I suck ass at this game, and even still, I'm having a good time!

Everything you do in ULTRAKILL feels fast, snappy, responsive. You gain a kind of machine-like intuition - an ability to quickly come up with plans and execute them. Death comes fast, but so does life- It's genuinely technically impressive how well the checkpoint system here works.

What's also executed a lot in ULTRAKILL are demons! SO many of them. You will find new and intuitive ways of spilling blood on yourself (it is your fuel, after all), and that's a great segue into talking about this game's many interconnected mechanics: I'll tread lightly in revealing them here because finding them yourself is satisfying as hell, but just know that basically anything that ULTRAKILL lets you do mechanically has several applications and interlocks with other stuff to a wonderful degree.

Thematically and story-wise- well, don't expect narrative ingenuity from this, but still, know that ULTRAKILL did a good bit of homework on the mythological and religious concept of Hell to come up with its world. This is expressed in some of the iconography used (without using any of the gimmes like pentagrams or reversed crosses I could see!) and some cool enemy designs. From literature, there's Dante's Inferno as the obvious pick (and you will see "Abandon all hope [etc.]" pretty early on), but most new levels are genuinely very interesting in how they conceptualise the place, and in how it reacts to intruders. I was half-expecting it to throw a No Exit reference at me next-- though I guess that's not really apt for a game about a robot that kills Hell Demons for their blood.

Accessibility design is also present to an acceptable degree. It's not as intricate as something like Celeste in its options, but like I said: I suck at shooters, and ULTRAKILL still allowed me to feel adequately challenged while not grinding me to dust.

Lastly - and this is a personal note, bear with me - if you have struggles with bad thoughts and the slow, grindy games that'll help some people don't do it for you, give this a try instead. It gets hard to overthink and beat yourself up when the dulcet (loud) soundscape and flashes of crunchy demon violence accompanied by sick-ass breakcore blares on in front of you.

EDIT: I've deducted a full star simply because, in the long run, it failed to keep my attention, and because the game is still unfinished, and I want to be cautious in case they mess up the home stretch. I'm really looking forward to where this team takes it, though!

There is absolutely nothing like Illbleed.

Illbleed is an absolute achievement. Bonkers. Wild as hell. Absolutely unpredictable in everything its doing. Designed to entertain and fuck with you to a degree I haven't seen a horror comedy joint ever really quite do and only really in the way that a video game can.

Illbleed is a reminder of the kinds of things only video games as a medium can do in the ways in which they interact and interface with the player and the way the player interacts and interfaces with the game. You could adapt The Last of Us, Dead Space, God of War and Final Fantasy XV into a series or film or something. You could NOT adapt Illbleed into anything else.

You could not remake Illbleed and get the same result. You could not make a sequel to Illbleed and have it work the same at all. This is a culmination of absolutely deranged ideas all culminating into a beautiful package at one specific time by one specific team at one specific moment. This shit is special.

Illbleed frankly is fuckin peak. The more I played the more I fell in absolute love with it. It trolled me, it baffled me, it knocked me on my ass and every twist and turn had me waiting for where the fuck this thing was gonna go next.

Sorry to be vague but you should really just play it for yourself and see what this has to offer. I want people who experience it to have the raw experience I had with it. I really wish there was some Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind type procedure so I could wipe my memory and play this shit fresh cause it is such a transcendent and wild experience. I will absolutely never forget it. Don't be afraid to use a guide if ya need to, it's absolutely worth experiencing.

Make sure ya invest in them worm stocks alright?

somehow they did the impossible and made me tear up a bit with adol

being the latest in the chronology, it makes sense the game felt like an absolute payoff to the series up to date. not only when it comes to making your overall investment in previous games worth it narrative-wise (something i never thought i'd say about Ys), but also as an emotional climax for our adventure, specially for all the games with a deeper character-focus story as it has been with all the party-system games from Seven onwards.

it's not the perfect Ys however, there's a lot of stuff that bothered me when it comes to combat complexity, the repetitive nature of the scenario and the enemies/bosses, and as usual with those games even if i really like them a lot, i rarely ever LOVE them.

for me, this was an absolute improvement coming from Lacrimosa of Dana. i understand why most people will prefer VIII, but the changes for me weren't a detriment, i think they actually makes the experience more enjoyable - a deeper focus on what they expect from you as player, and less filler territory to explore. for once, i'm glad an Ys game was less about the land you explored, and more about the place you live in.

This one's theme is "entertainment" which I like because it's focused enough while still leaving plenty room for various interpretations. The main drawback here is that almost all devs are newcomers, which makes the game lack a big selling point since they're all unknown, but it's cool to see some different stuff.

Unlike most people apparently, I enjoyed the hub. Lacks meaningful puzzles like 2 or some well-paced dialogue like 3 and The Hunt, but the setting is pretty cool. I also really liked the monster, creepy design, very disgusting and while it becomes predictable, it's first appearances came off as a surprise for me. While The Hunt ended with a showdown against the monster, it was right at the climax and it wasn't particularly well animated or a difficult chase either. In most hubs there is no real threat, and I thought that was the same case here when the monster first appeared at the stage. But after that you see the damn thing chasing you and it becomes a different story. Gave me a couple of good scares. Honestly quite enjoyed the setting and atmosphere, story was fine too.

12. Interim

Idk what that was, kind of embarrassing lol. I think it was going for a Videodrome kind of thing but it's just all over the place and janky af, couldn't enjoy it or take it seriously.

11. Spirit Guardian

Kind of the same, I like the visuals but the nanny herself is really dumb and the way you fend her off is so stupid it loses all tension in the first couple of minuts. Puzzles are really silly too, idk, seemed more like a meme game.

10. Ludomalica

This one's a shame because the concept and ideas are really cool but it doesn't delve too far into any of them. The "you must be alone" thing gets old faster than it should and the game can't come up with anything else aside from running you around turning off the lights. The monster isn't scary at all either. Would've liked to see it build up more tension, but flopped hard quite quickly.

9. Rotten Stigma

Idk what this one was going for, it doesn't even fit the theme I think? I mean you could argue the sports center serves as entertainment but idk. Played like a mini-silent hill thing and it was actually fun but there was little aside from that, the scares were pretty silly. I had fun with it but that's about it.

8. Hunsvotti

This one was too silly but it was also fun, I wasn't expecting it to end like that lol. It's a really short game but it sets up the story nicely. Fun stuff.

7. Vestige

This one was silly too but I respect the commitment to the concept. This one gave me the most scares and the game within a game is really fun, really stupid too but it's genuinely well polished lol, I liked how it combined 2 completely different types of games. Had a good time

6. Beyond the Curtain

I've seen people shit in this one and I don't get it! There's nothing besides walking and the scenery isn't that interesting but it's quite short and keeps you on edge once the knife buddy appears. Nothing particularly amazing imo but it's well designed. Ending is fucked up.

5. The Book of Blood

Really liked the concept here but some stuff completely trivializes how it works, like the evade mechanic when the clown tries to stab you. There's also the thing with keeping your stand secure by locking the doors and looking through the windows, would've liked to see more of that, or that the game forced you more to explore the place in which it takes place. It's good tho, never drops the ball and is very focused despite the flaws, the scary factor quickly became meaningless tho.

4. Resver

The style's amazing and that's about the point I think, I can understand the general aspects of the story but it's left very vague. Still enjoyed it a lot, the visuals keep it going for a while.

3. We Never Left

This one would have surprised me more if I hadn't played Stories Untold before, although the concept is definitely explored better here, made me nervous more than I'd like to admit. One of the more polished ones for sure.

2. Gallerie

Holy shit this thing's long, I thought Squirrel Stapler was the longest Dread X stuff but this can go on for like 2 hours or so lol. I liked a lot of ideas here, didn't fully buy the asmr at first but I enjoyed how the rest played out. The "horror by stress" thing, the "trying to decipher a language" thing, the setting itself, idk, really enjoyed it. It definitely felt like too much sometimes, but the final thing feels very consistent, might be the most ambitious release in any collection.

1. Karao

I WOKE UP EARLY THIS MORNING. This one takes the cake tho, everything's just on point, looks cool, plays cool, story ends up being cool, I was expecting it to the predictable way but it absolutely delivered.

Overall, this one's all over the place. They didn't have a strict time limit like previous collections apparently so that's why you end up with lengthy and/or polished stuff like Gallerie, Karao or We Never Left and then some really short and/or limited stuff like Hunsvotti and Ludomalica. I absolutely wouldn't put it below other collections though, there's more to like than to hate here, and I think it has more to do with all devs being newcomers this time. The highlights here are really different to what you're used to in these collections by this point so the reaction is sort of understandable, but in many was I consider it superior to the previous ones. Apparently Dread XP is more focused on publishing now and this one might be the last one, at least for a good while, but I personally don't mind it. The hub story feels disconnected from previous ones but I like what it went for.

Glad I played these honestly, I enjoy little horror games but I don't usually go on hunting for them on itch or stuff, so having them delivered like this was quite the treat. It also introduced me to a lot of cool devs and made me appreciate some I knew before even know, so I'm thankful for that.

2 > 3 > 5 > 4 >> 1