RAAN
2016
2016
this is a mess of a story and a frankly grueling experience, but somehow i can't help but love it. it's got soul. on a literal level i do not understand it, and i probably never will. but taking the story as a whole, its intent, its emotions and its ideas shine through, and they stuck with me personally. there's something good there if you give it a chance. very worthwhile if you're ready to think and willing to push all the way through
2023
an interesting but ultimately somewhat disappointing addition to The Bearded Ladies' repertoire of stealth/tactical games. uses the same baseline gameplay, but with some welcome additions such as line-of-sight detection (finally), as well as more rpg elements. however, the game's flaws prevent it from reaching the standard set by Mutant Year Zero. the stealth aspect of the gameplay feels awkwardly implemented compared to the past titles. balance is questionable at times, particularly with respect to crit builds: Jade feels almost essential as a party member, and while the crit kill XP bonus is cool, the game was clearly not built around it- i was grossly overleveled from very early on in the game. the game is filled with bugs, both minor and major, and the control scheme is significantly more clunky than the previous games. story was meh. generic jrpg type story, not particularly engaging, and the ending was unsatisfying for me. feels like they tried to go for the same thing they did with MYZ but only somewhat succeeded, with the setting and the style of humor. still, the gameplay was good when it was functioning properly. bringing back the MYZ-style exploration and looting was good, and the game had a good variety of levels that could be cleared with stealth or through combat. overall, probably not for everyone- but it has its good sides, and worth playing for fans of TBL or people interested in their brand of stealth-tactics gameplay.
2020
2005
2021