Mancheg00bfusc8r
Played through the initial set of story levels to get to the credits and the "Your real journey is just beginning..." message. Don't think I'm going to bother logging in daily or otherwise engaging much with the F2P GaaS elements, but if you're a fan of Journey or any of the numerous games it inspired, it's still worth checking out (it's free, after all) just to see how it mixes Journey-esque levels with an MMO. The level design, story, and pacing are unsurprisingly not up to par with Journey or other top-tier games in that genre, but I had a number of nice online interactions (either passively, with messages left behind by other players, or by actively interacting with them; another player helped guide me through an obstacle-heavy chunk of one level) that add some interesting flavor to the experience. And even with the obvious graphical limitations resulting from Sky's mobile origins, the art direction is still quite nice to look at.
2022
Both funnier and more fun to play than I had expected, especially after having struggled to get through a few hours of the even Roiland-heavier Trover Saves the Universe. not going to argue it’s a truly great FPS - the waves of enemy encounters go on too long, and there’s barely an ending to speak of - but the combination of gameplay and comedy is pretty entertaining as long as you turn down the frequency of enemy/weapon chatter.
Very much an iterative sequel, but it's a strong one, even if the story leans a bit too hard into misery porn for my taste and the stealth/combat systems don't always work quite as well as I'd like. Overall, though, the storytelling, pacing, and polish are quite strong here even with a longer running time than the original.
2019
it's no secret I'm a big fan of the Journey/ABZU-like subgenre, but it's also an easy subgenre to get wrong, and Spirit of the North unfortunately falls into that category. slow pacing, uninteresting level design with frequently unclear objectives, and clunky platforming mechanics were enough to turn me off after only a few chapters. at least it's pretty!
a game that does one thing pretty well and then adds a ton of extraneous and tedious open-world bloat around it
that one thing, the destruction mechanic, holds up fairly well, but the same can't be said for the clunky combat, dull missions, unenjoyable traversal mechanics, or barren open world with far too much space between objectives.
instead of what we got, this should have been a linear, level-based game focused squarely on what it does best (destroying buildings real good), or at least been set in a much smaller and denser open world
that one thing, the destruction mechanic, holds up fairly well, but the same can't be said for the clunky combat, dull missions, unenjoyable traversal mechanics, or barren open world with far too much space between objectives.
instead of what we got, this should have been a linear, level-based game focused squarely on what it does best (destroying buildings real good), or at least been set in a much smaller and denser open world
2021
This review contains spoilers
the critics may have trashed this game's story, but I incest you discover all its surprises for yourself!
it's... well, it's an interesting failure, at least, provided you play with a walkthrough handy
it's... well, it's an interesting failure, at least, provided you play with a walkthrough handy
2005
I'm sorry, everyone, I really tried to get into this one, but I just couldn't get past the bizarre control scheme, poorly explained mechanics, questionable checkpointing, and infrequent save points. The art direction and weird atmosphere are great and I have no doubt that this could be a much better game with some QOL tweaks and accessibility settings, but as is, I'd much rather watch a playthrough or a YouTube analysis video than attempt to play this again.
2020
Solid puzzle-platformer where you switch between a girl who can move in 3D (but can’t jump) and her shadowy 2D-platforming counterpart. Maybe slightly longer than it needed to be, and the difficulty curve is a bit out of whack (the puzzles steadily ramp up in challenge for the first two acts, then get much easier for a longish stretch before ramping back up again in time for the end), but a strong execution of this concept overall.
2021
Y'know, I'm glad that gaming in 2023 is diverse enough that a game about something this boring can become a commercial success. That's about all I have to say here.
Fun combat, solid manga-inspired presentation, and a novel historical setting, but the level design feels bland and trekking back and forth through the hub world gets tedious pretty fast.
Doesn't particularly remind me of Guacamelee aside from some vaguely similar combat mechanics, so I confess I'm a bit perplexed by those comparisons. It's not a Metroidvania either, contrary to what some reviews say.
Doesn't particularly remind me of Guacamelee aside from some vaguely similar combat mechanics, so I confess I'm a bit perplexed by those comparisons. It's not a Metroidvania either, contrary to what some reviews say.
a charming, beautiful, and very short auto-run platformer with great tree-swinging traversal mechanics. could have used a bit more time in the oven, with some annoying difficulty spikes (it's not a hard game by any means, but a sequence where you're chased by hunters feels at odds with the relaxing nature of the earlier chapters) and ran into a couple bugs that I was able to fix by reloading my save, but still a nice little one-sitting play.
2020
Enjoyable, fairly short stealth-horror game with nice atmosphere and visuals. Not terribly original, but I had a decent enough time playing it, though maybe it helped that most of it was on Easy difficulty. I'm a bit surprised to see that reviews here are so negative, but to each their own, I guess.
strange that this is getting a multiplayer shooter spinoff, since nothing about this game's story or world-building suggests that as a logical bit of brand extension. weird
strange that this is getting a multiplayer shooter spinoff, since nothing about this game's story or world-building suggests that as a logical bit of brand extension. weird
If you’ve played the first two games, you know what to expect: another short, cute, simple, and silly walking sim. More of the same, but it’s a nice little game to play through in a short sitting.
2022
One of the most visually stunning games I’ve ever played, with a truly incredible realization of its Giger-inspired art direction in real-time 3D (the title screen transitioning into the opening of the game is a stunner in and of itself), but I can already tell from my brief time with it that the deliberately obtuse design and Myst-style puzzles aren’t going to be something I’d enjoy playing. Will watch a playthrough on YouTube instead.
very short , very simple indie game about photographing magical creatures on a mysterious island, sort of like a free-roaming Pokémon Snap. there's some charm to be found here, but ultimately the extreme brevity, shallow mechanics, and low-budget visuals make this feel more like a free student game than a commercially released title