https://i.ibb.co/6vLDK1S/Screenshot-2024-02-26-at-12-44-02.png

not morally egregious per se but rather a depressing culmination of two centuries worth of design trickery and (d)evolving cultural/social tastes and otherwise exists as insipid casinocore autoplaying bullshit that leaves you feeling the same way as you did moments after blasting rope to that fucked up mmm ice cream so tasty thing you found in the middle of a reddit doomscroll. this game should come with a contractual agreement binding its devotees to never speak prejudicially about mobile games or musou or vampire survivors or people whose lives have been ruined by industrialised gambling practices. you seen that casinos have RFID wristbands now that let you re-ante by just waving your hand across the slots? goes great with the simulated day/night lighting and complementary alcoholic energy drinks. endless hours of fun! fuck the review man let's talk the end of the world in the comments below

Completed this over the course of a rainy weekend with my partner and I don't think I could have asked for a better environment to experience the game in. Being the Watson to someone else's Holmes as they spend an oppressive autumn experiencing this genre is so bloody fun.

The Thinking Panel is the chief innovation here, and now all I want is for this game to somehow fall into the laps of Ace Attorney's design team. The Thinking Panel places the onus of investigation thoroughly on the player, but doesn't cast them adrift in a world of deductive overload - an incredibly brain-pleasing achievement that even the best mystery-focused detective fiction often fails to do well. Agatha Christie has been put on notice post-mortem; gone should be the days of Phoenix railroading us down conversational flowcharts that hurtle towards a linear, factual truth.

At one point during our playthrough, it was suggested that this gameplay could be imposed upon existing mysteries (e.g. a Hounds of the Baskervilles DLC pack), but I think the world that Andrejs Kļaviņš and Ernests Kļaviņš have created here is rich enough that we don't need to go raid our old pile of Ian Rankin novels for inspiration. The way each murder builds from a comedy to the singular tragedy of absolutist "virtue"-driven Modern England is just too deliciously timely to ignore. We are all coming down with a Case of the Golden Idol.

One of the best looking pixelslopvanias. It feels very thorough, but it's also very simple, so I guess that was the price. It's like grimdark but it's christian. it's like chrisdark. romcathdark. spaindark. grimberico. all of these words were invented by me

My pet peeve: When an action game with combos and abilities suddenly turns the final boss (of Ending A at least) into a dodgefest where you can only attack once every five minutes - I will kill for this slight towards my time and enjoyment.

I enjoyed exploring, except when I had to do ladderjumps (so retarded a concept it breaks immersion by its sheer existence) and trying to attach myself to a ladder midair with an animation system that could barely understand when I was trying to crouch and attack at the same time. I died more times to spikes than enemies in this game I'm almost certain

For some reason every indietroid soulslite supersouls fromlike independent video game thinks it needs to keep the patented "really vague bullshit story" mechanic of all Souls games, but you actually don't. That's a lifehack from me right there. In fact you really should not do that. Honestly, please stop. PLEASE stop, just give me any hint where to fucking go, I am BEGGING you. What the fuck does "the door behind which lies that which the holiness itself condemned to eternal reclusion" fucking mean. I am bleeding out of my ears

usually i just avoid VNs, they're not my thing, i do not attempt to play them and therefore never have to review them.

but as this was given to me as part of the playdate system itself, i tried it.

probably made it worse that I wasn't aware it was a VN till it was painfully too late.

allegedly this has gameplay, I never got there, I was so wildly frustrated with the boring and gratingly twee dialogue to even reach a 'level'

oh well.

probably a game for fans of steven universe, i have no idea why i think that.