Admittedly the slow motion mechanic makes this game pretty much trivial to complete, but honestly, I don't really care.

This game is fun. 'Cathartic escapism', the title of its last level, is probably the best way to describe it. Almost nothing can stop you - enemies have no collision, doors can be kicked open, and all walls are destructible by the player's arm cannon.

The moment that encapsulated the game for me was when I double-jumped onto another building, blew open the fucking wall with my fucking gun, slid behind the entire enemy barrage and proceeded to slow-mo headshot every enemy in that room.

Nowadays, I mostly play Severed Steel as a podcast game. Doing these stunts, breaking these walls... it's entrancing. Movement shooters tend to be fairly sweaty (which I appreciate!), but I'm actually glad this game goes a different direction.

Okay, so first off - this game is fucking nuts.

The art direction is all over the place - pixelated items among anime-styled portraits, 3D rooms alongside 2D textures. It really is a mess, almost dream-like in its absurdity - and yet this artistic dissonance, perhaps intentionally, only improves its sinister tone.

Due to its constant ping-ponging between humor and horror, the player finds themselves always unprepared for what is to come, lowering their guard with an absurdist skit only to get promptly hit in the face with a character death or an act of terror by the game's main antagonist, Monokuma. Just like the rest of the game, Monokuma seems innocuous at first - a cuddly teddy bear toy - only to prove himself throughout the course of the game as an absolutely vicious creature, yet still maintaining his composure as a 'tee-hee' cute mascot.

This humor, this humanity, I think, is the main drive of the game. Hope is given, and hope is taken - despair taking hold ever more frequently as cases unfold, with beolved characters getting killed off, or proving themselves as traitorous killers. While logic and deduction certainly have their place in the game, I don't think that's the game's focus, with its myriad of minigames and visual novel-esque systems - instead, it lies firmly in its characters, its atmosphere, and its style - which are all very gripping.

Lately I've noticed a pattern in the type of stories I like - genuine, honest protagonists trying their best in a cynical, uncaring world. Arcane, The Boys, and this game - they all have this framework in common.

The thing is, The Red Strings Club goes full-in with this theme, putting empathy and ethics as its focus. Because yes, most of the time, you're using them as a weapon, as a tool... manipulating your clients to fish out information, and controlling their emotions to let their tongues slip.

But amidst its grandiose plot involving megacorporations, cyber-hackers and mind control... there are these small, intimate moments, when the game just asks: "What do you think of this? What is actually important to you, specifically?"

Because yeah, in the end, the city is fucked. It was fucked from the beginning. But are you going to give up, even despite that? When the moment counts, is that what truly matters?

Ethics, politics, emotions, relationships - it all comes crashing down. How right are we, really?

Play this game.

I did, in fact, get over it. But what I found on the other side wasn't worth it. And don't start with the "but the journey is what matters" crap - really? Bennett Foddy's genius thesis statement is that "frustration is underrated"?

Mate, what the fuck. What's the definition of frustration? What's the point of frustration if not for something better down the line? Is this game supposed to be just training for getting over frustration, and that's it? All of its self-aggrandizing just to validate this fake sense of accomplishment?

I don't know. My reaction when I climbed it was neutered, weak. There was a glimmer of happiness, but when I looked down, I realized how pointless the entire journey was. I felt almost foolish, like Foddy roped me into this, promising it would be something worth remembering. That's the trap I fell into.

Daniel Kahneman describes two selves in "Thinking Fast and Slow" - the One Who Experiences, and the One Who Remembers. In the pursuit of a game worth remembering, this game ditches almost entirely the experience of play itself. I ask you, truly - would you still play this game if all proof that you climbed it vanished right after you conquered it? Would you?

See, Hollow Knight was a satisfying, but difficult, experience. Celeste was a satisfying, but difficult, experience. But this, this was not that. I wouldn't go so far as to say that the hammer mechanic itself sucks - it does have its intricacies and nuances that make for a good platforming game - but the game's disdain for permanent progress feels so unnecessarily mean and arbitrary. The game's failure to provide a satisfying experience isn't excused by it being intentional.

Sharply-written, short, charming and insightful. Socrates Jones borrows much of the structure and humor style of the Ace Attorney series, but lends it to a completely different theme - namely, philosophy ethics. As a fan of the series and somewhat of an ethics nerd, this was a treat.

Something I really enjoyed were the different ways that Jones can question someone's argument - be it asking for clarification, press for backing, or questioning its relevance to the overall premise. Aside from presenting counter-arguments, which are obviously very fun, choosing the correct way to press someone can also be very satisfying, giving more intention behind the player's actions besides a vague 'Press' button.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with this game, and would've gladly bought it were it not free. I'm hopeful that, with its endearing characters and satisfying gameplay, this game interests more people in studying philosophy ethics.

This game rocks. It really does. It's joy distilled in a bottle. It's fun incarnate. It's the platonic ideal of the phrase "videogames are cool".

Seldom have I seen a game so consistently able to put the player into Flow State. With its killer soundtrack, focused on catchy and recognizable beats, it becomes natural to simply follow the beat and enter into the game's rhythm.

You know... You know those action scenes at the end of movies where the band of heroes finally get their shit together and become supernaturally well-coordinated to beat the villains? They're always super cathartic, emotional and just a blast to watch. And I always get that nagging thought - "oh, wouldn't that be cool to do in a videogame?"

Well, there you have it. That's the feeling I get when I play this game. Its gratifying combat system, endearing characters, hearty artstyle and carefree attitude all contribute to a sense of mastery and freedom that's incredibly rewarding.

At the end of the game, I was almost tearing up, despite the generic plot beats and cliché message. Everything's just so damn well executed! The game has a vision, a personality and a concept, and it just commits to them 200%. I can confidently say that I love this game.

This might sound silly, but I'd actually describe this game as an "information roguelite". Elsinore is a narrative-focused timeloop game, and as such, every new timeline becomes almost like a 'run', exploring different characters' backstories and trying to achieve different endings by manipulating certain events.

And there's a lot of variation here, by the way. By using Shakespeare's Hamlet as a canvas, the game is able to craft a very intricate web of relationships, conversations and happenings that the player is able to pull in various directions. By orchestrating the death of certain characters, chaotic domino effects can occur, resulting in wildly different outcomes. As a story engine, it's a great game.

Well, what about the story itself? Is it good? Yes, yes it is. The developers do make certain alterations in regards to the original text, but I'd argue these are a net positive. Most of the cast is pretty well-developed and charismatic, and although you do become numb to their deaths after seeing them so many times (which I actually find great), I found that I still cared deeply for them. Hamlet, Ophelia, Horatio and Polonius were personally my favorites.

All in all, I enjoyed my time with this one. With me being in the control of the story, exploring different weaves and facets of each character in every 'run', I almost never became bored with the game or found its pacing slow. The storylines all intertwine and regularly reveal new information, peeling away at the layers of Elsinore.

A well-polished, well-designed sokoban game with smart puzzles and smart solutions. With its simple set of core elements and mechanics, the game presents an emergent system of interactions and problems that requires creative and out-of-the-box thinking to solve.

I also appreciate the game's pacing with its overworld, divided into separate regions. Each region explores a different facet of the game's design and helps to gently guide the player into unusual mindsets. Very rarely will the player find themselves soft-locked due to being stuck on a puzzle - if you can't get through a certain level, you can always try another one in a different region.

The goal of most puzzle games, I find, is to make the player feel smart - and Candle Prick certainly delivers that. It's challenging without being intimidating; it provides hints without being hand-holding or condescending; and it's deep without being overly complex. I'm usually not a fan of puzzle games, but I wholeheartedly recommend this one.

Ultra-Violence is the keyword here. This game is absolutely vicious in its combat, prioritizing agility and agression at almost all times - even the parry button is mapped to the attack key.

Still, the game is not braindead - there's a really satisfying flow to the combat. In most encounters, Raiden will first wear down the enemies with a flurry of attacks - ocasionally defending himself with parries and dodges - and then, when they're weak enough, perform a 'Zandatsu', basically entering slowdown mode and slicing the enemy to TAKE THEIR SPINE OUT AND CRUSH IT, healing ALL of the player's health back. Successfully performing this is both adequately challenging and fun even after doing it hundreds of times, and has the added benefit of allowing the player to focus way more on the offense, now that they can heal themselves up with kills.

In terms of bosses, they're (mostly) great. The songs that accompany them are the highlights of this game, with backing vocals rising in during the epitome of each fight, and the bosses themselves are usually pretty challenging, requiring multiple attempts to master their attack patterns. While most of the campaign allows Raiden to go to town with the common enemies, boss encounters ask the player to slow down and focus more on precision and parrying. It's a nice change of pace.

All in all, it's hard to not recommend this game. It certainly has its flaws - it lacks a good tutorial, some sections feel shoehorned in, and I feel it ended too early - but overall, man, this game was a blast. Few games had me panting of stress after finishing it, and this was one of them.

This game is fun. This game is fucking fun.

Do you see the trailer? Have you seen the trailer? The amount of utter bullshit you can conjure up with just the right builds is simply astounding. The game throws a shit ton of enemies at you at various points of the game, and you in part transform yourself into an ultimate death machine that melts enemies like butter in a pan.

Sometimes you destroy them by raining them with lightning. Sometimes you destroy them by maxing out attack speed and spamming fire. Sometimes you just let summons do the work for you while you bob and weave your way out of the chaos.

And mind you, you will probably still lose in the end. Yes, your builds are magnificent and ridiculous, but the enemies come in such large numbers that you really have to become one with death if you want to survive until dawn. I've died, reloaded and died again so many times, and never once did I think "this is bullshit." No, actually, I did think that, but it was aimed at my own character.

IN ANY CASE! Play this game. No, seriously, play this game. It's still in Early Access and it's already amazing - and I haven't even unlocked everything yet. This has a lot of potential, and I'll be looking forward to seeing how it improves in the coming months.

I don't understand the hate towards this game. Yeah, it's a SSB clone, but it's on PC! Heck, it's even on mobile! Do you see SSB on PC? No? Well here you go!

Look, yeah, this game is not perfect. The networking can be a bit iffy at times and the focus on weapon movesets instead of character movesets makes the game feel a bit more samey. One could argue, however, that this is actually a positive, as learning the moveset of one character can transfer over to multiple other ones, making the learning curve significantly easier and helping new players understand the game.

Also, I don't think anyone will deny that this game is gorgeous - its animations are incredibly slick, its character design is top-notch, and many of the skins are great. During actual matches, fights look a lot like dances, as legends weave and parry each other. Most of the time, hitboxes feel fair and hits feel deserved. Very rarely do I get frustrated with the game (when I do, it's usually due to lag issues) - I mostly get frustrated at myself. It just seems like there's always room to improve with this game. It's great.

So yeah, I do recommend Brawlhalla. It's a polished, simpler version of Super Smash Brothers, available for free on PC, Mobile and consoles. If you like SSB and avoided this game thinking it's just an SSB clone, don't. Yeah, it's a clone. But it's also more than just that.