mashstartbutton
2023
In Cocoon, your character is some sort of insect that is doing something for some reason...I guess? The story is really inscrutable, but you're here for the puzzles and the vaguely familiar, yet disturbing, bio-mechanical atmosphere.
The puzzles are typically situated around the orbs you find. Each orb is a different biome and you can nest the orbs inside each other to solve environmental puzzles. The puzzles are challenging enough to keep you engaged without stymying your progress too much. Most impressively, the challenge and solution of the puzzles are communicated without words or objective markers or any kind.
The atmosphere is creepy and vaguely humanoid with enough strangeness to feel alien. The atmosphere feels very similar to the the description of the world in the Xenogenesis saga by Octavia Butler.
A relatively quick game, Cocoon is a great puzzle game to get lost in for a while.
The puzzles are typically situated around the orbs you find. Each orb is a different biome and you can nest the orbs inside each other to solve environmental puzzles. The puzzles are challenging enough to keep you engaged without stymying your progress too much. Most impressively, the challenge and solution of the puzzles are communicated without words or objective markers or any kind.
The atmosphere is creepy and vaguely humanoid with enough strangeness to feel alien. The atmosphere feels very similar to the the description of the world in the Xenogenesis saga by Octavia Butler.
A relatively quick game, Cocoon is a great puzzle game to get lost in for a while.
2023
What an absolute delight! Venba is a beautifully told story about a family that immigrates from India to Canada and their struggles during the process. The story unfolds through vignettes told over the course of several decades. Although it is a very quick game, it made a lasting impression on me and I cried several times during the experience. The music and art direction are absolute stunners. If you enjoyed the Pixar short "Bao" this game evoked very similar feelings for me. Please make it a point to experience this amazing game.
2016
This review contains spoilers
Maybe Im in the minority, but I don't get the hype. To be fair, Firewatch is a good game. It's just not a great game like the discourse around it would have you believe.
The game centers around Henry, a married man seeking solace and escape after his wife is diagnosed with early onset dementia. The opening sequence of the game details the relationship (and the subsequent diagnosis) you have have with Julia, your wife. Soon, Henry find himself in the remote wilderness as a fire spotter with only his colleague Delialah to keep him company. Over the course of 79 days (only a handful of days are playable - the rest occur via time jumps) you and D slowly start to forge a strong relationship.
The voice acting is phenomenal and by far the best part of the game. The game falters, however, by trying to establish a mystery with seemingly high stakes and resolving the mystery with an unsatisfying conclusion. The mystery drags down the story and ruins the pacing of a pretty short game.
The game is worth experiencing, just be sure to temper your expectations.
The game centers around Henry, a married man seeking solace and escape after his wife is diagnosed with early onset dementia. The opening sequence of the game details the relationship (and the subsequent diagnosis) you have have with Julia, your wife. Soon, Henry find himself in the remote wilderness as a fire spotter with only his colleague Delialah to keep him company. Over the course of 79 days (only a handful of days are playable - the rest occur via time jumps) you and D slowly start to forge a strong relationship.
The voice acting is phenomenal and by far the best part of the game. The game falters, however, by trying to establish a mystery with seemingly high stakes and resolving the mystery with an unsatisfying conclusion. The mystery drags down the story and ruins the pacing of a pretty short game.
The game is worth experiencing, just be sure to temper your expectations.
This review contains spoilers
Spiderman gets an upgrade with some new abilities and toys and a second protaganist (that i prefer more than Peter) in Miles. Unfortunately, Miles doesnt have much shine in the game and it's still mostly Peter's story. MJ also makes a return, along with her extra boring stealth missions. Althought they did make the stealth missions less boring, the improvements to the missions really make MJ unbelievable as a character, but undeniably more fun to play with it.
The story covers the infamous black suit spiderman saga and (SPOILER WARNING AHEAD) introduces Venom as a (briefly) playable character, which made my jaw drop. Here's hoping they do a Venom spin akin to Miles Morales! There are a handful of other jaw dropping set piece moments throughout the game and the story is long enough to be satisfying, but short enough to be manageable.
The highlight of the game has to be the traversal, though. Swinging through the city as Spider-man remains the single best traversal mechanic I have ever experienced, and the the web wings add some added maneuverability.
Im not a big comics guy, but as a casual comics fan I can appreciate the sheer amount of spider goodness in this game. If you liked the first one, this one is better and worth your time.
The story covers the infamous black suit spiderman saga and (SPOILER WARNING AHEAD) introduces Venom as a (briefly) playable character, which made my jaw drop. Here's hoping they do a Venom spin akin to Miles Morales! There are a handful of other jaw dropping set piece moments throughout the game and the story is long enough to be satisfying, but short enough to be manageable.
The highlight of the game has to be the traversal, though. Swinging through the city as Spider-man remains the single best traversal mechanic I have ever experienced, and the the web wings add some added maneuverability.
Im not a big comics guy, but as a casual comics fan I can appreciate the sheer amount of spider goodness in this game. If you liked the first one, this one is better and worth your time.
This review contains spoilers
I accidentally purchased this game and I regret not refunding it immediately. I thought I was purchasing Stray Gods, but by the time I noticed my error, I was excited at the prospect of getting lost in another of Don't Nod's worlds. Life is Strange 2 was the game that got me into visual novel/narrative style games, so imagine my shock when this game turned out to be cheeks.
The premise of the game is that you are returning home to find your missing, semi-estranged mother and get sucked into an alternate dimension populated by personified human emotions. The alternate dimension is being threatened by a shadowy corporation which is also threatening your actually reality. The danger of the corporation is never really identified, and while the themes of anti-capitalism are clear, the threat is not really that ominous. You're basically fighting against Amazon. A series of characters are introduced with weak back stories that I never really became attached to even though the game wants you to believe you care deeply for these people. The story drags on for about 7 hours which is 5 hours too long for the player to get a good understanding of the "world". In general, the story is a very thin and not very engaging.
The delivery of the story is another issue. Polly, the main character, is a prescient, so she can see the future. The future is represented by the augral, which is basically a flow chart of all of the options available to the player, some of which require special circumstances to activate. I found navigating the augral quite tricky ( I was playing on steamdeck) and simply gave up trying to figure out which option was going to influence which outcome. Some options result in cut scenes as short as 30 seconds and having to piece together an incoherent story in miniscule vignettes while arbitrarily picking outcomes made the playing the game more tedious than it otherwise was.
Harmony is not a great example of how impressive Don't Nod games usually are.
The premise of the game is that you are returning home to find your missing, semi-estranged mother and get sucked into an alternate dimension populated by personified human emotions. The alternate dimension is being threatened by a shadowy corporation which is also threatening your actually reality. The danger of the corporation is never really identified, and while the themes of anti-capitalism are clear, the threat is not really that ominous. You're basically fighting against Amazon. A series of characters are introduced with weak back stories that I never really became attached to even though the game wants you to believe you care deeply for these people. The story drags on for about 7 hours which is 5 hours too long for the player to get a good understanding of the "world". In general, the story is a very thin and not very engaging.
The delivery of the story is another issue. Polly, the main character, is a prescient, so she can see the future. The future is represented by the augral, which is basically a flow chart of all of the options available to the player, some of which require special circumstances to activate. I found navigating the augral quite tricky ( I was playing on steamdeck) and simply gave up trying to figure out which option was going to influence which outcome. Some options result in cut scenes as short as 30 seconds and having to piece together an incoherent story in miniscule vignettes while arbitrarily picking outcomes made the playing the game more tedious than it otherwise was.
Harmony is not a great example of how impressive Don't Nod games usually are.
This review contains spoilers
This game could have been incredible, but it feels unfinished. Several characters, including the main character, have myriad outfits, but some characters only have a handful. Collecting items around the Abbey has no real payoff. Several storylines and relationships are not impactful. It seems like someone made the decision that the game couldn't be delayed again and pushed it out the door before it was ready. Such a shame; with a little more polish this game could have been another gem like X-Com.
One of the most frustrating elements is also the most engaging: the combat. The main character has dozens of cards, but every other character has 9, plus a legendary card. Oftentimes, the legendary card is significantly weaker than other cards. Even upgrading cards adds no major changes to gameplay, just random modifiers that aren't always helpful. The cards often don't even compliment the player or the team members well. The player can make their own team, but the archetypes in the game are so poorly defined, it is almost always neccessary to have the main character in the party.
All of the characters, except for the main character could benefit form a rework. For example, Spider-Man can knock enemies into environmental hazards with no penalty as part of his character kit, but environmental hazards get destroyed when used and Spider Man can't create new hazards, rending him ineffective very quickly. Wolverine taunts people, but can only regenerate health by discarding cards. There are almost no reposition abilities (except for a shove that each character can use once per tern IF they haven't already moved) which makes any line of sight or area of effect attacks a constant gamble.
This game is still great - I put 107 hours in it and loved most of the experience. However, although the end result is still fun, this game could have benefitted from some more time in development .
One of the most frustrating elements is also the most engaging: the combat. The main character has dozens of cards, but every other character has 9, plus a legendary card. Oftentimes, the legendary card is significantly weaker than other cards. Even upgrading cards adds no major changes to gameplay, just random modifiers that aren't always helpful. The cards often don't even compliment the player or the team members well. The player can make their own team, but the archetypes in the game are so poorly defined, it is almost always neccessary to have the main character in the party.
All of the characters, except for the main character could benefit form a rework. For example, Spider-Man can knock enemies into environmental hazards with no penalty as part of his character kit, but environmental hazards get destroyed when used and Spider Man can't create new hazards, rending him ineffective very quickly. Wolverine taunts people, but can only regenerate health by discarding cards. There are almost no reposition abilities (except for a shove that each character can use once per tern IF they haven't already moved) which makes any line of sight or area of effect attacks a constant gamble.
This game is still great - I put 107 hours in it and loved most of the experience. However, although the end result is still fun, this game could have benefitted from some more time in development .
2021
Combat in the game is so fun and different than what you have played before, but the story is absolutely nonsensical.
2021
Boring and not very compelling.
Stunningly emotional game. I took an edible and stared at the lake in game for hours. I teared up multiple times playing this story and have never felt so much emotion from a game before. Beautiful story.
2023
This review contains spoilers
Sea of Stars is a game that overstays its welcome. Multiple times I thought I had reached the conclusion only for the game to have another five hours of mandatory story quests. At the conclusion of the 30+ hour runtime, I was simply ready to be finished.
Although the story is long, it is not as robust as one would have hoped. There are a number of characters who randomly appear with no additional context. Even the rivalry between the major characters isn't satisfactorily explained. Some story beats seem designed to engender some sort of emotional reaction to characters but the player probably has not developed much of a connection to the characters in the first place.
The world is stunning and the art direction is incredible. The decision to animate certain scenes was a stroke of brilliance. The world deserves to be explored, but it is often very frustrating trying to navigate. Towards the end of the game, the characters learn to fly - I would save all the exploration until after that development.
Although the story is long, it is not as robust as one would have hoped. There are a number of characters who randomly appear with no additional context. Even the rivalry between the major characters isn't satisfactorily explained. Some story beats seem designed to engender some sort of emotional reaction to characters but the player probably has not developed much of a connection to the characters in the first place.
The world is stunning and the art direction is incredible. The decision to animate certain scenes was a stroke of brilliance. The world deserves to be explored, but it is often very frustrating trying to navigate. Towards the end of the game, the characters learn to fly - I would save all the exploration until after that development.
2022
Although initially excited for the game, the game quickly began to irritate. There is CONSTANT, incessant barking from of all the weapons and the jokes come a mile a minute and not all of them hit. To, be fair, I believe there is a setting to modify the frequency of the barking, but the real issue is the combat.
The combat is just frustrating: enemies in this game are bullet sponges and the gunplay is unsatisfying. I routinely had to empty clips into the same enemy types for every encounter. I wasn't expecting the best combat experience, but this experience was too miserable to suffer through.
The combat is just frustrating: enemies in this game are bullet sponges and the gunplay is unsatisfying. I routinely had to empty clips into the same enemy types for every encounter. I wasn't expecting the best combat experience, but this experience was too miserable to suffer through.
I don't quite now how to explain what genre this game is in, but it doesn't really matter; the game play is not the worst part of the game (although it's close).
In combat, you character automatically attacks and the player only inputs special attacks which are on a cool down and limited to a resource gauge. At latter level, you can find equipment or skills that makes this gauge fill moderately faster, but it's not unusual to rapidly exhaust your ability to use these abilities. There are also additional super attacks linked to a separate gauge and a different resource that are basically useless. Leveling any of these abilities rarely improves the special attacks in meaningful ways.
The game features baffling design decisions such as the ability to replay missions, but limited ability to skip the cutscenes associated with the missions. You need to grind the missions in order to level up and earn more resources, but watching the same cut scenes rapidly become boring. Leveling is boring and anti-climatic since you aren't rewarded with new weapons or attacks - new attacks are tied to weapons, but each weapon has specific attacks it can use. You could theoretically get the best weapon in the game and it not have the skill that suits your playstyle.
The base is large, but usually empty and featureless except for very specific occasions when you can recruit new characters which makes it easy to miss these characters unless you run the whole base after each mission which is usually fruitless. There is also no way to automatically run.
Finally, the ending is abrupt, and while there is some foreshadowing about the "twist", the absolutely terribly wooden voice acting (in English) fails to convey any emotion or clarity.
In combat, you character automatically attacks and the player only inputs special attacks which are on a cool down and limited to a resource gauge. At latter level, you can find equipment or skills that makes this gauge fill moderately faster, but it's not unusual to rapidly exhaust your ability to use these abilities. There are also additional super attacks linked to a separate gauge and a different resource that are basically useless. Leveling any of these abilities rarely improves the special attacks in meaningful ways.
The game features baffling design decisions such as the ability to replay missions, but limited ability to skip the cutscenes associated with the missions. You need to grind the missions in order to level up and earn more resources, but watching the same cut scenes rapidly become boring. Leveling is boring and anti-climatic since you aren't rewarded with new weapons or attacks - new attacks are tied to weapons, but each weapon has specific attacks it can use. You could theoretically get the best weapon in the game and it not have the skill that suits your playstyle.
The base is large, but usually empty and featureless except for very specific occasions when you can recruit new characters which makes it easy to miss these characters unless you run the whole base after each mission which is usually fruitless. There is also no way to automatically run.
Finally, the ending is abrupt, and while there is some foreshadowing about the "twist", the absolutely terribly wooden voice acting (in English) fails to convey any emotion or clarity.
2023
I'm a tactics junkie, and the marketing for this game made it a must buy. Unfortunately, this game underdelivers.
There are a handful of characters available from the outset, and you can "rescue" (buy) new characters during each run. Rescuing new characters does not unlock the character permanently, however. Instead, you have to take certain actions to unlock and some of these actions are quite tedious. You also have to acquire a substantial amount of resources before you can make any meaningful progress. Although this game is a rouge like the repetition without constant improvement makes it a little too repetitive to be enjoyable. Hopefully, they patch the game to make it a little more enjoyable.
There are a handful of characters available from the outset, and you can "rescue" (buy) new characters during each run. Rescuing new characters does not unlock the character permanently, however. Instead, you have to take certain actions to unlock and some of these actions are quite tedious. You also have to acquire a substantial amount of resources before you can make any meaningful progress. Although this game is a rouge like the repetition without constant improvement makes it a little too repetitive to be enjoyable. Hopefully, they patch the game to make it a little more enjoyable.