Oh good lord what can I say about this game. I used to not like it when it released, it felt like a horrific mismatch of mechanics that got shoved in for no reason. And that hour long tutorial? Eugh.

But then I stopped having a skill issue basically. I realized how well the mechanics mash together once I actually got to racing in the grand prix and especially in the online mode.

The rival system is still super fucking annoying in grand prix though. You have no clue how many times I got screwed over by them.

I'll probably come back to complete this game but for now? It's fun! Can't wait for the upcoming updates and the modding scene to truly develop.

I've never played an Analgesic game before despite being very interested in how Anodyne 2 looks, but Sephonie stood out to me as a puzzle platformer and looking just weird enough to be up my alley.

Any fellow Canadians reading this, if you remember the "Short Circuitz" clips that used to play during commercials on YTV back in the day, this game feels and sounds like that. It really nails the bizarre, dreamscape setting of the island and the music evokes that N64 keys/synth style that is so familiar to a lot of us that it tickles that special little spot in the back of your brain - that weird little sad nostalgia zone that causes certain emotions. Like exploring an empty Super Mario 64 level or lonely Ocarina Of Time dungeon. The track that plays during the puzzle bits especially gives me that specific feeling - it feels so familiar and lonely.

This game is made exclusively by 2 people and I give them loads of credit where its due - the imaginative ways it displays its world and the creative story and writing that broadens the characters, their past, and their connection to the island, really makes this a great piece of art.

The game does feel clunky during certain platforming/wall-running sections, and I found myself failing to do things that felt like it wasn't my fault, but the game itself. You'll run at a wall at the exact angle you need to and jump onto it and it just won't work sometimes. The running itself takes some getting used to, and you'll find yourself speeding off the edge many times. BUT when it works, and when it clicks, and you're pulling off really awesome platforming and using your brain to reach nooks and crannies, it feels great. I applaud a team of 2 people that can make tricky platforming work at all.

Sephonie is a game that feels like it could use a bunch of gameplay polish to make it shine that much brighter, but at the end of the day it shines in its own special way. Truly unique and aspirational game design, presentation and writing.

Extremely good 2d platformer. Movement feels slick and I really like how the energy mechanic can lead to a bit of min-maxing lol. A bit on the easy side, for me at least. Maybe would have been nice to have some options to make it a bit more difficult but its whatever. Music and art are top notch with the artwork particularly being a huge selling point, simply a gorgeous game. With the story, I always like it when an action-focused genre like platformers have other stuff to do outside of the platforming and structure to guide the rest of the game on. The story does both of these and I think it does it quite well! It may be a bit "preachy" for some, but the moment-to-moment character reactions are really good and add some nice depth to the world and its characters. It also has an entire scrapped prototype of an earlier version of the game as post-game, which is awesome to see, even if I would have preferred it be a bit more guided than it is, but the fact its even there is so cool. Overall huge recommend.

Even the Ocean is by far Analgesic's most ambitious game, and every thing I love and hate about the game comes from that fact. To start with the story, unlike the brilliant characters of Anodyne 2 and Sephonie, EtO feels like it cares more about the world and the story around the world rather than the the people who live in it. And while that does serve the narrative of the game, it also meant that, until the big impact moment at the end of this one, there were only a few little moments that felt worth it to take a break from platforming to experience. (The namesake song is definitely one of them). Still, when comparing this game to non Analgesic-stories, it's hard to not love the charm of this world, and the way that playing it after playing Anodyne greatly increases the amount of perspective you feel it provides. It's a story that I feel impacted me the way it did because I had already played some of Melos and Marina's other games, and thus felt a connection with the way their games view the world.

Gameplay-wise, this one is definitely an oddity. On the one hand, the actual gimmick that replaces health is pretty uninteresting, and just serves as a puzzle-creator. On the other hand, the shield mechanic in this game is just an unfathomable amount of fun to use, and it by far the reason that this game is still likely going to be one of my favorites I play this year - just like Shovel Knight's Shovel, it completely transforms platforming, this time into a duel stick experience, something that made breezing through levels so much fun. While the levels never quite get difficult enough to be interesting, I still found just running around a beautiful place with a beautiful score to be too much fun to not call this game great.

9/10
Game #1 of 2024, January 2nd.