hii everyone MITSTHONY URUTANO here ! the internet's least active backlogged user and it's time for a review of radiohead kid a mnesia exhibition !!!!

okay so despite being a huge fan of radiohead ( yikes !!!! ) i actually took forever to get around to this and after an exhausting week, i actually think this was probably the perfect thing to play ? i don't know exactly where i'd rank kid a and amnesiac on my personal album ranking but this little audiovisual experience certainly makes a case for both being intense and emotionally rich experiences throughout .

knowing that this was intended to be an actual exhibition that couldn't work logistically because of covid is such a fascinating thought when going through this because if anything, this is also an incredibly strong case for the strengths of the medium in its ability to transport us from place to place in a visually interesting and immersive way that otherwise couldn't work in real life . ( the pyramid room exhibit is PHENOMENAL )

there are some really gorgeous visuals paired with stellar sound design that make this glorified walking sim way more compelling than it should be despite it being mechanically limited as an experience . while i do think radiohead fans will definitely get the most out of this, i also think this could be a good way to introduce someone to their music ???? there's a lot here that reminded me of stuff like lsd dream emulator funnily enough but i think it's also just a really good visual representation of how it feels to listen to these albums in general . definitely something i'll be returning to from time to time as an excuse to listen to the albums again !

overall, i give this a " radiohead live at mtv beach house 1993 " / 10 !

ERRANT THOUGHTS :

- arbitrarily good productions is a fantastic name for a company

- the first two minutes of this game had an audio bug that played unbearably loud static and my brainrot genuinely made me think it was intended until i remembered that probably no song on amnesiac sounds like that .

( you can fix this by going into your control panel ----> sound ----> select your hardware device and go into its property tabs ----> advanced ----> select a bitrate that isn't above 24 )

- the lighting in this sometimes looks like a horror game and it's really cool in a freaky way lmao

- i wish more walking sims looked like this and i genuinely think this is one of the most beautiful things i've seen out of a smaller scale project like this

- i love how easy it is to get lost in this game but often times following the sound of thom yorke's voice will lead you where you need to go which i find really poignant lol

- in rainbows is still my favorite but yeah this is a pretty damn strong case for both of the albums included to be moved a bit higher in a personal ranking

obligatory " y'all know this is just my opinion right ? "

Good. Very good but not amazing.

I think having punches feel like SOR2 was a good call. Characters like Axel or Blaze without a dash (coming right out of SoR3) felt a little weird. I think you can manage VERY well without it and calls for evasion aren't THAT demanding at least to me. But still, slightly handicapping Axel and Blaze from what the 3rd game did, I just can't wrap my head around. I don't mind them having something like Adam's short dash minus being able to turn around the opponent would've suffice. People say there isn't much depth to combat, but I think whatever tricks unique to each character can do make it worth at least experimenting with.

Enemies felt varied enough at least until the last few stretches of the game. Though, enemies like the taser cops felt a bit on the cheap side. Fat enemies felt a bit more annoying than previous games.

Bosses definitely posed a challenge without being TOO hard if you know what you're doing. The most I would have are at least one retry normally. This is speaking of experience of a normal mode run-through. These bosses definitely felt different from one another which is good.

One thing I straight up didn't like was locking some features by beating the story mode first. Arcade mode and Boss Rush: fine, I guess. Stage Select and Battle: no.

Presentation is pretty great technically. There's of course the actual art style for the character art which I don't mind personally. Its probably to make animation less taxing so I think they did good with what they have. Damn good. Backgrounds I'd say are an evolution for the series.

Overall a good game and a fine revival.

story of my life!

yaegashi nan designs? fantasy aesthetic with some nifty jrpg mechanics to boot? witty writing and a wonderful alicesoft ost? evenicle has all this and yet so much more. it's been a while since something i've looked forward to not only delivered, but also exceeded my expectations. this is pretty much the one alicesoft game i was really looking forward to because despite the time i spent with the rance series, this one always seemed to appeal to me more. i simply can't stress how much this game delivered for me personally.

for the sake of avoiding spoilers, i'll just say the story is pretty fun! it starts off with your typical jrpg setup but evolves into so much more with the way the arcs and character moments get distributed. if i'd have to make a comparison in terms of arc structures i'd say that one piece probably fits the bill with how each chapter has its arc on a respective country while also taking a few steps to adding onto the overarching narrative! it's a fun setup that allows for a variety of scenarios in each chapter. the story for the most part is a pretty fun fantasy romp with occasionally heavy story moments but evenicle knows when to give you room to breathe and when to slow down pretty well. there's a few tonal shifts here that might feel jarring but once you get into the rhythm of evenicle's world it'll be pretty easy to smooth them out. the script itself while as raunchy and horny as you'd expect with any eroge especially from alicesoft, is also really just a blast to read through. there are a lot of jokes here that honestly landed really well for me and the writing team knows when to play their cards in ways that didn't feel emotionally manipulative to me and most of the arcs have very satisfying conclusions. much like other alicesoft games it balances the plot and gameplay elements pretty well too! exposition is snappy and fights are almost always properly built up to make them all the more rewarding narratively. another small detail i appreciated is that sex within the narrative is actually treated pretty maturely in the sense that most of the h-scenes don't really have that air of awkwardness to them that some of the others do. i'm not sure how much sense this will make to people who haven't played eroges but just trust me that they aren't that cringe! 😎

as for the gameplay, all i can really say beyond it being a simple but competent jrpg is that while the encounter rate does kinda go crazy at times i didn't really mind it much since the game incentivizes grinding pretty well with the opportunity to trigger events with your party members and exploration is very much a large focus within the overall gameplay loop. in fact, the loop was so addictive that i ended up unintentionally doing every single sidequest and completely explored all the maps while fighting every superboss. so yeah i think i'd say as someone that's played a lot of jrpgs while the systems here are pretty simple they way they're implemented are pretty fun as some encounters really require you to mix up the skill setups! i ended up with a total of 78 hours by the time i hit credits so there's plenty to be offered here with a 100% that's honestly really fun!

so at the end of the day, was evenicle life-changing goat peak fiction raw kino? no, not really but it was fun as hell and that's what really matters. i could go on and on about how a lot of my favorites have been life-changing for me but at the end of the day, not everything has to be life-changing or incredibly meditative, sometimes it can just be fun and evenicle understands that best! honestly, 2022 has been a pretty uneventful year for gaming on my end and it doesn't help that life was kicking my ass for a bit in the early parts and even if i didn't come out of evenicle thinking differently i'm sure i'll be able to look back in the future and think fondly of the funny little eroge that helped make these past twelve days all the more tolerable!

i guess i'll have to see for myself in the future how evenicle 2 apparently fucks things up lol !

" i own the physical of this game " /10!

ps. ramius my beloved but all the other girls are great too :)

as much as i'd love to crack a few among us jokes i'll refrain from acting sussy for the time being because what's here is a really solid and well-crafted experience wrapped up in a time-looping murder mystery that while exhausting at times triumphs in spite of its shortcomings. it's one of the few exceptions where i'd excuse giving it a lower score because the payoff is pretty darn worth it all things considered! well not like it's insanely long to begin with considering it took me a total of exactly 150 loops to finish over the course of 25 hours which i spread across several smaller bite-sized sections late at night which made my experience all the more enjoyable. i do think the game is best enjoyed doing a few loops a day but your own mileage might vary and i'm just suggesting what i think leads to less burnout in the long run.

anyways, onto the gameplay! one of the biggest reasons i love what the team at petit depotto have put out here is how well integrated the gameplay aspects are considering the medium gnosia actually is. although there are a few other notable visual novels that utilize the functions of the medium to better enhance the experience gnosia's left me, a rpg and visual novel enthusiast, rather pleased! i do think the stat system here is a bit tacked on seemingly in the beginning as it isn't until later loops where you'll really feel the significance of these numbers help in discussions. the real meat of the experience however is how gnosia takes the normal conventions of most visual novels and integrates it pretty seamlessly into the core mechanics of its social deduction style gameplay that fits snugly into its visual novel trappings.

now for the story, i'd like to acknowledge that due to the spoiler-heavy nature of it i'll refrain from saying too much as always but i'll just say that it's a typical sci-fi mystery in structure supplemented by plentiful twists with ideas touching upon existentialism, the human desire to connect with one another, and of course the dichotomy of humans and gnosia, all presented in a intricate blend of genres culminating in a compelling narrative that knows just when to let you breathe and when to land its more emotional gut punches.

as for the dialogue itself, i do appreciate the fact that these characters all have some very strong introductions as well as pretty well-contained mini-story arcs given the progression being tied to triggering these flags that leads to these character-specific events. HOWEVER, due to the time loop structure of this narrative, this also means a lot of repetition and i found myself at the end often skipping through the dialogue often only pausing to either to help guide the vote or actually read new lines in the flags i was looking for. contextually it makes sense but it's not something i wouldn't say makes some of the later loops a slog. the triggers are also pretty well handled with a designated event search that personally curates loops that will guarantee flags but as you fill out more and more of these flags the non-linear structure of progression wears thin with some requirements for specific flags being obtuse and also incredibly difficult at times to determine what exactly was the cause. i'll reiterate here though that the new events, ESPECIALLY the later ones, are really darn compelling given how they revolve around solving the mysteries of the narrative and also serve to add more characterization to gnosia's cast. (setsu? she's just like me frfr!)

with all that aside, the real icing on the intricate multilayered cake that is gnosia is the art and music! firstly, the art direction here is pretty incredible given how despite the somewhat typical sci-fi environments, the character designs really breathe life into the setting and overall look pretty great with each design being reflective of a character's personality. the music here too is pretty solid but the one gripe i'd have with it is that some really good tracks barely play for their total length. there's definitely stuff here that's pretty great to listen to and compliments the atmosphere of gnosia exceptionally.

all in all, gnosia isn't a perfect experience but it's still an enjoyable one! your mileage might vary depending on how much you love the time loop structure and its cast but i think most who played it will be willing to agree that this is a pretty darn solid first attempt at a vn and for the four-person team at petit depotto to have such a solid grasp and understanding on how to utilize the visual novel medium, i'm honestly really excited to see what's next in store from them! despite my exhaustion near the end given the repetitive dialogue and constant restarting of loops to trigger flags, the story still remained tantalizing as ever and by the end of it all i might as well have been emotionally exhausted too given how the true ending of it resonated with me. gnosia also got me to use my switch for once too, something i can hardly say given my general reluctance to use my nintendo certified drifting lap warmer for anything other than youtube so that's saying something about how compelling i found the overall experience to be! "ryukishi could never"/10 .

additional notes:

if you've finished gnosia and are looking for a game that also utilizes the vn structure pretty well i recommend "13 sentinels aegis rim"!

Man.... there really aren't a lot of pure Karate fight sims. Much less ones based off of the full-contact stuff. I'm guessing the devs (well.... dev) thought the same and decided to make one.

Compared to much more well known indie titles with less niche audiences, everything looks and sounds cheap. Badly drawn portraits, the sprite for the playable character is an edit (badly edited) sprite of Ryo's KoFXIII sprite, pretty rough looking fighting animations as well. There were also some minor bugs. While in the forklift job, the next set of boxes straight up not spawn 5 seconds in sometimes.

Surprisingly enough(and thankfully), the combat is the most stable part of the game. Nothing all too complex but I found it satisfying. It simulates Kyokushin 1 v 1 fighting which I can describe as two karate dudes beating each other (while REALLY close) until one gives out or gets a good kick to the head. It has tournaments with no-face punch rules and other tournaments that gets rid of that rule.
There are RPG elements which to be honest, I hardly noticed in other aspects other than how hard I hit.

Sadly, there's only one mode being the story. I don't want to rag on things too much for a project of this scale, but I think multiplayer would've been cool for something like this. Not online, but local is enough (again, small scale project.) The training minigames are alright for the purpose they serve, however I wish there were more than ONE job minigame.

Man. I really do like the mentality of "if someone won't make more of this, I will" and does it despite the lack of skills for the polish. Cheap or not, I think the game is cool regardless and is an accurate enough kyokushin sim. It may be trash but it's trash I cherish.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/240996817708253184/887540385088409622/20210914220027_1.jpg

MDickie's games have a history and reputation of being low-budget works where their ambitious concepts are endeared more on being barely functioning novelties rather than actual polished experiences. Of course, it's hard to deny the fun and absurdity of seeing the results of using the same broken wrestling core platform to power a boxing game, a prison simulator, a football game, and even an interactive experience based on Jesus Christ's life.

However, those years of creating a variety of games based on the same core platform and design philosophy may have finally paid off with Wrestling Empire. Not only is Wrestling Empire a notable improvement in terms of polish, but it's also a really fun wrestling game that has an engaging set of systems and mechanics that makes it genuinely one of the best wrestling games around period.

The crude visuals may imply otherwise, but Wrestling Empire actually features a rather intricate combat system that leans more on the simulation side. The size and stats of wrestlers matter a lot, and regardless of the movesets you've chosen, each wrestler can fight and react differently depending on the environment, weight and height difference, and the overall capabilities of the wrestlers. Even the inputs and minigames required are less on button mashing and timing but instead based on context. The more simulation-like mechanics end up not only creating more dynamic-looking fights but also end up adding to the absurdity if you double down on ridiculous scenarios such as stacking 30 tables on top of each other while setting them on fire. Granted the way it plays is still a bit rough around the edges, but it functions just enough to be completely enjoyable where most of its mechanical faults result more in happy accidents rather than frustrations.

A familiar constant element with the MDickie games is the sandbox-like freedom, and Wrestling Empire is no exception in exhibiting that element. What Wrestling Empire lacks in production values, makes up for letting the player do anything. From moving around to your own entrance, with different props and gestures, to continuing beatdowns even after the bell rings for the end of the match. As long as you're in control, you can pretty much do anything and interact with characters and the environment as you see fit.

All these neat systems extend to the career mode, which is the highlight of the game. You start off by choosing and modifying any character to your liking, as you carry them towards a career that can span for years on multiple promotions. It's all completely unscripted, with a variety of feuds, events, and happenings that can happen based on a variety of conditions. This makes the game a sort of story generator, as anything can happen not only based on your own choices but just as how the game world simulates throughout.

If the base career mode wasn't enough, there's also a booking mode that lets you play as the manager of any of the promotions in the game, as you book your own matches, shape your own roster and try to take over the ratings throughout different territories. It all makes for a great excuse to mess with the game's systems by giving you an objective alongside.

The way everything interacts with each other just creates a large amount of potential. Even when you start to see the patterns of the content generated, it keeps itself entertaining just due to how much variation there can be and how everything actually moves forward with effects and consequences.

Unfortunately, there are some things that hold Wrestling Empire back. For one, there is a notable lack of raw content, from limited movesets to a lack of variety for character customization pieces. You can still create a diverse cast, evident by the game's recognizable lawyer-friendly versions of real-life wrestlers built-in. However, you really will start to notice the lack of things fast, whether you're just going through the career mode or trying to create a variety of characters.

Fortunately, the game is still being actively worked on, with it receiving updates that add content and other changes slowly but surely at the time of writing this.

All in all, Wrestling Empire is a really enjoyable game and almost feels like the dream wrestling game of every kid that grew up with the likes of Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain and Fire Pro Wrestling. The amount of freedom the game offers on top of its fun mechanics makes up for an experience that anyone can sink countless hours into despite its roughness and shortcomings of being a low-budget solo-developed game.