sevenishmagpies
2021
It's a Halo. It's fun. But not fun enough that I will pay $10 for cat ears.
Update: It's still a Halo, but it's just gotten very stale after a while.
Update: It's still a Halo, but it's just gotten very stale after a while.
2020
This game struggles between being a fun hectic set all the spiders on fire while crazy physics explode things in the background chaos fest and a puzzle game. It's super frustrating when I'm trying to solve a puzzle and then a spider (or just me grabbing the wrong thing) sends a small item I needed flying across the room. Making everything explode, similarly, messes up a room and makes it much harder to puzzle. I think the game would be a lot more fun if it stuck to one and not the other.
2021
When the combat works, it's pretty good. The game system itself is... not great. UI is confusing. Lots of times when I'm wondering if my ranged weapons actually did anything. Impossible to redo a boss fight with different hat (was stuck on the final boss for a while because I couldn't go back and choose a different hat).
Also the story was just... Like I feel like I kinda know what they're trying to do but like, it just didn't work. When an NPC died I just... didn't care. I have no idea who/what the enemies are. The relationship between the main character and Olija (the literal name of the game) just isn't there? Honestly the game felt a lot like White Savior Orientalist Bullshit during a lot of points, though I was relieved to find that half the names in the credits are Japanese.
Also the story was just... Like I feel like I kinda know what they're trying to do but like, it just didn't work. When an NPC died I just... didn't care. I have no idea who/what the enemies are. The relationship between the main character and Olija (the literal name of the game) just isn't there? Honestly the game felt a lot like White Savior Orientalist Bullshit during a lot of points, though I was relieved to find that half the names in the credits are Japanese.
2016
It's an okay twin stick rougelike. There are just so many twin stick rougelikes I'm really burned out on them so I'm done after an hour or two.
2020
It's cute but the cynical dystopian setting is just too much for right now, and honestly I wasn't too into the main gameplay loop.
2021
This is a really good game. But I honestly am exhausted by open world games right now and as much as I love the exploration I'm just... not feeling it. Will want to pick it up again at some point though.
Excellent game! Really enjoyed the combat and the different transformations and the humor. The art is SUPERB, and the little touches like all 25 mana fairy pickups having different art and how the art for many NPCs change after a certain point in the game are lovely. All the forms have uses and I'm looking forward to NG+ where I actually have much more to think about in terms of builds.
The biggest issue for me is the form selection wheel. It doesn't hold all the forms in the game and rotates things out as you swap to new forms. This meant I couldn't use muscle memory. Combined with the fact that it covers the screen without pausing the game means I never used the wheel and instead just kept going into the menu. I think it'd be better if we could select our own shortcuts, then I imagine we can do some fun combos like in Genshin.
The biggest issue for me is the form selection wheel. It doesn't hold all the forms in the game and rotates things out as you swap to new forms. This meant I couldn't use muscle memory. Combined with the fact that it covers the screen without pausing the game means I never used the wheel and instead just kept going into the menu. I think it'd be better if we could select our own shortcuts, then I imagine we can do some fun combos like in Genshin.
2021
This was a very solid 2d isometric action metroidvania type game with Bastion level combat, tons of secrets, and amazing style. Trying to 100% it does get a bit frustrating, especially since you can't do that until you actually beat the final boss unlike most similar games. But the frustration and backtracking are alleviated by NPCs and items that give hints to missing items and really good gameplay.
Plus there are crows.
So many crows.
They are SUCH GOOD CROWS!!!
Plus there are crows.
So many crows.
They are SUCH GOOD CROWS!!!
2020
It's a really competent city builder, and it's definitely very cozy and not stressful. The problem is that there's a lot of repetition and there just wasn't enough new things to keep me interested in grinding until the end of the tech tree.
2020
It's a pretty game but the combat just feels off. It treads familiar ground but doesn't do anything nearly as well as other games in the genre, and there's no real motivation to keep playing with its "plot" and gameplay loop.
2019
It took a long while but I finally finished this game (as in beat the final boss) and I LOVE IT. It takes a very simple concept and just iterates the hell out of it.
Every character plays very differently, with vastly different strategies and level of thinking. While the beginning characters are simple you start to need to think long term and also have exponentially more variables to deal with with the later characters. And even the stage variations of the early characters are very interesting. Just... 45 total variations on a single theme, and all of them are enjoyable. No easy feat.
Every character plays very differently, with vastly different strategies and level of thinking. While the beginning characters are simple you start to need to think long term and also have exponentially more variables to deal with with the later characters. And even the stage variations of the early characters are very interesting. Just... 45 total variations on a single theme, and all of them are enjoyable. No easy feat.
2021
Gave it 8 hours. It's... not good. The worldbuilding is a mess. The characters are a mess. The combat is interesting, combining a hex grid with ATB. But without abilities that push, pull, or otherwise manipulate positions and having only 2 characters for the first 8 hours with no new character in sight all the potential is wasted.
2021
This game is really charming and it was hilarious unlocking new things like sheep riding and peeing. However, the main gameplay loop and each of them mechanics are just... eh. So once you stop unlocking new things it stops being exciting.
The thing that made me stop playing is a plot point that requires me to, with no choice in the matter, do harm to the helpful NPCs. I just didn't want to do that just to advance in the plot, like it just sucks the fun out of it. Maybe I'll pick it back up at some point but it's unlikely.
The thing that made me stop playing is a plot point that requires me to, with no choice in the matter, do harm to the helpful NPCs. I just didn't want to do that just to advance in the plot, like it just sucks the fun out of it. Maybe I'll pick it back up at some point but it's unlikely.
2020
It was hilarious for about 20 minutes and then there's nothing there keeping me going.
2021
It's a really cute and simple game and it was just simple shoot em up joy! Sadly I was not good enough to beat it.