Darkest Dungeon has a bit of a difficulty dilemma. The aesthetic is so soaked in dread and terror and tragedy that it obviously wouldn't make much sense if there wasn't a lot of dying. The issue is that it's so obsessed with reminding you just how punishing it is, to the point where you feel powerless to all of the terrible things that happen. Strong players refuse to go on weak missions, and you have no choice but to watch them deteriorate. No ending here is a good ending. God is hell. I think I like it, and I enjoy what it does with it's overbearing lovecraft world it drives you into, but at some point, the game your playing has to continue being good. There's just not that much it does beyond initial playtime. Very excited for the sequel, however

Hey look, another one of these. It's not too bad, especially the centerpiece of guitar hero battles with killer tracks filled with noise and stupid drums. It's extremely entertaining, and is essentially the kind of rhythm based action I would want from a game, with more polish than anything geometry dash has ever had. This big core of the game makes it all entertaining, even when wading through waves of pseudo-philosophy and quirky absurdist dialogue. Character designs feel like AI generated DeviantArt OCs, but the charm shines through, especially with great animations and sprites. Just simply not long enough, and not serious enough for me to try and take the narrative aspects of the game too seriously, or with much thought, and it leaves me hungry. Mostly confused, but considering the whole game's aesthetic feels like looking through a kaleidoscope, that's probably intended. Doesn't seem much different from the rest, but it stands out by actually being good. Well done

It's clear that we've moved on from this. Meta-narratives that make the game "sentient" and talk directly to the player have been a trope of the indie dev scene for a short period of time, under a decade. It was run into the ground mostly because of how popular and ever-present the youtube let's play scene was, and this kind of story was perfect for reaction content with a demographic of teenagers and young adults. None were like Stanley Parable though, for better or for worse.

So when a sequel for a game that criticized the monotony of desk jobs and the false sense of choice we have in our lives was announced, people were pretty skeptical. I mean I wasn't, I had faith, but this could easily be not good. We've moved on, new content doesn't seem as new or exciting as a concept because of this culture we left behind. But oh did they know. They knew exactly what we were doing.

The idea of sequels has been severely tainted by American entertainment. They are cash-grabs, sell-outs, rehashes, and they only serve the purpose to milk as much money out of a successful franchise as possible. The cynical fuckers over at Crows Crows Crows introduce you to "new content" with a door that says "new content", until later when it says "new, new content" with a flashy neon sign. Through constant convoluted mechanics that don't do anything, and long one-sided conversations with the narrator, you get more of the different same. The pressure of pleasing everyone around you, the weight of a legacy holding creativity down, the public outcry determining what you make next, and the sad truth that no, this isn't a "good" sequel, all comes together to make me breathe out of my nose a bit and think on how I go about creating. It doesn't matter, really.

A streamlined and sleek introduction to assembly code disguised as a puzzle game carries out what it sets to do. Which is uh, that. Not much else but that's ok! It's funny, challenging but good at introducing new concepts. It's also not afraid to tell when when stuff gets stupid hard because lets be real coding is stupid hard. But by extension it's kinda alienating. I think when you are making a game that covers a niche as slim as this, it can be difficult to get it accessibly to as many people as possible. It seems like they did what they could in that regard, and then focused on making it an entertaining product as well. It succeeds in both, and while I still prefer other Tomorrow Corp games this is by no means a dud in their catalog. Fun stuff!

You know what you're getting, right off the bat. Cult oldie shootin. Pixels and polygons, sharp corners and stairs that only sometimes work. Absurd weapons, fast movement, and dorky ass voice lines. I mean the blueprint was already laid out from the get go, but this breath of fresh air gave the culture something to really work with. Such fun maps and enemy designs, such great sound and music, it just all works being the stupid gory excessive mess that it is because it's all well thought out and engaging. Well, for the most part. That's the charm of the jank. While the movement and everything about the way the player moves is completely torn from older games, the world that's crafted around it really works well with that gameplay, in a way that's just really inspired and realized. It's damn fun, and it's basically just a cool Quake mod but like, who cares? If it ain't broke...

This dry and overgrown shell of a kingdom that you slash through is so unbelievably fascinating from every corner. The world truly is your oyster if you are able to claim it as your own. This world has bite, too. I'm sure I'm not the first to say that the way the difficulty scales and changes is some of the best and smoothest I've ever experienced. So well done, and so many well kept secrets throughout that made it fun to poke around even after beating it twice. This is like, what LOTR did for movies, this did for games, where they set the precedent that everyone then tried to shittily copy. This is the good shit y'all. It doesn't get better than this. This is what makes dreams.

Played through all of the story and then some at a friends, this is honestly such a great addition to the series, and I don't mind the lack of motion stuff going on in the games, because they use classic stick and buttons really thoroughly. The minigames aren't as many as usual, but the character system makes it very fun and challenging at times, ESPECIALLY in multiplayer. 2 players for this game is definitely one of the best ways to experience this shit, and all of the art and sound is executed really well too. Nothing crazy or anything, just a really good game. Badabing.

The vibes are immaculate, I have to give it that. The narrative and aesthetic are pretty enjoyable despite the rushed ending. But the main problem I have with this is just the meander feeling that this game has. While I love how expressive the character's dialogue can be, it tends to mask a lot of hints or just takes its place entirely, making me just be completely lost super easily and a lot of puzzles involving a lot of running around get confusing really quick because of this. A lot of the puzzles make sense on paper, which is rare for an adventure game like this, but the way it's executed just kinda leaves a lot of matches really hazy. This game needed a bit more for me, but I'm sure it's clear by now that I'm a dumbass and most people have a lot more fun with this game, so definitely take it on if you're up for it, you'll at least enjoy the visuals and the fun story, guaranteed.

See I told y'all it would lead up to something great. This one really pulled out all of the stops narratively, I seriously could not predict what was going to happen, especially on that last case. Which honestly I felt like was it's downfall sometimes, but whatever I'm getting picky this kicks ASS! I love the new music additions, the new characters and settings, the cases are superb, and it's just such a blast. It has it's flaws that somewhat carry over from the first game but it doesn't take away from the experience nearly as much, and this is finally another amazing AA game that fans can (and have been) drooling over. Fuuuck I wish there was more, this Meiji period universe is so sick for this series and I want more so bad

I recently beat all the Rebirth endings (finally lmao), and with having all of the DLC, this is one of the most replayable games I've ever had the pleasure of coming back to every day. There's just something so fun about how chaotic the RNG can be, and how everything ties in to the narrative, and the vibes are simply immaculate. I know this games been out for eight years just about but I swear with the Repentance DLC this has just breathed a new life into it. What a treat it is to play this game for way too long.