I was a big fan of Kira's games before this one came out, so it was quite the pleasant surprise to learn they too were King's Field and Shadow Tower pilled. Lunacid not only does a beautiful job emulating the charm of its spiritual predecessors, it also modernizes and iterates on them in a clearly very passionate, loving, and respectful sort of way. Of course, it also has no shortage of its own ideas, and they really do give it a fresh, endearing identity. And goddamn is this game sweet— if I fell down its well I don't think I'd want to return either.

It's such a vibe to do some old school dungeon crawling to the tune of lo-fi, listen to the Banjo-Kazooie speak of an adorable little cast of characters, then shit myself when moments of this game are lowkey scarier than any horror game I've ever played. There's also not really a speed or jump height cap so far as I know, so if you wanna grind and turn the game into Quake, the world is your oyster. And don't get me started on all the cute little nods to some of my favorite game series, King's Field and Shadow Tower obviously, but off the top of my head, also Castlevania, Drakengard, Zelda, and Kira's other games of course! Shit, even the real life moon cycle buffs your in game magic, if that doesn't sell it I dunno what will.

I've always wanted to make a game like Lunacid, and seeing someone inspired by all the same shit I like honestly really inspires me. Given aspects of it can be a little obtuse I'm sure it won't be for everyone, but maybe give it a shot if it's a rainy day (or preferably, full moon) and looks like your thing!

Review in progress:

First Impressions
Pretty sure I'm only like 25% of the way through this beast, but I just wanted to get some initial thoughts out since it's been getting me to think a lot, and I've been enjoying my time with it pretty thoroughly! First off, this game looks and sounds gorgeous, and that's coming from someone who's generally not huge on anime artstyles! I'm a massive sucker for hand painted sprites and damn does Vanillaware deliver— the soundtrack goes insaneo style too. ALSO, I fw the mech combat hard, and I'd honestly be perfectly content if that's all 13 Sentinels was.

However, what I more so wanted to talk about was this game's narrative, an aspect of it I'm a little conflicted on, at least as of writing this. To specify, I'd like to speak more of its writing's quality than of my personal experience with it, because regardless of if it amounts to little more than pulpy anime bullshit, I can't lie, I've been getting quite a kick out of following the ludicrously convoluted paper trail. I think my final verdict on 13 Sentinels' story will be contingent on whether it uses its unconventional structure for something meaningful, or if it's just confusing for confusing's sake (and knowing the GOAT Yoko Taro praised it, I'm hopeful).

Something I'm a little confused by is the ratio of information 13 Sentinels leaves ambiguous to that which it just directly tells you. I'm usually a pretty big advocate for show-don't-tell, but when a piece of media throws 30 wacky new keywords at you every second, I think it's totally understandable and generally advisable to include some exposition, or even a glossary. 13 Sentinels is an anime mystery game so it obviously would fall into that camp, and does indeed compensate with a much appreciated and cohesive glossary (and at that, a pretty clever one in that you unlock entries as you go). However, for how happy the game is to leave you in the dark on major plot details, it can be surprisingly heavy handed when it comes to the more digestible ones.

For instance, in the scene that introduces Megumi (whose plotline has probably interested me the most so far), she's walking and talking with her friend Tomi, and then Tomi basically just turns to the camera and says "This is my good friend Megumi Yakushiji. She's always been the Hopeless Romantic character archetype, probably because she's so Shy personality trait." I'm exaggerating a little of course, but what I mean is that it feels really awkward and unnatural to blatantly exposition dump during a casual conversation between high schoolers, especially when that exposition is simply one of said student's personality, something that was already being established organically. Now, it's honestly very possible that the tropeyness of the cast is actually a highly intentional David Lynchian stroke of genius, but when the rest of Megumi's plotline consists of contracting with a talking cat to shoot witches with a magical gun in order to revive her deceased boyfriend from a different era, and none of THAT is explained, I'll admit this kind of thing feels a little off— probably just some clunky translation, idk. When basic information is so bluntly communicated in a story otherwise seemingly apathetic to one's understanding of it, there are times when it's hard to tell whether the game actually respects its players' intelligence.

At least, going directly into another time traveling RPG immediately after Chrono Trigger gives me a little whiplash. On one hand, I think complexity is great for a story, but it also needs to be earned, well placed. CT's story is instantly very effective because of its simplicity, but 13 Sentinels' seems much more of a slow burn. With that being said, I do really appreciate how the characters themselves generally don't seem to know what the fuck is happening either, and it makes them a lot easier to connect with. On the surface, they may all be defined by an archetypal personality trait and a like and dislike or two, but with the game's focus on story and its 40 some hour runtime, I'd have to imagine they go a little deeper than that once they're better established.

13 Sentinels is as niche as it is a vibe, and from what I can tell, its opening chapters are a weeb-level filter if nothing else. Since it's as well received as it is, I think I'll just have to swallow my pride and trust VW to cook, but nonetheless it's pretty damn fun. :)

There are a few things I'm honestly not crazy about in Pikmin 4, yet these are all null under the Scrummy Bone Clause™. Oatchi and Moss are in this game and it gets 5 stars. Jokes aside, this game absolutely rocks on so many fronts— I just wish it was maybe a little bit harder, or at least less forgiving anyway (guess I must be a pikmin-racist). As nice as it is to rewind time immediately after your squad gets wiped by John Sheargrub, I kinda wish there was at least a difficulty option to turn that off since it really does remove the heart attack-inducing tension the series is known for. While I appreciate how cozy this entry can be, stakes are good for contextualizing your victories, particularly in a world as oppressive as Pikmin's. On that note, I'm also not the biggest fan of the busted-ass charge moves, overabundance of spicy spray, 3 pikmin type limit, Armored Core VI unbreakable lock-on, lackluster multiplayer mode, or glow pikmin segments (but to be honest, I won't get into those here— at the end of the day, this game was impossible for me to put down and I really don't care to shit on it more than I have).

As for what I do love about Pikmin 4, basically everything else! To no one's surprise, it is yet another stunningly beautiful Pikmin game, full to the brim with yet another massive cast of adorably terrifying little beasts. This goes for the whole series, but there's just something so healing about Pikmin's charm; all the cute little environmental details, the phenomenal sound design, the goofy idle animations the pikmin do when they aren't directly facing the horrors of war. All of it warms my cold, jaded heart. It is also by FAR the most expansive Pikmin title, there were like 4 separate occasions where I was sure it was over and the game just KEPT going. There's a huge variety of giant levels, refreshingly distinctive both in their visuals and gameplay. Within these are all manner of caves to explore, each offering a unique microcosm of what the game has to offer. On top of that, there's even an entire optional bonus campaign that I'm SO glad greedy Nintendo completely reasonably could have but didn't sell as a $20 DLC. It all closely held my interest for the 40-some hours I took to 100% it too.

I think out of everything (besides my good boy Oatch' of course), my favorite parts of Pikmin 4 were the extremely tightly designed timed challenge stages— quick excursions from the core loop where you have to do all of X before the evil moon crashes into PNF-404. Going for the platinum medals in these is REALLY fun, particularly in the harder ones. They really scratch the micromanaging itch that I've come to love in Pikmin, and I'm honestly not upset the rest of the game was more relaxed given their existence. And say what you want about my productivity irl, because I'm basically the Dandori King 😎. Anyhoo, play this OR ELSE.