no spoilers, & this is for hackers memory & thoughts after both games

these games are just really fun~ my feelings about this second installment are very similar to my feelings about the first, so I won't go on about those as u can just read my other log in here if u want.

as for hackers memory specifically, I found the lil quality of life improvements to be welcome. the music ofc still slaps! the story is alright, similar in quality to the first mb a bit better, tho it was a bit of a bummer sumtimes to have to play a guy, I missed how much queerer it felt to play as a girl in cyber sleuth. it got better towards the end, even stirring up sum emotions at sum points which I didn't expect. I didn't appreciate the ableist aspects of the narrative though (or the slight seasoning of misogyny that popped up here n there), it's cool that one of the main characters is Disabled but u can tell that whoever wrote it still has a lot of ableism to unlearn. I also really like Yu as a queer character, tho they kinda dropped him at one point that felt jarring, & ur interactions with him didn't leave u any agency to decide how u relate with him unfortunately seeing as u are playing as a more specific character in this game.

oh, there was a certain animated sequence toward the end at one point that I absolutely loved, wud love to see more experimentation like what they did there, v psychedelic!

I liked the addition of 3-person battles to shake up the approach to combat every now & then, but sum additional things like territory battles & the whole taking-friends-on-quests thing felt a lil uninspired. I liked a lot of the additional digimon designs, tho sum are just really hard to achieve without lots of grinding...

once I beat the game, it was really confusing how continuing ur game or new game + worked... & for sum reason u can only transfer digimon from your Digibank in Cyber sleuth into hackers memory, not any of the party or farm digimon... which is really frustrating as far as I can tell there is no way to go back into cyber sleuth & move digimon into your digibank, so I don't have access to most of my Digimon from the first game- bad design. there are still a few digivolutions I haven't gotten yet & am not sure if i will be able to find a fun way to keep playing to achieve them.

overall, I highly recommend this series! despite its flaws the two combined kept me engaged for longer than most games have, and it's definitely a way better monster-catching game & overall experience (better gameplay, story, characters, queer representation, evolution system etc) than pokemon main-line games, so pls check it out if u haven't yet! i picked it up for like $15 or sumthin, it goes on sale for cheap. I hope they do another game like these- better accessibility settings, difficulty settings (something other than super-easy & grindy-hard) & better story would take this to a whole nother level!

no spoilers
I luv this game!! it's not perfect, but it's so unique & I rly grew to luv the wunderful quirky (tho not suuper deep tbh) characters~ so much so that I cried a few times, esp during the credit scenes at the end. the art is absolutely stunning (the lighting & warm colour palette!!), the sound design & music are incredible, the animations smooth & pleasing~ the non-linear character story hopping is expertly crafted, and tho things do get a lil heady & labrynthine at times (which turns down the emotional factor a bit), I enjoyed every second of it; it made me formulate so many theories & kept me guessing till the end. the writing is great & the Japanese voice-over is top-notch.

I thought the strategic combat parts were really fun! I looked forward to each battle & I think they managed to capture the epic scale pretty well~ it's a pretty simple system but honestly i'm glad they didn't get too complicated with it, made it easy to just jump into a battle & have a lot of fun. played on normal & it was somewhat easy, will definitely check out the intense mode.

overall a very smooth and effortlessly cool anime-ass game- if u luv sci-fi, character-driven storytelling, visual novels, point&clicks & RTS/tactical RPGs than this is truly a must-play imo!
+ performance on switch was perfect, only sum slight lag at the very end of the final battle due to the sheer ridiculous numbers of kaiju, & even then didn't effect my experience

cons: definitely sum misogyny issues, plus sum partial teen nudity, tho I didn't rly find it particularly sexualized (except with one character but she is an adult) or obnoxious, so it didn't bother me- & I'm sumone who is ace-spec & hates anime fan-service, so ya jsyk.

also there is sum queer rep:

light character spoilers

also! there is sum great (& pleasantly casual & non-tokenising) queer representation (one character in particular) in this game which made me so happy to see~ I luved his nonchalant & ambivalent relationship with gender & sexuality, very cool mix of non-binary/trans/genderqueer/crossdresser vibes. I saw sum ppl online (aside frum the usual boring homo/transphobic nonsense, cuz yawn) complaining that they shudve used they/them pronouns, but to those ppl I hope they can realize that anyone of any identity can use any pronouns! it rly doesn't matter. oh, & the other queer character's struggles figuring out his own queerness felt real & was honestly pretty cute~ that all being said, the rest of the game is very cis-hetero-mononormative jsyk

great vibe, pretty art (love the muted colours), awesum music~ as a visual novel/point & click obv gameplay is quite simple, but I luv those genres & rly enjoyed the cpl lil minigames sprinkled in there. the characters are simple & fun, the story is interesting but not v subtle & sometimes feels too heady, a lil disconnected from the body~ I do appreciate the grey areas they explore & the questions they make u ask throughout.

I notice a lot of people in reviews find the deadnaming part offensive, but it didn't bother me since it was related to medical files, & many trans folks do not want to or are not able to access/afford to change their legal name sooo it made sense to me. also, it seems like in this world, gender diversity & affirmation is more normalized, so people would probly have a very different relationship with their names. (& jsyk my preferred term is birthname, so ya my relationships with my names won't correlate with some of those who prefer deadname). I don't want sumthin like that to overshadow for someone that the character is really well done trans rep- I love how casually queer this game is. would absolutely love to see a bigger project based off of this, but I rly enjoyed being part of this world for it's whole short runtime, & even cryed a lil at the end.

no spoilers~ & this is just for the first game, cyber sleuth

i had so much fun with this game that I immediately launched into playing Hacker's Memory after 98 hrs of cyber sleuth~ it's not perfect by any means, with sum very uneven difficulty & invisible encounters for example, but the design is pretty solid, so that even grinding is fun (& u will have to grind a lil, even on normal). the story was fun & along with the character development it took sum unexpected & subtle turns that kept me engaged. as someone who was all about Pokemon growing up, this was super refreshing; actual characters, actual plot, darker & more mature themes, more challenging gameplay, & way more queer representation (the game is especially queer if u play as the girl)~ just a real one-up on the tired pokemon games (though I rly enjoyed Arceus, finally some innovation), aside from of course the classic digimon hit-or-miss quality in the monster design & naming department. I like how challenging it is to achieve some of the digivoloutions, & hard difficulty was actually hard for boss battles, which gave the game a lot more strategy elements. u cant just go in with no items & spam high-damage moves like u can in pokemon. I just wish they had spread the difficulty between easy, normal & hard instead of just normal & hard, because sumtimes hard was a lil frustrating & normal is way too easy, would've been nice to have sumthing in the middle as I found myself swapping between them (which I'm rly grateful you can do at any point!). the music is rly fun, I adored how cheesy it is from the beginning & then grew to love it~ I also thought the Japanese voice acting was good.

this collection is often on sale for really cheap, I highly recommend u pick it up if u like digimon, JRPGs, the monster-catching genre or are just in need of sumthing more fun & refreshing than main-line pokemon

oh, also, it is rly obvious the localization team had to translate the digiline texts out of context, which makes for some absolutely hilarious & often unintelligible conversations! i absolutely loved it hehe (& don't worry, the digiline texts are simply flavour & the rest of the game is translated well! tho sumtimes the cheese factor is veryy high or overly expository in the English translation)

this game is absolutely gorgeous~ the colours & visuals, sound & music, animation, character & environmental design are all just stunning & full of love & feeling. the gameplay is smooth & the puzzles range from pleasing & simple to a lil brow-furrowing with satisfying solutions. the variety of experiments that are successfully explored here is impressive, especially considering the shorter runtime. the story is abstract & emotional; it is obvious the creators of this gem really understand grief. they managed to make a beautiful, surreal, melancholic, dynamic and playfully hopeful story that reflects the experience of grief's waves, all with no text or speech whatsoever~ I played this over two sessions, & wow did I ever cry my eyes out when I reached the end~ all the while I had in my mind & heart memories of a dear friend who took their own life a cpl years ago~ they would have loved this game~
please play this!

so fun! played through the golden deer storyline + side story on normal + casual. the characters are just so loveable, the amount of character cutscenes just rly get u attached to all these weirdos. the story is fun, not amazing but decent, the best parts of the writing was more about the characters and their relationships than the plot itself. I did cry a little at the ending I got! but otherwise not much emotional depth. it would be nice if it wasn't so hetero & had more queer options... & just more queerness in general. I only got one queer option at the end & it wasn't someone I wanted to choose~
the level of customization is kinda ridiculous, but my lil autistic self soaked it all up lol. the menu diving is a little tedious (especially when equipping items) but u rly don't need to be in there as much as I was lol. the teaching & class systems are enjoyable.
the battles are fun, though I very quickly became overpowered & had to switch to using my weakest players each battle to up the challenge. will definitely play on hard next round & extra hard on my third playthrough.
overall, ya this game has its flaws but I love it regardless! the level of care put into these characters makes it shine~ definitely recommended if u wanna spend a ridiculous amount of hours hangin out with fun weirdos, talking & fighting & wandering around a monastery

i loved it! short, surreal & melodramatic stories along a dreamy & slightly unsettling exploration of the v unique Finch house. the transitions are so smooth between scenes and the simple gameplay becomes immediately obvious with each dramatic shift. the level of creativity & care in this project brought me a lot of joy, would love to see more games that are as adventurous as this team was here. it didn't rly have any emotional impact for me, I feel that would have taken it up a notch. also the footstep sound effects for going up & down stairs do not match the animation? which felt v weird especially considering the brilliant sound design otherwise. highly recommended if u want to embark on a trippy dream for a cpl hours~ definitely one I will revisit & show to others

oh & it looks & plays great on the switch lite in handheld! only one or two brief frame stutters in the beginning of scenes

curiousity pulled me to this game, & tbh I was initially very intimidated. I hadn't played a game this action-heavy for a good 15 years, so I dove in expecting a challenge. I felt pretty sure I'd like it based on the surface, but I had no idea just how much i'd fall in love with this game. it's simply incredible. it's doing something only a game can do, to an extent I have never experienced. it is an excersize in empathy, an experience of suffering, it's badass & it's stunning. its horrifyingly beautiful & hopefully bleak. it isn't a perfect game, but it is a tremendous, dark & hopeful journey that is going to stick with me for a long, long time. the music alone has permanently woven itself into my brain. please play this if u haven't yet! my favourite game so far besides citizen sleeper~

oh, & the switch version is absolutely fantastic.

wow... this is so gorgeous, so mysterious~ one of if not the most unique & creatively ingenious puzzle game I've ever played. it's quite challenging, though never to the point of frustration. the way the frames fit together is almost always unexpected; I marvelled at what this must have been like to create. beautiful art, surreal story-telling, amazing music & overall vibe; each still frame & animation sequence is imbued with deep emotion. the energy of it feels playful, spiritual, & cryptic, often making me think of the Codex Seraphinianus. highly recommend if u want to get into a meditative zone where u will be asked to let go and explore the unexpected!

ah, this one has me conflicted~ it has a beautiful art style, good music (if not a bit repetitive) & okay writing. it rly feels like the devs were putting a lot of love into this & wanting to create something great, and I think they came close in sum respects. however it is definitely not without its flaws.

the biggest thing is the romantic relationship elements. tho u can tell this was written by a guy, it thankfully isn't rly outwardly fetishistic or anything, it just never seemed believable to me; even though they are lesbians it felt more heterosexual/romantic than genuine queer content unfortunately, which is a shame because cyberpunk is such a perfect genre to explore queerness. granted, the setting of the game is a very heteronormative society so some of that could have been intentional, it's kinda hard to tell.

also there were sum elements that felt problematic in a way that I can't tell if the devs were aware of or not, which is a bit of a yellow flag for me. for one, Cila never acknowledges the power imbalance (literal ownership) she has over Mara, & tho it's not as black & white as it seems it still felt weird for it to not ever come to her awareness. Cila's almost parental "protector" approach makes it feel a lil weird too, especially considering how young Mara appears & behaves. also, the "love over all" approach the two take attempts to erase & excuse all of the problematic behaviours each of them engaged in. mind you I am perfectly okay for characters in fiction to be problematic, it's a very human thing, I just question when things aren't addressed in the fiction itself. if there was even a little bit of questioning, even just in Cila's thoughts I think I would have trusted the writer & enjoyed this visual novel a lot more.

also, the UI is a lil clunky- for sum reason the Y button advances text instead of A, which selects from the menu, which is usually defaulted on Autoplay, which caused me to accidentally skip sum scenes a cpl times. also instead of highlighting the buttons you're cursor is on it de-hoghlights them, which feels really confusing and led me to click the wrong thing a cpl times. not huge issues, but ones that would have been very simple to make more intuitive.

the exposition dump towards the end didn't bother me as much as it seems to have bothered others, tho I do agree it did take the tension away that had been building to that point. i liked both endings, but the epilogue seemed a lil superfluous, as it didn't rly contribute anything new to the story.

overall, I'm not entirely sure what to think...

this game is incredible; in fact it has completely changed my relationship to video games as a medium & it is now my favourite of all the games I've played so far- & I knew it would be early on. immaculate vibes, soothing & catchy music, wonderful sound design, beautiful character art, slick gameplay & deeply emotional writing. like full crying emotional release depths; it's just so human & such a perfect non-binary mix of heart-warming & heart-breaking. so much came up for me during my first playthrough~ just rolled credits twice before I got my first final ending, and I'm so excited to play it again and again so I can uncover & weave every possibility together & experience each unique Sleeper life that unfolds. very excited for the third update & to whatever happens next with this game and whatever Gareth does next (I'll also be playing In Other Waters). the game just vibrates with all the love they poured into this game~ I'm feeling every bit of it & will be recommending this to anyone and everyone!

also, as a non-binary person I deeply appreciated all the magnificent & subtle non-binary representation (& just the diversity of representation in general!)- finally, we are entering an era where ungendered pronouns are just used casually!

what an absolute gem of a game <3

most fun I've had with a pokemon game maybe forever? very fun gameplay loop, checking off research tasks brings me such autistic joy~ most pokemon games lose me by the endgame but I'm still working on fully completing my pokedex, & this is the first one to get me into shiny hunting (a lil bit) with mass outbreaks, flying with braviary & the shiny sparkle & sound making it more accessible for me. I LOVE being able to catch them without battling, something I've always wanted to see~ & so many other quality of life improvements!! no forgetting of moves, nixing of HMs & TMs, fast transitions in battle, agile/strong styles, evolving if/when I want, ride pokemon, just so many. I actually really like the graphical style, and though the game could've been optimized better to reduce pop-in & framerate issues, it didn't rly affect my experience much. if for the next Legends game they did that, hired better writers, did sum voice acting, improved the inventory system a bit, improved accessibility options, and just spent more time working on it, I would be absolutely thrilled! honestly, not even going to bother with mainline games anymore unless they implement lots of arceus quality of life features (or just give their games more customizability options so we can individually tailor our experience), especially considering the complete mess that is Scarlet & Violet...

if u are debating which to get, I wholeheartedly recommend Arceus! finally some actual change & innovation in this tired series. played 100 hrs before moving on from it~