Stew12
I'll admit it took a little while for me to warm up to Sunbreak. At first, it was a little boring fighting mostly the same monsters again, and the increase in monster attack speed made using slower weapons feel not fun to use.
However, once I adapted and got better at using Wirebugs... yeah this is how Rise should have been on launch. The insane mobility of the hunters works now that the monsters are able to match with their insane aggression. I enjoy the speed of the fights and the increase in difficulty makes a lot of the issues I had with Rise matter very little.
All of the returning and new monsters are very fun to fight, and I hope more will be added with title updates. I still have to jump into the endgame, but I'm excited. Compared to Icebourne I think this is way, way better and makes Rise a greater full package than World overall.
However, once I adapted and got better at using Wirebugs... yeah this is how Rise should have been on launch. The insane mobility of the hunters works now that the monsters are able to match with their insane aggression. I enjoy the speed of the fights and the increase in difficulty makes a lot of the issues I had with Rise matter very little.
All of the returning and new monsters are very fun to fight, and I hope more will be added with title updates. I still have to jump into the endgame, but I'm excited. Compared to Icebourne I think this is way, way better and makes Rise a greater full package than World overall.
2022
Enjoyed it a lot. Has that creepy 'vibe' I'm into with an interesting world and quirky NPCs. Feels like there's a lot more lore they could expand on.
It's true that neither the dungeon crawling nor town building/managment stuff isn't quite as deep as that of its contemporaries, but rapidly switching between the two modes keeps them feeling fresh and is interesting how the two feed into each other. The tension of being deep into a dungeon run only to realise your cult is going to shambles, deciding whether to go back or risk just a bit longer as it all runs in the background... it gives me a Majora's Mask vibe which is only a good thing.
My only real gripe is that the game is too easy until certain bosses become massive frustrating difficulty spikes. I was playing on Extra Hard for reference, and really only two bosses are on my shit list, but the sudden incline really wasn't that fun. Some bosses and enemies also have a tendency to spawn bullets around them without warning, which feels a bit bullshit when the game pushes so much on keeping close for melee.
Other than that and some bug fixes, all I really want from this game is more. More depth, more to work towards, more to manage for the cult. Some DLC would be great, or even a full sequel that really expands on this concept which I think has the potential to be an all time indie classic.
It's true that neither the dungeon crawling nor town building/managment stuff isn't quite as deep as that of its contemporaries, but rapidly switching between the two modes keeps them feeling fresh and is interesting how the two feed into each other. The tension of being deep into a dungeon run only to realise your cult is going to shambles, deciding whether to go back or risk just a bit longer as it all runs in the background... it gives me a Majora's Mask vibe which is only a good thing.
My only real gripe is that the game is too easy until certain bosses become massive frustrating difficulty spikes. I was playing on Extra Hard for reference, and really only two bosses are on my shit list, but the sudden incline really wasn't that fun. Some bosses and enemies also have a tendency to spawn bullets around them without warning, which feels a bit bullshit when the game pushes so much on keeping close for melee.
Other than that and some bug fixes, all I really want from this game is more. More depth, more to work towards, more to manage for the cult. Some DLC would be great, or even a full sequel that really expands on this concept which I think has the potential to be an all time indie classic.
2013
Idk, I don't really get the hype for this one. I love Platinum and while this has its hype moments and funny dialog, there's a bit too much that annoys me for me to really get into.
The camera is just not great, it loves to zoom in during combat, obscure enemies who attack you off screen, and sit itself in an unhelpful position during crucial set-pieces. Speaking of which, there's way too many set-pieces for my liking, which gets in the way of the combat too often.
The Wonder-Liner is an interesting concept, using a drawing mechanic to have access to any weapon at once. But it can be a little obnoxious, using it constantly to pick up citizens can be tiring, it's difficult to guage how far you can draw before it stops, and I swear the Hammer symbol doesn't get recognised half the time.
Also, I'm playing the remastered version, and it's... a bit of a letdown. Sure, block and dodge cost nothing to buy and are hinted at by the game, but why do you still have to buy them?? Why do you still have to zoom out the camera at the start of every stage just to be workable view?? Why isn't there an option to have dying work like a typical checkpoint system??? They Kickstarted this thing but it feels like no work was really put into it.
Overall, when it works, the combat is decent. But there's just too much getting in the way to make me wonder why I shouldn't just play something like Bayonetta instead, when it pretty does everything this game does minus its headaches. Maybe I'll go back to it and try to appreciate it more for what it is, but for now, eh.
The camera is just not great, it loves to zoom in during combat, obscure enemies who attack you off screen, and sit itself in an unhelpful position during crucial set-pieces. Speaking of which, there's way too many set-pieces for my liking, which gets in the way of the combat too often.
The Wonder-Liner is an interesting concept, using a drawing mechanic to have access to any weapon at once. But it can be a little obnoxious, using it constantly to pick up citizens can be tiring, it's difficult to guage how far you can draw before it stops, and I swear the Hammer symbol doesn't get recognised half the time.
Also, I'm playing the remastered version, and it's... a bit of a letdown. Sure, block and dodge cost nothing to buy and are hinted at by the game, but why do you still have to buy them?? Why do you still have to zoom out the camera at the start of every stage just to be workable view?? Why isn't there an option to have dying work like a typical checkpoint system??? They Kickstarted this thing but it feels like no work was really put into it.
Overall, when it works, the combat is decent. But there's just too much getting in the way to make me wonder why I shouldn't just play something like Bayonetta instead, when it pretty does everything this game does minus its headaches. Maybe I'll go back to it and try to appreciate it more for what it is, but for now, eh.
On further play, Spark 3 slaps, and may well be better than 2, a game I hold very dear.
When it comes to speed-running stages, it's difficult to know what upgrades are required at a minimum to obtain the diamond medals. For example, the second 'main' stage requires the rail boost powerup to get that time. However, when using everything at your disposal after beating the game, those times are absolutely decimated.
One the one hand, it's a little disappointing, as in 2, it felt like you really had to exploit the stages to their limits to get those diamond medals. On the other, however, breaking these levels to the extreme with all the insane abilities at your disposal is amazing. I found myself getting even more creative with creating shortcuts which is where the true fun of the game lies for me.
Combat is high quality, but takes a bit of a back seat when speedrunning. That said it feels good to figure out the fastest way to take out enemies. Each character is great to play and have varied movesets.
There's some glitches and jank, which is a little surprising as I don't remember much of that in Spark 2. Nothing too gamebreaking and mostly rare, but could get annoying at times. That said, that also led to some fun exploits in clearing some stages faster.
Story... defintely needs some work on the prose and editing front. I hate to say it but I get the feeling the developer's first language isn't English? Defintely needs someone to iron out that stuff, as there were some moments that would have been emotional or impactful to me if the wording used wasn't so damn clunky.
Overall, though, giving it some time to simmer, Spark 3 is everything I wanted and more. The extra levels are very well made and add a lot of content to the game, speedrunning is arguably funner than ever, and the new characters are great to experiement with.
I can't recommend this to anyone enough, especially if you love Sonic. Seriously, this takes everything that's fun in a Sonic game, isolates it, and amplifies it into something even greater. Friendship ended with Sonic, Spark is new best friend.
When it comes to speed-running stages, it's difficult to know what upgrades are required at a minimum to obtain the diamond medals. For example, the second 'main' stage requires the rail boost powerup to get that time. However, when using everything at your disposal after beating the game, those times are absolutely decimated.
One the one hand, it's a little disappointing, as in 2, it felt like you really had to exploit the stages to their limits to get those diamond medals. On the other, however, breaking these levels to the extreme with all the insane abilities at your disposal is amazing. I found myself getting even more creative with creating shortcuts which is where the true fun of the game lies for me.
Combat is high quality, but takes a bit of a back seat when speedrunning. That said it feels good to figure out the fastest way to take out enemies. Each character is great to play and have varied movesets.
There's some glitches and jank, which is a little surprising as I don't remember much of that in Spark 2. Nothing too gamebreaking and mostly rare, but could get annoying at times. That said, that also led to some fun exploits in clearing some stages faster.
Story... defintely needs some work on the prose and editing front. I hate to say it but I get the feeling the developer's first language isn't English? Defintely needs someone to iron out that stuff, as there were some moments that would have been emotional or impactful to me if the wording used wasn't so damn clunky.
Overall, though, giving it some time to simmer, Spark 3 is everything I wanted and more. The extra levels are very well made and add a lot of content to the game, speedrunning is arguably funner than ever, and the new characters are great to experiement with.
I can't recommend this to anyone enough, especially if you love Sonic. Seriously, this takes everything that's fun in a Sonic game, isolates it, and amplifies it into something even greater. Friendship ended with Sonic, Spark is new best friend.
2022
Honestly, it's really fun! It's a lot more accessible than Smash due to the number of platforms it's on and being Free to Play, meaning I can actually get my friends to play it! Also finding matches is a breeze and beats the hell out of Ultimate's horrible Quickplay and Battle Arenas setup.
The roster is pretty great too, tons of fun references and thought into to movesets, and nobody really feels 'missing' from the roster yet there's insane potential for what they can add. Which I hope there's a lot coming due to how well the game is doing right now.
My only real issue right now is its monitization, namely with how long it takes to unlock characters without paying an exobitant amount of money for the 'Founder's Pack'. I suppose it makes some sense being free to play, but I wish they made it a little less painful.
The roster is pretty great too, tons of fun references and thought into to movesets, and nobody really feels 'missing' from the roster yet there's insane potential for what they can add. Which I hope there's a lot coming due to how well the game is doing right now.
My only real issue right now is its monitization, namely with how long it takes to unlock characters without paying an exobitant amount of money for the 'Founder's Pack'. I suppose it makes some sense being free to play, but I wish they made it a little less painful.
2022
Early access review: It does its job well enough, but as a big fan of rail shooters, Star Fox especially, I can't help feeling something's 'missing' in the core gameplay. Something about the shooting feels a little finicky, and the double laser powerup barely shows up, which makes firing away feel a little less satisfying. Also the controls in the Space Harrier bonus levels feel wayyyy too touchy.
This is hardly an indie replacement for a new Star Fox in my eyes, or any kind of evoloution of the formula. The barrier between reference and ripoff sometimes blurs the line with the amount of stuff pulled from Star Fox 64, making me wonder why I shouldn't just replay that instead.
It's fun enough, but it's hardly the Undertale to a new Mother game if you catch my drift. I really want Rail Shooters to make a comeback, so I hope the developer can really fine-tune this.
This is hardly an indie replacement for a new Star Fox in my eyes, or any kind of evoloution of the formula. The barrier between reference and ripoff sometimes blurs the line with the amount of stuff pulled from Star Fox 64, making me wonder why I shouldn't just replay that instead.
It's fun enough, but it's hardly the Undertale to a new Mother game if you catch my drift. I really want Rail Shooters to make a comeback, so I hope the developer can really fine-tune this.
A Miyamoto classic. Feels great to play, the expansive levels that loop on themselves with shortcuts are fun to explore and organising the Pikmin around ensuring them safe paths back is trickier than it seems.
This game isn't hard per se, but whenever I lost a bunch of Pikmin to an enemy I felt like a complete monster, even if they're easy to replace. The game does such a good job of making you like and feel responsible for these guys, even if their stupidity can admittedly get a little grating at times (ESPECIALLY their tendency to walk into water even when you didn't walk near it yourself).
That's my only real gripe with the game, the pathfinding for the Pikmin can feel a little janky causing them to go off where you don't want or take a much more dangerous path than they should. This is a 2001 game so I can cut it some slack, but I hope they improve it in 2.
Other than that, it's a short, simple but extremely well designed game, where everything feels purposeful. Having only 3 Pikmin types should feel limiting but it's honestly just the right amount considering their strengths and weaknesses. Hope to get to 2 sometime!
This game isn't hard per se, but whenever I lost a bunch of Pikmin to an enemy I felt like a complete monster, even if they're easy to replace. The game does such a good job of making you like and feel responsible for these guys, even if their stupidity can admittedly get a little grating at times (ESPECIALLY their tendency to walk into water even when you didn't walk near it yourself).
That's my only real gripe with the game, the pathfinding for the Pikmin can feel a little janky causing them to go off where you don't want or take a much more dangerous path than they should. This is a 2001 game so I can cut it some slack, but I hope they improve it in 2.
Other than that, it's a short, simple but extremely well designed game, where everything feels purposeful. Having only 3 Pikmin types should feel limiting but it's honestly just the right amount considering their strengths and weaknesses. Hope to get to 2 sometime!
2022
This game is 100% my thing. It took me ages to beat simply because I was having so much fun replaying levels to try and improve my times. It's basically a speedrunning platformer, an itch of mine that this scratches. The music, art, graphics and UI are top notch, too.
Hella fun, it takes advantage of its core concept so thoroughly I'm not even sure what they could do for a sequel. Though god damn, is this game exhausting to play with its speed and constant restarts, which isn't really its fault, but I thought I'd mention it.
The story/dialog... Honestly, it has its moments. Some of the jokes were pretty good, and I liked Mikey, Raz and Gabby a lot (Yellow isn't bad either). There's also some interesting lore.
But there is so much cringe, so many bad and memey jokes that sour it all. There's also a lot I could say about the story and its missed potential and mistakes, but to prevent this from becoming an even bigger wall of text- the story starts out somewhat interesting with it being unsure who White can trust, but quickly devolves into a boring Macguffin hunt that started to make me check out. Also, Green is a bit of a lame villain in my eyes. It's a shame, because it could've made an amazing game even better.
Overall, I'd love to see the developers next make a new kind of game that also focuses on speedrunning, because we need as much as we can get. I'll definitely be back to speedrun these levels again and again.
Hella fun, it takes advantage of its core concept so thoroughly I'm not even sure what they could do for a sequel. Though god damn, is this game exhausting to play with its speed and constant restarts, which isn't really its fault, but I thought I'd mention it.
The story/dialog... Honestly, it has its moments. Some of the jokes were pretty good, and I liked Mikey, Raz and Gabby a lot (Yellow isn't bad either). There's also some interesting lore.
But there is so much cringe, so many bad and memey jokes that sour it all. There's also a lot I could say about the story and its missed potential and mistakes, but to prevent this from becoming an even bigger wall of text- the story starts out somewhat interesting with it being unsure who White can trust, but quickly devolves into a boring Macguffin hunt that started to make me check out. Also, Green is a bit of a lame villain in my eyes. It's a shame, because it could've made an amazing game even better.
Overall, I'd love to see the developers next make a new kind of game that also focuses on speedrunning, because we need as much as we can get. I'll definitely be back to speedrun these levels again and again.
2005
They were so SO close to nailing this one. The only Star Fox game to feel like an actual follow-up to 64, I love the space opera vibe, the orchestral music is amazing, even the story is actually kinda good for what it is. And the few arwing stages, while not as good as 64, come close to being.
But why did they have to make nearly every level an on-foot mission? On their own they're not terrible, but why are they over 70% of the damn game? And why are the objectives the same every time? Don't even get me started on those boring lengthy turret-style sections...
The worst kind of disappointment- one with so much potential.
But why did they have to make nearly every level an on-foot mission? On their own they're not terrible, but why are they over 70% of the damn game? And why are the objectives the same every time? Don't even get me started on those boring lengthy turret-style sections...
The worst kind of disappointment- one with so much potential.
2017
Great Bullet Hell/Roguelite mashup that combines the two genres well, still keeping the arcadey quickness of a Bullet Hell while the room-by-room dungeons offer a nice change from scrolling levels. Is a pretty minimal Roguelite but that's probably why they like it.
Also, felt pretty good to beat.
Also, felt pretty good to beat.
2018
I don't play much horror but this one defintely does it right- managing to be freaky without relying on jumpscares or anything like that. Cool imagery and great PS1 aesthetic. Some of the enemies can feel a little underwhelming or simple but is a fun yet short game.
I will say the game ends fairly abruptly which felt a little unsatisfying, there is a final 'boss' but after there's a regular section where it feels like the game is going to continue and just ends.
Still, can't wait for more from this developer, hope they can make something even more ambitious next. We defintely need more of this type of horror and less Five Nights at Freddy 17.
I will say the game ends fairly abruptly which felt a little unsatisfying, there is a final 'boss' but after there's a regular section where it feels like the game is going to continue and just ends.
Still, can't wait for more from this developer, hope they can make something even more ambitious next. We defintely need more of this type of horror and less Five Nights at Freddy 17.
2018
Good ass shoot em up, idk if I'll ever beat it tho
Pretty fun, but sadly kind of forgettable after I beat it, not sure why.
Still got a good number of hours out of this DLC and finished it but the clutch claw really messed with the balancing for me. Solo hunts would end up taking around 40 mins on average which just burned me out and made me want to play multiplayer only. Admittedly I never really got used to tenderising so that's probably why, but I vastly prefer the hunts of base World and Rise.
Pog Bandicoot