This has been such a delight. It controls well, looks gorgeous, the bit tunes sound great, it doesn’t cost an arm & a leg and there is no filler content. What more could you ask for?

It’s a platformer with simple controls. Its focus is getting through obstacles without getting hit. One touch and you’re out, on medium difficulty at least. What keeps it engaging is trying to do flawless runs. They are runs where you have to collect all the bolts and beat the in-game timer in one go. The bolts are not hidden, they’re all visible but they can be placed in tricky spots. There are also 4 bosses which are very varied and fun to go through.

The game is challenging with flawless runs. I’ve died many times. This normally annoys me with other games but here it feels fair. It doesn’t cross the line of going too far and it kept me engaged. It took me 5.6 hours to get 100% flawless with all levels. I’m planning on attempting insane difficulty and get the 3 other achievements I’m still missing.

I don’t know what the experience is for players who just want to run through the game as quickly as possible. But this game is absolutely worth it for completionist players. The game also has online ranking with the best overall score if you’re into that.

I finally managed to complete the game. My thoughts became nuanced but I still recommend it. Just make sure you come prepared.

At a first glance, Spirited Thief resembles simplified strategy RPG games, only stealth is the main focus. All the skills you unlock are there to help you escape or kill a few guards. There are 3 acts with 22 missions and mostly 5 characters, 2 for scouting phase and 3 for looting phase. The scouting phase involves using the spirit Trin and her sidekick to explore a level. You try to understand the lay-out of the levels, find secrets that can only be activated with Trin and decide on the characters/skills to take with you. The looting phase is where things become physical. You try to reach objectives, find all the secrets and steal all the gold. You have more freedom to prepare yourself when scouting, but you’re supposed to carry out the operation ideally flawlessly and as quick as possible when you’re looting. Looting phase comes with threat levels that can go up to 5, each level makes the situation more challenging. Each threat level is kind of like a ticking clock that is affected when each turn passes or when you’re discovered by guards etc. Each character receives between 2 and 3 skills whenever you start a new act. You have a few default skills when you start the game but you buy new skills with the money you steal. You get cutscenes before and after each mission. The cutscenes are for the most part not too long and not too short. They feel just right and they’re the driving factor why you’re carrying out your missions. The story starts with random looters trying to survive but things become more personal and you’re getting dragged in conflicts due to Elaj and Trin their past. The story also focuses on building the characters and their relationships to one another. The story might not win the Oscar awards, but I enjoyed their banter and I wanted to see how things would end. You can skip cutscenes if you don’t care about that.

That’s pretty much the game. It’s a solid foundation. I love the world created, the gameplay, the story, the music and the thinking involved. However, there is one serious flaw = the balance/challenge. Let me say upfront that this is most likely fixed with the last update (I’ll talk more about it) but most of my experience before that was a struggle in act 2 mainly. The game starts out strongly with act 1. The challenge felt just right. You were pushed to use everything at your disposal and it was fun. Things started to get bad with the last mission of act 1 and things became worse in act 2. The levels kept getting bigger, more complex, harsh and too many things to keep track of. It stopped being fun and became exhausting. It’s not the direction I expected the game to take. It also didn’t help that I experienced bugs that made the missions even more challenging and annoying. I didn’t want to accept this for a while because I loved the game so much and I was gushing about it all the time. So this hit hard.

However, the developer has been great at coming up with solutions. He has released several patches to balance the game out, changed some of the levels that went too far and released 1 new difficulty option that is very important to the already VERY extensive difficulty options you have. If you scroll all the way down you will see the new ‘less enemies and puzzles’ toggle. I’ve tested this with the last 2 missions of the game and it made the game far more pleasant to play. I wish I had this option before I went through act 2.

The difficulty options menu is very important to the game as every element can be controlled and adjusted. You can control how fast the timer ticks, whether the threat levels are truly threatening, whether rewind is limited or infinite and much more. You can make the game impossibly hard or make it a better experience suited to what you want to get out of it. It’s a MUST to look through this menu every once in a while and not just at the start. You can adjust everything at all times and not just when starting a new game.

The game is in a much better state now. There are a few bugs left that I reported (2-3) with the last patch but the developer is already committed to fixing them. While I became a bit bitter with the challenge/balance, I’m still glad to have played the game. I expect new players will have a smooth ride as long as they look at the difficulty options when needed. As for me, the plan is to slowly get the rest of the achievements and follow whatever happens with Spirited Thief/Koi Snowman Games. This has been a very good game to start with and I’m looking forward to more.

I appear to have an unpopular opinion based on the average score and how it’s loved generally. I’m going to focus on the negatives since they’re not talked about enough. I’m going to briefly mention the positives but there are enough reviews/impressions if you need more details.

Positives:
-The game has a gorgeous style, cutscenes are hella cool
-The old school Resident Evil gameplay shines through and some of the puzzles are fantastic
-The last boss fight was awesome
-The puzzles with the frequencies are very original, fun and they add freshness to the formula
-The game is mysterious and intrigues you to play more
-The map is great, especially letting you know where the puzzles are

Negatives:
-Story
The story starts decently. The way it started was abrupt and I was dying to learn more. Things quickly deteriorated. The cutscenes seem to be more about style than substance. You don’t really get a lot of story out of them except for some cool shots and characters trying to hurt each other. There are lots of characters that look like each other and I got a strong Kingdom Hearts vibes. That’s not a good thing even if there is a reason why it’s there. The further you get in the game the more dark and weird the atmosphere becomes. It’s not for me. The story is also about the main character searching for her lover and being lesbian. This fact makes me relate less to her struggles as a straight person. Even so, the game doesn’t try to make me care about their relationship except for maybe one cutscene near the end.
-Notes
After playing Signalis, I realised how making good notes and deciding on the quantity is a talent in itself. I didn’t realise it can be done this badly and I assumed all old school survival horror games get this right by default. The game has way too many notes and a lot of them are just uninteresting. I’m mainly talking about the notes describing the work routines and company policies. There are also notes meant to help you figure out the puzzles which are fine. Then there are notes focused on fleshing out the characters and the world. Most of the notes related to the characters are telling you their personalities as androids and some diaries. It’s hard to care when most characters look like each other and there are so many names thrown around. The notes about lore and the world are pretty interesting but they feel so distant from what you’re doing or experiencing that I just end up not caring. I don’t understand, why didn’t we have cutscenes that introduced and fleshed out the characters more? Why didn’t we have cutscenes that spoke about the planets and the political situation? It doesn’t feel right to put all of this in the notes and have nothing worth of interest in the cutscenes.
-Inventory management
Oh boy. It’s probably the worst I’ve experienced with RE type of games in terms of how many you get and how strict it is. You only get 6 slots. The 6 slots include weapons, ammo, special items, puzzle items etc. With RE games, you get more slots and special items have separate slots. With special items, you can think of lockpicks etc. In Signalis items like a lighter and camera take precious slots away. There are areas you can’t really navigate without this lighter. The camera only allows you to take 6 pictures and they’re meant to help you with the puzzles. The fact that you only get 6 is bad enough in itself but it’s not worth a slot when you can easily take pictures with your phone and can use the slot for something more important. Those special items should have at least had separate slots.
-Item distribution
This leads me to the next problem. The game has sooooo many items scattered and it often feels unnecessary. You often get 2-4 ammo drops. It would have been better to have less scattered but each one you pick up is at least 10 or something. You need to go to the save room so often that that turned into a game in itself. And not a fun one. You can destroy items but can’t drop them.
-Bad puzzles
While there have been some fantastic puzzles and it feels great when clearing them. There have also been around 3-4 puzzles which I thought were silly and tedious.

I still enjoyed my time with Signalis and I was heavily thinking of giving the game 3.5 stars instead of 3. But story, characters and items management are very important with this genre and it just wasn’t good enough. It feels like a lot of gamers were charmed by the anime style and weren’t strict enough about the gameplay and the story. It’s still worth playing but do keep your expectations in check.

It finally happened, a 1 star game. The game is addictive. So why the 1 star? It’s because you can’t complete the game. It has a serious bug on the 3DS. I’ve completed 75% according to the game. The next set of puzzles require special crystals to fill all the tiles with gold. The issue is all the special crystals/coins fall when they reach the edge. So if they fall right away, then how can you fill the edges with gold? Exactly. I checked the PC version on YouTube for comparison and nothing falls there. I’ve spent over 50 hours and now I can’t play the rest of the game (25%). This is only one thing I happened to discover. There have been a few puzzles that felt cheap/broken. There is probably more that is wrong with the game that made my experience worse. I also found out that you can get extra time or swaps if you fail too many times. Such feature doesn’t exist with the 3DS version. The PC version is also clearly prettier and sounds better. Jewel Quest IV is a good game if you enjoy match 3 puzzles, but play it on PC. I consider the game complete because I can’t advance further.

This is the kind of game that prevented me from playing other Apple Arcade games. It keeps your attention where you want to complete all the puzzles before thinking about something else. I’ve completed 594 out of 726 puzzles. There’s a reason for not going for 100%. The way the area is made (open world) is brilliant for puzzles, but also a real slog in terms of backtracking. Sometimes you have to bring logs from different islands, push logs from different angles, or bring them only after completing other steps on other islands. You can easily reach a point where you don’t remember how you reached a certain island and how to come back to finish a puzzle. This easily happens when the area looks like a maze and you’re just trying to retrace your steps. I would have far preferred having the freedom to teleport to every island after completing them instead of the transport points we have where they also cause backtracking. Other con is the hint system. The game didn’t have a hint system, so the current one got patched over time. It shows you the solution and where to go next if you haven’t reached the credits. I can’t imagine doing the game without those hints but what’s here is not enough sometimes. Showing a solution is showing the end destination, not the steps you took to get there. You can still get stuck with tough sections. And it’s kind of hard finding the solution online with the open world nature of the game. Still, the puzzles are fantastic. The game does a great job of teaching you new mechanics through playing. The game is very polished in every way. Play the game if you don’t mind the things I mentioned.

This is a very charming game with beautiful visuals, interesting characters and areas filled with details. The voice acting is also very good and there is a bit of singing in a theatrical kind of way. The game is a mix of simple fighting, solving puzzles and collecting 16 membranes. Although the 16 membranes are optional (I think), they explain the main story which is kind of kept vague for the most part, but you get the gist of it by guessing.

The things that I thought could have been better were the following:
-Fighting: it's very simple and feels stiff too. The character is not very athletic and maybe the fighting is like this on purpose to stay true to the character.
-Backtracking: you have to go through areas to reach a specific area. Even after clearing it. I prefer teleportation to collect what I missed.
-Framerate/animation: the way the character moves/animates is very weird and distracting on high FPS. I had to limit the FPS to 60 through Nvidia's Control Panel to make it look smoother. But there are instances where it still doesn't look natural. I'm not sure what it means but this is the only technical and graphical fault about the game.

The game's style is also very unique and original of course. You either love or hate what you see. I rather love it. One of the bosses is a spider. I usually detest spiders but this game made me fall in love with it due to how charming it is.

The game is a good first entry but there is also room for improvement. I enjoyed my 8 hours and am looking forward to getting my hands on Figment 2 the next time it's on sale.

This is a very decent puzzle game. It looks attractive and the environments feel alive. I like the fact that each of the 9 worlds are completely different in terms of themes and gameplay gimmicks. I also enjoy the music, sound effects and the way everything is mixed professionally. The controls work as they should on a touch screen and don’t require precision. The only reason I’m not giving a higher score is the massive difficulty spike in world 6 and 7. They’re on a whole different level in terms of complexity and keeping track of too many factors. It’s important to visualise your every move when things become this complex. It went too far to the point that I needed to follow YouTube videos. I needed to follow every single step with the last 3 puzzles from world 6 and the last 4 from world 7. World 8’s challenge is more manageable and while the very last puzzle was very tough, it felt right considering it being the very last. World 9 is actually a bonus world with winter themed puzzles. They too were fine and enjoyable. It feels like world 6 and 7 were ripped from a different game. It also doesn’t help that there is no redo button, hint or anything that could help out with the puzzles. The game is not long btw. It felt just right to me but don’t expect it to be anything like the other puzzle games that will keep you busy for a long time in case you care about that.

The game is still worth trying out if you accept its flaws or are exceptionally good at those type of complex puzzles that require your brain to function in a certain way. I personally LOVE puzzle games and there have been difficult ones I enjoyed completing. There are just certain puzzle types (like the ones in world 6 and 7) that don’t go well with me when they go this far. Find out if this applies to you as well. But it will be removed from Apple Arcade soon and there has been no announcement of it being released elsewhere. So you might not be able to find out at all!

This is a love story that is usually very typical. It’s made more interesting because of the gods and the land involved. The story keeps reminding you that despite the gods acting like humans sometimes, they’re still unpredictable and can make harsh decisions because they just look at things differently. There is also a bit of Japanese culture that can make this game stand out. By that, I mean the fact that traditional objects or behaviours are mentioned and it’s explained when you click on the terms. It also helps that the characters are interesting and I did get involved with the story. It has a heart despite one fault that I am not a fan of but this depends on the reader whether it’s a flaw or not. This game’s story is, to put it best, the anime type that only seems to come from a male author. By that I mean almost every single women falling for the main character including gods, somehow impregnating women without doing the deed, women mostly thinking and fighting over guys, being a male pervert is somehow a normal personality trait etc. I’m totally not about that but it still won me over for the other things that I mentioned. Also the fact that many of the characters do grow and they learn some harsh lessons. Masaki (the main character) would always say reality is merciless and it’s quite fitting. Other faults are mainly typo and there could have probably been more budget since the game is mostly reading with some beautiful art that gets reused sometimes. 3D on the 3DS would have also been welcome. Another surprise is the game’s soundtrack. It’s quite catchy and enjoyable. Anyway, you probably know what you’re getting yourself into and you probably know whether it’s the right game for you or not. You can be rest assured that it’s not bad at least. It can surprise you in a good way.

PoP tSoT is a classic. There’s no doubt about that. However, I feel that I’ve enjoyed it less than I could have because of the PC version. The game doesn’t natively support Xbox controllers. I had to force it through a program. You can tell the controls are off or even cause trouble. It made the game needlessly frustrating with the platforming and fights. But I’m not sure if I should hold this against the game itself since it never supported it. Other than that everything else is A+ for its time. Even though the story is not the focus, it’s beautifully told through dialogues that feel natural. The Persian atmosphere is very nice to see, it reminds me a bit of Arabic. The puzzles are good. The fights can be cheap but I’m not sure if it’s the controls that made it feel this way. Either way, it’s worth experiencing.

It’s probably one of the best and most generous gacha games. I haven’t played many of them but I did play this religiously. It’s great seeing your favourite characters interact with each other, but honestly, it’s this element that keeps you playing. I’ve decided to move on, hopefully definitively. It was taking too much time playing it, watching videos and reading about it. Not to mention, most of the time is spent on grinding to get to the most difficult content. That content is often designed in a way to incentivise you to use certain characters. It becomes too much to keep up with the meta, afraid of missing out on rewards and the feeling that you need to pay for the basic moogle pass to avoid excessive grinding.

I’m giving it 4 stars to show that it’s the best when it comes to this type of game. If you feel the need to try gacha games, then it’s best to try this one. But ideally, it’s better to not play them at all. I came to the conclusion that I can use all this time to play more quality games that don’t have any predatory elements.

This game is mostly talking with others to gather evidence. So you need to be in the mood for reading. There are very few puzzles or gameplay sections. And what’s there is also on the easy side. So they’re there for the game’s pacing. Luckily the dialogue is engaging and you want to know more about the main characters. The case is solved but it seems they left some things out for a potential sequel. Some flaws would be the lack of customisation options in terms of hints and holding your hands. I got a bit annoyed when Pikachu wouldn’t shut up whilst I was still talking with others or trying to examine an item/document. Also the game is one of the few pretty 3DS games. It’s a shame there’s no 3D at all. It feels like it could have suited it. Overall I enjoyed the game. It’s worth playing if you’re a Pokémon fan who wouldn’t mind reading and is doing it mostly for the Pokémon part and less for the gameplay/seeking challenge part.

This was so much fun! The game perfectly succeeds at what it's set out to do. A quick and simple FPS that is super charming and surprisingly well thought out. Each level is distinct, all the weapons have their use, the gameplay is very satisfying, the enemies are varied etc. I also appreciate the fact there are different difficulty modes so PC FPS noobs can enjoy the game too (like me lol). One con is the fact you can't save and quit with your current run. You have to finish it in one sitting. It took me 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete the game on the second difficulty mode. While it helps the game is not long, I still prefer having this option. Other than that, it's party time! I'm planning on playing the other modes and try to get the rest of the achievements.

This game is magical and a feast to the mind with how beautiful it looks and sounds. I loved exploring, solving puzzles and collecting things. I'm giving this a negative on principle. This game is left in a buggy state that can be game breaking if you're not careful. Here are my main cons:

1. There are sections in the game where your save can become useless and you have to start from the very beginning. I experienced one of those instances in the desert where I returned to a previous area to collect something I missed. The door didn't open on the way out and the game only has one save. There is also no option to return to the hub. You have to finish the level first. I was fortunate enough to be aware of the problems based on the impressions of others. So I've made multiple save backups to be on the safe side.
2. It's ridiculous that the game doesn't allow you to return to your hub whenever you feel like it. If you miss any collectible, you have to return to a level and finish the level in its entirety. There are 3 levels total but each one is huge and takes a long time to finish. This unnecessarily wastes your time.
3. The trophies for collecting all drawings and toys are bugged. Even though I collected everything, I didn't get them. Some did when you look at the stats. So I'm not sure what I did wrong.
4. The game is very badly optimized. I have a 4070 ti, i5-13400f and 32gb ram. My 1440p monitor allows 165fps and I was worried it would be too much on the highest settings. I put the game on 120 fps just to be on the safe side, there were still many instances where the GPU would need 100%. There have been brief moments where the fps dropped to 100 or there were stutters when parts of the areas were loading. I had a pretty smooth experience for the most part but I'm not sure about older hardware.

This game is worth playing if you are aware of its problems and come prepared. Make sure you back up your saves. It might also be better to have a guide for all the collectibles if you know yourself to be impatient and don't like repeating long levels for them. If you prefer finding the collectibles on your own, at least the first time, then try not to backtrack while you're in the levels. It's better to finish the levels and then do them again.

This game could have been so much better if the devs patched it at least once. They never did. They mentioned they would fix the bugs for a while around release, then things went real quiet after that. Those kind of devs/publishers are not worth supporting. Hence the negative review.

This game is very atmospheric with its soundtrack and art style. It feels a lot like Pikmin but 2D. It’s a good game but it has some flaws in terms of balance if you pick adventurer as difficulty. The fights become cheap and frustrating. I played it for 10 hours until I had enough and switched to wanderer. I usually love fighting in games but wanderer feels like the way the game is meant to be played. Unfortunately the crafting becomes worthless. But honestly, crafting doesn’t seem needed for this game. It’s good at exploration, puzzles and finding collectibles. Play it for those elements.