After having completed the epilogue, I know finally feel comfortable rating this game. Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a game so thoroughly streamlined, so optimized for fun, that it's very hard not to enjoy your time with it. The gameplay is snappy and varied through all of the different unique characters with their own movesets and game plans, the presentation is beautiful and the main story goes over so fast there's literally no downtime. What happens after that is a cleverly designed loot grind to optimize your loadout and team, one that is so addictive even I wasn't able to shy away from it (normally, a single hour of grind would be a reason to drop a game). In short: It's a really fun game. And I was and am still able to derive a lot of joy from that. Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a completely frictionless game. And if you want exactly that, a fun way to spend 15-999hrs and not think about anything, I can't recommend it highly enough.

But this also results in me not really loving it. Because all this streamlining also results in a game experience that is entirely toothless, it has nothing to say. Its story is as bare-bones and clichéd as they come, it's characters mostly rough caricatures. Which is sad to me, as they didn't feel like that in the other Granblue media I looked at in preperation for this, neither in the anime nor in the (admittedly terrible) gatcha game. In a way, Granblue Fantasy: Relink lost a lot of soul in this streamlining, and no amount of optimization grind can fill that void. There are moments where that soul shines through, the completely voiced Fate Episodes i.e., or some smaller character interactions in the moment-to-moment gameplay, but overall, it's a little too streamlined, a little too frictionless. Which doesn't take away from the fact that it's still a very fun game, but I feel like it could've been a lot more.

review in progress, but I vibe with this kinda? Foamstars is a really bizarre game in a lot of ways, and that's most of what makes it so weird is what I like about it? First up, there's this entire map editor for your training area that can only be accessed through interacting with one kinda random element of the lobby. Then there's the incredibly barebones, weirdly slice-of-lifey singleplayer that they spun into a PvE mode with exactly two stages and difficulties with small rogue-lite elements, which is really random but also kinda fun, actually. Also, one collectible is just fake ads the game auto-plays in the lobby consisting of like two still images (that play for up to two minutes). And then there's just the entire aesthetic of the game, which to me looks incredibly trashy in all its over-produced glamor. It's bare-bones and probably quite cheaply made, feeling a little amateurish at times. There's not a lot of content here, but what is there just feels bizarre, like you stumbled upon a closed beta for a five-year old game that's mysteriously still up and running. Which means I'm actually quite suprised that the gameplay is this fun? I like the idea of three-dimensional foam as a twist on the Splatoon-formula, maybe after the "fucking around and finding out"-phase the player base will actually find strategic uses for stacking foam. I dunno, it's just a bizarre game with quite a fun gameplay loop that is definitely going to get shut down within this year, so I'll savour it for as long as I can!

I think this mainly exists to draw people in with the shock factor that is "Pokemon with guns and slave labour" and keep them engaged with a mediocre survival gameplay-loop. Which is fine & all but makes this kinda equivalent to all those Winnie Pooh horror movies that popped up when that character entered the public domain. What is interesting tho it's more gruesome mechanics also at least a logical evolution of Pokémon's internal logic, just brought to the extreme. In the Open World mainline games, Pokémon are already mostly resources to farm for exp or items and to use in combat for your own gains. Only these games try to contextualize the relationship between monster and trainer within the realms of friendship, whereas this game just stays within the gameplay logic of "exploit these monsters for your own gain" and just dials it up a lot. Both result in gameplay experiences that are devoid of any meaning, although Palworld feels much more cynical and I feel that cynicism has a kinda violent aspect to it. It has nothing to say about the ideas it portrays, instead joyfully revelling in the violence it reproduces.

It's been a long time since I've played a game this clever about its game mechanics. The Corruption/Purification system makes health mostly a resource to plan around, which in combination with the random nature of dice just clicks to create a system where every turn is really fun experiment in trying to do the best with what you're given. I really love it. The additional level of dice RNG makes this so much more satisfying to me than every other roguelike deckbuilder, the thrill of re-rolling your one incredibly powerful dice like three times to get the face you want is something really quite unique to this game, I think. The enemies, too, make use of these mechanics in clever ways, which keeps the every run exciting and challenging. Wonderfully designed! The same can be said about the audiovisual presentation, although it rings a little more hollow without the story or any theme backing it up. I'm really iffy about the Corruption/Purification dichotomy on a thematic level, the idea of an "Impurity" needing to be cleansed is something so overly simplistic and over-done (and a little too close to facist rhetoric) that I really can't derive any remote interest or motivation for playing from that. It's a weird framing that I could've done without. Other than that, the stories just a framing for the gameplay-portion of things, which is fine. I really love Astrea's engaging and clever gameplay loop and beautiful visuals, but in the end, as it is with most games I enjoy mostly because of their gameplay, I find myself wishing for something more - on a thematic and/or vibes-based level. And I'd love this even more if it had that, but I still really like Astrea for it's brilliantly designed gameplay.

I have such intense memories of playing this game as a child, every single moment felt like déjà-vu. I also have a unique fondness for Misthallery as a setting, the mist and what we in Germany call Kleinstadttristesse (like, the unique melancholy of a small town) really elevate the mood of the entire game, I think. Other than that, the puzzles are nice, the vibes impeccable and the story good enough. Standout character is still Descole, whose slow introduction over the course of the game makes him the actual spectre looming over Misthallery, it's sad they toned him down in the later games.

Thirsty Suitors is an incredibly charming game with a strong emotional core brought down by its boring turn-based combat and some pacing issues. Admittedly, the combat has a fun thematic framing but on the gameplay side of things it feels really flat and uninteresting from the third fight onwards. The skateboarding is more interesting, though I found the controls a little too clunky to really enjoy it. But: I loved how overly expressive every animation was, how each of the boss fights had their own visual theme and accompanying soundtrack how the game portrays its themes of intergenerational trauma and the complexities of interpersonal relationships within marginalized communities and how much joy the game still evokes while tackling these themes. Those elements is what I'll be remember this game by, I think. And those memories will be fond ones.

What I mostly love about Super Mario RPG is its smallness. It's only around ten hours long, has a world maybe handful of locations wide and really cute tiny chibi character designs. There's a unique charme that comes with everything being this little and I admire that. That charme sometimes extends to the humor of this game, although I must say it feels kinda dated (with some misogynistic and homophobic undertones) and didn't really win me over quite as much as I had initially hoped. Other than that smallness, there's few things I really admire. The combat system is fine enough, the QTE-based nature of attacking makes it feel a bit more involved at least. And while Mario's current streamlined brand identity doesn't extend all too deep into this (there's some liberties taken that I liked), the Mario universe will probably never win me over with its character designs or concepts. I liked Super Mario RPG and its smallness, but it's nothing I'll keep on thinking about (only exception is the tremendous OST).

Fashion Dreamer is a really curious game. Or rather, it's a gamified social network with a really strong outfit creation system. Its central gameplay loop revolves about eternally creating new outfits while finding new clothing items you want to play around with - it has very little in terms of variety. But maybe that's all it needs to be? I really like that there's no money system holding you back from just owning all the clothing you could ever want. Just one click and its yours, and it works really seamlessly, too! Sharing your outfits and outfit suggestions with other - anonymous - players is actually a really cute design idea that works well. In its current state, the entire thing is a little undercooked tho - no real way to sort the endless amount of clothing you have, no real way to socially interact with other players - but I can see this becoming a live service that actually works, because, well, live servicing a gamified social network is a somewhat easier task than keeping an entire capital E game Experience running. There's lots of ways in which actual events around themes and aesthetics can make the experience more exciting, too.

I think with Fashion Dreamer it really comes down to your expectations. If you wanna have a really fun time for two hours and then jump in every day for like 30 minutes to like and share some outfits, this game is for you. If you want a gameplay loop more intricate than "like & subscribe" maybe stay with the Style Savy games.

oooh but also fuck the genderlock in this game, that's just nasty