I was somewhat satisfied with the initial release of Super Kiwi 64. It was a neat little collection of vibesy levels with a really tight, fun 3d moveset that made you wanna just fly around for hours. I end up pretty satisfied with a game as long as you have a speedy and robust movement system in it, despite it being short and me feeling a lack of context/story to where I was.

However, with the recent Doomsday update I find myself a lot more contented with it, the context of the cutscenes and additional story really make it pop. The nonsensical new levels, though just a couple and a boss level, really add a fun comic plot that I ended up really just having fun with. It's King Melon's Robot Clone and he's going to destroy the universe just cause! When's the last time you could enjoy a silly little plotline like that?

With the spice of the added cutscenes/dialogue/voices, it pushes the game that much more for me to being a really enjoyable little experience. It's only 3 dollars but in it you'll find a really tight platformer that gives you some neat levels to explore and collect stuff, and with a lot of charm of a solo dev just making a fun little romp with their characters.

Don't go into this thinking it'll be some cerebral meditation on what it means to be struggling with mental illness or anything like that, it's not that kinda game. Also if you're playing the gog version play it through scummvm to take out the nasty cursor smearing and improve the performance some.

That being said, for what it is it's a neat story to piece together as you play along, with some really interesting locations and scenarios you're brought to. It gets pretty campy, and the plot can be pretty easy to piece together early on, but it's got a nice heart to it I can't help but admire. The game just has that weird experimental vibe I love from this era of adventure games, pushing the envelope on the subjects it depicts, whilst not being just a sludgefest of "what edgy thing can we cram in here?" cough HARVESTER cough
It's got a nice amount of thought put into the design, the characters, and keeps you pretty engaged throughout (mostly, except for the part before the finale anyhow).

It's also one of the better late 90s point and clicks about signposting and no moon-logic, and a lot of the puzzles being simple yet engaging. You will have to pixel hunt for some items though, and there are the matching game puzzles that are lackluster, as well as one puzzle that was real tedious.

Overall though I was surprised with how streamlined this game's design was compared to contemporary/earlier point and clicks. That and its intriguing story; far out scenarios and characters, as well as a likeable dork protag all make for a game worth seeing through at the very least.

A really emotionally investing horror-adventure narrative that makes me question why more games don't have characters as gripping as this one?! It delivers a fantastic unfolding mystery at the bottom of this oceanic research station that's made even better with this cast of husband, wife, and endearing creepy robot bear that all are dealing with the grief of losing a child.

When I say the character dynamics are strong I MEAN it, the dialogue between these 3 is great and informs their characters and takes you through their arcs to see how this traumatizing story under the sea leaves them. And that's to say nothing of the EXCELLENT horror visuals, all the interactable 3D setpieces are marvelously gory and unpleasant. They really toy with some creative visuals and different ways to see the human body mutilated. I will say however the CG cutscenes were a bit hard to watch because of how dark and confusing the choreography/cinematography looks, it's hard to tell what's happening half the time and most of the death scenes in the game suffer from being weirdly shot and vague.

All in all, it's a really great point and click that doesn't fall into the mistakes others make, it's pretty easy to grasp and fun to figure out, and it's got such a great narrative it's my narrative game of the year for sure. You owe it to yourself to play through it and get attached to these lovably flawed characters in the torment nexus.