I may be overly critical on Caligula Effect here. I picked it up because it was leaving PS Plus within one week. I had to streamline it AND I wanted the platinum. I knew extremely little of the game. I watched the trailer and it looked silly as hell.

The story and gameplay are mid-level in a JRPG. You're trapped in a simulation with a rag tag group. The story itself isn't necessarily memorable; however I do think it's cool you get to hang out and bond with the bad guys. Not many games let you experience both sides. The battles are turn-based but you can predict your combos. Something fairly new to me so that was welcomed. Battles get repetitive, especially when you're constantly pulled into them.

The story deals with heavy subjects. Suicide, bullying, body shaming, it goes on. It's fine to add those in media and I didn't mind the idea at all. However, CE doesn't hold all of those subjects with care. Some received real conversations. Others had constant jokes to the point where it left a bad taste.

My main criticism is much of the game feels bloated. There are 10 characters in your group and 9 baddies. All characters you can hang out with and bond. It's...a lot. Some get character arcs while others feel like they simply exist. Each baddie gets their own dungeon. Again, it feels like their only purpose is to pad the game. The dungeons get more maze like and bland as the game goes on. A great example to cut out what isn't necessary. More does NOT mean better.

While it wasn't a terrible game, I don't know I'd recommend this to others. There's better JRPGs out there.

I was not expecting to get nearly 50 hours in one run of Fae Tactics. Another game with beautiful pixel art. I don't play many tactics games, but Fae has a bright and memorable art style and character/creature designs.

While there are characters you can recruit in the main and side stories, I had fun collecting fae creatures to be my supports. The main story is okay, not super memorable. I did enjoy the side content and world building. There are different locations to explore that have their own leaders and conflicts.

I had fun playing FT. I only did one run, but completed every side content I could find. After reading comments and guides, I see that I missed quite a bit! There's a ton of content in here. I wish there were more options, like saving during a battle. Even if it's a save then quit because the fights can take time. It's easy to miss a great deal of the side content. I wish that wasn't as hidden. It was fun and maybe in the future I can do a NG+.

Unpacking is a charming cozy puzzle game. Plus it does have a story. While there's no dialogue or choices, you follow the main character through their life. There are 8 levels and each show a different period in the MC's journey all by unpacking their belongings.

The pixel art style fits with the cute and cozy gameplay. The original soundtrack is nice. I don't remember if there is an option to change the music in the game. Some levels had shorter songs and it was on constant repeat. A couple tracks felt a old quickly.

My three main points: how I felt while playing, the gorgeous soundtrack, and the creative gameplay.

Chicory shares heavy feels with the story. The characters discuss how they don't feel good enough and how they can't amount to the pressure put upon them. It's an emotional journey and it's handled very well. During story missions, I would have to try real hard not to cry at certain points. Then take a break and go to art classes to paint in the game (haha, I loved this option). For a game with anthropomorphic characters, they are well written and at heart, human.

The soundtrack is beautiful. I am listening to it right now while typing this. It fits perfectly with the discussions and fight sequences. chef's kiss

The world of Chicory loses its color and it's up to you to add paint with the artist brush! You can freely color the monochromatic world to cheer up and help the towns folk. There are many different options for color, photo borders, and patterns. It was fun to explore the world. I can see myself replaying Chicory sometime in the future. It's truly a wonderful game.

I loved this stealth adventure more than I initially thought. Please give me more games that allow me to play as a mouse.

I wasn't thrilled with the stealth; however, the game does give you an option to essentially remove that aspect of the gameplay. (Thank you devs!) The characters are fun to get to know. The world is much more expansive and open. I thought this was a strict linear story. Nope, you explore a ton here. There's side quests, useful costumes with purpose, tools, and skills. It was a joy to play. Only a few frustrations.

The open world was fun to explore. They did a fantastic job bringing in castles, ruins, a forest, etc to life. It's a pro, but sadly, also a con. No other way to say it; there is a ton of running back and forth in each area between exploring and completing quests. There is no fast travel. You have to use your little mouse feet to get around these LARGE areas. It could have benefited from tightening the maps. It's easy to get lost and there are areas you can walk around with nothing in them. Sometimes bigger isn't better, ya know.

The other frustrations came from worrying if I accidentally broke quests. There are a handful of quests that seem a bit buggy, touchy? Thankfully after reading posts about other players having the same issues and yet able to continue, the anxiety would go away. But it doesn't feel great when a game isn't clear as it could be and you stress you broke something.

In the end, I adored Ghost of a Tale. I hope there is a sequel so I can join the world again with Tilo.

Home is a side-scrolling pixel narrative. Not a story, because you (the player) makes the deduction of the story. That can be good or bad. I saw many reviews that clearly did not enjoy that decision.

My first playtime took one hour. I tried to be thorough finding all items and hidden areas but I did miss some information. Thus my first thought of the story wasn't great based on the information I had on hand. Then I played a second run, found new info, and decided maybe there was more to the story and this character.

The game never says "this is what happened or this is the true ending." It's solely based on your perspective with the information you found. If you only played it once and in a hurry, it can feel like the developer didn't fully write a story. After playing it four times, there is something there but it's scratch deep. The developers could have gone further with it. I believe I can see their goal for the game, but there's too many unknowns to feel completed.

The pixel art style is great for the short experience. The audio was fine until the final area. With a loud constant annoyance, I wanted to rush through my exploration because of the need to get away from that sound. It was awful.

You play as Ophelia, a young noblewoman in the world of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Quickly you realize you're trapped in a time-loop. It's up to you to sneak, gossip, and uncover the secrets around Elsinore castle.

I normally do not enjoy time travel/loops in stories, but Elsinore did it well. It was engaging and fun to discover what you can change in the environment. How will person X respond to this information you found out? Or what does person Y do around this time of day? There are many dialogue options to find and question with a large cast. There are 11 different fates you can discover making this highly re-playable.

Honestly, a wonderful well-written adventure game. I love how it ultimately lets you choose Ophelia's fate.

An open world adventure with farm plots. There's less emphasis on the farming aspect and more focus on exploring, which I did enjoy. You can set up farms on specific plots of land to ranch animals for their produce. You'll need a garden box to grow trees and plants.

The animals are cute and provide crafting materials. But that's about it. You can ask an animal in your farm to follow you, however they don't benefit from it. You cannot mount the larger animals to ride; it's a shame because you do a ton of walking in this game.

Speaking of walking....it's a lot. There is an item you can craft to fast travel to any farm you own in any of the 8 biomes. You'll have to craft one anytime you want to travel. There are also stones you can visit to fast travel but you need to be at that location. Plus the FT points aren't at any town. It's not convenient.

The barter system was fun. Some sellers will change their inventory when the day cycles. You don't have to worry about money, just trade items you no longer want.

It was fun enough to earn all achievements. The wandering back and forth put a damper on my attention span. The game really leans into the slow-moving rancher lifestyle.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It's very character heavy with a dash of mystery. My most read genre of books is mystery/thriller whodunnit. Pentiment went above and beyond what I expected from a video game. The writing in this game can shame some books I have read last year alone.

You play an artist that is caught in the middle of a murder investigation. You are tasked with questioning the town in an attempt to find clues related to the murderer.

I won't lie, it's a ton of walking and dialogue. There are a few sequences to be nosy and dig up dirt on people but it's mostly gossip. You can choose skills, such as languages or lifestyle, that can give you an edge in your investigation. My Andreas was a scoundrel that loved fist fighting. There's different ways to play and choices that will influence whether someone will aid you or not.

My only negative was constantly talking to every townsfolk I could to see if they had new dialogue. It may have cut down time if you could see where folk were on your map and if they had something new to say?

I had fun while playing and I thought about the game when I wasn't playing. I do see myself playing another run in the future to pick paths I haven't seen yet.

This was sooo close to being a perfect game. I thoroughly enjoyed playing this one.

The art and cutscenes are beautiful and wonderfully done. The monsters, the backgrounds, the mechs, everything is well done. The story is a bit generic RPG at first; extra flair towards the later half. I loved the introduction and designs of the enemies. The combat was engaging with the Overheat bar. There's no random encounters (you see the enemies on the map) and no drag auto-combat system.

You restore health and "magic" after every encounter, which is awesome. No carrying around an absurd amount of healing items or visiting an inn.

The game will occasionally screw with your party formations and put your bench warmers up front to solely irritate you. A couple of fights have lame one shot mechanics. Not fun to play against. Grinding the game wasn't bad until you get unlucky with RNG enemy drops.

The good far outweighs the negatives on CE. I felt a bit sad once I collected the platinum. Almost wanted it to continue.

Erica plays like a movie; each run is about 90 minutes and you occasionally use the touchpad on the controller.

I was surprised by the high quality visual production. The blend of cinematography and CGI scenes were really well done. The set designs for the scenes were fantastic. I loved interacting with the environment. It felt like I was exploring, instead of just following Erica.

The controls were finicky and some options are not as clear. That could confuse players if you're not extra careful. I did enjoyed the scene transitions though. That was well done.

The acting wasn't quite on par. Most of the actors were done well but a couple stuck out as stiff. Sadly, the story suffered the most. (Which is tragic for an interactive story.) It was interesting enough to entice me to replay the game. I saw all 6 endings and collected every trophy. The story does come off as predictable, plus there are plot holes and horribly dumb decisions to move it forward. The story isn't something that's going to stick with me long into the future, but I am glad I got a chance to play Erica.

Throughout the campaign, you unlock new crew decks. Each deck has a unique ability that will either help your game or create a challenge. There are two extra recruitment crews you can unlock by completing missions. They aren't required by the campaign but it's added content.

Every Joker, Queen, and King card shares background story on the character's portraits. I enjoyed the art style and that each crew had a different vibe. I wonder why we didn't get the story with these characters instead of the FMV characters. It felt like they were separate things. The FMV was fine, but not everyone did a great job acting. I didn't care what was happening. The story was much too predictable. I was more interested in, well....playing solitaire.

After the campaign, you unlock daily missions and two gameplay modes. One is practice while the other is an endless mode if you can survive the time. Overall, it was a fun spin on solitaire.

This was not for me, ouch. The art style and atmosphere is very well done. It's creepy and you feel helpless throughout the journey. It's pretty to look at but sadly, I despised playing it.

The controls weren't as speedy responsive for a chase cat-and-mouse game. Plus I had to fight the camera a few times. It would either focus on something inconsequential instead of moving along with you, or move far away to show the scope of a large area until you're a speck on the screen. (Then you fall to your death because you can't see, yippie!) These are my only "real" negative points of the gameplay. Irritating, but not game breaking.

My biggest complaint is the constant instant deaths. I hate insta-deaths in games. Very few times will that work. You can't even struggle; it's instantly over once you're grabbed. They have fantastic atmosphere and creature designs only for me to sigh heavily on my 5th death because I didn't get the pattern of the chase figured out. It ruined the entire experience for me. My one run was only 3 hours long and I have exactly zero interest to replay for achievements. Anytime I felt I was enjoying myself, I went right back to feeling incredibly annoyed. I do not have the patience for these types of "horror" games.