d3cker
With a combat system that feels more like a chore than a joy, dialogue that is disjointed at its best and groan-inducing at its worst, this retelling of a game I admittedly never finished was still somehow enjoyable to move through, owing a lot to strong performances and beautiful models and animation. I admit I'm only modestly invested in the characters, as so much of what happens in the game is intentionally a mystery, including some motivations simply being entirely unspoken. I hope that SQENIX take note of the criticisms of this game to improve upon their continuation of this trilogy.
2023
Aesthetically incredible, but far too unwieldy and obtuse to deserve your attention.
2020
My god, what a stupid joy it is to fumble your way around a technically "competitive" game with a bunch of other equally fumblesome players, under low stakes and high silliness. It defined a genre, and nothing is exactly like the king. Now free-to-play, it's worth more than a test-hour of your time, without question.
2022
Well, it's certainly an aesthetic experience, but the way it turns your decisions into consequence is always just below the waterline on being fun enough to ask for more. It's unfortunately a game of attrition, with your enjoyment being the thing that is slowly eroded by your occasional imperfect decisions. It's so close to glory--if only you had fewer choices, or the consequences were less punitive, we'd have a game that was impossible to not recommend.
2024
A visually satisfying incremental game with some factory elements and a very high demand for engagement (read: NOT an idle game). Only a couple hours in, but the game has already seemed to slow down a lot, although I concede I do imagine there's room for improvement in my layout/build. I intend to keep playing, because so far it's got a very satisfying loop and generally exciting progression.
Stepping onto a destroyed sailing vessel, your job is to determine what happened that led to the deaths of every soul onboard. You must match bodies to names to causes of death, and in doing so, you reconstruct a symphony of cause and effect through logic and process of elimination. There is a fundamentally unique excitement and satisfaction to that process that makes this game stand out atop the rest of the genre that this game itself created. Unlike anything before or after, playing Return of the Obra Dinn is mandatory for anyone who enjoys games and their design.
Another game that's too much too fast--not even the most difficult soulslikes throw so much choice and so many mechanics at you in the starting hour. I was exhausted before I got to start playing the game, and once I was allowed to (post-tutorial) I was still struggling, but not in such a way that's enjoyable. I know soulslike struggle, but this splits the difference with the worst of both worlds, at least for me.
2024
Drop underground with three friends into a creepy monochrome "old world" armed with almost nothing but flashlights and a camera with a goal to make a scary video and earn money and views online. The resulting videos are often funny, but never quite capture how much funnier (or scarier) the actual adventure was. A great concept missing a couple pieces that could bring everything together a lot tighter. Will look to check this game out in the future when it presumably includes more content and polish.
2020
A hyperactive first-person platformer with intense cyberpunk aesthetic keeps your heart rate sky-high throughout. While much of it flows like adrenaline through your veins, at times it becomes a frustrating puzzle game as you fail at high speed time and time again to clear a room without dying.
2021
An underrated "soulslike metroidvania" with a dark aesthetic and gameplay revolving around parrying. A little more fun than it looks, still not a masterpiece but definitely worth dipping your toes into.
2019
A mostly unexciting ARPG grind with somewhat interesting build choices. A solid time waster, ultimately, but other games in the genre hold my attention more, for longer.
2018
An immaculately polished run-based roguelike beat-em-up about climbing out of hell as an act of rebellion against your father, Hades. The storytelling links into the gameplay beautifully, and every bit of art, music, writing and voice acting are all done absolutely perfectly.
A wide open world to explore, endless potential for creativity with the building block mechanics, there's always something new to discover around the next corner. Not quite as finely-tuned as its predecessor, it's functionally still the same game with all of the positives and just a couple of new negatives.
2019
While it's not the first deckbuilding game ever, it changed the landscape permanently and holds a crown as best-in-genre for many, many players.
2023
An idle game with a great aesthetic and great pacing...at first, with an exponential decrease in that pace in the latter half of the game, resulting in a first-exciting and later-boring game.