Every Reviewed Game

There's a lot of game in this game, but much of it is good!

It did a great delivering the tried-and-true JRPG formula: lots of gear / stats / abilities, repetitive turn-based battles, and rewarding you for going the extra mile. It felt good to be back in the saddle, since I don't always have patience for these. The crafting system was pretty good, adding a level of skill to a system that's usually just a menu. The pace of the battles reminded me a lot of FFX, which is always good. I really liked that you could set your whole party to CPU controlled, so battles would fight themselves. That let me grind as much (or as little) as I wanted, which was huge when the game was so long. The world is large and well-realized. There's plenty of things to do. The series' cheeky humor is on full display, which leant a lighter air to some more serious goings-on.

The worst part is probably the pacing- there are too many endings in this game. Being a legendary hero was fun, but they needed to know when to quit. The difficulty was also on the easy side (maybe because of the aforementioned auto-grinding), but there's a setting for that if you want a hard mode. It's also a little silly to complain about, but there's maybe too much of everything? In addition to the whole main quest, there's a whole separate series of 2D sidequests I basically never touched. They act as a love letter to the rest of the series, which is cool. But at some point, there's just too much if I'm going to play anything else this year.

That said, nobody is doing very traditional JRPGs better, so if that's what you're in the mood for, DQXI acts as potent comfort food.

A non-linear heist. What it lacks in gameplay, it makes up for in storytelling. There's a lot there in between its surrealism. Weirdly, the cinematography is what stood out the most to me. Everything is "shot" very precisely. Music is great too. It's a fun, odd, tidy little package.

Odd little interactive experience. Weaves a bit of story into its walking. Builds a lot of world in a very short amount of space.

Just killer. Clever little puzzles, tons of mechanics, cute side characters, simple yet expressive art. Not too long, but engaging. Enough variety that the same base mechanic (sliding puzzles) never gets boring. Good music on a few of the levels. Can get tough, but there's a good hint/answer system posted online by the dev. And you can't beat this price!

Small and delightful. The relaxed jigsaw-centric gameplay is a step up from the fairly frantic order fulfillment of the first game. I liked the little narrative that moves everything along without taking center stage. The whole thing is pleasant and just thinky enough to keep you engaged without being punitive in any way. There's a cool new game plus mode as well! It's a rare sequel that improves on its original in basically every way.

Delightfully tight puzzle game. Takes a simple mechanic, commits to it, and really explores the space. Art is beautiful, soundtrack is nice, story is just thought provoking enough Art is beautiful, soundtrack is nice, story is just thought provoking enough. Doesn't overstay its welcome either. Loved the whole thing!

[DLC 2: The Lemurian Phoenix] Some good puzzles and a great non-linear narrative to tie it together! Maybe my favorite yet.

Relaxing, tricky, and heartfelt all at once. Great presentation overall. Heartening to see the Zachtronics folks return to form.

Tough but stylish. Loved the puzzle variety and overall design. Puzzles get pretty punishing towards the end of the game. Lots of great mechanics though.

Flexible, tactical gameplay at its very best. The engage system a little over complicated and takes some time to get going, but it adds a lot of strategic depth and customization to the game. They've streamlined a lot of systems that used to be more cumbersome than they needed to be, so everything flowed well. I especially liked the refinement and weapon systems. You get to spend more time battling, though there are a lot of menus. I loved walking around 3D maps after a battle to really hammer home the sense of scale you lack in a top down view. There's plenty of fun cameos if you've played a ton of these, but newcomers won't miss much. The gacha for extra rings seemed pointless, but doesn't get in the way. The story is also dreadful- tropey and boring. Most of the characters are 1-dimensional and forgettable, but the voice acting is good, per usual. I really waffled between a 3 and a 4 rating, but ultimately the glaring flaws didn't prevent me from being glued to the game for nearly 65 hours. Feels like a big step in the right direction for the series overall.

Cute dialogue and a funny premise, but punishingly boring minigames soured the experience. Charming and nicely animated overall, but doesn't really work as a game without gameplay.

Stunning in its vastness and meticulousnes. Dense, deep puzzles and a continuous stream of discoveries kept us engaged for nearly 100 hours. That's extremely rare for any game, much less a puzzle game. The pacing was occasionally frustrating and the RNG worked against us as much as it worked for us. But the sheer scale and specificity of everything outweighs any flaws and untied loose ends. Everything about BP's design was just so graceful. I was constantly impressed with how precisely every game mechanic fit together. The actual deck builder was fun in its own right, but it blows my mind how deeply connected every inch of it was to the underlying meta puzzles. Every inch of this game was precise and rocked. Though there was actual in-game progression too, I loved the knowledge-based power curve. The more we knew about the house, the more successfully you could build and navigate it. Some could be a little obtuse, but marinating on the puzzles and/or some (eventual) light web searching kept us moving. Each time our interest waned, we'd find a New Clue that would pull us back in. I also took more notes than I've ever taken for a game- probably 100 distinct pages, plus countless screenshots. Gameplay wise, we drafted more than 2,300 rooms across 83 in-game days, taking more than 7,400 steps across those runs. We hit the initial credits after 17 hours or so, but that was basically just the tutorial. This game was a blast, gripes and all.

A charming physics-based puzzler. Loved the attention to detail and the wide variety of possible solutions for each level.

Some cool mechanics and a lot of passion held back by muddled visuals and uneven puzzle design.

Cozy, clever, and tricky. A contemplative outing that's well worth your time.

Had some of the charm from the first game, which is why I tried it in the first place. Unfortunately, they replaced the simplistic but compelling exploration & combat with a twin-stick roguelike. It felt like a cross between Enter the Gungeon and Minit. There was still exploration, but only for a few minutes at a time. There's more to the gameplay, but not much more. Instead, it's repetitive more kludgy than fun. I liked the weapon variety, but it felt like there were a few standouts and "the rest of them". I'm glad the devs got to try something new, but I wish they had stuck with what made the original formula so fun.

Played through all the Muckingham Files, plus some bonus jobs. More of the same. None of the levels were too annoying, which I appreciated. It's frustrating to do too much nook & cranny work.

Hinterberg leans heavily on its presentation and characters over depth of gameplay. Joining Persona-style social links to progression felt great. There was good puzzle variety and the unique spells in each world kept dungeons from feeling too samey. The story was surprisingly engaging- it really grapples with the impact of tourism on a small town and how each of its ensemble feels about the associated changes. The sore(st) thumb here is the combat- it starts clunky and never really gets better (just easier). Customization is decent and I loved the charm system (passive abilities that you can "shrink" over time). Too bad it was wasted on such forgettable fights.

Nine Sols has a lot going for it- beautiful hand-drawn animation style, engaging exploration, and blistering parry-focused gameplay. The map is intricately designed and there are tons of nooks and crannies to explore. Combat is tough, but generally fair. Getting your parry timings down takes some practice, but it just so rewarding when you nail it. Rebuking every attack before turning on a boss never got old. There's very little required backtracking which kept everything moving along nicely. Upgrades generally feel meaningful, rewarding careful play. The story is also pretty good. Yi's relationship with the ensemble supports the action and learning more about the world slowly as you slay bosses provided ample reason to keep at it. Difficulty felt right up until the final boss. I ended up cranking down the difficulty because hey, life's too short to keep banging my head against this thing. Proud I made it that far though!

This was basically my introduction to souls-like games and I quite enjoyed it. But I also feel like I "figured out" the combat in a way that made it probably easier than they intended. But maybe that's part of the fun! In any case, the combat felt pretty good overall. It starts slow, but once you get some skills and gear, it really opens up. There's a nice rhythm to the whole thing: attack, block, attack, block. There are platforming sections that provide a nice break from combat despite being a little finicky. The best part is probably the overall presentation. It's a sort of dark story, in the end, but told with big Bikini Bottom vibrancy and tongue-in-cheek humor. Environments are mostly colorful and there's a constant stream of fish puns, jokes, and fish-related curse words that kept the vibe from getting too heavy. The story tackles current events both political and environmental without feeling out of place. They did a good job contextualizing the protagonist's feelings about his whole adventure in a novel way, which I admired. Felt like a good place to start with the genre!

A small, tight puzzle game with some cool Sokoban mechanics. It's pretty short, but there's no cruft.

What if Hades, but about death? Like, even more explicitly than the original. Good art direction with smooth animations and good weapon feel. The gameplay loop is unoriginal, but well done. Procedural map is fine, but the floors are too small to actually make exploration a thing. Weapon, spell, and upgrade variety is pretty good- there's a lot of options. I wish there wasn't such a big divide between the good ones and the bad ones, but at least it's easy to stick to the good ones. The health system is overly complicated and I still don't fully understand it. There's some story which provides direction without being in the way. The side characters were occasionally funny and fine otherwise. Difficulty wise, it was inconsistent. Basic enemies were too easy and bosses dealt too much damage. But, there's an easy mode that put the whole thing in a great spot- challenging, but forgiving. Coming up with weird interesting combos was fun, per usual with this genre. I've got other minor complaints, but ultimately I was glued to it for a week, so they clearly didn't stop me from enjoying myself. It doesn't have the staying power of Hades or Dead Cells, but I heartily enjoyed my time with it.

A bunch of good ideas that came together in a less-than-satisfying way. I liked the art direction and vibrancy of the world. The story was intriguing (if jargon-heavy) and the characters were wonderfully voice acted. I liked the idea of the physics powers mixed with combat. Unfortunately, using the powers felt weak and clunky compared to just hitting enemies with a sword. Exploration and backtracking got old quickly. The crafting system felt rewarding and had some cool design touches (like being able to improve parts of the item without redoing the whole thing). The bosses were cool at first, but they also only actually had a few variations (tall one, flying one, etc). Outside of bosses, most of your time is spent doing basic combat, which got samey (even in my short time playing it). There's a lot of junk resources and inventory management got old as well. It was tough that quests were only ever "kill a thing" or "find a thing" (and good luck with the latter). On the whole, a mixed bag that I liked the idea of more than actually playing.

A fluid, high-octane platformer that shouldn't work as well as it does. The abilities are nicely varied and zipping through the impeccably designed levels never got old. The over-the-top anime writing ranged from decent to cringe, but it didn't distract too much from the gameplay. The story itself was fine. I wasn't crazy about the boss fights, which felt more frustrating than exhilarating. I finished at rank 19 without much backtracking, which I'm quite pleased with.

The story is the star of the show: you get to live an Indiana Jones movie. And, much like its inspiration, the narrative is fun but the details (and gameplay) are lacking. Don't get me wrong- bonking Nazis on the head never really gets old. But the simplistic brawling and plodding platforming drag the good parts of this down. The environments were well designed and fun to explore, but there wasnt much reason to. Combat upgrades and money never felt rewarding. The sidequest stories were good and supported the main narrative well though. It really leans into it's "Indy" vibe and does well with what it's got. But if it were an original character, most folks wouldn't give it a second glance. Make of that what you will.

[DLC 1: Sins of New Wells] A focused addition to a great game. There weren't new mechanics introduced, but the puzzles were good and I liked the short arc of the story that tied into the wider universe. Difficulty level was good- puzzles were tricky off the bat rather than doing any tutorializing. I'm excited to see where the next DLCs go!

Mechanically improved from the first game. Loved the "away missions" and push-your-luck mechanics. Exploring a galaxy was better than one big station, but it felt like there was less variety for actual activities. As a sequel, does an interesting job changing the vibe from wide and choice-heavy to more linear and exploratory. Not better or worse, just different. Great cameos from the first game if you played it (but not much is lost if you didn't). The emotional story beats hit hard (especially when there are no right answers). Some of the bigger-picture stuff falls flat, but the good parts made up for it. Does a shockingly poignant thing with the design of the post game which I really admired. A worthy sequel indeed!

Ingenious little puzzle game about using (written) audio logs to track characters' paths through a house as they die dramatically. Its minimalistic UI helps the writing shine. The nonstop chain of logical deductions kept us on the edge of our seats. We made a spreadsheet to track everything, which is a mark of a great puzzle game. I would have liked some actual sound effects (keyboard, music, or even voice acting) and there were a _couple_ of nits we had with the ending, but it was a blast nonetheless. Excited for more!

Sort of remarkable in its mechanical depth. Seamlessly blends exploration, combat, and base building for a delightful experience. The power curve is great, always giving you something to build towards. There's a lot of opportunity to customize your approach, so there's really something for everyone. It also does a great job using in-game achievements to direct your progression through the bosses; it would be easy to feel lost without that. But, the UX really shows its age. Inventory management in base is a total pain, and crafting is basically impossible without consulting the external wiki. These issues didn't stop me from enjoying it, but I'd easily jump in for another 40 hours if they streamlined everything.

Flirted with some interesting story moments. Great voice cast and characterization of this gaggle of AIs. Puzzles were basic and forgettable. Architecture was pretty. Short and sweet overall, but doesn't have the narrative staying power of other games in its class.

Beautiful, relaxing, tactile little game. Majority of the puzzles were great. Some got too tricky for their own good, but most were fun to play around with. The music fits the theme well. There's great foley work when you grab any item, making them each feel remarkably real.

Funny and atmospheric gameplay coupled with a story that doesn't stick the landing. The art direction and voice acting are great, but it's frustrating to get invested in a story that doesn't resolve.

The simplicity of each puzzle meant there was more space to play with the conceit: weird mazes! Doesn't overstay its welcome and never stops experimenting. Great design language too. Just a delight!

A total mess of design, but not altogether unpleasant. The islands are large and plain, but the bumpers and rails everywhere give it a sort of cool, proto-skatepark vibe. It plays with scale well- bosses are huge and the micro platforming challenges can span pretty large areas. The 3D platforming is sort of fun, while I did the mind-numbing fishing game rather than do any of the 2D levels. Exploring and mapping was neat, and you _do_ get to go fast. I also enjoyed some of the combat, weirdly, which had more depth than many previous Sonic games. The story is messy and there more than a few frustrating required mini-games that gate progression. All that said, I did play through to the end. It's a good game for turning your brain off.

Clever little puzzle game. Explores its mechanics well and has a pleasant presentation and design. Doesn't overstay its welcome and gets pretty tricky, especially towards the end. Great for what it is!

A game for absolute puzzle sickos. You're tasked with translating a ancient language, basically from scratch. It sets you loose without any guidance, which might work for people with backgrounds in linguistics but was frustrating for me. There are some good quality of life features to assist in your translations (being able to define a word once and see that translation everywhere), but I found the game way too hard and undirected.

A short, clever little puzzle platformer. Your jump is high enough to kill you from fall damage, so you have to navigate its intricately designed rooms with care. Each room's solution feels so obvious in retrospect, which feels like the mark of a good puzzle: it's staring you in the face the whole time. Has plenty of little secret pathways to discover.

Great presentation: the art, music, and voice acting are really well done. The gameplay itself is decent, but the actual deductions weren't as compelling as I'd have liked. It's a little bit caught between Frog Detective and Golden Idol, too much gameplay to be the former but not enough to be the latter. Fun overall though!

Vicky played it- she liked putting things in their place, but got frustrated with some of the arbitrary rules for items. She scored it 3/4, but I still had a good time watching it.

If I described it in one word, it would be "clunky", which is a tough adjective for a game about fluidity of motion. There are some cool ideas at play, but the open world feels lifeless (and not on purpose). Leveling mechanics were sort of neat, and the idea behind the combat was very cool. Unfortunately, it just felt dreadful to actually play. Combat got hectic quickly, so it's hard to see what's going on. Spells also didn't feel good to use - lots of holding of triggers. I really wanted to like it, but life's too short to keep playing.

A superb, Obra Dinn-like puzzle game. Doing genealogy homework never felt so great. Puzzles are tough, but fair and rewarding. Logical leaps aplenty, but in a good way. It really trusts its players, which is always a plus.

Cute, even on replay. There are great puzzles and greater secrets, plus a charming cast and fun concept.

There's beauty in this game's simplicity. You can see all the possible outcomes before every step, making it easy to understand the ramifications. I also liked that enemies' health is also their attack damage, making offense a viable approach for defense. There are a lot character and abilities combinations, so there are plenty of ways to approach runs. But ultimately, there weren't enough items to really draw me in; I saw a lot of the same options in every run which made it more repetitive than I would have hoped. But it would make a good game to play in short, occasional bursts.

It's Tony Hawk meets John Wick, which works better than it has any right to. The motion is fluid and the gunplay is just as simple as it needs to be. It got a little harder than I was interested in, but the game let me tweak the difficulty exactly how I wanted (infinite ammo, damage taken reduction). Zipping around and blast things with occasional tricks was a blast and half. Being able to turn the game into the exact experience I wanted was a pleasant surprise.

Absolutely spectacular art direction. The 2D sections are straight out of Hilda and the 3D made great use of lighting to make the cartoon elements really pop. Story was surprisingly meta and fun. Music was top-tier. Really the only thing lacking was the gameplay itself. It started basic and never really went anywhere from there. You get a couple of moves, but you fight the same standard enemies the whole game and nothing puts up a fight. The puzzles range from "too simple" to "decent", but never higher. There's also a ton of (blessedly skippable) minigames that get old eventually. I think it's great for what it is, you just need to set expectations around challenge level and simplicity going in. I enjoyed my time with it overall.

Great platforming and traversal abilities. Story was good and explored themes (death, grief, family) that are less common in games. The setting felt unique as well. Loved the vibrant color scheme- felt very PS2 era in that regard. Decent, if repetitive combat. Low enemy variety and fights get a little too hectic late. Is technically a metroidvania, but the map isn't super compelling and there's not much backtracking. I wish we got more time with each ability, cause there are some fun ones.

Takes the great formula from the first game and improves on it. I liked the increased scope and level of detail that we got from being able to see the characters in so many situations over their years. Increased puzzle variety was welcome (not just putting names to faces, but assigning people to houses, building timelines, etc). Some genuinely tricky puzzles, too. There are more missions so the story feels a little more padded than before, but not so much that it's not enjoyable. I especially liked piecing together the larger narrative across an achronological story. A fitting follow-up to one of the great detective games.

A tightly paced blend of action platformer and turn-based RPG. The powers, abilities, and equipment are varied and fun. The writing is goofy but not obnoxious. Characters are memorable. It rewards backtracking while not requiring it, which is a rarity in RPGs. High-interactivity turn-based battles never felt stale.

Some good puzzle concepts. Lots of solutions require careful timing and precision, which are more frustrating than fun. Controls are ok but the UI is cumbersome to navigate. Virtual assistant is very weird.

Had a lot of potential but didn't come together. Its gorgeous, hand-drawn art and murderer's row of voice talent were great. But, for a game all about music, none of the songs felt melodic or especially pleasant to listen to. I liked the dialogue writing and some heavy topics were handled with care. The story itself was ok and there are a lot of potential branches (and romance options), but the core mystery was quite underwhelming.

A top-tier cyberpunk narrative wrapped in just enough interactivity. I loved the depth to the characters and the complex motivation behind everything they did. Actual gameplay is light - mostly reading. But you get a certain number of actions each day and what you roll affects what you can do and how fast things progress. It evoked the "choose your own adventure" vibe of tabletop RPGs in that regard. Everything gets too easy in the late game and I would have liked a little more variety in the way you used actions. Nevertheless, this definitely feels like a hidden gem.

A fun take on a change-the-past puzzles. Individual puzzles were decent too, but not outstanding. A decent story with clumsy (translated?) writing. First half of the game was stronger than the second, though I did like seeing the cumulative effect of my changes on the villiage.

A straightforward but fun platinum trophy. Good mix of easter eggs, challenges, collectables, and fun things.

Extremely charming concept, a small world of friends to explore, and some surprisingly compelling platforming and traversal mechanics make this way more fun than expected. It's nothing like Breath of the Wild in complexity, but it copies a lot of the other core bits to great effect.

The art & gameplay are both great. It does a great job encouraging active positioning and strategic planning. UI is a little rough, but not enough to stop me enjoying my time with it.

Fun concept (build your own luck) but the gameplay just felt bland. Chancing into the perfect set of jokers between rounds is fun, but the actual gameplay is a mix of "Play", "Discard", and a bunch of luck. Other deckbuilders have more interactivity where you get to choose targets and ordering, but making poker hands (even if some of them are super high scoring) got old fast. I had a couple of super long runs where everything came into place, but I also had a bunch of duds where I didn't get anywhere. I feel like the "bad" runs in other roguelikes are still fun, but the ones in Balatro were just drags.

Gameplay was much improved over the first one, mostly due to improved enemy AI and level design. Everything flows cinematically and fluidly, which is nothing short of a technical marvel. Every melee attack has a contextual animation and the world reacts to your actions. The PS5 version's graphics are also probably the peak of the generation. The story is top-notch, as expected. Naughty Dog continues to push the boundaries of what possible in a narrative. At times, I did feel like playing the "novelization" of a TV show, so I'm excited to see what this looks like in the actual show. Overall it was probably too long and had some pacing inconsistencies, but I felt like it largely surpassed the original (despite my fondness for that first story).

Has dialogue and emotional beats that punches way above its weight. Characters + art are cute and the story is decent if predictable. The gameplay is _only_ nonogram puzzles, which are fun but very one-note. I could have used... anything else. But I had a good time with it. It also had a great hint system which keeps you moving through the puzzles, which I appreciated.

Combines great writing, a decent story, and open ended tactical puzzles into an absolute banger. Good ability variety and the ability to push characters (enemy and ally alike) leads to a ton of interesting approaches to completing objectives. Infinite rewinds encourage lots of experimentation making it extremely fun to play around with.

This DLC adds an exciting depth to an already strong base game. By exchanging power for additional challenge, the game becomes harder on lower difficulty levels, which I appreciated. Combining units adds great strategic depth, altering what cards I was willing to pick up. I didn’t care much for the added clan and I still think the game pushes you too hard into pre-determined archetypes, but I had a good time revisiting the Train anyway.

The best part was the combat (eventually) and the worst part was everything else. Once you get a few abilities under your belt the combat really starts to click, but by then you're halfway through the game. Everything else the adventure felt underbaked. The world was large, empty, and lifeless. The equipment system was an afterthought, removing any interesting decision making from everything but the ability loadout. Characters are fine if forgettable, but the whole plot is joyless and overwrought. The marquee boss fights are certainly unique, but they're overly long and are more spectacle than substance. For a mainline FF title, it has remarkably little going for it.

Game that tries hard to be cute and mostly nails it. Takes a lot of care to let you really _be_ a cat, doing as much or a little as you want. Gameplay mechanics are simplistic and there are more than a few bugs, but its charming supporting cast and cozy neighborhood make for a good time.

Some interesting tactical gameplay buried under an abysmal Switch port. I liked that there were different factions and the campaign runs built up an army over time, but the fact that you could recruit from any pool meant you just had less synergy than if you were constrained to the one you picked. I liked the hex grid and each character having abilities, which helped keep battles fairly fresh. I have a feeling this would have eked out a 3 stars if I had played on Steam w/ a mouse, but I just couldn't keep playing using the controller interface.

Stuffed to the gills with mechanics and mini-games, it's really hampered by its lack of focus. The core diving / selling / exploring / grinding gameplay is compelling, but gets bogged down by everything else that demands your attention. The art and music are good, the story meh, and the experience decent overall.

Probably my favorite shovel knight campaign. Movement felt great and the heirlooms were each interesting. I also loved that the levels were so much shorter - it allowed them to try more things in a more focused space. The Joustus card game was a good addition, though its actual gameplay didn't grab me like I expected it to. Even so, roaming around and building a better deck to challenge people with was satisfying. Whole thing was a blast!

Sort of an interesting little physics sim, but the physics are all floaty and gummy. Has sort of a goose game / katamari chaos charm, but lacks enough cohesion to make it particularly worthwhile. Some funny interactions, but not something I needed to spend more time with.

Superb naval combat coupled to kludgy controls and a scattered story. I really loved sailing around with my buds and improving my ship. Assassinations were also a good time and there was decent mission variety. The stealth and combat mechanics were largely frustrating and the open world formula was tired. It could have used a little focus- there are a lot of competing systems. Exploration was fun but usually done without a satisfying payoff.

Good music, decent writing, and a fun presentation unfortunately fail to prop up a lackluster combat system. it's neat in theory, but is too easy until it becomes crushingly hard (unless you do a lot of grinding). A lot of these concepts were probably revolutionary in 1994, but many don't translate well into the modern day. I ended up setting for a bad ending after an excruciatingly slow final boss that was more a waste of time than a challenge.

Extremely intricate puzzles layered onto a world busting with explorable areas made this a most engaging adventure. Learning new mechanics kept the world from feeling too small and the odd atmosphere kept us engaged throughout. Ended up getting the platinum trophy (and the true ending) because we were having so much fun.

A pretty tough game, but fair about its difficulty. Good boss variety and equipment options. It would get frustrating when I made dumb mistakes over and over. But, the feeling of finally beating a boss I had run up against many times was exhilarating.

Death Count: 507 total. 101 deaths first island, 191 deaths second island, 111 deaths third island, 30 deaths against penultimate boss, 74 against final boss.

I liked the concept and art style a lot, but it didn't land for me. I liked the way that characters aged and changed over time, which felt novel. Building their stories over time also felt good. Combat was mostly good, but each campaign started pretty slowly until you got abilities for your characters. The overworld ate up a lot of time without being especially compelling. The dialogue was inconsistent at best and was noticeably procedurally generated; that made it occasionally charming, but stilted more often than not. End-campaign combat was the highlight and there was decent depth, but it took a while to get there. There are only three classes which I think limits the diversity of the gameplay. It felt like we saw most of the possible archetypes in our time with the game.

Note: I played the whole thing in 4 player multiplayer, had some rough edges. We played a couple campaigns, enough to feel like we had seen most of what the game had to offer.

Had an interesting premise (tactics + tower defense) but fell short for me. Towers felt underpowered and unrewarding to use. Hero upgrades were ok, but the pool is pretty small so it all felt repetitive after a few runs. Metaprogression was also fairly uninteresting. Cool idea that didn't stick the landing.

Charming concept. Decent if simple puzzles. Tacked on combat, but didn't really get in the way. They could have streamlined it a bit, but I liked the story a lot.

A neat concept (audio-only game), but doesn't quite stick the landing. Combat is repetitive and audio design is surprisingly spartan for game that's literally only audio.

Very cool presentation & tech. Creepy story that doesn't really resolve much, but is pretty gripping throughout.

Extremely cool concept. There aren't many games that have real time command-typing as their core gameplay (and when they do, it's usually not under time pressure). I definitely felt like a hacker as I rushed to rotate the cameras, disable the lasers, and distract the guards. Story was good too- it did a lot with a little. Though I would have liked music/sound effects and some slight QoL improvements, this was awesome for what it was.

This stretches the definition of "game"- it's more of a guided meditation with dialogue choices. Unfortunately, not something I'm looking for...

Clever little puzzle game. No art, music, or story to speak of, but the puzzles are good and there's some neat space explored. Not a bad way to spend 2 hours.

Some of the best turn based combat I've played in a while. I love the deckbuilding mechanics. The story and writing were fine, but they paved the way for some genuinely heartfelt character moments. Design wise, it's overstuffed - there are too many generic missions and too many resources / collectibles. The dressup aspect is fun though and like I said, the core gameplay awesome. They teased a sequel and I'm here for it.

Cute art and music coupled to an ok story and lacking gameplay. Bits of it were certainly charming and it captured summer well, but didn't do it for me overall.

A strong entrant in the monster collecting genre. Story was decent, if tropey. Gameplay was more modular than most Pokemon-like games, leading to a lot of deep strategy if you want to go looking for it. The fusion system is great and the fact that every combination exists is pretty mind blowing. The type chart is fairly advanced compared to Pokemon, requiring me to keep a reference open most of the time. The ragdoll physics are an interesting twist on its pixel art style. Decent exploration and menus that are less ergonomic than they should be. But, a fun play that kept me engaged throughout.

Great tower variety and a system that really rewards and encourages experimentation (by being able to respec at any time for free). Your power level really ramps up as you get more skills and items. Enemy variety is generally interesting and forces you to think on your feet a bit rather than doing the same things every time. Great on iPad.

Great art style, some decent platforming, pretty good exploration. Combat was mostly fun and abilities combined in interesting ways, but there was also plenty of frustrating moments where controls weren't as responsive as expected. Nevertheless, had a good time with it.

Extremely cool concept. It plays out like a heist, where everything is planned, cased, and adjusted. The different time slots do a good job making each of the 4 levels feel distinct and each is built with the signature level of Arkane detail. There's not a ton of gear or weapons, but it leaves space to experiment without penalty. The characters and story are good. While one could argue it holds your hand too much, I think too little direction would also be frustrating. So at least this way, you have the opportunity to see all they've built. They also knocked it out of the park with the visual and architectural style, so I'm glad I was able to spend more time with it.

Charming and surprisingly intricate little exploration game where you steal your way across the country. The writing carries a decent story and the 90s vibe grounds the world nicely.

Pleasant little puzzle game. Fun to explore the manor and piece together the clues about how each plant is grown. On the simpler side, but generally enjoyable for its short runtime.

I was slow to warm up to it, but I absolutely adored the dang thing. It's maybe the perfect podcasting game to play and zone out too. I used to think that was bad, but being able to have just enough gameplay to be engaging while not needing to worry about dying or any stats was sort of great. Some levels were more frustrating than others, but I generally enjoyed the variety.

(this is specifically for the 1-player campaign, World of Light) Bits of this are very neat - there's a fair amount of customization you can do with your chosen character and leveling up the spirits is sort of fun. Unfortunately, a lot of the abilities are pretty underwhelming and a few spirits outclass the rest. Plus, the gameplay is just a lot of Smash. That's what you're here for, but the variation in rules between matches doesn't ultimately change up that much; you're just trying to knock them off the platform. Also, the story (such that it is) feels pretty lazy- there are about 3 unvoiced cutscenes and that's it. I get that most people aren't here to play this and the overall game itself is extremely polished, but the campaign felt underbaked. I got the true ending, which gets props for an extra cool couple of fights at the end. The bosses throughout were actually pretty unique, so props for that.

Loved the art direction and tolerated the gameplay. There were some puzzles, but mostly simple running and jumping. There's some implied story, but it didn't do much for me. The art and music are great though, taking much inspiration from INSIDE and Journey. It's relaxing enough, but not altogether unique.

An enthralling tale of a man's place in a small town and the murders that happen there. But it's not about the mystery, really. More about the people and their lives. It's great to learn about everyone and see how your choices impact the story of this village. It's a bit slow at times, but it's cool to see the scope of it all.

An interesting concept whose execution screams "budgetary problems". The story is paced terribly with no sense of direction and hardly any arc. The characters are all joyless and mostly generic. Gameplay is interesting at first, but never goes anywhere; there aren't enough abilities to keep things fresh. It's also the same few enemies and environments the whole game, which gets pretty stale.

The Left Behind DLC distills the main game's gameplay into a tight 1.5 hour package. The story greatness is still there and its reduced padding and smaller environment make for a satisfying stay.

While the environments look ok, the fox doesn't control well and the dialogue is pretty poorly written. It attempts to pull at heartstrings, but is more frustrating than compelling.

Short but sweet walking simulator. Exploring the house is cool and it's neat how the story unfolds at your own pace. There's not really much gameplay, but it's a contained enough game that it didn't bother me.

DK Adventure DLC. Great example of a DLC that does more with less. The lack of character choices streamlined everything without getting bogged down. Puzzles were neat and battles were varied. Great extension of a proven formula.

Fun game, if a little repetitive. Getting deep into number-go-up systems isn't usually what I go for, so I liked its simplified approach (it's usually easy to see how goods flow and what workers are doing). Meeting objectives was satisfying and the high-tension moments were engaging. But, the upgrades are mostly about tweaking production numbers, so they didn't feel super noticeable or rewarding. There's also no story/campaign. So while it's infinitely replayable, I feel like I had my fun with it and don't need to keep going (despite how many metagame upgrades I left unlocked).

An unparalleled story held back by dated and repetitive gameplay. One minute you're exploring love and loss with fully realized characters and the next, you're killing 6 generic dudes in yet another clearing full of chest-high walls. The stealth is clunky, the puzzles are generic, and the story is better told than maybe any other game, ever. It was a great candidate for a TV adaptation because they could focus on what make the game great: the story. The gameplay moments that are directly serving the story bring immersion that only games can provide, and it gets credit for that. Violence hits different when you're enacting it with your own controller, something the show couldn't capture in the same way. It also has great zombies- clickers go down in history as an all-time creepy enemy. But, lackluster collectibles and pacing problems (the first half of the game is _slow_) left me wanting overall. There's this gorgeous, atmospheric world wrapping a lot of generic 3rd person shooting that doesn't do it justice. It's ultimately worth playing, but I wouldn't begrudge anyone for just watching the show instead; it elevates the narrative without any of the filler.

This DLC was a fun way to get more of the same fun I had in the base game, but it doesn't tread any super new ground. A few more of every type of thing (enemy, collectible, etc) but nothing vital.

Great games demand great parody. It's got some fun puzzles in its own right, but manages to be laugh-out-loud hilarious in its own right. Is the perfect length and was a blast top to bottom.

Superb puzzle game. Loved learning languages based on context clues and pictograms. The sections combined and overlapped well. The overall message was good and the story went fun places. Managed to say a lot without any dialogue. Had some unnecessary stealth sections, but they didn't bog it down too much. Deservedly in the conversation w/ Obra Dinn and Golden Idol.

Though hailed as both one of the best modern platformers and a very hard game, I think this lives up to neither title. The platforming wasn't very compelling, the collectibles useless, the difficulty was sporadic (but mostly not bad) and the bosses were miserable. The game feels unfocused and uninspired. I simply don't understand the praise it gets. Each world had ~1 level I thought was neat and fun. The rest were mostly exercises in pointless frustration.

Extremely charming, but with more of a mental health focus than expected. Puzzles were good and coloring the world is a fun mechanic. Controls occasionally frustrating, but a fun outing overall.

Great puzzles and controls. Really fun way to stretch and explore the "split brain" concept. Only a few levels _really_ made use of that, but they were hard and it would have been tiring to do more. Pretty good difficulty overall and a great collection of mechanics.

Cute little game about adapting a battlefield to your needs. Clearly a gamejam-style game and it's not something I'll probably come back to a lot, but it's a cool concept and I enjoyed the time I spent with it.

Played New Game+ for the true ending, which was great. Fun to explore more characters and I was pleasantly surprised at how much variation there was in choices. Battles didn't get old, and while the late-game economy was a little unbalanced, the game remained fun throughout.

Pretty fun! I don't love the amount of micro it requires, but the customizable tower loadouts and upgrades are improved from previous games. Story is cute and there's lots of little easter eggs to find.

Short and sweet game about art and love. It's a little heavier than its art and presentation let on, but it's fun to click around. I'm not sure all the storytelling lands, but it's nice for what it is.

I have such conflicted feelings about this one. On the one hand, the graphics and music are nearly peerless. There are some genuinely touching story moments, many good ones, and a few duds. The pixel environments are intricate, there's a lot of enemy variety, and the character design is cool. The basics of combat are good and the Mario RPG-style hit for bonus damage/block keeps me engaged. The lock system adds variety to battles, even if sometimes they don't seem totally possible. BUT. The gameplay part of this game doesn't feel well thought out. I don't mind it being simplified- a more streamlined approach was one of my favorite things about Triangle Strategy. But IMO this game strips out the wrong things. There's an equipment system, but weapons and armor just have numbers that go up. There are rings which provide a little strategic diversity, but there are a few that are strictly better than everything. The only collectables are food (for healing items) and rainbow conch's (which provide some bonuses, mostly for other side quests). It's a shame, since that makes exploration less compelling than it could be. Each gameplay system seems shallow and disparate in a way that's not satisfying. Worst of all, it's a game that doesn't respect your time. Lengthy ability animations aren't skippable, there's a _lot_ of pointless backtracking, and the boss fights are WAY too long (the final boss took me nearly a full hour and it only had 4 different moves). I feel like the developers were inspired by classic JRPGs, but learned all the wrong lessons from them. The overall package is decent but definitely tries your patience.

Played both DLC packs and they were good fun. Hard riddles, but fair. Good story color to the original game.

Best one yet. Gameplay feels fluid, powerups are fun and offer a lot of customizability. Levels are still tough, but it finally feels like we have enough tools to really tackle them well. It also has the best story of any of them so far, building effective backstory to the rest of the games.

Puzzles are very hit-or-miss, but the art, story, and music are fun. All things told, it's aged surprisingly well.

Fun, plant-based puzzle game. There's a branching story that's surprisingly engaging. Plant identification gets a little repetitive after a while, but there's enough different identification angles and other puzzles that it stays fun.

This is a very faithful remake of a classic 2D game I've never played. Though the graphics are nice, the game suffers from an aged simplicity. Not that every game needs to have all the bells and whistles of a modern RPG, but this one felt a little _too_ stripped down. I liked that gear choices were straightforward and abilities were interesting enough. But, the game got off to an _incredibly_ slow start - the first 5 hours, depending on your character selection, you have no abilities at all; just light attack and heavy attack. It's great if you want to mindlessly wander around and whack things, but left something to be desired. The game opens up after the first class change and brings a little more strategic depth. Mostly it was just fun to turn my brain off during a personally busy month, but not something that'll stick with me.

Best described as "4 player Slay the Spire", there was a lot to like about Across the Obelisk. The 4 character classes and variety of perks and skills mean there's a lot of customization and replayability. Building a deck is always fun and there's a lot of card variety. Multiplayer works well and the tiebreaker mechanic on split votes was a ton of fun. But, for a game we played as much as we did, there wasn't as much variety as I would have liked. The maps always have the same layout (though the events on each node are random) and the end-map bosses are always identical. I would have liked to see more variety in regular enemies, too. The UI is decent but the descriptions on effects was sometimes lacking, making it hard to understand exactly what was going to happen (tough for a card game). Ultimately it was a great choice for my gaming group and I'm glad we played it.

Climbing as a core mechanic felt quite good. It was fun looking for handholds and swinging to reach something new. The story being all text as fine and the collectibles left something to be desired. Also, for being a platformer, there was remarkably little ability to fall off things. It's pretty and zen though, which is a nice change of pace. Great sense of scale, too.

Fun little puzzle game. Ultimately felt pretty hard for the amount of enjoyment it brought. Haptics and design were great, as was the concept. Just didn't love it

Neat little game. I liked the idea of combining exploration and inventory into one system. Plus, being able to cache and improve recipes was fun. The controller support was pretty good, but the game got pretty repetitive and tedious. Fun idea, but I didn't want to play much more of it.

On paper, I should have loved this game. It's routinely hailed as one of the best games in my favorite genre and it's a remaster with a bunch of QoL features. But dang it if it wasn't a total slog! There's a huge amount of backtracking in the levels (there are 50+ story battles but only ~20 maps). You can't mix and match skills between classes, so there's not a lot of theory crafting - it's mostly "pick the best 4 skills for a given class". There's also a distinct difference between unique units and generics (the former are much stronger). You get so many generics that it's never really worth training anyone else. And, there are still some glaring QoL misses, despite the progress there. There's a ton of characters and classes to find, but much of it is locked away behind long, grindy sidequests. I'm sure that's fun for some people, but I wasn't into it. The story is long, but not especially impactful. While there are lots of branches in the narrative, I don't feel like all the branches add much; they just dilute what little story there is. At its core, the gameplay is pretty fun, if a little slow to start. Rewinding time is a great feature that I wish more SRPGs had. But, the games that learned from it and came after it are much better.

A lovely end to an extremely cute trilogy. Tied it up perfectly, no notes.

Similarly charming with marginally more gameplay this time around (but not really). Still a fun world and story though.

What it lacks it gameplay, it makes up for in charm!

Ethereal little puzzle game. I loved the seamlessness and otherworldliness of the environment. Was also nice to have a game from this dev that wasn't so gross or death-focused. The recursion was a good mechanic and it did a good job respecting your time. Lovely little experience!

Interesting and dense story, if overly complex. I like the intermingling of the plots, but it does make it a little hard to follow. Combat provides a good respite and is simplistic without being boring. There's great QoL features for the visual novel part and gorgeous art, as always. It's an ambitious game, but it sticks the landing.

Neat concept, but gameplay didn't keep me hooked (pun intended). I liked the progression well enough, but the shooting was tiresome and there wasn't enough variation in the fishing. But, it's a cute concept!

While this game doesn't explain anything more than its predecessor, I liked the setting much more. Instead of being in a black-and-white zone, you're in a series of industrial buildings that really give the game an eerie sense of place. The controls feel better and the puzzles are better balanced (if a bit easier). It also goes places I didn't expect, which feels like a rarity these days. I enjoyed it a lot for what it was.

More style than substance, but nice art and music. There were some minor puzzles and story about mental health that didn't really go anywhere, but it wasn't an unpleasant hour.

Great little platformer with a very distinct art style. There was ostensibly some story happening, but it was the kind where I'll need to search "Limbo story explained" afterwards. Some neat puzzle mechanics. It didn't quite do it for me, but I enjoyed my time with it.

An interesting concept, but the gameplay itself left something to be desired. I liked the vibe of the text-based exploration, but it was more frustrating than fun. The story was interesting enough, and told interestingly, certainly.

A well-made metroidvania. On the whole, the movement felt really good and you could fluidly zoom around the map once you got moving. Combat was pretty fun, if a little simplistic. The EMMI mechanic was fine, but didn't feel like it added a lot. I liked all the powerups, but it almost felt like there were too many relative to the amount of time you got to use them. Also, the story felt shoehorned in. But, I enjoyed coming back to it and exploring, plus it didn't overstay its welcome.

Quite fun and good for short bursts of games. Great controls which make playing on mobile very natural. Difficulty was inconsistent and basically all of the special events are bad, but it makes for a satisfying play (especially once they smooth out the curves)

fascinating game. Fun gameplay, kept it fresh throughout. I'm not totally sure I followed the story, but I loved its layers and my total inability to guess what was coming next. The whole thing came together very well. Extremely unique game.

A bittersweet story about family, food, and culture. Nice little 1-sitting game, and surprisingly touching.

Fun art and stories. But ultimately, the difficulty was inconsistent. Puzzles were either too simple to too hard with little in-between. Fun for a couple of evenings though. Also I'm extremely curious about how the execution engine works behind the scenes.

Odd little story, with nice art and music. Narration was also good (and AI generated!). It's only a part 1, so we're excited to see where the rest of the story goes.