Bio
Washed up STG and Virtual-On player who enjoys arcade games and most genres.

Reviews of multiplayer-focused games are usually based on that aspect. Might age poorly..

Personal arcade game/1CC difficulty ranking
Misc. high score runs(Restart Syndrome)
Personal Ratings
1★
5★

Badges


Loved

Gained 100+ total review likes

Gone Gold

Received 5+ likes on a review while featured on the front page

GOTY '23

Participated in the 2023 Game of the Year Event

Well Written

Gained 10+ likes on a single review

1 Years of Service

Being part of the Backloggd community for 1 year

Liked

Gained 10+ total review likes

Popular

Gained 15+ followers

GOTY '22

Participated in the 2022 Game of the Year Event

Roadtrip

Voted for at least 3 features on the roadmap

Best Friends

Become mutual friends with at least 3 others

Noticed

Gained 3+ followers

Elite Gamer

Played 500+ games

Gamer

Played 250+ games

N00b

Played 100+ games

Favorite Games

The House in Fata Morgana
The House in Fata Morgana
La-Mulana 2
La-Mulana 2
Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Oratorio Tangram - M.S.B.S. Ver. 5.66
Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Oratorio Tangram - M.S.B.S. Ver. 5.66
Vanquish
Vanquish
HellSinker
HellSinker

674

Total Games Played

000

Played in 2024

104

Games Backloggd


Recently Reviewed See More

Feels more like a solid remake or a Dragons Dogma 1.5 than a sequel. It's more of the same which can be a good or bad thing depending on your expectations. For example, if you're expecting plenty of new enemy types, bosses or drastic changes to gameplay systems (like improved Pawn AI) compared to the first game that's really not here.
It's mostly the same game as Dragons Dogma 1 base game but bigger. The focus of the game is clearly on a general open world experience with fun to control player classes. There is very little on the side of tight combat focused dungeons like Bitterblack Isle (DD1 Dark Arisen expansion).

The combat and party management is still fun make no mistake, but it's definitely on the side of a power trip game where the player character grows powerful quickly (both statistically and mechanically) but enemies do not improve to match.
The variety of enemy encounters seems like one of the weakest points of the game. It's a sequel but 90% of the enemies you face are things you might already know from DD1. The bulk of enemies are trash mob level goblins, bandits and saurians which have 4-5 recolors based on how far you are in the game. But the way you fight them is exactly the same. It's not like they gain some threatening new attack or AI behavior, so going back to the first area to fight the same enemy class feels much the same.
I think this is a big loss since the core combat does feel good but the enemies really blur together and by the end of the game you might just be doing the same attack sequences and not care about what enemy you're fighting.

The difficulty level is low and XP gain from enemies scales very little; a mid-tier enemy like a Cyclops gives 1/3 the XP of an endgame boss. Exploring the map thoroughly will have you get overleveled for the main story quests quickly even if you don't intend to.

If you're looking for a challenging action RPG dungeon crawling experience like Bitterblack Isle or just lots of new enemies to face and new gameplay systems compared to DD1 that's not in DD2, at least on release.

Survivor-type game with boss fights that are more of a shmup style. The visual style is neat along with the music and it's a nice finishable game with a clear ending. But the gameplay loop is mind-numbingly boring. For the asking price it's fine as a product though.
The game basically plays itself as the most basic of twin-stick shooters as long as you pick powerups to form a build. There is some enemy variety but most of them don't change how you play, excluding one or two that shoot or spawn bullets.

The boss fights have some fun bullet patterns but are hardly better than your average shmup boss, so that isn't something that would elevate the gameplay beyond mediocrity. You are likely to turn on auto-targeting so there is no play with the weapons. That turns the boss fights into pure dodging with basic movement.
The bomb is satisfying to use at least, absorbing bullets into a counter attack.

The attempt to be more of a 'real' game than other survivor games kind of just makes me want to play actual twin-stick shooters with better level design and more interesting gameplay mechanics. It's not like there aren't plenty of those with enemy hordes or good boss fights. But again, the aesthetic in Picayune Dreams is nice.

Momentum-focused 3D platformer that feels like a 3D Sonic Team game from the Saturn era. Kind of a NiGHTS aesthetic going on as well. This game is about chaining special movement techniques back to back to move around quickly. Basic walking is a bad way to speed up or switch directions. Air dashing, using a grappling-hook type move and riding across terrain to keep your speed up is basically the core gameplay here.

The platforming levels get fairly challenging to clear later on. Mainly the optional Star levels but fully unlocking these requires completionist item collection which may not be for everyone.

The games boss fights seem very weak compared to the main platforming parts. I wish the Busker Bonus minigame wasn't in the game at all, being a trivial quick-time event at the end of every stage. It breaks the pace between levels a bit too much, including the minigame music not being stage specific.
Time Attack mode gets rid of this but that's essentially post-game. Speedrunning through levels does seem like the core appeal and most fun to have in the game.

Levels and especially boss fights have some dead air with auto scrolling rail grab, etc. sequences where you wait around for the next scene. The campaign feels a tiny bit bloated personally. I really started enjoying the level design around World 6-7.

When there isn't dead air the movement does feel very fast paced. Being a momentum based game messing up is just heavily punished. Even in optional levels you're often able to skip sections by fully using all your movement abilities.

The game at launch is a little buggy and also doesn't allow remapping your controls which is strange. The default 'pro' layout has many duplicate buttons and wants you to dash by double flicking the right stick which felt awkward. I had a much better experience after using Steam Input to change R1/RB to be a yo-yo throw button allowing dash by flicking the right stick once and pressing a button.

I had trouble perceiving depth visually on a few levels, especially if the ground is lava or something else that doesn't show the players shadow. Generally seems good though and I can imagine this being polished later.