"I was supposed to die in that hospital."

Four and a half years ago, there was a moment where it seemed like I was about to die in the hospital and this is the only thing that has made me glad I didn't.

It's so utterly astonishing to me that every little bit of pain is worth it to experience this. Despite being such an emotionally exhausting experience to the point I take a physical toll, the idea of replaying it gives me such buoyancy. Oh, but what I would do to play it for the first time again. Each playthrough has been longer than the last -- to savour that feeling because I know nothing else will give me anything like it.

Such a genius approach to this story. Flawlessly woven non-linear narrative revolving around these two incredible characters.

So well-laid out in terms of messaging & themes yet so much to interpret for yourself; it's beautiful. So meticulously crafted that no-one will be able to build something as masterful as this again.

Clarification: While films like Aftersun and 'Everything, Everywhere' push me to be alive out of my love for others, this is the only artwork that makes me happy I still am.

"When you're lost in the darkness, look for the light."


okay but like imagine Abby looks into your eyes and says "you're my people" to you...

People have recently said this about Sonic Frontiers which I completely disagree with but I think you just gotta stick with this and it gets good. Not because you're conditioning yourself into liking it but because the beginning (like most platformers) is undercooked. Not a fault just the necessary difficulty curve.

I bought this for £30 to be my "lil bro" game. Both he & I wanted it but when we first starting playing it, I started wishing I hadn't spent that much. It was Mario 3D World [one of my favourite games] but sooooo slow. Like, for real 3D World is so fluid and with this you have to break the O button to get a fraction of the speed you get in that game.

But you get used to that, especially thanks to the Knitted Knight Trials and Remix levels, and the game becomes a total blast. I didn't like any of the music levels apart from Toxin but it is cool that the levels sync up to the beat. Aside from that, the original score is fantastic. Really great stuff!

Visually, it's fantastic. Level design in, not just gameplay, but appearance is marvelous. But in terms of gameplay, the boss fights do stick out to me. This is just a really good co-op platformer collectathon. The friend levels are great. The puzzles are solid. Collecting orbs were never too easy or too difficult. Character customisation is a lot of fun.

It's no 3D World but this does have a lot to offer that 3D World doesn't! But when it comes to core gameplay, 3D World really has it beat. Still, playing this charming little romp and getting the platinum trophy was really rather swell. I know fans of the Little Big Planet didn't really appreciate this spin-off all too well but I would really welcome another one of these as someone who only played 3 and did not care for it at all.

lil bro rates it: 3.5 cos he kept dying a lot

"Fate is just what you call it when you don't know the name of the person screwing you over."
-Lois, Malcolm in the Middle (2000)

I added this to my Switch Wishlist about four years ago but only got around to playing it thanks to PS Plus Extra. Although I'm glad I didn't pay for a shittier version on the Switch, I might buy this when it's on sale to support the indie devs because this was actually pretty good!

Halfway through the game, I didn't think I'd write a review as it would've been negative with the saving graces being the art direction (nice colours, dreamy watercolour depth-of-field, great animations) and its accompanying score. I got what is was doing. It showed how you shouldn't misplace your anger because the world is deterministic and you replaying the SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN is exactly like how you replay things in your head in order to rationalise your own mistakes before admitting that you just fucked up. I got that, it just wasn't fun to play.

But once you get the four main puzzles out of the way (70% of the game), it ends superbly and outweighs the tedium. Perhaps it was intentional to disarm us with such boredom in order to catch us off-guard with the emotional ending as the writers are clearly smart. But they also made me watch that car crash 40 times with an overly loud and comical explosion that it lost all weight and would make me laugh so... I doubt it. Seriously though, the ending to this made my body feel weird and numb which was ridiculously surprising. The voice-work meshing with the pensive score along with the repetitive gameplay of the Old Man level really filled me with such dread. Not to mention the trophy/achievement names adding to that which is a really nice touch.

Overall, I think it's worth it for the ending but even without the ending, it is a gorgeous game to look at with some clear heart and passion put into it that has its charm. But it still is, overall, a poor execution of a good concept in my eyes.

I dunno. Hope that makes sense. Make your own mind up. This is one of those one-sitting indie games that people either love or hate.

After BL3 came out, I've been very scared to return to this cos I assumed it would feel very stale compared to the gunplay and movement in that. But this still feels so fresh!

I just have a pure addiction to this formula. This game will never get old for me.

I'm fucked in the head and actually find it funny cos it's so stupid. The story itself is really solid. Fantastic characters and so much replay value. Over 10 years later and I still come back to it and have loads of fun.

This game's DLC is also masterful. The longevity they added to the game with them is insane. Excited to replay them again now I've finished the main story once again.

The trailer really gripped me, I liked the artstyle and the old, cheesy yet charming atmosphere it had. But it also looked very cheap and likely wouldn't be that great and... I mean, it's not. But it entirely depends on the context of when/how you play it. If you play it during a stressful exam season (like me) it will be a fantastic, calming way to end or start a day.

I played it in real time (played each day in the game on the same day IRL, you get it) and I think that's the best way to consume this. You gotta play it over a long time. Otherwise, the repetitive gameplay will feel incredibly tedious and the lack of character animations will get on your nerves. But playing it over two weeks, 30 mins every day, was perfectly fine.

The world was nice to drive around and explore but the biggest highlight is the voice acting. People said it was good but I felt like that's what people sometimes say instead of "at least it looked nice". But, no. it's actually surprisingly good and it felt very natural even among the soulless faces they're paired with, perhaps why the perception of the VA is ameliorated? However, some dialogue didn't feel right. I'm no expert on Oregon dialect of 1986 but it felt more like a British dialect of recent, maybe an attempt of localisation of the English publishers? It slightly bothered me and so did the dialogue options the player is given. You pick one thing and Meredith will just say the option 2 right after anyway.

I also wish choices had more impact. Like, you can make plans for after delivering mail and it would've been cool if you had to cancel some or decline some instead of doing both to add some stakes to the game and enhance the character relationships. I do appreciate this made it easier to 100% it and get that sweet Platinum Trophy, though.

If you're on the edge about buying it, Wait for a sale. I got it for £12 instead of the usual £16 and I think it's worth that price. It's good to support indie developers but it doesn't exactly feel like the people wanted to make THIS game, specifically. The plot isn't anything original and it felt more like an exercise to hone their craft to put on their showreel to hopefully go onto make the games they want to make.

But yeah, it was nice. I liked it. A game this cheap is obviously gonna have its faults but they're pretty easy to overlook when the ambiance is charming and peaceful.
Also, it has gay people and that's very cool.

I feel like a played a different game.

I've been tempted to buy this the past two years but didn't because "it will receive a price cut with PlayStation Hits" before I realised that's no longer a thing. The price actually increased. I never caved though because despite all the positive discussion about this game. I never heard anything good about it other than how gorgeous it is - meaning it's probably not that good overall. And I don't think it is. So, I really appreciate this was on PS Plus Extra.

I put 50+ hours into it and got the platinum so it's not like I disliked it. The combat, although after that amount of time can feel repetitive as you basically just mash △ and then ▢, is the highlight. It was a lot of fun and I fucking loved the duels. I just found the story quite lacklustre and I don't believe they achieved what they set out to do regarding its themes and how they connect to the gameplay. I feel the game did feel up itself at points.

Perhaps it's cos I'm a side-quest bitch and upgrade everything before main missions but the final fight against the Khan was so anti-climactic. And the proper ending was obviously gonna happen once you complete the first act and it didn't have the emotional effect on me that I think the score wanted me to.

Now some minor nitpicks cos I don't wanna make people who like this game angry and instead they can read this and go "haha". Although I'm annoyed at it being called 'Kurosawa Mode', I loved it. I played most of the game with it on (atleast 30 out of my 50 hours). But it's not perfect as button prompts are still coloured even though the menu isn't. And when it goes to a cutscene with the 2:35 aspect ratio, the film scratch and grain overlay they put over it also goes over the black bars which isn't how film works (would've been nice if they had more attention to detail and with it on the cutscenes would be in 1.85:1 aspect ratio like most of Kurosawa's films are but I understand why not). And talking about the cutscenes themselves, most of them have the worst cinematography. I don't understand why most shots were wides. In addition, the titlecards shouldn't be there for every fucking tale, just the main ones in Jin's Journey and maybe the last ones of the character-focused ones.

Overall, this is a generic open-world game which I did have fun with but I don't understand the hype for. I would say that this is another case of Animal Crossing: New Horizons where it's a game that takes up a lot of time that came out at the perfect time so people were just happy to sink time into something and have a long distraction from the world ending. But people have played it for the first time since then and still love it. I really don't understand why. It's not challenging with its storytelling or gameplay and not everything has to be as It's nice to have simple shut-your-brain-off-fun every now and then. But I think this tried to be more than that and failed.

It's a perfectly fine game that can be a lot of fun but don't expect anything new or anything super well-written. I would rather buy a DVD boxset of the Netflix series 'The Crown' than spend 70 quid on this. Clearly, a lot of people have spent that much to buy this game and that's fine if it gave them £70 worth of happiness but if I bought it for that price, I'd ask for a good portion of it back.

This was better than I was expecting. The dialogue can be bad at times and the choices they give you aren't very well detailed (Press Square to say "I'm not sure" actually makes you say "You are a fucking idiot") but the atmosphere was very pleasant.

The characters are likable and the setting is very comforting. The soundtrack really tops this off as well (I can't believe I fell victim to musician marketing).

Not much to say because, if you played the first game, you know not to expect a masterclass in storytelling and it's more of the vibe that comes with it. And the vibe in this one is far superior. Also, the choices you make actually seem to have actual consequences unlike the first game where literally nothing mattered so that was nice. The facial animation was a HUGE step up as well. Overall, I love the artstyle of this game. It's the perfect blend of hyper-realism and cartoon.

Enjoyed playing through the story and getting all the trophies over the course of a month and I'm a bit sad it's over. It left me wanting more but in a good way. Like, I wish I could explore more of Haven once it's over, play more arcade games, etc.
Sidenote: I really recommend you try to get the memories when playing as they add to the character and worldbuilding.

I'm not gonna play the DLC because it baffles me they gave the least interesting side character their own DLC.

Good game.