orokapi
11 reviews liked by orokapi
Sweet Pool
2008
This game (somewhat understandably) gets the rep of just being that weird yaoi mpreg omegaverse gore game. And I get that, because that is a large part of it, but it's also disappointing. This game has a lot more to offer than just the handful of niche kinks it appeals to.
It's a game about love, fate, religious fanaticism, devotion, gender, death, birth, chronic illness, mental illness, sacrifice, prejudice, queerness, ableism, adulthood.
It's a coming of age drama by way of Cronenberg. It shamelessly renders violence erotic and eroticism violent. It's a psychological horror and it's a heartwarming romance. Yes, it is that one game about the guy who gives birth to meat babies from his ass.
And it might be one of the most beautiful stories ever told.
It's a game about love, fate, religious fanaticism, devotion, gender, death, birth, chronic illness, mental illness, sacrifice, prejudice, queerness, ableism, adulthood.
It's a coming of age drama by way of Cronenberg. It shamelessly renders violence erotic and eroticism violent. It's a psychological horror and it's a heartwarming romance. Yes, it is that one game about the guy who gives birth to meat babies from his ass.
And it might be one of the most beautiful stories ever told.
This review contains spoilers
This game isn't good. By most definitions of the word good. It's not scary, most of the myriad deaths seem purposefully slapstick and stupid (my personal favorite being one in which you walk past a phone and it starts to ring which scares you SO BADLY that you hit the wall so hard you die), the handling of issues such as bullying and CSA, while done with empathy for the victims, is poor at best and exploitative at worst, it tries to make you sympathize with a pedophilic rapist serial murdering teacher.
So why do I like it?
I think Misao is an excellent B movie horror video game. If you go in not taking it seriously and expecting it to be at least slightly problematic and tactless, you will have a good time. Especially if you play as the female character, who for some reason is an unrepentant murderous maniac. Hunting for the deaths is fun, as they get supremely ridiculous and are everywhere. The puzzles, while simple, are fun enough to solve. And watching the trainwreck of a plotline crash into your psyche forever is both entertaining and cringeworthy.
I'm willing to admit some of this may be nostalgia of my tween and early teen years (which despite the gore and some plotpoints is almost definitely the best age range to fully enjoy this game) when I was obsessed with anything mildly dark. But I do think anyone who loves campy Japanese horror and has a good sense of humor or high tolerance for bullshit will be able to have some fun with it.
So why do I like it?
I think Misao is an excellent B movie horror video game. If you go in not taking it seriously and expecting it to be at least slightly problematic and tactless, you will have a good time. Especially if you play as the female character, who for some reason is an unrepentant murderous maniac. Hunting for the deaths is fun, as they get supremely ridiculous and are everywhere. The puzzles, while simple, are fun enough to solve. And watching the trainwreck of a plotline crash into your psyche forever is both entertaining and cringeworthy.
I'm willing to admit some of this may be nostalgia of my tween and early teen years (which despite the gore and some plotpoints is almost definitely the best age range to fully enjoy this game) when I was obsessed with anything mildly dark. But I do think anyone who loves campy Japanese horror and has a good sense of humor or high tolerance for bullshit will be able to have some fun with it.
Avoid this game if you like this series, since its by far the worst one so far.
Katrielle does a poor job at following his father's legacy and ends up being a really bland and forgetable character. For someone who claims that will solve all of London's mysteries, its quite curious how she doesnt even bat an eye to the sight of a talking dog, or how the main mystery of the game, Layton's disappearance, is quickly overtaken by short, boring and predictable mysteries that no one cares about. The expectations may be the biggest problem of this game, just reading the premise and playing the prologue, you get certain ideas of what the game will be about, only for those to be proven wrong and go into a totally different direction shortly after.
Aside from the story being really bad, the puzzles are quitte horrendous, not really creative and I felt most of them were trial and error rather than a way to exercise your brain and enjoy your sweet time thinking about how to solve them. In other Layton games, I felt rewarded after solving a puzzle I spent a lot of thinking on. Cant say that feeling ever showed up while playing Katrielle.
We can only hope next game will be better than this; which, tbh, its not really hard.
Katrielle does a poor job at following his father's legacy and ends up being a really bland and forgetable character. For someone who claims that will solve all of London's mysteries, its quite curious how she doesnt even bat an eye to the sight of a talking dog, or how the main mystery of the game, Layton's disappearance, is quickly overtaken by short, boring and predictable mysteries that no one cares about. The expectations may be the biggest problem of this game, just reading the premise and playing the prologue, you get certain ideas of what the game will be about, only for those to be proven wrong and go into a totally different direction shortly after.
Aside from the story being really bad, the puzzles are quitte horrendous, not really creative and I felt most of them were trial and error rather than a way to exercise your brain and enjoy your sweet time thinking about how to solve them. In other Layton games, I felt rewarded after solving a puzzle I spent a lot of thinking on. Cant say that feeling ever showed up while playing Katrielle.
We can only hope next game will be better than this; which, tbh, its not really hard.
Best completed fanganronpa out there so far, really great until the fourth trial, then it goes downhill and it never recovers
Honkai: Star Rail
2023
HSR is a great game with a good story, cool characters (some of them really well written) and decent gameplay mechanics.
However, the gacha and episodic updates really ruins the game. Only getting crumbs of the story every 40 days made me totally disconnect from the story in general, sometimes the updates only give you 10 minutes of the mainline story which doesnt help.
Would be an awesome game if it was fully released from the start.
However, the gacha and episodic updates really ruins the game. Only getting crumbs of the story every 40 days made me totally disconnect from the story in general, sometimes the updates only give you 10 minutes of the mainline story which doesnt help.
Would be an awesome game if it was fully released from the start.
Would be worst game of the series if Dual Diarrhea didnt exists. Someone save Ema from this dumpster fire
worst game I've played in my entire life ❤️
star and a half is just for rayfa, she's important. she's so special. everything else belongs in hell ❤️
Dual Diarrhea is by far the worst game of this series.
The writings all over the place, the cases are boring; its the sixth game of the series and they spoil you the killer in the first cutscene of cases 1 & 2, seriously?? Most witnesses are annoying, and not in the "ace attorney annoyingly funny" way, straight up annoying.
Shu Takumi wasnt involved in this game and it SHOWS
The writings all over the place, the cases are boring; its the sixth game of the series and they spoil you the killer in the first cutscene of cases 1 & 2, seriously?? Most witnesses are annoying, and not in the "ace attorney annoyingly funny" way, straight up annoying.
Shu Takumi wasnt involved in this game and it SHOWS
Slow Damage
2021
ITS PEAK