I'm slightly torn. On the one hand, some of the best action game combat I've seen period, maybe only behind DmC 5, with some stellar (hah) bosses in the second half. On the other hand, a really forgettable, very badly written story accompanied by stilted voice work that really brings down the experience and often some boring art design.

I'd probably say this is overall on par with Jedi Survivor from last year, with Stellar Blade having much better combat and Jedi Survivor having a much more enjoyable story.

That being said, with Lies of P last year and this now, Korean development teams are on an absolute winning streak. Very eagerly anticipating ShiftUp's next crack at an action game.

Despite my complaints I can't deny I had an absolute blast getting through this,
7.8/10

Children of the Sun is another in the “unorthodox puzzler” genre, but it’s probably the one with the coolest design and style. It reminds me a lot of Sayonara Wild Hearts in many ways, an incredibly fun and cool central mechanic that evolves in a decent way over 2-3 hours.

Flying the bullet with all its powers is as fun the first minute as it is the last, and the level design is good enough to keep you interested. That said, it’s a bit shorter than it maybe should have been and the story surrounding it is not as impactful, as it hasn’t been given room to breathe.

It’s very hard to rate this game, because never before have I seen a game with so many glaring flaws that I however end up really liking anyway.

Life is Strange, conceptually, is kind of brilliant. It’s time manipulation mixed with coming-of-age in such an interesting way that I think it genuinely might be the most interesting form of time travel I’ve ever seen. Its ending (at least the one that I consider canon for my story) is also a fantastic conclusion.

However, I have to admit it is really not well written. Like at all. Moment-to-moment dialogue is kind of a mess and while it gets better in the mushier, more emotional story beats having badly written dialogue in such a game really destroys the experience. Additionally, a lot of what you’re actually doing in the game is a chore. Going around clicking on things doesn’t even give you exposition, just a matter-of-fact “Here is the thing”, and that’s how most of the dialogue in this game is. No subtlety, no subtext.

But alas, I still liked this one. Maybe more than I should have. I’m giving it a lot of points for the concept and how well it emotionally captured me (because it did), plus how decisions actually affect some outcomes in a more significant way than other games of this genre tend to. With better writing, this could have genuinely been a masterpiece.