Right from the get go it's hard not to fall right into place for the adventure in Ravenlok. I would say this the best-looking voxel game ever created, and the lightining goes a long way in helping it. You feel ready for an epic journey, the music is inviting, the game even has you go get yourself a sword and shield, slowly buidling things up.

Then you get to a fight and realize that's all it's gonna be. There's barely any depth to those mechanics, having only a single normal attack and a shield that doesn't seem to be useful at all. You eventually get 4 special abilities, each having their own cooldown and they do make the game more fun, but not more interesting.

The story is as shallow as it can get. To be honest, I was expecting it to be deeper, more grandiose, even maybe a darker take on the classic Alice stories. The dialogues are very basic, there's little of getting to know anyone or even yourself. I didn't find this to be very bad, anyway, it felt like a fairy tale, a fairy tale that played it too safe.

The missions are also instinctively simple. Exactly what you would expect, and everything is near where you need them. Except for some puzzles and some objects that were somewhat difficult to find, there's little complexity to be found.

Still, I found the world and overall structure of the game to be evocative, delightful and kind of exactly what it needed to be. Each area was a pleasure to explore and discover, though everything felt small when looking at the big picture. And the music has no faults at all, you could even dislike the graphics to some degree, but the music is as outstanding as the art direction is.

I encountered some errors, however, which is a shame. After buying some bombs, my character clipped through the floor and was leaning, thankfully it solved by just moving. The American Spanish localization, however, is less of a good thing, with countless mispellings and the translator, probably amateur or a machine, really struggling with articles.

Played through Xbox Game Pass for 12 hours and 30 minutes.

What to think about something that takes most of what makes it great from something else? These are more just my thoughts than a proper review.

There's this perception in art that highly values originality. We like new propositions. That doesn't undermine a derivative work, however. Concepts evolve, ideas change, gameplay shouldn't stagnate. Still, many dislike plagiarism.

For me, Stardew Valley firmly walks the divisory line between inspiration and plagiarism. Eric Barone, the developer of the game, has mentioned wanting to improve the flaws of the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons games was his main drive. I'd say it creates as many flaws as it fixes. Still, this is understandable as he was a sole developer.

It is important to judge a piece of art not just as its own entity, one should also consider the times, the environment, what came before it. That's why we still call Ocarina of Time a masterpiece and not just an outdated piece of software.

Now that Stardew Valley has become as influential as HM/SoS, it's worth asking... does it deserve all the praise? Or is it just a good, polished piece? There's a lot of merit in the creation of a good game, but maybe there's bigger merit in the creation of a genre.

Finally, I'd like to say I'm glad he decided to take what started as mere code training to this extent, and that he decided to make it his own, instead of some sort of mod for any HM/SoS game.

IT'S SUPAH MARIO BROTHARS 2 BABYYYY

Now, seriously... wow. This was awful. You see everything this game has to offer in the very first level. Probably just once or twice I was surprised with a twist of the picking up/throwing mechanic, which I'd say wasn't explored to its fullest.

And I'm somewhat grateful for that, as this buggy, illogical hitbox, repetitive mess of a game was begging me to stop playing it. Almost every single level has a mini boss fight, and almost always it's against Birdo, or as this game's credits call... them, Ostro? That's kinda funny.

But this game certainly isn't. So many design flaws, of its time I guess. Yet there is so much influence of the title in the Super Mario series. Probably every single element from this game has returned somehow, somewhere, in the Super Mario series, except for its main gimmick. It's kind of a shame, yet probably for the best to keep the Doki Doki Panic essence away from the series.

I made use of the rewind feature shamelessly as there were many, many cheap deaths and unpredictable behavior all over the place.

For many years I played the first level or two, when I was younger, with so much joy. Now I wish I had left this title in the mystical realm of the unknown so I'd respect it a little more. At least I can say I finished it.

Go play Onion Assault. That's actually good.

Played for 3 hours and 4 minutes through Nintendo Switch Online.

More than a platformer action game, this is a puzzle game. There is fun to be had, and it's an interesting concept that I'd like to see get a modern take. Still, it's full of NES jank, I was only able to get to PHASE 81 and I just can't see how should I beat that level. I also abandoned the thing for like a year or two and constantly used the rewind feature in the NSO version, so I'm deciding on abandoning it completely and consciously this time.

Played for 5 hours and 59 minutes through Nintendo Switch Online.

I first played It Takes Two, from the same studio, some months ago. I was expecting to find some similarities between these two games. To my surprise, however, the similarities started right from the title screen.

There's much to applaud about A Way Out. I find their efforts for the, ahem, cooperative video games scene, so commendable. The experimentation in gameplay and mix of unique ideas is not just a selling point, it is the very essence of their titles. So for that alone, I'll always praise and play their works, because there are few studios working on that.

I still haven't made up my mind. For all intents and purposes, It Takes Two is the better game, if a little stretched thin. A Way Out has many mundane moments, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if there were some more substance to the rest of the game, the mundane wouldn't feel kind of empty. So I don't know which one I prefer just yet.

Some years ago, thinking about a game I'd like to create, I envisioned something like the experience this game offered me. Varied concepts, an interesting story, changing gameplay mechanics, action set pieces. I'm no game developer by any means, but this game kind of made me realize that idea would be extremely difficult to pull off. So I hope they keep on refining their craft.

This isn't a mediocre game, nor is it a GOTY contender (It Takes Two should have never won in 2021), but is an enjoyable, emotional, if sometimes too in-your-face and unrealistic, experience. I have to say, I didn't see the twist coming and was genuinely shocked, so that alone made it a little better for me. And the way the ending is handled feels very unique but fell short of greatness.

Played for 8 hours and 33 minutes through Xbox Game Pass.

Cute little indie game that's more of a walking simulator than a platformer. Sorry, it's a "cinematic platformer".

Don't take me wrong though. I had a blast, more than with any other cinematic platformer I've played before. Also, it has a little more action than many of said genre. Still, for me it fits that genre's common description as the platforming feels clumsy and there is almost no difficulty to it.

The dialogues I thought were really funny as well as the story overall. Nothing outstanding, just a very good time.

I was ready to rate it 3 out of 5, then I played the co-op levels. They were the best designed part of the game, leaning more to the puzzle platforming bits of the game. They were also very few and completely separated of the main game.

Finally, I had an issue post-game. Went back to my save file to try and complete some objectives. However, after catching a bird for one of those side quests, my game got stuck. No matter if I closed, reinstalled or even played through the cloud. Nothing worked. When I load my save, I'm stuck over the house in the spot I caught the bird on and I can't move. A real shame.

Played through Xbox Game Pass for 8 hours exactly, main story + co-op. Don't know why it took me so darn long.

Played through the entire thing in splitscreen. Both of us have never played any other LEGO Star Wars game. Well, we've never even watched any of the movies or series. So story-wise, we were pretty much lost. Not a great idea in retrospective, but at least made us curious about eventually watching the movies, but we were very much confused the whole time and I personally found it a little frustrating, even though I understand this is supposed to be a festival of references for fans.

Moving to gameplay. Yep, it's a LEGO game.

Forcing me to elaborate, though. You guys complained back in the 90's about Donkey Kong 64 and the collectibles in that game, but give THIS GAME (or most LEGO games for that matter) a pass on that regard? What's wrong with you for real. I HATE they want to force us to replay the levels. I thought having a "more open" LEGO game was a good idea, but the concept of having to replay or BEING BLOCKED OF CHANGING CHARACTER IN SOME SECTIONS EVEN WHEN WE HAVE ALREADY UNLOCKED THE NECESSARY CHARACTER AT THAT POINT TO OBTAIN SOME COLLECTABLE... I wholeheartedly hate it.

I think this signals a big flaw of the LEGO games as a whole, not just this one. To add to it, I usually enjoy going out of the main path to collect and explore but this game made me despise that part of me. I wanted to break everything "just in case", wanted to explore every corner "to see if we can get something". And it is really time-consuming to break everything, even though they give just LEGO pieces and isn't very much necessary, but it's hard to stop myself.

I love 3D platformers, here however it was just tedious and repetitive ALMOST to the point of boredom. Boredom coming from "oops, you don't have this character just yet, guess you climbed all the way up here for nothing".

When playing on splitscreen, the resolution is mediocre, and that really has an effect on this game because it has somewhat realistic environments in some places, so I'd get lost sometimes because of everything looking the same. Also the camera was a real pain for me in some points, being too close for my liking.

I didn't hate the experience though. Some challanges were fun to complete. A final thing to say is, the Latin American Spanish dub, for all NPCs at least, is atrocious.

I'm not willing to replay this ever again. Played for 31 hours and 58 minutes through Xbox Game Pass.

You know, I like my beat 'em ups. Didn't grow up with them, but it's a genre I've learned to appreciate.

If I'm being honest, the thing I usually like the most about a beat 'em up is they usually allow for local co-op. This game isn't the exception to that, being a game for one or two players.

The biggest sin of the genre is repetitiveness. This game also isn't the exception to that, but I gotta say it took a good chunk of the game for me to feel the gameplay was getting stale. Longer than many of the genre.

At the beginning I was very pleasantly surprised, thinking to myself this was going to be one of the greats, a true hidden gem. I was having a blast with the gameplay and truly felt it like a good evolution of the genre. That feeling did go away, but I had fun all the way though.

The story is whatever. It has a fine, consistent art style and enjoyed the unlockables, but we missed many of them.

We ran into some technical issues, however. There were some cutscenes that had the audio way far ahead of the video showing. There were some levels that had frame rate issues in specific places. However, the biggest offender was a particular level (can't remember which one) where the game would drop the frames to the floor and then crash. The first time we were playing in tabletop mode, then we decided to move to the TV but same thing happened. Then I thought maybe playing the level solo could help, and it did. It was the end of the level.

Bought this for dirt-cheap as part of a 3-games bundle in the eShop. Well worth the price all things considered. Took 5 hours and 19 minutes to beat.

Played this probably for a little longer than I should. Not because it isn't fun, but because I was hopeful there was some sort of "end" at some point, ala Downwell and others. But I've reached the checkpoint at level 111, played for 6 and a half hours, and this is truly seemingly endless. So I've decided to drop it from my current game rotation.

I may play it from time to time between games, which is the ideal way of playing this little thing. Now that I bring it up, as solid as the controls and gameplay is, this game is obviously a mobile game. The meta progression, unlocked through in-game currency, is kinda grindy. I'm halfway through all of the stats and have only around 6-7 characters unlocked, from which 2 were found while traversing levels. They're real expensive.

Besides a very specific technical hiccup (some sort of frame skipping every now and then), I have no further complaints. However, I'd recommend getting this only on a sale, as the game runs out of new elements at certain point. Yet I kept on playing.

A fun game to play solo, funnily enough. There are 10 objectives to beat in the single player mode, some of them can be a little hard, but the AI can be cheesed kinda easy.

I consider this game as "finished" for my backlog because of the challenges. 4 or 5 of the 10 give a reward that can be used in the multiplayer modes if you get a gold medal, which I happily did. Took around an hour to do, which is short, yes. but this game is meant to be played with friends, where it really shines. Would love to have a co-op campaign of sorts as well.

So yeah, a nice bonus to have the single player levels, but this game is only worth it, and it's incredibly fun, for the multiplayer.

First I want to thank the folks that made Virtual Boy playable on the 3DS. Because of the VB failure, that 's something that never even crossed my mind and makes me sad Nintendo didn't make it themselves, as many more people would have had access to these games that are lost in time.

I've always heard this is one of the best games in the Virtual Boy library, so this was the first one I decided to try. Also because I've always wanted to try the Wario Land series. I did not expect, by any means, to be this blown away.

This game came out the year I was born. For a little more background about myself, I didn't grow up with a console at home, just a had some cheap chinese ones at some points. Point being, I'm no nostalgic for the NES, SNES or N64 era. So hear my word when I say Virtual Boy Wario Land is truly outstanding and has stood the test of time with flying colors.

The pixel art in this game is out of this world. You could have told me this is an indie game that released today and I would have believed you 100%. The controls are spot-on.

Besides some hiccups, like level 11 being a little too difficult for me (ONE OF THE PLATFORMS TAKES YOU TO THE BACK!), level 10 having the key so cryptically hidden (IT'S THE THREE CLOCKS!) and the final boss that took me 30+ lives where hitting the damn nose and not getting hit by the ice afterwards while being big Wario was near impossible, this was an incredible experience.

And oh god the 3D effect. Of course, I can't speak about this originally being technically a VR experience, but as a 3D one it was beyond any 3DS game, which is kinda hilarious.

It took me 4 hours and 49 minutes. Only missed the treasure at level 2. There is something additional you get for obtaining all of them at the end, but I didn't so I'll just watch a video. Apparently it took me way longer than everyone to beat this game, probably because of the treasure hunt and I was having just so much fun exploring everywhere. Can't wait to play another game in the series.

One of the top dogs when it comes to local co-op games that is insanely overlooked. This should be Overcooked levels of popularity. Of course, it's also just a reflex-based puzzler, so measure your expectations. Also, although it's possible, I can't imagine playing this in single player. I think I'd clinically insane. To this day, me and my group are still missing maxing a level to 3 stars. And haven't bought the DLC yet, because...

If this made you and your fellow conductors lose it, then you are NOT prepared for Fly TOGETHER!, this game's spiritual sequel. It's like a thousand times harder, no exaggerating. And it has motion controls. Such hidden gems.

You get what was promised. Besides some hiccups with the puzzles here and there, even needing to look up a guide twice, this was an absolute blast. I need more escape room games now.

Played the whole game in split screen co-op, and we ran out of time at least three times so I hope they do modify the timer for single and co-op games, because I'd say two would solve faster than a single person right?

Anyways, as much as the gameplay shines the story is certainly lacking, though serviceable.

Played through Xbox Game Pass.

Anyone saying this is a short game didn't play the hard levels. No, it doesn't just get rid of the markup feature. They are kind of mirror levels. Some are the same, some are similar but solved differently.

The core game does take around 3-5 hours at most to beat. The rest is made up of the hard levels and the final level of them took me like 2 hours by itself. It took me AT LEAST 12 hours total to 100% beat the game.

Going to the game itself, I was in awe. Ever since playing Picross and the hidden gem Sorry, James that I haven't been this engrossed by a puzzle-numbers game. Every 15 levels a new mechanic is introduced and I couldn't believe my eyes.

This is a work of genius. This isn't Sudoku meets hexagons, this is Sudoku meets God. If you love puzzles, that is.