A neat little reverse-horror Pikmin-esque rougelite. The lovecraftian elements are fun and seeing all of your little deep sea horrors trample across the screen tearing up the poor townsfolk feels very satisfying. Though some units definitely feel stronger than others, there's enough variety to make your armies feel fairly different each level. Actually controlling your mob of creatures can feel a smidge frustrating which wouldn't have been so bad if the difficulty was just slightly easier but as it is there were a couple moments where I ended up frustrated that the little guys just kinda kept running into their death due to the controls feeling like the "brush" you're using is just a bit too big. Overall, though, it's a pretty fun mob game that doesn't overstay its welcome.

One of the greatest video game soundtracks ever produced. The songs span multiple genres and yet somehow still feel thematically cohesive, how do they do it. As incredibly joyous and pure fun as the game is, I sometimes found myself battling with the controls and collision mechanics. A couple times happened where I would get stuck between two objects and then clumps would just fly off the Katamari. Other times I would struggle to climb up a hill I know I'm meant to climb but the collision thinks I'm bumping up against a wall instead of climbing up a slope.

These are some pretty minor nitpicks though and honestly completely expected of a game as incredibly innovative and creative as this. When you're inventing entirely new mechanics to gaming, there's unavoidably gonna be some jank. Hopefully they remaster the sequel at some point so that more people can experience the only other Katamari game directed by its original creator Keita Takahashi. It just kinda feels weird for one the games to be remastered but not the other, y'know?

Quite honestly the most well written porn game I've ever played. The characters are charming, the world is incredibly fleshed out, and the humor is genuinely pretty funny. This game has become somewhat of a favorite of mine over the years and it kind of drives me crazy that more people don't know about it! I suppose it's understandable as the game isn't even finished yet, but right now there's at least 80 hours of JRPG content here and it's all good.

First of all, the characters are great! I love how smart everyone acts and how they think through their actions rationally. The protagonist in particular acts with more thought and compassion than most heroes in media in general. He's a bit of a Mary Sue, especially in the later chapters, but he's so likeable overall that I can forgive it. The main party is generally pretty fleshed out, although the party members that have "variants" tend to suffer a bit from a lack of depth. I also did not expect to like the existentialist philosopher orc character so much but goddamn is his dialogue actually fun and thought-provoking.

The game provides a lot of things I didn't expect, really. The focus on religion and its nuanced conflicts with sexual expression, the part where you have to dishonestly play geopolitical diplomacy during an intricate international summit sequence, the financial headache of trying to figure out which business investment will provide the most returns at the end of the next chapter. The game covers a lot of topics, notably a lot of genuinely adult topics, and it portrays them in a mature, rational lens. I draw attention to this because this is one of the first porn games I've played that seems geared towards actual adults rather than the typical audience of horny teenage boys who tend to uh, not have the best opinions about women and who often find those opinions reinforced through the "horny culture" that a lot of other porn games promote.

In fact, the game in general acts as a sort of deconstruction of the typical eroge. It actively explores the normalization of rape in the genre, and fully examines what a world that is obsessed with sex would actually look like and how it would actually function. Even the gameplay is kind of a rejection of JRPG grinding mechanics in that there are no random battles and a finite amount of money, making mob battles desirable instead of annoying and giving equipment purchasing decisions some real weight.

The only thing holding this game back is the fact that it's made on a pretty old RPG maker engine. As a result, the overall presentation isn't really anything remarkable at all. The character portraits are pleasantly well-done but the spritework is pretty generic and the illustrations for the sex scenes are honestly amateurish (sorry to the artists). I first played the game before there were even illustrations and it was just straight up text erotica, and I think I actually prefer it that way, but that's just me.

But yeah, big glowing recommendation from me for anyone wanting a proper RPG experience with their erotica. Can't wait until the game's finished so I can properly experience this wonderfully-written story as intended.

The only deal better than 5 dollars for Vampire Survivors is 0 dollars for Holocure. The comparison here is pretty much unavoidable as this survivors-like is the most unashamedly similar to VS than all the other imitators in this new subgenre. It's also probably the best out of all of them so far. Pretty much every weapon in VS has a direct correlate in Holocure but it's the additions to the formula that set this fangame apart from the others.

Giving each character their own unique weapon and set of unique abilities makes each run really feel different and the addition of a strafe button is honestly a godsend. The animations are cute and lively as well. I believe the creator was actually the animator for River City Girls and one of the Shantae games which explains the quality. Also, as the game is tailor-made for Hololive fans, literally everything is some kind of inside joke. I had to look up a video explaining all of the references and I've never felt so disconnected to the youth in my life. Even if you're like me and don't understand a lot of the memes the game is just mechanically so fun and addicting that you'll enjoy it anyway. It's also free, so there's pretty much no reason not to just give it a try to see if you'll like it.

Probably one of the steepest learning curves in gaming as well as arguably the most complex out of all the esports. There's so many moving parts, so many mechanics, and so much to learn you could honestly dedicate the rest of your life to getting good at this game. I literally spent a hundred hours in this game and still felt like a beginner. At some point I realized I'd probably have to spend another hundred hours to actually get to a skill level I'd be satisfied with at which point I decided: "Actually I'm good, thanks." This game's a lot of fun if you lose your life to it, but I think most people will end up trying it out, realizing their inadequacy, and then eventually bouncing off. Not a bad esport though, if you know what's going on. It's kind of the (American) football of esports.

A truly magical experience. A collage of interesting ideas stemming from the keystone concept of purely dynamic systems working seamlessly with the central theme of the unavoidable march of time. The promotion of discovery and exploration not merely as goals for the intended game experience but as central mechanics where it's not your character gaining experience, but you. The visual and musical aesthetic combination of hard sci-fi and backwoods folk effortlessly bridging the love of the natural world and its peoples with the love of scientific curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge. This game achieves all these things while still managing to feel like a small, intimate experience of profound empathy and consideration. It's not perfect, and I had more than a few minor annoyances throughout the experience, but I will always treasure my first playthrough as distinctly mine, and no one else's. Go into it knowing nothing and have your own first playthrough, and then come to a slight melancholy when you realize there's nothing else quite like it but you're thankful for the experience you had.

(Also, I would recommend using a controller)

The job system in this game is actually pretty dang sick and I wish more RPG systems had something like it. The way it encourages multiple different playstyles throughout the game and the freedom it allows to mix and match different classes and abilities for interesting combinations makes for some genuinely fun theory crafting and experimentation. It seems like after this game, the series more or less solidifies into the FFIV idea of classes where each character has their own unique playstyle directly related to their story and personality. Makes sense, from a ludo-narrative perspective but also I can't help but feel like we lost a bit of fun and freedom that was afforded with the FFIII and FFV job systems. But I guess that's what FFXIV is for.

But yeah, game's pretty cool. Story's a little thin and the characters could've used some more depth but overall a fun romp.

The only good Plants vs. Zombies game. Predicted idle games and is a perfectly designed and unique spin on the tower defense genre in its own right. The difficulty is tuned just right and the feeling of progression is immaculately paced. The music is well-composed and catchy and the sense of humor manages to be charming without being loud or annoying. The invisible guiding hand of the game design exudes from every facet of the experience. Which makes it all the more shameful that EA turned this precisely crafted game into a sloppy mess of sequels and spinoffs. Don't be fooled by the rest of the money-grabbing franchise, this game is great and is still plenty of fun to this day.

A marvelous tone piece. The muted, but not quite black-and-white art style complemented by the cold howls of echoey synths reverberating into empty factories and dark woodscapes produce a tense atmosphere of quiet dread throughout the experience only rivaled by the creators' previous game LIMBO. But whereas LIMBO relishes in the shock value of its edginess, INSIDE's edginess feels subtler, and more cohesive towards its themes of control and oppression. Playing INSIDE feels like being trapped in an Edward Hopper painting. Other people may exist right beside you but their sentience is only ever an idea. The city outside the cafe may be vast and its glass may be transparent, but even if the outside is clearly visible, one can never truly escape the feeling of being...inside.

An incredibly well-made indie fighting game. Cute characters with fun personalites, an expressive combo system, and seamless GGPO rollback netcode. The development story of how this was originally a MLP fangame, got taken down by Hasbro, and then rose from the rubble to gain its own identity through the hard work of its developers and contributions of the fanbase is honestly inspiring. The game's excellent tutorial also make it a great first fighting game for anyone looking to get into the genre.

My only complaints are the limited roster of 7 characters (so far), the story mode only having one chapter finished, and the small player base. Hopefully the developers keep supporting the game so that it eventually feels more like a complete package because the core of what's there is pretty fun so far.

Great for college dropouts. A story that attempts to combine the personal story of a directionless millennial youth with the setting of an economically declining rustbelt town nostalgic for the good old days. The central mystery driving the plot almost immediately takes a back seat for most of the game in favor of the actual main focus of the game, which is just hanging out with friends, reading witty dialogue, and awkwardly trying to avoid talking about why you dropped out of college. As much as I enjoyed the fun and riffy interactions between Mae and her friends, I would have liked just a bit more focus on the actual mystery side of the plot. But overall, the game still offers a heartfelt and quirky experience. Would definitely recommend to my fellow disaffected Midwesterners in their 20s.

A repeat-after-me rhythm game similar to classics in the genre like PaRappa the Rapper. But whereas PaRappa uses hip hop and absurdism as a lens to examine themes of self-worth and masculinity, Space Channel 5 evokes the energetic spirit of musicals and dance to embrace a bombastic femininity. This game makes no apologies. It's sexy. It's in your face. It's got a beat that you can't get out of your head no matter how many times you hum that three horn note ending motif in the shower while posing like Ulala. The music has such an infectious energy to it and the presentation has such a ridiculous style that you can't help but smile the whole way through. I replay this game every now and then just to hear those blasting horns, mimic those sassy poses, and remind myself that sometimes a game can just be fun.

A pale imitation of Parappa the Rapper, and yet I cannot deny the funkiness of the beats. When I first played the game, it kinda ran like garbo, but over time it seems like they managed to tweak it enough so that the timings aren't affected at all anymore, which is great. The art style obviously continues the sort of blocky, flat look that many of the old Newgrounds mascots all seem to have. In fact, the very inclusion of those mascots into the game don't even feel that out of place here and also gave me some unexpected nostalgia. It's a little weird to think that kids nowadays will only know Pico and the Tankmen from this game instead of y'know, Newgrounds, but I digress.

The music of course, is actually really bumpin', which is good because otherwise the game wouldn't work at all. The use of chopped up Banjo-Kazooie-esque electronically manipulated voice beeps works flawlessly into the mix and the gradual transformation of the simplistic turn-taking rap battles into blossoming simultaneous duets is a welcome innovation to the Parappa formula I wasn't expecting. The genres start off as hip-hop-ish but over time takes cues from increasingly higher-bpm electronic stuff with some dance inspired tracks as well as, unexpectedly, some gabber type beats? It's all pretty danceable really and I found myself swinging my head to most of the songs.

I'm not too familiar with the fan community, as I'm probably at least a decade too old for it, but it seems like there's a pretty big modding and youtuber scene associated with the game, which is good news for the longevity of any rhythm game, really. It also seems like mods will be fully supported in the full game, which is always nice to see. Overall the developers seem pretty capable, so I'm looking forward to the full release, whenever that happens!

Usually when a game becomes a meme it's for one of two reasons: Either it's "so bad it's good" such as something like Shadow the Hedgehog or because it's "YouTuber bait" like Surgeon Simulator. Winnie the Pooh's Home Run Derby is neither of these. This unassuming children's web game has neither any major deficiencies in its core design nor is it attempting to be intentionally funny. The humor that the gaming community has collectively found, of course, is the insane difficulty curve, no, difficulty brick wall that is the devil himself, Christopher Robin. If this was themed as a hardcore baseball simulator that would be one thing, but to foist this monster, this malevolent beast of absolute pitching savagery upon children under the guise of just being a fun hang out sesh with your favorite unemployed bear is simply unconscionable.

We will never know what the designers meant by this. We will never know if the original architects of the game were acting with utter disdain towards children, or if they perhaps had much too faith in the youth's determination to overcome this challenge, or if they simply playtested it once, got it first try, and then said, "eh, it's probably fine." But whatever the case, Winnie the Pooh's Home Run Derby has made its mark upon gaming history as the only pure inside joke game the gaming community at large has ever enjoyed together. What a piece of shit. But also, what a treasure.

A fun free game that the developer himself admits is pretty much just fanart bait. The art is cute and stylish, and the characters themselves are excellent at appealing to a very specific taste. I'm actually pretty impressed by how the designs manage to feel cool and sexy without being revealing at all or feeling fanservice-y. I almost feel like I need to hear a fashion designer's insight on these outfits. The puzzle gameplay is quick and snappy and the main music track is infectiously bouncy. Pretty much the entire experience feels quick, polished, and to the point which is a great way to make a free game like this go viral for a bit, but also causes a lot of the new fans to want a bit more. And while there's not much to the game, what's there is quality. It really is amazing how much I ended up liking all of the girls despite them having such few lines of dialogue.