synthcrow
2006
This game has been constantly on my mind after I finished it, and I think it really left a mark on me. It is a game about fighting for a better world even in the face of loss and hopelessness, and finding beauty and joy along the way. I was not sure how to rate it since it's sometimes rough around the edges, especially with some painfully 90's game mechanics. However, with how personally significant it is to me it's hard for me to rate it lower than 5 stars.
2021
A masterpiece that is a bit messy around the middle, but pulls off an amazing ending. My experience with it ended up being fairly wild as I fought the hardest bosses of the game very early, but the more I think about it the more I love the game
2018
This VN absolutely demolished me. It is the kind of deep creative work that I want to analyze over and over again, and so far the only other piece of media that has done something similar to me is Revolutionary Girl Utena. This is one of the best examples of queer storytelling that exists, and I love it to bits.
2020
How do you even rate blaseball? It is a community, a social experiment, a massively multiplayer online tabletop role playing..... thing, a cultural event, and somehow also a browser game. It is gigantic, overwhelming, and absolutely chaotic. Rating this feels like rating the concept of a community. However, I ended up rating it five stars since the overall experience is unique and beautiful. Never Look Back. The Core Is Down.
2017
I blame everything on P-33, or as I like to call it, PEE
Jokes aside, it's a beautiful game about finding purpose in life. Fairly solid combat. Beautiful soundtrack. However, the fact that the game couldn't make me care for its characters that much wasn't great. It is a flawed experience, but the strengths elevate it for me. I wish 4.75 stars was an option lol.
Jokes aside, it's a beautiful game about finding purpose in life. Fairly solid combat. Beautiful soundtrack. However, the fact that the game couldn't make me care for its characters that much wasn't great. It is a flawed experience, but the strengths elevate it for me. I wish 4.75 stars was an option lol.
2014
The best souls game. No, like, really. Emphasizes the slow and deliberate nature of combat of dark souls with an interesting healing system. It has some fun new game mechanics, like the power stance. Has a very different approach to world building and storytelling when compared to the other games, and it resonates extremely well with the themes. Has some of the best moments in the series, but also some of the worst. Does not deserve the bad reputation it gets.
2011
A bleak yet beautiful journey through a dying world. Punishing but extremely satisfying combat and one of the most well designed worlds of any game I've seen. The clearly rushed state of the late game does take it down a bit, but it did not detract from the experience too much for me.
2016
Honestly my least favourite souls game, but still a solid experience. Has the most polished gameplay, but removes a lot of the new mechanics of the previous title. Combat is fast and fluid and less punishing than the other games, and some of the bosses are simply amazing to fight. The story is mostly of a metatextual nature and does not build at all on what ds2 did; both ds3 and ds2 are sequels to ds1, but ds3 is not a sequel to ds2.
2015
A fun action horror game with a fast-paced and fluid combat system. The way the horror evolves over time is very interesting. Had to spend a lot of time farming for healing items, which made the experience a lot worse for me.
1994
A very 90's dragon quest style jrpg. Has very little coherent storytelling, and mostly relies on creating a general atmosphere through tiny moments and game mechanics. It ends up being quite frustrating by modern standards sadly often, but I enjoyed the general goofiness enough to push through. The final boss fight still holds up to this day.
2019
I honestly despise this game, and I know that is not a common experience. I enjoyed the exploration and the flying quite a bit, and the game does do some fairly innovative things. However, it is a mystery game not designed around a mystery. In the alpha build of the game there is a hidden message stating that they don't know where they are going with it yet - they did not build this game with an ending in mind, and it shows. I cannot explain too much without going into spoilers, but the final parts of the game soured my experience, and made me rather want to play games that did similar things much better.
2017
An interesting mix of a sports game and a visual novel that really showcases the world building and writing capabilities of the studio. It has a very innovative structure to its story that works really well. Additionally, it has one of the best endings to a video game.
2014
I have played this game a fairly ridiculous amount. It is a very slow and grindy experience, but not necessarily in a bad way. In fact, I really enjoyed the almost meditative moments of spending hours hauling precious metals between solar systems. I'm not the biggest fan of procedurally generated game worlds, but as an astronomy student I greatly appreciated how real it felt to my understanding of our galaxy. Space is empty, but floating through the void doing simple tasks can be fun.
An extremely flawed game, has way too much repetition, but manages to have stellar character writing and a beautiful story. The changes to the combat and the new ending added in this remaster make it a lot better.
2020
Probably the best example of character writing in a roguelite game. The combat is exciting and varies enough run to run. It takes place in a well established setting. This reduces the amount of worldbuilding that you can do in general, which is a bit of a shame since it is one of the studio's strengths. The plot cannot have a definitive ending due to the nature of the game, so the actual story didn't end up being that satisfying to me.