Quando dizem que há videogames que podem ser uma obra de arte, a gente consegue colocar diversos jogos na lista. Porém, agora sinto que também podemos incluir tambem Hellblade 2. Acho que, nessa altura do campeonato, fica claro que a equipe da Ninja Theory não só consegui trabalhar com gráficos lindíssimos, como também com o gameplay. Temos ótimos exemplos disso e da competência deles nesse sentido. Um grande exemplo para mim sempre foi o DMC, mas com Hellblade 2, eles não tentam fazer o mesmo. Aqui, eles buscam algo mais narrativo e interativo, muito mais do que no seu primeiro jogo, e fazem isso de maneira magistral, com alguns pontos a se mencionar. Um dos pontos que mais me chamou a atenção nesse sentido foi a comparação com os trailers do jogo. Apesar de lindos, muitas coisas que esperava ver aqui eu não consegui ver, como, por exemplo, os gráficos, que apesar de belíssimos, claramente a captação nos trailers foi feita no PC e, sinceramente, com "O PC", porque jogando no PC mesmo botando tudo no talo, eu não consegui chegar em resultados iguais, apenas chegando perto e isso sacrificando bastante o desempenho do jogo. Além disso, eu sinto o jogo um pouco vazio em alguns sentidos, principalmente porque vindo como uma sequência, a gente espera uma melhora em relação ao gameplay que foi apresentado lá no primeiro jogo, que, apesar de parado, era uma baita gameplay, coisa que aqui não acontece.

Eu joguei o jogo através do PC e, de maneira geral, achei ele incrível na sua jogabilidade, principalmente casado com os gráficos e o motion capture que ficaram perfeitos. Para mim, é o ápice dessa geração, podendo melhorar em alguns aspectos que a gente já vai falar um pouco mais. Infelizmente, o jogo é curto e deixa um gosto de quero mais. E novamente falando sobre isso, a sensação que fica quando você joga o jogo é que não é muito mais do que uma demonstração técnica. Em termos de jogabilidade, está atrás do primeiro jogo. Eles removeram as batalhas contra chefes, cara... simplesmente, para mim, uma das coisas que mais fazia o Hellblade brilhar na gameplay... tudo bem... ok... isso não era o foco do jogo, já que claramente eles focaram principalmente na narrativa e nos gráficos com um visual mega-fotorealista, porém no fim de tudo isso aqui é um videogame e não um filme. Para mim, como jogador, eu sempre prezo por uma boa jogabilidade casada com todos os outros elementos, afinal, é isso que define um "videogame". Este jogo foi desenvolvido por quatro anos e meio e eles não fizeram nenhuma melhoria no lado do combate. É o mesmo que o primeiro jogo e simplesmente esqueceram de mexer na jogabilidade, não mexer, mas desenvolver mais ela... afinal, o jogo em si tá maravilhoso.

Falando um pouco focando nos gráficos, para mim nada atualmente se compara com os gráficos desse jogo, principalmente quando a gente fala de expressão facial. Nesse sentido, nada se compara atualmente no mercado com esses gráficos, expressões faciais absurdamente bem-feitas, transição de gameplay para cutscenes perfeitas é definitivamente uma experiência narrativa impecável!

Porém... como reclamei anteriormente, isso não é um jogo, é um filme interativo. Eu queria jogabilidade e sim, é possível fazer isso de maneira magistral sem perder o fator narrativo nisso tudo. Grandes exemplos que me marcaram bastante e que têm gameplays fantásticas são o Detroit: Become Human, Beyond: Two Souls, os próprios jogos da Telltale fazem isso também de maneira incrível, sem ser apenas um "andar para frente com paredes invisíveis". É intrigante falar nisso porque, em diversos momentos em que eu tentava fazer um pouco mais além de andar e explorar, eu simplesmente me sentia mega limitado no jogo por conta de paredes e objetos que eram mega sólidos e serviam como uma espécie de "parede invisível". Sem brincadeira, eu acho que rushando você consegue facilmente zerar em 4-5 horas, se for com calma 6-7. Então, sim, é bem curto para o que foi prometido e muitas vezes por conta desse jeito linear que o jogo tenta te empurrar.

Já na parte sonora, eu acho que isso para mim, juntamente com os gráficos, são o grande destaque do jogo porque o trabalho de áudio nesse jogo, desde o primeiro jogo, é sem igual. Eu não tenho nem comentários para descrever o quanto é incrível e arrepiante.

Omne... save me...

BAYONETTA 2! Oh, where do I begin? Well, lets start AFTER the release of Bayonetta 1. After Devil May Cry 4 disappointed several folks (although I think its a solid game so far), Bayonetta rose from the ashes to create a legitimately great alternative for the character action game fans out there. Almost everyone loved Bayonetta when it dropped, critics, fans, dogs and cats, everybody. So it’d be a no-brainer to make a sequel with an even grander scope. This is also the first of the followi ng two titles in the franchise that were funded in part by Nintendo, and thus, are Nintendo-exclusive. No PC, PS4 or Xbox One version in sight. It's not an unexpected move, as Nintendo did fund the project after all, and hey, like I said, emulation is free. So, while the exclusivity did sting a little, it made sense. And, thank the lord, Bayonetta 2 looks and runs phenomenally on Wii U and the 2018 Switch port. It's a big step up from the Xbox 360 and- ugh, the PS3 version. You know, the one with a 30FPS cap (sometimes not even reaching that) and sub 720p graphics? That was a fucking mess. But with Bayonetta 2’s release on Wii U and Switch, they went out of their way to port Bayonetta 1 as well, and if you bought Bayonetta 2 physically, you got Bayonetta 1 for FREE! A great move by Platinum, and hey, the Wii U version is pretty good! Overshadowed by the subsequent versions, but there's some all new Nintendo-fied costumes. Bayonetta made the most graceful transition to the Wii U possible, but that’s to speak of the quality of Bayonetta 2 itself. Because, truth be told, Bayonetta 2... is AMAZING! Bayonetta 2 kicks off even greater than Bayonetta 1. After festive lesbianism occurs, the first level kicks off with Bayonetta and Jeanne riding on fighter jets. Show this to anyone who doesn't know what the hell Bayonetta is and watch their faces change and shift, as random shit just happens. But it’s a joy to watch. The cool shots, Bayonetta jumping up to the sky naked, uhhhhh yeah it’s GOATED. And when Moon River starts blasting, you KNOW your girl is back and better than ever.

Bayonetta 2 retains a majority of its predecessor’s systems. Like Bayonetta, the delay based combos return. For a quick rundown, punching, waiting, and then punching again results in a different, stronger combo compared to 3 punches in a row, with this philosophy applying to a majority of the combos. Spam is discouraged, therefore creating the perfect skill curve with combat. That was great about Bayonetta, and I'm glad to see that it returns in 2, however, Bayonetta 2 adds a new mechanic to make these awesome combos easier. The Umbran Climax is a rather controversial mechanic within the community, to be honest. But damn, if I can't help but absolutely love it. At the cost of a full magic meter, all of your attacks become souped up Wicked weaves, and tearing down a crowd of enemies never gets old to me. But I can't help but feel it's pretty unbalanced. Yeah, that's kind of the point, but I can't help but feel that it's a bit too braindead for my tastes. While the delay based combos are still present with Umbran Climax, they’re much less useful given the clear benefits of a strong AOE presence, so you’re incentivized to keep spamming attacks, because Umbran Climax only lasts so long. One last nitpick, taking damage while in Umbran Climax needs to have a better indicator. You don't take knockback during Umbran Climax, so it's usually hard to tell when you take damage. This only gets somewhat annoying for scoring purposes, but it's whatever if you're playing casually. I’m not saying to make her invincible, but some kind of score mitigation would be pretty nice. I'd also like to note that Bayonetta herself is also slightly weaker than the prior game to compensate for Umbran Climax, as well. To be honest, it’s not really noticeable in the game to game action, but Bayonetta does slightly less damage overall, including her Wicked Weaves. Adding onto this nerf is the ability for enemies to block attacks, which is something that I was surprised wasn’t in the original game. This keeps the player on their toes, and I really like how Bayonetta 2 still attempts to throw the player off at certain points. One of the better additions in Bayonetta 2 is the weapons.

Sure, weapons were in the original Bayonetta, but Bayonetta 2 greatly expands on this mechanic, as most of the weapons are cheaper and easier to get than ever before. I'm sad to say that I was never able to use the awesome chainsaws in Bayonetta 2, but the rest of the weapons are pretty great, at the very least. I really loved the Dual Swords at first, because you can charge it up and do an oh-so powerful slash straight through your enemies. But once I got the 3 Pronged Scythe, that’s all I used. At least on my Hands, because with my feet, I still wielded the Swords. The Scythe is awesome, if you hold it out for a bit, you shoot out 3 projectiles out of the Scythe a devastating attack for most foes, and it’s also fast as fuck, one of the best weapons in the game, here. I never took a liking to the Bow, as ranged combat in Bayonetta is pretty lame in my opinion, but the Flamethrowers were neat, and the whip is incredibly strong, too. Because of this, the combat feels a lot more dynamic and diverse, adding to the already high variety of Bayonetta 1. Also, can we talk about the improvements from Bayonetta 1? The bosses feel much improved here. No longer are they just massive moving hurtboxes, they actually feel a lot more fun to fight here. With Umbran Climax, it’s a lot easier to turn the tides in your favor, and the bosses feel so much more dynamic here. From flying in the sky, to surfing on a piece of board, Bayonetta 2 never stays in one area of gameplay for long, although there is a slight problem with Bayonetta 2’s combat. It’s highly reliant on Witch Time. Now, I love Witch Time as much as the next guy, but having it be almost mandatory to survive took a lot of the fun out of it. Nailing that perfect dodge was never necessary, but it was fun because it felt like a massive “up yours” to the enemy for being aggressive. Bayonetta 2 exhibits a similar feeling, but to a slightly lesser degree, as Witch Time is required to dodge certain attacks. It’s not too apparent, but it did feel a little lame when I noticed. But overall, Bayonetta 2’s combat is just as strong as beforehand, just like the fantastic enemy design of Bayonetta. It definitely has it’s issues, but yeah, this is great! But if there’s one issue I can point to with Bayonetta 2, it’s undoubtedly it’s difficulty.

The biggest disappointment is Bayonetta 2’s very low difficulty. Bayonetta was a very difficult game for newcomers, but very satisfying to master. Bayonetta 2 feels pretty tame in this regard. The difficulty has seen a severe drop from Bayonetta. I’d say Hard Mode Bayonetta 2 is more comparable to Bayonetta’s Normal difficulty. But there also lies an issue with Bayonetta 2’s score system. ITEMS. In Bayonetta, using items was a travesty upon your rank. It counted as a Death, but Bayonetta 2 entirely removes this aspect of scoring, a dumb as hell move in my eyes. Healing is fine to not count, as there’s a damage rank anyways, but being invincible, or super powered, or UMBRAN CLIMAX for free should absolutely be punished by the game. Sure, it definitely sucked to get Stone Ranks all of the time in Bayonetta 1, but it felt equally as great to do everything perfectly and get the Gold Rank. With Bayonetta 2, very rarely did I get anything below a Silver Rank. Does improving as a player have anything to do with that? Yeah, maybe. But even then, I made frequent use of items and still made it out with the game congratulating my for my efforts. In my opinion, for this to work, there either needed to be a significant item nerf, or items need to be made waaaaaay worse. But thankfully, the final boss is still just as difficult as ever, and now that’s my cue to to talk about the endgame

God, Bayonetta 2’s finale is almost perfect. No dawdling over some stupid, unfun Space Harrier clone, no boss rush, just constant, non-stop action throughout, and I love it. Rather than your typical boss rush, in Chapter 14, they go to the past, with you controlling a mech, and it's not just a fun distraction either. It still retains all of the same, delay based combos that Bayonetta has. Rather than changing up the gameplay style non-stop, they instead add to it, making Bayonetta 2 an incredibly focused game. The level design is so much more wider and expansive, encouraging exploration, but never slow down one bit. And this applies to the final boss, too. Like Bayonetta, the one on one fights with the Lumen Sage lead up to the final chapter, where another one on one fight commences before the second phase. And when the true phase kicks in, the fight against Aesir, it’s awesome. It’s another one on one fight, and for once in it’s runtime, Bayonetta 2 actually gets pretty damn difficult. I actually died a few times here, and I like that higher difficulty. But of course, like Bayonetta 1, a giant hair god, OMNE!!!!!, with womanly proportions (god, I love this game) is summoned, giving Aesir the good old Wizard’s Foot. Okay, last Smash Bros joke, I swe- SUDDENLY, JEANNE! Riding on a goddamn plane, too. She finishes the deal. summoning another hair demon, and fast forward a few months later, MORE Festive lesbianis- SUDDENLY, PLANE! AND ANGELS! Well, you know how this ends. LET’S DANCE, GENTLEMEN!


Despite my qualms with Bayonetta 2, especially when it comes to higher level play, Bayonetta 2 is a more than worthy sequel to the original. Each time I turned off the game, I wanted to hop back in as soon as possible, because the game is THAT good. The greater depth, the incredible visuals and music, and the awesome as hell combat left me satisfied and clamoring for more. It's hard to look at Bayonetta 2 without comparing it to it's elder sister, but I think it's a toss up as to which one I prefer. As a casual player, I found Bayonetta 2 to be a lot more inviting, but Bayonetta's high difficulty made me incredibly satisfied when I completed it. It's a very tough choice, especially as someone who's seen hardcore Bayonetta players compare it to the first game (completely understandable ftr), but I have to give the very, VERY slight edge to Bayonetta 2. Sure, it may be easier, but it's far from braindead, and the difficulty is more than made up for with better gameplay. Hell, that's my opinion, though. At the end of the day, I still love both of them equally, and I recommend giving each a playthrough for sure. Once again, a must play.

Well... the Bayonetta series has been going pretty well, but that positivity ends with Bayonetta 3. Spoiler alert, but if you've been stalking my log, you know I gave it a 5/10, and I have a LOT to say about it. Nothing good, though. So, yeah. Welp, I'mma get back to writing it. But I hope you enjoyed this review, it was a little delayed, but most of that time went into Bayonetta 3. So I hope you look forward to that, so in the meantime, I'll see myself out. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you later.

Remedy make a boss fight that isn't shit challenge. Hartman honestly might have been full on worse than the final boss in Quantum Break. the only thing that gives me pause is the lack of a long load screen and cinematic in front of this one in comparison.

otherwise this was once again more Control. the setting has less of the drab caves which is a bonus but the connection to Alan Wake wasn't as exciting as it sounded which was a bummer. surge as an additional weapon type seemed like a gamechanger but ended up being much less immediately busted than i thought. </3

i find myself thinking that i had my fill of this one with the base game and could've done without the expansions completely. they're both serviceable but they don't have anything to offer that made me feel like i was particularly glad that i played them or anything either. that's the case for a solid 80% of the DLC i've played for any game ever so it's not a big shock, i guess.

hopefully by the time Control 2 rolls around my fatigue from these will have faded.

A fascinating experiment in visual storytelling and narrative that I'd say is on-par with quite a few respected arthouse movies out there. From the wondrous yet elusive and mysterious steampunk Tsarist Russia to the fever-dream sequences and choices of camera angles, this game goes extremely hard in the cinematography department.

Indika's philosophical backbone is rock solid, positing some intresting reflexions on faith, religion and morality - very well represented by the leveling system, which is the game's only true achievement in gameplay as a ludonarrative device. The ending & its message is also something I won't be forgetting any time soon.

Gameplay, however, is quite janky. Jarring animations, sound mixing that's all over the place, uninteresting transitional setpieces and mediocre puzzles. I never thought I'd say this, but I'd be happier if Indika were even less "game" and more "walking simulator" than what it currently is. Give me more talking and less busywork. I'd have greatly appreciated more delirious sequences and dialogues with the devil.

Still, even though it's far from perfect, I can't help but praise Indika's sheer boldness. Its highs are really high and made me power through the lows. Perfect if you've liked Hellblade.

I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me, and I walk alone.

Jokes aside, Lonesome road is probably my favourite FNV DLC, which seems like an unpopular take in contemporary critical discourse surrounding the game; on the internet anyways.

I do GET what others find objectionable about the DLC, I'm not super on board with the characterisation of Chris Avellone's pseudo-rantsona and the cardinal sins the game committs in regards to roleplaying are at best misguided attempts at narrative subversion and at worst break the entire game's foundations in half.

Its one of those things, where, even though I myself had not heard of this discourse I intuitively felt something wrong when I played the game for the first time. "You, the courier came through here before and indirectly caused the devastation of the divide" - Ulysses said calmly

"No I didnt. My character didnt do that at all. My courier was a common drifter before he stole a mojave express courier's identity just in time to be shot by a claymation chandler bing". I was mostly confused. I do think its a mistake to take everything Ulysses at face value, and if you listen to his soliloquoys scattered about the various holotapes you come to realize hes a disturbed, traumatized individual who's maybe not quite meant to be taken as gospel. He reminds me of Measurehead's backstory from DE if you do the fascism sidequest.

That being said, the reason for Lonesome Road being my favourite is the gameplay. Its an amazing gauntlet that puts the player's abilities to the test with the various tunnelers, deathclaws, marked men and the like. Chris Avellone's hatred for the post-postapocalypse shines here, albeit appropriately for a recently nuked area, there are nought but the remnants of those who tried to rebuild the divide but were cut down by radiation. FNV is a bit too easy, but Lonesome Road is a nice mix up in this department. This last playthrough I played using the JSawyer mod and a revolver build, both of which made the game more challenging and I had a blast making it through the titular road.

Its unfortunate how the DLC also implies that the mojave will just get fucked again by tunnelers because again, Chris Avellone hates the post-postapocalypse, but my headcanon is that the indomitable will of the player character overcomes this to make sure the future inhabitants of vegas can put up a fight. I mean, a drugged mailman took care of dozens of them with a few hollow points, it won't be that difficult to mount a defensive line against em

I've been replaying Minecraft on and off for the past few weeks with a friend and my girlfriend. It's definitely been a while since I properly sat down and did everything the game had to offer, ~10 years to be exact, that's right, 1.8 was the last time I sunk my teeth into this game, sure, I played it on and off over the years but every time I played solo survival I got bored and every time I played with friends they just speedrun to the end and automate everything before I can even get iron gear. That's why this time around I asked one friend to play on this server on one condition, we would go at my pace.

The result of this is a rating change from 7/10 to 9/10 and a rewritten review. After a month we beat the Ender Dragon, and it was wonderful, I was able to gear up get ready with everyone learn the new mechanics properly and build a lot of stuff before even reaching The Nether! We still aren't done either I have a whole plan for the Postgame where I can finally learn Redstone and automate stuff while still making it look nice because holy shit does automating make everything look fucking ugly, if I wanted to make a factory, I'd be playing a different game or Tekkit.

Minecraft is still great though it feels like it's still in a rough transition area with modern mobs and generation feeling way more advanced then Minecraft Pig, seriously, they should update animations next because Camels and Frogs look like they come from mods instead of Minecraft.

Let's go through some of the updates now;

1.9 - Combat Update. In hindsight this is a great update making combat feel more strategic even if I feel like it needs some work it did make the AI a LOT better, I remember skeletons being very easy pre 1.9 but now they kick my ass a lot. The end city is great though still a bit empty now that the villages, nether, and caves have been updated. Tipped arrows are great and as someone who used axes for all their life because a battle axe is a million times cooler to me then a sword, I appreciate the buff a lot.

1.10 - Frostburn update. I remember feeling underwhelmed by this update back when it came out and, well, yeah... I feel a bit underwhelmed looking at it, but the magma blocks are great, and the bone block is one of my favorite blocks in the game!

1.11 - Exploration update. A great update for someone who prefers Survival anyways. Shulker boxes are a game changer and I'm so glad to have them and Woodland Mansions are pretty cool. Also is it just me or did these things used to be a lot less rare then they are now, I swear they used to be very common when I played but now everyone goes like "YOOOO WOODLAND MANSION THAT'S AMAZING!".

1.12 - Color Update. For building? Amazing. Outside of that? Underwhelming.

1.13 - Aquatic Update. I'll be honest this one didn't interest me much back in the day but now I can say "it's pretty alright" with 40% more confidence! It made oceans less boring but that's all really. Also I just wanna say, Phantoms are the worst mob ever introduced to Minecraft, it's an inconvenience more then a challenge that makes Survival more stressful early game and more annoying late game.

1.14 - Village and Pillage. My biggest love-hate relationship is with.. idk what to call them actually.. I'll call them hostile villagers, they make the world a bit too hostile because a lot of them are getting added one too many for my taste. Outside of that, great additions, now make the Fletching table useful.

1.15 - BEES. I have as much to say about it as additions added.

1.16 - Nether update. what a crazy update this is, adding so many new things and making the Nether feel fresh, I think it's great coming from someone who thought the Zombie Pigman was the best mob in the game. Little shoutout to the person who added cool blue flames.

1.17 & 1.18 - Caves and Cliffs. MY GOD THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING. I cannot do this update justice in this review just like the Nether, the Overworld got a whole revamp adding so many things that I absolutely adore, amethysts are my favorite gem and guess what my favorite animal is, yeah its an axolotl. Oh and don't forget that they made half of their name fun, I always hated mining in Minecraft but I gotta say, this update made it actually fun to go down and get some diamonds. 10/10 update.

1.19 - Wild update. After the insane update that is caves and cliffs, whats next? More Overworld updates again, that's what's next. It feels more like a aftermath of things they couldn't add to caves and cliffs in time.

1.20 - Trails and Tales update. Well, here we are, the present at the time of writing this. adding cherry trees which my girlfriend is absolutely obsessed with and camels which my god do they make traversal so much better especially in multiplayer. I don't care much for the archaeology at the moment but I do think it'd be cool to see a new update adding extra lore to the world through archaeology.

overall, this replay has made me like Minecraft again and helped me reconnect with a childhood friend and do more with my girlfriend, that along with the memories I've made over the years, makes the money spent on this game more then worth it.

Happy 15 year anniversary Minecraft. Here's to another 10 years of updates.

Fuga 2 é uma sequencia padrão, com poucas grandes novidades mas q mantem o nível do antecessor, E creio eu q é um inicio de uma nova franquia e tem um universo interessante pra isso
Dito isso o jogo ainda sofre com um combate bem respetivo q se vc jogar por muito tempo no dia vai enjoar rápido, e adicionaram uma nova mecânica q eu não curti nenhum pouco mas ao menos da pra evitar
Agora eu só espero q a Cyberconnect tenha um tempo a mais na continuação e tenha uma boa evolução em maioria dos aspectos tecnicos.

When I was super young, I used to beg my mom to help me plug in the Atari specifically so I could play this and Keystone Kapers. I loved this game like nothing else (besides Keystone Kapers 🤪) because of how addicting its gameplay loop was. I loved the little details such as different colored cattle being more points than others, and I really loved the little (black?) calf that would RUN towards your character and completely mess up the rhythm you finally start to get down. I remember distinctly being able to see its legs wobble as it ran towards you, but that might have been part of my baby-brain imagination. I also loved how if you got too close to the cows, they’d get scared and quickly scamper towards the front. Stampede is always a game I plop in when I feel the mood to plug in that same Atari (now without Mom’s help!)

4/5

How can I explain a game that I got the platinum trophy for and found every item, egg, candle, and everything it asks you to get yet still have no idea what’s going on story wise and barely scratched the surface as far as finding all the secrets? A game where I feel like I know so much about yet somehow know very little. It is hard to explain but I also think most people that have completed it will understand.

Animal Well is a uniquely wonderful experience that was made for serious gamers as it doesn’t tell you anything and refused to hold your hand or coddle you. If you’re new to Metroidvanias this is not where to start but if you are experienced in the genre I can’t recommend this game enough.

The number one thing that in my opinion this game does better than anything is it’s very unique clever puzzles. Very few games have made me think to myself “damn that was a clever design” but I felt I was thinking that in every few rooms in Animal Well. The puzzles and traversal forces you use not only your brain but every item at your disposal. Some puzzles make you use multiple in quick succession at the proper timing. Some have many solutions. Some will have you so stumped you start believing you don’t have the correct item yet. But every single one is designed wonderfully. The mystery in this game is unbelievable. Every single small detail seems to have a rhyme and reason to it. Nothing is wasted. Yet still the game remains a mystery even as the credits roll. The maker of the game has said it may take years before everything in this game is figured out and while that sounds crazy I believe it. Another thing that stood out to me was the art. I understand it is devolved graphics but that doesn’t mean anything to me. It just feels right for some reason. It fits with the mystery and I honestly feel like better graphics could possibly take away some of the things that make this game great.

The only real negative I have is a few of the items are absurdly difficult to find. But at the same time it adds to the mystery so can I really count that as a negative.

There are many games better than Animal Well. There are even many Metroidvanias that are better than Animal Well. For me this a rare case of a game though. It isn’t so much about how good of a game it is. It isn’t about the gameplay, or the art, or the music, and it surely isn’t about the story, as again, seriously wtf is going on. What Animal Well should be judged by to me is less the game and much more an experience. I know a lot of my feelings on this may sound like a mix of cliches and confusions. I hope I’ve made some sense. But it really is a game that’s a lot easier experienced than explained. One thing that I am certain of is you owe it to yourself to experience Animal Well.

"The enemy of this place is not the Golden Rule, but human failings"

I first heard of this game when it got released as there was a positive word of mouth spreading around it but I was very surprised to find out it had in fact started out as a Skyrim mod before expanding into a game in it's own right. Even with the positive reviews around it I still hesitated due to my dislike of the Elder Scrolls games but fortunately due to a user here duhnunuh and his perpetual steam giveaway I was given the chance to try this out. Having finished it 100% in two days my reservations were extremely unfounded. It's fantastic. I found myself absolutely engrossed in the city and story around it's Groundhog day time loop premise.

The Forgotten City is a hard game to actually discuss though as much of the joy of playing it is making the discoveries as the narrative unfolds. A couple of parts really made me go "well dam!" as I played through it. The short spoiler free version is that you wake up next to a river in modern times before stumbling into an underground Roman ruin whilst searching for a man who had entered it prior to you. Once in there you realise it's a one way entrance and you are now stuck inside except for a portal that takes you back 2000 years before when the city was still a vibrant community. To get out you need to find out why it became the ruin it was in your time and prevent it from happening.

Though it does have plenty of options, branches and endings the game is actually more linear than it appears overall with talking to all the residents of this ancient Roman city to unlock more information, items and quests to constantly progress with loop shortcuts built in once enough progress is made. It's a clever little game but the cast of characters and usage of history and myths is what really makes it such a winner for me. I love historical settings and though Rome is often used in large scale war games and gladiator titles it rarely gets as intimate a background as this. Conversations of normal people of the period, gods and politics all mixed in but each conversation actually serving a purpose to push the story along towards it's conclusion. The characters all have their own lives and backgrounds and although some are more important to the overall narrative than others they all feel like people rather than background models in the world. The small setting allows for the characters to each have their own personality, worries, history and flaws.

Outside of the dialogue and conversations you will spend your time exploring the location. The game is called the Forgotten City but it's more a small village or town than a city. There is still plenty to explore and see however with temples, markets, forums, caves and secrets. There is some occasional basic combat in first person which is kind of weak though extremely limited with only one section really requiring it as the main point is the mystery. If I'm really nit-picking flaws, some of the animations for their faces and how characters stand can pull you out of the immersion a little as they stare at you cross eyed. The thing is I actually do think it's a fantastic looking and sounding title overall. It has great art design, vistas, music and voice acting to pull it all together cohesively, especially for a game made by a core group of only 3 people from scratch off the back of a mod idea.

Overall I think this is a game that will stay with me for a long time that occasionally I will just think about. Whilst I like a great many games in a variety of genres there are only a few for their story that really stand out to me for the overall experience. Games like Soma, Mass Effect, 13 Sentinels and now, The Forgotten City. "The many shall suffer for the sins of the one?" No, no, no. The many shall enjoy due to the work of a few.

Recommended.

+ Great historical references, narrative and characters.
+ Gorgeous art design.
+ Just an engrossing experience.

- Combat though limited isn't that fun.

Game's cool. You play as Meatwad. It’s filled with smartly designed puzzles, making engaging use of an oddball toolset that rewards out-of-the-box thinking… but only so much. Beyond manoeuvrability skill checks that are satisfying enough to clear, and a few cool mechanical revelations, there wasn't a lot of head scratching here for me. Animal Well is tremendously well-accomplished for a solo project, I had a great time with it! It's just lacking a certain star power for it to really raise the bar.

For complete transparency, I had this game sold to me as an ‘Outer Wilds-like’ - and upon seeing that it was a sidescrolling metroidvania, I was beside myself with hope that I’d get a few notes of La-Mulana in Animal Well, too. In practice however, I think the more apt comparisons for Animal Well would be games like Environmental Station Alpha, Super Junkoid, A Monster's Expedition, or Knytt. The distinction is important, to me at the very least, because I approached Animal Well with pure intentions but spent most of my runtime hoping for an experience that never actually came. This isn’t a game about losing yourself in the sprawling tendrils of a world’s unfolding internal logic - Animal Well is an array of screens containing pressure plate puzzles. The world feels utilitarian, and even with the animal themed ruins that politely aim to conjure a sense of dread and mystery, it’s all misaligned and mismatched in a way that lacks the cohesion of a place with a history worth learning. The latter end of my runtime was characterised by backtracking through areas to collect the final few tools, but it was made excruciating by way of the fact that practically all of the screens merely become desolate roadways once you’ve solved their focal puzzles. I don’t think I spent any more than five minutes on any given puzzle in the first ‘layer’’ of the game, and for as much as I like how left-field the player toolset is, their interplay with the puzzles themselves is usually shockingly obvious and leaves very little room for doubt.

There is, undeniably, an inclusion of outtadisworld ARG-like puzzles that at the time of writing are still being unfolded by dedicated Animal Well researchers, but I’d be lying if I said I value things like that remotely as much as game content I can be trusted to learn and master on my own. Will the community uncover a secret back half of the game that turns the whole joint on its head Frog Fractions-style? I kind of doubt it lol. I’m a sicko that completed La-Mulana 2 on launch week before any guides were even written, the distinction here is that that series takes great pains to contextualise its puzzles in multiple ways - through cryptic hints and also through things like inferred historicity and synergy. Animal Well doesn’t do this, it scatters codes and event flags around the map in obscure nooks in the hopes that a friend group is putting together a Google Doc.

I'm lousy at racing games. I enjoy destruction racers like Burnout or Flatout, but when it comes to 'real' titles like NFS or Ridge Racer, I simply can't hack it.

On my first Grand Prix race I kept my expectations low. Getting third place, I started zoning out until the replay started. Footage of me failing drifts and slamming into walls filled the screen, but it was almost irrelevant because Move Me was playing. I didn't feel like I was rock bottom or should have moved on to a different game: instead, I really wanted to improve.

The music in this game makes me grin. It's so damn good, all the tracks fit their designated purpose but do it so stylishly all the while. They can be a great motivator for success, and amp up the action no matter what place you are in the race: if you're lagging in 7th or 8th it creates urgency, and in 1st it encourages you to keep your speed up and ride the high. To that end, learning the controls and persisting was incredibly rewarding.

The stories in the Grand Prix are fun little dramas that add a bit of pizzazz to every race. I played Micro Mouse Mappy's first so I'm partial to them, but I feel like all the teams add something nice to the player experience.

Ridge Racer Type 4 is bite-sized greatness: every minute is a delight and it never outstays its welcome.

Among Us, a cultural reset game that defined the early years of Covid lockdowns.
So, how is it? It's pretty much an evolved form of a typical murder mystery game like Werewolf or Mafia, very simple gameplay but it's downright addictive at times. You go around and do tasks and find the Impostor if you're a Crewmate or you try to kill everyone as an Impostor; I feel like this game strikes a great gameplay balance between the two that you can even adjust if you don't like the standard settings.
So, hey, sounds like a good game, right? Well, yeah, it didn't become a massive cultural phenomenon for nothing.
Then why the 2 stars?

Colorblindness Rating: C
Ever since the game came out, I've had a ton of trouble distinguishing between light blue and white. Then a new update comes around that adds even more colors; this time, now I get confused between light blue, white, AND light pink!
The devs themselves even know this, because they added a Colorblind Text feature. Great, problem solved, right? No! All it does is add a little label below their names telling you their color, which, while it does help a smidge when doing callouts, it doesn't help when the maps always have the Lights sabotage, which makes it hard to tell what color ran past you and you don't know because the label isn't visible!
I guess the devs tried, but couldn't they have at least tried a little more?

I think Sion should have never been reworked. Imagine all these shonen protatgonists running around getting one-shot by a guy who looks like Klungo from Banjo Tooie. It would have been the funniest shit in the world.

I am going to confess something that will forever change our relationship: I love League of Losers. I started playing in 2013 and it was the most exciting multiplayer game I had ever played. I played a shit ton of games as Shen and Skarner and with friends it was electric. Eventually I went to college and, living in the corn fields of Iowa, the internet conmection on these Iowa campuses was so rotten that playing League online was simply not a possibility.

So, I spent a few years Not playing League, working full-time jobs that meant that after a brutal 9 hour shift I was NOT even interested in getting screamed at by a 16 year old Udyr in my chat. I briefly tried going back to the game in 2021, but this was the time Akshan was released and I found his kit despicable. Which is nothing new: every new champion is released hideously broken and able to solo games because that is how you sell them. But that overloaded kit? Give me a break.

But, you know what, you can't stop me from playing Renekton, so I have been playing it the last month and I have a couple thoughts about the game that made me reflect on it. My first thing is: How do new people get into League? It seems impossible. If you show even the slightest competency in a win you will instantly get paired against Team Smurf who will make you go 0/15/4 as fucking Kennen or something. If I was brand new and I saw Yasuo owning my team while my team unearthed ancient slurs to tell me to kms, I would say, "Ah, this game is for fucking morons." The fact Riot is so incapable or disinterested in figuring out the smurf problem or actually banning people who abuse chat is insane. It has been a problem since the day I joined the game and has not even moved an inch.

Riot's general ineptitude is it's own essay entirely. They are a poorly run Boys Club that fails at even the simplest of tasks when it comes to operating one of the largest games of all time, and half their financial model has to be based around smurfs buying Yasuo skins on new accounts because it seems impossible to me that new people successfully are retained. It's like the Burger King that is ALWAYS hiring because the pay is shit and customers are fucking morons.

The amount of rage in this game is kind of astonishing. For the record, I think shit talking opponents is fine. They are your enemy! Shit talking teammates is insane to me. No one's play has ever improved because they got told to hang themself in the most grammatically alien way every written. I had someone rage at me in ARAM once! The fucking casual mode! What is wrong with this playerbase?

So, my recommendation for any new player is: mute EVERYONE. Do not assume that something someone types in chat will be worthwhile. It won't be. Pings can do enough. Watch good players online play, and they will regularly communicate their thought process during objectives and team fights, and a lot of those thought processes can be applied to your own game. Do NOT pay for a fucking course for the love of fucking God. The game is about map awareness it is not rocket science save your money. You should also avoid bot lane, as bot lane in this game is the most useless role I have ever seen in a Moba.

Historically, the ADC was great at pushing lanes and snagging kills, but now EVERY champion is hyper lethal and mobile, so the fucking Ezreal dinking around bot lane is just a relic of the past. He will never help nor hinder your game; he is just a sitting duck fr. Your Zed or Lee Sin or K'sante are the ones who will carry you to the finish line due to their ability to explode enemies and not die doing it. Supports are also the whiniest, most pendatic fucking crybabies in the history of gaming. If you, as a level 1 Vayne, don't engage in the most brainded fight in history, they WILL rage and probably AFK. Botlane needs a severe rework because it is such a useless and not fun lane.

So, after ALL this crying, how can I possibly like League? The thing is that sometimes it all works. Sometimes it comes together and you get the kind of excitement and thrilling plays that define great multiplayer games. Sometimes you'll lane against bloated characters like Yasuo and Yone as Renekton and just blow them the fuck up with your empowered W. 200 years of game design vs. a Pissed Off Crocodile. I wish there more beast characters being made, as every new champion is designed to appeal to Main Character Syndrome in ways we haven't yet seen. So just shutting those Main Characters down with really simple characters like Ren and Garen? M'wah, perfecto.

Other complaints: Voice actors are terrible anime dub actors. Mute them instantly. Nasus and Renekton sound awesome though. Unmute them. Whoever designed Akshan should be sent to a prison camp, and I'm not just saying that because my Akshan mid the other day AFKd after dying once since it prevented him from being the Main Character. Riot is so bad at making a game that they are still making it 10 years later.

Play it if you dare.