jvet
2020
A clever photography game that uses environmental storytelling to explore an apocalyptic future. It’s a game of style over substance, and while it has style to spare, the mechanics and objectives are rough around the edges.
2021
I skipped the Xbox 360/PS3 era, and I’ve unintentionally been experiencing a number of those games recently. I was surprised to find so many similarities between two well known games of that time: this and Uncharted. Both games attempt big things with their stories (Alan Wake has bigger ambitions in this department, and largely succeeds). But both games are held back by fairly simple combat and enemy variety that had to be glaring even back then. The games simply throw more and more cannon fodder at you, which is rarely fun. Fortunately the story is still engaging and an impressive amalgamation of media and influences that Remedy continued refining. In the end, even my frustrations didn’t deter me from immediately starting the DLC and buying American Nightmare.
Fun gameplay with a surprisingly heartfelt story, I ended up liking the original more than I expected and game improves on nearly every aspect.
2023
Didn’t stick with this one. Music was beautiful, but what little story there was didn’t grab me and the gameplay was less novel than it was made out to be.
2016
Clever structure and the individual stories were the right length for the number of replays needed to see all of the endings. However, the quaint story is too slight to motivate me to replay it over and over again with only the slightest of differences. I think some quality of life features, like a fast-forward or skip button and a map of your choices, would’ve helped the completionists out there.
2023
Clever premise that could use some polish in execution. The rules that govern the stories—determining and manipulating them—is the thrust of the gameplay, and the game’s fun and frustration are derived from them. I can’t help but feel that a hint system that guided the player, or locked in panels that were correct, would benefit this game greatly. There were stories that seemingly should’ve worked , but the rules were too narrowly defined for the game to recognize.
A joyous, imaginative celebration of 2D Mario.
2023
I get the admiration, but it didn’t click with me. The timing always felt off and the story didn’t hook me. I think I also may just be bad at rhythm games.