notanotherlime
Little Kitty Big City Review
Little Kitty Big City hit my radar simply because it's a cat. Yep that's all there is to it. The charming little puffy wuffy and the lighthearted premise suggested I probably wasn't going to experience a game like Stray, which is a way more serious adventure. Same baseline premise of course, but instead of fighting for your life and watching a poor kitty struggle to make it back home, you goof around and make friends for the majority of the playtime here which is a treat.
You play as a lost kitty in a big city of course, navigating through trying to make it back to your home. The actual gameplay though revolves around exploration first, with an emphasis on limited environmental interaction doing small things that a cat would do, like laying down in spots, breaking things, causing havoc, getting pets and collecting shinies and hats. I do say collecting shinies but this is not really a collectathon, shinies are basically just currency to purchase more hats, there isn't much for actual collectables unless you wanna see just how many things they can plop on a cats head.
This is also an open-world designed game with a map, but even when looking at the map the world was still kind of frustrating to navigate with the city being very vertical and the cat not being as agile as you may think, only being able to jump less than a foot high. Also with the map its not very detailed and it continually reset my orientation upon opening and closing it so it was not really easy to figure out my direction.
While exploration is the primary focus, Little Kitty Big City also offers a layer of light interaction with the city's animal inhabitants. Players encounter a lot more puffies who act as the primary questgivers. These quests range from "go over there" and "go over there and come back". Not much interaction in most of these quests aside from the quirky dialogue options, but none of them affect anything of course. Even while being very limited and sparse spread out on the map these interactions contribute to the game's charm. It's not a complex narrative at all, it's as simple as it gets, but the dialogue is fun and upbeat so I still enjoyed it.
The game does excel at capturing the essence of a cat though, I'd say almost even more so than Stray at times. Movement animations feel remarkably natural and dont feel weird at all. Whether it's the way your kitty navigates tight spaces or the swats at dangling objects, or even when picking up shinies, he does a little bounce, the attention to detail is there and I love it.
This game isn't without its shortcomings though. The controls can feel a bit clunky at times, sometimes you just don't jump as far as your marker says that you will, sometimes you just fall off of things, get stuck on things, I also got stuck in a wall a few times as well, and during things like climbing it never felt truly polished in certain sections. Speaking of climbing I would much rather have interesting parkour sections instead of resorting to the same generic slow climbing sections on ONLY certain textures. Having freedom is key in an exploration game like this and I didn't feel like I had any because there is only a single way to get to each area and there is little room for making your own path. This sticks out hard especially since this is an exploration platformer starring one of the most agile animals there are, and I can't really do anything interesting besides go the single intended path to the roof of a building. Additionally, the quest design, while charming with its starting dialogue, can become repetitive after extended play sessions which also sticks out pretty bad because there is probably less than 10 sidequests in the entire game.
Overall, Little Kitty Big City is pretty fun exploring a big city with a little kitty. The openworld design is limited but does have things to discover. The interactions with the other animals, while there not being many of them, were all charming. While the game might not offer a complex narrative or groundbreaking gameplay, it does well at providing a relaxing and engaging short experience that is great for it's length. I would compare this to stray simply because of it's premise but it's actually way more similar to Untitled Goose Game, but I feel like both of those games are a bit more polished and complete.
Little Kitty Big City is good for players who want to just turn their brain off and run around with no stakes for a bit and collect shiny things. Maybe you just played a super serious game before and want a break, well then this is perfect for you.
Also; Cat lovers.. play it.
Similar Games:
Stray
Untitled Goose Game
Little Kitty Big City hit my radar simply because it's a cat. Yep that's all there is to it. The charming little puffy wuffy and the lighthearted premise suggested I probably wasn't going to experience a game like Stray, which is a way more serious adventure. Same baseline premise of course, but instead of fighting for your life and watching a poor kitty struggle to make it back home, you goof around and make friends for the majority of the playtime here which is a treat.
You play as a lost kitty in a big city of course, navigating through trying to make it back to your home. The actual gameplay though revolves around exploration first, with an emphasis on limited environmental interaction doing small things that a cat would do, like laying down in spots, breaking things, causing havoc, getting pets and collecting shinies and hats. I do say collecting shinies but this is not really a collectathon, shinies are basically just currency to purchase more hats, there isn't much for actual collectables unless you wanna see just how many things they can plop on a cats head.
This is also an open-world designed game with a map, but even when looking at the map the world was still kind of frustrating to navigate with the city being very vertical and the cat not being as agile as you may think, only being able to jump less than a foot high. Also with the map its not very detailed and it continually reset my orientation upon opening and closing it so it was not really easy to figure out my direction.
While exploration is the primary focus, Little Kitty Big City also offers a layer of light interaction with the city's animal inhabitants. Players encounter a lot more puffies who act as the primary questgivers. These quests range from "go over there" and "go over there and come back". Not much interaction in most of these quests aside from the quirky dialogue options, but none of them affect anything of course. Even while being very limited and sparse spread out on the map these interactions contribute to the game's charm. It's not a complex narrative at all, it's as simple as it gets, but the dialogue is fun and upbeat so I still enjoyed it.
The game does excel at capturing the essence of a cat though, I'd say almost even more so than Stray at times. Movement animations feel remarkably natural and dont feel weird at all. Whether it's the way your kitty navigates tight spaces or the swats at dangling objects, or even when picking up shinies, he does a little bounce, the attention to detail is there and I love it.
This game isn't without its shortcomings though. The controls can feel a bit clunky at times, sometimes you just don't jump as far as your marker says that you will, sometimes you just fall off of things, get stuck on things, I also got stuck in a wall a few times as well, and during things like climbing it never felt truly polished in certain sections. Speaking of climbing I would much rather have interesting parkour sections instead of resorting to the same generic slow climbing sections on ONLY certain textures. Having freedom is key in an exploration game like this and I didn't feel like I had any because there is only a single way to get to each area and there is little room for making your own path. This sticks out hard especially since this is an exploration platformer starring one of the most agile animals there are, and I can't really do anything interesting besides go the single intended path to the roof of a building. Additionally, the quest design, while charming with its starting dialogue, can become repetitive after extended play sessions which also sticks out pretty bad because there is probably less than 10 sidequests in the entire game.
Overall, Little Kitty Big City is pretty fun exploring a big city with a little kitty. The openworld design is limited but does have things to discover. The interactions with the other animals, while there not being many of them, were all charming. While the game might not offer a complex narrative or groundbreaking gameplay, it does well at providing a relaxing and engaging short experience that is great for it's length. I would compare this to stray simply because of it's premise but it's actually way more similar to Untitled Goose Game, but I feel like both of those games are a bit more polished and complete.
Little Kitty Big City is good for players who want to just turn their brain off and run around with no stakes for a bit and collect shiny things. Maybe you just played a super serious game before and want a break, well then this is perfect for you.
Also; Cat lovers.. play it.
Similar Games:
Stray
Untitled Goose Game
2016
I cant remember how I ended up stumbling upon Death Road to Canada, maybe on the Roguelite subreddit, or maybe I just saw it available and got it at some point but I haven't played it for a pretty long time despite downloading it a while ago. One day I just popped it on while waiting in queue in another game, and I was hooked in pretty quickly. Playing it for a few minutes here and there and I ended up dropping the other game and grinding out DRTC instead. Despite its seemingly obscurity as far as I know, the game is crafted with a lot of care and passion. The gameplay is pretty straightforward, but demands a lot from the player, requiring sharp resource management a lot of min maxxing and making the best of what your character is capable of and what resources you have. The game can be brutally unfair at times, with random events capable of derailing your progress entirely. Even without your characters dying, just having them in a bad mood can be a death sentence. The pixel art graphics are pretty simple, but messy in some places. It's detailed for its bitsize but it really does get mucky dirty quite often leading to zombies blending into a pile of zom guts getting you bit for no reason sometimes which doesnt seem intended. While mostly being simple and dirty, it still has a fun style. All-around it's a standout game in the overwhelmingly large survival/zombie apocalypse genre, basically combining Project Zomboid, with Oregon Trail, and maybe even Darkest Dungeon a bit as well. Though simple and a bit slow, the gameplay is engaging in short bursts and needs strategic management of your group, skills, food, gas, car health and other resources.
The game's blend of humor, absurdism, and sometimes even harsh realism makes it more enjoyable for me. Its insanely deep in some areas, though it does lack depth in some other areas. The management is the bread and butter of this game, but the combat is basically press one button to swing or shoot, and looting is just running through the same square rooms over and over again and clicking on all the shinies. However, the soundtrack is always bopping hard in the background which made me go on autopilot for a lot of that.
You can completely create and play as your own characters, making whatever crazy idea you can think of and experiment which adds a personal touch. The timeless gameplay and endless story possibilities mean that there is not really any narrative aside from "GET TO CANADA ASAP"; instead, you create your own story with each playthrough. This game is brutally challenging, requiring a lot of skill and luck.
The lack of online play is a missed opportunity, as it would enhance the multiplayer experience significantly, but the runs might last a bit too long for general matchmaking, and having leavers can be HARSH, but this can be solved by turning their characters into NPC followers when they leave.
The game's difficulty curve is steep because the combat is so simple, which can either deter players or entice them further. You cant really rely on your pure skill for this game, sometimes you just get unlucky or your stats never really reach anything worthwhile in the right areas for that run. Personally, it kept me coming back leading to multiple attempts really trying to make it to Canada because I was too stubborn after a while.
Despite the praise I gave it, Death Road to Canada can become monotonous after a few games. I recommend playing it for a run every once in a while instead of grinding it out like I did. The general loop is fun, which is all you can really ask for a roguelite and the characters are enjoyable to play and interact with, but treat this like a short arcade experience instead. The various modes and extensive character customization might give you a reason to keep playing but I didn't really interact with them much besides a few tweaks to my main and my buddy.
Speaking of the character customization, its fantastic, with a ton of traits to start with and even more traits to unlock that can range anywhere from simple stat increases to complete overhauls of your character. The combat, again, completely depends on the skills of your characters, so the creator needed to reflect that to add the depth it was lacking which I feel like this game did, adding that extra layer of strategy to the game.
There is nothing more terrifying than being trapped in in the middle of a swarm of zombies, during a siege that is "sardine packed", your allies are all surrounded or dead, and your car is broken down and have no food either so you know even if you manage to make it out, you wont have close to a pleasant trip ahead.
I finally made it to Canada for the first time with two of my custom characters with actually no deaths on my run. My main was a martial artist fighter with high strength, I mostly used my fists and throwing furnature. My custom buddy I won with had a ton of medical and mechanical, and I just loaded her with all the guns since my fighter couldn't use them. And don't forget about the two Jojo's parodies of Hank Hill and Charlie Brown, each with their own "stands." Snoop doggy dogg and Pro-Pain, which just kinda shows you the weird things you find in this game. I think the game can become repetitive after a long playsession but again, it's fun in short bursts and offers a brutal but entertaining experience. Death Road to Canada is a cleverly designed, funny, and challenging game. It's a game worth playing for its blend of resource management, character customization, and roguelite elements.
Similar Games
Project Zomboid
Darkest Dungeon
Binding of Isaac
Oregon Trail
The game's blend of humor, absurdism, and sometimes even harsh realism makes it more enjoyable for me. Its insanely deep in some areas, though it does lack depth in some other areas. The management is the bread and butter of this game, but the combat is basically press one button to swing or shoot, and looting is just running through the same square rooms over and over again and clicking on all the shinies. However, the soundtrack is always bopping hard in the background which made me go on autopilot for a lot of that.
You can completely create and play as your own characters, making whatever crazy idea you can think of and experiment which adds a personal touch. The timeless gameplay and endless story possibilities mean that there is not really any narrative aside from "GET TO CANADA ASAP"; instead, you create your own story with each playthrough. This game is brutally challenging, requiring a lot of skill and luck.
The lack of online play is a missed opportunity, as it would enhance the multiplayer experience significantly, but the runs might last a bit too long for general matchmaking, and having leavers can be HARSH, but this can be solved by turning their characters into NPC followers when they leave.
The game's difficulty curve is steep because the combat is so simple, which can either deter players or entice them further. You cant really rely on your pure skill for this game, sometimes you just get unlucky or your stats never really reach anything worthwhile in the right areas for that run. Personally, it kept me coming back leading to multiple attempts really trying to make it to Canada because I was too stubborn after a while.
Despite the praise I gave it, Death Road to Canada can become monotonous after a few games. I recommend playing it for a run every once in a while instead of grinding it out like I did. The general loop is fun, which is all you can really ask for a roguelite and the characters are enjoyable to play and interact with, but treat this like a short arcade experience instead. The various modes and extensive character customization might give you a reason to keep playing but I didn't really interact with them much besides a few tweaks to my main and my buddy.
Speaking of the character customization, its fantastic, with a ton of traits to start with and even more traits to unlock that can range anywhere from simple stat increases to complete overhauls of your character. The combat, again, completely depends on the skills of your characters, so the creator needed to reflect that to add the depth it was lacking which I feel like this game did, adding that extra layer of strategy to the game.
There is nothing more terrifying than being trapped in in the middle of a swarm of zombies, during a siege that is "sardine packed", your allies are all surrounded or dead, and your car is broken down and have no food either so you know even if you manage to make it out, you wont have close to a pleasant trip ahead.
I finally made it to Canada for the first time with two of my custom characters with actually no deaths on my run. My main was a martial artist fighter with high strength, I mostly used my fists and throwing furnature. My custom buddy I won with had a ton of medical and mechanical, and I just loaded her with all the guns since my fighter couldn't use them. And don't forget about the two Jojo's parodies of Hank Hill and Charlie Brown, each with their own "stands." Snoop doggy dogg and Pro-Pain, which just kinda shows you the weird things you find in this game. I think the game can become repetitive after a long playsession but again, it's fun in short bursts and offers a brutal but entertaining experience. Death Road to Canada is a cleverly designed, funny, and challenging game. It's a game worth playing for its blend of resource management, character customization, and roguelite elements.
Similar Games
Project Zomboid
Darkest Dungeon
Binding of Isaac
Oregon Trail
2024
Crow Country Review
Gameplay:
Crow Country aims to bring back the nostalgic feel of the original survival horror greats, it aims to blend a few modern mechanics with the familiar atmosphere of games like the original Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Dino Crisis, ect. They even added in a classic tank control scheme for those of you who want the classic feel but I opted for the more modern controls myself. The gameplay basically revolves around exploring Crow Country which is a dilapidated amusement park with a dark history. You play as Mara Forest, and if youve played the inspirations you basically already know what to expect. Solving intricate puzzles, stand still to shoot combat against slow and nasty creatures (that you do not HAVE to kill of course since this is a survival horror), not knowing where to go or what to do (good or bad?), and "intense" sections of long backtracking. The game goes for an isometric view instead of the third and first person standard for modern horror games, but it does add free aiming and a camera you can move which adds a bit of a modern feel to this style of game.
I found myself keeping a notebook of all the things, codes, and notes that I found that I need to come back to which was fun, but the games puzzles are either halfway across the entire map from its solution leading to a bit of confusion on what is or isn't important for each puzzle or digital lock. If you keep a piece of paper on hand this probably wont be an issue but even still I was at a loss for a few of these moments for a while.
A few things the game could've improved is the map system. When you enter a room, the map only shows what room you are in. It wasn't a big deal of course, but I felt like it would be beneficial to have a map marker of your player and orientation to help with larger rooms and knowing which room you are heading towards. Again, its not a big deal I just have a poor sense of direction and my memory isn't amazing either so I'm sure someone else will probably have the whole map committed to memory by the time the game finishes.
Final notes, this game also doesn't do anything really new, I enjoyed my time playing it but it was mostly just familiar mechanics. You shouldn't expect a crazy mind-blowing, innovative game, instead expect a solid recreation of a game that could've came out in the 90s but with most of the clunk removed. The scares are also pretty low as well which is to be expected for a ps1 era game where the low poly groaning of monsters was scary back then but nowadays that is tame. This game focuses solely on the classic scares which is a good thing for some, but I wished it would take its style and make it truly horrifying by completely blindsiding you at moments with things you would never expect.
Graphics/Visuals:
The art direction in Crow Country is really mostly focusing on the nostalgic feel, it doesn't really blow anything out of the water of course, but it WAS super creative to have detailed environments while keeping the main characters as low poly as possible. It reminds me of PS1 games where the background was only a picture and the low poly 3d model would walk around it, yet they kept this same exact style while making those 2D envonments 3D, leading to a cool effect when moving your camera around. The abandoned amusement park is brought to life with eerie lighting, those detailed background textures, and a great visual style that enhances the experience for me. The creature designs can be very strange at times, mostly consisting of extremely mutated, bloody and grotesque things clambering towards you.
I'll remember the atmosphere of this game the longest as it is pretty memorable at times.
Story/Narrative:
The story of Crow Country is compelling, balancing eerie and comedic moments that kept me engaged, giving that nostalgic feel of old Resident Evil dialogue but doing so in a charming way. Having fun little things that the character says when you inspect something unimportant, or awkward interactions with NPCs you find. The story follows Mara Forest as she investigates the park, uncovering the secrets and dark history of the place and encountering a very small cast of characters. The game never takes itself too seriously while still delivering a gripping tale until the ending that got pretty deep which I really enjoyed. You figure out the story pretty quickly but there is still some surprises and twists especially towards the ending.
Audio/Sound:
Great sound design, chilling audio cues and ambient sounds when you just know there is something spooky nearby but its too dark to see. The creatures moaning and the ambient noises of the park are unsettling for the most part. The distorted once happy tracks that were played made me feel uneasy. Guns felt powerful and the it always felt like something bad was going to happen.
Replayability:
The game offers a low level of replayability for me, seems like it only offers a few small mechanics on extra playthroughs. Once you know the answers to the puzzles it's a pretty simple and short game. For me, I say play it once and maybe replay in a few years when you forget most of the game if you really enjoyed it. The main story is pretty linear, and it doesn't seem like the one or two choices you make really make a difference which might limit the replay value for some players. Play it once on survival mode and you'll be fine.
Overall Enjoyment:
This is a standout survival horror game despite the few flaws I had that successfully merges those nostalgic elements with a touch of modern gameplay. It offers an atmospheric experience with challenging puzzles, classic combat, and a simple but interesting story. If you're a fan of classic horror games or looking for a modern take on the genre that doesn't take too many risks or change too much about the formula, Crow Country is recommended.
Similar Games:
Classic:
Resident Evil series
Silent Hill series
Dino Crisis
"Modern":
The Evil Within series
Amnesia series
Fatal Frame series
Gameplay:
Crow Country aims to bring back the nostalgic feel of the original survival horror greats, it aims to blend a few modern mechanics with the familiar atmosphere of games like the original Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Dino Crisis, ect. They even added in a classic tank control scheme for those of you who want the classic feel but I opted for the more modern controls myself. The gameplay basically revolves around exploring Crow Country which is a dilapidated amusement park with a dark history. You play as Mara Forest, and if youve played the inspirations you basically already know what to expect. Solving intricate puzzles, stand still to shoot combat against slow and nasty creatures (that you do not HAVE to kill of course since this is a survival horror), not knowing where to go or what to do (good or bad?), and "intense" sections of long backtracking. The game goes for an isometric view instead of the third and first person standard for modern horror games, but it does add free aiming and a camera you can move which adds a bit of a modern feel to this style of game.
I found myself keeping a notebook of all the things, codes, and notes that I found that I need to come back to which was fun, but the games puzzles are either halfway across the entire map from its solution leading to a bit of confusion on what is or isn't important for each puzzle or digital lock. If you keep a piece of paper on hand this probably wont be an issue but even still I was at a loss for a few of these moments for a while.
A few things the game could've improved is the map system. When you enter a room, the map only shows what room you are in. It wasn't a big deal of course, but I felt like it would be beneficial to have a map marker of your player and orientation to help with larger rooms and knowing which room you are heading towards. Again, its not a big deal I just have a poor sense of direction and my memory isn't amazing either so I'm sure someone else will probably have the whole map committed to memory by the time the game finishes.
Final notes, this game also doesn't do anything really new, I enjoyed my time playing it but it was mostly just familiar mechanics. You shouldn't expect a crazy mind-blowing, innovative game, instead expect a solid recreation of a game that could've came out in the 90s but with most of the clunk removed. The scares are also pretty low as well which is to be expected for a ps1 era game where the low poly groaning of monsters was scary back then but nowadays that is tame. This game focuses solely on the classic scares which is a good thing for some, but I wished it would take its style and make it truly horrifying by completely blindsiding you at moments with things you would never expect.
Graphics/Visuals:
The art direction in Crow Country is really mostly focusing on the nostalgic feel, it doesn't really blow anything out of the water of course, but it WAS super creative to have detailed environments while keeping the main characters as low poly as possible. It reminds me of PS1 games where the background was only a picture and the low poly 3d model would walk around it, yet they kept this same exact style while making those 2D envonments 3D, leading to a cool effect when moving your camera around. The abandoned amusement park is brought to life with eerie lighting, those detailed background textures, and a great visual style that enhances the experience for me. The creature designs can be very strange at times, mostly consisting of extremely mutated, bloody and grotesque things clambering towards you.
I'll remember the atmosphere of this game the longest as it is pretty memorable at times.
Story/Narrative:
The story of Crow Country is compelling, balancing eerie and comedic moments that kept me engaged, giving that nostalgic feel of old Resident Evil dialogue but doing so in a charming way. Having fun little things that the character says when you inspect something unimportant, or awkward interactions with NPCs you find. The story follows Mara Forest as she investigates the park, uncovering the secrets and dark history of the place and encountering a very small cast of characters. The game never takes itself too seriously while still delivering a gripping tale until the ending that got pretty deep which I really enjoyed. You figure out the story pretty quickly but there is still some surprises and twists especially towards the ending.
Audio/Sound:
Great sound design, chilling audio cues and ambient sounds when you just know there is something spooky nearby but its too dark to see. The creatures moaning and the ambient noises of the park are unsettling for the most part. The distorted once happy tracks that were played made me feel uneasy. Guns felt powerful and the it always felt like something bad was going to happen.
Replayability:
The game offers a low level of replayability for me, seems like it only offers a few small mechanics on extra playthroughs. Once you know the answers to the puzzles it's a pretty simple and short game. For me, I say play it once and maybe replay in a few years when you forget most of the game if you really enjoyed it. The main story is pretty linear, and it doesn't seem like the one or two choices you make really make a difference which might limit the replay value for some players. Play it once on survival mode and you'll be fine.
Overall Enjoyment:
This is a standout survival horror game despite the few flaws I had that successfully merges those nostalgic elements with a touch of modern gameplay. It offers an atmospheric experience with challenging puzzles, classic combat, and a simple but interesting story. If you're a fan of classic horror games or looking for a modern take on the genre that doesn't take too many risks or change too much about the formula, Crow Country is recommended.
Similar Games:
Classic:
Resident Evil series
Silent Hill series
Dino Crisis
"Modern":
The Evil Within series
Amnesia series
Fatal Frame series
2022
Gameplay:
Dave the Diver has an engaging gameplay loop at first that combines simple underwater exploration and catching fishies during the day and restaurant management during the night. It offers a serviceable blend of dungeon crawling/exploring the deep and management elements, keeping players engaged with diverse activities. However, the experience can become stale quickly, and completely irrelevant mechanics introcuced until literally the last moment of the game forcing you to partake in tons of different things and activities that are nowhere near as interesting as the core mechanics, as upgrades also get really grindy in the mid game and get worse as it goes on. It feels like the tutorial never truly ends, even the final boss (and even the credits) introduces some type of new mechanic that just gets frustrating after this unnecessarily long game reaches the end. I loved the first 3 or so hours, but it got so slow and boring the longer I played. Despite these issues, the core gameplay loop is addictive, but after a while everything besides getting the main objectives become pointless and I spent way too much time working on my restaurant before I realized after you make some money, theres really nothing new to see with that aspect. All that while the game forces you into required kpop concerts, breeding fish tutorials, becoming a journalist taking pictures, farming crop tutorials, Tamagotchi clones, stealth missions on land, escort missions, controlling two character at once, and that's just the surface. If these mechanics were more fleshed out and optional I would like them a bit more. But the game just DRAGS AND DRAGS on for way longer than it needs to due to these additions.
Graphics/Visuals:
The pixel art in Dave the Diver is nice, with some genuinely great looking cutscenes in the core style getting to see the characters in a bit more detail, while they all have great and unique designs. But the mix of 2d pixel characters and 3d environments looks a bit off at times. The art direction of individual assets is good though. Each location underwater is basically the same thing but with a filter on it and different colored rocks though.
Story/Narrative:
The story in Dave the Diver is engaging at first, trying to get your resturaunt settled and getting customers, with a blend of humor and some mystery. It does succeed in that at least. Dave is basically forcibly drawn into opening a sushi restaurant, leading to a series of adventures underwater. The writing is lighthearted and pretty simple but occasionally deep, out of nowhere leading to unskippable and long cutscenes where you do nothing besides listen for a good 10 minutes or so. The worst slap in the face is when I was presented with an option to hear the deep lore as the "short version or long version" I selected the short version of course because it was already a while before I actually got to play the game, and the characters ignored what I asked for and just gave me the long version anyway as a "joke" that wasn't very funny. I do love Dave and all of the other quirky characters though but sometimes the story just comes to a halt when you are forced to return to the surface constantly, get a single item, and come back for no reason other than to pad out the time it seems.
Audio/Sound:
The audio design and music in Dave the Diver complement setting perfectly, it feels like you are underwater exploring with mellow tracks and distant sounds. The sound effects and music are well crafted. The soundtrack sometimes even changes to the different gameplay segments, like when you enter a building or ride a beluga it will play a different version of the same song. Hot pepper tuna is my song of the year of course.
Replayability:
Dave the Diver offers a huge amount of content, but I highly doubt anybody would ever want to slowly bog through this game a second time. Being able to skip entire pointless sections, cutscenes, and minigames however would improve this MASSIVELY. The game can feel so repetitive and tedious in the later stages, when searching for hidden items or grinding for the many upgrades. A completionist probably wouldn't even 100% this one aside from maybe all upgrades and 3 star fish and stop there.
Innovation:
Dave the Diver combines multiple genres constantly, for the most part this doesn't really work for me because none of them are particularly done well, but it does at least create a unique gameplay experience for sure. If the game was shorter, with deeper resuraunt and diving mechanics I wouldve rated this higher on innovation even while having less ideas because each of those pointless ideas are as fleshed out as Mr game&watch games for the most part. They are all just the bare minimum to be considered minigames and the average Mario Party minigame trumps each of them in polish. I guess it IS innovative to have a never ending stream of ideas in this, but it doesn't FEEL like it really is.
Content/Extras:
The game is packed with content, but do you really want to experience most of it? My opinion is no. Catching all 3 star fish, maxxing out your stats and your restaurant is enough for me. You couldnt pay me to 100% this game with collecting all the weapons, and 100% each minigame, along with a million other checklists offered. There IS at least always something to do, and if you love the game and the gameplay switchups you might like to complete it. However, compared to another game that balances a lot of different ideas and gameplay changes (Inscryption) this game pales in comparison. In Inscryption, I am extremely excited when the gameplay switches up, but in this I groan loudly. None of the new ideas and minigames significant value to the overall experience. The Dredge DLC was exciting to start, but after playing it, I realized it was the same exact thing as the core experience but with a different coat of paint.
Overall Enjoyment:
Dave the Diver is a fun and charming game at first and still retains some of that charm throughout, that offers an overwhelming blend of new gameplay elements constantly that never seems to deliver mostly. It also has some pacing issues in the story and can feel repetitive over time. The core gameplay loop is highly satisfying until you play for a few hours then the main interesting piece of this game feels like work. The games visual and audio design is great of course, its story involving the induvidual characters is great, but the extended lore is a chore to listen to. It might seem like I hate this game, but I dont. At least not until the last few hours of this game I finally reached a point where I couldnt wait for it to be over. But I think I had some fun at least for long enough. It does have some memorable moments though.
Similar Game:
Moonlighter
My Time at Portia
Dave the Diver has an engaging gameplay loop at first that combines simple underwater exploration and catching fishies during the day and restaurant management during the night. It offers a serviceable blend of dungeon crawling/exploring the deep and management elements, keeping players engaged with diverse activities. However, the experience can become stale quickly, and completely irrelevant mechanics introcuced until literally the last moment of the game forcing you to partake in tons of different things and activities that are nowhere near as interesting as the core mechanics, as upgrades also get really grindy in the mid game and get worse as it goes on. It feels like the tutorial never truly ends, even the final boss (and even the credits) introduces some type of new mechanic that just gets frustrating after this unnecessarily long game reaches the end. I loved the first 3 or so hours, but it got so slow and boring the longer I played. Despite these issues, the core gameplay loop is addictive, but after a while everything besides getting the main objectives become pointless and I spent way too much time working on my restaurant before I realized after you make some money, theres really nothing new to see with that aspect. All that while the game forces you into required kpop concerts, breeding fish tutorials, becoming a journalist taking pictures, farming crop tutorials, Tamagotchi clones, stealth missions on land, escort missions, controlling two character at once, and that's just the surface. If these mechanics were more fleshed out and optional I would like them a bit more. But the game just DRAGS AND DRAGS on for way longer than it needs to due to these additions.
Graphics/Visuals:
The pixel art in Dave the Diver is nice, with some genuinely great looking cutscenes in the core style getting to see the characters in a bit more detail, while they all have great and unique designs. But the mix of 2d pixel characters and 3d environments looks a bit off at times. The art direction of individual assets is good though. Each location underwater is basically the same thing but with a filter on it and different colored rocks though.
Story/Narrative:
The story in Dave the Diver is engaging at first, trying to get your resturaunt settled and getting customers, with a blend of humor and some mystery. It does succeed in that at least. Dave is basically forcibly drawn into opening a sushi restaurant, leading to a series of adventures underwater. The writing is lighthearted and pretty simple but occasionally deep, out of nowhere leading to unskippable and long cutscenes where you do nothing besides listen for a good 10 minutes or so. The worst slap in the face is when I was presented with an option to hear the deep lore as the "short version or long version" I selected the short version of course because it was already a while before I actually got to play the game, and the characters ignored what I asked for and just gave me the long version anyway as a "joke" that wasn't very funny. I do love Dave and all of the other quirky characters though but sometimes the story just comes to a halt when you are forced to return to the surface constantly, get a single item, and come back for no reason other than to pad out the time it seems.
Audio/Sound:
The audio design and music in Dave the Diver complement setting perfectly, it feels like you are underwater exploring with mellow tracks and distant sounds. The sound effects and music are well crafted. The soundtrack sometimes even changes to the different gameplay segments, like when you enter a building or ride a beluga it will play a different version of the same song. Hot pepper tuna is my song of the year of course.
Replayability:
Dave the Diver offers a huge amount of content, but I highly doubt anybody would ever want to slowly bog through this game a second time. Being able to skip entire pointless sections, cutscenes, and minigames however would improve this MASSIVELY. The game can feel so repetitive and tedious in the later stages, when searching for hidden items or grinding for the many upgrades. A completionist probably wouldn't even 100% this one aside from maybe all upgrades and 3 star fish and stop there.
Innovation:
Dave the Diver combines multiple genres constantly, for the most part this doesn't really work for me because none of them are particularly done well, but it does at least create a unique gameplay experience for sure. If the game was shorter, with deeper resuraunt and diving mechanics I wouldve rated this higher on innovation even while having less ideas because each of those pointless ideas are as fleshed out as Mr game&watch games for the most part. They are all just the bare minimum to be considered minigames and the average Mario Party minigame trumps each of them in polish. I guess it IS innovative to have a never ending stream of ideas in this, but it doesn't FEEL like it really is.
Content/Extras:
The game is packed with content, but do you really want to experience most of it? My opinion is no. Catching all 3 star fish, maxxing out your stats and your restaurant is enough for me. You couldnt pay me to 100% this game with collecting all the weapons, and 100% each minigame, along with a million other checklists offered. There IS at least always something to do, and if you love the game and the gameplay switchups you might like to complete it. However, compared to another game that balances a lot of different ideas and gameplay changes (Inscryption) this game pales in comparison. In Inscryption, I am extremely excited when the gameplay switches up, but in this I groan loudly. None of the new ideas and minigames significant value to the overall experience. The Dredge DLC was exciting to start, but after playing it, I realized it was the same exact thing as the core experience but with a different coat of paint.
Overall Enjoyment:
Dave the Diver is a fun and charming game at first and still retains some of that charm throughout, that offers an overwhelming blend of new gameplay elements constantly that never seems to deliver mostly. It also has some pacing issues in the story and can feel repetitive over time. The core gameplay loop is highly satisfying until you play for a few hours then the main interesting piece of this game feels like work. The games visual and audio design is great of course, its story involving the induvidual characters is great, but the extended lore is a chore to listen to. It might seem like I hate this game, but I dont. At least not until the last few hours of this game I finally reached a point where I couldnt wait for it to be over. But I think I had some fun at least for long enough. It does have some memorable moments though.
Similar Game:
Moonlighter
My Time at Portia
2024
Gameplay:
Animal Wells biggest feat is in the joy of discovery with relatively simple mechanics at its core. Lacking any combat, the game still offers a satisfying experience through unlocking new and interesting tools and mechanics constantly and discovering new ways to use them. The mechanics provide a ton of creativity in every screen, leading to constant memorable moments of discovery and even some horror thrown into the mix. The emphasis on exploration and puzzlesolving instead of combat creates a loop that rewards curiosity and experimentation, making each new screen you come across feel like an opportunity for secrets everywhere. Some players might find the openended exploration and lack of combat or really any action at all a bit less engaging over time despite being a relatively short game, especially when searching for hidden items without clear guidance, or backtracking a ton to past locations, getting lost, not knowing what to do, or sometimes long walk backs after death. One piece that stuck out a lot as frustrating is when you have to take a Frisby from a ghost dog and bring it to the other side of the map, leading to an intense race but insanely annoying to execute because the map screen doesn't pause the game so you can die trying to figure out what direction to head on your long treck to where you need to go.
Graphics/Visuals:
The aesthetic of Animal Well is dark with neon lights thrown throughout and pretty great looking, it may look like a simple pixel game but there are some standout locations in this game. The world and environment design feel cohesive, adding to the immersion. Also you play as kirby so theres that.
Story/Narrative:
The game does not focus heavily on narrative, but it does have subtle cryptic elements and atmospheric design leading to a bit of a mystery in your head. The world of Animal Well feels like it has some history, with hints scattered throughout the environment. You are encouraged to piece together the story through exploration and observation, and its rewarding to piece together the secrets.
Audio/Sound:
The audio design in Animal Well feels otherworldly. The sound effects and music add depth to the experience, enhancing moments of discovery and exploration. From ambient sounds that evoke a sense of wonder to dynamic music that heightens the tension during key moments, the audio in "Animal Well" plays a crucial role in shaping the player's emotional journey through the game world.
Replayability:
For me, this is a good experience but I will probably never replay after completing it, since most of the content involves figuring out what to do and puzzles. Once you complete everything there isnt really anything (for me) on a repeat playthrough. Animal Well does offer a good amount of extra content however, with layers of even more secrets and discoveries like the hidden eggs to collect. I feel players may experience fatigue in the postgame phase like I did, especially when hunting down those eggs without clear guidance or worthwhile rewards. Most players may find themselves losing interest after completing the main story. But the game does have a pretty cool speedrun so there's that.
Innovation:
Animal Well doesn't revolutionize the genre like a lot of people are saying, but it does have inventive puzzles, mechanics and items I haven't seen in a game before, and secrets everywhere presented in a way I haven't seen much of either. The developers greatest strength is his creativity and dedication to delivering a quality and complete experience. This isn't a truly fresh take on the Metroidvania formula but it is a standout. Embracing simplicity above all and trusting in the player's ability to uncover its intricacies and mechanics themselves instead of having tutorials.
Content/Extras:
The game provides some amount of extra content, some inventive puzzles, a few powers, and some cute moments to discover. However, the postgame may feel tedious for most players due to the secrets being so well hidden and no clear direction of egg hunting and lack of meaningful rewards. The majority of the post-game content revolves around collecting those hidden eggs which I got so bored of after a while despite liking most of the puzzles on the way. While there are SOME additional rewards for completing the massive egg hunt, like a few new abilities or small story beats, for me they aren't enough to motivate players to continue playing after completing the main story.
Overall Enjoyment of the Game:
Animal well is a pretty great and atmospheric gem that offers a ton of deep exploration. It does suffer from some shortcomings though, like a lack of direction in the postgame, its puzzles, visuals, and atmosphere make it a standout title of this year. Despite those small flaws, Animal Well is a MASTAPIECE
Similar Games:
Tunic?
Metroid series
Hollow Knight
Outer Wilds?
The Witness?
Animal Wells biggest feat is in the joy of discovery with relatively simple mechanics at its core. Lacking any combat, the game still offers a satisfying experience through unlocking new and interesting tools and mechanics constantly and discovering new ways to use them. The mechanics provide a ton of creativity in every screen, leading to constant memorable moments of discovery and even some horror thrown into the mix. The emphasis on exploration and puzzlesolving instead of combat creates a loop that rewards curiosity and experimentation, making each new screen you come across feel like an opportunity for secrets everywhere. Some players might find the openended exploration and lack of combat or really any action at all a bit less engaging over time despite being a relatively short game, especially when searching for hidden items without clear guidance, or backtracking a ton to past locations, getting lost, not knowing what to do, or sometimes long walk backs after death. One piece that stuck out a lot as frustrating is when you have to take a Frisby from a ghost dog and bring it to the other side of the map, leading to an intense race but insanely annoying to execute because the map screen doesn't pause the game so you can die trying to figure out what direction to head on your long treck to where you need to go.
Graphics/Visuals:
The aesthetic of Animal Well is dark with neon lights thrown throughout and pretty great looking, it may look like a simple pixel game but there are some standout locations in this game. The world and environment design feel cohesive, adding to the immersion. Also you play as kirby so theres that.
Story/Narrative:
The game does not focus heavily on narrative, but it does have subtle cryptic elements and atmospheric design leading to a bit of a mystery in your head. The world of Animal Well feels like it has some history, with hints scattered throughout the environment. You are encouraged to piece together the story through exploration and observation, and its rewarding to piece together the secrets.
Audio/Sound:
The audio design in Animal Well feels otherworldly. The sound effects and music add depth to the experience, enhancing moments of discovery and exploration. From ambient sounds that evoke a sense of wonder to dynamic music that heightens the tension during key moments, the audio in "Animal Well" plays a crucial role in shaping the player's emotional journey through the game world.
Replayability:
For me, this is a good experience but I will probably never replay after completing it, since most of the content involves figuring out what to do and puzzles. Once you complete everything there isnt really anything (for me) on a repeat playthrough. Animal Well does offer a good amount of extra content however, with layers of even more secrets and discoveries like the hidden eggs to collect. I feel players may experience fatigue in the postgame phase like I did, especially when hunting down those eggs without clear guidance or worthwhile rewards. Most players may find themselves losing interest after completing the main story. But the game does have a pretty cool speedrun so there's that.
Innovation:
Animal Well doesn't revolutionize the genre like a lot of people are saying, but it does have inventive puzzles, mechanics and items I haven't seen in a game before, and secrets everywhere presented in a way I haven't seen much of either. The developers greatest strength is his creativity and dedication to delivering a quality and complete experience. This isn't a truly fresh take on the Metroidvania formula but it is a standout. Embracing simplicity above all and trusting in the player's ability to uncover its intricacies and mechanics themselves instead of having tutorials.
Content/Extras:
The game provides some amount of extra content, some inventive puzzles, a few powers, and some cute moments to discover. However, the postgame may feel tedious for most players due to the secrets being so well hidden and no clear direction of egg hunting and lack of meaningful rewards. The majority of the post-game content revolves around collecting those hidden eggs which I got so bored of after a while despite liking most of the puzzles on the way. While there are SOME additional rewards for completing the massive egg hunt, like a few new abilities or small story beats, for me they aren't enough to motivate players to continue playing after completing the main story.
Overall Enjoyment of the Game:
Animal well is a pretty great and atmospheric gem that offers a ton of deep exploration. It does suffer from some shortcomings though, like a lack of direction in the postgame, its puzzles, visuals, and atmosphere make it a standout title of this year. Despite those small flaws, Animal Well is a MASTAPIECE
Similar Games:
Tunic?
Metroid series
Hollow Knight
Outer Wilds?
The Witness?
Gameplay:
Another Crab's Treasure for me captures the essence of what makes a soulslike game with its familiar combat, customization, and exploration. The combat is engaging and does feel original for the most part with it's interesting shell mechanics, keeping the gameplay fresh and not boring. However, there are some frustrating moments, like knowing where to go and especially with some sniping enemies that can catch you from an entire map away and do parkour to get line of sight of you. Despite this, the game offers a pretty balanced combat experience overall, with special abilities that are useful but not mandatory, and bosses that are all pretty unique, not reused, and fun to defeat.
Graphics/Visuals:
The game has some charm in its visuals. The art style is nice despite being pretty low poly general animated seeming, and helps set it apart from other games in the genre. Being bright, colorful and hopeful instead of dark like so many other soulslikes go for on the regular. While not groundbreaking, the visuals are pleasing and contribute to the overall experience being a light souls game.
Story/Narrative
The dialogue in Another Crab's Treasure is quite entertaining, adding a humorous and engaging layer to the narrative. While the story itself may not be the main highlight, the characters and their interactions keep players invested. It isn't a complicated story by any means, and I enjoy actually knowing what is going on in a soulslike which doesn't happen often.
Audio/Sound:
The audio design, including sound effects and music, complements the gameplay well. It enhances the atmosphere and helps immerse players in the world. The voice acting and dialogue delivery add to the game's charm, and the music is fun and upbeat and serves the levels well without getting annoying.
Replayability:
Fans of these type of games might find Another Crab's Treasure worth replaying due to its challenging combat and variety of customization options. But for those not already invested in the genre, the replay value might be less compelling. You can clear the game out pretty quickly and there isn't much to really upgrade that makes a huge difference besides going for all the collectables.
Innovation:
While it stays close to the soulslike formula, Another Crab's Treasure introduces enough unique elements in combat, customization, and exploration to stand out enough.
Content/Extras:
The game offers a decent amount of content, with a ton of abilities and customization options to explore. But it doesn't go above and beyond in terms of extra content, hidden bosses, ect. I didnt really feel like going through and 100% completing the game because I felt that the focus was on delivering a solid core experience which I enjoyed.
Overall Enjoyment:
Overall this is a very enjoyable game for fans of soulslike and action combat. It isn't nearly as difficult as others but for the most part it hits the necessary marks with its engaging gameplay and fun charm, despite some frustrating moments.
Similar Games:
Dark Souls series of course, or any soulslike for that matter. I dont know of any close matches to this one.
Another Crab's Treasure for me captures the essence of what makes a soulslike game with its familiar combat, customization, and exploration. The combat is engaging and does feel original for the most part with it's interesting shell mechanics, keeping the gameplay fresh and not boring. However, there are some frustrating moments, like knowing where to go and especially with some sniping enemies that can catch you from an entire map away and do parkour to get line of sight of you. Despite this, the game offers a pretty balanced combat experience overall, with special abilities that are useful but not mandatory, and bosses that are all pretty unique, not reused, and fun to defeat.
Graphics/Visuals:
The game has some charm in its visuals. The art style is nice despite being pretty low poly general animated seeming, and helps set it apart from other games in the genre. Being bright, colorful and hopeful instead of dark like so many other soulslikes go for on the regular. While not groundbreaking, the visuals are pleasing and contribute to the overall experience being a light souls game.
Story/Narrative
The dialogue in Another Crab's Treasure is quite entertaining, adding a humorous and engaging layer to the narrative. While the story itself may not be the main highlight, the characters and their interactions keep players invested. It isn't a complicated story by any means, and I enjoy actually knowing what is going on in a soulslike which doesn't happen often.
Audio/Sound:
The audio design, including sound effects and music, complements the gameplay well. It enhances the atmosphere and helps immerse players in the world. The voice acting and dialogue delivery add to the game's charm, and the music is fun and upbeat and serves the levels well without getting annoying.
Replayability:
Fans of these type of games might find Another Crab's Treasure worth replaying due to its challenging combat and variety of customization options. But for those not already invested in the genre, the replay value might be less compelling. You can clear the game out pretty quickly and there isn't much to really upgrade that makes a huge difference besides going for all the collectables.
Innovation:
While it stays close to the soulslike formula, Another Crab's Treasure introduces enough unique elements in combat, customization, and exploration to stand out enough.
Content/Extras:
The game offers a decent amount of content, with a ton of abilities and customization options to explore. But it doesn't go above and beyond in terms of extra content, hidden bosses, ect. I didnt really feel like going through and 100% completing the game because I felt that the focus was on delivering a solid core experience which I enjoyed.
Overall Enjoyment:
Overall this is a very enjoyable game for fans of soulslike and action combat. It isn't nearly as difficult as others but for the most part it hits the necessary marks with its engaging gameplay and fun charm, despite some frustrating moments.
Similar Games:
Dark Souls series of course, or any soulslike for that matter. I dont know of any close matches to this one.
2024
Kinitopet is a pretty unique horror game that manages to scare players with its meta elements, even though it could use more intense actual scares. The most scary thing that happens is when it opens up command prompt. Definitely worth the experience though at least, but the game is about an hour long and most of that is doing boring tasks while nothing else is happening.
2022
Gameplay: The action roguelite mechanics kept me engaged to a certain extent. Is more or less the same exact thing as brotato or vampire survivors except its 3D visuals, unlocking spells, crafting weapons and skills, and experimenting with multiple characters is the base level for these types of games. But here’s the catch: it’s a bit too straightforward, this game doesn't really do anything new in the genre so its not my favorite. The challenge lacks the fun of a real bullet hell, and doesn't stand out far enough to hang with the great
Graphics/Visuals: The minimalist aesthetic serves the game well enough, its not amazing and even seems a bit lazy in some models. Its a bit tougher to see what's going on compared to others in the genre, or bullet hells in general.
Story/Narrative: Gonna be honest, didn't care to pay attention here. Not sure if there even is any.
Audio/Sound: The audio serves its purpose, nothing stands out as bad. And I remember a few songs were nice to listen to as well.
Replayability: Basically the only reason to play Soulstone Survivors. There is gamebreaking synergies that are fun to be discovered, and there is a long skill tree to unlock along with tons of new characters and more to unlock. But the grind for power can feel monotonous at times. More variety in enemies and environments would help the replay value.
Difficulty: I played through the base game with no added curses and didn't really lose at all. I failed my first run because I didn't know I could dash, but every subsequent run was completed first try. Trying out some curse runs after I finished everything didn't really add much either. Enemies are far too easy to avoid leading to runs with 0 damage while also being overpowered. This game isn't difficult at all and any build can get you through the base game. Maybe it picks up in difficulty later but I didnt care enough to get there.
Innovation: Not groundbreaking, I've played a lot of games like this one. the fusion of roguelite elements and spellcasting is interesting, and the skill tree and weapon crafting system is new. Aside from that this is a bog standard Survivors game. I wanted more from the bosses or maybe even a bit more personal input aside from auto targeting.
Content/Extras: Beyond the basic gameplay, the game surprises with some unlockable characters (most of them dont change much) and a lot to grind for and new difficulty modes afterwards by adding curses. The roadmap promises more though at least.
Overall Enjoyment: I enjoyed this game for about 20 minutes til I realized the grind I'd have to do to unlock everything, but I felt like I at least needed to complete every level.
Similar Games: For other survivor games I enjoyed more than this, play Vampire Survivors, and Brotato.
Graphics/Visuals: The minimalist aesthetic serves the game well enough, its not amazing and even seems a bit lazy in some models. Its a bit tougher to see what's going on compared to others in the genre, or bullet hells in general.
Story/Narrative: Gonna be honest, didn't care to pay attention here. Not sure if there even is any.
Audio/Sound: The audio serves its purpose, nothing stands out as bad. And I remember a few songs were nice to listen to as well.
Replayability: Basically the only reason to play Soulstone Survivors. There is gamebreaking synergies that are fun to be discovered, and there is a long skill tree to unlock along with tons of new characters and more to unlock. But the grind for power can feel monotonous at times. More variety in enemies and environments would help the replay value.
Difficulty: I played through the base game with no added curses and didn't really lose at all. I failed my first run because I didn't know I could dash, but every subsequent run was completed first try. Trying out some curse runs after I finished everything didn't really add much either. Enemies are far too easy to avoid leading to runs with 0 damage while also being overpowered. This game isn't difficult at all and any build can get you through the base game. Maybe it picks up in difficulty later but I didnt care enough to get there.
Innovation: Not groundbreaking, I've played a lot of games like this one. the fusion of roguelite elements and spellcasting is interesting, and the skill tree and weapon crafting system is new. Aside from that this is a bog standard Survivors game. I wanted more from the bosses or maybe even a bit more personal input aside from auto targeting.
Content/Extras: Beyond the basic gameplay, the game surprises with some unlockable characters (most of them dont change much) and a lot to grind for and new difficulty modes afterwards by adding curses. The roadmap promises more though at least.
Overall Enjoyment: I enjoyed this game for about 20 minutes til I realized the grind I'd have to do to unlock everything, but I felt like I at least needed to complete every level.
Similar Games: For other survivor games I enjoyed more than this, play Vampire Survivors, and Brotato.
Gameplay: (Works at least) As the new doorman in this creepy old apartment building, it makes you feel like a detective investigating everyone who walks in. Checking IDs, scrutinizing appearances, and deciding who enters, this premise I really liked at first. It’s literally like Paper Please with a supernatural twist, creepy imposters try to infiltrate the building and you have to decide who is real and who isnt. The doppelgangers are supposed to keep you on your toes, but then there's the catch, it’s a tad too easy. The inconsistencies stand out like a sore thumb, and even a sleeping intern could spot them.
Graphics/Visuals: Minimalist 2D hand drawn sprite art style works and looks good, the doppelgangers are usually creepy. It won’t win any beauty contests or art awards, but the simplicity works.
Story/Narrative: The premise is interesting, doppelgangers infiltrating an apartment building. You flip through IDs, cross-reference names, and occasionally call residents to confirm their identities with their roomates. But the narrative lacks any depth whatsoever. This isn't really a bad thing for some, but for me? Why are these doppelgangers so rampant in this city, what do they want? Aside from the fun little employee training video we get to start there really doesnt seem to be any lore here at all.
Audio/Sound: 3/5 The ambient sounds—creaking doors, muffled footsteps—set the tone. But they fade into the background. A haunting soundtrack or eerie whispers would’ve elevated the experience. Instead, it’s like listening to an old radio with a weak signal.
Replayability: Once you’ve mastered detecting imposters (which isn't exactly rocket science) there’s very little reason to revisit. The lack of random events or a ton of hidden secrets leaves you without any complexity. Also, calling on the phone and waiting 20 seconds every time you catch one is really frustrating too. Idk if I'd ever replay this without a major update.
Innovation: That’s Not My Neighbor borrows from Paper Please and adds a paranormal twist. It’s not exactly fresh, and the execution also falls short as well. The doppelgangers needed more layers, more options, harder to spot anomalies, maybe some sabotages or moral dilemmas idk.
Content/Extras:
Beyond the main gameplay loop, there’s little to explore. Not really any hidden secrets, no secret codes. It’s straightforward, like an assembly line. A few surprises or difficulty would’ve spiced things up.
Overall Enjoyment: I enjoyed my short time as the doorman/detective. But once the novelty wore off in about an hour, it felt like a repetitive paperwork job. Extremely simple game with little variety, but it has a little bit of charm. With updates this can be something special though.
Similar Games: Explore titles like Papers, Please (similar gameplay) and Return of the Obra Dinn (if you just want to feel like a detective).
Graphics/Visuals: Minimalist 2D hand drawn sprite art style works and looks good, the doppelgangers are usually creepy. It won’t win any beauty contests or art awards, but the simplicity works.
Story/Narrative: The premise is interesting, doppelgangers infiltrating an apartment building. You flip through IDs, cross-reference names, and occasionally call residents to confirm their identities with their roomates. But the narrative lacks any depth whatsoever. This isn't really a bad thing for some, but for me? Why are these doppelgangers so rampant in this city, what do they want? Aside from the fun little employee training video we get to start there really doesnt seem to be any lore here at all.
Audio/Sound: 3/5 The ambient sounds—creaking doors, muffled footsteps—set the tone. But they fade into the background. A haunting soundtrack or eerie whispers would’ve elevated the experience. Instead, it’s like listening to an old radio with a weak signal.
Replayability: Once you’ve mastered detecting imposters (which isn't exactly rocket science) there’s very little reason to revisit. The lack of random events or a ton of hidden secrets leaves you without any complexity. Also, calling on the phone and waiting 20 seconds every time you catch one is really frustrating too. Idk if I'd ever replay this without a major update.
Innovation: That’s Not My Neighbor borrows from Paper Please and adds a paranormal twist. It’s not exactly fresh, and the execution also falls short as well. The doppelgangers needed more layers, more options, harder to spot anomalies, maybe some sabotages or moral dilemmas idk.
Content/Extras:
Beyond the main gameplay loop, there’s little to explore. Not really any hidden secrets, no secret codes. It’s straightforward, like an assembly line. A few surprises or difficulty would’ve spiced things up.
Overall Enjoyment: I enjoyed my short time as the doorman/detective. But once the novelty wore off in about an hour, it felt like a repetitive paperwork job. Extremely simple game with little variety, but it has a little bit of charm. With updates this can be something special though.
Similar Games: Explore titles like Papers, Please (similar gameplay) and Return of the Obra Dinn (if you just want to feel like a detective).
Gameplay: More or less the same as any of the early GBA games, and that isn't a bad thing though because it takes that gameplay and everything that was so special about the original release and it makes it the best that it CAN be. From the first time I played Pokémon Infinite Fusion, I was hooked. The ability to fuse any two Pokémon together and create entirely new mon's is insanely in depth, and not just a generated mix like the old browser generators did, these fusions are entirely sourced by fans and some of the artwork is impressive. Since every Pokemon imaginable can be fused with any others including itself, every single fusion combination feels like you are the first person to ever discover it. The battles with these unique hybrids are challenging and balanced for the most part as well. Updated gyms, new moves, the gameplay innovation is commendable and it shows that a lot of die-hard fans worked on this.
Graphics/Visuals: It just looks like Pokemon of course. Seeing all of the new pixel art of each fusion though nice though. The attention to detail in each one is impressive, but it is all done by artists for fun.
Story/Narrative: While not a narrative masterpiece, The Kanto region and Johto postgame content provide a lot of exploration, sidequests, and more. Just about every single npc and trainer have a purpose now and there is a TON added to each random house in the game. It’s not Shakespeare, but it’s the regular Pokémon storytelling with a twist and a lot of added layers.
Audio/Sound: The music and sound effects are serviceable. Its mostly the same things we are used to. They don’t distract from the gameplay, but they don’t stand out either. The music though is great of course, but it mostly just samples music from past games so I cant really say that this game did anything new.
Replayability: Infinite Fusion thrives on replayability. From Nuzlockes, challenge runs, and tons of youtube content to go with it. With over 170 thousand possible fusion combinations, you’ll actually want to actually catch them all and see everything the game has to offer by fusing random ones together. They even implemented wonder trading so that's even more of a reason to keep going.
Innovation: This is where Infinite Fusion is the best. It’s the game Nintendo should’ve made. Not solely the fusion aspect, but the level of detail, mechanics, story/cutscenes, new secrets, and scope is unlike anything Gamefreak has even thought of making. The fan-made effort surpasses novelty; It literally blows my mind constantly. More innovation here than I've seen out of nintendo for the past 10 years.
Content/Extras: Beyond fusion, the game surprises with a full Kanto region, AND Johto region, along with tons of sidequests, secrets, and Legendary Pokémon. The developers have a dedication to updates and quality-of-life features.
Overall Enjoyment: I had a blast with Pokémon Infinite Fusion. It’s a fan-made game of course, but it for sure deserves recognition. If Nintendo ever decides to embrace this level of innovation, the Pokémon games wouldn't be as clowned on as they are now.
Similar Games: For more fan made and other unconventional Pokémon, play titles like Pokémon Uranium and Pokémon Insurgence. They prove that fans can breathe new life into an old and tired franchise.
Note: My mvp for the run was an alakazam fused with a togekiss, calm mind and psychic swept most of the game, but i got a whole new team for johto and a lopunny fused with shedinja swept johto.
Graphics/Visuals: It just looks like Pokemon of course. Seeing all of the new pixel art of each fusion though nice though. The attention to detail in each one is impressive, but it is all done by artists for fun.
Story/Narrative: While not a narrative masterpiece, The Kanto region and Johto postgame content provide a lot of exploration, sidequests, and more. Just about every single npc and trainer have a purpose now and there is a TON added to each random house in the game. It’s not Shakespeare, but it’s the regular Pokémon storytelling with a twist and a lot of added layers.
Audio/Sound: The music and sound effects are serviceable. Its mostly the same things we are used to. They don’t distract from the gameplay, but they don’t stand out either. The music though is great of course, but it mostly just samples music from past games so I cant really say that this game did anything new.
Replayability: Infinite Fusion thrives on replayability. From Nuzlockes, challenge runs, and tons of youtube content to go with it. With over 170 thousand possible fusion combinations, you’ll actually want to actually catch them all and see everything the game has to offer by fusing random ones together. They even implemented wonder trading so that's even more of a reason to keep going.
Innovation: This is where Infinite Fusion is the best. It’s the game Nintendo should’ve made. Not solely the fusion aspect, but the level of detail, mechanics, story/cutscenes, new secrets, and scope is unlike anything Gamefreak has even thought of making. The fan-made effort surpasses novelty; It literally blows my mind constantly. More innovation here than I've seen out of nintendo for the past 10 years.
Content/Extras: Beyond fusion, the game surprises with a full Kanto region, AND Johto region, along with tons of sidequests, secrets, and Legendary Pokémon. The developers have a dedication to updates and quality-of-life features.
Overall Enjoyment: I had a blast with Pokémon Infinite Fusion. It’s a fan-made game of course, but it for sure deserves recognition. If Nintendo ever decides to embrace this level of innovation, the Pokémon games wouldn't be as clowned on as they are now.
Similar Games: For more fan made and other unconventional Pokémon, play titles like Pokémon Uranium and Pokémon Insurgence. They prove that fans can breathe new life into an old and tired franchise.
Note: My mvp for the run was an alakazam fused with a togekiss, calm mind and psychic swept most of the game, but i got a whole new team for johto and a lopunny fused with shedinja swept johto.
2023
Gameplay: At first, Cursorblade intrigued me from just the concept. Being the cursor in a bullet hell game felt like a great start—swiping frantically to survive waves of enemies. Each new wave introduced fresh challenges, until it didn't. The enemy variety was pretty low in this game and it got old pretty quickly. But until then forcing quick adaptations to each wave was fun. The novelty wore thin. The gameplay loop became repetitive, and I wanted more variety beyond swinging my cursor back and forth.
Graphics/Visuals: The game’s visuals are fine. The chaotic nature of the frantic cursor movements and enemy patterns could've been messy, but it was very easy to navigate. The minimalist aesthetic, and bursts of color keeps the focus on the action, and less on figuring out where you are and what is happening.
Story/Narrative: Let’s be honest, Cursorblade isn’t about lore or narratives. You’re a cursor, and you gotta live. The lack of story doesn’t matter. I wish the cursor had a name though.
Replayability: Cursorblade has alright replayability it is a roguelite after all. Despite that I wish it was more interesting on repeat playthroughs. After a while (an hour or so), the lack of significant progression dampens the excitement. Maybe some unlockable cursor skins or secret abilities would spice things up?
Innovation: While not groundbreaking, Cursorblade offers a new twist on the bullet hell genre. It may have been done before, but it's the first game of this style I've played. It’s less about precise aiming and more about chaotic scratching of your mousepad. The simplicity of the concept is its strength, but a hidden boss wave or a cursor power-up or anything new would've made it a tad better.
Content/Extras: The game has straightforward progression. Unlocking new weapons and items but pretty simple concepts for them.
Overall Enjoyment: Cursorblade is a fun weekend game, get it if you want something to put two hours into and have fun with and never touch it again. It won’t keep you up at night pondering its existential themes, but it will make you appreciate the humble cursor. If you’re in the mood for chaotic fun and a break from reality, give it a click.
Similar Games: I'm not sure.. Maybe titles like Vampire Survivors, Skul: The Hero Slayer, and Enter the Gungeon might be up your alley? I don't remember playing any other cursor based games like this tbh.
Graphics/Visuals: The game’s visuals are fine. The chaotic nature of the frantic cursor movements and enemy patterns could've been messy, but it was very easy to navigate. The minimalist aesthetic, and bursts of color keeps the focus on the action, and less on figuring out where you are and what is happening.
Story/Narrative: Let’s be honest, Cursorblade isn’t about lore or narratives. You’re a cursor, and you gotta live. The lack of story doesn’t matter. I wish the cursor had a name though.
Replayability: Cursorblade has alright replayability it is a roguelite after all. Despite that I wish it was more interesting on repeat playthroughs. After a while (an hour or so), the lack of significant progression dampens the excitement. Maybe some unlockable cursor skins or secret abilities would spice things up?
Innovation: While not groundbreaking, Cursorblade offers a new twist on the bullet hell genre. It may have been done before, but it's the first game of this style I've played. It’s less about precise aiming and more about chaotic scratching of your mousepad. The simplicity of the concept is its strength, but a hidden boss wave or a cursor power-up or anything new would've made it a tad better.
Content/Extras: The game has straightforward progression. Unlocking new weapons and items but pretty simple concepts for them.
Overall Enjoyment: Cursorblade is a fun weekend game, get it if you want something to put two hours into and have fun with and never touch it again. It won’t keep you up at night pondering its existential themes, but it will make you appreciate the humble cursor. If you’re in the mood for chaotic fun and a break from reality, give it a click.
Similar Games: I'm not sure.. Maybe titles like Vampire Survivors, Skul: The Hero Slayer, and Enter the Gungeon might be up your alley? I don't remember playing any other cursor based games like this tbh.
They revamped the gameplay in Overwatch, shooting feels more consistent and engaging. Improved weapon accuracy with larger projectiles and health adjustments create a new and different experience with nothing but dopamine. Whether or not that's a good thing is up to be seen but they are very quick to revert and nerf some problem characters due to the change. I am however glad that Hanzo can't one shot me from a mile away anymore.
Heroes now regenerate health passively, encouraging strategic play, picking targets carefully, and longer team fights, DPS also nerf healing received encouraging supports to mostly do damage now. Bringing back some of that Overwatch 1 charm this is the best season of Overwatch 2 so far in my opinion.
The new seasonal modes were fun as always but just like always they were only fun for an hour or so. Completing the new Cosmic horror event on legendary was fun, but grinding out the challenges on that, and the new prop hunt map was dreadful after a while. I wont be missing these modes after they go away, but I dont regret playing them either.
Heroes now regenerate health passively, encouraging strategic play, picking targets carefully, and longer team fights, DPS also nerf healing received encouraging supports to mostly do damage now. Bringing back some of that Overwatch 1 charm this is the best season of Overwatch 2 so far in my opinion.
The new seasonal modes were fun as always but just like always they were only fun for an hour or so. Completing the new Cosmic horror event on legendary was fun, but grinding out the challenges on that, and the new prop hunt map was dreadful after a while. I wont be missing these modes after they go away, but I dont regret playing them either.
TBD
I did enjoy Looks Good to an extent. It’s a cozy escape of organization and cute visuals, perfect for unwinding and relaxing. If you’re into organization, art, and the occasional brain teaser, give it a shot. Just brace yourself for math problems and thinking after a while. I did not have fun on a lot of these pages.
If you’re craving more tidy adventures, check out A Little to the Left, and Unpacking. They won’t make you go back to high school algebra, I promise.
If you’re craving more tidy adventures, check out A Little to the Left, and Unpacking. They won’t make you go back to high school algebra, I promise.
2022
Gameplay (KICK ASS OUT OF 10):
Hellsinger delivers very well with a lightly explored yet intense gameplay. The controls are tight and very clicky, and chaining together combos needing to sync with the soundtrack to get buffs feels really satisfying as well. I had a lot of fun with this game.
Graphics/Visuals (WHATEVER):
The visuals complement the game's demon and metal theme, but they dont stand out whatsoever, just immersive enough atmosphere to not complain so a 5 is average for me.
Story/Narrative (DIDNT REALLY CARE):
Nothing really new or special at all, though it serves as a decent backdrop to the chaos. The characters are somewhat stereotypical but they fit well into the theme. Immersion is maintained, but the story doesn't wow me in any aspect, yet I'm not really upset about that since this game isnt enjoyed for it's story anyway.
Audio/Sound (KICK ASS DUDE):
Here's where Metal: Hellsinger truly shines. The music is not just a backdrop; it's the heartbeat of the game. The intense metal soundtrack, dynamically changing with the gameplay, elevates the entire experience. The sound effects are bone-crushing, and the voice acting is appropriately devilish.
Replayability (Eh not for me):
Just multiple difficulty levels which none of them really change much besides damage from you and against you, hidden challenges, and a scoring system for replaying levels for a leaderboard. This is pretty decent and standard stuff but it's not really the kind of replayable that I enjoy. I kinda hoped for an endless mode with randomly generated rooms kind of like a roguelite but I'm okay with putting this game down after I'm finished. The desire to perfect your levels and unlock all the little secrets will keep some coming back but I basically finished most of that on my first playthrough so it's not a game I will return to soon unlike BPM.
Innovation (Done before):
Metal: Hellsinger brings a familiar take to the rhythm-based shooter genre that I believe BPM innovated with. The integration of music into the core gameplay is fantastic with great bands and it feels perfected to play, creating a synergy between your actions and the soundtrack. It's not a groundbreaking or a brand new concept, but it feels finished.
Content/Extras (Not a ton but good enough):
Side missions, unlockable weapons, Perks, and secret levels. I completed all of it on GOAT difficulty and I found enjoyment in the side activities but there isn't much there.
Overall Enjoyment (8.5/10):
Metal: Hellsinger is an extremely entertaining experience and I liked every level for the msot part, especially for fans of both metal music and first-person shooters, and those who loved Doom Eternal and BPM, Despite some minor flaws, the game flies through ideas and levels quickly so you aren't stuck in the same place for long. the game's unique blend of intense gameplay, fantastic metal music, and the hell aesthetic make it a memorable journey throughout the few hours it takes to beat and I'd recommend it for sure, but not over a few similar games.
Similar Games: BPM, The New Doom Remakes, Crypt of the NecroDancer, and Cadence of Hyrule
Hellsinger delivers very well with a lightly explored yet intense gameplay. The controls are tight and very clicky, and chaining together combos needing to sync with the soundtrack to get buffs feels really satisfying as well. I had a lot of fun with this game.
Graphics/Visuals (WHATEVER):
The visuals complement the game's demon and metal theme, but they dont stand out whatsoever, just immersive enough atmosphere to not complain so a 5 is average for me.
Story/Narrative (DIDNT REALLY CARE):
Nothing really new or special at all, though it serves as a decent backdrop to the chaos. The characters are somewhat stereotypical but they fit well into the theme. Immersion is maintained, but the story doesn't wow me in any aspect, yet I'm not really upset about that since this game isnt enjoyed for it's story anyway.
Audio/Sound (KICK ASS DUDE):
Here's where Metal: Hellsinger truly shines. The music is not just a backdrop; it's the heartbeat of the game. The intense metal soundtrack, dynamically changing with the gameplay, elevates the entire experience. The sound effects are bone-crushing, and the voice acting is appropriately devilish.
Replayability (Eh not for me):
Just multiple difficulty levels which none of them really change much besides damage from you and against you, hidden challenges, and a scoring system for replaying levels for a leaderboard. This is pretty decent and standard stuff but it's not really the kind of replayable that I enjoy. I kinda hoped for an endless mode with randomly generated rooms kind of like a roguelite but I'm okay with putting this game down after I'm finished. The desire to perfect your levels and unlock all the little secrets will keep some coming back but I basically finished most of that on my first playthrough so it's not a game I will return to soon unlike BPM.
Innovation (Done before):
Metal: Hellsinger brings a familiar take to the rhythm-based shooter genre that I believe BPM innovated with. The integration of music into the core gameplay is fantastic with great bands and it feels perfected to play, creating a synergy between your actions and the soundtrack. It's not a groundbreaking or a brand new concept, but it feels finished.
Content/Extras (Not a ton but good enough):
Side missions, unlockable weapons, Perks, and secret levels. I completed all of it on GOAT difficulty and I found enjoyment in the side activities but there isn't much there.
Overall Enjoyment (8.5/10):
Metal: Hellsinger is an extremely entertaining experience and I liked every level for the msot part, especially for fans of both metal music and first-person shooters, and those who loved Doom Eternal and BPM, Despite some minor flaws, the game flies through ideas and levels quickly so you aren't stuck in the same place for long. the game's unique blend of intense gameplay, fantastic metal music, and the hell aesthetic make it a memorable journey throughout the few hours it takes to beat and I'd recommend it for sure, but not over a few similar games.
Similar Games: BPM, The New Doom Remakes, Crypt of the NecroDancer, and Cadence of Hyrule
2023
Cant finish, performance is just too bad.