OneBadMouse
2022
I ended up rage quitting! Who'd have thought it! Some puzzles are headscratchers, some are random and some are just a grind. Chapter three in particular is horribly grindy. But that's ok, the problem is the controls. This was presumably designed for mouse so the Xbox build is horrible. Precision control is needed and the snapping isn't forgiving enough. Menu navigation is horrible, which is why I quit (I had nearly finished a level, a very grindy level, and went to the menu and accidentally clicked the reset option). It has potential to be a fun little puzzler but was marred by being horrible to control.
2021
2019
2021
As it's early access, I don't think it fair to give it a star rating. My feedback on my short playthrough is that this could be the exact sort of game I'm looking for, except it just doesn't quite get there for me personally.
The one thing that really hits is the exploration and the feeling that you're in the world. The emergent gameplay of creating your own path is delightful. I started somewhere, a river or shore I think, and headed north to the tea house by the tree as recommended by a random. I talked to the manager there who said that I must be heading to a certain place. I didn't take a note of the place, but figured I'd find it and recalled rough directions. It seemed to me like my emergent story was to head to that place; that was my role-playing element; that's what my character would do. I couldn't find the place, alas, and kept hitting roadblocks. I'd spoken to the tea shop manager to try and get him to repeat what he said, but it didn't work.
So I was at a bit of a dead-end as to where my story would take me, at which point I lost the immersion and started to think whether the feel/vibe of the game was enough for me to spend another 20 mins or so walking back to the tea house. I opted not to continue. I wasn't interested in side-quests at this point, I don't like the art style and certainly don't like the character design, the music was not drawing me either, and the landscape felt more magic realism than fantasy (which is fine, just not what I wanted). So I reluctantly called it quits and refunded.
It is interesting, to me at least, that it captured the exploration elements better than something like Skyrim (not to criticise it, but journey moments in Skyrim were more retrospective than active). The fast travel between sections of the map were annoying as were the limitations on where you could go in a particular scene, but the journey was ever-present and palpable.
The one thing that really hits is the exploration and the feeling that you're in the world. The emergent gameplay of creating your own path is delightful. I started somewhere, a river or shore I think, and headed north to the tea house by the tree as recommended by a random. I talked to the manager there who said that I must be heading to a certain place. I didn't take a note of the place, but figured I'd find it and recalled rough directions. It seemed to me like my emergent story was to head to that place; that was my role-playing element; that's what my character would do. I couldn't find the place, alas, and kept hitting roadblocks. I'd spoken to the tea shop manager to try and get him to repeat what he said, but it didn't work.
So I was at a bit of a dead-end as to where my story would take me, at which point I lost the immersion and started to think whether the feel/vibe of the game was enough for me to spend another 20 mins or so walking back to the tea house. I opted not to continue. I wasn't interested in side-quests at this point, I don't like the art style and certainly don't like the character design, the music was not drawing me either, and the landscape felt more magic realism than fantasy (which is fine, just not what I wanted). So I reluctantly called it quits and refunded.
It is interesting, to me at least, that it captured the exploration elements better than something like Skyrim (not to criticise it, but journey moments in Skyrim were more retrospective than active). The fast travel between sections of the map were annoying as were the limitations on where you could go in a particular scene, but the journey was ever-present and palpable.
2017
A fantastic platformer. Alas, too hard for me. It was never frustrating for me, it was just a game I couldn't find myself continuing with, as, much like Returnal, I felt that my skill wouldn't increase at the same rate as my levelling up so I'd always be left behind. This isn't a criticism, I'm just not that good at games. The art, sound, gameplay, environment are all superb. An absolute classic.
2019
2020
2022
Abandoned around a third of the way through the game. It's a nice little game, graphics are unique and absorbing, the story is weird and engaging. Unfortunately, I just don't really like the bizarre and surreal in this manner. There's nothing particularly wrong with the game, it's just not my cup of tea.
2019
2023
2017
I don't like pixel art as such, I don't like platforming as such, nor roguelikes, nor souls games. So I only played for thirty mins and three run-throughs. But this is an excellent game for those who love these games. Superb controls, fast pace, precision balancing. It's well done and I wish I enjoyed these games more.
2023
Abandoned at chapter two. If I had to distill the game it's really just a platformer but vertical rather than horizontal. The music is wonderful, the graphics, ambience and setting are serene, the story was emerging a little too slow for my liking, and perhaps too abstract. I got stuck on a puzzle and gave up. Had this been a walking simulator I think I'd have liked it.
2017
2020
Not going to rate it as I only played 20 mins and then refunded. It was immersive all around, and quite novel. But for me, I was just frustrated by it. I liked the idea of the unfurling narrative, but I found the execution a strain; I just didn't enjoy playing it. It sounds condescending, but it would've been a better podcast.
2011
It's a fairly robust tower defence, but a few niggles stopped me from continuing beyond eight hours. Firstly, gold accumulation is too slow to the point at which you can spend a minute or two doing nothing but placing the little pair of soldiers you can dump for blocking. Secondly, there are too many enemies early on to know their weaknesses. Add to this no rewind or fast forward and it becomes a grind. It feels like a mobile game. Otherwise, all fairly solid.