doritko
4 reviews liked by doritko
152 Shrines, 120 Lightroots.
Still not as good as BOTW, but makes for some excellent DLC worthy of (much) of your time. The resources for building/fusing stuff takes too long to gather for it to be something I would use very much. Aside from shrines and other places where the game was telegraphing me to use it, I basically played the whole game as though it were BOTW.
Sad to see it won't be getting a Master Quest mode.
Still not as good as BOTW, but makes for some excellent DLC worthy of (much) of your time. The resources for building/fusing stuff takes too long to gather for it to be something I would use very much. Aside from shrines and other places where the game was telegraphing me to use it, I basically played the whole game as though it were BOTW.
Sad to see it won't be getting a Master Quest mode.
If this game could exist without the baggage of a truly abysmal UI that seems to be actively hostile to the player, I could actually like it. Instead we get the typically juvenile Kojima faire; grotesquely overrated, pseudo-auteur nonsense detracting from an otherwise very novel and fun sci-fi hiking game.
Maybe one day I'll come back to finish, but all I can say is, I have never played a "AAA" game with a UI this incoherent (unintuitive menu organization, piecemeal quest turn ins, map/route tracing systems with absurd button combos just to use basic functionality). For this alone, I was repelled from the game despite really enjoying the traversal and to some extent the world building/setting.
The hiking/traversal parts are all genuinely/shockingly fun. I quite enjoyed the slow, almost meditative nature of walking around. And when juxtaposed with the utterly TERRIFYING ghosts you really feel the stakes. The world is bizarre and not 100% sensical but it IS fully realized. At times it's silly in such a way that detracts from the world building (the bad guy porters are..... addicted to delivering? *eyeroll* ffs).
If someone could remake this game without the overwrought Kojima nonsense and I'd probably 5-star it, instead, you have to fight through it all just to get to the good gameplay. And I'm not sure its worth the hassle.
Maybe one day I'll come back to finish, but all I can say is, I have never played a "AAA" game with a UI this incoherent (unintuitive menu organization, piecemeal quest turn ins, map/route tracing systems with absurd button combos just to use basic functionality). For this alone, I was repelled from the game despite really enjoying the traversal and to some extent the world building/setting.
The hiking/traversal parts are all genuinely/shockingly fun. I quite enjoyed the slow, almost meditative nature of walking around. And when juxtaposed with the utterly TERRIFYING ghosts you really feel the stakes. The world is bizarre and not 100% sensical but it IS fully realized. At times it's silly in such a way that detracts from the world building (the bad guy porters are..... addicted to delivering? *eyeroll* ffs).
If someone could remake this game without the overwrought Kojima nonsense and I'd probably 5-star it, instead, you have to fight through it all just to get to the good gameplay. And I'm not sure its worth the hassle.
Stray
2022
Before 2022, if you asked me what the cutest post-apocalytic game was, it would have obviously been Pikmin 3. But now we've got Kirby and the Forgotten Land AND Stray??
Stray is great! It felt at first like it was going to be a straightforward exploration-focused game, but there's a lot more Early 90s Sierra influence than I expected. The world is beautiful and just the right size; each time I started to feel like an area was too big to not get lost in, I would suddenly start to get my bearings. The environments are well laid-out enough that I could now point you towards any location of interest from memory. I still wouldn't have said no to a Metroid Prime-esque map, but it's not as harmful of an omission here as it was in something like Supraland or The Gunk.
Anyhow. Stray emphasizes that it's nice to go outside. That there's a need to escape from the city now and then. Which means THIS banger kept popping into my head during my playthrough (sorry @Alexizaki it's not what you're thinking): https://youtu.be/Yvg8p0wKiJo
Stray is great! It felt at first like it was going to be a straightforward exploration-focused game, but there's a lot more Early 90s Sierra influence than I expected. The world is beautiful and just the right size; each time I started to feel like an area was too big to not get lost in, I would suddenly start to get my bearings. The environments are well laid-out enough that I could now point you towards any location of interest from memory. I still wouldn't have said no to a Metroid Prime-esque map, but it's not as harmful of an omission here as it was in something like Supraland or The Gunk.
Anyhow. Stray emphasizes that it's nice to go outside. That there's a need to escape from the city now and then. Which means THIS banger kept popping into my head during my playthrough (sorry @Alexizaki it's not what you're thinking): https://youtu.be/Yvg8p0wKiJo
Stray
2022
Pros:
- Gorgeous art direction
- Adored its cyberpunk atmosphere and detailed environments, they did a great job nailing the intrigue of this world for the short time you spend in it
- The music and audio design are exceptionally good and really sell the whole vibe of this game. For me it’s definitely a solid pick for best OST this year
- You play as a cat which is cute! Movement was fluid to control, it’s well animated, and seeing the world from a ground perspective was refreshing
- The more open areas are surprisingly dense, there’s a lot of rooms to explore even if there’s not much to find aside for a few collectables
- There’s a meow button, you can scratch things, and knock over important stuff like real cats
Cons:
- This is not really a platformer since there’s no jump button and all the climbing is automated, you can’t fall. While that may be an intentional design choice, it does make the game feel a bit shallow and restrictive to traverse outside of the cool perspective
- There are enemies (basically headcrabs from Half-Life) that chase you and you need to avoid. It’s fine, but not really a highlight either. And the stealth sections of the second half I could’ve done without
- Minor bugs like getting stuck in furniture and having to reload, though checkpoints are frequent so wasn’t a big deal
- No photo mode 😭
- Gorgeous art direction
- Adored its cyberpunk atmosphere and detailed environments, they did a great job nailing the intrigue of this world for the short time you spend in it
- The music and audio design are exceptionally good and really sell the whole vibe of this game. For me it’s definitely a solid pick for best OST this year
- You play as a cat which is cute! Movement was fluid to control, it’s well animated, and seeing the world from a ground perspective was refreshing
- The more open areas are surprisingly dense, there’s a lot of rooms to explore even if there’s not much to find aside for a few collectables
- There’s a meow button, you can scratch things, and knock over important stuff like real cats
Cons:
- This is not really a platformer since there’s no jump button and all the climbing is automated, you can’t fall. While that may be an intentional design choice, it does make the game feel a bit shallow and restrictive to traverse outside of the cool perspective
- There are enemies (basically headcrabs from Half-Life) that chase you and you need to avoid. It’s fine, but not really a highlight either. And the stealth sections of the second half I could’ve done without
- Minor bugs like getting stuck in furniture and having to reload, though checkpoints are frequent so wasn’t a big deal
- No photo mode 😭