Most important:
Story: Subarashiki Hibi is a story told in six chapters. The chapters are of varying lengths and structure, but for the most part, they cover the month of July 2012 from a number of different perspectives. The story involves world-ending prophecies, mysterious deaths, the web bot project and masturbation. When it comes down to it the actual story wasn’t too complex but it was multi-layered. The interesting aspect about Subahibi’s story is that it is told in different perspectives in addition to different main characters. This narrative style is similar to The House in Fata Morgana but Subahibi goes another step further by changing the main character for each chapter which was ambitious to say the least. But coming down to it, repeating the same story after two or three times does make everything stale even though there was little to some extra information that wasn’t known. By the third chapter, I was able to piece the mystery together so the mystery aspect wasn’t as strong in the second half. Speaking of the third chapter, It’s My Own Invention, was the peak of the visual novel for me. I was engrossed in the main character’s delusions and I was glued to the screen while witnessing his transformation from what he was at the beginning of the chapter to what he became at the end. I really enjoyed the denpa, occult and cosmic horror aspects of that chapter as well. The other chapters weren’t as memorable or well done and was a step down compared to the aforementioned chapter but honorable mention to the second chapter that had a decent mystery and atmosphere. The quality of the narrative really fell of in the later half of the visual novel, from an interesting mystery and denpa style story to shonen incest with awful villains in the backstory. The author makes a lot of references to literary and philosophical works but most of it feels out of place within the story so all it showed was that he is well read and it is just pointless pretentiousness. The characters goes through a lot of different traumatic and psychological torture which at some a certain point felt like needless edge and misery porn. I also did not like how the conflict was resolved at the end, it did feel like the resolution came out of nowhere just because. The slice of life scenes were bog standard and pretty boring which was most of the first chapter.

Character: The only standout and exceptional character is Mamiya Takuji. I found his character to be very compelling during his chapter. From the trauma and self-loathing leading him to his delusions, from his messed up world view and his relationship and interaction with the other characters I greatly enjoyed experiencing. Otonashi Ayana was also an interesting character but she lossed relevance right until the final ending where the explanation of her character was rushed. The overall cast is below average, development and personality wise. I thought Zakuro’s character would go somewhere after the game and put a lot of emphasis on her but she just loses relevance after her chapter.

Theme: “Just be happy bro.” As I had mentioned before, there are a lot of literary and philosophical works referenced in the visual novel and the main problem was that it probably went over my head. I’m honestly not even sure what the themes of the visual novel are. Bullying, communication, consciousness? I wouldn’t say that it is weak but there wasn't an actual stance that was clearly stated. The writer roams around these topics and throws them at you to make you think about it.

Atmosphere/Setting: The story is set in a highschool which is a minus but deals with mature topics such as bullying, prostituion and drugs so it is somewhat acceptable. The atmosphere was excellent in the first half and in the second and third chapters, it was mysterious and tense and I was hoping it was able to keep it all the way until the end but unfortunately that was not the case.

Somewhat important:
Pacing: Piss poor at certain points during the third chapter otherwise like stated above there’s a lot of repeated scenes but overall was okay.

Art: It’s okay, no strong feelings one way or another.

Music: Mostly piano based, simple but effective. I liked the original ending themes for the different endings, a pretty nice touch.

Least important:
VN aspects: Standard choice system.

Overall, I had a mixed experience with this visual novel. It had great potential at the beginning with the mystery and occult atmosphere but fell flat on its face in the later half by abandoning those aspects. If you can handle the psychological torture scenes and the premise seems interesting to you, it may be worth a read but I would only recommend this to a specific type of people that enjoy works with denpa elements. Although I can safely say it would be a memorable experience nevertheless.

A Short Hike is a fun little open-world-ish adventure full of S O U L. The game really nailed the aspects that it was going for which was really impressive. Specifically exploration, gameplay, atmosphere and NPC interactions were the main aspects that the game excelled at. The controls while walking and gliding felt just right and fun. The exploration and soundtrack enhanced the atmosphere throughout the game.

The NPC dialogue and interactions was what sold me. When I talk to a person, they have a couple of different lines depending on if they just met you or gave you a task. Even after finishing their task, they still had new lines and it felt like a genuine conversation. The mini-games were enjoyable as well, my favorite was beachstickball. I didn’t expect there to be any substance to the story but the ending conversation was able to give an ingame reason to why we went on a hike, which is good. Gliding through the ending segment with the soundtrack was immersive. Overall, an awesome indie game.

Superb gameplay, ripping and tearing through demons is fun and addicting. The amount of weapons is just right to give enough variety for different situations and enemies. Using a chainsaw on a demon is extremely satisfying and will never get old. The powerups in each stage also feel amazing to use, especially the berserk powerup where you just beat demons with your bare hands. The stages did get kind of repetitive by the end. Great sound design, amazing soundtrack. Mick Gordon is a legend. Atmosphere is generally excellent as well with good use of silence and quiet moments although the setting could be more varied since the missions are set in either an invaded science lab or hell.

All of the bosses were forgettable and fairly straightforward even at the highest difficulty which was unfortunate. The enemies themselves only have one or two mechanics to them but the difficulty in each stage is the quantity of enemies and how you manage them. The approach to the story I found to be pretty nice, it's there if you care about it but if not then not a big deal. All in all, the gameplay carries DOOM 2016 so much that the small downsides can easily be overlooked.