Mission in Snowdriftland humbly began as a flash game on Nintendo’s website many years ago and has been revived through Kickstarter. I heard about it from YouTuber Nick Robinson and became a backer of the project because I loved the story behind this game and believed in the devs. After playing the game in full, I’m glad to have supported the cause! It’s a cute, little advent calendar-themed platformer game. I’ve had a lot of fun with it, with this updated review marking my second playthrough.

While you can just blast through the levels right from the start, I enjoyed using it as an actual advent calendar, playing one level every day. Near the end, I got greedy and figured I might not have enough time to finish the levels amidst everything else so I binged what I had left. It plays well, the game seems to have a gradual difficulty curve with one massive spike at the end, but it’s a fun game. I particularly enjoyed the new inclusion of the mini-bosses this time around, which were fun to defeat.

Speaking of difficulty, as I mentioned, some of the levels are pretty tough but beatable, and this becomes quite apparent in the later stages. Using the game like an advent calendar helped me to not get burnt out from playing because I would focus on one level a day, regardless of how tough it was to beat. Playing daily also helped me get into the spirit of the holidays.

The one level I could not beat is the bonus level. This is also something I couldn’t complete on my first playthrough. Next year I’m going to screen record my play session here and send it to the devs because I’m just at a loss. The bonus level is comprised of several sections, where you must collect all of the snowflakes to continue to the next. If you die at any point, you return to the very beginning. If you read reviews, you see that it can take an hour to beat. I’d like to think I’m not a casual gamer. I have over 20 years of platforming experience. I’ve played this game, now twice over. But even in the first area alone, there are so many instances where you can instantly be killed, and sent back to the start, that I consider it borderline impossible. This, along with some downright unfair gaps to clear, where you need to make PIXEL PERFECT (not an exaggeration) jumps… It just leaves me scratching my head… who is this game for? Why the abrupt difficulty spike? If the bonus level is a celebration of my hard work collecting every snowflake, why is it punishingly difficult to beat, instead of something that rewards me with a fun play session?

The art and the simplicity of the first few worlds tell me that Mission in Snowdriftland is for a younger audience. But I do not believe the younger audience could complete this. I have seen news that the devs are planning to make even more difficult levels to include in the game and I don’t understand why. Some levels are already so difficult that they are frustratingly alienating. I get it, you want players to feel challenged, and rewarded for overcoming the challenge. Of course, there is only so much you can do to increase difficulty when the player character can only move and jump. Call me crazy, but I believe I shouldn’t have to internalize wacky movement tech to be able to cross gaps to beat a platformer game. I think if you’re gonna insta-kill me in a level that takes an hour long, I should have checkpoints. Cut me some slack. Bring some fun back into the game.

My opinions about difficulty aside, the only other thing that would be nice would be a leaderboard to compete with friends for the best clear times of the current day’s level. I’m surprised there isn’t one because the game tracks clear time but does nothing with it. I think this could be a natural extension of including an option to turn the game into an actual advent calendar, by competing for the best times submitted that day by the community and your friends. And, while you can certainly still play it like an advent calendar, you have to restrain yourself with willpower, but having the level locked behind a time gate would be neat as a dedicated feature.

Overall I like Mission in Snowdriftland! The platforming mechanics and gameplay feel great, and I had a great time playing a little bit every day. It does get super difficult in the last few stages, but don’t let that stop you from picking it up and trying it out yourself. I’ll be looking forward to playing through it once again next year!

Geometry Dash + Rocket League = NeoDash, a fun speed runner-type game equal parts challenging and fun. Mastering some of the more difficult tracks results in incredible dopamine highs. NameBrand

It was fascinating to finally find the time to sit down and play this game after watching it slowly come together a little more than a year ago in short clips on TikTok, but here it sits majestically, as a really fun game. Still being tweaked, stages are being added, and user-generated content is filling it to the brim... it's a wonderful sight to behold and it is an incredibly fun game to learn to master.

My opening stinger I stand behind, but I'll provide some more context for it here. It's like Geometry Dash in that you must complete stages in a single go without dying. There are some banger Monster Cat tracks in here, but the stages are not set to any in particular. The more you play a stage and tweak your approach the further you get to the end until almost magically, it seems the muscle memory for the stage has completed its download into your mind... and you win.

It's like Rocket League in that your vehicle is rocket-propelled, but don't go in expecting the rigidity of that system. The car booster is easily understood, but the almost drone-like hovering is where you'll need to refine your skills to become a master. The right analog stick is your best friend in controlling your vehicle's tilt and only after mastering the fine motor skills required to do this, will you be able to complete this game.

Your journey to becoming a master driver is very well paced in the two supplied stages, and then their difficult counterparts. After you've completed those, there are a few event stages. After that, it's on to the community user-generated stages. It's UGC. There are some of the worst-designed stuff, to surprisingly great-designed stages, to ridiculously hard, 7th-level of-hell type stuff. Even if you never get good enough to have the patience to complete some of the more difficult things that the sandbox of NeoDash offers you, there is so much user-generated content that you'll be set with stuff to help you have some fun with it all.

But of course, I recommend you try. Go for the fastest time among your friends. Get stuck on a stage for two hours. Maybe four hours even. Go mad. Forget what time it is. The beauty of NeoDash is you can tune the entire world out while you focus on that one stupid jump that seems impossible... and then you get it. Maybe you finally make it through that last hole in hole in the wall and you're getting smashed by those dumb pistons for literal hours. I've never tried drugs, but I'm imagining the feeling has got to be similar to the moments following your hard-earned victories... After playing for four hours you finally beat the level that takes under a minute to complete and it's like... man... I am the greatest person of all time to ever live and life is worth it. Who knew?

Overall NeoDash scratched an itch that I forgot I had in that weird speedrunning genre, and the "gotta-go-fast" genre. It's incredibly well designed, with great stage progression in the campaign and seemingly endless levels made by the community. If anything I've said in this review has been slightly interesting I highly recommend you pick it up and give it a shot.

To me, Gun Club makes for the perfect post-vr workout game. It's great to do some levels here or there, but I find it difficult to commit more time to it as an actual game. That said, I think it's a great purchase. NameBrand

Gun Club is a great package simply for its value as a game where you can mess with guns on a range. Of course, it's a little more interesting than that with extra scenarios, and some gun customization, but at its core, that's why I picked it up. That fact alone is what keeps it in my collection as something I always keep installed on my headset. But it's only something I can stand to play for about an hour at a time at maximum. Why?

If you're playing Gun Club as a game, you're going to quickly find out that there is unnecessary padding and repetition EVERYWHERE. For example, there are several types of "game modes" on the range that take you through a list of levels or challenges that progressively get more difficult. You'd think that after completing this ladder you'd be done, and could move on to the next activity. This is somewhat true... but it's tied to the weapon type. So you have to run through 40 challenges with the pistol, then swap to the assault rifles and do what is essentially the same 40 challenges with very little variation. They do this with many activities in the game. There are 5 or 6 weapon types, so you can see how attempting to "beat" this game would make you crazy. This not to mention that they pull the same shenanigans in the first DLC that I'm still working through playing.

But the guns all feel great, shoot smooth, have fun accurate reloads, all that. It's fun to mess around with different scopes and make abominations on the gun rails. The holster slots on your body are a little jank, as are the physics with knives and grenades, but that isn't really why you're here anyway. I will say it is a bit annoying to purchase some of the same stuff from the shop multiple times over (again with that per-gun nonsense), but it is what it is. I usually have the money to get by.

Overall I'd say that I recommend it to people looking for a gun range type experience. It's not H3 by any means, but it certainly is the most compact experience you can get with standalone VR and will keep you mildly interested in short bursts of play sessions.