While Voyage might initially look like a cinematic platformer or a side-scrolling take on Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, it's really much more of a side-scrolling walking simulator, with minimal gameplay aside from some very simple puzzles. Very clearly a game where showing off the 2D art took precedence over everything else (there are a lot of sequences where there's nothing to do but walk very slowly past some gorgeous backdrops, and figuring out which objects you can interact with is quite a challenge without frequently using the "highlight interactables" button the devs thankfully had the sense to provide), but hey, it's quite short and pretty enough to be worth a couple hours if you're in the right frame of mind for that, provided you get it on sale.

the N64-inspired visuals have their charm, the basic movement and platforming feels solid, and any attempt to do a 3D third-person Metroidvania (still not a very common genre) has my attention, but once you progress past the tutorial areas and start getting into the open areas, it just gets more and more tedious to find your way around. Yes, an automap was recently patched in, but it's an incredibly bare-bones one that only shows what room you're currently in and which rooms you've visited previously, not your orientation/position within the room or any significant items/obstacles. I'm sure that memorizing room layouts or having to draw your own map appeals to some people, but it's definitely not for me; there's a reason that having a reasonably detailed automap has become a standard feature in this subgenre. Might come back to this if a better map system ever gets patched in, but otherwise, it's simply not my cup of tea.

the premise of navigating book worlds is interesting and the visuals are nice, but as of the second world, there's no real hook for the narrative, it feels overly slow, and the worlds themselves and their puzzle design just aren't that engaging. meh

years after I last played it, the fusion of gameplay mechanics and outstanding audiovisual presentation with beautifully simple storytelling still holds up. Don't understand why this needed to be remade; sure, it still looks like a 2013 game on a technical level, but the colorful, storybook-like art direction is vastly more appealing to me than the 2024 version's browner, more photorealistic Unreal 5 visuals.

maybe it gets more fun later on as you unlock more powers, but based on the early going, this feels firmly like the sort of open-world design that should have stayed in 2013. I just don't have the time to care

Charming, with great art direction, endearing writing, and mostly solid exploration and puzzles. Only major flaws are that one particular late-game section relies too heavily on "3D" platforming for a 2D top-down game, and that the boss battles go on too long. But hey, what other game has you enter your favorite food for your character's name entry screen?

this one seems to have garnered a fair bit of praise from indie horror fans upon its release in 2019, but after spending a few hours playing it, I'm honestly not sure why. Sure, a sci-fi take on Norse mythology is novel territory for a horror game (though not for gaming in general, though surely nobody likes to be reminded of Too Human), but otherwise, it's just dull all around: from the level design, to the exposition dumps, to the enemy design, to the unenjoyable stealth mechanics, to the "shoot green energy" mechanic for environmental interaction. Save points can be fairly far apart too, which is frustrating when enemies kill you quickly (even on easy difficulty) or you accidentally stumble into into a bottomless pit. Recommend playing these devs' previous horror game, Unforgiving: A Northern Hymn, instead.

Solid third-person walking simulator/exploration game with nice visuals (character models aside) about piecing together various flying vehicles. Some rough edges (unskippable walkie-talkie conversations that keep you from jumping or interacting with the environment for their duration, and the controls for grabbing objects and platforming generally aren't as tight as they should be), and the more open-ended third area probably could have used more signposting, but still a decent short play overall.

also recommend playing with Brazilian Portuguese voice acting instead of English, because the latter is... not great

Not nearly as polished as its obvious inspirations of Doom 2016/Eternal - it suffers heavily from stutter on PC, many of the gated combat encounters go on for way too long, I encountered some bugs with certain attacks not working properly, and it doesn't feel like combat makes full use of the traversal moveset (the fact that the grappling hook only works on the weakest enemy types is a major missed opportunity) - but the combat and gimmicky platforming setpieces are still pretty damn fun regardless.

A co-op puzzle game (which can also be played in SP by using one controller to control both characters, a la Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, which is how I played it) where two characters must manipulate a light orb around a labyrinth to avoid deadly shadows. Love the art direction and it's a solid enough premise, but unfortunately didn't care for the execution of the shadow mechanic; the fact that falling into shadow will kill a character near-instantly (sending you back to the most recent checkpoint), and especially that one playable character can cast a lethal shadow on the other, results in far too many accidental deaths even when just doing extremely basic navigation around the level to figure out a puzzle. Ultimately, I just found it too frustrating to recommend, let alone to finish; it might be better in co-op, but I imagine the shadow mechanics would still be an issue.

Played through Leon's second run this time. Doesn't change my previous rating, but it changes up enough things from Claire's first run that I don't regret playing both, though you might want to take a break in between like I did.

Was inspired to buy a cheap Steam key for this after the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle reveal. Basically an attempt to do a Tomb Raider-style action/adventure in first-person, and not as janky as I had expected going in, but the puzzles just aren’t that interesting or fun to solve; I quit after a particularly tedious one a few levels in involving navigating a maze of floor spikes while shooting small targets.

A bit too slow for its own good in its earlier chapters, and leaves some major plot threads dangling, but the visuals (which combine 2D watercolor art with simple but expressive 3D models to generally appealing effect), atmosphere, characters, and voice acting of this very French narrative game carry it a long way.

I suck at rhythm games and the environments could have been more varied, but still a lot of fun to play, with flashy, stylish combat, great art direction and animation, and decent platforming (and a few other set pieces) to break things up.

Very Edith Finch-inspired walking sim set around an old theater after the death of its featured playwright; as you explore, you'll find various masks, each of which sends you into a fantasy world inspired by one of the plays, with each world having its own distinct gameplay mechanics. Not nearly as good as Edith Finch, unsurprisingly (the "plays" feel very little like anything that could have been performed on a stage, and their central mechanics are nicely distinct from one another but don't tie into the story nearly as well), but it's still an admirably ambitious walking sim for a project that I imagine was developed on much less resources than Edith Finch, and manages to be polished enough to warrant a one-sitting play.