looprider
2023
Extremely clever. This is a shmup with ideas and a lot of them. If you like when Touhou bosses suddenly throw weird puzzley curveballs at you, like constraining your movement or making you engage with some Level Design during a boss fight, this is a whole game doing that, constantly.
it's fine, but i'm tired of fake roguelikes that just force you to beat it multiple times over to see the end of the story. this genre was already becoming oversaturated with forced progression bullshit and it's now clear that hades' influence has truly destroyed what made roguelikes interesting in the first place.
2022
The most uncharitable description of this game would probably be "a whole game made out of DMC2's Infested Chopper fight" but it does consider how one might make that actually fun, and for the most part it succeeds.
2019
Not really a "Lovecraftian" game as such, more a game that asks "What if Lovecraftian stuff was real?" Doesn't really explore the mystery or the unknowable, it just drops you in a city where all this stuff exists and is normal. Luckily, the detective stuff is pretty fun, and the deductions let you choose how to close a case.
For the best experience, set combat to easy - it's just bad, it's not fun, get it over with as quickly as possible - and skip the obvious collectible side cases. If a case gives you a half-dozen or more leads at the start, it's just going to take you into generic reused interiors and infested zones. Waste of time.
For the best experience, set combat to easy - it's just bad, it's not fun, get it over with as quickly as possible - and skip the obvious collectible side cases. If a case gives you a half-dozen or more leads at the start, it's just going to take you into generic reused interiors and infested zones. Waste of time.
Pretty much an across-the-board improvement over the first game. Better combat, better side content. Still kind of on the fence about the wingsuit, though. It's fine enough - I wouldn't bat an eye were it any other open world game - but the swinging is kind of the whole thing here.
Wasn't really worth the upgrade fee, but I felt like replaying the game and I got to do it in smooth 60fps. Upon revisiting, I was surprised at how weak most of the side content is considering how ravenously I platinumed it the first time around, but I guess an expressive traversal system will do that to ya.
2023
prison city is a competent action platformer, but it's more homage than game. that's sort of the default criticism for modern retro throwback titles, but it feels particularly noteworthy here - it's all references.
the level design is pure power blade - each stage is a micro-metroidvania where you explore to find a keycard to unlock a boss room. likewise, the main mechanics are power blade - basic action platforming with throwable chakrams. so it's primarily a loveletter to power blade, that's fine. i'll take anything that's acknowledges the NES library of action platformers was bigger than busters, whips and katanas. both of these aspects of the game are solidly executed; the levels are interesting to explore and the platforming and combat feels good.
the problem is that acknowledgement is basically all the game does. it never felt like it was bringing something significantly new to the mix. it's just a big pastiche of memberberries - remember the awful TMNT bomb defusal - what if it was playable? remember pong? just about every level, every bonus stage, every boss is an obvious nod to a classic game. as a result, prison city never really establishes an identity of its own.
aesthetically, the game looks great, but environments are often too busy for the limited palette, introducing readability issues where it's difficult to discern between the level design and the set dressing. on the standard "modern" difficulty it's excusable enough, but on classic, you'll end up losing lives to this. similarly, a lot of enemy attacks have the tendency to get lost in the visual noise of your thrown chakrams, which isn't unfair but doesn't feel great either.
i had a good time with it, and admittedly it was refreshing enough to play a retro throwback that isn't just another mega man or ninja gaiden... but as the credits rolled, i was still waiting for the game to throw something at me i hadn't seen before.
remember shatterhand?
the level design is pure power blade - each stage is a micro-metroidvania where you explore to find a keycard to unlock a boss room. likewise, the main mechanics are power blade - basic action platforming with throwable chakrams. so it's primarily a loveletter to power blade, that's fine. i'll take anything that's acknowledges the NES library of action platformers was bigger than busters, whips and katanas. both of these aspects of the game are solidly executed; the levels are interesting to explore and the platforming and combat feels good.
the problem is that acknowledgement is basically all the game does. it never felt like it was bringing something significantly new to the mix. it's just a big pastiche of memberberries - remember the awful TMNT bomb defusal - what if it was playable? remember pong? just about every level, every bonus stage, every boss is an obvious nod to a classic game. as a result, prison city never really establishes an identity of its own.
aesthetically, the game looks great, but environments are often too busy for the limited palette, introducing readability issues where it's difficult to discern between the level design and the set dressing. on the standard "modern" difficulty it's excusable enough, but on classic, you'll end up losing lives to this. similarly, a lot of enemy attacks have the tendency to get lost in the visual noise of your thrown chakrams, which isn't unfair but doesn't feel great either.
i had a good time with it, and admittedly it was refreshing enough to play a retro throwback that isn't just another mega man or ninja gaiden... but as the credits rolled, i was still waiting for the game to throw something at me i hadn't seen before.
remember shatterhand?
2022
One of the best-looking PS2 games. Was hoping for a solid 7/10 B-game but it was unfortunately more like a 6/10. Enjoyable enough, but it didn't quite come together.
The combat is a little stiff, but once you've got things unlocked it starts to feel pretty fun juggling melee with magic and summons. Feels sort of like Kingdom Hearts with some Ninja Gaiden and DMC elements sprinkled in, and it mostly works. Enemy variety felt pretty thin by the end of an already short game, so I didn't have a ton of desire to try the post-game stuff.
Level design feels like the game was pared back from more ambitious intentions - there's some Dark Souls-y backtracking opportunities but there's never really a point, and often the game precludes you from backtracking at all, which is frustrating if you miss a collectible or quest giver.
The story was fine. Pretty stripped down which is fine, but probably a big reason why Valkyrie series fans weren't hot about the game. Aesthetically, on the other hand, I found a lot to like. It's got a strange look, a mixture of heavy lines with painterly effects and a sort of plastic, doll-like quality to the character models, but it worked for me.
The combat is a little stiff, but once you've got things unlocked it starts to feel pretty fun juggling melee with magic and summons. Feels sort of like Kingdom Hearts with some Ninja Gaiden and DMC elements sprinkled in, and it mostly works. Enemy variety felt pretty thin by the end of an already short game, so I didn't have a ton of desire to try the post-game stuff.
Level design feels like the game was pared back from more ambitious intentions - there's some Dark Souls-y backtracking opportunities but there's never really a point, and often the game precludes you from backtracking at all, which is frustrating if you miss a collectible or quest giver.
The story was fine. Pretty stripped down which is fine, but probably a big reason why Valkyrie series fans weren't hot about the game. Aesthetically, on the other hand, I found a lot to like. It's got a strange look, a mixture of heavy lines with painterly effects and a sort of plastic, doll-like quality to the character models, but it worked for me.
it stinks!
admittedly, i wavered between "this game isn't as bad as people said" and "this is a miserable mess" a couple times, but overall, i don't think the story pays off in a satisfying way or goes anywhere interesting, and the gameplay is deeply flawed. it's just shockingly dull. it's certainly never "scary" or even tense at the default settings, though the thought of having to redo the tedious vent-shimmying sections in permadeath mode does fill me with intense dread.
the combat system initially seems interesting, but there's nothing beneath the surface. it's basically just punch-out, but there's no reason to pay attention to patterns or tells - you simply alternate left-and-right to dodge until an enemy exhausts itself, and then punish. every enemy works like this. where it really falls apart is when the game starts throwing more than one enemy at you - the camera tightens so much that you lose any spatial awareness. you can't do crowd control unless they all happen to be standing in a cluster, and you only have one heavy attack that can knock them back. eventually it integrates ranged weapons and a gravity glove and they're serviceable enough.
the story is completely uninspired, relying on the same tired cliches. wherever you think this is going you're probably right. there's no clever twist, there's no subversion, it's just the same old shit. there aren't even any memorable setpieces. despite all that, the boss fights still manage to feel like the low point. there's only three, one of which you fight four times. the combat has no depth, so the only way it increases the difficulty is through adds, and the last one relies on overwhelming you with explosive mobs which just feels cheap.
admittedly, i wavered between "this game isn't as bad as people said" and "this is a miserable mess" a couple times, but overall, i don't think the story pays off in a satisfying way or goes anywhere interesting, and the gameplay is deeply flawed. it's just shockingly dull. it's certainly never "scary" or even tense at the default settings, though the thought of having to redo the tedious vent-shimmying sections in permadeath mode does fill me with intense dread.
the combat system initially seems interesting, but there's nothing beneath the surface. it's basically just punch-out, but there's no reason to pay attention to patterns or tells - you simply alternate left-and-right to dodge until an enemy exhausts itself, and then punish. every enemy works like this. where it really falls apart is when the game starts throwing more than one enemy at you - the camera tightens so much that you lose any spatial awareness. you can't do crowd control unless they all happen to be standing in a cluster, and you only have one heavy attack that can knock them back. eventually it integrates ranged weapons and a gravity glove and they're serviceable enough.
the story is completely uninspired, relying on the same tired cliches. wherever you think this is going you're probably right. there's no clever twist, there's no subversion, it's just the same old shit. there aren't even any memorable setpieces. despite all that, the boss fights still manage to feel like the low point. there's only three, one of which you fight four times. the combat has no depth, so the only way it increases the difficulty is through adds, and the last one relies on overwhelming you with explosive mobs which just feels cheap.
Mediocre gameplay with little variation to the encounter design. Very PS3/360 design - simple traversal with blocked-path "puzzles" as busywork while characters blabber on, eventually leading to Obvious Arena. For all the praise it got for its writing, it's just... fine. Kept waiting for it to get interesting, but it never impressed.
Game itself was technically messy. Glitched out in the menu once, and later soft-locked during a huddle; both required force quitting the game. Multiple occasions where I got stuck in geometry or broke a scripted sequence and had to reload checkpoints.
Game itself was technically messy. Glitched out in the menu once, and later soft-locked during a huddle; both required force quitting the game. Multiple occasions where I got stuck in geometry or broke a scripted sequence and had to reload checkpoints.
2022
kuso sekiro. awful level design. bosses are decent-to-awful. combat is the best element but often veers into jank - your "stylish" finishers often push enemies out of bounds or you off an edge. as short as it is, it's really not worth the time.
2023
one of the better soulslikes, but these games are a balancing act that can easily tip into "fucking mess" and at times this game is really teetering on the edge. there's a recurring feeling (particularly pre-patch) that everything is overtuned - all the bosses hit super hard, they're super aggressive, they're super mobile, and they have shitloads of HP. and there's almost always a phase 2 with a new health bar. even the minibosses are just tediously tanky. it's not inherently super difficult - though it does have elden ring's comically delayed wind-ups - it's just balanced so punishingly that there's almost zero room for error, and that kind of sucks.
i do have some issues with certain aspects of the design (the largest being the skill tree, and what's on it), but most of those would be minor nitpicks if the game gave you a little more leeway on the big fights. there's not much you can do when you hit one of the many brick walls - there's basically nothing to explore, all of the major upgrades are locked behind the game progression, and the NPC specters are rarely helpful. the recent balance patch helped in this regard, but if you thought fromsoft games need an easy mode, or if you rely on summons to get through the tough fights, this game might not be for you.
i do have some issues with certain aspects of the design (the largest being the skill tree, and what's on it), but most of those would be minor nitpicks if the game gave you a little more leeway on the big fights. there's not much you can do when you hit one of the many brick walls - there's basically nothing to explore, all of the major upgrades are locked behind the game progression, and the NPC specters are rarely helpful. the recent balance patch helped in this regard, but if you thought fromsoft games need an easy mode, or if you rely on summons to get through the tough fights, this game might not be for you.
the most stilted and awkward of the supermassive games i've played. clumsy dialogue, illogical behavior, and overused cheapo blumhouse jumpscares with generic scary-noise stings. all of their stuff is pretty schlocky but they're usually better at the fundamentals.
2021
Trial-and-error chase and stealth sequences, instant deaths with long loading times - every moment of punctuation only serves to derail the pacing.
2023
at first i was a bit put off by some of the design decisions - i'm a big fan of "hard puzzle games" (stephen's sausage roll, anything by draknek, etc.), as such, i've been spoiled by quality-of-life features like infinite undo and instant resets. this game doesn't have those, to the detriment of the initial experience - you have to trust that SE are doing something very deliberate here. as it turns out, they are.
to my surprise, i actually see recognize a lot of shmup DNA in the overarching design. this is a puzzle game with a risk/reward mechanic, with multiple loops and esoteric clear conditions. you don't just beat the game by solving all the puzzles, in fact, solving all the puzzles isn't even necessary to beat the game. there is so much lurking beneath the surface that i don't think anyone could confidently mark the game as "completed," but the superficial experience is strong enough that you don't need to go down the rabbit hole to have a good time.
this is the zeroranger of sokoban.
---
(vague, minor spoiler below)
an addendum of warning: like zeroranger, this game also has the "deletes your save file" gimmick at certain point(s). in that game, it wove into the narrative and systems of the game in a way that, to me, enhanced the experience, and crucially, the consequences were basically negligible. i'll defend it in ZR, but i'm not here for it this time. back up your save. it's not worth it.
to my surprise, i actually see recognize a lot of shmup DNA in the overarching design. this is a puzzle game with a risk/reward mechanic, with multiple loops and esoteric clear conditions. you don't just beat the game by solving all the puzzles, in fact, solving all the puzzles isn't even necessary to beat the game. there is so much lurking beneath the surface that i don't think anyone could confidently mark the game as "completed," but the superficial experience is strong enough that you don't need to go down the rabbit hole to have a good time.
this is the zeroranger of sokoban.
---
(vague, minor spoiler below)
an addendum of warning: like zeroranger, this game also has the "deletes your save file" gimmick at certain point(s). in that game, it wove into the narrative and systems of the game in a way that, to me, enhanced the experience, and crucially, the consequences were basically negligible. i'll defend it in ZR, but i'm not here for it this time. back up your save. it's not worth it.