I am not usually one to play rhythm games as I've always had a bad sense of timing and crack under the pressure of pressing a button at exactly the right time. Luckily this game was not cruel enough to kill you instantly with every mistake. With this hurdle out of the way, I found myself really enjoying the bonkers fights and undertale-esque story.

I feel the strongest part of the game is its series of boss encounters which can range from mildly entertaining to absolutely insane, the gnome battle was probably one of my favorite fights in a long time. That being said, the way the game changes these encounters in the second half honestly I thought was an inferior way to play the boss fights.The story was charming albeit maybe channeling Undertale a bit too much. The ending was also a bit cluttered with what it was trying to convey and seemed a bit too grandiose and heavy though it would lead to some really good fights.

I beat this game in one sitting during a 24hr gaming marathon and I will say its a great game to hold your attention while desperately trying to not fall asleep at four am. Theres a lot of really fun fights, great music and memorable characters. Definitlely one I want to go back to at some point.

It has been a while since I have felt so hostage by a character action game. For context, I played this game about four years ago and was so frustrated by how hard the "Adults" difficulty was that I ended up switching to the easiest one. Going back to this game I wanted to finally complete it on the difficulty I had abandoned years ago. Having a few more years of experience with character action games prepared me well as I felt the difficulty was so much more rewarding.

I won't deny there were parts that I still think were bullcrap such as the Fire Leo fight or sections of the final level, that missile part is so bad. That being said it was very hard for me to put it down until I had a solid grasp of everything the game was throwing at me. When I finally did master a boss fight or move set it made the game so much more enjoyable. I think the problem for me in the past was being unable to admit that this is a hard game that you need to spend time mastering.

Overall I think this game holds up extremely well. Its style and flair are something I have only seen replicated in recent memory and are definitely what I want to see more of. Its love for being a goofy, fun but challenging game is infectious and I love it for it definitely one of the GameCube's best games. Henshin a go go baby and stay Viewtiful.

I definitely related a lot to what this game was trying to convey with the message of making choices. Most of my life I’ve always wanted to hold off making big decisions because of the uncertainty of it all. I’ve since been a lot better at making choices without freezing up but it’s still something I need to work on as well as most people.
This game is able to convey a lot of that feeling of uncertainty, panic, blind faith and just overall fear behind decision making in just 20 min. It also conveys this in the strangest way possible through the form of a flopping fish. I feel that any game that is able to get their point across despite being so utterly bizarre has achieved its goal in a way that other stories with similar messages have not. There is absolutely no reason not to check this game out as it’s so short and free. I feel you will only gain something out of playing it and if not you at least get to experience something truly odd.

Signalis is a game that wears its influences on its sleeves. With almost every part of the gameplay being indicative of old PS1 survival horror games such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill. It strongly captures the look and feel of these games but does it in a way that seems refreshing compared to other horror indie games. It’s mix of the german language with locations that are either cold and sterile or fleshy hellscapes is an aesthetic I find very appealing.

The gameplay is not too taxing with there being plenty of ammo as long as you pick your fights carefully. The inventory, while a little cumbersome, is something I got used too once you figure what the game wants you to bring with you. The puzzles were creative and did a good job tying back into the lore of the world. There were only a few I felt really stumped on that I felt could have been explained a little clearer. The gameplay delivers a satisfying cycle of resource collection and exploration. There are brief sections that take place in first person that add to the retro style the game is going for with you interacting with technology that would not be out of place in the 90s.

This game was easily one of the best I’ve played this year. It’s aesthetic and story is right up my alley and it was hard for me to put down. There’s a lot of depth to it’s lore and characters that I feel I’ve only skimmed the surface of and I can’t wait to go back learn more about it.

Around 2010 Xbox brought about a huge change in the games market with the push for smaller indie games. This push brought about games such as Braid, Super Meat boy, and the Bastion. All of these games have been critiqued and dissected to no end as they were major innovators in their respective genres. One game that is not brought nearly as much is Dust: An Elysian Tail. There are many qualities of Dust that I feel should have made it more relevant even 10 years later. That being said it's definitely not a perfect game as it shows how often simple early indie games were.

The main pull of the game is its presentation with an art style that reminds of really good deviant art drawings. Seeing how most of this game was made by one person definitely makes me appreciate how much work was put into making this look like a fantasy cartoon. That being said I feel some of the character designs are either not very inspired or clash with other characters. There is one bunny girl character in the game which is odd to me as every other animal character is either a fox or dog-looking character.

The story is nothing too amazing but I feel it is strong enough to keep you interested even if it is a bit standard. The amount of voice acting in this game is incredible and definitely helps flesh out the story and world a lot more. The writing accompanying this acting is a bit too cute in parts for me as well parts where I felt it was overacted. There are parts where I felt it was really strong, however, mainly the final confrontation between Dust and the big bad of the game, I'm still thinking about that final sequence.

Finally, the gameplay is something of a Metroidvania with hack-and-slash combat which is a combination you do not normally see even now. It is really satisfying to mow down dozens of enemies at a time by using a mixture of physical and magical attacks. A problem arises though where these combinations make button mashing the most viable option in a lot of scenarios which kinda kills the game's combo system. I also feel it fails in being a Metroidvania somewhat as the main thing you go back and search for is chests which mainly contain money and nothing else really that interesting. I didn’t feel the drive like other Metroidvanias to discover every part of the map as I know whatever I do find will not really change what I know about the world or make me that stronger.

This game has been left in the dust heh by its contemporary indie darlings but I feel it's still a game worth going back to. It has ideas that have been fleshed out in more interesting ways in the last 10 years but what is there is still fun. The game has long since left its Xbox exclusivity and is pretty much on everything. With hints of a sequel in the future this game still has a chance to rise from the ashes once again.

A very short but tragic look at the author's transition and all the complications surrounding this very sensitive subject. I can never ever even come close to understanding what it is like to go through a process like this, especially at a time when it was even less accepting than it is now.

The game's simple pixel art style is used to great effect as a lot of the uncomfortable moments in the story are made more impactful through the crude depictions of the characters and telling more than showing with certain scenes. The vile nature of people viewing others as only objects of sex was one of the strongest themes. The scene where you are given the choice to browse the internet and witness peoples unfiltered wants and desires made me really sick.

Stories like this definitely open my eyes more to the thoughts and feelings of people who transition. I couldn’t imagine how hard it was to talk about something like this, especially with how terrifying it gets. The game was only 20 minutes but it is one I will be thinking about for a while.

Going into this game I thought it would be something like dynasty warriors but with monsters which is a really cool concept. Sadly there are a lot of factors that prevent this game from living up to its cool concept. For starters, some enemies in the early stages take way too many hits before they go down which leads to extremely tedious scenarios where I continually comboed an enemy for what felt like minutes. This problem is remedied later when you upgrade but it took me about halfway into the game when it became more manageable.

Another problem came in the form of the game's main concept of using "Legions"(big monsters) to help you fight enemies. Each stage lets you select two Legions to equip the problem is you don't know which Legion will be most useful so you end up forcing your way through a level that you know would have been a lot easier if you stuck with a certain build. This is what I ended up doing for the rest of the game, sticking with two legions and not touching the others, which proved to be pretty effective.

One of the last problems is the game balancing which seems to be all over the place. One level will be relatively easy while the next will have you being bombarded by enemies that juggle you into a corner until you are dead. Some of the bosses I also find incredibly annoying and tedious but this is also improved on a little towards the end.

I don't think this is a horrible game by any means but I was hoping for a little more. It does get better as you upgrade your legions and become a force of nature against tons of enemies but it takes a little bit until you get to that point. I feel the biggest complaint I have is its spongey enemies. Besides that this game is relatively inoffensive. I will commend this game for actually having a fun final boss. A lot of games around this time usually have stinker endings but this one was pretty fun.

It is not often that games as short as this one can grab my attention as soon as I start playing. The oppressive atmosphere created by the game's haunting soundtrack and excellent writing quickly made me interested in what was about to happen. The number of themes such as faith, self-love, and depictions of the devil is done well and in a way, I haven't really seen a whole lot. These themes are also presented through an LGBTQ lens that adds even more subtext to the story that I am still unpacking for myself. Each of the four endings frightened me in a different way and gave me, even more, to think about as well as making me love the characters even more. It's hard to write a review for this game without spoiling the story so all I can really say is go play it. It's short, cheap, and will hopefully stick with you as much as it did me.

The one thing I knew about this game before going in was how challenging it was and how this challenge created a schism between those who have played this game. By the end, the game had won me over to the side of liking it but only just barely as I had to go through a lot of pain to get to that point.

For starters, the presentation is downright gorgeous with stellar pixel art displaying a very hostile and abandoned world. Creeping around the ruins of civilization you know nothing about and has been gone for god knows how long is an aesthetic I find very appealing. Each area of the game feels very distinct from itself offering new creatures and obstacles to encounter which refreshes the gameplay loop a little bit.

Where my main concerns for this game lie is in its said gameplay loop which requires you to be at certain in-game levels in order to reach the next area. This would not be that bad on its own but the lack of solid directions lead me either to dead ends or down dangerous paths that resulted in my death numerous times. After a while, it felt like the game was wasting my time by throwing enemies at me out of nowhere and forcing me to grind to a higher level only to be killed out of nowhere again. I understand the game is trying to replicate the harsh environment a creature like the "Slugcat" would have to endure but many times my appreciation of this detail was clouded by my rage of dying over 10 times in one area.

I have a lot of respect for this game whether it be because of its aforementioned stellar presentation, impressive enemy ai, and ecosystem, or even its cool ambient soundtrack. I wish I could love this game more but I found its gameplay infuriating one too many times for me to even want to go back and play the other characters. That being said I would still recommend this to those who want to see a unique type of game that has not been replicated yet. I am glad I was able to experience it despite my misgivings about it.

A very big improvement from the last game with better writing, art, atmosphere, and story. There was a lot of effort put into fleshing out each of the suspects and their relationships with each other so that by the end you feel you have a good understanding of who everyone is, which is something the last game did not do as successfully.
Despite being overall not very good at puzzle games I found the puzzles here to be quite enjoyable and tricky, though I did end up looking up a few things. The story is the main selling point for me as it starts off relatively simple but gets very interesting and depressing as it goes on. It really feels like the developers found their footing with this entry and I am excited to see what the next entry looks like. Also, the dynamic between Grimoire and Sally is so charming.

An excellent cozy RPG that doesn't ask a lot from you about learning its mechanics or understanding its story. There's a clear progression in the story that starts off simple but then dives into a broader narrative that piqued my interest very early on. I love how interconnected the world feels between each chapter and how the game is constantly pushing the story forward with little to no filler sections.

The characters are a lot of fun and the gameplay can be pretty satisfying if you have a good build set up. My main gripe is that sometimes the battles can last very long if you are in a bad spot or if you are fighting a lot of enemies. With there being no way to speed up the battle animations, this becomes quite annoying after a while. Overall a worthy RPG to play for those who want a nice relaxing time.