When going into Scarlet Nexus I was expecting a simple button-mashing anime game with a crazy anime plot. While this was true for the first moments, there was a point in the game where everything just clicked.

The most surprising part is just how fun the gameplay can be. At its best, combat is extremely exciting and I found myself using almost every ability I had. Animations are flashy and over the top making, you feel like a cool and edgy anime character with psychic powers. It was genuinely a lot of fun.

The gameplay outside of combat was mostly great. Sidequests are all from the fetch quest variety with very little substance, but there is also almost no penalty for just skipping this part of the game. What fuels the gameplay out of combat is the bond mechanic with your team. By giving your team gifts you help decorate their spot in the room as well as unlock bond events which vastly develop their character. By the end, I was feeling some attachment to almost every party member, and characters like Kagero and Gemma are incredibly fascinating.

The story is also a lot of fun, as long as you are ok with anime non-sense. There were a lot of exciting set pieces and interesting character interactions that breathed life into every chapter. However, the latter part of the game is a bit unfocused and I could feel the developers struggling to tie the knot on the story. It also has a clear sequel bait which I would love to play.

Speaking of the latter part of the game, that is the weakest part of Scarlet Nexus. Some of the levels in the endgame are so long, running for over an hour. Enemies, especially the annoying ones, start repeating over and over again, making battles kind of a chore, to the point that I just started using Kagero's ability to completely skip most encounters. At first, every new area had brand new enemies which need different strategies to be taken down, I only wished the game could have kept up with this flow until the endgame.

A personal complaint is also regarding the level design of the endgame areas. The game has a unique post-apocalyptic "brain punk" vibe which sets it apart from other anime games. This leads to very unique areas that also feel uniquely organic to navigate through. At the endgame though, areas start feeling less like places in a post-apocalyptic world and more like a video game level. It just doesn't feel natural to navigate and the actual design starts becoming dull really quickly.

That was a lot of complaining, but somehow Scarlet Nexus managed to land the jump despite stumbling by the end. I was sad to say goodbye to the characters, the last bond episodes almost always put a big smile on my face, and the final boss was an incredibly exciting fight that made me jump off my seat at one point. The game does try to bite more than it can chew, but if you like anime games, especially the combat, and you are interested in the aesthetics I would 100% recommend it.

Much better than I expected. There's a heavy Tales influence which runs through the game, giving you a good 'party' to run through the game. The story's a bit plot-holey and it kind of forgets a lot of stuff when the main thread ramps up, but the interactions between the characters are often good. The combat's not totally amazing but there's plenty of satisfying actions, particularly involving smashing enemies with stuff scattered around the environment. My main issue is some really bad side quests which ended up stalling me for a while before I completely gave up.

A pretty darn good indie take on Pikmin, The Wild at Heart takes these mechanics and throws them in the pot with a very charming art style and a heartfelt story. Having one big connected world to explore and new areas to unlock as you received new Spritelings is a very good addition to the formula as well, something that I hope future games of this vein iterate upon.

There is however some tension between the game's relaxed aesthetic (even in more dangerous looking areas) and the day/night cycle which pretty much enforces a time limit on your adventures which can be frustrating at times. You can still venture around after dusk but you're met with severely overpowered enemies and most crucially there's very rarely any reason to do so. Maybe with a bit of tinkering that could have been remedied but as it stands it makes a lot of the light-giving items obsolete as the simplest solution in every case is to just camp and wait until morning.

Thankfully that's the only real issue. The puzzles work well and while combat is simple, I don't think it needs to be too involved here especially as you're able to skirt around some areas to avoid battling which is very welcome when you just want to trek through the visually and aurally gorgeous world for a bit.

Ok, I finally played through game that can be best described as part pretentious kurzgesagt video, part crazy Doctor Who episode.

I am incredibly torn on this game. On the one hand, two chapters in particular just absolutely blew me away with everything they did (Improvisation and... the other one ;>). "The other one" in particular is an especially amazing experience. It clevery turns the tropes of the Film Noir on its head, delivering a message that is so simple yet they manage to make it feel ethereal. The improvisation chapter managed to hook me too - I spent way more time in it than I had to. And overall: the presentation is brilliant, absolutely top-notch in soundtrack and visuals. And then there's the less good parts...

First, this game has heavy scripting problems. Sometimes I was able to fix them by going to the pause menu, sometimes I wasn't. These NEED to be adressed, I had to replay some chapters because I was stuck at some point. Also: many other chapters feel quite hollow, gameplay- and presentation-wise. The last two chapters retroactively kinda help in justifying that, but it's still unhelpful while first playing through the game. Some puzzles also seem... a little dumb. And I would advise every developer in existance against Simon Says, please. It doesn't work. At all. The improvisation chapter worked despite of it, not because of it. This game is also incredibly pretentious at times and it never really works for me.

I'm still giving this 3 1/2 stars. Why? Because of the amazing presentation, the clever twist on Film Noir tropes (which I actively hate when they are recreated uncritically), the brilliant soundtrack and the two chapters I absolutely loved. Everything else in this game is mediocre at best. But I love it for these parts in particular, and these will always stick with me. And now to wait for the soundtrack on Spotify...

ive always felt the first evil within represented a pitifully directed attempt at something of a horror anthology, mikamis mythic final shot at a title that cobbled together the familiar imagery of his deific body of work with over a dozen new and incohesive ideas that ended up fitting together about as well as a broken jigsaw puzzle. it's one of the rawest disappointments in the medium; its successor replaces the originals dim and misguided attempts to foster a thrilling, psychological weight with a riproaring extravaganza through shattered suburbia and dingy back-alleys infected with competing egos and the subconscious. it's a modern title that perfectly replicates the tone and thrust of classic resident evil's brand of stark horror and schmaltzy optimism; if that doesn't appeal to you, i understand, but it's such a treat in modern gaming to be able to actively and sincerely cheer for a protagonists relatively unambitious goals and his raimi-esque awakening to fearlessness. ends up asking some unique questions of its own, too - just a really memorable package overall, one that i feel is way too easy to dismiss for some. in narrative structure it unabashedly wears resident evil 4 on its sleeve, too, and this is primarily worth mentioning because it's one of the few derivatives with the confidence to stand on its own and to not have me questioning if i should abandon all further engagement to go and replay resident evil 4 instead. its gameplay loop overextends its warm welcome but it is a surprisingly taut title until that point, and the open-district form led to some stirring surprises. removing mikami from the helm seemed like this burgeoning franchise's death knell, but in this instance it's a strong argument for allowing new talent to step in and try their hand at the craft