Double Fine's worst, which to be fair, isn't to say it's the worst I've ever played. Its writing is very "make it up as it goes along"-esque, and the acting is very bland (how do you manage to get Jack Black and Richard Horvitz to sound boring). Puzzles almost never become anything deeper than give a thing to someone to get another thing to give to someone else. The rare time they make the puzzles something deeper, they devolve into some of the point and click genre's worst. I can usually put up with bad puzzles in games like this, I love Grim Fandango, but this game's story is not good enough to make up for its shortcomings.

The Neverhood is such a hard experience to describe. It lacks focus, its puzzles are some of the worst I've ever dealt with and its story is borderline nonexistent until the very end and yet, it's one of my favorite games of all time. Exploring this vast empty world made out of clay is incredibly engaging. The music is unlike any other soundtrack I've heard for pretty much anything. The stop motion is amateurish yet very charming and endearing. It's a bit hard to pin down what specifically makes me love this game so much but, I just can't help it man. I would love to see a remaster someday with cleaner scans of the original game's assets.

The follow up to Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk. The production quality is through the roof on this one, with a fully animated intro and multiple endings (all with some great symbolism). The game managed to unnerve me even more than the first game too, which is an absolute win in my book. The art style is also very nice, with very striking color choices and great background art. The music makes me nostalgic for feelings I've never had, and its execution of mental health topics is on par with that of Silent Hill's best. I absolutely adore this game, and can't wait to see what Nikita Kryukov has in store next.

I've played some really bad games in my life, but none of them have ever made me as numb as this one. It's just the same endless back and forth gameplay for eight fucking hours. The enemies are mindless and not fun to fight, the "looter shooter" aspect is half baked, the writing, when not forgettable, is so god damn obnoxious (here's looking at you Kamiko) and it has the gall to call itself a sequel to a game I actually like. If you liked the first Shadow Warrior reboot game, just play the third one. It's a much better follow up and best of all, it pretends 2 doesn't exist. I'd give this a half star, but unfortunately the game actually does function intentionally, it's just that the way it functions is miserable to play.

As colorful as it is clunky. Don't get me wrong, I love this game, but its control has aged uh... poorly. Personally though, I can overlook that because of just how stylish the game is. For a Dreamcast game, the art direction has aged phenomenally. Hideki Naganuma's ost is of course a highlight as well. The story is bare bones, but enjoyable enough. I also honestly prefer this to JSRF, mostly because I prefer the more vibrant colors. Makes me want to learn to rollerblade, but I know I'd just eat shit on the pavement so fast.

There's a story here, but I'm not sure if I can really pin down what it is, or if I'm even qualified to. Yume Nikki is absolutely captivating from beginning to end, the exploration alone will keep anyone who loves that kind of thing going for a good while too. The sprite work is also incredibly memorable, with a style I've only ever seen afterwards in fan games for this game, funny enough. An absolutely relaxing, creepy, surreal, nostalgic, etc. etc. experience, that is definitely worth playing at least once.

This game left me broken for days after playing it for the first time. It's very easy to relate to these characters and this town, and man sometimes you really wish you didn't. I don't mean that as a criticism, it's genuinely great to me that this game got me so deep out of my comfort zone at times. It can be a lot though, especially if you're going through/have gone through a similar situation to any of the characters. The art style is one I adore also, there's a very specific design philosophy with these characters that fits their personalities exceedingly well. The environments also look super great and I love the autumn theming the world of Night in the Woods has.