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Writer who plays videogames.
Writer who plays videogames.
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Journaled games once a day for a week straight
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Total Games Played
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Played in 2024
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I found the gameplay elements of Inscryption to be super fun, especially the first act with the roguelike deck-building; I missed it a lot during the second act. The stylisation and art style in the first act were both great. Both mechanics and art got weaker the further the game progressed.
I think fundamentally the game wasn't to my taste; I found the meta-narrative corny, and the acting strayed into wooden. If act one had been expanded to be the whole game I could easily see this being one of my favourite games ever, but it's not. Ultimately was fun enough for me to play in a few days.
I think fundamentally the game wasn't to my taste; I found the meta-narrative corny, and the acting strayed into wooden. If act one had been expanded to be the whole game I could easily see this being one of my favourite games ever, but it's not. Ultimately was fun enough for me to play in a few days.
Hollow Knight has SO many amazing things about it: the exploration, the combat, the grind--it instantly hooked me. While the difficulty is definitely punishing, it becomes easier the further in you get. The narrative is well-constructed and given in pieces that make you want more; equally, for those that would just prefer to play a Metroidvania sans plot, it's all there. The art style is also adorable, and I really liked the music.
My primary critique of the game is a critique I give lots of games: there's just too much to do. After collecting every soul vessel and shard and charm and completing three of the possible endings, knowing that I had an entirely untouched extra expansion (Godmaster) and a half (The Grimm Troupe)--credit where credit is due for giving all expansions away for free--just exhausted me. Even worse, Godmaster seems to solely contain the element that is my least favourite: the boss battles. While I enjoyed the boss battles within the larger frame of the game, especially as a way to unlock new areas or show improvement in combat, infinite rounds of fighting with no reprieve is not to my personal taste.
I'm nevertheless marking the game as completed; while I may come back to it later, I definitely finished the non-expansion game.
My primary critique of the game is a critique I give lots of games: there's just too much to do. After collecting every soul vessel and shard and charm and completing three of the possible endings, knowing that I had an entirely untouched extra expansion (Godmaster) and a half (The Grimm Troupe)--credit where credit is due for giving all expansions away for free--just exhausted me. Even worse, Godmaster seems to solely contain the element that is my least favourite: the boss battles. While I enjoyed the boss battles within the larger frame of the game, especially as a way to unlock new areas or show improvement in combat, infinite rounds of fighting with no reprieve is not to my personal taste.
I'm nevertheless marking the game as completed; while I may come back to it later, I definitely finished the non-expansion game.
This review contains spoilers
Portal: Revolution, even for a fan-made game, is great. Puzzles are fun and innovative, using concepts that could've been explored in Valve titles without any of the frustrating ultra-difficulty found in other fan-games. Unfortunately, they did also heavily rely on looping--doing the same sequence three or four times in a row--which often grew monotonous.
Environments were gorgeous with a glorious blend of nature and sterility that made them fun to explore. I know some people have reported glitches or softlocking. I personally experienced neither.
The one key area the game let itself down was the writing. The reason I still rate Portal 2 so highly over a decade later is for the strength and genuine humour in its character voices and narrative; comparatively, Portal: Revolution sits firmly in its shadow. While the conceit was good, the story was otherwise the same as Portal 2 in almost every way.
Stirling, in particular, felt like a bootleg version of Wheatley with none of the narrative sense. Why would Stirling want to reactivate GLaDOS when he also admits he's terrified of her? It could have been an easy sell: maybe she allowed the other artificial intelligences to do as they want; maybe they revered and feared her in equal measure. Instead, his characterisation was muddied and confusing, echoing Wheatley in all the wrong ways.
While I also realise this was a fan-game, designed to bulk out resumes--however the decision to just cut to black at the end of the game was a confusing one, especially after the agonising process of setting everything up.
Overall: a great fan game that aspires towards both the spirit and puzzles of the original game, but fails to capture either.
Environments were gorgeous with a glorious blend of nature and sterility that made them fun to explore. I know some people have reported glitches or softlocking. I personally experienced neither.
The one key area the game let itself down was the writing. The reason I still rate Portal 2 so highly over a decade later is for the strength and genuine humour in its character voices and narrative; comparatively, Portal: Revolution sits firmly in its shadow. While the conceit was good, the story was otherwise the same as Portal 2 in almost every way.
Stirling, in particular, felt like a bootleg version of Wheatley with none of the narrative sense. Why would Stirling want to reactivate GLaDOS when he also admits he's terrified of her? It could have been an easy sell: maybe she allowed the other artificial intelligences to do as they want; maybe they revered and feared her in equal measure. Instead, his characterisation was muddied and confusing, echoing Wheatley in all the wrong ways.
While I also realise this was a fan-game, designed to bulk out resumes--however the decision to just cut to black at the end of the game was a confusing one, especially after the agonising process of setting everything up.
Overall: a great fan game that aspires towards both the spirit and puzzles of the original game, but fails to capture either.