Slarvath
2023
"if you think something is possible, it probably is!" wrong, a lie
1991
This is the first Megaman where it feels like it's going through the motions but also the first where it doesn't have the obnoxious slowdown and bad design moments of the first three games. Everything barring a few annoying as hell bosses is reasonable here, but I feel like it doesn't hit the highs of 2 or 6.
I played enough of this game that I feel like I got my money's worth. Probably a lot more fun with friends. The gunplay is alright but samey and the writing runs the gauntlet from surprisingly fun to tone deaf and weird.
Full disclosure, I did not plan to pick this game up. I hate traditional assassin's creed and the only game in the series I liked was Valhalla, which this game is basically a pleading apology for. But I got a code for it with my new PC so I gave it a go. Ubisoft goes back to its roots by making a weird half and half of AC1 and Valhalla using Valhalla's engine. Everything that made the 5 hours I spent with this game compelling was "hey that's kind of like the thing I liked in valhalla". It's somehow buggier: sometimes cutscenes just wouldn't play; I don't think the preanimated takedowns actually featured my blade intersecting with the target once in my entire playtime; and for a game that touts itself as the return of stealth to AC the stealth mechanics are just entirely lifted from Valhalla and about as good. In Valhalla you played as a viking pillaging monasteries so it didn't matter much if you got spotted and had to go hot, but in this game you die in like 4 hits and the combat has returned to AC1 simplicity - it's bad. There are weird RPG elements shoved in because this is clearly cobbled together with Valhalla's basegame and they do almost nothing.
It doesn't go all the way into being a stealth game, so I feel like fans wanting classic AC back will be unhappy. The overworld doesn't have much to collect which was one thing I actually liked in AC2. The writing is still on Valhalla's surprisingly alright level from what I played but that's what this game felt like to me. This is a Valhalla expansion that got molded into something it isn't and it suffers for it, and it's fucking dumb that Ubisoft seems intent to give up the RPG style AC games entirely if they're still going to fucking use Valhalla's framework.
I guess fans of the RPG style will have to wait until Ubisoft inevitably gets diminishing returns from this return to classic AC and pivots yet again without learning that the reason the games stopped selling well is because every Assassin's Creed game feels like you're squeezing the few drops of soul out of it you can like sucking a crawfish.
This game is fine. I didn't like it because classic AC isn't my thing, fans of that will probably like it, but I'm not really sure with how littered the game is with vestiges of Valhalla's design.
It doesn't go all the way into being a stealth game, so I feel like fans wanting classic AC back will be unhappy. The overworld doesn't have much to collect which was one thing I actually liked in AC2. The writing is still on Valhalla's surprisingly alright level from what I played but that's what this game felt like to me. This is a Valhalla expansion that got molded into something it isn't and it suffers for it, and it's fucking dumb that Ubisoft seems intent to give up the RPG style AC games entirely if they're still going to fucking use Valhalla's framework.
I guess fans of the RPG style will have to wait until Ubisoft inevitably gets diminishing returns from this return to classic AC and pivots yet again without learning that the reason the games stopped selling well is because every Assassin's Creed game feels like you're squeezing the few drops of soul out of it you can like sucking a crawfish.
This game is fine. I didn't like it because classic AC isn't my thing, fans of that will probably like it, but I'm not really sure with how littered the game is with vestiges of Valhalla's design.
Does not reach the heights of odyssey but I'd be lying if I said this wasn't the best 2d mario since Mario world. It feels too short, definitely left me wanting more instead of fully satisfied, but it's a great time. Tons of creativity, fun wonder effects, it really feels like a 2d version of galaxy in how every stage has its own creative gimmick.
2021
its the hard game, like flappy bird or qwop
i got 3000 after a few days of playing while listening to podcasts and it was fun enough but im never gonna play this again tbh, theres no strategy
i got 3000 after a few days of playing while listening to podcasts and it was fun enough but im never gonna play this again tbh, theres no strategy
This is probably the closest someone's gotten to making something truly great with the "perform menial simulator task while avoiding spookies" genre. The main issue I have is that by the second run I was such a pro at the game that I wasn't really scared at all, and by the third I had gotten an achievement telling me I had seen every scare in the game. Needs more mechanical complexity. As it stands though, that first run was stellar with some amazing atmosphere building. I'm not a fan of the more over the top scares the game pulls but that's just me. Still eternally searching for a good middleground between Welcome to the Game's bullshit design and Signal Simulator's meme game with tension up the ass vibes.
2022
It's fun but way less depth than Vampire Survivors. Three levels with no real reason to play anything other than the one you're most used to, 15 difficulty levels that barely scale at all, no real rewards for anything outside of currency that buys runes. It feels good and it's worth your time, but it's not VS.
The exp scaling ruins the game. The only yakuza game that bullshitted me enough that I didn't want to even finish it. You know exactly what fight. Everything past chapter 9 is an increasing exercise in testing your patience. I shouldn't be overjoyed to be able to turn off random encounters with an equip because every one of them takes 10 minutes due to how obnoxiously tanky every enemy is. There is a good game under here and I hope to god yakuza 8 is better but the good moments just get fewer and far between and the boss of chapter 12 ohkoing my whole party after 7 hours of grinding the same fucking 5 floors of the battle arena is enough for me. This is on top of the fact that while doing every side quest available I was still insanely underleveled at all times because none of them reward you with anything useful, not even exp. God this game is frustrating. It should be a slam dunk, the writing is great and the characters are amazing and the minigames are the best in the series, but the exp scaling giving out .25% of a level up every random battle ruins it flatout.
A damn fine entry in the series. Has some of the best level design in the series. It goes a bit hard on the scripted sequences for my liking, the first hour is almost nothing but running away from stuff and you get captured by bad guys who taunt you like 4 times during it, but it's a very solid time. Shadows of Rose DLC similarly starts slow but ramps up to pretty fun. Recommended, especially for fans of 4.
BANGER rhythm game, the charting is really smart and the mechanics feel great. On top of that, it's got possibly the best music in games. More vgm rhythm games should happen.
2023
Very janky. The sense of humor is funny if you like tony zaret type humor which i do, but the gameplay is not great. It's also distinctly not like postal 2 in terms of gameplay at all despite being advertised as such. Probably will get patched eventually and I'll check it out then because there's some alright level design here but this needs a little more time in the oven IMO.
1991
The pixel remaster fixes a lot of the issues with this game but the biggest issue, the dungeon layouts, is still there. It's been elevated to the point of being basically alright and even fun for the first half, but as the dungeons get longer and the grind requirements get higher it's more and more tedious.
2022
An anthology horror series, one that had been on a bit of a hiatus since The Hunt. These all play pretty similarly, 12 games, some good and some bad, and a hub game to connect them with a weird overarching lore that I don't pay attention to. This game's theme is "Entertainment" and the hub is not the best. It's probably the worst hub in the series but it's not egregious. Some of the puzzles in it truly suck and make no sense but eh. I'm gonna run through the games in the order I played them.
Hunsvotti - Weird game to start off with. I wonder if any finnish game ever depicts finland as anything but a horrific demon hellhole. It's fun, short and stuck with me for how weird it was. 6/10
Gallerie - The longest dread x game by far, clocking in at around 90 minutes with secrets to find after that if you really dig it. It's by the guy who made Golden Light and Rose of Meat so you can expect very, very odd visuals and bizarre gameplay mechanics. Everything comes together really well, though, and I think I like it a bit more than Golden Light. Does stick around a bit long but that's a criticism that a game jam game should wear with pride, maybe. 7.5/10
The Book of Blood - A great atmosphere and gameplay loop here. I wish it were expanded upon in a full game, honestly. I dock points because the noise mechanic doesn't seem to matter and by the end of the game the bad guy was spawning in directly in front of me - not that it mattered anyway given the dodge QTE is so painfully easy to do. I liked it, though. 6.5/10
Karao - I could have sworn this was made by the Lost in Vivo person but apparently not. This game is damn solid, the best in the collection for sure. It nails an oppressive urban hell atmosphere, reminds me of Paratopic. Sometimes the enemies can be a bit cheap but that's really a nitpick. Easy recommend for people into horror games set in dingy city environments. 8.5/10
Rotten Stigma - An attempt at a resident evil style third person action game with the rookie mistake of having melee combat that's impossible to use without taking damage and not enough bullets to kill every necessary enemy in the game. It also spells out every aspect of its plot in very specific detail to you so there's no mystery whatsoever. Plays alright, puzzles are ok, story made me roll my eyes. 5/10
Spirit Guardian - How the fuck did a random dogshit granny game from ios make it into a dread x collection. Nothing here is good. This is possibly the worst dread x game. Rotgut probably still clears but at least rotgut didn't make me feel like i was playing a knockoff of a knockoff. 1.5/10
We Never Left - Another standout in the collection. Takes you through a text adventure game made by your brother who has gone missing. It's a bit predictable but it's so well executed I don't care. 8/10
Vestige - Play a minigame with a skeleton on a motorcycle and occasionally a screamer pops up with a loud noise. It's like pony island if it was even more unsubtle. 4.5/10
Resver - I'm not exactly sure what this game was going for but the style is so on point that it carries a lot of the weight. It's a short walking sim that takes you through the nightmare of going to a club whose vibes are all fucked up. 6.5/10
Ludomalica - There are some good ideas here but this entire game boils down to rolling dice, walking around your house turning off lights, and going back to roll the dice. Also the monster is literally just a transparent gray blender default humanoid. 3/10
Beyond the Curtain - This game has a disclaimer that you should not use the run button unless you need to. It proceeds to drop you off with the slowest goddamn character speed of all time. Running doesn't help, this is 30 minutes of walking through copy pasted environments while someone falls asleep on an accordion in the background. The atmosphere is alright but it loses all goodwill by the 30th identical corridor or so. 3.5/10
Interim - I have no clue what the fuck this game is trying to be and I stopped playing it at the timed physics based platforming bit because the game looks like vomit and I couldn't figure out which platforms were where. I like the intro, I guess. 3.5/10
Overall one of the weaker dread x games, but Karao and We Never Left are well worth the price of admission. I would say it's still mostly good games but the amount of stinkers is definitely higher than usual.
Hunsvotti - Weird game to start off with. I wonder if any finnish game ever depicts finland as anything but a horrific demon hellhole. It's fun, short and stuck with me for how weird it was. 6/10
Gallerie - The longest dread x game by far, clocking in at around 90 minutes with secrets to find after that if you really dig it. It's by the guy who made Golden Light and Rose of Meat so you can expect very, very odd visuals and bizarre gameplay mechanics. Everything comes together really well, though, and I think I like it a bit more than Golden Light. Does stick around a bit long but that's a criticism that a game jam game should wear with pride, maybe. 7.5/10
The Book of Blood - A great atmosphere and gameplay loop here. I wish it were expanded upon in a full game, honestly. I dock points because the noise mechanic doesn't seem to matter and by the end of the game the bad guy was spawning in directly in front of me - not that it mattered anyway given the dodge QTE is so painfully easy to do. I liked it, though. 6.5/10
Karao - I could have sworn this was made by the Lost in Vivo person but apparently not. This game is damn solid, the best in the collection for sure. It nails an oppressive urban hell atmosphere, reminds me of Paratopic. Sometimes the enemies can be a bit cheap but that's really a nitpick. Easy recommend for people into horror games set in dingy city environments. 8.5/10
Rotten Stigma - An attempt at a resident evil style third person action game with the rookie mistake of having melee combat that's impossible to use without taking damage and not enough bullets to kill every necessary enemy in the game. It also spells out every aspect of its plot in very specific detail to you so there's no mystery whatsoever. Plays alright, puzzles are ok, story made me roll my eyes. 5/10
Spirit Guardian - How the fuck did a random dogshit granny game from ios make it into a dread x collection. Nothing here is good. This is possibly the worst dread x game. Rotgut probably still clears but at least rotgut didn't make me feel like i was playing a knockoff of a knockoff. 1.5/10
We Never Left - Another standout in the collection. Takes you through a text adventure game made by your brother who has gone missing. It's a bit predictable but it's so well executed I don't care. 8/10
Vestige - Play a minigame with a skeleton on a motorcycle and occasionally a screamer pops up with a loud noise. It's like pony island if it was even more unsubtle. 4.5/10
Resver - I'm not exactly sure what this game was going for but the style is so on point that it carries a lot of the weight. It's a short walking sim that takes you through the nightmare of going to a club whose vibes are all fucked up. 6.5/10
Ludomalica - There are some good ideas here but this entire game boils down to rolling dice, walking around your house turning off lights, and going back to roll the dice. Also the monster is literally just a transparent gray blender default humanoid. 3/10
Beyond the Curtain - This game has a disclaimer that you should not use the run button unless you need to. It proceeds to drop you off with the slowest goddamn character speed of all time. Running doesn't help, this is 30 minutes of walking through copy pasted environments while someone falls asleep on an accordion in the background. The atmosphere is alright but it loses all goodwill by the 30th identical corridor or so. 3.5/10
Interim - I have no clue what the fuck this game is trying to be and I stopped playing it at the timed physics based platforming bit because the game looks like vomit and I couldn't figure out which platforms were where. I like the intro, I guess. 3.5/10
Overall one of the weaker dread x games, but Karao and We Never Left are well worth the price of admission. I would say it's still mostly good games but the amount of stinkers is definitely higher than usual.
RGG studios finally figured out that making the minigames and substories have tangible benefits to combat is based as hell. Add on top of that the best combat in the series and a story that is not super good but does a good job bridging the gap between 6 and 8, and you've got one of the better yakuza games. I still think K2 is my favorite but this is top 3 easy.