Werty800
1993
Jurassic Park for the Genesis plays like a sped up Flashback, or you can play as a raptor if you want. It's unreal how large and how fast Grant's leaps across the screen are, but each level is finished in minutes. There's the huge issue of just not being able to see what's below you or in front of you sometimes, and it is much harder to learn what feels like a layout of a Sonic level at points, but it is certainly doable.
Your reward will be a cool T-Rex head popping out of the background and a boss battle against two raptors where you are not actually able to hurt the raptors, and are supposed to hit the two pedestals holding up the dino skeletons. Bizarre choice for a game where half the time I would rocket some dilophosaurus in the face.
Raptor is just Sonic. He jumps across the length of what feels like two screens. The screen literally cannot keep up with you half the time. Then they put you in the shitty tight canals. Like why? The final boss isn't against Grant either, it's against ONE of the stones from a specific angle.
Bizarre game, but pretty inoffensive and forgettable. I'm sure there will be people who will get a lot less and some who will get a tiny bit more out of it though.
Your reward will be a cool T-Rex head popping out of the background and a boss battle against two raptors where you are not actually able to hurt the raptors, and are supposed to hit the two pedestals holding up the dino skeletons. Bizarre choice for a game where half the time I would rocket some dilophosaurus in the face.
Raptor is just Sonic. He jumps across the length of what feels like two screens. The screen literally cannot keep up with you half the time. Then they put you in the shitty tight canals. Like why? The final boss isn't against Grant either, it's against ONE of the stones from a specific angle.
Bizarre game, but pretty inoffensive and forgettable. I'm sure there will be people who will get a lot less and some who will get a tiny bit more out of it though.
Starts off rather strong but never goes anywhere. This run n' gun has a few interesting ideas, the primary one being the different weapons for humans and dinos. You're kinda like the dinosaur witcher here. One type of weapon deals damage to both, while the others only neutralize the beasts. If you kill too many, however, the game just ends, which I found out the hard way. And the number isn't exactly clear, but if you go below 50 the ecosystem gets borked or something.
So you have this dynamic of switching weapons, preserving ammo, all that. Works especially well in the later stages. Too bad the later stages are largely either rehashes of other levels, or are just straight up annoying. The game begins to really go hard on the death pits, on cheap damage, and convoluted missions. The volcano one, dear lord. It's just a maze really and you supposedly have a device to track it down with sound but it just makes no sense as you play it. The whole game is go right simulator, if you can't go left, so putting a poorly thought out maze that doesn't make any sense structurally, and then redoing this concept on a timer? AAAAAAAAAAA.
The final boss is nothing to speak of, but the reuse of enemies is. Nothing is safe from the power of reuse. If this game was like two missions shorter, or just abandoned the timed missions altogether, I think it would be fondly remembered for the cool mechanics I mentioned. But it's just bloated and gets progressively more and more dull.
Same issue as the Snes Jurassic Park and the Genesis Rampage Edition. So many games from this era are longer than they should be just because they can be longer. They don't do anything with that length, they just are. This does not feel good enough to play by the middle of the game, let alone during a replay on a harder difficulty. The length does not fit replayability or single completion, I don't get it. These types of games should have just returned to monkey, to the NES. That's the lesson here I guess.
It's probably better in co-op, but so is half of the SNES library.
So you have this dynamic of switching weapons, preserving ammo, all that. Works especially well in the later stages. Too bad the later stages are largely either rehashes of other levels, or are just straight up annoying. The game begins to really go hard on the death pits, on cheap damage, and convoluted missions. The volcano one, dear lord. It's just a maze really and you supposedly have a device to track it down with sound but it just makes no sense as you play it. The whole game is go right simulator, if you can't go left, so putting a poorly thought out maze that doesn't make any sense structurally, and then redoing this concept on a timer? AAAAAAAAAAA.
The final boss is nothing to speak of, but the reuse of enemies is. Nothing is safe from the power of reuse. If this game was like two missions shorter, or just abandoned the timed missions altogether, I think it would be fondly remembered for the cool mechanics I mentioned. But it's just bloated and gets progressively more and more dull.
Same issue as the Snes Jurassic Park and the Genesis Rampage Edition. So many games from this era are longer than they should be just because they can be longer. They don't do anything with that length, they just are. This does not feel good enough to play by the middle of the game, let alone during a replay on a harder difficulty. The length does not fit replayability or single completion, I don't get it. These types of games should have just returned to monkey, to the NES. That's the lesson here I guess.
It's probably better in co-op, but so is half of the SNES library.
2023
This will be so many people's favorite game of all time. It's not mine, and I may have my issues, but I write this because I absolutely wanna celebrate games that have such unbelievably good production, such interesting and rich worlds, characters with expansive perspectives, such beautiful diversity and take something that has already been a staple of several amazing games over the past few years and just experiment with it further and further to see the way players react. It didn't perfectly click with me, but if it does with someone, HOOOOOLY I can't imagine that feeling. It's so rare that games with such incredible production try and reach further than they maybe can, than they maybe should, and not play it safe, and I think even this game maybe goes a bit safe at specific points, but it GOES for it otherwise. It's just such a rare thing to take something that works perfectly well and decide to risk it all. Just, fuck yeah, video games.
Perfectly solid, short, little action platformer for the Gameboy. No doubt anyone who owned it would have been satisfied. Levels are tight and not too long, bosses are perfectly solid. Nothing to really drag on at all!
Though this is still dinosaur mass murder simulator, it does benefit from the Jurassic Park theming by having these water creatures and the land dinos as enemies. They all just look appealing for the screen they're on. And the bigger ones look threatening and cool, especially the underwater one that charges from off screen. The only one that looks extremely goofy is the Velociraptor.
Unfortunately it also just does not stand out very much for the platform it's on. Certainly would be ten times more forgotten if not for the branding. It's a one hour drive home kind of game, but undoubtedly one many kids would have picked back up and beaten several times.
Though this is still dinosaur mass murder simulator, it does benefit from the Jurassic Park theming by having these water creatures and the land dinos as enemies. They all just look appealing for the screen they're on. And the bigger ones look threatening and cool, especially the underwater one that charges from off screen. The only one that looks extremely goofy is the Velociraptor.
Unfortunately it also just does not stand out very much for the platform it's on. Certainly would be ten times more forgotten if not for the branding. It's a one hour drive home kind of game, but undoubtedly one many kids would have picked back up and beaten several times.
Incoherent rambling I wrote when playing Baldur's Gate 2. Too much writing to just delete it but the thesis falls apart when you consider that games like Underrail and Colony Ship are still coming out.
Old RPGs Are (Almost) Dead
I do not believe in the idea of video games aging. I do, however, believe that the way we play them does. You cannot replicate the idea that permeated a school playground or an online forum of, for example, what it means to be an RPG. The story they are describing is set inside a game with pixelated graphics that communicate the bare minimum. One may look at a dragon there and a dragon in Elden Ring and just be baffled at how one can match the other. But that potential was there. People found it and extracted it and had the feeling of an epic adventure. It still is there. But it becomes increasingly more difficult to access them, to feel them. They are dying, and some are already dead.
In Baldur's Gate 2, there's a quest that has you investigate a cult where people rip their eyes out to have a chance of an awakening. To go undercover, you have to find a piece of a wand from a place deeper underground. In there, you find a temple, dedicated to a different deity than the one you are investigating. Its followers have forgotten the name of their god and as such his strength wavers and his avatar cannot defeat the evil that is overtaking him and his temple, the purpose of which was guarding the wand piece from evil.
The lesson here is you cannot make anyone remember a thing forever, even if you were to give them eternal life. The human experience is that of many experiences, and we forget. The pain more often than not makes us forget, the pain of aging or just the human condition replacing old positive memories with not just negative ones. They sometimes replace them with nothing. There are just gaps in memory. I cannot make anyone cherish these games, and the games cannot hold up themselves, even if I put out this piece of writing and let it sit forever. The followers of the forgotten deity, by the time the player meets them, hate their god. Not passionately, but dejectedly, thinking they will never be allowed to pass on. Even if you dedicate your life to something, that dedication can ruin it for you.
I gained an appreciation of titles like these thanks to the YouTuber Warlockracy, who does "narrative let's plays" through which he paints the picture of how to find enjoyment in them. I now love Morrowind because I listened to him talk about how it is largely its own medium where a player can tell their own stories, and then proceeds to do just that. My next attempt at Morrowind succeeded because I decided to leave anything I tried before and figured I would like to have this character I am creating to try and gain money fast by working as a guard. I figured a government job would pay well and provide good equipment and I was not disappointed. I am still figuring out how to approach classic Fallout in the way he talks about it, but I keep giving it a try now and then. One day it might click.
He also has a video on Baldur's Gate, but his playstyle is not at all like mine. As such I thought I could try doing something similar to his style of content, but for a more standard playthrough, to maybe help one or two people enjoy these games more. I wrote down tips such as "make as efficient of a party as possible to get through regular fights much easier" and "save up wands for the hardest encounters." But these do not work, do they? They don't make you want to play these games and they don't help you experience them like I did. They may unlock that potential but they don't lead you down that road.
Instead, I think the only way, at my current writing skill level, is to speak of the adventures I had. You might stop playing 10 minutes in. I did, about 20 times in fact, before actually moving on past chapter four. In most of these attempts, I didn't even complete the prologue. You may try co-op only to find out how difficult it is to coordinate on something this hard to grasp for 70 hours. I did. Twice. If at any point you read these descriptions, however, and think "How does one experience these through this jumbled mess of a UI and tiny pixelated character models," all I can say is: play it to find out.
My journey started in Candlekeep, where I was raised to combat spellcasters. My father, Gorion, was one himself and knew how dangerous magic can be. His fascination with magic items always made him feel a bit distant, and the way he spoke made me want to avoid all forms of such power.
Many years later, Gorion told me suddenly that he had planned a trip for both of us. It was something he had been planning for a little bit now, clearly knowing something was afoot. The attempts on my life inside the walls which occurred on the day we were to leave only confirmed his suspicions, and even though he had not told me what was in store for us I trusted him. Outside the city gates, we were ambushed, and Father told me to run. Though he has slain multiple of the assailants, the big one with a horned helmet eventually crushed him.
Here is where my tale begins to grow to epic proportions. Imoen, who grew up with me in the keep, caught up to me, my one new companion, but the empty fields before me seemed to be endless. I could travel in any direction, but I was struck with choice paralysis. Gorion gave me directions to a nearby fortress where friends would await us, and I could not think about any other path. I was scared and wanted directions. Thankfully upon reaching the inn at said location, I found some.
But the mines that I liberated with my new companions soon after were merely the beginning. The tough fight at the very end helped me realize the power that magic can hold, and how communicating with my teammates and friendly spellcasters can turn the tide of battle. What Gorion could achieve was impressive, but he was just one man. Together, maybe this could work. I traveled the land far and wide in search of magical artifacts to strengthen me and my allies before we chased my father’s murderer further.
One of these locations was a forest infested with spiders. It was filled with spider-web traps that would prevent all of my teammates from moving, all the while fast spiders with knife-like legs would slice us up. Each fight cost us time, as we had to rest before we proceeded any further, and were awoken many times by ambushes. It was weeks of sleeping in that one forest, unsure of what would come next. Above it all loomed a big dome made of spider webs. It was a nest of evil. I felt the need to destroy what was inside.
But I could not have expected a human form to control these spiders. It was sprawling, distorted, but still visibly human. She was cursed, as she says. But that is all I learned before she would attack alongside her army of spiders who charged right at me. Knowing I could not take them all in their den, I ran outside, baiting them out in groups and using healing spells and potions before going back in. One of our companions, a wild mage, unleashed fierce fireballs that decimated them as we went back inside but hurt some of us as well. Eventually, we were victorious. Barely standing, we had another rest in front of the structure. Thankfully, this one was uninterrupted.
For my troubles, I obtained Spider’s Bane, a two-handed sword that would prove to be my most reliable weapon for the rest of my time chasing my father’s killer. It was enchanted, but I decided to wield it regardless. I realized my conviction against magic died with Gorion. My training made my body unable to use some trinkets, but if this sword would allow me to avenge him, so be it. I set out for the town of Baldur’s Gate.
There I eventually confronted the villain. To find him I had to be chased around like a criminal, I had to learn of Gorion’s secrets, and my whole worldview was reshaped as I learned of who I was in the grand puppet play of the gods. But I persevered. Though the final battle was chaotic, with summoned allies and my companions falling in battle, I dealt the last blow with a weapon that symbolized my conviction. It turned out the abandonment of the past, back when I first picked it up, was merely a prelude to how much I would have to leave behind.
But (sorry for a terrible transition) I do not want to abandon Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2. I am in the process of playing through the second game for the first time, and though I felt sad enough about the possibility of these experiences fading away to write this piece, I am incredibly excited that the series got the enhanced editions by Beamdog and that the third installment somehow reached the same heights critically as its predecessors did. But it will undoubtedly overshadow them even harder, just like Witcher 3 did to the two games that came before it.
I simply hope that the sort of experiences that are becoming less and less popular are still able to reach some people. They might never be as popular as they used to be, but these are undoubtedly experiences some people still search for. Games like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Fallout 1 and 2 all provide storytelling possibilities that are hard to find even in current year’s incredibly impressive lineup of titles. Only these games provided me with them, so seeing them phased out into the indie sphere at best, and even then rarely, is something I am having a hard time with.
Old RPGs Are (Almost) Dead
I do not believe in the idea of video games aging. I do, however, believe that the way we play them does. You cannot replicate the idea that permeated a school playground or an online forum of, for example, what it means to be an RPG. The story they are describing is set inside a game with pixelated graphics that communicate the bare minimum. One may look at a dragon there and a dragon in Elden Ring and just be baffled at how one can match the other. But that potential was there. People found it and extracted it and had the feeling of an epic adventure. It still is there. But it becomes increasingly more difficult to access them, to feel them. They are dying, and some are already dead.
In Baldur's Gate 2, there's a quest that has you investigate a cult where people rip their eyes out to have a chance of an awakening. To go undercover, you have to find a piece of a wand from a place deeper underground. In there, you find a temple, dedicated to a different deity than the one you are investigating. Its followers have forgotten the name of their god and as such his strength wavers and his avatar cannot defeat the evil that is overtaking him and his temple, the purpose of which was guarding the wand piece from evil.
The lesson here is you cannot make anyone remember a thing forever, even if you were to give them eternal life. The human experience is that of many experiences, and we forget. The pain more often than not makes us forget, the pain of aging or just the human condition replacing old positive memories with not just negative ones. They sometimes replace them with nothing. There are just gaps in memory. I cannot make anyone cherish these games, and the games cannot hold up themselves, even if I put out this piece of writing and let it sit forever. The followers of the forgotten deity, by the time the player meets them, hate their god. Not passionately, but dejectedly, thinking they will never be allowed to pass on. Even if you dedicate your life to something, that dedication can ruin it for you.
I gained an appreciation of titles like these thanks to the YouTuber Warlockracy, who does "narrative let's plays" through which he paints the picture of how to find enjoyment in them. I now love Morrowind because I listened to him talk about how it is largely its own medium where a player can tell their own stories, and then proceeds to do just that. My next attempt at Morrowind succeeded because I decided to leave anything I tried before and figured I would like to have this character I am creating to try and gain money fast by working as a guard. I figured a government job would pay well and provide good equipment and I was not disappointed. I am still figuring out how to approach classic Fallout in the way he talks about it, but I keep giving it a try now and then. One day it might click.
He also has a video on Baldur's Gate, but his playstyle is not at all like mine. As such I thought I could try doing something similar to his style of content, but for a more standard playthrough, to maybe help one or two people enjoy these games more. I wrote down tips such as "make as efficient of a party as possible to get through regular fights much easier" and "save up wands for the hardest encounters." But these do not work, do they? They don't make you want to play these games and they don't help you experience them like I did. They may unlock that potential but they don't lead you down that road.
Instead, I think the only way, at my current writing skill level, is to speak of the adventures I had. You might stop playing 10 minutes in. I did, about 20 times in fact, before actually moving on past chapter four. In most of these attempts, I didn't even complete the prologue. You may try co-op only to find out how difficult it is to coordinate on something this hard to grasp for 70 hours. I did. Twice. If at any point you read these descriptions, however, and think "How does one experience these through this jumbled mess of a UI and tiny pixelated character models," all I can say is: play it to find out.
My journey started in Candlekeep, where I was raised to combat spellcasters. My father, Gorion, was one himself and knew how dangerous magic can be. His fascination with magic items always made him feel a bit distant, and the way he spoke made me want to avoid all forms of such power.
Many years later, Gorion told me suddenly that he had planned a trip for both of us. It was something he had been planning for a little bit now, clearly knowing something was afoot. The attempts on my life inside the walls which occurred on the day we were to leave only confirmed his suspicions, and even though he had not told me what was in store for us I trusted him. Outside the city gates, we were ambushed, and Father told me to run. Though he has slain multiple of the assailants, the big one with a horned helmet eventually crushed him.
Here is where my tale begins to grow to epic proportions. Imoen, who grew up with me in the keep, caught up to me, my one new companion, but the empty fields before me seemed to be endless. I could travel in any direction, but I was struck with choice paralysis. Gorion gave me directions to a nearby fortress where friends would await us, and I could not think about any other path. I was scared and wanted directions. Thankfully upon reaching the inn at said location, I found some.
But the mines that I liberated with my new companions soon after were merely the beginning. The tough fight at the very end helped me realize the power that magic can hold, and how communicating with my teammates and friendly spellcasters can turn the tide of battle. What Gorion could achieve was impressive, but he was just one man. Together, maybe this could work. I traveled the land far and wide in search of magical artifacts to strengthen me and my allies before we chased my father’s murderer further.
One of these locations was a forest infested with spiders. It was filled with spider-web traps that would prevent all of my teammates from moving, all the while fast spiders with knife-like legs would slice us up. Each fight cost us time, as we had to rest before we proceeded any further, and were awoken many times by ambushes. It was weeks of sleeping in that one forest, unsure of what would come next. Above it all loomed a big dome made of spider webs. It was a nest of evil. I felt the need to destroy what was inside.
But I could not have expected a human form to control these spiders. It was sprawling, distorted, but still visibly human. She was cursed, as she says. But that is all I learned before she would attack alongside her army of spiders who charged right at me. Knowing I could not take them all in their den, I ran outside, baiting them out in groups and using healing spells and potions before going back in. One of our companions, a wild mage, unleashed fierce fireballs that decimated them as we went back inside but hurt some of us as well. Eventually, we were victorious. Barely standing, we had another rest in front of the structure. Thankfully, this one was uninterrupted.
For my troubles, I obtained Spider’s Bane, a two-handed sword that would prove to be my most reliable weapon for the rest of my time chasing my father’s killer. It was enchanted, but I decided to wield it regardless. I realized my conviction against magic died with Gorion. My training made my body unable to use some trinkets, but if this sword would allow me to avenge him, so be it. I set out for the town of Baldur’s Gate.
There I eventually confronted the villain. To find him I had to be chased around like a criminal, I had to learn of Gorion’s secrets, and my whole worldview was reshaped as I learned of who I was in the grand puppet play of the gods. But I persevered. Though the final battle was chaotic, with summoned allies and my companions falling in battle, I dealt the last blow with a weapon that symbolized my conviction. It turned out the abandonment of the past, back when I first picked it up, was merely a prelude to how much I would have to leave behind.
But (sorry for a terrible transition) I do not want to abandon Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2. I am in the process of playing through the second game for the first time, and though I felt sad enough about the possibility of these experiences fading away to write this piece, I am incredibly excited that the series got the enhanced editions by Beamdog and that the third installment somehow reached the same heights critically as its predecessors did. But it will undoubtedly overshadow them even harder, just like Witcher 3 did to the two games that came before it.
I simply hope that the sort of experiences that are becoming less and less popular are still able to reach some people. They might never be as popular as they used to be, but these are undoubtedly experiences some people still search for. Games like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Fallout 1 and 2 all provide storytelling possibilities that are hard to find even in current year’s incredibly impressive lineup of titles. Only these games provided me with them, so seeing them phased out into the indie sphere at best, and even then rarely, is something I am having a hard time with.
Frankly, unbelievable. Roleplaying possibilities are endless.
2023
This review contains spoilers
Play as a T-Rex chef called Trexito in a boring and buggy pizza restaurant sim, whose boss Alpadino is an ex-mafia leader who once murdered a dinosaur whose partner was pregnant. All for amber, which turned out to be some new chemical marvel material, but then quit the life and stole it all to give to the government scientists, only for it to catch up to him when Trexito gets fucking shot point blank, but survives because the hitman was an amateur. Alpadino then leaves and returns later with a plan to poison the mafia families, so Trexito fucking murders an entire mafia organisation over multiple weeks by poisoning their pizzas. Name of the pizza style used to kill them? Alpizzino.
Then the game ends and Trexito goes to listen to their favorite K-Pop band.
Bet you didn't expect that when looking at the game, huh?
Then the game ends and Trexito goes to listen to their favorite K-Pop band.
Bet you didn't expect that when looking at the game, huh?
I think Lazy Bear is a bit of an underrated studio. Not that their games are amazing, but they have a formula that I think they've been molding for a while that really comes together here to make for a pretty darn good time.
The minmaxing focus of "how do I create a given resource in the most efficient way" isn't exactly appealing mechanically, but it is, frankly, very stimulating. You have to remember a lot of recipes, where to get what ingredients, which part of Bandle City contains which aura, which workbench does what, whether or not you can create something in a workbench on the other side of the world, what pieces are needed for which lecture, your plants are constantly growing and more!
By taking away any and all action elements, the game might get a bit dull for some, but I personally found its art, soundtrack, and even sounds of the little Yordle running against different terrain to be enough to keep me going. Sure, I would occasionally throw something on in the background, but if I didn't, I was always pleasantly surprised. The soundtrack often has this effect of being played through, like, a piece of glass or through distant speakers. Really adds to the feel of this being a kind of a storybook or a tiny world inside some snowglobe contraption or something like that.
The constant stimulation combined with a very laid-back tempo where you, the player, decide whether you're ok with waiting a bit while working towards another goal or using up some more resources to have things happen faster (or skip time by going to sleep, mimimimimi). I think it's a pretty unique game in that regard, most if not all other resource-management games have some form a lose state or action elements that can skip a day if you fail at them, but here it's kinda just you earnestly working towards helping a bunch of pals or just upgrading your lil backpack house. It's a pretty good vibe once you get in the groove of things.
Ultimately, it is kind of a sim of walking back and forth, but if you ever played these kinds of games on your GameBoy Advance or early PC days, I think you can understand the joy of just walking around all chill-like in a very pretty world with some objectives to keep you busy, ones that aren't intrusive but are there if you wish to follow them, and maybe some minigame or two. Think, like, Lego Island. Maybe these types of games don't have much of a leg to stand on anymore, but I'd like to think that Lazy Bear has something going here, and I hope the failure of Riot Forge does not discourage them from exploring it.
Which, also, I am extremely distraught about the end of Riot Forge. I think people don't realize how good they have it when they can get small projects like these games in a universe that's already established, familiar, and comforting. Really, no matter what you think about the individual games, I think it's a tragedy that we stopped letting creatives make small games like these in big universes. How awesome would it be to have stuff like this for all these other franchises? It's basically been my dream business model, but it seems like in the current landscape it just cannot exist. Feels bad. Real bad.
The minmaxing focus of "how do I create a given resource in the most efficient way" isn't exactly appealing mechanically, but it is, frankly, very stimulating. You have to remember a lot of recipes, where to get what ingredients, which part of Bandle City contains which aura, which workbench does what, whether or not you can create something in a workbench on the other side of the world, what pieces are needed for which lecture, your plants are constantly growing and more!
By taking away any and all action elements, the game might get a bit dull for some, but I personally found its art, soundtrack, and even sounds of the little Yordle running against different terrain to be enough to keep me going. Sure, I would occasionally throw something on in the background, but if I didn't, I was always pleasantly surprised. The soundtrack often has this effect of being played through, like, a piece of glass or through distant speakers. Really adds to the feel of this being a kind of a storybook or a tiny world inside some snowglobe contraption or something like that.
The constant stimulation combined with a very laid-back tempo where you, the player, decide whether you're ok with waiting a bit while working towards another goal or using up some more resources to have things happen faster (or skip time by going to sleep, mimimimimi). I think it's a pretty unique game in that regard, most if not all other resource-management games have some form a lose state or action elements that can skip a day if you fail at them, but here it's kinda just you earnestly working towards helping a bunch of pals or just upgrading your lil backpack house. It's a pretty good vibe once you get in the groove of things.
Ultimately, it is kind of a sim of walking back and forth, but if you ever played these kinds of games on your GameBoy Advance or early PC days, I think you can understand the joy of just walking around all chill-like in a very pretty world with some objectives to keep you busy, ones that aren't intrusive but are there if you wish to follow them, and maybe some minigame or two. Think, like, Lego Island. Maybe these types of games don't have much of a leg to stand on anymore, but I'd like to think that Lazy Bear has something going here, and I hope the failure of Riot Forge does not discourage them from exploring it.
Which, also, I am extremely distraught about the end of Riot Forge. I think people don't realize how good they have it when they can get small projects like these games in a universe that's already established, familiar, and comforting. Really, no matter what you think about the individual games, I think it's a tragedy that we stopped letting creatives make small games like these in big universes. How awesome would it be to have stuff like this for all these other franchises? It's basically been my dream business model, but it seems like in the current landscape it just cannot exist. Feels bad. Real bad.
1984
A truly brilliant sensory overload, constant rule changes, a sign of the times that are only replicated whenever a new medium that allows for such silly expression comes out (like the internet). Very lenient, you can just go ham on the exploration of all the weirdo rooms, one after another. Brilliant stuff.
Childhood game. Tried to beat it many times but never got past level 2 as a kid. Tried a bunch though because the sound effects are nice and made my brain happy. Returning over a decade later, I was able to beat the game, but I think I'd have more fun just running around the first few stages. One positive: the idea that after losing all lives you can go to hell to collect extra souls until they run out as well is pretty cool.
Featuring:
-Screen crunch that adds nothing to the challenge other than leaps of faith
-Damaging items in boxes
-Input delay
-Sound effects playing faster than the animations
-Unclear hitboxes on characters and platforms with no ledge grabs
-Enemies that move significantly faster than you (only an issue due to the input delay)
-Terrible feeling jump
-Awful final boss
-Password system for a game with less than 10 levels
-Mind-numbing music
Terribly frustrating and unrewarding, but short. Happy to tick another childhood game off the bucket list.
Featuring:
-Screen crunch that adds nothing to the challenge other than leaps of faith
-Damaging items in boxes
-Input delay
-Sound effects playing faster than the animations
-Unclear hitboxes on characters and platforms with no ledge grabs
-Enemies that move significantly faster than you (only an issue due to the input delay)
-Terrible feeling jump
-Awful final boss
-Password system for a game with less than 10 levels
-Mind-numbing music
Terribly frustrating and unrewarding, but short. Happy to tick another childhood game off the bucket list.
2012
Simple, but incredibly satisfying football game which does not overstay its welcome. Played it first on a browser as a kid, nowadays I come back to it every now and then when I don't have access to my PC, and even though a single match will last no longer than three minutes on speedup, it consumes time like no other. The player training stuff is definitely the least exciting part, but by season 3 it all becomes a non-factor, and you can instead enjoy tricking your new manager into giving you 50% more with a game of higher or lower or gamble a fortune with your teammates. One of my favorite "oh, I remember this exists, time to play for a few days" type of games.
2024
Why does the difficulty of combat matter here? The combat works, in nearly all of my favorite RPGs the combat is inconsequential or bad and I simply could not care less.
Combat that is this inconsequential allows for the immaculate pace that Dread Delusion has, where mapping out things and finding ways to go faster, to complete objectives optimally take up your mind constantly rather than quick dopamine hits. They are just gone from your mind here after a while. The reality of the mater is if the combat was more involved and difficult, it would kill the pacing of what is an overall incredible, serene experience. This is the reality of why old games; worlds worked the way they did. Dread Delusion was hailed as a new Morrowind, or any of the other early 2000s RPGs, but it does not have the mechanical depth of any of them. It replicates the pacing of exploration, the instanteously cleared caves, the moral dilemmas, towns that are too small to contain a real civilization but with writing so vivid that you believe in centuries of history and struggle.
You get the fantasy of combat here, you get cool af enemy designs and you get to fight them, watch them move, unlock cool weapons, cast funny spells, speed up, start flying. All systems become obsolete within 10 hours of this 40 hour experience for any reason other than your own fantasy, and the more I play, the more I realize that that's how these kinds of games got me back in the day. It was all smoke and mirrors.
Maybe Dread Delusion does not belong in the year 2024, maybe we are past these kinds of illusions, but I really could not care about that. I was searching for a game like Dread Delusion on the indie market for so long, for something that just feels like the old stuff but with the insane flair of a strong creative mind, for something to grip me despite the flaws because by forming them something new and unexpected is built, even if it will not be palpable by most. Finally, I got it.
Just kinda sucks that the conversation, standards, expectations are so detached from mine that I can't just sit down and feel comfy about loving it without a worm in my brain pointing out that a part of it sucks. Thankfully, the worm gets eaten by another, good worm every time I look at the screenshots of the red sun, reminisce about the meat pile in the realm of the Endless, swing a sword at another sicko lil guy designed to perfection and zip past everything with my newly acquired triple speed. May the worm cycle cease forever one day. May only the good worm remain. Hail the good worm.
Combat that is this inconsequential allows for the immaculate pace that Dread Delusion has, where mapping out things and finding ways to go faster, to complete objectives optimally take up your mind constantly rather than quick dopamine hits. They are just gone from your mind here after a while. The reality of the mater is if the combat was more involved and difficult, it would kill the pacing of what is an overall incredible, serene experience. This is the reality of why old games; worlds worked the way they did. Dread Delusion was hailed as a new Morrowind, or any of the other early 2000s RPGs, but it does not have the mechanical depth of any of them. It replicates the pacing of exploration, the instanteously cleared caves, the moral dilemmas, towns that are too small to contain a real civilization but with writing so vivid that you believe in centuries of history and struggle.
You get the fantasy of combat here, you get cool af enemy designs and you get to fight them, watch them move, unlock cool weapons, cast funny spells, speed up, start flying. All systems become obsolete within 10 hours of this 40 hour experience for any reason other than your own fantasy, and the more I play, the more I realize that that's how these kinds of games got me back in the day. It was all smoke and mirrors.
Maybe Dread Delusion does not belong in the year 2024, maybe we are past these kinds of illusions, but I really could not care about that. I was searching for a game like Dread Delusion on the indie market for so long, for something that just feels like the old stuff but with the insane flair of a strong creative mind, for something to grip me despite the flaws because by forming them something new and unexpected is built, even if it will not be palpable by most. Finally, I got it.
Just kinda sucks that the conversation, standards, expectations are so detached from mine that I can't just sit down and feel comfy about loving it without a worm in my brain pointing out that a part of it sucks. Thankfully, the worm gets eaten by another, good worm every time I look at the screenshots of the red sun, reminisce about the meat pile in the realm of the Endless, swing a sword at another sicko lil guy designed to perfection and zip past everything with my newly acquired triple speed. May the worm cycle cease forever one day. May only the good worm remain. Hail the good worm.