FBracht
2015
This game is Pac-Man as a platformer, and I mean this in the grandest of all possible senses.
N++'s timelessness is unmatched by any other game in its genre. If you think Celeste is "precise", Super Meat Boy is "hard", Super Mario is "expressive", you're not wrong — but, still, N++ distills all of these qualities in the purest, most refined experience of jumping and moving in a 2D space.
Unbound by any concern whatsoever with things like narrative, worldbuilding, or thematic cohesion, N++ is just lines. Each of its checks wikipedia four thousand three hundred and forty stages (!!) is made up of a few perfectly straight lines, a mere dozen or so types of enemies and traps, and a number of square "coins" you may pick up as you traverse the level if you have the gall to go for any score higher than "I was able to clear this level somehow".
The only two things that prop up this ridiculous game are pure, unadulterated level design intelligence, and a physics engine that would make Einstein himself soil his trousers. Every single input you give to this game works double or triple duty. You know how in Super Smash Bros you can control the height of your jump depending on how long you press the button, and you can also do a "short hop" by lightly tapping it with a level of subtlety that's frankly unbecoming of the fighting genre? That is good gameplay. Now, imagine that, but better. Bonkers better. Infinite levels of either floatiness or short-hoppy-ness at the tip of your finger, dictated only by your eagerness and/or patience to let go of the A button.
If the Ninja you control in N++ could leave traces of paint in the screen, we would most certainly have N++ artists, such is the expressiveness and gracefulness of this character, in these levels, with these physics, in this game.
N++'s timelessness is unmatched by any other game in its genre. If you think Celeste is "precise", Super Meat Boy is "hard", Super Mario is "expressive", you're not wrong — but, still, N++ distills all of these qualities in the purest, most refined experience of jumping and moving in a 2D space.
Unbound by any concern whatsoever with things like narrative, worldbuilding, or thematic cohesion, N++ is just lines. Each of its checks wikipedia four thousand three hundred and forty stages (!!) is made up of a few perfectly straight lines, a mere dozen or so types of enemies and traps, and a number of square "coins" you may pick up as you traverse the level if you have the gall to go for any score higher than "I was able to clear this level somehow".
The only two things that prop up this ridiculous game are pure, unadulterated level design intelligence, and a physics engine that would make Einstein himself soil his trousers. Every single input you give to this game works double or triple duty. You know how in Super Smash Bros you can control the height of your jump depending on how long you press the button, and you can also do a "short hop" by lightly tapping it with a level of subtlety that's frankly unbecoming of the fighting genre? That is good gameplay. Now, imagine that, but better. Bonkers better. Infinite levels of either floatiness or short-hoppy-ness at the tip of your finger, dictated only by your eagerness and/or patience to let go of the A button.
If the Ninja you control in N++ could leave traces of paint in the screen, we would most certainly have N++ artists, such is the expressiveness and gracefulness of this character, in these levels, with these physics, in this game.
2017
One of the best and worst games I ever played. Best because it's completely crunchy, the gunplay feels divine and the world design is out of this world. Raids are an experience to be had, unmatched in anything else I ever played. And even as a timewaster, it's phenomenal: log in, do some quests, log out.
However, the bad part is pretty terrible: unless you have most of your days free, it's entirely impossible to play Destiny 2 "properly" and have other games on the side. You just can't. This game eats your free time, and FOMOs you into playing it every day. Pretty soon it starts feeling like work, and the magic wears off.
Fun games aren't supposed to feel like this.
However, the bad part is pretty terrible: unless you have most of your days free, it's entirely impossible to play Destiny 2 "properly" and have other games on the side. You just can't. This game eats your free time, and FOMOs you into playing it every day. Pretty soon it starts feeling like work, and the magic wears off.
Fun games aren't supposed to feel like this.
2019
A short list of games that were incredibly successful in certain aspects, but which Outer Wilds makes look almost amateuristic in these same aspects: Super Mario Galaxy, Mass Effect, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Breath of the Wild, Metroid Prime.
I can't tell you exactly why I say this or which aspects I'm talking about -- because this is one of those games in which everything is a spoiler and spoilers are especially bad because the whole point is you learning the stuff by yourself -- but I swear this is not hyperbole. This game is incredible. It will make you look at the world, the universe, and your own life in a different way, at least for a while.
I can't tell you exactly why I say this or which aspects I'm talking about -- because this is one of those games in which everything is a spoiler and spoilers are especially bad because the whole point is you learning the stuff by yourself -- but I swear this is not hyperbole. This game is incredible. It will make you look at the world, the universe, and your own life in a different way, at least for a while.
2012
I didn't play this game in 2012, and in 2020 it definitely feels like a 2012 game.
It was certainly an interesting experience and it does make serious efforts in conveying its themes using gameplay and art — with mixed to positive results. I'm just not sure the experience this game brings isn't superceded by newer and more well-realized games, even ones such as Giant Sparrow's own "What Remains of Edith Finch".
It's a curio from a different indie era. As such, it might be fascinating and enchanting to some, while just smelling of dust and mold to others.
It was certainly an interesting experience and it does make serious efforts in conveying its themes using gameplay and art — with mixed to positive results. I'm just not sure the experience this game brings isn't superceded by newer and more well-realized games, even ones such as Giant Sparrow's own "What Remains of Edith Finch".
It's a curio from a different indie era. As such, it might be fascinating and enchanting to some, while just smelling of dust and mold to others.
2019
A pretty great roguelike where RNG is everything, but the game makes you enjoy it. Superbly designed and full of personality. I just don't want to dedicate my PC playtime to a game like this. However, if this was available for my phone, I'd probably play it for an ungodly amount of time. Maybe I'll get it on the Switch.
2018
The only roguelike I reallylike.
2013
Even more of a wasted potential than the average Sonic game.
If you look at me and say the Sonic game where he has a sword is garbage, or the one where the main gimmick is you play with your own OC, I'm gonna be like "well, what did you expect??"
But this one looks so cool! The stages are so interesting, and beautiful! The potential is galactic! And yet, is pure garbage. SEGA has no idea how Sonic is even supposed to control.
You know how some games are labelled "precision platformers"? This is the opposite, an imprecision platformer. The game designers didn't know how to make Sonic gameplay feel good at slow speeds, so they made all the slow parts almost unplayable. This way, people will forget any notion of exploration and just kinda "press forward to win". They made you want to go fast by making you REALLY don't want to go slow. It's a shame, because otherwise the game is beautiful, and had almost as much potential as its clear inspiration, Mario Galaxy.
If you look at me and say the Sonic game where he has a sword is garbage, or the one where the main gimmick is you play with your own OC, I'm gonna be like "well, what did you expect??"
But this one looks so cool! The stages are so interesting, and beautiful! The potential is galactic! And yet, is pure garbage. SEGA has no idea how Sonic is even supposed to control.
You know how some games are labelled "precision platformers"? This is the opposite, an imprecision platformer. The game designers didn't know how to make Sonic gameplay feel good at slow speeds, so they made all the slow parts almost unplayable. This way, people will forget any notion of exploration and just kinda "press forward to win". They made you want to go fast by making you REALLY don't want to go slow. It's a shame, because otherwise the game is beautiful, and had almost as much potential as its clear inspiration, Mario Galaxy.
2007
Mario games are weird and fascinating and incredible for many different reasons, and each one of them is particularly brilliant in one creative field or another. For example: the recent Super Mario Odyssey is a perfect exploration of all the things Mario can be and all the ways he can move. Through this frame of reference, one can say — and in fact, I am saying it — that Super Mario Galaxy is the absolute best Mario game at exploring all the places Mario can navigate.
From short and linear two-dimensional stages to free-flowing flying courses, from chill flat gardens to cylindrical puzzle boxes, from an interconnected semi-realistic architectural space to an ethereal cube with some coins in it, from water that behaves normally from water that just floats in the middle of somewhere, everything is fair game in Super Mario Galaxy. Everything. You want to put lava in direct contact with ice? Sure. You want to invert gravity for absolutely no particular reason in just this specific spot? Just do it.
Mario Galaxy is Nintendo at the absolute top of its level design game. Because not only are these sets and settings inventive, but they all work in favor of bringing about great gameplay. In Mario Odyssey, Nintendo made a ton of great moves for Mario and then made a few stages in which he could do its thing; in Galaxy, Nintendo gave Mario a fairly basic set of moves but made a million of completely different and absolutely incredible spaces in which he could shine.
And, level design being one of my favorite disciplines in game design, of course I'm all over this. It's my favorite Mario ever.
From short and linear two-dimensional stages to free-flowing flying courses, from chill flat gardens to cylindrical puzzle boxes, from an interconnected semi-realistic architectural space to an ethereal cube with some coins in it, from water that behaves normally from water that just floats in the middle of somewhere, everything is fair game in Super Mario Galaxy. Everything. You want to put lava in direct contact with ice? Sure. You want to invert gravity for absolutely no particular reason in just this specific spot? Just do it.
Mario Galaxy is Nintendo at the absolute top of its level design game. Because not only are these sets and settings inventive, but they all work in favor of bringing about great gameplay. In Mario Odyssey, Nintendo made a ton of great moves for Mario and then made a few stages in which he could do its thing; in Galaxy, Nintendo gave Mario a fairly basic set of moves but made a million of completely different and absolutely incredible spaces in which he could shine.
And, level design being one of my favorite disciplines in game design, of course I'm all over this. It's my favorite Mario ever.
2015
Impossibly high skill ceiling, delivered on an impossibly slick package with incredibly smooth gameplay. Like a real sport, it makes you incredibly mad with your shortcomings and losses but ecstatic with happiness at each and every win, big or small. Love it or hate it (most likely both), but you won't be able to play this straight-faced.
It just remains to be see whether the move to free-to-play will ruin the game in any way.
It just remains to be see whether the move to free-to-play will ruin the game in any way.
2016
This is the absolute best work of art I ever experienced. When we encounter a great game, we rush to compare it to the great classics of the medium, like Ocarina of Time, Half-Life, Mario Galaxy, etc. I'm the same, I'm like that. But when I finished The Witness and dove deep into what it was that it was trying to do, I wanted to compare it to bigger things in the art world. I wanted to compare it the Mona Lisa, to the Statue of St. Sebastiano, to the entire Beatles' discography. If there is justice in this world, The Witness will be studied and dissected not only in game design courses, but also in art history courses.
2022
Marvel Snap is a bit like Destiny 2, Apex Legends, and many others in the “game as a service” category: a great game you probably shouldn’t play.
There is no denying that Marvel Snap is astoundingly great at being a quick and flashy 2-player card battler: card effects are superbly designed, so that almost every cards feels powerful and great to play; decks are exactly 12 cards, so it’s easy to deckbuild, experiment, and try many different strategies; and, at exactly 6 turns, each game is snappy I got used to firing up the matchmaking every time I have to go downstairs to grab a food delivery — and I live in the second story on my building. Win or lose, you’ll play your cards, watch their flashy effects, and have your dopamine hit. It really does feel great.
Not to mention one of the best parts of the design, the titular snapping mechanic: with one tap, you can stake your progression with a “double or nothing” gamble. No matter if you’re really confident or just bluffing, the other player either needs to call it or concede defeat. This creates tension like a motherfucker.
So let me get this straight, you’re thinking. Snap looks stunning, is polished to a shine, and feels genuinely great to play. What’s the problem?
The price.
By 2023, it’s basically a cliché to say free-to-play games are the most expensive in the market. Everyone knows that. Snap is no different. You will download the game for free, sure, but you will pay — if not with money, than with the bad feeling of playing a lesser game than everyone else, and having to grind more to be less competitive. You’ll always be behind on the new cards, and every game you lose will remind you this problema can be solved with your credit card.
Just get it, you’ll think. It’s just the price of an indie game per month to keep on top of the Season Passes, you’ll think. It won’t bankrupt me, you’ll think. I don’t even have time to play a new indie game every month to completion. This game brings me fun consistently. I like Marvel heroes! Pretend it’s a subscription! You’ll think all of these things and others to justify continuously spending time on intangible items that would have been unlockable through gameplay if this was a good old regular paid game as god intended.
And then one day you’ll write a review on Marvel Snap on Letterboxd and, as you write, you’ll realize what an idiot you’ve been to think this was okay. And you will decide, right then and there, while writing the penultimate paragraph, to just uninstall Snap and get a new indie game instead.
I think I’ll start with Pizza Tower. Yeah. :) I hear great things, and it’s even cheaper than a Snap season pass.
Now that feels great.
…
I once heard that the act of writing is in itself the act of thinking, just a bit slower and more methodical. I can now state with confidence: that tracks.
There is no denying that Marvel Snap is astoundingly great at being a quick and flashy 2-player card battler: card effects are superbly designed, so that almost every cards feels powerful and great to play; decks are exactly 12 cards, so it’s easy to deckbuild, experiment, and try many different strategies; and, at exactly 6 turns, each game is snappy I got used to firing up the matchmaking every time I have to go downstairs to grab a food delivery — and I live in the second story on my building. Win or lose, you’ll play your cards, watch their flashy effects, and have your dopamine hit. It really does feel great.
Not to mention one of the best parts of the design, the titular snapping mechanic: with one tap, you can stake your progression with a “double or nothing” gamble. No matter if you’re really confident or just bluffing, the other player either needs to call it or concede defeat. This creates tension like a motherfucker.
So let me get this straight, you’re thinking. Snap looks stunning, is polished to a shine, and feels genuinely great to play. What’s the problem?
The price.
By 2023, it’s basically a cliché to say free-to-play games are the most expensive in the market. Everyone knows that. Snap is no different. You will download the game for free, sure, but you will pay — if not with money, than with the bad feeling of playing a lesser game than everyone else, and having to grind more to be less competitive. You’ll always be behind on the new cards, and every game you lose will remind you this problema can be solved with your credit card.
Just get it, you’ll think. It’s just the price of an indie game per month to keep on top of the Season Passes, you’ll think. It won’t bankrupt me, you’ll think. I don’t even have time to play a new indie game every month to completion. This game brings me fun consistently. I like Marvel heroes! Pretend it’s a subscription! You’ll think all of these things and others to justify continuously spending time on intangible items that would have been unlockable through gameplay if this was a good old regular paid game as god intended.
And then one day you’ll write a review on Marvel Snap on Letterboxd and, as you write, you’ll realize what an idiot you’ve been to think this was okay. And you will decide, right then and there, while writing the penultimate paragraph, to just uninstall Snap and get a new indie game instead.
I think I’ll start with Pizza Tower. Yeah. :) I hear great things, and it’s even cheaper than a Snap season pass.
Now that feels great.
…
I once heard that the act of writing is in itself the act of thinking, just a bit slower and more methodical. I can now state with confidence: that tracks.
2022
Tunic looks like a modern take on older Zelda titles and plays like a Souls game, but it also channels some of the best parts of games like Outer Wilds and The Witness. Curiously, in doing so, it only strengthens its own identity — which is superb. I love this game, and it’s probably in my Top 5.
2012
Dishonored is much more cool than it is actually good.
Not to say that it isn't a good game, but I don't think it reaches greatness. It seems like Arkane Studios found a winning formula here, but it still needed to be tweaked. Dishonored 2 fares much better in every regard — at least the ones that matter to me. It's almost like comparing Half Life to Half Life 2.
Not to say that it isn't a good game, but I don't think it reaches greatness. It seems like Arkane Studios found a winning formula here, but it still needed to be tweaked. Dishonored 2 fares much better in every regard — at least the ones that matter to me. It's almost like comparing Half Life to Half Life 2.
2016
This sequel to Grow Home gains a few helpful gameplay elements, but loses the novelty and charm of its predecessor.
2018
What a game! My review (in Portuguese): https://www.fabiobracht.blog/celeste/