2022
This review contains spoilers
It's not that this game isn't good: it's that it isn't for me. There's an overwhelming sense of despair and corruption and sadness and hopelessness that permeates everything. Worse: none of the endings are about mending this broken world, they are about burning it all down and building it anew. Mechanically this game is fantastic, but it is too... overwhelmingly satisfied in its own edginess. It's a great game. It's not for me.
Breath Of The Wild was already unanimously considered one of the best games ever made, so the expectations for a new game that was originally supposed to be a DLC were extremely high. To my surprise, it delivered: Tears Of The Kingdom felt like a polished and refined version of BOTW, which is a baffling statement. It wasn't without flaws (the way to activate the sages was not a great design choice), but, still, an incredible game.
Docking half a star for being just so damn big that it can feel overwhelming at times, and for the aforementioned very minor design flaws.
Docking half a star for being just so damn big that it can feel overwhelming at times, and for the aforementioned very minor design flaws.
How to review BOTW when TOTK exists? How to review a game that felt like the best one ever made when it was surpassed by its successor? I'm choosing here to review it based on how i felt playing it at the time, before TOTK was a thing. And, yes, BOTW was one of the very best games ever made, playing it was incredible, the sense that you can explore everything, that nothing is out of reach... while there are things to criticize (some of the motion control shrines were annoying, the weapon durability is a bit punishing at the start of the game), it is still an absolute masterpiece, that truly felt like an incredible word to explore.
2010
This review contains spoilers
THIS GAME. OH MY GOD THIS GAME.
It's a very simple game, and i played it without understanding what the core idea of it was, which made it so incredibly impacting. It's a simple "decision tree" flash game, in which you attempt to save the world (or at least you can choose to do that) from a plague of your own accidental creation. Each day, for a week, you get to choose how to spend your potential last few days on earth: work all the way, abandon your family; spend time with them, ignore the plague.
What destroyed me was reaching an end. Because the end i got sucked. It was bad and disappointing. So i pressed F5! Let's retry! Let's find another ending!
And i got greeted by the end screen. The game would not let me replay. I had only one chance. What had i done with it?
This game broke me. It was 2010, and i had never seen anything like it.
It's a very simple game, and i played it without understanding what the core idea of it was, which made it so incredibly impacting. It's a simple "decision tree" flash game, in which you attempt to save the world (or at least you can choose to do that) from a plague of your own accidental creation. Each day, for a week, you get to choose how to spend your potential last few days on earth: work all the way, abandon your family; spend time with them, ignore the plague.
What destroyed me was reaching an end. Because the end i got sucked. It was bad and disappointing. So i pressed F5! Let's retry! Let's find another ending!
And i got greeted by the end screen. The game would not let me replay. I had only one chance. What had i done with it?
This game broke me. It was 2010, and i had never seen anything like it.
2012
This review contains spoilers
This game won't be for everybody, but i love it dearly. The majesty of the gigantic world you glide through, the poetry of a wordless game, the euphoria of reaching the summit, when the music soars and you fly free... It is a short magical experience.
Its nature as a hidden co-op game, kinda, which is never technically revealed to you until the end, is also magical. You end up forming a bond with someone with whom you can't speak, with whom you're just doing this pilgrimage, that you might not even realize is another person at first.
A beautiful, lovely game.
Its nature as a hidden co-op game, kinda, which is never technically revealed to you until the end, is also magical. You end up forming a bond with someone with whom you can't speak, with whom you're just doing this pilgrimage, that you might not even realize is another person at first.
A beautiful, lovely game.
2020
A wonderful, wonderful game, if you like that genre. It's a rogue-lite, with perma-upgrades. And the game nails it: each weapon feels different, the gameplay is fast, dynamic, and responsive, the boss battle challenging... and there are a ton of difficulty options to make the game as challenging as one wants, which makes it infinitely re-playable. If it had nothing but this gameplay it would already be an excellent game.
But what elevates this game is the incredible cast of characters. Each run (as well as the moments in between) is an occasion to learn more about the many characters that populate this world and to appreciate them better. Props for also having several explicit queer characters! And to top it off, the game is scored beautifully by Darren Korb.
If you like this kind of hack & slash / dungeon crawler / rogue-lite, don't miss out on this one. I cannot wait for the sequel!
But what elevates this game is the incredible cast of characters. Each run (as well as the moments in between) is an occasion to learn more about the many characters that populate this world and to appreciate them better. Props for also having several explicit queer characters! And to top it off, the game is scored beautifully by Darren Korb.
If you like this kind of hack & slash / dungeon crawler / rogue-lite, don't miss out on this one. I cannot wait for the sequel!
This game is nostalgia bait, but lacks substance.
I cannot review this game in isolation. It has to be understood in the context of FFVII: it is meant for people who have played the original and are nostalgic for it. Every character is introduced in a way that's meant for you to clap and point at the screen and say "hey that's that character from the previous game!". It is 100% fan service. Which, by itself, is not a bad thing! It's actually pretty delightful to get a chance to see more of the world and more of the characters: it's fan service, but i'm a fan.
However, in my opinion, the game falls a bit short. My main issue with it is that it is a prequel, and that it commits the cardinal sin of a prequel: by meddling with the original story, it lessens its impact. Some scenes of the original story, depicted again in this game, are made less impactful by the presence of new story elements this game introduces! The new plot points and characters it adds are serviceable at best, and cheapen the original at worst. Additionally, they make the mistake of over-explaining, of trying to come up with a rationale for so many elements of the original game that it feels artificial. This is where the name of the bar came from! This is why this character wore clothes of that colour! This is where that character got that hair accessory! It feels almost masturbatory in the way it winks at the audience every time.
A smaller point, but that i think is worth noticing, is also that this game lacks the soul of the original. FFVII was a game that, as far back in 1997, said: ecoterrorism is a valid response to a dying planet, corporations will wage war to extract capital and will militarize to protect themselves to escape the consequences of the destruction they have wrought, it is your moral duty to oppose them. This game, by virtue of being a prequel... has you work for the bad guys, has you rescue or work with the villains of the original over and over again. This is not necessarily a bad decision in itself: we follow a character, Zack, whose story in inseparable from the story of the Shinra Company. But the game feels a bit too uncritical of this at times, and a bit soulless as a result.
This could be all saved by a good gameplay. And, honestly, the core gameplay is fun, if a bit repetitive. There is enough variety in the materia system to allow for fun combos, they tried some inventive new things such as the DMW system, it works, it's fun. However, the side missions are, simply put, bad. All 300(!) of them take place in the same 3 or 4 copy-pasted generic levels, and almost all of them follow the same formula: navigate the level, avoid encounters at intersections, find chests, kill boss. Their additional value as side-quests, supposedly to expand the universe of the game, comes from the lackluster flavour text on the mission selection screen alone: the vast majority of them have no story or text or voice line or anything. With a few noteworthy exceptions (the few rare missions that deviate from the formula or offer a real challenge are actually fun!), they are all completely interchangeable, and feel like busy work.
So, yes, I am not sure i can recommend playing this game if you liked the original FFVII. On one hand it's great to see some of the places we know, and seeing more of the characters we love. But the new story feels a bit empty, the gameplay is a bit repetitive, and i think your time would be better spent watching the cutscenes on YouTube.
I cannot review this game in isolation. It has to be understood in the context of FFVII: it is meant for people who have played the original and are nostalgic for it. Every character is introduced in a way that's meant for you to clap and point at the screen and say "hey that's that character from the previous game!". It is 100% fan service. Which, by itself, is not a bad thing! It's actually pretty delightful to get a chance to see more of the world and more of the characters: it's fan service, but i'm a fan.
However, in my opinion, the game falls a bit short. My main issue with it is that it is a prequel, and that it commits the cardinal sin of a prequel: by meddling with the original story, it lessens its impact. Some scenes of the original story, depicted again in this game, are made less impactful by the presence of new story elements this game introduces! The new plot points and characters it adds are serviceable at best, and cheapen the original at worst. Additionally, they make the mistake of over-explaining, of trying to come up with a rationale for so many elements of the original game that it feels artificial. This is where the name of the bar came from! This is why this character wore clothes of that colour! This is where that character got that hair accessory! It feels almost masturbatory in the way it winks at the audience every time.
A smaller point, but that i think is worth noticing, is also that this game lacks the soul of the original. FFVII was a game that, as far back in 1997, said: ecoterrorism is a valid response to a dying planet, corporations will wage war to extract capital and will militarize to protect themselves to escape the consequences of the destruction they have wrought, it is your moral duty to oppose them. This game, by virtue of being a prequel... has you work for the bad guys, has you rescue or work with the villains of the original over and over again. This is not necessarily a bad decision in itself: we follow a character, Zack, whose story in inseparable from the story of the Shinra Company. But the game feels a bit too uncritical of this at times, and a bit soulless as a result.
This could be all saved by a good gameplay. And, honestly, the core gameplay is fun, if a bit repetitive. There is enough variety in the materia system to allow for fun combos, they tried some inventive new things such as the DMW system, it works, it's fun. However, the side missions are, simply put, bad. All 300(!) of them take place in the same 3 or 4 copy-pasted generic levels, and almost all of them follow the same formula: navigate the level, avoid encounters at intersections, find chests, kill boss. Their additional value as side-quests, supposedly to expand the universe of the game, comes from the lackluster flavour text on the mission selection screen alone: the vast majority of them have no story or text or voice line or anything. With a few noteworthy exceptions (the few rare missions that deviate from the formula or offer a real challenge are actually fun!), they are all completely interchangeable, and feel like busy work.
So, yes, I am not sure i can recommend playing this game if you liked the original FFVII. On one hand it's great to see some of the places we know, and seeing more of the characters we love. But the new story feels a bit empty, the gameplay is a bit repetitive, and i think your time would be better spent watching the cutscenes on YouTube.
2013
This game is a weird one to talk about. It was only playable for 12-ish hours, but it is now... gone. Finished. It had been lost entirely, but i personally contacted the author to work with them to add this game to the IGDB, so that it isn't forgotten. I encourage you to read the blurb to get an idea of what it was about.
But, this experience, this brief window of time when, suddenly, for no reason other than shared determination and empathy, a group of people across the world collaborated to keep a fictional person alive... that moment was special. It redefined what a game can be and can mean, for me.
A once in a lifetime moment that i was lucky to witness.
But, this experience, this brief window of time when, suddenly, for no reason other than shared determination and empathy, a group of people across the world collaborated to keep a fictional person alive... that moment was special. It redefined what a game can be and can mean, for me.
A once in a lifetime moment that i was lucky to witness.
2017
A beautiful and tough as nails gem of a game.
While some of the atmosphere doesn't work for me (there is a very Souls-like mood of gloom and decay that i tend to not be a huge fan of), it still is incredibly beautiful.
While some of the atmosphere doesn't work for me (there is a very Souls-like mood of gloom and decay that i tend to not be a huge fan of), it still is incredibly beautiful.
2015
What can i say about this game that hasn't been said already? There's already been so much written about it, i don't have much more to contribute from an analysis perspective.
What i can just add is my personal experience with it: how i almost didn't stick with it, because the pseudo-tutorial was funny but a bit tedious. How i then played it in one sitting. How to this day i still can't hear the theme without sobbing.
There's this meme of a person holding a sign saying "YOUR MUSIC SAVED ME" at a concert venue, and it accurately sums up how i feel.
What i can just add is my personal experience with it: how i almost didn't stick with it, because the pseudo-tutorial was funny but a bit tedious. How i then played it in one sitting. How to this day i still can't hear the theme without sobbing.
There's this meme of a person holding a sign saying "YOUR MUSIC SAVED ME" at a concert venue, and it accurately sums up how i feel.
2011
With a friend of mine, we've debated for years about whether Portal 2 is even better than Portal, or if it doesn't live up to it. I believe the latter.
While this game is incredible, don't get me wrong, it sometimes feels like it jumped the shark: Portal was goofy, sure, but in an unsettling way; Portal 2 pushes the goofiness a bit further, and ends up feeling a bit too goofy at times. Cave Johnson almost feels like a TF2 character (a game in which Abraham Lincoln canonically invented stairs, which was a huge relief because it provided an alternative to rocket jumping).
But, yes, it is an incredible game. The puzzles are good, the humour lands, it has tons of iconic lines... While it no longer has the novelty factor of Portal, it is a more polished experience, and has a much more developed story.
While this game is incredible, don't get me wrong, it sometimes feels like it jumped the shark: Portal was goofy, sure, but in an unsettling way; Portal 2 pushes the goofiness a bit further, and ends up feeling a bit too goofy at times. Cave Johnson almost feels like a TF2 character (a game in which Abraham Lincoln canonically invented stairs, which was a huge relief because it provided an alternative to rocket jumping).
But, yes, it is an incredible game. The puzzles are good, the humour lands, it has tons of iconic lines... While it no longer has the novelty factor of Portal, it is a more polished experience, and has a much more developed story.
2018
There again, what can i say about this game that hasn't already been said? It is beautiful, it is emotional, it has incredible music, Reach for the Summit makes me cry every time...
One of the most incredible experiences i have with this game was watching the AGDQ run of it. The AGDQ audience can be rowdy, and even when watching from home you can hear some of the noise of the crowd. For this game, the crowd was silent. Listening to the music. And when Confronting Myself started playing, THE CROWD JOINED THE CHORUS. And so did I.
One day i'll be good enough to finish Farewell.
One of the most incredible experiences i have with this game was watching the AGDQ run of it. The AGDQ audience can be rowdy, and even when watching from home you can hear some of the noise of the crowd. For this game, the crowd was silent. Listening to the music. And when Confronting Myself started playing, THE CROWD JOINED THE CHORUS. And so did I.
One day i'll be good enough to finish Farewell.
2017
Fun combat, interesting narrative and meta-narrarive elements, and beautiful music. A classic. Worth experiencing it for the music alone.
2018
This game matters more for its cultural impact than for its actual gameplay. It is the game in which a British YouTuber backstabbed a sitting US congresswoman. It landed at the most opportune time, and became immediately one of the most recognisable games on the planet. Its cultural impact will outlive us all.
I played it with friends. It's no One Night Ultimate Werewolf, but it's fun.
I played it with friends. It's no One Night Ultimate Werewolf, but it's fun.
2022
I'm conflicted. On one hand, it's a short but forgettable adventure game, that doesn't innovate a ton. On the other, YOU PLAY AN ADORABLE CAT AND YOU CAN MEOW.
I feel like the cat aspect is what saves the game. The exact same game, but playing as the robot that accompanies you, would not have received anywhere near the same critical acclaim. Which is not to say that it's not a good game! Just not groundbreaking.
The best part of this game will forever be the videos of cats reacting to it.
I feel like the cat aspect is what saves the game. The exact same game, but playing as the robot that accompanies you, would not have received anywhere near the same critical acclaim. Which is not to say that it's not a good game! Just not groundbreaking.
The best part of this game will forever be the videos of cats reacting to it.