Trapezohedron
2017
Factorio, but with something to kill, and more annoying/limited item transport options. Wonderful mod support.
2023
Substandard plot with lackluster Metroidvania progression heavily-carried by its charming art design and its wonderful combat mechanics + bosses.
As much as I enjoyed the game's combat and very-flexible Kingdom Hearts 2-esque badge system where you can spend 'skill points' in order to slot them in, and the game isn't shy about giving you more skill points than what you really need, the metroidvania exploration kills most of the game's momentum for me as well as its lackluster story which is your standard fare anime plot.
As much as I enjoyed the game's combat and very-flexible Kingdom Hearts 2-esque badge system where you can spend 'skill points' in order to slot them in, and the game isn't shy about giving you more skill points than what you really need, the metroidvania exploration kills most of the game's momentum for me as well as its lackluster story which is your standard fare anime plot.
2020
The annoying thing about this game is that, if you progress through it normally, it's just a simple if not tough roguelike that will most likely fuck you up with a single pixel of polymorphine.
And for the times you don't? Nobody tells you the game has far more to the map than it seemingly has. The secrets hide away from you. It does not want to be known.
As above, so below.
And for the times you don't? Nobody tells you the game has far more to the map than it seemingly has. The secrets hide away from you. It does not want to be known.
As above, so below.
2018
Wonderful prose. The grind? Not so much. The lack of guide? Deliberate.
Beautiful game marred by tweening instead of painstakingly animating frames like Vanillaware would. Understandable though, but because of that, bosses are less interesting than they could have been.
It does however have a difficulty modifier unlockable and an NG+, adding some replayability.
It does however have a difficulty modifier unlockable and an NG+, adding some replayability.
2022
Beautiful text adventure game that evokes Witcher feelings while you're on a task to map the peninsula. As the titular Roadwarden, your task is to actually maintain the roads and keep it safe if possible, or confirm if they should be avoided. You're functionally a Google car trying to map the world for your lords. Despite the mundane task, it's in-universe considered difficult to do, because you are on your lonesome with no one to protect you, and thus successful forays of a Roadwarden yield prestige and income... especially if you have the backing of the Merchant's Guild...
High potential, but the first game ports the second game's mechanics in an ill-fitting manner. You're always fighting against nigh-insurmountable odds in this case unless you deliberately scrap all your ships.
They weren't lying when they said the game was expanded.
2017
Awful naming aside (there's nothing wrong with it, but Zenimax/Bethesda softworks forced Arkane's hand to use a pre-existing game's name to fuck the original IP holders), Prey is yet another one of Arkane's masterful immersive sims, and in fact gives you quite a moment to think about things at the end of it all.
1987
The Dev Team Thinks Of Everything.
Except the part where the game is inaccessible, because while the game is predictable enough once you know the outcomes and the fail states... you have a legal binder's worth of rote memorization to conquer if you don't bother with spoilers. So most don't.
For example, did you know that walking into a cockatrice corpse is fine, but when you're not wearing gloves and you're blind, you're feeling around and touching the corpse of a petrifying monster? Add that knowledge together, and you'll see why you're being asked if you wanted your possessions identified.
Nowadays this kind of gameplay is considered highly-inconvenient and such a thing will not find itself in games that is too focused on QoL.
Except the part where the game is inaccessible, because while the game is predictable enough once you know the outcomes and the fail states... you have a legal binder's worth of rote memorization to conquer if you don't bother with spoilers. So most don't.
For example, did you know that walking into a cockatrice corpse is fine, but when you're not wearing gloves and you're blind, you're feeling around and touching the corpse of a petrifying monster? Add that knowledge together, and you'll see why you're being asked if you wanted your possessions identified.
Nowadays this kind of gameplay is considered highly-inconvenient and such a thing will not find itself in games that is too focused on QoL.
2021
As a fan of this series, I would actually rate this 2 more stars higher than the indicated rating. So why is it actually low?
The game has a plethora of highly-expensive DLCs, and without it, the game is basically just a slightly-worse R-Type Final, which in itself can't hold a candle up to the older R-Type games save R-Type II.
The gameplay, like all R-Type games, rely less on twitch and more on memorization and trial and error.
I still wouldn't recommend this game if only because of its price point.
The game has a plethora of highly-expensive DLCs, and without it, the game is basically just a slightly-worse R-Type Final, which in itself can't hold a candle up to the older R-Type games save R-Type II.
The gameplay, like all R-Type games, rely less on twitch and more on memorization and trial and error.
I still wouldn't recommend this game if only because of its price point.
1998
BG1 and BG2 with Dragonspear
2014
A great way to play the old Daggerfall. But note that Daggerfall nowadays is unironically a lackluster experience, probably only slightly less painful to play than Starfield.
2021
Very grindy. I should abandon this, but I end up coming back to it.
Despite the graphics, this is actually a soulslike.
70 hours in, I am still somewhere in the midgame.
Despite the graphics, this is actually a soulslike.
70 hours in, I am still somewhere in the midgame.
2021
Has a LOT of content and is pretty solid. It also attempts to alleviate the 2 attack Robot Wars trend that has been bucking the series as of late.
However, the animations are lackluster and all over the place. Still, I must recognize the game for what it is, and I would have rated this 2 and a half if it were up to me, but it does have enough content to make it a solid recommend.
However, the animations are lackluster and all over the place. Still, I must recognize the game for what it is, and I would have rated this 2 and a half if it were up to me, but it does have enough content to make it a solid recommend.