I generally don't play on-rail shooters, but it was a lot of fun to blast through the current content in one evening.

The gameplay is a bit simple compared to Star Fox 64, since you can't barrel roll & it's missing the hidden paths that made levels fun to replay, though the latter is promised to come in future patches. As for the abilities that are there, you can throw bombs, missile lock-on, brake and boost. What may be the biggest flaw is the level design rarely gets you to mix the four in interesting ways. As such, the game is quite easy though never unengaging. The exchange of damage between you & your enemies is very well-tuned, such that targets never feel too spongy. Levels are also short, but well-paced with regard to set-piece moments and introduction of enemy types.

The standout feature of Ex Zodiac is the presentation; from the well-done retro visuals to the bopping soundtrack. There are some really nice visual details too, like the splashing effect when you fly your ship close to water. It never feels like a clone of Star Fox because of its heavy emphasis on certain colours.

The story & dialogue feels very sparse, notably missing sound effects when characters are talking to grab your attention amidst gameplay.

I definitely recommend getting this now while the Early Access "discount" is still in effect.

I like Hades a lot, but it was never a Top 5 roguelike to me. The core systems are very good, through the dull metaprogression, uninteresting weapons and overall poor biome variety hold it back from being on my personal Mt Rushmore of roguelikes.

Hades II smartly improves upon all of these aspects, while never feeling like more-of-the-same due to clever refreshes of existing mechanics. The theme throughout all the gameplay changes and additions is making the decision-making far more interesting and diverse than it was before. For instance, instead of a rote skill tree with permanent buffs like "+10 health" or "+1 dash", Supergiant have converted meta-progression into a card system, where you can select & deselect Arcana cards based on your Grasp limit. This gets you making important decisions about your build before the run even starts. Another cool change they've made is the updated rival system, where Nemesis can sometimes appear during a run and force you to do a certain challenges & make quick decisions, since their presence can close off certain reward & shop options, if you're too slow. 25 runs in, and I'm still seeing new types of encounters with her.

I won't spoil them too much here, but the new biomes showcase this more interesting decision-making as well. The 2nd area, for instance, has sealed doors than appear at the end of encounters, which you can unseal by triggering an extra wave of enemies, hence risking loss of HP for a potentially better Boon reward. I know the new weapons are a bit divisive, but all 4 I've unlocked so far are so much fun to control and build around, in part due to new Omega moves. The Boon system is as great as it's always been, and is only improved through the new elemental affinities and resulting infusion Boons.

The vast majority of the assets and art are brand new, which is refreshing in a sea of video game sequels that reuse large portions of the overworld, character models etc. Despite all the amazing changes and additions, the biggest glow up in Hades II is the soundtrack. While the first game's music was very well produced, the compositions themselves never really stuck with me, besides the title screen music. Lucky for me, Darren Korb rearranges that specific track several times throughout the game, and the remixes later in the game are eargasmically good.

It's hard to comment on the story right now, since it's very much unfinished, though the character interactions that are there are as entertaining as always. Many of the big questions have yet to be answered, but the mystery of what happened to the characters from Hades I has me hooked and I'm excited to see how the whole thing pans out.

Thus far, I've (finally) cleared 1 Underworld run. If the game was just that, I would be more than satisfied with this game as a sequel to the first. The fact that there’s more of top of that is just icing at this point; Hades II is already fantastic. I’ll save the rest of it for the 1.0 launch, just to give myself something to look forward to in the future.

Solid and challenging Megaman game that lacks an interesting feature or design choice that prevents it from standing out among the pantheon of Megaman titles, official or otherwise.

The level design here is great, with Wizard Man’s stage being a standout for me, backed up by great, well-designed bossfights and fantastic boss weapons. The difficulty is very well-tuned and never feels unfair, though will push you to the limit on occasion, particularly in the 4th Wily Stage.

On the more disappointing side, the music didn’t really stick out, and the story is super uninteresting. The aesthetics are also on the simpler than some other fan games, with a lack of interesting theming during the 8 main stages.

It won’t blow you away but it’s not hard to recommend this one to any Megaman fans looking for a new entry in the classic series.

Solid and challenging Megaman game that lacks an interesting feature or design choice that prevents it from standing out among the pantheon of Megaman titles, official or otherwise.

The level design here is great, with Wizard Man’s stage being a standout for me, backed up by great, well-designed bossfights and fantastic boss weapons. The difficulty is very well-tuned and never feels unfair, though will push you to the limit on occasion, particularly in the 4th Wily Stage.

On the more disappointing side, the music didn’t really stick out, and the story is super uninteresting. The aesthetics are also on the simpler than some other fan games, with a lack of interesting theming during the 8 main stages.

It won’t blow you away but it’s not hard to recommend this one to any Megaman fans looking for a new entry in the classic series.