Mouthwashing

• Genre: Horror Adventure
• Spoiler Free Review: Yeah. 
• Time Played: 3 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It might actually be too short. I feel like not enough of the story is presented. As part of how they present the narrative, there are significant jumps in time, but... why? It doesn't feel necessary and the characters aren't fleshed out enough.
• Did I cry: No.
• Soundtrack: No? If there was music in this game I don't remember.
• Why I played: I was once again not really feeling motivated to play anything but thought I could find the motivation to take interest in something my wife loves, as I did with Resident Evil and Silent Hill. 
• Jank: At first I thought it was part of the game, but it definitely did some weird stuff during scene transitions where it made an annoying repetitive sounds for a solid moment before the actual transition that I don't think is the usual experience. Otherwise, it's just a little obtuse at time but you could excuse the theming and genre.
• Difficulty: None - very little? There are only a few brief scenes that require you to perform any kind of skill challenge, and the general area to traverse isn't all that big - if a little confusing visually, so it usually only takes a moment to get wherever you need.
• Pleased/Disappointed: It's fine. I'm more or less neutral. I didn't go in with any kind of expectations, just thought I'd play a game Alice likes.
• Recommend to others: I wouldn't really, personally, but despite playing a few games in the genre this year and liking at least one more than I thought I would, horror games aren't a genre I typically enjoy.

Mouthwashing feels like a project lost in time, and it's not just due to it's PSX graphics. Or perhaps it's all part of the intent and so the PSX-esque visuals were more than just a visual style choice.

To be clear it doesn't feel like an original PlayStation game - it feels like a game that would have been someones weird little free download on PC before "indie games" were a super recognized thing. I mean it is more equivalent to something you see on itch now, sure, but there is a specific vibe I'm talking about that predates current game distribution.

It's the kind of thing that as a teenager I may have thought was the deepest thing ever. Looking at some of my favorite movies and even other types of media from the era of "It's so deep". I'm not saying that in a bad way. It's just that you have a hard time not falling into that kind of narrative when you're playing from the perspective of someone else's psychosis, but those are exactly the things that an edgy teen is drawn to and I would say it differs little in that sense from what I would consider some of my most formative anime and film interests. Such presentation of the genre wasn't exactly as prevalent in the games industry - at least not in any mainstream capacity, at the time, because there was a much bigger buy in to games, and even though there were definitely weirdo and experimental games - they were usually more robust of product.

All things considered, while I don't think it's bad, I don't understand why it's gained such popularity and isn't a bit more niche. I think the unique visual identity is doing a lot of work, and I will give credit to some of the interesting imagery and effort in making you have a such a good idea of the dystopia the characters exist within in just a couple hours, without even leaving the ship, but that said you're barely provided with much of a look into those characters who are present. What you see feels like mostly caricaturizations, and arguably some of the most important characters have the least dialog and leave the most up for interpretation. So it felt lacking.

Sword of the Sea

• Genre: Adventure
• Spoiler Free Review: Not much to spoil the way the story is presented.
• Time Played: 4:17
• Too Short/Long: Good for the type of game it is.
• Did I cry: A little bit.
• Soundtrack: Amazing. It's key to building the atmosphere of the game. 
• Why I played: I've liked all of the teams previous works, though I need to go back to Pathless because it's the only one I haven't finished.
• Jank: It's pretty much jank free besides some weird "can I land on this" and "no" via invisible walls.
• Difficulty: Practically none.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I'm very pleased, as I have been with all their games.
• Recommend to others: I would if it's the kind of thing you're into. All of their(Giant Squid, and Thatgamecompany) games are a bit abstract and enigmatic. They're defining examples of games as art, and definitely more art than game.
  

There isn't much to explain if you're familiar with Flower, Journey, and Abzu. It's very much in line with those. Even visually, it's pretty much like they smashed Journey and Abzu together. We like desert AND the sea, so what if the Sea was in/on the desert?

You pretty much just ride around on your hover sword and interact with the environment until you can go to the next area. There are hidden collectibles, there are upgrades, and there are even little trial trick areas. It's fun to explore and take it all in, but there isn't too much more than that. Not that it needs to be. I do think with the sword being such a focus, the game could have maybe had some more combat of some kind of variety, but obviously those aren't the types of games these people are generally trying to make. 

I didn't play Pathless which did have some combat if I recall, but maybe that's just it. I didn't play it. How many other people also skipped on it - their one game with combat? So back to what they were best known for - something you more... experience, rather than "play" in the typical sense. I mean it's still very much a game as far as how it controls, it's far from what I would call a "walking simulator" but stakes are barely existent and difficult is rather low. Finding some secret may require some sufficient skill or ingenuity though. 

I don't know if it beats out my experience with Journey, but unfortunately Journey is more of a "your mileage may vary" experience with the infrastructure. I did really enjoy Sword of the Sea though, probably a better instance of capturing the same magic completely solo though.

Tron: Identity

• Genre: Adventure/Visual Novel
• Spoiler Free Review: Not exactly. There isn't much to write about without mentioning the progression of the story.
• Time Played: 3-4 Hours.
• Too Short/Long: Feels a little short. I thought the end would have been more like the first chapter. But it's just all there is to it.
• Soundtrack: Pretty good, but standard Tron sounding stuff.
• Why I played: I started to play Tron: Catalyst and met a character from Identity, so figured I should get that out of the way first.
• Did I cry: No.
• Jank: Nothing to really jank up in this game.
• Difficulty: It's so easy the actual game play portions are entirely optional. You can skip or have the game auto play them, or undo any of your moves. The main attraction is the story and the various paths you can take through it.
• Recommend to others: Not unless you're the most diehard Tron fan. Which I am. It's not bad, but the only thing you're going to really get out of this game is "more Tron".

Tron: Identity is kind of your standard detective solving a mystery adventure/visual novel. It's barely "adventure" except you can interact with some environments, choose where to go, and do some puzzles, and things will change in the game depending on your interactions, but it could have just been 100% a visual novel. It's interesting that some of your choices make for dramatically different perspective to a situation, but ultimately they don't change much in the overall outcome. Most of the story beats are still dependent on the fact there are multiple misunderstandings and unknown information, so while your actions have consequences, ultimately they are of no consequence. It also kind of skips the fact you should be able to solve the case 1/3rd of the way through with the resources provided to the detective, and things continue to just occur due to happenstance.

In my opinion, that's the absolute worst way to tell a detective story. Let me investigate, learn things relevant to the case, and solve it. Offering a revelation at the end that the main character and I both should have known 1/3rd the way through the game and most things just occurring because they happened to occur is just too convenient. It's not really a detective story, I just happened to be a detective and I was there. I just don't like it all being a coincidence. So if you consider the issues with the story and the story is 90% of the game, it's arguably a bad game. But it's Tron, so I'm not mad that I played it. The little puzzle gameplay was neat and felt like I was actually doing stuff, but I think it's also set up in a way nearly impossible to lose. I should have just skipped them to pay attention to the story.

Refind Self: The Personality Test Game

• Genre: Adventure
• Spoiler Free Review: Yes.
• Time Played: 2 hours
• Too Short/Long: Fine for what it is - but I wouldn't have minded a bit more.
• Soundtrack: Some cute tracks, but relatively low key stuff.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased.
• Why I played: I just really liked the art to be honest. Also I always liked doing "personality quizzes"
• Did I cry: Nah, it didn't really get deep enough into it, even if it was trying to be touching.
• Recommend to others: I would for the simple fact I want to use the little comparison feature in the game to weigh peoples diskette against mine and see how we did things differently. The most fun part of personality quizzes is seeing how your result stack up with your friends. 

Refind Self is what it says it is, a personality test game, it wraps the "test" up in a little adventure of a robot girl, going around a town, doing some tasks, as you do them you'll uncover the story. Well maybe, I supposed you could get through without uncovering anything... depending on your personality.

That said the game wraps up pretty quick, it gives you some options to extend the game time, but to "fully unlock" your personality, and "finish" the game, you have to play through at least three times. Since your first run or two will allow you to discover more options, you can really focus on what you want to do in that last run, and just maybe "see everything" in that given amount of time.

Your actions will be judged, and compared to I guess every other player that has played the game while online? Some neat stats, and even though a lot of them may end up being "most common choice" the fact that you chose to perform that action at all, is a choice. I thought I was going to get all the most common personality types based off my stats, but it turns out none of them were common - not quite the least common, but I think it's an interesting analysis into how differently people approach games.

Moon: Remix Rpg Adventure

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played: ~20Hours?
• Too Short/Long: It's a pretty solid length, but there are times where it feels like you are wasting time, or at least I did, because I didn't know what to do.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased.
• Why I played: Moon is a game that has come up a bunch throughout the years in the space of "weird japan only games" and then it was released in the US officially in 2020. It's something I've always been interested in playing.
• Recommend to others: I may just recommend it to people who like weird old games or adventures games with rpg tropes, but with the warning it can be quite obtuse.

Moon somehow managed to invoke a strong feeling of nostalgia for me, despite never playing it. There were so many instances I felt like "I've seen this exact thing", I've read this, I've done this, and heck, maybe I have. Moon has been covered by a lot of random sources on the internet as an example of a weird Japanese game that exists out there, somewhere. Pretty much all of Love-de-lic games have at some point or another. But it wasn't just that, I almost find it hard to believe it's a game that was only localized recently because the writing just so perfectly captures the era of when it came out, 25+ years ago.

Moon specifically focuses itself around rpg tropes and within it exists the meta of you being the player accessing the game world. From the perspective of it's citizens, you are a spirit inhabiting the clothes of a you that used to exist, but died, in the game's world. But the theme of the game is love, and instead of going around slaying monsters, you help out the monsters slain by the would-be-hero. You also do other stuff that would be akin to sidequests in an actual RPG and play mini-games. It's like an RPG, except it's just a walk-around point and click style adventure game. You have no stats or progression beyond your health, which is just a timer for how long you're allowed to do stuff without dying.

You just have to make sure to get back to bed in time to not die. It's a cute game, even if some of it's puzzles and what you're supposed to be doing at certain times are obtuse. I got frustrated on one part for like 3 hours and almost gave the game up. I even tried looking it up online but nothing helped at all. There aren't exactly the best resources for this game, despite how much I may have read about it in the past.

A Short Hike

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played: ~2 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Maybe a little short, but fine for what it is.
• Pleased/Disappointed: It's cute. I had more fun than I expected.
• Why I played: I had received the recommendation a few times, and I technically had it, and I needed a little palette cleanser game.
• Recommend to others: I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it, but if you have it via a bundle, like I do, or don't mind dishing out a few bucks for a game that's only a couple hours of running around, sure.

A Short Hike is pretty much exactly what I wanted to play right now. A brief game where I can run around and do stuff and not over analyze, or really overthink anything at all. Just have some fun for a little awhile. It reminds me a lot of Lil' Gator Game and considering this game out before that, I can only assume Gator game was inspired by this. I neglected this for some time though, despite some recommendations, until my latest one, just because the forced perspective thing made it seem like it wouldn't be as fun.

It was fine, the game is still very charming and a fun little no-stakes hike up a mountain with a couple little mini-games and fetch quests along the way. 

Firewatch

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played: ~5 Hours
• Too Short/Long: A little on the shorter end. I wouldn't have minded them filling in some of the gaps in the map and giving you a few more reasons to explore.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pretty neutral. It's been recommended to me many times. It didn't meet expectations, but I didn't really disappoint me either.
• Why I played: Like I said, it was recommended to me a bunch. I definitely remember it trending a bit and seeing various articles about it. I wrote it off initially but decided to play it on a friends recommendation. This year I plan to play at least a handful of games specifically recommended to me.
• Recommend to others: Not really. It's fine. I wouldn't recommend against it, if you're interested, but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it.

Firewatch is a game where you play as a man who is coping. It's mostly what some people call a "walking simulator". I don't really love the term because it implies there is very little to do other than to press forward, so I put it under the blanket of "PC Adventure" games, which are generally just narratives with interactions, maybe some dialog choices, maybe some puzzles, and that's what this has. You interact with the environment, you make a lot of dialog choices, and there are even some "puzzles" in the form of, what to do/where to go next.

It's fine. It's not particularly engaging, they could have offered me more reasons to explore around. I almost always learned that trying to stray off the beaten path was not worth it. There were maybe one or two easter eggs in "environmental" story telling off the beaten path, but really it wasn't worth just doing exactly what the game told me at all times. The characters aren't particularly likable. I understand they're supposed to maybe be flawed and human, but, both the main two characters partake in unreasonable emotional whiplash which really detracts from liking them or their relationship.

It does a good job at building intrigue and I felt like any moment "oh this game could turn around and make me love it" but it just kinda never followed through for me. I kept waiting and waiting for it to do the thing and it just kinda ended. I though it was going somewhere bigger, but it wasn't, it's exactly what it looks like and nothing more.

Quarantine Circular

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played: 3-4 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Fine for what it is.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I liked it, maybe not as much as the previous one.
• Why I played: I liked Subsurface Circular and wanted to check this out before playing Tron: Identity
• Recommend to others: I would play Subsurface over this. If you liked that, it's pretty much the same thing.

I liked Subsurface Circular because it seemed like I was doing more investigating, but Quarantine Circular seems more determined to tell a specific story that has a couple places where you can make decisions that will affect the outcome. I'm not saying it's bad, but it was less engaging. Also some of the dialog options felt like they really didn't fit. There is a little roughness where maybe I didn't unlock a previous statement but still got the next one so I was maybe missing context? Overall I liked it, it just seemed more straightforward and a little less inspired then the previous. I still really enjoy Mike Bithell's writing though.

Divination

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played: ~1 Hour
• Too Short/Long: Definitely too short.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Disappointed by it's length, sure, it's neat, but too short to be much.
• Why I played: I just thought it looked cool. It was also really cheap, and on sale. I knew it was short, but still.
• Recommend to others: Not really. I wanted to look into the creators other works and that's when I came across this. It looks cool, but that's about it.

Divination is a game where you... divine the future. You have 100% accuracy, so whatever you divine comes true. I feel like this is a neat concept and with the flowchart option it allows you to use on replays of the timeline, they really could have explored some cool stuff beyond eventually coming up with the "correct" set. It has some cool story twists and connections for it's short form, but it feels like an unrealized idea that maybe they started work on and didn't really know where to go with it. I really like the 1 hour it has to offer, but it's just not enough for this type of game and there is otherwise so much potential with it's idea. Also it looks really cool and has pretty good music fitting it's atmosphere.

OPUS: The Day We Found Earth

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played: 2-3 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Kinda drags for what it is, I feel like this could have been wrapped up in an hour, maybe 2 tops for 100%
• Pleased/Disappointed: I wouldn't say I'm disappointed, but I'm not ecstatic about it.
• Why I played: I really just played this one because I was interested in the others. Some of the newer Opus games come very recommended and this one can often be obtained very cheap. I felt like I needed to play this before moving on, regardless of whether they are related story wise.
• Recommend to others: Not really, the writing is cute, and it has it's moments, but it's not very engaging or "fun to play".

This is just a little pc style "adventure game" where you click around to find things to read, that give you clues on where to find stars through a telescope. There are literally thousands of clickable stars, but most of the important ones are just slightly bigger than others. There is even a mechanic that let's you see more hidden stars that are behind others that are too close/bright or other various celestial phenomena. I feel like they missed an opportunity to experiment with that further and make it more of a puzzle game, rather than just a random search, waiting until I get the automatic finding the thing I'm looking for mechanic. I know it's more about telling it's little story, but it was just so close to being a little bit more of an intriguing game.

I still overall enjoyed it, like, I don't regret playing it, and knowing this is the least interesting of the OPUS works, I am still pretty interesting in eventually checking out the other ones.

Sable

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played: ~ 10 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Technically you can end the game pretty early on I believe, but it also feels too long to do the majority of the content. I guess it's supposed to be a game where you just waste time doing stuff, but still.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Very disappointed, for a game that looks as cool as it does, it just doesn't live up to any expectation.
• Why I played: I had been meaning to check out Sable for awhile, but saw some comments in reviews that dissuaded me from checking it out in a hurry. I notice it was on PS Plus for the month and though I'd give it a shot.
• Recommend to others: Not at all. Unless your favorite part of Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom was the climbing... and even then, maybe not.

Sable is an absolute mess hiding behind an artsy performance of a game. Did I say performance? Perfect segue into how TERRIBLY this game performed. I played it on PS5 and this has to be the longest I've ever endured such a glitchy bug riddled mess of a game that hitched and lagged and stuttered anytime you even looked at your bike. So they must be fast, right? Psssh. The bike in the image above is literally the best of all parts in game, almost max stats in all categories, and it's a slog. It is clunky to control, flips around and goes crazy if you touch literally anything, but even on the open sands where it's perfectly stable jets by at a blazing... uhhh... 20mph at my best guess. It's barely twice as fast as on foot running speed. These parts are literally called "Speedster". Riding the hoverbike is not fun at all and it's basically the main, or second main thing. I feel like it takes a serious effort to make riding a hoverbike in a dune covered desert unfun.

The jank would be forgivable if the game was fun. It's not. It's not just that there isn't necessarily a single clear objective, or any kind of real action, but just everything, even the best of puzzles, just feel like going through the motions. I understand the intent, it's about the journey, not the destination, the story writes it out for you, you're on a mission to experience different things to decide on your true calling. This would be awesome, if the different things were fun to do. The game is clearly inspired by Breath of the Wild, in the way it approaches traversing the world and many other elements.(It came out before Tears of the Kingdom) but even the things that are directly inspired are not as fun. Curling up into a throwaway glowing sphere of an asset makes for the least cool gliding possible... and it always feels very slow. Climbing, also doesn't give you the benefit of offering a "fast climb" or leap, or anything, at the increased cost of stamina or anything like that.

When not in motion, Sable is capable of being a beautiful game to look at. More then once did I just enjoy the landscape and backdrop. But not to listen to. It's sound design sucks almost as bad as it's performance. There is very little music and a lot of sound effects are either poorly mixed or just plain annoying. 

This is one of the worst games I have seen to the end.

Stray

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played: 5 Hours, 18 Minutes
• Too Short/Long: Just about right for what it is, I wouldn't have complained if it were another hour or two if there was more unique content.
• Pleased/Disappointed: It was a cute game, I am pleased with it.
• Why I played: There was a good bit of hype around the game back when it first launched I think because the lack of other PS5 exclusive games at the time and I liked what I had seen from the trailers well enough.
• Recommend to others: Maybe. It's not like a strong recommend, it's not a game I feel everyone needs to play, but if you want to play a fairly short little cat adventure in a sci-fi robot world, I would say go for it.

Stray is a cute game. It's just a little cat adventure where you are the most cat out of any game where you can play a cat. It's mostly just about going from place to place doing cat things. It has that kind of auto-platforming, so you're not actually jumping about with any skills required. Sometimes you have to play with tricky camera angles to make sure you are aiming at the correct platform, but that's about it. There are some simple puzzles, and some hidden items and areas, but it's mostly a pretty straightforward game. 

It has a couple areas with some gimmicks, like some chase areas where you have to dash quickly and out maneuver some enemies, a period where you can "fight back" for a little while, and an area where you have to go about stealthily. It doesn't have the tightest controls, but I think it has the best for what it's meant to do, and that's be a cat adventure. It's not an action platforming game by any means even though there are a couple "action" sequences and it would appear you are consistently "platforming", but like I said, it's all auto-platforming. You never miss a jump, there is no jump button. It's cute though, and pretty much exactly what I expected and maybe a bit more, so I can't complain. Also my wife was watching ecstatically the entire playthrough.

Subsurface Circular

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played: 3-4 Hours? Gotta check when Switch lets me.
• Too Short/Long: Maybe a little on the short side. I was enjoying it so I would have liked to have a few more conversations before the story wrapped up. It seemed a little sudden.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased.
• Why I played: I have liked the Mike Bithell games I have played, and grabbed this when I learned about it, seeing that Bithell was doing a Tron Visual Novel looking game.
• Recommend to others: Yeah, if you don't mind that it's a bit short, I think the dialog is fun.

Subsurface Circular has you play the role of a robot detective investigating from the comfort of your own subway. As a higher intellect AI, you're not allowed to leave the train you're on, and can only investigate passengers of the train. The game is pretty much just a handful of conversations, sometimes requiring you to answer simple questions based off information provided, or figure out what you have to ask others in order to answer a question another passenger has. It's not too complicated, but I enjoyed it.

The Stanley Parable

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played:  2.8 Hours
• Too Short/Long: I feel like it's more of a your mileage may vary situation. For me, it was fine.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased the normal amount.
• Why I played: I have had it for awhile and always meant to play it. I think I recently saw some stuff on it that inspired me to finally check it out.
• Recommend to others: I think I got it in a bundle a long time ago. I'd say if it's one of those games in your backlog that you already own, give it a shot.

The Stanley Parable is a game that I think, had I played it 10 years ago when it came out, I would have thought it to be far more poignant and unique. Playing now? I've seen other games do what it does. Not necessarily better, not exactly the same ways, but just similar enough. I also play a lot of weirdo indie games too, so it might just be something I experience more of than some others may.

Not only is the length of the game kinda a your mileage may vary type deal, but so is the whole experience. Have you seen this kind of stuff? Are you familiar with the tropes? At some point, it even references that fact. I think hinting that someone might not get the same out of the experience if they aren't familiar with some of the narrative framing in other media.

Anyway, I had fun with it and it's definitely worth it if you have it. I played the original, and more recently there is an expanded version that looks like it has far more to offer, so if you need more than 3 hours of content and want to purchase it because you don't already own it, that may be the better choice. I am fine with 3 hours of content. The game is a little bit of a mystery, but I THINK I did pretty much all it has to offer (within reason). I did get a credit roll, but that was only roughly halfway through my playtime, so I went back in for more to ensure I saw it all.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played:  3.8 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Pretty much just right.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Very pleased, they didn't have to go this hard for a free "April Fools" game.
• Why I played: A free Sonic game, so why not at least give it a shot.
• Recommend to others: Absolutely - if you actually care about Sonic stuff. It's mostly just fanservice.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog was released for April Fools day, and absolutely sounds like a joke game, but it's no joke. It's a legit, fun little murder mystery adventure game with a serviceable runner mini-game. For free!? Honestly, I've played many little indie game I paid 5-10 bucks for that were definitely worth the price that didn't offer as much.

That said, I imagine it would be a hard sell to charge for it, but for anyone among it's intended audience, for the price of free, it's definitely worth it. The writing isn't going to blow your mind, but it's cute to see all the characters play their parts and do a fun little thing together. Also a lot of the more recent games have ignored a lot of the characters or elements in this game, so I appreciate just seeing some of them.

Lil Gator Game

• Genre: Adventure
• Time Played: 5-10 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Pretty much just right for what it is.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased, it's a cute lil game.
• Why I played: Because it's like Zelda. I think I saw it in some "Games to play while you wait for Tears of the Kingdom" list, but I only put it on my wishlist and by time it was on sale, Tears of the Kingdom was out(or about to be).
• Recommend to others: It's a very cute game and if a super simplified chill game that references Zelda stuff sounds like something you're into, I would definitely check it out.

On the complete opposite spectrum of Zelda games is Lil Gator Game. I guess I shouldn't say opposite because it's all there in spirit. It would more be opposite if I just played Darksiders. But still, this was a relatively short romp through a playground with no real stakes to speak of. You have no health bar, there are no enemies that attack back, and failed challenges are very quickly restarted, the ones that are even possible to fail.

This is basically a video game version of playing pretend Zelda. For me, it's very nostalgic, because as a young kid, I would in-fact, play pretend Zelda. I only could have dreamed of it being nearly a elaborate as it is in this game though.

It's mostly just cute, a lil guy trying to get his big sister to larp with him like they used to, but she's too busy to GM a game and has to work on her project. The game definitely choked me up a bit, as I expected it would.