scoons
113 reviews liked by scoons
Pseudoregalia
2023
this couldve been a great game, it does have great potential, but having to aimlessly walking around + not knowing if you have the right abilities for that one section is just killing my fun. it was like 70% playing the game and 30% googling what the game actually wants from me. i dont even wanna know how it would be without the new map update.
besides that, it does have good and unique platforming abilities with well designed areas to explore. not a big fan of the airkicking tho
besides that, it does have good and unique platforming abilities with well designed areas to explore. not a big fan of the airkicking tho
South Scrimshaw
2023
It's hard to argue against something that asks so little of you, but then gives so much. This is a visual novel documentary about an alien species, and that alone is such a cool concept that it's hard to believe it hasn't already happened (afaik). Writing and story is very well executed, though I do feel it was a bit lacking in the audio and art department.
Portal: Revolution
2024
This review contains spoilers
Portal: Revolution, even for a fan-made game, is great. Puzzles are fun and innovative, using concepts that could've been explored in Valve titles without any of the frustrating ultra-difficulty found in other fan-games. Unfortunately, they did also heavily rely on looping--doing the same sequence three or four times in a row--which often grew monotonous.
Environments were gorgeous with a glorious blend of nature and sterility that made them fun to explore. I know some people have reported glitches or softlocking. I personally experienced neither.
The one key area the game let itself down was the writing. The reason I still rate Portal 2 so highly over a decade later is for the strength and genuine humour in its character voices and narrative; comparatively, Portal: Revolution sits firmly in its shadow. While the conceit was good, the story was otherwise the same as Portal 2 in almost every way.
Stirling, in particular, felt like a bootleg version of Wheatley with none of the narrative sense. Why would Stirling want to reactivate GLaDOS when he also admits he's terrified of her? It could have been an easy sell: maybe she allowed the other artificial intelligences to do as they want; maybe they revered and feared her in equal measure. Instead, his characterisation was muddied and confusing, echoing Wheatley in all the wrong ways.
While I also realise this was a fan-game, designed to bulk out resumes--however the decision to just cut to black at the end of the game was a confusing one, especially after the agonising process of setting everything up.
Overall: a great fan game that aspires towards both the spirit and puzzles of the original game, but fails to capture either.
Environments were gorgeous with a glorious blend of nature and sterility that made them fun to explore. I know some people have reported glitches or softlocking. I personally experienced neither.
The one key area the game let itself down was the writing. The reason I still rate Portal 2 so highly over a decade later is for the strength and genuine humour in its character voices and narrative; comparatively, Portal: Revolution sits firmly in its shadow. While the conceit was good, the story was otherwise the same as Portal 2 in almost every way.
Stirling, in particular, felt like a bootleg version of Wheatley with none of the narrative sense. Why would Stirling want to reactivate GLaDOS when he also admits he's terrified of her? It could have been an easy sell: maybe she allowed the other artificial intelligences to do as they want; maybe they revered and feared her in equal measure. Instead, his characterisation was muddied and confusing, echoing Wheatley in all the wrong ways.
While I also realise this was a fan-game, designed to bulk out resumes--however the decision to just cut to black at the end of the game was a confusing one, especially after the agonising process of setting everything up.
Overall: a great fan game that aspires towards both the spirit and puzzles of the original game, but fails to capture either.
Not Completed in Full Yet
I’ve played through Ace Attorney & Justice for All and I’ve just fallen in love with these games. They’re so well-made, excellent music, and just make you want to be invested in the games Iike you’re part of it. Also, all of the main adult characters are queer and no one can change my mind (sorry Pearls!)
I can’t wait to see what Trials & Tribulations holds.
I’ve played through Ace Attorney & Justice for All and I’ve just fallen in love with these games. They’re so well-made, excellent music, and just make you want to be invested in the games Iike you’re part of it. Also, all of the main adult characters are queer and no one can change my mind (sorry Pearls!)
I can’t wait to see what Trials & Tribulations holds.
Manifold Garden
2019
The entire experience oozes with soothing atmosphere with its mind-bending infinite spaces and beautiful music. The vibes were on point. But for a game with such an interesting concept, the puzzles never get challenging, and after breezing through them, it's quickly over.
It's short, and a little too sweet.
It's short, and a little too sweet.
A Little to the Left
2022
Starting the game I thought it was a therepuetic game to tidy up scenes. By the midpoint I thought there might be an underlying meaning about letting go of perfection. By the end of the game I realized the game is just a love letter to a mischievous cat. I did like it but the fact you can win and the cat ruins it and it doesn't let you fix it before moving on? Disastrous.
Psychonauts 2
2021
It's insane that I didn't write a review for this game (though probably because I got it on PS5, so where to put it?) after I finished playing it in 2021. It's even MORE insane that I still didn't write one in 2023 after watching the monumentally insightful PSYCHODYSSEY.
Which you can also do, anytime you want. For free (maybe with ads? it's on youtube)), but you can also 100% legally download it or watch it from archive.org too.
It's a play-by-play account of the entire development process of Psychonauts 2, and I mean the ENTIRE development process. From Tim getting a niggling feeling it's time for a sequel, all the way to launch in 2021, moments of all these people's lives captured in 4k amber.
I've never designed a game, sometimes I think I might try to get involved in a game jam. That literally happens to the camera guy in this doc. He pitches an idea that takes off so much that it becomes part of THE GAME HE IS MAKING A DOCUMENTARY ON.
This is honestly just me telling you to watch Psychodyssey. Maybe if/when I play this game again I'll write a proper review.
Which you can also do, anytime you want. For free (maybe with ads? it's on youtube)), but you can also 100% legally download it or watch it from archive.org too.
It's a play-by-play account of the entire development process of Psychonauts 2, and I mean the ENTIRE development process. From Tim getting a niggling feeling it's time for a sequel, all the way to launch in 2021, moments of all these people's lives captured in 4k amber.
I've never designed a game, sometimes I think I might try to get involved in a game jam. That literally happens to the camera guy in this doc. He pitches an idea that takes off so much that it becomes part of THE GAME HE IS MAKING A DOCUMENTARY ON.
This is honestly just me telling you to watch Psychodyssey. Maybe if/when I play this game again I'll write a proper review.
Taiji
2022
A creatively conceived puzzle game with solid pixel graphics and a pleasant soundtrack, but I found it difficult to not compare it pretty negatively to The Witness (seemingly it’s main inspiration). In many ways, it feels like a 2D homage to that game, but lacking the breadth and richness of that game’s puzzles, or its spectacular art. I also found Taiji’s more challenging puzzles to trend towards tedious and repetitive than The Witness’s brilliant moments of epiphany. Similarly, Taiji’s more thinking-outside-the-box puzzles often don’t offer much new beyond their inspiration. That all sounds more negative than my overall experience, and I loved Taiji for the first several hours, but its late game was largely a slog and soured my lasting impression a bit.
Very cute! Camera can be a little cumbersome at times leading to platforming being harder than it otherwise would be, but as a little freeware game made in a week to celebrate Celeste's 6th anniversary I feel I can't be that upset over it.
Undertale
2015
Undertale is one of those games that is difficult to review because there isn't much that hasn't been already said about it. It's one of those games that seems to unite a lot of the different elements of gaming culture all into one. It has a lot of cozy cute stuff. It has a lot of strong emotional story beats. It has a lot of good jokes. It has a lot of challenge. It has a lot of niche content that implies that the creator was considering all these tiny edge cases that 99% of players wouldn't ever look for. Most of the people who I've encountered that didn't like it are people who were turned off by the more insane elements of the fan base before being able to play the game (which I would argue is more the fault of fan culture than the game.)
