the path to finding new media can be so wild sometimes. a month ago the youtube algorithm randomly recommends me a video about the fear of space from a video essayist who combines all kinds of media into their given theses. I like the video, check out another, one about games with the most "alive" environments. it's mostly about red dead redemption, but for at least a minute it's alba. which is now likely one of my favorite games of the year

um, yeah! this is exceptional for what it is: a warm-hearted, couple-hour, culturally rich game about community, ecology, and exploration through the eyes of a child.

the vibes are impeccable and the characters are sketched out well enough to feel tangible and human. absolutely overflows with charm. a lot of small, smart elements that keep the island feeling alive, both in terms of the wildlife and community. very grateful that it has room for additional save slots, as I could totally see myself revisiting this if I ever want to warm up my spirit

my first kinetic novel and honestly I'm not sure I'm really into it as a medium, but like, still: vengeful heart rocks

the best element is the writing. it tackles topics that are huge, and it executes on them so well because it keeps them grounded—either in the characters or the surprisingly detailed world building

the characters in particular are great. all of them matter so much to both the immediate plot, and to the broader themes of the stories. the writing consistently takes great care in treating them as complex people, even unnamed characters who don't get their own sprite. amidst the mobs, the crowds, the boardrooms is a persistent reminder that these groups are still made up of individuals, and that matters despite the story's scale

the visual and musical art direction is sublime. even as experiencing this story got super (appropriately) dark and dismal, the aesthetic experience kept me focused and going. and like, none of us get to really choose our hellscapes, but if the one I'm assigned could develop this color palette, I would be into it

I initially had mixed feelings about the main crossroads moment in the experience, and though not all of them are resolved, ultimately I respect it. a story like this can never truly be tidy—any that is, is lying—and vengeful heart knows it

a strong recommend to anyone who looking for 1) really rich and nuanced character-driven narrative experiences and 2) sick vibes

a stunning entry in what is fast becoming my favorite genre of game: nostalgic y2k online adolescence simulator. thoughtful, character-driven, authentic, and intelligent about the interaction between game form, aesthetic, and story. I could write more but I kinda just want to luxuriate in how impressive and delightful and homey of an experience it was

has me very much missing a pink seahorse avatar friend who was a cross between prplsqrl and jenni. kaya if you're out there, I hope you are well!!!

beautiful soundtrack, stunning scenic art style, engaging and effectively-tuned puzzles. the story starts in a compelling manner, at least initially only doling out minimal information in a way that caught my interest, but it lost me in the end

think of it like gently building a fire using flint and light kindling, the sparks get going, a tiny flame begins to catch, and then instead of gradually encouraging it with some small twigs, you just toss a log onto it, and it extinguishes

basically, very backloaded. and not captured in the metaphor: twisty in a way that doesn't feel earned because it's so backloaded

I love highwater's art direction, in a visual sense. puttering around in your inflatable dinghy can often be a serene, beautiful experience—in it, you peer out into the world around you, paved with cerulean and sinister waters, which at times yield to massive landmarks to the world before climate disaster. everything is eye-catching, eerie, and impressionistic, giving you glimpses into the setting, without revealing too much

even your closest buddies, in how they're visually represented, lack visual definition in even their facial features, lending an air of interpretive mystery to the closest sources of support you have in the game. in this respect, I would say the lack of high definition, of specificity, serves the game well

it does not, however, serve the writing well, which, for me, is the game's greatest (but not only) flaw

I appreciate, and even sometimes love, the intentions behind this game. rag-tag group of set-adrift folks try to work together to survive, escape? a climate disaster suffering world where the remaining institutions of power continue to do business as usual: exploit. it touches on community and the perils of individualism, and isn't afraid to give the player uncomfortable consequences

unfortunately, its writing beyond the point of concept is consistently lackluster, in almost every respect. the biggest crime for me is that the characters—who should matter so much in a story like this—are so thinly sketched they're barely on the page. there's never enough dialogue, and what there is is so plainly generic and lacking in personality from person-to-person. new characters get air dropped into your party with little explanation, and any backstory is short and not the easiest to navigate. some characters barely have enough writing to even meet the threshold of being archetypes. it's really disappointing and, worse, boring

the political worldbuilding is barely better. in moments it offers some decent observational satire, but the circumstances are so impressionistically vague in how they're explained that it's hard to say anything truly sharp or smart with it, other than "corporations bad!" (correct) and maybe "rebellions just as bad!" (eck). I would've said through most of the game it floats around this kind of, apathetic libertarianism, though to its credit, I think the endings do make it somewhat more complex, though barely

I think most other people will be frustrated at the gameplay. the gameplay didn't bother me much—the lack of level turned each combat encounter into a type of puzzle, which I could enjoy—but it isn't super well-tuned. once you figure out how to use josephine, almost every battle is easy to slice down. given my frustrations with the game, I didn't mind speeding through that part

on the flipside, though the exploration aspect of the game looks very pretty, it is deeply underbaked. despite the tantalizing appearance of being able to explore across this flooded environment, it's remarkable on rails for most of the game. and by the time you get to the one area that isn't, you've been trained to not explore that it's almost lucky if you still have the impulse

lastly, there's a lot of polish missing, especially towards the end. typos, score suddenly drops, etc. it's not game breaking, but it is noticeable

I appreciate the experience of the game, and respect the developers' intentions. I hope they can build on what works and improve on their writing approach moving forward, because there's totally potential here.

if you want to play better games the explore similar themes, I'd very highly recommend saltsea chronicles, citizen sleeper, and kentucky route zero

I started off playing this game expecting it to maybe be just a cute nostaglic throwback to the N64 era of 3D platformers, and it did start out that way, but by the end I found myself so enamored with the experience, and grateful for all the love woven within it

the endgame for me was definitely the best part—unlocking [redacted] and being able [redacted] just fully delivered on so much of the game's promise. the most fun hours I had, bar none

my biggest critique lies within the first majority bite of the main plot. you're given your basic objective (find/rescue your siblings) and then mostly nothing to begin to explain the world, the characters, the relationships on a fundamental basis until basically the last level. there was an initial foundation-setting with the game missing at the beginning, that then made it feel like playing a very pretty tech demo instead of a fleshed-out universe

and I say this as someone who was collecting the encyclopedia entries throughout. it wasn't enough. by the time I finally able to even understand the basics of the cavern of dreams as a world, the game was quite literally over. I retroactively was then able to appreciate all the different sub-worlds and characters, but I wish that had been the case while I was in those places initially.

basically, a cinematic or two at the beginning with a bit more ground level dialogue could've gone a long way to make the experience more immersive and the later plot payoffs more engaging

on a visual design basis, the game is a real treat. the autumnal tones in the first level are warm and inviting, the castle design in the third level is equally intriguing and chilling, and the gallery of nightmares had me fully clenched and expecting a last act swerve into creepypasta horror. I've always respected the willingness of older platformers to lean into the uncanny and frightening, and found myself wondering if this game would—it did, and in my perspective it's the scariest and most effective I've ever played. good work, I can never witness a flickering light again

will eagerly keep an eye out for any future games from the developer

there is possibly no genre of narrative game I love more than anything that captures the beautiful, fleeting, meaningful, quirky, and chaotic portrait of communities that form in online spaces, often in spite of the businesses that created them

and for that portion of this game, I was in love. the characters, the communities, the bonds, and the style of its presentation was so cool. I would play 100 games in this format and feel refreshed by the experience, every time. I miss my friends from a long list of these communities, even if I can't remember their usernames and avatars. this captured that so well

but though I respect its intentions, I felt like the primary plot of this game was weak. without getting into spoilers, if you want to talk about a Topic, it is almost always better to center its related character as the subject, and not the object. and the glimpses we got of the object character here were so tropey, so common in a gendered way, that it was equal parts frustrating and hard to take seriously. I could go into greater detail, but I won't both because of spoilers and also because that doesn't feel great, as it's an otherwise lovely indie game with its heart in the right place

as a fan of many mario rpgs, it's such a pleasure to finally play through the game that started it all, or at least its remake. impossible not to see how its dna has woven its way through nintendo's subsequent rpgs, even if its level of daringness and irreverence probably came more from square than nintendo itself

there's gotta be a german word for when you experience the origin media for a remarkably successful spiritual lineage, and are capable of appreciating it being the impetus for such a great legacy, but remain unable to enjoy it out of context of its improved down-the-line descendants

aka, without this we wouldn't have the paper mario games, and I found myself frequently wishing I were playing the paper mario games instead. deeply unfair, but I can't shear myself of my context

all in all: a lovely time paying tribute at the altar for so much of what I love, and now I gotta get back home to rogueport