So this is what Medabots is now...




Can't give a serious review, there's a glimmer of a game in here but it's boring and repetitive unless I'm missing something due to the language barrier. Teambuilding doesn't seem to be a relevant factor once you just use the better weapons you got on hand, but who wants to replay this game like 16 times? Just a fanservicey game in the wrong way, really.


...Wait, seems really quiet around here, don't it?

Now this is a good video game. Ignore the bad reviews. They are all by fake gamers who cannot understand the value of this mastahpiece.
Never before have I entirely felt like John Wick in a video game since the Minecraft Mob Arenas back in the early 2010s. But this game made me feel that way for a whole half an hour. With the premise of the mafia ransacking your place and unfortunately your entire family along with it, while you, an old Russian man, decide to show them that they messed with the wrong guy, I knew this was the game for me.
The game greets you with two difficulties, Easy and Hardcore. Now, if you're a journalist or the average Steam gamer, you're going to pick Easy. But that's why you're not doing it right. You see how there's a big fat baby under Easy? Yeah. That's you if you pick that mode. I thought we were playing the ol' grandpa, who looks like he's out for blood. Because we are - I'll get to the wonders of the true mode in a second.
Armed with a gun of your choice, you make your way through the streets gunning down all those bastards who are after you. You can tell that grandpa is gonna kick ass, but within a single minute of playing the game do you truly understand the depth behind what is a deceptively simple game. Instead of having your guns blazing, you have to properly time your shots according to a bouncing gauge that appears under the closest enemy. If you just spam shoot them, sure, they'll probably drop dead, but what you REALLY want are those juicy green critical hits. Why? Because it's cool as hell, and you won't have time to waste your ammo when you can take that extra second to time your attack right. You need to go out with class.
Since your movement is limited and you can get overwhelmed easily, this basic mechanic makes you really need to think fast about what you're doing in the next moment. Are you going to conserve your dashes so you can run away from your foes? Are you going to use them to pick off enemies one by one? Who are you killing first? How confident are you to get a critical in the heat of the moment. It's time like these when you REALLY feel like John Wick. Except cooler.
Now, if you picked Easy mode, you're not actually gonna need to use your brain. Because on easy, the gauges for the enemies are always full. You're always doing max damage. Is that really fun? Is spamming your gun really that fun? Is it, you fake gamer?
Maybe it is. But there's always a sense of adrenaline to be had with making sure every shot counts. Every second is important within these stages - poor planning and tactics might leave you with no resources, letting you get swarmed easily by the mob. The game makes everything else easy - enemy types are clearly defined and their patterns are really simple, yet none of it is unfair and they all complement the idea of needing to carefully pick your standoffs. Between each stages, you can upgrade your stats, also letting you mold a sort of long-term strategy to take on each level however you see fit - do you wanna dash more? Maybe focus on maxing out damage and get regen while you're at it? While the shotgun is probably the stronger choice, the options given to you in this already-simple game lets you, the player, express your skill in whatever fashion you see fit.
DED remarkably closes up everything together. You fight through several strange areas, passing by foreign districts, chaotic streets, and horrifying commercials of women twerking or shaking some other bodily appendages everywhere you go. After losing the last thing keeping you alive, you can truly feel the bleakness and last-ditch mindset of the game, all propelled by the upbeat city-street-inspired music you listen to in each battle. Everything seems wrong, and truly, it's you versus the entire world. When you finally use your gamer skills to reach the final stretch of the game, at the very least Hardcore begins to really make sure you know your stuff.
At this point, enemies are super bulky. You HAVE to do your best to get those crits or you're in for a very hard time as more and more enemies swarm you, requiring you to make better decisions and prove that you haven't been slacking. Finally, the Big Boss you're seemingly after can only be hurt by said crits and nothing less. DED strives to challenge you, and once you figure out how to take the final level, finally finding that light at the end of the tunnel...
It's over. You've gotten payback, and there's nothing left other than an angel on your shoulder.
The art in this game was already very visually pleasing to look at, with backgrounds being detailed yet unobtrusive, and your character being incredibly polished and beautifully drawn within its pixellated limitations. But the ending screen, while up for interpretation, gives you an utter sense of catharsis, signalling that this is the end of your bloody, ruthless journey, which began and passed just like a rainy night. You might have felt like John Wick, but now you feel your old age catching up to you.

I don't remember when I added DED to my library, but I'm glad I did and that I eventually played it today. While incredibly short, the game's pleasing visuals and classic, challenging gameplay is not worth glossing over, even if there's not much to be gained from its completion other than a good dopamine rush. However, DED will likely remain more memorable to me than other games I've played on Steam - in fact, this game reminds me all-too-much of classic older flash games, and given this is a webapp, it makes all the more sense. Perhaps DED is a love letter to these simple yet enjoyable minigames from the past, but like other forms of art, there's something to take away from the experience for everyone. In any case, DED is entirely free - so unless your mind will explode at any sort of challenge and don't have an hour to spare, I highly recommend the game, on Hardcore no less. Perhaps you too will feel like an old Russian John Wick.

8/10, has a little something for everyone.

(Mirrored from Steam)

When I was gifted an 8 GB visual novel all of a sudden, I wasn't sure what to think. I've only played pure visual novels maybe twice or so in the past, those being rather short in comparison to all the well-known titles out there. Seeing the word salad title and an artstyle that I wasn't so keen on at first, in truth I was partially expecting some weird dating sim mechanics despite the descriptions purely since I decided to go in completely blind.
And boy, after going in around half an hour or so, were my first impressions wrong.

What I got was a pretty engaging story with some interesting characters that also continued to fit the mood of danger that Root Double's all about. As the events progressed, I started warming up to the plot, intrigued by whatever was going to happen next and finding the choice selection system a little interesting to say the least.

Usually I see amnesia as a lazy plot device, and lots of things seemed out of place at first, such as the characters (where the poster girl rubbed me the wrong way, being the archetype of the well-dressed, frail girl), but soon I found that the game was genuinely fooling me into suspending my belief non-stop. From moments that are flat-out unexplainable to curiosities the game presents, the first act of the game ends up being a rollercoaster of rising "bad feelings" that raises the stakes and somehow feels like you're getting further and further away to getting any answers, but nonetheless keeps you pushing on with a protagonist that you're desperately rooting for. Perhaps most people remember the story the most for this segment, and it wouldn't be an understatement to say that the mood of the story here is entirely different from the rest, being a series of decisions between life-or-death and trust.

But then, that story suddenly ends. With all the correct decisions you've made, now you have to complete the second point-of-view with the second act that has a completely different tone shift from what you just got out of, being a slice of life with elements that seem far-too-cliche for the genre. While it may be off-putting for some, this story is also integral, and at the very least offers a break from the oppressive action seen before by bringing in characters you've seen before and chasing a mystery that sets the events of the game into motion. Not to mention that the secondary protagonist has his own demons to encounter, and since this part of the game functions as a lead-up to the current point in time, characters re-appear and some holes get filled in as a result. Because of this, the reader starts seeing things differently having obtained new knowledge, and impressions on characters start to change constantly. First you may be wary of a character in the first act, only to warm up to them, but on the other hand, characters that you trust are now testing that bond to you as the reader. When things really pick up, shifting away from the slice-of-life break, the events all converge into the main and final stretch of the story where it all comes together.

When I mentioned that the game fools you, this is where everything is revealed, showing that all along, the seemingly strange events, characters, and so on all have valid reasons to their existence, causing Chekhov's gun, boomerang, and whatever weapon you want to keep becoming a factor that's more apparent when you go back and re-read prior segments of the story. You have several crowning emotional and awesome moments, though unfortunately the final act is a bit of an exposition dump.

It was great to finally unravel the mystery at last, but to interject, this is where the game ends up feeling slightly different and its little flaws are more apparent. In the very first act, you're making near-constant use of the game's choice system, and while choices are in high volume due to how it's a rather tension-ridden, action-packed story, the overall use of this system is used far less in the second (for a fair reason) and only used for major moments in the final. This is due to the second half having less direct mystery and settling loose ends before the proper major issue in the story is tackled by the cast, but it's why the first part of the game feels entirely different now that you've gone everything only to end up learning all the motivations behind the characters. Unfortunately, some may see this as slow, and personally, I admit this feels kind of lazy when a major point of the tension in the story was that it wasn't the nuclear radiation or the fires that were "the danger". I also have general other nitpicks, the biggest one involving the most critical turning point in the story that finally lets the cast members face towards escaping the facility. I was hoping here would be the point that has some real crisis or confrontation, but it was rather smoothed over thanks to a major plot point by the second protagonist, absolving the problem that came up at that moment rather immediately, followed by what was a massive leap in resolving that scene.

Despite all that, I'd say the story came together really well, removing all the burning questions I had in my mind and coming up with some rather amazing twists and more emotional moments (not gonna lie I nearly teared up several times). It's hard to explain when this review is already trying its best to spoil as little as possible, but again, part of Root Double's charm for me was convincing me that the characters would be rather basic, that it wasn't hiding anything behind the curtains, and that I'd be in for a very simple resolution. After you've made all the right choices, and after several climatic points in the final stretch of the story, you earn your true ending and see a rather complete and wonderful conclusion in my eyes.

My only other complaints aside from some story nitpicks, I was rather neutral to one character and ended up never liking another, but I genuinely enjoyed the characterization of the rest of the cast otherwise. Also, to properly enjoy the true ending of the game, 100% completion was practically required in all the previous routes, which wasn't clear to me at first and was kind of annoying to go back and grind to (use those Z and R keyboard buttons!), but even so, once I got them, they provided really good closure and only empowered me to watch the ending one last time again. Otherwise, the visuals and SFX in Root Double were just fine and did their job (albeit with some derpy-looking scenes), though many of the voice actors committed to rather good performances that empowered scenes where it really mattered; I found out that against my expectations that some of the VAs are rather popular as well (Watase's doesn't seem to scream properly though lol). Lastly, some people complain about the BGM being boring, though to me I think many of the tracks were wonderfully done, and many of them fit SO WELL with the setting given a scene. In fact, I swear that some of the music seems reminiscent of 999 (and there's quite a few unused tracks I ripped that are pretty chill too).

Anyway, that's as vague as I decided to write the review without spoiling moments. I genuinely enjoyed Root Double all and all, and the fact that the whole title actually has meaning now is only a testament to how much the game explains all it has going on. It has awesome twists and characters that I may as well remember down the line, though not everyone may be a fan of the final pacing. You could wait for a sale if you're uncertain, but at least to me, even if I got it as a gift, it's worth the price for a pretty good story with loads of content. YMMV, but as someone who's been thirsting for a good tale, I can highly recommend this along with its flaws. 85/100

Horrible camera angles and controls that actively work against you. Lazy design (I thought mazes fell out of fashion?). Of course, includes some flat meta humour. There is no horror to the game and the weird static bits just don't do anything but slow you down and annoy you. There's nothing to the game, no message, no payoff. Hell, there wasn't even any JUMPSCARE or ANYTHING to slightly make me feel like giving it more than a point for having graphics.

I'm appalled how something like this is so positively received. "Comfy" games and their consequences have been a disaster for indie games.

I played this game as a kid. For a bit. It is cool. Sadly, I can't recommend it as a game for other people to really enjoy.

- Controls are not updated and clunky. Gotta click on everything - such as to even move in the first place. Barely any keyboard controls that aren't magic/item hotkeys.
- The game is really just a closed loop. Fight enemies, collect loot, see that your bag is already full after like 4 minutes, manage inventory and sell the rest, go back to town to reheal and resume the dungeon. You will be stuck on the same floor for a long time, and for roughly 45 floors.
- The combat kind of sucks. It feels dangerous to commit to anything unique and you can't change your mind later, it's one of those older committal levelling systems. I feel there isn't enough leeway for trying to do something like a summmoner or magic class.
- - In general though, again, the combat sucks. Clicking and holding the enemy while moving sucks and this game has a HUGE emphasis on your attacks missing most of the time. Instead of dealing with good defense and HP, the game seems to revolve around half your attacks missing even if your Dex is super high. Every fight feels slow, and it really sucks cuz hordes appear HEAVILY and frequently. Running away isn't the best tactic in this game but neither is getting swarmed and having all these enemies following you. It would be nice to consistently land hits or at least have a way to do it but the stat calcs in this game are really weird. So again, think about doing the same combat over and over and slowly getting up floors, but...
- ...with progress feeling slow. Getting lots of money is slow, getting EXP is incredibly slow and you're always gonna be underlevelled. I dunno if it has to do with the difficulty I chose, but when I realized things were feeling like a grind and the loot usually sucked and it was taking forever to see progress, I decided to cheat.
- Sadly, the game doesn't end with a bang. Again, the gameplay is the exact same all the time, and even when you go to fight your "Final Boss" it isn't anything special - no non-random map, no unique fight (sorta), just another enemy that blends into all the other ones you've fought so far. Just beat it as usual and go back to "beat" the game. Nothing more to it. So yeah, don't play this for some sort of story or lore or anything like that, it's just a random diablo-like game.

It's too bad because this game actually nails the visuals and feels really well. The celtic music is really really nice, and this game has literally like FIVE SONGS in its entirety and I haven't really gotten sick of it. Very cozy in the village, very ambient in the dungeon. I love the narrator in this game peering over everything you do, his voice is wonderful, and at the very least the intro cutscene was cozy. The game is mostly pretty to look at for 2005 standards.

But sadly, with this port, they couldn't even work in a true widescreen ratio. It exists and the game renders outwards into a 16:9 ratio, but the UI gets stretched out just as wide for whatever reason. It's so wide and I don't wanna move my mouse all over rectangles, so I left it at 4:3.

Get it if it's dirt cheap and you wanted the nostalgia, but I don't think it'd be more more than a handful of hours of your time when you could be playing something else. I say this kindly.