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2021
Basically multiplayer dodgeball. The concept’s pretty cool and it’s decent fun for a few matches, but it’s not something that held my interest much beyond the few matches I’ve played.
2021
Bit rough but not a bad time. A creepy mansion to explore with fixed camera angles and lots of puzzles. What it does surprisingly well is the atmosphere, the environments are really detailed and the lighting is great.
There’s a lot of jank though. The story and voice acting are pretty bad, animations can be a bit clunky, and the character/enemy designs are jarring compared to the detailed visuals. Some puzzles could be a bit too obtuse also. But for what it is, worthwhile.
There’s a lot of jank though. The story and voice acting are pretty bad, animations can be a bit clunky, and the character/enemy designs are jarring compared to the detailed visuals. Some puzzles could be a bit too obtuse also. But for what it is, worthwhile.
2019
A concise and unsettling narrative about a Taiwanese family living in a small apartment complex. Atmospheric and affecting, building up to an emotional ending.
It’s an enormous shame what happened with Devotion, what with it nearly being wiped away by the CCP for the small Winnie the Pooh joke that evidently hurt their feelings. So many more people should be able to play this.
It’s an enormous shame what happened with Devotion, what with it nearly being wiped away by the CCP for the small Winnie the Pooh joke that evidently hurt their feelings. So many more people should be able to play this.
2021
One of the most confidently unique games I’ve played, a deck-builder where you face off against a creepy opponent and try to escape their cabin. There’s much more to it than just that though.
Card games are usually not my thing, but the system here was really cool and fun to mess around with. What I liked most was how much it introduced new mechanics that kept it interesting.
Though it felt like progression was dependent on if you’re lucky with RNG which I wasn’t much a fan of, there were a lot of times where I lost and had to reset the whole thing just cause of poor draws.
I also think that it drags on a bit long. Its first few hours were the most interesting to me, but it doesn’t really feel as compelling for the rest. Despite that though, the game as a whole is very creative and well worth playing to its amazing end.
Card games are usually not my thing, but the system here was really cool and fun to mess around with. What I liked most was how much it introduced new mechanics that kept it interesting.
Though it felt like progression was dependent on if you’re lucky with RNG which I wasn’t much a fan of, there were a lot of times where I lost and had to reset the whole thing just cause of poor draws.
I also think that it drags on a bit long. Its first few hours were the most interesting to me, but it doesn’t really feel as compelling for the rest. Despite that though, the game as a whole is very creative and well worth playing to its amazing end.
2021
Another satisfying entry to this great series. Like Finding Paradise I wasn't quite as impacted as I was with To the Moon, but its creative premise and improved story presentation captivates all the same
2017
Wasn’t quite as moved by it as To the Moon, but still great. Perhaps not as impactful cause of its lighter tone, but it’s just as well told. Also liked that it had a bit more variety to it aside for the memento puzzles.
2014
A cute prologue to Finding Paradise about a boy growing attached to a bird. It’s pleasant, if not very memorable on its own.
2020
Cool game. The actual gameplay itself was just okay but it emulates the low poly PS1 aesthetic really well, even having the fixed camera angles and tank controls.
2016
A horror game where you collect tapes in a pitch black house that gradually gets more distorted. Very short but effectively unsettling.
2018
An atmospheric game about traveling a lonely post-apocalypse on a makeshift vehicle that needs to be maintained. Doing so and clearing the obstacles that block your path wasn’t particularly interesting, but the lovely scenery and music make this a worthwhile time.
2021
Started alright but really did not care for it the longer it went on. For the most part I thought the story and characters were fine if unremarkable, and it’s not a very lengthy JRPG at least. But it still dragged so much at times that I really wanted to be done with it by the end.
The combat system is fun but has shortcomings, particularly with the bosses who mostly felt like tedious damage sponges. This also extended to the normal enemies who got big HP spikes eventually. Maybe I was too underleveled, but didn’t really have the patience to grind more.
The dungeons themselves were also pretty monotonous (especially that absolutely awful final one), and the side quests were bog-standard. The music wasn’t particularly memorable to me either, but the voice acting was solid enough.
The visuals and presentation did stand out though. Environments and cutscenes looked good, and liked how polished all the flashy animations in combat were.
The combat system is fun but has shortcomings, particularly with the bosses who mostly felt like tedious damage sponges. This also extended to the normal enemies who got big HP spikes eventually. Maybe I was too underleveled, but didn’t really have the patience to grind more.
The dungeons themselves were also pretty monotonous (especially that absolutely awful final one), and the side quests were bog-standard. The music wasn’t particularly memorable to me either, but the voice acting was solid enough.
The visuals and presentation did stand out though. Environments and cutscenes looked good, and liked how polished all the flashy animations in combat were.
2019
The tactical squad based style’s interesting and it’s probably pretty fun with a good team, but I got bored of it pretty quickly.
2018
A joyful game about a bard trying to save the world. The colorful art style and singing mechanics are very charming, with good writing that has a ton of heart poured into it. It does go on a bit long, but liked the story enough where I didn’t mind much.
For a first effort from an indie dev, this was pretty good. What stands out most at first are the visuals, Ember Lab has a background in animation and it shows with the stunning art direction and well produced cutscenes. The music is also lovely.
I was surprised by how solid the gameplay was though. The combat is simple and starts a bit dull, but it comes into its own as more abilities unlock and ended up being really fun by the end. Liked the bosses too, they were challenging but not unfairly so.
There’s some issues such as controls feeling a bit janky at times and the voice acting being a bit lackluster. Also the main currency is only used to buy hats for the Rot, which I can’t say I cared for. But overall I enjoyed Kena and look forward to what’s next from them.
I was surprised by how solid the gameplay was though. The combat is simple and starts a bit dull, but it comes into its own as more abilities unlock and ended up being really fun by the end. Liked the bosses too, they were challenging but not unfairly so.
There’s some issues such as controls feeling a bit janky at times and the voice acting being a bit lackluster. Also the main currency is only used to buy hats for the Rot, which I can’t say I cared for. But overall I enjoyed Kena and look forward to what’s next from them.
2021
Deathloop’s a solid game, though a step down from Arkane’s other titles. It plays pretty much like Dishonored (even having the same teleport skill), but conceptually it’s closer to something like Hitman. The goal being to gather knowledge about targets and learn what they do throughout the day, in order to eliminate them all in just one loop.
The art direction’s great but the level design’s a bit disappointing, not really matching the likes of Dishonored or Prey for me. The four areas to explore are small and after the first few loops there’s not much variation to them, which could feel pretty boring after a while.
Also the AI is definitely not impressive and combat is really easy, but there is a cool mechanic where you can play as Julianna and invade another player’s game to try and take them out (and vice versa), which gave the game a bit more challenge.
The art direction’s great but the level design’s a bit disappointing, not really matching the likes of Dishonored or Prey for me. The four areas to explore are small and after the first few loops there’s not much variation to them, which could feel pretty boring after a while.
Also the AI is definitely not impressive and combat is really easy, but there is a cool mechanic where you can play as Julianna and invade another player’s game to try and take them out (and vice versa), which gave the game a bit more challenge.