I really like the game's visual style, artwork, music, voice acting, and story. All of these are really good with beautiful designs, some gorgeous shots with lovely artwork and style. Along with this, a lot of the abilities are fun to use and there is a lot of depth and customization you can use to tweak it to your style. It is also unique, with aspects I haven't really seen before done in other games. But sadly, the combat did not vibe with me. At all. I really disliked it because it felt clunky, awkward, and didn't have enough feedback against enemies for me. Particles seemed to block attacks and I could never get a good feeling for what I was doing in game. It made it hard to enjoy, and I felt like I would just spam the same moves. There are some aspects like combos and backstabs but typically you just do two attacks: one to start a combo, then spam the other to constantly trigger it, then dash away until your slowdown time recharges and rinse and repeat. I don't think it was as smooth or refined as Bastion and Hades, the other two Supergiant games I've played, but I do respect them trying out something new. Sadly it didn't meld with me well and it started to make it painful to get through. I would recommend looking at videos or trying out the combat because if you like it, you'll love the game. But for me, it was a good 'one and done' just to experience the art style and story.

As a fan of the original Resident Evil 4, I didn't really want a remake. RE2make was great but missed a lot, RE3make stumbled a lot, and overall I was getting tired of remakes. So when it was confirmed they were making one I was annoyed. I felt like RE4 had plenty of accessibility with ports and remasters that they didn't need to in comparison to RE2 and RE3, so I felt like it was a misstep, and I would've preferred something like a Code Veronica remake (which I still want). I expected there to be missing chunks of areas gone, a gameplay focus that was more emphasizing slow-paced horror like RE8, and overall I didn't think I would like it nearly as much as the original. As someone who grew up with RE4, with hundreds upon hundreds of hours in that, this was the best possible job they could've done. Obviously I don't like it as much as the original, but this one comes close. The combat is amazing, letting you deal with crowds and arenas in super creative ways depending on your weapons, and the game makes you 'scramble' a lot more, running around and dodging things while trying to pick off enemies and grab drops to refill your dwindling supplies. You get much less ammo in this game, so you need to make the impact of shots land more in order to survive. I played on Hardcore and definitely struggled despite being a Resident Evil fanatic, so it was a nice challenge. The parry system and evade system I loved, and I wish the game made it harder or required you to use it more. I also think that the grabs were annoying that you couldn't use either because the movement can be a little stiff to avoid those. The graphics are gorgeous, and the environments and animations all look amazing. They put a lot of care and detail, and I like the change of making some rooms from the original, but you go through them in reverse. The characters are super good minus some voice acting issues. I like the redesigns to make Ashley better and more of an actual character, to make Ada a little more consistent, to make Krauser and Leon's connection better and more. Luis got the most love and attention I feel, and he really shines through in this game which I liked. The seriously improved him, and he is a lot more involved and has more going on than just a random character that pops in and out of the game sometimes. They did a great job with him. However, Krauser and Ada's voice acting is terrible. Ada is completely different which doesn't make sense compared to RE2make's voice, and Krauser also doesn't sound nearly as good as the original compared to everyone else who gets pretty close, even the merchant. All the weapons are really cool with different focuses, and I like the new weapon additions. I think my biggest complaint is the knife system. I HATE this so much. It just feels so awkward and annoying and discourages you from using the parry mechanic, which is probably the best new addition to the game. It costs a LOT to repair, and same with the armor as well which, for that, ends up not being worth it. I really wish we just had a single, working knife instead of having to constantly worry about it when it doesn't add much to the game, and makes it so I don't want to use the parry mechanic or to finish enemies off with the knife or close range. I feel like the knife durability should be doubled, or give me a NG+ knife with unlimited durability like in RE2make. But other than that frustrating aspect, I loved this game. It is super good, super high quality, and is different enough that you could play both the original and remake and still enjoy them for different reasons. I'm shocked how much I loved this game, and I plan on doing plenty of playthroughs in the future.

I actually think this was pretty good. This is a top-down, twinstick shooter roguelike heavily inspired by Risk of Rain to the point where some elements could be argued as more ripping off, but is incredibly fun. The thing is, this is moreso a tech demo rather than a fully-fledged game, so it is hard to give it a proper rating. The core loop of the game is fun, with finding items and getting a choice that you have to choose on the fly. Enemies are really good and feel balanced, and the two playable characters are both unique to each other. I think the 'story' mode, which is basically a tower defense, pales in comparison to the infinite mode, but that one might be hard for players since it is never-ending, and my two runs were an hour and a half and two hours respectively, which is a long time. I hope the main game improves the tower defense mode and they add in a way to 'stop' the infinite mode, maybe after every boss kill you can leave early, but if you stay you get better rewards. Or something. Either way, if you like rogue-likes I would check this out. It is free, so there is no reason not to.