This game looks fantastic, the music is charming and catchy, and it comes with an overall laid-back vibe that I found comforting and adorable.

The combat involves auto-targeting (i.e. you don't get any say in who your characters attack), and that is going to turn a lot of people off right away. There also is no MP in this game; instead, you operate with five "Action Points" that determine what type of attack/ability/spell you can use, and each action takes a specific amount of action points depending on the strength of the attack. Spells are determined by tomes that are kept in your frustratingly tiny inventory, along with your equipment and accessories. These two things greatly simplify the strategy, until you start messing around with crowns. Crowns are this games version of job classes, and they're very important for boss battles. Buffing and debuffing are extremely important in this game, as are equipping your characters with armor that has specific element resistances. You can easily get wiped by common scrub enemies at the beginning of the game if you're not careful, and some of the bosses can be downright nasty for the same reason.

There is a ton of backtracking in this game (basically every dungeon), and while the story beats at least attempted to try and mix things up when you revisited towns, it did nothing for having to traipse through full dungeons again. This, along with a certain boss sequence at the end of the game, left it feeling very repetitive. There's a lot of fun character interactions and party dropping/swapping/moving, but as someone else mentioned your party basically becomes mute halfway through the game and all of those fun interactions just vanish. It takes a lot of the life out of what was already a mediocre story, and I wish they'd kept those interactions going.

I don't regret my playthrough of this game, but a middling story and tedious re-treading of areas ultimately kept it from being anything memorable.

New Release Review:
Alan Wake II is a terrifying mind-bending experience that had me scared the entire time. It had perfectly timed jump scares and disturbing settings that I never felt safe even while in the light. The story of Saga Anderson and Alan Wake was amazing, as it was full of memorable set pieces that by the end I could not believe what I had played. Every voice actor's performance was phenomenal, and this is thanks to the amazing writing and fully detailed face models. The game was absolutely beautiful, even in the harder to see areas. Alan Wake II is the BEST survival-horror game that I have ever played and I have to congratulate everyone who worked on this amazing game. The team at Remedy did a great job and I cannot wait for what they will do next. In the end, I give Alan Wake II a 9/10! Please check this game out if you can!

You're fighting the controls more than anything else.
It may appeal to some players but to me it was just frustrating and not fun.

A more arcadey and forgiving version would be right up my alley.

Nice aesthetics and cool music.

Second GOTM finished for November 2023. What a charming little mech-controlling platforming adventure game! Fun (if a little cheesy or flat) voiced dialogue for much of the game, interesting movement and gameplay mechanics, and a warm and wholesome cast of characters. The overall movement of the mech can be a little over-sensitive, but still had some weight to it and felt like you were piloting a large hunk of metal. The camera control is the weakest part of this game, as it is basically nonexistent (the only options you have are using L1/L2 to raise and lower the camera angle ever so slightly) and is unfortunately highlighted pretty extensively on two important levels in the game. I have a soft spot for 3D platformers of this era, and thus am used to plenty of terrible camera controls, but it was still frustrating. Some of the boss battles could feel a bit drug out, as you only really have two methods of attack and one doesn't do much damage. A good game that is weighed down by some long boss battles and an annoying camera, but it's quite charming and doesn't outstay it's welcome. Recommended little gem!

It’s hard to believe this exists. Its illustrations are straight out of a warm children's book; it's carefully woven to evoke this all-encompassing sensation that you're deep in the throes of a fairy tale, with its most sinister moments only solidifying that feeling. Its effortlessly delightful soundtrack and phenomenally soft, cozy drawings brought such a sincere smile to my face.

Somehow, Square Enix published this dating sim RPG where you can ONLY romance other women. Yep, it’s 100% queer. Alongside its shockingly uncomfortable commitment to abstract horror, staggering production quality, and 90s anime aesthetic inspirations, it is a personal dream game. I cannot fathom how this is actually real.

I’m only just recovering from my first playthrough, but after catching four of the game’s endings, I don't have much else to say except I’m in love with Little Goody Two Shoes. I want to write more about it someday soon, but I am deep in adoration after having finished the game tonight and need to get the word out there.

Please, if you're a fan of 90s anime, love abstract horror, are into magical, fairy-tale aesthetics/music, or are remotely excited by the idea of sapphic love stories, do not miss out on this. Little Goody Two Shoes is wonderful.

Quite possibly one of the worst gameplay experiences I have had the misfortune of playing in my entire life. This game sucks, man. So unbelievably tedious, with terrible movement, terrible environments, not a single thing is genuinely good about this game in my eyes. Constant tedium, collecting one thing then talking to the character. Rinse and repeat over and over again. Bland environments, terribly controlling hyperspace levels, I sometimes wonder if I'm playing the same game as everyone else because this game is unbelievably dogshit but Sonic fans act like this is the savior of the series. Am I just stupid? Do I not get it? Because by all means this is some of the most tedious gameplay you can really find out on the current-day market-- but for some reason people think this game is good. This game sucks, man. I have no plans to pick it back up any time soon, even with the multiple free content updates they've released since. It's staying dropped, sorry Sonic fans!