Tayter
In Just Cause 3 you blew up a red building and the game said "YES GOD YES DESTRUCTION LET'S GOOOO".
In JC4 it's more like "Hm? Oh yeah uh..good job buddy?"
Somehow managed to remove the cathartic chaos from a franchise that sold itself on cathartic chaos.
Just play JC3 again, trust me.
In JC4 it's more like "Hm? Oh yeah uh..good job buddy?"
Somehow managed to remove the cathartic chaos from a franchise that sold itself on cathartic chaos.
Just play JC3 again, trust me.
2024
Incredible game, especially considering it's the work of one developer. I was heavily reminded of La-Mulana at times.
On the surface a straightforward metroidvania complete with tons of secrets to uncover; beneath that, many layers including an ARG to discover all the rabbits.
Which brings me to my only real gripe: I don't really want to have to interact with other gamers in order to feel like I finished a game.
I'm sorry, I just don't enjoy the community experience. My vibe and energy rarely matches that of other gamers and trying to participate leaves me feeling more isolated and depressed than anything else.
On the surface a straightforward metroidvania complete with tons of secrets to uncover; beneath that, many layers including an ARG to discover all the rabbits.
Which brings me to my only real gripe: I don't really want to have to interact with other gamers in order to feel like I finished a game.
I'm sorry, I just don't enjoy the community experience. My vibe and energy rarely matches that of other gamers and trying to participate leaves me feeling more isolated and depressed than anything else.
2022
Serviceable, sometimes fun, sometimes fucking infuriating.
The humour on display here is hit and miss; as are some of the mechanics and puzzles. A LOT more could have been done with some of the player's powers in regards to secret areas and better puzzles. Too often a puzzle is solved before you've even got your teeth into it.
There's a handful of things you can do for achievements but you will undoubtedly miss them on your first playthrough and you will not want to play this again just to get them unless you're a completionist with a 100% walkthrough open.
There were a few story moments that genuinely threw me which I'm as surprised as anyone about.
The humour on display here is hit and miss; as are some of the mechanics and puzzles. A LOT more could have been done with some of the player's powers in regards to secret areas and better puzzles. Too often a puzzle is solved before you've even got your teeth into it.
There's a handful of things you can do for achievements but you will undoubtedly miss them on your first playthrough and you will not want to play this again just to get them unless you're a completionist with a 100% walkthrough open.
There were a few story moments that genuinely threw me which I'm as surprised as anyone about.
2020
I was geared up to give this one 4.5 stars but after the midpoint things started to drag.
Story is charming enough, nothing to write home about but the light Scandinavian folklore aspect is fun.
Puzzles generally revolve around get "Item X from Location Y and use on Puzzle Z" which is fine, most of the challenge is from figuring out how some of the items combine and where they need to go to progress the plot.
Where it lost marks was:
- Occasionally paths were not quite clear enough leading me to think I'd cleared an area that I hadn't; only to have a walkthrough casually mention what I'd missed.
- There are moments that feel like needless padding, getting sidetracked on the way to your goal for no clear reason.
- The final chapter featured two puzzles with clues that did not help at all and also a mechanic that adds a lot of extra busywork to the experience.
All-in-all a reasonable puzzle game with a nice story that could have been 2+ hours shorter without losing anything.
Story is charming enough, nothing to write home about but the light Scandinavian folklore aspect is fun.
Puzzles generally revolve around get "Item X from Location Y and use on Puzzle Z" which is fine, most of the challenge is from figuring out how some of the items combine and where they need to go to progress the plot.
Where it lost marks was:
- Occasionally paths were not quite clear enough leading me to think I'd cleared an area that I hadn't; only to have a walkthrough casually mention what I'd missed.
- There are moments that feel like needless padding, getting sidetracked on the way to your goal for no clear reason.
- The final chapter featured two puzzles with clues that did not help at all and also a mechanic that adds a lot of extra busywork to the experience.
All-in-all a reasonable puzzle game with a nice story that could have been 2+ hours shorter without losing anything.
2023
A fictitious nature documentary about whales on an alien planet not dissimilar from Earth, told through a series of beautiful images. I thought the art was really good and the narrative of the documentary (including the various asides) was believable and compelling in a way that sci-fi often fails to be without being clinical and boring.
What let South Scrimshaw down a little for me is the AI narration. At points it was glaringly obvious, different voices having different pronunciations of the same word and the main narrator slipped from a British accent into an Australian one on a few rare occasions that made it clear I was not listening to a human. I feel like it shouldn't have been that hard to find people willing to lend their voices to this.
What let South Scrimshaw down a little for me is the AI narration. At points it was glaringly obvious, different voices having different pronunciations of the same word and the main narrator slipped from a British accent into an Australian one on a few rare occasions that made it clear I was not listening to a human. I feel like it shouldn't have been that hard to find people willing to lend their voices to this.
2018
When this game is good, it is so good.
I was addicted to Super House of Dead Ninjas in 2018, a game that prioritises moving fast as hell and smashing up dudes with a completely empty head. Sometimes Dead Cells reaches these heights; in fact, the time-sensitive aspect of some bonuses and powerups suggests that this is in the design brief for the game. Getting the right combo of weapons makes the experience almost transcendental as you annihilate all comers with dexterity and poise.
When this game is bad, it is so bad.
The above being said; after Dead Cells has taught you to go in Fast and Hard (heheheheh), leaning into momentum and combo-stacking, the brakes are pumped. Enemies that will punish rushing in become more numerous. Combinations of enemies packed into a tight space that you simply cannot clear without taking a lot of damage become more frequent. You will unlock weapons whose high damage does NOT justify their huge vulnerability window.
When this game is much, it is so much.
My first stint with Dead Cells was in early 2020 and there was a shedload of content even then. Now in 2024 with all the DLCs and collabs and tie-ins it is bursting at the seams with content. Too much. It's too much. Thematically random areas. Weapons upon weapons upon weapons that makes it hard to create a cohesive build. Runs that take well over an hour. Exhausting.
Dead Cells is great; but is it good?
I was addicted to Super House of Dead Ninjas in 2018, a game that prioritises moving fast as hell and smashing up dudes with a completely empty head. Sometimes Dead Cells reaches these heights; in fact, the time-sensitive aspect of some bonuses and powerups suggests that this is in the design brief for the game. Getting the right combo of weapons makes the experience almost transcendental as you annihilate all comers with dexterity and poise.
When this game is bad, it is so bad.
The above being said; after Dead Cells has taught you to go in Fast and Hard (heheheheh), leaning into momentum and combo-stacking, the brakes are pumped. Enemies that will punish rushing in become more numerous. Combinations of enemies packed into a tight space that you simply cannot clear without taking a lot of damage become more frequent. You will unlock weapons whose high damage does NOT justify their huge vulnerability window.
When this game is much, it is so much.
My first stint with Dead Cells was in early 2020 and there was a shedload of content even then. Now in 2024 with all the DLCs and collabs and tie-ins it is bursting at the seams with content. Too much. It's too much. Thematically random areas. Weapons upon weapons upon weapons that makes it hard to create a cohesive build. Runs that take well over an hour. Exhausting.
Dead Cells is great; but is it good?
2023
Disappointing. I really wanted to like this game, after playing the demo a while back I was excited to see the gameplay fleshed out.
Boy was I wrong.
The grind in this game is UNREAL and on top of that the number of unnecessary steps between getting a resource and turning that resource into the needed components for upgrades is ridiculous. I gave up on Core Keeper for this exact same reason.
It feels like I'm getting an item, processing it with another item at Station A, moving it to Station B to refine it with a third item, taking the result of that to a Research Table in order to unlock new bullets which I then have to craft ANOTHER item at Station C in order to create.
Stations do actually draw from nearby chests BUT the chests need to be so close that the interact prompts trip each other up all the time and the environment becomes insanely cluttered very quickly.
It's just soulless busywork all the time and I already have a job.
Boy was I wrong.
The grind in this game is UNREAL and on top of that the number of unnecessary steps between getting a resource and turning that resource into the needed components for upgrades is ridiculous. I gave up on Core Keeper for this exact same reason.
It feels like I'm getting an item, processing it with another item at Station A, moving it to Station B to refine it with a third item, taking the result of that to a Research Table in order to unlock new bullets which I then have to craft ANOTHER item at Station C in order to create.
Stations do actually draw from nearby chests BUT the chests need to be so close that the interact prompts trip each other up all the time and the environment becomes insanely cluttered very quickly.
It's just soulless busywork all the time and I already have a job.
Goofy, silly humour.
Goofy, silly game.
Combat is serviceable enough; one button to stab, another for dodging (you will never need to use this).
Just short enough to avoid outstaying it's welcome.
Story is exactly what you'd expect from a game called "Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion".
Goofy, silly game.
Combat is serviceable enough; one button to stab, another for dodging (you will never need to use this).
Just short enough to avoid outstaying it's welcome.
Story is exactly what you'd expect from a game called "Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion".
2019
Serviceable if a little on the short side. If you've ever played a point and click flash game then you've played this.
Mostly simple "lock-and-key" puzzles with a dash of "I've seen the answer somewhere" puzzles mixed with a mildly creepy atmosphere and story. Maybe 5 actual jumpscares across the whole trilogy which is reasonable.
Mostly simple "lock-and-key" puzzles with a dash of "I've seen the answer somewhere" puzzles mixed with a mildly creepy atmosphere and story. Maybe 5 actual jumpscares across the whole trilogy which is reasonable.
2019
Played this immediately after the "Deep Sleep Trilogy" and was slightly less enamoured with the premise. Decent enough puzzles but the ability to do something wrong without knowing you'd made a mistake until the end of the game leaves a somewhat bitter taste. The first game of the trilogy is short enough that having to replay it is no big deal but later entries have plenty of useless items/tasks that mainly serve to confuse the player or cause a "Bad Ending" state.
2021
A neat, visually striking puzzle game with a few small action sections. The story might be a turn off for those who think any-and-all references to climate change are "heavy handed wokeism nonsense" because it's alluded to more than once. Solving each section makes you feel reasonably clever without requiring too much mental heavy lifting.
Also squirrels are just funny li'l guys by default so that's nice.
Also squirrels are just funny li'l guys by default so that's nice.
Honestly it's not entirely one-star bad but it is absolutely mired in game breaking bugs. I am literally locked out of leaving a building because the game thinks I am on the phone and there's absolutely no way to make it think otherwise.
A neat puzzle concept that is kind of poorly executed. Design choices that seem to be mostly ugly graphics dressed up as "dream stuff". So many unnecessary bugs with traversal. Also the story? Painfully uninteresting and trying to hit too many notes in too short a time.
A neat puzzle concept that is kind of poorly executed. Design choices that seem to be mostly ugly graphics dressed up as "dream stuff". So many unnecessary bugs with traversal. Also the story? Painfully uninteresting and trying to hit too many notes in too short a time.
2022
I found the UI to be overly complex re: zooming and overviewing the levels.
For a game where you are penalised for flubbing shots it is surprisingly ready to trick you into flubbing shots.
There is very little way to know where your ball is going when taking a long shot.
The ball arc just moves too fast..if the whole game followed a one-button design sure; but it doesn't.
It's a fun concept but the shortcomings just made it annoying way before I started having fun.
For a game where you are penalised for flubbing shots it is surprisingly ready to trick you into flubbing shots.
There is very little way to know where your ball is going when taking a long shot.
The ball arc just moves too fast..if the whole game followed a one-button design sure; but it doesn't.
It's a fun concept but the shortcomings just made it annoying way before I started having fun.
2020
I had fun playing this one, mostly. Fighting mechanics are simple without being too limiting, often when a run fails it's not down to RNG and enemy variety is reasonable. The story is nothing to write home about but it doesn't get in the way of gameplay.
However RNG can sometimes make or break a run, especially as you unlock more and more items that can spawn in. You're just as likely to get items in one run that:
- increase/multiply gold
- make gold heal you
- make gold explode enemies and
- magnetise gold to you
as you are to get random items that synergise in no practical way.
What to do in that situation? Mothball the run? Persevere knowing you could be having more fun? It's a tough choice and not conducive to an enjoyable experience.
Also post-game content is extremely grind-heavy and adds very little in the way of fresh new experiences.
However RNG can sometimes make or break a run, especially as you unlock more and more items that can spawn in. You're just as likely to get items in one run that:
- increase/multiply gold
- make gold heal you
- make gold explode enemies and
- magnetise gold to you
as you are to get random items that synergise in no practical way.
What to do in that situation? Mothball the run? Persevere knowing you could be having more fun? It's a tough choice and not conducive to an enjoyable experience.
Also post-game content is extremely grind-heavy and adds very little in the way of fresh new experiences.
TBD
Okay so you’re a criminal who’s in space prison for a very long time and the way you reduce your sentence is by solving a space mystery. But honestly that’s just a framing device for what is essentially a horror/puzzle game with an interesting mechanic.
You start every level “blind”, in that the screen is almost completely black, and you see the world around you by firing your LiDAR Gun at your environment which covers it in white or coloured dots, depending on the function of the thing you’re aiming at. It’s surprisingly not as disorienting or sickness inducing as you would expect.
The atmosphere is extremely claustrophobic à la Iron Lung or Capsule, limited visual input means you hear every single little sound the environment makes which makes for an incredibly unnerving experience.
What drags the game down is the latter stages, long treks across the environment following a yellow cable or daisy-chaining wires while avoiding turrets does not increase tension; rather it settles you down into a boredom that is never really broken. Oh and there’s chase sequences later on that really do not flatter the methodical approach this game forces on you from the start.
You start every level “blind”, in that the screen is almost completely black, and you see the world around you by firing your LiDAR Gun at your environment which covers it in white or coloured dots, depending on the function of the thing you’re aiming at. It’s surprisingly not as disorienting or sickness inducing as you would expect.
The atmosphere is extremely claustrophobic à la Iron Lung or Capsule, limited visual input means you hear every single little sound the environment makes which makes for an incredibly unnerving experience.
What drags the game down is the latter stages, long treks across the environment following a yellow cable or daisy-chaining wires while avoiding turrets does not increase tension; rather it settles you down into a boredom that is never really broken. Oh and there’s chase sequences later on that really do not flatter the methodical approach this game forces on you from the start.