Going into this game, I knew very little about Touhou other than it being a bullet hell franchise about cute girls with silly hats. The only reason I even picked it up was I happened to see a friend playing it and I thought the pixel art was positively gorgeous, and the music was pretty comfy as well. What I did not expect was that I would be writing this review after ~35 hours of playtime, for what was (on sale) a $5 game.

Mystia's Izakaya is nothing short of a wonderful product of passion. The gameplay is simple - you spend each day running around, talking to characters and collecting ingredients, occasionally completing little delivery tasks. At night, you open your Izakaya to serve food to customers. If you have played games like Diner Dash or Overcooked, you have a pretty solid idea of what to expect here. Regular unnamed NPCs will show you their food and beverage orders, whereas named characters will tell you the kind of dish they want (e.g. "I want something sweet!") and you will have to infer what dish they want (or customize an existing one with appropriate ingredients) to get the best reception. Your journal keeps track of dishes and their tags, as well as each characters likes and dislikes. Make one of the named NPCs happy, and they'll grant you a spell card with a positive effect specific to them (maybe you'll get an assortment of ingredients, or maybe some gathering points get refreshed the next day). The reverse is also true - screw up their order and they'll mess with your operation as a penalty. Additionally, when preparing dishes you have the opportunity to do a brief rhythm game in time with the music to earn other temporary buffs like being able to throw dishes from any distance. It ends up getting pretty addicting as you become more and more familiar with customer preferences and set up your Izakaya in a way that makes sense to you.

The story itself is fairly straight forward - you make your way around Gensokyo, opening up new food carts and having X number of days to make up the yen for the loan repayment or else Chen will break your kneecaps. It culminates in a pretty challenging final mission and a very rewarding and cute finale. Ultimately it gets a smidge repetitive towards the end, especially if you are like me and wanted to grind out the last couple of character social links to be maxed out - but it definitely was worth it.

At the time of writing this, DLC 1 and 2 are translated so I am making my way through those. Each one adds two new areas to set up shop in with 6 characters to befriend and some new dishes and ingredients.

Overall, this is a tremendous game for the value. There are a couple of minor complaints like some weird UI hiccups and a bit of tedium towards the end, but if there was any game that was going to get me more interested in Touhou, this one has made a pretty compelling case. Except for Tewi - she is a blight.

Like plenty of other people, I assume, I decided to try out OTXO after watching Raycevick's video that showered it with praise. Hotline Miami is one of my favorite games, and favorite game series, of all time, so a Hotline Miami inspired game felt right up my alley. I was looking forward to endlessly playing this for months on end if it was as good as Raycevick made it sound. However, while I understand most of the praise being given to this game, I ultimately just can't agree with it. It sacrifices so much of what made Hotline Miami work in service of its roguelike design that it ends up completely losing what made Hotline Miami so special in the first place.

I'll start of by pointing out what I liked about the game. The art style is pretty interesting, it's not the most unique style I've ever seen, but it gives the game a decently firm sense of identity. I also liked the general feel of the game, while I think it misses the mark of what Hotline Miami was aspiring to by quite a lot, it still manages to create a great combat loop, one that I would have loved a lot more if I wasn't constantly thinking about Hotline Miami while I was playing it.

Okay, now to get onto my big problem with the game.

Something that Raycevick forgot to mention (or maybe purposely didn't mention) while he was talking about Hotline Miami in his video was the importance of the quick restart. When you die in Hotline Miami, you just press a single button and you're thrown immeidtlay back in the fray with no loading screen. You just have to start at the beginning of the floor you died on. I firmly believe that this mechanic is the single most important aspect of Hotline Miami; it's what ties everything else together.

Hotline Miami is a game about aggression. reaction, and memorization. You're encouraged to run through the levels as fast as you can, obliterating anyone in front of you with whatever you have on you. And if you die? So what? Hit the restart button and get right back into it! The more you play, the more you'll memorize the layout of the buildings, the paths of the bots, and the reactions those bots will have. Once you get really good at the game, you can just blow through a level without even having to stop. Even those crazy levels in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number with ridiculously large areas become bearable once you remember death just means a quick restart. You're supposed to be a train going at ridiculously high speeds, and when you get into that conductor seat, there's really nothing else like it.

This is why the game is designed the way it is. Why enemies kill you in one hit, why you kill them in one hit, why enemies don't react to the carnage around them when you're using a silenced gun, and why enemies might not react to you if you're behind an ajar door. Every single thing is designed to make you be as fast and aggressive as possible, and it all starts with that quick restart.

Without that, you just wouldn't have Hotline Miami anymore.

And this is my biggest problem with OTXO.

Since OTXO is a roguelike that forces you to start at the very beginning of the game upon death, the game can't treat death as lightly as Hotline Miami. If the player could just die in one hit and be forced to go back to the beginning, it would be a miserable experience. And so, the game tips the scales in the player's favor in a more explicit manor than Hotline Miami does. It gives you way more health than the enemies, an insta-kill melee attack, and a bullet-time-like ability. And all of these are outside of the roguelike upgrades you can get!

But that's not all! Without the quick restart, the game also can't ask players to memorize layouts or enemy patterns, that would get far too frustrating far too quickly. So, it makes up for that by relying on procedurally generating level layouts, aside from the bosses who seem to all be the same as far as I can tell.

All of these shifts combined result in a game that is basically the exact opposite of Hotline Miami in a painfully frustrating way.

The level design gets so boring and tedious after only a few runs, bullet-time feels like a crutch to overly aid the player, enemies feel random and indistinct, and worst of all, the game doesn't feel fast.

Okay sure, it does feel fast, but not Hotline Miami fast. I'm not charging through these rooms obliterating everything I see as fast as I can for the thrill of it; I'm slowing bashing down doors and killing a few random dudes by going into slow-mo and trying to go quick so I can make more money to buy upgrades that are actually a little useful. Not only does it not feel quite like Hotline Miami, it feels like its in a completely different ballpark.

Also now that I mentioned it, I have to talk about the money system which reward you more money the faster you are. Hotline Miami also had an external reward for going fast, but that was just a high score and ranking system, it only mattered to the people who wanted to get A+ rankings. That way, people who were more timid could still play the game and get through it by doing the bare minimum. But in OTXO if you aren't fast, you're never going to get past the first floor, and that's something I just find aggravating.

There's also a few other issues I have, like how the story tries to be convoluted and unclear like Hotline Miami but fails to understand why Hotline Miami did that, and how you have to spend the money used for upgrades to unlock new weapons and trinkets which I find excessively annoying, but I don't think those complaints are all that important. My big problem is with the game's refusal to understand what made Hotline Miami work all while trying to "enhance" it.

Overall, I don't think OTXO is a bad game, but I don't think its a particularly great game either. It it was trying to be its own thing and had a visual style and gameplay that didn't just invoke Hotline Miami, I might have loved it. But as it is right now, I just can't recommend it to anyone that's coming to it in hopes of getting that same rush they got from playing Hotline Miami for the first time. If you want to play something that invokes the same sense of speed while having unique gameplay, please play Katana Zero instead. Or hell, just download the free community made levels in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. To me, there's just no real reason to play OTXO if you're a huge Hotline Miami fan like I am, and that's a damn shame.

The soundtrack is really good though.

When you finish all the permanent upgrades at the runic gate and it still takes at minimum 40 minutes just to bum rush the first 3 bosses - only one of which actually poses any challenge (Crucix the Twiceborn) - and get to challenge the final 4th boss, repeated runs become really unfun. Also all the shell shades pale in comparison to the +20 base damage from Eredrim's Anointed Butcher so playing as the other shades for trophies/achievements makes you feel gimped to hell

Main problem boils down to how roguelike games just shouldn't take over an hour for successful runs - at least when every run is extremely samey like in this game and the failpoint is almost always the final boss (which doesn't change either). Makes losing runs very frustrating.

At least the axatana weapon that was added is very fun (but admittedly only because it's overpowered and buggy - the running attack should not be getting 3+ hits nearly every time)

In 2013, when I was a grease faced teenager I walked into a used games store and found a copy of the original deus ex, priced at an absurd 95 cents (really). I thought "Hey, thats that really famous game thats supposed to be a classic" so I went ahead and bought it. I had just played Half Life 1 and really liked it, so I wasnt a stranger to games made before my time.

I think I got as far as the subway level. I let the terrorist leader live and listened to his spiel. I cant remember what made me drop it but I suspect it was getting blown up repeatedly in the subway.

Years passed and I revisited games that gave me trouble in the past, most of them I was able to break through with my hardened gamer tm skills, as I was wiser and older. Deus Ex however, was the exception. After playing through one of the worst tutorials ever designed by a human being I played through the statue of liberty and this time smoked the chubby man in the trench coat. I was scolded for it. I guess that reactivity is the big selling point? Im not particularly impressed. I lost interest and played something else.

I was still haunted by it, everyone sings the praises of this cyberpunk masterpiece; I knew I had to somehow break through and find the good stuff. This time prompted by the Hbomberguy essay on Deus Ex Human Revolution (which Ive played through twice) I gave it another shot. I didnt even make it through the tutorial, it is so unbelievably tedious and boring. "Just skip it" you say! Well this game has a lot of systems (stealth, combat, upgrades, rpg elements, augmentations etc). How the hell am I going to know what to do if I dont atleast know the basics?

Truly this has been the biggest monkey on my back. I dont know why of all the classics from this era this is the one I just cant get into. Its not the visuals, Ive played games that looked much worse. Its not that combat is discouraged, I got that pretty soon after discovering how to aim. I guess its just the general clunkiness and design philosophy from a time before more modern sensibilities. Idk, maybe Ill give it a fourth try (which is more than Ive ever given any game) but for now it will remain the monkey on my back.

So yeah, get it all out of the way Deus Ex fans : "Filtered", "Stupid zoomerbrain", "Soylent Green eater or whatever" etc but you are right, truly Deus Ex is too big brain for me, cause I just dont get it.


Edit : Alright. I gave it another shot without playing the tutorial and clearly that was the right choice, cause it sucks really hard. Anyways I actually made it to Hells Kitchen. Its weird cause the actual shooting/sneaking/hacking etc generally works fine (except for a bug where I couldnt switch weapons or put away my weapon) but there is a whole lot of Jank. I was impressed when I went into the Unatco womens toilet by accident and my boss commented on it. That being said jesus christ why is this game so dark? I cant see a fuckin thing and the bioelectric light makes the game drop frames. Even quake 2 had better dynamic lighting. I dont know if Ill finish the game but Ill definitely play more of it. If I cant warn newcomers then, my advice is to skip the dumbass tutorial and just figure it out by fucking around. The AI is braindead anyways, youll be able to mess up and not be totally fucked. Also this game has basically no autosave, so save often.

Final Edit : Okay. I finally finished all of Deus Ex. I actually really enjoyed it. The multiple ways of doing everything and level design achieves (for the most part) that sweet spot between not just being too obvious that you feel condescended to but not too obscure and stupid that you feel frustrated.

I did a very murder heavy run, cause I suck at stealth and unlike Dishonored im not aggressuvely punished for it. That being said I came close to quitting during that dumb superfreighter level, the lack of any autosave had me once redo a massive amount of progress cause I forgot to save, and at the end when I was already kind of tired of the Area 51 level and the game as a whole, I nocliped from the computer terminals to the Helios A.I so I could finish the game and I have 0 shame in that.

Anyways this game is actually really good but the earlier more open ended "real world" levels like Hong Kong, Hells Kitchen etc were a lot more enjoyable than the later corridor heavy facilities.

Even Finaler Edit : I am on my second playthrough. I just killed a child with the GEP Gun to get my soy food back. 10/10

The PlayStation can produce mind-boggling effects.

As much as it is a clunky, unpalatable piece of shit, I fucking love this game. King's Field IV is an old school dungeon crawler where you fight so very many skeletons (there's a lot of skeletons). It also has possibly the best vibes of any game I've played, rivaled only by Dark Souls perhaps.

King's Field is oppressive, its world dying, but you can bet your ass off some banger tune will be going off in the background at all times. Albeit quite slow (your turn speed is literally 5 rpm, unless of course you walk through a spiderweb, halving it), the exploration is also legitimately very satisfying. There are a myriad of fun, optional illusory walls and hidden items, and the levels are surprisingly well realized and interconnected. It's always incredibly relieving to stumble upon a save point after delving through a crypt for 30 minutes, and at -1 mph no less.

I particularly remember when I finally emerged in one of the game's central hubs after hours of tense spelunking. The area is a lush, colorful forest, one of King's Field's few above-ground locales, and completely unlike anywhere else in the game. It too, has fallen from its former glory, yet it is the first real reprieve in what has thus far been quite a grueling experience. It's beautiful— in all its crunchy, early PS2 game grace.

King's Field IV is certainly not for everyone, but it is unique and ethereal, truly a charming little game if you can stomach it.

The live service multiplayer game that has grabbed me by the balls and twisted them until there's nothing left. If there's any game on here that I could talk on and on about, it's this one.

I've spent over 3,700 hours since 2020 on this game and still regularly play it as of writing this. I've taken breaks from the game, but the longest they've lasted were 6 months. So why has this game got me by the tamas brah?

It's a unique spin on a multiplayer game, with much of the gameplay revolving around player to player mindgames and playing around what the other role brings. Mastering a killer's unique power can be incredibly rewarding, outsmarting a killer despite being against all odds is some of the most satisfaction I've ever gotten from playing a multiplayer game. Additionally, the high amount of content that's regularly being added makes this game extremely hard to get bored of, as there's always something new to try and experiment with right around the corner. These factors have led me to soak an enormous amount of time into the game.

This is probably one of the most in depth multiplayer games with a ridiculously high skill ceiling and floor. To the community, you're not even considered an intermediate player until you have around 1000 or so hours, which is insane once you really think about it compared to other games. Plus, tons of content is being put out super often, so theres constantly new shit to learn, new shit to try, etc, so the skill ceiling is constantly being raised.

With all of that in mind, then somebody who has played this game a lot, lets say myself with 3,000 hours, would be rewarded for being good at the game... right?

NO! This game fuckin sucks at rewarding competent players due to the nature of it's mechanics, while also being an extremely hard game to get into due to the amount of content and the insane skill floor the game has. Additionally the game is wildly inbalanced and pretty rng focused. Not necessarily a bad thing if done correctly, it keeps the game fresh after all, and is definitely a large factor into the time I've put into it. One problem.

As of writing this (Alan Wake's Release), there are 249 PERKS, EACH with their own unique effects that can potentially win or lose you a game if you don't know about them thoroughly. There are 34 killers, EACH with their own unique counterplay and traits, not to mention killers (both new and old) are constantly getting reworks and changes. On top of ALL of that, there are an astounding 735 killer addons that can change a killer ranging from slight number tweaks to completely changing the counterplay of the power. On top of EVERYTHING mentioned... there are 47 different maps that are heavily dictated by rng. This game isn't a "casual game" like a lot of people say, and is the furthest thing away from it.

But yet, it punishes players who soak a ton of time into it, such as myself, by having wildly inbalanced addons, maps, killers, etc. that don't properly reward a player for knowing the game. Take for instance, a 4,000 hour player is going against a 600 hour player. It's obvious who wins right? The 4,000 player by a significant portion. BUT

What if the 600 hour player is using blight, one of the strongest killers in the game? What if they're using some of their best addons, and is on a favourable map for them such as coal tower or dead dawg saloon? That 4,000 hour player just might get his ass kicked. This is a drastic example of course which doesn't happen all the time, but the fact that it can happen and even sometimes regularly happens is terrible and makes the game not worth playing.

So, what if a player chooses to play this game casually? Only now and then, doesn't keep up with recent releases, etc. They're met with a bunch of new content such as perks, killers, new survivors, maps, etc. that can make you feel lost and out of control unless you have a firm grasp of every new piece of content being added at the time. To do this however, you need to spend more TIME on the game. Such is the paradox of loving the main gameplay loop of Dead By Daylight.

I will likely continue to play Dead By Daylight for years to come, because its such a unique multiplayer experience that really no other game offers. Thats what makes Dead By Daylight standout amongst other live service multiplayer games. While different games obviously, there's easy skill transference in a lot of fps games. Some fps games require more mechanical skill, others require more timing and macro skill, but theres at least some aspects that carry over in other games you play. You can't just "switch" to another game if you're not liking the direction Dead By Daylight is going, it lacks competition because every company has failed to create the competition.

Would I recommend this game to you? No, unless you're a patient person who doesn't mind devoting a ton of time into it while also not being bothered by its many shortcomings of its design... likely being no. People who try to get into this game either get frustrated and quit, or devote a ton of time into it like myself due to having a lot of patience of it's mechanics. Better off just playing another multiplayer game you can soak a lot of hours into rather than this one, just to be safe.