d3cker
2022
A too-wide world doesn't detract from the challenge and conquering this game sells to you, to enter the "souls" contract and explore is to find yourself against Miyazaki's world, for better or for worse.
2019
You'll never have more friends in real life than this game will offer you. Or, at least, you'll never take those friends along for a ride against injustice in the way this game offers you.
2023
A surprisingly deep "Battle Royale" racing game with satisfying progression and ranking. Fun for a few minutes, but get your hooks into one or two little improvements you can make in your play, and next thing you know you'll be winning, and chasing that feeling for hours and hours to come.
2013
If I tell you why it's so good, it'll ruin it.
2018
Fair to recognize as an originator of its genre, it still results in a dry game loop and a horrifically toxic playerbase. A game designed around causing suffering to others is not particularly to my taste.
2024
A finely-tuned puzzle game disguised as a poker game. Deep mechanics and progression keep you hooked for a long time.
2023
An idle game with a great aesthetic and great pacing...at first, with an exponential decrease in that pace in the latter half of the game, resulting in a first-exciting and later-boring game.
2019
While it's not the first deckbuilding game ever, it changed the landscape permanently and holds a crown as best-in-genre for many, many players.
A wide open world to explore, endless potential for creativity with the building block mechanics, there's always something new to discover around the next corner. Not quite as finely-tuned as its predecessor, it's functionally still the same game with all of the positives and just a couple of new negatives.
2020
An immaculately polished run-based roguelike beat-em-up about climbing out of hell as an act of rebellion against your father, Hades. The storytelling links into the gameplay beautifully, and every bit of art, music, writing and voice acting are all done absolutely perfectly.
2024
A mostly unexciting ARPG grind with somewhat interesting build choices. A solid time waster, ultimately, but other games in the genre hold my attention more, for longer.
2021
An underrated "soulslike metroidvania" with a dark aesthetic and gameplay revolving around parrying. A little more fun than it looks, still not a masterpiece but definitely worth dipping your toes into.
2020
A hyperactive first-person platformer with intense cyberpunk aesthetic keeps your heart rate sky-high throughout. While much of it flows like adrenaline through your veins, at times it becomes a frustrating puzzle game as you fail at high speed time and time again to clear a room without dying.
2024
Drop underground with three friends into a creepy monochrome "old world" armed with almost nothing but flashlights and a camera with a goal to make a scary video and earn money and views online. The resulting videos are often funny, but never quite capture how much funnier (or scarier) the actual adventure was. A great concept missing a couple pieces that could bring everything together a lot tighter. Will look to check this game out in the future when it presumably includes more content and polish.
Another game that's too much too fast--not even the most difficult soulslikes throw so much choice and so many mechanics at you in the starting hour. I was exhausted before I got to start playing the game, and once I was allowed to (post-tutorial) I was still struggling, but not in such a way that's enjoyable. I know soulslike struggle, but this splits the difference with the worst of both worlds, at least for me.