One of the better romhacks with a fantastic pokedex and a ton of QoL features, Unbound is absolutely wonderful and a joy to play...when it shuts up and gives you time to play.

There are fun battle challenges, gimmick battles that change the way Pokémon types work, different difficulty settings, a character customizer, lots of optional side-quests that have worthwhile rewards, post-game content for legendaries, a new game plus mode, mega evolutions, dynamax raids, level-scaling trainer battles - all of which make Unbound feel fresh despite being one of a billion FireRed hacks out there now. All of the optional content also helps to make it as long or short as you'd like, which I appreciated, since in a lot of other games you finally get your team together just before the game ends. The New Game Plus feature helps with that as well.

However, holy crap the story is so overwrought and hackneyed to the point where my eyes were permanently stuck rolled into the back of my head anytime I had to do main quest missions that weren't gyms. Not only is the premise ridiculous, but the NPCs talk way too long. These two issues combined to drive me insane at parts.

My only other tiny issue is giving out pseudolegendaries for starters, which is a trend in romhacks that I personally really dislike.

That being said, everything else in the game oozes charm and I had an absolute blast playing Unbound.

If someone wanted to get into Classic Mega Man, this is the one that I would point them to, rather than the original. It's easier and has fun levels with great color palettes and cool designs like the Goblins in Air Man's level too, plus one of the greatest 8-bit soundtracks of all time. There are an infinite supply of Mega Man 2 OST metal cover videos. It's insane.

Boss Roster is pretty solid too, other than the Boo Beam Trap which indeed does suck, but it gives you an awesome mecha-dragon fight to make up for it.

Definitive Mega Man 2 Robot Master Ranking:

8. Bubble Man - Speedos are out, sorry. Also, he's the underwater level in an 80s game, so it was written in stone that he's last.

7. Wood Man - Great boss weapon, plus he gets a cameo in Mega Man 8 if you played it on Sega Saturn. Which, of course you didn't because no one ever owned one. Unfortunately...he's stuck in the body of a tree stump.

6. Crash Man - Having drills on his hands is pretty cool, and he does have a great stage theme, but his AI is completely braindead.

5. Flash Man - Stopping time is a pretty cool power but other than that his fight isn't too crazy, and his design is meh.

4. Heat Man - His design as a zippo lighter is both goofy and kinda cool, and I love his stage theme. Good boss.

3. Metal Man - Throwing saws, looking badass, and dropping the best weapon in the entire game is awesome. Dying to that same weapon in one hit is also awesome but for a different reason.

2. Quick Man - Best design of the robot masters, he looks like a flash super villain. Great unique level as well. Did I mention he looks cool?

1. Air Man - Favorite level of the Robot Masters. Great design, as he actually looks like a robot, and his theme is banging. He's where I start every single playthrough because I love his level so much.

Definitive Mega Man 1 Robot Master Ranking:

6. Ice Man - I'm pretty sure this is just a regular-ass dude in a parka, but hey at least he has the fun ice block puzzle we all love that is not totally irritating at all.

5. Bomb Man - Bombs are a pretty cool weapon and he actually looks like a robot. Loses cool points for constantly running away though.

4. Cut Man - I kinda like the weird green brick of his level, and his pink palette, plus he gets a cool cameo in the Saturn version of Mega Man 8. Also he inspired a decent HORSE the Band song.

3. Fire Man - Dreaded facing Fire Man as a kid and still sometimes he will screw up my Boss Rush segments. Loses points for having the same name as the dudes in the trucks kids love.

2. Guts Man - Dude looks awesome, and Wily definitely agrees since he keeps remaking him over and over again throughout the series. Also gets a cool cameo in Mega Man 8.

1. Elec Man - Whereas Ice Man looks like a regular guy with a parka, Elec Man looks like a regular guy with one of the coolest super villain costumes ever. Cool OST, and good weapon once you beat him. Elec Man 4 lyfe.

It feels weird to try and review one of my favorite games of all time - if Baldur’s Gate is the game of my childhood, the Souls games are certainly the games of my “modern” era - as there are so many feelings and thoughts and ideas just wrapped up and tangled on top of one another, like a giant ball of yarn that’s been growing for years. It becomes hard to unpack everything without turning either into rote descriptions of “I like X thing about game,” or spilling out saccharine word vomit and dumb shit like yarn ball metaphors and “modern gaming eras” escaping, when they should be locked up permanently. Regardless, I wanted to try and tackle the challenge of reviewing my favorites, or at least unpacking my experiences with them for myself, so here I am. I’m not going to go into some ontological or Derridean critique of Dark Souls. I think enough people have deconstructed this game for a lifetime. This is just my perspective on my experience with the game, all cliche and platitudes included.

For a long time, I didn’t really think I liked hard games. I grew up playing NES and all that, but I don’t really think that crossed my mind back then; I would gladly smash my head against something over and over without the thought of it being too hard. It was just the game. So when Dark Souls came out and all I ever heard about it was how hard it is and punishing and impossible, it was a definite no - I didn’t want a hard game, because, after all, I played games for fun. The games I enjoyed were all adventure and discovery, full of blasting enemies with magic, exploring fantastical worlds, and slicing my way through a story whether heroic or grim. None of these things were ever how Dark Souls was described to me, even by friends who loved the game, so I just ignored it and passed it off as something I would never play.

In late 2019, I saw a commercial for a game called Sekiro. I impulse bought it. I knew Sekiro was supposed to be a hard game, but it reminded me of the Tenchu games that I used to rent from Blockbuster as a kid and nostalgia won me over. It destroyed me, but I loved every second of it. I found out it was from the same people that made Dark Souls, and I finally decided that, what the hell, if I can beat Sekiro I can beat Dark Souls. So after a few months, I bought that too. Then I lost my job.

Compared to hours of LinkedIn and Indeed every day, I found that Dark Souls did not measure up in difficulty. It was my reprieve, and I devoured it. I huddled on my couch playing handheld on the Switch, well into the night almost every night. I could not put it down, and while, sure, I did find the game to be difficult, I approached it in the same way that I approached my NES games when I was a kid. I just took the game for what it was and ran with it. Shockingly, Dark Souls wasn’t just a combat simulator with reflex checks and hair-pulling moments - it was an adventure and a new world to explore, and I wanted to see and experience everything.

Obviously, looking back with hindsight, it’s easy for me to roll my eyes at myself being surprised or shocked by the game, seeing as exploration is one of the pillars of Dark Souls’ design, but I just didn’t know. I think that’s one of the things that made the game and experience so special to me, as I was just able to enjoy this gaming cultural behemoth without any of the white noise contamination that I have now. Everything was unexpected, and I was just able to connect with a new world on my own terms and at my own pace, making the entire experience an exercise in solitude and intimacy - further driven home by the same themes being woven throughout the landscape of Lordran and my time spent there. Immediate and total resonance with a piece of art or media is rare and one of the most powerful things a person can experience, and I guess, in a very crude way, that’s why I love the Souls games - they just make sense to my brain in almost every way. That isn’t to say I don’t have criticisms or flaws towards these games, on the contrary, the games I love most are the ones that I can be the hardest on. However, all those things fade away the moment I hear that haunting menu theme.

I thought Jack deserved a poem review;
the driving force, through cringe and hearty laughs,
I learned to enjoy his schtick through and through.
Absurdity propelled me through some gaffes.
A diverse combo system full of depth;
jobs, like yin and yang, switch and compliment;
joyful experiments despite missteps
in balance - needed more time to ferment.
While normal enemies can be a drag,
Stranger's bosses, memorable and fun,
banger after banger, they're all a blast.
Tough but fair, I loved every single one.
Though there were mechanics I found dross -
don't care, got gud, I'm here to kill Chaos.

Soundtrack is absolutely phenomenal - haunting, mysterious, and atmospheric. It's what kept me coming back as much as I did. Luckily, it's on bandcamp to listen to and support the artist there.

The game's prose flows quite well and doesn't fall into the traps of being overly purple or too vague, striking a good medium that feels natural to read. While I do think the game is well-written, the actual pacing and traversal through the world of Roadwarden is incredibly frustrating and unrewarding, as the game's philosophy seems to be centered around the idea of "nope, you can't do that." It felt like playing a DnD adventure with the worst DM of all time:

>You come across a group and need to ask them questions about your quest.
>Ok I ask them questions
>No. They don't trust you, so they won't tell you. You're too dirty and nasty from traveling.
>Ok is there any way to wash up here?
>No. Also they will never change their minds about this even if you get cleaner later, so you fail.

>You come across a clearing with a tree and dead body.
>I inspect the tree.
>Cool. You discover it's a treant and it attacks you.
>I attack back.
>No. You die.
>Ok, I reload. I try to check the body this time.
>No. The treant attacks you and you die.
>Ok, I reload and try to deal with the treant a different way this time.
>No. I don't accept any of the options you type in. You die again.
>Ok, I reload and just leave this entire area and don't interact with the content because that's a fun way to play a game.

>Ok I found a new settlement and I will specifically make sure to NOT talk to them about the entire point of me coming here until I am clean, except there's no way for me to do that here, so I will leave and come back.
>Ok. You can do that.
>Ok I wash up and get completely ready - I repair my clothes and even buy a better set of clothing.
>No. While you are traveling you fall into a stream and tear your clothes on brush and are back at square one. By the way it's now nightfall and you can't travel at night so you have to waste another day, and you only have 40 to begin with.
>Fuck....you.

Making a text adventure that deters you from actually adventuring makes absolutely no sense. The world is tough and grueling, but that can be (and is) shown through descriptions, characters, and narrative direction - players shouldn't be constantly thwarted from interacting with a game's content. If 80% of the time, the safest option is to just walk away, then that's what I will do for 80% of Roadwarden and just purchase the OST on bandcamp.