completed all palettes but have not obtained all hacks or collected all chips. i personally wasn't expecting much [gameplay-wise] but had a lot of fun. it seems i've been enjoying the roguelite genre more and more without noticing, though side order is still beholden to the flaws of such titles; repetition, little to no expansion on systems, get lucky or die. i tolerate these things for love of the splatoon universe and narrative told through its single player campaigns and expansions, and how such a vivid picture can be painted of its main cast through such little dialogue. as an octarian and Octavio fan i really appreciated even further windows into their society and locales as well, even if subtle.

otherwise a wonderful finale for Off The Hook and capstone on their moral as a couple, a beautiful reflection on welcoming change for the better or worse with open arms (Marina's defection, Acht's sanitisation). to spin into a tangent, the nature of splatoon's final splatfests is mystifying in its inviting discussion of "what if?" scenarios and its very permanent decision to deliver on its consequences in favour to the winning team, seamlessly marrying story events directly to gameplay in a predominantly online title. in contrast to that upheld value, side order's decision to reframe and spotlight splatoon 2's order vs chaos was to be inevitably expected having had the most tangible effect on the world reflected in the splatlands and its "chaos" of diversity.

i have a love for the franchise and its chosen vehicle of worldbuilding and storytelling, and i'm grateful a very good friend of mine took the time to share his own love with me. side order is no octoexpansion, but will anything ever be again?

Yames' first secret game available via supporting their patreon. i played with a rotund orange cat sitting in my lap.

Yames excels at pinpoint accuracy horror experiences and communicates much within only a few minutes, and his love for those afflicted by the unknown is strong in their prose. viewing the world through a dithered two-toned lens, a sinew-like writhing strand extends from the player character and descends deeper into a yawning chasm. The Well is honest about its length from the outset, but manages to deliver a disquieting atmosphere through thoughtful use of tension and release, immersive minimal sound design, and stylised presentation which invites the player the fill in the horrifying blanks.

it's not very often the developers of a game earnestly wish of the player "hope you didn't enjoy it!". i'm shocked to find Presenter Slides™ has such a small presence here on backloggd given its introspective, game-analysis meta nature as a thesis indie available free of charge on steam.

the scope of interest is "abusive game design", or as student developers Mathias and Brin prefer to put it, "counter game design"; audial, visual, emotional, and physical gameplay elements which are directly counteractive to player contentment, which admittedly i've never given much thought aside from surface level sentiments of "Wow This Sucks" as a player myself. these span from eye strain, frustrating control schemes, the breach of taboo topics, busy sound design, or "attrition abuse" (that being requesting the player to do the same thing over and over again).

i learned closely of the above information upon fulfilling the tedious conditions of its unlock, in which Mathias and Brin themselves will present their thesis to you personally across 45 slides the player controls the pace of. it's quite novel and bold to stash their well spoken treatise behind the torturous gameplay they critique and were inspired by. an interesting range of topics are explored across the slides aside from the main focus, citing the concepts of daily video gaming as ritual and the player/game relationship and how they might "bleed" into one another. both of which spoke to me personally as someone who strives to play something at least once a day to log onto this very site, as well as the friendships i've made across the online games i play and pondering the significance of having never known that person unless i played that game!

while i have pedantically divested a lot of the thesis within this review i have intentionally omitted much, as i really do implore you to give Presenter Slides™ a try yourself. as yet another person who someday aspires to produce a game of my own [the crowd boos] i appreciated the window into choices i should absolutely not make.

thank you, and have a good boss fight.

cw: allusions to [c]sa, some analytical spoilers

i'm pretty embarrassed to admit i've never finished Yume Nikki let alone really played it that much nor any of its inspired works (Yume 2kki, .flow), which is strange as someone who credits RPGMaker horror as formative to my earlier gaming experiences and identifying what i love and enjoy in the genre. i came across Junko via some stray youtube recommendation of a channel curated by what seems to be a superfan who distributes the game via an archive link, and i feel it was very much a special chance encounter seeing how i have never heard a hair of the Junko series of titles (Junkoid, Super Junkoid) nor of their developer, P. Yoshi.

Junko follows the YN formula of the titular girl in a room she refuses to leave who can explore only her dreams, where she discovers "effects" which transform her body or provide tools with which to create new paths forward. it's how the game wields this progression in a more metroidvania-esque way, corroborated by P. Yoshi themselves in this discord interview from earlier in the year, in which the framework of YN transforms into a more traditional adventure game. additionally there's an undeniable Mother influence, seen particularly within the colourful NPC dialogue as well as an endgame segment which heavily reminds of Magicant as it appears in the original japanese release of Mother 2; this was far from derivative or unoriginal, i bring attention to it because it created a similar yet more intensely morbid experience to its inspiration.

on the game's tone being the standout feature, Junko's nightmares are fairly more overt than Madotsuki's in their metaphor though vague or obscured elements still remain to encourage interpretation and exploration of her psyche. there's an enduring theme of voyeurism, unwelcome advances, and inappropriate language towards someone of Junko's conceived age seen mostly through the use of an effect which allows the player to read others' minds, revealing a sordid inner truth to many exchanges. there are characters dotting the interconnected streets who genuinely wish to protect or advise her, but there's just as many who are concerned with how she perceives them and nowhere feels safe from a leering gaze; the feeling is heightened by the use of a looping breathing BGM present within most indoor locations, implying the existence of a watcher. though we have few other human characters for reference, Junko appears to be of very small stature and carries herself in a childlike manner, which makes her innocent interaction with items associated with adulthood by way of using them completely incorrectly bespeak of her youth. it's this seedy influence over her nightmare with Junko's relationship to anything associated with a certain motif painting her as an unfortunate victim of some unclear and terrible form of abuse, its presentation creeping and subdued.

Junko is overall an exploration and psychological horror cult hit, which chooses a slow footfall of dread over the quickened pace of its RPGMaker contemporaries. a newfound re-examination of YN itself and succeeding fangames has been kindled in me despite Junko's technical differences. sweet dreams.

does little to subvert the medium and is content to slip into the same pitfalls of those it mocks. in one hand From Madness chides the pathetic dating sim reader while providing genre-typical suggestive CGs with surface level character arcs in the other; the extent of infantilistic Marshmallow's sexualisation is abject considering his route is best enjoyed last and sunken cost has long since passed. the only semblance of shock i experienced was the distasteful sexual assault and extortion ending which goes without a specific trigger warning.
i actually did enjoy how the concept of language and the difficulty of communication while navigating romance is explored across the cast. a lot is easily understandable if one knows how to engage with the text, though i wish people would stop throwing around the insipid term "schizo" to refer to absurdist dialogue.
anticipation vs experience can be really disappointing. Aorta is cute i guess🙄

personal dump ahead, feel free to skip this one ^_~
cw: vague game typical mentions of suicide and self harm, minor mention of gender dysphoria, minor spoilers

“No one really likes what I make, but I think that’s OK.
To create is my only smile, regardless.” ▷

i find as more time passes it becomes increasingly difficult to create a respectful, nongratuitous or exaggerated mental illness narrative in gaming. i don’t find the way my own brain speaks to me as very respectful either though. this little renpy title was released only around a year prior to this review, and i felt momo’s searing monologue and pleas were dangerously familiar during a particularly rough chapter of my mid to late 20s.

quite a lot is bad right now! i’m stuck presenting as a gender i don’t associate with in a meager retail assistant role, suffering customers who look at me like i’m a bug they’ve stepped on. i endure chronic muscular pain and poor circulation which leaves me barely recovered enough for my next shift. i bite back an intense anger that doesn’t feel like me, having to physically restrain myself from striking out against a wall. i’m creatively starved and have shamefully not drawn even a single sketch for weeks, contributing to my already passive guilt. “just draw for fun! just do it!” yeah, right.

it’s alright though, i guess. i’m medicated again on a comfortable dose, speaking with a therapist fortnightly, and trying to do what i love in the simplest way possible, like playing these games and writing these silly reviews!! like momo, there are people who love me, but my (her) brain doesn't take much effort to forget these wonderful things, of course.

it’s easy enough to say i saw myself in this cute doll, far from the first person to i’m sure. To echo Archagent’s sentiment from her own wonderful review you should totally check out, there’s something idealised about being a mentally ill doll, wearing a cute little dress with bright anime eyes and thin ball joint arms and legs. this allure is heightened in eve’s dreamlike vignette digital photography she (assumed pronoun, please feel free to correct!) posts to her twitter. plastic arms manipulated into a cheer, to brandish an item, or perhaps legs bent to sit upon something soft in introspection. these limbs are not my responsibility. nothing is.

12 years ago i almost fell just like momo did. i relapse, grow frustrated at those who care about me simply because they do, and overindulge in the worst in me. but i’d like to believe there’s joy and light out there, and that none of this pain was for nothing.

thanks for reading my diary! you should read momo’s too☆

i've really been enjoying playing Dreamwild lately despite its harsh difficulty curve and unfriendly beginner experience, and was really happy today to find another title from the developer dropped just a few days ago, and for free.
a grungy linear dungeon crawler where our embittered protagonist becomes privy to a great truth of the world with her special helmet, revealing a writhing and filthy undercurrent which lurks below everyday society. it could be said to be excessively crass or dark in some lines of text, but to see developer Fading Club explore these grimy visual and narrative stylings further that were present in Dreamwild (albeit in an arguably non-horror setting) as well as surreal moe anime girl forms is just an aesthetic delight.
i currently have a shitty flu and my job hunt remains sisyphean, i think i needed something cynical and moody and edgy to get me through the anger. my recent growing fondness for webcore horror and clashing organic vs technological imagery really made this title a match made in heaven. updates are planned, don't miss this one if you enjoy neat atmospheric horror and unique entity design.

bloatier than its previous counterpart C.H.A.I.N. (review) and mostly a waste of time, which hurts to admit.

i previously felt assured knowing developers actually knew about the entire previous string of games that came before them this time, and that a more complete or focused narrative could be achieved. some branches managed to put something together, but unfortunately a majority of others just fell absolutely flat, many of the microgames unplayable/unfinishable in desperate need of a few more days QA. luckily by alt+f4'ing back to the launcher, one can proceed regardless. not much is lost.

i might've had a better final impression of C.H.A.I.N.G.E.D. as a whole if the final tape ending i finished on wasn't so disrespectful to my time and engagement; an ambling repetitive mess, asking the player to complete the same trivial task around 10 times (!!! no exaggeration!) interspliced with scary ambient sfx and cryptic looping spookytalk. what bothered me most however is that it just had nothing to do with the overarching narrative of all the games that came before whatsoever. what were they cooking!

i really do dislike to be so disparaging towards something that actually does maintain a lot of charm half of the time and is literally free, and i wish i could write more following my thoughts on its precursor, but i feel C.H.A.I.N.G.E.D. bit off far more than it could chew. there was just too much bad here to enjoy the good.

to end on the good, bryce butcher's submission was the most enjoyable and memorable to me personally. found via the rightmost route to keep it vague.

didn't live up to my personal hype but was okay. dragged its feet quite a lot and could've done without the obvious padding to keep the experience consistently engaging, along with very little environmental diversity to keep me in the zone. runtime could've easily been chopped in half with little lost.

decarnation's highlights is in its art direction and subtle, expressive animations. "pixel psychological horror with gore elements" is enough to put many to sleep, but the execution on display really was something special. our heroine Gloria will dance, stagger about a room, perform lithe jumping manoeuvres, and shovel cake into her mouth with shocking clarity and flow.

a major nagging flaw however is the game's implementation of a rhythm game for key moments or scenes (around 5 times). the map notes are nonsensical, poorly timed with little on-beat visual indicators to let the player know they've hit a note correctly; there is a "coin" or numeric system which will float over notes after hitting them ranging from 0 to 100, but otherwise there is no chime or other visual indicator. it certainly didn't impede me from finishing, but it made these song segments horribly tedious and drawn out as i knew i'd be punished simply for trying to hit an organic rhythm.

grotesque, uncomfortable, darkly feminine, quite average. still my favourite coverart of 2023, though.

Ringing in the new year with completing my first foray into the denpa genre at a friend’s recommendation. Best read very late at night.

A sickly orange twilight is our backdrop to an acute, albeit harshly dated, portrayal of mental fragility and staggering acts of sudden violence. It’s no secret sayooshi is a hard to read title, I required frequent day long breaks in order to get to the core of the presented narrative, but it’s not something I regret at all. What lies beneath a veneer of sadistic fantasy is a story ripe for engaging critical analysis.

Outside of intentionally repetitive script which proved quite effective for both emphasis and flow, the rawness of the prose often stopped me in my tracks. Living in the protagonist’s head for the period of my playtime had me thinking of both his and others’ dialogue long after closing the game; the writing is gripping, the reader hanging off of every word as scenes end, leaving them with some final mysterious phrase which would only be elaborated on in another route.

The artwork is infectious in style, with the sharply pointed noses and almost melting eyes growing on me instantly. Paired with the warm reddish overlay layers and hauntingly stark 3DCG pre-rendered backgrounds, sayooshi establishes an iconic, instantly memorable presentation which is respected and referenced to this day. I especially enjoy the very much alive cult following and fanartist community this title keeps well after 20 years, a testament to its impact.

Upon first thinking the soundtrack merely did its job as background noise, before I knew it I was listening to the tracks outside of the game. Simple synth notes and drum samples make up evocative musical themes for every cast member, along with their use often adding to horrific juxtapositions in mood. My favourite tracks ended up being the smoky “Feignant” and the meandering, dreamlike “Inmobilite et Tourbillon”; the sound of an attempt to return to normalcy.

I don’t feel comfortable giving a rating, but I encourage those able to stomach more extreme scenes and seeking an entirely unique psychological horror experience to dive in.

じゃ、さよなら…

played for the backloggd discord's game of the week may 2 - may 8, 2023

Iji is an inspired historical freeware title which i pay plenty of respect to, but simply did not have the patience for. while i admire the weightiness of the legitimate "choices matter" philosophy and synth drum samples, one small part of an incredibly powerful score (my personal highlight), the repetitive level and encounter design quickly grew dull, most certainly owed to poor upgrade investments. no one's fault but my own.

as well as the title definitely not being to my genre, i tried but just would not mesh. i more or less considered my experience of it alike a tasting platter, content in seeing Iji how i have, and may pursue a video or two to get some closure on her compelling story which begs completion of any kind.

it's not you, Iji, it's me :(