30 years since its release, it's very easy to see why and how Myst captivated so many back then and continues to do so even now.

You've heard of pen-and-paper RPGs, yet for entirely different reasons, this surely qualifies as a pen-and-paper puzzle game. There's no handholding, no onboarding, and very little in the way of tutorials on how the puzzles work. You're just dropped off on the island of Myst, and away you go. It's up to you to keep track of patterns, codes, and clues along your journey and piece together what and where they might fit in.

As for the how and why of your present circumstances, those answers are presented as you play in a pretty succinct and natural way by revisiting certain pieces of information along the way and putting together context clues from your environment. The lore behind the island and the story of Myst is simple yet surprisingly compelling, showing how too much power can corrupt the just and unjust depending on how they wield it.

Nearly all of Myst's puzzles and islands are incredibly well-designed, though the tram section in the second half of the Selentic Age is definitely the most boring and uninteresting of the bunch, though that's only because the rest of the roster is superb by comparison.

I suppose where Myst loses its appeal a bit is how the last part of the game works. It essentially involves a scavenger hunt in every region you've visited thus far for specific items (provided you haven't picked any of them up on your journey already), and only then can you achieve the various endings, with the true ending requiring even more busywork.

With no quick and easy way to return to the previous sections, the tedium lets the air out quite a bit as you're forced to retrace your steps. Admittedly, I ended up using the incredibly useful hint guide from UHS-Hints to skip some steps and get to the true ending otherwise the trek to the finale would have soured my opinion on this game far more.

Regardless, Myst, even in this nifty VR-Ready next-gen remake, still holds up as a classic of the adventure and puzzle genres and regardless of how many feel about the changes and visual aesthetic of this version, I am certainly grateful that it exists so I can play it using a controller with my current setup :)

7.5/10

Wife’s Reaction:
“I bet all this dying is humbling, isn’t it?”

Play That Back For Me:
Katana Zero hooked me with its style; the VHS-design and incredible soundtrack will be what I remember from my time playing. The game’s combat seems simple, but its focus on absolute precision can be as frustrating as it is rewarding, especially in later levels and bosses. I loved it, but it’s hard to recommend.

Katana Zero is a game I’ve been meaning to play ever since it got released, I just never got around to it until now. Two and a half playthroughs later, I have experienced almost everything the game offers in record time. Despite the short length, Katana Zero is a quality experience with plenty to talk about.

Katana Zero’s gameplay is simplistic, yet its demand for you to master it is what gives it rich depth and addictive replayability combined with its short length. You can kill enemies, toss objects, and reflect bullets, you also can slow down time for more precision, and dodge rolls with invincibility frames to avoid hazards, and roll through enemies. It might seem like a lot when I list it, but really all of it ties together nicely for a smooth learning experience I enjoyed. Katana Zero is about trial and error throughout a section, with plenty of checkpoints and open-ended design which allows players to tackle obstacles in their own ways, complementing its short length and strong replayability nicely. I found solving each room satisfying, and every mechanic I could utilize felt impactful and necessary due to how simple it all is in practice. Slowing down time helps alleviate tighter timings that require more skill like reflecting bullets, or more generous opportunities to dodge but is never required but a single time in the game, which I really liked. Reflecting bullets might be the most demanding mechanic right from the start, but slowing down time very much helps with learning the timing, audio cues are especially important and well implemented into this game which is another plus. I never found the game too demanding or too fast-paced for me to keep up with what it asked me to do, and the variety of gameplay mix-ups present is impressive and kept me engaged the entire time.

Katana Zero’s setting and history is also very fascinating. It’s very much a metropolis setting with the right amount of sci-fi, dark humor, and history behind it that makes it feel very realized and immersive to experience. Every locale struck all the right notes that embodied the setting without ever feeling out of place until the end, however that drastic shift in setting is justified by the story and how it plays out, so it never felt shoehorned in or out of place at all. Combined with the incredible synth-wave style of music Katana Zero presents, it creates this beautiful atmosphere that elevates the metropolis setting, but creates an impression of something being beyond the curtain you can only see at that given moment, giving both the music and the setting further depth that makes it imprint itself upon your mind that much more. It’s also just incredibly complementing to the slow strategic nature of the game, and/or the incredibly fast-paced decision making and vitriol on display, it’s truly universal in its effectiveness.

Narratively, Katana Zero does not disappoint either. It’s full of twists and turns, shocking revelations, impactful decision making, and enough variation for me to say the agency of the player’s choices feels important. While I can’t say with utmost certainty how impactful every dialogue option is, I don’t think it really matters since the writing of the characters you interact with, as well as the one you play as are incredible and consistent. While I do think the emphasis of cursing and everyone just being unhinged could turn a lot of people off, or just become grating, it all serves the tone the game is going for, so I never minded it or batted an eye at it really. What I will especially praise however is the psychological elements this game presents, they’re incredibly surreal and compelling, it was by far my favorite aspect of the game, and thought they did way more with it than I expected. There’s one specific instance that absolutely floored me, and for that reason alone, Katana Zero is very much worth experiencing.

While I have done nothing but praise Katana Zero so far, let’s get into the negatives, particularly the one negative I did have with the game, which is Hard Mode. Now since Hard Mode is entirely optional and doesn’t unlock anything but an achievement, it seems arbitrary to complain about, however if I were to neglect something in the game I thought was flawed, that would be negligent of me as a reviewer I think, so let’s go over it. Hard Mode as the name implies is a harder variation of the main story without cutscenes and much harder enemy placements. To me, a lot of Hard Mode boiled down to simply increasing the difficulty artificially by increasing the number of enemies in a given room to create a challenge. While I do believe many rooms have smart enemy placement that flows incredibly well and is beyond satisfying to figure out, most of the time it felt bloated and unfair to the point of pure frustration. Hard Mode has its perks, such as new enemy types that change how you approach rooms, and I’m sad to see these enemies not implemented in normal mode, since it would’ve helped the small pool of enemies you’re always fighting and made everything just a bit more dynamic. Instead, these new enemies are shoved in with tons of older enemies which dilutes their impact overall to me, even though mechanically they are unique and present specific restrictions I really liked. Overall, Hard Mode was a disappointment, though again, it being entirely optional does not taint my overall outlook on the game at all, it’s merely a blemish I wanted to talk about.

This is definitely on the shorter end of my reviews, but really I don’t have too much more to say. Katana Zero is short and simple but was a very fun and worthwhile experience I can’t wait to see more of in the future. Katana Zero has superb presentation with the pixel art, setting, and music accompanied by gameplay that you can play at your own pace, whether that be fast or slow for the most part. Amazing potential with the story, psychological aspects are done exceptionally well and really make the narrative that much better. Fantastic variation in gameplay, good humor, and is very consistent. My only issue with the game is Hard Mode, but it's optionality makes it easily excusable. Four stars may seem low for all my praise, but I will say I personally don’t feel I can rate it higher for the simple fact that I didn’t always find it so fun and high quality while playing, but it’s definitely there, and I recognize that. Excited to see where it goes from here all the same. Thank you all for reading my review, next up will be God Hand, thanks to a “secret Santa” event, but I’ll go more into that in the next review. Until next time!

I picked up Slay The Princess because I've seen almost exclusively high praise for it - and to be fair, it is really solid. At the risk of sounding pretentious, I do wonder if it's mostly by people who aren't big into VNs, since if you aren't familiar with them, I think you'll get a huge kick out of the meta and time loop elements

It's kinda hard to talk about the parts I liked without spoiling stuff and this is a game where you wanna go in blind so tldr - the art is really nice, it's always intriguing, it pulls off the meta gimmicks very well (im sucker for games that use steam achievements!!), the writing is good, the atmosphere really achieves what it sets out to do, etc

There are some aspects of STP I didn't vibe with but I can't really explain it, but I'm gonna try because I've not seen much critique at all and I think it's important

I think I just wanted it to take things further? The characters are quite intentionally "shallow" but I still ended up wanting more. Everything is also purposely somewhat vague which isn't a bad way to tell a story but personally takes me out of things

Maybe it's the overwhelming amount of dialogue options you're given at once, and that it's sometimes not clear what is flavour text and what progresses the story. For example, sometimes the game will give you like...8+ choices at once, and it'll be contained to half the screen, and require you to scroll down, instead of being given more space - and it just felt really claustraphobic at times lol

I also felt unsure if I should be making multiple save files while going down a route and exploring the sub options, or if I should just be committing to my first choice - and after hitting a few endings, I'm still not sure

The voice acting of the male hero character I think is really good and fine, but the princess has the same problem that I just kinda expect every indie/mid budget VN with voice acting to have, and that's her microphone makes her S sounds very sharp (which i have to cut off because i have sound sensitivity issues out the ass)

It's also not a super long game for the price but I do not regret picking up Slay The Princess and think it's worth playing. It's obvious that a ton of love and care has gone into crafting something unique and I'll take something like that, that has some flaws, over something bland any day

There are so many choices in this game that result in different routes that I just have to applaud it for that straight away. Creepy hand-drawn art, impressive voice range from just 2 developers, and beautiful soundtrack/audio make for an engrossing atmosphere and universe. I was always wondering what strange occurrence was waiting for me this time. I recommend eventually using a guide to see every scenario that it has to offer once your exploration senses have worn thin.
Everything described above is fantastic. The story being told itself is nice but it didn't really connect with me, which is not to take away from how well it's presented, I absolutely loved the writing throughout the whole thing, I just didn't get much out of it in the end.

Having to make my own decisions was a terrifying experience. I will never do it again. And before anyone asks, I did it, everyone! I fixed her! (I got the good ending)
It was one of the best visual novels I have ever played. Great voice acting, great story, and the voices in my head are accurate. It's impressive that they are still updating the game, and a big update that'll extend the game by 25% is on its way. It's also not a very long game; I finished it in 5 hours because I took my sweet time and wandered around.
There was a sequence where I refused to continue doing what I was told, and the game shut down after the entity told me, "I will be here when you are ready" or something. I was flabbergasted. Next time I opened the game, that same entity welcomed me, and I continued where I left off.
I just wished that the Voice of the Hero and the Narrator's voice wasn't so identical.
It is truly a unique experience and a must-play.

constant cutscene interruptions, a terribly realized open world with xp bloat, side quest bloat, collectible bloat, skill tree bloat, an extra emphasis on combat which was one of the worst parts of the original, adds basically nothing to the original's mechanics except a really shallow grappling hook, constant online leaderboard bloat, and the writing is bad.
All in all, a monument to all of the worst design tendencies of the mid 2010s. This game is only good as an illustration of why the simplicity of the original was so superior.

some time between 2008 and 2016 game designers, particularly 'western AAA' ones, started thinking gameplay abstractions were no longer cool (cinematic). this game is the prized child of that line of thinking.

the original mirror's edge is a pure expression of freedom, its sterile white urbanity contrasting with faith's relentless movement that literally through the stark reds of runner vision colours the environment. runner vision was instinctual, a result of faith's rebellion against the vaguely present corporate dystopia - a natural evolution and animalistic resistance to the machinistic order of the city she existed within the margins of. a gameplay abstraction guiding the player that mechanically and thematically contributed to the game's consonance. in catalyst, runner vision is a technological crutch explained in generic corporate dystopia worldbuilding, annoyingly contrived, magic ruining - the first thing i would recommend a player do is go into the settings and change runner vision from 'full' to 'classic' - it is no longer a sign of faith's individual expression but a forced assimilation of her character into the collective of runners, into an order as it were. that wild freedom the original game meant to me is cut the moment you begin running in this game in its attempt at contextualising a gameplay abstraction. only one example among many such issues i hold with the game here, another is the sheer amount of visual noise.

once again, the original's sterile whiteness slashed by stark reds provided a true sense of freedom - no UI elements or waypoints, just a natural instinct to move, run and jump. here open world busywork and button prompts and experience notifications and skill point notifications and new mission notices and in-game achievement systems litter the screen, clogging it beyond reason. right before you gain control the game shows you a hint of the noise that a regular citizen connected to the grid is subjected to, and one must wonder whether by the time you unlock all the systems faith herself is any different?

some positives. once all movement options have been unlocked the main missions are as or even more fun than the original game. the core systems here are excellent and its a great shame that a sequel will probably not happen. while the main narrative is a messy word salad with enough meaningless proper nouns thrown around to make a young adult dystopian novelist blush from embarassment, i really liked faith's characterisation as strong-willed yet vulnerable. 'big' games with female protagonists are not usually ones to show them cry for fear of them coming across as too emotional or weak but not this game and i greatly appreciated that.

ultimately it was worth the £3.59 i spent on it in a PSN sale, also super impressive that a game of this scope and visuals runs at a fairly consistent 60fps on a base ps4 for sure

i didn't think much of the original game but since this game sucks mondo dick it actually made me appreciate it more

this game is so mind-numbingly fucking boring and it never ever picks up any steam

despite being a whole console generation after the first game it still plays like an early PS3 game and in some aspects downgraded itself

the parkour is still just as jank as the original but made even worse since there's a grappling hook now and half your playtime will be running to your next mission instead of playing the actual fucking mission

this games open world is so lifeless there's nothing go on aside from the dullest side quests imaginable

and the cherry on top is the games abysmal combat system its easily one of the worst that i've seen with stiff as fuck movement and Smash Bros tier hitboxes

they had almost 10 years to make this its unacceptable