MeiCheesecake
Anatoli's route has more of a traditional RPG maker horror game feel to it, but I like how short and to the point it is. Pyotr's route is... weird! I wasn't expecting things to go in that direction after the somewhat grim-realistic endings on the first, but I can appreciate the more surreal tone things took. I think I got the best ending or at least one of the good ones, and aside from some tonal whiplash at the very end I'm pretty satisfied with how things went.
Overall, nice message about how the people in power will literally let others burn to achieve their senseless goals, and how feelings of duty and regret fare into it. I wish there were more save slots and a faster walking speed option so I could hunt for the other endings (I heard there's even joke endings but I have no idea how to find them), but I had a nice time with it.
Overall, nice message about how the people in power will literally let others burn to achieve their senseless goals, and how feelings of duty and regret fare into it. I wish there were more save slots and a faster walking speed option so I could hunt for the other endings (I heard there's even joke endings but I have no idea how to find them), but I had a nice time with it.
2022
Simple, short, and very effective in conveying the message it wants to. The platforming spikes starting in world 2 and the final level of 3 is almost impossible to beat with only 3 lives on your normal playthrough - but these levels symbolize the struggle the characters had with game development (one of the levels is literally Mario 1-1), so I can let it slide. I could nitpick the flashback and the "twist" if I really want to, but I think it's a fine game and was pretty fun and emotional to go through.
2022
This review contains spoilers
Very good game, had a lot more fun with it than the original! The music slaps, the graphics are really good (although sometimes too good and clutter the screen), the campaigns are longer but don't feel padded out, and the story is really interesting. Every single NPC design feels like it could be someone's fursona, which is absolutely a good thing and made me want to talk to all of them to get as much lore as I could. I've only completed Lilac's campaign and true ending so far, but I plan on completing all of them eventually.
I only have a couple of nitpicks with the gameplay itself, like the screen clutter mentioned before and some weird acceleration physics as Lilac. Most of my complaints are with how the story was resolved.
I think the way the racism plot was handled was pretty alright! They've exaggerated the earth dragon books and logs and NPC dialogue enough so that it's very clear that they're being racist, and they had a lot of cool metaphors like how the water dragons' forced homogenization mirrors what happened to indigenous people in real life. But then they just... "kill" (not technically but practically) Merga and have racism be fixed by... admitting it happened and becoming a democracy? Sure Merga was an extremist, but... come on, it kind of feels like a cop out to have the oppressed person die so you don't have to listen to their opinion when fixing the system. And hey, even if the Magister's shitty measures do end up raising awareness of the oppression suffered by the water dragons... they're all dead. Lilac is there, and Merga is maybe alive, but... that's it. What does that accomplish? I was hoping they'd go back to where Lilac's egg was found and find a bunch more or something, or have water dragon halfbreeds come forward or become visible or anything, but no. The gesture is ultimately empty.
Though I am not a person of color nor connected or knowledgeable in the Philippines' culture or history (which this game seems to draw heavily on, with some general Asian influences too), so I don't really have much weight in this discussion. I'm just frustrated that this sort of cop out is the most popular way to resolve racism plots nowadays.
Game's good though! I had a lot to say about that negative but game's really good. They have Sonic and Amy in it.
I only have a couple of nitpicks with the gameplay itself, like the screen clutter mentioned before and some weird acceleration physics as Lilac. Most of my complaints are with how the story was resolved.
I think the way the racism plot was handled was pretty alright! They've exaggerated the earth dragon books and logs and NPC dialogue enough so that it's very clear that they're being racist, and they had a lot of cool metaphors like how the water dragons' forced homogenization mirrors what happened to indigenous people in real life. But then they just... "kill" (not technically but practically) Merga and have racism be fixed by... admitting it happened and becoming a democracy? Sure Merga was an extremist, but... come on, it kind of feels like a cop out to have the oppressed person die so you don't have to listen to their opinion when fixing the system. And hey, even if the Magister's shitty measures do end up raising awareness of the oppression suffered by the water dragons... they're all dead. Lilac is there, and Merga is maybe alive, but... that's it. What does that accomplish? I was hoping they'd go back to where Lilac's egg was found and find a bunch more or something, or have water dragon halfbreeds come forward or become visible or anything, but no. The gesture is ultimately empty.
Though I am not a person of color nor connected or knowledgeable in the Philippines' culture or history (which this game seems to draw heavily on, with some general Asian influences too), so I don't really have much weight in this discussion. I'm just frustrated that this sort of cop out is the most popular way to resolve racism plots nowadays.
Game's good though! I had a lot to say about that negative but game's really good. They have Sonic and Amy in it.
2019
Grinding for the sake of grinding. Show me something to strive for! Something cool for me to make that won't affect the endless grind cycle but that will give me a fun experience! What am I accomplishing except being able to raise yet another number I didn't have access to before? No amount of "game feel" or "juice" or "pixel art graphics" can make me not feel like I am typing into an excel spreadsheet.
2000
It tries to do a lot of cool things, and... I don't know if many of them land, to be honest. I don't mind the "clunky" controls a lot to be honest; my two main issues are the lack of transparency about why your attacks aren't working against certain kinds of enemies, and the long backtrack to the item shop to try another weapon at random. I assume a lot of the storytelling got cut because of the localization and the whole PS1 development ordeal, but what is there is pretty interesting to me (plan on reading the novelization some time). The interaction between the amount of health left and the stamina regeneration rate was pretty fun to mess around with even if pretty basic. The "doll system" that makes your equipment show up on your character is still really cool to me, but I wish the clothing puzzles (and the elemental ones) weren't so obtuse half the time. Soundtrack is like an acquired taste and I'm all for it.
2014
Really pretty game! It's full of very personal experiences that I can't really relate to, but I appreciate regardless. NPCs spouting long winded philosophical discussions tired me out after a while, and the conclusion of the "get help for" quests was kind of disappointing even if I was already expecting you wouldn't really be able to do that in a meaningful way since it's a grounded setting. I really liked the TV and Beatrice events, and the museum in the city had a nice vibe. Only got softlocked in one place.
2020
Really nice claymation visuals and very replayable. There's not much to the gameplay other than clicking, and the game is very generous in showing you what you're able to click or not. It's interesting to try to interpret it through the lens of the pandemic, but I'm not sure if it fits that well or is intended at all. Some things felt a bit loose from the theme of isolation, such as the gunner and toothpaste section. It has dark imagery but I wouldn't say it's for the sake of being edgy, as it's not really that graphic or shocking and feels personal to the developer in a way.
Short and sweet game, nothing particularly innovative going on but the level design is solid and getting all the collectibles is very fun even if they don't really lead anywhere. Pixel art graphics are pretty, cutscene graphics are a little janky at times and not very animated. Music is really generic (absolutely loathe the bonus stage one). The difficulty is really nicely tuned and I never felt live I've been cheated out of a life. Pretty good overall! Might go back to get the rest of the achievements some time.
2022
This game answers a lot of the complaints people had with Sword and Shield, yet somehow lowers the quality of the work even further.
It's clear that a lot was put into it, you've got a ton of little quality of life features peppered throughout, such as the game turning you to face a waypoint you just created, or not being able to accidentally KO pokémon in auto battles. At the same time, it feels like so much was put into these new features that the base gameplay was left unattended, especially but not only in the performance department.
The world felt empty a lot of the time. Due to the poor pokémon render distance and spawning speed, you can't really use pokémon you want to catch as waypoints since they don't show up unless you're already in walking distance to them. The environments, while pretty, feel devoid of any points of interest aside from the generic looking towers with a fast travel point and a Gimmighoul on them. While it's cool that the trainer classes aren't just a single character repeated over and over anymore, none of them are particularly interesting because you know they're just there to give you exp and count towards your free item at the pokémon center. The tera raids and tera pokémon were fun for most of the game, but after a while you've pretty much seen the whole pool of possible pokémon and have not much incentive to go for them anymore. The tera gimmick in general is really fun to use in battle, but they made the odd choice of only being able to use it once before having to recharge it at a pokémon center, which made me feel like I had to save it for the harder battles... which were none of them.
At the same time, the story was really fun this time. The three paths let you choose what kind of reward you'd rather get at the time between higher level pokémon, mobility upgrades and new TMs. While the Team Star path was lackluster mechanics and rewards wise, I found the character writing in this game pretty good! I had fun learning about all of them and eventually seeing them all come together on the final act. While the story isn't as deep as something like Black and White, I found it way more interesting than SwSh and SM. And despite the game being really easy and not giving you many opportunities to mess with tera and the new items and abilities in a more in-depth way, the competitive VGC scene is looking pretty fun right now (at least until they allow legendaries).
Overall, I've had a lot of fun with the game, but it worries me that people aren't really scrutinizing the state of the game past the framerate aspect - which does matter but is also a result of the short development cycle and (probable) crunch. I hope Gamefreak staff is in good health and wonder how much longer it'll take people to realize that the executives are pushing out half finished games because people buy it either way.
It's clear that a lot was put into it, you've got a ton of little quality of life features peppered throughout, such as the game turning you to face a waypoint you just created, or not being able to accidentally KO pokémon in auto battles. At the same time, it feels like so much was put into these new features that the base gameplay was left unattended, especially but not only in the performance department.
The world felt empty a lot of the time. Due to the poor pokémon render distance and spawning speed, you can't really use pokémon you want to catch as waypoints since they don't show up unless you're already in walking distance to them. The environments, while pretty, feel devoid of any points of interest aside from the generic looking towers with a fast travel point and a Gimmighoul on them. While it's cool that the trainer classes aren't just a single character repeated over and over anymore, none of them are particularly interesting because you know they're just there to give you exp and count towards your free item at the pokémon center. The tera raids and tera pokémon were fun for most of the game, but after a while you've pretty much seen the whole pool of possible pokémon and have not much incentive to go for them anymore. The tera gimmick in general is really fun to use in battle, but they made the odd choice of only being able to use it once before having to recharge it at a pokémon center, which made me feel like I had to save it for the harder battles... which were none of them.
At the same time, the story was really fun this time. The three paths let you choose what kind of reward you'd rather get at the time between higher level pokémon, mobility upgrades and new TMs. While the Team Star path was lackluster mechanics and rewards wise, I found the character writing in this game pretty good! I had fun learning about all of them and eventually seeing them all come together on the final act. While the story isn't as deep as something like Black and White, I found it way more interesting than SwSh and SM. And despite the game being really easy and not giving you many opportunities to mess with tera and the new items and abilities in a more in-depth way, the competitive VGC scene is looking pretty fun right now (at least until they allow legendaries).
Overall, I've had a lot of fun with the game, but it worries me that people aren't really scrutinizing the state of the game past the framerate aspect - which does matter but is also a result of the short development cycle and (probable) crunch. I hope Gamefreak staff is in good health and wonder how much longer it'll take people to realize that the executives are pushing out half finished games because people buy it either way.
2016
This is the first Tales game I have played (+ 1-ish hour of Symphonia) and I can see why people say it's one of the best ones. From my very small experience with Symphonia, I can tell that the gameplay has been refined and the battles are much more dynamic and flashy than before. I am aware that this is a prequel to something else, but I don't really feel like I need to play it (mostly because I know people don't really like it).
Another comparison with Symphonia I can make that I feel works best for Berseria is the way the game handles morality. In Symphonia, you start the game with the protagonists being fully aware that there are concentration camps going on in their general vicinity, and are only slightly uncomfortable with them, which is... a weird thing that no one really mentions about that game! For some reason!
The way it's handled here is pretty funny actually. Velvet starts out as a blank slate, and she builds her ideology based on the opposite of what Arthur is doing. And Arthur just so happens to be doing colonialism, which is bad! So that works out pretty well I'd say!
Another comparison with Symphonia I can make that I feel works best for Berseria is the way the game handles morality. In Symphonia, you start the game with the protagonists being fully aware that there are concentration camps going on in their general vicinity, and are only slightly uncomfortable with them, which is... a weird thing that no one really mentions about that game! For some reason!
The way it's handled here is pretty funny actually. Velvet starts out as a blank slate, and she builds her ideology based on the opposite of what Arthur is doing. And Arthur just so happens to be doing colonialism, which is bad! So that works out pretty well I'd say!
2022
It was just like Undertale.
2022
Despite some complaints (a lot of them technical), I feel like this is now my favorite 3D Sonic game, maybe even my favorite sonic game period. Whether you liked it or not, it's somewhat of a breath of (don't.) fresh air to the franchise and I hope that this game doing well gives Sonic Team motivation to actually try new things more often.
I was initially not very fond of the "Open Zone" gameplay, but it is now my favorite part of the game. Without comparing it to the Z shaped elephant in the room, I would say the closest thing it resembles is Sonic CD. A lot of the time, you start out seeing the finish line and have to trace your way back to the beginning of the path that'll lead you there, and then execute the necessary actions to do so. The sections that lend you tokens reminded me of the Advance-Rush era of portable Sonic, in the sense that they are not very input-dense but they really make it feel like you're going fast and looking cool. Sometimes I felt a little guilty when I can find the perfect spot to nab a token without doing the section leading to it, but think the choice to allow that kind of thing is ultimately what lets them work in the first place. If you were forced to do each section from the beginning, they'd just become smaller, less interesting levels.
Speaking of less interesting levels, I don't really like the Cyberspace levels as much as I did when I started the game. I don't think they are badly designed, but there's not much that's remarkable about them. And the fact that there are only 4 level themes (Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Sky Sanctuary and... City?) takes all of the joy in trying out a new level. Because even if the design is new and unique, it's going to look like a thing that you've seen 10 times already before and it makes these levels ultimately blend together and make them feel way more uninteresting than they actually are.
While I am talking about the negatives, it is almost obligatory that I mention the glitches. I got stuck in terrain once or twice. Wall running in a direction that is not directly up feels extremely finicky. Probably the worst and most frequent glitches I've found were those that punish you for going too fast. Detaching from a rail on curves, going through bumpers, being launched the completely wrong way altogether. They mostly happened in max ring mode, but it wasn't that rare to encounter them outside of that.
I played the switch version so I don't really have much to say about the graphics besides the very, very apparent pop-ins. It's very jarring at first, but not that bad unless a piece of the path you need to take to the next collectable is the thing that hasn't popped in yet. It made finding them a bit more difficult, but I wouldn't say it worsened my experience.
The music is fantastic all around. My least favorite tracks are the open zone ones. They're not bad, just unmemorable. Everything else though, the Cyberspace levels, scripted sequences, and especially the boss themes are all really really good. The more experimental (for a Sonic game) songs they used for Cyberspace were probably the main reason I didn't get completely turned off from them. Even the most boring Chemical Plant in the world is made infinitely more bearable with genuine, actual dubstep playing in the background.
Story was enjoyable! The lore is absolutely insane, and the actual moment to moment storyline was nice, but maybe a bit sparse. Really liked the spending tokens to get lore + characterization mechanic. There's some INSANE implications here if you're a fan of the overall Sonic lore, especially Adventure 1. Some other media that's also supposedly separated from mainline canon also have some references here, which is neat! Seeing as how a position for "Lore manager" opened at Sega on the day of this game's release, though, I'm guessing that a lot of those weren't meant to be taken as "too canon" and now they're gonna struggle to mash things together. Nightmare for them, fun for me.
I think your enjoyment of this depends whether or not you enjoy playing around with the open zone and how cynical you are with this new edgier (affectionate) and more epic (derogatory?) tone for the game. There's a lot of talk about this game "does this feel like a Sonic game", and I think the discussion should instead be "does this feel good for the franchise going forward?". Fans often are blinded by the past as much as the developers and executives can. While that doesn't excuse the very valid criticism about things such as the value of a AAA game that uses nostalgia as an excuse for asset reuse (you could say that about the past couple Sonic titles, in my opinion), sometimes you just need to ask yourself, putting aside all of the context of the franchise, if you're having fun with the moment itself.
I was initially not very fond of the "Open Zone" gameplay, but it is now my favorite part of the game. Without comparing it to the Z shaped elephant in the room, I would say the closest thing it resembles is Sonic CD. A lot of the time, you start out seeing the finish line and have to trace your way back to the beginning of the path that'll lead you there, and then execute the necessary actions to do so. The sections that lend you tokens reminded me of the Advance-Rush era of portable Sonic, in the sense that they are not very input-dense but they really make it feel like you're going fast and looking cool. Sometimes I felt a little guilty when I can find the perfect spot to nab a token without doing the section leading to it, but think the choice to allow that kind of thing is ultimately what lets them work in the first place. If you were forced to do each section from the beginning, they'd just become smaller, less interesting levels.
Speaking of less interesting levels, I don't really like the Cyberspace levels as much as I did when I started the game. I don't think they are badly designed, but there's not much that's remarkable about them. And the fact that there are only 4 level themes (Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Sky Sanctuary and... City?) takes all of the joy in trying out a new level. Because even if the design is new and unique, it's going to look like a thing that you've seen 10 times already before and it makes these levels ultimately blend together and make them feel way more uninteresting than they actually are.
While I am talking about the negatives, it is almost obligatory that I mention the glitches. I got stuck in terrain once or twice. Wall running in a direction that is not directly up feels extremely finicky. Probably the worst and most frequent glitches I've found were those that punish you for going too fast. Detaching from a rail on curves, going through bumpers, being launched the completely wrong way altogether. They mostly happened in max ring mode, but it wasn't that rare to encounter them outside of that.
I played the switch version so I don't really have much to say about the graphics besides the very, very apparent pop-ins. It's very jarring at first, but not that bad unless a piece of the path you need to take to the next collectable is the thing that hasn't popped in yet. It made finding them a bit more difficult, but I wouldn't say it worsened my experience.
The music is fantastic all around. My least favorite tracks are the open zone ones. They're not bad, just unmemorable. Everything else though, the Cyberspace levels, scripted sequences, and especially the boss themes are all really really good. The more experimental (for a Sonic game) songs they used for Cyberspace were probably the main reason I didn't get completely turned off from them. Even the most boring Chemical Plant in the world is made infinitely more bearable with genuine, actual dubstep playing in the background.
Story was enjoyable! The lore is absolutely insane, and the actual moment to moment storyline was nice, but maybe a bit sparse. Really liked the spending tokens to get lore + characterization mechanic. There's some INSANE implications here if you're a fan of the overall Sonic lore, especially Adventure 1. Some other media that's also supposedly separated from mainline canon also have some references here, which is neat! Seeing as how a position for "Lore manager" opened at Sega on the day of this game's release, though, I'm guessing that a lot of those weren't meant to be taken as "too canon" and now they're gonna struggle to mash things together. Nightmare for them, fun for me.
I think your enjoyment of this depends whether or not you enjoy playing around with the open zone and how cynical you are with this new edgier (affectionate) and more epic (derogatory?) tone for the game. There's a lot of talk about this game "does this feel like a Sonic game", and I think the discussion should instead be "does this feel good for the franchise going forward?". Fans often are blinded by the past as much as the developers and executives can. While that doesn't excuse the very valid criticism about things such as the value of a AAA game that uses nostalgia as an excuse for asset reuse (you could say that about the past couple Sonic titles, in my opinion), sometimes you just need to ask yourself, putting aside all of the context of the franchise, if you're having fun with the moment itself.
This review contains spoilers
I would classify this as one of those games that people claim isn't meant to be fun, like Pathologic. It's not really groundbreaking or innovative, but it perfectly expresses what it sets out to and that guarantees it a 5/5 in my view.
It really does feel like "an adventure game without the adventure" or an "anti-adventure". The planet of Xabran's Rock is full of all kinds of colorful people: spellcasters, rogues, androids - adventurers. But you're not one of them. You're the janitor. The "sanidrone". Despite the fact that you were cursed to have a skull yelling at you at all times, you're still leagues more mundane and unimportant than even the blandest vendor there is.
There is a constant sense that nothing in this place - from the items you pick up to the environment itself - is truly meant "for you". You can pick up powerful spell components, but you don't have the expertise to use them; You can stumbled across powerful drugs, gems, and technology that costs more credits than you'll ever make in your entire life, but you're at the mercy of the vendors that will only pay you 10 credits at best regardless.
Selling items by itself is a pain. First you have to make your way to the correct vendor, which is a (intentionally designed) nightmare as the map is confusing and the arrows oftentimes don't help at all, and some of them switch places on the daily. Then you have to hope their randomized stock lines up with what you want to sell. And finally, you have to pray they're willing to pay a decent amount for it. They aren't most of the time. There is no consistency, no pattern to follow. It's all luck.
Said luck is one of the few things you can precisely quantify in this game along with your money, but it doesn't really seem to matter. More luck didn't seem to accelerate the pace in which I found the goddess fetishes, I found most of them while I was in the negatives. Random food and genders on the ground were so sparse that I really couldn't tell if my luck was affecting them at all.
It's not like there wasn't any progression. The items I found on the ground did change, regardless if through the luck stat or based on the amount of hours I put into the game. I started finding whole metal plates instead of scraps, and once I stumbled across "the dankest weed in Xabran". But these items weren't made for me. This would be a lucky find for anyone else. All I ever hoped to find was food, gender or worship items.
The game conditions you into sticking to your profession as a janitor. Finding the vendor that will maybe buy this item for more than 2 credits is going to take time, time I could be using to burn trash and make a miserable but stable earning. It's not like I couldn't abandon my job and focus solely on selling, but I would risk starving to death. The metaphor is clear.
And the ending is... depressing. I worked harder than ever to gather resources (600 credits in my case, the arguably cheapest option) to break the skull's curse. I then go to sleep. I wake up with said skull speaking actual words to me, words of apology and a promise that I can finally leave to go on my very own adventure. I set out in the middle of the night, path illuminated by floating lanterns, and board the ship (or air?) to start my new life.
Then I woke up. Hungry, dysphoric, with 4 credits to my name. No curse, but also no adventure. Today is Delviday. My payment of 18 credits for burning 50 pieces of garbage just came through.
But it's not like it was a joyless experience either. I think the religion aspect of the game is oddly comforting in a way. Even if luck doesn't really help you much in practice, it always felt nice to pray or put down an offering and hear the luck increase (I think?) jingle. The shrines served as both landmarks to help me navigate and the focus of some jokes I cracked at myself to keep entertained amidst the grind. Are you lost? Turn the corner. You found Beb. Works every time.
It's one of the only things in this game that is consistent. You pray, you get more luck. Even if that doesn't really mean anything, it's a fact. You have 9 deities looking out for you at all time. Maybe they don't understand that helping you find a powerful laser blaster won't be enough to release you from capitalism. Or maybe they're just as powerless as you are.
Aside from the cops/military, every other talking NPC seems to be sympathetic or at least neutral to you. A lot of them inform you on different ways to gain or avoid losing luck, which is a tutorial but also a way to show they're also relying on fate and want you to succeed as much as they want to themselves. It feels like everyone has a rich and unique life story that exists even if you can't be a part of it.
My favorite thing in this game were the Theday festivals. Their gameplay significance is obviously that the ground is littered with Thedule effigies, which I could grab and keep for a significant luck increase. But sometimes I just spent a couple of minutes in front of the many bands performing across town, taking a moment to enjoy the music even if my pay would be gutted. It's okay to enjoy yourself.
Also, gender treatment is the same price of a protein drink? And it works immediately? Maybe it's not such a dystopian world after all.
It really does feel like "an adventure game without the adventure" or an "anti-adventure". The planet of Xabran's Rock is full of all kinds of colorful people: spellcasters, rogues, androids - adventurers. But you're not one of them. You're the janitor. The "sanidrone". Despite the fact that you were cursed to have a skull yelling at you at all times, you're still leagues more mundane and unimportant than even the blandest vendor there is.
There is a constant sense that nothing in this place - from the items you pick up to the environment itself - is truly meant "for you". You can pick up powerful spell components, but you don't have the expertise to use them; You can stumbled across powerful drugs, gems, and technology that costs more credits than you'll ever make in your entire life, but you're at the mercy of the vendors that will only pay you 10 credits at best regardless.
Selling items by itself is a pain. First you have to make your way to the correct vendor, which is a (intentionally designed) nightmare as the map is confusing and the arrows oftentimes don't help at all, and some of them switch places on the daily. Then you have to hope their randomized stock lines up with what you want to sell. And finally, you have to pray they're willing to pay a decent amount for it. They aren't most of the time. There is no consistency, no pattern to follow. It's all luck.
Said luck is one of the few things you can precisely quantify in this game along with your money, but it doesn't really seem to matter. More luck didn't seem to accelerate the pace in which I found the goddess fetishes, I found most of them while I was in the negatives. Random food and genders on the ground were so sparse that I really couldn't tell if my luck was affecting them at all.
It's not like there wasn't any progression. The items I found on the ground did change, regardless if through the luck stat or based on the amount of hours I put into the game. I started finding whole metal plates instead of scraps, and once I stumbled across "the dankest weed in Xabran". But these items weren't made for me. This would be a lucky find for anyone else. All I ever hoped to find was food, gender or worship items.
The game conditions you into sticking to your profession as a janitor. Finding the vendor that will maybe buy this item for more than 2 credits is going to take time, time I could be using to burn trash and make a miserable but stable earning. It's not like I couldn't abandon my job and focus solely on selling, but I would risk starving to death. The metaphor is clear.
And the ending is... depressing. I worked harder than ever to gather resources (600 credits in my case, the arguably cheapest option) to break the skull's curse. I then go to sleep. I wake up with said skull speaking actual words to me, words of apology and a promise that I can finally leave to go on my very own adventure. I set out in the middle of the night, path illuminated by floating lanterns, and board the ship (or air?) to start my new life.
Then I woke up. Hungry, dysphoric, with 4 credits to my name. No curse, but also no adventure. Today is Delviday. My payment of 18 credits for burning 50 pieces of garbage just came through.
But it's not like it was a joyless experience either. I think the religion aspect of the game is oddly comforting in a way. Even if luck doesn't really help you much in practice, it always felt nice to pray or put down an offering and hear the luck increase (I think?) jingle. The shrines served as both landmarks to help me navigate and the focus of some jokes I cracked at myself to keep entertained amidst the grind. Are you lost? Turn the corner. You found Beb. Works every time.
It's one of the only things in this game that is consistent. You pray, you get more luck. Even if that doesn't really mean anything, it's a fact. You have 9 deities looking out for you at all time. Maybe they don't understand that helping you find a powerful laser blaster won't be enough to release you from capitalism. Or maybe they're just as powerless as you are.
Aside from the cops/military, every other talking NPC seems to be sympathetic or at least neutral to you. A lot of them inform you on different ways to gain or avoid losing luck, which is a tutorial but also a way to show they're also relying on fate and want you to succeed as much as they want to themselves. It feels like everyone has a rich and unique life story that exists even if you can't be a part of it.
My favorite thing in this game were the Theday festivals. Their gameplay significance is obviously that the ground is littered with Thedule effigies, which I could grab and keep for a significant luck increase. But sometimes I just spent a couple of minutes in front of the many bands performing across town, taking a moment to enjoy the music even if my pay would be gutted. It's okay to enjoy yourself.
Also, gender treatment is the same price of a protein drink? And it works immediately? Maybe it's not such a dystopian world after all.
2013
Really solid game! Nothing too innovative in terms of platforming mechanics, but what is there is explored pretty well.
Most of the puzzles are based on figuring out where to go instead of execution, which helps for possible lag that you might have when playing this over the internet. That doesn't change the fact that those lag-dependent puzzles are there though, and it really spoils the experience sometimes.
Most of them are secret levels, but despite the lag issues I think those are handled pretty well! Self contained chambers with not too much going on so you can really delve into the physics (gets wonky for some of them though).
One thing I don't really like are the enemies. Sometimes it feels like they're just there to fill screen space, and the puzzles where they're an integral part of it suck a bit (the very last puzzle). It's manageable for most of the game as they start out just following a set path, but later levels have them follow the players and the unpredictability of their targeting AI makes it more of a gamble attempt than a strategy.
The visuals are a mixed bag. Some of them are too minimalist for my liking, but when they go all out with the different patterns and colors it becomes really nice to look at (and doesn't make platforming harder at all). I'm kinda sad they abandoned the factory concept they introduced mid game, I feel like that would be worth elaborating into the final level instead of just having the final challenge be... a thing.
The music was kind of a mixed bag too; I wouldn't say there's any bad tracks, but a lot of them are very unmemorable. Some of them get creepy and others melancholic, and when they're a hit they usually go with the visuals very well.
Overall a nice experience, but a flawed one.
Most of the puzzles are based on figuring out where to go instead of execution, which helps for possible lag that you might have when playing this over the internet. That doesn't change the fact that those lag-dependent puzzles are there though, and it really spoils the experience sometimes.
Most of them are secret levels, but despite the lag issues I think those are handled pretty well! Self contained chambers with not too much going on so you can really delve into the physics (gets wonky for some of them though).
One thing I don't really like are the enemies. Sometimes it feels like they're just there to fill screen space, and the puzzles where they're an integral part of it suck a bit (the very last puzzle). It's manageable for most of the game as they start out just following a set path, but later levels have them follow the players and the unpredictability of their targeting AI makes it more of a gamble attempt than a strategy.
The visuals are a mixed bag. Some of them are too minimalist for my liking, but when they go all out with the different patterns and colors it becomes really nice to look at (and doesn't make platforming harder at all). I'm kinda sad they abandoned the factory concept they introduced mid game, I feel like that would be worth elaborating into the final level instead of just having the final challenge be... a thing.
The music was kind of a mixed bag too; I wouldn't say there's any bad tracks, but a lot of them are very unmemorable. Some of them get creepy and others melancholic, and when they're a hit they usually go with the visuals very well.
Overall a nice experience, but a flawed one.
2022
Pretty interesting game! The concept of a DS MMO is very cool even if it's not elaborated on very well. The camera switching mechanic was more fun than I was expecting, this is the first game where readjusting the camera is an intended obstacle and it works in my opinion. The vibes are on point, the lore is interesting even if there isn't much there. Very nice and a surprising amount of content for a 15 day game jam game.