im hanging out with a guy lately went on some dates we got some interests in common hes funny and hes super cute and i guess im slowly and steadily falling in love with him

i got this thing when i meet new people that i need to fucking read/play/watch whatever they like because im always interested to see what their tastes are and shit like that so when he told me he liked scott pilgrim i opened the volumes at 9 am and at 5 pm i finished the entirety of the series dont call me a simp already 3 friends called me that im fine with it

so scott pilgrim in itself is a great graphic novel the characters are fun the artstyle is charming the events and story are even funnier and i had a good time with it so no complaints im not a huge graphic novel/western comic fan so it was a surprise how much i enjoyed it

yknow what it felt like a time capsule from a time long gone like some of those cartoons in the 2000s or early 2010s its that kind of vibe i have never consumed any type of scott pilgrim media but i was actually filled with nostalgia idk dont quote me on that tho

long story short scott likes a girl and this girl got some 7 evil exes that want to kill him or whatever so he gotta beat all of them up to get the girl of his dreams

ramona is a great character but i ended up loving knives or wallace and in particular stills way better than the main duo (im a stills kin i got him as a telegram pfp for the moment im that devoted)

so yeah the main story stuff is about that now since i wanted to thoroughly be finished with scott pilgrim i wanted to play this game

DISCLAIMER: i played like 5 beat em ups until now all street of rage games and shredders revenge so my opinion on beat em up is scarce at best for now dont listen to me

its kinda a textbook beat em up with different characters and a coop mode that i didnt have the pleasure to try because i got no friends so all in all i enjoyed my time with it even tho the controls are kinda stiff and having to unlock some basic beat em up moves is kind of a pain and also it absolutely baffled me how hard it was and then i found out that shops existed so i just boosted strength in wallaces shop and i would beat everyones asses frfr

bosses were also p great for this games standars and todd is still the hottest one of the bunch

played as stills ofc and a little bit as scott i didnt try the other characters because i was kinda done with the game already lets be real

gameplay wise thats basically it its a beat em up what do you want me to say the art style is super cute pixelated and trying to convey scott pilgrims style into a videogame and they kinda managed to

ost was particularly great so cant complain on that

my honest criticism apart from the gameplay stuff is that i wanted some more callbacks or easter eggs or like story stuff interactions between character it was very bare bones like you get a character beat every single ramonas ex like in the main story and thats basically it theres some super superficial interactions here and there that you wouldnt even understand if you didnt read the comic but apart from that its made entirely for scott pilgrims fans which is both good and kinda a shame i wanted them to push the game a little further

also i have no idea what this version adds or refines from the base game but i didnt see that many differences to be honest so maybe someone will explain it to me here

not a bad game but its appealing mainly just for scott pilgrims fanbase

so yeah

Let me start this review off by saying that CNMN is the best character. How often does a banger drop right out of the blue and become an instant game of the year contender? Xbox Game Studios released this pleasant surprise and it's just a treat. It wears its middle-school age cartoon aesthetic proudly, along with its genuinely funny writing and endearing, well designed characters. The characters, feel so classic due to great designs and simple but genuine character arcs and themes. They even have some great arcs that are meaningful but don’t get in the way of the game. They took their archetypes and ran with them, and it works wonderfully. Along with this smile inducing presentation, beautifully simple and simply beautiful gameplay really takes the cake. A rhythm-based 3D action platformer sounds like a lot on paper, but Hi-Fi rush’s gameplay is simple and to the point. The combat is ‘Baby’s first God of War 2018’. Far more approachable and far less mindless because of the rhythmic mechanics. You’ve got to put in real effort to get into the music and tune your actions to the tempo, and doing so really pays off. When you get it, you really get it. Hitting things at the right time is really satisfying. You’re not good because you’re throwing out moves over and over… you’re good because you’re putting in the work and If you stay on beat, you can pull off insane moves just from the basic two buttons put together in the right way on the beat. And boy does it never EVER get old. The message of the game is teamwork, and using different abilities together to become unstoppable, and they show this really well with gameplay. Although switching and summoning each character really kills momentum sometimes, it’s a cool mechanic and makes the ending oh so satisfying. I seriously love these characters and how fun the whole experience was. What a GEM this game is.

Three Houses was not what I had envisioned when I imagined Fire Emblem on Switch. Now this, this absolutely is and it does an incredible job. Instead of Three Houses, this one took notes from Fire Emblem Fates instead. Thankfully unlike that game and Three Houses this one only has one story, and since it's a Fire Emblem Anniversary game it's a simpler back to roots story. It's really really refreshing to be excited for a Fire Emblem game from announcement to release, feel like this is the one and it is. It's one of if not my favorite Fire Emblem game now.

The changes to the formula all work in the game's favor. Trading priests for Monks allows your healers to have additional utility they didn't before, be it either blocking or fists. While they aren't incredible options, they're still options I for sure got use out of in the early game. A whole new mechanic is the Break system which also came into play more often early on but was a very welcome addition to further emphasize the weapon triangle which otherwise tended to get ignored as things went on. And it still does but when it comes into play you feel it a lot more as it saves or screws you. There's a counter to this too with Knights not being breakable and these new mechanics are all little things that improve the game. You can even have all your friends pound a unit at once...or have them do it to you if you try to juggernaut, so that won't work here anymore. The best one is the bosses, where they have more than one healthbar so you can't just beat them with a single powerful attack, often times you have to coordinate your team to take them down. Bosses also often move which is unusual for Fire Emblem so you have to be on your guard. And then when you beat a map you get to walk around the map and it's like "This is where I just fought and it feels really cool especially if it's an Emblem Paralogue, like you're walking through history.

These incredible mechanics aren't the only thing, there's also the new characters and music that are great. The story is mostly serviceable with only a few parts I'd say are bad but nothing ever reaches Fates levels of bad writing at least. Oh what else to say I could go on all night about this one.

I suppose the flaws: The Somiel is a step up from the Monastery for sure but there's a lot of stuff here that either felt pointless like the fitness minigames or felt unneeded like fishing (even if that is also better than 3H). These only earn Bond Fragments for the in-game gacha which also felt pointless. The only downside in gameplay is the game throws reinforcements to push you to the boss but sometimes it feels absolutely relentless about it to where it gets a bit excessive. But you have 9 rewinds a chapter so all's fair in love and war I suppose.

I was surprised I let some units die this time and that I put thought into "are they worth the rewind/restart" and even realizing that sometimes the answer was no. Honestly, as I learn more about the metagame I'm honestly thinking about playing through Engage again sometime on Maddening and trying new units and classes. This game is that fun. If there's any Fire Emblem you wanna come back to or even try for the first time, it's this one.

Celine is the best by the way.

The game is absolutely incredible from a visual standpoint. Gameplay is fun - rhythm games aren't really my thing, but if that's the case for you too, don't worry because this one is quite forgiving and easy to get the hang of.
The story, though, was nothing to write home about and I honestly found Chai to be annoying/cringe. The supporting characters were decent though, especially CNMN and Macaron.
Overall, a fun play for me. An absolute masterpiece for what it is, but as someone who isn't in to rhythm games OR anime-style dialogue/characters, it isn't one that goes down as something I love

I would like to be able to say Assassin's Creed III is the worst game in the franchise. That was certainly the case back when I played it, when Black Flag was just coming out. However, the series is still around, and it's only gotten worse, losing its identity, becoming greedier and more unfocused. ACIII was simply when the signs began to show.

There are a lot of reasons why ACIII is disliked, one of which is that the story spends a lot of time outside the Animus trying to continue the Desmond plot after the messy ending Revelations left us with, in a very boring, tell-don't-show story that's at its best when it's not happening.

The last time Desmond was an interesting character was, well, never. He used to be the POV character when he was being held by Abstergo, and it worked, but he slowly started to morph into a power fantasy self-insert character. III doubles down on the bullcrap, propping him up to be a messiah, the saviour of humanity or some crap. The writer of ACIII is really desperate to make you think he's a badass, and that makes everything so much worse.

Revelations had introduced the reviled platforming sections that expanded on Desmond's backstory. III takes it a step further: every now and then you're taken away from the Animus (aka the part people buy the games for) to play the Desmond Missions, atrocious levels that put you in control of The Man Himself and task you with retrieving some deus ex machina MacGuffin from the templars.

These missions are capital 'b' Bad. They are home to, far and away, the worst level and environment design in the game, to the point of eliciting a surreal, dream-like feeling. I vividly remember a mission where Desmond arrives in Brazil from a subway station, which has no exit to the surface and leads straight into a crowded... MMA arena? Remember when this series was praised for historically accurate landmarks and realistic environments? I don't recall what city it's supposed to be, but I'm fairly certain such a thing does not exist anywhere in the world.

Rest assured, though, these missions are also a failure of storytelling. Eventually, the game has Desmond single-handedly breaking into Abstergo's headquarters, killing several people in the process, including one of the main antagonists. You know, the places we previously established were highly surveilled and dangerous, from where we needed insider help to escape, and were then hunted to the ends of the Earth when we managed it? The last bastion of the Assassins think to send one guy in there, and he walks in and out like he's visiting a Starbucks.

And that's just ACIII's shtick: it's desperately trying to escalate its own narrative, and in doing so, constantly sabotages not only its own storytelling, but the things previous games established. With what they did to the Abstergo plot, nothing feels like a threat anymore, we're just following the script to the end of the game, a feeling reflected in Connor's story just as much as it is in Desmond's.

In our time in the Animus, we're presented with a brief playable section with a man called Haytham and what I believe was a very well-executed twist. Then, we switch to Ratohnhaké:ton, or rather, Connor, the actual protagonist for the game. He's Haytham's son, born to a tribe of native Americans.

Connor is... bad. The least of his problems being that he's basically an anime protagonist: an orphan who's rather angsty and has nothing special about himself, but has an extraordinary destiny awaiting. He finds someone who's willing to train him and becomes a killing machine. It's pretty lame and unearned, and he pales in comparison to lovable playboy Ezio who preceded him.

But no, the real issue with Connor is how inconsistent he is. He follows the convenience of the plot, even when it doesn't make sense for him as a character. Again, he's a native American, but he spends most of his time fighting the British, for American independence? Why? I can only think it's meant to appeal to the patriotism of the American audience, because, um, the thing about American colonists and Native Americans... well, it didn't end well for the Natives.

More to the point, though, the series used to be about Assassins versus Templars, the freedom fighters and their powerful enemies who were everywhere and nowhere in the same time, holding entire cities in vicegrips, ruling through fear and money. Every event in the games prior was a part of the long story of conflict between the two factions.

Not anymore. Not only did Desmond establish that Templars are actual pushovers, but Templars in this particular setting are like, an squad of five clowns, whose leader openly admits he doesn't give a crap about the conflict with the British crown. Connor just... goes through the motions, like the cardboard cutout of a character he is, and his story eventually comes to an underwhelming conclusion that means nothing. All in all, if you ever cared about the plot of these games, ACIII made sure to kill your interest in the franchise.

You'll notice I didn't mention the gameplay much, though, and that's because... it's alright? There's some bullcrap, like a new version of the Assassin Recruits system that feels even more impersonal and forced than the one in Revelations, and a hunting system that, aside from being somewhat tasteless, means, in practice, that you're likely to get mauled by a bear out of nowhere when doing random sidequests.

There's a lot of good, though, like how the game broke off from the series' traditional control mapping and improved combat controls significantly. Also, The Homestead, ACIII's version of rebuilding Monteriggioni and Rome, has you building a village and seeing it become more alive, which is pretty satisfying. Plus, there's the naval missions, ship battles so fun that they decided to make the sequel revolve around sailing.

Other than that, it's pretty much your standard Assassin's Creed: you roam around, jump between buildings, collect sharp, pointy weapons and get stabby. This is also one of the last normal-ish ACs, as in, the ones without the loathsome Helix Store. And to think my other by gripe with ACIII, aside from the storytelling, was that the multiplayer got monetized.

Assassin's Creed multiplayer began with Brotherhood, and it's really one of the few online modes I spent a considerable time on in my life. For those who are unfamiliar with it: in a match, everyone (up to eight players) is placed randomly on the city map. Each player picks a character, and while only that player (or that team) uses that character, there will be several NPCs walking around with the same model.

Each player receives a contract, which is another player they have to kill, and has a pursuer, another player whose contract is this player. Your objective is to detect and evade your pursuer while singling out the player you're after in the crowds and getting stabby on their faces.

What makes the multiplayer interesting is how it encourages stealth and slow movement. If you kill someone while performing high profile actions, you get less points, and those actions can also expose you to your pursuer. This creates a really tense atmosphere where, instead of being trigger-happy and leaping into action, you had to remain patient and observant at all times.

Online AC, taking after other popular multiplayer games of the time, was progression-based and very grindy -- unlocking the most useful items took a lot of time. In previous games, this was mostly seen as a way to increase playtime and increase perceived value -- an annoying, but harmless aspect of the game.

This all changed when III began to monetize everything -- now, not only was progression a lot more confusing, but there was a perverse incentive for those perks to be locked behind higher levels, and for leveling to take long. This $60 experience, which, mind you, had an online pass (remember those?), was now becoming ever more predatory.

This was a big deal at the time, but it's nothing compared to the franchise post Assassin's Creed: Unity. The series has degenerated into a storefront for microtransactions, its mechanics getting warped into something akin to mobile games, optimized to annoy people into spending money. We're seeing not only microtransactions baked into the single player, but also loot boxes, and cryptotrash looks like it's on the way. It can always get worse.

One more day in the gaming industry, I suppose. We just can't have nice things.

Have you ever wondered what happens to failed startups? The answer might surprise you -- it turns out, the entire company sinks into the earth, its employees imprisoned within its ruins, forced to wander them as monsters for the rest of their lives.

Well, at least, that's how it goes in Going Under, which puts you in the role of Jacqueline "Jackie" Fiasco, the newest (unpaid) marketing intern at beverage startup Fizzle. As a startup, Fizzle is routinely attacked by employees of flopped companies that rise from the sunken ruins to cause trouble and steal office supplies. As the intern, Jackie is sent underground to keep the invaders in check.

Jackie explores the failed startups in a roguelike fashion, grabbing whatever items are around in the procedurally generated rooms to fight off their inhabitants. As she progresses, she will find skills that can help her reach the end of the dungeon, as well as money to spend in shops found in certain rooms. It's actually pretty simple as far as roguelikes go, with skills being all passives that can be explained in one sentence and no complex numerical systems. It's all about you and the weapons you find.

In that sense, Going Under is a lot more of a true roguelike than a roguelite, and that's a double-edged sword of sorts. The game is easy to get into and play a few runs casually. Also, since almost nothing is kept between runs, there is no feeling like you're forced to grind to finish dungeons, and when you die, it's almost always your fault and not the RNG's. However, it also means that there's little room for growth for Jackie, and you never reach that critical mass seen in other games of its genre, making it a lot less welcoming to people not used to action games.

In fact, even among people who are used to them, a lot of people drop the game during its second half, or even in the final stretch. It's not that the game gets unfair, but dying while fighting the game's challenging bosses at this point means redoing 10~20 minute stretches of dungeon before getting to try again. I, myself, despite enjoying the level of difficulty offered by the fights, turned to the game's assist options in the final section, as I felt the repetition getting to me pretty hard. Those options are also practically mandatory for getting the platinum, if you want to keep something of your sanity.

Even if you are going to play with assist options always on, though, Going Under is worth checking out for its satire of corporate culture alone. Not only does the game boast a gorgeous art style that mimics corporate artstyles in 3D, with well-defined, simple shapes and vibrant colors, but the writing for the game knocks it out of the park with the references to real world issues and its absolutely brutal criticism of the tech industry. The satire is everywhere, from flavor text to skill design to character dialogue, and it hits so hard, and so accurately, it feels almost personal.

Going Under might not be the deepest roguelike, but it's one with a lot of heart. It's a special game worth checking out.

Working From Home DLC: Since the DLC doesn't have a page, as it was distributed as a free update: Going Under has a DLC called Working From Home, which adds a new dungeon accessible from Jackie's room. It's basically recycled content, it's very long and tedious and you're better off not engaging with it at all. Stick to the main game.

Video games have a bit of an odd track record with romance. There are some genuinely great ones that tie into the narrative or otherwise make you remember that character, but the thing about games is that they really like their reward systems, and relationships framed that way often have sex as the end goal, as the big thing that happens and that must happen, and so we end up with stuff like awkward clothed sex scenes or collectible cards earned from sleeping with people.

On that same note, it's really rare to see established relationships in games, probably because not only they are a handy way of creating conflict within the narrative, but also because it runs counter to the idea of having as blank a slate as possible for the player to self insert into. It's easier if you focus on having the relationship develop over the course of gameplay, be it through the narrative, navigating dialogue trees or showering the other character with gifts of foraged items and homemade dishes.

It was a surprise to find a game that purported to do both of those things: present two characters that begin the game as lovers, and have that relationship tie into the mechanics. Haven puts you in the role of Yu and Kay, a couple who fled their homeworld in order to escape their arranged marriages and live together in peace. The two land on a mysterious, deserted planet called Source and quickly realize that the planet is not only dangerous, but that they are far from being the first people to live there.

The story that unfolds from the couple exploring the planet is pretty fun on its own: you get to learn more about the civilization Yu and Kay come from, how it is organized, and why there is no way they could have stayed. You also get to unravel a bit about what went on in Source and how the planet reached its current state. However, the real treat in Haven is in the main characters' relationship, as well as the incredible amount of scenes and dialogues, all fully voiced, that occur between the two.

Some of these scenes trigger from story events and from exploring the world, but most of them come from performing certain tasks while at home or camping. Haven shines in its focus on the mundane happenings in the daily life of a couple together. The food they eat, dreams had at night, the awkward flirts, the small arguments, the big fights, the in-jokes... there is a feeling of domesticity all throughout Haven that confers upon its protagonists an organic and authentic feel, as fantastic as the situation they find themselves might be.

This blends into the gameplay as the game ties that relationship into the mechanics. Experience points, for instance, can come both from fighting battles together and for experiencing scenes at home. Leveling, in turn, is a rare occasion and expressed as a celebration, kind of like an anniversary of sorts. Last, but definitely not least, combat centers around synchronizing movements between characters and, if you're playing co-op, communicating timings and strategies. It's simple and feels almost experimental, but it's very appropriate and suits co-op play surprisingly well.

Since everything is focused on the characters being a couple, being able to get into their roles is central to enjoying the experience. If you don't identify with the default Yu and Kay, it's possible to change their genders. In what's one of the gutsiest moves I've seen from an indie studio, The Game Bakers took to including alternative versions of Yu and Kay so to allow playing as a same-sex couple. This was added with an update published in early 2022, and it's not just a reskin of the game, but rather, involved redubbing every single line from the main characters, some lines now having three separate versions, one for each couple. All of the 2D art, such as the ones in menus, loading screens and such, gets replaced as well, to reflect the current pairing.

I say the move is gutsy not because the potential public reaction -- people who would complain about such an addition probably wouldn't have liked the game anyway -- but because, considering the amount of dialogue there is in the game, it's an insane undertaking from such a small developer, one which would get shot down fast in product meetings elsewhere simply because of the amount of work involved. Yet, it was executed so smoothly, when playing as one of the new couples, it's easy to forget the game usually features a straight pairing. It's incredibly pleasant to see.

Moving away from Yu and Kay, though, the other way in which Haven felt unique is that, which so many games to play in so little free time, it's rare that a game manages to make me relax and take in the sights. Somehow, the fragmented land of Source succeeded. In part, this is due to the amazing art direction: the game's use of color in its natural landscapes makes everywhere the camera is facing into a beautiful picture. There's also the incredible and unique soundtrack that sets the mood for many of the game's locations, as well as some of the story beats.

The mechanics also help a lot. There's an idle animation where the characters embrace each other if left alone, and in doing so, the one with the lowest HP is healed -- this has the side effect of giving the player a moment to slow down and look around. In addition there's the choice of traversal mechanics: instead of characters running and climbing through the fields and mountains of source, which a lot of games would do, they smoothly glide above the ground, later in the game getting the ability to do so through the air in certain situations. It not only feels great, it looks visually stunning and makes for a lot of pretty screenshots.

Haven is just such a marvelous experience. Its overall simplicity might make it not click with everybody, but it felt wonderful to me, and I'm left wanting more of those comfy vibes and that sweet awkwardness it gave me. Maybe one day there will be a sequel, or a spiritual successor, or maybe other people might be inspired by The Game Bakers' work and decide to put some of that spice into their games. I can only hope.