Lucky Mountain Games, Curve Digital, and Sumo Nottingham have created a superb arcade racer that pays homage to the beloved Sega racing games of the past. While I haven't played those games myself, I must confess, I can still confidently say that it is a well-crafted and fun as hell experience in its own right with tight controls, good track design, and the colorful low poly visuals that give the game a ton of personality.

My only major complaint with this game is that the voice lines in races were really annoying or so repetitive that I had to eventually turn them off. It's a shame because I genuinely enjoy the announcer's voice. For just 20 dollars, I strongly recommend getting this package, and it's an incredible deal if it goes on sale. If you're seeking an arcade racer that can be enjoyed without investing too much time into it, this is the game for you.

Rogue Legacy 2 excels at its core rogue-lite gameplay loop when it comes to platforming, combat, and the progression system. It is very fun and addictive at first. The hand-drawn visuals and fantastic music further elevate the experience. Unfortunately, it suffers from a similar issue as Crash 4 or Super Mario Odyssey, where it unnecessarily prolongs the gameplay loop or progress. In fact, I would argue that it's even worse because you have to endure this excessive grinding in order to beat the game. After a while, I found myself growing fatigued of playing this game, despite its excellent gameplay loop.

However, it is important to point out that I still believe that Rogue Legacy 2 is solid overall because of its well-crafted core gameplay loop that remains strong even when it's padding itself. Unlike Skul: The Hero Slayer, which reveals many fundamental rogue-lite gameplay issues as it starts to drag on, this game manages to keep itself together, but this only amplifies my frustration as it could have easily removed the unnecessary grinding. If it weren't there, I would've had no problem considering it one of the top games in its genre alongside Dead Cells & Hades.

I would strongly recommend this game only if you're ready to invest a considerable amount of time into reaching your main goal. I'm gonna put it down because I want to move on with playing other games, but I can see myself crawling back to this game eventually.

My first dive into the Bloodstained series, and it's definitely a worthy successor to Castlevania. Inti Creates did an outstanding job with Curse of the Moon. It is a love letter to the classic NES Castlevania games in every way but its name, while still managing to stand out as an amazing game on its own and not feel stuck in the past. Even if you haven't experienced the old-school Castlevania games, you will still likely enjoy this one.

The soundtrack made by Michiru Yamane (legendary Castlevania composer) & Ryusuke Fujioka is music to my ears that elevates this package. The cherry on top is the cool secrets to unlock that made me want to replay the game 2 more times, which does not take long to beat. It helps me not get tired of it. If this winning streak continues with Ritual of the Night and Curse of the Moon 2, I might not miss Castlevania if Konami continues to leave it in the dust.