Blade Chimera

• Genre: Action Platforming (Metroidvania)
• Spoiler Free Review: Yes.
• Time Played: 12 Hours?
• Too Short/Long: About right.
• Soundtrack: Pretty standard fair, nothing that really sticks out.
• Why I played: I've played all the other games made by Team Ladybug, which are mostly the same genre.
• Did I cry: No.
• Jank: Not very janky. The only jank is maybe the slight awkwardness of the controls. It's something you get used to, but I definitely had to rebind them to even achieve that.
• Difficulty: It's mostly pretty easy. I don't recall there being a difficulty setting, but your level ups and equipment mostly outpace enemies.
• Recommend to others: Not really, not to most. While I enjoyed it, it's not really the best of it's genre. It's aesthetically pleasing and has a unique mechanic but overall I'd recommend many before it. If you've exhausted almost all other games in the genre though, it's certainly not bad.

Team Ladybug makes some pretty visually appealing games. This is their third action platforming metroidavania of the the four games they've made. The visual appeal is good at drawing you in, or me at least, but you need to have substance beyond that to make something really special and I think that's what each of their games really lacks.

The other two were both licensed so I didn't expect them to be the best things ever. They were both decent, but I think I felt like they were missing something. Especially in the level-design category. This is where Blade Chimera doesn't do better, and arguably even worse. Visually? More appeal - there is more stuff going on in the background. Functionally? Less creative, less interactivity. There are a wealth of corridors where it's just a hallway and you're meant to just fight your way through a dozen enemies. Everything is still very awkwardly angled and random to a point the design just feels like they're using a "metroidvania generator", or a "2d platformer game maker", so they can just place tiles down for each room. Very few rooms offered gimmicks or unique set pieces. They did introduce a mechanic in the level design that interacted with the main mechanics of the game, but only used it only a handful of times. It's a shame because it could have resulted in some very cool puzzle rooms, using that combination of mechanics. So the overall level design kinda stinks.

Dragonyhm

• Genre: RPG
• Spoiler Free Review: Yes.
• Time Played: Not really sure, it doesn't track it in any way, and I played it while doing other stuff frequently, and generally short bursts. My best guess is... ~15 hours?
• Too Short/Long: It's pretty much just right for what it was. It may require a bit too much grinding to pad the time, but that would be expected for a game of the era it's trying to imitate.
• Soundtrack: Mostly game boy beep boop sounds, but it's fitting.
• Why I played: Via some ad or something I found out about modretro doing a bunch of "new" game boy games. Game Boy-esque indie games are nothing new, but this was exclusively a physical release.
• Did I cry: No.
• Jank: There is a little jank here. Despite being a pretty simple game. I'm not sure if this is on purpose to imitate the era, or just poor game design. Considering I had to restart the game boy a few times to fix the issues, I wouldn't quite chalk it up to intentional jank.
• Difficulty: As a turn-based rpg with only one playable character, you constantly need to heal via some method or another. I wouldn't say it's explicitly difficult, but in my mind, how much I need to heal equates with difficulty and the game requires you to heal a lot.
• Recommend to others: It was a cute game, and I enjoyed it. But it's only available via physical Gameboy cart, despite being a relatively new game. There is a demo on itch, so there is little reason for it to be only on this cart outside the gimmick, so I can't really recommend it to people on that alone. If everyone had their gameboys and was playing those? I might recommend it if we were still actually in original gameboy era.

No screenshots for Dragonyhm as it was played on my GBA SP. Which is a shame, because like Estique, it has some really cool old-school art. Technically I probably could have played this on my Retron because it also has a gameboy slot and taken some screenshots there, but I'm not going to now. I went for the full original experience I guess.

Dragonyhm is one of a good handful of games that ModRetro has as exclusively physical games I guess to further support their new Gameboy-like console. Similar to the Analogue Pocket, but more loyal to the original style. Hard for me to drop a couple hundred bucks on a a console that only plays original game boy/game boy color games in the year 2025. Thankfully they're designed to play on original hardware, and I do have a handful of GBA SPs laying around. I wish I had the extra bright SP, or DS played regular gameboy games. The lack of saturation in the front light display which I have not used for quite some time was quite noticable and maybe cause a little eye strain. I don't know how we managed without even that prior to the SPs release.

Back to Dragonyhm specifically though. It was a cute game. I really appreciated the detail to getting the whole old school experience. The instruction booklet we great. Cool art, details on how to play, how to advance. It was very nostalgic. The game really feels like something that could have come out 30 years ago. It's a turn-based rpg somewhere between an Final Fantasy Legends or Pokemon Red/Blue. 

The biggest downside with this turned based system is it's too much like a traditional turned based system and there is only one character, so you always need to heal him and there are very few way to mitigate needing to heal. You can increase your defense and lower the enemies attack, but that takes several turns. Generally speaking enemies are doing about 1/3 of your health at any given time, so a lot of battles end up being attack, heal, attack, heal, attack, heal.

I find you can do single character turned based rpg mechanics, with some kind of gimmick the prevents damage entirely a bit better. Still, as long as you're willing to endure that aspect, it's a fun little game. I enjoyed exploring it's world, leaning it's story and the writing and character interactions were mostly decent/cute/nostalgic. It's not going to blow anyone's mind, but it was fun for what it was.

Death Stranding

• Genre: Action Adventure
• Spoiler Free Review: Pretty much, other than talking about game progression.
• Time Played: 80 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It's not that it was too short or too long, really just awkward pacing since so much of the "real" story happens so late in the game.
• Soundtrack: Soundtrack is excellent. They make a point of introducing and presenting new tracks while on important missions, you can replay them via structures and in your room, but Sam should have had an ipod or something. Or at least been able to listen to music via streaming on the chiral network. Not that the score is bad, but it's usually pretty passive, so it would have been nice to be able to listen to the music while doing missions that didn't matter as much and exploring.
• Why I played: I'm a big fan of Metal Gear and by extension, most of Kojima's work. So I'm more than likely to try any Hideo Kojima game made by Hideo Kojima, that was written by Hideo Kojima, Directed by Hideo Kojima, and Produced by Hideo Kojima.
• Did I cry: Yes, a couple times.
• Jank: There isn't too much jank. The jankiest I think things are is sometimes controlling Sam doesn't quite do what you expect it to. The controls are a bit loose to ensure he interacts with the environment properly, but that also means there can be a delay in the interactions. Forcing him to trip and stumble, or fall from a great height when you clearly pressed the button required to avoid that.
• Difficulty: I played this one on easy because there is some scary stuff that borders on horror-game scenarios that would have made it otherwise unplayable for me if I didn't get some leeway. It also just increases the general survivability to get from point a to point b with less deterioration, and stamina decrease. Playing on a harder difficulty wouldn't have really made it harder from what I can tell, it just would have made everything take longer and maybe caused more frustration or boredom. It's already a long enough game. I think I made the right choice by giving myself some breathing room for this one. There is easier still, and harder difficulties. I think if you like intense horror-esque moments and don't mind the monotony of backtracking more, the normal and harder difficulties would be appropriate, but even "easy" still offers a decent level of challenge.
• Recommend to others: I think Death Stranding gets downplayed too much as a "Walking Simulator" but when most people think of a walking simulator, they think of games where you just move from point a to point b with little-to-no other mechanics. Death Stranding actually has a lot things going on and a lot of things to do, and in the end, I would actually recommend it pretty strongly.

I feel like Death Stranding, closer to it's actual release, was memed on constantly. When it came out, it sold well enough it seemed, but people stopped talking about it. Maybe because those who actually played it enjoyed it and there wasn't much more to meme? I feel like even positive reception was rather quiet. I did start playing it myself, but I don't think I made it through the first area, and most the game takes place in the second. There is still plenty of weirdness and things that are like "why did it have to be this way" but I guess it had to be this way, because that's how it's written. Nothing exists just for the sake of it, within the confines of the story. They may not explain it for 50 hours into the game, but at least they make an attempt and it more or less comes together fluidly.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess

• Genre: Action/Tower Defense
• Spoiler Free Review: Yes.
• Time Played: ~25
• Too Short/Long: It felt a little long because it expects you to replay levels a lot.
• Soundtrack: For a game where dancing is so central to its theme, I kind of expected a better soundtrack overall. Some of the games later tracks are great though.
• Why I played: Weeb.
• Did I cry: No.
• Jank: For the most part it's solid. Sometimes thing don't connect when they feel like they should, and encountered a couple graphic/sound glitches that quickly resolved.
• Difficulty: It's a little tough at times. I think tower defense games have to be a little bit to be engaging. As a hybrid, each aspect was too tough on it's own, but I guess that means it was well balanced.
• Recommend to others: I'm a bit in the middle for this one. I'd only recommend it to people who specifically like japanese folklore stuff and would also be interested in a hybrid character action/tower defense game.

Kunitsu-Gami is a rare new Capcom IP in the year 2025. Okay well technically it came out last year, but it's still surprising from a company that has gone from frequently making all new games to relying almost exclusively on it's strongest selling franchises. While I don't think Kunitsu-Gami is going to blow away many people, I do hope it does well enough to convince Capcom it was worth it.

There is a specific flow to Kunitsu-Gami's gameplay and while I enjoy it, it's repetitious nature does not benefit it. Most levels have you spending your time frantically running around to purify the town and repairs defenses in the time you have before the defense phase, before you're subject to a period where you can only fight back and order/reposition your units. Some levels mix up with gimmicks, and I think each gimmick is used at least twice, but I still feel like there should have been more use of some of these gimmicks as too many levels felt samey.

Besides the bulk of the gameplay, there is also a little bit of town management, but there isn't really any customization. Each level acts as a little hub once beaten, and it's just assigning people to repairs so you eventually unlock more skill points or collectables, you just have to play a level or two and return to unlock regards, rinse and repeat. Maybe it's better then just spending some misc currency to buy upgrades/unlocks, and it's nice to flesh out the environment of the game, but it kind of just felt like a hassle. Like I was walking around to go to places that would just be a menu option, and doing it dozens upon dozens of times didn't help with the game feeling repetitive.

The game does lean hard into it's style. The environments are maybe a little generic, as they are intended to just be historical Japanese settings, but the character/costume design, the items, and all the things that flavor the world are handled with care. Overall it's pretty unique in that regard.

The story is a bit vague in it's presentation as none of the characters really have any dialog. Most of the story is short sequences of interactions and gesturing. Basically, the land is corrupt/defiled and you are on a mission to purify it.

It's another one to mark down as a PS2-ass game I've played this year. That description has kind of expanded to mean anywhere from like PSX-PS3, but it fits there solidly. One, it's a time when Capcom was actually making new games outside it's top four franchises. Two, it seems like it's just kind of a weird little experiment of a game. Three, it's a bit more simple in it's execution, so it just feels more like a game that would have come out twenty years ago. I don't mean that as a bad thing, I never do. It's just a difference in how games were made versus how they are currently made, and I keep going back to it, so there is definitely something about the straightforwardness of "this is what this game is" that appeals to me.

Ghostrunner

• Genre: First-Person Action Platformer
• Spoiler Free Review: Yes.
• Time Played: 
• Too Short/Long: Feels about right.
• Soundtrack: When you're stuck in an area you may have to hear a track for a long time, thankfully the loops are pretty solid and do well to not feel too repetitive. The music is pretty damn good, but it is just kind of a bunch of high energy electronic loops. 
• Why I played: I wanted to be a Cyber Ninja That Climbs The City... in 4k.
• Did I cry: No, not exactly an emotional story.
• Jank: Sometimes the footholds can be a little janky. Getting caught on weird platforms, objects jutting out, etc. Not that there are many, but other first person platformers feel a bit smoother.
• Difficulty: It is extremely difficult. This goes in the bin of most difficult games I've played.
• Recommend to others: I would recommend it very selectively. People who like a challenge and the type of games that present each area as a trial you have to play repeatedly to figure out. This one is a little different because the levels are far longer than typical speed running trial games, but it still includes leaderboards and such.

Ghostrunner is a damn tough game. It's got the bones of a trial/speed running game, but most trial/speed running games have pretty short levels. It's something like that combined with a more traditional level design. Some levels are pretty lengthy and take awhile, but checkpoints are pretty generous, so it's not arduous to retry areas.

While some of the areas are really on point with the cyberpunk aesthetic, and you have a cyberspace environment you visit from time to time, a lot of the game is just general metal+industrial areas, a lot of weird sewers and ducts and rafters and stuff like that, it kind of blends in together. One other thing that's kind of odd is the scale. It always feels like you're crouching, even though you can crouch/slide. Compared to a lot of objects in the environment, you seem really small. Though sometimes you feel too big compared directly to say, a chair. I feel like scale is very important for first person games. Not necessarily for immersion, if that's something that's important to you, but just for judgement and sense of placement, etc. Otherwise there is this just uncanny feeling as you maneuver around.

I still really liked it. It was at it's best when it presented a new challenge in a unique way or a gimmick. It did a good job at mixing it up from time to time, but I feel like they could have done a bit better. A lot of the areas were just "Enemies are set up in an annoying way, stay alive and figure out how to kill them all." Which brings me to my next point. I played like 70% of the game thinking "Damn this game would be so much more fun if you didn't instantly die anything happened. If only I could take a single hit before dying it would be so much better."

Lo and behold, assist mode offers an option to have a single-hit shield. This game is constantly telling you what a badass you are. You are playing a Ghostrunner, an elite perfect combination of genetics and engineering. Yet, everything kills you instantly. It kind of ruins the feeling of feeling like a badass. Turning on the single-hit shield changed the game for me. I still died, a lot. The game is constantly getting more difficult and it's not gradual. I usually try to play games on "normal difficult" as it's the way the game is intended to be played(via many in-game descriptions), and I do have fun with a challenge, but I think this game is objectively more fun with this option on. It didn't change any other aspect of gameplay, just gives you the ability to take a single hit(except from environmental damage) before dying.

Anyway, I already started the second game, as part of my reason for finally playing this was because I got the second and I think they did a lot to balance and improve upon this one, but I'm a little burned out on it generally so I'll likely move on to something else before coming back to Ghostrunner 2. I liked it overall, it was just a little exhausting.

Tower Wizard

• Genre: Clicker
• Spoiler Free Review: Nothing to spoil.
• Time Played: 12 Hours(Mostly passive/idle time with some clicks here and there outside the few big pushes and resets)
• Too Short/Long: Fine, I guess. I feel like these types of games should be longer and more gradual.
• Soundtrack: The tracks are nice but just like, game sounds to fill the void.
• Why I played: A cheap game recommended by a coworker that had visual appeal. 
• Did I cry: No.
• Jank: No jank, everything is pretty straightforward. Maybe that the menus don't really resize even if you resize the window? So you have to position your "camera" correctly to view the menu if you have a smaller window.
• Difficulty: It's not really that difficult, but feels like the path of progression is pretty linear.
• Recommend to others: It's cute but it's hard to recommend a clicker game because it's literally just a waste of time. I wouldn't have gone out of my way to recommend it as it was to me.

Tower Wizard is a clicker/incremental game where you just upgrade stuff until you have the better stuff and then you can start over with more upgrade to be able to get more stuff until you have better stuff than you had before.

It's fine for what it is, but what it is, is just something to waste your time with. Some clicker games make it feel like there is strategy or consequence. Some make you feel smart for what you did, or have high moments where cool things happen after big upgrades that are super satisfying. Tower Wizard just kind of plays out until it doesn't.

As far as I can tell, the balance of the game is "too balanced" - meaning you just always buy whatever upgrade you can and you'll be able to within a reasonable time be able to complete what you want to complete. You have to "reset" a few times, but I feel like those are more or less standardized points with some slight variation. I only had to reset twice even though there are 4 tiers of upgrades and on that last one I had every upgrade(but not every level of every upgrade), and I literally played with the exact strategy I said, which is the closest thing to no strategy "buy an upgrade as soon as it's available". Basically, always ensuring the lowest cost upgrade is purchased until I can't purchase any more, and having my "workers" evenly distributed.

Without some kind of puzzle to solve it just falls flat.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

• Genre: Action Adventure
• Spoiler Free Review: Very slight spoilers due to mechanics and setting.
• Time Played: ~10 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It's about right.
• Soundtrack: Another one that is mostly just ambience, though the ambience is very important to the experience of the game, and there are at least a handful of notable scores, and when they hit, they hit really well. They fit the mood perfectly. Notably Andy LaPlegua of Combichrist worked on the music. Also the ending credits is a licensed track from one of my favorite bands, VNV Nation.
• Why I played: I've been meaning to play this one for awhile. It was a pretty big deal when it was new, it just took me til they released a sequel to get around to it.
• Did I cry: A little bit.
• Jank: This is a pretty polished game. It's also pretty linear so there isn't much to experience jank-wise. There was one time after a cutscene Senua's hair was wiggling around wildly in a glitch-state until there was another cutscene.
• Difficulty: It has a difficulty that feels "just right" for the experience. It might be considered hard by some, but I don't think it really is. I think it just does a really good job at making it "feel hard", and most the puzzles are just looking in the right direction from and navigating the right way. The puzzles would only really be difficult if you struggle with spatial awareness.
• Recommend to others: I would really recommend this to someone who enjoys very a visceral experience and narrative. I can imagine it being difficult to play for someone who isn't in the right mental space, or if you just don't engage with video games on a certain emotional level.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a really good game and I'm disappointed in myself for not playing it sooner. It's not that long, and there have been times where it's come up in conversation where I now wish I could have engaged in back then. I imagine not too many people have it in recent memory unless they're replaying it before getting into the sequel.

Even though the combat is really basic, I really enjoyed it. You got your light attack, hard attack, block/parry, dodge, run. Run can modify some attacks, you can counter with parries, combos change up the attacks and I think even the dodge modifies the attack? It all feels really smooth and intuitive even though it doesn't really throw anything new into the mix. There are no skill trees. You only get an item that acts something like a "rage meter" or other similar mechanics. You use it, and time for everyone else is slowed down, usually. What's more is it ties into one of the main mechanics of the game you use for puzzle solving, in combat. "Focusing" is the main mechanic for puzzle solving, to see things as they truly are or should be? That's your "rage meter" and sometimes you can't even hit enemies unless you "focus". So it makes sense within the narrative without even actually giving Senua powers. Additionally there is probably some deeper meaning to the item that allows you to "focus" during combat.

I don't mind a linear game, but something about it feels like a game that should have a little more navigating, and more secrets to find. There are secrets to find, exclusively in the way of lorestones, and they're worth finding. I think they put a slight spin on some of the stories, but they're generally just telling you about Norse mythology, and the stories are also usually analogous to something that has either happened or is happening with Senua.

All together I think the most impressive thing they did with the game is make it cohesive, when the whole idea is that things are not as they seem. Senua's schizophrenia is the main theme of the game, and when first getting into it, the combination of audio and visual feedback pulled at my chest in an anxiety inducing way. I mean this as a compliment, it was wholly the intention of the game to do so and they succeeded well.

Inside

I just realized I can add captions to images(easily, without going into html view). You have no idea how many times I wanted to add captions to images but also didn't want to make a habit of using html for my stupid little blog posts. Anyway, if I wasn't just explaining that I found captions, I would caption this: "This is the most interesting screenshot I took that isn't a spoiler."

• Genre: Adventure
• Spoiler Free Review: Yes.
• Time Played: ~4 Hours
• Too Short/Long: While it's pretty short, it's fine for what it is, much longer would have dragged it out.
• Soundtrack: There is barely a soundtrack, it's mostly just ambient noises with a couple swells of tones.
• Why I played: I've been recommended Inside a lot. Both indirectly via youtube videos or articles from sources I enjoy, and directly by people I know. It's come up more than most games. I played Limbo and... kind of liked it, so I figured I'd give this a shot.
• Did I cry: No.
• Jank: There isn't much to be janky. Maybe the worst thing is sometimes it seems like the interactions can be particular when they should give a little more range of access.
• Difficulty: It's not really that difficult. There are a few moments in the game where spatial awareness combined with clever maneuvers are required but it starts you approximately 10 seconds before that so you get to try again right away.
• Recommend to others: Maybe it just didn't click with me, but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend this. I don't think it was a bad game, it just wasn't that interesting. I didn't even love Limbo the way some people did when that was newer, and I don't think this is as good as that.

There isn't too much to elaborate on here. The game is pretty... straight forward. As in you walk straight forward, interact with the one or two interactable objects and then continue to walk straight forward. Sometimes you need to have specific timing to your walking forward and sometimes you need to jump while walking forward. Occasionally you'll be swimming forward, and there are a few instances of the game where they mix it up, just a little bit. In interesting ways mind you, ways that some other games would(and have) made entire gimmicks out of.

That said, I feel like you could have really expanded on any of those mechanics and made a more full game play experience. Not that I think its entirely incomplete, but it lacks something, for me. There is no dialog, the narrative is entirely contextual. You're a little boy and you're running from some people and as you go on you see more and more things. There is room to speculate on these things, if you're someone who likes to do theorize. If you don't, then it feels pretty... straight forward.

Transistor

• Genre: Action Rpg
• Spoiler Free Review: Yeah.
• Time Played: 10 Hours
• Too Short/Long: About right, could have done with maybe a little more?
• Soundtrack: Like Bastion before it, this soundtrack is amazing. It's one I've listened to a lot before finishing the game. 
• Why I played: I've picked up Transistor at least twice before this third time, started, went through the first few battles, etc. I just fell off because it's a bit slow moving in the start. I knew it was a game I'd enjoy, I just didn't stick with it before.
• Did I cry: Yes.
• Jank: It's not too janky. I'd say it could use a couple quality of life upgrades, like the UI for equipping/unequipping your skills, but it's not janky, per se.
• Difficulty: It can be pretty annoying/difficult at times. Overall it's not entirely difficult, but you either have to play with your strategies for battles a good bit or otherwise perfect your moves for many of the later fights.
• Recommend to others: I would definitely recommend Transistor to anyone who played say, Bastion, and really like the style and music. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to anyone who player, say, Pyres or Hades. Overall though, I'd say I'd recommend the other games first.

I do really like Transistor. I think all of Supergiant Games' games are great, but I do think Bastion and Hades are a bit more celebrated for good reason. Transistor has a bit of a weird mechanic that I don't think everyone is going to enjoy. It's a little light on the explanation, so it takes a lot of experimenting to figure out what works, what doesn't, and exactly what the perfect way to do things is. There are times it offers little tidbits on screen, but I think it could do a little better in that department. Even if it did, it's still and odd system, and an unfortunate aspect is - once you get to a certain point in the game, it's a system that is constantly trying to prevent you from using it.

Part of me thinks it would have been a little better if it leaned a bit more into the action, than the strategy of the combat. You're given this toolkit of pretty neat abilities to use, and various ways to use them and combine them, but so many of the enemies attacks and responses are trying to prevent you from using them. Additionally, you'll lose access to certain skills for a few battles should you perform poorly enough. I think less enemy moves specifically countering your abilities, and a health system that didn't take away your abilities would have made this game much more fun - and more accessible to the average player.

If this was a design decision to incentivize players to experiment with different abilities, I still don't think it excuses it. They have challenges that force you into different ability combos, they could have offered more of those that made players try new moves, and also offered another bonus like win X # of battles with this skill placed here. Which they kind of offer with lore, it's just one battle with each skill in each placement, but since these are just text biographies and such, I imagine many people will skip out on that, I didn't, but I'm a bit of a completionist.

That said, the combat is still interesting, unique, and fun. Every other aspect of the game is great too. The music, the art, the tone, setting, etc. The story is all a little vague, throwing you directly into a scenario in an extremely futuristic society far removed from our own, presumably the entire course of the game is one night, but it serves it's purpose for the experience and is fleshed out with the consistent voice overs.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma

• Genre: Farm-sim Action RPG
• Spoiler Free Review: Pretty much, other than the screenshots.
• Time Played: 60 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Actually maybe too short? I felt like I was left off wanting more.
• Soundtrack: It's okay, it fits the setting and such, and it has some unique effects an queues, but nothing I'm in a hurry to listen to on it's own.
• Why I played: I've always tried getting into the Rune Factory games, generally I like their style, and some of them have pretty fun game play. It's the gameplay loop that always had me fall off. Guardians of Azuma just looked so good I had to give it another shot.
• Did I cry: Almost, but not quite.
• Jank: It's pretty solid. There might be a couple very tiny issues where you climb something/don't climb something correctly, but it's mostly pretty tight.
• Difficulty: I think the difficulty is highly dependent on how well you balance what you do and how efficiently you do it. If you focus too much on progressing through the story, it'll make it harder. If you focus too much on just farming and pursuing relationships, it'll make things take longer.
• Recommend to others: I definitely would recommend this to others. At least for me, it's a great balance of farming/management and action rpg. The story is okay, but the dialog is very fun and the characters are great, and there are a lot of ways to approach how to play the game and I think that's why a lot of people will enjoy it.

Upon finishing Guardians of Azuma, I read some review of it which seemed... a little unfair. Now maybe from the perspective of long time fans of the Rune Factory series, there may not be enough of this or that, but I really liked Guardians of Azuma. Maybe it's something superficial and the better visuals or more Japanese inspired designs drew me in, but I think that it's a little more what I like, and maybe a little less what the typical cozy farm sim enjoyer likes.

There is a clear story when you start off Guardians of Azuma. You're engaged in a battle to stop the destruction of the world, and you are tasked with restoring it. You start off modestly in a small village inhabited by the goddess of Spring and eventually venture to towns for each season. Each town has some npcs, "development areas" where you do your farming/building/customizing, and outside the town each has it's own pseudo-open area, followed by a dungeon. Some of the development areas are rather small, making it a bit tricky to manage what you can work with, while some give you plenty of room for customization. Some are large enough to basically make a whole town within them.

But by far and large the biggest sections of the game are those where the action occurs. I find that a lot of these farm-sim/action rpgs usually have much smaller dungeon areas, or at least less focus and not quite as many large areas. There are many areas that cannot be fully explored in a single cycle. Thankfully there are shrines/save points that allow you to pick right up where you left off, should you need to return to town and rest. One thing that bugs me is having to always start from the beginning of an area, and this game thankfully respects your time to be pretty generous with those shrines which also act as fast travel/teleport locations.

Snezhinka

• Genre: Shmup(?)
• Spoiler Free Review: No.
• Time Played: 3-4 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Just like it's predecessor, it's fine for what it is. It gives you enough to play around with and doesn't wear out it's welcome. It's a few dollars for a few hours of entertainment. There are additional challenges and such should I want to pursue them and was really looking for more reasons to play but I'm satisfied with what I got.
• Soundtrack: About the same more or less, not really much different.
• Why I played: It's the same as Marfusha really, and since I finished that one and liked it enough, I wanted to play this one.
• Did I cry: Once again, no. It's relatively short, story light, and despite the hopeless war and darker themes, with everything dressed in satire, it makes it hard to be invested, even though it expands upon a preestablished story.
• Jank: A bit less janky than Marfusha, most things are refined. There is still the occasionally very stock looking graphic that feels out of place.
• Difficulty: Similarly, I feel like it's easier than it intends to be. They did a bit better balancing things, and the requirements for the true ending might be a bit more strict, but it's not that tough once you know what you're doing.
• Recommend to others: Another category that is just like Marfusha. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. Especially this one first, I'd sooner recommend Marfusha first and say if you want more of that, then play this.

Snezhinka is a direct sequel to Marfusha and doesn't too much different. It's a little bit more refined, offers a little bit more variety various aspects, but it's mostly the same. You play as Marfusha's sister, there are a handful of endings, some that different depending on your recruited partner, some based off decisions made between missions and some dependent on your performance in mission.  

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

• Genre: Action Rpg
  
• Spoiler Free Review: Maybe spoilery if you read too much into what I say or analyze screenshots too closely.
• Time Played: 100 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It's pretty much just right. I did everything in the game and feel pretty satisfied with my time. Earlier in the final act, I definitely wanted more time with game, and it gives you plenty more to do.
• Soundtrack: This has an absolutely amazing soundtrack. I immediately downloaded it after finishing the game. The fact it was 12 USD for 8 hours of music feels criminal.
• Why I played: Leading up to it, I was pretty excited for this games release and shared a few trailers here and there, I thought it looked like a pretty stylish RPG.
• Did I cry: Yeah, maybe at a few points in the game.
• Jank: This is a pretty polished game. Off the top of my head I can't really think of any jankiness.
• Difficulty: It's pretty up there for turned-based, story-oriented RPGs. The combat is really good, and the characters are each pretty different, each utilizing their own gimmicks, but it can be pretty punishing getting the timing right to parry or dodge.
• Recommend to others: I definitely put this high on my recommendations to others. Above many games I consider my favorites, just because I feel like it's more likely to find appeal to a wider audience. It has a lot going for it in every facet of the game. I would say the biggest hurdle for most people is going to be the difficulty, but I'm also speaking as someone who sought out all the optional content. Like many rpgs, you can definitely come to out level your opponents, so it shouldn't be too inaccessible, even for those who can't get the timing down as well.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 far exceeded my expectations. From the trailers, I just thought I saw something really cool and stylish. An RPG that finally had flair to rival Persona 5's UI, and hype battle music. While they're very different styles of games, I definitely think it succeeds in that aspect. Better? That's a matter of taste, but few rpgs ooze style in the way these games have and I think that has a lot to do with Persona 5's success. I think it similarly will be a reason that Expedition 33 goes unforgotten. 

Maybe weird to compare the game to Persona 5 at all, but I think it's the first thing that comes to many minds when you think "Stylish rpg". I do think they share more than that superficial aspect of it too, but I'll try to keep this review more or less spoiler free. Which now that I think on it, make it hard to discuss a lot of facets of the game.

It's one of those experiences where you kind of go in knowing that people don't know why things are happening, so you're constantly unravelling the story alongside them. That makes every revelation and moment to moment kind of a spoiler, where the main story is concerned anyway.

Changeable Guardian Estique

• Genre: Shmup
• Spoiler Free Review: Included ending screenshots because it's hard to get to play.
• Time Played: 3-4 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It's a shmup, so it's not that long, it could have more, but it's also designed to actually work and first on NES hardware, so it's fine.
• Soundtrack: Some good little tunes in here, but very NES style of course.
• Why I played: Somewhere shared it in a gaming group and after seeing some of the visuals I had to get it. Even if they made it as inconvenient as possible.
• Did I cry: No
• Jank: It's pretty basic so it's pretty jank free. That said, I played the famicom version. There is some jank in the choice of production and I think the NES version has some purposeful jank.
• Difficulty: It's a lot more forgiving than most NES shmups. Maybe just because you can alwayts opt to continue where you left off, instead of always restarting from the beginning. They also utilize a health bar, which not too many NES shmups did. Generally I appreciate these leniencies because while I find shmups very fun, I'm not like amazing at them. 
• Recommend to others: I would if I could, but I can't, so I won't. Mainly because you can't buy it for anything modern. It doesn't have a digital version. It can only be played on NES/Famicom hardware. So I guess... the only people I would recommend it to are people really into still using that hardware in particular. Even then, it's a bit pricey for what it is, but I supposed I'd recommend it to anyone willing to get "boutique" games like this. I'm including more screenshots than I usually do for a game this size since it's not as accessible.

To elaborate on the above, Changeable Guardian Estique is a "boutique" Famicom homebrew game. It only exists in a physical format reproduction cartridge. It's a 2023 NES/Famicom game.

Which is kind of annoying, as this makes it pretty inaccessible for a lot of people, and also pretty expensive, for what it is. I'm not complaining, I got it, and I enjoy my little box, and my little instruction booklet, and my little physical game. But that isn't the only thing they did that's kind of annoying. They also "localized" the NES version in the same way the would have in the 80s or early 90s. They made it more difficult. They mess with some of the sprites so they look different, or are like blown up. They cut out stages, and they removed some story(the yuri) and rewrote it with popculture references. The rewriting aside due to subjectivity, it's generally an inferior product - which is something that wasn't too uncommon for NES or even SNES release of games.

So I opted to get the Famicom version even though I don't know japanese. It's a shmup, not story heavy so I only need it so much, and I was easily able to google lens the entire story which is maybe a total of 20 lines of dialog. I also did this to read the instruction booklet. 

Otherwise, the game is pretty basic. It's good, but basic. You can change speed with select, you can fire, you can shift from ship to mech form. Tapping the shoot button rapidly uses one of your specials. It's well designed, but limited by it's format. So it might not be up to what most shmups are doing in 2023, but it was still a joy to play.

Marfusha

• Genre: Shmup(?)
• Spoiler Free Review: Thematic spoilers.
• Time Played: 3-4 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It's fine for what it is. It doesn't have much and can quickly get to the point where you figure out the best ways to win, but a few hours of entertainment for a few dollars is worth it.
• Soundtrack: I think there were a few pretty good tracks, but there are only a handful total.
• Why I played: The aesthetic caught my eye. It has classic pixelated still drawings for it's scenes which will almost always get me.
• Did I cry: No. It's depressing, sure, but mostly in a parody way.
• Jank: This one is pretty janky. Not really in performance or controls, just in presentation. It's just what it is.
• Difficulty: I feel like it's a little easy for what it's going for. It only took me a couple attempts before I could run through and "Perfect" every level.
• Recommend to others: Not really, not that it's bad. I just don't know who I would recommend this to.

Marfusha, also called Marfusha: Sentinel Girls, depending where you get it, is a game inspired by the not-entirely well know prequel(that is a sequel in story, and a reimagining of another game, a visual novel with no visuals, that has since had a full remake) to Girls Frontline, the mobile game.

Some of the theming of that is obvious, and by that I mean the fact that you play as anime girl with guns in a highly militaristic setting. Marfusha's story is about a girl recruited to defend the city walls in a USSR inspired dystopia where you have the privilege of paying 98% of your income in taxes. Just when you think you might have more money to get certain upgrades you find out your going to be taxed for the very fact you don't have enough money.

Gameplay wise it's a pretty basic aim+shoot game. You're mostly defending a wall and you can walk back and forth to position yourself for enemies better or get them before they come close to it. You defend against a wave of enemies, get a chance to buy upgrade or usable items, and proceed to the next wave. It's fun for a bit, and there a bunch of a different endings and challenge modes making it worth replaying as long as it keeps your interest.

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time

• Genre: Action Rpg
• Spoiler Free Review: I don't think things are really high stake enough to spoil in this game, but there might be some spoilers of things you get.
• Time Played: 80 Hours
• Too Short/Long: I feel like I wrapped up the story just as the game was growing a little tedious for me, so I'd say just right. That said, you can definitely extend your playtime and play much more, or maybe even shorten it a good bit if you want to play a bit more focused. I feel like this has more variety in the "Just right" amount of playtime than most games will.
• Soundtrack: There are some catchy tunes or otherwise generic fantasy world tunes that are fitting for the setting and style of game, but nothing I'm gonna really jam out to on it's own.
• Why I played: I loved the first Fantasy Life and had hopes they were going to make a new one for years, so I was really excited for this one.
• Did I cry: Most of it, even the most dramatic aspects are pretty light hearted, so there isn't much worth shedding a tear over.
• Jank: It's mostly jank free. I feel like the jankiest aspect might be intended game design. Basically out of bounds enemies will become invincible and then eventually return to their start position. This can break some enemies entirely though who won't return. I had a challenge where I kept pushing the enemy out of range and it would become invincible without returning and I would have to leave the area and then come back and restart the fight a few times before I could actually finish it.
• Difficulty: Generally the game is pretty easy, as you can always get better equipment. However, it could be considered a bit tedious to engage with all systems, and late game enemies are pretty strong. Late game might out pace some players before they are willing to put in the effort to face them.
• Recommend to others: Fantasy Life is a really fun game that I would recommend to most people. It's gameplay loop is just a constant stream of dopamine. Make better stuff, fight stronger enemies, get new things, make better stuff, etc. You're always getting something, which makes for a lot of moments where you just wanna keep going to get the next thing.

I really liked the first Fantasy Life and really sung it's praises back when in it's day. I leave off on this one not quite as sure how I'll regard it in the future. I enjoyed it a lot, don't get me wrong, but maybe it just wasn't enough? Not that there isn't enough. The game definitely feels packed, just maybe a little shallow. Maybe I didn't spend enough time with multiplayer, or maybe the way I approach games now - with the goal of finishing them, rather then just something to play for the sake of playing, skews my perspective.

I definitely feel like you can get something out of it in both those regards, if you just want something to play and enjoy with friends, or something to sit back and relax and mess around with. We'll see of course because usually - as I say - when I'm finished, I'm done. But I might actually go back to this one when the DLC is released.

Witch Spring 4

• Genre: RPG
• Spoiler Free Review: Definitely spoiling some aspects of the main story. Screenshots also contain spoilers.
• Time Played: 23 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It has a solid playtime for the more miniature RPG it is. Easily could knock off like 5 or so hours if you weren't trying to 100% it.
• Soundtrack: The music has definitely improved over the Witch Spring games, and there are some catchy tunes when they need to be catchy and some exciting ones for the moments that are exciting. It fits the mood, but it's not going to blow anyone away.
• Why I played: It was the last Witch Spring game I haven't played(a version of) so I just couldn't wait for the possibility that they might port 4 to console too.
• Did I cry: I think this might be the least emotional Witch Spring game, but it stirred up some feelings at least a few times later on.
• Jank: R aside, would it be a Witch Spring without jank? There is some here and there such as being able to walk to places you shouldn't, such as passed doors or area transition exits, character running in place during cutscenes, but nothing as game breaking as some prior. Translations are still... really rough, but serviceable as long as you can parse what they meant to say.
• Difficulty: The difficulty of this one swings wildly in every direction. The game is built on power creep. Creep isn't quite the word though, as it happens hard and suddenly. You can always progress the story, but you're not exactly meant to always progress the story straight through. So you hit a wall, and you surmount it via training/grinding/crafting/side missions. Rinse and repeat.
• Recommend to others: As a whole I'd really recommend the Witch Spring series. It's tough to recommend any over Witch Spring R, which is a far more polished game than any of the others, but it's worth getting into the others if you liked what was in that. 4 while improved on many aspects, I feel like is definitely the last of them to play because it ties itself into the others more than the rest do.
  

Witch Spring 4 starts off toward the end of the events of all the prior games, mostly taking place after it, and while it is it's own story, it's largely a continuation in the fact that so many of the previous games' characters are present.

The first couple chapters aren't too long, but they establish the new characters place and her goals. Moccamori, the main character, is definitely a bit of a change of pace from the prior games' girl with adhd that wants to make friends, girl with ptsd who wants to make friends, and girl with autism that wants to make friends. She's a self-proclaimed queen and kind of a tyrant who starts the game already super powerful. There are some battles in the game you will never have to actually do outside of "quick hunt", which is basically instantly killing any opponent your stats far exceeds. You also start off slaying what were the equivalent of early bosses in prior games. 

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

• Genre: Action
• Spoiler Free Review: Yes
• Time Played: 9 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Pretty much just right for this one. Some individual levels or sections might have gone a little long, but overall game length was solid.
• Soundtrack: It has some bangers. Even just some of the more generic "music playing while not much is happening" is catchy.
• Why I played: Back in the day I really liked the first No More Heroes, and I started the original version of No More Heroes 2 for Wii right when it came out, but it just didn't grab me like the first. I've been wanting to play the newer games and wanted to finish this first.
• Did I cry: Not exactly the type of game to get emotional to.
• Jank: There is definitely some jank. Some jank that is arguably native to a lot of motion-control oriented game and specifically a lot of 3rd party Wii games. Even though modern versions have standard controls and I used those, you can still feel where it's coming from. The game is not polished and there is jank in every aspect of it. It's very rough around the edges and hasn't aged incredibly.
• Difficulty: The difficulty swings from mind-numbingly easy to frustratingly difficult at various points. The most difficult aspects though are arguably some of the jank, but maybe jank inherent to the games design itself. Stun-lock that you can't react to or counter in any way that happens in a few battles is maybe the worst offender as far as difficulty goes.
• Recommend to others: I really wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't already into No More Heroes. I'm not sure it's much better than the first, if at all. It's been a long time for a direct comparison, but it was more memorable for being what it was at the time. I don't think 2 really added anything the first didn't have. Other than the NES style mini-games.
  

I needed something low effort and just fun to play. No More Heroes is mostly that. I think it was randomly brought up in a conversation a couple days before I decided to play it and just thought to myself "I should play that". I was otherwise in-between games, so it worked out perfectly in the moment.

No More Heroes as a series is one of those games I call a "gamer's game", and when I say that, I don't mean something every person who likes games will like, but is something made specifically for people who likes games. It's too self-referential in the culture. Not just games, but other general media and pop culture things. Anime has really taken off in the past decade but when the first No More Heroes came out, it was a bit more niche of a hobby in the west, and people who had anime girls all over their house were only highest level of otaku. Now you can't go to youtube's home page without seeing Travis Touchdowns semi-permanent motel room in the background of someone's video.

Besides anime, there's shmups, nes-esque mini games, Star Wars references, wrestling, etc. etc. - there is no moment in the game that isn't referencing something else. It's crude, brash, and degenerate. Unabashedly so, which at least makes it a bit more charming than media that takes itself more seriously.

In the end 2 is just more of the same and while it was fun to play to get ready for some of the more modern iterations, it's nothing too special on it's own.

Witch Spring 2

• Genre: RPG
• Spoiler Free Review: Pretty much.
• Time Played: 23 Hours, I probably wasted a good bit of time though.
• Too Short/Long: Taking into account I was wasting time forgetting some aspects of progression between gaps in play, I think overall it was just about right in playtime. Probably closed to 15 for a less completionist and consistent playthough.
• Soundtrack: It's fine, it's more or less just little melodies you expect for a casual mobile rpg, most of the time the volume was off though.
• Why I played: Witch Spring is becoming one of my favorite series, both Witch Spring 3 and Witch Spring R were among my favorites in recent years.
• Did I cry: It definitely choked me up a few times here and there.
• Jank: Witch Spring 2 can be pretty janky. Little bugs that occur here and there, control freezing, models left on screen during cutscenes that shouldn't be there, etc. It's all relatively minor, but I did have to force close the game several times. At least it boots up pretty quickly and auto-saves every time you do pretty much anything.
• Difficulty: It is not difficult, not really at all. There are a couple optional bosses that require a little more grinding than others, but you can easily over power most things with enough effort.
• Recommend to others: I like it but I would definitely recommend Witch Spring R over it. It's kind of a story repeat from a different perspective, and far more archaic. It might be an improvement over the original version of the first Witch Spring, but R is leagues ahead of it in every aspect. I just wanted to play as Luna.

I went a bit out of my way to play Witch Spring 2. It's a mobile game, but it doesn't work on my current phone, but I have an older phone it does work on. That phone felt "on it's last leg" when I last upgraded, but after factory resetting it and removing all the apps that run in the background, it functions well enough to play a game. Witch Spring 2, despite being a mobile game, is more like mobile games of old. Before monetization and service games. It's just like a 5 dollar game you buy and play. No different from most indie titles for other platforms. I know some of these kinds of titles aren't unheard of on mobile platforms, but usually when you say "mobile game", it's not what immediately comes to mind.

It's more of the same though. You go around collect pets, friends, and materials for making new spells and weapons. 3, and R are both improvements upon this one, but I've come to enjoy the series so much I went out of my way for it. Those two are the only ones available on PC/console. I haven't seen any word of 4 leaving mobile, so I may just have to play that on my old phone as well if I am motivated to do so.

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven

• Genre: RPG
• Spoiler Free Review: Since there isn't too much to spoil story-wise, the biggest spoiler may be in my screenshots.
• Time Played: ~60 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Some sections can feel a little long compared to others, but overall it feels about right. Which is actually surprising because often the more story-light rpgs at this length can grow tiresome, but I think the structure of the game helps subvert the normal rpg fatigue.
• Soundtrack: The soundtrack is not it's strongest point. Originally an SNES title, it only has just as much music as it needs. While I don't think the game is too long, and people playing it more efficiently than me can probably knock it out a good deal quicker - I was trying to do everything and that does mean hearing a lot of semi-repetitive tracks over and over. The new renditions of the music are great, and it does feature both full soundtracks, but 20ish tracks isn't quite enough to carry a 60 hour experience. At least they had three entirely separate tracks for the Dancer scenes.
• Why I played: While my experience with the SaGa series isn't entirely robust, I have played a few of them, and even more games directly inspired by SaGa. I have a friend who considers it one of his favorite games, and had wholly planned to play the original version prior to this remake but never got around it, but upon checking out the demo I was instantly sold on the new version.
• Did I cry: There isn't much to cry about this one, which is odd to say because I think it was because of rpgs I put this category here. I cry with almost all rpgs. Even "sillier" ones like Pokemon and Digimon, but this just doesn't really carry those kind of moments. It's not really a character story driven game. It might have had a moment or two that made me involuntarily sad frown.
• Jank: Most the game is jank-free. I wouldn't say it's the MOST polished game, but mostly free of jank. I played the Switch version and there is almost constantly texture-loading issues where textures resolution updates like a couple seconds into any given scene, which I imagine are not present in other versions(and maybe not if you play on Switch 2?) but besides that I maybe ran into one or two quirks the whole game.
• Difficulty: It can be pretty challenging. In fact, I would argue that's the point of this game over many other rpgs that are more meant to tell a story. The combat is really good and engaging, but sometimes requires catered set-ups utilized to perfection. The game can punish you for it, but you're meant to learn and proceed with a new party. I just wish it took the punishing aspects out that can prevent you from accessing content entirely.
• Recommend to others: I definitely would recommend it to anyone who likes old-school jrpgs, and have already gone out of my way to recommend it to a couple people. I do have to mention the fact that this game has "consequences" for your actions though. You can easily lock yourself out of aspects of the game permanently, and for someone like me that's a very stressful aspect of the game.

I feel like I already covered so much in what is supposed to be short bullet points. So what else is there to say?

Slitterhead

• Genre: Action
• Spoiler Free Review: A little bit of spoilers concerning how mechanics tie into the story.
• Time Played: 19 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Just a little too long, maybe because I wanted to 100% it and had to replay some sections, but also, it has you kind of replay some sections anyway. But really, it's only a couple hours too long tops, minor complaint.
• Soundtrack: The soundtrack is pretty good. I had uploaded the soundtrack prior to playing because I wasn't sure when I was really going to get into it, and any time a track was playing from this, it has my wife say "What is this?" out of interest. The stylings of Akira Yamaoka are clearly represented.
• Why I played: I honestly forget what made me want to play this. The gruesome gorefest it is makes it very near a horror game. It's definitely horror-themed, but it's not a "horror" game in the traditional sense, it doesn't try to scare you(maybe gross you out) and you're generally too powerful to build up tension anyway.
• Did I cry: Nah.
• Jank: It's a little janky as it feels like a 20 year old game.
• Difficulty: It's mostly pretty easy, but toward the end I do feel the game really ramps it up.
• Recommend to others: It's a weird one. I'd recommend it to people who want a simpler and more linear experience than most modern games provide. If you're nostalgic for a different time in gaming other than just that defined by pixels or low-res textures. As long as you don't have a weak stomach.

It's not the first time this year, and looking at what I want to play in the near future, might not be the last time this year, I play some PS2/3 ass new game. It feels weird to describe an era in which I was almost, if not a full adult for as something nostalgic, but nobody saw anything unusual about SNES, PSX, N64, etc being nostalgic in 2015, or even before that. Shoot I feel like SNES games were being called retro as early as the mid 2000s. By that standard, the earliest PS4 titles are "retro"

Slitterhead is a new game, less than a year old, but it feels like something made ~20 years ago. Like it's just been sitting in a vault, all but completed, and since it was 2025 they made sure it matched todays specs, to a degree anyway, and then released it. It's not always the prettiest game, and I don't say that just because of the grotesque imagery.