I'll say bluntly that this will not be an unbiased review. If this were unbiased, I'd be rating this game more around a 7 or so, but screw it.

I've read every single Sonic comic book. I've consumed most Sonic medias. I can say without a doubt this game is some of the strongest Sonic's ever been written with. From the amazing character interactions, the really cool world building, and cranking the shonen inspirations Sonic's always had into full force had me the most joyous I've been at the series in so long. There is no bad line, no bad scene, nothing at all where I am dissatisfied with the story besides clamoring for more. This is also raw, unfiltered fanservice to continuity buffs like me. Referencing Shadow the Hedgehog and Riders casually, directly addressing the issues with Tails' characterization since Unleashed, and directly canonizing characters like Tangle and Sticks who are outside continuity characters made me lose my MIND.

Helps the game's really fun too. Combat's about as ideal as I'd like a Sonic game to be: High speed, but not too complex. There's obviously broken moves like the Sonic Boom and its upgrade but these moves are fun precisely because it isn't balanced. You're Sonic the Hedgehog, the only thing stopping you are the Titans. The Titan fights are so amazing I can't even begin to start gushing about them. This is what I've been clamoring for with Sonic boss fights for ages because even the best ones in the series are just fine. These though? Awesome.
Movement is really weird to get used to at first but the ability to freely customize your controls and how they handle does a lot (except the unfortunate systems cursed to have the game crash when attempting to use the options menu). There are some weird quirks though like homing attack being only able to be on visible things which makes trying to hit some stuff awkward, Boost around Lv. 20 Speed flinging you into the air if you so much as brush against a rock which makes Cylooping a walking only ordeal, Boost no longer being invincible which makes my muscle memory scream, and most bizarrely the sheer lack of air control outside of the air boost which gets not very precise at higher levels.

The problems in this game are all really weird little quirks. The previously mentioned control quirks, the fact the game slowly becomes more 2D dominant the more you go in with the game trapping you in fixed 2D camera angle spaces if you so much as land on the wrong place, the pinball minigame being too long and feeling too heavy, the level design in Cyberspace sometimes being at odds with the control scheme, the entire 4th island basically being false advertising, and more minor inconveniences that either had me tilting my head or chuckling at how they decided that was a good idea to keep in the game. Depending on the person, they're either negligible or can really pile up so your mileage may vary. My annoyances were mostly paved with being a ginormous fan of the writing and presentation, but I am only one guy.

I'm really eager to see if they decide to keep perfecting this formula and I eagerly hope they make a Frontiers 2 to iron out all the kinks found in this game. More specifically, I am so excited to see Ian Flynn take the reigns for story and see what he does with this series in the games themselves. You could make the perfect Sonic game if you improve on the formulas lain out here with level design catered for the controls and cutting all the weird stuff out of the game. If they don't learn from this game at all, I'm going to drown everyone who worked on this game in my tears.

The nicest thing I can say about this game is that it's very singular. The graphics and music congeal together to make a really unique tone and surreal atmosphere, Juste feels really fun to play, and the magic system is neat.

Everything else is awful to baffling. To start, the level design feels like a kid with Mario Maker was asked to build the castle and do whatever he wants. There's nothing punishing per se (aside from damage numbers feeling wildly inconsistent in terms of difficulty curve) but there is a looooot of square rooms full of the same enemy over and over, rooms that are platforms scattered haphazardly, and the rare puzzle being a painfully simple box puzzle or a King's Quest-esque obtuse riddle to solve progression. Not helping whatsoever is the Two Castle gimmick where the layout of the castle is matched by a "new and unique" castle. In practice, this should be a way different castle than the one I recognize that feels distinct in its own right. In actuality, it mirrors the first castle so I cannot distinguish between the two castles whatsoever aside from minor background changes. Both castles are equally nonsensical in layout and lack cohesion between areas. In a better Castlevania, I could at least see how areas connect like a main hall connecting to a dance hall or chapel with the underground being filled with caverns and aqueducts. In Harmony of Dissonance, the Mario Maker comparison comes up again because it feels like somebody made levels with completely random themes without a single care of how anything is supposed to connect with anything else. I suppose it fits the name but it makes exploration near incomprehensible which adds onto another problem: Progression in this game is terrible.

In a sane -vania, you would use your tools to slowly gain access to more and more new areas and tools to explore even more areas. It's a system that allows for an intended progression system but leaves wiggle room for the player to do what they want as long as the game keeps the player knowledgeable about progression. In Harmony, progression is arbitrary. You mindlessly wander the same looking areas looking for any sign of forward momentum in not one but two different castles. The already large map from one castle is doubled into two which forces the player to comb through two different samey levels, however much area you can access can be way higher in one castle for some reason as well, and have really silly ways to move forward. One example is how you access the Crushing Stone. It's only available in one castle's Clock Tower and when you see it you have no way of getting to it. So you have to go to an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT AREA, fight that area's boss, move forward to get back to a HIDDEN AREA OF THE CLOCK TOWER, and activate the mechanism to go ALL THE WAY BACK to the Clock Tower to get your progression item. The most egregious example I think is one of the five Dracula items needed to get the true ending being HIDDEN BEHIND A WALL YOU CAN JUMP INTO FOR NO REASON. No other wall in the game acts like this. There is no indication this wall is anything special. There isn't even a hint as to how you get it. You just have to guess. This isn't even getting into the many, many, MANY locked doors in this game. The keys for these doors are all lategame locked behind random bosses so you spend the entire game running into locked doors with zero idea of where they go or what they do or what they're for. For me, it's a sign that the level designers weren't confident about making a cohesive map so they slapped locked doors everywhere rather than make a naturally flowing map. I'm thankful I played on Advance Collection since that gives indicators of what items are in what area which genuinely shaved hours off my total playtime because this game is so terrible about telling or even hinting at where things are.

Speaking of the bosses, they all are not good. Some aren't bad per se, but all of them are at least lackluster. They all have two to three different attacks they can use so they're immensely predictable, they all follow same philosophy of "I'll stay still for two seconds before I throw out another attack with little to no telegraph," and they all are freaking boring. Because the magic system is so strong and Juste has access to so much sub-weapon ammo and mana recovery items, there isn't a boss that should give you trouble unless you genuinely stop paying attention or the game decides to give Random Boss #17 100 damage per hit. Even if Juste is fun to control, what's the point if every boss and most enemies in the game are lame?

I did compliment the graphics and music, but OW this game can be really hard to look at and listen to. The bright colors and warping effects combined with the fact Juste constantly looks like he's in a different art style than anything around him was enough to give me headaches when I first played. The music doesn't help either with its very VERY high pitched sounds that left my ears ringing multiple times. I'd love to hear these compositions in a tonal range that doesn't make my ears bleed, but I wouldn't be surprised if Konami doesn't want to revisit this one unless they decide to make a Simon/Juste saga in the Castlevania animated series.

I did compliment how Juste controls and I think he's really fun, but the fact jumping kills all air momentum whatsoever dampens a lot of the fun I'd be having with this character unfortunately. Every time I jump after a dash it's like I FEEL the invisible hand dragging me back like this is Crash Bandicoot. I could understand this decision if there was tight platforming I need to be precise for, but the only platforming challenge in this game is the race where I'd WANT to keep my momentum in the air.

I can see the makings of a great game here with its weird atmosphere and tight controls, but this game drops the ball so hard it makes a crater. I can't even be passionate about this game in any way because it's such a genuinely exhausting experience. I might come back to finish the furniture because Interior Designer Juste is genuinely the most charming thing about this game. As is, I never want to play this game ever again.

The movement mechanics are the best thing about this game. It honestly might be the only part that’s genuinely well designed. The levels barely feel play tested, the collectathon progression is too strict, the art is inconsistent, the writing is A Hat in Time put through Google Translate three different times, and the checkpoint mechanic is really clever but undercut by a one-hit system which doesn’t compliment the level design at all. I don’t know how to describe any of this game except that it feels like a licensed game made by an indie team. I wish there was a version of this game with actual polish.

What does it mean to be an artist? Is it to create for yourself? For others? Is it even about having talent whatsoever? And how can you still love art if it becomes your work?

These questions and more are what Chicory proposes through both its gameplay and narrative. It's a very quirky game by nature, putting you in the shoes of a total goober coloring a now colorless world while interacting with the, well, colorful world and the characters who inhabit it. I have next to zero competence when it comes to drawing, yet this game was extremely accessible to someone like me. The world is your coloring book and it is shockingly enjoyable to sit down on a random screen of the game and either doodle to my heart's desire to make things as pretty as possible, throw color everywhere haphazardly, or screw around and draw Amoguses everywhere. Even for people who aren't very creatively oriented, there's still a very enjoyable and engaging puzzle adventure to explore and piece together bit by bit. It's not hard at all but Chicory as a game does a very good job of mixing together it elements into a canvas anybody can have fun painting onto.

The narrative reminds me a lot of Kiki's Delivery Service in the sense that the primary themes revolve around a passion and losing that passion to work, perfectionism, or simple artist's exhaustion. Doing anything over and over again is exhausting, let alone something that you love now with heaps and loads of pressure on your back. That's not to say the game ever says having work you're passionate about is a BAD thing, but it does explore the woes of the career artist as well as the hobbyist. As someone who wants to work as a creative myself someday, this story hit me like a freight train. Chicory's writing does a great job of telling you things straight but having the characters have very complex motivations to the point where they could and do reasonably make different decisions in very similar situations. The protagonist (default named Pizza, but I called them Pumpkn Pie) and Chicory (the character) both exemplify this perfectly as both grow and cope with the hand they've been given in very different ways while serving as great foil to one another. Pizza has no innate talent but carries artistic drive, while Chicory violently burned out even though she's definitively the best artist in the whole game. The relationship that forms between these two characters is very believable in both how they interact with one another and how they influence each other for the better, thankfully so since this is the backbone of the entire narrative. (Between this game and Wandersong, I've learned this team is VERY good at making strong protag-deuterag relationships that really explore the themes of the game.) It certainly helps that the cast of side characters are all very charming as well and suitably goofy to break up how honest and raw the main story beats can be.

The other parts of this game are also great, from the art direction managing to hit very good even in monochrome to the absolutely stellar soundtrack by Lena Raine that I'm confident I'll listen to a lot outside the game. There's not a lot to say here since the art style generally speaks for itself, and if I wanted to gush about the soundtrack I'd probably lean a bit into spoiler territory so I'll hold off.

The only real gripe I have with this game is that it's kind of a hassle to go find every little collectible for 100%, but I've learned that games should be enjoyed however much you want to. It's okay if I do most things while leaving a little to rest or go back to later. They're more or less all extras anyway. I feel like I got everything I wanted from this game. Progression can feel a bit boring and repetitive but these levels are so short I barely care, if I really feel bored I can just go do something else since there's lots TO do in Chicory.

I heavily recommend this game. It's very cute, charming, and surprisingly intelligent. Though the game might be a bit trickier without a mouse to really make things precise for those who love to draw all detailed.

Never have I played a game that does such a good job at respecting the player's ability to perform. Pseudoregalia gives you moves one at a time to play around with, gives you some tips in the pause menu if you need them, and lets you play around with them in a wide open world. It's so satisfying cracking how every move works and how you can use it to expand your movement in all new ways. Heck, the game even lets you work with LESS moves to sequence break however much you feel like you're able to. I've got into so many places I shouldn't have been and I felt rewarded every single time for doing so. Of course, you're gonna need everything to beat the game (I think?), but it feels so satisfying to do so no matter how limited or wide your tookit feels.

The atmosphere is also top notch. I loooove dream-like environments to death and this game does an excellent job of making the entire experience feel like a surreal dream. The art style, the music, and even the few bits of writing all tie together to make an excellent experience to jump and slide through like I'm Richter Belmont plopped into Klonoa and told to schmoove.

The one singular miiinor gripe I have is how easy it is to get lost. The game is small in scope so you're never lost for too long, but you can run around like a headless chicken for a while. I don't think a map would help very much, if anything it would defeat some of the point since the game is so small. Instead, I would add LANDMARKS. Things to make every room feel distinct in a way that isn't how the level design is arranged or something like that. This way you can have no map but still have a way to get your bearings in even the darkest of places.

Overall, I think I want to marry this game and have kids that look exactly like Pseudoregalia. Meaning I want more of this since this game is basically perfect aside from some quirks that prevent me from immediately putting it at a 10 or one of my favorites. I do think this game is probably my GOTY for 2023 even though it's such a short and sweet experience.

Go play it. It's cheap and short.

"Peter, what are you playing?"

"Crack."

"Peter, what the fu-"

The people stating that this is better than Frontiers are on massive copium I'm sorry LOL.

Hardlight's newest mobile endeavor is indeed an ambitious title for a mobile game. A fully 3D platforming-focused Sonic game is something I'm kind of surprised hasn't already been attempted at this point...though considering most of Hardlight's other titles are more simple pick-up-and-play arcade-y high score-based affairs, it's easy to see why this hasn't been attempted before. I've seen a lot of backlash against this game being Apple Arcade exclusive, and while I do agree that offering the title to more people that can play it is a good thing to do, those asking for a legitimate console port...guys, c'mon...it's a mobile game.

Should start there before I talk about anything else I suppose. Sonic Dream Team is a mobile game at its core and it is fundamentally hindered by being an experience crafted for mobile. What do I mean by this you may ask? Imagine a typical 3D Boost game (the kind that's roughly similar to Frontiers, Colors, Gens, etc) except with a pathetically weak boost, no airboost, no stomp or slide, no wall jumping, and a free camera that fights against you most of the time. That's Sonic Dream Team. It's a boost game but worse. The only things it has going for it movement-wise are the ridiculous range on the homing attack and uh...slope jumping I guess. That's really about it. It's still kinda fun to play on a basic level but like, would I rather play this if I pitted it against any of the other boost games besides Unleashed and Forces? Absolutely not lmao. Seriously, the lack of a stomp really hurts this game more than it should. Precise platforming is a chore because you don't have an effective way to stop quickly enough. And I know they couldn't add these elements in because, again, it's a mobile game. Everything needs to be extremely simple otherwise your fingers would become a pretzel trying to chain all of these different actions together. I played on a controller during my playthrough, and while it is...marginally better than using the touch screen, it only further reminded me of how much lesser this game is than the other boost titles, but I digress. You can also play as multiple different characters but their unique attributes aren't anything to write home about. Amy and Sonic can lightspeed dash, Tails and Cream can fly with a clunky feeling stamina meter, and Knuckles and Rouge can glide (heavily nerfed and plummets like a rock) and climb walls. You can also swap characters on the fly once you've unlocked them but doing so requires you to come to a complete standstill halting the pace of the stage completely. What's worse is that this is even mandatory for specific acts to complete them.

Despite this, the main levels (I'm talking like, the first stage of the act with the red rings and the blue coins) can be pretty fun and well-designed, once you get the task of “collect 3 keys to progress” taken care of anyway. I particularly had a lot of fun with Ego City and the final couple of acts with Nightmare Maze. Scrambled Shores is...fine as a starting level, does what it needs to do. Dream Factory is...also fine. Aesthetically it looked too much like Sweet Mountain and the most interesting aspect it has to offer is rising and lowering platforms. Wooo. Much like Secret Rings (and because, again, it's a mobile game), Dream Team has multiple missions within each act offering various objectives, from time trials to checkpoint gate races. These wildly vary in terms of actual quality. The "get the dream orb" challenges are pretty good. They typically involve completing a satisfying platforming obstacle gauntlet challenge to get a single dream orb. Short, sweet, and to the point. The time trials and the checkpoint gate races are mainly just an excuse to play the same level again with a slightly different goal. The crystal hunt missions are just bad. I don't have anything positive to say about them. Imagine bumbling around a giant closed-off maze looking for a set number of trinkets. It's about as exhilarating as it sounds. The game at least looks pretty nice for a mobile game and the animated intro is fantastic. The animated cutscenes are surprisingly really REALLY impressive and invoke an expressive fluid style of animation we haven't seen since...geez, Rise of Lyric on the Wii U. The problem is that there are only like, 5 cutscenes in the game and the rest of the game's story presentation is in comic book slide show mode with voice over. Hearing Michelle Ruff as Cream again was kinda jarring but I guess it's mainly due to how long she's been from this character. Sadly I don't have much to say on the soundtrack aside from the main theme and the final boss theme. It's fine I guess, nothing terrible to listen to but it just feels like background noise a lot of the time.

Again, for a mobile game, it's pretty interesting and a good step for Hardlight to develop something truly special; but as is, I dunno if I'd ever want to go back to it instead of replaying the dozens of other Sonic games I already have a lot of fun with. Such is the mobile curse.