The fact that an average arcade-like game that was made in five weeks by one guy in order to meet a holiday deadline due to an expiring license contract was made into a martyr for what was an overall problem with the industry at the time goes to show that time is truly a flat circle, not helping are legitimate problems (exact pixels on ET causes him to get hit with holes when leaving, creating loops that're hard to get out of, areas that are hard to pinpoint where each action you can press can become available, the AI either being janky or extremely hostile with no in-between, navigation being kind of a mess) getting buried by people Not Reading The Manual.

At the absolute, absolute worst, you're playing a game with really annoying collision detection and dealing with a maze of like, five or six rooms because pathway navigation isn't the brightest and cause one AI in particular homes in and steals your objective items like it's nothin.

Lovely little game that captures the appeal of PS1 survival horror absolutely perfectly. Honestly, it's kinda nuts how dead-on the presentation is here, and I really like the mid-game introduction of first person puzzles. They're small, but it plays with the fixed-camera setup in a way I really like, and made exploring the manor that much more compelling to me.

It's short, sweet, and ends exactly when it needs to. I hope the developers make another game like it, they've clearly got a lot of love for the genre.

A super unflinching look at the ways the internet preys on our worst tendencies and regards the hurt it causes with apathy at best.

Both extremely funny and intensely threatening all at once, I really appreciate how real the whole game is, honestly. There were a lot of times where Ame's behavior in certain endings, while taken to an extreme in a lot of cases, very much made things feel like I was seeing myself from the outside in. I've never been in quite as dark a headspace as she gets into in places here, but I could very easily see my life veering in just as many self-destructive directions if things had turned out even a little differently. The writing here is extremely sharp, and while I'd definitely still play and likely enjoy a lighter version of this game's basic premise, I'm glad this is willing to explore territory this dark without holding back at all.

I loved it, a lot of it will stick with me for a very long time. Just go in knowing that things can get extremely, extremely heavy. There's a content warning at the start for a reason.

Well damn, they did it.

I dunno how, I really wasn't expecting this to be anywhere even halfway decent after the meanspirited mess of the first game. I bought it, all the same, because I love the concept enough to want to like what it does, but I was so sure it'd leave me just as muddled as Overdose, desperately wishing for a game that could've done what it set out to do better.

And here it is. They did it. They delivered on every bit of promise the first game held. The combat is much better, the side content is actually meaningful, the dungeons are genuinely fun to navigate and have some really neat ideas baked into them, and the music is every bit as stellar as the first game, with not a single dud track in the entire thing.

But it's the writing where this game truly shines. The first game was so meanspirited and hollow, punching down at every opportunity. Caligula 2, meanwhile, is written with so much empathy, with one of the sweetest, most well-considered arcs about gender identity I've seen in a game, and a main cast that I came to truly adore. Sasara, in particular, turned out to be my favorite in the group, with the conclusion of her story helping me come to terms with the somewhat recent passing of a family member. I can't say how much I appreciated that all, really.

Hell, it's so good that it retroactively makes parts of the first game better, calling back to it in ways that drastically up the emotional stakes here and toy with audience expectations really cleverly.

Right through to the last dungeon, I was so ready for the game to fumble something, for it to really remind me why the first game never worked for me. But that never happened. Everything it did was just fantastic, right up until the end.

What a lovely, special game. I can't believe this comes from the exact same writer and director as the first game, but what an incredible example of listening and swearing to do better by the people you've hurt. What an amazing turnaround, truly.

Oh I loved this! Labeling it as a roguelite is kind of a misnomer since you're really just working through ten different campaigns rather than repeating things, but this is a fun, snappy little deckbuilder that lasts exactly as long as it needs to and stays fun through to the very end.

Also, it is incredibly, powerfully lesbian. The game has a whole punishment thing that's mostly just playful, kinda kinky lesbian sex where everyone is very sweet and loving and good to each other. Like, I play Qureate games begrudgingly expecting them to be straight but no, this one's real gay! It's even a sequel to Prison Princess, which I love, but was sadly straight, but this game just completely ignores that the guy from that ever existed and makes the two girls from there a very romantic couple.

Lovely surprise, great way to kick off 2022.