OneShot is a game that manages to make you care for the characters and the world even while keeping its run time short. In each section of the game, you are faced with loving characters who make the most of a dying world. Everyone you talk to has their own stories and makes it feel like they are just trying to survive.

The computer mechanics are also one of the more memorable parts of OneShot, and while short and mostly pointless, it does add a feeling of desperation and tension that the game utilizes well. The gameplay in OneShot doesn't do too much, and I think this works in its favour. It forces you to focus on the characters and their relationships and that's where the game really shines. OneShot can be described as more of an experience than a game, but I think that works well for it and it's why everything in the game becomes so memorable. The time of these indie games has passed, but hopefully, we can still see refreshing new experiences like OneShot.

OKAMIII

Okami is a game that manages to pull some great ideas out of the mainline Zelda games and puts a fun spin on it. While obviously similar, Okami does enough to separate itself and stand alone as a great game.

The story of Okami follows the same legend and prophecy trope but keeps things light-hearted and humorous. Each character manages to stand out and be memorable while always being fun to see and interact with. The story also manages to stay serious at times and give the player a reason to go out and venture on their quest. All these pieces add together to create a fun story that still has some weight and tension to it.

The game also focuses a lot more on combat and challenges rather than puzzles compared to Zelda. Okami makes use of multiple weapons that you can equip to fight different enemies with. Different enemies have different weaknesses which you need to use different brush techniques to take care of. The different brush techniques also make up most of the few puzzle solutions that pop up.

Okami's art style stands out as some of the best-looking from its generation and matches the themes of the era and setting. And while Okami, manages to do so much well, it fumbles in some other areas as well. I often found that the blush techniques are sometimes hit or miss when painting or when it comes to usefulness. The game also resorts to backtracking a couple of times which is often annoying.

After all this though, Okami still manages to be one of my favourite games I've played this year. The jokes that landed managed to make me laugh and each set piece felt exciting. While the remaster isn't anything groundbreaking in improvements, it's the best way to play the game and definitely worth giving a try.

In most rogue-likes, you expect to have lots of replayability through the different perks, generated levels, and weapons, but somehow Nuclear Throne makes the most out of what it has.

Everything about Nuclear Throne can be described as grimy and bold. All the different locations are shown as desolate wastelands and the enemies are all mutated creatures or raiders looking to kill you. Everything on the screen pops out and is easy to distinguish which is great when more chaos and explosions start to appear on screen. This art style also works well with the fast-paced gameplay. The sound design perfectly captures the feeling of this game. whether it's the hums of the wasteland or the adrenalin-rushing EDM, it all fits into what's on screen.

One of the main drawbacks of the game would be the lack of different random elements. Most of the time, the stages stay the same and the weapons you can get on each stage are limited, however, I think this is made up through the difficulty of the game and the experience you get from playing. Nuclear Throne is very strict when it comes to health drops or ammo, leaving you very fragile throughout your run. This leads to more times where you die before getting to the final stage, making each level feel intense and rewarding when you move on. Your experience also helps with different secrets that are scattered all across your playthrough giving you different weapons, new stages, and shortcuts to make it to the end faster. All of this manages to make each new tactic feel different and add to the identity of each run.

Even when the game kicks you when you're down, or you manage to get killed by an explosion you could never predict, Nuclear Throne manages to stand at the top of indie rogue-likes. The experiences felt in this game are something that most other games just don't satisfy and that's fine. Nuclear Throne is just a game that stands and will forever stand perfectly fine on its own.