Abzu is a relatively short experience that focuses more on exploring and admiring the beautifully crafted world around you than the gameplay itself. The ocean environments are really quite beautiful and it is wonderful to just watch the sea creatures swim around and interact with each other while you move through the game. I think there are some moments that place a little too much emphasis on the spectacle of the world as there is not a ton of variety after you experience the first couple chapters and the beauty ends up losing a bit of its luster. Otherwise this was a beautiful and relaxing little game, even if it left me wanting something more out of it.

Rӧki is a point and click style adventure game based on scandinavian folklore that has you searching for your brother in a mysterious world filled with magic and creatures while solving various puzzles. The puzzles are pretty standard for point and click style games and mostly require you to search for certain items that can be used on different things in the environment or combined with other items to progress. They are mostly straightforward but some are surprisingly complex. Sometimes they are a bit too elusive in that it is not very clear what items need to be used or combined together in order to proceed. Additionally sometimes the items needed to complete a puzzle are scattered across the map and if you miss these it is very tedious to go back and try to find it. This is because backtracking in this game is very tedious and is required fairly often.

Navigating the world in this game is just slow and not very fun. After you've explored each room it can be a bit of a pain to have to go back and search the whole map for an item you’ve missed and need for a puzzle. This got so tedious that towards the end of chapter 2 (out of three chapters), I ended up following a guide as I wanted to focus more on enjoying the environments and story rather than slowly trekking through each level looking for a means to progress. I suspect that people more familiar with point and click style games might not mind this as much though. This would have been extremely annoying in chapter 3 where items are scattered throughout the entire map and you control two characters. Most puzzles require both the characters meaning you often have to move one character from point A to B, switch to the other character, and then move them from point A to B yet again. Traversing the world is just quite tedious and is my main gripe with this game.

The world and creatures are fortunately very well designed. There are some annoying issues with the camera (I honestly wish that they just went 2D or a semi-3D route), but these creatures look so good and are paired with some great animations. It's very fun exploring every room for the first time and seeing what this world has to offer. Some animations that play during cutscenes are not the best but typically the art direction side of things is fantastic. The titular character Rӧki especially looks amazing. Unfortunately the cutscenes overstay their welcome very frequently and these cutscenes are everywhere. I get that the story needs to be conveyed somehow but these definitely could have been trimmed down a lot. Especially since these cutscenes just involve clicking through dialogue and watching characters on a screen. There are a few cutscenes that have you repeat the same action multiple times in order to break up the dialogue and this just doesn’t work. It feels like padding and I think the better strategy would be to break up some of these cutscenes into smaller chunks or strip some of the dialogue back.

The story itself is nice although it is nothing terribly groundbreaking. You are searching for your brother while also unraveling the main character’s tragic backstory. Its ending feels a bit rushed but all in all it’s a fine story that mostly serves to showcase the folklore stuff. The dialogue feels a bit simple and childlike but it's definitely fitting for the style that the devs were going for. I do appreciate the lighter approach to the narrative as it feels like lately there’s been a lot of media looking at fairy tales and folklore in a more mature and darker way so this was a bit of a breath of fresh air.

I can tell that there was a lot of heart put into this game and there really is still quite a bit to appreciate here. I really did enjoy playing up to part way through chapter two where things started to go downhill for me. Although I got a bit tired of things as it went on I expect that fans of this style of game would enjoy it more. This is also a surprisingly long game for an obviously indie title, taking me a bit over nine hours to complete. I almost wish that it was shorter as I think that would help to mitigate some of the tedium I experienced in the latter half of the game. Nevertheless, there are bits and pieces to love here and the design of the world and creatures makes it worth the visit.

The Uncharted franchise played a big role in defining my love of video games growing up so I was excited to play the one main entry that I hadn’t yet completed. The Lost Legacy is a comparably short entry in the franchise, taking me around five and a half hours to complete, although it is still a standalone title and not an expansion.

The Lost Legacy brings back an apparently beloved character from the original trilogy, Chloe, who I admittedly do not remember much of as I haven't played those games in ages. Additionally Nadine, who was introduced in Uncharted 4 acts as Chloe's sidekick now. While I know that there were many complaints about Nadine's character, I personally do not mind her all that much. I think many complaints were based on Nadine’s actions in the previous installment which I do not really remember much (that’s a common theme here I guess). Regardless I think both characters are fine although they are a bit under developed and never feel like fully fleshed out characters. Part of this is likely due to the short runtime as there is just not as much time to develop these characters and the relationship between the two.

The story is a typical Uncharted treasure hunt but is remarkably generic. The villain is the sort of generic bad guy that is evil because he wants power and the motivations behind both parties are either dull or not explained very well. You have your arcade-like shootouts, puzzles, and big set pieces that the Uncharted franchise is well known for as well as a large open world section. The open world section is similar to that of Uncharted 4’s where you get to explore the level in a vehicle and can find treasures and clear outposts along the way. Unfortunately, I don’t think that the Uncharted franchise is very well suited for these large and open areas as there is really no incentive to explore other than to find meaningless treasures.

The combat in these games has never necessarily been all that great. Maybe it’s the result of my maturing, but I found the shootouts to be a bit tedious and repetitive after awhile . It really comes down to just shooting until you run out of ammo and then picking up another weapon to repeat the process until everyone is dead. It’s not necessarily a bad time but it certainly gets old after a little while.

While there are certainly parts of the game I didn’t enjoy, there is still a lot to like. The introduction of new characters is refreshing even if they are not as fleshed out and interesting as I would have liked. Chloe and Nadine have some fun banter and although obvious Nadine’s arc through the story is enjoyable. I also particularly enjoyed the introduction and finale levels. The environment in the introduction looks fantastic and I thought it was a fun way to get the ball rolling. The set piece at the end feels a bit generic but is a pretty thrilling experience. All in all the game works out as a pretty standard Uncharted experience, which is to say an enjoyable time. At this point I think the series has kind of exhausted itself and needs to bring something new to the table in future installments.

What Remains of Edith Finch is one of the best games I have ever played and has immediately become a favorite of mine. It feels like the type of game that elevates its medium into something grander. Sitting at a brisk two and a half hour playtime, you can complete the game in the time it would take for you to finish a movie. The comparisons to film are apt in some regards, but What Remains of Edith Finch is not cinematic for the sake of feeling cinematic, nor does it attempt to disguise itself as a film. It uses the very fact that it is a game to its advantage. Its inherent interactivity conveys its story in a manner that would never be possible in any non-interactive medium.

This is a game about an enigmatic family full of brilliant, creative, and quirky individuals who are supposedly plagued by a curse that has resulted in the untimely deaths of most of the family members. The story plays out through the journal of Edith Finch, who you control as you walk through the brilliantly designed family home. As you explore the house and enter the rooms of the deceased family members you find different artifacts recounting how each family member met their end. You then play out each of these artifacts as Edith narrates it. This obsession with stories within stories and the central interest with dysfunctional families is on some level reminiscent of the work of Wes Anderson (I was reminded of The Royal Tenenbaums).

Since each death is told through something that someone else has written, each story has an element of myth to it. The deaths themselves are often obscured or abstracted away. The fact that these are ultimately stories is always present, although there is always a darker truth buried underneath the fantasies. The use of narration and creative subtitles is brilliant and serves as a reminder that what you are playing is ultimately Edith’s interpretation of the stories that she is experiencing herself.

This is a layered and complex story that is an amazing. As much as I want to talk about how amazing this or that scene is, it would be a disservice to anyone that hasn’t played the game to spoil them (...and I don’t want to write much more). Simply put, there are parts of this game that I found to be some of the most heartrending and profound moments I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing in in video games. It is a story about generational trauma, family, storytelling, mental illness, and of course, life and death. It is outstanding that such a short game can feel both so epic and so intimate. I am already wishing that I can forget playing this game so I can experience that feeling of playing it for the first time again.

This is a widely praised game that I unfortunately just did not enjoy. The story sets itself up with an interesting premise. There are are two scientists who go back through peoples memories in order to alter them to make peoples wishes come true on their deathbeds. It's a very cool idea and I think there was lots of room to explore the ethics of this kind of technology. This never really happens though and the ending is played off as though it is supposed to be sweet, but really just comes off as kind of predatory and completely ignores the agency of one of the main characters without questioning it at all. It always feels like the narrative is just begging you to be moved and it never happened for me. The writing is god awful and the music is so overly-sentimental it is almost unbearable at times. The humor is cheesy and doesn't fit the rest of the narrative well, especially because it is corny AND poorly written.

Gameplay wise there isn't really anything. You just click on objects and people to gain orbs that allow you to travel back in time through the memories. There are also some incredibly dull puzzles that you need to complete in order to progress back through time and there is a pretty awful action section towards the end which is clunky and doesn't really add anything. Regardless this isn't really something I cared too much about as I was expecting the game to be mostly dialogue driven anyways. But when the dialogue isn't good it gets tedious fast with no actually gameplay being offered.

All in all this wasn't for me. Regardless, it is a grand achievement to make a game in and of itself. It is remarkable that this team made this small game that reached this large of an audience and connected with so many people. That is something to be celebrated.

I played through this game with my roommate in one night. This is an adventure / puzzle game reminiscent of Inside and Limbo. Apparently the studios co-founder also co-founded the studio that developed this game but the connection between these titles ends there. The game involves a father trying to make his way to his family after some sort of alien invasion occurs.

In regards to the story of this game, I think that the developers do a great job of utilizing the environment and atmosphere to tell their story. Without any dialogue, there is a great focus on showing, not telling. The story itself isn’t incredibly interesting or gripping, but the atmosphere and the mystery around everything is great and keeps you wanting to play more to discover what has happened to this world. Unfortunately, this intrigue is lost due to a pretty jarring tonal shift towards the end of the game. The ending (at least the one I got) is also a bit of a let down and doesn't feel as grand or powerful as it seems to want to be.

Somerville is undoubtedly beautiful as well which is probably its best trait. The environments are especially gorgeous and the war-torn surface areas are wonderful to look at. The low poly graphics are great and the lighting plays a huge part in making these environments look so good. It’s such an interesting world that you’re wandering through and I’m glad that the developers spent the time to make this game look so good.

Gameplay wise somerville has you walking through the environment and solving some simple puzzles. The puzzles are all relatively simple and nowhere near as great as the puzzles are in Limbo or Inside, but they keep things interesting and are never frustrating to figure out. The puzzles all revolve around some sort of powers you gain that can alter the properties of an alien, fluid-like substance. It makes for some interesting puzzles sometimes and these powers also tie in well to the story and lore.

I know that a lot of people were unhappy about the bugs and jank that were apparently packed into this game, however, I didn’t experience this to the extent that others seemingly did. There were definitely issues with the camera in places, as well as some strange graphical issues, but there was nothing that occurred often enough to really annoy me too much. I occasionally got stuck on things and the movement feels pretty awkward at times but that was pretty much it.

Somerville is a fine game and I think it got more hate than it deserved, but it still feels like a pale imitation of other similar games. I think that it would benefit from a style more in vein of Inside’s semi-3d style. The movement in all directions tends to lead to confusion in places and also led to some of the camera related issues I experienced. You are essentially confined to one path anyways, so I think that they could have preserved their beautiful environments in a stricter 2d setting. Nevertheless, I had fun playing it and would still recommend it to anybody who enjoys these type of adventure and puzzle oriented games.

Played through this with my roommate and it is a lovely little puzzle game with an amazingly charming art style. The puzzles here all center around tidying and organizing things. While a lot of the puzzles are thought provoking and satisfying, there are some that feel a bit frustrating. In some cases, it feels like you have to guess where you are supposed to place things and it feels more like a chore rather than a game trying to figure out where everything is supposed to go. That being said, the hint system is very welcome, and I enjoy how it is done. The hint system lets you essentially choose how much of the solution that you want to see by covering the solution in scribbles and having you erase how much you want to see. You also have the ability to skip levels although this wasn't really needed for me as when I did get stuck the hints were enough to figure it out.

Some of the puzzles are great though! There are plenty that I spent a good amount of time on before giving up and looking at the hint, only to realize how painfully obvious the solution was. I especially love the puzzles that have you organizing a variety of objects into some space. These are the hardest puzzles, but they are intuitively obvious as to what you have to do, satisfying to complete, and still make you think a bit. I think the puzzles are a mixed bag of extremely easy, just right, and unintuitive. That being said there are a lot more good than bad levels!

The art direction in this game is also fantastic. The pastel colors and almost paper like texture of things is so charming and pleasant to look at. The warmness of the art also helps to distract from some of the more frustrating moments which is nice. Although I didn't really notice the music until the ending, the score by Justin Karas is very pleasant. Speaking of the ending, there's a great ending here that satisfyingly closes the game in a very fitting and beautiful way. Was really pleasantly surprised by that!

PS - I love the cat.

The world of Jusant is beautiful. The dry deserts surrounding the tower you are climbing look amazing and the shipwrecks littering your surroundings add a layer of intrigue to the world. The tower itself is magnificent and gives off the sense that this was a real lived-in place that is now abandoned. It is perhaps one of my favorite worlds I have experienced in a game. I loved just exploring this world and piecing together why this place has become abandoned. That brings me to my first minor complaint which is the use of letters and notes to tell the story of this world. While they are of course completely optional to read (I honestly skipped over most of them), the story behind this world is so cool that I wish there was a more engaging way to convey the lore. Beyond that though, the way that the world is built it is pretty easy to get at least a basic idea of the story and it is actually super fun just trying to piece together what has happened purely based off of your surroundings.

The mechanics of Jusant are simple. You can climb and use your rope to swing to places. It is not the most exciting mechanic, but it is done very well and climbing in this game feels great. The fact that it is impossible to actually fall to your death in this game I think is great. Falling to your last placed Piton and having to climb back up is almost a more exciting motivation to not fall than I think simply dying and reloading a save would be. While the climbing is for the most part great, I do feel that a greater challenge might have suited me more, although that might ruin the flow of the game. There are some tricky sections but it is for the most part relatively easy to climb through the chapters. The most difficult part of climbing is determining where you must go next and what the best way up is, which is almost like a puzzle.

That being said, I think this is a wonderful game and one of the best I have played recently. The environments are so damn beautiful and the mystery of the world is enough to make you want to continue your climb. I think the game could have benefited from some more engaging storytelling and an increased difficulty, but that may be a matter of personal preference. The ending of this game is also quite beautiful and hit me harder than I expected anything in this game would. It's a beautiful little game that I really loved and I finished it sad that it was over.

Also, I love your little creature friend. The game is worth playing just for that.

This game was a blast to play through. Once you begin to master the movement and can flow between performing tricks, zooming around the arena, and shooting enemies, the combat is second to none. With how the slow motion time and lock-on system work, you barely have to aim your weapons as long as you are close enough to the enemy. This makes movement much more important than any sort of mechanical aiming ability. I think that this is an excellent thing for an arena based rollerskating shooter to focus on as it keeps the frenzied pace constant without having to stop your movement for long to aim at enemies.

The decision to have ammo refill by performing tricks was also fantastic. This encourages you to constantly stay on the move and perform tricks in between killing enemies. Once you get into the flow of doing this it feels so damn satisfying. I think without the need to do tricks there would be a monotony to simply moving around the arena shooting enemies. The tricks also just look cool, so I'm glad you're encouraged to do them for a reason beyond just a score. Some of the tricks are a little bit too good at refilling your ammo which is a shame as it kind of discourages doing other tricks once you discover the ones that are easy and refill ammo quickly (basically any sort of grind).

One of my main complaints is the lack of variety in this game. I really just wish that the arenas were more obviously different from each other. Maybe more enemy types would have helped with this as well. A lot of the arenas just feel very similar in terms of their settings and layouts. The challenges that you need to complete in order to progress to the next stage of arenas I actually found quite fun to complete, however, it is a sort of boring thing to lock content behind. Additionally I wish that the boss fights were a bit more creative as both boss fights are very similar and there's not a lot to them. It's a shame as I think that with the mechanics behind Rollerdrome, there could have been some insanely cool boss fights.

Regardless of some shortcomings I think that this is an amazing game that is just pure fun to play. I called it quits after finishing all the arenas but I can see myself going back to unlock challenges and/or play through the hard versions of each arena that you unlock after beating the game. Would 100% recommend this game!!

As a side note, I really love how charming the art style is in this game, it looks great.