2017

I think this game is neat due to the navigation changes entirely based on your skill point allocation. You can overcome your obstacles by building platforms, evaporating objects, hacking or repairing machines, looting keycards or codes left behind by the deceased or finding an alternative path from curiosity or keen eyes.

What is also neat about the game is the engagement with the environment, where anything you find lying on the ground or containers can be discarded as crafting materials. While searching around for loot, you also come across audio logs, journals and notes of people's experiences before and after the events of Talos 1 breakout, for example the experimentations and people's relationships with each other.

The sound design is sort of a mess cause the voice acting plays directly in your ears instead of the world. However i can applaud the sound design of the guns, UI and soundtrack.

For its biggest flaws, the combat and sidequests are dull along the UI being non responsive. Saving the game, equipping something shouldn't be so difficult with a mouse vs pressing enter.

TLDR: Garry's Mod prophunt with good storytelling and atmosphere, which includes metroidvania elements.

joy you scoundrel you drained all my resources.

i am flabbergasted, i expected like a Shantae-esque story, instead i got the most intense slap on my face.

I cannot really judge this game due to how short it is, but I am pleased with the experience i had reading through it.

The story was interesting to go through and characters expressing themselves a bit more than i've seen in their media. The artwork and the designs of the outfits the characters wore were neat to look at. What i did not like about the game is the minigames that appear after everytime you get the right answer due to lack of variation. The game also lacks auto-saving and logs.

What really matters to me is that Shadow the Hedgehog needs his coffee with marshmallows.

Dwarves ain't one of the creatures god made.

Crypt of the NecroDancer to me is one of the best introductions to the roguelite genre and it has a charm you can't find anywhere else. It is balanced, fun and has a unique learning curve to it.

It goes from casual to ridiculously challenging depending on what character and mode you play in, each character plays differently from another, for example a character who plays at double speed or a character who is unable to pick gold or else it kills you, every enemy drops gold and it becomes an obstacle course.

The game is not easy with its fast paced and strategic gameplay as well its difficulty being steep. However you can practice against any enemy, boss and start off at later areas with buffs to practice. There are no drawbacks to using assist modes.

There is more to the game after you complete the game with Cadence, Melody and Aria, since there are other characters to play as and achievements to complete.

The game's soundtrack is packed, there are three remixes of the soundtrack ranging from chiptune to metal, two which play for specific characters and one that is selectable in the menu. The rhythm of the songs are comfortable to follow along.

FURTHER INFO: Some characters play better with the AMPLIFIED DLC installed and there is online co-op available from the SYNCHRONY DLC. SYNCHRONY also comes with mod support, which works in multiplayer too. Two of the DLC come with new characters, enemies and such.

TLDR: Dungeon crawler utilizing rhythm as a mechanic, which plays like a puzzle game on paper. Difficulty ranging from casual to absurdly challenging depending on your options. The game is a completionist's nightmare.

Neon White was interesting with its mechanics of using weapons for movement (for example, rifle into a bomb that knocks you away) and the game forcing to be faster with hints to get to further levels.
The gameplay starts off good and keeps it that way for the entirety of the game. The game brings in new spell card weapons and newer enemies to work to your goal. It is consistent with its difficulty, as it starts off slow and becomes very fast. You also know how far you are done with the game due to each level giving you a medal for gold or ace ranking.

My only issues are how the collectables are placed in later levels and how some levels make you guess where you have to go. Air control could of had some improvement.

Its story is set in afterlife containing the most unfunny characters, eventually it becomes bearable for a listening experience. The story is overall decent and has some unique takes on religion. I can't imagine a better story for this game due to how many levels there are, it would get tiring to have even more levels to fit a story in.

TLDR: Movement FPS that gets faster as it goes on, decent story with a great soundtrack.
I recommend this game as it is easy to pick up and isn't long.

It starts off good until the end, where levels become frustrating and exhausting, especially the ending doesn't feel rewarded to you.
It is difficult to notice what button does what, due to all buttons having the same color, including the blocks. The player is given tools to break the intended routes.

While playing co-op, you will encounter horrible respawn systems, softlocks, lots of noise and camera zooming out.
- There is no sound limiter in place, including whenever the camera zooms out, creating excessive amounts of noise.
- Camera zooming out, thus making it harder to focus.
- Softlocks happen due to poor collisions and respawning.
- You respawn to your partner's location only if you are far away (only exception unstable ground)
- Thanks to the respawn system, it is wise to wait for your partner to do certain sections and respawn to save time (If you weren't doing this, you'd have to pull each other up or use buttons.)
- Checkpoints are meaningless in co-op
- Several sections can be done on your own or jumping off your partner's head to skip intended routes.

TLDR: Goofy platfomer with customization, starts off good and becomes exhausting.
I wouldn't recommend this game, if you have epilepsy, prone to loud/repetitive noises or become angry over games. For co-op, this is a test of patience and the ability to communicate with your partner.

i gained a crew from having a paper cup, helping to get gloves and beating someone's butt.

Risk of Rain 2 is probably one of the best casual introductions to the rogue-lite genre while not being one. Despite how much boredom this game creates along with its issues, i am willing to recommend it to others.
My favorite part of the game is the background put together really well with its lore, art design and cast of characters. There is also a sense of bond with the player base when it comes to sharing experiences and jokes.

My main issues with the game is not fixing issues and poor balancing.
In multiplayer it is frustrating for others and yourself to play when death happens, you lose out on items. If you keep dying constantly, eventually you will be out of the game entirely, turning into a game of spectate.
The item balance is odd to me, you will come across items that are terrible, good and ones that support towards the domino effect. For example, you spawn into a map and suddenly everything is dead and will continue to be dead.
In most cases you would come across your friends and such running mods to add in quality of life changes, content and fix annoyances.

It's nice to see a multiplayer variant of Spelunky with variety but it is disheartening to see how cheap the deaths have become, such as stun-locking. Your health is also irrelevant.

The game gets worse with it when enemies and traps can spawn in front or above the level entrance. You can be killed by an enemy falling more than two screens away and die during an UI transition.

Spelunky 2 is not about skill or speed, it's about preparing what is going to happen unlike Spelunky HD.

Minecraft is a hit and miss. Some may stay away from it entirely from being clueless or get attached to it entirely. The first time experience is what matters a lot. Whenever you do play the game other times, it will be the most boring experience you've had in a year.

The developers release content one by one instead of one huge chunk at later times, the game doesn't feel fresh at all comparison to other games getting updates. Players end up being burnout every time.

This is still a good game for first time players but becomes mediocre over time.

Despite how many things i dislike about this game including the progression system. This is still a good game to sit down with friends and it fits nicely for people who don't play games.

The Upturned was an enjoyable experience. The game off the start screws with you and lets you toy around with stuff.
The "puzzles" are logical and some have different approaches how you engage them. You throw stuff all the time, you rip doors off, you flip switches by throwing objects at them.

For its story, it keeps a mystery from the player to learn what's going on and how you died, thus keeping the player engaged with it. As well you know exactly how far you are from the end of the game with its writing. I found the story flawed and the ending odd but it doesn't end on a cliff-hanger, it just ends. The music welcomed its stay.

The most note worthy of the game is the consistency, how you throw and what to expect from the enemies or levels, the goal is always exactly the same. The only time something new is introduced is gliding and its only used once. My only annoyance was how the camera behaved sometimes, the mannequins getting in the way and Vsync option not working correctly on first try (can overheat the GPU).

I wish the game had levels that were entirely goofy or complete serious to mix things up. Notably the game would of benefitted if there was more things to make side-tracking rewarding.

I can't recommend this game on it's own, you'd have to some what like multiple of its aspects like comedy, puzzling, horror. For example, I can recommend Portal series to someone who likes puzzles but not to someone who only likes comedy. The comedy for portal 2 is an added bonus, not something it relies on.