Star Ocean: The Second Story R

• Genre: RPG
• Time Played: 40 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Generally the pacing is pretty good, until the very end, like the last few hours are tacked on. This may just be me personally.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Extremely pleased. There are so many classic RPGs I would love seeing get this exact treatment.
• Why I played: Star Ocean 2 is an amazing RPG. I feel like back in the day it stood up there with the very best, but in recent years I feel like people have forgotten the praise this game used to get, maybe, partially due to some very divisive sequels, but I have never forgot, and this game does it justice.
• Recommend to others: I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has any love for classic snes/psx style rpgs. It is technically an action rpg, but not in the way modern takes on action rpgs are and definitely accessible to those who might prefer turned based.

Star Ocean: The Second Story R, a remake of The Second Story, and this time, for Real. Years ago they sort of remade Star Ocean 2 on PSP, but it's more like an "enhanced port". They actually remade Star Ocean 1, using a lot of Star Ocean 2's mechanics, engine, quality of life improvements, etc. To go along with that, they did an enhanced port of Star Ocean 2 with new art, new voices and some additional content, but it was still the same base game generally, using mostly the same assets and mechanics.

Second Story R is an actual remake, but still using some of the (previously new) assets and content. It's like them finishing the job, or fully realizing the idea. It's a very true to the original remake in that regard. There are still even more quality of life improvements, more modernization, but it's still at it's core almost the same exact game released 25 years ago. This is a game almost literally built on top of the old game, and I love it. It also goes to show how great this game always was. There are so many aspects that just feel like they're from a modern game that is trying to harken back to the good old days. Well, this is the good old days.

Salt and Sacrifice

• Genre: Action Platformer
• Time Played: 35 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Could be tightened up a bit for me personally, but it's probably right for the intent, which is for you to grind and beat bosses over and over again, which is maybe more fun to do for multiplayer, but I don't like grinding or playing multiplayer games online all that much.
• Pleased/Disappointed: It was fun, but I think I left Salt and Sanctuary with a much higher opinion, even if this game did have some improvements over the last.
• Why I played: I liked Salt and Sanctuary a ton and was hoping for more of that experience.
• Recommend to others: If you liked Sanctuary, I probably would. I would recommend Sanctuary first if you never played either.

Salt and Sacrifice was not exactly the sequel I personally had hoped for. There were some ups and some downs. The ups are the grappling hook and other tools you get for the platforming aspect of the game. In fact, there are a couple little optional areas that really make good use of those tools and I honestly could have gone in for more of those, but like many of these games, those are just thrown in as an extra. I appreciate it being there though.

Instead of one giant metroidvania map, it's broken up into a handful of smaller(but still large) maps with a hub world. Your main goal is to hunt mages, which are just like really tall guys that summon minions and have a gimmick of their own. The way you hunt these mages and with how they structure their multiple levels and hub world, along with the weapon crafting that utilized the parts of the mages makes me believe they took more than a little bit of inspiration from Monster Hunter. 

I think I saw a lot of reception that mentioned multiplayer was the way to go with this one, and maybe that's what I'm missing out on because while I did like it, it was too grindy for the type of punishing game it is. I can see how, like in Monster Hunter, trading the bosses aggro would really change the dynamic of the game, making it a bit less dangerous and a little more about the dance of those mechanics. If there was a single-player only version where your HP was buffed just a tad and crafting/upgrading armor/weapons/items had half the requirements, I think this would have been an A+ experience for me. It was still pretty good though, I just can't help but see where it could have been better.

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.

Streets of Red: Devil's Dare Deluxe

• Genre: Beat 'em up
• Time Played: 2+ Hours
• Partner: Alice, Rey, some others a long time ago.
• Too Short/Long: It's about what it needs to be for the kind of game it is.
• Pleased/Disappointed: It's a fun game, and I went back to it after years, so I'm pleased with it.
• Why I played: Picked it up again after just looking for a good game to play three players.
• Recommend to others: Yeah, it's not necessarily the first, or even top few beat 'em ups I'd recommend, but pretty up there.

Originally released as just "Devil's Dare", I had played this a good bit years ago, but didn't finish it to my recollection. Or maybe I did, and I just felt like replaying. I'm not too sure because I originally owned it on Steam. My Steam time says 5+ hours, but I feel like that may have been accidently left open or something, especially considering my 2-3 hours on the Switch version has 3x the amount of in-game achievements unlocked.

Everything is the game is a reference to something else. Many video game references of course, but also a good bit of movie references and just other miscellaneous pop culture references. I don't think the entire Gex series has as many references as this couple hour beat 'em up.

We played with Rey and got the bad ending, not knowing we were going to be asked for a ton of money to get the good ending. Alice and I played a few days later, having a better idea of how to earn and save money and knocked it out. It's a fun little romp if you've knocked out some of the more popular options for beat 'em ups.

Inmost

• Genre: Puzzle Platforming
• Time Played: <5 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Fine for what it is, I wouldn't have minded some more Knight sequences extending it out a little.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Played through in one sitting, so I think I enjoyed it a bit.
• Why I played: I like a lot of the games Chucklefish publishes, and I think that might be the only reason I really checked this out. It's been on my wishlist forever and maybe I initially added it for another reason, but I forgot.
• Recommend to others: Maybe, if you wanna be sad.

Back in the day when the indie gaming scene wasn't as prevalent I would exclaim that 90% of indie titles are either Metroidvania, Rogue-likes(or lites, whatever), or allegories for depression. This ticks two of those boxes, so I'm not thinking things have changed too much.

In the case of Inmost, it literally has you jumping from the allegory parts to the not so allegory parts. Basically the game's story is saying in both an obtuse and not obtuse manner is that how you act has an affect on others. If you need help, get help(which it very literally says during credits).

Gameplay-wise it's a pretty fun little adventure with a guy where you go around and figure out how to unlock the next areas and backtrack and unlock the next areas, except when you're playing as a little girl wandering around in a house, or a Knight absolutely destroying the enemies that kill the other dude on contact.

I would have liked to have seen more Knight sequences, and maybe a couple like fights or platforming challenges using it's unique mechanics. The Knight has a grappling hook, which you do use a good bit in it's first couple sequences, but almost none later, but see him use it in cool ways in cut-scenes. That said, I don't think this game was made with the intent of any of the action being all that challenging. It just would have been really cool and likely taken the game to a definitely recommend from me.

Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons

• Genre: Beat 'em up
• Time Played: 2+ Hours
• Partner: Alice
• Too Short/Long: Overall the game feels too short.
• Pleased/Disappointed: It was fun, pleased on that department, just wish there was more.
• Why I played: No reason other than it was Double Dragon and I needed something different to play than what was already in my rotation.
• Recommend to others: Overall I'd recommend it, with the warning of how short it is for a single run.

Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons is a perfectly serviceable Beat 'em up. It doesn't have the fan service of a game like Shredder's Revenge, and it doesn't have the longevity of River City Girls. It's controls are pretty tight, and I'm glad I can do specials without sacrificing health. There are also a decent selection of characters each with their own special moves to make them fairly unique.

The main problem I have is just, it feels too short. Granted, a lot of old beat 'em ups are only a couple hours long if you can actually get through them, but they're difficult due to either clunkiness or weird hit detection that this game doesn't really suffer from, but it makes them feel much longer because you're likely not going to get through on your first try and have to restart.

While there is an option for it, if you fail, you don't necessarily have to restart if you either have money to revive or tokens to continue, but at least on default settings, this wasn't really a problem for Alice and I. We had a lot of fun with it, but even though there are a bunch of unlockables, there isn't really much of an incentive to continue playing to see more in-game content.

Levels can be longer depending on your order, so I guess it may be worth at least a second play through, playing the opposite level order, just to see some of the areas we may have missed out on, but I think I'll save that for 4 players... is what I would say if it had 4 players. One other glaring flaw is that despite the fact you take 4 characters into battle, and with 1 or 2 players, there is a tag in-out system. There is no option for 4 player. It seems like the game may have potentially been made with the idea of 4 player in mind and for some reason it wasn't implemented. Maybe they thought it was too chaotic on screen? Couldn't balance the difficulty? I don't know but it feels like a missed opportunity.

Other than that, I guess if you're the type of person who likes replaying games just to play them at higher difficulties and get better scores or something, there might be a bit of replay-ability. There are mutators available for your run available from the start, so that's neat, if you like that. I personally don't care about those options too much.

Blasphemous 2

• Genre: Exploratory Action Platforming(Metroidvania)
• Time Played: 15+ Hours
• Too Short/Long: A little longer than it needed to be, granted, I did 100% it, if I would have just played through more casually maybe it wouldn't have felt too long.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pretty pleased. I thought it was overall an improvement on the first, which I thought was fine anyway, if not a bit flawed and overrated at the time.
• Why I played: I liked the first well enough to want to play this one.
• Recommend to others: I'd recommend it over the first and some other well known Metroidvania titles.

Blasphemous 2 is a pretty solid improvement over the first. I remember the first being a bit frustrating in the platforming aspect and a bit too easy in the combat past the early stages of the game. The second is a bit better balanced and your special movement is no longer tied to button/directional inputs that make it easy to accidently execute a different command in their place.

While I found it to be an overall better experiencing from a mechanical perspective, I feel like the flavor wasn't as strong in this one. Don't get me wrong, it's still filled with allegories for the high level biblical mythology, but as someone who doesn't really know too much about that stuff outside of video games, it's honestly kinda over my head. While I don't entirely follow, I still appreciate the theming. I just feel like that theming isn't as strong as it was in the first one. The art and overall direction of the game is just a little bit more standardized, and a little less original.

Don't get me wrong, it's still great in this game, and maybe part of it is only because now it's been done, so it just had less impact than the previous for me. While gameplay was generally better, I do feel some of the quests are a little obtuse and some regular enemies are a little too spongy. 

I liked how it handled your starting weapons and what the means for how you approach the early stages of the game, and how they each had progression based abilities tied to them. It's a bit of a shame the best progression mechanic was tied to what I feel was the worst weapon, and the best weapon had the worst progression mechanic. I would have liked to have seen more puzzles and challenges that explored the mirror jumping mechanic. If the other two weapons had cooler abilities like that, it would have really left an impact. 

Otherwise, it doesn't really do much from a gameplay standpoint to really set itself apart. It just does what it does pretty well. 

Super Alloy Ranger

• Genre: Action Platforming
• Time Played: 4 Hours
• Too Short/Long: I could have swore I played far longer than 4 hours. Probably means it was too long.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Ehhh, mostly disappointed. I liked the character art.
• Why I played: On a Mega Man-like Roll.
• Recommend to others: Not really, even if you're hard pressed for games that kinda play like Mega Man, you can probably do better.

Super Alloy Ranger is a very okay game. It's playable, it's not the worst, but the best thing about it is generally the art. The detailed pixel art cut scenes, character portraits, and even character sprites are all great.

Otherwise? It's a little rough. It's not a very difficult game, in fact, it rarely offers much of a challenge, but the character controls don't feel as precise as they should. Levels are a bit long, and kinda repetitive feeling? There isn't much in the way of gimmicks, even if there are some unique(from other levels) platforming challenges.

Music is a mixed bag. Some amazing tracks, but some are just way too loud/fast. It's like they turned up the volume and played them at 2x speed. It's a bit much. Other tunes are catchy or fitting.

I do really like the character designs, and it's probably mainly why I bought the game. I also really hoped there was gonna be a shmup or other kind of vehicle section because it's teased in the base area with big detailed sprites of a vehicle for each of the main characters and it never happened.

The localization is abysmal. Probably the worst I've ever seen on a game with an official English release. I feel like it was either DIRECT google translate or just like one person who has maybe got like a 1 year Duolingo streak in English and took like a 101 class in grade school. Maybe a combination thereof.

That doesn't make it unplayable, but when the thing I am kinda enjoying the most, the characters, are just speaking nonsense half the time, I can barely even enjoy that. I do feel like this was a passion project that someone put a lot of effort into, it just, could have been more. The ending strongly hinted at a Super Alloy Rangers 2, and despite everything I said, I would give it a shot.

Mighty No. 9

• Genre: Action Platforming
• Time Played: 17 Hours
• Too Short/Long: It's pretty much the perfect length, my playtime is a bit long because I played through as both Beck and Ray, did some challenges, redid levels, and after a long hiatus had to get my bearings again.
• Pleased/Disappointed: More pleased than anyone else in the world, I think.
• Why I played: Had to keep the Mega Man's coming. I kickstarted Mighty No. 9 way back when. I also played it as soon as it came out. I also took a huge hiatus probably because those last levels are very difficult.
• Recommend to others: I would definitely recommend Mighty No. 9, especially over most other Mega Man-likes and even over many Mega Man games.

Mighty No. 9 gets an completely unjustified bad rap. I think because it was one of the earlier kickstarter's that blew up and failed to immediately deliver a triple-a product. Mighty No. 9 is not without it's flaws, but they're hardly in the game play. But honestly, so what that the mouths don't move during cutscenes, do you know how many games I've played where mouths don't move during cutscenes? It's not that weird.

Sure it got a lot of money, nearly 4 mil in the kickstarter, but it's only, and only ever was meant to be a 20 dollar game. It's definitely a 20 dollar game, if not more. I already went on a bit of a tangent when I finished Mighty Gunvolt Burst, but I do really wish people wouldn't give this game so much flak. I feel it's gotta be either from people who didn't bother playing it, or are just so hard-up with their bias of kickstarter controversy, which I feel like is barely a controversy. Missed launch dates and delays? Oh my word, I've never seen that in a video game.

It doesn't play EXACTLY like a Mega Man title? I'm glad it doesn't. It's fun. Not that Mega Man isn't, but while Mega Man 9 was a GREAT throwback at the time that really leaned into it, making it unique as a classic mega man in a more modern era. Mega Man 10 felt lacking as just more of the same. 11, which I just recently finished does have some decent level gimmicks and does try something with the Double Gear system, still felt like it was missing something.

Mighty No. 9 generally speaking, plays like a Mega Man game, has a bunch of variety in level gimmicks, has a lot going for it presentation wise, more story throughout the game, more character interaction, more fleshed out bosses and even it's own unique gimmicks that keep it feeling fresh, faced paced and fun to play. Damn, what a disappointment.

If you like Mega Man games or any of the other platformers Inti Creates makes, give it a shot if you haven't, and if you had and only had negative things to say about it, maybe take off your 2013 kickstarter green tinted glasses and try to enjoy it for what it is a stand alone product. Honestly I think this is one of the best Inti Creates games, and wish they would followed up with more of these, rather than Gunvolt and spin offs.

Mega Man 11

• Genre: Action Platforming
• Time Played: 5+ Hours
• Too Short/Long: I played it probably somewhere between 5-10 hours, but my save where I actually saved/finished is under 5 hours. It's not that long, but I kinda wish there was more.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased, at first I had a rough time, and put the game off for awhile, but eventually it clicked and I am happy with it, I just wish there was more to it.
• Why I played: All the Mega Man-esque games I've been playing lately and there was still one Mega Man game I haven't finished.
• Recommend to others: As much as I'd recommend any other Mega Man game. I would just make sure to emphasize what I wish was made a point to me. Items are very important in this game. I've gone most Mega Man games without every using Beat and Eddie or spike negation or really anything other than e-tanks and lives. It's not as easy to make it through this game without them.

I kind of just said above one of my reasons for putting this game off so long. When it came out, I tried a few different levels to start and was just getting wrecked. I even tried picking it up a week or so ago in the middle of other Mega Man-like games. It was all I could do to get through one level.

Turns out I had been approaching the game wrong. Items and upgrades just seem absolutely essential to this one. Once I realized that, abused the items as much as possible, the game was cake. Or at least, more like I expected it to be. It was still an appropriate Mega Man level challenge, generally.

There are some aspect that are just frustrating. I hate Bounce Man's level and there are a couple other sequences which just feel annoying. What I do appreciate, is how much many of the different powers in this game actually help you progress through the level, and in more than the fact they just attack different areas. Some robot master powers just feel essential at certain points outside bosses.

While there was a little bit of story, a little bit of fanservice for Mega Man history, I feel like it could have been way more. There could have been more story sequences, they could have fleshed out the robot masters a bit more. Where are Proto Man and Bass? Where is my Rush Armor? It just could have done more to feel like a modernized Mega Man, rather than just a modern graphic Mega Man.

Anyway, once I got the hang of it, abused items, really used the shit out of the gear system, it finally synced and ended up being a pretty good game. Also this was created for the 30th anniversary of Mega Man, and it's the 30th game I finished this year, and I finished it on the 30th day of the month. How about that.

Mighty Gunvolt Burst

• Genre: Action Platforming
• Time Played: 10+ Hours
• Too Short/Long: It's right for what it is, I only wish you didn't have to replay every level in order to collect everything, but I guess when levels only take 5 minutes it's not too bad.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased.
• Why I played: Mega Man styled game, and guess I wanted to squeeze in another Inti Creates game.
• Recommend to others: Sure, if you're looking for a Mega Man styled game. The fanservice is mostly directed at people who like the other Inti Creates games, but it can be enjoyed on it's own, it's pretty quick paced and not too difficult.

Mighty Gunvolt Burst is everything that everyone who is still mad about Mighty Number 9 really wanted. I personally can't get over the fact that 7 years later I still hear people piss and moan about Mighty Number 9. It's not even a bad game, I'd even argue it's pretty good. BUT it made 3 million on it's kickstarter... so... people wanted it to be... better? Bigger? It was never intended to be. I feel like somehow people thought 3 million on Kickstarter meant it's going to be a AAA title. But it did take a few years to come out, hit a couple delays and Inti Creates made some other games to kinda supplement it. 

Honestly, I still do not see why or agree with any reasons I've seen people still in fumes about Mighty Number 9. In my eyes, the people mad about it just wanted... this. A game that hits all the nostalgia points and full of fanservice. Mighty Number 9 was new and too different, took too long, etc etc. And it was the early days of Kickstarter, 10 years ago, so I think they just expected too much. It's honestly a shame though, because while the Azure Striker games are alright - I think Mighty Number 9 would have made a way better series to have seen 5 games from at this point (Not counting this and sans Burst).

Mighty Gunvolt Burst is a cute and more fleshed out follow up to Mighty Gunvolt(both which have alternate titles for playstation under Gal Gunvolt, for some reason). Overall it has simplified mechanics, and a customizable weapon system that can easily make you OP. It's a fun and quick paced romp, since the levels are only like 10 minutes max, it's easy to pick up and play in a short... burst.

I've played a bunch, a little bit as each character at least, the game definitely doesn't take 10 hours to beat, maybe a couple tops, but I finally actually finished it on my Ray playthrough. I love Ray. She's basically mean Zero of Mighty Number 9.

Blaster Master Zero 2

• Genre: Action Platforming
• Time Played: 12 Hours
• Too Short/Long: About right, probably could have cut out the last bit to save an hour or two and felt a bit better. It was one of those games that you think it's over and it's not. Sometimes they put in really cool things after doing that, sometimes not so much. This was somewhere in the middle.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased.
• Why I played: I like most Blaster Master games, and I guess I'm just on a roll with Inti-Creates games right now.
• Recommend to others: I would recommend the first Blaster Master Zero, and if you liked that, I would definitely say pick this one up too.

I don't think I have as much to say about this one. It was pretty good, and it's been far too long since I played the first Blaster Master Zero to really compare them by any means. I wanna say the art is better in this one, especially when compared to the on foot-sections, and the action of the on foot sections is more fun, but I think there may have been more variety in the previous? Either way, the game already offers plenty of variety in having the top-down sections and the side scrolling, and challenges for on-foot in the side-scrolling, and toward the end there is some stuff that mixes it up even more. Though I'm not sure the section played out was the most fun, it was kind of fun to revisit stuff in a different way.

One thing I really hope the next game has is some kind of a run on foot or turbo boost in the vehicle. Sometimes I just wanna go fast and this jumping tank just crawls along... like a tank. It jumps and flies and sticks to walls, it can have a boost button!

Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2

• Genre: Action Platforming
• Time Played: 4 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Too short, I was digging it, I would have been happier with a couple more levels, but I guess it's mostly the standard for the formula so I can't complain much.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Exceptionally pleased.
• Why I played: I wanted more after the previous one.
• Recommend to others: Keeping in line with the last two, it's hard to recommend without any prior interest in the series, but I do think this one is the most recommendable, especially since the story or mechanics barely requires and prior Gunvolt series knowledge.

Luminous Avenger iX 2 is just a better and more fun game than the last. My single gripe when compared to the previous is that I wish it let me do more than one dash into enemies when not in overdrive or anthem mode. Even just a double dash would have greatly improved the flow of gameplay. The combo system in the last game wasn't a bad idea, but it got very repetitive, so they more or less dropped the bullit system all together. I would have enjoyed it being in here as long as it wasn't the main reliance. If they come out with a third. I hope it finds that balance somewhere between the first and second game.

Otherwise it was better than the last in almost every way. Level design was more interesting and varied, as were bosses. Powers were more interesting/unique and did more than just be a strength against some of the main bosses, but sub-bosses, certain enemies, and certain environmental hazards. It didn't go all out, they could have utilized these effects even more, but it was a notable improvement.

Because of all of those improvements, gameplay was just generally more fun moment-to-moment. Story is "got sucked into alternate dimension" so Gunvolty weirdness in story and terms is not really there, and and some of the Gunvolty systems and mechanics are simplified, so it's overall just a more accessible game.

Gunvolt Chronicles Luminous Avenger iX

• Genre: Action Platforming
• Time Played: 5 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Just right.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased the normal amount.
• Why I played: I was left wanting after Azure Striker Gunvolt 3.
• Recommend to others: Maybe, if someone specifically said "I played Gunvolt, is Luminous Avenger iX any good?" I would say, yeah, if you liked Gunvolt, you should play Luminous Avenger iX.

Luminous Avenger iX is a more or less abridged Gunvolt game. There is less story chatter, less character interactions, and more just right into the game stuff. It's a little easier to follow story wise even though there is much less there, but that's also not saying much considering the convoluted basis. I don't know if I would say it's a better game than Gunvolt 3, but it is a game I appreciated more for what it was. The level design was more built around the mechanics. Maybe not as varied as Gunvolt 3, but somehow seemed more fitting.

 
The combat is also less chaotic even though it still kinda flips what you know about Mega Man style games on their head. You're literally supposed to bounce off enemies to lock onto them so you can spam your homing attack and special movies and spend as much of the game hovering and airdashing as possible. I also want to mention that the power ups/upgrades are much better than Gunvolt 3, going for that more traditional special move based off each boss you can cycle through and each boss having a weakness to one of them(also, a resistance), and while these have energy bars, they auto refill pretty quickly so you can pretty much use them as much as you want without worrying about if you'll lose access to it when you need it. Something I don't entirely love about other similar games.

Overall it felt much better while also being more of a challenge and made for a mostly short and sweet romp.

Azure Striker Gunvolt 3

• Genre: Action Platforming
• Time Played: 6.5 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Maybe about right? Maybe a bit short, but I feel like I must have left the game on for a bit, because it felt much shorter.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Neutralish.
• Why I played: I have played through the previous two Gunvolt games and a bit of Luminous Avenger.
• Recommend to others: Not particularly. I wouldn't recommend this one first, and even so the Gunvolt series is a bit weird in several aspects.

Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 is the first in the... specifically mainline series where you don't play as Gunvolt - entirely. You're mainly playing as Kirin, a new character in the distant future of the other Gunvolt games. Gunvolt is there, because story reasons, but he's mostly a dog except sometimes when you need an easy mode to get through obstacles or beat a boss. 

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon

• Genre: Action
• Time Played: 38 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Too long, because you have to replay many missions at least 3 times to see everything, but just right... maybe too short if you were just fine with one ending and missing a good deal of content.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I'm super happy with this. I am of course super happy to see From Software making a mech game again, but it's also probably the best Armored Core.
• Why I played: I've always been an Armored Core fan and constantly lament to anyone who brings up Souls games to me that I missed the days when From Software made mech games. When they announced Armored Core 6 was coming after a decade of no mech games(when previously they would sometimes put out multiple a year). I was excited to say the least.
• Recommend to others: I don't think I have to. Due to From Software's newly found popularity as a developer(as in, since they stopped making Armored Core games), I think more people are playing this one than any prior. That said, it's still, at it's core, the same game. I like it a lot, but I don't think it's going to sway anyone who doesn't like mecha games, or didn't like an old Armored Core.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is possibly the best Armored Core game, but it's still an Armored Core game, and they were never perfect before. The level design was possibly the best it's been in the series, but there is a certain lack of scale that makes sense in any sense of grounded reality. Everything is clearly to scale to the mechs, which means you never really have that "larger than life" feeling you generally want when piloting a mech. Sure, you can see some small details, like staircases, ladders, and cars(only very large military vehicles mind you), but every ladder leads to a platform no smaller than 4 football fields.

Off

• Genre: RPG
• Time Played: I was told it was going to be around 5 hours, there is nothing that tracks time in this game and since it has to be launched from an .exe rather than any launcher, there is nothing that tracked my time, but I would estimate closer to 15 hours.
• Too Short/Long: Definitely too long. 5 hours would have been way better.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I didn't really go in with any expectations, so I'm not disappointed, but I wasn't super into it even by the end.
• Why I played: My wife wanted me to.
• Recommend to others: I personally wouldn't recommend it to anyone, unless they are friends with my wife, so that she can talk to them about it.

Off has everything going against it, for me. I'm already highly critical of RPG maker games and I expected more from a game that my wife loved so much. Don't get me wrong, it had it's moments. Some cute cutaways, and minigames, and sometimes the writing or presentation was fun or interesting. But the battles were mostly looking away from the screen and pressing a as fast as possible. Because of the style of the game, I though more boss battles would have gimmicks, but they always came down to the same thing. Just like in many... many rpgs, status effects mean nothing(to bosses), and since there are no gimmicks, it's literally always just use the most powerful attack all the time. Elemental advantage even rarely came into play, sometimes doing less than a 5% increase in damage on something their profile specifically calls them out for being weak against, but it doesn't matter, because using the elemental advantage attack is still not as good as just using a regular stronger impact attack.

It just always came down to using hardest attack until running out of points to do so, then using regular attacks. Puzzles aren't too much better... for the most part. There were two or three I thought were neat or clever, but the vast majority are just "remember a thing" or "input the number placed in an annoying location".

That said, engaging combat, nor clever puzzles are the reason to play Off. It's the world/setting, which is basically a Nightvale-esque(predating that, I know) setting where things are just weird for the sake of being weird and things don't have a real explanation for being the way they are, you're just supposed to accept it. That's fine, and if you enjoy that, you'll find something to enjoy in Off.

Gravity Circuit

• Genre: Action Platforming
• Time Played: 5 Hours, 25 Minutes
• Too Short/Long: Some levels feel too long and drag, other than that, it's just about right.
• Pleased/Disappointed: A little disappointed only because it looked cooler than it was and I thought it was gonna have a bit more to it.
• Why I played: It looked like a very cool Mega Man-like game.
• Recommend to others: Not as a first pick. If someone has exhausted many other Mega Man-like games and wanted a list of decent ones, I might put it on there.

Gravity Circuit was perfectly serviceable, but nothing really stood out. I pretty sure I play most at least half-way decent Mega Man clones and it's not really the first I'd recommend. It keeps that nice and classic look, it's more or less, pretty polished, maybe even more polished than some games I'd recommend over it, but it just doesn't have that special something to stand out. Everything is just like, pretty good, sure.

One of the main mechanics is a grappling hook which isn't always utilized to it's fullest and doesn't always function as it seems it should. You get some powers that use a fairly limited stock of energy, but honestly for the most part you can kinda just stick with what you get at the beginning as they all perform some kind of "it does damage that is a little better than regular attacks". You also get some upgrades you can buy but you can only equip a few and they're all about the same price and equally available after the first couple levels. So most of the progression and rewards just don't really feel very rewarding and Kai(Gravity Circuit) pretty much feels the same in the last level as he does most the game.

It feels really cool at first, but then it's exactly the same for the rest of the game. That's the main thing preventing it from really standing out.

Void Stranger

• Genre: Puzzle Adventure
• Time Played: 61 hours.
• Too Short/Long: Too long... buuuut also it might be my own fault. If you want to see all the game has to offer it's too long. If you're fine with missing some content, it's probably not.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I was originally disappointed that System Erasure's follow up to ZeroRanger was going to be a puzzle game, I am no longer disappointed.
• Why I played: It might have been a long time til I played this game if not made by the same people who did ZeroRanger, which is one of my most favorite games in recent years. It being a puzzle game, but having cute style pixel art with big character drawings, I would have likely added it to my wish list, maybe bought it on sale and maybe gotten around to it some day. As I do for most game fitting the description.
• Recommend to others: This is a weird one. This is probably one of the games I've liked and played the most, I will recommend the least. While I think it's a great game, I find it very hard to recommend to anyone who wouldn't play it with dedication and determination. Not only are some of the puzzles ridiculously hard, but some of the secrets are extremely secret and it's the type of game you have to dig and dig at just to get a morsel of a reward for your effort.

Void Stranger is a puzzle game where you progress through levels by moving the floor tiles to get to the exit. You're often navigating through an otherwise bottomless pit and often have to avoid or manipulate monsters positions as well. The game does a good job at playing with and introducing layers to those mechanics, but on the surface level it's a pretty straightforward puzzle game. It's everything around the floor-to-floor puzzles that make the game really stand out.

Okami

• Genre: Action Adventure
• Time Played: 41 Hours
• Too Short/Long: Just about right, maybe feels a little too long if you try to do all the extra stuff.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Very pleased, as this is one of my favorite games, and maybe moreso than I remembered.
• Why I played: I was looking for inspiration for a Tabletop RPG I am running and started playing some games specifically focused around japanese folklore and mythology. I had bought Okami for the Switch with the intent of "one day replaying" and that day was now.
• Recommend to others: Of course. I feel like almost anyone that likes video games should play Okami, but I guess specifically if you like Action Adventure, or japanese mythological settings. While some parts can be a little tough to figure out at times, and it shows it's age in some aspects, it's never excessively difficult or frustrating, maybe slightly obtuse at time, maybe slightly finnicky with the celestial brushes, but those are really the biggest grievances of an otherwise amazing game.

I love Okami and I don't think I put enough emphasis on that in more recent years. It's been a long time since I played it and I had forgotten a lot of the game, most of it being remembered in a fashion more similar to Deja Vu.