hermanbloom
Gutted on this. Really enjoyed the first and second Ryza games. This one has ridiculously small font size, making it practically impossible to get immersed in the game world when playing handheld. Stuck with it for six hours but then it added another level to the combat system (keys) and the whole thing seems convoluted, on top of just being damn difficult to read. Miffed.
2023
Love the look of it and the voice acting is pretty neat but the Switch version seems to lag badly making the rhythm sections a chore and annoying. Also, navigation in the game is incredibly confusing, ruining any momentum the game generated as I wandered around with no real clue where to go next. Real shame.
2022
2022
It's not you it's me. Loads of people love this game. Given it five hours and, whilst the soundtrack is undoubtedly amazing and the game world seems intriguing, I find myself in floaty combat, or wandering huge seemingly empty areas, with a bunch of orange/red dots that I can't seem to get to on the confusing map. I hope to go back to it another time, maybe it clicks then.
2019
2022
Gave it five hours, battle system seemed designed to make even the simplest enemy a chore by having you swap weapons to match their weakness. And the AI for team members so dumb I had to solo slog through the four boss battles I got to, as team-mates died within 30 seconds. Guess maybe it's designed more for multiplayer? Art was nice, story seemed fine, but got to a point where I realised the system wasn't changing and it just wasn't fun. At all.
2021
If it wasn't for the technical issues (game completely broke after the tutorial forcing a new game, performance issues throughout) this game would be outstanding. Loved the game world, the movement, the voice acting is excellent and it was a genuinely emotional ending for me. So damn good on multiple fronts.
2024
2022
Simple, effective, delightful. Pretty much every second of this game was fun. Controlled really well, levels were different enough to keep things interesting and a bit of a challenge there if you want to find all the pollen etc. And if you don't, it's just a breeze bombing around the levels and unlocking stuff.
2023
Another charming Steamworld game. Works surprisingly well on the Switch. General flow of the game is very good but several times I had to look stuff up as some buildings are in separate levels of menus, some not, so it's easy to lose track at times of what you have built. Very light on story as well. But, as usual for Steamworld it's a well made and simple to grasp game.
Much like the first game, great fun. Refined in some aspects (the battle system was slicker, characters look better etc) and it was cool to see all the characters several in-game years later, with the introduction of some new guys it meant quite a large cast. Didn't think some of them got enough time as a result. The "banter" between the main characters didn't seem as sharp either, but maybe that's supposed to be a sign they had grown-up. Just a bit less amusing as a result. Loving this series though.
2019