I don't think I'll ever be fully satisfied with Nintendo's "toybox" design philosophy. It's certainly fun, but it always leaves me a little hollow feeling afterwards. That being said, I would be a fool to not admire just how creatively inspiring Mario Wonder is. A gilded toy chest, filled to bursting with unique ideas.

Give me more first person movement games based on melee combat please. I like this a lot.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk has been one of my most anticipated games for the last several years. However, with anticipation comes expectations, ones that often don't align with reality. It's easy to come up with a preconception of what a game should be, which when left unchecked can lead to one souring their experience. I would be lying if I didn't say that this wasn't the case for me and Bomb Rush.

Bomb Rush is too nice, too passive for me to feel completely invested. I often felt weightless as I drifted through the sprawling levels. If only there was one more mechanic added to the movement system, something extra to manage or manipulate.

Don't get me wrong, as an aesthetic piece Bomb Rush clears with top marks. I love the style, the music, the attitude. At the end of the game, one character says that "graffiti would be hella lame if it was legal", and I have to agree. I would just add that graffiti is also hella lame if its easy.

What a glow up. Seriously, we're talking Metroid to Super Metroid level here. Taking a simple concept and so thoroughly expanding it that the prequel seems generations behind.

I think there is something important to learn from SteamWorld Dig's idea of player generated level design. Now, I'm definitely not the right person for the job (I'm writing this at 2:30am help me) but I'm sure that someone smarter than me would be able to mine those depths.

I like the funny robot digging games.

Consider this a palate cleanser, something to play in order to realign expectations going forward. I enjoyed the characters well enough, the combat well enough, the platforming well enough, et cetera et cetera.

Especially since I'm heading into a couple major series binges to close out my year, it was nice to refresh my mind before diving in. Game is pretty unchallenging as well, even though I was playing on the highest difficulty. I guess some games just click.

Don't really have much to say if I'm being honest. Don't really see how anyone could have much to say.

An off white wall. A saltine cracker. It's not bad, or even mediocre. I just likely won't be thinking about this one much in the future. You don't notice the neutral tones often anyways.


Everybody loves Resident Evil 4. I do, you do, Capcom does, and so does Dead Space. Luckily, I love Dead Space as well.

This game rips hard, both figuratively and literally. The atmosphere is dense and oppressive, and the gameplay is fierce and engaging. I wasn't in love with the plot but that's fine in my book.

The focus on dismemberment helps Dead Space to feel entirely unique among other shooters. I really enjoy stasis and kinesis as well. Just a rock solid time all around.

I'm gonna be honest and say that I feel really biased on this one. I was just constantly frustrated while playing. I don't know exactly why? It may have just been a long week.

In terms of design, Super Castlevania 4 is probably my least favorite of the main platformers. The whip is absurdly strong, and the massive sprites mean that the pace has been slowed down significantly. I found it to be a bummer honestly.

Talk about massive improvement. Turns out that making your game playable is a good idea? Crazy!

Belmont's Revenge isn't as good as the original or Dracula's Curse, but it's a really solid adaptation to the smaller console. The design is creative, and carries forward what made The Adventure unique. It just focuses those ideas, and makes them fit better within the Castlevania framework.

It's real good. Dracula's Curse iterates upon the original's foundation, creating a strong set of stages that I ended up enjoying more.

I think the multiple routes and characters are a neat concept, though I would argue that Dracula's Curse is too long. A playthrough feels like it lasts a good deal longer than the original, so I feel less inclined to go for more efficient runs despite the extra content.

Personally, I prefer my search action to be more on the Metroid side. Less rpg elements and repeat enemy hallways, with more dynamic movement options. Turns out though, the game that popularized rpg elements and a slower pace is actually really good.

Symphony of the Night is a triumph in many ways. The feel of controlling Alucard is unreal, impossibly tight yet graceful. It achieves the rare status of being a game that just feels fun to control in itself. You could place Alucard in a grey box room with one respawning enemy, and I'd still have a great time practicing back dashing into speedy melee hits.

The world design is also to be admired. I think that many contemporary search action games make the mistake of having their worlds be too convenient. Things connect together in perfect ways, and the ideal route is always conveyed clearly yet subtly. I say screw that! Castlevania is willing to let the player get lost, truly lost without guidance, diegetic or otherwise. Making a world like this truly memorable lies in utilizing the negative space. The time when the player needs to walk to or from a warp point, or finding their way to a deserted dead end on the far side of the map.

The inverted castle is an excellent end game victory lap. It is entirely repeated content, but flipping it on it's head changes how you interact in a fundamental way. Truly a triumph.

What I think I'll remember most about the Detective Grimoire trilogy is how each game acts as a benchmark for it's time period in independent development. The first game is a clear flash title, the second evokes the mobile game boom and early digital storefronts, while Tangle Tower feels like one of the high quality passion projects releasing today.

The art, animation, writing, music, and voice acting are all excellent. Truly top of their class. The simple interfaces of Secret of the Swamp have been replaced with full puzzles. The mystery is a good deal more involved in my opinion. If there's another game in this series currently in development, I'll be there day one.

This game has been languishing in my steam wishlist for as long as I've even had an account. I decided to do it a favor and give it, it's sequel, and as I would learn later it's prequel a shot.

It's clear that this game's primary platform is mobile. The game's ui is made large and with easily accessible buttons. One of the primary methods of interaction are what I call interface puzzles, where the game will ask the player to brush away some reeds, or sort through the trash by dragging and tapping.

I think the draw to this game is it's presentation and writing. The art is well done, and the entire game is voice acted. Both aren't entirely polished, there are some rough edges left behind, but not nearly enough to sour the experience. The game is amusingly written as well, it got a few chuckles out of me.

The big question then is whether the mystery is worthwhile. I would personally say that while the mystery was fairly simple, there were enough background details and a twist or two that made it fun to go for the ride.

I actually didn't realize that Detective Grimoire: Secret of the Swamp was a sequel to an original flash game. Luckily, I already had flashpoint installed, so I figured that checking out the original likely wouldn't be a waste of time.

Yeah, this is definitely a flash game alright. Animations include a lot of obvious tweening, the voice over has a couple of Newground's elites, and the gameplay is very simple. Honestly, for the time and environment that it was made in, I think it works rather well.


I'm pretty confident that SteamWorld Dig is one of the first indie games I ever played. If my memory is correct, the first was Cave Story, and I'm pretty sure that SteamWorld Dig is within the first ones I got on my 3ds. Point being, I wanted to return to the game for a little bit of a nostalgia trip.

Luckily, I think this holds up really well! It sits at the intersection of Dig Dug, Mr. Driller, Terraria, and a little bit of Metroid. I think most people would accept the first three influences, but there may be some debate on whether or not this qualifies as a search action game.

I really love the main gameplay loop of mining. The restrictions on your capabilities, namely how you cannot dig across a layer above you brings a lot of thought to each movement you make. As the game progresses, and unique obstacles are added, the game only becomes more dynamic. The various caves, while less interesting in my opinion, help punctuate the gameplay. The upgrades you collect across the game also do a good job at expanding your possibility space.

Ultimately Steamworld Dig does a great job at applying an arcade style gameplay loop into a short but featured campaign.

In concept, Castlevania: The Adventure is really remarkable. This early gameboy adaptation explores mechanics that continue to be taken for granted in the console releases, and has the most interesting level design in the series up to that point. One problem though, the game is broken.

I really love the whip concept here. I've always felt that the whip powering up in Castlevania seemed like an afterthought. You're never left with a depowered whip for more than a few seconds, and since there is no way to lose it, why shouldn't the player simply spawn with the full power whip? The Adventure answers this, by making the whip's individual stages each feel remarkably different, and making losing your power an active threat.

The stages are also really cool. Each comes with a full suite of elements that make them feel distinct. A specific highlight is stage 3, with it's focus on crushing spike traps.

Sadly, all of these interesting ideas are functionally worthless in the face of The Adventure's performance. The game is in near constant slowdown. This leads to inputs being constantly dropped by the game. With The Adventure having the slowest Belmont so far, this directly caused me to die many times. It's a shame, really.