Liked:
- This was pretty much a standard crime drama about a family on the run, but I think the execution was done well enough to be engaging and have tension with all its choices. Most of the characters are decently fleshed out with their flashback scenes and the voice acting was solid overall (some weaker than others though)
- It actually has a pretty good amount of story branching. There’s a flowchart to follow the pathing for every decision, and while most were just minor changes some can make a bigger impact than they seemed

Mixed:
- The art style. This was what turned me off from the trailers, the use of realistic stills in motion was jarring and initially gave the impression that this was some low budget FMV game. But having played it, I guess it wasn’t as bothering as it looked once I got used to it. It does make the presentation more distinct than it might have been otherwise, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the most divisive thing about it
- While decisions do seem to carry a lot of weight across the story, it’s still more or less the illusion of choice as these games tend to be. All paths will end up at the same story beats, just with a lot of variations for the chapter leading up to them

Disliked:
- The QTEs were basic to the point where they didn’t need to be in this at all
- Another game where you have to drag a cursor around instead of using the menu. Was made worse by how sluggish it felt to move cause of input lag
- There’s no way to skip or fast-forward through scenes, which made going back to see other choices a bit annoying
- The last scene leaving on a cliffhanger was kinda weak, seemed like it was just there to abruptly set up a sequel

Pros:
- Gorgeous art direction
- Adored its cyberpunk atmosphere and detailed environments, they did a great job nailing the intrigue of this world for the short time you spend in it
- The music and audio design are exceptionally good and really sell the whole vibe of this game. For me it’s definitely a solid pick for best OST this year
- You play as a cat which is cute! Movement was fluid to control, it’s well animated, and seeing the world from a ground perspective was refreshing
- The more open areas are surprisingly dense, there’s a lot of rooms to explore even if there’s not much to find aside for a few collectables
- There’s a meow button, you can scratch things, and knock over important stuff like real cats

Cons:
- This is not really a platformer since there’s no jump button and all the climbing is automated, you can’t fall. While that may be an intentional design choice, it does make the game feel a bit shallow and restrictive to traverse outside of the cool perspective
- There are enemies (basically headcrabs from Half-Life) that chase you and you need to avoid. It’s fine, but not really a highlight either. And the stealth sections of the second half I could’ve done without
- Minor bugs like getting stuck in furniture and having to reload, though checkpoints are frequent so wasn’t a big deal
- No photo mode 😭

A short game where you have a cursed sword that kills you in just a minute, giving you a short time limit to explore and look for items before having to respawn again. Each item you find is kept permanently and they open up more areas to progress until you can complete the game. Conceptually it’s a cool idea, though in practice is a bit of a gimmick since there’s frequent save points, and aside for that it doesn’t really leave much of an impression with its puzzles

Still, it’s fairly well designed for how small it is and has a charming style. Fun way to spend an hour or so

There aren’t many games strictly about taking photos so I found it pretty interesting. Short and does a good job telling its story through the environmental details of each level as it gradually reveals more about its dystopian world (if unsubtly reminiscent of Evangelion). The music and aesthetic were cool too

But I wish I liked how this played more, looking for obscure photo bounties under a timer that were finicky to register when you did find them got tiresome pretty quickly. The jankiness of the controls and platforming didn’t help much either

As a big fan of the first Somnium Files, I was thrilled to hear that not only a sequel was in the works but that Mizuki would be the lead with Aiba this time. I was initially curious how this would follow the first given that its story ended pretty definitively, but for the most part it’s unrelated to its events as it tackles a different standalone case

Newcomers can even opt to omit any mention of spoilers for the first game, though I would highly recommend playing it beforehand cause it’s great and you’ll have a better connection with the characters. How this new case matches up in comparison I won’t get into too much detail as with these games it’s best to go in as blind as possible, but it has a similar level of intrigue and I came away impressed in the direction it goes

That said, as a mystery I think it was a bit weaker than the first simply because it was less connected to the main characters themselves. And as a result it felt kinda messy by the end? It also got a little boring constantly going around to the same few areas looking for bits of info this time since a lot of the original cast weren’t as relevant to the case as they were before

The dialogue is about the same quality though, a lot of it is still very funny but also pretty horny as Uchikoshi’s writing tends to be. But I personally didn’t mind, and the banter between the characters remains the best thing about Somnium Files for me. This goes for Mizuki/Aiba but also the new protagonists Ryuki and Tama, who fit right into the cast and have a dynamic that’s just as entertaining. Special mention to the dub performances too, it’s as excellent as before and the line delivery makes the humor even better

A particular flaw of the first was the gameplay portion where you jump into Somniums, which as a concept had charm and heart but to me felt more like a annoyance to go through than anything. That was improved here as they’ve been given a bigger focus on variety and solving logic puzzles instead of just the trial and error investigating of the first. There’s also cool portions where you can reenact the crime scene which does more for the gameplay. Though could’ve done without the QTE action parts where they fight a bunch of randoms who all have the same model, they still aren’t good and felt like a waste of time

I’m not sure I’d say it matches the first overall as I feel the core mystery and character connection weren’t as good as before, but Nirvana Initiative does still manage to surprise in its own interesting ways and I still love the characters just as much

I didn’t know much about the Shadowrun IP before this, the most I remember about it was playing that multiplayer shooter in 2007 which seemed to be quickly forgotten. But now the franchise was revived as a series of CRPGs that focus more heavily on the narrative potential of its world and characters. And after playing it’s clear that was the right direction since Shadowrun’s universe does really stand out with its interesting mix of cyberpunk and fantasy elements

Dragonfall is the second entry set in Berlin, though it’s standalone and from what I’ve seen was the recommended starting point. The main story itself was solid, but it was the character interactions that make up the best part about the game

While there’s no voice acting, dialogue is well written and your companions are all interesting to talk to and learn more about after each run. The quality of the quests is pretty strong too, and it’s fairly concise for an RPG like this at about 20 hours or so. There’s a limited amount to do, but it’s all worthwhile and some of the quests tie into your companions and their backstory

The turn based combat is basically the same as XCOM, especially having your characters often miss their high hit chances as that’s known for… Mechanically it’s solid, though my issue with this type of combat system is when you’re fighting a bunch of enemies at once and have to slowly watch everyone make their turn animations over and over, which always gets tiring. A way to speed this up would’ve been appreciated, but otherwise combat was fine

And aside for some clunky inventory management and minor bugs, the console port was polished and translated pretty well to a controller

Citizen Sleeper revolves around playing as a Sleeper, those who gave their lives to work for corporations by becoming synthetic copies of their original selves. You decided to escape from those you worked for and need to pick yourself up from the bottom, trying to survive and build a new life as you hide out on a rundown but lively space station called Erlin’s Eye. All the while you’re constantly being tracked and your body is rapidly deteriorating

The gameplay is part narrative RPG akin to Disco Elysium (where actions are determined by dice rolls) and part resource management. With each limited cycle, much of the game is spent scrambling to find ways to make money to survive, exploring the various parts of the ship and meeting new people with their own drives to pursue. While also learning more about the station and the world itself through the game’s descriptive dialogue

Eventually it becomes much more manageable as you upgrade your character and gather various rewards from those you meet with regularly. Though you’ll start to exhaust most of what the game has to offer and still need to wait for events to trigger or items to appear after multiple cycles, which did get a little tedious. By the end though, Erlin’s Eye actually started to feel like home for the small amount of time you’ll spend on it

I thought the first Life is Strange was pretty good despite its flaws and True Colors was closer to that for me than LiS 2 was (which I still need to finish). Though it was definitely kinda short and a bit rushed.

Alex was a good character, and while her power to tap into emotions wasn’t quite as interesting as rewinding time, it made her more earnest in comparison and I enjoyed the interactions she had with the people of Haven Springs. I was into the game’s more comfortable small town vibe too even if there wasn’t much to explore in it. The rest of the cast was decent and the facial animations definitely improved a lot over past games, though some of the dialogue still seemed a bit stilted to me.

The plot itself was okay. It sets up a mystery surrounding Alex’s brother and his circumstances with the first two chapters which was interesting, but I thought it didn’t really get much focus after until the last chapter where it just speeds through the climax of the story. Instead the pacing would slow to a crawl as you’re forced through tasks like a LARP that lasts up to an hour in Chapter 3. And your choices barely make any difference, but I don’t expect otherwise from these games at this point.

Sifu’s a kung-fu beat ‘em up that has a stance based combat system similar to Sekiro, where learning to dodge and parry attacks is essential to overcoming difficult enemies and bosses. And just the same, it’s very unforgiving until enough time is spent getting used to its levels and mechanics.

In addition there’s a roguelike element to it where each death will make your character older. Giving you greater damage but less health until you get too old to fight and have to start over, losing the progress of the level and any skills up to that point that haven’t been unlocked permanently. Initially I wasn’t sure I would like this as losing significant playtime is the one thing that can be a turn off for roguelike games, but in practice it’s much more tolerable.

Aging carries over to the next level, and starting over will only set you back to the start of that level with the same age. And since the game has shortcuts, you can retry and just skip through much of the level if you’ve already reached that point before.

But because the combat gets more complicated as you progress, it’s encouraged to go back through prior levels and try to pass them without dying to maintain a young age (for more lives) up to the final level. And it’s worth it as I kept replaying and gradually improved more and more until I was flying through them with minimal deaths all the way to the end.

I really liked the art style too. It’s like a mix of cell shaded characters and environments with realistic looking lighting, and some of the locations are very cool like the third level.

I did have some issues though. While the combat’s very enjoyable, I’m not sure it was as tightly designed as I would’ve liked. Parries and dodges can feel inconsistent with different enemy types, and it can be a bit too hard to telegraph some attacks especially with bosses.

There’s also a story here, but it’s not really fleshed out enough to take notice. Your father was killed and you take revenge by going after the ones responsible. That’s about it really, you get some information about the characters through a detective board but they don’t have much substance to them beyond the premise. The focus is mainly on their designs and fights though so I didn’t mind.

Had a ton of fun with this. When looking at its five levels altogether it’s actually a pretty short game, but the amount of time you’ll spend trying to master each one adds a lot of replayability to it.

Much like Supergiant’s other titles, Pyre’s biggest strength is the sheer quality of its presentation and distinct art direction. The backgrounds constantly burst with flair and color, and every single character is excellently designed. Visually it’s wonderful to look at, and the great music is a standout too.

Though as a game it’s quite a bit different, an odd cross between a text heavy visual novel and sports. Where you, the Reader, meet a group of characters who strive to free everyone from their prison by tossing a ball around in a series of matches against other teams. And by everyone that’s meant literally, each character will eventually have a chance to escape through final Liberation Rites, with the goal of slowly getting every last person out one by one.

Narratively this structure works in its favor, as most of the time is spent strengthening and learning more about your party members, so that when you do eventually set them free it feels more bittersweet. This also extends to your opponents, who all have their own stories for why they were sent to the Downside and what they want to reclaim. With each new match, they get stronger but also more sympathetic too. Losing a match never ends the game either, but continues on with the closer chance at freedom given to the opposing team instead.

It does result in a lengthier game than it probably could’ve been though, as the gameplay doesn’t really change much from start to finish. You complete a few rites (traveling to each one), tackle the Liberation Rite and release a party member, then repeat with a new phase until the end. While the matches gradually ramp up in difficulty to keep it interesting, I definitely felt the repetition after a while.

But overall the unique concept works very well. It’s an exceedingly polished game same as all the others from this dev, set in an interesting world with memorable characters, a gorgeous style, and a great soundtrack.

Ultra Deluxe is still The Stanley Parable and holds up as the funny, cleverly written game it was nearly a decade ago. But now with console ports and new content that pokes fun at itself and how game trends have changed since 2013, pleasantly surprising just as much as the base version did. However for how the content’s been pushed and the larger price tag, I’m not sure I’d say it was substantial enough to stand on its own. But as an addition to an already good game, it’s well worth playing.

Also you can carry a reassurance bucket everywhere so clearly it’s the definitive experience.