I can understand why people like this game a lot because there's a lot of room to play it however you want to with different builds and the level design is quite satisfying in that regard BUT I had fun playing this game like it was Neon White, which means I probably shouldn't have bought a stealth game (but it was on sale for a dollar!).

Since this was my first playthrough it also made me feel a bit like I was punished for playing the game like that given how the High Chaos ending feels sort of like a 'bad end' with all the characters punishing you or acting more callous towards you. Idk, I'm an assassin, sorry for killing everyone. The narrative isn't anything to write home about so I wasn't really attached to anyone beyond Corvo so I had no qualms just killing everyone, including Samuel, whom we are supposed to be attached to, or at least more attached to than I was. I ended up killing him so I was laughing over the shot in the ending montage of Corvo standing next to his grave instead of standing next to oh, idk, his dead sort-of-wife's grave.

My grievances aside I loved the world building and the lore of the game! It's really cool and incredibly unique. I'm a bit bummed the narrative of the game itself was as straightforward as it ended up being but I just know that fic writers are doing some crazy stuff and I actually feel compelled to go looking around for some of those stories because I think the world is just so interesting.

The game's morality is very 2010s, which isn't bad or good, it just reminds me of how people made games in this era, so again, I can really understand why it stood out to people so much at the time. I'm glad I played it especially since it was a dollar and was as short as it was, but I have no interest in playing it again for a Low Chaos run or checking out the DLCs unless I watch an LP.

Coming off of the arcade version of Frogger, which is a characterization masterpiece and paragon of gameplay, this version of Frogger is impossibly catastrophic. Frogger makes a leap (lol) from being our likable blank slate protagonist who we just want to see get to the other side of the road safely into a deeply unlikable and disappointing excuze for a frog. What’s with the bone sound effect?

Graphically the game is ugly. Plain and simple. Voice acting is mid but what else do you expect from Frogger.

The game’s antifeminist rhetoric is deeply entrenched in the naming of Lily, which eagle-eyed Frogger fans will recognize from the HIT TITLE, Swampy’s Revenge. Naming all girls Lily and therefore reducing them to one singular entity, especially when that name is congruous with a frog’s home, the lilypad, is misogynist.

If this hasn’t convinced you, they stole Silent Hill 2’s Promise. Lily’s not your Mary.

But Slick Willy can get it tho

1/2 star

I booted Ikaruga up for the first time and was sort of like damn this opening comment about Ikaruga fighting for no reason is sort of Nier-y. Then one of my friends commented that the polarity system reminded him of XIV’s Nier raids. Then I got to chapter 2 with the obstacles and I was like damn this kind of reminds me of Nier’s bullet hell sections. So I looked up Ikaruga Nier on Google and sure enough it’s Yoko Taro’s favorite shmup.

I’m by no means a shmup junkie and I don’t think I’ll ever clear Ikaruga but this is a fun and very challenging game. The slow ship speed and emphasis on polarity and obstacles makes it feel more puzzle-y than the other shmups I’ve played (not many) so I think this is a shmup to try if you like puzzles because your ship isn’t careening all over the place. And if you like Nier, maybe like me you’ll want to psychologically torture yourself into trying to finish it so you can fully understand why Yoko Taro finds it so great.