(2024 DEMO MARKED REVIEW BIT, SUBJECT TO CHANGE WHEN FULL GAME DROPS)
Not just a celebration of old games but old internet culture in a really specific way
its about those violent cartoonish crude flash games its about that old deviantart its about that how to draw anime hair its about those oval eyes its about newgrounds its about XD its about STICK FIGHT its about y2k its about that compressed mic and windows movie maker
I value that a hundred percent, a thousand percent
because to me thats the crux of joy with the internet and a digital hum of the soul

Quantifying how i feel about this game in feel is hard because its definitely one of those games where youre rewarded immensely for getting really good at it but I don't know if its Too hard or Too challenging to get everything or if its because im not very good at video games despite loving them and having beat a lotta difficult ones

It could b a lil of both! But idk ive seen ppl dog the fuck out of the green demon and do all the objectives of this demo slice ez pz
So it could just be a me thing,
It's funny like I can also appreciate how this game has Mario 64 inspiration, with the Odyssey way of not booting you out every time you gain a single hitmarker medal(kinda like a star in this game)
But the first moment I was playin I was like "holy shit.. this is almost Adventure era Sonic momentum gaining" until that thought came to a crashing halt when it clicked "ohh yeah wait.. thats a weighty lil dude this is definitely more suppose to be like mario"
All those mario with gun joke things came and went for this babe, all of them

There's really only so many ways you can say "that was a lovely little game" without repeating yourself but I think my main takeaway is that A Short Hike is the game I kind of needed right now. Not in a "This game really touched me at a time where I was emotionally vulnerable" type way but more in a "the game's Ive played lately were too long, exhausting, demanding or a combination of all three, and an hour long (depending on playstyle, 1-4 hours) cozy light platformer sounds really good right about now".

I think a Short Hike achieves the non insignificant accomplishment of being mechanics focused enough to not be a pure walking sim (not that there is anything wrong with being a walking sim, inherently), with a nice sense of progression and discovery with the mastering of its hiking/gliding mechanics + the ever increasing amount of golden feathers making the player feel as if they are conquering this initially daunting island. Having the feathers give you an extra jump each is very simple but works wonderfully in how the environment unfolds overtime. The added wrinkle when you get high enough that your stamina doesnt regenerate due to the cold gives enough of a final complication to make reaching Hawk Peak a satisfying conclusion.

At first I thought it was an odd decision for a platformer where you can quickly glide through in many different directions to be both isometric and have a fixed camera, but other than during the final glide it never became disorienting due to generally good map design and trying to minimize the amount of scenarios where you could be quickly turned around in >90 degree angles. Other than that I really only feel like plugging Nerdietalk's insightful review of the game that goes more into the recent-ish phenomenon of "cozy" indie games. Personally I quite enjoy them, but I can see how they might start to be maligned through overexposure if the trend continues in earnest.

I usually hate 3D Platformers, and Ive never liked any sonic games I've played, so you'd think a sonic inspired 3D platformer wouldn't be my thing but I found it surprisingly enjoyable.

Now, as Maradonna can bear witness to, I got quite heated at times when the precision platforming got a bit too annoying and especially that rhythm section caused my blood pressure to spike a bit. I'm also generally quite shit at 3D platformers, on account of playing very few. I am thankful this game avoided the major pitfall of having a time limit, cause being sent to the beginning at that last level would have made me snap my controller in half.

Other than that though, the levels are cool, the artstyle is nice and music works well so consider it a recommendation I guess. Its fairly short which I think is entirely to the games' benefit and I dont mean that as an insult

PokéRogue has so much potential, I haven’t been this hooked on a roguelite in quite a while now. The mechanics are so simple yet require a lot of strategy, as the game is centred mainly around XP gain above all else. Team building is not as important, as the game is willing to give you decent encounters after the first few areas.

It took me until hatching a legendary from an egg to beat this game but I’ve seen people with a lot of different strategies, and that’s what makes this game so great and even more promising as time goes on. The only gripes I have thus far is how often the game freezes and slows down on you, this is obviously due to server load. I’m not quite sure how they will fix this since I imagine as soon as they ask for any donations the whole thing will instantly get shut down.

I also think the start of the game is too luck dependent on whether you get XP items, and what your rival has at the start, the team follows a formula but the starter seems random between the fire, grass and water, independent of what you picked, and this can ruin runs for no reason.

I’m excited for the future of this, and hopefully it convinces Game Freak to make a similar game as I am no longer interested in the mainline games.

Darn. Was really looking forward to this but this small indie game with alot of style and a talented art director just never really gels together into a cohesive game. There are some really baffling decisions regarding the combat system. I see many other reviews going into how poorly thought out aspects of the combat is, but the bottom line is that its frustrating and tedious. Imagine playing a fighting game where you cant block or techroll (only 3rd strike parry or dash) and your opponent has permanent super armour and spams multihit moves and screen wide command grabs over and over again. Now duplicate that enemy a few times lazily and you have the average Slave Zero X encounter. Why are there no moves to learn except some hidden cheese moves that aren't included in the tutorial? Why are there no supers or finishers? There's a real lack of polish getting all the art and ui and cutscenes to mesh together too. There's flashes of brilliance and real talent on display here, but the lazy encounter design and lack of features make me think this was rushed and merged into a precarious build days before release. I really hope at some point this gets an overhaul because there's a good game hiding here somewhere. I can't believe the one thing I don't really have any complaints about is the characters and voice acting in a story written by a RWBY writer.

Genuinely one of if not the most frustrating action game i have ever played. I will just say now that i am fucking ass at this game so take what i am gonna say with a massive chunk of salt. But, this game is just filled with shit that feels like its designed to piss you off while having both not enough tools to feel like you can deal with them easily or the guidance to teach a struggling player if the tools are actually there. Sorry man i can't recreate evo moment 37 while fighting 100 enemies on a 2d plain so they all stack on top of each other so its not easy to see incoming attacks while an off screen sniper is shooting at me creating a massive blinking red reticle which obscures more of the immediate enemies i am fighting. Only to then introduce enemies with super armor.

This game feels like it has an incomplete movelist and certain moves and movement are weirdly stiff and don't flow into each other. Ex: Up+Y. Jumping feels like ass in this game and there are tons of situations where enemies are falling in the air but i can't catch them to juggle for some reason and the game has no made a clear distinction why. Sorry i am too stupid to break down the finer intricacies of the game and its mechanics and its too niche to have other people explain it because the game does a terrible job at this itself. I got to the final boss by just spamming devil trigger EX moves and then gold burst when my meter was empty to instantly refill. Rinse and repeat, this is the dominant strategy which i would usually try to avoid if i actually found the game fun to play

Incredible art direction that is truly inspired but i wish it was tied to a game that i enjoyed playing

Will try again when they inevitably make more patches to tone down some of the shit that is a massive turn off. If they don't do this then I really respect the developer for sticking to their vision of the game they wanted to make even if i hate it and will likely never play again. I truly hope they are proud of what they achieved here, its not easy making a game let alone one this stylish