plaidtopia
2023
A tight, well designed horror game that is both a welcome, fresh spin on the Amnesia franchise and an evolution into a much more complete game and puzzle experience.
The cramped, familiar quarters serve as the equivalent of a "bottle episode," with you and the inevitable monster playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse. More surprising, however, is how the natural and logical the gameplay is -- you blow doors open with grenades, break locks with bricks, or read logs to solve puzzles the way you might in reality and not in some contrived design. This was a somewhat jarring change to acclimate to as it's not well introduced, but once you embrace it, it becomes probably the best experience in the series.
I hope this is a sign of things to come for Amnesia and horror games as a whole!
The cramped, familiar quarters serve as the equivalent of a "bottle episode," with you and the inevitable monster playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse. More surprising, however, is how the natural and logical the gameplay is -- you blow doors open with grenades, break locks with bricks, or read logs to solve puzzles the way you might in reality and not in some contrived design. This was a somewhat jarring change to acclimate to as it's not well introduced, but once you embrace it, it becomes probably the best experience in the series.
I hope this is a sign of things to come for Amnesia and horror games as a whole!
2019
Gorgeous aesthetic, fascinating world-building, an almost haunting vibe, and some really solid light tactical ship combat, but it's a bit overlong and gets repetitive in the back half. I can't help but feel like Crying Suns would have benefitted from dropping the roguelike structure or reducing its length. If this were three acts instead of six, I'd probably give it 4 stars instead of 3.
Combat is fun and varied, but the missions are repetitive and the progression systems are opaque and a slog. Would love to check this out again after further development.
The most polished and cogent iteration in this series, with puzzles that didn't require any leaps of logic and UX that is now coming together. The overall story leaves something to be desired still, but the moment-to-moment case work is interesting enough.
2006
There are some great character bits and writing in this game, but a few obtuse puzzles, frustrating UX, and an odd/abrupt ending make for a fairly rough start to this series.
2019
Simply one of the best action games I've ever played. It radiates polish and quality throughout, with gorgeous visuals and modernizing the interface. While not necessarily scary at any point, it is completely captivating from beginning to end -- though Claire's storyline isn't quite as engaging as Leon's, unfortunately.
2019
What a delightful surprise this game was! A lightweight spin on the puzzle/adventure/detective genre, along the lines of the Ace Attorney series, where you must catch contradicting characters and clues. While not the deepest story, the writing was frequently funny and the art charming enough to keep me engaged throughout. I hope to see more in this series!
Solid metroidvania with unique and satisfying movement mechanics and some light Souls-like progression, but often easy to get lost in between the unclear objectives and rotating environments/map. Definitely worth a look if you want more of a challenge and less hand-holding out of the genre!
2016
A poor man's Portal and/or Talos Principle with some great puzzles, a barebones presentation, and which could benefit from some editing for pacing and story progression.
An improvement over the first game in practically every way, with some of the best visuals I've ever experienced. And while the gameplay is more varied than in the previous title, it does feel a little overlong with the story also hitting many of the same notes as before -- though it ends far more satisfactorily. I really enjoy this series, but I hope this marks an end to these characters' stories.
2023
Come for the unbelievable visual styling and pairing of rhythm and action gameplay, but stay for the great characters, hilarious writing, vibrant world, and mind-blowing set pieces. Some of the systems are maybe a bit dated (a lot of this game feels like it could have been a 360-era game), but the aggregate polish and gameplay synesthesia excel anything possible in that era.
2020
The writing, UI, and audio really help create a sense of atmosphere in what is otherwise a visual novel with very a basic gameplay layer. It was too repetitive and slow for me, but I admire it for what it was trying to do and would love to play a 3D version of this that more fully immersed me in the world and mystery, ala Subnautica.
2016
Pony Island walked so that Inscryption could run. Some very fun moments here, but the core gameplay isn't nearly as fun as Inscryption's card game and a lot of the notes are similar. Had I played this back in 2016, this would almost certainly be higher rated.
Delightful and accessible metroidvania with wonderfully inventive pinball gameplay at its core. A slight story and world prevent this from leaving a lasting impact, but it's a polished and thoroughly enjoyable experience while it lasts.
An extremely polished deck-building adventure, but one with a forgettable story and characters, random difficulty spikes, and gameplay that requires frequent deck swapping without the UX to support it. As with all of the Steam World games, I’m left impressed with the quality of the presentation, but left feeling like the experience was hollow at the core.