Void stranger is a game about moving tiles

Over the course of a month I spent nearly 50 hours playing this game. I never considered myself much of a fan of sokoban puzzle type games so I was pretty hesitant going into this. Especially after hearing people in my friend circle losing it about the game. I bit the bullet, though, I mean its only like $12 and I like to support weird indies.

A game about moving tiles

I've never played a game like this. There was a point early on where I was hooked. I knew no matter what, I had to see this through to the very end, and I did. I hated some of it. Not the puzzles, they're great, not the art or the music or the writing. It's all fantastic. But my mistakes. Losing an hour's worth of progress, easily. Resetting all the necessary levers to get back on track. I felt like Sisyphus pushing the boulder or, really,-

moving tiles.

It's infected my brain and changed how I see puzzles and video games. An amazing use of the medium that can only work as a video game. I love it. I hate it. It's melted my brain and made me smarter. It's made me more frustrated than any Fromsoft game and more emotional than any indie darling. This silly, charming, genuine game about pushing blocks and moving-

HEY do you like MOON?! do you like CHULIP or CHIBI-ROBO?! Do you like QUIRKY and WEIRD and HEARTFELT?! Play 24 Killers!

It's super easy to look at 24K and just call it "indie 2023 Moon Rpg" and write it off. However, I think this game uses this very obvious love-de-lic inspiration and creates something new that can stand on it's own legs.

Everything in 24 Killers feels dreamlike. From the music, to the art, the dialogue, and even the dream-logic of the world and puzzles. But 24k never feels "lul random xD" because the game has a very stable internal logic.

The very opening moments of the game are bizarre but setup consistent world-building and character moments. We learn about Johnny Puzzle (the puzzle and contraption-loving dog), Mole (a giant friendly mole), Moon (some sort of extraterrestrial being calling the shots), and finally the player character Home.
Home is an echo. You don't really know what an echo is at the start, but you know it's a hand with an eyeball on it and a little wiggly tail. And you dive right into the corpse of a soldier. Home doesn't like this and wants to get away from all these annoying monsters ("mons" in the game's lingo) and starts to fight off all of them before Moon knocks them out.

Usually in love-de-lic games and other "cozy" games like this, the player character is nice, but Home is kind of a jerk! And that's what makes this game so nice to play. Seeing how Home reacts to the shenanigans, seeing how they grow and learn. Helping uncover this mystery. Diving into the bizarre dream-logic world and trying to genuinely help these people. When the sentient spider-mocha pot tells you that it's depressed and lost in life because the coffee plant outside is dried up and dead, it's not a random joke but a problem that you want to solve.

24 Killers isn't a very long game. That's a plus for me, I'm an adult with little time. I completed the game in about 8 hours and there is some.... very interesting replay incentives, but I can see that being a turn-off for some folks.

I adore this game and I want more like it. Games like this inspire me. To be more creative, to be more honest, to be more genuine, to be more weird, to love myself and others more. It's a beautiful game.

Illbleed controls poorly, the writing is shoddy, the characters are flatter than cardboard, even for dreamcast the game doesnt look good, the music is grating and repetitive, the gameplay feels half-baked... but I cannot help but adore this weird little game.

I played Illbleed as a "devil pact" with my partner as we take turns playing "bad" video games to watch each other suffer. However, the more I played of the game the more I loved it. It's just so absolutely unique and insane that I couldn't help but be charmed by it.
The stilted voice acting (by most of the Sonic Adventure crew) and awful writing just made every joke (and unintentional jokes) hit so much harder.
The clunky controls and gameplay made the game feel unique and ambitious.
The visuals look terrible but with the plot device of the game being a shitty amusement park, they never broke my immersion. Plus all of the AMAZING textures for signs.
Sure the music is bad, but its the kind of bad that is so fun to make fun of.
Illbleed has so many memorable moments and is such a genuinely bizarre and fun time that I HAVE to give it a 5/5 because I'll never forget this game.