Mancheg00bfusc8r
An extremely charming, polished, and varied little platformer, paying tribute to the original 1990 games in the right ways (do we need a more complicated story than "Minnie has been kidnapped by an evil witch?" No. Does it make any sense that a bottle in the library level would lead to a world where everything is made of candy and desserts? Also no, but that's how Sega did it in 1990 so that's what we're doing) while having the confidence to completely reimagine the level designs in ways that would never have been possible on 8- or 16-bit hardware (I generally enjoyed the 3D sections, though I know not everyone agrees). Extremely short, even more so than I had remembered (I wish that every gem had at least gotten its own set of levels, even if that's not how the original game did it either), but that makes it a good one- or two-sitting play. A damn shame that Sega Studios Australia was shut down just before this game was released; would have liked to see them do more remakes in this vein.
2019
review for Claire A scenario only; will update review or write a new one once I get around to playing through Leon B
A great remake that nicely modernizes old-school survival horror, though I didn't find it particularly scary, with inventory management that's actually fun in combination with unlocking new shortcuts and sections of the map. Mr. X is kind of annoying and the sewers aren't quite up to par with the other sections
A great remake that nicely modernizes old-school survival horror, though I didn't find it particularly scary, with inventory management that's actually fun in combination with unlocking new shortcuts and sections of the map. Mr. X is kind of annoying and the sewers aren't quite up to par with the other sections
2023
Not the most original cinematic platformer you'll play, but a pretty strong example of the subgenre overall, with great art direction and solid puzzles (though a few do require annoyingly precise timing or are otherwise a bit obtuse). The story also isn't quite as compelling as I'd have liked, but what's here works well enough.
2022
Both funnier and more fun to play than I had expected, especially after having struggled to get through a few hours of the even Roiland-heavier Trover Saves the Universe. not going to argue it’s a truly great FPS - the waves of enemy encounters go on too long, and there’s barely an ending to speak of - but the combination of gameplay and comedy is pretty entertaining as long as you turn down the frequency of enemy/weapon chatter.
2020
The Norwegian setting and crude low-poly visuals are mostly charming, and the "teen boy investigating his grandfather's past with a magic bracelet" setup has potential. unfortunately, it seems like most of the game is set on one island, which you're asked to explore without any sort of navigational aids - no objective markers, no fast travel, not even an in-game map - and the island map is already large enough to make backtracking tedious; the fixed camera and awkward controls don't help in orienting yourself, either. maybe I'll give it another shot at some point, but that's enough to turn me off from this game for now
2016
the meta elements are intriguing and fun (even if the likes of The Stanley Parable and NieR Automata did it better), and the combat is initially enjoyable, but the shallowness and repetition set in pretty fast (not helped by a lack of enemy variety), and the checkpointing is pretty dire; even on Easy, the difficulty eventually spikes to a point where it just isn't worth bothering.
2019
it's no secret I'm a big fan of the Journey/ABZU-like subgenre, but it's also an easy subgenre to get wrong, and Spirit of the North unfortunately falls into that category. slow pacing, uninteresting level design with frequently unclear objectives, and clunky platforming mechanics were enough to turn me off after only a few chapters. at least it's pretty!
2021
a thoroughly delightful, relaxing photography game with charming black-and-white graphics, combining appealingly simple 2D characters with minimalistic 3D environments. A few of the objectives are fairly obtuse and a map wouldn't hurt in the larger stages, but the requirements to progress to a new stage are thankfully pretty lenient, which appropriately keeps this on the casual side unless you're a completionist.
2021
Extremely flawed, to be sure: the art direction and atmosphere feel like they'd have better suited an abstract narrative told largely through implication (like Heart Machine's previous game Hyper Light Drifter) than the fully voiced, dialogue-heavy story here; enemies kept knocking me to the ground or killing me during platforming sequences when I had to get lucky just to successfully attack them; and while I somewhat respect the minimal handholding aside from a few objective markers, I felt I still ended up spending too much of my playtime aimlessly wandering around for a path forward. And all that said, the excellent traversal, great art direction, and Shadow of the Colossus-meets-Journey -meets-Mario Galaxy-meets-Zelda gameplay were enough to keep me playing through the end. A qualified recommendation, but even with its frustrations, still worth trying if that mix of influences sounds compelling.
2023
Even shorter than I had expected going in (a few more narrative scenes and recipes wouldn't have hurt to better flesh out the central family relationships), but it's a very nice little interactive short story about immigration, assimilation, and cooking, with charming 2D art and solid writing.
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.
2023
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.
2023
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.
2013
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.
2019
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.