Story driven games have a massive uphill battle to fight for my attention. I prioritize gameplay a lot, and usually see the story as a method to enhance the interactivity through the context it provides. If you're game is extremely story focused, then it better be the best damn story ever or I'm not going to have a fun time.

Thankfully, Ghost Trick engaged me all the way through to the end entirely on the strength of its story. It's fantastic, one of the best plots in a game I've ever played. If you're reading this and haven't played it yet, avoid any and all spoilers and do it. Trust me.

That's not to say the rest of it isn't good, far from it. The character roster is shockingly well developed and likeable (with some small exceptions). The music slaps hard and fits each scene perfectly. The art direction and animation are about as good as its story. The game play, while somewhat easy and has some minor issues here and there, is at least very creative and meshes with the story wonderfully.

It just hits so well on almost everything it aims to do. Ghost Trick is excellent, and that means a lot coming from me with this kind of game.

And, of course I must stress: Missile is the bestest boy.

This is, and I swear I don't mean it pejoratively, a game for teenagers. To truly get the most of it, it asks you to 1) have the kind of patience that a large amount of free time affords you and 2) be young enough that you still find transgressive art relatively novel. These two design philosophies, repetition and transgression, work symbiotically: the cruelty of its mechanics buttresses the profoundly unpleasant aesthetic; your willingness to dive back in after repeated failure is contingent on your interest in whatever fucked up thing Haverinen can throw at you next.

For me, the game's disrespect of my time compromised the pleasures of its dark fantasy in about five hours, after I got fingerfucked to death a second time by the Harvestman. After that point, my eyes glazed over and everything started to look like mechanics to me. Every nail-biting coin flip and combat was reduced to a question of whether or not I was going to lose another twenty minutes of my precious life, and although I had previously respected the internet's insistence on playing blind, I fired up the wiki.

After another five hours of noble struggle, I realized that I was not strong enough to defeat the endgame bosses and hung it up. Maybe in the future I'll start another run, wiser and luckier, and achieve a better result. Unsatisfying? Was I filtered? Perhaps (and yes), but frankly the game is not deep enough to justify digging beyond its superficial "pleasures." It's a whole lot of lore and not much narrative ambition, an excuse to create a self-perpetuating misery engine for the player and the characters alike. The dead horse you can beat in the very first screen of the game is unfortunately more symbolic than it was meant to be.

I still admire the ferocity of its vision, its approach to the roguelike subgenre, and the unusual synthesis of its (admittedly surface-level) influences. I'll probably pick up Termina when it's on sale for $5 or so.

One never becomes a true gamer until it reads Infinite Jest in Another Pokémon Game.

Here I am, reviewing a game made by a person I follow on here once again. I said this multiple times, but making a game, as simple as the final product may end up being, it's a labor of work that I cannot even begin to conceive, and as such, making a review for a game who its creator may read it's always daunting.

What's funny about Another Pokémon Game it's that it talks about the game making process. Or rather, the game making process of a certain franchise of the Triple A industry.

A franchise that has broken my heart a lot of times.

Yet one I absolutely adore.

It's no secret Pokémon is a series of lights and shadows: it has some incredible games, both mainline and spin-off, that a lot of people, including myself, hold very dearly in our hearts. And it's precisely that love that makes us buy some unfinished messes, games that could have been so much more. A lot of people do love these games I call ''messes'', and I respect the hell out of them, but for me, since the release of Sun and Moon, this series has been a string of disappointments in one way or another.

Another Pokémon Game loves Pokémon too, and its because of that it's very critic of it, or to be more exact, of what its subjected too as the gigantic franchise that it is. Crunch, underpay, lay-offs, both a satire of the series and the industry in general, this game laughs non-stop at all that surrounds Pokémon, but with all the best intent possible, 'cause behind the jokes and laughs, the sadness of the matter is that this all happening, yesterday, today and tomorrow, a wheel built on money and nostalgia.

Another Pokémon Game isn't the funniest thing out there, at least for me, and I'm still not sure if some of its dialogue is supposed to be a pun or an attempt at a statement, but it still has some pretty funny gags, and even if I couldn't qualify it as ''subtle'', it does and tells what it aims for. We are bound to repeat this cycle as long as Pikachu poops money, and it'll keep pooping money, 'cause we'll be there to buy yet another Pokémon game.

As a game, this one is only to be enjoyed by fans, as strangers to the series will not get it or will simply not care, which it's totally understandable. In that sense, Another Pokémon Game is a more personal work, something I value a lot, especially when it’s done like this.

It's far from perfect, even as a little satiric experience, but golly gee does it do what it wants to do. I reminded me of how we as consumers should change. How multi-million dollar companies should, but will never change. And it reminded me of the old times.

Times playing a Pokémon game.

𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚊𝚗 𝚎-𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚕 𝚖𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚐𝚎!

...

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝟹 𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙴𝚂
𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝙶𝚁𝙴𝙴𝙽, 𝚁𝙴𝙳, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙱𝙻𝚄𝙴.

𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚍
𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝟹𝟶 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚊𝚐𝚘.

𝚆𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖
𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏
𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝚅𝙸𝙾𝙻𝙴𝚃 𝚊𝚗𝚍
𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝚂𝙲𝙰𝚁𝙻𝙴𝚃.

𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖:
𝙳𝙾𝙾𝙼 𝙳𝙰𝙳𝙳𝚈 𝙳𝙸𝙶𝙸𝚃𝙰𝙻
𝚁𝙴𝚂𝙴𝙰𝚁𝙲𝙷 𝚃𝙴𝙰𝙼

----------------

𝙵𝙴𝙱. 𝟸
𝙶𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚐𝚘𝚠, 𝚂𝚌𝚘𝚝𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍

𝙰 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜
𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚒𝚗
𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍.

----------------

𝙵𝙴𝙱. 𝟾

𝚆𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚠𝚕𝚢
𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎,
𝙰𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙴.

----------------

𝙵𝙴𝙱. 𝟷𝟸

𝙰𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙴 𝚐𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚑.
𝚆𝚎 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚎
𝙰𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙴 𝚝𝚘𝚘.

----------------

𝙵𝙴𝙱. 𝟷𝟻

𝙰𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙴 𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚊𝚛
𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚞𝚕. 𝚆𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚍
𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚋 𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚟𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚋𝚞𝚐𝚜
𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚛𝚜.

----------------

#𝟷𝟶𝟶𝟿 𝙰𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙴
𝙼𝙴𝙼𝙴𝚃𝙸𝙲
𝙷𝚃 𝟿𝟷𝟸𝚙𝚡
𝚆𝚃 𝟸𝟺𝙼𝙱

𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚊 𝚜𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚜𝚝
𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌 𝚌𝚘𝚍𝚎
𝚜𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚏𝚝𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚎
𝚎𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜.

𝙸𝚝𝚜 𝙳𝙽𝙰 𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎
𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝙺é𝙼𝙾𝙽 𝚁𝙴𝙳'𝚜.
𝙷𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚜𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍
𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚛𝚎
𝚟𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝.