I've come here
From beyond the bounds of science
I didn't come with a leek
But I wouldn't mind having one


I love virtual singers. My favorite composers and songwriters all use them, and I'd like to say I'm very well versed when it comes to this kind of music. As artistic tools and instruments, it's kind of overwhelming how much potential these voicebanks have. The same song put in two different people's hands can wind up having insanely different reflections, if tuned right. I've heard vocals that sound near identical to a humans, I've also seen them sound so rough and robotic that words are barely legible. Which producers I like, the songs I enjoy, tracks that make me cry, I can talk about those all day if you let me. The history of Vocaloid in general is a very interesting and pervasive one. Does this game do a good job of upholding it?

Kind of. As a game, its incredibly fun. More of a rhythm game than Project Diva, which SEGA has long since chucked into a ditch. I know this style of mobile rhythm game has been done many times in other places, but it works perfectly well. Its all dependant on your ability to follow the beat of a song and tap the notes in tune, unlike in Project Diva where it was more of a battle against the controller (hit x + y + b? What the fuck are you talking about?) since of course, being originally develeoped for an arcade cabinet, it was never going to feel especially good on consoles. This however, being made for mobile, makes the experience leagues better. And the tracklist is insane. Such good picks, a huge range of styles and producers to chose from that doesnt just rely on the classics. Modern Vocaloid producers are insanely talented so I'm more than happy that Sekai keeps up with the current music.

My biggest complaint with this game is how they treat the overall legacy and dignity of the songs they chose, as well as Vocaloid in general. The plot of this game is that of these 5 (human) groups, each supposedly representing a style common in Vocaloid music. Their lives are a wreck but one day their phone flashes and theyre teleported to Miku World, where Miku herself helps these wayward teens through whatever it is they are going through on that particular day. I understand that this game is marketed to young adults, they have to keep Vocaloid relevant, and they also have to sell marketable characters for gacha. But man. I dont give a single shit about any of these people. Some of them are ok, even sweet!- like leo/need is cute. The writing for their stories isnt bad or anything, but the problem arises when they shoehorn these (fake) characters into songs made by real people, with real problems, making it seem like the song is about the characters. Some ditzy idol MitchieM song, ok whatever, but a lot of Vocaloid music tends to be very personal, philosophical even. I feel like its INSANELY disrespectful to overwrite the intentions of the artist to shoehorn in your gacha ocs. Especially with the "depressed" idol group, which they couldnt even be bothered to tackle social issues or anything important besides "my mom makes me do stuff" or "I'm an artist and my brother is annoying" or, confusingly, "my dad is in a Music Coma and its ALL MY FAULT" (relatable, to someone, surely). When a great deal of these songs are about real people's sadness and feelings, I cant help but feel gross seeing Purple Anime Girl #1 cover something like Hated by Life Itself. And they dont just make these people cover these historically important songs, they also create whole new music videos with the Sekai characters pasted over whatever was originally happening? What? How is that right? Even just historically, those original and Project Diva MVs are very important to the culture and rise of the artform. Why paste fucking Mizuki over the video for Hello Worker? She cant even fucking work shes a CHILD. HOW does she relate to the song at all? If you cant properly tackle why a teenager would want to jump off a bridge (as a few producers have wound up ending their lives or passing away otherwise) maybe dont make your bimbo gacha teehee heehaw teen sing a whole song about it. Even regular tracks, if you're already making music FOR the game anyways just keep them out of it.

It makes me a little sad seeing as how this is a lot of children's/young adult's first impression of virtual singers, since I've already heard tales of people playing this game and not knowing what Vocaloid is, somehow. The relevance of Vocaloid, CeViOs, UTAUs, you name it- has been going strong since it's inception two decades ago. All thanks to the very talented and beautiful people who continue to make music utilizing them, and disregarding Sekai, that is not going to change for a long while. If this stupid little app won't celebrate Miku like she DESERVES, well then... I guess its up to me. I fucking love you girl, keep on bein your twin-tailed self. No one can take your spotlight.


I understand that you still can't see what I look like
But I'm alive.
I talk with you.
So across the wall of virtual reality
Inside the flood of information,
I want to go on evolving,
you and I together.

I love this dev. They come up with such smart and high concept ideas, and though this didnt hit in the way 7 Days did for me, I still enjoyed the time I spent with it. Normally, personality tests as a concept are something I don't particularly subscribe to (especially as a gameplay format), but in the case of Refind Self it works incredibly well. Playing as an android, simultaneously teaching her humanity while also exercising your own freedom of choice is a very endearing route of storytelling. The grief and kindness expressed through the options you chose, the limited amount of time you have to play reflecting the wind-up android's existence... as seems to always be the case, this dev is very careful and smart in the way they go about presenting their world. I love their artstyle, love the philosophy behind it. The only thing I could say these games lack is music, as each only has a few tracks (few meaning 2 or 3) that don't loop especially well. Highly suggest this dev's catalog for anyone looking for a unique and short, lovingly crafted experience. Really excited to see what they put out next ☆

I have put off re-reviewing this for months. Partly because I dont have the words to express the hold this game has over me, and partly because every time I start thinking about it I get too excited. I havent felt this way about something in a long time, likely since I was a girl in the height of my infatuation with Ace Attorney.

This game is just absolutely astounding, from all angles. There is nothing it does poorly and nothing I would change. I didnt really understand the draw of roleplaying till now, which was the downfall of my first experience, but it is absolutely incredible the things you can learn about yourself pretending to be someone else. Thats not something I can say about any other game, ever. And I can only feel just so grateful, because it's given me so much joy over the past 3 months. Its barely left my mind at all, which feels like an issue at times. I dont know if I'll have an experience like that ever again, after all I created the perfect character and ran through the campaign as him, twice. More or less doing the same thing because I just enjoyed what I had made so much. It grieves me that I kind of have to let go of it, its one of those games that was painful to finish because I just got so attached. It feels like mine, and its one of those autistic things where I cant stand it when anyone else brings it up cause you and I definitley dont see it the way, like a dog hyperaggressive over its food. Specifically dark urge, which feels like it was tailor made for me. Its all so special and I care about it very, very much.

Everyone who worked on bg3 is immensely talented. It's kind of staggering just how talented everyone is. There is not a single voice actor that preformed poorly or out of place, the text is immaculate, nearly every single decision one could make is neatly planned for and has a script. It is just perfect and I could marvel at it forever, cause it really is a feat of human accomplishment to me. The driving force behind my love for this game though is of course the cast. I adore absolutely everyone (minus you Minthara I will always kill you and take your clothes), there are so few games that manage to pull it off, that take you through a journey so long and so profound that you feel a sense of family. Withers' after party is the perfect amalgamation of all this, the joy I felt seeing everyone happy, finally grtting to live their lives was unmatched. Going through the letters of the people you met along the way and seeing that theyre all alright. Astarion specifically holds special meaning to me but I cant talk about that I get too protective. It never fails to make me tear up thinking about it and always makes me feel so grateful that this is in the world and that I got to experience it.

Immensely love all my friends and Scratch and Owlbear and that one weird ox I didnt get to see in act 3 because it glitched out. I will think about you all forever, an autistic girl's promise

The joy of destroying an upper classman's home, with zero of the consequences and all the benefits of being a small dog

Cute, short free game! The trainees who made this definitely show a lot of promise, solidly constructed with an adorable premise and a lot of heart to boot. I could see this concept being fleshed out more in a full release, but for what it is they definitely hit all the marks. A silly doggy mud demolition sim, cant go wrong. Bonus points for letting me wear hats.

As a note, it barely functions on the steamdeck and the sound did not work. I couldnt really enjoy it to the most of its potential, but I'm glad I checked it out regardless!

My apartment building that I live in is meant for very, very old people who live off government income checks. Now, I am a very young person who just so happens to live off social security, but that does not make me immune to the rigorous rules set by the building for these older folks. One of the biggest annoyances is that every major announcement is conveyed to us through papers put in your door handle instead of an email or some shit, even more annoying is that the announcement can range in seriousness from "stop throwing boxes down the garbage shoot" to "tomorrow there will be a room check". I dont know what it is about being old but apparently they dont deserve any autonomy or privacy as these room checks consist of two men storming your apartment, literally manhandling every appliance to make sure it works. They have to open the windows to make sure they open. They have to go in your closet to make sure the door isnt falling off. It is bureaucracy at its finest.

Now, anyone who knows me understands that I have severe contamination ocd. So does the building manager, Lisa, who feels very very badly for me and tries to help whenever she can. However, she has to manage 200+ apartments with only one assistant so she is very overworked. One of these room checks happened to me last Tuesday, where Lisa herself came and checked out my room respectfully. But she did not convey she would be helping me until that day, the announcement for said room check came the previous week with a mere 24 hour notice. Between the days of Wednesday to Friday, 9-4, your room could potentially be invaded so better keep it clean, bitch. So what is a girl to do while she waits for her worst fear to unfold for 7 hours a day? Play Minecraft with her bestie, duhh.

Last time I interacted with Minecraft was in late elementary school, where my biological father's girlfriend and my grandma purchased separate copies for me because no one was smart enough to write down my account password. I also only played it twice on a computer, but I did have the app version of it on my ipod that I would mess around in before school. I was very interested in all the new shit that must of been added over the years, more than I was kind of embarrassed to be playing this as an adult.

Its very fun. Obviously, theres a lot to do. I like a game that doesnt hold your hand too much and has lots of ☆secrets☆ to offer, and after being updated all these years there sure is an unprecedented amount of concepts in the game. I like building a lot, I enjoy the comforting feeling of going back home to your house you spent 50 hours making. All the ingame animals make me very happy and I wish I could interact with them in more ways, the music is also stellar. I definitely would not enjoy this game so much were I playing it by myself, but luckily Hildas got my back and is always there to help me when I fall into a pit or run off a mountain.

Unfortunately I of course have the switch version, which of course fucking sucks. Chunks load very slow. Connecting with Hilda is very slow. Its not updated to the extent of Java which is also a bummer. You cant have custom skins which is also incredibly lame. Its very tedious to menu with a controller, and the constant autosaves make us both lag out for minutes at a time. I also have some issues with the base game in general as well, number one issue being fall damage which I think is taken too easily. It simply feels better to be moving around the map at mach speed, so to be punished for falling 3 blocks or so feels rather like being hit on the hands with a ruler, just lemme have my fun smooving. Its tied to my second biggest issue, which is that you get hungry way too fast and your health only recovers when its all the way full. Its as obnoxious as it sounds to be stopping every 5 seconds to eat a carrot.


Otherwise, its Minecraft. Im kind of very impressed its still around and cemented as one of the biggest games out there. A lot of the micro transaction shit is clearly driven towards the younger Roblox demographic, which is really hard to look at every time I turn on the game, but aside from that its still the fun block game I remember from when I was younger. I'll always associate this with the 3 anxiety-ridden days I spent playing with Hobo, slapping her into pits and breaking all her shit. Riding horses into her house. Threatening to blow up her house. Killing her slowly with projectile eggs. Abject terrorism is in my nature.

A fantastic dlc that proves above all that Splatoon 2 truly outshines the rest of the series. Per 3's track record, I was honestly expecting just a rehashed version of the glory Octo Expansion brought us. A similar storyline copying level designs and gameplay from that era of the series, unlocking the ability to play as a sanitized octoling afterwards. I didnt think much else was going to come of it but I'm very happy I was wrong. Pearl and Marina are absolute delights and I'm so glad to see them presented so well. Their style, stunning. Their personalities even more so. Eight is also my favorite protagonist and I love that they kept the kind of sexual swagger Octo Expansion had with Eight's bdsm latex bodysuit thing. It is nice to see the series progressing their cast instead of just kind of freezing them in the past, and I loved seeing different sides of the 3 of them. Acht is cool as well, but I was very distracted most of the time by how hard they were going on Marina and Pearls apparent love for each other. I never say this about anything, especially Nintendo games, but to me it seems very obvious that they're supposed to be presented as a couple. Its a shame they will probably never openly admit that, but I appreciate the concept regardless.

People hate rougelites but gameplay-wise I had a looot of fun. The concept of the spire is smart, and as a very (very) damn good Salmon Run player I had a great time with the difficulty even if I can clear through the 30 floors, no sweat. I love the color chips changing your ink color, I love how broken you can build some of the weapons. The aesthetic, the enemies. Its everything, I absolutely loved it. Exceptions include having to clear the spire with the fucking gatling gun and Eight's horrible horrible palette, but otherwise I was having a ball through and through.

Definitely worth it, reminded me of why I like this series to begin with. Splatoon 3 is a horrible step in the wrong direction, needlessly unfun, and bland as all hell but at least now it has this. Hooray!

Today, there are little flowers blooming where there were none yesterday

Thats the kind of discovery that warms my heart, you know?


2010 and there is a little girl who wakes up on a Saturday at 5am in her grandma's house. She runs downstairs before the suns risen and before anyone has woken up, a novelty. Like she is the only one there, like it is her house. She makes cereal and watches tv, to the left and through the sliding glass door she can see the sun coming up. At grandma's house the sun always rises in oranges and pinks. The neighborhood is always quiet and always confined. Throwing away the plastic bowl, she walks out into the living room, turns on the tv, turns on the wii. Sets the setting to hdmi 2 and grabs her remote. And she plays this.

Impossibly beautiful and forever welcoming. City Folk and its open spaces, delightful music that defines an hour of your life. Your neighbors that seem to have an unlimited amount of things to say, sending you letters, asking after your other characters, pushing them into pitfalls regardless because it is funny every time. And to this child, it was very real, and deeply mysterious. You could spend hours doing nothing but I remember it all so well, feeling giddy after ordering 50 wheat fields and placing them in my house, walking and hiding in them. Dyeing my hair cyan in the hair salon, feeling rich if I managed to buy one thing at Gracies. Time hopping to winter so I could build an awful snowman. Making constellations with Celeste, in awe of all the colors and the way the stars shined.

At school, it is now recess. Today, I have brought a stuffed dog to school named Moo. It was my father's but he cared little for it, so it is now mine. Unlike my father, I will take care of Moo. I will not abandon him, or treat him like he is nothing. He comes with me everywhere and I hug him on the bus when I know he is scared, because I can feel what he feels and it is something other people can not grasp. I have many other stuffed animals at home, and they all take turns coming with me. There is a tree in the recess yard. All the kids jump on it and stab at it with pencils, and I remember that I felt like something was burning inside me. That tree was no ones friend and no one saw it, but I would and I did. I sat with that tree every day, talked to it and loved it. As an adult I can recognize now that the teachers were always looking at me because I never played with any of the other kids. This little girl cried a lot, she wanted to go home a lot. She had meltdowns and bit other kids. And children pick up on that, and I knew that they knew that there was something untouchable about me and that they should stay away. I never had any friends. But still, I was so loving. I loved everything and wanted to understand everything. I would be a friend to something like myself, like that tree, but still they could never talk back.

But, the villagers in City Folk could. They talked to me like they were real, like they knew me. I listened to them and loved every second. I fell in love with Rolf and bombarded him with letters asking him to marry me, I adored Friga and her mature attitude that I didnt quite understand yet but compelled me nonetheless. I played in Frobert's house a lot because the colors were so pretty, and he had a frog chair. I loved every detail of every little thing about them, and it was something only a child could experience. But it also hurt too, because once more as much as I loved them I knew that they could never sit with me and give me a hug, or push me on the swing or make me a bracelet, any of the many things I saw other girls my age doing. And I didnt know it at the time, but I never would feel that. I would never have any friends. For two decades, I would be alone. And into the years which should of been the best of my life, I would lose the ability to leave the house. I would lose a lot of things that I was otherwise proud of. And I begun to feel like something like me might never be understood or loved at all.

That child in me never really died, sometimes I still feel her sitting in a field behind the school, bawling her eyes out at an impossible lonliness that children really dont ever feel.

But a year ago, to this day, I sent someone a message. We had a lot in common, I thought, and I was so desperate for friends. I had just moved into my first apartment and I was so lonely and scared. I stayed up till 1am listening to my cat wailing and talking with them. I did not know that this person would turn out to be my best friend, my first friend. I was just excited to talk to them the next day. And the day after that. For hours, the whole day even. All the time, for a whole year, they spoke with me. They never once let me be alone like I was. And even though I've never had the chance to speak much, and I might be annoying at times, they have never once held that against me. I can be with them, talk with them about things I like, play games with them. And they listen to me, enjoys having me there. Wants me to be there. Impossible.

Later, I met two other people. They celebrated my birthday with me and I dont think I ever smiled as much as I did on that day. And it was the first time I ever had a party with friends, had someone to remember my birthday. And even though they arent with me physically, I was still so happy. I wont ever forget that. Two days ago, I spent the weekend watching one of them play Bratz all day and we were laughing and having fun. And I thought that a year ago, this would not be possible. A year ago I was much less of a person and more like a slave. But now I have people to talk to, people I respect, people that make my life worth living. And even though I still want to know what its like to be hugged, to have a friend physically there, im still so happy. And I can not believe someone in my position got so lucky as to meet these people.

To Nicole, I love you sooo much. You are such a bright and loving person. You are endlessly talented in so many things, so kind and so thoughtful, everyone should be taking notes. Thank you for all the happy memories you have given me over the past year, and for everything youve done to help me.

And to Hilda, thank you so much. Even though you say you wish you could do more for me and you wish that you were more, I sincerely do not care. Because every day I am excited to wake up and talk to you. You make me laugh every day, you are so funny and beautiful. I am so, so proud to call myself your friend and I am so happy to be liked by the both of you. You have changed my life considerably.

For my first year of being on my own, and the first year ive been on Backloggd, I can not be more pleased. I am still not all together free of the ocd that forced me here, and part of me still feels trapped and lonely. I want to experience the things other people my age take for granted. Ive never been kissed, I've never gone to the mall with my friends. Things like that, but for the first time in my life I can at least finally feel content. And I feel like no matter what happens, I will have always people to go back to, people who care. Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.


So, it's good to appreciate the times where you've got nowhere to be and nothing to do

A very bittersweet game, genius in it's execution. Taking the place of a person with amnesia, you must learn an unknown language only based on context clues from your caretaker. There are few handouts, and how you come to understand the language and what you intrepret from it is fully up to you.

There are very few games in this world that click with me like this game did. The open trial and error of trying to desipher the few rooms you get to work with was so much fun, and so endearing. I kind of wish this imaginary language was real so that I might of learned something, because while I struggle learning languages traditionally I had an absolute blast here. The satisfaction of piecing together a sentence and fully understanding it all on your own is immense, and I wish there was more of it. Its a short game on its own, though youre encouraged to play through it multiple times as you learn new words and can comprehend more of what your caretaker is saying. Knowing more about this game is worse I'll say, because while it is useful to know about what rules and structures this game's grammar follows, it also kind of sucks the enjoyment out of figuring it out on your own.

You are only spoken to in three words per sentence, though nonetheless the game is very touching. There is something very simple and comforting about it, almost feeling childlike. The joy of being able to understand someone, even vaugely, is reflected in the other's relief at finally being understood. It is gratifying and sad, left me wanting to see more. For its limited amount of words, it still manages to build something up around you and leaves you in constant discovery. The only downside is that there are only 2 or so music tracks in the game, which play on loop constantly. Grating sound design aside, I very much enjoyed playing this fresh attempt at a puzzle game. I will be keeping an eye on this dev, for sure.

This is one of my rare short reviews because I only played this for 40 minutes or so, but playing this was just so off putting. It screamed "what if majora mask + yume nikki = anime" and the writing pretty much reflected that too. It felt like it was attempting to be deep or reflective without actually having the experience to be deep or reflective. The writing resembled what you would find in really generic and obnoxious jrpgs. Some of the art potraits felt suspicious. Theres a huge hallway with repeating images of the happy mask salesman's face. At a certain point, how interesting something looks visually can only make up for the atmosphere so much, when you're borrowing so many ideas I want to know why I wouldnt rather just go play Yume Nikki (or Majoras Mask) instead. The concept for Night Loops is interesting but it feels like it got lost in its inspiration instead of focusing on what it actually is. That weird sheep who spoke in a shitty Brooklyn accent did not help.

Stardew Valley is a charming and wonderful game. When it first came out, I played it so much that I started losing feeling in my head and I had to see a doctor. Stardew Valley is great for all the reasons you've probably heard of over the years, but this is not really a review for Stardew as much as it is a vehicle for the discussion of farming games.

I like to keep up with the latest ""cozy"" game releases because sometimes I'll find something that looks really interesting, but let me tell you, there are. so. many. farming games. There are so many farming games. And do you want to know how many farming games manage to at least do something vaugely different from Stardew? 0. Harvest Moon started it and Stardew basically perfected this specific atmosphere and formula, and now it seems like every developer is rushing headlong to depict that same exact kind of magic Stardew has without even managing slightly.

And I get so heated because, fucking what? It's a genre of game based on harvesting food and you can really only think of one exact scenerio and one exact way to go about doing it? People have been foraging and farming for an absurd amount of time, there are hundreds of ways and techniques to go about doing it that could be fun when projected into a video game. The art of forgaing specifically, nurturing and coursing nature into producing more food, seems like it would naturally go hand in hand with the themes farming games tend to go for, but all's lost in the realm we are trapped in where no matter the location (space, fantasy) we are forced to obtain property, till soil, and probably pay off some type of debt or at the very least participate in an economy thats strikingly similar to the one most of the planet has now despite existing in a fictional world where anything can take place.

There is a prehistoric farming sim called Roots of Pacha. I know enough about history to know that the concept alone makes 0 sense, and when people did start farming, it wasnt by clearing away large plots of land like we would now and laboriously carrying them to fruit. The first people that raised crops did it hand in hand with foragaing, in a type of cultivation called flood retreat farming in which one plants seeds along seasonally flooding beds of water, so that nature pretty much does all the hard work for them and nothing much has to get in the way of other activities. I personally hate this game for its wasted potential alone, because the concept has so many directions it could go in and it barely went in any of them except for the detail that there's not a money based economy present (i think?). This is just one example of how creatively lacking farming games seem to be, I know Roots of Pacha has you doing other things like hunting and all that but the outline in this game and all others pretty much follow in this order of doing the exact same shit you did in Stardew but with little (what if... it was prehistoric!) to no twist, and with no Concernedape flare.

Another trend I've noticed with these games is that, despite the full focus on community building, caring for nature, and usually overthrowing some type of rich guy villian, what you actually do in the game contradicts these themes entirely. Obviously, traditional farming involves a lot of deforestation. Thats a point that gets brought up a lot, quite reasonably, because it always is really weird when a magic spirit of nature comes down to thank you for restoring the natural balance when you just got back from tearing down two entire ecosystems for wood. But there's also just so little need for our own economy inserted in most of these games. We live in a town, seperated from all of society (occassionally on another planet) with 12 inhabitants and youre still making me pay rent? You would think these apparently very self sufficent people would have no need for money but I guess not. And the material focus gets in the way a lot with the other mechanics. For example, most of the relationship building that's popular in farming games takes the form of you constantly offering up some object to them with little or no actual imput from you. Give your girl 80 wild flowers and she will eventually fall in love with you.


I feel as though a lot of it is obviously borrowed from early Harvest Moon, which honestly felt a little too cyclical for me to enjoy it at all. Very hardcore traditional values in those early games, and especially when it comes to your bachlorettes in which the process of getting them seems eerily similar to obtaining a cow or something, to further min max your farm and make boohoo bucks. In this genre it's still that, but with a splat of paint on it that says "we ♡ community! we hate big business!".


Stardew Valley is a little bit exempt from this in my mind, because it's taking place in a world that seems to be basically our own. If Harvey charges me 2000 gil to be rescued from some scary caves, then at least that part makes sense. The community in Stardew is shown repeatedly to be an imperfect peoples anyhow, what from Pam's parental abuse and someone apparently throwing stones at a homeless person's tent. I'm pretty sure back when it came out farming games werent as popular, and for all of that the gameplay loop is near perfect and very fun to play. So we've been there, done that is basically what I'm saying. ConcernedApe made the best tradional farming game and now I am really interested in any other ideas or concepts from anyone, at all. If I wanted to play a farming game, there is no reason why I would spend many, many hours building a farm in a game that is likely less inspired and less polished than Stardew when none of them offer anything new to the table, in quality of writing, story, or anything else.

There are some exceptions, like Dinkum (which is barely a farming game but has way more spunk than all games in this genre do combined) but for the most part I'm just tired of every game trying to be Stardew but instead of ____ there's _____! The gameplay loop gets incredibly old when there is nothing else backing it up.


Again, this wasnt really a review for this game but I just wanted to get my opinions out there and maybe see what others think. Thanks for listening to my ramblings (-:

Despite being an artist myself for most of my life, I actually have never heard of or have ever seen Enzo Cucchi's art. This feels a little blasphemous as he seems kind of important. On the other hand, I got to experience this nice little homage to his work in isolation, so I suppose its not all that bad.

Cuccchi is a slow-paced and surreal walk through Enzo Cucchi's repertoire of art. Endlessly colorful, every pixel trying its damnedest to replicate the texture and implications of the original piece it's based on. Managing to intertwine several seemingly unrelated works to create an area that makes cohesive sense replicates the feeling of walking around an art exhibit, albeit a kind of stressful one.

Ive seen a lot of reviews on this game mention that, because the game is not linear, it was frustrating trying to find a path to the next area. I can sort of understand, but the game itself is so small you would have to really miss the mark to end up wandering around lost for that long. The unique experience of traversing different worlds of someone's art rather than a more gallery-like exhibit is what makes this game special.

It is a little bit too stressful, though. Looking for the eye collectables so I could unlock the actual images of Enzo's art kept me from fully being immersed in what I was seeing. And there were one too many mazes, the ideal number of mazes in any given video game being 0. And I used to think that a video game could never make me motion sick, but wow, Cuccchi put me in my place there. With the environments constantly shifting and there being no floor or ceiling to ground my eyes to, I did feel on the edge of having to turn the game off a few times. The point is to be dreamlike, and maybe its alright that some games make you have to close your eyes every 10 seconds to get through it, but the stress of having to look out for collectables + the weird motion made this a less enjoyable experience than it could of been for me.

Overall, Enzo Cucchi makes kind of scary and beautiful art and I feel as though the game did a great job showcasing that. Lots of ships and houses and melty faces. If you dont mind a little motion sickness, I would definitely recommend checking it out. Italian artists are still very threatening to me.

This is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, one of the worst games I have ever played. The other half of the star is for the mere concept of it being fun, in execution there is not even a hope of enjoyment to be had with this game. The good reviews for this game are downright sickening. The people who made this are also sickening. This is foolishness, this is buffonery, this is downright robbery and trickery.

Where can I even start with it? It would be easier to talk about the parts of the game that actually work. The basis of the game: you run a rescue center. Theres dogs in it. People adopt the dogs. Not one part of this process functions as it should. Horrible control scheme. Jaw-droppingly stupid. Things that should just be A or X are abominable combinations that I cant even remember half the time. Imagine: decorating. Pick the thing you want then press A to purchase. WRONG. Select your purchase with the left stick, move cursor to place it, put it down with ZL. You didnt actually buy it. Press + to confirm that youre actually buying the thing you already put down. Wait 7 minutes because the ingame PC you're making this transaction on is insultingly slow. In fact, all the menus lag. The game lags. But the menus specifically make me feel like im wading through mud. Oh... tutorial? Did you read it? Sorry, because they are never showing it to you again. The tutorial is shockingly long while also not telling you what to do. And after it is done they leave you clueless. I was stuck for 3 hours trying to figure out how to access a menu.

Pacing issues. Overwhelming pacing issues. Dogs shitting themselves and tearing each other faces off and I cant give them the time of day because 8 new strays just came in for some fucking reason and each dog needs their special food and drink and accommodations. Someone walks into a dog shelter, unsure if they actually want a dog. They ask me to bring out and hand pick 5 dogs for them instead of the customer just walking around the shelter like an actual person. If they dont like all 5 dogs they will decide they were just cruising and leave. Im sure that exciting gameplay loop makes you wet and ready for more action so im so happy to say that that's all there is. If you have a dog with a disability just forget about them because, despite the fact that this is a shelter, customers have exceedingly high standards in direct contrast to the game's ride or die attitude on adopt, dont shop.

Does not function. Nothing about this game functions. Dogs shit in the walls and I cant see it. Dogs get stuck in the walls and get diseases and starve and dehydrate. Dogs have fights through the walls. The game believes certain dogs do not exist and I can no longer interact with them. Dogs get stuck in the play pen and the game will not let the dogs leave, ever. The game crashes and softlocks when you do complicated things such as opening a menu on the PC or taking a dog for a walk. The unstuck button itself fails to work. Unbearable. Inoperable.

Someone once said that we have it all wrong, that we should cry when one enters this world and rejoice when they leave it. Thats how I feel about these fucking dogs. Euthanized and they dont have to bear the weight of being trapped in this horrible game. The person who made this, never dare to even think about making another game again. Any good you put in this world will be a shadow of the torment you put me through. I hate you.


I want my 10 dollars back.

Pikuniku is a silly and short platformer in which you play as the red circle Piku and generally just enjoy walking around, bouncing and kicking people.

Pikuniku presents a very strong and unique sense of aloofness, pairing together its floaty physics and visual style to great effects. The music also plays a large role in this game's mood, probably the one element that imprinted on me the most while playing. Its the only soundtrack ive ever heard that lives up to/matches the same energy as quirky early Nintendo music, reminding me of Animal Crossing or Super Paper Mario specifically

This game has a lot of honest world building and physical comedy set up so it is a huge letdown that the writers of this game were not confident enough with Pikuniku's originality and instead had to resort to using meme dialouge. This is the original sin of indie games for me, can turn a perfectly crafted experience into something completely unbearable. You know... the type of dialouge where they

type like this

no punctuation or anything just

typing like theyre texting

3 words per sentence

And they feel the need to fall back on (already outdated) meme formats that does nothing but put an expiration date on your otherwise fun game. "Its dangerous to go alone, take this", "el bunko", and just generally the style of comedy that one may find on ifunny. Its a real shame because like I said Pikuniku feels original enough on its own that I dont think they had to fall back on this to make the game charming. I think the devs may have just thought it was funny on their own which is quite sad. They are also French which confused me since Pikuniku seems to have japanese text underneath it on all promotional images of the game, so I assumed it was japanese. But I suppose it isnt...

Otherwise, if you want a short and silly game I would suggest Pikuniku on sale, but don't expect something on the same level as something like Katamari.