I was playing some Mega Man inspired indie games so I decided to check out an actual Mega Man game, a friend recommended X4 so I picked up the collection and obviously disregarded my friend's advice and started with Mega Man X.

The game did feel a bit old for me, I think I would have enjoyed the help of a save state system, I reached Sigma but couldn't beat it, so I decided to actually try X4 and I realized why my friend recommended that.

I really enjoyed playing through X4, some more modern design choices, the air dash and other touches were definitely something I appreciated. After that I returned to X and somehow beat Sigma. Started X2 but it did feel a bit frustrating so I'm leaving X2 and X3 to maybe play in the future.

As for the Collection features I think the filters are not particularly good, and I really wish they had save states (or that Rookie Hunter didn't lock you out of certain achievements). The collection of artwork is extensive, and there are some curious photos of merchandise too which are cool. The emulation is accurate so you'll get slowdowns when those happened on original hardware, I'm not sure if they could have changed that, but it is there.

Overall I'm not super impressed with the added features of the collection and as someone without prior experience with the games, the lack of nostalgia certainly paints it in a different light. I enjoyed X4, but in the end I didn't get out of this loving the franchise.

Terra Nil offers a very distinct feeling than other strategy/builders games. It combines the chill aspect of restoring desolate landscapes with resource management and strategic decisions leading up to the clean up phase at the end. It is very satisfying to see your drone fly off and leave the perfectly peaceful landscape you restored.

I did feel somewhat conflicted when choosing the difficult options though, I feel like the strategy adds a lot, but I also think playing it on easy might add freedom to be more creatively expressive with how you want the land to look at the end.

There is also an in-game book that serves as both manual and encyclopedia and the artwork in there is amazing, do spare a moment to check it all out, there are some gorgeous diagrams of buildings and more details.

Just the premise had me hooked, and they pulled off the concept very well. Even if I do echo the sentiment that it feels a bit short, it is still a very rewarding experience and a chill moment worth delving into.

Picked this up just because I like Remnant: From the Ashes a lot, I wasn't expecting much but I left really impressed with how the foundations for the lore of the world from Remnant are all here.

I also enjoy how a lot of gameplay concepts that were improved for Remnant are already here. The unique weapons, traits, some secrets and puzzles, I can see how this game evolved into the next step.

The gameplay feels a bit clunky, felt like sometimes I was mostly bruteforcing my way through combat, and you can also see the moments thought out for VR and it can feel weird at times in a flat perspective.

I enjoyed the level design and exploration a lot, and playing it as a fan of Remnant, the insight into this piece of the past is a fun experience too.

After completely giving up on Bayonetta 3, I can't believe how much I like this game. I was skeptical about how deep the game was, being a full release from Platinum so soon after the last game, but it proved to be an excellent title that I'd say is a better entry in the series than the "mainline" offer.

The combat and dynamics between Cereza and Cheshire are just so satisfying to pull off, it might not have the mechanical complexity of pressing a bunch of buttons to combo, but it has the rewarding experience of pulling off the synergy between the two.

Exploration is serviceable but if I have complaints they are mostly related to this. The map sometimes is useless and the game doesn't have many rewards asides from points for your skill tree, but sightseeing is also its own reward because the game is a treat to look at.

Bayonetta Origins is Platinum at its best. The visuals are amazing and the Switch can handle the game beautifully. The gameplay is solid, you can feel each hit in the action, and there are the classic big set pieces. Put everything together and the end result is a marvelous whimsical journey.

Considering this still has to be "Forza Horizon", the expansion does what it can to make it feel like rally. The co-driver, tighter roads and even the suggestion to disable the driving line help add more flair to the experience.

Progressing each team and having some side banter with the NPCs was more enjoyable than I thought, it certainly felt more interesting than any attempt they had with the "stories" at catching my attention at least.

Extra note: Microsoft could really do better about the localization for Brazilian Portuguese at least. It was for the whole support of the game somewhat embarrassing, but this expansion had so many troubles, including no audio for the pace notes, that I ended up changing my language to English. From what I've seen it is not a problem exclusive to PT-BR (and generally speaking not only for this game either), so I hope they can step up on this department.

After struggling with technical difficulties and just not vibing with some of the games systems, I've decided to just let it rest.

I'll say that the pawn system does seem interesting and it is quite unique even after all these years, the idea of hiring helpers from your friends and tailoring your own sounds a lot of fun.

And as for what I didn't like, it is mostly the old and janky stuff. The menus and inventory management are a mess, encumbrance should just be eliminated from all games and then the items being spread among the pawns is also just more busy work to organize.

I can see all the potential here for the upcoming sequel, so I guess I'll just wait for that.

Remnant is a tight game that knows what it wants to achieve and focuses on what it does best: gripping combat, unique weapons and mystery.

One of the most interesting aspects is how everything feels like a collection, from the arsenal to your traits, your experiences and discoveries translate into a collection of gameplay options that make you feel stronger and are rewarding to discover.

I do feel like sometimes the scarcity of currency can make all the options feel underutilized, and it would feel better if I could change my build more easily than farming a lot of scrap and lumenite, but it is a hard point to balance and you do have a bit of extra room to change.

I've played it right now after numerous patches and the addition of things like Adventure Mode make the experience a lot smoother than it was at launch, but I think they nailed a lot of fundamental choices in the design that makes Remnant a solid first start and an excellent foundation for things to come.

Storyteller is a fun concept that is at its best when it tries to challenge the most common logic, but it does it far too rarely and doesn't incentivize much experimentation.

At first look most stories are simple and you have to do some basic stuff to get it to happen, the animations and reactions from the characters are cute and interesting, but as I said it is better when the unexpected happens, I will avoid spoilers but some interactions are really funny.

While playing normally you'll stumble upon one or other funny scene, but the achievements on Steam are something that should have been integrated more with the game, weird situations like that are fun to see but you'll never glimpse that if you just complete the book and bonus titles. It is a nice playground, but there is little push or freedom to make you explore more crazy narratives.

I've played up to the start of the third world but I just don't care anymore. I feel like this game suffered in a way similar to Paper Mario games that lost identity and had many gameplay elements changed with mixed results.

In general encounters are not as great as in the first game, random encounters are absolutely unnecessary and it feels that by introducing such a broad range of playable caracters the encounters never truly push you too much. Maybe I should play on higher difficulties, but something else that bothers me is that HP and damage numbers already feel so inflated, it doesn't feel like you are getting more powerful, and the level scaling also makes it unrewarding.

I might return for a shorter and more concise experience with the Rayman DLC, but the main game just did not grab me nearly as much as the first.

At first I imagined a game about 5x5 grids would be quite boring for picross veterans, but I was wildly surprised by how much they can make such tiny puzzles feel interesting.

Picross X trades the laid back puzzle solving for a fast paced action marathon of solving little squares and it works. I played with touch controls and I feel like it is necessary for the optimal experience, playing with buttons feels clunky and slow. The game adapts itself to each control scheme, but touch controls are definitely the most fun way of playing.

Over time the luster does fade a bit, even with all the variety in gimmicks it feels like you have seen too much of everything. This doesn't erase the achievement of creating a fun action version of Picross, and I really enjoyed my time with it.

Ever since early access one of the main points that sold me on Spin Rhythm is that motions add so much feeling to playing a song. When you are in the zone and everything flows, you feel the buttons, the slides, the spins, it is just fun.

While playing the songs with a controller always felt good for me, even after the 1.0 release and a brand new UI there are still some rough edges for actually navigating the menus, but it is much more friendly and should be mostly good after a few patches.

Personally, I think the tracklist could be better, but really everyone will have different opinions about this. What really is reflected in my score is how good I feel like this translates the music to movement and gameplay, a very unique and solid take on rhythm games.

Molek-Syntez is another of the more visual games from Zachtronics, that while still using some kind of programming logic are less about coding and use a set of instructions that are more approachable to someone with no programming experience.

It is hard for me to not compare this game to Opus Magnum, even though they are trying different things, overall I can't help but feel that it doesn't reach the same levels in both presentation or gameplay. It still provides a solid Zachtronics experience, with lots of opportunities to optimize your solutions, just don't expect gifs that are as mesmerizing as Opus Magnum.