seveneight
2020
For the first time since Breath of the Wild, I played an open-world game that seemed to learn from it. The freedom this game offers feels great, and the amount of content doesn't overstay it's welcome. I 100%ed the base game and at no point did it feel stale and joyless by the end, like so many open-world games. A wonderful experience.
2018
Hitman 2 learned many lessons from Hitman 1, and applied them liberally, making the anarchic fun of the first even more refined and delightful. Having said all that, the very idea of time-locked bonus content leaves a bad taste in my mouth as a person who likes to take their time with games. If there were a way to access that content, this would be an easy 5 stars.
2018
A beautiful painting with a simple and beautiful story to go along with it. It's a fairly straightforward puzzle platformer, and the only criticism I have is that it would probably benefit from expanding its gameplay ideas to the same extent as the story beats and the lovingly crafted art. Some of the puzzles were fun, and I wanted more that I usually didn't get. Still, it's a truly beautiful game.
2019
A nice little choose-your-own-adventure game set in Elizabethan England. It's often funny, and very human; all your patients have their own stories to tell that you play a part in. Plus, the many short songs introducing the characters are delightful. A playthrough will only take you a few hours, for better and for worse.
2019
I like minesweeper a fair bit, so I thought I would like this more than I do. In general, the roguelite elements are extremely numerous, but do very little. So the mental overhead is large for almost no effect most of the time, and it just never grabbed me.
2015
A delightfully simple puzzler that can get alarmingly difficult when trying to do the challenges. I have more or less given up on them now, but it was an enjoyable challenge while I tried (and mostly failed).
2019
This game was specifically designed for me to like it. I loved puzzling out the ancient inscriptions, uncovering the history of the Nebula, and meeting the whole rogue's gallery of characters. What's more, it's rare that a game comes up with a diagetic New Game+ that is as interesting as as this one. I'm looking forward to playing even more.
2017
It can be a fun game, but like a muddy swamp, it's broader than it is deep. In all the hours I played it just felt a bit too paint-by-numbers. I can be a fan of slow-paced, chill experiences from a story perspective, but less so from a gameplay perspective. Still, it's a fine game.
Very fun! All the characters' unique movesets keep me coming back, and the weekly challenges along with the trickier achievement runs have kept me coming back and sinking hours in.
2019
A fine little narrative, lots of mysterious happenings to tangle yourself in. That's definitely the strong point of the game, as the protagonist's multiple strained and fraying relationships with the other characters do a good job of driving the plot forward.
The puzzles are difficult in a way I'm not entirely sure they are supposed to be. It's not so much that the puzzles are hard; they are, and that's fine. The main issue I kept encountering was that I couldn't figure out how to access the puzzle I was supposed to solve. The space station's mainframe was dizzyingly obtuse to access in a way that makes me think only people with some kind of experience with the actual, physical guts of computers and the like would understand. Which is fine, but it wasn't for me.
The puzzles are difficult in a way I'm not entirely sure they are supposed to be. It's not so much that the puzzles are hard; they are, and that's fine. The main issue I kept encountering was that I couldn't figure out how to access the puzzle I was supposed to solve. The space station's mainframe was dizzyingly obtuse to access in a way that makes me think only people with some kind of experience with the actual, physical guts of computers and the like would understand. Which is fine, but it wasn't for me.
2019
A fun game, unfortunately I found I just hit a wall where I wasn't enjoying myself enough to put in the work to get past the tougher challenges. But, I played it a fair bit and had fun while I did.
2018
A fun little romp through New York City. Like its Blackwell predecessors, the developers bring adventure gaming to the modern era and make it fun, despite the genre itself not being a great favourite of mine. There is a big emphasis on replayability; multiple origins, decisions, and endings, but I petered out fairly quickly after completing it once. However, the first way through was more than satisfying enough, and the extras being there isn't a downside.
2019
Everything about this game is quite competently put together. I'm sure for a lot of people, the repeated use of maps and returning characters adds to the familiarity and enjoyment of the tactical battle system. For me, I just got worn out. The battles kept me engaged for a while, but the overworld sections just didn't.
2018
Having a compelling and meaningful overarching story in a roguelike, it turns out, is all it takes to get me into them. I adore Hades, but given how tight and polished Supergiant's games always are, that was not much of a surprise. Cannot recommend highly enough.
2016
A fun and unique rhythm game. Having said that, it's seriously difficult. I bounced off it multiple times, but despite failing I had a fun time doing so. Might pick it up again one of these days.