Necesitaría mucho más que unas pocas líneas para intentar describir los altibajos emocionales que Void Stranger me ha provocado. Incomprensión e incomodidad, interés y fascinación, rabia y melancolía, alegría y asombro, y finalmente, un tono agridulce al que me alegro de haber jugado. Por cada piso que pude terminar por mi cuenta, hubo tres que tuve que buscar la solución online; por cada mural que descifré, dos que no hubiera entendido jamás; y por cada escena de culpa católica enmarcada en personajes estereotípicos que me hizo apretar los dientes de la indignación, hubo tres que me hicieron sentir que estaba tocando de verdad al autore.

Decimos que los juegos son obras personales de la misma forma que decimos que detrás de cada obra de arte se sobreentiende siempre cierto esfuerzo y horas de trabajo: como una convención comodona, destinada a reafirmar nuestra decisión de dedicar el poco tiempo que tenemos de vida a un arte que seguramente no posea ni la mitad de humanidad que el poema más parco. Con Void Stranger sentí que experimentaba arte y basura a partes iguales, y en ese sentido, es un juego que me ha hecho pensar más que nunca en mi relación con este medio que me ha traído tantas alegrías y tantas, tantas decepciones.

Puedes admirar Void Stranger por la inquina mentalidad puesta a la hora de diseñar según que puzzles, y puedes detestarlo por su tendencia casi obsesiva a la ofuscación, que en más de una ocasión me hicieron querer cortar del todo. También puedes reconocer su intrincada narración, digna de cierta escuela de diseño post-Undertale que pareció tomar como única lección el accidente de Gaster. Pero para mí, lo que tiene valor de esta maraña de modos extra es el hecho de que, al final del día, el mensaje siempre es el mismo, el de la importancia de aprender a amar. En los momentos en que es así de simple, Void Stranger me agarra de verdad, y en los momentos en que deja relucir sus partes más avergonzadas, es cuando me irrita de verdad.

Así que le pongo un 4, porque supongo que un 5 quedaría reservado para los juegos que me afectan a un nivel estrictamente personal o me parecen encapsulaciones ideales de una forma que no siempre sabré explicar, puedo afirmar sin ninguna duda que hay muchas cosas en Void Stranger que no me gustan. Pero no puedo negar que me ha hecho pensar de un modo que pocas obras, irónicamente desde Undertale, lograron.

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I would need much more than a few lines to describe the emotional ups and downs that Void Stranger has provoked in me. Incomprehension and discomfort, interest and fascination, anger and melancholy, joy and wonder, and finally, a bittersweet note that I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience. For every floor I was able to finish on my own, there were three I had to look up the solution online for; for every mural I deciphered, two of them I would never have guessed on my own; and for every scene of Catholic guilt framed by stereotypical characters that made me cringe in indignation, there were three that made me feel like I was really reaching the author.

We say that games are personal works in the same way that there's always some effort put behind everything, in the sense that we use to reaffirm our life choice to devote so much of our precious time on Earth to an art form that probably doesn't have as much humanity within it as the shortest poem. With Void Stranger I felt like I was experiencing art and dreck on several occasions, and in that sense, it is a game that has made me think more about my relationship with a medium that has brought me so much joy and yet so much disappointment than many others.

You can admire Void Stranger for its devilish attitude towards puzzle design, and you can loathe it for its almost obsessive tendency to obfuscation, which made me want to quit it many times. You can also recognize its intricate storytelling, worthy of a post-Undertale school of design that took Gaster's accidental fame as its main bullet point. But for me, what's valuable about this mess of a title is the fact that, at the end of the day, the message remains the same: That of the importance of being loved. When it's that simple, is when it grabs me better. And when it's much more dishonest and shameful is when it really irritates me.

So I give it a 4, because I suppose a 5 should be reserved for games that affect me on a very personal level or encapsulate an ideal form of gaming that I'm not always good at explaining. I can state without a doubt that there are many things in Void Stranger that I don't like. But I can't deny that it has made me think in a way that few works, ironically since Undertale, managed to do.

HOW IS THIS THE MOST POLARIZING GAME ON ALL OF BACKLOGGD AHAHAHAHAHA LOOK AT THAT RATING DISTRIBUTION

It's a maximalist kart racer which throws anything and everything in because the developers are as talented and prolific as they are sadomasochistic. Or more charitably, they knew people typically played SRB2K with heavily modded servers, and sought to kill two birds with one stone by making their sequel filled with an intimidating amount of content. While plenty of new mechanics are introduced, the game's namesake helps balance out the grid in a highly volatile but ultimately successful way. Chugging rings and speed-gating shortcuts might seem as baffling as... Well, everything else in DRRR (what an acronym) but it's sensible in the same madcap way every other goddamn thing here is. Hell, even the positioning system before a race starts helps even the field more than first impression would suggest.

At first I was perturbed by everything being locked behind a Brawl / Kirby Air Ride style checklist (or most, as of v2.1) but it's so endearing. Consider it a hot take but what a blessing in disguise that Kart Krew felt committed to making you commit to playing their game to an unhealthy degree. That kind of cocky energy is so rare these days, especially given that the passwords are included in the game folder to tempt the player constantly. "Oh, what's wrong, too many spray cans for you, hmmm?"

If you're still on the fence, play for at least another hour, because it will click. I don't see this replacing SRB2K whatsoever but it's an utter monolith of a game. I HATE BALLOON PARK I HATE BALLOON PARK I HATE BALLOON PARK I HATE BALLOON PARK I HATE BALLOON PARK I HATE BALLOON PARK I HATE BALLOON PARK

Originally, I posted a review comparing this game to other titles with a ton of depth that demand a lot from the player (like IIDX, +R, etc). I deleted that review, because I wasn't totally sure where I stood on the game after a few more races.

And then after doing even more races, I realized I was right the first time. This game fucking rules.

The tutorial is still awful, but I'm really glad I did it because I would not have thought to use stuff like quick drop without it, and the dialogue between Tails and Robotnik is endearing. It's probably the worst part of the game, and it's irrelevant after the first 45 min outside of the on-boarding process for new players. "Oh, you think you're hot shit? Beat this max CPU level race then" is based, actually.

Otherwise, it's a kart racer that asks more from you than most other entries in the genre, and that's rad. The ring system is sick as hell. The courses aren't all bangers, but an overwhelming majority of them are, and they all look and sound so good that you genuinely forget that the game is a fan project.

The Brawlesque unlock system is only frustrating if you want all the content at once and don't give a shit about the single player experience. The actual process of unlocking everything is, much like it was in Brawl, a fantastic way to encourage new players to plumb the depths of the game, and the key system lets you skip over any challenge you find especially egregious.

Nobody's mentioned the little pets that you can have follow you. I love having a little guy around me at all times for emotional support. No notes, should be a feature in more games in general.

This game is not trying to replace SRB2Kart, and divorced from the context of that game, I don't think it would have nearly as bad of a reputation. The average rating on this page has gone up steadily since this game's release, and as I posted before, in six months after the rough patches of the game are smoothed out (as they have been already in some cases!), it'll be appreciated for the home run that it is.

I can sympathise with the casual crowd that was alienated by this, I understand SRB2 Kart was largely famous for being a game that people can quickly pick up and stream, and mod to have any character they like, so I understand that brutally difficult Kart racer was probably not something they had any interest in, but man, this pushes all the right buttons for me.

Is it flawed? Undeniably. I'm sure you've already read that the tutorial is dogshit, and the items and CPUs can definitely be a bit much to handle. But in my opinion, it's super compelling. Substantial and fun singleplayer content, countless secrets, incredibly engaging races (NONE of them feel like autopiloting which is what I find a lot of Kart racers fall into) all compliment an incredibly fun to control driving system that, while yes is poorly taught to you, clicks faster than you'd think.

If you are a casual who just wants this game to be Mario Kart but with any character then you've probably already made up your mind and that's fair, I get why that's a desirable experience. For anyone else who has perhaps grown a bit tired of modern kart racing offerings feeling samey I implore you to give this a shot. Try to do at least the first few cups. I honestly kind of wanted to put this down after the first cup but I absolutely got hooked after I tried another cup and things started to click. Also, don't be afraid of the easy mode, it's there for a reason!

Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers is a mixed bag. A lot of reviews act like this game is awful, but I don't think it is; I find the game very fun, and it does improve on issues that I had with Sonic Robo Blast Kart 2, its predecessor. However, the developers have made questionable decisions that have turned a lot of players off from it.

To begin, Ring Racers is fundamentally inaccessible, in multiple senses of the word. The game is mechanically dense, which can be a turn-off. I personally enjoy the complexity of it, as it makes this game truly one of a kind. I also feel that the mechanics can be explained to a new player quickly and easily, despite the tutorial's best efforts.

Speaking of which, we come to most folks' chief complaint: The restriction of the game's content. Unlike SBR2K, you can't just install the game and hop online with your friend. The game starts up with a setup sequence which I found to be charming, if not a touch long-winded. Following that was the tutorial, which is a unskippable 30-minute stage that still fails to cover core mechanics of the game. Once you clear that, you get access to the main menu finally.

You still need to unlock the tracks and most of the characters, as well as key features of the game. This content is presented through a Super Smash Bros.-style unlockable gallery. The gated features include basics like online play, time trials, and loading mods. This makes the game effectively impossible to get quickly set up for a game sessions with a friend, unless you provide a list of the cheat codes the devs mercifully provided, or send over a save file with the needed content unlocked (Google is your friend for both of these). This is... egregious, to put it lightly. I understand and respect the desire from the devs to ensure players appreciate every bit of their 5 years of hard work; however, most players, including myself, find this to be an unwelcome change, if not a dealbreaker.

Beneath the complexity of the mechanics and the headache of getting started, is the game fun? Yes, it is. It's still a kart racer, with all the glorious chaos that entails. It can be overwhelming even by the standards of the genre though. Some mechanics shine while others are underutilized. The tracks also vary in quality. The AI is difficult, with rubberbanding that brings to mind racing games from the late 90s and early 00s. Getting hit with items leads to the harshest punishment I've seen in any kart racer; on multiple occasions, I'd be hit by an item in first place and by the time I recovered, I found myself in the last place. The handling is very slippery, adding to the chaos of the game.

Ring Racers does improve over its predecessor in two key ways: first of all, I feel the track design is more readable in this game. While playing SRB2K, my friends and I have run into several cases where we got confused on where the track expects us to go next. This game remedies that with redesigned tracks from the first game. The second improvement is the addition of a proper local multiplayer mode. In SRB2K, the local multiplayer almost feels like an unintended feature. However, this game supports local multiplayer naturally. I know this is a more niche features among the game's target audience, but it is something I sorely missed in SRBK2.

To conclude, Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers is a very promising game. The game is uniquely complex by kart racer standards, both to its benefit and detriment. The gameplay is fundamentally fun, building off a solid base, but still needs fine-tuning. The core issue with the game is its gating of so much of its content to newcomers. Even without the flawed physics and irritating onboarding, I still wouldn't say this is a game for everyone, and that's okay: SRB2K, its predecessor, isn't going anywhere. It released in a flawed state, but if AAA games can recover from rough launches, I don't doubt this can too.

It's absolutely wild to go from the simple, multiplayer focused SRB2 Kart to this mechanics-rich racer with a metric ton of singleplayer content. Like, holy shit, they actually made a mascot racing game with more mechanics than Sonic Riders. I think I'm in love!

Don't get me wrong, the mandatory, hour-long tutorial is very unwelcoming and the fact that you need to unlock online play and mods via singleplayer content is absolutely baffling. Even so, there's so much to enjoy here and it's all presented with so much charm and style. It's going to take a good amount of time to fully digest all the mechanics and unlock all the secrets, and I think that's really refreshing for a racing game, much less a (free fan-made) kart racer.