When this first came out I was surprised to hear it was actually really good since everyone thought it would be another Square Enix Avengers flop. I've been meaning to play this for a while now and I can finally report that I don't think it's nearly as good as the glowing reviews would have you believe.

Let me start with the good. The story and character work is top tier especially for a triple A comic book game. The guardians are a well fleshed out and realistic team that I really enjoyed getting to know. I think I can confidently say I enjoy this rendition of the guardians more than the MCUs version. The combat, while janky (I'll get back to this) is really interesting in concept and I really enjoyed the huddle up mechanic. It's technically a cheat but using a ton of 80's music over the combat sections was a nice touch. The graphics are very nice and the mocap and character models are some of the best I've seen. Rocket and peter specifically look amazing. All of that stuff is great but It's severely tarnished by a glaring level of unpolish.

There's nothing game breaking about the bugs/glitches I encountered but there were enough little things that made the whole thing feel like it needed more time in the oven. Little things like the subtitles not showing up for certain lines, audio being delayed for a second or so, flickering textures or just really poorly implemented animations kept popping up and never really went away. The way peter moves and feels is SUPER janky and never feels satisfying. His jump has no real animation so he just appears in air and his boost forward and up look awful. I know this isn't a platforming game but any time you try to jump from ledge to ledge or vault up to a higher platform it's a gamble if you'll actually make it because the controls are so imprecise.

I really am a fan of what they did with the combat in this despite but most of the enemies have FAR too much health and are repetitive with little to no skill involved. It's fun to use your teams super abilities but I never felt like I had to strategize even a little bit to win fights. The 3 bosses in the game are just bullet sponges that have basically no meaningful mechanics and take way too long. Though I did appreciate the first boss fights mechanics a little more.

Overall I did appreciate what this game was going for and really do mean that there is a good game in here but I cannot express enough how much this needed another pass or some kind of delay because man this feels like its about to fall apart at any moment. I'd say if you're interested watch some gameplay and decide if you're cool with all the jank before buying because I wish I knew before going in.

It's hard to put into words how much this game means to me and how often I find myself coming back to it despite usually being a one and done gamer. This game is a masterclass in world building and an excellent example of how simple mechanics can be so deep and meaningful. The story is hard to decipher at times but is so much more interesting than it has any right to be considering it's about a kingdom of bug people. The music compliments the eerie atmosphere perfectly and makes even the easiest boss battles feel climactic.

I recently played a handful of metroidvanias to better understand the genre and see if my HK obsession was justified or because I just love the genre. Ori 1 and 2, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, and Metroid Dread are all excellent games that had me questioning at times if they topped this (and there are things in those games I hope Team Cherry steals for Silksong) but ultimately after revisiting this, I can safely say this trumps those easily. There's something about the absolute mood of this game that's just so damn hard to top. It's peak gaming.

Now give me Silksong already dammit.

Let me get the bad out of the way. The story while great is told through letters left around and it can be a little frustrating missing one and having context for future letters be missing. Every now and then the rope gets tangled on something and you kind of have to wiggle out of it awkwardly since the game clearly didn't think you'd make that mistake. Finally the price might be a little high for the length but that's really subjective. That's about all I got in terms of negatives.

Basically everything else in this is great. I still can't get over how much I love Jusant's core climbing mechanic. It feels so simple and obvious but is perfectly tuned to both feel immersive and interesting without feeling unfair and frustrating. The environments are built in such a way that you always feel accomplished for completing a climb without making you lose your mind doing it. This puts climbing in all other games (yes even my beloved BOTW/TOTK) to shame.

The story while told in a slightly frustrating way sometimes is super clever with its structure and made for a super satisfying conclusion. The way it tells essentially two stories going in chronologically different orders is just chefs kiss. Each touching or climactic scene is topped off by a beautiful soundtrack that always elevates the moment.

I hope more games steal from this game because I want more climbing like this.

I'm usually not super into deck builders because they take a lot of brain power and planning that I usually just don't have in me but I'm super glad I checked this out.

This game is so freaking well made in just about every way its almost annoying. The concept of a poker based deck builder roguelike is so obvious yet so genius. The art style is simple but super pleasing and fits the tone of the game perfectly. The seamless way the game lets you create unique deck builds that just work is so empowering and always makes you feel like you were the first person to discover that specific build. The way some jokers at first glance seem useless but upon closer inspection can be used in tandem with other jokers to create super powerful combos is such good game design I can't stop praising it.

The only "negative" I can really think of is sometimes it feels like you can get dead from the start runs with bad joker luck but that might just be a skill issue. I wish I was better at poker because I do feel like having a deeper understanding of the hands would help out a bit.

This is basically a perfect game. It's simple and easy to pick up and doesn't reinvent the wheel but it does basically everything right and I'm so happy games like this exist. Apparently the developer is planning on adding a competition mode and I for one cannot wait.

I was super interested because good (let alone any) 3D platformers are rare these days and I respect any studio that keeps the genre alive but I really did not like this game sadly.

The movement feels undercooked and never feels fully explained properly. They give a few tutorials in the beginning but never really teach you how to use them in concert. The lack of camera controls makes making jumps difficult because your perspective is off and you fall into a pit. The exploration and secrets are almost always tedious and not fun. The side mission things are either stupidly easy or so difficult and tightly timed that I just gave up entirely because its just not worth doing. I also experienced a ton of softlocks and out of bounds clips. I know that this homages early 2000 platformers with its graphics but it feels so cheap and ugly for no real reason.

I will say the music tracks (while repetitive) are usually bangers. The art direction is cool and the length of the game feels appropriate. The Yo-Yo mechanics while I didn't enjoy the way they were implemented were unique and I'd like to see that idea expanded somehow.

I feel so mean writing this review because it clearly was made with love and I love 3D platformers like this but I really didn't enjoy much of this besides the last world.

I'm so conflicted on this one. I was immediately convinced by the reviews that this was a game I wanted to play. The art style, the gameplay, the mysterious story. It reminded me of a combination of Subnautica and Outer Wilds in all the right ways. This game has the makings of a fantastic game and for the most part it is. It's just let down by a pretty lackluster story and tedious endgame with an ending that left me seriously disappointed.

I still think this is worth playing just for the early/mid game alone but I do hope they update the story or something because man that kind of killed it for me.

After 2 unsuccessful tries to get into this game I finally gave it a full honest shot and I'm so glad I did. This game while very short and a little too easy is easily one of the better metroidvanias out there. The art style, soundtrack and gameplay are all top notch. I felt iffy about the movement and abilities early on since they all felt a little sluggish and floaty but as the game went on and I became more and more equipped I really appreciated them. The story despite some issues is simple and charming and fit the world they created and was paced well. I appreciate this game not really having any bosses instead ending each big area with a long escape sequence. I'm personally a huge fan of the final escape.

My only real issues were difficulty and exploration. I always love picking through metroidvanias for secrets and becoming overpowered and this was no exception but I did feel that the game kind of gave away its secrets too quickly and discouraged exploration since you'll quickly get an ability that just shows you where everything is. I also with the game was a tad longer but I guess I can just play the sequel since I want more.

Another metroidvania finished during the infinite wait for Silksong

Might be contentious but this is probably my favorite in the series and comes the closest to what I feel Pikmin should be. I never fully felt like previous entries fully utilized the whole "you're a tiny and normal sized things feel giant" thing until this one. This game is beautiful and I found myself constantly just looking around due to the awesome micro/macro environments. The quality of life and mechanic changes REALLY improve gameplay and remove frustration. Controlling Pikmin feels smooth and you're not constantly worried about losing half your population in one mistake. Oatchi is a MASSIVE addition that completely changes the dynamic and makes the game way more interesting. That does mean the game can be too easy and too forgiving at times but I do feel like the trade off is worth it.

This game is still filled with the usual Nintendo junk that is almost always frustrating though. Constant hand holding and interrupting to teach you stuff. The game kinda feels like it goes on for just a little too long and I wish the game wasn't super cave/dandori heavy and leaned more on overworld exploration. Also the split screen during dandori battles can fuck off lol.

Glad I finally got around to playing this and I hope we get a sequel some day but if not this feels like a pretty good sendoff.