omfg this game is the best I've ever played. If you haven't played this game yet this is your call to do so

NieR-ly perfect: Automata-cally loved it

2022

Veeery enjoyable game with innovative mechanics. Isometric, Zelda inspired fighting and exploration game but identifies more as a puzzle game through its core mechanic of putting together the game's cryptic manual by finding its pages in the world.
Towards the end some optional puzzles give it the extra spice.

Weird difficulty spike and fighting a little sluggish. In that regard Death's Door takes the crown. Can be played in No-Fail and easy fighting modes though for the moments you want to focus on the other aspects more.

Somehow every Finch is relatable

This game has no business being this fucking good

The typa shit I'm playing indies for! Experimental, weird, fun, immersive and overall just a good f*cking game. If I got to compare it to other titles, first that comes to mind would be Papers please and Return of the Obra Dinn by Lucas Pope.

There is a reason this game is on top of every indie game list you'll find online

Every once in a while when I return to PoE to play a season it consumes hours by the dozens (if not hundreds) in no time

hands down the best DS dlc

This visually stunning puzzle game has two main mechanics: ever-repeating level copies in all 6 spacial directions and the ability to change the direction of gravity to one of these.

However, for some reason the devs forgot to design puzzles that revolve around both mechanics at the same time. So for most of the fairly easy and mostly forgettable puzzles you are either in small indoor segments you solve by changing gravity or you are outside on a specific gravitational plane where you may use the "infinite iterations of the level"-feature.

Both are really cool concepts but not enough to be fun for 5+ hours of gameplay especially when not even combined and put to use for harder puzzles. It was only enjoyable due to the visuals and because I like maths.

feels more like an idle game than a roguelike from its aesthetic. The heir-system is fun though.

OK, decent indie with a pretty but heavy theme. Climbing is fun and reminds of Grow Up/ Grow Home but less frustrating (mostly). And that is about all the positives.

It's supposed to be played more linearily than I thought based on how it presents itself. The game is essentially comprised of a few more "open" areas that are supposed to be explored for lore connected through stretches of climbs that are extremely linear.

The problem for me was that both the climbing and exploration parts look much more open than they actually are.
Areas look like whole villages but if you break it down it's really just a hallway with a few rooms to the sides that may have a note in it that you won't read anyway.

That being said, just like with most games it makes no effort in trying to get the player to read in a clever way, instead the reading completely breaks the game's flow. Especially since most logs are abundantly located within the walkable areas.

The climbing itself is fun and it episodically implements a few minor mechanics to it. However... the linearity of the climbing parts takes away from the fun of 'trying to find the way' which the game's vision seemed to be. Because of this it's less of a climbing game and more of a walking simulator... just a vertical one.

The visuals are its strongest point. In this regard I have nothing to complain. Pretty looking indie title although nothing experimental. Drew me in to play in the first place.

The story is.. okay? Because it's half told through the logs which it makes not much effort to have them read, it feels lackluster. Enough is explained visually through theme and cutscenes that you can piece together the basic lore but it's a little of a cliché without much of a twist to the 'explore the post apocalyptic world and maybe save it too' genre. It still portrays hardship, death and the struggles of civilisations and communities in a touching way which is definitely something I salute this game for but it can't save the game as a whole.

In this state I can't give it more than half because that's what it does itself.

Mario & Sonic olympia can kiss this game's digital ass

The fact that Willem Dafoe had to interact with a game as shitty as this makes me sick to the stomach