The following game reviews begin by analyzing each title’s story and characters, then move on to a general overview of the mechanics and what makes them good or bad. After that, more specific pluses and cons get their own section (this is typically where complaints about bugs and crashes go), with talk about graphics and music only appearing at the very end. Individual categories—story, gameplay, visuals, and music—are scored on a scale that maxes out at either 2 or 3, with these mini-scores adding up to an “out of ten” score. Game reviews prior to July 9th, 2018 are all unscored.
Final Fantasy VIII has always been an odd game to try and review. Despite being massively popular when it first released, it later became a popular target for criticism (some of which is rightly deserved). It’s also been one of my favorite games since I first played it in the mid-2000s. For something like 8-9 …
I was asked to review OneShot by someone a while ago, and since I already owned it and all of my key requests had fallen through, I decided to give it a spin. There’s no denying that this is a weird game, pairing the meta-story stuff of games like Undertale (which an early free version …
Right after I reviewed the Ace Attorney Trilogy, I found myself hungry for more Phoenix Wright goodness. I remembered playing through the next game, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, in the distant past, but that’s always where I would stop playing through the series. For whatever reason, Apollo Justice has always been a tire-destroying pothole on …
It’s been two years since I first got my hands on Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG. Back then, the adventure began in the game’s largest area and it was difficult to tell what direction the story was going to go in, but the underlying promise was immediately apparent and I rightfully compared Encased to the …
Lake is a peaceful, relaxing game where you drive around delivering mail in the Oregon town of Providence Oaks in 1986. It’s basically the amalgamation of Endless Ocean and Life is Strange (sans superpowers or villains), a kind of remarkable normalcy that’s comfortable to settle into now that the concept of “normal” no longer exists …
My original plan for the end of August 2021 was to cover the original Psychonauts, then jump into the sequel armed with the knowledge required to meaningfully compare/contrast. I didn’t expect to loathe Psychonauts 1 too much to finish it. Little glimmers of potential would sometimes shine through its remarkably clumsy design, though, suggesting a …
First, a little back story—I tried Supergiant Games’ Bastion back in 2013, early in this site’s history, and it was one of the games that pushed me toward embracing hack-and-slash combat. It arguably began my transformation from hating action games like it to them becoming a specialty. Then Transistor came out and was even better, …
Foreclosed is an example of a game doing everything a little wrong. Granted, it’s nowhere near as bad as it could be, but there are enough clashing design decisions to render huge parts of the game immensely unsatisfying. For example, a “secret” ending was added into the game that requires collecting 100% of the game’s …
The Ascent feels like two very different games. One of those games is an enjoyable aRPG in an over-the-top cyberpunk world where you find new equipment, upgrade your weapons and abilities, and take on odd jobs in an attempt to better your character’s situation. In many ways, this feels like a combination of the canceled …
Song of Farca is a game in which you play as a freelance hacker under house arrest who takes jobs for various people and organizations. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t dig into the details too much before requesting a key; I remembered developer Wooden Monkeys from Save Koch, their entertainingly ambitious (but confusingly unwieldy) …