neptea
BACKER
2017
Miracle Merchant is a mobile game, one both pleasantly simple and surprisingly nuanced, about combining colored cards to create potions for customers. When I first found MM in the app store years ago, I fell in absolute love with its art style; and after downloading it, I was happy to discover a short, addictingly fun gameplay loop to back that presentation up. It may not be something that you’ll play everyday for weeks straight, but MM is perfect for ten-minute bursts when you just need to pass the time.
No matter what, this is easily one of the best-looking phone games I’ve EVER seen. It’s honestly stunning. The style is bold and colorful; it’s cartoony, in that charming Adventure Time way, while also showing a great attention to detail. The artist, Thomas Wellman, is very talented.
The environments are a prime example of this. Even though there are only a few, each one adds so much flavor to the game’s style and the fantasy setting as a whole. The opening credits sequence - which is skippable, but I recommend watching at least once - shows off the potion maker’s village. We see various cute buildings, such as a magic shop and a clockmaker, before landing on the potion shop itself, a line coming out of the door.
The main menu then shows our potion maker, a tiefling-like fellow, hard at work inside his shop. He’s surrounded by equipment and ingredients, mixing up a concoction in his mortar and pestle. A neat detail is that when you start a game, the camera pans upwards, revealing webs of pipes and shelves full of potions.
Last but not least, there’s the rest of the shop, which is shown once you begin playing. Lining the walls are shelves filled with all kinds of knick knacks, such as skulls, plants, and logs of wood. A beet, a dead bird, and a fish hang from the planked ceiling. The door outside gives us another glimpse of the village, as well as a night sky full of twinkling stars.
It’s such a wonderfully whimsical little fantasy world, and like I said, the detail is palpable. Even the UI is perfectly stylized to match the aesthetic. During games, the bottom half of your screen displays a wooden table stacked with the decks of cards, complete with a decorative mat. Additionally, all of the menus/buttons are drawn as scrolls and pieces of paper; I think it’s especially cute how the little options at the top of the main menu are taped to the pipes. It lends to the warm and inviting feeling that permeates the game.
Without a doubt, though, the best thing about the art is the character design. The cast members aren’t just cute and appealing - they each feel like a fully realized little person, despite the game’s interaction being so basic. Each one expresses so much personality through both their appearance and their little mannerisms. My favorites are the yellow guy with big eyes and a snout-like mouth, and the nordic-like redheaded man with a rooster.
The last integral element visually are the potions themselves; after combining four cards, you’ll create a brew for the customer, whose final appearance and name are based on the cards’ most-used color. These are also accompanied by a smaller token - such as a tomato or a starfish - which I believe is based on a lesser-used color.
Each potion is so visually interesting. Many of them are quite weird or conceptual, but they still marry perfectly to the color(s) - and by extension, the elements or ideas - that they represent. In fact, I only have one gripe with MM’s visuals. I just don’t feel like the potions are given quite enough attention. After all, they’re the final product you’re working towards making; yet they only pop on screen for a few seconds before being sent off. It would be cool if there were a more engaging animation or presentation to go along with them. There IS a potion book that tracks what you’ve discovered, which is a neat little feature, but you unfortunately have to buy the full game to access it. Ultimately, though, this is a very minor gripe and it’s not something I’ll hold against an otherwise perfectly-crafted experience.
Similarly to the art, MM’s sound is very well done. A single track, consisting of a simple beat and acoustic guitar, accompanies your brewing. It’s a calming piece that I never find myself tired of, much like Minecraft’s piano melodies. Then, there are relaxing brewing sounds going on in the background to set a perfect atmosphere; and the cards’ sound effects are the satisfying cherry on top.
Another detail I love are the little noises that the customers make in lieu of speaking. They’ll occasionally let out a ‘hmm’ or the like. It’s such a small thing, but it adds even more personality to the characters themselves and the world.
Lastly is, of course, the gameplay. Fortunately, it’s easy to catch onto here, but there’s also many mechanical nuances to keep the game challenging. As I’ve mentioned, you create potions by combining cards from four limited stacks, each representing its own color - red, yellow, green, and blue. Every individual card may have a symbol on either side or on its middle, which can in turn be any of the four colors itself. If you place that symbol’s color on the board - either on the corresponding side of the symbol, or anywhere, if it’s in the middle - the ‘point’ value of the original card increases.
The goal is to get as many points as possible, while fulfilling each customer’s demands. They have two individual requests; the first is a required color, while the second is an optional color they’d like included. For each of the latter cards you include, their individual point value is doubled.
You also earn points based on the general positioning of the cards in relation to each other. If two of the same color are side-by-side, it’s called a ‘twin’. Three side-by-side are called a ‘triplet’. Four matching are called a ‘distillate’. One of each four colors is a ‘mixture’. These are a huge source of points, meaning they’re really important to consider.
The biggest difficulty of the game is managing the black cards. These give negative points (either -1, -2, or -3), and are randomly shuffled into all four decks. If you don’t feel like you can play around a black card at a given moment, you can periodically boot the current customer to the back of the line - which I recommend doing at least once anyways, so that you know what’s coming at the end of the game and can be prepared.
And that’s all there is to it. Each mechanic is so easy to learn, and they work together completely seamlessly. My only real issue is that the black cards can be quite annoying to play around at times, especially when it seems like there’s just more of them appearing than usual. At least there’s never two in a row in a single deck.
The overall simplicity makes this such an easy game to come back to time and time again, though. I’ll forget about it for weeks, then randomly get the urge to play it. I stopped writing this review multiple times just to go play a game or two… partially for research, and partially just because it’s that fun.
I think MM’s only noteworthy flaw is that there’s really not much to it at the end of the day. Games obviously always play out the same way, and there’s no alternative modes or anything like that to explore. There IS a daily game/leaderboard, which is nice, but I do wish that some more stuff would’ve been added over time.
Still, Miracle Merchant is such a fantastic little experience - especially since it’s free and easily accessible on your phone. The presentation is top-notch, and it’s so fun and relaxing. I’d highly recommend trying this out, especially if you enjoy card games.
Visuals: 5/5
Sound: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Replayability: 3.5/5
Overall Game Score: 4/5 [4.2/5]
No matter what, this is easily one of the best-looking phone games I’ve EVER seen. It’s honestly stunning. The style is bold and colorful; it’s cartoony, in that charming Adventure Time way, while also showing a great attention to detail. The artist, Thomas Wellman, is very talented.
The environments are a prime example of this. Even though there are only a few, each one adds so much flavor to the game’s style and the fantasy setting as a whole. The opening credits sequence - which is skippable, but I recommend watching at least once - shows off the potion maker’s village. We see various cute buildings, such as a magic shop and a clockmaker, before landing on the potion shop itself, a line coming out of the door.
The main menu then shows our potion maker, a tiefling-like fellow, hard at work inside his shop. He’s surrounded by equipment and ingredients, mixing up a concoction in his mortar and pestle. A neat detail is that when you start a game, the camera pans upwards, revealing webs of pipes and shelves full of potions.
Last but not least, there’s the rest of the shop, which is shown once you begin playing. Lining the walls are shelves filled with all kinds of knick knacks, such as skulls, plants, and logs of wood. A beet, a dead bird, and a fish hang from the planked ceiling. The door outside gives us another glimpse of the village, as well as a night sky full of twinkling stars.
It’s such a wonderfully whimsical little fantasy world, and like I said, the detail is palpable. Even the UI is perfectly stylized to match the aesthetic. During games, the bottom half of your screen displays a wooden table stacked with the decks of cards, complete with a decorative mat. Additionally, all of the menus/buttons are drawn as scrolls and pieces of paper; I think it’s especially cute how the little options at the top of the main menu are taped to the pipes. It lends to the warm and inviting feeling that permeates the game.
Without a doubt, though, the best thing about the art is the character design. The cast members aren’t just cute and appealing - they each feel like a fully realized little person, despite the game’s interaction being so basic. Each one expresses so much personality through both their appearance and their little mannerisms. My favorites are the yellow guy with big eyes and a snout-like mouth, and the nordic-like redheaded man with a rooster.
The last integral element visually are the potions themselves; after combining four cards, you’ll create a brew for the customer, whose final appearance and name are based on the cards’ most-used color. These are also accompanied by a smaller token - such as a tomato or a starfish - which I believe is based on a lesser-used color.
Each potion is so visually interesting. Many of them are quite weird or conceptual, but they still marry perfectly to the color(s) - and by extension, the elements or ideas - that they represent. In fact, I only have one gripe with MM’s visuals. I just don’t feel like the potions are given quite enough attention. After all, they’re the final product you’re working towards making; yet they only pop on screen for a few seconds before being sent off. It would be cool if there were a more engaging animation or presentation to go along with them. There IS a potion book that tracks what you’ve discovered, which is a neat little feature, but you unfortunately have to buy the full game to access it. Ultimately, though, this is a very minor gripe and it’s not something I’ll hold against an otherwise perfectly-crafted experience.
Similarly to the art, MM’s sound is very well done. A single track, consisting of a simple beat and acoustic guitar, accompanies your brewing. It’s a calming piece that I never find myself tired of, much like Minecraft’s piano melodies. Then, there are relaxing brewing sounds going on in the background to set a perfect atmosphere; and the cards’ sound effects are the satisfying cherry on top.
Another detail I love are the little noises that the customers make in lieu of speaking. They’ll occasionally let out a ‘hmm’ or the like. It’s such a small thing, but it adds even more personality to the characters themselves and the world.
Lastly is, of course, the gameplay. Fortunately, it’s easy to catch onto here, but there’s also many mechanical nuances to keep the game challenging. As I’ve mentioned, you create potions by combining cards from four limited stacks, each representing its own color - red, yellow, green, and blue. Every individual card may have a symbol on either side or on its middle, which can in turn be any of the four colors itself. If you place that symbol’s color on the board - either on the corresponding side of the symbol, or anywhere, if it’s in the middle - the ‘point’ value of the original card increases.
The goal is to get as many points as possible, while fulfilling each customer’s demands. They have two individual requests; the first is a required color, while the second is an optional color they’d like included. For each of the latter cards you include, their individual point value is doubled.
You also earn points based on the general positioning of the cards in relation to each other. If two of the same color are side-by-side, it’s called a ‘twin’. Three side-by-side are called a ‘triplet’. Four matching are called a ‘distillate’. One of each four colors is a ‘mixture’. These are a huge source of points, meaning they’re really important to consider.
The biggest difficulty of the game is managing the black cards. These give negative points (either -1, -2, or -3), and are randomly shuffled into all four decks. If you don’t feel like you can play around a black card at a given moment, you can periodically boot the current customer to the back of the line - which I recommend doing at least once anyways, so that you know what’s coming at the end of the game and can be prepared.
And that’s all there is to it. Each mechanic is so easy to learn, and they work together completely seamlessly. My only real issue is that the black cards can be quite annoying to play around at times, especially when it seems like there’s just more of them appearing than usual. At least there’s never two in a row in a single deck.
The overall simplicity makes this such an easy game to come back to time and time again, though. I’ll forget about it for weeks, then randomly get the urge to play it. I stopped writing this review multiple times just to go play a game or two… partially for research, and partially just because it’s that fun.
I think MM’s only noteworthy flaw is that there’s really not much to it at the end of the day. Games obviously always play out the same way, and there’s no alternative modes or anything like that to explore. There IS a daily game/leaderboard, which is nice, but I do wish that some more stuff would’ve been added over time.
Still, Miracle Merchant is such a fantastic little experience - especially since it’s free and easily accessible on your phone. The presentation is top-notch, and it’s so fun and relaxing. I’d highly recommend trying this out, especially if you enjoy card games.
Visuals: 5/5
Sound: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Replayability: 3.5/5
Overall Game Score: 4/5 [4.2/5]
One Night, Hot Springs is a wonderfully heartfelt VN centering around a trans woman named Haru. Haru is invited to go on a trip to the hot springs with her childhood best friend, Manami, and Manami’s other close friend, Erika. While there, she must navigate her anxieties about being publicly trans, as well as her relationships with the two other girls - one old friend, and one new.
As a fellow trans person, I really appreciated ONHS’ story. It’s an authentic look at many issues we face, whether that’s discrimination, ignorance, or the fear and self-doubt we feel internally. It addresses all of these topics in a thoughtful, kind, and informative manner, while still maintaining its integrity as an enjoyable and positive story.
There were parts of this game that even I found educational. I particularly learned a lot from the conversation addressing Japanese anti-trans laws. Staying aware of these kinds of things is undoubtedly important, so that we can support our community worldwide.
ONHS’ narrative is not built on trans suffering, though; it’s instead a celebration of transness, and the little victories we achieve in everyday life. It’s about friends, facing new experiences, and relying on others for support. It’s about finding some kindness in the world even when you don’t think there is any.
A big part of what makes this such a good story, aside from the wonderful themes, are the characters themselves. Haru is an instantly relatable protagonist for many, given her anxiety, self-doubt, and introversion. Meanwhile, Manami directly counteracts her with a lovable, outgoing personality; she’s so positive that it seems like nothing bad ever happens around her. Lastly, there’s Erika, an ex-delinquent who may seem a bit abrasive at first, but turns out to be a huge sweetheart herself.
All three girls are individually likable - but they’re even better together! Their diverse personalities lead to a lot of fun and interesting interactions. The dialogue is so cute and overflowing with chemistry. All of their relationships feel genuine and unique; I particularly enjoyed watching Haru and Erika grow closer over the course of the trip.
To understand the full scope of ONHS’ story, and these characters’ relationships, you’ll need to replay it a few times. There are a total of seven different endings - a good, a bad, a normal, two dedicated to Manami, and two dedicated to Erika. The latter four are undoubtedly more fulfilling, and their specific choice paths reveal intricacies between the girls you wouldn’t otherwise see.
On the other hand, the former three are much more forgettable. I’d go so far as to say that they’re only necessary from a gameplay standpoint, to fill out branching paths that don’t particularly involve either friend. It does make sense to have a bad ending of some sort, but honestly I found the “good” ending to be far inferior to any of Erika or Manami’s. The girls’ relationships just feel too integral to the narrative to not be part of the conclusion.
This is my single issue with the way ONHS handles its VN format. Thankfully, these weak points are the minority; the rest of the endings stay consistently great. And another big reason for that is how it handles its choices.
Since VN ‘gameplay’ centers around choices and watching them play out until the end, it's particularly important that they have a noticeable impact on the story and characters. In other words, the player needs to feel like their input matters, whether it’s in big or small ways. ONHS accomplishes this tremendously. The branching paths offer amazing variety, especially for being such a short and simple game. There are a surprising number of significant decisions to make in its 20-minute span; and even the less important ones offer small changes, usually in dialogue.
Another element of ONHS that I really enjoy is its visual style. Although it’s fairly plain at first glance, it’s also very charming; everything is very rounded and simplified, making for a nice, inviting aesthetic. It kind of reminds me of Sanrio.
The character designs are particularly lovely and memorable. In fact, Haru’s warm appearance was why I initially became interested in the game. Look her up on Google and tell me that’s not a girl you’d want to be friends with!
My only complaint with the art lies in some of the environments. Although they generally use their simplicity well, there are a few weak points where they lean into it a bit too much. It can leave a scene feeling bare, or even a bit ugly. Still, this is only an issue in a few instances; I otherwise really love the execution.
Just like the art and characters, the soundtrack is a real gem as well. It’s full of calming piano, with some soft electronics thrown in - and it’s all original work by the creator! There’s not very many tracks, since the game is so short, but the few we have are really great.
Really, ONHS’ length is the only other complaint I have about it, and that’s only because I loved it so much. There are small snippets of worldbuilding for the characters here and there, but I’d love to see more of their individual AND interpersonal histories… well, you can imagine how excited I was when I found out about A Year of Springs! It’s high on my wishlist now.
When I picked it up, I knew that One Night, Hot Springs was said to be good, but it honestly surprised me how much I ended up loving it. This is a VN that I think can be enjoyed by everyone. It’s a trans-centered narrative that is not only digestible, but I think even relatable, for all kinds of people, because the writing and characters are just so great. I truly can’t wait to get around to A Year of Springs.
Visuals: 4/5
Sound: 4/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Story: 5/5
Worldbuilding: 4/5
Overall game score: 4/5 [4.2/5]
As a fellow trans person, I really appreciated ONHS’ story. It’s an authentic look at many issues we face, whether that’s discrimination, ignorance, or the fear and self-doubt we feel internally. It addresses all of these topics in a thoughtful, kind, and informative manner, while still maintaining its integrity as an enjoyable and positive story.
There were parts of this game that even I found educational. I particularly learned a lot from the conversation addressing Japanese anti-trans laws. Staying aware of these kinds of things is undoubtedly important, so that we can support our community worldwide.
ONHS’ narrative is not built on trans suffering, though; it’s instead a celebration of transness, and the little victories we achieve in everyday life. It’s about friends, facing new experiences, and relying on others for support. It’s about finding some kindness in the world even when you don’t think there is any.
A big part of what makes this such a good story, aside from the wonderful themes, are the characters themselves. Haru is an instantly relatable protagonist for many, given her anxiety, self-doubt, and introversion. Meanwhile, Manami directly counteracts her with a lovable, outgoing personality; she’s so positive that it seems like nothing bad ever happens around her. Lastly, there’s Erika, an ex-delinquent who may seem a bit abrasive at first, but turns out to be a huge sweetheart herself.
All three girls are individually likable - but they’re even better together! Their diverse personalities lead to a lot of fun and interesting interactions. The dialogue is so cute and overflowing with chemistry. All of their relationships feel genuine and unique; I particularly enjoyed watching Haru and Erika grow closer over the course of the trip.
To understand the full scope of ONHS’ story, and these characters’ relationships, you’ll need to replay it a few times. There are a total of seven different endings - a good, a bad, a normal, two dedicated to Manami, and two dedicated to Erika. The latter four are undoubtedly more fulfilling, and their specific choice paths reveal intricacies between the girls you wouldn’t otherwise see.
On the other hand, the former three are much more forgettable. I’d go so far as to say that they’re only necessary from a gameplay standpoint, to fill out branching paths that don’t particularly involve either friend. It does make sense to have a bad ending of some sort, but honestly I found the “good” ending to be far inferior to any of Erika or Manami’s. The girls’ relationships just feel too integral to the narrative to not be part of the conclusion.
This is my single issue with the way ONHS handles its VN format. Thankfully, these weak points are the minority; the rest of the endings stay consistently great. And another big reason for that is how it handles its choices.
Since VN ‘gameplay’ centers around choices and watching them play out until the end, it's particularly important that they have a noticeable impact on the story and characters. In other words, the player needs to feel like their input matters, whether it’s in big or small ways. ONHS accomplishes this tremendously. The branching paths offer amazing variety, especially for being such a short and simple game. There are a surprising number of significant decisions to make in its 20-minute span; and even the less important ones offer small changes, usually in dialogue.
Another element of ONHS that I really enjoy is its visual style. Although it’s fairly plain at first glance, it’s also very charming; everything is very rounded and simplified, making for a nice, inviting aesthetic. It kind of reminds me of Sanrio.
The character designs are particularly lovely and memorable. In fact, Haru’s warm appearance was why I initially became interested in the game. Look her up on Google and tell me that’s not a girl you’d want to be friends with!
My only complaint with the art lies in some of the environments. Although they generally use their simplicity well, there are a few weak points where they lean into it a bit too much. It can leave a scene feeling bare, or even a bit ugly. Still, this is only an issue in a few instances; I otherwise really love the execution.
Just like the art and characters, the soundtrack is a real gem as well. It’s full of calming piano, with some soft electronics thrown in - and it’s all original work by the creator! There’s not very many tracks, since the game is so short, but the few we have are really great.
Really, ONHS’ length is the only other complaint I have about it, and that’s only because I loved it so much. There are small snippets of worldbuilding for the characters here and there, but I’d love to see more of their individual AND interpersonal histories… well, you can imagine how excited I was when I found out about A Year of Springs! It’s high on my wishlist now.
When I picked it up, I knew that One Night, Hot Springs was said to be good, but it honestly surprised me how much I ended up loving it. This is a VN that I think can be enjoyed by everyone. It’s a trans-centered narrative that is not only digestible, but I think even relatable, for all kinds of people, because the writing and characters are just so great. I truly can’t wait to get around to A Year of Springs.
Visuals: 4/5
Sound: 4/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Story: 5/5
Worldbuilding: 4/5
Overall game score: 4/5 [4.2/5]
2016
Survive in Space is easily one of the worst games I’ve ever played. Even if you find the core shoot-em-up mechanics fun, there’s no way to look past its hideous presentation and terrible design choices. Honestly, the fact that something this ugly, unoriginal, and boring is being sold on Steam for eleven dollars is a borderline scam.
There are a whopping 50 levels in Survive in Space (51 if you include the endless mode), stretching its length out to around four hours. The game presents itself as having quite a bit of content… and well, technically, it does. In reality though, most of it’s so repetitive that the game could easily be cut down to an hour without much of a loss at all. In fact, I’d wager that the actual reason there are so many levels in the first place is solely to inflate playtime.
Genres such as shoot-em-ups often rely on combat to keep gameplay feeling fresh. Pattern learning and recognition are usually an important part of this; it’s inherently more rewarding to overcome a challenge if you learn how to overcome it yourself, after all.
Take Galaga as the grandfather of examples. Each wave of ships are thoughtfully planned, from their flight patterns to where they land in formation. Even if there are dozens on-screen at once, every single ship feels purposeful.
Survive In Space is the exact opposite; there’s zero level design to speak of, zero planning or thought. It constantly throws random enemies at you with no rhyme or reason. There aren’t any fun bonus stages to reach or attack patterns to learn. Each level, at VERY least, has its own specific set of ships that appear in a specific order… yet it still feels like you’re playing the same thing again and again!
Every single other attempt to keep the gameplay engaging for four hours are similarly lazy - and similarly unsuccessful. The enemy waves increase from three to five over time. A few new enemies are introduced, but only a few; most are there from the very first level, and even the handful that aren’t are brought in early on. Nothing ever feels new, or fun, or purposeful.
The only other distinction between Survive in Space’s levels is that each is represented by a different planet on the level selection screen. Yet this detail is ultimately irrelevant, because despite these same planet designs cycling in and out of the backgrounds once you enter a level, it seems like that never includes the ONE that’s actually supposed to be there. So why is each one assigned a planet if they’re not even going to show up?
Anyways, let’s get into the nitty gritty of the gameplay. There are ‘attack’ and ‘defense’ modes for you to switch between at will; not only does this affect your general stats, but it also affects the four rotating balls encircling (and protecting) your ship.
While in ‘defense’, you have higher shield/HP that also regenerates faster, but you do less damage and move slower. The balls stay very close to your ship to fully shield you, but they are destroyed upon enemy contact; you’re then left partially (or sometimes fully) exposed while you wait for them to respawn.
In ‘attack’, you deal more damage and move more quickly, but you have less shield and regenerate it more slowly. The balls expand to encircle your ship at a much wider radius, and they are no longer destroyed upon contact - meaning they never have to respawn. However, you’re left much more susceptible to attacks in this mode, since your defensive ball-shell is gone and you have reduced shield.
Theoretically, this is a pretty interesting mechanic, even if it’s not anything new. The problem is that the ‘attack’ mode is just… terrible in comparison to ‘defense’. To make use of the ‘attack’ balls, you have to constantly reposition yourself around the movement of both the other ships and the balls themselves; by that time, you could’ve just used your other abilities to take them out. Even worse is your ship’s increased vulnerability, thanks to the loss of its ball-encasement protection and a chunk of your shield. It’s a lot more likely you’ll just get overwhelmed by enemies and die.
The IDEA is for you to switch between these two modes frequently and quickly, but it’s honestly just not worth it. I stayed in ‘defense’ nearly my entire playthrough for the extra protection; the balls are just so much more useful that way. The hits you take to your damage and speed don’t even really matter once you start increasing your innate stats.
As for your other three abilities, they’re fairly standard and most likely what you’d expect to see. You’ve got a basic attack, which starts out slow and weak, but becomes much more deadly as you upgrade it - an admittedly satisfying transformation. The second is a laser, my usual go-to, since it deals a lot of damage very quickly. The third are homing missiles, which are definitely my least-used attack. They just feel slower and clunkier than the other abilities (which isn’t helped by the fact that you don’t directly control them in any way.)
As I’ve mentioned briefly, there are many upgrades to earn by killing enemies. The first are points to disperse among and improve your base stats - shield, shield regeneration, evasion (speed?), cooldown reduction, bonus damage, and enemy slow. Pretty basic stuff, pretty boring, but useful in the long run. As far as I can tell, you can upgrade these infinitely (at least, long enough to finish this boring game.)
The second upgrade you earn are points to invest into skill trees for the basic attack, laser, and homing missiles. You are given experience (and subsequently, points) for an ability when you kill an enemy with that specific ability, I believe. You can put a limited number of these points into damage, cooldown reduction, lifesteal, experience boost, instant kill chance, and ministun chance.
There’s also a few rarer upgrades, which are, obviously, even more limited - critical chance, critical damage, split shot (which splits your shot into two diagonal beams), major bonus damage, and dot damage (which deals extra damage over time, I think?) By the end of the game, you’ll likely have all of these for all abilities, with an extra point in critical chance or damage.
Lastly, there are five ships made freely available to the player; each of these has three pre-selected upgrades, which you earn in succession by using that ship and gaining experience. Their upgrades generally tend to focus on a specific ability (with a few exceptions.)
For some reason, though, there’s no stat differences between the ships. The closest comparison are individual stat buffs that a few of their upgrades offer. I find it strange that there’s no intrinsic difference beyond that; it seems like an obvious inclusion, since it makes each choice feel even more distinct. Additionally, I think it’s kind of fun to look through stat charts while putting together a build in games - at the very least, they add a bit more depth.
The last decision you’ll be faced with before starting a level are a few extra challenge options. Aside from having a standard difficulty slider, you can choose to spawn asteroids, fortresses (AKA planets with cannons), and/or extra enemies. Each selection gives you 50% more experience, too. It’s a nice and thoughtful inclusion, I guess… but I don’t see who would want to make this game more difficult for themselves OR replay it.
Scrolling through all of these menus, you’ll quickly realize how bad the UI is. There are spelling mistakes throughout, the fonts are basic, and the ship page’s layout is particularly confusing. Navigating everything is just a chore. And the in-game UI isn’t any better, unfortunately. A chunky bar displaying largely unneeded information takes up the bottom strip of screen. Most of this could have easily been streamlined or cut; for example, the left corner displays an ugly character portrait of the protagonist, while the right corner is usually noticeably empty, except during boss fights to display boss portraits.
Let’s get into the actual combat, though. The positive thing I can say is that the enemies have surprising variety in their individual abilities. There are, of course, the standard basic attack ships - a handful of different kinds, which shoot in varying directions. There are fast melee ships that aim to crash into you (one even blinks in and out of invisibility.) There’s a ship that teleports around the screen, and a giant ship with a shield that you can only shoot from behind. There’s even a healer ship.
So variety obviously isn’t an issue when it comes to the enemy design… instead, it’s basically just everything else. Despite their numbers, all of these abilities are fairly standard and uncreative. Again, what you’d likely expect to see. And as I’ve discussed, there’s also no real individuality injected into the levels. There’s no focus given to or taken away from enemies, no gameplay changes to shake things up. Everything just bleeds together.
The sole exception to this are the boss fights that take place every tenth level. These are ALMOST fun! Don’t get me wrong, they’re not particularly well-made either, but the change of pace alone is a breath of fresh air.
Accompanying these boss fights - and a few other select levels - are full-on cutscenes, complete with cringy voice acting and atrocious art. A majority of the gameplay is remarkably terrible, but somehow, the presentation and story are even worse. It’s like a middle school anime fan was hired to write a video game story - and, judging by the quality of the final product, this kid was also their lead artist. They might’ve even hired their classmates to be the rest of the voice cast.
Let’s start with the so-called ‘art’. I do usually try to be kind to artists of all skill levels… but again, Survive in Space is being sold for 12 bucks on Steam, so I’m past giving a shit. If a game stamps its major artistic flaws with an exorbitantly high price tag, that tells you all you need to know about its creative integrity.
Visually, these ‘cutscenes’ are nothing more than a series of poorly-made stills. Everything from the character designs, poses, and colors palettes to the backgrounds, perspectives, and shading are basic at best. I noticed that the style actually changes a bit throughout the game, seemingly improving over time. The earlier art has scratchy, unfinished black outlines; yet later outlines are noticeably cleaner, as well as colored.
It’s funny, actually, some of the game’s better drawings are ONLY present as store page screenshots and trading cards. Both these and the women they depict are completely cut from the final product. Makes you wonder.
Equally as terrible as the art is the voice acting. Imagine the worst anime dub you could imagine… then times that by ten. Not only are the VAs completely failing to deliver their lines, but they’re also trying to hit generic anime vocal beats at the same time. It’s twice the cringe. At least it’s entertainingly bad, though.
There’s no music to accompany cutscenes, but once you enter a level, you’re immediately subjected to endless terrible freeware dubstep (at least, until you give in and pause it from the built-in music player, or turn the music to zero.) These songs don’t fit the spacefaring vibe at all, especially since it’s a random collection of other people’s work from around the internet. One track even had the [Free Download] still in its name. There are no words.
Fun fact: I thought that there were actually dozens of songs in the game because of how long the credits were, until I realized that the same few pages were just looping over and over. Also, I realized while exploring the settings that it’s possible to add your own music to the game. Yet there’s still no subtitles.
The levels’ visuals are their own special kind of bad, too. I’m a sucker for space aesthetics, but it’s completely ruined here. The ship designs are forgettable. The planets floating around in the background are hideous. But worst of all - and possibly my biggest gripe with Survive in Space as a whole - is the color coding.
Your ship’s visual effects are either blue or red, depending on whether you’re in ‘defense’ or ‘attack’ mode. This is a fine way to differentiate the two - but what’s NOT fine is that enemy attacks can come in these exact same colors, plus others, such as orange and purple. Worse, their ships are the same rainbow of shades.
Since nearly all of the enemies show up in every single level, things quickly become confusing. It can be next to impossible to read the screen if it fills up. If the busyness doesn’t outright kill you at times, it’s at the very least a noticeable nuisance.
The only thing left to talk about is, unfortunately, the story. Once you start playing, you’re greeted by an exposition dump that establishes the history of Survive in Space’s setting. Many planets have been conquered by an alien species. Humanity is enslaved.
We follow our Gary Stu, equipped with a cool sword and dual-colored hair, as he goes on a vengeful rampage against the generals and their emperor. He’s only strong enough to fight them because of his deal with a black, red-eyed shadow demon (who is voiced by a British woman with a deep voice overlay, hilariously.) The demon possesses Gary’s body, providing him with the power needed to fight.
[Spoilers] And then, we find out that the big twist of the game… is that the demon is evil. Turns out that he used to be the right-hand man of the emperor, until he went on a genocide spree and tried to become emperor himself. He was punished by being trapped and turned into his current form. So this whole time he’s been manipulating and using Gary to go on his own revenge spree.
[Spoiler End]
This plot is really only told through character dialogue and exposition; and since the presentation and writing are so terrible, these interactions lack absolutely any weight or depth. There’s no intriguing lore involved, no layered storytelling, and nothing else engaging. It’s so bad that I’ve already forgotten chunks of it, like how Gary helped the demon escape from his prison. Oh well. I’m not restarting the game to watch the exposition dump again.
At the end of the day, there isn’t a single thing about Survive in Space that makes it worth playing - especially for 12 bucks. It’s repetitive, unoriginal, and has possibly the worst visual AND audio presentation I’ve ever seen. This was nothing but a chore.
Visuals: 0.5/5
Sound: 0.5/5
Story: 0.5/5
Gameplay: 1/5
Worldbuilding: 0.5/5
Overall game score: 0.5/5 [0.6/5]
There are a whopping 50 levels in Survive in Space (51 if you include the endless mode), stretching its length out to around four hours. The game presents itself as having quite a bit of content… and well, technically, it does. In reality though, most of it’s so repetitive that the game could easily be cut down to an hour without much of a loss at all. In fact, I’d wager that the actual reason there are so many levels in the first place is solely to inflate playtime.
Genres such as shoot-em-ups often rely on combat to keep gameplay feeling fresh. Pattern learning and recognition are usually an important part of this; it’s inherently more rewarding to overcome a challenge if you learn how to overcome it yourself, after all.
Take Galaga as the grandfather of examples. Each wave of ships are thoughtfully planned, from their flight patterns to where they land in formation. Even if there are dozens on-screen at once, every single ship feels purposeful.
Survive In Space is the exact opposite; there’s zero level design to speak of, zero planning or thought. It constantly throws random enemies at you with no rhyme or reason. There aren’t any fun bonus stages to reach or attack patterns to learn. Each level, at VERY least, has its own specific set of ships that appear in a specific order… yet it still feels like you’re playing the same thing again and again!
Every single other attempt to keep the gameplay engaging for four hours are similarly lazy - and similarly unsuccessful. The enemy waves increase from three to five over time. A few new enemies are introduced, but only a few; most are there from the very first level, and even the handful that aren’t are brought in early on. Nothing ever feels new, or fun, or purposeful.
The only other distinction between Survive in Space’s levels is that each is represented by a different planet on the level selection screen. Yet this detail is ultimately irrelevant, because despite these same planet designs cycling in and out of the backgrounds once you enter a level, it seems like that never includes the ONE that’s actually supposed to be there. So why is each one assigned a planet if they’re not even going to show up?
Anyways, let’s get into the nitty gritty of the gameplay. There are ‘attack’ and ‘defense’ modes for you to switch between at will; not only does this affect your general stats, but it also affects the four rotating balls encircling (and protecting) your ship.
While in ‘defense’, you have higher shield/HP that also regenerates faster, but you do less damage and move slower. The balls stay very close to your ship to fully shield you, but they are destroyed upon enemy contact; you’re then left partially (or sometimes fully) exposed while you wait for them to respawn.
In ‘attack’, you deal more damage and move more quickly, but you have less shield and regenerate it more slowly. The balls expand to encircle your ship at a much wider radius, and they are no longer destroyed upon contact - meaning they never have to respawn. However, you’re left much more susceptible to attacks in this mode, since your defensive ball-shell is gone and you have reduced shield.
Theoretically, this is a pretty interesting mechanic, even if it’s not anything new. The problem is that the ‘attack’ mode is just… terrible in comparison to ‘defense’. To make use of the ‘attack’ balls, you have to constantly reposition yourself around the movement of both the other ships and the balls themselves; by that time, you could’ve just used your other abilities to take them out. Even worse is your ship’s increased vulnerability, thanks to the loss of its ball-encasement protection and a chunk of your shield. It’s a lot more likely you’ll just get overwhelmed by enemies and die.
The IDEA is for you to switch between these two modes frequently and quickly, but it’s honestly just not worth it. I stayed in ‘defense’ nearly my entire playthrough for the extra protection; the balls are just so much more useful that way. The hits you take to your damage and speed don’t even really matter once you start increasing your innate stats.
As for your other three abilities, they’re fairly standard and most likely what you’d expect to see. You’ve got a basic attack, which starts out slow and weak, but becomes much more deadly as you upgrade it - an admittedly satisfying transformation. The second is a laser, my usual go-to, since it deals a lot of damage very quickly. The third are homing missiles, which are definitely my least-used attack. They just feel slower and clunkier than the other abilities (which isn’t helped by the fact that you don’t directly control them in any way.)
As I’ve mentioned briefly, there are many upgrades to earn by killing enemies. The first are points to disperse among and improve your base stats - shield, shield regeneration, evasion (speed?), cooldown reduction, bonus damage, and enemy slow. Pretty basic stuff, pretty boring, but useful in the long run. As far as I can tell, you can upgrade these infinitely (at least, long enough to finish this boring game.)
The second upgrade you earn are points to invest into skill trees for the basic attack, laser, and homing missiles. You are given experience (and subsequently, points) for an ability when you kill an enemy with that specific ability, I believe. You can put a limited number of these points into damage, cooldown reduction, lifesteal, experience boost, instant kill chance, and ministun chance.
There’s also a few rarer upgrades, which are, obviously, even more limited - critical chance, critical damage, split shot (which splits your shot into two diagonal beams), major bonus damage, and dot damage (which deals extra damage over time, I think?) By the end of the game, you’ll likely have all of these for all abilities, with an extra point in critical chance or damage.
Lastly, there are five ships made freely available to the player; each of these has three pre-selected upgrades, which you earn in succession by using that ship and gaining experience. Their upgrades generally tend to focus on a specific ability (with a few exceptions.)
For some reason, though, there’s no stat differences between the ships. The closest comparison are individual stat buffs that a few of their upgrades offer. I find it strange that there’s no intrinsic difference beyond that; it seems like an obvious inclusion, since it makes each choice feel even more distinct. Additionally, I think it’s kind of fun to look through stat charts while putting together a build in games - at the very least, they add a bit more depth.
The last decision you’ll be faced with before starting a level are a few extra challenge options. Aside from having a standard difficulty slider, you can choose to spawn asteroids, fortresses (AKA planets with cannons), and/or extra enemies. Each selection gives you 50% more experience, too. It’s a nice and thoughtful inclusion, I guess… but I don’t see who would want to make this game more difficult for themselves OR replay it.
Scrolling through all of these menus, you’ll quickly realize how bad the UI is. There are spelling mistakes throughout, the fonts are basic, and the ship page’s layout is particularly confusing. Navigating everything is just a chore. And the in-game UI isn’t any better, unfortunately. A chunky bar displaying largely unneeded information takes up the bottom strip of screen. Most of this could have easily been streamlined or cut; for example, the left corner displays an ugly character portrait of the protagonist, while the right corner is usually noticeably empty, except during boss fights to display boss portraits.
Let’s get into the actual combat, though. The positive thing I can say is that the enemies have surprising variety in their individual abilities. There are, of course, the standard basic attack ships - a handful of different kinds, which shoot in varying directions. There are fast melee ships that aim to crash into you (one even blinks in and out of invisibility.) There’s a ship that teleports around the screen, and a giant ship with a shield that you can only shoot from behind. There’s even a healer ship.
So variety obviously isn’t an issue when it comes to the enemy design… instead, it’s basically just everything else. Despite their numbers, all of these abilities are fairly standard and uncreative. Again, what you’d likely expect to see. And as I’ve discussed, there’s also no real individuality injected into the levels. There’s no focus given to or taken away from enemies, no gameplay changes to shake things up. Everything just bleeds together.
The sole exception to this are the boss fights that take place every tenth level. These are ALMOST fun! Don’t get me wrong, they’re not particularly well-made either, but the change of pace alone is a breath of fresh air.
Accompanying these boss fights - and a few other select levels - are full-on cutscenes, complete with cringy voice acting and atrocious art. A majority of the gameplay is remarkably terrible, but somehow, the presentation and story are even worse. It’s like a middle school anime fan was hired to write a video game story - and, judging by the quality of the final product, this kid was also their lead artist. They might’ve even hired their classmates to be the rest of the voice cast.
Let’s start with the so-called ‘art’. I do usually try to be kind to artists of all skill levels… but again, Survive in Space is being sold for 12 bucks on Steam, so I’m past giving a shit. If a game stamps its major artistic flaws with an exorbitantly high price tag, that tells you all you need to know about its creative integrity.
Visually, these ‘cutscenes’ are nothing more than a series of poorly-made stills. Everything from the character designs, poses, and colors palettes to the backgrounds, perspectives, and shading are basic at best. I noticed that the style actually changes a bit throughout the game, seemingly improving over time. The earlier art has scratchy, unfinished black outlines; yet later outlines are noticeably cleaner, as well as colored.
It’s funny, actually, some of the game’s better drawings are ONLY present as store page screenshots and trading cards. Both these and the women they depict are completely cut from the final product. Makes you wonder.
Equally as terrible as the art is the voice acting. Imagine the worst anime dub you could imagine… then times that by ten. Not only are the VAs completely failing to deliver their lines, but they’re also trying to hit generic anime vocal beats at the same time. It’s twice the cringe. At least it’s entertainingly bad, though.
There’s no music to accompany cutscenes, but once you enter a level, you’re immediately subjected to endless terrible freeware dubstep (at least, until you give in and pause it from the built-in music player, or turn the music to zero.) These songs don’t fit the spacefaring vibe at all, especially since it’s a random collection of other people’s work from around the internet. One track even had the [Free Download] still in its name. There are no words.
Fun fact: I thought that there were actually dozens of songs in the game because of how long the credits were, until I realized that the same few pages were just looping over and over. Also, I realized while exploring the settings that it’s possible to add your own music to the game. Yet there’s still no subtitles.
The levels’ visuals are their own special kind of bad, too. I’m a sucker for space aesthetics, but it’s completely ruined here. The ship designs are forgettable. The planets floating around in the background are hideous. But worst of all - and possibly my biggest gripe with Survive in Space as a whole - is the color coding.
Your ship’s visual effects are either blue or red, depending on whether you’re in ‘defense’ or ‘attack’ mode. This is a fine way to differentiate the two - but what’s NOT fine is that enemy attacks can come in these exact same colors, plus others, such as orange and purple. Worse, their ships are the same rainbow of shades.
Since nearly all of the enemies show up in every single level, things quickly become confusing. It can be next to impossible to read the screen if it fills up. If the busyness doesn’t outright kill you at times, it’s at the very least a noticeable nuisance.
The only thing left to talk about is, unfortunately, the story. Once you start playing, you’re greeted by an exposition dump that establishes the history of Survive in Space’s setting. Many planets have been conquered by an alien species. Humanity is enslaved.
We follow our Gary Stu, equipped with a cool sword and dual-colored hair, as he goes on a vengeful rampage against the generals and their emperor. He’s only strong enough to fight them because of his deal with a black, red-eyed shadow demon (who is voiced by a British woman with a deep voice overlay, hilariously.) The demon possesses Gary’s body, providing him with the power needed to fight.
[Spoilers] And then, we find out that the big twist of the game… is that the demon is evil. Turns out that he used to be the right-hand man of the emperor, until he went on a genocide spree and tried to become emperor himself. He was punished by being trapped and turned into his current form. So this whole time he’s been manipulating and using Gary to go on his own revenge spree.
[Spoiler End]
This plot is really only told through character dialogue and exposition; and since the presentation and writing are so terrible, these interactions lack absolutely any weight or depth. There’s no intriguing lore involved, no layered storytelling, and nothing else engaging. It’s so bad that I’ve already forgotten chunks of it, like how Gary helped the demon escape from his prison. Oh well. I’m not restarting the game to watch the exposition dump again.
At the end of the day, there isn’t a single thing about Survive in Space that makes it worth playing - especially for 12 bucks. It’s repetitive, unoriginal, and has possibly the worst visual AND audio presentation I’ve ever seen. This was nothing but a chore.
Visuals: 0.5/5
Sound: 0.5/5
Story: 0.5/5
Gameplay: 1/5
Worldbuilding: 0.5/5
Overall game score: 0.5/5 [0.6/5]
I initially picked up The Convenience Store anticipating a typical indie horror release; some cheap, quick cash grab, totally devoid of unique ideas. “Scary” games such as these love to recycle the same exhausted tropes - and assets - endlessly, just like “scary” movies love schlocky slashers and ghost girls. So much horror media is unoriginal and indistinguishable from the rest. And… well, The Convenience Store is undoubtedly a victim of the tropes, but I was at least pleasantly surprised by its unique art direction and atmosphere.
This game follows a college-aged employee working her small town’s 24/7 convenience store; over the course of four nights, she’ll find herself the victim of ever-increasing supernatural activity. The center of the action is, of course, the store itself - and if you take a peek through the woman’s huge apartment windows, your attention is immediately drawn to the building in the distance. It stands as a brightly-lit, lone fixture in the landscape, out past all of the houses and along the single road away. It’s almost surreal… it reminds me of the bus station in the ‘Rock Bottom’ episode of Spongebob.
To reach this destination each night, you must first make your way through the town’s maze-like neighborhood. It’s an intriguing little village with tons of hidden alcoves and sharp corners; I always felt like a monster could pop out at me from anywhere! Conveniently, the overhead street lights are switched on ONLY for the first night, so that you may learn the way through. After that, you’ll only have your flashlight to guide you.
Being a ways removed from town, you won’t see much from inside the convenience store’s sliding glass doors (aside from cars pulling in and out of the lot); there’s a real sense of isolation while you work because of it. And although the building itself is small, the tall aisle shelves, unmonitored bathroom/storage room, and strange back alley make for an even eerier horror atmosphere. Just like in the neighborhood, it feels like something could pop out from around any corner.
The early-game atmosphere is aided further by staying vague on the source of the disturbing events you experience. It genuinely feels like the culprit could be something different from your average ghost - instead, maybe it’s one of the weird customers (or your equally weird coworker) stalking you. This all plays into the relatable real-life fears of being a vulnerable person, working a terrifying night shift, and having to interact with strangers all the while.
And just like The Convenience Store’s setting, the characters themselves have quite an interesting design, too! They harken back to the old PS2-era models, with sharp limbs and faces plastered onto flat heads. The game’s entire aesthetic borrows from the ‘old gen’ vibe, but the people especially do.
The final visual element tying everything together is an old, grainy VHS filter. This filter almost makes the player feel like an outsider, watching someone else’s footage from a past tragic event. It’s a really cool inclusion… yet, somehow, I only found out about it through a YouTube playthrough? The overlay was automatically turned off for me, so I had no idea it even existed. This may seem like a small nitpick, but it matters much more when the art direction is a game’s strongest asset (AKA, the only reason to play it.)
Anyways, aside from the visual aesthetics and atmosphere, I was also pleasantly surprised by The Convenience Store’s decent audio design. There were a few ‘scary’ moments in particular that I thought utilized sound in pretty cool ways. There’s even a VA for the main character… even if her lines are mostly confined to the first few minutes of gameplay. The only thing that the game completely lacks is any sort of soundtrack.
Unfortunately, for all of The Convenience Store’s individuality, there’s just as many flaws and cliches dragging it back down. The gameplay is a prime example of both this good and bad. Its ideas for interactivity are actually pretty cool; in-between big ‘horror’ moments, you’re tasked with checking out customers and doing chores around the store. This plays well into the idea of ‘mundane’ horror - something creeping into your everyday life.
A good idea doesn’t automatically equal good execution, however. The Convenience Store’s gameplay ended up being not only dull and simple… but completely pointless. Helping customers is only necessary because their leaving progresses in-game events. Meanwhile, you’re also assigned one chore a night, but completing them has no effect. They are totally meaningless, even though they could’ve easily been worked into more significant ‘good vs bad’ endings.
Which leads me into The Convenience Store’s biggest shortcoming… its story. This game could’ve so easily subverted expectations; instead, it falters into the same old tropes you’d find in any other ghost story (it even explicitly rips off The Ring’s VHS.) It’s especially disappointing because there actually are a few isolated moments of decent horror, but the big picture ends up predictable and uninteresting.
Spoiler warning for the next few paragraphs! I’ll put a note when I’m done.
The climax is where everything really starts to fall apart. This is partially due to a heavy reliance on tropes going forward, and partially due to a late, failed attempt to marry the gameplay and plot.
See, on your third night at work, you’re suddenly thrust into a ‘horror dimension’ where the shelves and counters are lined with TVs. Aside from harkening back to the game’s recurring VHS theme, these TVs are also used to input the answer to The Convenience Store’s only puzzle. You’ll also need to use the security cameras; through these, a neutral ghost child will show you which five particular TVs to turn on.
It’s a mind-numbingly easy solution - or so you’d think. The camera angles make it more difficult than expected to pick out which are the correct TVs; I ended up having to Google the answer after struggling for a while. This is not only another example of the terrible gameplay decisions, but it ruined my enjoyment of what is supposed to be a pivotal story moment.
After solving the puzzle, you’re treated to a direct encounter with the ghosts - not only the little boy, but a much more aggressive-seeming woman. As soon as you lay eyes on her, you black out and awaken in the real world. A final tape awaits you outside the sliding glass doors.
It then cuts to the fourth night, in the protagonist’s apartment. You’re given three choices; watch the tape, throw it away, or mail it back to the sender (whose return address is conveniently included on the package.) It’s easy to figure out which choice is the correct one using The Ring’s logic. The first two options cause you to die to the ghost woman; the last gives you a more satisfying conclusion.
Before delving into that further, though, I have to acknowledge how awful these endings are in general. There are no driving forces behind them. Nothing you do throughout the game matters, it’s just a single last-minute decision with an obvious answer. The bad ending has no substance, because most players will probably make the correct decision right away.
When you do end up mailing the tape back, you’re given a text monologue that explains both what happens to the protagonist and the origins of the ghosts. The woman quits her job, then turns to the internet to find out what truly happened at the store. She finds out that the property had previously been a home for a married couple - but the husband killed his pregnant wife in a murder-suicide. The woman and her baby’s souls now haunt the lot.
This isn’t really anything too surprising or intriguing. In fact, it’s a terribly cliche backstory that’s told through dull text exposition… and it’s the final nail in the coffin for a game that showed promise, but didn’t follow through in a lot of important ways.
Spoilers over!
I really, really wish that The Convenience Story had fully delivered. The atmosphere and aesthetics genuinely pleasantly surprised me at first - but the gameplay and story quickly turned the experience sour. Maybe I’ll try more of this dev team’s work in the future, because I really did enjoy some elements of this game. Hopefully their many releases since have allowed them to push their craft even further!
Visuals: 4/5
Sound: 3/5
Story: 1/5
Gameplay: 1/5
Worldbuilding: 2.5/5
Overall game score: 2.5/5 [2.3/5]
This game follows a college-aged employee working her small town’s 24/7 convenience store; over the course of four nights, she’ll find herself the victim of ever-increasing supernatural activity. The center of the action is, of course, the store itself - and if you take a peek through the woman’s huge apartment windows, your attention is immediately drawn to the building in the distance. It stands as a brightly-lit, lone fixture in the landscape, out past all of the houses and along the single road away. It’s almost surreal… it reminds me of the bus station in the ‘Rock Bottom’ episode of Spongebob.
To reach this destination each night, you must first make your way through the town’s maze-like neighborhood. It’s an intriguing little village with tons of hidden alcoves and sharp corners; I always felt like a monster could pop out at me from anywhere! Conveniently, the overhead street lights are switched on ONLY for the first night, so that you may learn the way through. After that, you’ll only have your flashlight to guide you.
Being a ways removed from town, you won’t see much from inside the convenience store’s sliding glass doors (aside from cars pulling in and out of the lot); there’s a real sense of isolation while you work because of it. And although the building itself is small, the tall aisle shelves, unmonitored bathroom/storage room, and strange back alley make for an even eerier horror atmosphere. Just like in the neighborhood, it feels like something could pop out from around any corner.
The early-game atmosphere is aided further by staying vague on the source of the disturbing events you experience. It genuinely feels like the culprit could be something different from your average ghost - instead, maybe it’s one of the weird customers (or your equally weird coworker) stalking you. This all plays into the relatable real-life fears of being a vulnerable person, working a terrifying night shift, and having to interact with strangers all the while.
And just like The Convenience Store’s setting, the characters themselves have quite an interesting design, too! They harken back to the old PS2-era models, with sharp limbs and faces plastered onto flat heads. The game’s entire aesthetic borrows from the ‘old gen’ vibe, but the people especially do.
The final visual element tying everything together is an old, grainy VHS filter. This filter almost makes the player feel like an outsider, watching someone else’s footage from a past tragic event. It’s a really cool inclusion… yet, somehow, I only found out about it through a YouTube playthrough? The overlay was automatically turned off for me, so I had no idea it even existed. This may seem like a small nitpick, but it matters much more when the art direction is a game’s strongest asset (AKA, the only reason to play it.)
Anyways, aside from the visual aesthetics and atmosphere, I was also pleasantly surprised by The Convenience Store’s decent audio design. There were a few ‘scary’ moments in particular that I thought utilized sound in pretty cool ways. There’s even a VA for the main character… even if her lines are mostly confined to the first few minutes of gameplay. The only thing that the game completely lacks is any sort of soundtrack.
Unfortunately, for all of The Convenience Store’s individuality, there’s just as many flaws and cliches dragging it back down. The gameplay is a prime example of both this good and bad. Its ideas for interactivity are actually pretty cool; in-between big ‘horror’ moments, you’re tasked with checking out customers and doing chores around the store. This plays well into the idea of ‘mundane’ horror - something creeping into your everyday life.
A good idea doesn’t automatically equal good execution, however. The Convenience Store’s gameplay ended up being not only dull and simple… but completely pointless. Helping customers is only necessary because their leaving progresses in-game events. Meanwhile, you’re also assigned one chore a night, but completing them has no effect. They are totally meaningless, even though they could’ve easily been worked into more significant ‘good vs bad’ endings.
Which leads me into The Convenience Store’s biggest shortcoming… its story. This game could’ve so easily subverted expectations; instead, it falters into the same old tropes you’d find in any other ghost story (it even explicitly rips off The Ring’s VHS.) It’s especially disappointing because there actually are a few isolated moments of decent horror, but the big picture ends up predictable and uninteresting.
Spoiler warning for the next few paragraphs! I’ll put a note when I’m done.
The climax is where everything really starts to fall apart. This is partially due to a heavy reliance on tropes going forward, and partially due to a late, failed attempt to marry the gameplay and plot.
See, on your third night at work, you’re suddenly thrust into a ‘horror dimension’ where the shelves and counters are lined with TVs. Aside from harkening back to the game’s recurring VHS theme, these TVs are also used to input the answer to The Convenience Store’s only puzzle. You’ll also need to use the security cameras; through these, a neutral ghost child will show you which five particular TVs to turn on.
It’s a mind-numbingly easy solution - or so you’d think. The camera angles make it more difficult than expected to pick out which are the correct TVs; I ended up having to Google the answer after struggling for a while. This is not only another example of the terrible gameplay decisions, but it ruined my enjoyment of what is supposed to be a pivotal story moment.
After solving the puzzle, you’re treated to a direct encounter with the ghosts - not only the little boy, but a much more aggressive-seeming woman. As soon as you lay eyes on her, you black out and awaken in the real world. A final tape awaits you outside the sliding glass doors.
It then cuts to the fourth night, in the protagonist’s apartment. You’re given three choices; watch the tape, throw it away, or mail it back to the sender (whose return address is conveniently included on the package.) It’s easy to figure out which choice is the correct one using The Ring’s logic. The first two options cause you to die to the ghost woman; the last gives you a more satisfying conclusion.
Before delving into that further, though, I have to acknowledge how awful these endings are in general. There are no driving forces behind them. Nothing you do throughout the game matters, it’s just a single last-minute decision with an obvious answer. The bad ending has no substance, because most players will probably make the correct decision right away.
When you do end up mailing the tape back, you’re given a text monologue that explains both what happens to the protagonist and the origins of the ghosts. The woman quits her job, then turns to the internet to find out what truly happened at the store. She finds out that the property had previously been a home for a married couple - but the husband killed his pregnant wife in a murder-suicide. The woman and her baby’s souls now haunt the lot.
This isn’t really anything too surprising or intriguing. In fact, it’s a terribly cliche backstory that’s told through dull text exposition… and it’s the final nail in the coffin for a game that showed promise, but didn’t follow through in a lot of important ways.
Spoilers over!
I really, really wish that The Convenience Story had fully delivered. The atmosphere and aesthetics genuinely pleasantly surprised me at first - but the gameplay and story quickly turned the experience sour. Maybe I’ll try more of this dev team’s work in the future, because I really did enjoy some elements of this game. Hopefully their many releases since have allowed them to push their craft even further!
Visuals: 4/5
Sound: 3/5
Story: 1/5
Gameplay: 1/5
Worldbuilding: 2.5/5
Overall game score: 2.5/5 [2.3/5]
2021
Catching the Train is a bite-sized community sim with an abundance of heart and character. It draws a ton of inspiration from Animal Crossing - the character designs, the village, and even the handful of ‘tasks’ share its DNA - yet Catching the Train remains a unique and memorable experience throughout.
One of the biggest reasons for that is, without a doubt, the game’s loving, thorough worldbuilding. The village you explore is made up of many distinctive areas (such as shops, a beach, and a museum), and each area is filled with cute characters for you to talk to. These characters are all genuinely funny and charming, as the dialogue has a great sense of humor. What’s more, you can talk to many of them repeatedly for new strings of dialogue - and some even have events or tasks for you to complete!
As you progress by helping NPCs and exploring, you’ll be rewarded with coins. Coins can be spent in a few different places - mainly, the aforementioned shops - and lead to some cute little interactions of their own. Minor spoiler warning, but it’s so neat that the items you buy customize your ending. That detail alone goes to show the thought put into this game!
Possibly the best thing about Catching the Train as a whole is its presentation. The pixel art is beautiful, and the two-tone (blue and orange) palette compliments the style perfectly. The character designs are particularly wonderful, too, being so endearing and memorable.
The dev is primarily a (VERY talented) artist named cottonsprout - I highly recommend checking them out!
The single gripe I have with Catching the Train is its complete lack of audio. The dev actually addressed this in a comment, explaining that they had issues getting audio to work at all. It’s definitely an understandable exclusion from someone’s first project… still, some nice music would’ve been the cherry on top to a near-perfect little game. I recommend throwing on another game soundtrack while you play (I chose Donut County, but Animal Crossing is the obvious one.)
All in all, I highly recommend Catching the Train. It’s a free 45~ minute investment that’s not only cute and relaxing, but built with love and care. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
Visuals: 5/5
Audio: 0.5/5
Story: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Worldbuilding: 5/5
Overall game score: 4/5 [3.8/5]
One of the biggest reasons for that is, without a doubt, the game’s loving, thorough worldbuilding. The village you explore is made up of many distinctive areas (such as shops, a beach, and a museum), and each area is filled with cute characters for you to talk to. These characters are all genuinely funny and charming, as the dialogue has a great sense of humor. What’s more, you can talk to many of them repeatedly for new strings of dialogue - and some even have events or tasks for you to complete!
As you progress by helping NPCs and exploring, you’ll be rewarded with coins. Coins can be spent in a few different places - mainly, the aforementioned shops - and lead to some cute little interactions of their own. Minor spoiler warning, but it’s so neat that the items you buy customize your ending. That detail alone goes to show the thought put into this game!
Possibly the best thing about Catching the Train as a whole is its presentation. The pixel art is beautiful, and the two-tone (blue and orange) palette compliments the style perfectly. The character designs are particularly wonderful, too, being so endearing and memorable.
The dev is primarily a (VERY talented) artist named cottonsprout - I highly recommend checking them out!
The single gripe I have with Catching the Train is its complete lack of audio. The dev actually addressed this in a comment, explaining that they had issues getting audio to work at all. It’s definitely an understandable exclusion from someone’s first project… still, some nice music would’ve been the cherry on top to a near-perfect little game. I recommend throwing on another game soundtrack while you play (I chose Donut County, but Animal Crossing is the obvious one.)
All in all, I highly recommend Catching the Train. It’s a free 45~ minute investment that’s not only cute and relaxing, but built with love and care. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
Visuals: 5/5
Audio: 0.5/5
Story: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Worldbuilding: 5/5
Overall game score: 4/5 [3.8/5]
2020
Calico is a colorful community sim that hands players ownership of a cat cafe built on an island full of magical girls. It’s a very charming premise - and I love cats! So I was excited to explore Calico’s take on the classic genre mechanics; decorating, building relationships, completing tasks, that kind of stuff. Calico was honestly in the perfect position to draw players like me in with its adorable aesthetic, then surprise us with a layered experience.
Unfortunately… that wasn’t what happened. Calico is undoubtedly cute, but there’s almost nothing going on beneath the surface aesthetic. The gameplay is shallow and repetitive. There are tons of bugs and oversights. It honestly feels like a half-baked prototype, rather than a fully finished and released game. I wasn’t surprised to learn that this was a product of Kickstarter. It ticks the boxes; great idea, underwhelming execution.
The graphics posed a particular early red flag. Don’t get me wrong, Calico’s visual design is full of good ideas; the character customization is fun, the NPCs are appealing, and the houses are custom-built to reflect the personality of their owner. Yet the environments themselves are rudimentary-looking, and even worse is the rendering.
The next thing I noticed was how empty the map felt. Everything is unnecessarily spread out, with nothing but trees and a few cute animals filling the space in-between. There are no collectables or easter eggs. There’s not even anything interactable.
A prime example of the map’s unfinished-feeling state is Cutie City’s arcade. It’s mentioned by a few NPCs, and it’s also one of the only buildings open to the player. There are special arcade cabinets (even a claw machine!) inside, all unique to this location. These clues seem to point to the intentions of including minigames here… but in the final product, there’s nothing. Disappointing.
A side note, but the devs could even make extra use of the arcade furniture by making it purchasable for the cafe. It would be a smart way to expand the decorating a bit, especially since an arcade cabinet is more visually interesting than most of what’s actually available. There’s also beach items and a playground set that could be similarly used. I mean, why not, since all of the models are already finished?
To get back on track… somewhat detrimentally, Calico’s main goals are directly tied into those lackluster environments. There are a total of six - a starting area (containing your cafe and all of the shops), then another five unlocked sequentially. You gain access to each new map portion by completing tasks for NPCs.
In most games, finishing those tasks and unveiling a new section of the world would feel like a huge milestone… but since there’s not much to do in Calico’s world (aside from interacting with animals and NPCs), I only ever felt disappointed.
I even felt let down by the NPCs, eventually. As much as I like their designs, there’s a huge imbalance when it comes to the in-game spread of NPCs; out of twenty-two, eleven are located in the very first area. That means, aside from Cutie City - which houses five - every other area is left with only one or two residents. Most places legitimately feel more like a ghost town than a community.
In fact, the Calico Wiki lists eight additional NPCs that were cut from the game entirely. Again… not surprised. Just those eight extra characters could’ve helped the world feel a lot more populated. It’s a shame they weren’t included.
I think that the most disappointing thing about Calico’s design, though, has got to be the cat cafe itself. The building has two floors, with the first being cut in half to accommodate the service area and kitchen; the second serves as the player’s bedroom. There’s also a disproportionately large yard. It’s a very unbalanced layout, which becomes especially apparent as you progress further and discover that…
… A, the decorating in this game is VERY subpar. There are different ‘styles’ that provide unique variations on basic furniture you’d expect (such as tables, chairs, and cat towers.) More interesting objects, such as bookshelves and wall decorations, are few and far between. Surprisingly, the most extensive amount of decorating you can do is in the yard; there’s a decent amount of cute garden options for you to buy.
… B, there are NO cafe upgrades. Calico’s Kickstarter page includes footage of a cafe with at least one additional room downstairs, yet you’re never given the option to expand in the final product. Maybe the layout was simply changed to include the second floor instead… either way, I think it’s a huge flaw that there’s no option to make your cafe bigger.
All of these oversights quickly make for a messy and lopsided home base. The first floor becomes cramped with tables, chairs, and animal companions; their built-in shelves remain empty, since you don’t have anything to put on them. You may add a few things to the second floor, but there’s not much to do for a bedroom with the limited options. The yard is pretty fun to turn into a garden, but that shouldn’t be the ONLY fun part.
Which leads me into Calico’s most glaring issue… it’s just not fun. Decorating is uninspired. Exploring is pointless. Interactions are limited. Tasks are unmemorable. Every single one of those classic community sim mechanics I was looking forward to ended up being a total letdown.
In my eyes, there was only one thing that could’ve made up for all of Calico’s flaws… animal interaction. The Kickstarter page even claimed that each animal in the game would have a unique AI; this meant that they’d have their own personality, preferences, needs, happiness/trust/energy levels, and - occasionally - even special commands.
Even if only SOME of these ideas were included in the final product, I’d probably be pretty happy. Again, that unfortunately wasn’t the case.
It’s obvious from all of those promises that the animals were originally supposed to be one of the main focuses of Calico. They were all going to be unique. You’d even have to befriend and care for each one.
Yet, in the actual game, none of those elements are present. The animals are basically cute objects that (kind of) walk around. Only the very fundamental interactions are included; holding, petting, using toys to “play”, and necessary gameplay commands.
Despite being such a letdown mechanically, finding all of the creature companions is still one of the best parts of Calico. Not only are the standard cats and dogs included, but all kinds of wild animals and farm animals, too! … and it’s definitely cute to put hats on them and wiggle them around.
Even though there’s so many gaping flaws in Calico’s gameplay, it’s not completely devoid of good moments like that. Another aspect that obviously had a lot of effort put into it is the cooking. You can find a total of 21 recipes by way of shops or NPCs rewards. Each of these has its own series of timed/graded minigames - and despite the minigames often being reused, there are tiny differences in detail to make each recipe feel unique. (Some even do have their own special minigame!) There’s just enough variety to keep this part from feeling like a bore, while still allowing you to genuinely improve.
Aside from that, the only mechanic I enjoyed were the potions. These are also bought or earned from NPCs, and can slightly modify your game either visually or mechanically. Examples of their powers include: turning the animals purple, changing their sizes (and making the smaller animals rideable), or fast forwarding time. It’s a simple feature, but I think these little changes can make the overall game feel slightly more customizable and expansive.
As a whole, I would have to say that Calico’s best feature is its soundtrack. The music is so cute and relaxing; it provides a great atmosphere throughout your journey. I particularly want to highlight the main theme, which is sung by Emi Evans. Emi has a very impressive resume in the industry (including Dark Souls and NieR!), and she does a wonderful job here. The tune still gets stuck in my head sometimes.
Lastly, I need to mention the game’s glaring number of bugs - as well as the Goat Simulator-adjacent physics. I experienced a frustrating number of issues during my playthrough, including: collision problems, a notification getting stuck on my screen, the ‘run’ completely breaking, and potions refusing to activate or deactivate.
I wanted to love Calico so badly. I don’t think the developers were purposefully being misleading in their promises; this was their first project, and I think they overestimated what they could handle. I hope that they continue to improve the game in the future, because it seems like they’re committed to doing what they can for it. Hopefully, one day, I can come back and fully recommend an improved Calico.
Visuals: 2.5/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Story: 1/5
Gameplay: 2/5
Worldbuilding: 2.5/5
Overall game score: 2.5/5 [2.3/5]
Unfortunately… that wasn’t what happened. Calico is undoubtedly cute, but there’s almost nothing going on beneath the surface aesthetic. The gameplay is shallow and repetitive. There are tons of bugs and oversights. It honestly feels like a half-baked prototype, rather than a fully finished and released game. I wasn’t surprised to learn that this was a product of Kickstarter. It ticks the boxes; great idea, underwhelming execution.
The graphics posed a particular early red flag. Don’t get me wrong, Calico’s visual design is full of good ideas; the character customization is fun, the NPCs are appealing, and the houses are custom-built to reflect the personality of their owner. Yet the environments themselves are rudimentary-looking, and even worse is the rendering.
The next thing I noticed was how empty the map felt. Everything is unnecessarily spread out, with nothing but trees and a few cute animals filling the space in-between. There are no collectables or easter eggs. There’s not even anything interactable.
A prime example of the map’s unfinished-feeling state is Cutie City’s arcade. It’s mentioned by a few NPCs, and it’s also one of the only buildings open to the player. There are special arcade cabinets (even a claw machine!) inside, all unique to this location. These clues seem to point to the intentions of including minigames here… but in the final product, there’s nothing. Disappointing.
A side note, but the devs could even make extra use of the arcade furniture by making it purchasable for the cafe. It would be a smart way to expand the decorating a bit, especially since an arcade cabinet is more visually interesting than most of what’s actually available. There’s also beach items and a playground set that could be similarly used. I mean, why not, since all of the models are already finished?
To get back on track… somewhat detrimentally, Calico’s main goals are directly tied into those lackluster environments. There are a total of six - a starting area (containing your cafe and all of the shops), then another five unlocked sequentially. You gain access to each new map portion by completing tasks for NPCs.
In most games, finishing those tasks and unveiling a new section of the world would feel like a huge milestone… but since there’s not much to do in Calico’s world (aside from interacting with animals and NPCs), I only ever felt disappointed.
I even felt let down by the NPCs, eventually. As much as I like their designs, there’s a huge imbalance when it comes to the in-game spread of NPCs; out of twenty-two, eleven are located in the very first area. That means, aside from Cutie City - which houses five - every other area is left with only one or two residents. Most places legitimately feel more like a ghost town than a community.
In fact, the Calico Wiki lists eight additional NPCs that were cut from the game entirely. Again… not surprised. Just those eight extra characters could’ve helped the world feel a lot more populated. It’s a shame they weren’t included.
I think that the most disappointing thing about Calico’s design, though, has got to be the cat cafe itself. The building has two floors, with the first being cut in half to accommodate the service area and kitchen; the second serves as the player’s bedroom. There’s also a disproportionately large yard. It’s a very unbalanced layout, which becomes especially apparent as you progress further and discover that…
… A, the decorating in this game is VERY subpar. There are different ‘styles’ that provide unique variations on basic furniture you’d expect (such as tables, chairs, and cat towers.) More interesting objects, such as bookshelves and wall decorations, are few and far between. Surprisingly, the most extensive amount of decorating you can do is in the yard; there’s a decent amount of cute garden options for you to buy.
… B, there are NO cafe upgrades. Calico’s Kickstarter page includes footage of a cafe with at least one additional room downstairs, yet you’re never given the option to expand in the final product. Maybe the layout was simply changed to include the second floor instead… either way, I think it’s a huge flaw that there’s no option to make your cafe bigger.
All of these oversights quickly make for a messy and lopsided home base. The first floor becomes cramped with tables, chairs, and animal companions; their built-in shelves remain empty, since you don’t have anything to put on them. You may add a few things to the second floor, but there’s not much to do for a bedroom with the limited options. The yard is pretty fun to turn into a garden, but that shouldn’t be the ONLY fun part.
Which leads me into Calico’s most glaring issue… it’s just not fun. Decorating is uninspired. Exploring is pointless. Interactions are limited. Tasks are unmemorable. Every single one of those classic community sim mechanics I was looking forward to ended up being a total letdown.
In my eyes, there was only one thing that could’ve made up for all of Calico’s flaws… animal interaction. The Kickstarter page even claimed that each animal in the game would have a unique AI; this meant that they’d have their own personality, preferences, needs, happiness/trust/energy levels, and - occasionally - even special commands.
Even if only SOME of these ideas were included in the final product, I’d probably be pretty happy. Again, that unfortunately wasn’t the case.
It’s obvious from all of those promises that the animals were originally supposed to be one of the main focuses of Calico. They were all going to be unique. You’d even have to befriend and care for each one.
Yet, in the actual game, none of those elements are present. The animals are basically cute objects that (kind of) walk around. Only the very fundamental interactions are included; holding, petting, using toys to “play”, and necessary gameplay commands.
Despite being such a letdown mechanically, finding all of the creature companions is still one of the best parts of Calico. Not only are the standard cats and dogs included, but all kinds of wild animals and farm animals, too! … and it’s definitely cute to put hats on them and wiggle them around.
Even though there’s so many gaping flaws in Calico’s gameplay, it’s not completely devoid of good moments like that. Another aspect that obviously had a lot of effort put into it is the cooking. You can find a total of 21 recipes by way of shops or NPCs rewards. Each of these has its own series of timed/graded minigames - and despite the minigames often being reused, there are tiny differences in detail to make each recipe feel unique. (Some even do have their own special minigame!) There’s just enough variety to keep this part from feeling like a bore, while still allowing you to genuinely improve.
Aside from that, the only mechanic I enjoyed were the potions. These are also bought or earned from NPCs, and can slightly modify your game either visually or mechanically. Examples of their powers include: turning the animals purple, changing their sizes (and making the smaller animals rideable), or fast forwarding time. It’s a simple feature, but I think these little changes can make the overall game feel slightly more customizable and expansive.
As a whole, I would have to say that Calico’s best feature is its soundtrack. The music is so cute and relaxing; it provides a great atmosphere throughout your journey. I particularly want to highlight the main theme, which is sung by Emi Evans. Emi has a very impressive resume in the industry (including Dark Souls and NieR!), and she does a wonderful job here. The tune still gets stuck in my head sometimes.
Lastly, I need to mention the game’s glaring number of bugs - as well as the Goat Simulator-adjacent physics. I experienced a frustrating number of issues during my playthrough, including: collision problems, a notification getting stuck on my screen, the ‘run’ completely breaking, and potions refusing to activate or deactivate.
I wanted to love Calico so badly. I don’t think the developers were purposefully being misleading in their promises; this was their first project, and I think they overestimated what they could handle. I hope that they continue to improve the game in the future, because it seems like they’re committed to doing what they can for it. Hopefully, one day, I can come back and fully recommend an improved Calico.
Visuals: 2.5/5
Audio: 3.5/5
Story: 1/5
Gameplay: 2/5
Worldbuilding: 2.5/5
Overall game score: 2.5/5 [2.3/5]
A Solitary Spacecraft is, essentially, a series of diary entries about early COVID. Released during May of 2020, it relates first-hand the uncertainty and depression that many were experiencing during that time. Our entire world had been turned on its head, and there was no end in sight for this new lonely reality.
In A Solitary Spacecraft, you control a person quarantined alone in their tiny apartment. The days bleed together as the pandemic stretches on. Nothing ever changes, except for whatever they’re currently distracting themselves with - TV, exercise, family issues. The only real source of happiness is their online friend group.
I honestly don’t think this is a perfect game; it even acknowledges itself as messy in the description. My most petty nitpick is that some of the dialogue leans into ‘online speak’ a bit too much. A more important issue is the exceedingly simple presentation, especially the complete lack of audio. There’s not any real gameplay or interactive element, either - although I think that’s more understandable, since it was a short story released under difficult circumstances.
All of that being said, A Solitary Spacecraft’s writing is very poignant. There’s some great core symbolism, and an interesting visual element that ties into the themes. Perhaps most importantly, it’s a look-back on a time that was universally difficult for many. It's just a game that a lot of people can relate to.
In fact, I don’t think that this was ever meant to be a ‘five-star game’. It's just venting the very real frustrations that so many of us were feeling in the wake of COVID.
In A Solitary Spacecraft, you control a person quarantined alone in their tiny apartment. The days bleed together as the pandemic stretches on. Nothing ever changes, except for whatever they’re currently distracting themselves with - TV, exercise, family issues. The only real source of happiness is their online friend group.
I honestly don’t think this is a perfect game; it even acknowledges itself as messy in the description. My most petty nitpick is that some of the dialogue leans into ‘online speak’ a bit too much. A more important issue is the exceedingly simple presentation, especially the complete lack of audio. There’s not any real gameplay or interactive element, either - although I think that’s more understandable, since it was a short story released under difficult circumstances.
All of that being said, A Solitary Spacecraft’s writing is very poignant. There’s some great core symbolism, and an interesting visual element that ties into the themes. Perhaps most importantly, it’s a look-back on a time that was universally difficult for many. It's just a game that a lot of people can relate to.
In fact, I don’t think that this was ever meant to be a ‘five-star game’. It's just venting the very real frustrations that so many of us were feeling in the wake of COVID.
Cover Me In Leaves is an intimate experience about a person that a lot of small-town lgbt+ people can probably relate to (especially afabs.) I'm one of those people... this definitely hit home for me in an almost visceral way. The story is layered with symbolism and meaning, so much to unpack in such a short amount of time. It's accompanied by a beautiful, eerie atmosphere; the pixel art is so beautiful and memorable.
I don't really want to say much more. It's free and available in your web browser - so if you like text-based short stories, I highly recommend this!
I don't really want to say much more. It's free and available in your web browser - so if you like text-based short stories, I highly recommend this!
2019
The first DOOM became one of my all-time favorite shooters the moment I'd beaten it; I was blown away by how crisp, fun, and innovative it remained, even three decades later. It's easy to understand why the game had quickly garnered such a large and dedicated fan base in `93. People were obsessed with DOOM, and they wanted more. Fortunately, they wouldn't have to wait long for a sequel.
DOOM II released exactly ten months after DOOM. With such a short time frame for the devs to work, it's no surprise that the game borrowed many of its assets and mechanics from the first. However, its gameplay additions, ambitious level designs, and brand-new soundtrack set II distinctly apart as its own experience.
One of the most immediate changes is the addition of the Super Shotgun. This powerful close-range weapon is capable of taking down entire hoardes with one blast. Being one of the most fun and useful weapons in the early years of the franchise, it's easy to understand why it became so beloved amongst fans. It has remained an integral part of Doom Guy's arsenal ever since.
II also introduced many new enemies! These included the Arch-Vile, Pain Elemental, Hell Knight, and Mancubus. It's a treat to jump from I to II and discover new challenges awaiting you, even if both have a near-identical core. Not only do these new demons make the gameplay feel more well-rounded, but they add a much-needed splash of new aesthetic.
My only real issue with DOOM II is some of its level design choices. I've seen many people assert that the first game's layouts and puzzles are too confusing, but personally, I find the second game to be a much worse offender (The City levels in particular were very frustrating for me.) I do appreciate the creativity and effort put into creating a new experience; however, I spent much more time running around aimlessly in II than I ever had in the first.
Unfortunately, this pattern continues even into the Master Levels. This expansion pack is easily the most frustrating part of either classic DOOM for me. The puzzles and maps are so obtuse and frustrating, to the point that I nearly gave up. I love the idea of including fan maps in the series, but these are wild.
Visuals: 5/5
Sound: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Worldbuilding: 4.5/5
Replayability: 4/5
Overall game score: 4.5/5
The DOOM series is such an interesting and important part of gaming history. Even decades later, these first two classics hold up as some of the best FPS games I've played; they undoubtedly changed the community's landscape and trajectory forever, and for good reason.
I can't wait to experience the rest of DOOM's journey! Witnessing the jump to 3D is going to be interesting, to say the least.
DOOM II released exactly ten months after DOOM. With such a short time frame for the devs to work, it's no surprise that the game borrowed many of its assets and mechanics from the first. However, its gameplay additions, ambitious level designs, and brand-new soundtrack set II distinctly apart as its own experience.
One of the most immediate changes is the addition of the Super Shotgun. This powerful close-range weapon is capable of taking down entire hoardes with one blast. Being one of the most fun and useful weapons in the early years of the franchise, it's easy to understand why it became so beloved amongst fans. It has remained an integral part of Doom Guy's arsenal ever since.
II also introduced many new enemies! These included the Arch-Vile, Pain Elemental, Hell Knight, and Mancubus. It's a treat to jump from I to II and discover new challenges awaiting you, even if both have a near-identical core. Not only do these new demons make the gameplay feel more well-rounded, but they add a much-needed splash of new aesthetic.
My only real issue with DOOM II is some of its level design choices. I've seen many people assert that the first game's layouts and puzzles are too confusing, but personally, I find the second game to be a much worse offender (The City levels in particular were very frustrating for me.) I do appreciate the creativity and effort put into creating a new experience; however, I spent much more time running around aimlessly in II than I ever had in the first.
Unfortunately, this pattern continues even into the Master Levels. This expansion pack is easily the most frustrating part of either classic DOOM for me. The puzzles and maps are so obtuse and frustrating, to the point that I nearly gave up. I love the idea of including fan maps in the series, but these are wild.
Visuals: 5/5
Sound: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Worldbuilding: 4.5/5
Replayability: 4/5
Overall game score: 4.5/5
The DOOM series is such an interesting and important part of gaming history. Even decades later, these first two classics hold up as some of the best FPS games I've played; they undoubtedly changed the community's landscape and trajectory forever, and for good reason.
I can't wait to experience the rest of DOOM's journey! Witnessing the jump to 3D is going to be interesting, to say the least.
2016
I love Steam's endless supply of poorly-made indie games. They offer an addicting gamble; you'll probably end up wasting your time, but there's always a chance that you could stumble upon a hidden gem. It's unlikely, but not impossible. Right?
Well, Share is definitely not that gem. It's dime-a-dozen horror junk, a messy imitation of the genre with no sense of direction. One could argue that it's ~laughably~ bad - but the frustrating mechanics and terrible design choices make it a pain to sit through. If you really want to see the funny parts, don't waste a dollar. Just watch the lone Youtube walkthrough instead.
Visuals: 0.5/5
Sound: 1/5
Story: 0.5/5
Gameplay: 0.5/5
Worldbuilding: 0.5/5
Overall game score: 0.5/5 [0.6/5]
Visuals:
There is absolutely nothing engaging, interesting, or unique about Share's visuals. The stationary models look decent, but how much does that count for when none are original work? It makes sense for new devs to use public assets as supplements in their early releases - it's not always bad practice. The problem is that Share's devs use it as a ~crutch~; nothing they had a direct hand in matches that base level of quality.
The most prominent example is easily the clumsily-chosen cast of antagonists. An illogical assortment of bland tropes, their collective extremity doesn't feel like horror; it feels more like a sitcom about Slenderman's dysfunctional extended family. In fact, the only information we have on this group (exclusively given within the Steam description) is that they ARE a family! How the fuck did all of that work?
Actually, I don't want to know.
Even if you look past those core design problems, you CAN'T ignore how bad some of the monsters' models are. It's especially noticable when they're right next to all of those borrowed assets. Whether these are borrowed assets of lower quality, or amateur original work, I can't say for sure - but it doesn't matter much, because I'd hate them the same either way.
The settings may be more visually impressive than the characters, but they suffer many of the same design issues. A haunted house out in the woods that's surrounded by a random selection of other horror tropes - a haunted lake, a haunted well, a haunted mine... There's so little cohesion in any of Share's big picture, and it really hurts the experience.
But, honestly, I don't know why I'm bothering to take Share seriously when every framed photo is a random image from Google (usually ripped straight from the Creepypasta fandom.) It's eventually revealed that this is a hallucination of the main character, but it's incredibly silly either way.
In the end, there's just nothing good I can say about this game's visuals. 'The dirt looks like dirt' can only get you so far when there's no cohesion in your presentation or style.
Overall, 0.5/5.
Sound:
There's not much for me to say at ~all~ about the audio, though. Some sound effects are way too loud, but that's pretty much a staple of shitty horror; Share is generic in even ~that~ regard!
To the dev's credit, I was pleasantly surprised by the fun Russian rock songs that played during the opening and closing 'scenes'. They were a nice touch.
Overall, 1/5.
Story:
Share's "story" is almost nonexistent. There are only a few halfhearted attempts at progression, given in the form of new locations featuring an often-new monster. First, the witch in the house; then, the creature in the lake; then, the knife girl in the well; etc.
The only "lore" available (inside ~or~ outside of the game) is the Steam description I mentioned. No further information is provided, even to answer the most basic questions. Why are the family members so radically different from each other? Why is there an abandoned mine nearby? Why have they congregated at this mostly-normal house? Does any of this really matter?
At least I can say that the cats survive.
Overall, 0.5/5.
Gameplay:
It's pretty poignant that Share's only available guide teaches you to avoid the first enemy by standing on furniture. Unfortunately for me, the devs actually took the time to patch this out. I ~guess~ it's nice that they did so.
The mechanics here revolve around two core ideas; avoiding death-by-monster, and completing item-based puzzles. I wish I could say that at least one of these elements were decently done, but... they just weren't. The game never offers a break from its general sense of frustration and tediousness - nevermind the weak attempts at variety with slightly different ways to defeat the monsters.
Uninspired enemy encounters not your cup of tea? Maybe obtuse "puzzles" will be! Even the simple task of ~knowing~ your current goal would be impossible without the use of the 'hint' hotkey; and the lack of almost any additional player direction means it's often difficult to actually EXECUTE that goal regardless. I usually had to look at the guide to figure out what to do next. I simply wouldn't have progressed further otherwise. Hell, I even got stuck trying to learn the witch's weakness in the very first encounter in the game (since the guide only showed a patched out bug for the solution, and the in-game hints are so horrible, it took quite a few tries.)
Nearly all of Share's gameplay issues are illustrated right away, in the very first puzzle, when you're tasked with fixing a nearby windmill. I had to consult the guide to even ~find~ this place, as it's a good twenty seconds out from your starting location - and when I finally did find it, I was hit with the frustrating realization that I'd have to go straight back to the house to retrieve a ladder. One trip later, another 20 second trip to the top of the windmill... and what do you know? Now I need the AXE that's back at the house! I wanted to stop playing then and there.
In the end, it took me over five minutes of inane running around to complete a task that should've taken 30 seconds. Take the time to makes your game more convenient with things like an inventory system. Give the map's layout some actual thought. Provide your players with a little bit of guidance. Those small things make a world of difference.
Overall, 0.5/5.
Worldbuilding:
Share's "horror" elements are on par with your average jumpscare-addled junk. The atmosphere is dull, and the scares are full of tropes. The scarce moments that ~do~ manage to convey tension don't last long; hideous monsters and disappointing climaxes make sure of that. The lack of story or lore really hurts the experience, too.
In fact, I only found myself surprised by Share during TWO moments. The first's initial shock wore off quickly when I realized that it was nothing more than another Google search - a creepy image that someone else had created, momentarily flashed in a reflection. The second is an idea that's more funny than anything; to keep a certain enemy away, you must crush tiny versions of the protagonist, and they make a funny little sound when you do. It relieves some of the frustration of having to play this game, at least...
Overall, 0.5/5.
Overall game score: 0.5/5 [0.6/5]
Well, Share is definitely not that gem. It's dime-a-dozen horror junk, a messy imitation of the genre with no sense of direction. One could argue that it's ~laughably~ bad - but the frustrating mechanics and terrible design choices make it a pain to sit through. If you really want to see the funny parts, don't waste a dollar. Just watch the lone Youtube walkthrough instead.
Visuals: 0.5/5
Sound: 1/5
Story: 0.5/5
Gameplay: 0.5/5
Worldbuilding: 0.5/5
Overall game score: 0.5/5 [0.6/5]
Visuals:
There is absolutely nothing engaging, interesting, or unique about Share's visuals. The stationary models look decent, but how much does that count for when none are original work? It makes sense for new devs to use public assets as supplements in their early releases - it's not always bad practice. The problem is that Share's devs use it as a ~crutch~; nothing they had a direct hand in matches that base level of quality.
The most prominent example is easily the clumsily-chosen cast of antagonists. An illogical assortment of bland tropes, their collective extremity doesn't feel like horror; it feels more like a sitcom about Slenderman's dysfunctional extended family. In fact, the only information we have on this group (exclusively given within the Steam description) is that they ARE a family! How the fuck did all of that work?
Actually, I don't want to know.
Even if you look past those core design problems, you CAN'T ignore how bad some of the monsters' models are. It's especially noticable when they're right next to all of those borrowed assets. Whether these are borrowed assets of lower quality, or amateur original work, I can't say for sure - but it doesn't matter much, because I'd hate them the same either way.
The settings may be more visually impressive than the characters, but they suffer many of the same design issues. A haunted house out in the woods that's surrounded by a random selection of other horror tropes - a haunted lake, a haunted well, a haunted mine... There's so little cohesion in any of Share's big picture, and it really hurts the experience.
But, honestly, I don't know why I'm bothering to take Share seriously when every framed photo is a random image from Google (usually ripped straight from the Creepypasta fandom.) It's eventually revealed that this is a hallucination of the main character, but it's incredibly silly either way.
In the end, there's just nothing good I can say about this game's visuals. 'The dirt looks like dirt' can only get you so far when there's no cohesion in your presentation or style.
Overall, 0.5/5.
Sound:
There's not much for me to say at ~all~ about the audio, though. Some sound effects are way too loud, but that's pretty much a staple of shitty horror; Share is generic in even ~that~ regard!
To the dev's credit, I was pleasantly surprised by the fun Russian rock songs that played during the opening and closing 'scenes'. They were a nice touch.
Overall, 1/5.
Story:
Share's "story" is almost nonexistent. There are only a few halfhearted attempts at progression, given in the form of new locations featuring an often-new monster. First, the witch in the house; then, the creature in the lake; then, the knife girl in the well; etc.
The only "lore" available (inside ~or~ outside of the game) is the Steam description I mentioned. No further information is provided, even to answer the most basic questions. Why are the family members so radically different from each other? Why is there an abandoned mine nearby? Why have they congregated at this mostly-normal house? Does any of this really matter?
At least I can say that the cats survive.
Overall, 0.5/5.
Gameplay:
It's pretty poignant that Share's only available guide teaches you to avoid the first enemy by standing on furniture. Unfortunately for me, the devs actually took the time to patch this out. I ~guess~ it's nice that they did so.
The mechanics here revolve around two core ideas; avoiding death-by-monster, and completing item-based puzzles. I wish I could say that at least one of these elements were decently done, but... they just weren't. The game never offers a break from its general sense of frustration and tediousness - nevermind the weak attempts at variety with slightly different ways to defeat the monsters.
Uninspired enemy encounters not your cup of tea? Maybe obtuse "puzzles" will be! Even the simple task of ~knowing~ your current goal would be impossible without the use of the 'hint' hotkey; and the lack of almost any additional player direction means it's often difficult to actually EXECUTE that goal regardless. I usually had to look at the guide to figure out what to do next. I simply wouldn't have progressed further otherwise. Hell, I even got stuck trying to learn the witch's weakness in the very first encounter in the game (since the guide only showed a patched out bug for the solution, and the in-game hints are so horrible, it took quite a few tries.)
Nearly all of Share's gameplay issues are illustrated right away, in the very first puzzle, when you're tasked with fixing a nearby windmill. I had to consult the guide to even ~find~ this place, as it's a good twenty seconds out from your starting location - and when I finally did find it, I was hit with the frustrating realization that I'd have to go straight back to the house to retrieve a ladder. One trip later, another 20 second trip to the top of the windmill... and what do you know? Now I need the AXE that's back at the house! I wanted to stop playing then and there.
In the end, it took me over five minutes of inane running around to complete a task that should've taken 30 seconds. Take the time to makes your game more convenient with things like an inventory system. Give the map's layout some actual thought. Provide your players with a little bit of guidance. Those small things make a world of difference.
Overall, 0.5/5.
Worldbuilding:
Share's "horror" elements are on par with your average jumpscare-addled junk. The atmosphere is dull, and the scares are full of tropes. The scarce moments that ~do~ manage to convey tension don't last long; hideous monsters and disappointing climaxes make sure of that. The lack of story or lore really hurts the experience, too.
In fact, I only found myself surprised by Share during TWO moments. The first's initial shock wore off quickly when I realized that it was nothing more than another Google search - a creepy image that someone else had created, momentarily flashed in a reflection. The second is an idea that's more funny than anything; to keep a certain enemy away, you must crush tiny versions of the protagonist, and they make a funny little sound when you do. It relieves some of the frustration of having to play this game, at least...
Overall, 0.5/5.
Overall game score: 0.5/5 [0.6/5]
2016
Another quick end-of-the-year replay. I don't know what my obsession was with mastering random, cheap Steam games in 2017, but Catch a Falling Star fails to stand out from the rest. The generic look and mind-numbingly easy gameplay loop are par for the course - and even though it tries to throw in a few interesting ideas, they do little to improve the experience.
I wish I could say that I stopped wasting my time on shit like this... but the fact that I'm reviewing this shit right now says otherwise, doesn't it?
Visuals: 1.5/5
Sound: 1.5/5
Gameplay: 1/5
Atmosphere: 1.5/5
Replayability: 0.5/5
Overall game score: 1/5 [1.2/5]
Visuals:
Falling Star's art style is best described as 'painfully mediocre.' The few visual elements it DOES have (a background, a basket, and falling items) are nothing more than cheap clip-art. I doubt it would take more than an hour or two to put it all together.
The only positive here is the inclusion of some unlockables. The different baskets are cute enough, and the cherry blossom background is preferable to any others. Unfortunately, two of the other backgrounds are ugly stills taken from other cheap Steam games, causing a jarring change in both perspective and style.
Overall, 1.5/5.
Sound:
The only thing Falling Star really has going for it is a halfway decent soundtrack. There are four songs - one for the title screen, and three for each original map. I doubt they're not public domain, but at the very least, they're relaxing and sweet.
Unfortunately, the sound effects are one of the WORST parts of the game. They totally disrupt the calm atmosphere the soundtrack tries to set. Put their volume to 0, and leave the music on.
Overall, 1.5/5.
Gameplay:
The player's solitary goal is to earn points by catching falling stars. A few obstacles will block progress, such as ice that slows your basket, fluctuating wind, and temporary debuffs. There are also temporary powerups, which are MOSTLY useful (minus the 'fast basket', which makes controlling much harder.)
You can only carry so many stars at once, so if your inventory is full, you'll need to empty it on either side of the screen. The only reason you might want to do so any earlier is to get rid of ice. You can also hold shift to 'lock' this mechanic, allowing you to touch the sides freely; depressingly, this might be the most thoughtful feature in the game.
By far the biggest hurdle you'll face with Falling Star is sheer boredom. The mechanics aren't offensively bad, but they're so simple and repetitive that it becomes mundane within minutes. I found myself zoning out multiple times, which often led to missing stars. The game tries to incentivize replay value with coins, which are used to unlock cosmetics, one-time powerups, and a few permanent upgrades. But I was over this tedious shit before I lost a single one of my three lives. Do you really think others will dedicate themselves to it for hours?
Overall, 1/5.
Atmosphere:
Falling Star attempts a cozy atmosphere, highlighted by its calming soundtrack and pleasant space theme. Both of these things appeal to me, fortunately, but there's not much else going on in terms of mood. The graphics are mediocre, and the mechanics are surprisingly demanding for a game that touts itself as 'relaxing.'
Overall, 1.5/5.
Replayability:
Coins and high scores don't mean much if your game isn't fun - and guess what? Falling Star is just not fun! I honestly don't know how I managed to put in the 21 hours needed to 100% it, even if the process was spread out over a few years. I'm definitely glad to officially retire this one.
Overall, 0.5/5.
I wish I could say that I stopped wasting my time on shit like this... but the fact that I'm reviewing this shit right now says otherwise, doesn't it?
Visuals: 1.5/5
Sound: 1.5/5
Gameplay: 1/5
Atmosphere: 1.5/5
Replayability: 0.5/5
Overall game score: 1/5 [1.2/5]
Visuals:
Falling Star's art style is best described as 'painfully mediocre.' The few visual elements it DOES have (a background, a basket, and falling items) are nothing more than cheap clip-art. I doubt it would take more than an hour or two to put it all together.
The only positive here is the inclusion of some unlockables. The different baskets are cute enough, and the cherry blossom background is preferable to any others. Unfortunately, two of the other backgrounds are ugly stills taken from other cheap Steam games, causing a jarring change in both perspective and style.
Overall, 1.5/5.
Sound:
The only thing Falling Star really has going for it is a halfway decent soundtrack. There are four songs - one for the title screen, and three for each original map. I doubt they're not public domain, but at the very least, they're relaxing and sweet.
Unfortunately, the sound effects are one of the WORST parts of the game. They totally disrupt the calm atmosphere the soundtrack tries to set. Put their volume to 0, and leave the music on.
Overall, 1.5/5.
Gameplay:
The player's solitary goal is to earn points by catching falling stars. A few obstacles will block progress, such as ice that slows your basket, fluctuating wind, and temporary debuffs. There are also temporary powerups, which are MOSTLY useful (minus the 'fast basket', which makes controlling much harder.)
You can only carry so many stars at once, so if your inventory is full, you'll need to empty it on either side of the screen. The only reason you might want to do so any earlier is to get rid of ice. You can also hold shift to 'lock' this mechanic, allowing you to touch the sides freely; depressingly, this might be the most thoughtful feature in the game.
By far the biggest hurdle you'll face with Falling Star is sheer boredom. The mechanics aren't offensively bad, but they're so simple and repetitive that it becomes mundane within minutes. I found myself zoning out multiple times, which often led to missing stars. The game tries to incentivize replay value with coins, which are used to unlock cosmetics, one-time powerups, and a few permanent upgrades. But I was over this tedious shit before I lost a single one of my three lives. Do you really think others will dedicate themselves to it for hours?
Overall, 1/5.
Atmosphere:
Falling Star attempts a cozy atmosphere, highlighted by its calming soundtrack and pleasant space theme. Both of these things appeal to me, fortunately, but there's not much else going on in terms of mood. The graphics are mediocre, and the mechanics are surprisingly demanding for a game that touts itself as 'relaxing.'
Overall, 1.5/5.
Replayability:
Coins and high scores don't mean much if your game isn't fun - and guess what? Falling Star is just not fun! I honestly don't know how I managed to put in the 21 hours needed to 100% it, even if the process was spread out over a few years. I'm definitely glad to officially retire this one.
Overall, 0.5/5.
2012
Game Dev Tycoon is equivalent to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It’s simple and plain, but it’s still enjoyable when the right mood strikes. Personally, I really like simulation games of all kinds - even business sims - so GDT caught my attention immediately.
My only knowledge on GDT up to a few months ago was gleaned from a Dunkey video. However, I recently discovered that my boyfriend really enjoys it, and that he’s even quite ‘good’ at it (as ‘good’ as you can be in such a genre.) I began to watch him play, and eventually joined him. He then bought it for me as a gift - and that, of course, meant that I had to master and review it.
I found myself excited to do so, because I already knew that I enjoyed it; plus, I haven’t covered a simulation game yet, so I get to expand my horizons a bit more! It’s not something I was expecting to check off of my never-ending backlog this year, but a welcome detour nonetheless.
Visuals: 2.5/5
Sound: 3/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Worldbuilding: 4/5
Replayability: 4/5
Overall game score: 3.5/5
Visuals:
I’ve made it clear already that I have warm feelings for GDT. It’s one of the first games my boyfriend and I got into together, and it’s good, casual fun. Still, that doesn’t mean I don’t take issue with a few things, the biggest by far being the art direction.
Let’s start by discussing the visuals. Now, I don’t expect an indie business sim to have high-end graphics or a particularly captivating art style - they rarely do. However, GDT’s environments and characters are far too smooth and undetailed. They look more like cheap assets, rather than anything made specifically for this experience.
It would be overly harsh to conclude that the style looks bad, though. It really doesn’t. You could call it ‘mediocre’, but I’d opt for ‘generic’ at worst. It may take a bit to adjust to the lack of texture or detail, but I’d go so far as to say that I eventually found it charming.
More charm is found in the many visual easter eggs scattered throughout the player’s offices. There are posters and knick-knacks referencing a myriad of other games, from DOOM to Super Meat Boy, as well as a few whiteboards with funny little notes scrawled on them.
Yet, as neat as these little elements are, I don’t think it bodes well for GDT that its best artistic aspect is almost entirely made up of references to other games. It shows a jarring lack of originality.
Unfortunately, that leaves us to discuss my worst gripe with GDT’s visuals - the terrible UI. Blank white backgrounds, default Arial text, and clashing color choices. You spend around 75% of your playtime clicking through these menus, and their ugliness eventually starts to wear on you. The only positive here are the game topics’ individual illustrations, but that far from makes up for the many evident flaws.
I can’t deny that these flaws exist in nearly every component of GDT’s visuals. Still, despite the numerous imperfections, I also understand that such issues are largely the product of new devs making their first game. They’re honestly not so terrible for being that. Countless worse-looking first releases plague the market, most showing far less promise than GDT.
In fact, it’s something Greenheart Games is already showing improvement in; the company’s current project, another simulator entitled Tavern Keeper, is looking to have a much more unique and pleasant style. I’m excited to see where these promising devs go from here!
Overall, 2.5/5.
Sound:
Just like the visuals, GDT’s sound design is far from perfect. This isn't a question of quality, though; the music is perfectly adequate, being plenty energetic and cheerful. The issue lies solely in the soundtrack's ridiculous shortness.
If you're generous, you could say that the tunes total to about 12.5 minutes in length. This is most definitely not a 12 minute game. In fact, according to HLTB, it could take over nine hours to complete a playthrough.
For nine hours, you'll have to listen to these same few songs, usually a single one on loop for an entire stage. It's a terrible, maddening process - one that I personally opt out of by muting the music entirely and watching YouTube in the background.
On the other hand, the sound effects are quite good. The satisfying little blips and dings that mark a project's progress are a great way to engage players further. It may not make up for what the game lacks in terms of soundtrack, but it adds its own solid layer to the experience.
Overall, 3/5.
Gameplay:
Business sims are a subjective experience. Enjoyment ranges from player to player; some will find them addicting, while others won't click with them at all. I fall closer to the former, and GDT has a particularly solid core that provided me with hours of entertainment. If the idea of running a pretend game company from the ground up, fiddling with settings and sliders to create said games, and trying not to go bankrupt in the process sounds fun to you, then you've come to the right place.
What really makes it all so fun is how many different factors go into developing your games and growing your company. The former obviously costs money, and to consistently earn money, you must release good games that sell well; doing so will score you fans, meaning subsequent releases will sell even better.
As your company gains popularity and funds, you'll get the chance to upgrade your office and hire staff. You may even get to open up labs and fund the creation of your own software/consoles. Yet, before all of that, you'll have to figure out how to make the aforementioned good games.
Your first decision is an obvious one; you must choose between the dozens of topics (fantasy, music, military, etc.) and the six genres (action, RPG, etc.) Certain combinations are a great fit and will, in turn, boost your sales - but others are terrible together. After all, I think we'd all agree that we'd rather play a horror RPG over a horror strategy. You'll also eventually learn how to target specific age demographics; certain topics and consoles are more popular amongst certain demographics. It's up to you to figure out the best matches.
Then comes the development process. During each of this phase's three stages, you will be given three sliders to adjust how you like; these sliders represent nine important elements of game design, from the graphics to the AI. Your task here is to figure out which of these elements are the most important for your chosen genre, which to ignore completely, and which should be somewhere in-between.
Still, the genres, topics, and sliders aren't all that affect your games. As you progress and build your company, time progresses with you. The industry changes, just as it does in real life. Platforms come and go - you start with a boxy old PC, and end with the latest generation of consoles. Popular trends will crop up for a few months, boosting your sales if you manage to release a corresponding game during. Random events punish or reward you based on your choices. Possibly most important, though, is the creation of custom engines to keep up with the evolving technology.
See, during the development process (and certain other tasks), you gain an important resource called research points. These have two purposes. The first is increasing your staff's stats (something that will become a priority over time as well), while the other is learning new game features and topics.
These game features are selected while adjusting the sliders during the development process. However, at the beginning of your journey, you won't have many to choose from. Only as you finish projects, will you level up each game element and unlock new features to research - improved graphics, better dialogue, and an open world, just to name a few.
You still won't be able to apply these right away, though. Instead, you'll have to compile them into a custom game engine; this costs a lot of money, but allows you to make games that are larger in scale and polish. A custom engine is selected at the beginning of development, and unlocks its built-in features to be selected throughout development. You'll need to create an up-to-date engine semi-frequently in order to utilize new features, though, so be sure to keep up.
Alternatively, you may use research points to train your staff in design, technology, speed, and research. The former two subjects increase the amount of D/T bubbles produced during the development cycle (another important element in measuring the quality of your final product.) Speed increases the employee's rate of work; research increases the amount of research points they earn.
All four of these subjects are important, but each staff member will have their own strengths. This especially applies when it comes to design and technology - once someone reaches a certain level, they may choose one of the two to specialize in. They'll even be able to specialize once again after further leveling, this time in a specific game aspect (such as sound or AI.) These each have their own D/T skill requirements, so the player is encouraged to plan ahead while training.
The last development aspect I'd like to discuss is the ability to build hype for your releases. Once you have a large enough fanbase, you'll receive a small amount of this naturally over time; but if you want a real boost, you'll need to employ marketing campaigns and gaming conventions. These options vary in price and effectiveness, but even the cheapest is useful. After all, a game with excitement surrounding it is bound to sell better.
Be careful with your hype investments, though! If you attract too much attention to a release that receives low ratings from critics, it'll negatively impact your sales. And sales are what it's all about at the end of the day; gain more fans, make more sales, earn more money. Everything I've talked about up to this point plays its own role in this cycle.
Yet, what it really comes down to are your release's ratings. If you've strategically chosen the topic, genre, platform, demographic, engine, and features - while balancing each slider perfectly - you might just have a hit on your hands. Hell, maybe even a 10/10! But if you've messed up your combinations and percentages, you'll just as easily receive low scores, plummeting sales and causing a loss in profit.
Critic reviews are the biggest factor in the success of your game - and making successful games is what drives you to put thought into every decision. If you don't make an effort, you'll receive bad ratings and bad sales; too many failures in a row, and you'll go bankrupt. There's no key mashing your way to victory. You company's future is left in your hands, and its progress is dependent on your performance.
And that is precisely what makes GDT so fun. It's a simple game loop, but so well-executed. I would've never guessed that it could keep me entertained for hours at a time. Obviously, I was proven very wrong.
I haven't even mentioned all of its mechanics and ideas yet. For example, take the post-release game reports you may generate. Doing so will provide insight into a few randomly chosen aspects of your game, which may include:
- Topic/genre synergy
- Performance of the platform/topic amongst the age demographic
- Importance of each slider element in regards to the game's the genre
It seems like a small detail, but it's one that heavily incentivizes additional playthroughs. Gain more knowledge through each release, make consistently better products in the future.
If you ever get bored of revisiting the regular game mode, though, you can always try your hand at GDT's infamous 'Pirate Mode'. This is a considerably harder alternative, to the point of being nearly impossible for any new or casual player; but that's the exact purpose of its existence.
See, before it was ever included in the base game, 'Pirate Mode' was a permanent punishment for anyone who legitimately pirated GDT. In this 'mode', the player makes very little money from releases due to their OWN pirating issues. This humorous change to the formula became well-known amongst the community, and it was eventually added as an option in the base game. Veteran players were finally given a new, exciting challenge.
I'd like to consider myself one of those veterans by now; the 35 hours I've invested is ample proof that I genuinely find it addicting. I can't stress enough how much this game blew my expectations out of the water.
But a game is rarely without flaws, and GDT is not an exception. Most problematic is its aspect of randomness; because no matter how carefully the player plans each new release, the scores are never guaranteed to be good. You could do everything right and still get 6 or 7s. Hell, the game is designed to lower the numbers if you've had too many 9+ averages in a row! It's a frustrating system at times, especially when you've already learned the best combinations and still get inconsistent feedback.
I also take issue with how long and tedious the staff training process is. Raising their skills is an essential part of the game, but it takes both a long time and a LOT of research points (which, bear in mind, already take a while to accumulate themselves.) Despite always investing in the mechanic, I rarely reach the end of the game with even half of my staff fully trained. I definitely could, if I really tried, but it's never felt like a fun or necessary way to play.
But what if focus was instead divided between the aforementioned training and a natural gain of skill? You could still invest points to increase their stats more quickly, but they'd also learn naturally while working on projects. They could even gain more D or T based on which sliders they've been assigned. It's a simple solution, but it's one that would streamline a mechanic made dull by its length.
Lucky for you, there's a mod that does exactly this! In fact I'd say that the game has a pretty impressive mod selection. I haven't had the chance to mess around with them yet, but it makes me excited to jump into GDT for another playthrough.
For me, that is the mark of a good game; one that I find myself wanting to boot up again and again, even after I've mastered and reviewed it. It's not always the intense or fast-paced ones, either! Sometimes even the easy, casual games will find the perfect groove and make something special -just like GDT.
Plainly put, the game is a lot of fun. And, at the end of the day, that's what really counts.
Overall score: 4/5
Worldbuilding:
Unlike many other business sims, GDT doesn't default to a stagnant, time-void experience. Instead, it takes place over the course of 35 years, parodying the events, advancements, and releases of our own gaming industry. From the 1980s all the way to the 2010s, you're witnessing the progress - but you're also experiencing it.
You begin building your company at the dawn of home consoles. You grow alongside the booming new trade, always feeling the resonance of its occurrences throughout your own business. Your technology expands as platforms become more modern; meanwhile, the evolution of engine features mirrors our industry's rapid technological advancement (although this is dependent on slider levels instead of the passage of time.) Even the overall sense of progression benefits from this light satire, adding a feeling of depth that makes new mechanics all-the-more enticing.
You won't just be gaining new hardware and programs, though. As your company develops, you'll also learn many new business techniques, which greatly benefit your releases and profit margins in their own ways. Contract work, publishing deals, hiring staff, attending conventions - new gameplay ideas are thrown at you constantly, all of which add their own flavor to the immersion.
But the biggest reason GDT succeeds in creating such an immersive experience is not the scope of the game, but its attention to detail. Its vivid, if exaggerated, adaptation of real life easily puts you in the shoes of a game dev/business owner.
The best example of this is how new platforms are announced. Instead of simply listing a name and basic information, GDT opts to provide a short summary of the platform's surrounding press; this could include anything from its features, to the state of the company behind it, to the public's current response. As a result, these moments are so much more special, because they're made to feel like a big deal instead of small changes to the gameplay.
Maybe it's not so surprising that immersion is an integral part of good business sims. I mean, it's all in the genre's title; at their core, they're fantasies about running a gamified business. The sort of business will vary wildly from game to game, but no matter what it is, it's the main appeal. I enjoy playing Thrillville because it's fun to customize and manage a theme park. I enjoy playing GDT because it's fun to make games and run a game company.
But GDT in particular captures its industry in such a special way, no doubt because it's a game itself. Everything from the random events and visual easter eggs, to the interesting mechanics and passage of time; the worldbuilding has a lot more going on under the hood than it seems at first glance. I think that deserves a lot of admiration.
Overall, 4/5.
Replayability:
After year 35 comes to an end, so will your run. Points are tallied depending on various statistics, and you’re given a score (as well as a nice thank-you note.) But the game doesn’t end afterwards; although the timeline is static from this point on, and there won’t be much new content to discover, you may continue growing your company in a post-game. Here, you’re free to train, learn, and lead projects to your heart’s content.
At this point in a playthrough, I often find it fun to ‘100%’ everything (this kind of progress isn’t tracked by GDT itself, so I simply try to unlock everything and max out all stats.) Yet, it’s always just as tempting to boot up a new save file and start over right away. GDT’s loop of making games is simply delightful to me; the entire process always stays fresh, too, thanks to a variety of different mechanics and possible game combinations.
There’s also a great sense of pacing. Any progress made feels like a tangible step forward in your journey; you’ll steadily grow in terms of levels and money, and doing so often rewards you with new features or mechanics.
However, it’s hard to argue that the best part of playing GDT is receiving a new release’s critical ratings. Working on the projects is a ton of fun, but that final moment is always so tense and exciting, as the fate of that hard work hangs in the balance. Sure, you might end up disappointed by low scores - but it’s worth it for the thrill of making a surprise 10/10 hit, or maybe even receiving an 11 from a critic. Even if you don’t do well, that disappointment may act as the perfect motivator to try for something better.
Unfortunately, the game may not be so forgiving, because better player decisions aren’t always rewarded with improved ratings. I’ve mentioned this flaw before, but it’s worth mentioning again here. It noticeably brings down the quality of replays. Even after you’ve gained experience with GDT, you’ll still occasionally lose momentum simply because of something out of your control.
Other than that, though, I think there’s a lot of incentive to come back to GDT. So much thought went into making it a delight to revisit. Permanently unlockable hints, an addictive loop, a myriad of player freedom, and a crazy amount of detail - that’s just a handful of the reasons why.
Overall, 4/5.
Overall game score: 3.5/5. A casual, fun break from the more intense games out there, GDT has a lot of heart and a lot of big ideas. I’m pleasantly shocked that an up-and-coming studio took the time to create an earnest, unique business sim, instead of churning out the standard mediocre cash grab. It’s especially impressive when it’s their very first release!
Greenheart Games has earned themselves a fan. I’m really looking forward to Tavern Keeper!
My only knowledge on GDT up to a few months ago was gleaned from a Dunkey video. However, I recently discovered that my boyfriend really enjoys it, and that he’s even quite ‘good’ at it (as ‘good’ as you can be in such a genre.) I began to watch him play, and eventually joined him. He then bought it for me as a gift - and that, of course, meant that I had to master and review it.
I found myself excited to do so, because I already knew that I enjoyed it; plus, I haven’t covered a simulation game yet, so I get to expand my horizons a bit more! It’s not something I was expecting to check off of my never-ending backlog this year, but a welcome detour nonetheless.
Visuals: 2.5/5
Sound: 3/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Worldbuilding: 4/5
Replayability: 4/5
Overall game score: 3.5/5
Visuals:
I’ve made it clear already that I have warm feelings for GDT. It’s one of the first games my boyfriend and I got into together, and it’s good, casual fun. Still, that doesn’t mean I don’t take issue with a few things, the biggest by far being the art direction.
Let’s start by discussing the visuals. Now, I don’t expect an indie business sim to have high-end graphics or a particularly captivating art style - they rarely do. However, GDT’s environments and characters are far too smooth and undetailed. They look more like cheap assets, rather than anything made specifically for this experience.
It would be overly harsh to conclude that the style looks bad, though. It really doesn’t. You could call it ‘mediocre’, but I’d opt for ‘generic’ at worst. It may take a bit to adjust to the lack of texture or detail, but I’d go so far as to say that I eventually found it charming.
More charm is found in the many visual easter eggs scattered throughout the player’s offices. There are posters and knick-knacks referencing a myriad of other games, from DOOM to Super Meat Boy, as well as a few whiteboards with funny little notes scrawled on them.
Yet, as neat as these little elements are, I don’t think it bodes well for GDT that its best artistic aspect is almost entirely made up of references to other games. It shows a jarring lack of originality.
Unfortunately, that leaves us to discuss my worst gripe with GDT’s visuals - the terrible UI. Blank white backgrounds, default Arial text, and clashing color choices. You spend around 75% of your playtime clicking through these menus, and their ugliness eventually starts to wear on you. The only positive here are the game topics’ individual illustrations, but that far from makes up for the many evident flaws.
I can’t deny that these flaws exist in nearly every component of GDT’s visuals. Still, despite the numerous imperfections, I also understand that such issues are largely the product of new devs making their first game. They’re honestly not so terrible for being that. Countless worse-looking first releases plague the market, most showing far less promise than GDT.
In fact, it’s something Greenheart Games is already showing improvement in; the company’s current project, another simulator entitled Tavern Keeper, is looking to have a much more unique and pleasant style. I’m excited to see where these promising devs go from here!
Overall, 2.5/5.
Sound:
Just like the visuals, GDT’s sound design is far from perfect. This isn't a question of quality, though; the music is perfectly adequate, being plenty energetic and cheerful. The issue lies solely in the soundtrack's ridiculous shortness.
If you're generous, you could say that the tunes total to about 12.5 minutes in length. This is most definitely not a 12 minute game. In fact, according to HLTB, it could take over nine hours to complete a playthrough.
For nine hours, you'll have to listen to these same few songs, usually a single one on loop for an entire stage. It's a terrible, maddening process - one that I personally opt out of by muting the music entirely and watching YouTube in the background.
On the other hand, the sound effects are quite good. The satisfying little blips and dings that mark a project's progress are a great way to engage players further. It may not make up for what the game lacks in terms of soundtrack, but it adds its own solid layer to the experience.
Overall, 3/5.
Gameplay:
Business sims are a subjective experience. Enjoyment ranges from player to player; some will find them addicting, while others won't click with them at all. I fall closer to the former, and GDT has a particularly solid core that provided me with hours of entertainment. If the idea of running a pretend game company from the ground up, fiddling with settings and sliders to create said games, and trying not to go bankrupt in the process sounds fun to you, then you've come to the right place.
What really makes it all so fun is how many different factors go into developing your games and growing your company. The former obviously costs money, and to consistently earn money, you must release good games that sell well; doing so will score you fans, meaning subsequent releases will sell even better.
As your company gains popularity and funds, you'll get the chance to upgrade your office and hire staff. You may even get to open up labs and fund the creation of your own software/consoles. Yet, before all of that, you'll have to figure out how to make the aforementioned good games.
Your first decision is an obvious one; you must choose between the dozens of topics (fantasy, music, military, etc.) and the six genres (action, RPG, etc.) Certain combinations are a great fit and will, in turn, boost your sales - but others are terrible together. After all, I think we'd all agree that we'd rather play a horror RPG over a horror strategy. You'll also eventually learn how to target specific age demographics; certain topics and consoles are more popular amongst certain demographics. It's up to you to figure out the best matches.
Then comes the development process. During each of this phase's three stages, you will be given three sliders to adjust how you like; these sliders represent nine important elements of game design, from the graphics to the AI. Your task here is to figure out which of these elements are the most important for your chosen genre, which to ignore completely, and which should be somewhere in-between.
Still, the genres, topics, and sliders aren't all that affect your games. As you progress and build your company, time progresses with you. The industry changes, just as it does in real life. Platforms come and go - you start with a boxy old PC, and end with the latest generation of consoles. Popular trends will crop up for a few months, boosting your sales if you manage to release a corresponding game during. Random events punish or reward you based on your choices. Possibly most important, though, is the creation of custom engines to keep up with the evolving technology.
See, during the development process (and certain other tasks), you gain an important resource called research points. These have two purposes. The first is increasing your staff's stats (something that will become a priority over time as well), while the other is learning new game features and topics.
These game features are selected while adjusting the sliders during the development process. However, at the beginning of your journey, you won't have many to choose from. Only as you finish projects, will you level up each game element and unlock new features to research - improved graphics, better dialogue, and an open world, just to name a few.
You still won't be able to apply these right away, though. Instead, you'll have to compile them into a custom game engine; this costs a lot of money, but allows you to make games that are larger in scale and polish. A custom engine is selected at the beginning of development, and unlocks its built-in features to be selected throughout development. You'll need to create an up-to-date engine semi-frequently in order to utilize new features, though, so be sure to keep up.
Alternatively, you may use research points to train your staff in design, technology, speed, and research. The former two subjects increase the amount of D/T bubbles produced during the development cycle (another important element in measuring the quality of your final product.) Speed increases the employee's rate of work; research increases the amount of research points they earn.
All four of these subjects are important, but each staff member will have their own strengths. This especially applies when it comes to design and technology - once someone reaches a certain level, they may choose one of the two to specialize in. They'll even be able to specialize once again after further leveling, this time in a specific game aspect (such as sound or AI.) These each have their own D/T skill requirements, so the player is encouraged to plan ahead while training.
The last development aspect I'd like to discuss is the ability to build hype for your releases. Once you have a large enough fanbase, you'll receive a small amount of this naturally over time; but if you want a real boost, you'll need to employ marketing campaigns and gaming conventions. These options vary in price and effectiveness, but even the cheapest is useful. After all, a game with excitement surrounding it is bound to sell better.
Be careful with your hype investments, though! If you attract too much attention to a release that receives low ratings from critics, it'll negatively impact your sales. And sales are what it's all about at the end of the day; gain more fans, make more sales, earn more money. Everything I've talked about up to this point plays its own role in this cycle.
Yet, what it really comes down to are your release's ratings. If you've strategically chosen the topic, genre, platform, demographic, engine, and features - while balancing each slider perfectly - you might just have a hit on your hands. Hell, maybe even a 10/10! But if you've messed up your combinations and percentages, you'll just as easily receive low scores, plummeting sales and causing a loss in profit.
Critic reviews are the biggest factor in the success of your game - and making successful games is what drives you to put thought into every decision. If you don't make an effort, you'll receive bad ratings and bad sales; too many failures in a row, and you'll go bankrupt. There's no key mashing your way to victory. You company's future is left in your hands, and its progress is dependent on your performance.
And that is precisely what makes GDT so fun. It's a simple game loop, but so well-executed. I would've never guessed that it could keep me entertained for hours at a time. Obviously, I was proven very wrong.
I haven't even mentioned all of its mechanics and ideas yet. For example, take the post-release game reports you may generate. Doing so will provide insight into a few randomly chosen aspects of your game, which may include:
- Topic/genre synergy
- Performance of the platform/topic amongst the age demographic
- Importance of each slider element in regards to the game's the genre
It seems like a small detail, but it's one that heavily incentivizes additional playthroughs. Gain more knowledge through each release, make consistently better products in the future.
If you ever get bored of revisiting the regular game mode, though, you can always try your hand at GDT's infamous 'Pirate Mode'. This is a considerably harder alternative, to the point of being nearly impossible for any new or casual player; but that's the exact purpose of its existence.
See, before it was ever included in the base game, 'Pirate Mode' was a permanent punishment for anyone who legitimately pirated GDT. In this 'mode', the player makes very little money from releases due to their OWN pirating issues. This humorous change to the formula became well-known amongst the community, and it was eventually added as an option in the base game. Veteran players were finally given a new, exciting challenge.
I'd like to consider myself one of those veterans by now; the 35 hours I've invested is ample proof that I genuinely find it addicting. I can't stress enough how much this game blew my expectations out of the water.
But a game is rarely without flaws, and GDT is not an exception. Most problematic is its aspect of randomness; because no matter how carefully the player plans each new release, the scores are never guaranteed to be good. You could do everything right and still get 6 or 7s. Hell, the game is designed to lower the numbers if you've had too many 9+ averages in a row! It's a frustrating system at times, especially when you've already learned the best combinations and still get inconsistent feedback.
I also take issue with how long and tedious the staff training process is. Raising their skills is an essential part of the game, but it takes both a long time and a LOT of research points (which, bear in mind, already take a while to accumulate themselves.) Despite always investing in the mechanic, I rarely reach the end of the game with even half of my staff fully trained. I definitely could, if I really tried, but it's never felt like a fun or necessary way to play.
But what if focus was instead divided between the aforementioned training and a natural gain of skill? You could still invest points to increase their stats more quickly, but they'd also learn naturally while working on projects. They could even gain more D or T based on which sliders they've been assigned. It's a simple solution, but it's one that would streamline a mechanic made dull by its length.
Lucky for you, there's a mod that does exactly this! In fact I'd say that the game has a pretty impressive mod selection. I haven't had the chance to mess around with them yet, but it makes me excited to jump into GDT for another playthrough.
For me, that is the mark of a good game; one that I find myself wanting to boot up again and again, even after I've mastered and reviewed it. It's not always the intense or fast-paced ones, either! Sometimes even the easy, casual games will find the perfect groove and make something special -just like GDT.
Plainly put, the game is a lot of fun. And, at the end of the day, that's what really counts.
Overall score: 4/5
Worldbuilding:
Unlike many other business sims, GDT doesn't default to a stagnant, time-void experience. Instead, it takes place over the course of 35 years, parodying the events, advancements, and releases of our own gaming industry. From the 1980s all the way to the 2010s, you're witnessing the progress - but you're also experiencing it.
You begin building your company at the dawn of home consoles. You grow alongside the booming new trade, always feeling the resonance of its occurrences throughout your own business. Your technology expands as platforms become more modern; meanwhile, the evolution of engine features mirrors our industry's rapid technological advancement (although this is dependent on slider levels instead of the passage of time.) Even the overall sense of progression benefits from this light satire, adding a feeling of depth that makes new mechanics all-the-more enticing.
You won't just be gaining new hardware and programs, though. As your company develops, you'll also learn many new business techniques, which greatly benefit your releases and profit margins in their own ways. Contract work, publishing deals, hiring staff, attending conventions - new gameplay ideas are thrown at you constantly, all of which add their own flavor to the immersion.
But the biggest reason GDT succeeds in creating such an immersive experience is not the scope of the game, but its attention to detail. Its vivid, if exaggerated, adaptation of real life easily puts you in the shoes of a game dev/business owner.
The best example of this is how new platforms are announced. Instead of simply listing a name and basic information, GDT opts to provide a short summary of the platform's surrounding press; this could include anything from its features, to the state of the company behind it, to the public's current response. As a result, these moments are so much more special, because they're made to feel like a big deal instead of small changes to the gameplay.
Maybe it's not so surprising that immersion is an integral part of good business sims. I mean, it's all in the genre's title; at their core, they're fantasies about running a gamified business. The sort of business will vary wildly from game to game, but no matter what it is, it's the main appeal. I enjoy playing Thrillville because it's fun to customize and manage a theme park. I enjoy playing GDT because it's fun to make games and run a game company.
But GDT in particular captures its industry in such a special way, no doubt because it's a game itself. Everything from the random events and visual easter eggs, to the interesting mechanics and passage of time; the worldbuilding has a lot more going on under the hood than it seems at first glance. I think that deserves a lot of admiration.
Overall, 4/5.
Replayability:
After year 35 comes to an end, so will your run. Points are tallied depending on various statistics, and you’re given a score (as well as a nice thank-you note.) But the game doesn’t end afterwards; although the timeline is static from this point on, and there won’t be much new content to discover, you may continue growing your company in a post-game. Here, you’re free to train, learn, and lead projects to your heart’s content.
At this point in a playthrough, I often find it fun to ‘100%’ everything (this kind of progress isn’t tracked by GDT itself, so I simply try to unlock everything and max out all stats.) Yet, it’s always just as tempting to boot up a new save file and start over right away. GDT’s loop of making games is simply delightful to me; the entire process always stays fresh, too, thanks to a variety of different mechanics and possible game combinations.
There’s also a great sense of pacing. Any progress made feels like a tangible step forward in your journey; you’ll steadily grow in terms of levels and money, and doing so often rewards you with new features or mechanics.
However, it’s hard to argue that the best part of playing GDT is receiving a new release’s critical ratings. Working on the projects is a ton of fun, but that final moment is always so tense and exciting, as the fate of that hard work hangs in the balance. Sure, you might end up disappointed by low scores - but it’s worth it for the thrill of making a surprise 10/10 hit, or maybe even receiving an 11 from a critic. Even if you don’t do well, that disappointment may act as the perfect motivator to try for something better.
Unfortunately, the game may not be so forgiving, because better player decisions aren’t always rewarded with improved ratings. I’ve mentioned this flaw before, but it’s worth mentioning again here. It noticeably brings down the quality of replays. Even after you’ve gained experience with GDT, you’ll still occasionally lose momentum simply because of something out of your control.
Other than that, though, I think there’s a lot of incentive to come back to GDT. So much thought went into making it a delight to revisit. Permanently unlockable hints, an addictive loop, a myriad of player freedom, and a crazy amount of detail - that’s just a handful of the reasons why.
Overall, 4/5.
Overall game score: 3.5/5. A casual, fun break from the more intense games out there, GDT has a lot of heart and a lot of big ideas. I’m pleasantly shocked that an up-and-coming studio took the time to create an earnest, unique business sim, instead of churning out the standard mediocre cash grab. It’s especially impressive when it’s their very first release!
Greenheart Games has earned themselves a fan. I’m really looking forward to Tavern Keeper!
2016
I played Aurora Nights tonight while high. It’s a small tool for learning constellations, not very intricate or engaging, and totalling about 45 minutes in length. The style is simple, and the scale is small. Still, it has a nice little aesthetic going - one that must have drawn me in more than I’d noticed, because, embarrassingly, I teared up while playing.
Mostly it’s just that when I think about space for too long, I feel moved enough to cry. Have you ever considered how humans have always seen the same stars? Our distant relatives are separated from us by thousands of years, but it doesn’t matter. Past, present, and future - we all share that same lovely connection. That's all I'm saying.
Anyways. This has been near the top of my Steam account for five years. I mastered it way back in March of 2017, within 48 minutes, and it’s been collecting dust ever since.
Until tonight. Tonight, I decided that it was high time to dust it off, replay it, and stamp it with the coveted ‘Mastered’ and reviewed status. All of the games I own are in line to receive this attention, so why not take a small break to write about something easy and short?
Well, Aurora Nights is exactly what it says on the tin. You connect-the-dots with some constellations, pretend you’ll memorize them, and learn some cool astronomy facts. It’s honestly not even the best version of what it could be, but it’s a charming enough little experience.
Interestingly, it’s not an experience you can find anymore. It’s been unlisted from the Steam store, and isn’t available anywhere else from what I can tell. I only have access because I already owned it - which means I could be the only person to ever write a review for Aurora Nights on this site. Not a particularly coveted honor, but an interesting tidbit nonetheless.
Visuals: 2/5
Sound: 1.5/5
Gameplay: 2/5
Education: 2/5
Overall game score: 2/5 [1.9/5]
Visuals:
Aurora Nights’ visuals are exceedingly simple, but they’re adequate. I find the night sky to be such a nice aesthetic that even the most plain version of it is pleasing to me. The star map - which acts as a central hub, displaying all of the constellations you’ve finished - is very pretty as well.
Unfortunately, the game does lack an important visual element through artistic embodiments of the constellations. The art that these star configurations represent - in both a physical sense, as well as a mythological and historical one - are one of their most important values. The latter has some shallow representation through the main menu’s encyclopedia, but the former has no such luck.
An interactive constellation atlas should definitely provide some sort of depiction of this facet of the constellations’ histories. For example, you could find stock images of their artistic portrayals and put these in the encyclopedia along with the facts you already earn. This would’ve been a great reward for earning three stars on the star puzzles.
Still, there IS something cool about making the connections between the stars yourself, deciphering how each fits what it’s supposed to represent.
Overall, 2/5.
Sound:
There is a delightfully soothing ambient track, featuring acoustic guitar, that plays over the star map. Unfortunately, this is abruptly cut off whenever you click on a puzzle. Replacing it are nature noises - crickets, wind, and the like - until you return once again to the map. I think that the nature noises themselves are a good idea, bringing their own level of calm to the experience, but it would’ve been made a lot better if the track continued to play in the background.
Overall, 1.5/5.
Gameplay:
Like I’ve mentioned, Aurora Nights is pretty much entirely made up of playing connect-the-dots with constellations. If you’d like to, you can earn up to three stars on each puzzle by completing them two more times without mistakenly clicking on the increasing number of ‘wrong’ stars. This takes a lot of clicking, even if you don’t make any errors, and it’s more annoying than anything else.
More interesting to me is that by earning stars, you unlock facts about each of these featured constellations within the main menu’s encyclopedia. This is probably the best idea in the game; there’s an incentive to earn all of them, simply because it’s cool to learn about astronomy.
Sadly, there’s not much else to say. There’s not a lot of ‘fun’ to be had with Aurora Nights. It’s an educational tool. If you like learning about space, you might enjoy the experience (that is, if you don’t know enough to catch the information that I’m sure the game lacks.) I personally believe that educational knowledge like this can easily be combined with more intriguing gameplay, and that doing so might even make it more digestible; but I also understand that this version is probably more interested in simply teaching its trade. To that extent, I appreciate that it's interactive at all.
Overall, 2/5
Education:
If I’m being honest, I don’t know much about astronomy, even though I’ve always found the topic fascinating. Personally, I found out a lot of interesting stuff that I didn’t know on the subject through Aurora Nights. But, conversely, it’s obvious that the game lacks a lot of the facts and figures that would be included in better resources and star maps. Even though the project was obviously small-scale, I can’t overlook that you could simply go on Google and find something of higher quality that has more information to offer.
Overall, 2/5.
Overall game score: 2/5 [1.9/5]. I can check this one off the list now. I quite enjoyed giving it a look again, even if it was pretty forgettable. Space is simply such a fascinating topic that even something as bare-bones as Aurora Nights can catch my attention. But being high helps, I suppose.
Mostly it’s just that when I think about space for too long, I feel moved enough to cry. Have you ever considered how humans have always seen the same stars? Our distant relatives are separated from us by thousands of years, but it doesn’t matter. Past, present, and future - we all share that same lovely connection. That's all I'm saying.
Anyways. This has been near the top of my Steam account for five years. I mastered it way back in March of 2017, within 48 minutes, and it’s been collecting dust ever since.
Until tonight. Tonight, I decided that it was high time to dust it off, replay it, and stamp it with the coveted ‘Mastered’ and reviewed status. All of the games I own are in line to receive this attention, so why not take a small break to write about something easy and short?
Well, Aurora Nights is exactly what it says on the tin. You connect-the-dots with some constellations, pretend you’ll memorize them, and learn some cool astronomy facts. It’s honestly not even the best version of what it could be, but it’s a charming enough little experience.
Interestingly, it’s not an experience you can find anymore. It’s been unlisted from the Steam store, and isn’t available anywhere else from what I can tell. I only have access because I already owned it - which means I could be the only person to ever write a review for Aurora Nights on this site. Not a particularly coveted honor, but an interesting tidbit nonetheless.
Visuals: 2/5
Sound: 1.5/5
Gameplay: 2/5
Education: 2/5
Overall game score: 2/5 [1.9/5]
Visuals:
Aurora Nights’ visuals are exceedingly simple, but they’re adequate. I find the night sky to be such a nice aesthetic that even the most plain version of it is pleasing to me. The star map - which acts as a central hub, displaying all of the constellations you’ve finished - is very pretty as well.
Unfortunately, the game does lack an important visual element through artistic embodiments of the constellations. The art that these star configurations represent - in both a physical sense, as well as a mythological and historical one - are one of their most important values. The latter has some shallow representation through the main menu’s encyclopedia, but the former has no such luck.
An interactive constellation atlas should definitely provide some sort of depiction of this facet of the constellations’ histories. For example, you could find stock images of their artistic portrayals and put these in the encyclopedia along with the facts you already earn. This would’ve been a great reward for earning three stars on the star puzzles.
Still, there IS something cool about making the connections between the stars yourself, deciphering how each fits what it’s supposed to represent.
Overall, 2/5.
Sound:
There is a delightfully soothing ambient track, featuring acoustic guitar, that plays over the star map. Unfortunately, this is abruptly cut off whenever you click on a puzzle. Replacing it are nature noises - crickets, wind, and the like - until you return once again to the map. I think that the nature noises themselves are a good idea, bringing their own level of calm to the experience, but it would’ve been made a lot better if the track continued to play in the background.
Overall, 1.5/5.
Gameplay:
Like I’ve mentioned, Aurora Nights is pretty much entirely made up of playing connect-the-dots with constellations. If you’d like to, you can earn up to three stars on each puzzle by completing them two more times without mistakenly clicking on the increasing number of ‘wrong’ stars. This takes a lot of clicking, even if you don’t make any errors, and it’s more annoying than anything else.
More interesting to me is that by earning stars, you unlock facts about each of these featured constellations within the main menu’s encyclopedia. This is probably the best idea in the game; there’s an incentive to earn all of them, simply because it’s cool to learn about astronomy.
Sadly, there’s not much else to say. There’s not a lot of ‘fun’ to be had with Aurora Nights. It’s an educational tool. If you like learning about space, you might enjoy the experience (that is, if you don’t know enough to catch the information that I’m sure the game lacks.) I personally believe that educational knowledge like this can easily be combined with more intriguing gameplay, and that doing so might even make it more digestible; but I also understand that this version is probably more interested in simply teaching its trade. To that extent, I appreciate that it's interactive at all.
Overall, 2/5
Education:
If I’m being honest, I don’t know much about astronomy, even though I’ve always found the topic fascinating. Personally, I found out a lot of interesting stuff that I didn’t know on the subject through Aurora Nights. But, conversely, it’s obvious that the game lacks a lot of the facts and figures that would be included in better resources and star maps. Even though the project was obviously small-scale, I can’t overlook that you could simply go on Google and find something of higher quality that has more information to offer.
Overall, 2/5.
Overall game score: 2/5 [1.9/5]. I can check this one off the list now. I quite enjoyed giving it a look again, even if it was pretty forgettable. Space is simply such a fascinating topic that even something as bare-bones as Aurora Nights can catch my attention. But being high helps, I suppose.
2017
This review contains spoilers
A game has to be very special for me to return a third, fourth, fifth, sixth time. For me to restart it the same day my save was corrupted - and then again, when it was corrupted again. Only a select few could keep me so enthralled that I still come back over and over, years later.
There’s a magic surrounding Hollow Knight, permeating it, not unlike the infection that sits at its core. I’ve been burnt out on writing for months, games littering my Steam that I haven’t felt apt to review yet. So, instead, I booted up Hollow Knight, because it had been too long, and because I knew that it would revive my passion for discussion. There are millions of things - big and small - that I could discuss about Hollow Knight.
But my main reason for re-installing it was never to pump out a review. I simply felt the familiar urge to revisit Hallownest, like I have so many times before. After all, Hollow Knight is consistently one of the best video game experiences I’ve had; how could I NOT want to return again and again? The mechanics are smooth, challenging, and fun. The music and art direction are nearly unmatched. The story is complex and captivating.
Hollow Knight is, and always will be, a work of art.
Visuals: 5.5/5
Sound: 5.5/5
Story: 5.5/5
Gameplay: 5.5/5
Worldbuilding: 5.5/5
Overall game score: 5/5 [5.5/5]
Visuals:
Nestled in the far corner of a desolate, underground wasteland hides Hallownest. Once an impressive kingdom ruled by the divine Pale King, it served as a haven for all bugs; a place where they could gain true sentience. Now all that remains is a shallow grave of its glory days. Those same bugs wander the caverns aimlessly, mindlessly, their societies nearly all abandoned. The bright orange infection bursting from their bodies, from the walls, from the very air around you - it paints a grim picture.
Hollow Knight’s visual storytelling is immaculate. Each area you explore adds its own layer to the incredible overarching history of Hallownest and its people. The cast is made up of thousands. The victims are too great to count.
The vastly different environments allude to societies that grew and evolved totally independent of each other, of even the king or his city. All are made up of the same soil, yet each new village starkly contrasts the last. Yes, a handful of Hallownest’s tunnels once formed the Pale King’s land; but his tunnels, and many more, had been there long before.
From the pink, bubble-filled Fog Canyon to the dark, cramped, frightening Deepnest. The imprint of the King cuts straight through Hallownest, and his crown jewel - the City of Tears - sits at its heart. But the mantises, the bees, the moths, and the spiders had all been there lifetimes before he’d ever set foot in their caves.
The devil is in the details, the little things you may overlook. Giant carcasses left over from eons past. Overgrown green, long since abandoned, overtaking and bringing new life. Furniture, books, graves. Statues of those once revered with worship and remembrance. You can only really understand what Hollow Knight is about by observing The Knight’s surroundings, and by dissecting the sparse dialogue and writings littered throughout your journey.
The color palettes, environment, lighting, and art are huge factors in making each of these areas feel truly unique. Yet, despite how radically different each place is in presentation, what keeps consistent throughout the entire game is the atmosphere. Loneliness and emptiness pervade every nook and cranny. There are dozens upon dozens of artifacts telling the history of Hallownest; yet conscious, living beings are few and far between. What remains are ghosts, memories of a time when Hallownest was filled with the bustling of life. Its citizens walk now only as zombie-like victims, serving as a reminder to how great and diverse the world of Hallownest once was.
Flying, crawling, running. Big, small, smart, simple. Dedicated warriors who still carry themselves with dignity, despite forgetting all else. Siblings of the Knight, mirrors into a cruel, unlucky fate. Cushioned, cowardly rich bugs. Graceful and precise mantis traitors. All have fallen to the infection. All have reverted back to their natural instincts - which, for many, is violence. Fighting.
Fighting is a huge part of Hollow Knight. Nearly every cavern you’ll explore is blocked by a few undead husks. You won’t get anywhere without challenging a boss or two, either. And it’s difficult to argue against the bosses being the holy grail of Hollow Knight. They encapsulate everything exceptional about the game - the mechanics, the visual design, the music. And above everything else within its tunnels, the bosses represent Hallownest’s past poignantly. They stand as reminders of its ideals, its communities, and its customs.
But one of the most important elements to making fights FEEL good is the animation. Always smooth and easy to read, both The Knight and enemy animations are perfectly suited to split-second decision making. Before an aggressor ever does anything, you’re given a build-up window, and, consequently, the opportunity to predict and adapt. It is totally up to you to fully utilize it.
There are endless things to praise about Hollow Knight’s art. Without the solid visual foundation, its gameplay, story, and world might not be nearly as good. Because when I think of playing Hollow Knight, I think of perfectly timing attacks on dangerous enemies. I think of exploring Greenpath or the City of Tears. I think of my favorite character designs, or of the terrifying, hidden-away bosses. The art is far from the only good thing about Hollow Knight, but it’s one of the best, and possibly its most underrated attribute.
Oh, and I also think of the music, of course.
Overall, 5.5/5.
Audio:
For games I consider to be amongst the best, I find it’s always difficult to separate my writing into neat little sections about each of its moving parts. I’ll freely talk about the story in visuals, and the gameplay in music. To me, this is the mark of a truly fantastic experience. It means that each aspect works to support the others, and that they all play into one another. This is Hollow Knight, through and through. And nothing within it represents this idea more than the music.
Hollow Knight has one of the best soundtracks of all time, full stop. I don’t think many would disagree. It forfeits the typical 8-bit tunes or generic rock for a full synth orchestra - piano, violin, cello, bassoon. Its pieces range from powerful and punchy to subtle yet beautiful, each uniquely and completely different from the others. And it’s this elegant score that breathes new life into a dead and forgotten Hallownest.
There are a myriad of moments within Hollow Knight made so much more impactful by the music accompanying it. The Broken Vessel’s theme is one of my favorite examples; it expresses sadness and anger, with its deep, underlying bassline and sharp, short bursts of strings. Conversely, Nosk’s theme plays with volume, becoming unsettlingly quiet halfway through before exploding into a full panic; it is the closest thing to a horror movie monster in the game, and its theme reflects this from start to finish.
Perhaps the most powerful example of this idea is the Hollow Knight’s theme. The moment your void sibling is freed from their chains, they let out a deafening scream, the fight begins, and a full symphony kicks in.
It’s a strong, adrenaline-inducing theme, like many others in the game. But after dealing enough damage, things change. The Hollow Knight turns its nail on itself, repeatedly stabbing its own torso. The music quiets in response, the violin taking center stage; long wails and surrounding silence fill The Temple with sadness and loneliness. The previous anger is gone, at least temporarily. The Hollow Knight falls to its knees. Tired of fighting. Tired of suffering.
Killing the Hollow Knight has been your goal since the beginning, but its own desperation to die makes the task an emotional undertaking. None of the White Lady’s children ever had the chance at a real life. They were born only to fulfill a bleak role in a cruel, futile plot; whether they were the one chosen for the job, or the thousands that weren’t, their lives were only ever filled with suffering.
Of course, there’s more to Hollow Knight’s soundtrack than just the boss themes. The area themes are underappreciated gems, fulfilling their own important purpose in service of the game’s tone. These tend to be calmer and more understated, a stark contrast to the loud, bombastic fight music. Their sole focus is to set a distinct style and atmosphere for whichever location they’re accompanying. These pieces are possibly the most important part of the mood-dressing, no matter where you are.
Greenpath’s soft, whimsical plucking makes it feel magical to explore, like the woods behind your home when you’re a child. The City of Tears is the only track to prominently feature vocals, working in harmony with the music to create an air of mysticism within the city. Meanwhile, Deepnest entirely lacks its own track; instead, it uses a faltering violin as ambience to immediately put you on edge.
But it’s not just the music - even as a whole - that makes Hollow Knight’s sound so good. It’s not surprising, either; this was never the type of game to focus on only one design aspect. Instead, the devs have also given careful attention to the sound effects. The little sounds - the Knight’s nail slashing, bouncing off of a purple mushroom, equipping a charm - are forever burned into my memory, only because they’re so well-made.
But probably the most beloved part of the audio flavoring is the voice acting. Each character that you speak to has their own voice, inflection, and tone. Even more importantly, every single one speaks the same complex and unique bug language. This language has become iconic within the community. Many lines of complete nonsense have become well-remembered, solely because of their charm and delivery.
Overall, the audio design is just one of countless testaments to Hollow Knight’s quality. Despite already having possibly the best game soundtrack of all time, the devs still made sure to produce well-made sound in every other way, too. The music bolsters the atmosphere, the sound effects bolster the gameplay, and the voice acting bolsters the immersion. It’s simply more examples of how to use every single component to make the others better.
Overall, 5.5/5.
Story:
It’s unsurprising that Hollow Knight’s full story goes straight over the heads of most. The details are buried, layered, and - at times - difficult to comprehend. But a convoluted story is not always a flawed one. The mystifying air surrounding this lore, coupled with enthralling exploration and entertaining gameplay, will keep you coming back for more. The intricacies just mean that, if you love the game, you’ll have new things to learn every playthrough, every community discussion, and every YouTube video.
Still, I wish that the wholeness of this beautiful tale was fully appreciated by players. It deserves much more recognition for its sprawling lore and tragic narrative. Its world contains a bible-like history, with a flock of Gods dotting it. It encompasses hundreds of lives that have been forever altered - or, in many cases, stolen - by those Gods’ actions. There is no perfectly happy ending, and there is no real justice.
Sitting at the center of this spectacle is the tiniest, most unsuspecting creature in Hallownest. The Knight is a fierce bug born of void, a character that embodies a classic silent protagonist in the most literal sense. Devoid of personality, ambition, or emotion - yet impressively powerful. Hallownest immediately recognizes that power; stone tablets written in ancient languages decipher for them like a code, speaking of their godly status.
Sadly, The Knight was not given a choice between divine power or a fulfilling existence. Even before conception, their parents - the Pale King and White Lady - had made the decision for them. This holy union could have been something beautiful; instead, their thousands of children were nothing more than a desperate, sacrificial bid to save Hallownest.
To the King, this cruel act was justifiable. He’d pay whatever cost necessary to keep Hallownest thriving. It was a paradise unlike any other, after all. Not only did it provide bugs with a safe home from the harsh outside world, but it allowed them to reach a new level of consciousness.
So, when the infection began to creep in, and when nothing else proved effective, the King’s own lineage became a pawn. But even within those thousands of offspring, only one could be chosen to become The Hollow Knight. This voidborn would have to be exceptionally powerful, while completely lacking any worldly attachments (personality, ambition, or emotion.)
An unknown test was completed, and the seemingly perfect candidate was decided upon. As the King and this favored child left, the entrance to the voidborns’ little corner of Hallownest was sealed off. Their birthplace would now serve as an eternal prison; forced isolation by a father who’d rather forget about their shameful existence.
This is where the Knight spent their childhood, and where they eventually managed to escape from. They even traveled outside of Hallownest, but just as soon found themselves called back by its familiar gods.
This is where you come in. The moment the Knight returns to Hallownest, their journey is left in your hands. The kingdom and its residents are almost entirely dead, and The Hollow Knight can no longer contain the infection. It is now entirely up to one of their own siblings - our Knight, cast aside and forgotten - to break into the temple in which they’ve been locked up to solve the problem.
But for now, the sickness seeps out of its host, spreading through the tunnels, aiming to snuff out any free will left within the walls. Many powerful enemies stand in your way, some gods, some mortals. There are puzzles to piece together and a map to fill out. The entire world of Hallownest lay at your feet. It’s time to reclaim your father’s throne.
What I’ve just presented is only a small sliver of Hollow Knight’s narrative. This may be the basic setup for its premise, but between each of those lines are dozens of details and interpersonal stories to uncover - and hundreds more in the game’s present. A treasure trove of lore and worldbuilding, Hallownest’s history is as expansive as its massive caverns. You will learn its secrets one by one, soaking in the full picture of the devastation it has endured.
Along the way, you’ll learn about its inhabitants, too. Some have long since passed, while some still fight to live within Hallownest. New friends, shopkeeps, masters of combat willing to impart their wisdom; the amiable bugs who’ve stuck around will become invaluable, each supporting you through your expedition in their own way. Maybe, amongst them, you will find new reason to destroy the infection. Because it’s the characters - past or present, friend or foe - which act as the biggest catalysts in Hollow Knight.
But, among all of said characters, none prove to be more narratively important than Hallownest’s gods. They read like legend, too devastating and too carefully intertwined to be true; but they were very much real, and so was the immeasurable tragedy they caused. They once held the power to alter the course of countless lives with a single decision. And this, they did. We witness the large-scale destruction they’ve caused firsthand. It is now the Knight’s burden to bear.
This is the impressive story Hollow Knight sets out to tell. It’s not a simple one, or the easiest to follow, but it’s fascinating and beautiful - even strangely human, despite being entirely about bugs and their deities. It serves as a beautiful backdrop for meaningful combat encounters and equally meaningful exploration. It makes an abandoned land feel alive with its own rich history. It’s the kind of narrative that is rarely possible outside of games. Even then, few games achieve it. All-encompassing, mystical, emotionally captivating, and intelligent.
Overall, 5.5/5.
Gameplay:
Hollow Knight boasts one of the best gameplay experiences of the entire Metroidvania genre. Any genre, really. It’s the rare kind of game that should be played by everyone, regardless of familiarity or preference. Even players with no background in Metroidvanias will find a brand new love for them in this modern, unique, and beautifully-executed take.
The Knight begins their journey with nothing more than a nail. As you progress, though, they will obtain many new abilities, including weapon enhancements, powerful spells, and advanced movement techniques. It ranges from a simple dash to a cyclone slash; how you wield the power-ups in combat is almost entirely up to you, but using them to maneuver around the world and unlock new areas is an absolute necessity. In other words, they blend seamlessly into gameplay, but still challenge the player to get creative.
This idea isn’t a new one. It’s a staple of the Metroidvania genre, a concept as old as Metroid itself. Still, Hollow Knight executes it flawlessly, as it does many traditional aspects of games. Take, for example, boss fights.
While many enemies act as a hindrance for the Knight, what really steals the show are the bosses. These are the lynchpin of the gameplay; every single one of the 46 you may encounter are totally unique in moveset and aesthetic, making for a constantly-changing and fast-paced experience. It’s another testament to Hollow Knight’s rich design philosophy; each one perfectly blends into the worldbuilding, while still being special in every single way.
Another important aspect of Hollow Knight’s diverse combat system are the charms. These are found throughout the world, and although only a few can be equipped at a time, each one provides their own unique ability. Through them, you can create all kinds of builds - nail, spell, tank, or even companion. There are endless options for the player to explore (even combination synergies that give additional bonuses!) It allows each individual to find a build specialization, or to play around with the best builds for certain fights, bringing a new edge to combat.
For healing and mana, Hollow Knight provides a special essence called SOUL. SOUL is gained whenever you hit an enemy with your nail, giving players an even greater incentive to attack during battle. At any point, you may consume SOUL to heal, but doing so restricts your movement and leaves you vulnerable to enemy fire. To utilize this mechanic properly, you must learn safe openings; otherwise, you’ll only end up taking more damage.
The alternative to healing is, fittingly, more damage. Spells you’ll find as you progress turn the essence you’ve collected into even more offense. This is especially useful because Vengeful Spirit, the first obtained, allows you to hit enemies that are far outside of your range - a rare commodity in Hollow Knight. Still, to make full use of this mechanic, you must once again learn the openings. If used properly, fights can end a lot more quickly; but if you don’t hit your spells at all, you’re wasting valuable resources. Just like healing, mastering this aspect of SOUL requires acute timing and awareness.
Now that I’ve discussed Hollow Knight’s combat at length, it’s time to switch the focus to the other side of its coin - exploration.
The world of Hallownest is massive and intricate; and, as per Metroidvania standard, it’s also divided up into distinct areas. These areas unlock as you gain more complex means of traversal (along with access to new sections of previously-visited maps.) This makes the size of the game much less overwhelming, along with giving it clearer direction and pacing.
There’s a myriad of different items and abilities to collect throughout Hallownest, but simply unlocking a new section of this setting already feels like its own reward. New environments are a wonder, with each one containing completely unique enemies, aesthetics, and mini-mechanics. It never becomes repetitive. There simply is no repetition.
Still, all of that side content filling out the world is what makes it truly fun. There are grubs to save, mask shards/vessel fragments to uncover (granting additional health/SOUL storage), and charms to collect. Most of these are hidden behind challenging environmental puzzles, putting your non-combat skills to the test.
There are plenty more examples of tucked away secrets to find, too. Journals and idols to sell, pale ore to upgrade your weapon, warriors to teach you nail arts. Even bosses act as a prize for keen players; many within the game are optional, and can only be found through thorough searching. The money they drop and loot they guard are useful, of course, but again, just finding new big encounters is its own reward.
Items and enemies aren’t the only things to discover in Hallownest. There are also sidequests, multiple of which serve as story arcs for NPCs you’ll encounter. Through these independent narratives, important layers of worldbuilding and interactivity are added to the game.
My personal favorite example is The Last Stag. The Stag is an NPC who provides the player with the ability to fast travel to stations they’ve unlocked throughout Hallownest. An old bug, the last of his kind, the Stag recounts the glory days of each area you visit - while also mourning the extinction of his own species during Hallownest’s fall from grace. This is just one of the many tragedies plaguing Hallownest, but unlike most, it can be given some closure (with the Knight’s help.)
If the story-based side quests aren’t your cup of tea, there are many which focus on gameplay instead. Take the imprisoned grubs you must free, so that they may return to their father.
Or take the Colosseum of Fools. Aptly named, this grand arena allows the Knight to take part in grueling combat trials. Winning provides significant rewards, but it won’t be easy. The player’s mastery of Hollow Knight’s mechanics up to that point will be fully tested.
That may sound overwhelming, but the truth is that Hollow Knight’s difficulty is an important part of its excellence. It’s what makes the game such a treat to not only fully explore, but to return to again and again. No matter how many times you play, defeating foes means putting in the effort. You must understand the mechanics, the timing, and the attack patterns.
The Knight never becomes an unstoppable force. They gain new abilities and significant power over time, but it’s still ultimately up to the player to properly execute basic attacks and dodges. And that, to me, is perfect “difficult game” design. Not only is overcoming these odds very fun, but it’s tremendously gratifying at every turn.
I’ll close out this section by discussing one of Hollow Knight’s most interesting, yet widely overlooked, mechanics. The Dream Nail is an item that you acquire fairly early on, which then acts as a requisite for certain stages of progression - yet it serves no traditional combat or traversal purpose. Its only functional use is to gain a large amount of SOUL in one hit, but this is often impractical during fights, given that it deals no damage and swings exceptionally slowly. Instead, its main purpose is to further build on content and lore.
Its most obvious function is allowing the Knight access to the Dream Realm, a mysterious plane where many important NPCs reside. It also provides us with a tangible connection to the moth tribe of Hallownest; charging the Nail with essence will uncover important details about their role in the kingdom’s downfall (as well as more rewards!) Most interestingly, though, is the ability it gives the player to read the mind of any NPC or enemy they may encounter.
From the lowest Crawlid to the Gods themselves, the Knight is allowed a peek into the innermost thoughts of any bug. This new form of interaction adds an unbelievable amount of depth to the characters, their relationships, and the world they reside in. It’s such a rich addition to Hollow Knight, and one that is criminally underappreciated. Not many games can boast this level of detail.
Here I go again. Getting distracted by lore and worldbuilding. It’s difficult not to, especially in Hollow Knight’s case. Everything within it is made so intentionally and lovingly. But, even if I can’t resist showing a good story the appreciation it deserves, I must reiterate that the mechanics play just as important of a role in making Hollow Knight what it is. Without the combat and exploration, there simply is no Hollow Knight. Never have I found a game’s mechanics to be so smooth, intelligent, responsive, and pure fun; never have I found a world to be so intricately and purposefully laid out. Those are the reasons I end up returning over and over again.
Overall, 5.5/5.
Worldbuilding:
Writing this review has been a strangely personal journey for me. I’ve loved video games since I was a little kid; playing the SNES with my cousins, Call of Duty at my dad’s, Fallout: New Vegas on my proudly owned 360. Games have always been a constant in my life, no matter what stage of it I’m at. And now, I’ve managed to finally put into words exactly why I think Hollow Knight may be the best one I’ve ever played. It has stuck with me since the moment I picked it up in 2018. It’s one I still feel the urge to return to - and I do, at least once a year.
During every section, I’ve argued why that particular aspect of Hollow Knight could very well be its most important, or its best. I’ve described - in excruciating detail, I might add - why each part, from the presentation to the mechanics, could be called perfect. There is no greater testament to quality; when everything just works too well together, when everything does its job too flawlessly, for you to pick one ‘best part’.
Still, I can’t help but feel that it all comes back to one thing - Hallownest itself.
It’s a world so miniscule from the perspective of a human, a kingdom hidden inside the caverns of a bug mound; yet it hosts immortal beings beyond our comprehension, entities that have wreaked pain and mass-suffering on their undeserving subjects. It now sits as nothing more than a faded memory. A bleak, permanent reminder of their god-king’s folly.
The world’s every corner is littered with the remnants of a dead society. Those that haven’t already died with it are now mindless and sick. That sickness is embedded in the walls.
The sheer magnitude of Hollow Knight’s lore is mind-boggling. We learn of, or personally encounter, literally hundreds of bugs that have had their very existences uprooted by Hallownest. These oft-interwoven personal tales are what make up the kingdom’s rich and storied culture - even if it’s long since been abandoned. Through them, we experience Hallownest’s past, present, and possible future.
But it’s not just the writing and characters that compose Hollow Knight’s worldbuilding. Just as important are the music, art, and gameplay. Visual details in the environment constantly reveal more of Hallownest’s history. The soundtrack brilliantly conveys each environment and enemy you encounter perfectly. And the gameplay, from the environmental puzzles to the boss fights, add the interactivity needed to bring it all to life. Through every single element, Hallownest is constantly revealing something new to the player. This is what makes Hollow Knight’s worldbuilding special. But I think I’ve demonstrated that throughout this entire review.
I truly do believe that the mark of a masterpiece is the work’s ability to tie every one of its elements together. Hollow Knight does so flawlessly. It does it in ways that no game had ever done before, and that none have done since.
This is why it’s a work of art. What more is there to say?
Overall, 5.5/5.
Overall game score: 5/5 [5.5/5].
There’s a magic surrounding Hollow Knight, permeating it, not unlike the infection that sits at its core. I’ve been burnt out on writing for months, games littering my Steam that I haven’t felt apt to review yet. So, instead, I booted up Hollow Knight, because it had been too long, and because I knew that it would revive my passion for discussion. There are millions of things - big and small - that I could discuss about Hollow Knight.
But my main reason for re-installing it was never to pump out a review. I simply felt the familiar urge to revisit Hallownest, like I have so many times before. After all, Hollow Knight is consistently one of the best video game experiences I’ve had; how could I NOT want to return again and again? The mechanics are smooth, challenging, and fun. The music and art direction are nearly unmatched. The story is complex and captivating.
Hollow Knight is, and always will be, a work of art.
Visuals: 5.5/5
Sound: 5.5/5
Story: 5.5/5
Gameplay: 5.5/5
Worldbuilding: 5.5/5
Overall game score: 5/5 [5.5/5]
Visuals:
Nestled in the far corner of a desolate, underground wasteland hides Hallownest. Once an impressive kingdom ruled by the divine Pale King, it served as a haven for all bugs; a place where they could gain true sentience. Now all that remains is a shallow grave of its glory days. Those same bugs wander the caverns aimlessly, mindlessly, their societies nearly all abandoned. The bright orange infection bursting from their bodies, from the walls, from the very air around you - it paints a grim picture.
Hollow Knight’s visual storytelling is immaculate. Each area you explore adds its own layer to the incredible overarching history of Hallownest and its people. The cast is made up of thousands. The victims are too great to count.
The vastly different environments allude to societies that grew and evolved totally independent of each other, of even the king or his city. All are made up of the same soil, yet each new village starkly contrasts the last. Yes, a handful of Hallownest’s tunnels once formed the Pale King’s land; but his tunnels, and many more, had been there long before.
From the pink, bubble-filled Fog Canyon to the dark, cramped, frightening Deepnest. The imprint of the King cuts straight through Hallownest, and his crown jewel - the City of Tears - sits at its heart. But the mantises, the bees, the moths, and the spiders had all been there lifetimes before he’d ever set foot in their caves.
The devil is in the details, the little things you may overlook. Giant carcasses left over from eons past. Overgrown green, long since abandoned, overtaking and bringing new life. Furniture, books, graves. Statues of those once revered with worship and remembrance. You can only really understand what Hollow Knight is about by observing The Knight’s surroundings, and by dissecting the sparse dialogue and writings littered throughout your journey.
The color palettes, environment, lighting, and art are huge factors in making each of these areas feel truly unique. Yet, despite how radically different each place is in presentation, what keeps consistent throughout the entire game is the atmosphere. Loneliness and emptiness pervade every nook and cranny. There are dozens upon dozens of artifacts telling the history of Hallownest; yet conscious, living beings are few and far between. What remains are ghosts, memories of a time when Hallownest was filled with the bustling of life. Its citizens walk now only as zombie-like victims, serving as a reminder to how great and diverse the world of Hallownest once was.
Flying, crawling, running. Big, small, smart, simple. Dedicated warriors who still carry themselves with dignity, despite forgetting all else. Siblings of the Knight, mirrors into a cruel, unlucky fate. Cushioned, cowardly rich bugs. Graceful and precise mantis traitors. All have fallen to the infection. All have reverted back to their natural instincts - which, for many, is violence. Fighting.
Fighting is a huge part of Hollow Knight. Nearly every cavern you’ll explore is blocked by a few undead husks. You won’t get anywhere without challenging a boss or two, either. And it’s difficult to argue against the bosses being the holy grail of Hollow Knight. They encapsulate everything exceptional about the game - the mechanics, the visual design, the music. And above everything else within its tunnels, the bosses represent Hallownest’s past poignantly. They stand as reminders of its ideals, its communities, and its customs.
But one of the most important elements to making fights FEEL good is the animation. Always smooth and easy to read, both The Knight and enemy animations are perfectly suited to split-second decision making. Before an aggressor ever does anything, you’re given a build-up window, and, consequently, the opportunity to predict and adapt. It is totally up to you to fully utilize it.
There are endless things to praise about Hollow Knight’s art. Without the solid visual foundation, its gameplay, story, and world might not be nearly as good. Because when I think of playing Hollow Knight, I think of perfectly timing attacks on dangerous enemies. I think of exploring Greenpath or the City of Tears. I think of my favorite character designs, or of the terrifying, hidden-away bosses. The art is far from the only good thing about Hollow Knight, but it’s one of the best, and possibly its most underrated attribute.
Oh, and I also think of the music, of course.
Overall, 5.5/5.
Audio:
For games I consider to be amongst the best, I find it’s always difficult to separate my writing into neat little sections about each of its moving parts. I’ll freely talk about the story in visuals, and the gameplay in music. To me, this is the mark of a truly fantastic experience. It means that each aspect works to support the others, and that they all play into one another. This is Hollow Knight, through and through. And nothing within it represents this idea more than the music.
Hollow Knight has one of the best soundtracks of all time, full stop. I don’t think many would disagree. It forfeits the typical 8-bit tunes or generic rock for a full synth orchestra - piano, violin, cello, bassoon. Its pieces range from powerful and punchy to subtle yet beautiful, each uniquely and completely different from the others. And it’s this elegant score that breathes new life into a dead and forgotten Hallownest.
There are a myriad of moments within Hollow Knight made so much more impactful by the music accompanying it. The Broken Vessel’s theme is one of my favorite examples; it expresses sadness and anger, with its deep, underlying bassline and sharp, short bursts of strings. Conversely, Nosk’s theme plays with volume, becoming unsettlingly quiet halfway through before exploding into a full panic; it is the closest thing to a horror movie monster in the game, and its theme reflects this from start to finish.
Perhaps the most powerful example of this idea is the Hollow Knight’s theme. The moment your void sibling is freed from their chains, they let out a deafening scream, the fight begins, and a full symphony kicks in.
It’s a strong, adrenaline-inducing theme, like many others in the game. But after dealing enough damage, things change. The Hollow Knight turns its nail on itself, repeatedly stabbing its own torso. The music quiets in response, the violin taking center stage; long wails and surrounding silence fill The Temple with sadness and loneliness. The previous anger is gone, at least temporarily. The Hollow Knight falls to its knees. Tired of fighting. Tired of suffering.
Killing the Hollow Knight has been your goal since the beginning, but its own desperation to die makes the task an emotional undertaking. None of the White Lady’s children ever had the chance at a real life. They were born only to fulfill a bleak role in a cruel, futile plot; whether they were the one chosen for the job, or the thousands that weren’t, their lives were only ever filled with suffering.
Of course, there’s more to Hollow Knight’s soundtrack than just the boss themes. The area themes are underappreciated gems, fulfilling their own important purpose in service of the game’s tone. These tend to be calmer and more understated, a stark contrast to the loud, bombastic fight music. Their sole focus is to set a distinct style and atmosphere for whichever location they’re accompanying. These pieces are possibly the most important part of the mood-dressing, no matter where you are.
Greenpath’s soft, whimsical plucking makes it feel magical to explore, like the woods behind your home when you’re a child. The City of Tears is the only track to prominently feature vocals, working in harmony with the music to create an air of mysticism within the city. Meanwhile, Deepnest entirely lacks its own track; instead, it uses a faltering violin as ambience to immediately put you on edge.
But it’s not just the music - even as a whole - that makes Hollow Knight’s sound so good. It’s not surprising, either; this was never the type of game to focus on only one design aspect. Instead, the devs have also given careful attention to the sound effects. The little sounds - the Knight’s nail slashing, bouncing off of a purple mushroom, equipping a charm - are forever burned into my memory, only because they’re so well-made.
But probably the most beloved part of the audio flavoring is the voice acting. Each character that you speak to has their own voice, inflection, and tone. Even more importantly, every single one speaks the same complex and unique bug language. This language has become iconic within the community. Many lines of complete nonsense have become well-remembered, solely because of their charm and delivery.
Overall, the audio design is just one of countless testaments to Hollow Knight’s quality. Despite already having possibly the best game soundtrack of all time, the devs still made sure to produce well-made sound in every other way, too. The music bolsters the atmosphere, the sound effects bolster the gameplay, and the voice acting bolsters the immersion. It’s simply more examples of how to use every single component to make the others better.
Overall, 5.5/5.
Story:
It’s unsurprising that Hollow Knight’s full story goes straight over the heads of most. The details are buried, layered, and - at times - difficult to comprehend. But a convoluted story is not always a flawed one. The mystifying air surrounding this lore, coupled with enthralling exploration and entertaining gameplay, will keep you coming back for more. The intricacies just mean that, if you love the game, you’ll have new things to learn every playthrough, every community discussion, and every YouTube video.
Still, I wish that the wholeness of this beautiful tale was fully appreciated by players. It deserves much more recognition for its sprawling lore and tragic narrative. Its world contains a bible-like history, with a flock of Gods dotting it. It encompasses hundreds of lives that have been forever altered - or, in many cases, stolen - by those Gods’ actions. There is no perfectly happy ending, and there is no real justice.
Sitting at the center of this spectacle is the tiniest, most unsuspecting creature in Hallownest. The Knight is a fierce bug born of void, a character that embodies a classic silent protagonist in the most literal sense. Devoid of personality, ambition, or emotion - yet impressively powerful. Hallownest immediately recognizes that power; stone tablets written in ancient languages decipher for them like a code, speaking of their godly status.
Sadly, The Knight was not given a choice between divine power or a fulfilling existence. Even before conception, their parents - the Pale King and White Lady - had made the decision for them. This holy union could have been something beautiful; instead, their thousands of children were nothing more than a desperate, sacrificial bid to save Hallownest.
To the King, this cruel act was justifiable. He’d pay whatever cost necessary to keep Hallownest thriving. It was a paradise unlike any other, after all. Not only did it provide bugs with a safe home from the harsh outside world, but it allowed them to reach a new level of consciousness.
So, when the infection began to creep in, and when nothing else proved effective, the King’s own lineage became a pawn. But even within those thousands of offspring, only one could be chosen to become The Hollow Knight. This voidborn would have to be exceptionally powerful, while completely lacking any worldly attachments (personality, ambition, or emotion.)
An unknown test was completed, and the seemingly perfect candidate was decided upon. As the King and this favored child left, the entrance to the voidborns’ little corner of Hallownest was sealed off. Their birthplace would now serve as an eternal prison; forced isolation by a father who’d rather forget about their shameful existence.
This is where the Knight spent their childhood, and where they eventually managed to escape from. They even traveled outside of Hallownest, but just as soon found themselves called back by its familiar gods.
This is where you come in. The moment the Knight returns to Hallownest, their journey is left in your hands. The kingdom and its residents are almost entirely dead, and The Hollow Knight can no longer contain the infection. It is now entirely up to one of their own siblings - our Knight, cast aside and forgotten - to break into the temple in which they’ve been locked up to solve the problem.
But for now, the sickness seeps out of its host, spreading through the tunnels, aiming to snuff out any free will left within the walls. Many powerful enemies stand in your way, some gods, some mortals. There are puzzles to piece together and a map to fill out. The entire world of Hallownest lay at your feet. It’s time to reclaim your father’s throne.
What I’ve just presented is only a small sliver of Hollow Knight’s narrative. This may be the basic setup for its premise, but between each of those lines are dozens of details and interpersonal stories to uncover - and hundreds more in the game’s present. A treasure trove of lore and worldbuilding, Hallownest’s history is as expansive as its massive caverns. You will learn its secrets one by one, soaking in the full picture of the devastation it has endured.
Along the way, you’ll learn about its inhabitants, too. Some have long since passed, while some still fight to live within Hallownest. New friends, shopkeeps, masters of combat willing to impart their wisdom; the amiable bugs who’ve stuck around will become invaluable, each supporting you through your expedition in their own way. Maybe, amongst them, you will find new reason to destroy the infection. Because it’s the characters - past or present, friend or foe - which act as the biggest catalysts in Hollow Knight.
But, among all of said characters, none prove to be more narratively important than Hallownest’s gods. They read like legend, too devastating and too carefully intertwined to be true; but they were very much real, and so was the immeasurable tragedy they caused. They once held the power to alter the course of countless lives with a single decision. And this, they did. We witness the large-scale destruction they’ve caused firsthand. It is now the Knight’s burden to bear.
This is the impressive story Hollow Knight sets out to tell. It’s not a simple one, or the easiest to follow, but it’s fascinating and beautiful - even strangely human, despite being entirely about bugs and their deities. It serves as a beautiful backdrop for meaningful combat encounters and equally meaningful exploration. It makes an abandoned land feel alive with its own rich history. It’s the kind of narrative that is rarely possible outside of games. Even then, few games achieve it. All-encompassing, mystical, emotionally captivating, and intelligent.
Overall, 5.5/5.
Gameplay:
Hollow Knight boasts one of the best gameplay experiences of the entire Metroidvania genre. Any genre, really. It’s the rare kind of game that should be played by everyone, regardless of familiarity or preference. Even players with no background in Metroidvanias will find a brand new love for them in this modern, unique, and beautifully-executed take.
The Knight begins their journey with nothing more than a nail. As you progress, though, they will obtain many new abilities, including weapon enhancements, powerful spells, and advanced movement techniques. It ranges from a simple dash to a cyclone slash; how you wield the power-ups in combat is almost entirely up to you, but using them to maneuver around the world and unlock new areas is an absolute necessity. In other words, they blend seamlessly into gameplay, but still challenge the player to get creative.
This idea isn’t a new one. It’s a staple of the Metroidvania genre, a concept as old as Metroid itself. Still, Hollow Knight executes it flawlessly, as it does many traditional aspects of games. Take, for example, boss fights.
While many enemies act as a hindrance for the Knight, what really steals the show are the bosses. These are the lynchpin of the gameplay; every single one of the 46 you may encounter are totally unique in moveset and aesthetic, making for a constantly-changing and fast-paced experience. It’s another testament to Hollow Knight’s rich design philosophy; each one perfectly blends into the worldbuilding, while still being special in every single way.
Another important aspect of Hollow Knight’s diverse combat system are the charms. These are found throughout the world, and although only a few can be equipped at a time, each one provides their own unique ability. Through them, you can create all kinds of builds - nail, spell, tank, or even companion. There are endless options for the player to explore (even combination synergies that give additional bonuses!) It allows each individual to find a build specialization, or to play around with the best builds for certain fights, bringing a new edge to combat.
For healing and mana, Hollow Knight provides a special essence called SOUL. SOUL is gained whenever you hit an enemy with your nail, giving players an even greater incentive to attack during battle. At any point, you may consume SOUL to heal, but doing so restricts your movement and leaves you vulnerable to enemy fire. To utilize this mechanic properly, you must learn safe openings; otherwise, you’ll only end up taking more damage.
The alternative to healing is, fittingly, more damage. Spells you’ll find as you progress turn the essence you’ve collected into even more offense. This is especially useful because Vengeful Spirit, the first obtained, allows you to hit enemies that are far outside of your range - a rare commodity in Hollow Knight. Still, to make full use of this mechanic, you must once again learn the openings. If used properly, fights can end a lot more quickly; but if you don’t hit your spells at all, you’re wasting valuable resources. Just like healing, mastering this aspect of SOUL requires acute timing and awareness.
Now that I’ve discussed Hollow Knight’s combat at length, it’s time to switch the focus to the other side of its coin - exploration.
The world of Hallownest is massive and intricate; and, as per Metroidvania standard, it’s also divided up into distinct areas. These areas unlock as you gain more complex means of traversal (along with access to new sections of previously-visited maps.) This makes the size of the game much less overwhelming, along with giving it clearer direction and pacing.
There’s a myriad of different items and abilities to collect throughout Hallownest, but simply unlocking a new section of this setting already feels like its own reward. New environments are a wonder, with each one containing completely unique enemies, aesthetics, and mini-mechanics. It never becomes repetitive. There simply is no repetition.
Still, all of that side content filling out the world is what makes it truly fun. There are grubs to save, mask shards/vessel fragments to uncover (granting additional health/SOUL storage), and charms to collect. Most of these are hidden behind challenging environmental puzzles, putting your non-combat skills to the test.
There are plenty more examples of tucked away secrets to find, too. Journals and idols to sell, pale ore to upgrade your weapon, warriors to teach you nail arts. Even bosses act as a prize for keen players; many within the game are optional, and can only be found through thorough searching. The money they drop and loot they guard are useful, of course, but again, just finding new big encounters is its own reward.
Items and enemies aren’t the only things to discover in Hallownest. There are also sidequests, multiple of which serve as story arcs for NPCs you’ll encounter. Through these independent narratives, important layers of worldbuilding and interactivity are added to the game.
My personal favorite example is The Last Stag. The Stag is an NPC who provides the player with the ability to fast travel to stations they’ve unlocked throughout Hallownest. An old bug, the last of his kind, the Stag recounts the glory days of each area you visit - while also mourning the extinction of his own species during Hallownest’s fall from grace. This is just one of the many tragedies plaguing Hallownest, but unlike most, it can be given some closure (with the Knight’s help.)
If the story-based side quests aren’t your cup of tea, there are many which focus on gameplay instead. Take the imprisoned grubs you must free, so that they may return to their father.
Or take the Colosseum of Fools. Aptly named, this grand arena allows the Knight to take part in grueling combat trials. Winning provides significant rewards, but it won’t be easy. The player’s mastery of Hollow Knight’s mechanics up to that point will be fully tested.
That may sound overwhelming, but the truth is that Hollow Knight’s difficulty is an important part of its excellence. It’s what makes the game such a treat to not only fully explore, but to return to again and again. No matter how many times you play, defeating foes means putting in the effort. You must understand the mechanics, the timing, and the attack patterns.
The Knight never becomes an unstoppable force. They gain new abilities and significant power over time, but it’s still ultimately up to the player to properly execute basic attacks and dodges. And that, to me, is perfect “difficult game” design. Not only is overcoming these odds very fun, but it’s tremendously gratifying at every turn.
I’ll close out this section by discussing one of Hollow Knight’s most interesting, yet widely overlooked, mechanics. The Dream Nail is an item that you acquire fairly early on, which then acts as a requisite for certain stages of progression - yet it serves no traditional combat or traversal purpose. Its only functional use is to gain a large amount of SOUL in one hit, but this is often impractical during fights, given that it deals no damage and swings exceptionally slowly. Instead, its main purpose is to further build on content and lore.
Its most obvious function is allowing the Knight access to the Dream Realm, a mysterious plane where many important NPCs reside. It also provides us with a tangible connection to the moth tribe of Hallownest; charging the Nail with essence will uncover important details about their role in the kingdom’s downfall (as well as more rewards!) Most interestingly, though, is the ability it gives the player to read the mind of any NPC or enemy they may encounter.
From the lowest Crawlid to the Gods themselves, the Knight is allowed a peek into the innermost thoughts of any bug. This new form of interaction adds an unbelievable amount of depth to the characters, their relationships, and the world they reside in. It’s such a rich addition to Hollow Knight, and one that is criminally underappreciated. Not many games can boast this level of detail.
Here I go again. Getting distracted by lore and worldbuilding. It’s difficult not to, especially in Hollow Knight’s case. Everything within it is made so intentionally and lovingly. But, even if I can’t resist showing a good story the appreciation it deserves, I must reiterate that the mechanics play just as important of a role in making Hollow Knight what it is. Without the combat and exploration, there simply is no Hollow Knight. Never have I found a game’s mechanics to be so smooth, intelligent, responsive, and pure fun; never have I found a world to be so intricately and purposefully laid out. Those are the reasons I end up returning over and over again.
Overall, 5.5/5.
Worldbuilding:
Writing this review has been a strangely personal journey for me. I’ve loved video games since I was a little kid; playing the SNES with my cousins, Call of Duty at my dad’s, Fallout: New Vegas on my proudly owned 360. Games have always been a constant in my life, no matter what stage of it I’m at. And now, I’ve managed to finally put into words exactly why I think Hollow Knight may be the best one I’ve ever played. It has stuck with me since the moment I picked it up in 2018. It’s one I still feel the urge to return to - and I do, at least once a year.
During every section, I’ve argued why that particular aspect of Hollow Knight could very well be its most important, or its best. I’ve described - in excruciating detail, I might add - why each part, from the presentation to the mechanics, could be called perfect. There is no greater testament to quality; when everything just works too well together, when everything does its job too flawlessly, for you to pick one ‘best part’.
Still, I can’t help but feel that it all comes back to one thing - Hallownest itself.
It’s a world so miniscule from the perspective of a human, a kingdom hidden inside the caverns of a bug mound; yet it hosts immortal beings beyond our comprehension, entities that have wreaked pain and mass-suffering on their undeserving subjects. It now sits as nothing more than a faded memory. A bleak, permanent reminder of their god-king’s folly.
The world’s every corner is littered with the remnants of a dead society. Those that haven’t already died with it are now mindless and sick. That sickness is embedded in the walls.
The sheer magnitude of Hollow Knight’s lore is mind-boggling. We learn of, or personally encounter, literally hundreds of bugs that have had their very existences uprooted by Hallownest. These oft-interwoven personal tales are what make up the kingdom’s rich and storied culture - even if it’s long since been abandoned. Through them, we experience Hallownest’s past, present, and possible future.
But it’s not just the writing and characters that compose Hollow Knight’s worldbuilding. Just as important are the music, art, and gameplay. Visual details in the environment constantly reveal more of Hallownest’s history. The soundtrack brilliantly conveys each environment and enemy you encounter perfectly. And the gameplay, from the environmental puzzles to the boss fights, add the interactivity needed to bring it all to life. Through every single element, Hallownest is constantly revealing something new to the player. This is what makes Hollow Knight’s worldbuilding special. But I think I’ve demonstrated that throughout this entire review.
I truly do believe that the mark of a masterpiece is the work’s ability to tie every one of its elements together. Hollow Knight does so flawlessly. It does it in ways that no game had ever done before, and that none have done since.
This is why it’s a work of art. What more is there to say?
Overall, 5.5/5.
Overall game score: 5/5 [5.5/5].
This review contains spoilers
Hotline Miami 2 is very important to me. It has been for five years.
There are a lot of people who dislike it, and despite my personal love, I can see the issues they have. Still, the flaws to be found are nothing compared to its strong narrative and abundance of style. This game is a masterclass in worldbuilding, storytelling, pacing, and presentation.
Maybe it seems like a strange choice of media to put so much emotional stake in, but teens have latched onto stranger things. I find HLM2 to be a powerful, strangely intimate experience, one that deserves more love than it’s gotten since release.
SHORT REVIEW
Visuals: 5/5
Sound: 5.5/5
Story: 5.5/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Worldbuilding: 5/5
Overall game score: 5/5 [5.1/5]
IN-DEPTH REVIEW
Visuals:
HLM2’s look is nearly identical to HLM1, the neatest improvement being that you can now run over severed heads and basketballs to roll them around. Despite that, the game still finds a way to make notable improvements in its overall art direction, particularly in settings and visual effects; [SPOILERS] the levels range from a Hawaii warzone, to a dim, flashing Disco club, to a series of drug-induced hallucinations. [SPOILER ENDING] There’s a lot more creativity injected into the locations and their presentation, largely due to expanded cast and their individual stories.
The characters themselves are also very well-designed. Many of them sport a signature mask to reflect their true nature; this gives each a memorable silhouette, as well as providing the audience with a better understanding of characters that must share the stage with so many others. Take for example, the neo-confederate Jake, who wears a snake mask. It harkens to the ‘Don’t Tread On Me’ flag, as well as his skeevy ideals. Or there’s Tony, the confident badass of The Fans, who dons a tiger mask (purportedly worn by Jacket himself.) You could theorize that this symbolizes his strength and cunning, as well as his devotion to Jacket.
Though they’re not often shown in-game because of the top-down view, the cast’s outfits and full-body looks are just as interesting. Their comic art and fanart has always stuck with me. From Corey’s teal and orange Miami Dolphins getup, to Manny’s classic rugged detective ensemble, they each stand out with ease.
Moving on to the technical side of things. I won’t harp too much on the fantastic job that HLM does on visual clarity, since I’ve already covered that in my first review. All you need to know is that HLM2 continues to excel in using visuals to benefit gameplay. The bold outlines and coherent effects help players understand what’s happening on a moment-to-moment basis.
What I WOULD like to discuss is how much the visual style of HLM means to me personally. As an artist myself, these games demonstrate a belief that I hold dear - that your art does not need to be conventionally appealing to speak to an audience, or to flawlessly portray your intentions.
HLM’s appearance is certainly a bit strange. But the 80s aesthetics, stomach-turning gore, and attention to detail make it more intriguing than anything. Even the character portraits, which are quite ‘ugly’, have a certain charm. They eerily remind me of police sketches, as both skirt the line of uncanny valley to burn a face into your mind. I would not remember the characters’ appearances so vividly if not for this.
At the end of the day, despite its unusual appearance, there’s so much to appreciate about this duology’s art direction. None of it is because of perfectly realistic work, or a smooth, flowing style. It has its own style, and it makes use of it wonderfully.
Overall, 5/5.
Sound:
There is simply no denying that HLM2 has one of the best soundtracks of all time. Being three times the length and featuring many new artists, it’s arguably even better than HLM1’s. Each song manages to perfectly capture the essence and aesthetic of the game - from the electric sensation of Sexualizer to the chaotic and unsettling Run.
You don’t need me to tell you that music has always been the soul of HLM. As such, it comes as no surprise that the story’s grand finale would culminate in a track that not only perfectly fits the moment, but is possibly the best in the series. It deserves its own recognition.
There’s nothing I can say that will do this soundtrack justice, though. Even if you don’t plan to play HLM2, or you hate it with a burning passion, or you don’t listen to game music often, just trust me. Give this one a listen (or re-listen.) I promise it’s worth it.
Overall, 5/5.
Story:
I love HLM1’s story. It’s character-driven, surreal, and surprisingly complex. Through it, we're glimpses of a nation on the brink of war, ripe with nationalism and xenophobia. Yet that’s never the focus. Instead, the focus is on the protagonist. Jacket.
Jacket is a seemingly normal man that is roped into something much larger than him. Despite his average lifestyle, he’s shown to be combat-efficient and incredibly violent when set loose. Yet he also has moments of great compassion, and possesses a strong sense of loyalty.
Jacket is fascinating. He’s a very strongly developed character, and all without ever speaking a word of dialogue. Through actions alone, HLM1 perfectly portrays a man on a grizzly downward spiral. And although a lot of the dirty details are left open to interpretation, HLM1’s conclusion was satisfying enough; it would be difficult to build upon the Jacket narrative in any meaningful way.
So, instead, HLM2 does a complete 180. It’s no longer about Jacket’s personal narrative. Instead, it’s about the big picture. It hones in on the themes that were lingering in the background of HLM2, while also portraying how Jacket’s actions have had ripple effects on the Miami community.
HLM2’s cast is expanded dramatically to a whopping 13 playable protagonists. And these new protagonists are each catalysts for the themes, in their own unique ways. This is no longer a personal story of one man. It’s about 13 starkly different people who are caught up in the aftermath of that man’s actions. It’s about the different ways in which these people view and utilize violence. It’s about war, nationalism, the flaws of capitalism… it’s even about HLM fans themselves, and how all different types of people reacted to HLM1.
And even though Jacket is only there for a few short scenes, he remains the pin that holds the entire story together. Evan, a desperate journalist fixated on writing a novel about Jacket, goes to extreme lengths to reach his goals. The Fans are a group of copycat killers who worship Jacket as a hero, continuing the work of slaughtering Russians by the dozens. Manny, who is revealed to be a serial killer himself, is indubitably jealous of the attention Jacket’s case receives over his Miami Mutilator persona. The Son is picking at the last remnants of his Father’s empire, the very empire that Jacket took down in HLM1.
Possibly the most controversial plot device of HLM2, though, are the time jumps. While the first game has a few of these, they’re nothing compared to what the sequel implements. Many players view it as messy and confusing - but I heavily disagree with these assertions. Although this structure is a bit more difficult to wrap your head around, it allows for fantastic story pacing. The devs are given complete control over which moments to use as climaxes and cliffhangers.
Take, for example, Final Cut, the last chapter of act one. Here, we follow actor Martin Brown as he vicariously lives out violent fantasies through the movie he’s filming. And although we don’t know exactly when this takes place, what we do know is that Martin dies very suddenly in an on-set accident.
Even though Martin is the protagonist with arguably the least plot influence, the moment itself serves as one of the most important in the entire game. It draws the player in early-on, of course - but even more crucial is what it communicates to us. No one is safe. Anything can happen.
We never find out whether Martin’s death was a murder or an accident. That’s another thing to get used to with Hotline Miami; very little is spelled out for you. You’re left thinking and theorizing, fitting the puzzle pieces together to create your own version of events.
Yet, there are so many real, emotional stories to juxtapose the mindfuck. We are given a deeply intimate peek into the lives of complete strangers, people dealing with sympathetic personal issues. There are themes of family, and the expectations they place upon you. There’s betrayal, and there’s fierce loyalty. Protecting the ones you love, but losing them anyways. Brotherhood.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still about nationalism, xenophobia, and violence. The war is not getting better, it’s only getting worse. So does anything we do ultimately matter? Is it all futile?
No, it does matter. Because, even if one day we’ll all die, our actions affect other people while they’re still here. We’re all human - including those that are unjustly seen otherwise due to bigotry. Maybe our species’ self-inflicted violence would be avoided if we took the time to see that.
Overall, 5.5/5.
Gameplay:
HLM 1 and 2’s mechanics are near-identical, to the point that all core elements are unchanged. Everything dies in one hit, you press R to restart, and you adapt your playstyle. The only big difference is the addition of many new weapons, which all feel great.
But two details - two very important parts of the bigger picture - were altered in a major way. In fact, it’s such a drastic difference that HLM2 feels like a brand new experience. So let’s talk about the level design and the enemy placement.
The biggest factor here is how much open space was introduced. This leaves you exposed to enemies much more often than in the first, where the rooms were claustrophobic and puzzle-like in the way they fit together. If you’re quiet, you have time to throw together a loose plan before bursting into each contained area. But HLM2 takes the opposite approach, instead relying on fast reflexes - and a lot of restarts - to learn about enemies you weren’t aware of.
A lot of people hate this change, and I can’t say I fully blame them. Off-screen kills lend to a sense of artificial difficulty in a few spots. But I must say that I still enjoy this version of the HLM formula. I find so much to love about playing it every time I pick it up.
The thing is that the developers don’t just throw you into a giant room with no clue of what to do - at least, not too often. On the contrary, they very competently apply this design philosophy to the core gameplay of HLM. Levels like Deathwish and No Mercy perfect it.
And it’s all because of geometry and size. Think about it this way - HLM1 rooms are pieced together perfectly like puzzle pieces, with some narrow hallways here and there to fill in gaps. Meanwhile, HLM2 levels usually have a ‘central’ room, which takes up a large part of the map. Other, smaller rooms are scattered around within it.
Another notable change made is how characters’ personalities are expressed through gameplay. In 1, Jacket takes the role of an everyman - his generic fighting style is modified only through what mask you equip. And even though we do get a taste of some character-based kits with Biker in the epilogue, it’s only for a few short levels.
But HLM2 doesn’t need everymen. Instead, there’s 13 protagonists, all of whom have their own personal approach to violence. Take Evan. He’s a journalist-turned-writer, a nonviolent man that has ventured into the dark underbelly of Miami for research; after hearing that description, it makes complete sense that Evan won’t use deadly weapons and incapacitates enemies instead of killing them.
There’s also Alex and Ash, a pair of chainsaw and gun-wielding siblings. They’re controlled at the same time, moving together, attacking individually with the left and right mouse buttons. They work cooperatively and watch each other’s backs, something that shows a deep trust between the two.
And then we have a character like The Son, who has three different unlockable playstyles. One is based off of the Bodyguard from HLM1, its icon showing her broken sunglasses, and The Son wielding her katana in combat. Another is inherited from his father, and shows a bullet engraved with the date 8/23/89. This is the day that Showdown takes place in HLM1, the day that Jacket kills The Father, The Grandfather, and The Bodyguard. We see the deep loyalty that The Son feels to family, even to those that have died. This is something expressed further through his commitment to making them proud.
At the end of the day, even though there are definitely flaws in HLM2’s gameplay, I still think that it’s very fun. What it lacks in clear-cut combat, it makes up for in ingenuity and character work. There are still a lot of great levels, too, ones that are specifically designed for the playstyles of whatever protagonist you’re controlling.
HLM2 set out to make a different kind of experience, something separate from HLM1, and I’d say that it overwhelmingly succeeded.
Overall, 4.5/5.
Worldbuilding:
In HLM1, players were given small glimpses of a world ravaged by war and nationalism. These surroundings change the course of Jacket’s life, as he is roped into a mass genocide scheme spearheaded by an organization known as 50 Blessings. Yet, even though these themes are just as important to the game’s messaging, the narrative ultimately stays focused on Jacket as a character.
In HLM2, you are actively participating in said war. You’re rebuilding the Russian mafia’s empire from the ground-up. You’re taking out an entire ship of Colombian cartel. You’re witnessing the direct unraveling of the planet.
It’s not that this type of action-packed storytelling is better. The first game perfects a personalized character arc with a silent protagonist. The surreal nature of everything adds so much style to the game, too, and the setting is perfectly integrated into this. HLM2 just serves to paint a clearer picture of its society.
And it still has plenty of intimate arcs, too. Evan’s storyline is ultimately about whether he should prioritize his family or his work, leading to the only player choice of the game. We’re shown how Richter was forced to work for 50 Blessings after they threatened the life of his ill mother, whom he cares for. Hell, The Henchman mainly serves to humanize the enemies you’re killing by the dozens.
But, again, as much as HLM2 is about its characters, it’s also about the bigger picture. It’s the end of everything these people know. The rotating cast provides us with 13 different perspectives into this world, balancing the protagonists with the external events happening around them.
And even though we get explanations for some of HLM1’s mysteries - and we learn a lot more about its world - HLM’s trademark surreal presentation never leaves. There are just as many new questions posed by 2, providing us with new theories, ideas, and trivia.
There are dozens of little details to notice, too, adding to the lore surrounding HLM. Each scene is packed with things for you to notice - Biker’s presence at Jacket’s trial, Alex’s ‘paraphernalia’, the living victim in the trunk of Manny’s car. Everything is so impressively fleshed out; it gives us a new level of insight into both the protagonists and the setting.
It’s everything it needs to be, and more. HLM2’s story and world build upon everything laid out by the first game. Yet, it still provides its own unique perspective of them. There’s something new to learn on every replay. There are a multitude of intriguing characters to explore. There are endless plot points and little details to theorize about. It’s perfect.
Overall, 5/5.
Overall game score: 5/5 [5.1/5]. I honestly, truly think this is one of the most underrated games of all time. Yes, HLM2 occasionally trips up. But its flaws are overshadowed by new ideas, captivating music, engrossing stories & characters, superb levels, and pure style. If you haven’t given HLM2 a try yet, I highly recommend it. If you didn’t like it the first time, replay it on an easier difficulty, and lose yourself in the narrative and music.
At the very least, give the soundtrack a listen.
There are a lot of people who dislike it, and despite my personal love, I can see the issues they have. Still, the flaws to be found are nothing compared to its strong narrative and abundance of style. This game is a masterclass in worldbuilding, storytelling, pacing, and presentation.
Maybe it seems like a strange choice of media to put so much emotional stake in, but teens have latched onto stranger things. I find HLM2 to be a powerful, strangely intimate experience, one that deserves more love than it’s gotten since release.
SHORT REVIEW
Visuals: 5/5
Sound: 5.5/5
Story: 5.5/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Worldbuilding: 5/5
Overall game score: 5/5 [5.1/5]
IN-DEPTH REVIEW
Visuals:
HLM2’s look is nearly identical to HLM1, the neatest improvement being that you can now run over severed heads and basketballs to roll them around. Despite that, the game still finds a way to make notable improvements in its overall art direction, particularly in settings and visual effects; [SPOILERS] the levels range from a Hawaii warzone, to a dim, flashing Disco club, to a series of drug-induced hallucinations. [SPOILER ENDING] There’s a lot more creativity injected into the locations and their presentation, largely due to expanded cast and their individual stories.
The characters themselves are also very well-designed. Many of them sport a signature mask to reflect their true nature; this gives each a memorable silhouette, as well as providing the audience with a better understanding of characters that must share the stage with so many others. Take for example, the neo-confederate Jake, who wears a snake mask. It harkens to the ‘Don’t Tread On Me’ flag, as well as his skeevy ideals. Or there’s Tony, the confident badass of The Fans, who dons a tiger mask (purportedly worn by Jacket himself.) You could theorize that this symbolizes his strength and cunning, as well as his devotion to Jacket.
Though they’re not often shown in-game because of the top-down view, the cast’s outfits and full-body looks are just as interesting. Their comic art and fanart has always stuck with me. From Corey’s teal and orange Miami Dolphins getup, to Manny’s classic rugged detective ensemble, they each stand out with ease.
Moving on to the technical side of things. I won’t harp too much on the fantastic job that HLM does on visual clarity, since I’ve already covered that in my first review. All you need to know is that HLM2 continues to excel in using visuals to benefit gameplay. The bold outlines and coherent effects help players understand what’s happening on a moment-to-moment basis.
What I WOULD like to discuss is how much the visual style of HLM means to me personally. As an artist myself, these games demonstrate a belief that I hold dear - that your art does not need to be conventionally appealing to speak to an audience, or to flawlessly portray your intentions.
HLM’s appearance is certainly a bit strange. But the 80s aesthetics, stomach-turning gore, and attention to detail make it more intriguing than anything. Even the character portraits, which are quite ‘ugly’, have a certain charm. They eerily remind me of police sketches, as both skirt the line of uncanny valley to burn a face into your mind. I would not remember the characters’ appearances so vividly if not for this.
At the end of the day, despite its unusual appearance, there’s so much to appreciate about this duology’s art direction. None of it is because of perfectly realistic work, or a smooth, flowing style. It has its own style, and it makes use of it wonderfully.
Overall, 5/5.
Sound:
There is simply no denying that HLM2 has one of the best soundtracks of all time. Being three times the length and featuring many new artists, it’s arguably even better than HLM1’s. Each song manages to perfectly capture the essence and aesthetic of the game - from the electric sensation of Sexualizer to the chaotic and unsettling Run.
You don’t need me to tell you that music has always been the soul of HLM. As such, it comes as no surprise that the story’s grand finale would culminate in a track that not only perfectly fits the moment, but is possibly the best in the series. It deserves its own recognition.
There’s nothing I can say that will do this soundtrack justice, though. Even if you don’t plan to play HLM2, or you hate it with a burning passion, or you don’t listen to game music often, just trust me. Give this one a listen (or re-listen.) I promise it’s worth it.
Overall, 5/5.
Story:
I love HLM1’s story. It’s character-driven, surreal, and surprisingly complex. Through it, we're glimpses of a nation on the brink of war, ripe with nationalism and xenophobia. Yet that’s never the focus. Instead, the focus is on the protagonist. Jacket.
Jacket is a seemingly normal man that is roped into something much larger than him. Despite his average lifestyle, he’s shown to be combat-efficient and incredibly violent when set loose. Yet he also has moments of great compassion, and possesses a strong sense of loyalty.
Jacket is fascinating. He’s a very strongly developed character, and all without ever speaking a word of dialogue. Through actions alone, HLM1 perfectly portrays a man on a grizzly downward spiral. And although a lot of the dirty details are left open to interpretation, HLM1’s conclusion was satisfying enough; it would be difficult to build upon the Jacket narrative in any meaningful way.
So, instead, HLM2 does a complete 180. It’s no longer about Jacket’s personal narrative. Instead, it’s about the big picture. It hones in on the themes that were lingering in the background of HLM2, while also portraying how Jacket’s actions have had ripple effects on the Miami community.
HLM2’s cast is expanded dramatically to a whopping 13 playable protagonists. And these new protagonists are each catalysts for the themes, in their own unique ways. This is no longer a personal story of one man. It’s about 13 starkly different people who are caught up in the aftermath of that man’s actions. It’s about the different ways in which these people view and utilize violence. It’s about war, nationalism, the flaws of capitalism… it’s even about HLM fans themselves, and how all different types of people reacted to HLM1.
And even though Jacket is only there for a few short scenes, he remains the pin that holds the entire story together. Evan, a desperate journalist fixated on writing a novel about Jacket, goes to extreme lengths to reach his goals. The Fans are a group of copycat killers who worship Jacket as a hero, continuing the work of slaughtering Russians by the dozens. Manny, who is revealed to be a serial killer himself, is indubitably jealous of the attention Jacket’s case receives over his Miami Mutilator persona. The Son is picking at the last remnants of his Father’s empire, the very empire that Jacket took down in HLM1.
Possibly the most controversial plot device of HLM2, though, are the time jumps. While the first game has a few of these, they’re nothing compared to what the sequel implements. Many players view it as messy and confusing - but I heavily disagree with these assertions. Although this structure is a bit more difficult to wrap your head around, it allows for fantastic story pacing. The devs are given complete control over which moments to use as climaxes and cliffhangers.
Take, for example, Final Cut, the last chapter of act one. Here, we follow actor Martin Brown as he vicariously lives out violent fantasies through the movie he’s filming. And although we don’t know exactly when this takes place, what we do know is that Martin dies very suddenly in an on-set accident.
Even though Martin is the protagonist with arguably the least plot influence, the moment itself serves as one of the most important in the entire game. It draws the player in early-on, of course - but even more crucial is what it communicates to us. No one is safe. Anything can happen.
We never find out whether Martin’s death was a murder or an accident. That’s another thing to get used to with Hotline Miami; very little is spelled out for you. You’re left thinking and theorizing, fitting the puzzle pieces together to create your own version of events.
Yet, there are so many real, emotional stories to juxtapose the mindfuck. We are given a deeply intimate peek into the lives of complete strangers, people dealing with sympathetic personal issues. There are themes of family, and the expectations they place upon you. There’s betrayal, and there’s fierce loyalty. Protecting the ones you love, but losing them anyways. Brotherhood.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still about nationalism, xenophobia, and violence. The war is not getting better, it’s only getting worse. So does anything we do ultimately matter? Is it all futile?
No, it does matter. Because, even if one day we’ll all die, our actions affect other people while they’re still here. We’re all human - including those that are unjustly seen otherwise due to bigotry. Maybe our species’ self-inflicted violence would be avoided if we took the time to see that.
Overall, 5.5/5.
Gameplay:
HLM 1 and 2’s mechanics are near-identical, to the point that all core elements are unchanged. Everything dies in one hit, you press R to restart, and you adapt your playstyle. The only big difference is the addition of many new weapons, which all feel great.
But two details - two very important parts of the bigger picture - were altered in a major way. In fact, it’s such a drastic difference that HLM2 feels like a brand new experience. So let’s talk about the level design and the enemy placement.
The biggest factor here is how much open space was introduced. This leaves you exposed to enemies much more often than in the first, where the rooms were claustrophobic and puzzle-like in the way they fit together. If you’re quiet, you have time to throw together a loose plan before bursting into each contained area. But HLM2 takes the opposite approach, instead relying on fast reflexes - and a lot of restarts - to learn about enemies you weren’t aware of.
A lot of people hate this change, and I can’t say I fully blame them. Off-screen kills lend to a sense of artificial difficulty in a few spots. But I must say that I still enjoy this version of the HLM formula. I find so much to love about playing it every time I pick it up.
The thing is that the developers don’t just throw you into a giant room with no clue of what to do - at least, not too often. On the contrary, they very competently apply this design philosophy to the core gameplay of HLM. Levels like Deathwish and No Mercy perfect it.
And it’s all because of geometry and size. Think about it this way - HLM1 rooms are pieced together perfectly like puzzle pieces, with some narrow hallways here and there to fill in gaps. Meanwhile, HLM2 levels usually have a ‘central’ room, which takes up a large part of the map. Other, smaller rooms are scattered around within it.
Another notable change made is how characters’ personalities are expressed through gameplay. In 1, Jacket takes the role of an everyman - his generic fighting style is modified only through what mask you equip. And even though we do get a taste of some character-based kits with Biker in the epilogue, it’s only for a few short levels.
But HLM2 doesn’t need everymen. Instead, there’s 13 protagonists, all of whom have their own personal approach to violence. Take Evan. He’s a journalist-turned-writer, a nonviolent man that has ventured into the dark underbelly of Miami for research; after hearing that description, it makes complete sense that Evan won’t use deadly weapons and incapacitates enemies instead of killing them.
There’s also Alex and Ash, a pair of chainsaw and gun-wielding siblings. They’re controlled at the same time, moving together, attacking individually with the left and right mouse buttons. They work cooperatively and watch each other’s backs, something that shows a deep trust between the two.
And then we have a character like The Son, who has three different unlockable playstyles. One is based off of the Bodyguard from HLM1, its icon showing her broken sunglasses, and The Son wielding her katana in combat. Another is inherited from his father, and shows a bullet engraved with the date 8/23/89. This is the day that Showdown takes place in HLM1, the day that Jacket kills The Father, The Grandfather, and The Bodyguard. We see the deep loyalty that The Son feels to family, even to those that have died. This is something expressed further through his commitment to making them proud.
At the end of the day, even though there are definitely flaws in HLM2’s gameplay, I still think that it’s very fun. What it lacks in clear-cut combat, it makes up for in ingenuity and character work. There are still a lot of great levels, too, ones that are specifically designed for the playstyles of whatever protagonist you’re controlling.
HLM2 set out to make a different kind of experience, something separate from HLM1, and I’d say that it overwhelmingly succeeded.
Overall, 4.5/5.
Worldbuilding:
In HLM1, players were given small glimpses of a world ravaged by war and nationalism. These surroundings change the course of Jacket’s life, as he is roped into a mass genocide scheme spearheaded by an organization known as 50 Blessings. Yet, even though these themes are just as important to the game’s messaging, the narrative ultimately stays focused on Jacket as a character.
In HLM2, you are actively participating in said war. You’re rebuilding the Russian mafia’s empire from the ground-up. You’re taking out an entire ship of Colombian cartel. You’re witnessing the direct unraveling of the planet.
It’s not that this type of action-packed storytelling is better. The first game perfects a personalized character arc with a silent protagonist. The surreal nature of everything adds so much style to the game, too, and the setting is perfectly integrated into this. HLM2 just serves to paint a clearer picture of its society.
And it still has plenty of intimate arcs, too. Evan’s storyline is ultimately about whether he should prioritize his family or his work, leading to the only player choice of the game. We’re shown how Richter was forced to work for 50 Blessings after they threatened the life of his ill mother, whom he cares for. Hell, The Henchman mainly serves to humanize the enemies you’re killing by the dozens.
But, again, as much as HLM2 is about its characters, it’s also about the bigger picture. It’s the end of everything these people know. The rotating cast provides us with 13 different perspectives into this world, balancing the protagonists with the external events happening around them.
And even though we get explanations for some of HLM1’s mysteries - and we learn a lot more about its world - HLM’s trademark surreal presentation never leaves. There are just as many new questions posed by 2, providing us with new theories, ideas, and trivia.
There are dozens of little details to notice, too, adding to the lore surrounding HLM. Each scene is packed with things for you to notice - Biker’s presence at Jacket’s trial, Alex’s ‘paraphernalia’, the living victim in the trunk of Manny’s car. Everything is so impressively fleshed out; it gives us a new level of insight into both the protagonists and the setting.
It’s everything it needs to be, and more. HLM2’s story and world build upon everything laid out by the first game. Yet, it still provides its own unique perspective of them. There’s something new to learn on every replay. There are a multitude of intriguing characters to explore. There are endless plot points and little details to theorize about. It’s perfect.
Overall, 5/5.
Overall game score: 5/5 [5.1/5]. I honestly, truly think this is one of the most underrated games of all time. Yes, HLM2 occasionally trips up. But its flaws are overshadowed by new ideas, captivating music, engrossing stories & characters, superb levels, and pure style. If you haven’t given HLM2 a try yet, I highly recommend it. If you didn’t like it the first time, replay it on an easier difficulty, and lose yourself in the narrative and music.
At the very least, give the soundtrack a listen.