The combat system here is basically as repetitive as everyone says, and until you unlock some of the flashier skills it's pretty boring too. A lot of the quests amount to fetch quests in a way I haven't really seen in game like this in a long time. Loading the map or menu takes a full 5-8 seconds and really slows down the pace of gameplay, especially without a real minimap to show you where you are.

All that said, I thought this was some of the best and most interesting character work in a game I've ever played. I really believed the love story here, and by the end I was invested in its outcome. I thought it was really interesting how it used its colonial, Puritan setting to tell a story about bigotry and misogyny, and Antea being a black woman in that world really added a depth to it that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. The acting performances are universally great too.

I loved it by the end, but at times I wish it were trying to be more Life is Strange and less God of War.

The concept is really cool here. I love how it slowly reveals its mechanics in a way that's never daunting, and the level design is crafted such that you never lose track of your little orbs. The atmosphere is so well made, a little creepy but mostly just intriguing. My biggest issue is just that it gets a bit tedious. A lot of times I would figure out the solution to a puzzle, only for the mechanical process to involve a lot of walking back and forth across the same paths several times. By the end especially it dragged hard. Everything around it made it still a good time.

I was deeply hooked on this from minute 1. The core loop is really satisfying, and I really liked how the mining aspect fed into the city building aspect. I do have a few issues with it, the biggest one being the alert system. The game tells you about major events happening, like an enemy attacking or an imminent mine collapse, but it doesn't give you any way of knowing where those things are happening. Later in the game when you're juggling 3 mine levels at once it becomes really annoying to have to find those things. Similarly, I really liked how there was a strategy to the city building where certain buildings could be removed and replaced because higher tier citizens didn't need them, but it's basically impossible to find those buildings once the city gets to a certain density. A simple list of buildings with a "locate" button would have done wonders. Apart from that though I really loved this.

It's probably too basic a comparison to say this reminded me a lot of Journey, but it did, in a good way. Climbing feels great and I really liked the solemn atmosphere. The letters along the way do a great job of subtly worldbuilding and revealing why you're on this quest, and some of the letters were quite moving. I didn't really feel compelled to get the non-letter collectibles though. The music is also great, really adding to the atmosphere and tone. A nice short game that does what it's trying to do very well and doesn't overstay its welcome.

You're 18, you're about to graduate high school. You have your entire life ahead of you, and suddenly it's all taken away from you, because the world is going to end. What do you do?

It's a deeply moving concept that lends itself to some great potential storytelling. It's just a shame that this game doesn't explore it in a particularly satisfying way. As a visual novel the game lives on its writing, which I found to be pretty uneven. There are moments of greatness here, like the DnD games, and the realistic arguments between friends. Between those I found many major character moments to be unearned, and I even noticed some continuity errors that sort of took me out of the moment. I don't usually care about that sort of thing, but when you're trying to have a major character payoff be about how one character ends a story they've been telling, it's weird to then have another payoff for the same character where they describe how they're thinking about ending that same story. The one we just saw the end of.

I also found the dialogue choice system to be more confusing than it was worth. I almost wish this was a movie, or at least a fully linear visual novel. I never really understood why I should choose any option besides "be nice". I did like the occasional subversion of the system though, where the option Fang clearly wants to say isn't available because they feel like they can't.

There's the bones of something great here, I just wish it had little more script polish. I did like the rhythm games though, and the music is all great.

Playing all these games for the first time so close to each other is a weird experience. Pikmin 1 and 2 are fun but suffer from New IP/early Gamecube game polish issues. Then Pikmin 3 comes and improves on basically everything and setlles into a gameplay loop that seems to finally fully get what it wants to be. Then Pikmin 4 takes everything Pikmin 3 did, add to it, and add so much new content it ends being longer than the first 3 games combined. This is a series that’s had only 4 main entries in 20 years, but playing them all within a month of each other really drives home how different they really are.

The beginning of this game worried me, as the constant interruptions to tutorialize were super annoying, and the new limits on how many number and kind of Pikmin you could have at a time worried me. I also deeply loved the 3x multitasking of 3, so reducing it that back to just one captain seemed like a step back. By the middle of the game though, it was clear this game knew what it was doing. The Pikmin limits force you to focus and strategize, and once you upgrade Oatchi to be a captain/Pikmin hybrid force of nature, the level design really shines. I’m a sucker for an upgrade menu.

I really did not like the caves in Pikmin 2, but luckily the ones here are 1) significantly better designed 2) way less tediously difficult 3) let you take breaks without penalizing you. All these things make the caves feel more like an extension of the main game, rather than an annoying distraction from it like it mostly did in 2.

I also really liked the weird story? Like it seems like this one takes place in the timeline where you got the bad ending of Pikmin 1, and therefore Olimar never met Louie or the Koppaites? Bizarre, but I love it.

I still think the game never reaches the immense highs of Pikmin 3’s best moments, but this one is so consistently good (past the first 2 hours or so) that it’s hard to say which I liked better.

Pikmin 4 does have several very good boys in it though so it’s not reeeeally a contest 🐶

Wow. I kind of regret not playing this earlier. Pikmin 1 and 2 were good and occasionally great but are held back by the some weird design decisions and gameplay jank common in games from that era. This game takes the best parts of those games and polishes it into a product that I just adore. The basic gameplay is the same, but the quality of life improvements in the controls just make the minute to minute playing of the game a joy, something that was sometimes a slog in the previous two. The level design is top notch, for the first time I really felt like I could strategize and plan ahead without some obstacle blowing everything up in my face.

In contrast to the first two games, this one has a more traditional, go here, do this, then do this structure, which works for me incredibly well. I accidentally finished the game in two days because I didn’t realize the final mission was the final mission, and unlike Pikmin 2 it doesn’t just put you back on the planet to get everything you missed. I restarted my save from that last day and went back to get every treasure, something I had no desire to do in Pikmin 2.

I really liked the side stories with Olimar and Louie. The writing was genuinely funny, and the bespoke levels are well designed. The time limits were never too onerous, and they gave a sense of urgency that really encourages you to plan everything just so. I restarted levels just to get a better score, which I never do in games!

Part of me is kind of bummed I waited so long to play this. I already have Pikmin 4, and were it not for 2023’s crazy fall of new releases I would go right into it, but I feel like playing these games all in a row kind of robs it of some of the experience. Am I a true fan if I didn’t have to wait 20 years to play Pikmin 4? I don’t know, but I’m glad I’m at least a fake fan now.