelves localized to more languages than it ever was and, at least speaking for the Spanish one, the work done here is almost dream-like, some of the best work I’ve seen in any of the Mario RPGs by a long mile and each adaptation and change has as much love and charm as the things that were kept as close to the original as possible (Bowyer being named Arquelio and Booster being changed to Costarugo are two changes that I didn’t know I needed this much in my life).

It's not that I can enjoy this amazing translation, it’s the fact that so many others car as well as the whole game, and this addition only comes with more changes that only make me love this even more. The original’s pixel art is to this day one of the most unique and fun looks of the SNES library, and the Remake had a really difficult task in topping that look… so they didn’t do that; instead, they tried to replicate the look of the original renders and giving them a new code of paint and polish, and the result is such a fantastic little collection of worlds, little dioramas populated by cute, silly, and even badass little fellas that reminisce their original looks as close as possible, without ever looking like pale imitations or lifeless recreations. Every backdrop and character has more charm than entire games, so much so they managed to make the Toads distinct from one another, which I forgot it was a thing that could be done aside from a palette swap. Combat has also been slightly altered: there are buffs across the board, and even there are brand new mechanics introduced like the splash damage, change partners mid battle and the triple news; do these make the game easier? Absolutely, even if I never beat it, I did play a little bit of the original, and Is still can say for sure this time around the game is even easier than it ever was… however, I’ll take this for two simple reasons: combats never feel like they drag-on, normal battles go by pretty fast while given enough time for each time to feel memorable, and boss fights and the stronger introduced enemies (both the random ones and Super Bosses) will make you pay MUCH more attention since these really poss a threat, and also, things like triple moves and changing mid-combat make fairly static strategies turn into constant movement in the player parts. Everything feels like it works, every single character, be it Geno’s AOE special attacks, Peach’s sustain, Bowser’s sheer force and tankiness and Mallow’s best boiness, constantly changing and thinking about what triple move suites the situation is a game changer, tho they are all worth it because of the fantastic new animations alone, of which they are scattered throughout the game and all are simply fantastic and such a delight, and they kind of remind me of the ones in Kirby games int best way possible. And then, there’s the new soundtrack… with the old one being an option, I expected to be constantly swapping between one another, ‘cause look, I’ve heard the entirety of the original OST and utterly loved it; Yoko’s Shimamura’s work is one that I always end up falling in love with, and time and time again I return to it to give it a listen; but after the OST of the Bowser’s Inside Story remake ended up falling real short for me, I expected this one to be good, but not really superior to the amazing original… well, let’s just say that I didn’t open this review with the new rendition of Forest Maze just to be cheeky. Consider my non-existent mouth shut, ‘cause Yoko has done it YET again; similarly to the visual, I doesn’t feel like thet simply tried to remaster the original sounds and call it a day, they reinterpreted it, the whole soundtrack ahs the same exact feeling as the original songs, but they feel so much more… different, magical and distinct: The Armored Boss battle theme keeps the same goofy sounds that made the original so fun to listen to, but made it far more menacing and it truly feels like a boss theme; the volcano’s theme sounds incredibly beautiful; Booster’s theme is as funny as ever and fits him perfectly, and I could go on and on about all of it even more, even the changes made when you make a chain of 5 attacks.

The respect the people that work on it have for the original is so strong that you can practically see it; it’s that same love that the fans, Alpha Dream and Intelligent Systems have for the game being realized once again, and I mean, how could you not love it…

How could I’ve gone for so long without giving this a proper chance, let alone actually finishing it when I gave a try years ago; Mario as franchise, from the very get go, is insane, is crazy, is creative as all hell, and Super Mario RPG takes that and decides to make it even more impossibly nuts. At each an every corner there are new ideas, new enemies, new areas, all managing to fit so well in this pre-stablished world that it feels as if they’ve always been there; I love Mallow and Geno with all of my being, they are such funny and cool characters that I wish I could jump into another game in which they appear again, hell, that kinda applies to everyone here; every new and old face is so damn lovable and hilarious, from the Weapon Legion to just any normal Toad, and in some cases I really wish we could get to see more of this fellas, I would seriously pay to get an entire section dedicate to the Axem Brothers, they are absolute perfection. Each place is given life both by the way it’d designed and looks as much as by the character populating, and that’s all thanks to the dialogue; I had to actively make an effort if I wanted to stop smiling, because every single interaction carries such charm, such a lovable aura coming from this relaxed yet intense adventure that never stops moving; Characters will move around and break the bounds of the world, Mario will transform and do crazy moves just to retell a story to another character, secrets and funny little fourth wall-breaks are palced at each and every corner, and when the game what’s do hit a comedic moment, it slams it, and its through that comedy and absurdity that manages to pull a simple yet investing story, one that I wished we could see more, ‘cause it really got me feeling for this weird fellas by the end of it, an adventure I could only call… magical.

And I’m not gonna ignore that we are looking at the game that spawned my favorite battling RPG system of all time: the timing needed to do extra damage adds a ton of fun to the moment to moment combat, and it makes every action fell directly controlled by you, and with the amount of special attacks and weapons that change animations and timing at your disposal, there’s a ton to learn, and a ton to enjoy. But the game isn’t content with this super fun combat system, and it takes every chance it gets to introduce secret collectables, minigames galore very distinct from one another, and even platforming and puzzles that sometimes hold the hardest part of the normal adventure (Or maybe I’m just bad, who knows.) The only thing I could complain about and say it’s inferior to the original it’s the UI, but it’s still one that’s completely functional, and it’s a fair trade to see everyone dancing in a stage, with make my dopamine shoot up to levels never seen before.

I still cannot believe how this game managed to make me so happy at so many and different levels; it gives me hope for the future of Mario RPGs, it calms my inner translation fanboy, and on its own, it’s an amazing RPG, a fantastic voyage that never stops and never overstays its welcome. That happiness I felt listening to its music in memes years ago, the happiness I had when playing Mario & Luigi games, is here once again, but as the remake itself, in a different way, on its own, fantastic way. I’m still smiling thinking about certain interactions, locales, bestiary entries or designs, and that smile won’t fade away anytime soon. I don’t know if I’ll stay, but I’m glad Mario RPG is back, I’m glad is back for everyone to enjoy. I finally get why so many want Geno in Smash. And I finally got to experience what started it all. What a happy, delightful adventure.

What is a Chocu? Good question, my fellows, and well; Chocu is life, Chocu is hope, Chocu is the light in times of death and desolation, Chocu is a friend, and as with every other friend, you don't question them about the children he uses to mine cereal.

I originally planned on writing this review in spanish since Chocu as a concept is something that will mostly only ring a bell to Spaniard twitter users (and also just to keep the funny and absurdity going), but why must be Chocu, Doctor, Hipo Juan and their glorious fantastic excellent incredible fantastic unbelievable magnificent adventures be relegated to be known by only a select few? EVERYONE deserves to share my suffering know about these funny little absolutely not stolen cereal mascots and their whacky misadventures!

ChocuPixel is the follow up to the absolute industry changer commonly known as ChocuJuego, and right from the get go there are some clear differences and changes brought by the new installment, like the fact that the graphics aren’t an amalgam of stock and stolen images (which includes the likes of photos of former Spanish presidents and popular mascots from food products) or that this one control acceptably, which believe it or not, is a major step up from last time, tho that depends if you are a coward or not.ChocuPixel is a pretty standard platformer, pretty brief, simple, and nothing too special, but that’s ignoring the fact that you can buy a Kirby hat called ‘’La Creatura’’ so you know, not everything has to be a masterpiece for many in depth reasons.

The original ‘’Chocu’’ account is what you would get if a piano fell at full speed on top of a community manager for a known company and they still let them manage the twitter account without giving any kind of medical assistance, and the original ChocuJuego is the equivalent of a small group of people trying to make in one day the shittiest most stupid thing imaginable only for then to put the hard drive it was on in a blender and then trying to salvage was in there while actively trying to make it even more shit; that crappiness, that condensed shit, that defiance in taking very much copyrighted characters from the 2010’s and doing whatever the fuck you want with them, that absurdity, that it’s what I and many others find utterly hilarious about ‘’Chocu’’, the fact that it actively tries to be as poorly done and crude as possible with never being offensive, that it’s what gives me life, that’s what made ChocuJuego so utterly unbelievable as a thing that existed, and that’s what makes ChocuPixel special. The sense of humor and style, the dumb as fuck jokes that shouldn’t be that funny but they just are, that’s what makes going through this remarkable, specially if you are with a friend and can laugh at the sheer stupidity together.

Other than that… is a platformer alright! It has very competent design, some neat ideas and collectables, and it is a unironically fun little while from a gameplay standpoint, all with a completely original and good looking pixel art. But… that’s it, it’s competent, it isn’t fantastic, nor is it utterly heinous, rebellious or bad as ChocuJuego was… and as deranged this may sound, this makes ChocuPixel feel lesser in comparison. It lacks the personality, the man-made sloppiness, the being non-sensical at every single second possible, and by that, it loses a bit what makes Chocu, well, Chocu. It has being almost 5 fucking years since I last played the previous game and I still vividly remember, this however, I’ll remember some of the dialogue, but I’ll probably forget about in a couple of months, even weeks. ChocuPixel is competent, but ChocuJuego was at least unforgettable.

Most of this is probably gibberish to you, and when I play ChocuJuego again is not gonna get much better, but what I’m trying to say is not that the fact the previous entry being bad made it better, is the fact it WANTED to be bad while still managing to be hilarious and incredible what made it so stupidly special. ChocuPixel is also stupid and special, and it made me smile and laugh non-stop, but it feels as if it stops itself from fully being what it is; a dumb parody that isn’t scared of being stupid, and the result of it it’s that it is indeed funny, but that’s pretty much all it is. Not deranged, not crazy, just a little bit funny, but Chocu is more than just that.

And I know what you are thinking: ‘’Did you just spend 800 words talking about a game that comes from a parody Twitter account that is as profound as a wet tissue and probably doesn’t deserve this much of a deep look into it?’’, and to that I can only say…

JAJA, SÍ

I just wanted to play the funny seal game, not a ''trying to not get fired'' simulator, I could play that in real life!

To say I was charmed to hell and back by the original Rhythm Hell animation when it released back in March would be an understatement, because it kinda was the thing that put me in the mood to basically eventually beat the entire Rhythm Heaven series this year (or at least the ones I hadn't beaten or even played already, which was three quarters of them); it's funny, creative, has a neat visual style, has seals, and it's cruel as fuck... that's a Rhythm Heaven minigame if I've ever seen one! And as its playable own thing, it’s a perfect representation of the original thing; it is indeed pure suffering!

Taking control of it makes you realize how much it does pass as something that could have perfectly been in one of the games as its own bigger side-game; it reminds me a bit of the minigame Quiz Show a little bit if it was more technical and music-dependent, but I mean, this is way better, ‘cause c’mon… this has SEALS. And I really mean that it’s more technical: you better have some basic knowledge of musical notations and symbols, ‘cause even if you do, this game is here to screw you up. That in tandem with the speed ups and slow downs make it tricky to get just an ‘’Ok!’’, tho it’s worth if only to get to see the funny little end-cards.

It's cool, it’s funny, it’s can be cool to try to get high-scores, it gets the job done; it’s the definition of a novelty game, something that it’s noteworthy for what proceeds it and what it’s trying to imitate, and it’s really nothing beyond that… but it’s one of those things that it’s just neat that it even exist, this is something that anyone can check out and give a try and that makes me smile, mainly because the original video made me smile, but also because… well, it’s a pretty fun bite-sized experience that it loved what it’s alluding to, and even if it’s HARD, it got me in the spirit for some rhythm, you could say I do got a bit of rhythm after all…

Check the original animation if you haven’t already btw, probably pretty much everyone already has by this point, but it’s always worth sharing funny stuff… specially it has SEALS WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

EDIT POST-MAESTRO

Returned to it today to get the coveted Superb and turs out this game pulls some cheeky stuff. The real ''ending'' is locked behind the 12th round, but from that point on, rounds won't have any sound clues, and even tho that goes against what the original series was about (even at its hardest), this is no heaven, this is hell, and seeing as a cruel yet hilarious extra challenge for those willing to get even higher scores, it really works.

I myself I'm done, and I do not have it in me to put myself through that and I wouldn't recommend it to even my worst enemy, but to those brave and skilled enough, who knows, you might have a blast trying to achieve even higher numbers...

Don't mind me, I'm just bawling my eyes out over the squeak of a toy...

Captivating... no... rather, terrifyingly captivating, yes, I think that's the better term, the one I'd use to describe A Hint of Purple. Such a profoundly personal and deeply saddening tale that grabbed and didn’t let me go until the very last words was said, and one that in spite of its brevity manages to say so much and making some really smart decisions in the process.

One thing is to take player interactivity, the thing that characterizes the videogame medium as a whole, and use it against the player itself to make feel powerless, and another thing is to extrapolate it to this setting, this terrible and terrifying situation to be in, one in which it you cannot move nor speak, being at the mercy of those around you and the memories of the past, haunting you in your dreams, which is at least better than the coldness of nothingness. It doesn’t matter what you say or choose to express, nobody knows it and nobody can react. Not even the void pays mind to your words. It puts you in the shoes of Maya, it makes you feel the same pain and anguish without fully really knowing her, and it makes you value the little snippets of the outside beyond the hospital room, to value getting to see a new beautifully painted new portrait, and getting to know that person whether it’s through memories or revelations; but also fearing when seeing something inhumane, barely distinguishable, to abstract to be familiar. There’s only one voice who can hear you and to whom you can tall back, but it’s not a really amicable correspondence, and it merely exist to remarks Maya’s struggles and insecurity, to torture her even more in this nightmare. It’s all beautifully narrated, all wonderfully shown to the point of uncomfortably; Maya is a prisoner of her own body, and you are too, and your hopes of improvement is only met with coldness.

Is between those moments of anguish, those small interactions with Kai and their own struggles, and the flashbacks that showcase more of them two and their relationship, that gives meaning to the unfinished portraits and explores Maya’s character even more, those moments are what make A Hint of Purple so special as much as the oppressive nature of everything surrounding it. The anxiety and calmness take turns with one another, or maybe it would be more correct to say that they dance with one another, sometimes blending, and is in those explorations of pain, of fear and self-discovery in which the humanity is seen, where the voice is quite and there’s only room for smiling or tearing up, maybe even both at the same time. Nobody really wins in this story, and some struggles go unheard for everyone but you, some characters not even getting the beginning of being heard of that they yearn for; but it’s a story about changing, about the pass, about the present, about hearing and seeing, a story of love and art indeed, but for ones self as well as for others.

Even in the final moments of the game, even with Maya gets a moment of respite despite all, nothing truly ends. Life moves on, and the last inkling of information we get is that hopefully, for the better. Curious, isn’t it? In a game in which you can’t really do anything or even be heard, the connection you can feel with it is enormous.

Beautiful in every way, and the amazing collection of tracks doesn’t do anything but help its case even more; a look into a sad reality, one that feels both afar and close, one that I don’t feel ashamed of tearing up over it.

How do you even begin to quantify the infinite?

How do you defeat the unbeatable?

How do you reach the end of the impossible?

Mosa Lina’s premise seems like one you would make in some kind of parody: a experience that seeks to be basically infinite, where RNG has such a presence that sometimes it can be completely unbeatable, failure is basically guaranteed at some point and your arsenal is also completely limited by luck itself. It describes itself as an ‘’hostile’’ interpretation of the immersive sim, but that would be an understatement; there’s no real level design, there are some set structures the game may apply to levels, but other than that absolutely nothing is planned. You have nothing but yourself.

It should be barely more than a joke, a proof of concept put out to be played and maybe laughed with by other people, a experiment without much substance that while absolutely commendable, wouldn’t be memorable in the long run.

And yet, here we are.

If you where to ask me ‘’What is Mosa Lina similar to?’’, it’d literally impossible to start comparing beyond the most superficial level; it visually reminds me of Gonner with all the head-weapon thing, and… yeah, that’d be pretty much it. This is no simple ‘’oh, the game is very original and doesn’t lift many ideas from others’’ or ‘’takes a bunch of concepts and makes something new!’’ type of thing, it’s that I’ve never seen or played something that comes close to being what Mosa Lina is, to do what it dares to do. The ‘’Rogue-Like/Lite’’ space gets a ton of criticism with how stagnate it has gotten and how it’s been oversaturated with titles reach the level of greatness the best titles in the genre do, and if that wasn’t enough, now this game arrives, and it puts the supposed premise of ‘’infinity’’ that some of those best works in question proclaim to have into questioning. I don’t even think that calling it an immersive sim’’, as the game presents itself, would be entirely correct; you don’t really get to interact with the levels beyond what your three available weapons let you, and even if that’s not exactly a small level of interaction, it’s yet another showcase of how impossible to catalogue this game into a proper category really is.

But all of this shouldn’t really mean anything, even if it had the best of ideas, that wouldn’t mean a lot if the execution was jarring; like I said at the beginning, it would be a respectable effort for sure, but not much more… but we are not living in such a scenario.

Nine levels.

Nine weapons for each selection.

And the magic… you make it happen.

After a pretty basic tutorial, you are thrown into Mosa Lina, and its up to you to really find how it works. Each of the ‘’weapons’’ acts completely from one another, but none feel useless; some might* be completely ineffective in certain scenarios, but they do not feel like a burden. Be it shooting boxes, squares, manipulating gravity or giving life to frogs with no neurons, these solutions are given to you, but not necessarily because they are the solution to a problem, because there’s never a real solution.

You fail. You retry. You fail. You win. You fail. You retry. You fail. You retry. You fail. You reroll and try your luck again. Each of these decisions, and what happens inside each level, it’s entirely your own, the game only goes as far to give you genius unpredictable scenarios, and the rest it’s up to you. There are times where it’ll be easy. Others you’ll be pondering and retrying for a while before finally nailing it down. Others aren’t possible with your current tools. And other times you may just get lucky. In all these possibilities, in all of these outcomes, it all feels earned, interesting and gratifying, even when al level is, by all accounts, unfair. And you keep pushing, and I kept pushing, because it made me feel pure wonder and awe, I wanted to keep experimenting, trying crazy stuff and managing to do it; it’s the ‘’Possibility Space’’ brought to its most insane result, a game that lets you to defy the impossible.

With each reset and each set of levels beaten, you keep moving forward in the null space, and you keep going, and going, and I kept going, and going, to see what lied at the end of the path, to see what I normally could never see. But at the end of the line there’s nothing, no ending, no reward, not even the credits: there’s nothing, and even if I should have felt a bit mad or disappointed, it couldn’t further from the truth, and I couldn’t think of anything more fitting. This is not a experience about a result, it’s about all of them, all of the little adventures, the steps at learning and sharing, at just feeling at peace if something doesn’t work or it can work. It doesn’t matter, there’s always another time to have another chance, and that’s fine. And I did it. And I kept coming back. And even with it’s fairly simple surface, I still find new ways to be surprised or feel that feeling of fun and creativeness sparking in my mind. And I utterly love it.

Even if it doesn’t click with you, even if you end up disliking it, I implore you to give it a try; it’s has the bravery to be unbeatable yet manages to be fun and infinitely replayable, it’s everything and it’s nothing both at the same time.

It’s the infinity.

And I adore it.

The biggest problem I had with the ‘’Where’s Wally’’ books, aside from the fact that I sucked complete ass at them, is of course that it was just a boring buy with a kinda cool hat instead of a cat, so seeing my complaint being addressed makes me extremely pleased… also one of the cats here is named Gaston and I just couldn’t do anything but giggle a bit.

I’ve always loved the ‘’find x thing amongst a clustterfuck of an image’’ type of puzzles, it’s such a simple yet sound idea that I’ve always tried to get into it despite of my own impatience. I’ve tried a couple of games that tackled the concept, the first that comes to mind beingHidden Folks, and while they aren’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, I just cannot evade the feeling of borderline anguish after trying to find one guy for like 30 minutes; and this is completely a me thing, something that just happens to be a bit of a problem and gets in the way in my long-term enjoyment of this type of game, which is a shame considering that, again, so many are so wonderfully done.

I was a bit scared that the same thing would happen with Cats Hidden in Paris despite clearly being a smaller, shorter game, but hey, considering how expansive the Hidden-Feline-like genre has ended up being, I at least wanted to try this free little monochromatic search, and honestly, glad I did! While it’s very much just a static image, with only the music and sounds of meowing and when clicking other things being the ones that fill this black and white version of the French city that shall not be named, but honestly, it’s not like it needs a ton more. Finding 100 cats, each with an unique name, is a damn entertaining, relaxing way to pass the time, it doesn’t have much, but it’s not like it needs it: it’s pleasing, it’s short, it’s funny and creative with how it blends the cats with the structure of the city, and has a really cool hint system that points you to the general locations in which the missing cats are hidden, which it’s a really cool way to prevent getting stressed when there are two of the cute motherfuckers missing while also retaining some of the challenge. It isn’t much, but it doesn’t need to be much: a fun time spender that costs nothing and gives a burst of enjoyment I was really craving to feel from this type of game again, and honestly, it makes me kind of tempted to play the DLC and rest of the series.

Now, if you excuse me, I’m gonna think about the funny cats again… hehe, Gaston…

Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in!

The idea of playing the (almost) entirety of the WarioWare catalogue this year was one I’m really glad I went through, it turned out to be a fantastic experience and a made me gain new-found appreciation for this series that I never had before, not even after playing Get It Together a few years back, but it was also a very out of nowhere decision, which kinda fits considering what games we are dealing with, but imagine my sheer surprise and excitement when I saw that Move It! was announced; the timing couldn’t be better, and considering this seemed to be heavily be influenced by Smooth Moves, I was extremely excited to see what they pulled of for their third (technically fourth) fully original home-console WarioWare, and after playing it I can say for sure… that they did Jimmy-T dirty as hell this time around, he gets barely any dialogue and some of the most disappointing micro-games are his, how could they do this to him… how could HE do this to ME?!

It feels extremely weird to me that this released only now and after Get It Together, ‘cause this feels like something that would have launched during 2017’s summer or even the console’s launch. I think no other game in the Switch’s library has used the Joy-Cons to their fullest potential other than this one (Aside of 1-2 Switch, I guess…), and the same thing with Smooth Moves repeats here where it feels more gimmicky than any other of the WarioWare games, but similarly to that game, that doesn’t get in the way of it being yet again another dose of the stupidest fun you could possibly have. It once again invites you act stupidly, to be irreverent and whacky, and it that it succeeds, I’d argue to an even greater degree than Smooth Moves ever did; the poses and their explanations return, this time under the context of legends of the island, and the creativity is commendable and, how else, pretty fucking funny. The micro-games are pure fire, specially the first batches, they are as dumb as ever and easy to understand and just a joy to watch a play, and here we have some of the best boss mini-games in the entirety of the series… but also some really weak ones. Yeah, similarly to Smooth Moves, there are some really high highs and really jarring lows, and while the overall quality of micro-games is far better in Move It!, at least in its Wii counterpart it felt like everything worked; one problem with being far more experimental and daring is that trying to use technology that really can’t keep up, it’s gonna be clear as day that something is amiss, and no there are no better examples of it that the joy-con camera and how the things’ gyroscope acts in certain poses; there are some truly inspired and fantastic micro-games and stands, they are the majority in fact, but I can’t deny that the few that feel unresponsive or undercooked left a bad taste in my mouth, and I imagine that the reason that this game is so forgiving even after losing all 4 lives is that they knew all of this but really couldn’t find a way to make it work.

Well, with all of that said, let’s see what else there is to say… uhmmm…. Huh…….. oh……. Oh I see… Here’s the thing, Move It! is very much designed to be a party games, which, let’s ignore that you need a pair of joy cons for each player which makes it hell to play if other people don’t have a switch themselves or you don’t have a spare pair (which makes sense because… you know, 80 bucks is a bit crazy), even ignoring that, right out the bat for most players a huge portion of the game will be immediately impossible to play, which makes that, aside of the story mode, the extra single player modes you have to play are a bunch of I independent minigames, the three difficulty animal towers and… that’s…. it… Smooth Moves divided its content in a very similar manner to this, but at least having two Wii-Motes was far more plausible than having two pairs of joy-cons, and it still have a ton of modes and minigames unlocked right out the gate before you even beat the story mode. I’m not asking content comparable to Twisted and Gold, but I’m asking anything, you could have added the online components that Get It Together had but… not, no they did not. And, again, Smooth Moves has a similar issue to, but to go and try to replicate the exact same structure of that game EVEN more is weird, and not the good kind of weird. It doesn’t feel even like a sequel, but rather like that they tried to replicate a past success and, don’t get me wrong, in a lot of ways it works, but it also leaves Move it! feeling a bit hollow, not derivative, but it does feel devoid of uniqueness aside from its setting, and similarly with the game over thing, I wonder id that change of style and location is also a patch to cover another glaring issue with the game’s… in this case existence, I guess.
Move It! has fantastic micro-games, fantastic style, and it even has dinosaurs and penguins, but that can’t stop it from just feeling like the first game in the franchise that seems just like more of the same, more so than the game that consists on recycling content from past games. It’s still the better of the Switch Wario games and far better than something like Touched, but at least that one felt unique enough to have a ton to talk about, even if it wasn’t that great. I plan on playing every 2-player mode in the future as soon as I can, and I’ll probably talk about it again when that time comes, but for now, as far as WarioWare games and a single player experiences come, it’s still a really good one, but if falls short by its own nature, and even if I don’t regret playing it at all, I can’t see myself coming back to it when there are so many greater options within the same series… and you know, there’s a clear responsible for all of this… JIMMY!

I know he messed with the poses, I knew how they worked; as if I could ever make such mistakes after busting it down in Smooth Moves, never, NEVER! I just… I just can’t check it in the console settings, he covered his tracks and made that stupid-ass boss game terrible to make me look bad on purpose, and that’s not all! The AR Camera… you think a camera just happens to suck fucking doo-doo balls like that? NO! He orchestrated it! JIMMY! He used a shark as a surfboard! And to think I was a fan, I promoted him as the best WarioWare character! But I shouldn’t have… Saved my best shitty jokes for him, what was I thinking?! Ever since the GBA he was planning it, he was planning this take us all down! And HE gets this drawn out really shitty mess of reference?! What a sick joke! I should have switched to play Wario Land when I had the chance, he will always be Tenacious Jimmy, he- HEY, I’M NOT CRAZY, I’M NOT CRA-

When my high-school math teachers said that when I grew up I would use what I learnt in their classes daily, I laughed, and now... I still laugh 'cause this are the simplest multiplications ever, yet another day without using the quadratic equations babyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

The spare time between uni classes has really gotten me into a little bit of web browser puzzle craze, it all started simple, with me thinking ''Hey, what's a better way to kill time than to boot up short games of Tetris?'', and it begun as only that, but my destiny was already sealed, and it didn't take long before I started to browse and try more and more games; I was deep down the rabbit hole, and it was only a matter of time before me and 2048 crossed paths, and let me tell ya, this game didn't kill my time, it annihilated it, to an even greater degree than Suika Game which is embarrassing to say considering that, as a game, it really just gives only a bit more of fun than messing around with a calculator.

It's funny how in a way this one has the total opposite problems compared to the aforementioned watermelon hellscape; whereas that game was highly RNG dependent and it didn't feel like strategy could really make a difference, 2048 feels like it can only be played one way and one way only, and even if it may take a while to achieve that solution, once you figure it out, you'll be getting high scores and even winning consistently. It's not just that luck doesn't factor here, it's that it feels as if every different run is the exact same thing, even before realizing the ''correct'' way of playing it. The 2s and 4s meld together and sure, it’s not a game that you can play without paying any attention, but I’d say that should be the bare minimum. You can fuck up, and you can recover from those fuck ups, but there isn’t much excitement in any of this, there isn’t an ‘’Aha!’’ moment that makes you feel that smart, since the solution that you’ll come up with to beat it has been already thought of by basically everyone that has played it.

It's not terrible, in fact it’s pretty competent at what it is: it’s just a time killer that really grabs you until you beat it, and it’s not a bad time at all, I just don’t think it really gave me anything memorable of value aside of that You Win! screen. It’s, and I say this both seriously and with the pun very much intended, extremely by the numbers; there are far more competent little puzzle games that feel far more re-playable and compelling to go back, but you don’t really lose anything by playing it, and it can be entertaining to at least beat its mean objective

Me? I’ve done it, and so I break free of the shackles that bind me and move on to the next challenge… that being more Tetris, of course…

Do you ever come across a game that in some way or another ''blows up'' popularity wise and just... get it? Like, a game that a first may seem like a weird or uncommon choice for having such an online presence but then play it and you can only say ''Oooooooooooooooooooh... So THAT'S why!''.

I say this with no ill intent whatsoever, quite the contrary; sometimes a game just so happens to hit the right notes to spread like wildfire, and while this effect can be and has been manufactured, there are others in which it's more of a direct result of the nature of the game itself or the circumstances around it, some games take years before even being put under the spotlight; such is the case of this little bringer of desperation called Suika Game. Of course there’s an asterisk on that, since what really popularized the game was the very recent Switch release and its subsequent explosion in the streaming landscape, which is what brought it to my attention in the first place, but even back in 2021 with the original browser release, all of the elements that make it what it is were already in place: a highly addictive, cutesy looking puzzle game.

Many of its ideas and even presentation are nothing new, but I’ll be damned do they work so great; it’s a joy to the eye and everything is clear from the get go, you simply combine fruits with faces to form other kind of fruits with faces… except bigger! The concept itself couldn’t be simpler, but it does hit many of the right notes: the focus on physics and collision makes getting chains or simply getting lucky manage to feel so incredibly satisfactory, sometimes a well-placed strawberry can make the difference between creating that sweet coveted watermelon or losing miserably. That alone makes it a treat, a really fun gameplay loop that makes you go want to keep trying and go back time and time again, all to see if you can get and even better chain and score, but that sweet spot has a really ugly side, since it’s part of the same coin… and by that I mean that sometimes this shit is sometimes so luck dependent it’s not even funny.

You simply cannot predict nor adapt at some of the things that are thrown at you, which isn’t something I can’t say about the best puzzle games of this style, but here the RNG is not only ever-present, it’s egregious. You are only told of the next singular fruit that will spawn next, and that’s only now that we are lucky, in the original web-browser English version you don’t get such a luxury! That, plus how the collision just can decide to go completely wrong, sometimes even sending fruit pieces flying, or how the game acts weird or unpredictable if three pieces of the same type touch, that’s what makes it so luck dependent in the heat of the moment… and that’s exactly what it’s so compelling to go back to. The highs of getting a nice streak and reach crazy scores is so beyond satisfying because you also beat bad luck, and while I can praise that since at the end this is not a game to which you are gonna become literally addicted or compelled to play for hours, I cannot see as something but a glaring flaw with its design and that prevents it from being even more fun or interesting.

It's a joy to go back to in your spare time, but I’d be hard pressed to recommend it beyond that, there are far more interesting and fairly designed puzzle games, this one is more like a snack, a fruity, healthy snack that’s fun to have sometimes.

Also, this is one of those games that needs either more songs or a better loop, I really had to mute it after a while because I could feel my sanity as I heard this Winnie The Pooh baseball game sounding ass theme while trying to get oranges to touch each other. In a way it brought back memories to Super Hexagon and I would prefer those traumas to be left forgotten, thank you very much…