This was cute! A 2 hour indie game in which you’re a hole in the ground sinking things into the hole. The more you sink, the more the hole grows — VERY Katamari. The game mechanics and level design didn’t evolve or expand as much as I wanted them to — I wanted to sink whole cities and nations like the last level of a Katamari game — but it’s short enough that I wasn’t bothered too much. More importantly, the hole sinking mechanic is extremely satisfying. Cute writing, though I almost wish there was less story and more of a level-based structure with more levels. Either way, a worthwhile romp well worth the $3.75 this costs when Annapurna puts it on sale.

This is one of those situations where I don't know why this game is in my Steam library, but I've purchased enough bundles over the years and this seems to be one of those games that you get from some bundle somewhere. Either way, if you have this in your library and haven't played it yet, please do.

The pitch for Valfaris is that it's a Contra-style run-and-gun but with metal music, stop motion-style animation, more forgiving checkpoints, and a much greater focus on biomechanical creatures. It looks and sounds wonderful.

This is a pretty tough game -- the end boss took me an hour or so to beat -- but it's very well designed. Valfaris gives me the type of experience I always wanted out of a Contra game. Tough-but-fair action, great-feeling guns, sick bosses, and a rip-roaring power fantasy.

It is a game that gets dramatically close to 5 stars if not for a back chunk that features both a small difficulty spike and a couple levels that go on and on. Worth playing and I fully recommend it, but with that asterisk.

Going to buy its new sequel either at full price or the next time it goes on sale to support the developers.