29 Reviews liked by chris


remember who to vote goty 2022

-prefacing this by saying i did play this in its original intended form although a bit unorthodoxly. i used VNDS to play this on DS hardware but the overall experience remains unchanged from its initial release aside from the compressed audio.

it’s self indulgent while also taking the time to indulge its audience as well. i could feel the author’s disposition behind it. ryukishi gets it. he gets those dog day weekend afternoons where you can attentively hear the birds chirping and the trees rustling in the wind. he gets those chaotic schooldays of youth where the only thoughts of importance were the ones in the present moment. how the world and its characters are portrayed puts me in a spot where i can find solace and relatability within while also appreciating the collective creativity and compassion behind its development.
i grew up (and still live) in a fairly quiet town. if you listen close enough you can hear the cicadas in their prime during the ever-warming months of june. admittedly our community isn’t nearly as small as the benevolent townsfolk of hinamizawa but there’s a level of mutuality between everyone who falls under our umbrella. we know everyone who works at that local barbershop or supermarket, and they know us back. within our pool of classmates everyone knew each other. while my circumstances weren’t on the nose with higurashi’s context, higurashi still transcends its own being and allows the reader to place it within their own sense of self and experiences.
the juxtaposition of the wacky yet wholesome character art modeled against the uncanny photographs presents this degree of intimacy and honesty. despite their contrasting appearances you can really feel the heart that they share; the author’s passion for his hometown is as strong as the characters’ for theirs. the characters themselves aren’t particularly special but i find that to be the point. a small merry band of classmates who try to enjoy every second they share together. i think the slice of life content can be a bit too much at times but it’s still highly endearing in the end and is integral to developing these characters.
how ryushiki handles the horror and mystery aspects as of now is super engrossing. a simple conversation on the phone transforms into a frenzy of mental disparity. love how little bits and pieces of the mystery are fed to the player while their appetite continues to grow as the story unfolds. i’d share more of my thoughts on the narrative…but i think i’m getting a bit ahead of myself seeing as this is only the first chapter. i intend to experience the entire story before i give my complete analysis. i just wanted to express how beautifully this initially grabbed me. i wanna thank my buddy cloudkastel for continuously pushing for me to experience this, while i was skeptical at first eventually he had sold me and i’m glad i’m taking the time to immerse myself. this is a refreshing breath of fresh air. until next time, when the higurashi cry once more.

massive, massive improvement on the original title from a gameplay perspective - where you could still argue the first panzer dragoon shows a bit of its tech demoisms, zwei feels like it has the polish of a game maybe 2, 3 years its younger. to think this game came out in 1996 is simply ridiculous.


some of the dreamiest, hypnotic, alluring visuals and level designs i've ever experienced, dipping further than the dune influences and tapping into something ethereal and primordial at times. revisiting a favorite album from my teenage blunder years - genesis' 'the lamb lies down on broadway' - around playing the panzer dragoon games this weekend feels quite fitting. zwei takes the sort of prog rockish concept album roots of the first game and adds in that pink/white hazy cloud of unknowing and ambience that eno brought to genesis with that record. the final level borders on the outright surreal in a dreamscape comparable in tone to the final boss fight of final fantasy vii - my current favorite video game.

while i was struck by the more video-gamey arrangements of zwei's score at first, turns out the music is effective while standing on its own influences. there were a few particularly memorable tracks - and while i do think the first game's score hit higher highs, episodes 3 and 4's music invoked some of the most bizarre and primal reactions and really conveyed something to me outside of our sense of reality.

i found the multiple routes enjoyable and i think pandora's box is a really neat reward. the ending(s) are the key to zwei's score bumping just a half star smidge higher though - such a bizarre final choice to make that invoked memories of obscure oddities on the playstation like kenji eno's d, planet laika and galerians in a way that put a smile on my face.

rumor has it panzer dragoon saga dives into some metatextual, experimental stuff and i think zwei opened up the potential for that to really work. at first, my mentality was that i would play the first two games "to get to saga", but fuck me if these weren't two excellent experiences in their own right. could definitely see myself coming back to this one.

Nostalgia for an age that never existed

FSR answers a deep and philosophical question: How do walkcels manage to reach places us carchads can access with ease?
The answer is a keymash full of personality and charisma.

This game has a deep sense of style and in my opinion nails everything that it sets to be: a tedious laissez faire affair in an island where nobody really gives a shit about living in a schizophrenic, Groundhog Day 9/11 happenings. Not even the game itself really cares about what's going on in it's own surface, more preocupied with making you vibe with it's fairly boring mechanics and funky "summery" arranges of classical pieces of music. Why yes, I do have a soft spot for Ravel's Bolero

Every single thing in this game strives to sedate you just enough for you to fall out of your chair with a smack on the face with some stupidly twisted revelation, making me wish that the Nintendo DS had a sedative tool implemented on it, kinda like the [gameboy](https://assets.newatlas.com/dims4/default/dbc81e2/2147483647/strip/true/crop/500x333+0+18/resize/1200x800!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewatlas-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Farchive%2F11669_12050945919_3.jpg). Long story short, I wanna be sedated with the DS.

I'm so sorry everyone, but sudafans were right once again, this rocks. May god help us all...

The more I replay this the more I keep refalling in love. The atmosphere, the gameplay, the music, I just can’t get enough and no other game in the series compares. The melodramatic overtones mixed with the contextualized and detailed areas just resonates with me so well. The inherently fun exploration that gets even grander as you unlock more and more abilities, the addicting platforming mixed with tight action controls; it’s all here in full force to make you want to keep playing and playing. I can’t help but explore every area every time I play.They’re begging to have their every detail examined and every enemy obliterated into a bloody explosion. The inverted castle is a bit of a bother to explore but it’s still mechanically fun because of how well Alucard controls and feels to handle. Beautifully orchestrated tracks fit every scenario perfectly and bring out their ideas into a melody of which expands their ideology. I know I may be exaggerating here, but that’s just how I feel. I love this game to death in all its glory.

If you explained homosexuality to Jabroni he would stare into the sunset and go "Ok..."

Chaos;Child is already five years old and yet its social commentary is still as relevant and real as ever. Cleverly subverting the trend of teenagers solving with their youthful confidence conflicts greater far than them (de facto rendering steins;gate, from the same series, far more stupid than it already was), the story of chaos;child revolves around a chain of horrifying murders and the shocking truths that supposedly hide beneath the surface of a modern day media sensation.

Yet, that is indeed just the surface. Chaos;Child ventures into many different territories but at the core it is a work on the excessive power of mass media, internet noise, information wars and the terrifying coldness and the feeling of lack of purpose in modern times. While maintaining a coherent flow, sometimes slowing its pacing by giving the readers many moments of characters interactions, insight and respite to breath in and assimilate the many events transpiring, the plot always moves forward, asking relevant questions about the contemporary world and letting its characters answer them as they see fit. Are those the right answers? The wrong ones? It is hard to say. Living through difficult times is such an idiosyncratic experience that it is tempting to judge and impose our external views upon them, but even though we can express judgment is it really more important to understand and explain than to just simply understand?

Chaos;Child looks upon its characters, their struggles, their decisions, their successes and failures and, like an indifferent, omniscient eye, witnesses the worst inhumanities and never relents. When something bad happens there ain’t no silver lining or positive angle; characters might suffer and then have to deal with the consequences, even accepting their own mistakes, recognize their own flaws and act upon them, trying to better themselves or keep on running away. The underlying heroism in chaos;child does not equates to saving the world, sometimes it is just enough to accept our own limitations and do the best we can to make things slightly less worse for those we care about. As said before, there are no easy answers about what can be done to solve every problem; a tragedy is the misfortune brought upon oneself as a result of one’s own action. Oedipus was a tragic character because he killed his own father and married his mother as a result of his beliefs; Milton’s Satan was a tragic character because he decided to rebel against God due to his own hubris; Miyashiro Takuru is a tragic character because… well, that is the story to be found in Chaos;Child.

The production values in the visual novel are also amazing. The characters’ sprites are expressive, well-acted, Matsuoka Yoshitsugu probably gave his performance of a lifetime as Takuru. The sound design and soundtrack are eerie, creepy, haunting at times; there are many genuinely tense and scary moments, where the tension is so fully realized by combining sounds, writing and acting performances, reading on for too long in those moments might prove painful, yet one can hardly stop as long as the rhythm doesn’t relent.

Chaos;Child should be on everyone’s read-list for the sheer importance of the story, for how well it understands what is fundamentally nonsensical about the culture in 21st century and for how, rightfully so, it has proven to be the heir we were waiting for to the likes of serial experiments lain or kon satoshi’s works.

Remember11 is perhaps the most unconventional and potent work I have experienced in years. It has no intention of rewarding you to engage with it as a conventional story. It's an "incomplete" work. However that "incomplete-ness" is a thorough examination of yourself. What you have to do is take a deeper look at yourself. Remember the 11. Then you will perhaps, realize that Remember11 is more complete than anything that came before or after it.

Pay my 50,000!

The second game in Suda51’s intriguing Kill the Past series. Intrigue is what drives this game and it’s fucking brilliant. Suda leaves me speechless once again goddammit. I went into this with minimal expectations and for the first half of the game I certainly thought it was good, but was a little confused by all the praise it receives from other bros on the site. Once everything came together it was magical and heightened my appreciation for Flower, Sun, and Rain, and Suda himself. In my last review of The Silver Case, I had mentioned that I can’t find the right balance between overtly referencing The Silver Case and articulating my own thoughts which is seemingly ironic now considering that’s exactly what this game does and surprisingly well.

Flower, Sun, and Rain’s iconic monotonous gameplay loop was absolutely despised by critics back in its Western 2008 debut. Another obvious video game critic L at first glance, but it’s understandable I find. There’s a specific mindset behind this game that the player has to recognize and connect with. Playing this game with a strict mindset focused on the gameplay is not what was intended. The gameplay is supposed to be monotonous. A constant reminder of Lospass’s confusing existence and a great device to build suspension. During my long walks between prominent story moments, I found myself on the edge of my seat. These walks only delay the inevitable, which is a simple yet effective method to create more intrigue. I also think that these walks are just, immersive lol. You’re meant to take in the superficial calm and relaxing summery vibes of the island, despite the story’s clear tonal contrast to this. Yeah it’s not that pretty on DS, but that’s still the implication and it definitely works in the PS2 version. Finally, I think the walks also give you time to soak in the story. When shit gets crazy you’re gonna need a minute to process it all lol. All of this I believe was completely intentional which creates an amazing connection between the story and gameplay that shapes this experience.

This was quite a great refreshing breather coming off of The Silver Case’s dark postmodern themes. Suda continually gets wacker as he finds his footing in the gaming industry. Loved the fourth wall breaks as they add comical flair to the story while not taking away from its much higher stakes. A lot more silly things happen here than in The Silver Case which is a bit more my speed despite loving TSC. Now I’m not really sure which story I prefer. FSR has a much better buildup to its main points while TSC has the better main points. It’s very weird to try and compare these games. FSR’s somewhat reliance on TSC both makes it simultaneously better and worse? Not sure. Although this is a spoiler free review I HAVE to express how the TSC returning characters and other shit made me feel. Insanely hype all around. Tokio Morishima I LOVE you. Also Eleki Island’s connections to the Silver Incident fucking got me so excited lmao. So many important points connected to TSC while remaining its own new thing. Although what really fascinates me is how the fuck people in 2008 played this shit on DS. People were probably completely lost at moments story-wise that are very clear with TSC knowledge. For all the mfs who had to wait until 2016 to help clear up FSR for themselves, my hat’s off to you.

Another amazing soundtrack! Great original tunes and remixes of famous tunes. Encapsulates the atmosphere as well as its predecessor. Invokes the paradise-y vibes while still having some of the suspicion present in the rest of the game.

All I have to say at the end of this is, play it! Play The Silver Case first of course though. I adore this game and its insane story. Mr. Mondo is an engrossing character that is our relatable connection as a player to these ludicrous events. He is (or continues to be?????) a great character. Also him finally being able to wake up and not fall over is some of the greatest character development in a video game. Very much excited for the 25th Ward after this.

Kill your past.

Just play Killer7 or some shit idfk

It's not bad, but it feels like a downgrade from Chapter 1 and that's probably primarily because Chapter 1 of Deltarune felt like something fresh and new compared to Undertale whereas this felt like more of the same. I liked it, don't get me wrong, but if I said it was worth the wait I'd be lying. Hoping for improvements in the future chapters though

Edit: Didn't think the review would get any traction whatsoever, but people are asking me to elaborate so. Undertale and Deltarune are extremely different games that both have a unique identity. When Deltarune Chapter 1 came out it felt so cool and worth the wait because not only do you see the characters and world that you missed, but the game also feels like a new experience that is completely separate from Undertale. As far as Deltarune CH2 goes, I didn't feel that at all, it just felt as though I waited 3 years for a patch to Deltarune. That's because Deltarune was released as an unfinished game, and that remains the case here. When Chapter 1 was released Toby said that the next release was going to be the full game, which obviously was not true. Is this preferable to getting a full game release in 2036? Maybe, but it still feels like a letdown when you think about it that way.

Again, the game is not bad, by any means (although I do think that the writing is worse than in Ch1 and significantly worse than in Undertale) it is a nice little game that is fun to play but that's it. The lasting impact that was left from Undertale in particular is not there.

Edit 2: Undertale/Deltarune fandom is insufferable so just gonna delete the annoying comments and disable commenting. Some people cannot accept an opinion that doesn't align with their own unfortunately. It's crazy because I literally LIKE THIS GAME and am a huge fan of Undertale, but because I didn't give this game a 5/5 stars rating I get mauled by rabid obsessed fans. Yes I know about the "Pipis Route" btw

Change the cover art back, dammit! You can even see the disgusting ink pen explosion in the bottom-right.