LeftistSquidward
A work of art, truly distinct from all other games.
Shadow of the Colossus takes the concepts of platform puzzles and intimidatingly huge bosses and combines the two for a unique result and gaming experience.
The boss is the level, as you climb each one and figure out environmental things that may help you get across the fight. The game might come across as relatively easy, but it is Ueda’s signature “subtracting design” that also helps the player feel more immersed and conscious of their surroundings. The game wants you to simply take in the scenery sometimes, and I absolutely adore that attitude.
So far the Team Ico trilogy has involved engaging puzzles, amazing art, unique approaches to gameplay, and wonderfully balanced senses of loneliness and companionship. Here’s to hoping the Last Guardian continues delivering!
Shadow of the Colossus takes the concepts of platform puzzles and intimidatingly huge bosses and combines the two for a unique result and gaming experience.
The boss is the level, as you climb each one and figure out environmental things that may help you get across the fight. The game might come across as relatively easy, but it is Ueda’s signature “subtracting design” that also helps the player feel more immersed and conscious of their surroundings. The game wants you to simply take in the scenery sometimes, and I absolutely adore that attitude.
So far the Team Ico trilogy has involved engaging puzzles, amazing art, unique approaches to gameplay, and wonderfully balanced senses of loneliness and companionship. Here’s to hoping the Last Guardian continues delivering!
2023
I've just finished a no levelling playthrough (here's my no damage fight with Nameless Puppet if of interest: https://youtu.be/SY86UIdoDwk?si=x76aTehZofPIaPYZ) and what a wild ride.
After finishing the game and moving on to other titles, I was made aware of the Wo Long collab with Lies of P, in which the Azure Dragon Crescent Glaive was made available to use from the very start of one's campaign.
Instantly curious about a weapon that rewarded every parry with stronger attacks, I decided to try the weapon out and instantly fell in love. I was already a sucker for this game's parry mechanic, so I decided to challenge myself and make this my only way of succeeding, through a no levelling playthrough.
The way the fights become even more immersive, the combos and stylistic choices even more iconic, when every single hit and parry counts, is unreal.
I had so much fun figuring out new strats, when hits can land between attacks in a combo, the best time to heal or restock fable, and the different ways in which RNG worked throughout boss phases. Truly every boss fight is iconic in its own way, and I actually really enjoyed the ways in which Parade Master and Scrapped Watchman were reused later in the game.
Despite Laxasia being what took me the longest (her phase 2 is absolutely insane), I think my biggest uphill battle was the Black Rabbit Brotherhood (second fight). An excruciating fight, forcing you to constantly run in order to avoid stray hits from passive brotherhood members, and making the final face-off with the Eldest Brotherhood member feel like a 5-minute runback to him. Simon Manus's second phase had a slightly similar issue but it wasn't nearly as bad, especially if you stick close to him.
Lies of P will definitely go down in history as one of the best and most memorable soulslikes, and I cannot wait for its DLC to drop. Sekiro was the only solo game I played that ever inspired me to platinum something, becoming my favourite game, and this is the only game to ever inspire me to do a no levelling run. For that alone (and despite the flaws I pointed out in my last review), I feel compelled to bump my rating up in honour of the memories this game created for me.
PS: Stage of Grief, the King of Puppets phase 1 song, is one of the most beautiful bits of VG soundtrack I’ve ever heard.
After finishing the game and moving on to other titles, I was made aware of the Wo Long collab with Lies of P, in which the Azure Dragon Crescent Glaive was made available to use from the very start of one's campaign.
Instantly curious about a weapon that rewarded every parry with stronger attacks, I decided to try the weapon out and instantly fell in love. I was already a sucker for this game's parry mechanic, so I decided to challenge myself and make this my only way of succeeding, through a no levelling playthrough.
The way the fights become even more immersive, the combos and stylistic choices even more iconic, when every single hit and parry counts, is unreal.
I had so much fun figuring out new strats, when hits can land between attacks in a combo, the best time to heal or restock fable, and the different ways in which RNG worked throughout boss phases. Truly every boss fight is iconic in its own way, and I actually really enjoyed the ways in which Parade Master and Scrapped Watchman were reused later in the game.
Despite Laxasia being what took me the longest (her phase 2 is absolutely insane), I think my biggest uphill battle was the Black Rabbit Brotherhood (second fight). An excruciating fight, forcing you to constantly run in order to avoid stray hits from passive brotherhood members, and making the final face-off with the Eldest Brotherhood member feel like a 5-minute runback to him. Simon Manus's second phase had a slightly similar issue but it wasn't nearly as bad, especially if you stick close to him.
Lies of P will definitely go down in history as one of the best and most memorable soulslikes, and I cannot wait for its DLC to drop. Sekiro was the only solo game I played that ever inspired me to platinum something, becoming my favourite game, and this is the only game to ever inspire me to do a no levelling run. For that alone (and despite the flaws I pointed out in my last review), I feel compelled to bump my rating up in honour of the memories this game created for me.
PS: Stage of Grief, the King of Puppets phase 1 song, is one of the most beautiful bits of VG soundtrack I’ve ever heard.
2023
What to say about this masterpiece?
The rhythm game par excellence. Almost everything is on time to the music: the environment, the enemies, you, your attacks. There’s never been a more gratifying reward for going with the flow in a game, and the songs are all absolute bangers.
Hi-Fi Rush is stylish, lighthearted, colourful and constantly fun. The jokes don’t feel forced, the writing and characters are snappy, and the movement and fighting mechanics are an absolute pleasure to explore. I loved all the little references to other media that inspired the game, I loved being able to parry almost everything, and I loved the dynamic between all our heroes.
We are blessed to get this level of creativity still happening these days.
The rhythm game par excellence. Almost everything is on time to the music: the environment, the enemies, you, your attacks. There’s never been a more gratifying reward for going with the flow in a game, and the songs are all absolute bangers.
Hi-Fi Rush is stylish, lighthearted, colourful and constantly fun. The jokes don’t feel forced, the writing and characters are snappy, and the movement and fighting mechanics are an absolute pleasure to explore. I loved all the little references to other media that inspired the game, I loved being able to parry almost everything, and I loved the dynamic between all our heroes.
We are blessed to get this level of creativity still happening these days.
2001
I was always curious about Team Ico and Fumito Ueda's highly praised trilogy, but truthfully what finally did it was hearing that my favourite creative director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, played Ico and was inspired to give up his day job to pursue games after it.
Ico is a platform adventure game in which you play the titular young Ico, who is left to rot in a castle for being born with horns. Instead of rotting away, you find a weird magic girl (Yorda) and go off on a quest to escape the wretched castle you're in, with evil forces attempting to stop you.
Reading up on it, it's fascinating to see what things this game revolutionised, light functions that didn't exist before Ico, the team's creative 'subtracting design' to keep the player's path focused, and the incredibly clever level designs & area puzzles. This game has inspired almost every major and minor game that came after it, and it's so easy to see why. It feels like there's a clear historical divide of pre-Ico games and post-Ico games, shaped by its world-changing innovations and creativity.
The game is incredibly charming in spite of its minimal narrative and dialogue. The feeling that courses through you when you discover a new path or solve a puzzle is like no other, and the castle's world feels incredibly vast and complex for a game that's 23 years old.
Ofc the game is imperfect (which feels like mostly part of an inevitable obstacle in hardware limitations that the developers had to deal with). There are moments where the jankiness leads you astray from obvious solutions for needless amounts of time, or enemy fights get very repetitive. But for a <10 hour game it's not only forgivable, but a contributing factor to its raw charm and underdog spirit.
Ico has fully got me on board for its successors. On to Shadow of the Colossus and the Last Guardian!
Ico is a platform adventure game in which you play the titular young Ico, who is left to rot in a castle for being born with horns. Instead of rotting away, you find a weird magic girl (Yorda) and go off on a quest to escape the wretched castle you're in, with evil forces attempting to stop you.
Reading up on it, it's fascinating to see what things this game revolutionised, light functions that didn't exist before Ico, the team's creative 'subtracting design' to keep the player's path focused, and the incredibly clever level designs & area puzzles. This game has inspired almost every major and minor game that came after it, and it's so easy to see why. It feels like there's a clear historical divide of pre-Ico games and post-Ico games, shaped by its world-changing innovations and creativity.
The game is incredibly charming in spite of its minimal narrative and dialogue. The feeling that courses through you when you discover a new path or solve a puzzle is like no other, and the castle's world feels incredibly vast and complex for a game that's 23 years old.
Ofc the game is imperfect (which feels like mostly part of an inevitable obstacle in hardware limitations that the developers had to deal with). There are moments where the jankiness leads you astray from obvious solutions for needless amounts of time, or enemy fights get very repetitive. But for a <10 hour game it's not only forgivable, but a contributing factor to its raw charm and underdog spirit.
Ico has fully got me on board for its successors. On to Shadow of the Colossus and the Last Guardian!
2016
As of last night I have officially completed all the Soulsborne games (until Elden Ring DLC drops ofc) and man… what a wild ride.
It’s a joyous but bittersweet feeling. I’ll miss the two years of discovering these 7 games for the very first time, the two years of going from “I’ll never beat this boss” to coming out victorious, but I cannot wait to revisit them in the future, to play future Fromsoft releases and to explore other Soulslikes.
To touch on DS3: it’s nothing short of spectacular. I think if I had gone to DS3 right after finishing ER it would’ve been less exciting purely bc ER truly perfects everything these games have ever gone for. But going through all the older games and seeing how this was all building up to this incredible finale to the Dark Souls trilogy, it was a breathtaking and exhilarating experience.
DS3 adds a modern feel that Dark Souls was desperately in need of. Not that 1 and 2 were bad at all, they are amazing games, but after From showed us what they could do with Bloodborne, it was crucial to see that level of speed, timings and hit box mechanic present itself in their most famous series.
DS3’s fighting mechanic is closer to BB and ER than DS1 and 2, but that’s a great thing that allows for better exploration of different builds, fighting styles and strategies. It’s much easier first act in comparison to all other souls games is a blessing and a bit of a curse imo. This is maybe the only real issue I have with the game tbh, I like that the start is more digestible and, while still difficult, relatively easy enough for Souls newbies to get really into the game. I like hard games but i also love accessibility! With all that said, I found that basically doing 4-5 gimmick bosses consecutively at the start of the game was a liiittle monotonous. As a counterpoint tho, I can’t be all that mad bc this game perfects the concept of gimmick bosses in Souls games, with Abyss Watchers and Ancient Wyvern being super fun fights.
The art of the game and its story of decay and deterioration were gorgeous and haunting, the music is some of the best of the franchise (Soul of Cinder song is top 3 From scores), and my god that DLC was NUTS. It’s so hard to be varied in a top 10 From bosses list once you play the 2 DLCs this game has to offer and encounter the roster of legendary fights in it. The game’s flexibility with weapons and spells was also great, allowing for me to do almost two different builds in one game and paving the way for Elden Ring’s improvement on variety and accessibility over fighting styles.
It’s a unique experience and has all the classic elements of an iconic From game: great fights, unforgettable bosses, fun level design, beautiful graphics and music that’ll make you cry as you stress over dodging and hitting.
Thank you for everything Hidetaka and Fromsoft team ❤️ you have gained a fan for life.
It’s a joyous but bittersweet feeling. I’ll miss the two years of discovering these 7 games for the very first time, the two years of going from “I’ll never beat this boss” to coming out victorious, but I cannot wait to revisit them in the future, to play future Fromsoft releases and to explore other Soulslikes.
To touch on DS3: it’s nothing short of spectacular. I think if I had gone to DS3 right after finishing ER it would’ve been less exciting purely bc ER truly perfects everything these games have ever gone for. But going through all the older games and seeing how this was all building up to this incredible finale to the Dark Souls trilogy, it was a breathtaking and exhilarating experience.
DS3 adds a modern feel that Dark Souls was desperately in need of. Not that 1 and 2 were bad at all, they are amazing games, but after From showed us what they could do with Bloodborne, it was crucial to see that level of speed, timings and hit box mechanic present itself in their most famous series.
DS3’s fighting mechanic is closer to BB and ER than DS1 and 2, but that’s a great thing that allows for better exploration of different builds, fighting styles and strategies. It’s much easier first act in comparison to all other souls games is a blessing and a bit of a curse imo. This is maybe the only real issue I have with the game tbh, I like that the start is more digestible and, while still difficult, relatively easy enough for Souls newbies to get really into the game. I like hard games but i also love accessibility! With all that said, I found that basically doing 4-5 gimmick bosses consecutively at the start of the game was a liiittle monotonous. As a counterpoint tho, I can’t be all that mad bc this game perfects the concept of gimmick bosses in Souls games, with Abyss Watchers and Ancient Wyvern being super fun fights.
The art of the game and its story of decay and deterioration were gorgeous and haunting, the music is some of the best of the franchise (Soul of Cinder song is top 3 From scores), and my god that DLC was NUTS. It’s so hard to be varied in a top 10 From bosses list once you play the 2 DLCs this game has to offer and encounter the roster of legendary fights in it. The game’s flexibility with weapons and spells was also great, allowing for me to do almost two different builds in one game and paving the way for Elden Ring’s improvement on variety and accessibility over fighting styles.
It’s a unique experience and has all the classic elements of an iconic From game: great fights, unforgettable bosses, fun level design, beautiful graphics and music that’ll make you cry as you stress over dodging and hitting.
Thank you for everything Hidetaka and Fromsoft team ❤️ you have gained a fan for life.
2024
Starship Troopers the video game.
It's my first day playing it and I've been sat on this couch with my best friend for the last 10 hours just playing this non-stop. I cannot wait to play this with every single friend who owns it.
It's my first day playing it and I've been sat on this couch with my best friend for the last 10 hours just playing this non-stop. I cannot wait to play this with every single friend who owns it.
2023
Gays can have a little Sekiro, as a treat.
En Garde! is an insanely charming sword-play RPG about master swordswoman and long-time friend of Cervantes: Adalia de Volador.
Through her we explore early modern Spain and attempt to stop the evil Count Duke from both driving our quaint Spanish town to ruin and also dominating the world.
I am a queer parry fiend and to play a game with a gay protag where parry-or-die is the philosophy absolutely rocked. A good fighting mechanic goes a long way for me when it comes to liking games, but also the art style was very fun, the writing was punny/creative/didn’t take itself too seriously, and the pacing was great.
Sadly the targeting system is pretty bad, I won’t lie, but in a 4 hour game where you can blitz through it and carry on having forgotten the targeting system exists at all, it’s a forgivable flaw. If this game were expanded or got a much bigger sequel I’d love to see what a functioning version of it looks like, but again, didn’t ruin the experience given you can just ignore it and fight without it.
My partner and I knocked it out in one evening (literally tonight) and I want more En Garde! Adalia de Volador is my new hero.
En Garde! is an insanely charming sword-play RPG about master swordswoman and long-time friend of Cervantes: Adalia de Volador.
Through her we explore early modern Spain and attempt to stop the evil Count Duke from both driving our quaint Spanish town to ruin and also dominating the world.
I am a queer parry fiend and to play a game with a gay protag where parry-or-die is the philosophy absolutely rocked. A good fighting mechanic goes a long way for me when it comes to liking games, but also the art style was very fun, the writing was punny/creative/didn’t take itself too seriously, and the pacing was great.
Sadly the targeting system is pretty bad, I won’t lie, but in a 4 hour game where you can blitz through it and carry on having forgotten the targeting system exists at all, it’s a forgivable flaw. If this game were expanded or got a much bigger sequel I’d love to see what a functioning version of it looks like, but again, didn’t ruin the experience given you can just ignore it and fight without it.
My partner and I knocked it out in one evening (literally tonight) and I want more En Garde! Adalia de Volador is my new hero.
The "not as good as the first" logs are wild to me, jumping off of a teen adventure story to tell a more mature tale of parenthood, loss and autonomy, Oxenfree 2 (which should've been called Oxenfreed) improves on the storytelling in a massive way and is not afraid to ask bigger questions about its characters. Really enjoyed my time with it and can't wait for Oxenfree 3 (Oxenthree).
2020
MEMBUUU
2024
Got to play this way before its release at the WASD convention last year. My ass was kicked by a 14 year old but in fairness they picked Hwoarang so what was I supposed to do.
2003
What a beautiful metaphor for life
2008
When I was 16 my friend Doug and I were overseas for a school volleyball tournament and this family housed us for the week. They had an attic with a tv and this game (with a mic, guitar and drum set). We played this on full volume till 6am every single night and somehow managed to win the volleyball tournament also. HUGE apologies to that family who never dared to speak up once about how annoying we must've been lmao.
Side missions could get a liiiittle repetitive but also I platinum'd this game bc I wanted to stay in its world for as long as possible so what do I know!
2018
My wife and I finished this game and got 3 stars on the last level on our first try DON'T FUCK WITH US
2022
Kitty Cat