Combat lacks any kind of thrill or tension and strategy, dugeons are dull and straightforward in a similar fashion and the way you interact with digimons is artificial and soulless and makes you see them as a tool. The setting and thriller tone are a bit wasted and the writting suffers from the exposition and saturated dialogues one would expect from this kind of japanese pieces.
What really makes this game shine is the way it handles digimon mythos. The main conflict appears when a human-created virtual world brings a desease that consumes all that's around it in the digital world, that desease is made out of the darkest part of the human psyche, which the virtual world cannot handle. That issue wasnt taken into account by the creators of that world as the digital world wasnt known by them, which emphasise the fact that the digital world exists by its own. The royal knights are divided by how to solve the situation being the two sides fixing the issue by eliminating the human race or doing it by their side.
Nokia works as the energetic character that represents the power of the bond between digimons and humans.
In secondary missions you get to know digimons previously known in the series playing, and sometimes subverting what you know about them as with that Etemon that had a sweet personality and just wanted his music to be heard by others.
It sometimes interweave urban legends, esoteric rituals or even material affairs as a malfunctioning air cooler with the digital world as, as I said before, people dont know about the digital world but its connected to the real one in a eerir way, making these intangible and ethereal situations make some sense once the big picture can be seen.

In an ideal world, the term "remake" wouldn't be used to refer to games that are just a pre-existing one without a lot of the eccentricities that made it what it is but rather unique reinterpretations in a completely different genre with the gall to make choices as unhinged as making the new protagonist say "Bullshit" and blast a song on his phone that people were tricked into thinking was Limp Bizkit and turning the boss fight you probably forgot about into a fleshed out doomed yaoi storyline. Stranger of Paradise's journey from another nail in an already disappointing E3 to a source of ironic humor to a game sincerely enjoyed by most of those who played it was truly something special and I'm glad I was along for the ride. Every issue I had with the game (the awful loot system, how often it feels like repeating the same lines of dialogue in gameplay sections, etc.) was already outweighed by the sincere charm it has as this weird reinterpretation of one of the most formative works in the RPG genre but man did it stick the landing in that final act. I'm just sitting here trying to process the sheer amount of peak fiction I was hit with in quick succession.

I'm ngl this game (if it can even be called one) is really fucking bad. Like. Genuine trash. Actual comedy. I can't believe they thought this was a good, no, even a mediocre idea. Easily 0/10, now, you might think, why did you give this a 5/10?

It's simple actually

It has Kevin Graham. He's there. I can see him moving, attacking, and throwing Grail Sphere. And, as bad as this game is, that's something that no trails game can say since Sky 3rd. I'm craving for Kevin. Anything they give me is good at this point. I am desperate. And only for that will i give this a 2.5/5. When Kevin comes back in a REAL game I'll lower this to 0.5 as it truly belongs. For now tho, this is where Kevin is at, and my scores are where Kevin is.

>"Welcome to Lobotomy Corporation, new manager, here you-" *restarts run*
>"Welcome to L-" *restarts run*
This is merely but a glimpse of what awaits you in the hellscape that is this company.

Lobotomy Corporation is a management game about one too many things, but what stands atop it all is perseverance. Said concept is deeply rooted in the game's core, to the point where it even ties in to the developers, Project Moon, and the rough yet inspiring story behind the game's development.

The Will to Stand up Straight
Considering an unsuccessful overseas Kickstarter funding, while at least managing to get a decent Tumblbug (pretty much a Korean Kickstarter) project reception, and similar struggles, like almost going bankrupt due to their commission of a translation, it is quite evident at times that the game is short on budget, and it's made clearer by the time you see the credits, showing the names of a bunch of backers, and a seemingly scarce development team.

But what it lacks in resources, it more than makes up with sheer ambition, given it is no easy task to release a game with such a big scope...

...yet they endured the development cycle and finally did release it, so with Project Moon breaking out of their own cycle of torment and struggles, now it's the player's time to undergo their own.

The Fearlessness to keep on Living
Managing this company is no easy task, as you're dealing with weird creatures called Abnormalities, to meet the energy quota (yes, you obtain energy working with them) and call it quits for the day. This gameplay loop will keep going for a while, so you better get used to it.

However, this game wouldn't be as unabashedly difficult as it is without trying with all its might to make your management as miserable as humanly possible. With Abnormalities that range from seemingly harmless entities (Punishing Bird is the closest thing to a toxic relationship but I still love my silly little guy) to the most absolutely despair-inducing and soul-crushing gimmicks known to man, along with enemies that will pop up along the way, this games holds no punches whatsoever.

The Rationality to Maintain Discretion
But the manager does not partake in energy collection, instead, you order your employees to do so, risking their very lives in the process. However, you definitely don't want them to die, since it costs you time and points to recruit and level them up.
If you don't manage your resources properly, you might get forced to do a complete restart of your playthrough, but some upgrades carry through between runs, so everything will go faster in subsequent runs (kiiiiinda like a roguelike).

But why is such a relentlessly evil and equally obtuse experience so good, and so alluring?

The Expectation for the Meaning of Existence
Well, the game is hostile by design, not just in gameplay but also in its story. You're presented with a brutally ruthless organization that does not stop even at the face of death to fulfill its apparently corporate goals, coupled with a setting that instills the same sense of solitude that the gameplay and music that accompany it reinforce in you.

The whole experience feels just right; it nails the feeling of a very daunting and oppressive journey through the installations that comprise this corporation.

Those who are Faithful and Trustworthy
Said installations are divided into several departments, each of them spearheaded by a Sephirah. These characters will be presented to you during this play, and all of them have a story to tell, or more accurately, to unravel through their interactions, that you unlock by fulfilling missions during each day (these, for example, also get saved between runs, so you don't have to repeat them).

As expected, these missions also get very rough sometimes, and I do mean it (and well, they're also necessary for finishing the game). I don't blame anyone for dropping this game, but it is very much worth the chance, and at worst, just use mods if you can't handle the incoming waves of frustration, rather than watching a Let's Play online. A mod I do recommend right from the start that doesn't really hurt the experience is More Detailed Info, which shows you the real statistics of work success instead of vague words, among other things, so at least you can shave off a bit of that frustration and obtuseness of its systems.

The Hope to be a Better Person
The greatest highlight of this game, rather than the gameplay, is, as expected, the story and experience it provides. It is a game where I'm not even sure I appreciate the whole picture yet (I probably need Library of Ruina for this), despite having 100%ed it after a whooping 95h of playtime, epilogue included. I'm also still unsure of neither this review in its entirety, nor the rating I've given to it, so I may alter it slightly in the future.

What I can say for sure, at this moment in time, is how good this game is, including its narrative and symbolism, and how worthy it is of your time, if you can endure all of the quirks and gimmicks they will throw at you. It is, without a doubt, one of the best ludonarratives I've ever seen in a game.

Despite being as cryptic as it can get, it slowly provides you with bits of information about the characters and the world, and when everything clicks it's just amazing in hindsight. The characters do help with this, since they all have their own marked personalities and their quirks.

What may you do for them, you ask?
Well, perhaps you can somehow help.
Help them find a resolution.

Embrace the past, and help regain the Light.

honestly really wanted to like this game, but after about 2 hours or so of playing, i can definitively say this is fromsofts worst game.

the game is really lacking in areas dark souls excels at. there is no interconnected world, only scattered missions that all seem to take place in similar looking snowy destroyed cities.

the enemy design is practically non-existent, they just kind of stand there waiting for you to one shot you. an ambush never feels impactful because you can just stand at super far range and deal with every enemy efficiently, unlike dark souls which has extremely intense gank fights due to you having to engage them in melee combat, where you're constantly at risk and have to learn how to properly dodge every attack.

every boss is just a big ship that spams pretty much undodgeable attacks at you and you just facetank all the damage and wait for your sword to recharge (which takes like 10 years btw). from a company that has produced such excellent bosses as ornstein+smough and slave knight gael, i really would've expected better from them.

the controls feel fine until you actually have to use your weapons, all of which having extremely long cooldowns. the sword (the only fun weapon in the game imo) takes an especially long time to charge, meaning youre constantly waiting to have fun again. youll notice good games from this studio like dark souls never had such problems, because they realized waiting 80 years for a weapon to recharge isnt fun at all.

the game constantly interupts you with walls of dialogue that is not well written in the slightest before every single mission. i thought we should've learned from dark souls that the best way to tell a story (of which dark souls has a far more interesting one) is through subtle hints in the world and in item descriptions or optional dialogue with characters.

dark souls had an incredibly praised checkpoint system which required you to complete a large chunk of a level before you got a checkpoint. armored core 6, reduces these chunks, removing all sense of tension from the game. at this point, might as well just make me immortal since death doesnt even matter at all.

the last thing i want to really touch on in this review is the healing system. for some bizarre reason, fromsoft has forgotten one of their most innovative design decisions, which was the estus flask systems from dark souls. part of what made it so great was the fact that it forced you to be stuck in place for a few seconds before you were allowed to move again, making it something you had to sacrifice your attack phase to use. unfortunately, armored core 6 foolishly does not make use of this system, allowing you to instantly heal, which at that point, you might as well just extend the healthbar because there is no point to healing.

overall, a massive disappointment from a studio i love. definitely making me doubt whether or not the upcoming elden ring dlc will be good considering the design decisions they were willing to make here.

WHAT TOP 5 ARE YOU SMOKING ON KENDRICK

BECAUSE MY TOP 5 IS

REAN
REAN
REAN
REAN
REAN