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Mainly here to track my backlog and everything I play.
Might write an unstructured stream of consciousness review of a game after I've finished it.
Personal Ratings
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5★

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Gained 3+ followers

3 Years of Service

Being part of the Backloggd community for 3 years

Elite Gamer

Played 500+ games

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Played 250+ games

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Favorite Games

Yakuza 0
Yakuza 0
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Katamari Forever
Katamari Forever
Monster Hunter: World
Monster Hunter: World
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

825

Total Games Played

000

Played in 2024

567

Games Backloggd


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Mega Man Zero
Mega Man Zero

Dec 17

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A bit clunky, very charming and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome.
The base idea of sucking up stuff with a vacuum is pretty great by itself and sucking up wads of money and pulling on every bit of fabric or paper in your vicinity is always fun.
Chasing down the boos with high hp was a pain though.

Neon white is a fully realized concept that shoots for and nails a specific aesthetic while taking a gameplay first approach where almost every minute you spend with it is a blast.
For how edgy the writing is, the game overall really doesn't have any sharp corners.

I was skeptical about the concept of weapon cards with discard abilities before playing and it made it click after like 2 minutes of playtime. That on it's own really is commendable and speaks to one of the greatest strengths the game has: How it teaches you to play and what to expect.
No real tutorials needed, you just jump into the game and through trial and error naturally get acquainted with how the level design works and what the bounds of your abilities are.
The complexity ramps up slowly enough that it should allow most players a really smooth experience. I don't expect people to get stuck anywhere and most of the time you don't notice how much better you get over time because of that. This might make it sound boring, but the speed running aspect of it always motivates you to push yourself to learn all the systems at play and focus.
Getting the blue medal is also balanced quite well compared to ratings I'm used to from speed focused games. They expect you to be competent, but not perfect, to get the best rating. This really took a lot of the stress that I usually associate with time challenges out of the picture.
For my personal taste it ended up being too easy at times. While there are levels that took me a fair amount of tries to ace, getting a blue rating at my first try while feeling like I didn't do a good job happened quite a bit too. This would be a bigger problem then it really is if the levels weren't all just 30sec to 1min chunks if you breeze through them. So even if some parts aren't that engaging, you really don't have to put up with them for long and can look forward to new ideas getting thrown at your head in a brisk pace.

The story and presentation just make sense.
While definitely written for a different demographic and not lining up with my usual taste, the story was also surprisingly engaging. The characters all felt like pushed representations of how some teenagers see themselves while they still haven't developed any subtlety in how they look at themselves and the world they live in.
Might come across as naive and is easy to label as cringe, but they knew what they were going for, took that naivete as their aesthetic and made their own thing out of it. Feels earnest and has it's own charm.

The characters could have been more interesting and multifaceted, sure, but what I really missed was more original artwork while you interact with the characters.
The game has a pretty simple relationship system that you use to get to know the cast better and a couple of illustrations of the characters hanging out or some closeups of important objects/locations they talk about could have helped sell the story a lot better.

What's more to say?
The UI design was excellent. The press F to restart with no loading times is undeniably one of the big reasons this game works so well. The music was pretty good and at times funny (which is good) and all I really wish for after I finished it is more. More as in more difficult and complex levels, more insight into the world/characters through additional art and more varied dialogue.

I really enjoyed my time with it and hope that we'll get some kind of "master levels" expansion at some point. With how well the game seems to be doing it would be amazing to get something with the full treatment. New score, new story and new setting while polishing up what they've already got.
I'd definitely play it!

A very pleasent experience if you are in the mood for it.
I didn't find the controls clunky or frustrating, as a lot of publications opinions on it seemed to imply. I figured out the controls quite quickly and maybe toppled over 2-3 times.
Still I found the basic movement mechanics enjoyable and challenging enough to make just traversing the world quite engaging.
While you traverse the world you get to see some really nice vistas. It gives you the feeling of traveling through barren landscapes just long enough before it gives you a little bit more content to chew on.

The story has a lot of really cool Ideas and themes, but Kojima just had to overdo it again, huh. A lot of his writing quirks just make it pretty funny and enjoyable to go through everything. I enjoy that I feel like I get to know Kojima more with every line he writes. Gives everything a nice eerie, disconnected feeling too.
A little bit too much for my taste. You have a really interesting cast of characters played by talented actors, but the writing doesn't ever really develope them too much. There are barely any nice interactions or arks the characters go through. They just pull you through the story leaving you wanting for more.
it's really too bad because emotionally the game is all there. From moments you are just climbing through mountains and a song by low rawr starts playing, to how the story and the world gets slowly unveiled it's mysteries to you.

Most important critique I have though is that I just want a goddamn walkman, kojima. I know you love yours. Why couldn't you give me one? It could be unlocked after you have uncovered the whole map or something to make it feel special... I just want to listen to music while being a good delivery boy.