2023
I love me some climbing in my video games and this is some gourmet-level climbing. I wish the world building and story were a little bit better though; exploring the ruins of a former civilisation built into the side of a massive mountain sounds awesome, but outside of a few moments, it's so rare to feel like that's what you're actually doing.
2023
Sam Lake crept into my house, set up a full suite of cameras, and then for the next 13 years, meticulously analysed my day to day life. He jotted down my favourite game genres (Resident Evil-style survival horror), TV shows (Twin Peaks), the few bits of Control I liked (the live action bits and Ahti), my weaknesses (extremely pretentious stories about stories inside of stories), my fear of the elderly, "oh he likes Adult Swim style infomercials too, WE CAN USE THAT".
All so he could make the perfect game. Alan Wake 2 is that game.
He ripped me off!
I demand compensation!
All so he could make the perfect game. Alan Wake 2 is that game.
He ripped me off!
I demand compensation!
2021
Play it with mods. Takes about 10 minutes before it devolves into GPU melting carnage.
2023
Pogged several times.
2022
My smooth brain didn't understand a drop of that. It's good though!
2010
Masterpiece.
2023
Played this months ago with Wheeler and never got around to finishing it. It's extremely jank, just as clunky as the original if not more, with the most gamer-bro attempt at storytelling possible. It's very shit.
However, there is a little unicycle. A little unicycle that goes Mach 10. If you hit a small rock you go flying for miles and take no damage. You can drive off cliffs, fall a hundred feet, and keep on chugging like nothing happened. You don't need to refuel it, or charge it up. It's infinite. It's amazing. I don't know why they included it. They'll almost certainly patch it to make it go slower or require batteries or something. But for now, it's masterful game design. 10/10.
However, there is a little unicycle. A little unicycle that goes Mach 10. If you hit a small rock you go flying for miles and take no damage. You can drive off cliffs, fall a hundred feet, and keep on chugging like nothing happened. You don't need to refuel it, or charge it up. It's infinite. It's amazing. I don't know why they included it. They'll almost certainly patch it to make it go slower or require batteries or something. But for now, it's masterful game design. 10/10.
2020
It's pretty good! Sort of a very chill frostpunk in that it's more of a resource management game than a city builder. It's very easy, and I'm not sure if the flying city gimmick really adds all that much to the loop... there's a hell of a lot of waiting around for your ship to get anywhere. But it's fun. Good for podcasts!
I think this would work really well as a competitive multiplayer sort of thing. Like CIV but with a city you can fly around and hoover up resources. Imagine racing your friend's city to go get some coal or something. Add in some ship combat and you've got a masterpiece in the making.
I think this would work really well as a competitive multiplayer sort of thing. Like CIV but with a city you can fly around and hoover up resources. Imagine racing your friend's city to go get some coal or something. Add in some ship combat and you've got a masterpiece in the making.
I don't get it. I don't understand the fascination. I've tried to play skyrim like 4 times over the years and each time I've gotten a little bit further before giving up. This time I played for about 6 hours. That's about 3 more than my last attempt. And I still don't get it. It's so fucking boring. The world is boring, the combat is boring, the storytelling makes me want to cave my skull in with a rock. Nothing is remotely interesting; I wander into a slightly cool looking enemy base and it's just, an enemy base. With some enemies in it. I hit 'em and that's it, loot the corpses and on with my day. I want some world building, some magic spice, something, anything. There's been like one cave so far that gave me that feeling. 1! In 6 hours! Fallout 4 has it's problems but at least it's brimming with character. I feel like I'm exploring a world, not a fucking gmod map.
2022
Very weird that so much of the branding and discussion about this is focussed on the idea that it's a pikmin knockoff, when it's barely even pikmin-like at all. This isn't an RTS, it's a platformer. Honestly the tinykin themselves are probably the worst bit. There's not a drop of Dandori in this. But that platforming, god damn, now that is some top notch shit.
Feels amazing to control, probably the nicest feeling platformer I've ever played outside of a 3D Mario or A Hat in Time. The level design is brilliant, running with the "exploring a house, but you're a little geezer" gimmick and having so much fun with it. And those time trials, coar, they're evil but they're so satisfying. Zipping around these levels is a joy. 10 more of these please.
Feels amazing to control, probably the nicest feeling platformer I've ever played outside of a 3D Mario or A Hat in Time. The level design is brilliant, running with the "exploring a house, but you're a little geezer" gimmick and having so much fun with it. And those time trials, coar, they're evil but they're so satisfying. Zipping around these levels is a joy. 10 more of these please.
2023
This review contains spoilers
Some bonus thoughts now that I've 100%'ed it:
This is the best Pikmin game, no doubt. Approachable enough so that anyone could enjoy it, but stick with it long enough and it starts to dip into psychopathic territory to please the Pikmin 1+2 crowd.
Personally, I think I still like Pikmin 3 more. Nothing comes close to how engrossing and immersive that game is, it's intoxicating.
I'm not a big fan of the music. Pikmin 1, 2 and 3 have wonderful soundtracks that are insanely memorable. Not to jerk it off endlessly but Pikmin 3 specifically has one of my favourite soundtracks period. So why does Pikmin 4 sound so flat and lifeless? I can't remember a single level theme, and I only just played it.
Oatchi is such a brilliant addition to the gameplay loop that I cannot imagine a pikmin game in the future without him in, he's so good.
I love, love, LOVE how they integrated the bingo battle and challenge modes into the main game. I always ignored them in Pikmin 3 but forcing me to sit down and play them made me realise what I was missing. God damn are they good.
The final challenge cave is some fucking horseshit.
The hub is kind of disappointing. Had the potential to do some of the stuff that Hades is so good at but it's really just a raw material dispenser.
Cannot believe how long this game is. It's ridiculous. The credits roll and you're not even half done. Then they pull out Olimar's Sub Mode out of their never ending arse and go "here you go, here's an entire other game, just for you". Then you finish that and you get handed another mode.
This is the best Pikmin game, no doubt. Approachable enough so that anyone could enjoy it, but stick with it long enough and it starts to dip into psychopathic territory to please the Pikmin 1+2 crowd.
Personally, I think I still like Pikmin 3 more. Nothing comes close to how engrossing and immersive that game is, it's intoxicating.
I'm not a big fan of the music. Pikmin 1, 2 and 3 have wonderful soundtracks that are insanely memorable. Not to jerk it off endlessly but Pikmin 3 specifically has one of my favourite soundtracks period. So why does Pikmin 4 sound so flat and lifeless? I can't remember a single level theme, and I only just played it.
Oatchi is such a brilliant addition to the gameplay loop that I cannot imagine a pikmin game in the future without him in, he's so good.
I love, love, LOVE how they integrated the bingo battle and challenge modes into the main game. I always ignored them in Pikmin 3 but forcing me to sit down and play them made me realise what I was missing. God damn are they good.
The final challenge cave is some fucking horseshit.
The hub is kind of disappointing. Had the potential to do some of the stuff that Hades is so good at but it's really just a raw material dispenser.
Cannot believe how long this game is. It's ridiculous. The credits roll and you're not even half done. Then they pull out Olimar's Sub Mode out of their never ending arse and go "here you go, here's an entire other game, just for you". Then you finish that and you get handed another mode.
2022
Loved the first few hours of this. Liked the rest of it. Does a wonderful job of immersing you in the world with the brilliant sound design and writing, but once I settled into the rhythm of it the lack of a more compelling gameplay loop started to hurt it for me. Wish it kept up the dread too, once you sort out the big ticking clocks it really feels like a core part of the experience is absent. Hyped for the sequel though. With a tiny bit of tinkering this could be a masterpiece.
2023
Masterpiece. Endlessly charming, endlessly addictive, just endless. Literally. It won't stop. It just keeps going.
2021
Played this back in January and completely forgot to log it. It's a really cool premise, and the first few hours are great fun. Representing potion brewing through a map you have to navigate with different ingredients is genius, and it's SO relaxing. Perfect chill game.
BUT, the back half drags a lot. The well of new mechanics starts to dry up very quickly and you're just left doing the same things in the same way with nothing to work towards. There's alchemy, I guess? But it's so undeveloped as a system I didn't see much point in engaging with it.
A story would have been nice. Or a few more gameplay systems. Maybe instead of having the garden randomly repopulate with new plants you get to plant them yourself? A wider variety of quests? Make alchemy more interesting instead of just a dull fetch quest? Something to spend money on, like furniture for your room? Feels like an unfinished early access game.
BUT, the back half drags a lot. The well of new mechanics starts to dry up very quickly and you're just left doing the same things in the same way with nothing to work towards. There's alchemy, I guess? But it's so undeveloped as a system I didn't see much point in engaging with it.
A story would have been nice. Or a few more gameplay systems. Maybe instead of having the garden randomly repopulate with new plants you get to plant them yourself? A wider variety of quests? Make alchemy more interesting instead of just a dull fetch quest? Something to spend money on, like furniture for your room? Feels like an unfinished early access game.
2023
Got about 3 hours in, pretty close to the ending too, but this is so mind-numbingly boring that it couldn't even hold me for an hour more. It does look very pretty, I'll give it that, but even the visuals don't evolve enough over the course of the game to keep that interesting either.