dolljointed
15 reviews liked by dolljointed
Splatoon
2015
Feels wild to be nostalgic for the WiiU, but the OG Splatoon was truly special. There's been some discussion about historical revisionism, with a lot of people saying they miss the WiiU era and that the Switch is totally lame in comparison. I will say, playing on a failed console with a relatively small amount of games really does foster communities like no other. Just like you can always count on an N64 fan to have played Mario 64 or Banjo Kazooie...A WiiU fan has absolutely played Splatoon. Fast forward to the Switch and that console's popping off so hard the community around it can't possibly be as tight knit. I bring this up here because Splatoon 1 is truly a modern day era defining classic.
It's always a joy to see Nintendo's take on a popular genre. They basically never play it straight. They really do like to wait for a genre to get a bit played out and stagnant and then swoop in with an idea that turns the whole concept on its head. Luigi's mansion with survival horror, Breath of the Wild with open world adventure, the Mario RPG's, etc. The online shooter genre was beyond mind numbingly saturated. Launching Splatoon with the whole angle of it being aggressively fresh and new and exciting immediately clicked with people far beyond the scope of the WiiU's audience. I know people are pretty divided on them rotating maps in real time over the course of hours, but it really helped the game not feel like it was just content for content sake. It made it feel like a real, living world that made it actively fun to follow and see what's going on. I never even cared about the reward for winning splatfests, never bothered to understand how to properly use the skill chunks. Didn't stop them from feeling extremely important and fun to attend every single time. Idk how many people are gonna understand what I mean when I say, I heckin hate content dude. Tired of games just putting out content. Just putting out some meaningless things to do is nowhere near as integral to genuinely connecting with me as making a fully realized game world. It can't be overstated how huge the counter culture "keep it fresh" style was. The less traditional conventions are followed the better imo.
Getting a bit ahead of myself putting the sequels down a bit - but I really think the maps and specials were at their best here. Every map had a well defined idea, and they had a good sense of scale. It really felt like you could truly effect the game and be helpful to your team without being absolutely amazing at the combat. You had room to breath, and the specials being a tad busted made them not only fun to use, but further de-emphasized pure shooting as a core of the gameplay. There was also a LOT more verticality and variety in the map design. Not to say shooting and getting kills wasn't an important part of being good, but compared to the sequels, this game's design just feels the most coherent with itself.
Got to revisit this game earlier this year one last time...And it was funny how any maps I actually liked from 3 I discovered came from 1. I also just dramatically prefer almost all the music in this one to any of the sequels. Best lil' hub world too. A nice comfortable size to walk around and see miiverse posts and fun details that add a lot of character and life to the world. The single player campaign I remember having some fun bosses, otherwise it's just kinda...very standard Super Mario platformer type design. Nothing really special there but it was novel enough given it was the first of its kind for this new series.
R.I.P. Hope to find private servers thriving someday - 'Cuz I really think the first game has some special elements to it the sequels couldn't quite capture.
It's always a joy to see Nintendo's take on a popular genre. They basically never play it straight. They really do like to wait for a genre to get a bit played out and stagnant and then swoop in with an idea that turns the whole concept on its head. Luigi's mansion with survival horror, Breath of the Wild with open world adventure, the Mario RPG's, etc. The online shooter genre was beyond mind numbingly saturated. Launching Splatoon with the whole angle of it being aggressively fresh and new and exciting immediately clicked with people far beyond the scope of the WiiU's audience. I know people are pretty divided on them rotating maps in real time over the course of hours, but it really helped the game not feel like it was just content for content sake. It made it feel like a real, living world that made it actively fun to follow and see what's going on. I never even cared about the reward for winning splatfests, never bothered to understand how to properly use the skill chunks. Didn't stop them from feeling extremely important and fun to attend every single time. Idk how many people are gonna understand what I mean when I say, I heckin hate content dude. Tired of games just putting out content. Just putting out some meaningless things to do is nowhere near as integral to genuinely connecting with me as making a fully realized game world. It can't be overstated how huge the counter culture "keep it fresh" style was. The less traditional conventions are followed the better imo.
Getting a bit ahead of myself putting the sequels down a bit - but I really think the maps and specials were at their best here. Every map had a well defined idea, and they had a good sense of scale. It really felt like you could truly effect the game and be helpful to your team without being absolutely amazing at the combat. You had room to breath, and the specials being a tad busted made them not only fun to use, but further de-emphasized pure shooting as a core of the gameplay. There was also a LOT more verticality and variety in the map design. Not to say shooting and getting kills wasn't an important part of being good, but compared to the sequels, this game's design just feels the most coherent with itself.
Got to revisit this game earlier this year one last time...And it was funny how any maps I actually liked from 3 I discovered came from 1. I also just dramatically prefer almost all the music in this one to any of the sequels. Best lil' hub world too. A nice comfortable size to walk around and see miiverse posts and fun details that add a lot of character and life to the world. The single player campaign I remember having some fun bosses, otherwise it's just kinda...very standard Super Mario platformer type design. Nothing really special there but it was novel enough given it was the first of its kind for this new series.
R.I.P. Hope to find private servers thriving someday - 'Cuz I really think the first game has some special elements to it the sequels couldn't quite capture.
Life is Strange
2015
Some real shit. 4/5
Carnival Games
2007
rude ass game
Signalis
2022
why is god making women suffer just to be with each other. stop putting bitches in motherfucking situations and let them be.
Outer Wilds
2019
i've watched two different streamers play this before i did
still, i cried and laughed and screamed and gasped and exhaled unthinkable sounds, and i hope whatever words i ever write reach some future person or being, but its fine if they dont, they will have been, and that's okay
still, i cried and laughed and screamed and gasped and exhaled unthinkable sounds, and i hope whatever words i ever write reach some future person or being, but its fine if they dont, they will have been, and that's okay
Dead Plate
2023
This review contains spoilers
I am a fan of RachelDrawsThis and have played her previous games but sadly was not a huge fan of this one, which started off promising but wound up letting me down. The ingredients are there but it just lacked that special spice it needed to bring everything together.
The actual tycoon simulator is kinda fun but very barebones and the pacing is odd- in the first few levels I was stuck waiting for the clock to run down BUT later levels were super hectic and I would get stuck working way past the clock just kind of waiting for the dishes to cook. In a way that actually makes it a really good simulation of working as a server but as, like, gameplay it left something to be desired and made it a slog to replay the levels after I realized I'd missed something.
But my biggest complaint about the gameplay is that it doesn't really impact the story at all. You do have to replay a day if you fail to meet the sales quota but other than that there's no real consequences for losing customers, and your only "reward" for doing well is the tip money you can put towards the upgrades. There are a bunch of references to Vince being a harsh boss with high standards so the fact that your actual work performance is never commented on felt like an oversight.
The other issue is that the game is predicated on peppering in small details that will unsettle you and hint at the darker story lurking beneath the posh exterior, but these details feel a bit... sparse. A little bit of blood here, some weird noises there, an uncanny comment or two, but that's all. There aren't many secrets in the restaurant and there's basically no point to exploring it except during the one night shift the game allows you.
I was also surprised by how little change there was from day to day- since the game was forcing me to play through the restaurant shifts I was hoping that there would be new treats to keep me going every day, but they never materialized. Nothing ever really happens in the back alley or the window of your apartment, despite those being two of the only environments available, and the few hooks that appear (the rat, the peephole, the register) don't actually go anywhere. Not as many cutscenes as I would have hoped either. A lot of cool ideas that lack follow through.
(Also, the game introduces a question/answer mechanic during the tutorial and implies that customers will ask you questions, but none ever do. I thought that was odd.)
The strength of the game is, of course, the ambience, art, and characters. The game looks adorable and the few cutscenes we do get are all sleek, stylish, and appropriately creepy. The writing feels natural coming from the mouths of the characters, but the polish of the writing is let down by the story, which sadly wasn't very interesting. The "twist" was like the most obvious choice for a restaurant setting... like wow, the creepy chef was cooking a PERSON? I think I've heard this one.
I think the creators did a good job of trying to flesh out Vince and Rory's characters, but while I got a strong sense of their personalities I was still a bit confused by their motivations so the endings weren't very satisfying. While the two had chemistry, it didn't really seem like they had any sort of actual connection, so the revelation of Vince's obsession and the subsequent struggle just lacked punch. I didn't really get catharsis out of seeing the restaurant burn, but watching Rory die was equally anticlimactic.
I almost wish that the game had also given you the option to take Vince's side and eat his meal because I think that would have been a much more interesting ending- it would have added a hint of subversion to the unfortunately tired story and dovetailed nicely with the traits we saw the characters displaying (Vince's need for control/barely concealed loneliness and Rory's lack of direction/need for affection). Or something, I don't know.
It's always tough to criticize a project like this because at the end of the day, it's incredibly good for something that someone made and distributed for free and I would still recommend giving it a play, but like... if I did recommend it to someone I'd tell them to read the spoiler free endings guide the creator posted because they aren't gonna wanna have to replay the levels if they miss something.
The actual tycoon simulator is kinda fun but very barebones and the pacing is odd- in the first few levels I was stuck waiting for the clock to run down BUT later levels were super hectic and I would get stuck working way past the clock just kind of waiting for the dishes to cook. In a way that actually makes it a really good simulation of working as a server but as, like, gameplay it left something to be desired and made it a slog to replay the levels after I realized I'd missed something.
But my biggest complaint about the gameplay is that it doesn't really impact the story at all. You do have to replay a day if you fail to meet the sales quota but other than that there's no real consequences for losing customers, and your only "reward" for doing well is the tip money you can put towards the upgrades. There are a bunch of references to Vince being a harsh boss with high standards so the fact that your actual work performance is never commented on felt like an oversight.
The other issue is that the game is predicated on peppering in small details that will unsettle you and hint at the darker story lurking beneath the posh exterior, but these details feel a bit... sparse. A little bit of blood here, some weird noises there, an uncanny comment or two, but that's all. There aren't many secrets in the restaurant and there's basically no point to exploring it except during the one night shift the game allows you.
I was also surprised by how little change there was from day to day- since the game was forcing me to play through the restaurant shifts I was hoping that there would be new treats to keep me going every day, but they never materialized. Nothing ever really happens in the back alley or the window of your apartment, despite those being two of the only environments available, and the few hooks that appear (the rat, the peephole, the register) don't actually go anywhere. Not as many cutscenes as I would have hoped either. A lot of cool ideas that lack follow through.
(Also, the game introduces a question/answer mechanic during the tutorial and implies that customers will ask you questions, but none ever do. I thought that was odd.)
The strength of the game is, of course, the ambience, art, and characters. The game looks adorable and the few cutscenes we do get are all sleek, stylish, and appropriately creepy. The writing feels natural coming from the mouths of the characters, but the polish of the writing is let down by the story, which sadly wasn't very interesting. The "twist" was like the most obvious choice for a restaurant setting... like wow, the creepy chef was cooking a PERSON? I think I've heard this one.
I think the creators did a good job of trying to flesh out Vince and Rory's characters, but while I got a strong sense of their personalities I was still a bit confused by their motivations so the endings weren't very satisfying. While the two had chemistry, it didn't really seem like they had any sort of actual connection, so the revelation of Vince's obsession and the subsequent struggle just lacked punch. I didn't really get catharsis out of seeing the restaurant burn, but watching Rory die was equally anticlimactic.
I almost wish that the game had also given you the option to take Vince's side and eat his meal because I think that would have been a much more interesting ending- it would have added a hint of subversion to the unfortunately tired story and dovetailed nicely with the traits we saw the characters displaying (Vince's need for control/barely concealed loneliness and Rory's lack of direction/need for affection). Or something, I don't know.
It's always tough to criticize a project like this because at the end of the day, it's incredibly good for something that someone made and distributed for free and I would still recommend giving it a play, but like... if I did recommend it to someone I'd tell them to read the spoiler free endings guide the creator posted because they aren't gonna wanna have to replay the levels if they miss something.
Dead Plate
2023
I was looking forward to find some more uncanny elements in earlier stages of the game, but the suspense was build up pretty nicely! The artstyle, music and sound effects are great and the gameplay is not difficult. Not even for those cough who are not used to restaurant simulators. I can't recall many surreal/horror RPG(M)s being tycoon games, and this specific setting is perfect to make you feel under pressure from beginning to end.
The author is really good at telling short stories and making them more engaging with comedic relief. I strongly believe the stories Rachel conveys deserve to be longer- there is barely any time to explain the setting or the worldbuilding. There is no big development, so there is no big attachment to the story. Again, it's impressive to see how much you can tell in just one hour of gameplay... Have fun!
The author is really good at telling short stories and making them more engaging with comedic relief. I strongly believe the stories Rachel conveys deserve to be longer- there is barely any time to explain the setting or the worldbuilding. There is no big development, so there is no big attachment to the story. Again, it's impressive to see how much you can tell in just one hour of gameplay... Have fun!
Fashion Dreamer
2023
this is a soulless husk of a game that i paid 48 real, hard earned dollars for and i have to live with that for the rest of my life. i could have bought food with that money. i could have been at the club
Vampire Survivors
2021
AMAZING!!!!!11!!1!!!!!!!!!!
Style Savvy
2008
yeah. it's that good.
