A game that in many ways very much feels like it's built on an ancient foundation.

This game has infuriating progression. I constantly felt lost (which I SUPPOSE is the point) and the map is a real bad time to explore. Just constant re-treading of the same looking environment over and over. There's some gruesome pixel suff that looks nice but otherwise it's a massive slog to navigate and progress in this game. My enjoyment skyrocketed the moment I pulled out a guide and started using that around halfway through. It's definitely how I'd recommend playing this game.

Corpse Party's strength is how it depicts characters going through unimaginable horror. It's written in a way that makes everything come across as tangibly unsettling. It's often revolting and stomach churning in a way that a game hasn't really made me feel before.

The story itself is interesting at times but it's fleshed out with so many unlikeable characters, it's quickly difficult to really root for anyone to succeed. The turnaround for me was near the end of chapter 4. It's the moment where Corpse Party clicked for me.

In the end, I'm glad I played this game but it's a tough one to recommend.

When initially comparing BDSP and Pokemon Legends Arceus, my thought was “okay, the latter is the game people gave a shit about making while the former is a rushed cash grab nobody cares about except maybe shareholders.” This did not turn out to be entirely true! I think ILCA cared a fair amount about making this game. The gym leader fights are genuinely pretty interesting and the trainer animations during the battles are really charming. Like, look at the fishermen! Whenever they send out a Pokemon they cast their line! That’s some incredibly cute Pokemon Special shit!

Honestly, I think if they’d been given more freedom to mess around, they would’ve put out something really neat. Unfortunately, I feel like the emphasis on making a faithful remake of Diamond and Pearl really hurt them. Like, the decision to remake DP specifically rather than Platinum probably came down to the fact that they could sell two versions instead of just one, and man, DP are just kind of bad compared to Platinum! I mean, this game elevates DP a lot by virtue of HMs not being a horrendous pain in the ass and other quality of life features, but it’s really committed to being like the original in other bizarrely stupid ways, like making TMs single use again.

I genuinely can’t tell how much of the problems result from mandates from the suits and how much is ILCA, but given the exhausting game treadmill TPCI is going through on a near yearly basis, I’m going to give ILCA the benefit of the doubt and hope they get another chance where they have more freedom so I can judge them properly.

Anyway, there are a few things I am actually unambiguously positive about! I think the changes to the Underground were pretty neat and they let me get Pokemon I wouldn’t be able to use until the later game relatively early on without trading, so I got to use ‘mons like Croagunk, Swinub, and Skorupi as part of my main team. The fact that the secret bases were changed from a little room decoration sim to putting a bunch of statues in a room to affect spawn rates was kind of a bummer, but the other improvement were great. The other cool thing was that they actually got to do the Legendary events that never officially happened in gen 4 proper, like Shaymin, Arceus, and Darkrai! Holy crap! That’s neat! I’m glad it happened.