Cave Story is one of the all time indie classics. It has some of the most charming designs in a video game, with the paper white look of every character from the Mimigas to Quote and Curly being very iconic. The Amiga-like feel with the 50 FPS gameplay really gives it a vibe that's unlike other 21st century video games. Not to mention the music is some of the most elaborate I've heard from a composer wanting to emulate chiptunes https://youtu.be/IdAzVhCof_4

Yet every time I try to play Cave Story I simply have fun in the first few areas, reach the sand area, and just lose all my momentum. I forced myself to get the best ending today and I'm kind of at a loss. Keeping track of the weapon levels is annoying, finishing the sand zone is the longest hour of my life with the collectathon elements, there's a total lack of QOL due to the player being unable to do things like equip multiple items (ie jet + mask) at the same time, the weapon levels forcibly reset near the end, the true ending is some of the most cryptic and unintuitive nonsense in a video game....

I have endless respect for Cave Story. I love the graphics and music, I enjoy some parts like the early game and some bosses, and the Spur weapon and jet can make movement actually pretty fun near the end of the game. But having to keep in the back of my mind how easy it is to screw myself out of a proper ending, as well as constantly swapping weapons and even having to make sure not to level up the Nemesis... it all adds up to making me not actually enjoy playing the game overall.

It's a well made game, and I think there's a lot to like. I'm not a huge metroidvania player and I'm someone who primarily likes quick and kinetic sidescrollers I can speedrun endlessly, so I reckon bigger metroidvania fans have every reason to get more out of the game than I did. It's also not terribly long, being roughly 5 hours with a guide, so it's honestly worth a playthrough once for anyone who wants to see an influential indie work in action. It's super impressive work, but I just find myself enjoying the creator's other games much more.

I'm glad I went through it, and I'm glad I got to meet Balrog and Curly my beloved, but I'd definitely call it one of the better games I'm happy never to touch again personally.

Shoutout to the godlike Aeon Genesis translation btw, much prefer it to the official translation. Balrog's HUZZAH is the superior catchphrase, I'm sorry https://www.deviantart.com/extreme-sonic/art/Cave-Story-HUZZAH-374739229

Hellblade 2 is a game that should be more honest with itself. Solving third-rate puzzles that don't provide any challenge, or facing enemies in scripted combat from the beginning to the end of the game, doesn't do him any good. And I think that's the point that so many people are missing. In fact, Hellblade 2 would not be better with wider and deeper gameplay, but rather, with a greater absence of it.

Senua's Saga's greatest strengths are the moments when the game sets out to be a unique and bizarre experience, rather than its gameplay-focused segments. It's been a long time since I felt genuine anxiety playing something, and Hellblade 2 gave me that, whether with extremely uncomfortable sequences that cause a feeling of claustrophobia, dread and disgust, or just with Senua deliberating, disturbed and lost with herself and her thoughts, insecurities, and fear of whatever lies ahead.

I already had this thought when I played the first game, and it only intensified and became more serious when the developer releases a sequel seven years later, with one hell of a generational leap, and delivers something extremely similar, not to mention simpler and less meaningfull than the previous one.

There's no shame in developing a cinematic and interactive game focused completely on the narrative and remarkable moments. I can only hope that, if we are ever going to have a third game, Ninja Theory has a more aligned vision of delivering ONLY what Hellblade in its essence truly is, or at least should be.

After years of drift towards third-person action, survival horror finally returns to its roots: dunking your entire arm into every single trashcan you can find and showing disobedient vending machines and lockers the righteous fury of your boot heel.

Thank God the indie market is so robust these days, because the increasing homogenization of the modern big budget game and shrinking genre space therein means you wouldn't get proper survival horror otherwise. Crow Country and others like Signalis have been filling that void, but despite clearly playing to the charm of PlayStation era horror with its visuals - especially with its character models, which look as though they've been unearthed from an old Net Yaroze kit - Crow Country is no tired pastiche. It's safe rooms, puzzles, and resource management might harken to a design ethos that was at one point more commonplace, but these elements feel authentic and borne from a place of appreciation and understanding.

Nowhere is this more strongly felt than in the park's layout and the way in which the player navigates it. The amusement park theme allows for neatly defined areas with their own theming and unique attractions, with hidden passages, back rooms, cast tunnels, and a subterranean network serving as the connective tissue between each "land" in a way that feels appropriate for the setting while serving to make the park feel highly interconnected. Crow Country is great at providing a sense of space while conveying where the player should go and what to do next. I never felt lost or completely stumped by a puzzle and was consistently engaged and encouraged to revisit old locations to explore - the part of my brain that starts processing how I want to route my way through a game activated pretty early, and as far as I'm concerned, that's a sign that a survival horror game is living up to the promise of its genre.

The setting is also small. Crow Country is less Disneyland, more Santa's Village, so one way developer SFB Games succeeds in making repeated loops through the park threatening is by gradually introducing more enemies and traps to familiar locations. As the time of day progresses, rain and darkness further obscure the player's vision, and boobytrapped pick-ups begin to litter the map to prey on the sense of trust they've developed with their environment. I sprinted my way through the opening two hours, juked most enemies and picked up any crap I saw laying on the ground. By hour five, I was walking everywhere, stopping frequently, side-eyeing boxes of ammo, and finding that I actually had to conserve what I had due to the increased expectation that I shoot some damn "guests."

I also appreciate Crow Country for telling a complete and coherent story, something I think a lot of horror games have pushed away from. I think the Five Nights series has poisoned the genre and led a lot of other indie horror creators to believe a complex and intentionally vague narrative is the best way to ensure franchise longevity. Keep posing questions, provide no answers. I get it, sometimes it's best to let the audience fill in gaps, you don't want over-explain horror, but in the hands of a weak writer, the "unknown" can just be a euphemism for "nothing."

That's not to say Crow Country fails to raise any questions of its own, rather that in true PSX survival horror fashion, you're given all the clues you need to form the big picture through memos, context, and dialog. How well you do that is entirely dependent on how much you're paying attention, and whether you view Crow Country as being so cliched that its horror can be explained by way of Resident Evil and Silent Hill. I was extremely satisfied by the ending, which leaves just enough unanswered that you'll still have something to think of without feeling like you'll need to consult a YouTube series or read like, seven fucking books and play a dozen more games. An indie horror game with a conclusion that is both cogent and earned, thank christ.

So make the most of your Memorial Day weekend and bring the whole family down to Crow Country. Come ride our newest attraction: The Seven Seas, and discover new types of bacteria. Remember, vets and children under 6 get in free!

The Complete Saga is one of the first games I can recall playing with my siblings, alongside things like Wii Sports and Rock Band. I thought about just emulating that version instead but I figured the original GameCube versions would be less intensive to stream with friends, so expect the sequel to this one soon.

You could argue it's a little insubstantial, but LEGO Star Wars for me is tons of casual, low-stakes fun. The Minikits turn it into somewhat of a collectathon and bring a bit more to the table, but not necessarily challenge. I'm more than fine with this game being easy as it is, likely being a game aimed for children and all, but I can see how it would be a detractor for some.

The only major problems are with the flying stages, which are apparently nerfed in The Complete Saga anyways. Here, while you still have infinite lives, they're noticeably more strict than the rest of the game. Gunship Cavalry is especially bad, an isometric shooter reminiscent of the really shit one from Earthworm Jim 2. The controls are both far too floaty and yet also kind of limited, in the sense that there's only one plane of movement and it isn't conveyed well visually. You'd think from the way everything is laid out that you would be able to raise or lower yourself, but such is not the case. Either way, probably the only outright crap level in the game, as the other two flying stages throughout definitely feel a bit less awkward.

While it isn't quite the same as my childhood memories with just one player, I had a lot of fun revisiting this. The Original Trilogy is up next, and as far as the movies themselves go I've always been much more fond of those. Looking forward to that.

Hey pretty good stuff actually! They actually made the timings fit for an LCD so I found it much more playable than the first game. The songs aren't as memorable as the studio's PS1 games but I quite like the Big song tbh.

It's too bad this game was a flop and this type of game fell out of style, but when it cost $90 adjusted for inflation I really can't blame people for the lukewarm response. Parappa 1 was considered innovative, but Parappa 2 competed with quite a lot of juggernauts like DDR so the hour long runtime didn't really impress audiences. Which is a shame, since I think it still holds its own rather well next to the titans.

Also the game has Lammy in it, so automatically a 10/10 game in spirit. I was surprised just how much she was featured since I remembered her only having a 5 second cameo in the anime!

Anyway who all eating the Parappa 2 pizza with me? https://i.imgur.com/lukW4xd.png

THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON

Yeah, no, I gave my best shot, but this was just a dud for me. It could be a sign of burnout from playing through so many games in this series almost back-to-back, but I got through Yakuza 5 relatively unscathed, so I don’t think it’s quite that. Ishin was just such a bore. It’s an Unreal Engine 4 remake of a spin-off game that never got localized, and that alone should tell you this something of an acquired taste. I don’t blame people who got more enjoyment out of this than I did, there’s something here, massive flaws aside, where I can see the hype. It’s historical fan-fiction with stand-ins played by many of your favorite characters across different eras of Yakuza/Like A Dragon. It’s entertaining seeing characters brought in, many retaining their core personality, and interact in a totally different context. Some, not helped to know they were replacing old cameos from Ishin’s original PS3 release, are just questionable in how they used iconic series regulars as fan service. Like, why did they put Shibusawa and Nishiki in the game but Shibusawa is the one they decided to make Ryoma’s sword oath brother?? Despite the deliberate slow pace, tense dramatic moments, and some of the best directing RGG probably has done, I just can’t feel immersed into this concept. It wants to be a dramatic historical retelling of a famed Japanese figure, yet it wants to also be this fun dish of elseworld fan-service, and it just makes the narrative feel disconnected as hell because neither side complemented each other into something… good? A story that didn’t click with me wouldn’t be much hassle if it weren’t for how the gameplay just feels clunky to play. It’s not even ‘charming clunk’ or ‘jank’ people like to toss around a lot, but something that felt gross to move around and fight in the map. Which I didn’t like either, since I never got hooked into the historical setting and felt we just had the weakest map RGG has ever made. Having multiple fighting styles like slashing enemies, shooting enemies, bashing enemies Yakuza style, or even dual wielding a katana and gun was very fun until the content bloat kicked in with weird trooper cards, unexpectedly dull substories, and so much grinding that I had to put down the controller and close the game right in the middle of a cutscene because I knew this wasn’t getting any better from here on out. This was the only RGG game I dropped, didn’t bother to see the end, and I think I’m fine with leaving it incomplete as that. Yakuza in Unreal Engine is cursed af, I’m glad RGG is never dropping the Dragon Engine in favor of it like some bigger studios are doing recently.

I like the characters and story. I think there are cool monster and weapon designs.

But the gameplay is embarrassingly poor. Fighting things doesn't feel great, at best it can be serviceable. The game doesn't get harder; things just become more annoying to fight.

I got to the 2nd credits roll and I can't bring myself to keep going, this game overstays its welcome.

Soul Hackers 2 is like the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull of Megaten. I don't think I've fully processed that it exists, even like a year and a half after finishing it. I think of this game often. It just confuses me - it's like the ultimate monkey's paw. They made a sequel to a 1997 Sega Saturn game that offers basically nothing to someone who loved the original, aside from some terminology carried over.

This game is fine - and I think that's what makes me so bitter towards it. They specifically selected one of the most unique, rough around the edges Megami Tensei games and sanded all of the interesting features down into something more digestable for general audiences. Things like demon loyalty and zoma fusions had so much more potential, but instead of exploring that they were just stripped and replaced with a combat system reminiscent of modern Persona. Dungeon design is repetitive, as is the music. They added in a pointless mascot character, there's nostalgia baiting content locked behind a paywall, and even the game's special Jack Frost variant was only obtainable by pre-ordering.

So many things about this game just reek of marketability and someone in a suit making the decisions, which is pretty funny considering it spends time critiquing capitalism and exploiting nostalgia.

Ringo is a very cool character. There are some standout tracks in the OST too. It's just not enough to justify the rest of the game for me. Some people see that this game is functional and has characters and argue its reception was unfair. I also knew people who saw Crystal Skull as their first Indiana Jones movie who said the same thing.

So you are telling that not only has the Count tried to destroy an entire country multiple times employing the foulest, most monstrous forces ever conceived… but he’s also hoarding riches and making entire pools out of them Scrooge McDuck style? He really is a monster!

No but really, the fact that money can literally kill you is some next level commentary through gaming, Konami really was onto something back in the day…

Castlevania IV is… weird, and not because it differs a ton from its peers, but because of the complete opposite reason: the original NES/Famicon trilogy, as unabashedly hard and obtuse as it could get, was probably some of the most unique and impressive collection of games hat the 8-bit machine had to offer, but not only compared to other games, amongst themselves. For better and sometimes for the worse, each of the games are so distinct from each other at their core that if the team really wanted to, they could have created another two IPs, but they still feel deeply tied with one another and the connections, evolution and experimentation are what make them such an impressive trilogy. Even when Dracula’s Curse went back to a closer style of gameplay to that of the first one, it still felt different, but no matter what, it always felt like Castlevania. And hey, IV does feel like Castlevania too!

… and that’s about it…

Well, actually, even if it seems like I’m presenting that as a complete negative, that would imply this series isn’t the amazing bastion that is, and if even the first game in the series was already bringing the console it was on to its limits, Super Castlevania IV wasn’t going to break tradition: this game. Is. GORGEOUS. Some backgrounds aren’t the prettiest and some color selection stuck out to me as, to put it bluntly, pretty jarring, but I think that’s because the rest of the game establishes a standard that of the Mona Lisa. Simon and the foes he must face look flawlessly, perfectly horrifying, beautifully haunting, every single returning face is the most perfect translation into the 16 bit realm you could think of, and every new enemy fits with the crew like they’ve always been there. There’s a clear and palpable desire to make what wasn’t possible before, a wish to make the macabre feel alive coming being realized, make levels shift and spin in impossible ways, hearing the howls and growls of beasts as you make them fall, it’s uncanny in the best way imaginable. Even as someone who doesn’t really enjoy this OST compared to what previous outings had to offer, it offers that characteristic SNES ambience sounds that I enjoy and many people love, and for good reason.

Castlevania IV feels like the team behind it decided to make what they wished they could have done on their first go, and I mean, it’s meant to be a re-telling of that original adventure, but even beyond that, its otherworldly detail, its focus on ambience, its desire to be even bigger and greater, none of the stuff that IV does could have been done before… at least partially.

I wouldn’t call the game ‘’derivative’’ as much as I’d call I ‘’inconsistent’’, one moment you are presented with a super cool new idea, like the reworked whip and its seemingly endless possible uses, and right after you realize that, aside from the fact you can hook and balance through certain levels which is amazing, this is just more of what was seen in Dracula’s Curse, except it’s not even close to being as fun or inspired. Many of the hazards and level ideas are entirely lifted from that of the last NES entry, and when they aren’t that, either it’s because they are either a minor spin on a preexisting idea, an actually super cool challenge or layout that only gets used once and then forgotten, or a very simplistic and/or dreadful thing to have to repeat over than over, and let me restate, the original trilogy wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of completely fair design, but one thing is to be a meanie with the player, and then there’s the boss rush before Dracula that’s in her which… that’s just evil, man…

The game takes a ton of ideas from the works that preceeded it without really having the same tact or mindful design as something like the Clockwork Tower in Dracula’s Curse had, and even if it has snippets of excellent, creative concepts that make up for pretty fun parts of levels, it doesn’t last long before we are back to ideas already seen or that don’t really work. Even the aforementioned new whip control, which I fucking love, aren’t really that compelling to use simply because, aside of some instances when being on ladders, hitting an enemy that’s on an upper platform or when being swarmed by birds, there aren’t really a ton of instances where using it feels fun or well-thought out. Enemies still behave like they did the last three times, the only exception being the bosses, who are easy to kill at best or obnoxious at worst, so it’s not like they are the best example, to be honest.

It tries to tell a story that was already told by expanding it, but its idea of expansion is grafting more levels onto it that tell a part of the story that wasn’t necessary on the original and that, without the path feature from III, feels tacked on and is only saved because of how some scattered levels like Stage IV are pretty memorable, and that’s the thing, it can be fun, it can be creative, and in some places and moments, it clearly is, but it seems afraid to stay out of the shadow of its older brothers.

Effects may be pretty and the sounds stunning, but IV doesn’t aspire to be anything more than yet another vampire vanquishing adventure, and so its destined to be stuck at the halfway point, one that needs to be compensated with instant deaths and immediate fail-states, ‘cause no matter what, the game has to be difficult, this is Castlevania after all, no matter the cost…

It still isn’t quite what I feared Dracula’s Curse was gonna be, but it isn’t far from it either… moon-walking on stairs in the best thing in any of these games tho!

I mean......it's good.
It's still the same game as it was on GBA only now it has more levels, new music and completely recreate cutscenes and visuals, if you liked the GBA originale I'm sure you'll like this; I'm just confused on this games mere existence. Like was their a large enough group of people that were clamoring for a Mario vs. Donkey Kong remake on switch? I know this series has it's fans but I didn't think it had a strong enough fallowing to get a remake on the same level as Kirby return to dream land or Link's Awakening.
I'm glad those people finally have a remake of their favorite 10 year old handheld puzzle platformer, if those people even exist.

I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me, and I walk alone.

Jokes aside, Lonesome road is probably my favourite FNV DLC, which seems like an unpopular take in contemporary critical discourse surrounding the game; on the internet anyways.

I do GET what others find objectionable about the DLC, I'm not super on board with the characterisation of Chris Avellone's pseudo-rantsona and the cardinal sins the game committs in regards to roleplaying are at best misguided attempts at narrative subversion and at worst break the entire game's foundations in half.

Its one of those things, where, even though I myself had not heard of this discourse I intuitively felt something wrong when I played the game for the first time. "You, the courier came through here before and indirectly caused the devastation of the divide" - Ulysses said calmly

"No I didnt. My character didnt do that at all. My courier was a common drifter before he stole a mojave express courier's identity just in time to be shot by a claymation chandler bing". I was mostly confused. I do think its a mistake to take everything Ulysses at face value, and if you listen to his soliloquoys scattered about the various holotapes you come to realize hes a disturbed, traumatized individual who's maybe not quite meant to be taken as gospel. He reminds me of Measurehead's backstory from DE if you do the fascism sidequest.

That being said, the reason for Lonesome Road being my favourite is the gameplay. Its an amazing gauntlet that puts the player's abilities to the test with the various tunnelers, deathclaws, marked men and the like. Chris Avellone's hatred for the post-postapocalypse shines here, albeit appropriately for a recently nuked area, there are nought but the remnants of those who tried to rebuild the divide but were cut down by radiation. FNV is a bit too easy, but Lonesome Road is a nice mix up in this department. This last playthrough I played using the JSawyer mod and a revolver build, both of which made the game more challenging and I had a blast making it through the titular road.

Its unfortunate how the DLC also implies that the mojave will just get fucked again by tunnelers because again, Chris Avellone hates the post-postapocalypse, but my headcanon is that the indomitable will of the player character overcomes this to make sure the future inhabitants of vegas can put up a fight. I mean, a drugged mailman took care of dozens of them with a few hollow points, it won't be that difficult to mount a defensive line against em

Having rolled credits, I still don't understand why this game exists. What was the intention behind this game? When you make a sequel to a video game how do you evolve from the original? What do you fix, what do you do differently, what do you add? Hellblade 2 does none of those things and instead doubles down on the design template of the original game - which was released 7 years ago. What we're left with is essentially the first game again yet somehow worse in some areas.

I understand the desire for something like Hellblade. Yes, the game is gorgeous. It's a visual showcase of Unreal Engine 5 tech, I liked looking at the shiny rocks and trees and volumetric fog tech. But underneath all that is a hollow and nauseatingly linear "game" that refuses to attempt anything new.

I think my biggest gripe with the game is the writing and narrative devices. The first game was novel and unique in how it presented itself, however in Hellblade 2, they use the same voices in your head and the same 3D audio trickery to the point where it feels gimmicky now. It also feels like they've upped the frequency at which the voices are talking, to the point where I was subconsciously ignoring them, even if they were expositing key narrative information.

I also feel like this doubling down on the original themes and usage of psychosis or schizophrenia comes off as hokey or juvenile, rather than whatever I assume the devs intended. I don't think that presenting Senua's mental illness as some sort of in-universe superpower that can help save the land and its people is a smart decision narratively, and I think can be rather insulting depending on how you view the game. With the first game, it was Senua coming to terms with herself, which is a much more honest and natural way to explore the themes they wanted to present. The insistence on this narrative device becomes the game's weakness. How do you write a sequel while still relying on these themes and growing the character past the first game? You don't. It's just not the right decision to make.

As a game, it's the same as the first just with more production value behind it. Nicer animations for the shallow combat. The puzzles are the same albeit easier than the first as they removed a lot of the originals jank and the voices in your head help you solve them. The music is fun, and the performances are great. Ultimately the writing is what falls flat for me and because the game relies on it so heavily it drags the whole experience down with it.

I think Ninja Theory is talented, there are moments in this game where I was seriously impressed by the animation work or some of the cinematic sequences. I just wish they would spread their wings a bit and deliver something more rather than limit themselves like this.

I pray they don't make a Hellblade 3. Please just make Enslaved 2 or something I don't know make a video game again for godsakes!