lego badman 2 dc superheroes review:
this was a major step forward for titty games for this was their first ever videogame that adhered to the lego game formula to feature both voice acting AND an open world hub
it is with a heavy heart that I must say that both of those things were pretty underwhelming in my opinion, for the voice acting wasn't utilised to its full potential and the open world styled city of gotham, although brimming with unlockables, is pretty rough and not quite yet realised
this is not my biggest hurdle with the game however
my biggest complaint would absolutely have to be the story/character choices and the level design, which were, to my surprise, a fairly big step backwards from the original
for starters, the title of the game is kind of a lie
the vast majority of the game is spent with Batty and Roberto, with Soupman joining our duo halfway through the game
that's it, hardly enough characters to fill up the famous justice league, right?
well, they actually do show up in the story and ARE playable there, but it's literally just the last two levels, and the Splash along with Blunder Woman serve no mechanical purpose in the level they show up in, so half of those who DO show up at the end do pretty much nothing lol
speaking of dc supered heroes, remember Soupman, and how he joins the classic duo halfway through the game? well guess what, this guy is so fucking powerful, that he literally kills all tension by being playable in the story mode, I mean, he's literally invincible and has like half the powers that are available in the game, they realise how fucking broken he is towards the end by "weakening him with kryptonite" so he won't be able to fly but like, he's still unkillable lmao
(btw flying in the open world feels clunky af)
actually this game has a character problem in general, where, save for the first couple of levels, the only villains present in the story are the Joka and Lex Luthor, which, as fun as they are, become kinda tiring after a while (the first game had a good portion of Badman's rogues gallery being an active threat in the story mind you)
and finally there's the level design, which feels lackluster when compared to the expansive levels of the original, and where in the og game I would say that nearly every level is good, in this one it would be only a third at most, with a lot of them ending up feeling like an afterthought
lego dragman 2 was really ambitious and as many would argue a necessary step towards the right direction, however, it takes that one step while taking a couple back, and that is what makes it disappointing for me

review of Valhalla the Bart ender simulator
with a steam description that mentions waifus as a part of the game's appeal, you might expect, justifiably or not, less than stellar writing, but you would be pleasantly surprised
this game's writing is so incredibly mature, to the point where it makes the writing of most of the other games I have played seem shallow by comparison
it thrusts you into a believable dystopia without making it all feel too pointless and hopeless, gives you some stunningly real-feeling characters, each with their own struggles and memorable qualities, and there's some good use of second-hand worldbuilding to boot, all of that combined with the small-stakes story makes it all so easy to empathise with
the extremely unique choice system that presents itself in the form of drink-mixing does not at all overstay its welcome or even feel tacky in the slightest, I would argue it's actually much better than most choice systems in gaming because it never really tells you how important or meaningless your actions are, nor does it tell you if they are of short-term or long-term effect, there's no "character X will remember this" crap, the only way to know is to know the characters and how they would react in the first place, which can be hard but getting to know them so well is a pleasure in its own right if I dare say such a thing
the protagonist, Jill Stingray deserves a special mention, her character being an absolute delight to play as as her personality and character development throughout the game never ceased to be entertaining, a blank slate main character would have probably been a bad choice for this kind of game anyway, so I'm glad that they went above and beyond in making Jill brim with history and personality
the visuals in the game are fantastic, adding to the grim but not overly despair-filled atmosphere of Glitch city and (mostly) graceful and subtle characterisation of its denizens
and lastly, there's something to be said about a game that is so goddamn confident in its own soundtrack, that it literally lets you pick the assortment of songs from the jukebox, unafraid that it will break the atmosphere at any point in the game (and frankly it never did, which is kind of amazing for a game with so many tracks)
VA-11 Hall-A is a game that is brimming with confidence in just about every aspect of itself, and it is not for nought, for it is an amazing game more than worth being confident in
9.5/10 drinks mixed, lives changed, Barts ended

rebiew of Magenta Horizon (act 1)

I should preface this with saying that even though I have finished this game on its intended difficulty you should keep in mind that at the time of writing this, I have not yet played the two of the biggest listed inspirations for it, (Devil May Cry games and Hollow Knight) so take some of what I say with a pinch of salt

Magenta Horizon is like if banging your head against a wall repeatedly was somehow made satisfying, it's a tough game even on its standard difficulty which becomes apparent pretty quickly but I like that the game sets those expectations right off the bat, instead of having crazy difficulty spikes show up out of nowhere (which may be the experience for some but in my opinion it mostly wasn't)

the actual combat system offers a good amount of freedom, with flexible combos, many approaches to different enemy types that each offer unique challenges of their own, for example even the first enemy type you meet can prove to be disruptive in the later stages

MH is confident in its enemy design not only gameplay-wise but visually too, with every little creature looking weirder and more hellish than the last, which surely serves to create a memorable experience when coupled with the general aesthetic of the game (which I believe was inspired by the works of Tim Burton) that succeeds in creating a somewhat bleak, purgatory-like place filled with character, and if the later levels are anything to come by it looks like the atmosphere of the game will only get more interesting from here

the soundtrack to this afterlife is quite good with many solid tracks to its name, and all in all the sound design of it does its job pretty well I'd say

I haven't found a good way to mention the story and the world building but it is definitely intriguing in places, and even though there aren't many answers given to us just yet the main characters are charming enough for the time being and I'm interested to learn more about them

Magenta Horizon is a passion project made by one person and it shows that in the best possible ways, it's frankly impressive how good this game is already all things considered, I can't think of any major issues I have with it at the moment, pretty much all I have is praise so I apologise if this review is a bit boring to read because of that, but I do legitimately really like this game and want to see more of it, and I hope it becomes successful cause it damn sure deserves it

definitely keeping my eye on this

while at first this game isn't the most engaging thing in the universe, it picks up a lot during its second half and becomes a lot more compelling as it starts being apparent that this game is not going to have a happy ending
a certain someone's flashbacks were the best part of the game, illustrating their believable and chilling descent into madness, which means they turn out to be a pretty good villain as a result
considering the fact that this combat system is pretty much just recycled from 0, the gameplay happened to be somewhat tiring, Kiryu's combat was already not great in the prequel and here it's the entire goddamn game, the penultimate boss fight in particular was so bad that I was tempted to lower my rating
concerning the side content I have not done that much of it so I can't really say how good it is (shoutout to Shinohara tho, best boy) which means I might update my review in the future if I go back to do some
all and all this was a solid first attempt at this sort of crime drama, and although some kinda clumsy bits of writing hold this story back from reaching its true potential, this game is a worthwhile experience nonetheless

k2 is an absolute blast, the story is engaging right from the start, full of great character moments and memorable scenes, it frankly makes its predecessor look shallow in comparison, considering just how much confidence this games exudes
the gameplay while critiqued by some, has been pretty enjoyable for me, with a satisfying progression loop and a fun physics engine to boot it was almost never boring for me, although I do understand the complaints about the game eventually becoming "too easy"
in general there's a lot more respect for player's time, with way less unnecessary downtime between everything and barely any story filler
the finale had me worried at first but turned out to be an immensely gratifying conclusion anyway, which at one point I thought was nearly impossible
I have not done much side content (save for the Majima saga, which was enjoyable) at the moment of writing this but I will absolutely go back for it, and from what little I've seen of it it promises to be quite good
this was an absolute fucking capital J Journey of a game and I adored the overwhelming majority of my time with it