PencilVoid
2023
A self-proclaimed "hostile interpretation of the immersive sim", a philosophy which definitely shows. The game relishes in pure RNG and emergent gameplay, making every win feel earned and every loss feel surmountable. The game's bare-bones aesthetic fits its nature nicely and the music is vaguely eerie yet oddly ambient. Overall, the game makes for an interesting puzzle platformer experience, good for cooling off with some low-stakes logic exercises at the end of a long day.
2024
A fun blend of puzzling, physics, and platforming. The game is relaxed and straight-forward, giving you visually simple yet pleasant worlds to navigate through. Despite its apparent simplicity, there is much fun to be found in experimenting and figuring out new ways to navigate the level with the player characters' fine-tuned physics. The music is chill and fits the atmosphere nicely. There are a minute amount of areas that could use extra polish, such as dialogue, but nothing that ruins or severely brings down the experience. Recommended if you need something to wind down with.
2011
Possibly the single most overrated game of all time.
- It starts off interesting but the progression drops off a cliff once you reach diamond-tier tools and armour. You're supposed to "make your own fun", but if that's the case then why give me the illusion of progression in the first place?
- The game has almost no room for skill expression, and the only real challenge it offers is in the form of combat, which is more often than not pure bullshit rather than an actual fair challenge.
- The crafting system is completely thoughtless. There are so many items which exist for no reason other than to be in a crafting recipe.
- So many mobs have only one specific interaction that the player will most likely perform once and never again. No room for experimentation, in a fucking sandbox game.
- The game is flat out not fun without mods, many of which lean into the same tired design tropes and make the same mistakes the vanilla game does.
- Needs a complete redesign from the ground up to address some ridiculous design choices.
- It starts off interesting but the progression drops off a cliff once you reach diamond-tier tools and armour. You're supposed to "make your own fun", but if that's the case then why give me the illusion of progression in the first place?
- The game has almost no room for skill expression, and the only real challenge it offers is in the form of combat, which is more often than not pure bullshit rather than an actual fair challenge.
- The crafting system is completely thoughtless. There are so many items which exist for no reason other than to be in a crafting recipe.
- So many mobs have only one specific interaction that the player will most likely perform once and never again. No room for experimentation, in a fucking sandbox game.
- The game is flat out not fun without mods, many of which lean into the same tired design tropes and make the same mistakes the vanilla game does.
- Needs a complete redesign from the ground up to address some ridiculous design choices.
2006
Over 25 years in development and it still has potential.
If you're looking for the traditional Sonic experience you won't find it here. SRB2 brings a unique precision platforming spin on Sonic gameplay, bred from the limitations of the Doom engine. While a fun experience, I feel like it has potential that hasn't yet been realised. It's still rough around the edges in terms of polish and accessibility, and many players still find it exceedingly difficult. Nonetheless, it's a fun experience and I'm glad to have spent so many years playing and making mods for it.
If you're looking for the traditional Sonic experience you won't find it here. SRB2 brings a unique precision platforming spin on Sonic gameplay, bred from the limitations of the Doom engine. While a fun experience, I feel like it has potential that hasn't yet been realised. It's still rough around the edges in terms of polish and accessibility, and many players still find it exceedingly difficult. Nonetheless, it's a fun experience and I'm glad to have spent so many years playing and making mods for it.