VforValensa
This is maybe a weird take but i like 3D World WAY more than than Super Mario Wonder. I guess I generally prefer 3D Mario to 2D Mario, playing around with the expanded move set is more engaging to me even when it's not needed to complete the level, it's kinda like a fidget toy. I also find 2D Mario level design to be kinda formulaic. A 2D Mario level is always a big long flat course that rarely has multiple paths and when the game is asking you to do 50+ of these levels that are largely variations on a theme I tend to lose interest, but maybe I'm just a weirdo who would always rather play 20 Sonic levels than 40 Mario levels. Regardless I don't feel this same formulaic-ness in 3D World, levels tend to be really distinctive, with the exception of a few repeated themes like the trains or boo mansions which are relatively infrequent and have decent variation. And this is further helped by level progression being so much smoother in 3D world than in wonder. I don't have exact numbers on whether there are actually fewer times in 3D world where you need to go back and pick up collectibles you missed to go to the next world, but it sure feels like that.
Since I don't want to exclusively rag on Wonder I also think that 3D world has maybe the best goal structure out of the 3D Mario games. I would need to revisit the galaxy games since I didn't play those as much historically, but in 64 and sunshine I find that I have trouble maintaining interest in collecting stars after the first few worlds cause all the stuff you need to do in those games has pretty consistent level of complexity and by the time I'm doing the 5th challenge in a single level I'm kinda sick of looking at these assets and don't care enough to progress and I'm find with dropping the game for a few months/years. 3d world and then later Odyssey and Bowser's Fury have smartly included a lot of "easy" stars which you can get by going slightly out of you way but don't require the complexity of a main level objective so you can focus on forward progression and getting to play with new stuff, which is what's compelling to me.
Since I don't want to exclusively rag on Wonder I also think that 3D world has maybe the best goal structure out of the 3D Mario games. I would need to revisit the galaxy games since I didn't play those as much historically, but in 64 and sunshine I find that I have trouble maintaining interest in collecting stars after the first few worlds cause all the stuff you need to do in those games has pretty consistent level of complexity and by the time I'm doing the 5th challenge in a single level I'm kinda sick of looking at these assets and don't care enough to progress and I'm find with dropping the game for a few months/years. 3d world and then later Odyssey and Bowser's Fury have smartly included a lot of "easy" stars which you can get by going slightly out of you way but don't require the complexity of a main level objective so you can focus on forward progression and getting to play with new stuff, which is what's compelling to me.
2021
A genius and maximalist take on the Outrun style arcade racer, I think I like it more than the original Outrun.
2023
Really neat bite sized resident evil/signalis type survival horror game. I always love a creepy oil rig and procgen stuff is really novel for one of these games. Kinda have a gripe with the controls though, I don't like needing to pick up items with the number keys while I already got my my hands on the arrow keys and Z and X in order to get away from the monsters.
2019
Really neat little puzzle game, but i played in a couple sittings at a desktop and it probably been a better experience to have this on mobile doing a couple puzzles every so often.
This review contains spoilers
Holy hell this was one of the dumbest games I've ever had the displeasure of playing. Any of legitimately cool little tricks this game plays with the ghost joker or twists on the very established arkham gameplay are undercut by the constant insistence on making long tedious sections with the miserably controlling batmobile and a narrative that somehow gets stupider with every new revelation. And then at the end batman kills himself. Or he doesn't. Who cares.
2022
A delightfully spooky short horror game that takes a pretty intriguing pitch; what if cutesy animal crossing characters went to silent hill, and really delivers with a deeply unsettling atmosphere. I don't know if there are actually any threats or fail states in this game, but it's so efficient at creating dread that it doesn't really matter, and to me that's the mark of great horror.