Barely a game. There are no puzzles, you just walk around and talk to people to exchange items. The simplicity would indicate that this is aimed at small children, but the grating dialogue is very clearly Cozy Tumblr Adult themed. Almost every interaction is as follows:

Says something strange
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Cool."
"Yeah."

This is only about 20 minutes long, yet still feels padded due to the repetitive dialogue. Feels like the product of a 3-day game jam (derogatory).

I'm probably going to play the other 2 for the achievements...

I'm honestly kind of surprised by how much pure vitriol this seems to be getting from folks on here compared to the far cry excitement I've seen from the Clone Hero community folks? Festival still has a long ways to go in terms of features, songs and especially visual polish, but the key thing that makes me enjoy it as much as I have so far is that it fits a somewhat unfulfilled niche of a casual and accessible rhythm game. I love rhythm games! I play way too much Project Diva to be considered healthy! I've definitely been getting more into DJMax Respect V ever since I caught it on a sale! All of those games are great, but they're great for someone like me who has spent likely hundreds to thousands of hours getting used to the harsh difficulty and learning curve of those games, and also likely more importantly I like the more foreign niche appeal of their set lists.

In terms of more current modern pop and rock songs, Guitar Hero/Rock Band leaving the rhythm game space as well as stuff like Just Dance becoming less popular have left a void in that space of music that I've had a good time with seeing again here with Festival. I do wish their launch picks were a bit more interesting, but like, I'm not going to deny that I've probably played the one Olivia Rodrigo song more times than I should be and that's reminiscent of the power older GH/RB games had for me. Discovering new current songs is entertaining and fun, and I don't need ridiculously insanely tough high-accuracy focused gameplay to completely seal the deal here. I don't really get why some are so shocked by the multiplier score-focused gameplay when that's always been how Guitar Hero and Rock Band has worked? Just don't miss?

The real issues for me at the moment is the sheer lack of visual variety compared to those predecessors and the pricing model. The notes desperately need to be color coded like those games because when some of the more overcharted songs come along, they're needlessly harder to read than they really need to be. The dances and motions the band have when playing songs also gets old fast, and that feeling of that high intensity concert energy being missing was only further emphasized for me when I recently tried out modding World Tour again and seeing just how wild the animations were for your characters. I miss having the audience chanting along with the music when you kept a high streak going, having the lead and vocals singing together every now and then, the close-ups of the guitar, the extra visual effects and filters for certain song segments; I could go on and on but this is one area that I really hope gets improved sooner than later. Seeing that stupid animation of the vocalist sliding back and forth playing three to four times in a row might actually drive me insane.

The pricing model is really the bigger deeper core issue here that I think only time is going to reveal the effects of however. Rhythm games have always had a difficult tug and pull balance regarding how do you reasonably price out extra songs for DLC, and Rock Band was always up there with being some of the worst in my mind because of the insistence toward individual songs at a high price rather than song packs which more recent rhythm games have pushed towards. Festival pushes the line way too far however with songs now costing $5 dollars each with the only extra benefits to supposedly justify it being you can use them as emotes in Battle Royale and the weird half-baked Jam Stage mode. Absolute utter snore. The Festival Pass also being separate from the already paid Battle Pass that the rest of the game uses is also really out there and priced far too high for what it offers, alongside the grind itself feeling like a slog. The whole model mostly concerns me at the moment because I get the worried feeling that this isn't going to meet Epic's sales expectations the way they hope it will, and I'm not excited for whatever possible "solutions" they might try to come up with as time goes on.

As it stands right now though? I still think this is a very fun mode that's genuinely been getting me to load up the game on a somewhat daily basis just to play a few songs, either on my own or with friends and trying to beat out our scores on the leaderboards, and while I love those harsher more difficult other rhythm games like DJMax, they don't compete in the accessibility and easy appeal factor like this does and that's a feeling I've missed for a while now. Hearing that Harmonix somehow convinced Epic and PDP to create a new guitar controller coming out very soon along with full instrument controller support might actually make me bust.

Very short and to the point game with charming art direction, great voice acting, sound design and music, and decent exploration.

Unfortunately it falls short on puzzles, as none of them really make you think that much, the characters don't get much time to develop and figuring out who the murderer is ends up being too predictable. Luckily, there's more to this mystery than that, and piecing it together with Tangle Tower (which I unfortunately played first) definitely builds up something interesting. I hope we get to see more of this world soon.

i'm an old crone at this point in my life, so i have fond memories of the internet prior to it's sanitization for advertisers. i spent a lot of time online in my youth and was practically raised on the old, moderated nickeloden forums on a diet of spongebob flash games. flash is now dead and in it's wake is links to subscribe to watch, or links to shops. advertisers' chokehold on the internet has forced people to congregate onto the same social media websites, meaning that while i grew up flipping krabby patties or helping blue solve clues, a lot of children are spending hours scrolling through tiktok or even watching not at all child-safe streams on twitch. meanwhile, it's near impossible to have adult spaces because of this. advertisers want everything to be family friendly, but remove all possible child friendly parts of the internet in an attempt to monetize further.

this advertiser friendly internet is the setting for needy streamer overload. the goal is to help ame achieve a seemingly impossible milestone of one million subscribers to her METUBE channel in one month. on it's surface level, nso is a critique of the clout chase or worse yet, Streamer Girl Culture. ame is a vapid young woman who believes her face is one of her better qualities and can do the heavy lifting for her budding streaming career. she concocts a character for her to act as, "OMGkawaiiangel" or "KAngel", the internet angel. prior to every stream, she has a tongue-in-cheek magical girl transformation to represent this change of character.

this separation of identity is a running theme in nso. ame has been raised by the internet, neglected by her family and is seemingly friendless in real life. p-chan is her only companion, and she deludes herself into thinking that they're the only person she truly needs. as an ol' biddy, i remember the pre-advertiser friendly internet being a wild west of sorts. you had your online life and your irl completely separated. now, parasocial relationships are a problem you can take to the bank. ame even counts on this and wants people to adopt a near idol-esque view of kangel. she hides she has a partner from her viewers, and there's even a few comments stating how upset people would be, in universe, if kangel did have a partner. to keep her career growing, she has to make sure this fictional character she acts as never entirely gets away from her, but still give the people what they want. it's a dynamic that sends her further spiraling in her addictive, delusional behaviors.

there are references to the current state of the internet and how things functioned in the past in game. ame dates herself by mentioning she used to record episodes of anime to VHS, a technological advancement that hasn't very relevant since the year 2000. i know plenty of young women like her, who are walking contradictions used to compartmentalizing parts of themselves to be accessible, friendly, or consumable. i'd count myself part of that demographic. it's a tactic born from either trauma or spending wholly too much time online. i spent the entirety of my teens hiding my internet on-goings from my parents, even though they definitely weren't unaware i had internet friends. this wedge between rl and internet has grown even bigger in the recent years as people scramble to figure out ways to monetize the internet further. now, everyone i know has a public twitter account and a locked twitter account. a public persona and a private persona, much like ame herself.

while there's definitely something the game wants to say about clout chasing, it also seems interested in discussing how the current state of the internet encourages people to indulge in the ways ame does. she very clearly has an internet addiction to go with her drug addiction because she just can't seem to log off. she always rises to the challenge of chat's insults, and can't walk away. tying herself to the internet as her way of making money to survive is more than counter-productive to her state of mind: it's actively hurting her. this is represented in her relationship with herself and with p-chan. self-harm through addictive behavior threads itself through needy streamer overload's narrative the same way sutures run along a wound. narratively speaking, i think the game is often misunderstood by people who love it and people who hate it. the core of the game is concerned with self-betterment and in order to get to that point, ame has to see the worst parts of herself. seeing it touted purely as an abusive relationship simulator is a gross misread of needy streamer overload. it's both about logging off as much as it is a small love letter to the internet of yore. i don't think it's a coincidence that NPCs chatter about how the internet doesn't feel like it has a place for people like them anymore. all the same, ame hasn't been helped by the internet before and her shaky sense of identity born out of loneliness is only fed to the wolves here.

despite the surprisingly expansive narrative and wealth of replayability, nso often feels like a slog and a half. i enjoy raising sims but something about this feels tedious. maybe it's ame herself and how uncomfortable it can be telling her what to do, but keeping track of her stats and trying to hold out to the end of the month is less stressful and more of an annoyance at times. some endings are just flat out unpleasant to get, for the wrong reasons. there's one ending in particular that is obviously a doki doki literature club nod and i would truly say it's probably my least favorite ending i've gotten in a game like this in years. in fact, the ddlc nods in nso are frankly just painful to sit through. buuuut maybe it's just me.

not all of nso's inspirations are as cringefail comp to me, though, because the menhera inspired aesthetic sticks the landing. pastel, girly colors accented by the blocky pixel art style reminiscent of both early 2000s anime and RPGmaker games from the same gives the impression of something released around five to ten years ago. i can't help but think of ib or hello charlotte when i look at needy streamer overload. menhera itself is a movement in japan similar to punk where those part of the subculture dress in cute, comfortable clothing with mental health awareness themed coords to beat down the stigma surrounding discussion of one's mental health. i wouldn't call it menhera themed so much as inspired, but mental heatlh is an important conversation in nso. regardless, it's very eye-catching and nice to look at. nyalra's nailed it with their designs and inspirations. the music is also exceptional. i found myself moving in time with the instrumentals often, aiobahn & is a very talented musician. ame is also a realistic depiction of a young internet addictive woman, and genuinely charming more often than not. i hope she logs off often!

reception to needy streamer overload has been a seesaw. people either think it's absolute dogshit or a complete masterpiece. personally, i think it's more of a middling experience with some standout moments from the narrative. it's also a shining example of what an excellent localization can do for a game; i think this would be a lot more niche than it is were it not for how good the adaption of memes and internet language as a whole is in nso. ultimately, i'm wishing the team behind it a long, fruitful career in game dev.

I am eternally destined to like games that are divisive because people are too joyless to appreciate em, and Fire Emblem Engage is absolutely no exception.

Don't get me wrong - my first impression of this game was far from stellar too. I had half a mind to avoid using Alear entirely because I hated their design so much.
But with every bit of gameplay features we got to see, I got more and more excited for this game - and man, I'm so glad I did. It is such a ridiculously fun game.

We haven't had such a heavy focus on player-phase combat in the series since FE12, which was already my favorite FE gameplay-wise - but this game just goes above and beyond. The Break system took me a while to get used to, but when it finally clicked it was so ridiculously satisfying.
The low deployment slots and gigantic amount of Emblem Ring combinations you could pull off means it's gonna be great fun to replay too, and I can't wait to give that a shot.

The story definitely takes a while to get going, and I don't blame anyone for losing interest relatively quickly, but I'm glad it picks up as well as it does.
Didn't think I'd ever say this about Fire Emblem but the ludonarrative harmony is what especially fascinated me about this game - there's some really impactful moments where you're supposed to feel powerless and it shows SO goddamn well through the gameplay that follows. It's incredible.

Despite the story being pretty basic at first, the characters are still as enjoyable as always - and although it takes more of a GBA FE approach of having some quick and simple supports, there's still plenty of meaningful and enjoyable ones. Ivy was a really stand-out character to me, because she's one of the few that tackles issues that are very specific to the game's setting. I think you could've taken any other character in a different setting and they'd still work - which doesn't bother me too much, honestly - but she's definitely the most layered character I've seen in the supports in my playthrough. Pleasantly surprised about that!

All in all, I'm really happy with this game. It's not perfect by any means, but I think any long-time fan should really be able to appreciate what this game's going for. Tons of subtle nods to older games and tons of direct fanservice with the Emblem Rings and how they play.
Couldn't think of a better (regrettably delayed) anniversary celebration!

Really excited for Fire Emblem's future after playing this game. Fantastic gameplay, a story that works more than well enough for what the game's supposed to be, great fanservice, incredible animations and hell - the game looks gorgeous in general, honestly.
With so much going well for it, I can't wait to see what's next!

This game is unimaginably horrible and it's baffling it's the hill so many are willing to die on. There is no enemy variety, which is for sure a good idea for a modern open world game. There is no spell variety either (26), which again certainly was a great idea for a modern rpg based solely around it's magic set at a magic school, but hey Harry Potter has always had a terrible magic system so ¯\(ツ)/¯. For reference Final Fantasy (1987 NES) has triple as many spells (60), and Skyrim a more modern open world game for comparison has over 100 AND both those games have multiple combat classes besides magic. The game will let you use the "unforgivable curses" but it has no morality system to give any meaningful consequences to your actions because according to the devs it would be "too judgmental on the game maker's part". The world is empty, which is always a problem with open world games (not remotely a fan of the genre tbh) and every door is a loading screen. The game is also a buggy mess and anyone saying otherwise is just lying, the game literally has Denuvo lmao. But none of this is surprising, ignoring the original author for a moment, every trailer made it look lackluster and it's made by the developers infamous for Disney tie-in shovelware.

And now for the elephant in the room... The game doubles down on all the racism and antisemitism of its source material, anyone saying Terfling had nothing to do with this game is bending the truth. The official Q&A for the game on their site says they worked closely with her team so it perfectly fits her world, and that it does a little too perfectly. The main premise is squashing a goblin rebellion riddled with antisemitism. The goblin rebellions are not new to the franchise, they are a thing mentioned in the books and expanded material as something the students learn in history class. And what were all the rebellions about? The lack or basic rights like using wands, and checks notes wizards attempting to enslave them "as house elves" but we’re supposed to believe they’re still the villains throughout the franchise?
Which brings us to the next topic, the house elves... As in the source material Hogwarts is run by slave labor and the franchise doesn't want us to look deeper into what that means, waving it off with "well they like it". But if wizards can attempt to enslave goblins as “house elves” what does that actually mean, what exactly is a “house elf” and why doesn’t the series creator want us to examine it? The head house elf at Hogwarts becomes a companion, so you don't actually get to own a slave but you still get one by proxy. The game also lets you decorate the Room of Requirement with mounted house elf heads, with how controversial this aspect of the books has always been idk who on the dev team didn’t think “maybe we shouldn’t keep the mounted head of a sapient creature decoration item”. Again none of this is surprising given the source material where they decorate houses with elf heads and the kids put little hats on during christmas, oh isn’t it so cute and whimsical? And the fact that one of the lead devs was a gamer gate youtuber (them stepping down was never going to divorce the game from these elements). The game is also a prequel set in the 1800s so it can't actually effectively deconstruct the issues with the source material, the goblins are still the anti-semetic bankers, the house elves are still slaves, and the ("good") wizards are still the good guys that have every right to oppress them. Just like Terflings own politics and the politics of the source material the game's message is about preserving the status quo, nothing meaningful can change and it shouldn’t cause we have a continuity to uphold damnit!
The game also throws in the series "first trans character" who they named "Sirona Ryan", this is a name of a Celtic goddess (as many people will point out in an attempt to ignore criticism, despite the origin not being the issue with the name) but just like "Cho Chang", "Anthony Goldstein" and "Kingsley Shacklebolt" it's certainly a choice out of all the Irish names to deliberately use that one for your first trans women. Sirona was also very obviously thrown in last minute in an attempt to save face and say the game was divorced from Terflings and her raging transphobia, but as you can see the game is quite the opposite.
But you know despite all that 9/10 IGN-ostalgia am I right!

In conclusion this game is truly the “Legacy” of this franchise and I can see why fans say “this is everything I ever wanted in a Harry Potter game” because this is all the franchise really truly is. I certainly hope everyone who bought the deluxe edition for the sole reason to spite a minority the author is actively harming daily love their overpriced shovelware and fuck off. Remember yall were the same people in the 90s who hated and wanted to boycott the books for being “satanic” and "progressive". (spoiler alert they never were)

And for anyone who can’t let go of the franchise because of “childhood” and cause “it’s so magical”, let me recommend “Earthsea” by Ursula K. Le Guin, “Discworld” by Terry Pratchett, and “Percy Jackson” by Rick Riordian. None of those series are perfect and have their fair share of problems, but they were written by authors who actually cared, who actually took criticism and grew from it. You can let go and grow too.

The 25th Ward: The Silver Case is a game about the internet, viewed through the lens of an authoritarian government that monitors its citizens and wipes them out with impunity via their government-sanctioned murderers to maintain the illusion of peace.

It's a game about how even in a "perfect" society where the people up top maintain an iron-grip on every minuet detail of its citizens lives, the biggest threat is the power of the individual and the propagation of ideas.

It's a game about the dehumanizing effects of violence, how those charged with keeping the peace are volatile, reckless goons who kill without remorse and never receive any kind of punishment for it. How killing is innate to the human experience, and how the will to kill resides in all men's hearts.

It's a game about trans-humanism. People turned into biological supercomputers built to retain petabytes of information. People who gain identity on the net. AI's so sophisticated that they become indistinguishable from their creators. People who ascend beyond the biological to become ideals, the purest form of information, unlimited by the notions of life or death.

It's a game about games and the people who play them. The relationship between protagonist and player. The rejection of industry norms. The eschewing of any kind of notion of traditional understanding.

The 25th Ward is a game I have a hard time writing about. It juggles a lot of topics, and yet, it sticks the landing with each and every single one of them in a way that is hauntingly prophetic for what was originally a 2005 flip-phone text-adventure game. It's a bit of a cop-out answer, but after a day or two of writing and rewriting this review, I really do feel it's an experience beyond words. It's a game that resonates even more today in the modern internet age, and it's view of the internet via a fictional social experiment of a city where the line between net and reality is non-existent is an intensely interesting backdrop for the triad of storylines that each explore a facet of this society and how it parallels the modern age.

"Don't depend on the net. Depend on the net. God lives in the net. The net will guide you to all answers and wisdom. Doubt the net. Save the net. Kill the net."

Good game with a great story but definitely not a game without its flaws. I enjoyed the soundtrack and exploring Lospass Island, but I did not get that DS feeling when I had to constantly go back and forth across the island to do fetch quests. Pretty sure the joke Suda wanted to tell is since video games are considered to be just time wasters, the game decides to literally waste your time by doing the former and with having to do like 30 basic math problems at the end. As annoying as some of the gameplay can be, I still had a good time with the game but think it would have benefited from having more of a visual novel style like The Silver Case did.