Planet Laika is beautiful. I've spent years of my life wondering what secrets Laika held, I've considered learning Japanese to play it at times and I really can't overstate my gratitude towards the fan translation team - they did an INCREDIBLE job. It's hard to talk about Planet Laika without using words like "strange, scary, gross, creepy, weird" because it is very much all of those things. I mean, look at it. I don't think you could really show this to someone without them getting uncomfortable, it's just that sort of art. Off-putting, abrasive, and full of character. Beautiful, if you've got the eyes for it.

Planet Laika is an incredible game, one I'm gonna be thinking about for the rest of my life and one I want to dedicate a larger piece to. I really urge you to play it, its story is unique and its world is fascinating. It's like if a furry convention took place in the Black Lodge and everyone there was horrifically traumatized in their childhood. I've got a lot of thoughts n feelings about it and I want other people to play it so I can see theirs. I've never played anything like it and I'm really, really happy that I could finally play it.

Blue Fire is the sort of game that makes you think of other games you'd rather be playing. it invokes its inspirations openly, not even hiding its clear admiration for Wind Waker and other Nintendo games. thing is, it doesn't do anything with those inspirations. there is no meaningful design to be found in this game. pointless systems (crafting, sidequests) overlap and exist for seemingly no real purpose. movement is stiff, not very satisfying; the same can be said for the combat. three hours in, nothing about it stood out. no areas, no characters, no music, no story, no gameplay - nothing. instead, Blue Fire is the sort of game where you hit a switch to do an annoyingly timed puzzle that isn't difficult in the slightest but is frustrating due to your movement and collision. there is absolutely nothing exceptional to be found in Blue Fire. it is deeply, direly unessential.

i really, really hate being so harsh on an indie game. these devs clearly do have a lot of talent, this game just isn't inspiring or thoughtful in any way, be it narrative or design. there's nothing about Blue Fire that i walk away with. there's nothing memorable, nothing exciting. it's a pastiche of better games melted into a bland soup of a game. also why do so many indie games have protagonists that are just little blobby guys with a white helmet

the aesthetics hit like a truck slamming into a young schoolboy playing ball in the road of a residential area at 70 km/h, the gameplay that made me feel like the mother of that boy watching it happen. when i learned the devs made RPGmaker horror games, all of its design decisions suddenly made sense. the story's neat, i love the protagonist being such a freak (she's so real), and i love me some good yuri but clocking into the night sections (esp the water one ugh) was draining. i wanted more time in the life sim parts, the mechanics of which never really felt like they came together (the suspicion mechanic was so exciting! but it had no relevance at all!). the alienation felt navigating life in a small, religious town as an 'other' in the preconceived notions of your community is such a powerful feeling to portray in a game - i wish it was more of the focus, narratively and mechanically.

it really can't be overstated just how gorgeous this game is, though. i'd like to play through its other routes (i never even talked to Freya once) but the thought of having to do that awful moon puzzle again is not an appealing one.

simply put: i'm just a gal who loves 2 adventure. i love discovering little secrets 'n mysteries, i love collecting weapons 'n items, and i love battling ghouls 'n creatures. LUNACID, more than most other games, does all of those things very well. me and my wife, who usually isn't super into many games, both played this for twelve hours in a single day and for most of a week were constantly talking to each other about secrets we found or things we did in-game. it's very much a game i'd recommend to play alongside friends, if possible - but also one i'd say is worth playing blind and with its difficulty slider pumped up a bit. has some larger issues with balancing and some messy area design (like the one lategame area that's JUST the Tower of Latria, it's shameless) but the level of player freedom with its wacky arsenal and abilities is just too fun. great music, too.

due to horny, Shantae is somehow a series - but it has a problem. the problem is that Shantae is kinda bad? the main gimmick of transforming is a total pace-breaker and nothing about its world or characters are very, uh, written. at all. playing the stories and dialogue of these games feel like trudging through rejected scripts from a strange Canadian cartoon time forgot, ones from the third season that only make sense with the rest of the show. the series feels like an afterthought, like nothing in it was ever planned out beyond the characters being hot and boobies. EXCEPT for this one, actually. it's fun! i can't tell you a single goddamn thing that happened in its narrative or what anything in it was but it was fun. mostly fun because it cripples Shantae's powers, inadvertently making her far more powerful and fun to play as. the pacing is good, the music is great, and sometimes that's all you really need.

some of FromSoft's best world/map design yet. dense, stacked w/ emphasis on verticality in a way that reminded me a lot of DS1's level design. there's so many tricky secrets 'n neat setpieces... i love it. i'm also very glad they decided to appeal to me, specifically by adding two new unarmed/claw weapon classes that are actually viable and incredibly satisfying. i think this is also easily FromSoft's best looking game, the environments and designs are gorgeous EXCEPT for the big gross spider-scorpions FUCK the big nasty spider-scorpions. but i loved how everything else looked!!!!

i didn't love a lot of its bosses, though. i think some criticism the DLC has received about its difficulty is silly - you are meant to use spirit ashes and you are very much meant to get the scadutree fragments - but yes, some of them (lion, hippo, 2nd phase of final boss) have camera issues that make them difficult to read. aside from maybe a few moves of the final boss' 2nd phase, i didn't find anything regarding the difficulty of these fights to be particularly egregious. what bothered me was how i felt like i had already beaten them, i wished they'd go for more weird gimmicks or experimental elements like they used to. i had fun learning some of the humanoid hyper-aggressive bosses' movesets (i thought Messmer and the final boss were mostly great and rewarding) but i just wish they stood out a bit more? i wish a few bosses (putrescent, finger mom) were harder, but in a weird way.

most importantly: MOHG INNOCENT!!!! HE CLEARED THE ALLEGATIONS!!!!!! MOHG MANIACS WIN!!!!!! MOHG DYNASTY 2K24 IMMINENT!!!!!!!!

the writing is very 'meme'-y and the gameplay feels like getting constantly cuckolded. levels end way too fast, most levels lack interesting set pieces or a meaningful feeling of progression, and it's all over in a bit over an hour. it has some cute ideas but they're not much more than cute. the obvious comparison is Katamari, but Katamari has a weight to it this doesn't. a feeling of constant growth, great pacing, and simple, satisfying gameplay. this game isn't very satisfying but i feel bad disliking it so much so i'll stop here.

not just a good VR game - this is Valve once again back at it kicking ass at making good games but it just happens to be in VR. It's not just a gimmick in this case, the game makes full use of its hardware and is one of the most immersive and cool games i've ever played. locations are distinct and memorable, the game is filled with great set pieces, the writing is obviously gonna be good, it's a game that feels like a true Half-Life title but just in VR. i upgraded my PC to get this and, unfortunately, got a cheap Rift S (fuck you facebook!) and i only regret not spending more money for an Index.