fount
2020
This review contains spoilers
very unsettling, but that’s probably the point. it’s one of those visceral catharsis games
a good portrayal of one of the sides to terminal illness you don’t hear as much about.
a good portrayal of one of the sides to terminal illness you don’t hear as much about.
2023
janky but had so much potential for turning gacha in a direction that’s not hoyoverse ultracapitalism. unfortunately project moon just loves sweeping extreme PR/management issues under the rug and hoping people forget about them
2015
This review contains spoilers
wasn't originally gonna review this but seeing some reviews... felt i should say my piece, cause this game is definitely not for everyone but that doesn't mean its writing is automatically bad. just that its intention is very difficult to read if you're not used to/if you personally dislike the style.
also, importantly, i feel like people tend to forget the fact that this game was made on a time constraint for a deadline. it is as condensed as it is for a reason. this is a distilled expression of a marginalized experience - it rings truer to those that share it, but is understandably more difficult to understand/relate to if you don't.
this is a game about people that cannot say what they mean because they are not and have never been in an environment where they have the freedom to do so. the characters and the prose surrounding them will say things that circle around what they really want to say - but again, cannot, because they are aware they can't do so without severe, lasting consequence. considering they're kids being stifled to this extent, it makes sense they don't have remotely clear or 'correct' vocabulary to talk about anything emotional, much less orientation/gender-related. every word in this game is meant to convey the desperate yet restrained need underlying the interactions between 3 kids stuck in a world where immaterial concepts of hegemony & social ostracization have been condensed into corporeal Things (God & the Devil) that're now part of the actual physical universe (e.g. voices, physical wavelengths on the radio).
and yes, there are some parts like the drinking scene that are relatively 'normal', but their presence in the pacing of the game reinforce the dynamic between the shaky status the 3 hold as 'barely-normal' kids, and the factors preventing them from being recognized as fully 'normal' by their peers. (because the whole thing is that they're absolutely tagged as freaks by their environment and are all bound for ostracism until 2 of them prove they can be 'normal' by casting out one of their own that's deemed more freakish. or yknow, they choose not to do that, and embrace freakhood together)
yes it's a highly specific (and pretty unpleasant) kind of lgbt experience that's being phased out of current popular depictions of the topic but it is one that still exists and has existed for a long time, across many demographics. i am personally not religious but still felt cathartic playing through this game because i shared that core experience of never being able to express what i want to an understanding & accepting audience, because of any number of reasons - religion for the authors, culture for me.
if i had to describe it, this is a game that depicts the struggles of being lgbt by focusing on the fucked up & 'irrational' emotional states of the subjects rather than the specific events that might've made them this way. (most mainstream media focuses on the latter.)
anyway. fine game. people recommend it for a reason. don't knock it unless you know it!! (i hate purple prose/'tumblr writing' too but this is absolutely not it considering the prose has purpose. like you can still personally dislike it. it's just incorrect on multiple levels to call it purple prose)
i can't defend the mixing however bc the game definitely gets loud as hell. love the ost tho
also, importantly, i feel like people tend to forget the fact that this game was made on a time constraint for a deadline. it is as condensed as it is for a reason. this is a distilled expression of a marginalized experience - it rings truer to those that share it, but is understandably more difficult to understand/relate to if you don't.
this is a game about people that cannot say what they mean because they are not and have never been in an environment where they have the freedom to do so. the characters and the prose surrounding them will say things that circle around what they really want to say - but again, cannot, because they are aware they can't do so without severe, lasting consequence. considering they're kids being stifled to this extent, it makes sense they don't have remotely clear or 'correct' vocabulary to talk about anything emotional, much less orientation/gender-related. every word in this game is meant to convey the desperate yet restrained need underlying the interactions between 3 kids stuck in a world where immaterial concepts of hegemony & social ostracization have been condensed into corporeal Things (God & the Devil) that're now part of the actual physical universe (e.g. voices, physical wavelengths on the radio).
and yes, there are some parts like the drinking scene that are relatively 'normal', but their presence in the pacing of the game reinforce the dynamic between the shaky status the 3 hold as 'barely-normal' kids, and the factors preventing them from being recognized as fully 'normal' by their peers. (because the whole thing is that they're absolutely tagged as freaks by their environment and are all bound for ostracism until 2 of them prove they can be 'normal' by casting out one of their own that's deemed more freakish. or yknow, they choose not to do that, and embrace freakhood together)
yes it's a highly specific (and pretty unpleasant) kind of lgbt experience that's being phased out of current popular depictions of the topic but it is one that still exists and has existed for a long time, across many demographics. i am personally not religious but still felt cathartic playing through this game because i shared that core experience of never being able to express what i want to an understanding & accepting audience, because of any number of reasons - religion for the authors, culture for me.
if i had to describe it, this is a game that depicts the struggles of being lgbt by focusing on the fucked up & 'irrational' emotional states of the subjects rather than the specific events that might've made them this way. (most mainstream media focuses on the latter.)
anyway. fine game. people recommend it for a reason. don't knock it unless you know it!! (i hate purple prose/'tumblr writing' too but this is absolutely not it considering the prose has purpose. like you can still personally dislike it. it's just incorrect on multiple levels to call it purple prose)
i can't defend the mixing however bc the game definitely gets loud as hell. love the ost tho
2020
scary asf
does contain a lot of jumpscares so that wasn't the most fun. still good tho
does contain a lot of jumpscares so that wasn't the most fun. still good tho
2023
bunbun
cute and fun. considering it’s a solo dev with probably another job i think the amount of content we’re already getting is perfectly fine. ebi best bunny
cute and fun. considering it’s a solo dev with probably another job i think the amount of content we’re already getting is perfectly fine. ebi best bunny
those gacha rates were so rough man
2024
tried to go in and see what it’s about but this is literally just genshin with trashier female character designs. i hate how mihoyo is enabling cn game plagiarism culture :|
2017
perhaps still in my honeymoon phase with this game but i think it’s pretty good. i was fortunate to have an experienced friend walk me through the first month, but even that aside i was interested enough in the game to look (many, many) things up myself.
prefacing my review by acknowledging this game is definitely massively better with at least 1-2 friends to play with. that’s just how mmos & life in general are, though.
destiny 2 is perfectly geared towards my current personal interests in live service games. it has an incredibly strong aesthetic sense, blending together fantasy and sci-fi admirably; and it’s very easy to hop in this game, occupy yourself for however long, and hop out. lore is a bit all over the place but i find it fun to puzzle it all out, keeps me engaged with the part of the community that loves this game enough to record and archive everything about it. and to be honest - i never expect anything with game lore anymore, so at this point convoluted piecemeal lore that hits the baseline for consistency might be better for my enjoyment than straight dumping it all on me lmfao
i should also mention, i typically hate mmos with a long leveling grind from start to endgame bcs i almost always start playing games later than my friends & i would like to try different characters without feeling bored as hell, so the horizontal setup of d2 is much appreciated.
what else. combat is so fun and satisfying you kind of forget to even praise it, it does its job so well. pve content can reach surprising levels of complexity even when it still appears simple, and as long as you can pick up a few cues you should be able to recognize when you’re getting into more difficult content. haven’t tried pvp but from my friends’ experience it has options for casual and more hardcore pvpers.
bungie could definitely improve on certain aspects of the game like the new player experience, updating old missions, etc, but you know how games are. coming from someone that’s not used to devs communicating with players, having weekly updates and devs that actually bother talking to players at all (much less tell them what kinds of feedback are helpful, what they had in mind when developing a certain thing, being transparent about when they need more time for an update, etc) is a fucking miracle… lol
oh and the pricing model - it’s also perfectly suited for my interests. i like being able to access the game whenever i feel like playing, compared to a subscription model, where my schedule is absolutely not consistent enough to justify buying game access per month. i initially played during the 1-month everything-free trial period and thought the game was pretty sick, so i got the older expansions during the -70-80% bulk sale and then the new final shape dlc (1st season pass alone version).
but yeah, fun game, i appreciate the effort devs are putting into the game (even if bungie executive choices leave much to be desired… as usual), i’ll probably become more cynical over time but for now i’m enjoying it.
also, final shape was good. love the traveler. not so much in love with how bungie backseated ikora's character but maybe one day game writers will suddenly wake up and figure out how to write women without tripping over themselves. lol
prefacing my review by acknowledging this game is definitely massively better with at least 1-2 friends to play with. that’s just how mmos & life in general are, though.
destiny 2 is perfectly geared towards my current personal interests in live service games. it has an incredibly strong aesthetic sense, blending together fantasy and sci-fi admirably; and it’s very easy to hop in this game, occupy yourself for however long, and hop out. lore is a bit all over the place but i find it fun to puzzle it all out, keeps me engaged with the part of the community that loves this game enough to record and archive everything about it. and to be honest - i never expect anything with game lore anymore, so at this point convoluted piecemeal lore that hits the baseline for consistency might be better for my enjoyment than straight dumping it all on me lmfao
i should also mention, i typically hate mmos with a long leveling grind from start to endgame bcs i almost always start playing games later than my friends & i would like to try different characters without feeling bored as hell, so the horizontal setup of d2 is much appreciated.
what else. combat is so fun and satisfying you kind of forget to even praise it, it does its job so well. pve content can reach surprising levels of complexity even when it still appears simple, and as long as you can pick up a few cues you should be able to recognize when you’re getting into more difficult content. haven’t tried pvp but from my friends’ experience it has options for casual and more hardcore pvpers.
bungie could definitely improve on certain aspects of the game like the new player experience, updating old missions, etc, but you know how games are. coming from someone that’s not used to devs communicating with players, having weekly updates and devs that actually bother talking to players at all (much less tell them what kinds of feedback are helpful, what they had in mind when developing a certain thing, being transparent about when they need more time for an update, etc) is a fucking miracle… lol
oh and the pricing model - it’s also perfectly suited for my interests. i like being able to access the game whenever i feel like playing, compared to a subscription model, where my schedule is absolutely not consistent enough to justify buying game access per month. i initially played during the 1-month everything-free trial period and thought the game was pretty sick, so i got the older expansions during the -70-80% bulk sale and then the new final shape dlc (1st season pass alone version).
but yeah, fun game, i appreciate the effort devs are putting into the game (even if bungie executive choices leave much to be desired… as usual), i’ll probably become more cynical over time but for now i’m enjoying it.
also, final shape was good. love the traveler. not so much in love with how bungie backseated ikora's character but maybe one day game writers will suddenly wake up and figure out how to write women without tripping over themselves. lol
boss fights can be a bit clunky/off-putting, but for a mechanically genre-bending game, some awkward unconventionality is understandable. game more than makes up for it with painfully beautiful ost, fluid yet enjoyably snappy combat, gorgeous visuals, intriguing map design, and plot beats that seriously made me wanna end it all
awesome game if you like ruminating on the weight of your actions
awesome game if you like ruminating on the weight of your actions
2022
i’ll krill myself
2015
loved the concept & execution. actually wasn’t gonna review this but idk why it’s rated so low here? maybe i’ll replay it soon
2021
was originally excited to keep playing and hopefully finish the game. unfortunately turns out the devs not only chose to hide the fact they’re israeli, but told news outlets that the “politics” are disrupting their artistic career. all people would want to see is active acknowledgement of & support for palestine, but instead you’ve gone full centrist artist mode
i really loved the creative direction from what i saw but game’s staying shelved until anything changes (kinda doubtful)
i really loved the creative direction from what i saw but game’s staying shelved until anything changes (kinda doubtful)
2017
i remember being confused af by this one puzzle but that aside the art is beautiful, story is cute (it’s an indie CN > english translation too, that shit is not easy), and overall the game captures that awkward but lovingly earnest spirit of a solo dev project.
also the bonus art gallery is really fun. i hope the dev is doing well
also the bonus art gallery is really fun. i hope the dev is doing well
2019
good game for the genre, devs clearly care about it (but not their international audience haha…) and it’s got clear ambitions with aesthetic and worldbuilding. definitely not what it used to be, however, and for me it lost most of the things that i liked most about the game.
one aspect is stories becoming far, far too long and unrealistic to complete in conjunction with how short event periods are (and how perfectly they tend to line up with exam/crunch seasons LOL). arknights clearly has a lot they want to say but sometimes they’re honestly just saying too much. pacing that might be fine in mandarin becomes clunky and long-winded in english, with 8 hour-long reads not even guaranteed to have >30 minutes of screentime for, sometimes, the titular characters of the event.
there’s more to say but i won’t get into it for now. it’s still a good game, requires some genuine thought to play and team-building and executing strategies efficiently is very satisfying. gacha rates are alright and there are many clear avenues for getting free gacha currency (i’m 4+ years in f2p and have 90% of the skins and characters i want). QOL is extremely good as well, international voice lines are fun and unique, character sorting by faction is fun and genuinely a really smart move for developing character attachments (i’d say they popularized it tbh), many good things remain in the game.
in general, not a bad choice for a gacha game, just lost some of the spark that made me play regularly for 3+ years. yostar is also pretty mid as an international publisher.
might come back to this review later.
one aspect is stories becoming far, far too long and unrealistic to complete in conjunction with how short event periods are (and how perfectly they tend to line up with exam/crunch seasons LOL). arknights clearly has a lot they want to say but sometimes they’re honestly just saying too much. pacing that might be fine in mandarin becomes clunky and long-winded in english, with 8 hour-long reads not even guaranteed to have >30 minutes of screentime for, sometimes, the titular characters of the event.
there’s more to say but i won’t get into it for now. it’s still a good game, requires some genuine thought to play and team-building and executing strategies efficiently is very satisfying. gacha rates are alright and there are many clear avenues for getting free gacha currency (i’m 4+ years in f2p and have 90% of the skins and characters i want). QOL is extremely good as well, international voice lines are fun and unique, character sorting by faction is fun and genuinely a really smart move for developing character attachments (i’d say they popularized it tbh), many good things remain in the game.
in general, not a bad choice for a gacha game, just lost some of the spark that made me play regularly for 3+ years. yostar is also pretty mid as an international publisher.
might come back to this review later.
2018
fun. oof sfx