I don't tend to explore much when I play games, but something about Outer Wilds made exploration very compelling and satisfying. Wandering about was rewarded with knowledge rather than an item, and learning bits and pieces of information that seems pointless at first but later seeing how it becomes useful was quite satisfying. Wandering into a planet only to get eaten by an angler fish was terrifying, but later finding out how to avoid them was great. The whole game was basically like this, constantly learning new things and finding new leads which was very fun to do. My one major complaint is that within the game's loop, there are some events that require quite a lot of waiting. That got dull when I needed to wait on sand to drain away a few times. Other than that, this game's pretty darn great.

This is a solid game, with a few major issues that unfortunately hold it back. Compared to wario land 4, it really feels like it lacks the snappiness that game had. It just generally feels slower, but the requirement to stop and shake every moneybag you come across just slows things down more. The escape sequences aren't nearly as exciting either, as they all give you ample time and don't have much exciting going on. Motion controls just don't feel needed here, and slow things down more. There's also autoscroller submarine stages that are really boring. However, most of the regular level design is pretty good, but the shortness of levels often left me feeling like there should have been more to it. The game just felt too short overall. Normally I don't mind a condensed, short game, but it seemed lacking here. The music is a mixed bag, there's some great tracks, and some generic tracks and ones with pretty poor soundfonting. It's very inconsistent. The visuals are great, with no caveats. The animation is fluid and full of personality, and I'd love to see another attempt at hand-animation for this series.

To summarize, Wario Land: Shake It is a fun platformer with great visuals, but suffers from being too short and very inconsistent while lacking the series's trademark sense of speed.

Crosscode really impressed me. While I went in expecting a fun action-rpg, I was met with some impressively strong puzzles/dungeons, varied combat with pretty good bosses, fun environments to explore, and a fun and heartfelt story.

Combat was something I was initially worried about, since it felt a bit dull at the beginning of the game. However, the later enemy types are much more interesting and use the game's mechanics in more interesting ways, with a special note to the many many bosses the game's got. They're consistently good and challenging, although a few go on a tad long, especially the final boss.

Exploration is fun, with a lot of stuff to find and neat parkour challenges to do everywhere. The environments are somewhat lacking in landmarks at times, so I had to rely on my map a good deal. But, still fun to do.

The dungeons are definitely the strongest part of the game. They shake up their structures decently regularly, and constantly introduce new mechanics that get utilized in interesting and fun ways. Unlike a zelda game, the dungeons will offer constant skill challenges using the mechanics just as often as pure puzzles. These can go on a bit long, but they're quite fun.

Presentation is pretty solid too, with some fun character designs and a good soundtrack. There's some great spritework on bosses in particular. However, the environment designs often end up feeling pretty bland.

I found myself a lot more interested in the story than I thought I would. Lea works great as a protagonist and seeing how she communicates was really interesting. It's got a bit of a slow start, but it soon gets into a good pace of interesting plot reveals and well-earned moments. Again, pretty good.

There's only one consistent, major issue throughout the game. There's just a bit too much here. The areas are huge, the dungeons are huge, there's a ton of combat skills, there's a ton of quests, things to collect, things to trade, etc. It gets overwhelming at points, and can frankly get exhausting.

Aside from that though, the game's great. Easy recommendation from me.

This is a pretty great rhythm game, and is doubly impressive for being this content-packed and challenging while still being in early access. I was initially worried that the game only using a single button could grow stale as it went along, but the introduction of countless new beat types and balancing multiple beats made for some ridiculously challenging and rewarding stages, especially later on.

The visual style is nice and simple, with a lot of great visual tricks the game pulls to make it a bit more challenging. The theming and story was unexpectedly enjoyable, with good writing that justifies the rhythm games quite well. The music was a bit hit-or-miss for me, although I mostly enjoyed what was here. At worst, there were a few songs I didn't care for, but nothing I found annoying. At the very least, the stages are all mechanically different and fun, so even those are fun to go through.

There's a lot of stuff to do, and I'm glad there's a lot for those who want to seek a greater challenge. Locking harder remixed versions of stages behind getting a good rank was a smart move, and makes accessing these stages more rewarding. Speaking of challenge, the game's hard. It's not too ridiculous to just complete it, since you can miss quite a lot and still pass. However, going for better ranks and trying to get perfect ranks is insanely difficult. I like that, gives me something to keep coming back for every so often.

All in all, a very solid package that will only get better and better as time goes on. While not all the music landed for me, it's a well made, varied, fun, and engaging rhythm game.

This is a game that has truly excellent controls, but feels a bit lackluster as a retail release. The series as a whole has thrived off it's controls and swift animation, resulting in a game that just feels good to play. It's got that certain 'flash game' charm that I quite like as well. The level design is good at complimenting the slick movement, but it lacks variety and challenge. It stops introducing new mechanics fairly early on, and it doesn't ask the player to use these mechanics in particularly interesting ways. For example, the player can shoot ink out of a pen to turn outlines into solid blocks. However, these are placed in fairly static areas where the player just stops, turns them solid, and then proceeds. It's unfortunate, because there's a lot of potential here.

This is a solid sequel that makes a good number of improvements over the original. It feels a bit more zoomed out, which gives you more time to react to obstacles and keep the speed going. There are some hub worlds, which are a neat idea but feel more like a time-waster than a substantial addition. The level design is good, with a ton of variety and good use of it's mechanics. Stages go on a bit longer than I'd like, and some of the later stages can be a pain to speedrun due to their length. The bosses are great, which is a rarity for platformers. All in all, I can recommend it.

As someone who did not much enjoy the original Yooka-Laylee, I was very surprised how good this game ended up being. They really nailed the DKC style of platforming with a ton of fun level gimmicks. The controls are tight and very satisfying, allowing for a lot of speed. Level design is pretty consistently great, with only a few small dips in quality here and there. There's a ton of music that's all good, but nothing too mind blowing. The overworld is shockingly fun to explore, with some really great puzzles and environmental interactions. Each stage has an alternate version that is unlocked via various puzzles, and these are really clever. The alternates feel really different most of the time and it's a good way to get more content out of less development time and budget. The game also looks quite nice, especially in the lighting department. Character designs are good, environments are really detailed, and the animation is quite fluid. To top it all off, the final stage, the IMPOSSIBLE LAIR, is an extremely satisfying challenge with a few instances of BS. Establishing it as the final goal right at the beginning was a very smart move and it makes every stage feel worthwhile and important. The tonic system seems a little weird, like a lot of the buffs or debuffs just don't seem worth using at all. Other than that, this is one great game with a lot of fresh ideas, tight pacing, and fun platforming. Easy recommendation.

I hadn't played this game fully in a few years, and remembered really enjoying it but couldn't exactly remember everything about it. So on a replay, I discovered exactly why I liked it so much and probably enjoyed it even more on this playthrough.

I want to start with the presentation, because it's an interesting point. It's very clearly amateur, and as someone who's used RPG maker for a long time it's obvious where the stock menus and sounds were used. The menus and game over screen especially could have used some fine tuning and polish. However, I find the rough nature of it to be appealing, especially with the good sprite work and memorable character designs. The battle animations are fun to watch too. Overall, I think it looks solid and has a lot of charm.

This is the game that made me realize that music that sounds obnoxious can be great, and I really enjoy the soundtrack for that ear-grating quality. Traditionally enjoyable songs like Brawlin', Summer Love, or War Season are great and compliment the out there tracks like Air Raid, Tallgrass Tussle, or Hail the Fishmen. Overall a strong soundtrack that's weirdness is really endearing.

I enjoy the simplicity of the story, and I find Brad an interesting protagonist to watch in spite of how awful he is. The narrative is greatly enhanced by the gameplay-impacted decisions the player makes and the balancing of risks and resources.

I find the gameplay similar to the music and visuals, where it's roughness is often a compliment. The combat is very simple, but can have some neat variety with the many many party members and the unique flavors they each bring to the table. I do think it runs into the same issue a lot of RPGs can, where you can quickly find an efficient way to fight enemies and the game doesn't often force different strategies. However, there are plenty of challenging boss fights that really make the most of resource management. The game has some random bullshit, which I can tolerate since it weaves into the tone and story naturally and the game gives you the means to recover, even if it's a bit painful. Exploration is fun and constantly rewarding thanks to the tons of different party members to find, cool bosses, and worthwhile items to collect. Sometimes it can be hard to find the way to progress since areas can look samey at points. However, I still find exploring fun and interesting.

In summation, Lisa is a game with many rough edges. However, I find these rough edges fun to work around and charming. They weirdly make the whole game feel cohesive, since the roughness feels in line with the tone and gameplay. The game's difficult, aggressive, perverse world is strengthened by these elements. I can better understand why this game really wouldn't work for someone, but it's faults turn more into strengths for me. I like this game a whole lot.

This is a neat little adventure game. It's got some creative puzzles, a great atmosphere, and good writing with some really likeable characters. The game uses some neat "computer" mechanics, that I kinda wish had some more depth. In general, the puzzles could have been a bit harder or more interesting. The times that a proper challenge showed up was fun, but somewhat rare. Walking around and finding stuff to figure out how to progress was consistently enjoyable, but I do wish there was a map to make trying to find one specific item you need just a bit easier. The plot is pretty neat, and somehow doesn't roam into annoying territory, although it gets close. It's mostly bolstered by the likable characters, which go quite a long way. In short, good atmosphere and plot, simple but fun gameplay, it's a pretty good time.