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This game is pretty unassuming, but I think the simplicity of the gameplay works in favor for the overall game. With smart humour and surprisingly meta writing, Reigns: Her Majesty exceeded all expectations I had of this game I bought on a whim. I expected something cute and short, but I got a satirical game with a surprisingly deep political system.
The game operates much like a typical Tinder app (swipe left or right for positive or negative reactions). It expands upon this by adding a political edge to it, such that your answers have consequences on the four pillars of your kingdom (Church, People, Military, and Wealth). Surprisingly, this simple system was able to weave politics into its scenarios well, especially since as a ruler and leader, your decisions will have consequences. Eventually, if those consequences rack up, then you go out just like if you were in Game of Thrones - usually, that means death. It's actually pretty hard to stay alive in this game until much later, and my first few runs as queen ended quite unfortunately under the boots of my citizens due to their love for me, or because I drowned in a lake since my carriage of pure gold broke. Fun times in queendom!
The routes you can take with the stories are quite fun and varied, and there is a large cast of characters and advisers that it's entertaining to read their responses. The humorous dialogue helps, as the writing for the scenarios are witty and take narrative turns that are unexpected as you make your decisions. But as I said earlier, it's pretty hard to make the right decisions in a balanced way. The game is indeed a strategy game, where you must consider each decision you make; furthermore, the items you get must be used in a specific way to unlock the endings, but to figure out how, and the order, must be figured out from the small clues left to you by certain character dialogues.
The only con I can describe about this game is that after a while of playing, you do eventually see the same scenarios and cards, and this can get very repetitive and boring. This is hampered by the fact that to achieve other endings, you have to reset the game and redo all the steps, which I find is incredibly tedious, though once you know how specific dialogue branches work you can navigate those without much problem as you figure out the order of events to get the next ending.
---Originally, the paragraph here contained spoilers. For the sake of not spoilering things (as in my original Steam review) I will say this in place of the originally spoilered paragraph: This game is extremely meta. You're expected to fail to advance. There's a lot more beneath the surface of what this game, as a package, is presenting, and I find that utterly fascinating.---
Art and music are quite nice, and have a distinct style for the game, however there is nothing else to really describe as they are both so minimalist. This game relies heavily on its writing to carry the game, as well as its political system, so the minimalism serves to highlight these.
Overall, I recommend this game, especially since it's already cheap to begin with. I think it offers a rather interesting story in more ways than one, and may take you by surprise in the same way it did to me.
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Read more reviews at my Steam Curator Page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30187278/
The game operates much like a typical Tinder app (swipe left or right for positive or negative reactions). It expands upon this by adding a political edge to it, such that your answers have consequences on the four pillars of your kingdom (Church, People, Military, and Wealth). Surprisingly, this simple system was able to weave politics into its scenarios well, especially since as a ruler and leader, your decisions will have consequences. Eventually, if those consequences rack up, then you go out just like if you were in Game of Thrones - usually, that means death. It's actually pretty hard to stay alive in this game until much later, and my first few runs as queen ended quite unfortunately under the boots of my citizens due to their love for me, or because I drowned in a lake since my carriage of pure gold broke. Fun times in queendom!
The routes you can take with the stories are quite fun and varied, and there is a large cast of characters and advisers that it's entertaining to read their responses. The humorous dialogue helps, as the writing for the scenarios are witty and take narrative turns that are unexpected as you make your decisions. But as I said earlier, it's pretty hard to make the right decisions in a balanced way. The game is indeed a strategy game, where you must consider each decision you make; furthermore, the items you get must be used in a specific way to unlock the endings, but to figure out how, and the order, must be figured out from the small clues left to you by certain character dialogues.
The only con I can describe about this game is that after a while of playing, you do eventually see the same scenarios and cards, and this can get very repetitive and boring. This is hampered by the fact that to achieve other endings, you have to reset the game and redo all the steps, which I find is incredibly tedious, though once you know how specific dialogue branches work you can navigate those without much problem as you figure out the order of events to get the next ending.
---Originally, the paragraph here contained spoilers. For the sake of not spoilering things (as in my original Steam review) I will say this in place of the originally spoilered paragraph: This game is extremely meta. You're expected to fail to advance. There's a lot more beneath the surface of what this game, as a package, is presenting, and I find that utterly fascinating.---
Art and music are quite nice, and have a distinct style for the game, however there is nothing else to really describe as they are both so minimalist. This game relies heavily on its writing to carry the game, as well as its political system, so the minimalism serves to highlight these.
Overall, I recommend this game, especially since it's already cheap to begin with. I think it offers a rather interesting story in more ways than one, and may take you by surprise in the same way it did to me.
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Read more reviews at my Steam Curator Page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30187278/
This game is very much a tech demo for Life is Strange 2, though it has the added advantage of being a free title. It's a short and simple game, which fits the tone of the character we take control of as he is a child. This doesn't mean it doesn't delve into some heavier situations, however, as we soon learn that our main character, Chris, grapples with his own sadness and a father that is not exactly the best person to be around.
The simplicity of this game helps to drive home those dark themes, as the contrast between the innocence of a child and the realities of the world are constantly at odds with each other through Chris’ imagination as the superhero Captain Spirit. The game relies heavily on exploration and so objectives can be completed out of order, which adds a little dynamism to how to approach a game that’s otherwise linear.
The art is as good as the original Life is Strange, though with added graphical fidelity with the new engine they are using. UI is also revamped, with the ability to respond to characters using a new dialogue wheel. These changes took some getting used to, but are overall a nice step from the Life is Strange UI system.
It’s a self-contained game that’s a little bittersweet, though the cliffhanger it ends on makes me curious as to Chris’ incorporation in Life is Strange 2. I don’t know if this game would appeal to those who aren’t already fans of Life is Strange, but if you are I recommend picking this up as it can be completed in a short sitting.
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Read more reviews at my Steam Curator Page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30187278/
The simplicity of this game helps to drive home those dark themes, as the contrast between the innocence of a child and the realities of the world are constantly at odds with each other through Chris’ imagination as the superhero Captain Spirit. The game relies heavily on exploration and so objectives can be completed out of order, which adds a little dynamism to how to approach a game that’s otherwise linear.
The art is as good as the original Life is Strange, though with added graphical fidelity with the new engine they are using. UI is also revamped, with the ability to respond to characters using a new dialogue wheel. These changes took some getting used to, but are overall a nice step from the Life is Strange UI system.
It’s a self-contained game that’s a little bittersweet, though the cliffhanger it ends on makes me curious as to Chris’ incorporation in Life is Strange 2. I don’t know if this game would appeal to those who aren’t already fans of Life is Strange, but if you are I recommend picking this up as it can be completed in a short sitting.
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Read more reviews at my Steam Curator Page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30187278/
With all the visual novels available on Steam, in order to stick out sometimes one has to have the most confusing art and premise. Creature Romances: Kokonoe Kokoro fits that bill perfectly. "What the hell is this?" you may ask, as you stare at the lovely art of a literal grasshopper girl. Well! It's exactly what it says on the tin! And no! It actually doesn't factor into the plot, ever.
So what could a story about a grasshopper-girl-next-door-best-friend have to offer? Surprisingly, very, very little.
The plot is the most basic, bland, and forgettable story one could imagine for this scenario. The protagonist (whose name I already forgot because he was that forgettable) is friends with Kokoro, the eponymous character. They've known each other since they were kids. She wants to go to Tokyo University after high school, and the protagonist has no idea what he wants to do. He decides he also wants to go to the same school as her, but the school is prestigious and he has the worst grades. He's constantly described as being really bad at math that I just chose to assume he couldn't even do basic algebra just so I could give myself some amusement, because the story itself wasn't amusing to read in the slightest. There is one choice in the game, but it's obvious which is the correct choice, so it essentially doesn't even matter in a plot that's already really streamlined.
None of the characters have any development or unique trait that would get me invested in them, and the romance between the protagonist and Kokoro follows the typical anime drama format that it just ended up feeling shoehorned in. There are other characters, who are also monsters, and even the protagonist's little sister is a batgirl, yet the protagonist himself is human, and this is frustratingly never explained. Is he the monster? Or is this all part of a fever-fueled dream? Find out...never!
The art is passable, but if it weren't for the art you couldn't even tell the story was about monsters in general. The descriptions never make any direct mentions to monster characteristics, and so if the art were replaced with human characters the story would have progressed the same way. The music is generic and doesn't loop, with the track ending jarringly before starting up again. The UI itself is also godawful, with no coherent design whatsoever. While not much saving would be done with this VN, the fact that the UI looks like it was thrown together in 30 seconds drags down a game that's already of poor quality.
This game is not worth the $3 or the time it takes to beat it (which is literally under 1 hr). Don't be lured in by the premise and go for better VNs on Steam.
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Read more reviews at my Steam Curator Page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30187278/
So what could a story about a grasshopper-girl-next-door-best-friend have to offer? Surprisingly, very, very little.
The plot is the most basic, bland, and forgettable story one could imagine for this scenario. The protagonist (whose name I already forgot because he was that forgettable) is friends with Kokoro, the eponymous character. They've known each other since they were kids. She wants to go to Tokyo University after high school, and the protagonist has no idea what he wants to do. He decides he also wants to go to the same school as her, but the school is prestigious and he has the worst grades. He's constantly described as being really bad at math that I just chose to assume he couldn't even do basic algebra just so I could give myself some amusement, because the story itself wasn't amusing to read in the slightest. There is one choice in the game, but it's obvious which is the correct choice, so it essentially doesn't even matter in a plot that's already really streamlined.
None of the characters have any development or unique trait that would get me invested in them, and the romance between the protagonist and Kokoro follows the typical anime drama format that it just ended up feeling shoehorned in. There are other characters, who are also monsters, and even the protagonist's little sister is a batgirl, yet the protagonist himself is human, and this is frustratingly never explained. Is he the monster? Or is this all part of a fever-fueled dream? Find out...never!
The art is passable, but if it weren't for the art you couldn't even tell the story was about monsters in general. The descriptions never make any direct mentions to monster characteristics, and so if the art were replaced with human characters the story would have progressed the same way. The music is generic and doesn't loop, with the track ending jarringly before starting up again. The UI itself is also godawful, with no coherent design whatsoever. While not much saving would be done with this VN, the fact that the UI looks like it was thrown together in 30 seconds drags down a game that's already of poor quality.
This game is not worth the $3 or the time it takes to beat it (which is literally under 1 hr). Don't be lured in by the premise and go for better VNs on Steam.
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Read more reviews at my Steam Curator Page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/30187278/
Having played the other Soulsborne games, one thing you have to remember is that this game deviates quite a bit from them. Yes, the open level designs are still present, as well as the notoriously hard fights, but this game feels like it took that formula and breathed some fresh air into it, and then made it its own thing. It's truly unique in that sense.
I personally liked the gameplay in Sekiro the most out of all the games. There's heavier emphasis on stealth, and when fights are needed the player has to consider fighting like an actual swordsman rather than utilizing brute strength over the entire game. No longer can you roll out of the way of attacks, and instead you'd have to face them head on and consider the timing of your own strikes. The resurrection system may seem overpowered on the box, but getting that second chance in life is 1) limited, and 2) a waste unless you can figure out enemy fights. Boss fights are fun and challenging, and I can't think of a fight where I felt disappointed - even the Folding Screen Monkey fight was interesting in that it was unique from the other bossfights on its own. I never felt the game was unfair in any way, and it allowed just enough variety that I could approach fights in my own style, despite not having a range of weapons to pick from like in Dark Souls.
The story is more opaque compared to the other Soulsborne games, though I think in doing so we are able to feel a bit more attachment to the characters. It still has the same sense of worldbuilding as previous Soulsborne games, but I think they were able to flesh things out more with cutscenes featuring the characters. The story is nothing to write home about, but I did feel sad at one of the endings as the previous course of the game I had grown attached to the characters, something I can't say the same about for the other games from FromSoft.
What can I say about the art and music other than it's a 10/10?
This game is great and highly recommended if you're into challenging games, or you're like me and want to git gud.
I personally liked the gameplay in Sekiro the most out of all the games. There's heavier emphasis on stealth, and when fights are needed the player has to consider fighting like an actual swordsman rather than utilizing brute strength over the entire game. No longer can you roll out of the way of attacks, and instead you'd have to face them head on and consider the timing of your own strikes. The resurrection system may seem overpowered on the box, but getting that second chance in life is 1) limited, and 2) a waste unless you can figure out enemy fights. Boss fights are fun and challenging, and I can't think of a fight where I felt disappointed - even the Folding Screen Monkey fight was interesting in that it was unique from the other bossfights on its own. I never felt the game was unfair in any way, and it allowed just enough variety that I could approach fights in my own style, despite not having a range of weapons to pick from like in Dark Souls.
The story is more opaque compared to the other Soulsborne games, though I think in doing so we are able to feel a bit more attachment to the characters. It still has the same sense of worldbuilding as previous Soulsborne games, but I think they were able to flesh things out more with cutscenes featuring the characters. The story is nothing to write home about, but I did feel sad at one of the endings as the previous course of the game I had grown attached to the characters, something I can't say the same about for the other games from FromSoft.
What can I say about the art and music other than it's a 10/10?
This game is great and highly recommended if you're into challenging games, or you're like me and want to git gud.
The Last of Us Part II tells an insubstantial, poorly structured, and badly paced story. Many situations are implausible and the message is confusing and simple. This second part does not adequately continue the story of the original game. I expected a lot from this game but I get almost nothing from it.
«Disappointment of the year»
Despite the rocky problems this game has had, it is truly one of the most stellar games of all time and I still play it frequently.
«Blew my mind»
«Just one more turn»
Actually not a bad start to it. I just played until dawn and this one is so much better. The production value, and graphics, and gameplay is all much better and the early part of the story has actually been pretty good.
There is a much greater sense in this game that you can make decisions that lead to different outcomes. I know this because I’ve fucked up already a couple times.
I enjoy looking at the world breakdown after each mission. That adds to the enjoyment for me.
Im guessing I’m 50- 70% through the game and the story is pretty good, but sometimes a bit clumsy, and often it’s too on the nose. I’ve also made more poor decisions resulting in character deaths that I did not plan. I guess that’s the point... but I’m left a bit upset at the same time. I want to be able to change some of my decisions or search for different ways to get better results.
Marcus’s story started off strong but has fizzled out. The writing seems worse too for some reason.
I’m often picking the less walked paths which is interesting. I’m playing the game to try to create the best story. I’m choosing how I think the androids should act given their role.
I fucked connors story so I didn’t get to play for like the last three missions. It was a real piss off. I went full aggressive with Marcus so that might be partly why I kicked off the case. Because it became too big... but still. Anyways I’m replaying from where I think I fucked up.
Okay I tried again from where I thought I fucked up but I was wrong. My fucks up turned out to not be about the revolution getting to aggressive. I fucked up because I didn’t capture any deviants. So I couldn’t question them any further. Which is kind of bullshit because three of those were conscious choices I stand by. I chose to save hanks life instead of capture one deviant. I chose to let to deviants go because they were clearly in love. I chose to not kill the deviant for more information from the head honcho. Those are all legitimate choices. One time a failed a quick time and got hit by a bus, that’s on me. One time I think I was too aggressive in my questioning and the deviant killed me, that’s also be on me. I don’t feel like I played so poorly as Connor that I should have failed. Im sure there must have been other things I could have done but im no longer into it. It isn’t fun to replay these sections again. I’m now bored.
This game is the best choose your own adventure I’ve ever done. But unfortunately, that isn’t really that big of praise because i don’t play a lot because I usually don’t like them. It did have some exciting moments, and some of the missions I was completely into, especially in the first half of the game. I’m not a fan of the ending I got though which leaves a sour taste.
Final Score: B+
There is a much greater sense in this game that you can make decisions that lead to different outcomes. I know this because I’ve fucked up already a couple times.
I enjoy looking at the world breakdown after each mission. That adds to the enjoyment for me.
Im guessing I’m 50- 70% through the game and the story is pretty good, but sometimes a bit clumsy, and often it’s too on the nose. I’ve also made more poor decisions resulting in character deaths that I did not plan. I guess that’s the point... but I’m left a bit upset at the same time. I want to be able to change some of my decisions or search for different ways to get better results.
Marcus’s story started off strong but has fizzled out. The writing seems worse too for some reason.
I’m often picking the less walked paths which is interesting. I’m playing the game to try to create the best story. I’m choosing how I think the androids should act given their role.
I fucked connors story so I didn’t get to play for like the last three missions. It was a real piss off. I went full aggressive with Marcus so that might be partly why I kicked off the case. Because it became too big... but still. Anyways I’m replaying from where I think I fucked up.
Okay I tried again from where I thought I fucked up but I was wrong. My fucks up turned out to not be about the revolution getting to aggressive. I fucked up because I didn’t capture any deviants. So I couldn’t question them any further. Which is kind of bullshit because three of those were conscious choices I stand by. I chose to save hanks life instead of capture one deviant. I chose to let to deviants go because they were clearly in love. I chose to not kill the deviant for more information from the head honcho. Those are all legitimate choices. One time a failed a quick time and got hit by a bus, that’s on me. One time I think I was too aggressive in my questioning and the deviant killed me, that’s also be on me. I don’t feel like I played so poorly as Connor that I should have failed. Im sure there must have been other things I could have done but im no longer into it. It isn’t fun to replay these sections again. I’m now bored.
This game is the best choose your own adventure I’ve ever done. But unfortunately, that isn’t really that big of praise because i don’t play a lot because I usually don’t like them. It did have some exciting moments, and some of the missions I was completely into, especially in the first half of the game. I’m not a fan of the ending I got though which leaves a sour taste.
Final Score: B+
Falls victim to the same problems of the first Dark Forces: repetitive level design, few enemy types, boring weapons. Not worth it as a historical curiosity since it's just Quake with pew-pew lasers, not worth it as a Star Wars story since there are novelizations, and not even necessary to catch up on Jedi Outcast since the story is so bland and disconnected.
Too large of a focus on combat with a boring combat system that frankly had it even been good would not have been appropriate for the enemy types in this game. I get that you're supposed to upgrade to approach encounters in different ways, but it's too little too late and acts more as mitigation of a bland system than an interesting system to play around with. Every combat encounter takes away the immersive sim from the immersive sim and the handful of stealth options feel more like Deux Ex Mankind Divided than OG Deus Ex. Huge disappointment coming from the developers of Dishonored.
I like having a smaller-scoped RPG and the floating around movement makes the level design pretty unique. There's obviously some corners from the budget - the invisible walls, lack of voice acting, cliffhanger that's never going to get resolved, only 3 worlds are accessible out of 8 or so that were obviously planned for a sequel or two. The worlds have somewhat repetitive structures: resolve the problem so you find out it's not the solution to find it's not the solution so you can finally resolve it. But at least it lets you explore the setting more, which is surprisingly unique for a fantasy video game RPG.
It's kind of weird how they couldn't decide if this was a sequel to Yakuza 0 or a remake of Yakuza. The whole Majima subplot is obviously a reference to Y0 - Majima clearly has missed Kiryu and chases him around the city, but at the same time, they kept the original story beats with Majima as not having seen Kiryu in roughly 20 years. Nishiki's transformation is much more impactful with having played Yakuza 0 first, but Shimano's presence in Yakuza 0 is only really a big deal if you've played Yakuza first because he's basically a non-entity in this one.
Also the subplots, like in Y0, are kind of too drawn out unless you do them non-stop. But if you do them non-stop, they get rote and repetitive. In turn, the whole romance subplots just kind of end (again, unless you dive into it and start seeing the same content - down to the dialogue lines - over and over) and don't do a whole lot. Majima's subplot is super long but also requires a lot of randomness, all so you can slowly regain a fourth fighting style that's not particularly distinct from Brawler. The combat is good and, particularly Rush in my opinion, really changes a lot over the game. The substories are funny - except a handful are pretty misogynistic or transphobic, which is definitely not funny - but sometimes feel tacked on. I can't help but feel they should have done the substories OR the Majima/romance subplots. But as it is, the main story is still this wacky melodramatic gangster soap opera which is always fun to follow along with, even if the subplots can veer off course sometimes.
Also the subplots, like in Y0, are kind of too drawn out unless you do them non-stop. But if you do them non-stop, they get rote and repetitive. In turn, the whole romance subplots just kind of end (again, unless you dive into it and start seeing the same content - down to the dialogue lines - over and over) and don't do a whole lot. Majima's subplot is super long but also requires a lot of randomness, all so you can slowly regain a fourth fighting style that's not particularly distinct from Brawler. The combat is good and, particularly Rush in my opinion, really changes a lot over the game. The substories are funny - except a handful are pretty misogynistic or transphobic, which is definitely not funny - but sometimes feel tacked on. I can't help but feel they should have done the substories OR the Majima/romance subplots. But as it is, the main story is still this wacky melodramatic gangster soap opera which is always fun to follow along with, even if the subplots can veer off course sometimes.
An amazing and emotional masterpiece.
A great game that had some minor flaws. Hugely underrated. I played it a long time ago but I look forward to play it again. I can still remember bits of story despite 6 years. It had a unique theme of entering people's brains and altering the events they remember. Kinda like Inception. It is is probably inspired by the Inception but still, a different take and a fun one.
I can still suggest this game to anyone who considers to play it. It still has "ok" graphics for its age, and its modern Paris design is a sight to behold with different techs and improvisiations all over the city and regions.
I can still suggest this game to anyone who considers to play it. It still has "ok" graphics for its age, and its modern Paris design is a sight to behold with different techs and improvisiations all over the city and regions.
«Blew my mind»
«Underrated»
Yeah . Started awesome . I got bored after finding 7 endings. maybe I'll check them slowly one by one. Great concept and the narrator's interactions were funny and awesome.
A mind blowing masterpiece. So overwhelmed and impressed, absolutely love it.
«Blew my mind»
The game is often very cute, and can pluck the heart strings here and there, but the gameplay is nothing to write home about, and bugs make it a real challenge to play fluidly.
«Buggy as hell»
One of the first games I played . The art style is so good and the game as a whole is designed very well art wise.
The story itself seems straightforward and also maybe space for other interpretations. The puzzles are normal but I had a tough time figuring out what to do next and had to heavily rely on the walk through in the first play. Overall I am glad that I played this , very enjoyable in the second proper play through. It's not ground breaking but very good looking game , I recommend playing it once. OST is also fine I guess. it seems like all the indie games in this genre have similar music.
The game conveys it's atmosphere very well. The game is mostly about exploring the town and the actual stuff happens in between when you are generally not expecting it. The characters are well designed and have different opinions and humor. It's a game about american young adult life which i can't relate too but otherwise i get what it is trying to show.
It's a good game .