Finally a flash collection for me. I grew up on these games (except the later ones) so I had a blast with most of this collection, and a lot of them hold up pretty well. I guess the only thing that matters about this collection is whether or not you like the original games, because they don't add much to any of them except a cute little addition to elephant rave. Run Elephant Run is notably buggy and isn't that good to begin with so I'll knock a point for that but I'd rather it be here than not.

2023

Pretty well written game. I love the cooking puzzles, it's a pretty good way to tell a story. My main gripe, and this is a subjective one that's probably a pro to some other people, is that I wanted more of it. First half of the game felt like it was real breakneck paced for all the emotional scenes it threw at me. I beat it in about an hour and I feel like it had the mechanics and writing chops to go for 2 or 3. Still, easy recommend, unless you're hungry in which case stay far away.

Good short horror game, strained my eyes after a while tho lol.

I am nowhere near as passionate as other people who played the ps3 game about this remake being bad. At its core there's still a pretty good game here, but it's filtered through UE5 Nintendo Hire This Man graphic design that makes it really weird to those who loved the original. If I hadn't played the original I probably would have loved it - I loved bluepoint's remake of SoTC when I had never touched that game before - so if you haven't played it and don't have a ps3 then go ahead.

Prognostic is another game like The Mortuary Assistant (although it predates that one) where you perform a menial task while avoiding getting spooked. The difference is Prognostic actually has the stones to kill you if you fuck up. It's pretty great, the concept is really cool and the way the game makes you think outside the box to figure out cases is fun. I wish it went a little bit further on the puzzling out of the cases, and the actual horror aspect leaves a lot to be desired, but I found it compelling enough to finish in one sitting. I am dinging a half star for a noticeably bad translation. Shit gets real google translate near the end and buttons display in Russian from time to time. Still an easy recommend if you like Mortuary Assistant or the horror parts of Signal Simulator.

I will admit, I never really clicked with Celeste. I bought it at release and thought it was fine, and then it was one of the most revered indie games of the generation. I tried many times since then to see what other people saw in it, and failed every time. So when this came out I didn't pick it up because I like Celeste but because I'm a sucker for 3d platformers and it was free.
What's here is a mostly fun 3d platformer collectathon around one level that took me about 45 minutes. Platforming is fun, movement is varied, but the camera kinda sucks ass and the depth perception is real bad at times so the harder challenges are a bit frustrating.
The story kinda rubbed me the wrong way but I'll give the devteam the benefit of the doubt and say maybe they're working on something else to fill in the questions raised by this game. If not then lol

Whenever I play a hidden object game I'm comparing it to the gold standard of hidden folks. This is not as good as hidden folks, but for 2 bucks it's a pretty nice time.

Played this ages ago on vita and reviewing it now because it's a great game but like every VN ever made there is no reason for me to ever replay this. Amazing time! I still think this has the strongest story of the series, and is the most serious of them while still being charmingly goofy.

I don't really like the main plot of this game much for spoiler reasons but the cast more than makes up for it. It's still great.

A game with weird fucking pacing and a weird cast and a weird plot, but it's very well done still.

If truth orange made suicide awareness psas instead of anti smoking psas this is what they would make

I don't really care for level scaling in open world rpgs, and this has a serious problem with not giving you enough trainers to level up before the next gym. I know you can refight gyms to grind but that's bleh. Still it's an easy recommend to anyone interested in replaying crystal in a new way, it's pretty well done and throws the whole game on its head in an interesting way.

A good game to blitz through while too sick to play games that require more attention

2010

I was one of those kids growing up whose parents wouldnt let them play any game where you killed a human. I sold Nier Automata to them under the premise that it was just killing robots and by that point they had also kind of stopped caring so I picked up the first game on Xbox too. I remember it was kind of mindblowing at the time just how flashy it was. Changing perspectives was and still is a very cool trick in this kind of game.
So I have nostalgia here, and the plot of this game, despite being a lot more "mass appeal" than Drakengard, was engaging and fun. It definitely has more of a "the gang goes off to do one off adventures while the overarching plot looms" vibe which I think works in its benefit. This, or more specifically the remake because it addresses my main issue with Nier I'm told, is what I'd recommend someone looking to get into Yoko Taro games to check out.
Unfortunately the big issue that emerges in every Yoko Taro game pre Automata is that the combat is supremely ass. It's not anywhere near on the same level as Drakengard, and I daresay it approaches being fun sometimes, but it's stiff and gluey and janky.
It's a game that I see a lot of potential in, and so did Platinum Games and that's why Nier is much more of a household name now. I haven't played the remake and I'm sure plenty of reviews here are .5 stars complaining that they changed the ambient occlusion in the fifth room of the desert dungeon and it ruins the entire experience, but I'd recommend playing that instead of the original. Dad nier is still better though.