Yars Rising

• Genre: Platforming Action (Metroidvania), Arcade
• Spoiler Free Review: Mostly, just mechanical progression shared and such. The story isn't the draw anyway.
• Time Played: ~10 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It's solid.
• Did I cry: No.
• Soundtrack: Actually way better than I expected going in. It's a pretty awesome soundtrack with a lot of original vocal tracks.
• Why I played: I've been playing Panzer Dragoon Saga here and there and while I was playing I wanted to play Panzer Dragoon(not Saga), but diverted to the 2011 Yar's Revenge which is also an on-rails shooter, but then was like "Wait don't I have some kind of Yars-themed Metroidvania and I decided to check this out.
• Jank: It's got a little jank with the controls not feeling 100% the way they're supposed to. Other than that I don't think there is anything.
• Difficulty: This one is a roller coaster. Because of the original Yars Revenge style arcade challenges, it has moments where it's very difficult. By default it leaves a prompt for "Invincible Yar" for arcade sections - if you lose a couple times it'll prompt you at each challenge. I turned this off myself, so I can't speak for how much "easier" the game makes it. I imagine some of those arcade challenges might even be a little difficult even when invincible. 
• Pleased/Disappointed: I'm pretty please with this, I enjoyed it way more than I expected.
• Recommend to others: I'm not entirely sure I would go out of my way to. It's not like I know a lot of people clamoring for more Yars Revenge content in 2026. It's kind of an odd weird out of place game that feels like it's made by a bunch of of 50+ aged developers who want to make a game to appeal to the 15-35 age group who aren't into classic Atari games enough.
  

Yars Rising surprised me, I enjoyed it a lot. As a stand-alone metroidvania, it's not too much, it's pretty much the basics at bare-minimum with serviceable game play, often cringy but not entirely too bad dialog, in near-stock with just enough going on to not look too bland environments. It's one of a million in the genre, especially those in the breadth of recent indie metroidvania games.

Then there is the music, the music is stellar enough that it may have kept me playing on it's own. Good music can really elevate an experience in a video game. Not necessarily make a bad one enjoyable, but make a somewhat enjoyable one enjoyable enough to keep playing, or otherwise make a good game a great experience.

Then there is the "hacking", which is performed by playing various challenges that are - for the most part, just playing the original Yars Revenge, each with a condition, goal, modifier, etc. Sometimes you're playing a version inspired by another Atari game entirely. Some of these are extremely difficult, but besides turning invincible mode on, you also have a degree of skill customization that allows you to equip abilities for both the overworld game play, and the hacking.

And that's another point. The game isn't just a Yar game, it's an Atari game. It's filled with references to other Atari franchises - primarily in it's boss battles. As you progress, or once you've finished the game, you've unlocked dozen more of the Arcade-style challenges just to play from the main menu sans equipable skills. So when you're done with the adventure, you're still left with more straight-forward Yar game. At the very least, it's a good value.

Split Fiction

• Genre: Action Adventure Platforming Etc.
• Spoiler Free Review: Mostly, but the screenshots could arguably be the most spoilery as a good bit of the experience is finding out what parts of the game you encounter next.
• Partners: Alice
• Time Played: 15 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It's pretty good. Some sections I might have liked to have seen explored more or revisited, but I can't complain.
• Did I cry: I got watery eyed a couple times.
• Soundtrack: There is some good music and even some vocal tracks, but it's mostly an undertone for the gameplay since the majority of the game has dialog spoken throughout.
• Why I played: It just seemed like it would be a great co-op game. Obviously the studios previous games were great co-op experiences, but this one seemed even better and a bit more aligned with Alice and my interests.
• Jank: It's mostly pretty jank-free, surprisingly with everything they do with the game. There a couple times it feels like the platforming could have been fine tuned just a bit, and just a few times it does actually feel janky, but it's such a small percentage of the game play, and it's otherwise impressive how much they pull off that I'll fully give them a pass on any of the jank that seeps through.
• Difficulty: It's mostly not that difficult and it's very forgiving when it comes to death/failure. There are some spots it's surprisingly difficult though, but most the difficulty comes from the times where it leaves you alone to figure things out on your own - which I appreciate.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I'm extremely pleased with Split Fiction, it's even better than I expected.
• Recommend to others: I would absolutely recommend this to anyone with someone they can reliably play through the whole game with. If you have someone to play co-op games with, you should definitely play this.
  

Split Fiction was fantastic. I'm not sure what really needs to be said. I definitely think it's one of the best and most impressive games that released last year. It just does so much in the game, explores so many genres, and types of gameplay, while generally retaining a familiar feel. Split Fiction is definitely something I would call a "gamer's game", something I think people who love games in general and play a lot of games will appreciate more than anyone else. But it's also much more accessible than most games I would call a "gamer's game". Something like Evoland - the first game I can think of I would also classify as such, is definitely more for people who are a bit more obsessed with games, and especially older games, and especially jrpgs, it's something I don't think everyone would enjoy. I think anyone would enjoy Split Fiction - it just has that much more to offer the more you already like.

Arguably the worst aspect of Split Fiction is the narrative. There are times it's clunky. Times it's cheesy. Times you really have to suspend your disbelief. Also just portrayals of the characters archetypes that are just very narrow or cliche. That said, the writing is still generally pretty fun and entertaining, and it doesn't fumble it so much you can't be emotionally invested, but the appeal and strength is definitely the gameplay and how seemless it is from the moment-to-moment.

It was loads of fun and that's what matters most, and so I have a bunch of screenshots I wanna share but these are arguably spoilery as finding out and seeing what you encounter is perhaps the best part of the game, so with that warning, everything below is just kind of in random order.

SANABI

• Genre: Platforming Action
• Spoiler Free Review: Not entirely, a little bit spoiled contextually, mechanically.
• Time Played: Can't see yet. I don't know... 15 hours?
• Too Short/Long: It's mostly fine, but I rarely enjoy the "rerun through whole game again" shebang, which this has you do, to be fair it was an abbreviated version that went pretty quick, but still.
• Soundtrack: It has some really cool and atmospheric tracks, it's high points are high but it's mostly just serviceable.
• Why I played: I'll likely give any game where grappling hook is a primary mechanic a shot, but this one is definitely more my style. I kind of forgot why I added to my wishlist for a long time and screenshots didn't do it justice. A friend mentioned playing it(may have suggested it?) and so that bumped it up on my to-play. 
• Did I cry: I got choked up a couple times and thought I was at the end and going to say "Surprisingly, no", but then it got me for a long one.
• Jank: The jank comes mostly from the localization being a little awkward. Sometimes it feels perfectly fine, sometimes it feels weird, sometimes there is a reason it is weird, sometimes I think it's an odd choice for why it's weird. Other than that, there are times where it feels the mechanics or controls are working against you/not exactly how you want, but it's mostly fine.
• Difficulty: It can be pretty difficult at times. Mostly it's not entirely too hard once you grasp how the grappling handles - which I do feel is slightly off, but regardless, it probably didn't help I went the whole game without using the "slowdown time and aim" feature. I noticed it once early on, didn't need it for a long time, forgot about it, had some areas I had more trouble with, then accidentally pressed the button for it and "remembered" it existed in the final moments of the game, by then my muscle memory was already adequate enough to carry me the rest of the way.
• Recommend to others: I would definitely recommend Sanabi to people who like unique takes on platforming action. It's not quite like it, but it reminds me of Dandara, just because of how unique Dandara is in how it handles. Sanabi isn't quite that unique, but you're likely spending more time swinging on the grappling hook, pulling in your line (which does feel Dandara-esque), and running up walls, then you are running along the ground.
  

Sanabi was a good game and overall I really enjoyed it. The story is a little convoluted and takes awhile to get it's point across. It could also do a bit better with providing more of the story throughout the game rather than backloading I think what might be the vast majority of it. Not that some of the earlier interactions aren't necessary to build it up, but that just means it feels a little empty in the middle and the end is a dramatic shift. The pacing is off, is really all I'm saying.

It doesn't specifically have "levels", it's more of a "chapter" game, but each chapter has it's own set of gimmicks, which is pretty fun, so I feel like it's mostly well designed in that aspect. They utilize some aspects more than others, but they usually expand upon things later on and toss a little in later to mix it up. That might also be a part of what the final rerun through the game is for, but it could have been a new area instead of replaying(albeit modified).

There is one thing I don't like graphically, and I jumped right into another game that did it and decided to play something else. The "blank space" of the game is just all black. In a game with some gorgeous cyberpunk style art in the backgrounds, you'd think they could have put some foreground textures up. Instead it's just black space and it makes it feel very... game makery. I think it's mostly a well crafted game, it's just something like that takes a bit away from it's personality and makes it feel like less effort went into it. I know a ton of games do it, but it kind of made me realize I don't like, and am tired of seeing it. It's especially common in twitchy precision platformers for some reason so maybe they're just playing to the genre. But I don't want it. At least just fill it in with some generic metal panels or something.

Neon Inferno

• Genre: Run and Gun
• Spoiler Free Review: Not much to spoil.
• Time Played: ~5 hours
• Partner: Alice
• Too Short/Long: If we were better at the game, it would have been a good bit shorter, we both would have liked to have seen more. But it's way better than the ~1 hour length of the studio's previous game.
• Soundtrack: Soundtrack is pretty great, hype and surprisingly diverse.
• Why I played: I loved Steel Assault for the maybe 1 hour I played it. I had mentioned it seemed more like a proof of concept, and while this is an entirely different game, I can at least see where they learned this or that.
• Did I cry: Nah.
• Jank: I would say the only jank really is just that some of this hitboxes seem bigger than the affect. It's definitely not pixel perfect hit detection and I feel like if it isn't you should generally be conservative in a game that requires precision dodging of attacks.
• Difficulty: Played on the standard difficulty as per usual, though this game really asks you to play on hard/arcade, so I wonder if there is additional content there, if so, I just may. Anyway, it was still very tough on the standard difficulty.
• Recommend to others: I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes run and gun games like Contra. The action is intense and pretty well varied, it has new an interesting mechanics, and the art and soundtrack are awesome. I definitely think it has the co-op in mind though, so more recommended for co-op than single.

The second I saw the trailer for Neon Inferno I knew it was an instant buy from me. It was definitely a very cool game. I had a lot of fun, but I do wish I could have some more fun with it. There are only a handful of stages, but they're pretty big and often have several different gimmicks or design elements. It never feels like it's just filling space with another encounter. The bosses are each pretty different and each have a couple unique phases.

The main element to the game which is pretty cool is the fact that it has the standard action-platforming-esque run and shoot aspects, but it also has a "shoot the background" gallery shooting mechanic that you have to alternate back and forth between. Making it at times a cover-shooter, often sans cover. Pretty unique for a 2d side-scrolling game. In addition to your main gun, you also have a knife attack that can also parry certain types of shots. I think it really has two-player in mind, because there is stuff shooting at you from every direction at times but you need to stop and shoot the background. Juggling this with two people makes it feel actually possible. 

There are also some upgrades you can purchase in-game but I feel like these are actually pretty poorly implemented. They are expensive based off what you can earn in a level, and they're one-time use, and you can only carry one. I feel like the upgrades should have just been slottable equipment and maybe while you have limited ammo, you could turn it on/off during the stage. As it is, once you use it in a stage, you have like 30 special shots and then it's gone until you buy a new. An additional frustration to this is that some levels have (pretty severe) penalties to your income, which can basically mean you earn nothing (and maybe subtract from what you had? We had nothing at start of that mission). As it is we each used a singular equipment upgrade once each in our entire playthrough.

Minor complaint overall though. I just wish there were a bit more of it, but I guess it's like 5x the length of the last game the devs made.

Cyberpunk 2077

• Genre: RPG
• Spoiler Free Review: Trying to be. Posting some story/dialog screenshots at the bottom.
• Time Played: 140 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Definitely feels a bit long because there is just so much stuff. I definitely feel like some of the gigs are there just to pad it out, but many of them still manage to build on the world, and some are even relevant to greater storylines. So it's hard to say it's actually too long, but almost any game that's more than 100 hours could probably stand to cut some content.
• Soundtrack: There are some amazing tracks, and while it may have some licensed, or some that had some collaborations, I think the vast majority was at least originally created for the game, and that said, damn. There are literal albums worth of music of a handful of different genres, and some real bangers in there.
• Why I played: I love cyberpunk as a genre, but prior to this game's release, I didn't really care. I saw an overhyped generic mess that overselling and uninspired. And maybe that wasn't entirely fair, but at least it wasn't quite as far off at release. After the game saw some revisions and made improvements, they never rereleased/updated the PS4 version, but PS4 players could get a free PS5 upgrade. Somehow that also meant people would sell PS4 copies for like 15 bucks, so I snagged the game on the cheap to give it a shot.
• Did I cry: Maybe a couple times, but more early-mid game than later on.
• Jank: At some point in its life it seems like this may have been the jankiest out there, and that might not entirely be true anymore, however, it's not without jank at all. All huge open world games experience some degree of problems. The more there is, the more that can go wrong. There were more than a few instances I had to restart the game because I literally couldn't continue playing. The main thing I somewhat frequently encountered, was a state where I could not bring up any menus and if I interacted with something that brought up a menu-like UI(like hacking panels), it would not come up and I would get stuck. Also sometimes I would get in a permanent state of combat or be unable to use any of the fast travels. The first time I experienced this I thought it was a story thing, so I was driving literally everywhere for many missions. I ended up restarting the game for an unrelated reason and found I could fast travel again - many hours later.
• Difficulty: I was playing the game on Normal originally, as I usually do and was finding it quite difficult at times. Eventually things evened out and then I found myself in a situation where I just couldn't level up any further. A quick look online suggested that you get more experience on Hard, so I switched to hard. It was hard at first, but eventually I got so powerful that "hard" was easy. I could have continued to very hard, but I worked hard to get where I was an liked feeling powerful toward the end of the game. Also, that final mission was still very difficult, I even considered switching back to easy, but I saw it through. Point is. There are so many variables in this game, it's probably hard to pinpoint what the perfect difficulty is. It's a very action heavy action game, but it's also still an RPG. Eventually your equipment/abilities/etc. could surpass what the game can offer.
• Recommend to others: This is not the same game it was at release, and as it currently is I would definitely recommend Cyberpunk to anyone who is vaguely interested. It may have some problems, but overall, it's just such an impressive game on so many levels. The effort that this game took, to put everything together is just unfathomable. The term AAA game is thrown around these days just to describe any potentially high quality, expensive to make, non-indie game. Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the very few games I would say fully fits the AAA descriptor. This is a AAA game as defined. I feel like this is to games what Avatar(2009 film) was to 3D films. It's not the first, it's not the best, it's not going to be everyone's favorite, but it is arguably the definitive experience when you refer to it.

My little bullet points got a bit more out of control than they usually do. So where do I begin? At the end. Finishing Cyberpunk 2077 left me with that feeling I only occasionally get upon completing a game. A tightness in my chest, a strange combination of adrenalin and hyper focus, with a relieved exasperation. It's a complex feeling that occurs after certain... uhh... game changing, games?

I'm still honestly not even sure if Cyberpunk 2077 makes "the list", but I feel like it's only fair to put it to test. I'll wait until I come down from this feeling, whatever it is. Maybe at the end of the year I'll reevaluate. Especially since a few sequels to games in my favorites list are queued up to be played now. I imagine it might have some changes coming.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.  

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.

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.

Keylocker

• Genre: RPG
• Spoiler Free Review: Story-wise yes, some aspects of progression and mechanics are kind of spoiled. Picture are not spoiler free.
• Time Played: 24 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It goes on just a little long. It could just be because each battle is pretty methodical, but I felt like the last couple chapters kinda dragged the game out a little bit.
• Soundtrack: Amazing soundtrack. It has some great music for both the rhythm sections, and more dramatic moments. Honestly great soundtrack all around.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Despite what I may say below, I did really enjoy the game.
• Why I played: I wanted to experience some Turned Based Cyberpunk Action, and it looks really cool.
• Did I cry: I did a little bit here and there. Mostly when the music hit at the right moments.
• Jank: HIGH Level of Jank, this game made me consider the fact I needed a jank category. To be fair, after considering some moments in recent games like Prince of Persia and Omochapon as a whole helped lock it in. 
• Difficulty: This game also made me consider a difficulty category. I'm sure I'll talk about it later, but it's worth noting how difficult I thought a game was in general. This one, for a turn-based rpg, was pretty difficult.
• Recommend to others: I probably would, but I would have to tell anyone who is interested to make sure you give gifts to people in the early chapters, or otherwise as soon as you can, and also you can buy weapons from some shops, and also maybe be willing to mess with the difficulty settings. Also the game can be janky. Also every chapter is a point of no return so to speak. But I WOULD recommend it.

While I have finished a few games since Tunic, most of them are relatively short, or in the case of Phantom Rose, a game played in many short bursts, off to the side of another activity. I've probably played 30+ more games this month, trying to find something to captivate me. Maybe it's just because I was so engrossed in Tunic while playing that, I just couldn't get into the groove for something else that required any thought on my end.

You could say, this game was the key to unlocking that which was closed off to new games for the past few weeks. Keylocker has a lot of style, a lot of really good art, a unique look, a unique sound, a lot of ways to captivate the senses, and for the most part I'm into it. There are a lot of character designs I really like. There are some that... aren't quite my style, but there is definitely a good variety and because of the world they built, I guess it would be hard to put anything in there and say it doesn't fit.

Signalis

• Genre: Survival Horror
• Time Played: 13 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It's probably a bit short for most peoples tastes, but for me, it felt long.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Undecided. Somewhere in the middle.
• Why I played: I mostly wanted to play because of the visuals in the game. The harsh use red, the awesome character art in the scenes, the red and black robot lesbian. I waited so long to play because I am too scared to play horror games, but a friend implored me to do so.
• Recommend to others: I don't know if I'd really recommend it to most. Maybe if you like to spend time theorizing about things.

I don't usually play survival horror games. I can barely handle horror sequences in non-survival horror games. Metal Gear for instance, usually likes to stick a horror sequence in each game. I tense up at those and really have to push through them.

To be honest, Signalis is probably the lightest Survival Horror game there is. There aren't really jump scares, and while the atmosphere is generally creepy, it doesn't do much dynamically to shift the atmosphere to make the moments more tense. You can clearly see when an enemy is coming up to "surprise" you, and you have plenty of time to react.

You can't go guns-a-blazing mind you. Each area and the game as a whole has finite ammo, and enemies don't have drops, but enemies do respawn at what seems like random intervals. Some seem to respawn multiple times, while others not at all. So this could eventually drain you to the point where you have no weapons at all. In most cases, that could be okay because there are actually a lot of areas where you can just run past enemies, and you can always take a few hits, and there are plenty of restorative times(but also finite).

So while it's pretty low level on the survival horror aspects, it's still just about too much for me. I powered through because I dig other aspects about the game. Gameplay wise, it's damn near almost a puzzle adventure game - but I guess a lot of survival horror games probably have this element, I just don't play them. But you do get a decent amount of puzzles to solve, even if some are just connected the dots on what means what.

The action could be a bit more dynamic, but I'm coming from a place of not usually being into these types of games. For instance on the enemies "respawn" when they are getting themselves back up, or when enemies are crawling out of vents, I feel like you should be able to run over and kick them while their down. "kicking them while they're down" is already a mechanic, so why can't I use it in more situations?

While I understand inventory limitations are a way of making things more tense, I can't help but feel it was too limited, to the point of just making the game more tedious. 6 item slots the whole game, and yet sometimes you have a door that specifically has 6 keys. So you either only carry the keys or make multiple trips. There are just a lot situations where I found myself unnecessarily running back and forth - and nothing really happened in those instances where having smaller inventory enhanced the moment, even in a way I wouldn't like. There should have been 8 slots.

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.

Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider

• Genre: 2D Action Platforming
• Time Played: 3-4 Hours
• Too Short/Long: I would have been happy with a little more, but it was fine.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased.
• Why I played: Motorcycle Samurai Action Platformer with Mega Man elements? How could I not? Also the gorgeously detailed pixel art, even if it at times bordering on grotesque.
• Recommend to others: I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes games like the original Ninja Gaiden or Strider, though Hagane might be a more direct inspiration.

I've played all of Joymasher's games and enjoyed them all, even if sometimes I think they're working within their self-imposed limitations a little too much. Controls could be tighter, as they often are in modern action platforming games. In Joymasher tradition the controls are just a little stiff and it leads to missing jumps you shouldn't. Thankfully their endless pits aren't actually endless pits and even accidentally falling into spiked or electric floors, isn't too painful.

Other than that? Excellent game. Basically mixing the previously mentioned games with the Mega Man style progression/upgrades. Prologue level, 6 level choices, then a couple final levels that thankfully do not include a boss rush. I was enjoying it and would have been happy with a bit more. Joymasher seems to like to make different games inspired by different classic games each time, but I would be really happy if they turned this one into a series.

Also I would have liked more motorcycle sections. The Mode 7 style sections a couple times is nice, but the game teases you with some side scrolling motorcycling by having a couple level intros take that perspective. Only with Moonrider jumping off before you gain control.

198X

• Genre: Arcade Compilation
• Time Played: 1-2 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Too short.
• Pleased/Disappointed: A little disappointed at the length.
• Why I played: This is basically a synthwave videogame.
• Recommend to others: Not really, it's just too short to recommend. Watch the trailer, that's the whole game.

198X is a game I should love... in theory. It does have great pixel art, it has a pretty cool compilation of made up arcade titles, it does have great music. But it's over in a flash. For a game composed of 5 games, I feel like I should have spent more time with it, though I could argue that at a couple hours, that's a visit to the arcade, playing a handful of games, just a level or two before moving on. 

Honestly, that's probably what they're going for. The little arcade games are really only framing device for the story they want to tell, which mostly happens between games, but this is also supposed to be a "part 1" and it came out 4 years ago and devs have been silent for half of them it would seem, so I wouldn't hold out for a part 2.

The games themselves each individually have heart and are carefully crafted for an experience that feels arcade-like, and with a difficulty that makes it feel like you really had to try, but clearly not for someone who is going all in on that specific game. Personally I liked the shoot em up the the most because I like shmups. The ninja, runner-style game goes on a little too long by comparison of the others, if you ask me. It has like 5 levels? And if not for the jankyness of the beat-em-up it would probably be my least favorite. The rest pretty much just have 2 levels and the RPG is just kinda one longer level.

They Always Run

• Genre: Platforming Action
• Time Played: ~12 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Just when it was feeling too long it started to feel too short.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Very pleased, I liked it a lot, but there are aspects that were disappointing.
• Why I played: Kind of on a whim, I was waiting for a sale on Switch, I don't think it's been on sale yet, compared to Steam that regularly went on sale, I think it was on it's highest sale yet and just started playing it immediately when seeing what would work on Steam deck.
• Recommend to others: Tough, I really liked it, but I'm not sure everyone would see past some of the jank.

They Always Run is a pretty cool action platformer, more focus on the action - but a good amount on platforming too. Combat has a good set of diverse mechanics. It's not just stab with weapon and jump around enemy. It can be, but then you're not really doing it right. A lot of focus on counters and using your third arm, and switching up between basic attacks and guns. It does that right for the most part.