I don't think there's a lot I can say about Pokemon Insurgence that hasn't already been said. This fan game is one of the most beloved darlings of the Pokemon fan games/rom hacks of the online Pokemon community, and notable because it's been around for almost a decade and has not gotten DMCA'd by Nintendo. In my opinion, all of the love this game gets and it's cult status are very well deserved (pun intended). This game is plenty worth playing nowadays, and that's primarily because of the star of this show, which is, of course, the Delta Pokemon. They are ridiculously well designed and very fun to team build with and around.

Now, onto what is probably the single aspect of this game that will probably make it hard for any new fans to get into... the story. It's gratuitously edgy and dark and not entirely well written in that sort of teenage angst phase way, which makes it kinda cringey looking back on it. If that isn't to your taste, then no harm no foul, this probably isn't the fan game for you.

...but is it kinda bad that I love it for this? I don't know, to me it feels like a similar experience to sitting down and reading My Immortal or watching the Saw movies. It's silly and a little cringe, but it feels earnest and charming, and it's best done with friends on late night discord calls while intoxicated. It feels like a teenager wanted to make a game, so they went out and freakin' made it without ever making any compromises about it's creative vision. And yes, there are soooo many plot holes, it's hard to follow, and in some ways it over stays it's welcome. But despite all of that, or maybe because of it, I had spent more time of my play through of this game having fun than I didn't.

Besides, I think there were also a lot of genuinely interesting concepts on display here even if the execution is rough. I mean, Pokemon Cults were a fantastic idea, and I have yet to really see any other big projects including them, which is a shame because the idea of a cult replacing the more corporate, evil teams works incredibly well with the original Pokemon formula. And of course the aforementioned Delta Pokemon and the Custom Megas are absolutely stunning works of character design and sprite artwork.

So, should you play Pokemon Insurgence? I'd say it depends on the kind of experience you're looking for. If you don't wanna take the plot seriously and/or need an excuse to do something fun with friends, then I'd say go for it. There are very few pieces of art that I can say I enjoyed in a post-irony sort of way, and this is one of them. But then again, this game DID burrow its' way directly into my brain and hasn't left for 8 fucking years so maybe I have some very rose tinted glasses on lol. That being said, I had fun, and that's good enough for me.

This game is bizarro in all the best ways. You should play it if you like RPG Maker games as a genre and are familiar with it's conventions, and/or if you like absurdist humor.

This review contains spoilers

GOD IS HERE. GOD IS HERE. GOD IS HERE. GOD IS HERE.
GOD IS HERE. GOD IS HERE. GOD IS HERE. GOD IS HERE.
GOD IS HERE. GOD IS HERE. GOD IS HERE. GOD IS HERE.
GOD IS HERE. GOD IS HERE. GOD IS HERE. GOD IS HERE.
GOD IS HERE. GOD IS HERE. GOD IS HERE. GOD IS HERE.



It's in the walls now. In the concrete. Looking for my brain. It can't find it because my brain is inside my skull. But it will. It will peel away skin and bone to get inside. When my brain is taken I will come for you. I will break you open. I will take yours instead. I'm in the shadows now. I am seeing you cower. You are already stretched apart into pieces. Your head is already twisted off your spine.

It's alright, I suppose. I had a good time mindlessly playing this in 2020 when I picked this up but this didn't really keep my attention for that long. It's not bad really, just not very engaging to me. I did like it's shiny hunting mechanics from a meta perspective, but I never personally shiny hunted with this game so I'm not sure if I would have gotten value out of it that way.

I REALLY love the aesthetic of this game. The art style and the soundtrack are fantastic! Also, some REALLY great comedy. But it kinda stresses me out for some reason??? It's probably the stealth aspects lol. I'm not usually a fan of them because they trigger my anxiety. So, ultimately not for me, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Honestly, what is there to say about Tomodachi Life? The blend of mundane and absurdist comedy with the ability to put anyone or anything in the variety of wacky situations in this game blends perfectly to make comedy gold. If you haven't played this game, you are seriously missing out. Like many others, I have my fingers crossed that one day we'll get a new installment in this franchise, or at least a re-release for the Switch like Miitopia.

9/10, needs gay marriage ;P

A really fantastic and engaging game. I really liked both the rpg and the management elements, and the art style is absolutely captivating. Something about this game just really scratches an itch I didn't know I had. Honestly, my only hope for this game is that it gets some sort of re-release in higher definition some day.

I really do love horror that focuses on houses! The more ARG/Creepypasta inspired elements were also really, really cool, and I liked how mostly unobtrusive they were. This game (rom hack?) pushes the boundaries of the Doom engine to give you a brilliant experience. The only reason I didn't rate this higher is because there are other pieces of media with similar premises which I felt executed this better, and I felt like the Doom aesthetic shot this in the foot a bit. It didn't quite manage the vibe of liminal spaces for me. But I'm not a Doom person anyways so maybe I just don't have the required context.

If you like Doom, then I strongly recommend giving this a shot. Either way, a neat experience.

Pretty cool game tbh. Disregarding my rating of this for a hot second, I would actually say that I liked its game play, narrative and aesthetic well enough. I just didn't find it very engaging or really latch on to it's game play loop, mostly because I'm just not a fan of arcade style games.

This review contains spoilers

Considering this is a grim dark, almost absurdist-black comedy RPG horror game, you'd think this would really jive with my style. For what ever reason, it just didn't. ¯\(ツ)

An excellent example of how the fundamentals of game design can be used to convey ideas. Very thought provoking if you're looking for a more philosophical experience, but not really a "game" in the traditional sense. Honestly, it's probably best to view this as an art installation using the medium of game design. However, I do think it's worth checking out for the educational value, even you're not into the more experimental side of games as a medium.

This review contains spoilers

Honestly, I feel kinda bad rating this game as low as I am. I feel like it accomplishes what it's trying to do, and I really like it's aesthetic and premise. The reason why I'm rating it so low is because even though I really do love ARGs and ARG elements when used in video games, this was still really disappointing for me, mostly because it's not the game I WANTED. I would totally be down to play an entire game that's JUST exploring an abandoned multiplayer lobby, liminal space style, and the narrative and ARG stuff took away from what I enjoyed about this game. But when you take away those expectations, it's probably pretty okay. Idk this game is free, if you wanna check out an already solved short little ARG experience, then yeah go for it. Otherwise, probably not what you're looking for.

Very cool game, I'm just very hit or miss with puzzle games, and this was a miss.

I think this was the first game I ever 100%ed ^-^' Honestly, it's really good, and it holds up pretty well imo. I'm not normally a fan of the tower defense genre, but idk this just hit different. The levels in the campaign are very well executed for the most part, and pretty much every gimmick changes gamplay substantially enough to keep things fresh. The side content is also has no right to be as fun as it is. This really was the peak of mobile game design before the medium went down the shitter with in-app purchases and the live games-as-service model. If you have never experienced this game somehow, then I totally recommend giving this a shot.