tvwolfsnake
Ashamed to say I played this game. I would be ashamed to say I liked it, but the reason I liked it is because I was in middle school and did not yet grasp why it was creepy.
Glad Cadre disowned it.
Glad Cadre disowned it.
I thought highly of this game in high school and have about zero interest in replaying now to see how I actually feel about it, but what I do remember tarnishes it (and would tarnish it more or less depending on how intentional the discomfort is, but again, I'm not replaying the game, so).
2018
On my first play session I won as solo impostor 3 times.
As someone famously terrible at hidden role games and bluffing in general, this was an object lesson in how well this game is designed. For every "sure thing" there's at least one way you can cast reasonable doubt, and this continues like three levels deep in the meta.
Pro tip: do not drink coffee before you play Among Us.
As someone famously terrible at hidden role games and bluffing in general, this was an object lesson in how well this game is designed. For every "sure thing" there's at least one way you can cast reasonable doubt, and this continues like three levels deep in the meta.
Pro tip: do not drink coffee before you play Among Us.
The only reason this is rated higher than DDR A is because the NA version added Cirno's Perfect Math Class, which automatically makes any rhythm game better.
Takes Half-Life's playful ribbing of the player to the point where it gets kinda mean, but in a fun way. Unfortunately I lost all motivation to continue near the end of Crush Depth when I ran into the bug where the deagle permanently jams underwater, which somehow hasn't been fixed in 21 years. Hopefully I can return soon.
2020
I would like this less, since it's very much a thirdhand parody of dating sims, except that [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS].
2006
How do you even rate Wii Sports? It almost wasn't a game after a certain point so much as a platonic ideal of the Family Activity. Software-like.
I miss everything about this version. Vivid Wave is still great but I'll take this game's cool blue water aesthetic any day.
2015
I like desktop games, and I like detective games, and I like Sam Barlow's games (well, I liked Aisle, which is the only other one of his games I've played up to this point), and as a video editor I like putting video clips in a timeline, and somehow I can't stand this game.
I think the thing that really bugs me about it is just that it's supposed to be airtight, leading you through the story in more or less the same way as everyone else even if theoretically you could get to the ending clips with the right keyword, but I chose keywords that made sense to me and in like two leaps stumbled across end content.
(Sam: anyone who finds a song in your game is going to immediately assume the song is a metaphor for things that happen in the story.)
I tried to muddle through anyways, and got a little bit more complicating context, but the fact remains that the story is not written to be interesting if you know the end, and even if I did go through it the proper way I don't think I'd like it much more. Without giving anything away, what it's about is kinda trite.
I think the thing that really bugs me about it is just that it's supposed to be airtight, leading you through the story in more or less the same way as everyone else even if theoretically you could get to the ending clips with the right keyword, but I chose keywords that made sense to me and in like two leaps stumbled across end content.
(Sam: anyone who finds a song in your game is going to immediately assume the song is a metaphor for things that happen in the story.)
I tried to muddle through anyways, and got a little bit more complicating context, but the fact remains that the story is not written to be interesting if you know the end, and even if I did go through it the proper way I don't think I'd like it much more. Without giving anything away, what it's about is kinda trite.
I'm forever torn on this game because I'm a huge sucker for a lot of what it's doing but also the dating sim parody feels completely disingenuous.
2011
One of the best indie IFs ever written. It's amazing how consistently funny Ryan Veeder's parser is, and that comedy is a pivotal part of the game's nuanced overarching small-scale tragedies tone.
2012
ACAB so I shouldn't have bothered but I got so into roleplaying an Actually Good undercover cop that I would instinctively reload missions if I caused collateral damage.
Anyways: imagine if GTA actually encouraged you to do wild shit, and more easily facilitated wild shit, without going completely cartoonish like SR3. (Not that SR3's cartoonishness is a bad thing.) Imagine if GTA had a good hand-to-hand combat model. I think it's kind of silly that this game even introduces guns for the player in the later game, but it almost feels like an intentional ploy to make the hand-to-hand seem even stronger than it already is.
Anyways: imagine if GTA actually encouraged you to do wild shit, and more easily facilitated wild shit, without going completely cartoonish like SR3. (Not that SR3's cartoonishness is a bad thing.) Imagine if GTA had a good hand-to-hand combat model. I think it's kind of silly that this game even introduces guns for the player in the later game, but it almost feels like an intentional ploy to make the hand-to-hand seem even stronger than it already is.
2001
...A Game In Which Sam Lake Makes A Serious Case For Video Games As A Metaform
2016
I would be harsher on this game's story if I in any way thought it was taking itself dead serious, but I don't. It's a camp take on the meta Video Game Mind Control story, and I love it.
To say nothing of the fact that it's the most innovative shooter I've played in years.
To say nothing of the fact that it's the most innovative shooter I've played in years.
2017
Shocking how well this game turned out, given...[gestures vaguely at entire development cycle]