Nazo_KG
2006
"Masterpiece" is a word thrown around a lot these days in regard to things that made a lasting or maybe-not-so-lasting impression on people, but I truly believe Okami deserves that title.
It's hard to summarise Okami in a way that paints just how great of a game it is (no pun intended).
It manages to provide a 50+ hour experience while giving the player new challenges and things to discover constantly, I still find and learn new things in the game many years later.
It's jam packed with things to do, including a really long story (You beat what you think might be the final boss and you're only 1/3 through the story) with a tongue-in-cheek script, optional arena-type battles to test your mettle, even collectibles like the Stray Beads and monster checklists.
There's even multiple fishing mini games, racing minigames and lots of other stuff, I easily put in over 100+ hours on my first playthrough.
Accompanying it is a beautiful, melodious soundtrack and unique sumi-e, watercolour-esque artstyle that stood the test of time.
The gist is that the game looks like a painting, and even the small things like the animations and side quests were painstakingly crafted with love and attention to detail.
And with the HD releases, it looks and feels better to play than ever.
There is just so many things that it does right with all its aspects it's given as a video game medium.
I'm really glad Okami is getting the love it deserves even long after Clover Studio dissipated.
It really is a game (and a literal piece of art) unlike any other.
It's hard to summarise Okami in a way that paints just how great of a game it is (no pun intended).
It manages to provide a 50+ hour experience while giving the player new challenges and things to discover constantly, I still find and learn new things in the game many years later.
It's jam packed with things to do, including a really long story (You beat what you think might be the final boss and you're only 1/3 through the story) with a tongue-in-cheek script, optional arena-type battles to test your mettle, even collectibles like the Stray Beads and monster checklists.
There's even multiple fishing mini games, racing minigames and lots of other stuff, I easily put in over 100+ hours on my first playthrough.
Accompanying it is a beautiful, melodious soundtrack and unique sumi-e, watercolour-esque artstyle that stood the test of time.
The gist is that the game looks like a painting, and even the small things like the animations and side quests were painstakingly crafted with love and attention to detail.
And with the HD releases, it looks and feels better to play than ever.
There is just so many things that it does right with all its aspects it's given as a video game medium.
I'm really glad Okami is getting the love it deserves even long after Clover Studio dissipated.
It really is a game (and a literal piece of art) unlike any other.
2016
Dashbored captured my heart.
I had this game in my library from the giveaway that happened a few months prior to playing it, and I went in, not expecting much.
RPG Maker games, bar Yume Nikki and a few others, are infamous for being poorly made and for having one-dimensional characters and usually a really generic plot with shallow combat.
You've played those, I've played those, your grandma and your dog have played those.
But, what I ended up getting into blew me away.
Dashbored made me laugh, feel and sob and just simply appreciate it for delivering a heartfelt, sincere and humourous experience.
The writing in Dashbored is probably its biggest strength.
The characters in this game feel like real people. Each of them contribute something different in terms of personality and contrast the other characters in a way that creates a vibrant, and memorable cast. (by the way, Isaac is my favourite)
DashBored's humour is reminiscent of the likes of LISA The Painful, Earthbound and even Undertale.
The story has quite a few twists and turns and the worldbuilding of Garden is fantastic.
To my knowledge this game also has like 3 or 4 different endings?! That's crazy!
Moving on, the soundtrack is something I HAVE to praise this game for. There is a diverse range of music used, and the boss battle themes are just...wow!!
Some of the genres that the soundtrack delves into are 8-bit-ish melodies, vaporwave, all types of funky synths and electronic mediums.
As a result, the music changes things up nearly all the time and fits the locales/events quite appropriately, it definitely made the game a lot more enjoyable.
Even the combat in this game, with all its limitations of RPG Maker, isn't just "press A to attack".
There are several attacks the characters use that require you to pay attention and time the attack so you deal maximum damage, and it's not always easy.
It's a great addition to a normally boring (for me) turn-based combat experience. I don't like a lot of RPGs or JRPGs for dragging out the fights or making them really really tough for the sheer hell of it.
Dashbored, I found, most of the fights aren't hard, even without grinding, but the ones near end game are very fun and keep you on your toes. Not that I mind it, I'm happy I didn't have to grind for hours just to finish the story.
I did some searching in between my sessions and I found out that the developer has been updating this game for a long time even after release (even now, this game is made by one developer), adding more content and just making the game better overall. I really commend them on that, it's something that many AAA studios fail to do or follow up on.
If I had to criticise this game for anything, it'd be the fact that controller support doesnt work, at all, and it could use some widescreen support. Also there were a few typos here and there in the dialogue but nothing too big in the grand scheme of things.
Thank you, Fading Club, it's been a wonderful ride.
I had this game in my library from the giveaway that happened a few months prior to playing it, and I went in, not expecting much.
RPG Maker games, bar Yume Nikki and a few others, are infamous for being poorly made and for having one-dimensional characters and usually a really generic plot with shallow combat.
You've played those, I've played those, your grandma and your dog have played those.
But, what I ended up getting into blew me away.
Dashbored made me laugh, feel and sob and just simply appreciate it for delivering a heartfelt, sincere and humourous experience.
The writing in Dashbored is probably its biggest strength.
The characters in this game feel like real people. Each of them contribute something different in terms of personality and contrast the other characters in a way that creates a vibrant, and memorable cast. (by the way, Isaac is my favourite)
DashBored's humour is reminiscent of the likes of LISA The Painful, Earthbound and even Undertale.
The story has quite a few twists and turns and the worldbuilding of Garden is fantastic.
To my knowledge this game also has like 3 or 4 different endings?! That's crazy!
Moving on, the soundtrack is something I HAVE to praise this game for. There is a diverse range of music used, and the boss battle themes are just...wow!!
Some of the genres that the soundtrack delves into are 8-bit-ish melodies, vaporwave, all types of funky synths and electronic mediums.
As a result, the music changes things up nearly all the time and fits the locales/events quite appropriately, it definitely made the game a lot more enjoyable.
Even the combat in this game, with all its limitations of RPG Maker, isn't just "press A to attack".
There are several attacks the characters use that require you to pay attention and time the attack so you deal maximum damage, and it's not always easy.
It's a great addition to a normally boring (for me) turn-based combat experience. I don't like a lot of RPGs or JRPGs for dragging out the fights or making them really really tough for the sheer hell of it.
Dashbored, I found, most of the fights aren't hard, even without grinding, but the ones near end game are very fun and keep you on your toes. Not that I mind it, I'm happy I didn't have to grind for hours just to finish the story.
I did some searching in between my sessions and I found out that the developer has been updating this game for a long time even after release (even now, this game is made by one developer), adding more content and just making the game better overall. I really commend them on that, it's something that many AAA studios fail to do or follow up on.
If I had to criticise this game for anything, it'd be the fact that controller support doesnt work, at all, and it could use some widescreen support. Also there were a few typos here and there in the dialogue but nothing too big in the grand scheme of things.
Thank you, Fading Club, it's been a wonderful ride.
2018
Moonlighter is a quaint, charming game from the outset, and presents a genre that is rarely explored in the landscape of video games - Manning your own shop while hunting your resources. And it does it well, to a degree.
Indeed, Moonlighter is far from being a bad game, but for as much as the presentation and charm serves well to invite you, the overall repetitiveness of the gameplay loop will start to wear out its welcome very quickly.
By day, you run the shop where you try to gauge your prices on the loot you bring back from the dungeons. While a neat idea and fun for the first hour or so, I found myself looking up guides for the pricing as it became tedious and more of a chore than a puzzle or fun mechanic.
Unfortunately, apart from a few very minor additions, this straightforward process is mostly all there is to it regarding manning the shop itself.
There is no competition, economy changes etc., the prices remain static and your biggest thing to worry about is a thief coming in and stealing something.
The Dungeon gameplay isn't any more complex, you'll think the first two dungeons are pretty fun and get excited to see what's in store but you'll find that the dungeon layouts, despite being "randomised", aren't actually that much different in layout, and they all don't differ that much in general, sans the visual themes (stone dungeon, forest dungeon, desert dungeon etc.).
The items are dungeon specific but it still feels like you're doing the same thing over and over. To add to this, the bosses aren't all that exciting, you can spam attack + dodge roll constantly and still win, last 2 bosses I barely got hurt and just stood in specific spots and somehow didn't get hit.
Another big problem Moonlighter has is that the player can move in 4 directions but enemies can attack at a diagonal, so it becomes more of a fight with the hitboxes and tanking hits rather than actually getting skilled at the game.
The armor and weapon buffs can feel really strong at times but have no other features or modifiers other than "big numbers".
The elemental weapons' collateral damage do little to make up for the downgrade in raw power of the other weapon class.
I think underneath it all, this game suffers from a (rather large) list of small problems that eventually add up - and ultimately hinders the experience.
Despite all this, I still had fun with the game for a time and considering this is Digital Sun's first and only actual game that they put out, I think it should be taken into account.
Pushing aside the negatives, Moonlighter has an appealing and charming pixel art style, with lively animations and very cool monster and character designs. The enemies are especially well designed and feel like they have personality to them.
The soundtrack is quite good and fitting for the game's various locations/scenes, and I do like that there is variations for the three floors of each themed dungeon. However, some of the tracks did get stale after a while or upon revisits.
Being middling all in all, it's honestly a shame considering Moonlighter has a fantastic idea on paper; and it's evident that the developers clearly care about the game and put a lot of effort in it.
It's just that, somewhere along the way, the execution just didn't end up landing quite right.
Indeed, Moonlighter is far from being a bad game, but for as much as the presentation and charm serves well to invite you, the overall repetitiveness of the gameplay loop will start to wear out its welcome very quickly.
By day, you run the shop where you try to gauge your prices on the loot you bring back from the dungeons. While a neat idea and fun for the first hour or so, I found myself looking up guides for the pricing as it became tedious and more of a chore than a puzzle or fun mechanic.
Unfortunately, apart from a few very minor additions, this straightforward process is mostly all there is to it regarding manning the shop itself.
There is no competition, economy changes etc., the prices remain static and your biggest thing to worry about is a thief coming in and stealing something.
The Dungeon gameplay isn't any more complex, you'll think the first two dungeons are pretty fun and get excited to see what's in store but you'll find that the dungeon layouts, despite being "randomised", aren't actually that much different in layout, and they all don't differ that much in general, sans the visual themes (stone dungeon, forest dungeon, desert dungeon etc.).
The items are dungeon specific but it still feels like you're doing the same thing over and over. To add to this, the bosses aren't all that exciting, you can spam attack + dodge roll constantly and still win, last 2 bosses I barely got hurt and just stood in specific spots and somehow didn't get hit.
Another big problem Moonlighter has is that the player can move in 4 directions but enemies can attack at a diagonal, so it becomes more of a fight with the hitboxes and tanking hits rather than actually getting skilled at the game.
The armor and weapon buffs can feel really strong at times but have no other features or modifiers other than "big numbers".
The elemental weapons' collateral damage do little to make up for the downgrade in raw power of the other weapon class.
I think underneath it all, this game suffers from a (rather large) list of small problems that eventually add up - and ultimately hinders the experience.
Despite all this, I still had fun with the game for a time and considering this is Digital Sun's first and only actual game that they put out, I think it should be taken into account.
Pushing aside the negatives, Moonlighter has an appealing and charming pixel art style, with lively animations and very cool monster and character designs. The enemies are especially well designed and feel like they have personality to them.
The soundtrack is quite good and fitting for the game's various locations/scenes, and I do like that there is variations for the three floors of each themed dungeon. However, some of the tracks did get stale after a while or upon revisits.
Being middling all in all, it's honestly a shame considering Moonlighter has a fantastic idea on paper; and it's evident that the developers clearly care about the game and put a lot of effort in it.
It's just that, somewhere along the way, the execution just didn't end up landing quite right.
2019
Devil May Cry 5 is a great action/hack and slash game all around.
It's got 3 playable characters, each with their own distinct playstyle and flavour; Nero, Dante and the mysterious newcomer, V.
The story is good, even better if you played the previous games (or at least the 3rd entry) as some of the dialogue and other things are references to the previous games.
Nero is the main man in DMC5, and he is given another chance to shine after his debut in DMC4. The character play off each other with their characterisations and mannerisms.
The different playstyles for each character feels different and needs a different gameplay approach. Nero is a beginner-friendly Dante, with a few mechanics that separate him and make him a fun multi-tasker character to play.
Dante will feel mostly familiar to players who played the previous entries, with his weapon switching as well as style-switching. He's a more complex character to play as and has a lot more depth to his gameplay style.
Lastly, V is pretty much a summoner. He uses his two pet demons to fight for him, one being the ranged attacker, while the other packs a punch up close and personal.
V is worlds apart in terms of anything gameplay-wise that has been in the series thus far, so he may be a bit unwieldy at first; but if you have an open mind, he can be very fun to play.
The game gives you easy mode and normal mode at the start, but the game is very generous with giving you gold orbs which you can use to continue after you run out of HP. It also restores your ammo/DT gauge.
Whether you choose to use them or not will determine how hard the game is for you and your overall satisfaction with your experience.
DMC3 was a really hard game but beating that stupid-hard boss after 10 tries felt amazing, but here, the gold orbs can take away that challenge in a way.
Again, up to the player.
Graphically, DMC5 looks stunning. Very nice lighting effects and particles, and everything from the enemy to the character models, as well as the environment, is rendered in painstaking detail. So much so, that your PS4 might start making funny noises when you play this game. But it's all good, barely any frame stutters and consistent framerate, which is a mark of a game that's been optimised well for the hardware.
Devil May Cry games generally speaking have awesome soundtracks, but DMC5 knocks it out of the park with its electronically infused blend of rock genres and varying musical styles that are just as diverse and deep as the characters that the themes belong to.
It's got 3 playable characters, each with their own distinct playstyle and flavour; Nero, Dante and the mysterious newcomer, V.
The story is good, even better if you played the previous games (or at least the 3rd entry) as some of the dialogue and other things are references to the previous games.
Nero is the main man in DMC5, and he is given another chance to shine after his debut in DMC4. The character play off each other with their characterisations and mannerisms.
The different playstyles for each character feels different and needs a different gameplay approach. Nero is a beginner-friendly Dante, with a few mechanics that separate him and make him a fun multi-tasker character to play.
Dante will feel mostly familiar to players who played the previous entries, with his weapon switching as well as style-switching. He's a more complex character to play as and has a lot more depth to his gameplay style.
Lastly, V is pretty much a summoner. He uses his two pet demons to fight for him, one being the ranged attacker, while the other packs a punch up close and personal.
V is worlds apart in terms of anything gameplay-wise that has been in the series thus far, so he may be a bit unwieldy at first; but if you have an open mind, he can be very fun to play.
The game gives you easy mode and normal mode at the start, but the game is very generous with giving you gold orbs which you can use to continue after you run out of HP. It also restores your ammo/DT gauge.
Whether you choose to use them or not will determine how hard the game is for you and your overall satisfaction with your experience.
DMC3 was a really hard game but beating that stupid-hard boss after 10 tries felt amazing, but here, the gold orbs can take away that challenge in a way.
Again, up to the player.
Graphically, DMC5 looks stunning. Very nice lighting effects and particles, and everything from the enemy to the character models, as well as the environment, is rendered in painstaking detail. So much so, that your PS4 might start making funny noises when you play this game. But it's all good, barely any frame stutters and consistent framerate, which is a mark of a game that's been optimised well for the hardware.
Devil May Cry games generally speaking have awesome soundtracks, but DMC5 knocks it out of the park with its electronically infused blend of rock genres and varying musical styles that are just as diverse and deep as the characters that the themes belong to.
This review contains spoilers
Kingdom Hearts, as a concept, is an interesting one.
A three-way combo of Disney, Final Fantasy and an original touch to round off the direction has loads of potential, some of which is realised in a good way, some not.
The Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts improves on some mechanics and adds features that were missing in the original, however, it doesn't escape the balancing issues and bad design that the game is plagued with throughout its runtime.
Sometimes the game will feel fine to play albeit a bit clunky, other times, you'll feel as though you're fighting the game itself rather than the enemies or boss you're up against.
The enemies can gang up on you and overwhelm you because they're able to attack off-screen and invincibility frames can be finicky.
This is especially notorious and obnoxious in the final stretch of the game, where you'll be surrounded by tanky enemies with annoying attacks and ability to deflect your own attacks, all while being stuck in a tiny room with like 8 of them at once.
Kingdom Hearts 1 also has one of the most unnecessarily drawn out and frustrating final bosses I've had the displeasure to fight against in any video game I've ever played.
It has like around 8 phases, felt like it would never end, is super frustrating, and I think it would've been better off being limited to AT MOST 3 phases.
Speaking of bosses, this game has atrocious bosses that, in terms of the fight itself, are either boring, generic, annoying and at times, borderline unfair.
[SPOILERS]
The Ursula boss in Atlantica is one of the most horrible bosses I've ever had to fight in a video game; no openings, no downtime, constant attack spamming and horrible "swimming" controls to boot, so you don't even have the dodge roll to help you.
And this is just one of them, the rest are a little less frustrating but barely any of them are any fun or have anything interesting to offer.
There are secret/bonus boss fights in this game, but I didn't bother with them because I could just marginally muster the will to actually complete the game once I got to the final area.
The writing ranges from good, to ok, to barely serviceable to at times, just straight up cringe-inducing.
"My friends are my power!" is A REAL LINE OF DIALOGUE in this game.
Besides the subpar dialogue, some of the parts of the story and how it was written don't make sense or seem forced, for example [SPOILERS] Riku finds Sora after they were separated and Sora explains to him that he was looking for him and Kairi together with Goofy and Donald and he makes that very clear, but instead Riku decides to ignore that and takes it as an insult because he sees Goofy and Donald as Sora's "replacement" for his friends, even though Sora never said or did anything to imply that he doesn't care about Riku and/or Kairi anymore.
Riku is not a likeable character at all from start to finish (at least in this game), Kairi is barely existent and besides the main trio (Sora, Donald, Goofy), there aren't many characters who get enough screentime to make you feel attached to them unless you've seen the movies, in which case, you won't get much out of these familiar characters that you haven't seen from them already in the movies.
With all this being said, I feel KH1 being massively brought down by its technical side of things is a massive shame, especially since the aesthetics and presentation are very good!
The game's appearance still holds up well enough today thanks to its generous use of colour and vivid environment design, all of the worlds from the Disney properties have been recreated faithfully, and the soundtrack is excellent in capturing the feel and personality of each of the worlds that you explore.
I really enjoyed what the worlds had to offer artistically in terms of how the source material was translated into a video game format, and the selection of worlds is good.
One other thing I thought was neat is that you get different keyblade designs throughout the game based on the worlds you visit, which is a good aspect because they could've easily made the default keyblade the only one you could use and just raised stats so it'd have more power.
But instead, they made various keyblades of various ranges and buffs, such as extending your MP or crit chance.
I can see why people found this game appealing when it first came out, but nowadays, it feels like a frustrating mess with some redeeming qualities but plagued by bad design and clunky controls that do nothing but make it feel outdated.
A remake could save this game, but for now, is better served as a cornerstone of the series to be experienced from afar, but seldom played.
A three-way combo of Disney, Final Fantasy and an original touch to round off the direction has loads of potential, some of which is realised in a good way, some not.
The Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts improves on some mechanics and adds features that were missing in the original, however, it doesn't escape the balancing issues and bad design that the game is plagued with throughout its runtime.
Sometimes the game will feel fine to play albeit a bit clunky, other times, you'll feel as though you're fighting the game itself rather than the enemies or boss you're up against.
The enemies can gang up on you and overwhelm you because they're able to attack off-screen and invincibility frames can be finicky.
This is especially notorious and obnoxious in the final stretch of the game, where you'll be surrounded by tanky enemies with annoying attacks and ability to deflect your own attacks, all while being stuck in a tiny room with like 8 of them at once.
Kingdom Hearts 1 also has one of the most unnecessarily drawn out and frustrating final bosses I've had the displeasure to fight against in any video game I've ever played.
It has like around 8 phases, felt like it would never end, is super frustrating, and I think it would've been better off being limited to AT MOST 3 phases.
Speaking of bosses, this game has atrocious bosses that, in terms of the fight itself, are either boring, generic, annoying and at times, borderline unfair.
[SPOILERS]
The Ursula boss in Atlantica is one of the most horrible bosses I've ever had to fight in a video game; no openings, no downtime, constant attack spamming and horrible "swimming" controls to boot, so you don't even have the dodge roll to help you.
And this is just one of them, the rest are a little less frustrating but barely any of them are any fun or have anything interesting to offer.
There are secret/bonus boss fights in this game, but I didn't bother with them because I could just marginally muster the will to actually complete the game once I got to the final area.
The writing ranges from good, to ok, to barely serviceable to at times, just straight up cringe-inducing.
"My friends are my power!" is A REAL LINE OF DIALOGUE in this game.
Besides the subpar dialogue, some of the parts of the story and how it was written don't make sense or seem forced, for example [SPOILERS] Riku finds Sora after they were separated and Sora explains to him that he was looking for him and Kairi together with Goofy and Donald and he makes that very clear, but instead Riku decides to ignore that and takes it as an insult because he sees Goofy and Donald as Sora's "replacement" for his friends, even though Sora never said or did anything to imply that he doesn't care about Riku and/or Kairi anymore.
Riku is not a likeable character at all from start to finish (at least in this game), Kairi is barely existent and besides the main trio (Sora, Donald, Goofy), there aren't many characters who get enough screentime to make you feel attached to them unless you've seen the movies, in which case, you won't get much out of these familiar characters that you haven't seen from them already in the movies.
With all this being said, I feel KH1 being massively brought down by its technical side of things is a massive shame, especially since the aesthetics and presentation are very good!
The game's appearance still holds up well enough today thanks to its generous use of colour and vivid environment design, all of the worlds from the Disney properties have been recreated faithfully, and the soundtrack is excellent in capturing the feel and personality of each of the worlds that you explore.
I really enjoyed what the worlds had to offer artistically in terms of how the source material was translated into a video game format, and the selection of worlds is good.
One other thing I thought was neat is that you get different keyblade designs throughout the game based on the worlds you visit, which is a good aspect because they could've easily made the default keyblade the only one you could use and just raised stats so it'd have more power.
But instead, they made various keyblades of various ranges and buffs, such as extending your MP or crit chance.
I can see why people found this game appealing when it first came out, but nowadays, it feels like a frustrating mess with some redeeming qualities but plagued by bad design and clunky controls that do nothing but make it feel outdated.
A remake could save this game, but for now, is better served as a cornerstone of the series to be experienced from afar, but seldom played.
2021
Momotype is a unique horror visual novel based on the premise of raising a tamagotchi as a real life pet.
It utilises a progressive story continuation with each playthrough which is clever once you know the meaning behind it.
Momotype manages to hit a wide range of emotions throughout its runtime which is very impressive on its own, but it is complemented by a gorgeous sepia-toned pixel artstyle and what little music there is in this game, it is used to its fullest potential imo.
It's surprisingly dark with its themes, while its story sits as a contemplation upon the ethics of AI, and mortality.
I was immersed thoroughly, and even though it isn't actually scary, there are a few scenes that made me unnerved/uneasy.
Momotype holds in its hands a compelling narrative, and it makes sure its medium of being a VN doesn't hold it back by using it in some very interesting ways.
Simply put, a quality title for whom the entry price is merely an hour of your time.
Highly recommended!
It utilises a progressive story continuation with each playthrough which is clever once you know the meaning behind it.
Momotype manages to hit a wide range of emotions throughout its runtime which is very impressive on its own, but it is complemented by a gorgeous sepia-toned pixel artstyle and what little music there is in this game, it is used to its fullest potential imo.
It's surprisingly dark with its themes, while its story sits as a contemplation upon the ethics of AI, and mortality.
I was immersed thoroughly, and even though it isn't actually scary, there are a few scenes that made me unnerved/uneasy.
Momotype holds in its hands a compelling narrative, and it makes sure its medium of being a VN doesn't hold it back by using it in some very interesting ways.
Simply put, a quality title for whom the entry price is merely an hour of your time.
Highly recommended!
2021
Very cute little game!
Even though Alpaca Stacka might only take up at most 10 mins and is very simple, it is very clear to me that it was made with a lot of love and care, and I really enjoyed the storybook vibe present in every aspect of the game.
Infused with gorgeous pastel colour palettes, adorable character designs and overall a simple but defined vision, Alpaca Stacka is an enjoyable glance at the team's talents.
I would love to see a full-length game made with similar aesthetics. Good job, devs!
Even though Alpaca Stacka might only take up at most 10 mins and is very simple, it is very clear to me that it was made with a lot of love and care, and I really enjoyed the storybook vibe present in every aspect of the game.
Infused with gorgeous pastel colour palettes, adorable character designs and overall a simple but defined vision, Alpaca Stacka is an enjoyable glance at the team's talents.
I would love to see a full-length game made with similar aesthetics. Good job, devs!
A cute, quirky and relaxing point and click whodunit adventure.
Initially I found out about this game from a post made by Grimoire's VA (who also voiced one of my other favourite fictional characters..heh) and thought it looked really cool!
While I have not played the flash game that came before this one (?), I enjoyed this game quite a lot.
I am also a huge fan of the Mystery Case Files series and love detective point and click games in general, so this was a treat.
For what it lacks in complexity due to its simple nature, especially in terms of puzzles, it more than makes up for it with superb voice acting and lively art direction, as well as a whimsical soundtrack.
It doesn't try to be anything more than it is, and that's okay.
Really looking forward to playing Tangle Tower!
Initially I found out about this game from a post made by Grimoire's VA (who also voiced one of my other favourite fictional characters..heh) and thought it looked really cool!
While I have not played the flash game that came before this one (?), I enjoyed this game quite a lot.
I am also a huge fan of the Mystery Case Files series and love detective point and click games in general, so this was a treat.
For what it lacks in complexity due to its simple nature, especially in terms of puzzles, it more than makes up for it with superb voice acting and lively art direction, as well as a whimsical soundtrack.
It doesn't try to be anything more than it is, and that's okay.
Really looking forward to playing Tangle Tower!
2019
Good idea, poor execution.
Unfortunately Art Sqool is mostly style over substance.
The main gist of it is that you are an art student called Froshmin who attends an art college assisted by a professor composed of artificial intelligence.
You get to explore a campus full of random objects and architecture and draw pictures with provided MS Paint-level tools, but in the end it doesn't amount to much because the controls aren't very good, there's no in-game tutorials, hell there's not even an option menu.
The novelty of Art Sqool wears off after about an hour of playing. The campus's random nature and poor controls are off-putting and made me not want to explore further to find all the brushes. I only managed to find all swatches.
The idea with you being provided prompts for your art pieces is good, but the grading system feels very arbitrary and borderline unfair due to no direction or feedback system to tell you what the AI wants from you.
I could draw random blobs of colour sometimes and get a B or A, but other times I could spend time and effort trying to make something good only for the AI to give me a C at best or get me to redo it all again at worst.
I expected a lot more out of this game but in the end, even though I managed to finish it, I wouldn't recommend it because it feels like the dev had an idea for the main concept and visuals but ran out of steam when it came to the actual gameplay.
Unfortunately Art Sqool is mostly style over substance.
The main gist of it is that you are an art student called Froshmin who attends an art college assisted by a professor composed of artificial intelligence.
You get to explore a campus full of random objects and architecture and draw pictures with provided MS Paint-level tools, but in the end it doesn't amount to much because the controls aren't very good, there's no in-game tutorials, hell there's not even an option menu.
The novelty of Art Sqool wears off after about an hour of playing. The campus's random nature and poor controls are off-putting and made me not want to explore further to find all the brushes. I only managed to find all swatches.
The idea with you being provided prompts for your art pieces is good, but the grading system feels very arbitrary and borderline unfair due to no direction or feedback system to tell you what the AI wants from you.
I could draw random blobs of colour sometimes and get a B or A, but other times I could spend time and effort trying to make something good only for the AI to give me a C at best or get me to redo it all again at worst.
I expected a lot more out of this game but in the end, even though I managed to finish it, I wouldn't recommend it because it feels like the dev had an idea for the main concept and visuals but ran out of steam when it came to the actual gameplay.
2020
A short, sweet and insidious point and click adventure following the plight of Ms Appleton and her little tavern.
During it's approximate 20 minutes of runtime, it presents its well-executed story that will pull you in and leave you with satisfaction and the tinge of wanting more. The atmosphere is so thick, it could practically be cut with a knife.
The pixel art is gorgeous, with its immaculate, painstakingly detailed lighting and I loved seeing every scene and location in the game.
The gameplay is simply the point and click gameplay that you, your grandma and your dog are familiar with.
But you know what? It doesn't matter, because it's such a sweet little game that it doesn't need to reinvent the wheel.
The Supper is a fantastic dip of the toes into bittersweet madness of the premise, adorned with horror elements.
Great little game that only asks for your time.
During it's approximate 20 minutes of runtime, it presents its well-executed story that will pull you in and leave you with satisfaction and the tinge of wanting more. The atmosphere is so thick, it could practically be cut with a knife.
The pixel art is gorgeous, with its immaculate, painstakingly detailed lighting and I loved seeing every scene and location in the game.
The gameplay is simply the point and click gameplay that you, your grandma and your dog are familiar with.
But you know what? It doesn't matter, because it's such a sweet little game that it doesn't need to reinvent the wheel.
The Supper is a fantastic dip of the toes into bittersweet madness of the premise, adorned with horror elements.
Great little game that only asks for your time.
2017
We Were Here, a co-op adventure for two that will probably have you and your friend screaming, laughing and maybe even crying at each other throughout its runtime.
It's a fun, albeit underused concept that I hope the creators have expanded upon in further entries.
One person plays the role of explorer, and the other librarian. The problem is that librarian's role is mostly just giving guidance to the explorer who actually has to physically carry out and solve the puzzles.
I mostly just wish that both players could swap roles for each puzzle or balance it somehow so the librarian has something else to do other than giving instructions the whole time.
My friend and I still had fun, but felt there was very little replay value once the puzzles have been done once, regardless if you play explorer or librarian.
Other than the co-op experience, the game doesn't offer anything too special. The artstyle is pretty, but not particularly unique. The sound effects and music, or what little there is of it, is okay, it fits the game but again, won't knock your socks off or anything.
There was also one or two bugs we ran into, nothing as bad as some of the other reviewers have had to go through but the chess puzzle was being unresponsive at times, which obviously made me fail at it.
Also, whose bright idea was it to cover up 90% of the screen during that puzzle....?
I get it, I'm dying of hypothermia but at least let me see what I'm doing.
The puzzles themselves were engaging for the most part and my friend and I enjoyed what was there, the theater puzzle was really clever especially.
It's a fun, albeit underused concept that I hope the creators have expanded upon in further entries.
One person plays the role of explorer, and the other librarian. The problem is that librarian's role is mostly just giving guidance to the explorer who actually has to physically carry out and solve the puzzles.
I mostly just wish that both players could swap roles for each puzzle or balance it somehow so the librarian has something else to do other than giving instructions the whole time.
My friend and I still had fun, but felt there was very little replay value once the puzzles have been done once, regardless if you play explorer or librarian.
Other than the co-op experience, the game doesn't offer anything too special. The artstyle is pretty, but not particularly unique. The sound effects and music, or what little there is of it, is okay, it fits the game but again, won't knock your socks off or anything.
There was also one or two bugs we ran into, nothing as bad as some of the other reviewers have had to go through but the chess puzzle was being unresponsive at times, which obviously made me fail at it.
Also, whose bright idea was it to cover up 90% of the screen during that puzzle....?
I get it, I'm dying of hypothermia but at least let me see what I'm doing.
The puzzles themselves were engaging for the most part and my friend and I enjoyed what was there, the theater puzzle was really clever especially.
A brief but sincere glance into the daily struggles of a transgender person and into their point of view of the world.
The artstyle is very cute and even though this game is very short, I feel I learned some things from it that I wasn't aware of about trans people.
Very good little game, clearly made with love and from the heart.
The artstyle is very cute and even though this game is very short, I feel I learned some things from it that I wasn't aware of about trans people.
Very good little game, clearly made with love and from the heart.
2019
A short, lighthearted point and click adventure set in a universe inhabited by alligators.
In Later Alligator, you attempt to help Pat - a paranoid, jumpy and scatter-brained fellow who thinks his family might be out for his head.
Although it isn't long, the game hands you the reins to explore a city where you'll find a myriad of colourful characters, each one having a distinct flavour to the last.
By meeting the different characters, you'll be given the chance to complete a wide series of a variety of minigames, ranging from pinball, slider puzzles, a dating sim, five finger fillet, etc. etc.
You don't have to complete them all to win the game, but I enjoyed my time with most of them and it's nice that there is a lot to choose from to fill out the time.
Although there's so many different minigames to play, the Mario Party-esque nature of them means that the game has no real direction in coherency of gameplay and some of the minigames can feel janky.
Despite this, looking past this flaw isn't too hard considering what the rest of the game has to offer.
The writing is lighthearted and obviously isn't meant to be taken seriously, but the goofy nature of the game together with its cast of idiosyncratic personalities definitely helps elevate what is essentially a minimal mystery plot wrapped around a collection of mini games.
The art style is distinct and has an interesting use of its bleached colour palettes. I enjoyed the different portrayals of the alligators with different snouts, eyes, noses etc., some of the looked quite funny too.
One thing I definitely was surprised but nonetheless VERY impressed by was all of the fabulous animation work for just about any area, character, locale, minigame - you name it.
All of it is lovingly brought to life in hand-drawn animation that, along with its alligator-themed world, sets Later Alligator apart from many of its ilk in that regard.
Lastly, the soundtrack is both fitting, moody and eccentric in all the right ways for its scenarios that they feature in. It accompanies the game well, but also stands on its own as nice pieces of music too.
To sum it up, Later Alligator is a solid point and click game that is a little bit distracted by its attempt to try so many different things at once, but nonetheless is an enjoyable experience on a lot of fronts.
In Later Alligator, you attempt to help Pat - a paranoid, jumpy and scatter-brained fellow who thinks his family might be out for his head.
Although it isn't long, the game hands you the reins to explore a city where you'll find a myriad of colourful characters, each one having a distinct flavour to the last.
By meeting the different characters, you'll be given the chance to complete a wide series of a variety of minigames, ranging from pinball, slider puzzles, a dating sim, five finger fillet, etc. etc.
You don't have to complete them all to win the game, but I enjoyed my time with most of them and it's nice that there is a lot to choose from to fill out the time.
Although there's so many different minigames to play, the Mario Party-esque nature of them means that the game has no real direction in coherency of gameplay and some of the minigames can feel janky.
Despite this, looking past this flaw isn't too hard considering what the rest of the game has to offer.
The writing is lighthearted and obviously isn't meant to be taken seriously, but the goofy nature of the game together with its cast of idiosyncratic personalities definitely helps elevate what is essentially a minimal mystery plot wrapped around a collection of mini games.
The art style is distinct and has an interesting use of its bleached colour palettes. I enjoyed the different portrayals of the alligators with different snouts, eyes, noses etc., some of the looked quite funny too.
One thing I definitely was surprised but nonetheless VERY impressed by was all of the fabulous animation work for just about any area, character, locale, minigame - you name it.
All of it is lovingly brought to life in hand-drawn animation that, along with its alligator-themed world, sets Later Alligator apart from many of its ilk in that regard.
Lastly, the soundtrack is both fitting, moody and eccentric in all the right ways for its scenarios that they feature in. It accompanies the game well, but also stands on its own as nice pieces of music too.
To sum it up, Later Alligator is a solid point and click game that is a little bit distracted by its attempt to try so many different things at once, but nonetheless is an enjoyable experience on a lot of fronts.
2022
Even though the devs and the bootlickers are insistent that the whole time the game was in beta phase, the game was not marketed on Steam as being in early access or having it said anywhere on the store page that this was an open beta.
The fact that so many people are leaving reviews, comments, forum posts etc. stating they didn't know it was still in beta is quite evident of the fact that they didn't do a good job of communicating that.
What "beta" has battle passes, seasons, tournaments, gets awards and all manner of monetisation included in it?
When the game first properly released on here, I myself was convinced that once the new characters and other content started getting added, that that was the end of the beta.
Because really, think about it.
Normally, when a game is in beta, the devs don't just shut the game down for half a year to "finish" it. They only shut the beta down after the full game is complete. Hence, the game technically in the eyes of many, did release and should've been labeled as full release, as that is what it was being treated as.
And even besides that, there was never any mention anywhere here that the game would be closing down for half a year.
I'm sorry, but this is a really scummy tactic and the devs should've been transparent with the community about this especially, considering the game not only sold founder packs up to $100, but also was riddled with microtransactions, battle passes and all the other nonsense that live service games nowadays carry...
That of course, people bought because there was no mention anywhere that any of this would be yanked away from them at the drop of a hat. Oh, and by the way, these people cannot get refunds for anything they bought, either.
And don't tell me they "said" this anywhere, because if they really gave a ♥♥♥♥ about the players knowing this, they would put the information somewhere accessible instead of "somewhere on their website", hidden away in a corner.
Multiversus itself is an alright game. Not the Smash Bros killer that everyone and their grandmas touted it to be, but fair enough for what it was mechanically and conceptually.
The movement felt kinda floaty, the hitboxes aren't the best.
Servers could range from being serviceable to downright atrocious, not to mention the broken matchmaking that makes no sense.
All the stages felt bland and uninspired despite them being based off of existing properties, were for the most part just empty platforms with a different colour backdrop and not much else besides that.
The music....I guess it exists.
The thing about Multiversus is that it didn't try to do anything new or mindblowing, trying to reinvent the wheel - and sometimes, that's ok. But if you're not going to offer anything new, you need to make the metaphorical reinvented wheel the best you can make it.
The character selection wasn't bad, and they kept adding new characters, but the amount of grinding you would have to do to get even one more character was not worth it, and felt tailored that way to incentivise paying for them.
I get it, the game has to make money somehow. But I'd rather buy a game that has a roster that I can unlock through actually playing rather than grinding for endless hours just to get one more character.
The character rotation was a neat idea and allowed you to use a character even if you didn't own it, but still didn't detract from the fact that the monetisation got progressively worse and worse over time.
Another problem is that instead of trying to focus on fixing the issues that the players were complaining about, they just putting out new battle passes, icons, cosmetics etc. because somewhere along the line, monetisation was being prioritised over actual gameplay.
And gradually, content droughts would appear that would make players drop off the game and that inconsistency, along with all the other problems I mentioned, is what shaved the playerbase down to minimum after the initial hype of the game died.
It is a good guess to assume that the reason why they are shutting the game down to "fully release" it is simply a ploy to generate interest again after a long silence, because the dwindling player numbers weren't generating enough money.
While I do believe initially the game was made with good intentions, I cannot in good faith recommend this game to other people, especially given how they treated the playerbase that supported them from the beginning.
Whether this game will actually return as they say, or will end up with "complications" that will be the nail in the coffin, we have yet to see...
Either way, truly a shame.
The fact that so many people are leaving reviews, comments, forum posts etc. stating they didn't know it was still in beta is quite evident of the fact that they didn't do a good job of communicating that.
What "beta" has battle passes, seasons, tournaments, gets awards and all manner of monetisation included in it?
When the game first properly released on here, I myself was convinced that once the new characters and other content started getting added, that that was the end of the beta.
Because really, think about it.
Normally, when a game is in beta, the devs don't just shut the game down for half a year to "finish" it. They only shut the beta down after the full game is complete. Hence, the game technically in the eyes of many, did release and should've been labeled as full release, as that is what it was being treated as.
And even besides that, there was never any mention anywhere here that the game would be closing down for half a year.
I'm sorry, but this is a really scummy tactic and the devs should've been transparent with the community about this especially, considering the game not only sold founder packs up to $100, but also was riddled with microtransactions, battle passes and all the other nonsense that live service games nowadays carry...
That of course, people bought because there was no mention anywhere that any of this would be yanked away from them at the drop of a hat. Oh, and by the way, these people cannot get refunds for anything they bought, either.
And don't tell me they "said" this anywhere, because if they really gave a ♥♥♥♥ about the players knowing this, they would put the information somewhere accessible instead of "somewhere on their website", hidden away in a corner.
Multiversus itself is an alright game. Not the Smash Bros killer that everyone and their grandmas touted it to be, but fair enough for what it was mechanically and conceptually.
The movement felt kinda floaty, the hitboxes aren't the best.
Servers could range from being serviceable to downright atrocious, not to mention the broken matchmaking that makes no sense.
All the stages felt bland and uninspired despite them being based off of existing properties, were for the most part just empty platforms with a different colour backdrop and not much else besides that.
The music....I guess it exists.
The thing about Multiversus is that it didn't try to do anything new or mindblowing, trying to reinvent the wheel - and sometimes, that's ok. But if you're not going to offer anything new, you need to make the metaphorical reinvented wheel the best you can make it.
The character selection wasn't bad, and they kept adding new characters, but the amount of grinding you would have to do to get even one more character was not worth it, and felt tailored that way to incentivise paying for them.
I get it, the game has to make money somehow. But I'd rather buy a game that has a roster that I can unlock through actually playing rather than grinding for endless hours just to get one more character.
The character rotation was a neat idea and allowed you to use a character even if you didn't own it, but still didn't detract from the fact that the monetisation got progressively worse and worse over time.
Another problem is that instead of trying to focus on fixing the issues that the players were complaining about, they just putting out new battle passes, icons, cosmetics etc. because somewhere along the line, monetisation was being prioritised over actual gameplay.
And gradually, content droughts would appear that would make players drop off the game and that inconsistency, along with all the other problems I mentioned, is what shaved the playerbase down to minimum after the initial hype of the game died.
It is a good guess to assume that the reason why they are shutting the game down to "fully release" it is simply a ploy to generate interest again after a long silence, because the dwindling player numbers weren't generating enough money.
While I do believe initially the game was made with good intentions, I cannot in good faith recommend this game to other people, especially given how they treated the playerbase that supported them from the beginning.
Whether this game will actually return as they say, or will end up with "complications" that will be the nail in the coffin, we have yet to see...
Either way, truly a shame.
A short, relaxing hidden object game about finding bees hidden inside a painting.
The UI is nice and simple, controls whatever way you're more comfortable with and the paintings are absolutely stunning! Each one feels distinct from one another.
This is helped by the fact that each painting has different sound effects and music assigned to it, helping the player immerse themselves in the game.
It's not that deep, but this is a very good and relaxing point and clicker that you can turn off your brain to after a stressful day.
Plus, it is free. So what are you waiting for? Dive in and look for those buzzing buggers!
The UI is nice and simple, controls whatever way you're more comfortable with and the paintings are absolutely stunning! Each one feels distinct from one another.
This is helped by the fact that each painting has different sound effects and music assigned to it, helping the player immerse themselves in the game.
It's not that deep, but this is a very good and relaxing point and clicker that you can turn off your brain to after a stressful day.
Plus, it is free. So what are you waiting for? Dive in and look for those buzzing buggers!