The game is pretty fun early on, the premise is original and the artstyle is neat. Comedy-wise it was mostly miss for me, but to each of their own. Unfortunately the game gets way too tedious way too fast.

Pretty much everything is centred around pickpocketing people, which is essentially just a quick mini-game you have to do about 10-50 times per level, so like a couple hundred throughout the whole game. There are other ways to earn money on each level, but these are usually connected with just walking around looking for stuff to pick up, or sometimes solving very primitive puzzles, and they never give you enough money to pass the level (meaning you HAVE to pickpocket at least a little bit, unless you do like a 100% precent run doing all the side stuff, then maybe (?) you can avoid it but come on - who would do that?). On top of that the levels get bigger with each one, so as there is no map, earning money the alternative ways gets monotonous as well.

Generally speaking - the fun of the game is pretty much gone after like half of it. As I checked it out on Game Pass I can't say I regret it, but I still wish there was more to it.

Finished during beta playtests a couple months back.
I'm not a huge shoot'em up guy, but it was pretty fun, definitely prefer it to the original. The gameplay while still challenging is much more fair, similarly to the level design. The audiovisuals are pretty much just like the first game, except this time the graphics is 2.5D, which I don't like as much, but it doesn't look that bad. From what I've seen most of the issues I've had with the game were fixed so I'm just gonna skip the complaining on this one, but yeah - overall it's a pretty fun time.

My first Kirby game. It definitely takes some time to get used to the mechanics and weird-ass key mapping, as opposed to "normal" platformers. There isn't all that much depth to it - most of the levels are pretty forgettable, some abilities are completely unbalanced (most notably the hammer) and aside from a couple of bosses the game is so easy you pretty much play it on autopilot.

But there are so many different ideas put together here, so much attention to detail, that the game keeps surprising you up until the very end. And most importantly it's also very fun. In a way, this is more or less what I imagine Mario Wonder to be - the gameplay is pretty much what you would expect, nothing groundbraking. But the game still manages to keep you hooked because it actually feels like it was made with fresh ideas and love (regardless of whether it was actually the case here).

Do you know what's the first rule of writing time travel stories? Don't do it.

This one is honestly very weird. In some areas it's FAR superior to the previous 2 games. The puzzle solving is better than ever with the upgraded note screen. The story is by far the most emotional one in the series (which was not an easy bar to raise). It also gives some insight on Layton's past which is really great - you can finally feel like he's an actual character and not just a puzzle-addicted NPC obsessed with being a gentleman.

The setting for the story is initially interesting, but the further into the game, the more the story crashes down with weird Danganronpa-esque plot-twists and half-assed foreshadowing.

In-depth look with spoilers below


The Clive reveal is honestly just pathetic, with Layton mentioning a kid who lost his parents in the blast moments before it, and only after being like "tHaT WAs YoU???". It really made me miss out on the emotional aspect of Clive's motivation, which was only enhanced by the fact that the prime minister wasn't arrested along with him. And to be honest the entire future London is just too far-fetched of an idea that isn't even original (I mean just think about the first game - this is just like it, only sinister and dumber - like how did they even build it underground?). After the second game it's pretty much given that no "supernatural" things can happen in this world, so you kind of just wait for the twist to happen, which undermines the entire experience. And then of course it turns out that time travel actually is possible, which made me disappointed even more, but it's part of what made me emotional, so I can sort of excuse it.

Don Paolo's arc makes zero sense (how did he get his machine underground? how did he even get to future London?) and the way they connect him to Layton's past is pathetic, but at least he's finally a likable character. And even despite this, Flora still gets captured to raise the stakes in the most uninspiring and nonsensical way possible, while also being shit on by Luke for half the game. Not sure if I just don't remember the previous games enough, but it seems like the NPCs in this one are a bit more memorable, so that's nice.

All in all I'm not that surprised this is the highest rated game in the series, but unfortunately it didn't click with me well enough. Still hoping to see something better further down the line, but the games I've played were by no means bad - not even this one.

The main villain is pretty cool and the cutscenes are very well-made. Too bad that the story is not that engaging, and feels pretty dumb.

The gameplay is mindless but fun enough, more or less up until the point where you just replay the same exact levels with minor alterations for the 3rd time. Yes, you read that right - the campaign is essentially just 3 levels repeated 3 times. There is also a survival mode, where you have to protect yourself from waves of enemies, but it's pretty boring. I only played one level so take that with a grain of salt, but from what I noticed, you can pretty much just cheese the game by keeping one enemy alive, which will prevent another ones from spawning - you won't get any points added to your score for that, but it still gives the impression that the mode wasn't really thought out all that well. No timers, no wave counts - just a map with some weapons laying around and enemies spawning from time to time.

The best things about the original (at least to me) were the atmosphere and Barry. Barry is in 2 scenes, during which he's asleep, so that's pretty much gone. The atmosphere is there but it feels off. It's like they tried to stay as similair to the original as possible, while also trying to make it a bit more of a horror/slasher than a thriller. And so there are spiders now, there are some hot women, but generally it just feels too strange to be entertaining, and doesn't fit well with the original's premise.

If you REALLY liked the combat system of the original for some reason, you can give it a shot. Personally I was looking for something short to play through on halloween, and while it wasn't the worst choice in the world, I probably should've picked something else.

I had some fun with it, but overall it feels kind of messy. The trading itself is easy enough for a dumbass such as myself to understand, and interesting enough to make me want to interact with it (or in other words actually play the game), but obviously it's no simulator. The center point should technically be the narrative but it feels so disjointed that I'm not even sure where to start. Sometimes it feels like a satire (mainly through stereotypical characters present in the game), other times like a critique (which includes some pseudo social commentary that never gets elaborate enough to actually say something interesting). The plot itself is completely non-engaging, even though the game does have original implementations of ways to tell the story (e.g. the incredible opening scene). I just wish there was actually a writer with ideas out there to complement it, because all you really get is Wolf of Wall Street, but with no fun parts and character archetypes you'd see in a movie LIKE Wolf of Wall Street.
Overall the game was an ok addition to a humble choice bundle, but I would be careful about picking it up full-price.

Boring point and click game with puzzles that are way too obvious, completely nonsensical, or both. The story is shown almost exclusively in large chunks of exposition, which makes it much more boring than it actually is. The reasoning behind time travel stuff is silly at times, but that's more or less to be expected. Laughed out loud at the plot-twists. I can kind of see the appeal of the game, but it's too clear that it was made for mobile from its design, which brings it down when playing on PC.

Spoilers, but it's not like they'd ruin the "fun".

Within the first hour of the game Lara:
- barely survives a plane crash
- falls a couple of meters onto a metal rod which pierces through her torso
- almost gets hypothermia
- steps into a bear trap
- passes out from exhaustion several times
- gets bitten by wild animals
- almost gets raped
And that's just the scripted parts. On top of that there many, MANY over the top violent death scenes, which are directed in a way that truly makes you wonder if you're playing a video game or watching torture porn. I get that the studio might've wanted to make the game more mature, as of course the original Tomb Raided games were famously advertised towards children, but this is just disgusting and it doesn't stop up until the end of the game.

The premise makes zero fucking sense and so does most of the script. The game does however write the main cast in a very good way, with camera recordings from their journey, which build up their character and the player's possible connection to them. The entire cast is so likable, that they had to kill half of it to show off how mature the game is, almost always in the most obvious way, including a pathetic goodbye moment. On a side note, I didn't like Lara's VA that much, but the rest were alright. The villain was pretty cool, more or less up until the end where it's just blatantly obvious that Lara is in the wrong and not him, so the game makes you kill him in the most pathetic "boss fight" I've seen in years (all fucking QTE-based).

The gameplay is about what you'd expect from a third-person shooter. You get 4 ranged weapons, which I think is just the right amount. They co-exist very nicely and the upgrades do bring some variety to it. There's a lot of climbing involved - think Uncharted + Rayman 2, with some more player input through QTE's, also meant to bring some excitement into the equation. The physics in this game though is closer to magic - during many of the action or puzzle sequences I just laughed out loud at how dumb they were, or how unbelievably everything went down.

Overall I can't say I had a completely bad time with the game, but I definitely wouldn't call it good. In my eyes, it's a bad game, but a fairly competent blockbuster. It's the type of game your dad would play after 8 hours of work and call it the greatest gaming experience of his life upon finishing it. Take that as you will.

The puzzles are very interesting from the design standpoint - so many original and interesting ideas built on such a simple concept. But solving them isn't really all that fun. Most of the challenge came almost exclusively from the fact that I forgot about one of the mechanics or just plain didn't know about it. It's also a bit too short.

The art and animations are gorgeous. The story is told in such an interesting and original way that it makes the game worth it just for that. I also like how unconventional it is for a video game - I feel like every person might understand it differently, as there's plenty of symbolism involved, which is still pretty uncommon (unless we're talking about something like Milk outside a bag of milk(...) which to me is just completely incoherent - Gorogoa actually comes through as much more sensible, naturalistic and relatable to an average person).

Haiku, the Robot takes inspiration from Hollow Knight in its every aspect - enemies, characters, story moments, abilities, locations and systems. I wouldn't call it a complete ripoff - the game has some original ideas - but unfortunately it does a much better utilizing these tried and tested ideas, instead of designing new ones.

Take the heat meter for example - it's supposed to make the player play more carefully and think about when to dodge. However it becomes a non-issue extremely quickly. All it takes is for the player to get some upgrades and most encounters just lose any sort of challange. Then you have the game's version of charms, which hardly affect the gameplay. The only useful ones are these that affect the number of gears you lose on death or spend on healing, as it's the only way to significantly enhance your performance in battle. And then again - using money for healing is a cool and original idea, but once you equip these perks, it loses any sort of charm as you pretty much aren't punished at all.

Overall, I can't say I had a bad time with the game, but I just wish there was somehow more to it.

More or less on the level of the previous game. A nice, heartfelt story, well-made cinematics, banging sountrack. There seem to be a bit more annoying puzzles, which aren't really logical, but instead require the player to notice one weird detail (though the first game took me months to finish so I might be misremembering the scope of it). I do like the setting a bit more, I feel like the spooky atmosphere suits the series perfectly. I also like the improvements to storytelling in form of collectible diary entries. I never would've thought I would compliment something like that in a video game, but here the entries feel somewhat intimate, and actually matter if you consider the main story. You can sort of piece toghether what's going to happen and it's a really satisfying feeling - in a way, you're a part of Layton and Luke's story.

What I fucking hate though is the treatment Flora's character. Not only does she get left out in the beginning and then again halfway through the game, her character is solely used to build up Don Paolo for the third game. He doesn't even do anything interesting in this one - he just follows Layton and Luke for a while and then leaves like nothing happened. This is some MCU-level bullshit. I really hope it will pay off in the third game, but so far it felt like the trilogy wasn't really planned out in advance and the setups weren't all that great. If they didn't manage to think of anything for Flora to do they should've just made her stay in St. Mystere, and completely skip Don Paolo or at least write him better in this game.

But yeah - still a decent time. I'll check out the third game soon.

Very decent escape room-esque puzzle game. It's way too short - I finished the game and 2 DLC levels in just a little over 2 hours - but worth your time. Each level has at least one thing that keeps it original - either a new mechanic, a memorable puzzle or an interesting setting. Stylistically they are fairly similair, but consistent, which does build up the atmosphere in a nice way.

What brings the game down though are the enemies and design of stealth sections which include them. They are supposed to be scary, but their annoying trial and error type design makes it pretty much impossible to actually get scared. Enemies in general feel a bit out of place. There is a level which is dedicated solely to running away from them and it's the absolute worst in the game. I feel like instead of trying to scare the player with the jumpscare-like interactions with the enemies, the dev should've focused even more on the atmosphere, or tried to create a more compelling narrative, as the one in the game is also pretty lacking.

2 years ago I tried to play through the original Half-Life and got bored about one-third in. Pretty much the same thing happened with Black Mesa - basically the entirety of the levels in the lab were a chore to get through. Headcrabs are annoying to fight, the atmosphere is tense but it gets old very quickly, NPCs and the story bring hardly anything to the game. There were too many gadgets I never ended up using that just made me scroll my "inventory" for longer.

It does get much better with the change of setting in the second half (third?) of the game. Not only does it fully showcase the beauty of the improved graphics, but it gets more creative with the level design and the addition of double jump. It also takes the story into a far more interesting direction, and has many memorable moments overall. And you can use the gluon gun almost limitlessly, which is super fun.

While it's probably the best way to experience Half-Life, from technical standpoint it's not perfect. My PC is not that old, and yet I faced multiple FPS drops when some bigger explosions were happening on screen. There are also plenty of bugs - mostly Freeman blocking himself within the environment or in the air, but the game also did manage to softlock me when a script didn't work and a scientist froze before the door I was supposed to get through (I only realised what happened after walking aimlessly for 20 minutes and searching up a YT walkthrough).

If you've never tried Half-Life this is probably the way to go, but it's not completely without problems.

It starts off strong with a cool premise, somewhat relatable protagonists (socially anxious cynics), an interesting setting and great performances (which thankfully stay consistent until the very end). Unfortunately it becomes clear very quickly that this game needed a lot more polish before coming out.

First of all, the performance is not good for a game of this "caliber". I played it on the Steam Deck and despite it being verified I was met with frequent audio issues (more specifically Milo and Lola's dialogue playing at lower volume than everything else) as well as FPS drops (when capped at 40...). Bicker, which is like an in-game social medium you can open by pressing select didn't work at all, seemingly because the game didn't recognise the deck as a controller.

Gameplay-wise, the devs clearly wanted Afterparty to resemble Oxenfree as much as possible, but they completely overlooked some aspects that weren't relevant in their first game. For example NPCs - there are tons of them in this game, but they NEVER talk. You literally walk among hundreds of people / demons in complete silence - even the main characters are silent for like half the fucking game, seemingly just running out of stuff to talk about (and they are supposed to be lifelong BFFs). To be fair, if I had to walk through these long-ass levels with hardly any soundtrack or ability to interact with anything I would quickly run out of shit to talk about as well - hell has actually never before been this boring. There are a ccouple of locations in this game, but they are all equally boring and soulless. Even the demons all look the same. There is that one side-character demon named Fela - he has a VA and is somewhat involved in the main plot, but he looks exactly like one of ~3 generic demon types present throughout the game.

The writing is (for the most part) passable. If it comes to jokes hardly any of them landed for me. There's plenty of american deafultism - demons making jokes about cbs, "foreigners" just speaking English with an accent instead of their native languages (which would actually make a good joke if you put a minimal amount of thought into your worldbuilding - something the devs frequently brush off in the game by breaking the fourth wall and essentially saying that nobody cares about that). Story-wise it's decent. The idea of outdrinking Satan to get out of hell hardly makes any sense, but it's not really supposed to so it's fine. There's a nice twist at the end and the player is met with a choice - an interesting one, without an obvious answer unlike in for example Life is Strange, so that's nice. What's not nice is the game autosaving right after making the choice, essentially preventing the player from seeing other endings, but I guess it wasn't like I wanted to play any more of this at that point so get fucking owned.

I mentioned that the main characters are initially likeable, but they get more and more infuriating as time goes on. I blame the dialogue options for that as we only get two instead of three like in Oxenfree (unless you drink, which gives you an additional option, that most of the time is so stupid that it's really a non-option). The options themselves more often than not are almost the exact same and / or stuff I just didn't want to say. You can always just choose not to say anything, but the time it takes for the game to acknowledge it is so fucking long even the characters you talk to shut up before you do, seemingly begging you to say something. Oxenfree had an achivement for stayng silent the entire game, Afterparty passively discourages it, making itself even more sloggish than it already is. But to be fair, it's not like Milo and Lola themselves are particularly interesting - character-wise they're alright, but their relationship is subpar to pretty much any duo involving Alex in Oxenfree. Most of the time I would just pick a "leave him / her alone demon!!!" dialogue option instead of a "join the demon and laugh at him / her" one and choose to believe this is how friendships work.

In general the game kind of feels like a Netflix movie (which isn't that surprising, as Netflix actually owns Nights School). Quality-wise I would be willing to compare it to someting like "To All the Boys I've Loved Before", but all the flaws in gameplay and design place it closer to "Red Notice". I originally planned to finish this in 2-3 days, but it took a whole week so yeah...