danielkempster
35 reviews liked by danielkempster
"My name is Hidetaka Miyazaki, blade of FromSoftware, and I have never known defeat."
P.T.
2014
Fuck Konami.
Overwatch
2016
I miss the glory days of this game so goddamn much.
Animal Well
2024
beautiful and unique game that makes you feel like a genius and an idiot.
This review contains spoilers
A lot of great ideas, with rough execution. The structure of the game being contingent on visiting your apartment to heal and deposit items meant that the first half was largely a breeze, whereas the second half was both extremely compelling and irritating at the same time. Definitely didn't enjoy revisiting every level over again with Eileen following slowly behind me. Still, I had a good time for the most part, and there were plenty of great scares.
The game's strongest aspect, and the thing that tied the whole experience together in the end, was the story of Walter Sullivan. I found myself completely enthralled with how he was mysteriously established as a cold-blooded killer, and especially how they managed to apply his story, as you later piece together, to the cold loneliness and isolation you feel when trapped in your own apartment as Henry. This was conveyed best in the portion where you're exploring the nightmarish version of Henry's apartment building, and you learn about Walter's past, all set to a haunting and soul-crushing, yet eerily comforting piece by Akira Yamaoka. It spoke to my favourite kind of horror - existentialism. The fear of becoming something you despise, the fear of being isolated, the fear of being forgotten - all embodied in a truly sick individual... that I both feared and pitied.
It's not as good as their previous entries, but it's still far better than almost anything that came after it. Team Silent had such a strong grasp on creating horror, and I fear we'll never experience anything close to their efforts ever again.
Fuck Konami, btw.
The game's strongest aspect, and the thing that tied the whole experience together in the end, was the story of Walter Sullivan. I found myself completely enthralled with how he was mysteriously established as a cold-blooded killer, and especially how they managed to apply his story, as you later piece together, to the cold loneliness and isolation you feel when trapped in your own apartment as Henry. This was conveyed best in the portion where you're exploring the nightmarish version of Henry's apartment building, and you learn about Walter's past, all set to a haunting and soul-crushing, yet eerily comforting piece by Akira Yamaoka. It spoke to my favourite kind of horror - existentialism. The fear of becoming something you despise, the fear of being isolated, the fear of being forgotten - all embodied in a truly sick individual... that I both feared and pitied.
It's not as good as their previous entries, but it's still far better than almost anything that came after it. Team Silent had such a strong grasp on creating horror, and I fear we'll never experience anything close to their efforts ever again.
Fuck Konami, btw.
Dynomite Deluxe
2006
If those eggs were fertilized, this would be the darkest game I've ever played. Thank goodness they're not!
...Right?
...Right?
Solid metroidvania that seems to take a lot of cues from Ori in terms of movement (which means it has good movement).
Whoever chose to have Sanji sound like that, I just wanna talk.
Pepper Grinder
2024
fun, creative platformer that ends before it hits its full stride.
Lightyear Frontier
2024
It's a survival/crafting game! It has very nice visuals and you walk around in a giant mech which is cool but it's a survival/crafting game! And moreso than almost any genre out there I'm starting to feel like when you've played one, you've played 'em all. (I guess calling it a "survival" game is a bit of a misnomer bc there's no enemies or hostility in this game, you get what I mean lol)
I really do have to give Lightyear Frontier some credit for its visuals, it's super gorgeous, it has a far more artistically interesting world than most of these games. The glowing green lights in the night sky, the pink trees and neon flora. It's nice! I found myself quite interested in the relics and artefacts and stuff, as well as the giant skeleton in the Yellow Forest, it has some cool stuff going on in its world!
But, like most of these games, it's a bit of a slog. It's still in Early Access so I give it somewhat of a pass, but even with your Titanfall mech thing, movement didn't feel fun! It felt sluggish, and almost every day you're having to venture out to a different corner of the map for some resource that can only be found there, and it takes ages to get there and back with basically nothing going on in-between! And it's so easy to get overencumbered without inventory upgrades that certainly early on, you're gonna have to be making multiple trips! Multiple boring trips! I didn't feel like setting up multiple base camps all over the world, that would have drained my resources and made things take even longer! (Also, there's some glitches present, naturally. I fired about 6 red paint blobs at my Upgrade Depot and it simply did not change colour when everything else did, lmao)
But monotony aside, this is a solid foundation. It's got a gorgeous world, some beautiful stuff to make and some gorgeous ways to customise your camp. You could get a real pretty looking homestead if you invest enough time in this! It just needs to be a bit more, uh, fun to get there! Needs a little more life in it! It's still early days, so I'm confident they can bring that, and maybe fix that voice actor's attempt at what I think is supposed to be a Southern accent? Because SHEESH that shit is bad
I really do have to give Lightyear Frontier some credit for its visuals, it's super gorgeous, it has a far more artistically interesting world than most of these games. The glowing green lights in the night sky, the pink trees and neon flora. It's nice! I found myself quite interested in the relics and artefacts and stuff, as well as the giant skeleton in the Yellow Forest, it has some cool stuff going on in its world!
But, like most of these games, it's a bit of a slog. It's still in Early Access so I give it somewhat of a pass, but even with your Titanfall mech thing, movement didn't feel fun! It felt sluggish, and almost every day you're having to venture out to a different corner of the map for some resource that can only be found there, and it takes ages to get there and back with basically nothing going on in-between! And it's so easy to get overencumbered without inventory upgrades that certainly early on, you're gonna have to be making multiple trips! Multiple boring trips! I didn't feel like setting up multiple base camps all over the world, that would have drained my resources and made things take even longer! (Also, there's some glitches present, naturally. I fired about 6 red paint blobs at my Upgrade Depot and it simply did not change colour when everything else did, lmao)
But monotony aside, this is a solid foundation. It's got a gorgeous world, some beautiful stuff to make and some gorgeous ways to customise your camp. You could get a real pretty looking homestead if you invest enough time in this! It just needs to be a bit more, uh, fun to get there! Needs a little more life in it! It's still early days, so I'm confident they can bring that, and maybe fix that voice actor's attempt at what I think is supposed to be a Southern accent? Because SHEESH that shit is bad
