Hands down Sam Barlow's best work so far. Switching from textual to visual searches is a brilliant move in conjunction with a shift in storytelling from the literal to the symbolic, drawing the player's attention over and over again to the images that are shared across the stories. The mechanics themselves blur the line between the sign and its meaning, linking a picture at now to another picture and now to the person the picture depicts, harmonizing with the thematic focus on the dissolving boundary between actor, role, and audience.

Immortality is Lynchian, in the sense that it uses a nexus of symbols and raw emotion to argue that the banal humanity of everyday life affects and reflects the grand arcs of humanity. Although the initially-obscure narrative does eventually take clearer form once you dive deep into the depths of the game, it remains resolutely unwilling to sacrifice the breadth of its symbolic resonance at the altar of "lore" by answering every question the player has. It is a game that sticks in one's mind and demands to be mulled over again and again, rewarding this thought with glimmers of insight that feel deeply earned.

This is easily Sam Barlow’s most ambitious game, which both works in its favor and against it. Jumping from the relatively intimate, small stories of Her Story and Telling Lies to the sprawling story of Immortality was a little daunting at first, especially because of the way the search system (or lack thereof) works, but now I actually prefer it. It gives the game a great sense of flow that just couldn’t be achieved with the older system. The story itself is also great, and while I’m not too sure how I feel about what it ended up being about, I was never bored, which is something I cannot say about Telling Lies. It’s really hard to talk about this game without delving into spoilers so I’ll stop here. Her Story is still my favorite Sam game, but the story of Marissa Marcel is one that has surprisingly stuck with me. I don’t think I’m going to forget it anytime soon.

Half way through the game I felt like I was just forcing myself to keep playing it, and I just decided to stop. It's not at all bad, there's some clever and unique puzzles here, but it does not hold my attention at all, and in retrospect gave me more of an appreciation for the original.

I greatly dislike the way the game is structured, especially in comparison to the first game. It feels unnecessary to have to constantly go back and forth between E. Gadd's lab and the mansions, and I much prefer the Resident Evil 1-esque structure of the original game.

I also miss the charismatic variety of the ghosts from Luigi's Mansion 1. The ghosts in this game are all extremely boring in comparison to the Portrait Ghosts. None of them are particularly memorable, they all share a small variety of designs, and lack personality.

The constant interruptions from E. Gadd annoyed me greatly. He reminds me of Fi from Zelda: Skyward Sword, constantly calling you to tell you stuff that's obvious or didn't really require an explanation.

This game just really doesn't do much for me. Maybe I'll come back to it, I don't know, I really just want to see if Luigi's Mansion 3 is as good as I've heard it is.

Really stellar. Such a cozy game, loved to play a bit on like a sunday morning with some tea. The idea of collecting the tutorial book for your own adventure is so fun, and so natural within the game that it's astounding. Info is given to you perfectly, and always in a way that keeps you engaged in the world. It says so much without any words, it's really a standout in the indie roster for this year and maybe the indie game of the year. Wanted to go back and play it more right after beating it. Hard though! Definitely found myself frustrated at some bosses but i think i was also a bit underprepared for them.

I think I could play Tinykin forever.

If there were always more areas to explore, I would never get tired of this game. It's a beautiful hybrid of 3D platforming and stress-free, enemyless Pikmin, a combination I never would have come up with myself. Playing Tinykin feels like putting vanilla extract in your lemonade for the first time. (I'm serious, it's delicious, BUT JUST A TINY BIT OF VANILLA DON'T OVERDO IT) This new combination of things I already loved has blown me away.

Now, 100%ing the game was a bit of a drag at the end, but I did eventually find every single Tinykin and every bit of pollen in the house. If I could change one thing about the game, I would have included an unlockable radar for both Tinykin and Pollen. Since there are two exhibits in the hub area that you're meant to fill (the drinks and the artefacs), radar/detectors being rewards for completing each of these would have been perfect. There's no real reward for completion other than achievements, but the game was so delightful that I wanted to play every bit of it that I could.

The story is wack though, I rewatched the ending twice and still can't confidently explain what really happened!

I can't judge this game on the merits of being "Kirby's first 3D outing", as it's a great disservice to Kirby's Blowout Blast, a vital component of the series' history that deserves no slander. That being said, I'm willing to begrudgingly forgive those who do because, I mean... take a look at Blowout Blast, and then at Forgotten Land.... practically night and day.

For how much work clearly went into preparing for this title, it's remarkable how seamless the transition feels, with all the highlights you'd come to expect from modern 2D Kirby games. In some ways it's even an improvement on the traditional formula, especially with regards to side content. The most I can nitpick at is how the game's pacing is impacted by missing a spare side mission or needing to upgrade certain abilities, but these problems are really softened on repeat playthroughs. Either way, the game is an absolute joy from start to finish, and hopefully it'll serve as a strong foundation for future 3D Kirby titles.

Not just my favorite Kirby game, but my favorite video game of all time. I'm aware it's an unpopular opinion to prefer this over Planet Robobot, and in fairness that game's a strong second place in my eyes! Having replayed them both back-to-back, what edges Triple Deluxe to the top for me is how cozy it feels. The world themes are especially colorful and distinctive even by Kirby standards and the backgrounds go for more of a geometric look which gives the game a really unique identity compared to others in the series. It adds an extra bit of charm and style to modern Kirby's winning formula of rock-solid platforming, great boss fights, and a variety of side content, which have all been taken a step further compared to Return to Dream Land. It's my personal gold standard for Kirby games and one that I'm sure I'll continue to revisit a lot in the future.

usually when it comes to stylish action games, the first thing you look for are crazy combos, long move lists, and insane movement to navigate the battlefield. viewtiful joe doesn't follow this traditional approach. as an example, a game like devil may cry uses 3 different subsequent commands are used to launch an enemy, and in viewtiful joe you only need 2. despite an overall simplified approach to combat however, the game is not lacking in depth. using the vfx gauge (your main resource in combat) you can slow down time, speed up joe, or zoom the camera in and show off some unique actions. all have their time and place, and for the most part don't feel underdeveloped. none of these actions are nearly as cool as the primary scoring tool however, in which you stun an enemy, slow down time, and use every enemy on screen as makeshift projectiles that multiply your score with each successive hit. on their own these mechanics already make viewtiful joe a refreshing action game, but the thing that really pulls the game together is the visual presentation. taking place in the world inside a theater screen, everything feels like it's being filmed on a movie set. the cardboard cutout backdrops, the film grain when draining your vfx, the camera shutter sound effect that plays when you land a hit, or even the edges of film that appear in cutscenes or during combat. nothing feels out of place. i've only mentioned a few examples, but there's so many little touches that really bring the whole piece together that i’d be here all day if i mentioned them all. i think if anything could have been touched up, it would be the bosses. none of them are outright bad (beating a boss is usually one of the most satisfying feelings in the game) but they usually end up falling apart from one dominant strategy and never really get the chance to shine. this is especially unfortunate as a boss rush near the end of the game is concluded by arguably the best fight in the game, but we didn't see the game go beyond that (i think the final boss was great in it's own right, but not without its own issues). for all i know, these issues could be resolved in the sequel, it's a game i know so little about but I'm incredibly interested to see what it has in store. i would highly recommend any action fans check this game out, it's sharp, it’s witty, and it's not an experience you can really find anywhere else.

NIGHTS Into Dreams is a surrealist game about a sexually ambiguous harlequin who flies around dreams collecting balls to the tune of jazzy music. It's a highly experimental title born during the early days of 3D, yet it doesn't feature any 3D platforming, opting instead for 2.5D flight with the occasional gimmick, of which each stage has at least one.
It's a weird, highly creative game with excellent presentation (especially the music and character designs), and I think it's definitely worth playing.