baddognobiscuit
2023
Fun game in the style of point and click puzzle adventures. I think the language translation is interesting, but doesn't quite go as far as I'd like it to. The game flirts with some ideas like changing Subject/Object/Verb ordering, how to represent plurality, but is limited by the fact that glyphs are usually 1:1 translations. The last world was really frustrating too, since they present a cool language system where words are comprised of other words, but the translation in that area is done in a flash and it doesn't do anything with the idea.
Aesthetically I think the choice to do a fixed point of view works really well and makes for some interesting "shots". The graphic style is fine, kinda flat but it works well enough. Music is similarly suitable but nothing mind blowing.
Plot and theme wise, I enjoyed the idea of connecting different cultures. The ending sequence very cleverly communicates to the player a key theme of the game completely wordlessly, maybe the best part of the game.
Oh yeah, and like everyone else has said the stealth parts were wack.
Aesthetically I think the choice to do a fixed point of view works really well and makes for some interesting "shots". The graphic style is fine, kinda flat but it works well enough. Music is similarly suitable but nothing mind blowing.
Plot and theme wise, I enjoyed the idea of connecting different cultures. The ending sequence very cleverly communicates to the player a key theme of the game completely wordlessly, maybe the best part of the game.
Oh yeah, and like everyone else has said the stealth parts were wack.
2019
very cool and full of personality but i'm just not super stoked to walk around and accomplish nothing for so long
2023
Absolutely blew me away. Best 3D platformer movement I've ever experienced. Works great as a Metroidvania, the sense of exploration is really great and since the atmosphere is great and your movement is inherently fun, it's never a pain to have to go anywhere. It's pretty open-ended too, you aren't railroaded all the time like in actual Metroid. And honestly, it feels like the intended experience of this game is to accidentally sequence break at several points, which I love. This game makes you feel like a 3D platforming genius and I fucking love it.
I have just a couple tiny, tiny knocks on it. The music is kinda meh and loops quickly. And the final boss / ending was extremely underwhelming, felt like kind of a letdown after such a cool game to have an easy beat down boss. I would have liked some sort of final epic platforming challenge.
I have just a couple tiny, tiny knocks on it. The music is kinda meh and loops quickly. And the final boss / ending was extremely underwhelming, felt like kind of a letdown after such a cool game to have an easy beat down boss. I would have liked some sort of final epic platforming challenge.
2011
fuck nintendo
2020
r/twosentencehorror the game
2016
really underrated game. maybe just too much hype and expectations behind it? regardless, it's a really unique puzzle adventure game that has you constantly using out of the box thinking to progress, but it's never so esoteric that'll you'll need a guide either. really fun stuff.
2022
I don't really have much to say about the game. But, to add my personal reaction to the consensus: this game was fucking beautiful and made me cry.
2022
Fun movement mechanics and exploration; keys to my heart.
Even without items just running sliding and jumping around feels pretty good. A good chunk of the items you come across let you just completely break any sort of intended platforming challenge; but with them comes the new challenge of how you can get around in the most quick and efficient fashion.
It's hard to explain why it's so compelling to explore the city of Babbdi. It has some intensely Slavic atmosphere that's foreboding at first, almost comforting by the end. There's not much "content", in a game-y sense - you'll find some characters with a few lines of dialogue along the way, some odd scenes here and there, not much else. The city just feels fully realized in some sense, like you could potentially go anywhere and find exactly what you'd expect to be there.
Even without items just running sliding and jumping around feels pretty good. A good chunk of the items you come across let you just completely break any sort of intended platforming challenge; but with them comes the new challenge of how you can get around in the most quick and efficient fashion.
It's hard to explain why it's so compelling to explore the city of Babbdi. It has some intensely Slavic atmosphere that's foreboding at first, almost comforting by the end. There's not much "content", in a game-y sense - you'll find some characters with a few lines of dialogue along the way, some odd scenes here and there, not much else. The city just feels fully realized in some sense, like you could potentially go anywhere and find exactly what you'd expect to be there.
2019
A short and charming little murder mystery game a la Professor Layton.
The characters are well written, acted, and full of personality. The game is a little too short however to show off an arc to most of them, or see any meaningful interaction, which I would have liked.
Puzzles are pretty easy for the most part, and the game gives you a lot of direction so you pretty much never get lost. The main gameplay is really just looking around in rooms and finding the right things to click, which I don't find awfully exciting.
Ultimately it's cute and I see why someone might love this, but the gameplay isn't engaging for me personally.
The characters are well written, acted, and full of personality. The game is a little too short however to show off an arc to most of them, or see any meaningful interaction, which I would have liked.
Puzzles are pretty easy for the most part, and the game gives you a lot of direction so you pretty much never get lost. The main gameplay is really just looking around in rooms and finding the right things to click, which I don't find awfully exciting.
Ultimately it's cute and I see why someone might love this, but the gameplay isn't engaging for me personally.
2010
I probably would have loved this if I played it when it came out - the music and aesthetics are fun and the humor is charming, if a little dated. Many games have done "deconstruction of RPG tropes + humor" better though, both before and after this.
Adored this game as a kid, but by far the game my parents hated the most. I played those bongos loud as fuck.
2016
Incredibly gorgeous. The world building and visuals are alone enough to make this worth playing. The puzzles are nothing to write home about, and indeed were probably purposefully on the easy side so as to not distract from the rest of the game.
Basically an art house game.
Basically an art house game.
This review contains spoilers
Undercooked and overrated as hell.
The things that Prime gets right, everyone knows. The atmosphere is very good right at the beginning and at least through the fallen Frigate section. Compared to my other Metroid experience in Dread, this world felt more alien, more alive, more like I was an intruder in a foreign land. As opposed to Dread, which was kinda just a bunch of rooms you had to go through.
It's a shame then, that it was so god damned frustrating to actually do anything in this game. Combat and movement absolutely blows, and this game has possibly the most annoying enemies of any game I've played. Not difficult mind you, the game is fairly easy to complete. But the constant barrage of enemies that are in your path in this game make me want to tear my hair out. You walk out of a room and walk back in - oh boy, more flying pirates! Backtracking through the Chozo Ruins for the tenth time - have some Chozo ghosts, would you?
You go from feeling like this cool bounty hunter on a mission to feeling like you're late for an appointment and for some reason everyone in your path wants to ask you directions. Or push you off a cliff or something, idk the analogy doesn't fully work.
I went through the character gallery after beating this and realized there wasn't a single enemy I enjoyed fighting. It was just yup, those bats were annoying. Pirates were annoying. Troopers were annoying. Thardus was a shitty boss with way too much health. Metroids are annoying as hell.
Any difficulty this game does have seems to be based around you having really poor mobility. Plenty of examples of this, but the one that sticks in my head is definitely Thardus - he literally just very slowly rolls at you for one of his attacks, and it'll probably hit you a decent amount because you can't get out of the way fast enough. Platforming sections should be simple enough, but you control like ass and oh yeah, there was a pirate above you that you didn't see and he shot you down, have fun getting back up asshole.
Nearing the end of the game I was feeling a little better about it - I left around half the Chozo artifacts and they might be my favorite part of this game, they feel well hidden and the Artifact temple is my favorite room in the game atmosphere wise. But then after two mediocre boss fights and a ending that lasted five seconds because I apparently didn't collect enough missile tanks or whatever, I definitely soured. The tanks are fun to collect if you just notice them while navigating, and I felt pretty comfortable with having collected all the energy tanks and a missile capacity of 105 missiles. The fact that you need to go out of your way to hunt for them when they're 100% unneeded and extraneous for any combat use if you don't want to get served a big plate of nothing for an ending is kinda infuriating.
Honestly, I was kinda left wishing for a game more like Fatum Betula - a game with just as much interesting atmosphere and exploration but you aren't accosted by little shits on your way to do something more interesting. I guess people do actually play Metroid for the combat so that'll never happen, but it would be interesting. Come to think of it, Metroid Dread had the opposite problem where combat was pretty fun but the atmosphere was lacking. Maybe the synthesis I'm looking for will come with Prime 4.
The things that Prime gets right, everyone knows. The atmosphere is very good right at the beginning and at least through the fallen Frigate section. Compared to my other Metroid experience in Dread, this world felt more alien, more alive, more like I was an intruder in a foreign land. As opposed to Dread, which was kinda just a bunch of rooms you had to go through.
It's a shame then, that it was so god damned frustrating to actually do anything in this game. Combat and movement absolutely blows, and this game has possibly the most annoying enemies of any game I've played. Not difficult mind you, the game is fairly easy to complete. But the constant barrage of enemies that are in your path in this game make me want to tear my hair out. You walk out of a room and walk back in - oh boy, more flying pirates! Backtracking through the Chozo Ruins for the tenth time - have some Chozo ghosts, would you?
You go from feeling like this cool bounty hunter on a mission to feeling like you're late for an appointment and for some reason everyone in your path wants to ask you directions. Or push you off a cliff or something, idk the analogy doesn't fully work.
I went through the character gallery after beating this and realized there wasn't a single enemy I enjoyed fighting. It was just yup, those bats were annoying. Pirates were annoying. Troopers were annoying. Thardus was a shitty boss with way too much health. Metroids are annoying as hell.
Any difficulty this game does have seems to be based around you having really poor mobility. Plenty of examples of this, but the one that sticks in my head is definitely Thardus - he literally just very slowly rolls at you for one of his attacks, and it'll probably hit you a decent amount because you can't get out of the way fast enough. Platforming sections should be simple enough, but you control like ass and oh yeah, there was a pirate above you that you didn't see and he shot you down, have fun getting back up asshole.
Nearing the end of the game I was feeling a little better about it - I left around half the Chozo artifacts and they might be my favorite part of this game, they feel well hidden and the Artifact temple is my favorite room in the game atmosphere wise. But then after two mediocre boss fights and a ending that lasted five seconds because I apparently didn't collect enough missile tanks or whatever, I definitely soured. The tanks are fun to collect if you just notice them while navigating, and I felt pretty comfortable with having collected all the energy tanks and a missile capacity of 105 missiles. The fact that you need to go out of your way to hunt for them when they're 100% unneeded and extraneous for any combat use if you don't want to get served a big plate of nothing for an ending is kinda infuriating.
Honestly, I was kinda left wishing for a game more like Fatum Betula - a game with just as much interesting atmosphere and exploration but you aren't accosted by little shits on your way to do something more interesting. I guess people do actually play Metroid for the combat so that'll never happen, but it would be interesting. Come to think of it, Metroid Dread had the opposite problem where combat was pretty fun but the atmosphere was lacking. Maybe the synthesis I'm looking for will come with Prime 4.
Really beautiful game aesthetically. It was my first Metroidvania and it set a very high bar - the exploration is good, the movement and controls feel excellent, combat, music is all solid... If I have any complaint, it's that the story is pretty whatever, and the game is, despite being very pretty, not my sort of vibes. It lacks some memorability too, though the escape sequences will always stick in my mind.
2022
I think the very first impression this game leaves isn't great - it makes you think the game is going to be something a little more 2edgy4me than it actually is.
As someone who has only played a small amount of Yume Nikki and its various fangames, this really kinda blew me away with how creative and inspired it was. The exploration feels really good! I like how the worlds are laid out, everything is hidden within another world and everything is interconnected. There's a lot of variety, and plenty of tiny diversions to keep you interested in exploring. The game even changes genres for brief moments, which I thought was cool. Overall, while Yume Nikki, Yume 2kki, and others didn't keep my attention, this kept me exploring and collecting all night.
edit: some of the secrets are in fact very edgy. still think the game is great on the whole though
As someone who has only played a small amount of Yume Nikki and its various fangames, this really kinda blew me away with how creative and inspired it was. The exploration feels really good! I like how the worlds are laid out, everything is hidden within another world and everything is interconnected. There's a lot of variety, and plenty of tiny diversions to keep you interested in exploring. The game even changes genres for brief moments, which I thought was cool. Overall, while Yume Nikki, Yume 2kki, and others didn't keep my attention, this kept me exploring and collecting all night.
edit: some of the secrets are in fact very edgy. still think the game is great on the whole though