An improvement over the previous two entries in the series. Generic story and characters. Most of the voice acting was alright; sadly, one in particular was pretty bad. The cut scenes and animations were okay. I kinda expect more from a game that was released just two years ago. but maybe that's unfair?

The puzzles themselves were better, which is the main reason you'd play a hidden object game. They weren't reskins of the previous games (the second is guilty of that) and there was less mindlessly guessing. There was a nice variety of puzzles and minigames.

Maybe it's my personal preference but these modern, realistic story HOGs aren't as fun as the fantasy genres. The stories are more generic; something you have watched in a TV show. They're more rigid, yet over the top. When something happens that wouldn't fly in real life, it's laughable. I feel like there's more creativity in fantasy.

A puzzle adventure that requires you to control two characters, sometimes at once. It's meant to be played on controller but I stubbornly used the keyboard. The controls are terrible on keyboard; I do not recommend. I used it thanks to joint pain using a controller for a length of time.

I wish there were options to make the controls easier. Toggle to hold items, instead of holding down three keys on each hand. The controls weren't taught either. I had to check the options screen or mash buttons to figure out what to do.

I did enjoy the fantastical world. It had different folklore creatures that was a treat to see.

First Reigns game I have played from the studio. I wasn't expecting an over arching story line. That was a lovely surprise.

Some situations do still carry over after death. You get to keep all your tools after death, but lose them if you reset.

You're balancing your stats; if any get too high or too low, you die. I enjoyed the humor. Getting all the achievements was less fun because of RNG. But damn I wanted that Steam ribbon. I am interested in the other Reigns games now.

This takes the terrible points I had from the first Family Mysteries. All the characters are bland. The story is ripped from probably X amount of B movies about technology taking over the future. Players in the comments said it's basically Terminator 3. It's predictable to a fault.

Worse, the mini games were unfun. A couple were literally the same puzzle from the first and the solution was the same. It was just reskinned to fit the futuristic theme. So bad that once I finished it and got my 100% achievements, I skipped the free bonus level. No thanks.

Pretty fun for a game that's over 30 years old. I did play the PSP version years ago but I didn't remember much from it.

The music is fantastic; fun to listen in game. You can see original character and monster concept art and track your bestiary in the menu. I would encourage writing down locations for locked doors and clues from townsfolk (if you're not using a guide). You could use equipment like items during battles. That was very useful during certain encounters. I only wish you could see the equipment's descriptions from the equip screen.

Really fun platformer! The game has its own charm and sense of humor. It doesn't take itself too seriously and there isn't a big lesson thrown your way. There were hilarious moments that caught me off guard (in a really good way). I loved the bright environments and the enemies in each world were unique. The design in the final level was boring, which is a shame. It was difficult to see your path at times since the color scheme was red on red.

Loved the double jump and lunge to reach wide jumps. The hats have fun abilities. I wanted more badges for gameplay or cosmetic. I had lots of useless gems with nothing to spend it on.

This game actually utilizes CHECKPOINTS. I have played many games this year that either don't have checkpoints or have them way before you needed it. A Hat in Time will save your spot in a level if you die over and over. It was incredibly helpful.

I'm pleasantly surprised the boss fights were fun and enjoyable. I have played other platforms with abysmal fighting and A Hat in Time knocked them away.

My biggest pet peeve is the camera. There are levels with lots of enclosed rooms and I would be frustrated not being able to see anything but a wall. The Y button (or whatever you're using to play) only allows you to look up. I need full control of my camera for a platformer. (Or I will fall to my death because my view is extremely limited.)

I had fun playing this one. I don't have a lot of visual novel experience in the horror genre. This VN is heavy on the novel side. The first run took me roughly 14 hours. This is one of the few games I have ever played that felt like my choices really mattered. You could make a small decision that later on a different character will comment on it.

The art is fantastic. The animations are awesome and make it less static. (Minus the weird boob physics...come on.) Special kudos to all the voice actors. Everyone's voice and speech felt like that character.

Overall, it's high quality VN. I did have an issue with crashing on certain paths. It would break when I tried to instantly skip the dialogue, but I could pass that by the classic "fast-forward" skip. That was unfortunate since I had to sit and wait. One reason I have so much time logged into this game.

The downside to all those different choices: there are MANY, MANY different paths and nodes in the flowchart. My time is so bloated because I convinced myself to get every achievement. There are achievements to unlock every choice in all seven chapters. It was so much work. But it did make the first handful of runs unique.

The game does need hints or text on the in-game's flowchart to help you remember what to unlock. There's seven characters and many different combos you can't possibly remember. I did feel a bit disappointed in the true ending. There's a ton of content throughout the game and I was hoping for more focus on the horror part.

You're a bee and you can wear hats. Do I need to say more?

For an educational tool, this was silly and fun. I'm surprised I didn't feel any motion sickness from a camera following a flying bee. You could finish the story and some exploration in two hours. I couldn't resist the achievements so that's why my time is longer.

You're a bee and you gather pollen for your hive. There's a glossary that can tell you more about animals, insects, flowers, etc you see in the game. You can earn points to buy skins, hats, and path animations. There are side quests and mini games to explore. The map is surprisingly large and you can fast travel right from your menu.

The negative is the gameplay and bugs (achievements are buggy, not insect bugs). The gameplay will get repetitive if you're trying to collect all feats. It doesn't add anything new. Most of the extra challenges are mini games like racing and fighting. The bugs are bad enough to stop you from collecting certain feats/achievements unless you can start a new game (like I had to) or mess with the game codes to fix it. If you don't care about 100% then it's not a big deal.

Choice of Robots is a text choose-your-own-adventure game. It's really just reading, lots and lots of reading. I enjoyed it much more than I previously thought. There are some hilarious events that made me literally laugh out loud. After I beat it the first few times, I was interested in searching for more of their games.

I don't like the one save point; you can't save in the middle of a choice then reload and go both paths quickly. I get why you wouldn't have that in a choose your own adventure, but it was much more work on my end. Toward the end I was barely reading anymore; just clicking on options I haven't tried before and hoping I had the correct, high stats.

I was a bit worried since it's a stealth game and I'm not muchinto stealth. It exceeded my expectations, especially for a game that was released in '98/'99.

The game itself worked okay in Steam but it wouldn't play cutscenes. I was extremely confused after the first mission I stole a vase and then the second mission I was in a quarry all of a sudden. Thankfully the older Thief games have a lovely fan base that made a free "patch." It updated the graphics a bit, improved compatibility with new pcs, and (most importantly to me) it fixed my cutscenes. So that was necessary for me to play the game.

It aged fairly well for a game that was originally released in 1998. Heavy focused on stealth, tons of gadgets, original story, and some world building. I thought this was set in sorta medieval ages but there's magic and otherworldly enemies. It was creative and neat to see this new environment in an older game. Honestly even refreshing.

The Bad: well the voice acting isn't great. I mean it was made in '98 so I'm giving it slack. Sometimes the characters speaking would make me laugh. The cutscenes were fine. The protag and the soldiers are good for their time. The house servants in the game though? Oh man...it was like the voice actor wasn't taking their job seriously but it came off as humorous. It didn't bother my gameplay though, made me laugh.

I did not enjoy some of the maps. I felt the last three missions in the game were big MEH. A lot of underground dirt tunnels and the enemies did NOT compare to earlier enemies. I wanted to shake in my boots when I first saw the Haunts in earlier missions.

The Good: I enjoyed most of my time playing this gem. I like in older games, game devs weren't scared of using bright colors in their maps. Some "current" games on the top of my head that are dark and stealthy are covered in black and gray tones. Boring. This game had mansions with bright reds or greens on floor tiles, walls, furniture, etc. I wasn't expecting the big arsenal of tools either. Rope arrows to climb on high ledges, water arrows to drench torches so you can hide in the dark, etc.

All in all, I'm glad I played this game. I only played the missions on normal difficulty; there's harder content to play in the game to keep you entertained.

I have never beaten a Zelda game in the past. I have limited knowledge of this series. For whatever reason, I never really gave a Zelda game a chance until now.

As a newbie, this game works for anyone like me. You don't need to know the world or what's going on because the game gracefully takes you through that. The world feels alive around you. Holding metal in a thunderstorm? Get zapped. Wearing thin clothes on a snowy mountain? Get frozen. Fell into volcanic lava? We've all been there.

I loved wandering around the map and exploring on foot. It was a blast. I appreciate there are no levels and little limitations.

I have a few minor nitpicks. Riding horseback felt like a chore. I would often ditch my horse somewhere because it was simply easier to run or climb than fight the horse for control. I LOATHE the shrines that use the Switch's tilt. (I heard it's much easier to use a controller than using the system as a handheld.) But those puzzles were sent from hell. The designers were told they had to make something to showcase Switch's tilt mechanic; they decided to throw in some sh*tty freefall ball mechanics that make me want to toss my Switch against a wall.

Anyways, everything else +++. But tilt shrines can die in a fire.

First replay (since I played it back in 2007/2008?) and I was hit was nostalgia hard. I still love the gameplay: exploring, battles, and the brushes. One of the coolest things is using the paint brush. It was a unique experience for me when I first played it and I'm still in love with it.

The art style is amazing and it reflects the story and using your brushes. Its fun how it's all tied together.

For the most part, the story doesn't take itself too seriously even though it's good vs evil. I do like you play as a god. It's a neat experience. The fights were an interesting balance of skill and learning weaknesses. Some fights felt like puzzles. You're using different brush strokes to aid you.

It's not without flaws. The camera could definitely be better. It felt too close to Ammy; while you're running and fighting, you have less sight. If you're in a tight space, it's even worse to time jumps and draw. At times, the brush would be really picky. You could draw one thing and the game guessed wrong.

Issun is the worst. Why games and anime feel the NEED to add a sexual deviant is beyond me. It's really not difficult to not sexualize women. It's not funny. It's not an acceptable "joke." It's not asking for much. The bar is so low already.

I had so much fun playing through the feats (achievements) and expanding my digital world. Once you expand and upgrade tools, there's a HUGE jump for grinding. There's no ending, you can keep playing and jump into a never-ending procedural dungeon. I loved playing through the game: building my factories, upgrading tools, solving puzzles, and buying new land. The art style is adorable. The rewards for completing feats were customization of your character and I loved that. There are some bugs still in the game you may have to work around.

But the grinding really killed it for me. The money feats were too much. I have read players that have put hours into this game just to AFK for the banks or set weight on their mouse to auto click. That is not gameplay. Minimizing the game to let it play itself isn't rewarding. You don't have to complete these feats, but if you're an achievement hunter, godspeed to you.

I absolutely love this game. Adorable management game about building your own aquarium. I completed the story mode, all 10 chapters. It can be bit challenging but it wasn't difficult on normal. You can adjust the difficulty settings. There's also a sandbox mode if you rather mess around more creativity than manage money.

Wonderful graphics and detail of color and patterns on each species. There's a small note of information on each animal so I was learning as I played. I grew up on Zoo Tycoon so I'm a huge sucker for animal management games. This was fun, educational, and I wanted nothing more than each animal to be happy. Totally recommend this if you want something chill and relaxing.

There is too much I could talk (rant) about for this one. I'll try to keep this condensed by mainly focusing on the combat and story.

THE GOOD: They changed the combat by adding the brave point system. This allows you to use orders that buff your party. It's a unique bonus that's helpful and even cheesy in some fights. You can "break" your opponent by depleting their break bar in battle. It allows you to do heavy and critical damage; incredibly useful if you can stop a boss from acting. I loved seeing character development for minor characters from the previous games. You meet a ton of previous Thors students and it's rewarding when they acknowledged events that happened and grew from those experiences. I was interested in some of the new characters they introduced here. They didn't feel like copy/paste.

THE BAD: The combat was very repetitive: break, then alt or S rank crafts. I despised all the mech fights. They were repetitive and boring. Hit a weak spot, unite, rinse and repeat. That's your strategy for every mech battle. The camera would constantly spin during combat and it was too close to your shoulder for large bosses. It was difficult to see the battlefield.

But the story...the f***ing vague storytelling. This game consistently fell into terrible cliche writing and tropes. Which is sad, considering the expansive and fascinating world they created. The magic, the orbment devices, the different countries and governments, unique cultures, etc.

I'm unbelievably tired of the characters not communicating with each other! Like someone will see or hear something fishy but instead of telling their companions, they'll go, "ahh it was nothing...maybe." This happens way too often. Or someone will go, "I need to tell you something important" and then literally wait to the end of the game to tell you. Why are you so being so vague? It got to the point, that a character even yelled about someone being too vague. The writers KNEW.

The whole game up till the last five hours gives you nothing for fact. The entire 90 hours: here's a mystery person! Here's a couple bad guys, what do they want, who knows? What's the plot here? Lol IDK. It leaves you guessing what is the absolute piss is going on until you get to the last dungeon; FINALLY they tell you what is going on instead of sprinkling the information throughout the game.

The convoluted plot (that may as well have been written by an amateur fan fiction author) and the pacing for storytelling is terrible.

P.S. Can we rid ourselves the trope that sexual harassment is funny? There are numerous instances in this game (and the previous ones) that someone will make a "joke" about a character's body. Usually at a woman's/teen's expense because they are shown embarrassed. It is not funny.

There's an elderly man that talks about how "sexy" the students are...they are TEENS. It's not funny, or endearing. It's disgusting and in case you're confused, it's literally sexual harassment. That's my TED TALK.