16 reviews liked by Kularian


Some of the imagery and ideas were good but shortfalls in the game design and some particularly on-the-nose writing made for an ultimately mediocre experience.
Honestly I'm mostly upset that they had a cute actress in the live-action scenes and forcefully dubbed over her😔

Shame the concepts weren't executed better, even bigger shame that such a large part of the response to it is to ridicule teenagers for being depressed over dumb things🙃

I know a lot of people were kinda soft on it but I really loved the story mode for the base game so I found this DLC to be a bit frustrating. Its good, expected comic book-y stuff like the rest of Mortal Kombat but I don't know. My favorite part of the base game was the mom-daughter stuff with Cassie and Sonya. So of course this DLC focused a lot on the worst mother character of all time, Sindel. It does make for an interesting contrast and the focus on villains is cool but I just am not sure the ending is satisfying enough to make up for how it felt like all my favorite characters got done dirty. The most frustrating aspect of this DLC is that my opinion on it entirely depends on what happens in the next two Mortal Kombat games lol.

Other than that I like the three new characters (Fujin the most) and having Robocop is sweet but I already had my mains so wasn't too interested in trying them out.

Overall Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath is a pretty solid expansion with a good if somewhat frustrating conclusion to the story and good new character additions. I do think the original 40 dollar price tag for it is positively ridiculous but thankfully you can get it for much cheaper on sale. Its a solid add-on to my favorite fighting game and I can't ask for too much more than that.

Just wanted to leave this little mini review. I also recently got the platinum for both the PS4 and PS5 version of the basegame if that doesn't tell you how much I enjoyed it. I currently have MK1 installed and I def need a bit of a fighting game break but I am very eager to play it nonetheless, will definitely be reviewing that as well 😌

-----TLDR----
+ Good new additions to the roster
+ Interesting set up for the future of MK
- Too many of my characters got disrespected in story mode lol

Nancymeter - 70/100
Trophy Completion - N/A
Time Played: 2-4 hours
DLC Completion #2 of November
DLC Completion #35 of 2023

I never gave this game much thought from the glimpses I've seen of it up to release, but the quadruple combo of it being a shorter game published by Annapurna that got high review scores and is day one on Game Pass made it very hard to ignore. I'm glad I didn't as I can confidently say that Cocoon is so far my favorite Indie game of 2023.

The game never tells you how to do anything, which is one of my favorite things about it. It just feels intuitive, and its solely up to you to figure things out. I got stumped a lot but outside of something I'll get to in a bit, it basically never felt like the game was unfair. And even when things seemed impossible, every single time I found out the solution I was impressed with how clever the game was. The puzzle design is just simply excellent here and it feels consistently rewarding.

Now there is a reason this game is missing a star. A few smaller issues first: I didn't really care about the art style. It feels a bit generic but its not a bad looking game either so not really a negative. The soundtrack also exists. Its fine I guess, but I never really noticed it which feels like a missed opportunity. Also if this game has a story, its very vague. I'm sure there's some deeper meaning to everything but it very much takes a backseat. These three things are fine and didn't really bother me as the gameplay is still very engaging but they do stop me from fully loving it.

Now about the actual things I dislike about the game. It took me around 5 and a half hours to beat. This is a great length for a game like this, and the puzzles continued to expand and stay interesting the whole time. That being said, there were several moments that felt like finales where the game just kept continuing on after. It led to a conflicting feeling where I was enjoying the puzzles but still wishing for the game to be over. It was just a bit exhausting to be thrown for a loop that much. The only other thing I dislike about this game are some of the timed puzzles. For the most part these are perfectly fine, but in the last fourth there is three different timed sections each made up of three different parts. They're sort of like a boss battle but if you fail any part you have to restart the whole section. While other bosses do make you restart, at least they were based on skill, but this one is solely on timing. This led to a lot of having to redo parts I already knew how to just to get back to the part I was actually stuck on and it was quite frankly a pain in the ass. I don't like timed puzzles and this was a bad way to implement them. Otherwise the bosses are all sort of similar but still unique enough that their presence makes the game more interesting.

Overall, Cocoon is a fantastic puzzle game that's held back only by a handful of small things and the very occasional annoying section. None of its negatives take away from the fact that its highly creative and one of the best games I've played in an already stacked year.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far <3

Nancymeter - 85/100
Achievement Completion - 80%
Time Played - 5 hours 43 minutes
Completion #29 of September
Completion #192 of 2023

The remake of Dead Space was a wonderful surprise. I know that a lot of people were hyped about this new version, but I never had contact with the original release, and I was never a fan of survival horror. I had the opportunity to play this new version, and I had a great time with it.

Dead Space is a third-person shooter with elements of survival horror. While facing enemies that resemble demons, you have to conserve ammo and manage items.

The gameplay is pretty good. There is a variety of guns available, and the shooting mechanics are really well done. However, I must mention the movement system: the character feels heavy, making it difficult to escape from enemies. At times, it can feel like you're controlling a character from Demon's Souls in a shooting game.

The story is interesting but reminiscent of the Alien franchise. It revolves around a person who arrives on a giant space ship and encounters a monster infestation that has nearly wiped out everyone. I won't spoil much, but I believe it follows the same storyline as the original game.

I only had one problem with the game that was preventing my progress. At one point, I was being chased by a monster and managed to escape. Later on, I had to return to a place I had been to before. The problem was that this monster was trapped at the only entrance door to that place, preventing me from entering. I had to retrieve an old save from before I was chased, losing an hour of gameplay.

The remake of Dead Space brings a classic PS3 game to PS5 and Xbox Series consoles with modern visuals and controls. It feels like a new game. The graphics are impressive, some of the best I've ever seen. The performance is also quite solid at the moment.

I believe that if you enjoy third-person shooter games, you should definitely give it a chance. It's one of the best games released in 2023.

To The Moon is an indie game focused on telling a story that makes us reflect on our lives. Its simple gameplay allows anyone to have the same experience.

The game tells the story of two "scientists" working for a company dedicated to fulfilling the last wishes of dying clients. One day, these two set out to attend to an unconscious old man in his final days but are unable to fulfill their task until they understand why he desires his wish so strongly.

To accomplish their job, the scientists must use their machine to explore the old man's life, allowing the player to connect with the story and experience emotional moments.

I won't reveal too much, but this game made me contemplate my life and my relationships. It was the perfect game for me when I was seeking this perspective.

The gameplay is very simple. You just have to walk through different locations and solve easy puzzles. It's clear that the developers focused on the storyline and kept the gameplay simple. I don't see it as a negative aspect since their objective wasn't to have complex mechanics. In the end, they did what was necessary to provide players with a good experience.

The visuals are quite good. They have a nostalgic feel reminiscent of old games with some upgrades. Again, their objective wasn't to create something entirely unique, but the characters are expressive, and the locations are well-crafted.

To The Moon is one of those games developed to make you contemplate your life. If you enjoy this type of game, I highly recommend playing To The Moon.

Songs for a Hero is a game that tries something new. In the gaming industry, we have seen many games that are similar to one another, but that's not the case here.

When I say "something different," I'm not referring to the gameplay. Songs for a Hero is a traditional 2D platformer with jumps and sword fights against enemies. However, the gameplay feels like an old game and lacks responsiveness. Controlling the character feels heavy, which is not ideal for a game like this.

So what sets this game apart from everything else? The music! Now, if you don't know anything about this game, you might assume that I'm talking about the soundtrack. However, that's not the case.

Songs for a Hero has a narrator similar to Stanley Parable, for example. The difference is that the narrator sings a song all the time, narrating what you're doing during the game. It's incredibly fun and humorous! The narrator constantly makes jokes about gaming conventions, such as rescuing princesses and floating platforms.

The game is available in English and Brazilian Portuguese. If you are fluent in either of these languages, you'll have a great time, and I guarantee you'll be laughing within the first few minutes.

The only downside is that the narrator gives the impression that everyone will have the same experience playing the game. The developers tried to make it feel like the narrator is singing about your own journey, but ultimately, it's all scripted.

The visuals are not particularly impressive. The game lacks a distinct visual identity. If they had put more effort into this aspect, the overall experience would have been better.

In the end, Songs for a Hero is a remarkable project that originated from videos created by a small Brazilian YouTuber. I believe you should give it a try for a few minutes, and if you have fun, continue until the end. It's definitely worth a try.

I completed this game a month ago so my review points are a little buried in my memory, but what hasn't been buried is how much I adored playing through it. The visuals in Octopath are gorgeous, and the box art for this being so nice honestly had more impact on my interest in it than I care to admit, but what I didn't expect was for the music to surpass it.

The OST for this game has got to be one of my favourites, ever. Such an amazing number of tracks with a huge range of tones and styles, all of them a joy to listen to. It's hard to overstate how pretty some of the songs are, and I think if my bottom-tier memory remembers only one thing about Octopath Traveler II, I'd like it to be that.

... However, it won't be that, because this game made the eye-watering decision to lock it's platinum trophy behind it post-game megaboss. Now I love JRPGs, but I'll be the first to admit that I'm not very good at them. I get by for sure, but any time I look up a strat or hear how someone else is running their party I realise that mine is using maybe 15% of it's full potential. This game does not allow you to buy-back equipment that you sell, so when my dumbass sold a weapon that turned out to be essential in just about every megaboss build I found online.. 🥹

It took me around 100 hours to beat the story, maybe 20 to cleanup everything else for the platinum and (I can't be certain because reloading my save meant the time wasn't tracked) I'm certain I spent no less than 20 hours grinding and throwing myself at this boss for the final trophy. Honestly it was probably closer to 40.
10 days worth of on-off grinding/attempts, sometimes for hours, sometimes just 2-4 tries. At one point I was so discouraged and quite frankly broken that I uninstalled the game to spare myself the pain of failure, only to redownload it a few days later with hopes of beating it out of spite.

I have seen people beat this boss with ease over 30 levels lower than my party were (I grinded from 50-60 range to 80-90 just for this) and despite having almost exactly the same gear (aside from stuff I'd sold) I wasn't doing nearly as much damage as they were 🥹 (I had also spammed all my stat nuts in inopportune ways without realising bc I am ranked #1 worst jrpg player)

Anyway all this to say, I finally did it. I don't know how, the numbers fell in my favour and by some miracle I actually beat it, and that's rad 😭

This "review" is unhinged but I should also say that I love the characters and the combat system was immensely fun to use the whole time, really enjoyed it. Biggest gripe with the game would be the difficulty spike but I expect that's a skill issue. Also the way the travelers meet is kinda goofy but I really don't think that affected my enjoyment at all.

Overall I would definitely recommend this to anyone even remotely interested, it's a fantastic time and a really refreshing structure in how the story was told (for me, I haven't played 1 or Live A Live) -- Just maybe don't worry about the platinum or play on Switch (which I might have to for the first game 🥹)

Thanks for reading! Hope everyone's having a good mid-year, Final Fantasy XVI is around the corner and with this being my 124th platinum I'm hoping that one isn't quite so painful to make as my milestone 125! 😌

P.S. I just remembered there was a line near the end of Temenos' story that went so fucking hard, it was like "[Your Gods] created this world, and in their folly saw fit to taint it with humans" and that's so fkn raw😩

Man, I really hope more of this series gets localised, especially future releases.

This game is so all over the place in it's vibe but it is exactly the sort of shit that I get really into for no clear reason. Some of it is unintentionally hilarious, and a lot of the actually dark/touching scenes are near ruined by their presentation (or just happening immediately after something utterly ridiculous) but the whole thing was fascinating and genuinely entertaining.

Really cool seeing how things changed over the 6 days in-game, and revisiting places/meeting back up with people is a cool concept. In a way the game being such a mess served well to keep me in a constant state of never knowing what was around the corner, befitting of a disaster situation but not at all in a way that was appropriate for a lot of its moments.

I recall ages ago someone recommended that I play this drunk with friends but honestly binging the whole thing (both endings and platinum with a guide) in a single, 15ish hour run made for exactly the kind of time I was hoping for 😌
Ultimately, I can't really recommend this game to anyone unless you're already captivated by the idea of going around an area during a crisis trying to help people and shit but I can promise anyone who is tempted that it is not just 12+ hours of calling out and helping people trapped under rubble. Game is honestly like the fkn domino meme with how unexpected some of the things that happen are lol.

Overall I'm actually really glad I gave this a chance, I don't even remember how it got on my radar to begin with but the thought of playing it hasn't left my mind for a few years now, so this is a great relief and a huge win :) Hopefully 5 isn't too far away, I'd be happy paying for that one when it drops lol

Anyway thanks for reading y'all, if anyone knows of any games/series even remotely similar to this please let me know! I've got a feeling Shenmue might fit the boot but idk, looks more just slow and boring but could be wrong. Til next time <3

P.S. Been on a roll this month and haven't reviewed the past few games, not sure if I will. tl;dr Dead Rising 2 and 1 are both clunky and survivors are hellish. 2 is a clear improvement but nostalgia and the addictive gameplay loop makes them both fun (3 is best tho) -- Kena was super cute and the collectibles weren't as bad as expected but the combat really brings it down for me, I suck fs but it just didn't need to be that hard/awkward for a game that sold itself on being adorable (bc it is)

Recently I've been trying to raise my overall completion percentage and have been trying to get the rest of the trophies in games I never got far in. For some reason I decided I wanted to play a shitty game, so I chose this one. I wanted to play something bad and be able to say hey look, I did it. And goddamnit did I do it, platinum and all.

This game is like, twilight for forty year old men. Does your dad have a lot of tattoos and wear shirts that say "Don't Tread on Me" or "Facts Don't Care About Your Feelings"? He'd probably like this game.

Originally I couldn't even beat the first level before abandoning it. I gave it a half star, did a quick rant and called it a day but now am I so glad I finished it because everything about this game was unintentionally hilarious. It tries to take itself so seriously, there is not a single hint of irony or self awareness. This game thinks its cool as fuck, as evident by the ridiculous title - and that is the only saving grace.

Make no mistake, this game doesnt get the honor of "so bad its good" Its just bad. But it is the laughable-ness that will keep you sane through the 8-12 hour runtime. So many parts of this game are silly that at one point I told my boyfriend I was worried that there was so much I'd forget some of it for this review, and honestly thats probably true.

Firstly the character models are all pretty ugly. Most of them look like stock assets. All the characters suck too. The main character, Cahal, looks like discount Captain Price and has about as much substance as an empty jar of peanut butter. None of the characters are really all that likeable or memorable, the only one i thought was cool is just because he has an eyepatch, and the only one I kind of liked is just killed randomly offscreen. The story itself is also pretty pisspoor, and I tuned out for nearly the entirety of it. Tries to throw in some weird dialogue choices like the game actually earns to share a similarity to Mass Effect. None of these choices matter until at the end where you can chose between two endings, but both are bad. The game tries to be emotional at a few parts but the acting makes it funny and its not like you care about whats happening to begin with.
The animations, particularly for takedowns are also very goofy. Outside locations have visual variety but nearly every single indoor combat/stealth section looks almost identical. You will see the exact same assets over and over again.

That leads me to the gameplay itself. There are a few hub world areas where your main groups camp is literally within a mornings stroll away from enemy bases and military strongholds. Its not like you're in hiding either, it is explicitly shown the enemies know that you're right next to them. Its just incredibly silly and the game would of worked better if it kept to being linear. Theres not much to do in these areas either, except for a few collectibles and sidequests. These collectibles come in two types: notes and "spirits". The notes Im being honest I didnt read a single one I couldnt be bothered to give a fuck about the game. Maybe they gave more about the lore but the game doesnt even bother to explain itself outside of it so I couldnt be bothered either. The spirits are things you can only see in your enhanced visionâ„¢ that every third person game has. Theyre basically like magical plants that Cahal just stands there and sniffs for experience. Yeah, its funny. The sidequests are all just busy work with objectives similar to what you do in the base game already. These are completely pointless, and all they serve to do is give you more experience. If you dont plan to platinum this (which frankly having a sub 1% platinum is the only reason you should play this) then you can skip them and nothing of value is lost. This experience is used to upgrade your skill tree. Mostly to give yourself more combat abilities, with some being tactical. These are all fine, I guess. Maybe about half the abilities are actually useful, and you can get to one of the ultimate ones incredibly quickly anyways.
Now there is the combat itself. Most sections allow you to do stealth. The stealth is bad. The areas are poorly designed, mechanics are only introduced in the first few missions and just continue through the rest of the game. Plus it creates a very big disconnect, if you cause a huge ruckus and get reinforcements called on you in one area, the next area wont have enemies on alert anyways. You have a crossbow that you can upgrade to allow you to shoot cameras and turrets to disable them, but the aiming on that is terrible. Also a lot of levels towards the end have big enemies guarding exits that can neither be taken down or killed in a timely manner with the crossbow, making stealth basically useless. Which is okay, because most of the time you're just gonna opt for the actual combat because its a lot more fun.
In all honesty its the only good thing about the game, but even then its not great. Its basic hack and slash stuff, you'll get some new moves from the skill tree but nothing will make you change up your gameplay. Theres a few different enemy types but you can fight them all basically the same. There is no incentive, not even cool combos, to do anything other than spam your moves until you win. Id say at least visually it looks nice but... not really. Outside of one boss the enemy designs are all pretty meh. There is a lot of blood but absolutely zero gore which is another thing that makes this game so hard to take seriously despite its desperate attempts. It especially makes the executions look terrible. and the enemies dont even get bloodied themselves. The game isnt particularly hard either, but it does get kinda bullshit as you go on, lots of battles just go on way too long with so many enemies and its really more annoying than anything.
The combat is passable for the most part, but by the end you're gonna wanna opt for the terrible stealth instead so you dont have to sit through another shitty battle. Except you cant. Because remember? Big enemy boy is camping the exit.

This has no effect on the quality of the game itself, but I feel like it has to be mentioned. The trophy list despite the low percentages is really easy. Just nobody wants to get far in this game. I however only gave this a second chance because of trophies, and am still a bit shocked at me actually going through with this. The game does have a lot of miscellanious trophies which I do like, but they are so incredibly easy that by the end of the second mission I had every single one of them besides one for an enemy that hadnt been introduced yet. Theres a silver trophy for killing 250 enemies that I got in the first level. Theres also a few times where you will get two story trophies at the exact same time, for just doing one thing. Theres also one for getting every single spirit. There is no way to track them or even chapter select so if you miss one you'll have to play the entire game a second time and I hope nobody puts themself through that. You also get one for each ending choice. You can continue from your completed save but it just puts you after you made the choice anyways, which is a bruh moment, Thankfully you can just restart the mission. Like I said it doesnt really matter, and going for trophies helped me get through it, its just a bit hilarious how poorly they were all thought out and is kind of an example of how the rest of the game is.

So thats Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood. If I did have one positive, its that I like the metal song on the title screen. Other than that I hope Ive demonstrated how much of a mess this game is, and I didnt even cover everything. This game is far from the worst I've played, but its definitely one of the worst I've beat. Thanks for reading <3

God I hope theres a sequel. And I hope its not much better.

Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #213)
Time Played: 12 hours 21 minutes
Nancymeter - 36/100
Game Completion #115 of 2022
September Completion #5

First off I just want to say I love the water theme/setting to this. The underwater city is awesome especially with neon signs - Memoir Blue is the best thing like this since Shark Tale. I wholeheartedly enjoy the surrealness to it. The strand-type genre is over I want more games like this that make you feel like you're playing an aquarium storybook.

It also has some pretty music! It doesnt play much but Its very soothing when it is there. The gameplay is pretty standard for these types of games, but I didnt mind it and thought it worked quite well in some instances. The game is also quite short, but short games are my thing and short works better for this genre. Unfortunately this game feels too short and doesnt leave you much time to get invested with the characters or the plot much. The plot itself is good I think, and it tells an emotional story. The problem is that its just not super engaging.

Reading interviews from the creator of this game: it's clearly a passion project with a very personal message. The game just doesnt really do anything new or impressive to make the story resonate. Beyond the awesome visuals the game just feels a bit generic. Indie games have grown so much and these days need a bit more to excite, otherwise ones like this will just end up feeling like the Call of Duty's or Pokemon's of the genre. There is a lot of promise from this team though, and for their first game I think its a good foot in the door.

Trophy Completion - 100% (Platinum #212)
Time Played: 1 hours 28 minutes
Nancymeter - 60/100
Game Completion #111 of 2022
September Completion #1