Noy

@noydacoy.bsky.social

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Gamer, Coder, Climber Writing game reviews on tumblr and crossposting (https://www.tumblr.com/blog/noydacoy) 24 | OSU '24

A screenshot of my Tumblr review for of the Devil. The review says the following: Rating: 9/10 Played on: Steam Deck It feels rare for an indie game not tied to a preexisting series to get its mystery hooks into me. Especially to the level that of the Devil has. Clearly inspired by some of my favorites, like Danganronpa and Ace Attorney, while also having fun card game/gambling themes and a cyberpunk aesthetic, this game feels fine tuned to my interests. I have only played Chapters 0-2 as of writing this review, since they are the only ones out thus far, but will be reviewing later Chapters as they come out. First things first, as a visual novel, it’s a little important that your writing is good. I can confidently say that this is one of the best written games I’ve ever played. It perfectly balances a serious tone with dark humor, assumes the player has a base level of intelligence and reading comprehension, and explores subtleties in character motivations and interactions just through text and facial expressions alone. There’s no voice acting throughout the game, which I initially thought was a negative, but characters are so well written that I have voices for all of them in my head after only a few lines of them being on screen.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Persona 5 Royal. The review says the following: Rating: 8/10 Played on: PS5 First of all, put your pitchforks away, this isn’t my first time playing P5, vanilla P5 was the first Persona game I played back in 2020. I just didn’t play the Royal content until now, hundreds of hours in other Persona games and spin-offs later. I loved the game when I first played it, and playing it again, it still has a special place in my heart… but I think it might be the weakest of the modern 3 Persona games. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sense of style, the overarching gameplay systems, the music, the tension, the characters, and the friendships… I just think that other Persona games do everything this one tries to do more effectively, now that I’ve played more than just 5. The sense of dread, unease, and conflict is better done in 3, the mystery and pure friendship vibes were perfected in 4, and honestly, I enjoyed the character dynamics of 5’s cast more in the sequels and spin-offs like Strikers and Q2 more than in the base game.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Void Stranger. The review says the following: Rating: 10/10 Played on: Steam Deck This might be one of my new favorite games I’ve played. It’s absolutely insane, and I don’t want to say too much, as coming into it completely blind was the way to experience it. All I knew going in was that it was a Sokoban puzzle game that was more than it seemed. And man, was that an understatement. There's a lot going on with this game, and I don’t even know what I want to talk about and reveal. Several times through the experience, I thought I was getting close to finishing the “main” story, but then a new mystery would appear, and I’d be playing for 10 more hours trying to follow that thread. Every single time I reached an “ending,” I was gobsmacked, from the first one I received after eating a certain fruit, to the final one where I learned the true nature of what was happening.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth - Hacker's Memory. The review says the following: Rating: 6/10 Played on: Switch 2 Hacker's Memory is such an interesting game to me. It is essentially Cyber Sleuth 1.5, but as a whole seperate release rather than DLC. It's just as long, if not longer, than the original, with the same systems, same selection of Digimon, and following the same story, just concurrently with different characters and plotlines. It has a lot of quality of life and gameplay improvements, more mature character arcs, and a couple new gameplay mechanics. On paper, it feels better than Cyber Sleuth, while simultaneously feeling identical. It feels like a lot to ask to play a 60 hour RPG as a preface to play another, mostly the same 60 hour RPG. The core gameplay mechanics are all still here, but it lost the sense of discovery. I already knew most of the Digimon I could obtain, and even though I used an entirely new team, it didn't feel like a unique enough experience to justify this being an entirely separate game. There's just as much bloating and repetative quests in this game as in the original Cyber Sleuth, but they feel worse here since I already did all of that in the same system once before.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Monument Valley. The review says the following: Rating: 8/10 Played on: Apple Arcade I played through this game and all of its extra content while I was bored at work in about 2 hours. It's a cute and relaxing puzzle game with mind-bending puzzles about optical illusions, and 2D and 3D space interacting. The art direction is gorgeous, the music and sound effects are dynamic and emotional, and the puzzles are cute and creative. Nothing was super challenging, especially compared to some of the other puzzle games I've played this year, but it was quite refreshing. I can definitely respect the game for coming out in the early to mid 2010s on mobile without being full of ads and with a distinct beginning and ending. Most mobile games don't do that, and I'm glad that I got to experience this one, even if it was a decade later.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Deltarune Chapter 5. The review says the following: Rating: 10/10 Played on: Steam Deck Toby Fox and his team continue to deliver. Hard to believe that this is the same game as Chapter 1 from all those years ago. This chapter really harkens back to what made those first few chapters so fun and exciting, being a less lore intensive, heavy experience, and focusing more on the fun, goofy adventures with your friends. I've seen a lot of people that are upset by this, but I personally think it's perfect for the direction the game is going. I think this is the best chapter gameplay wise we've had so far. The feather segments are amazing and fun, the new battles are tough but entertaining, and all of the character designs, animations, and other fun touches are great. I won't go into too many specific details for those who haven't played yet, but I really enjoyed the secret boss and final fight, even if they were some of the most challenging battles in the game thusfar and took me a hot minute to complete.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Bad End Theater. The review says the following: Rating: 8/10 Played on: Steam Deck Bad End Theater is a fun meta-commentary on games with multiple endings. It gives the same vibes as In Stars and Time, which is one of my favorite games in recent times. The characters are all lovely, the story(ies) are cute, fun, and unnerving, and the true ending was well done. I wish we had a slight bit more characterization, but the 2 hour runtime for 100% was a nice change of pace from the long games I've been playing recently. A cute and short romp, I reccommend it!
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Blue Prince. The review says the following: Rating: 7/10 Played on: Steam Deck Blue Prince is a fascinating case study about how games can use frustration as a part of their design. I’m not usually a fan of games that intentionally try to get on your nerves (cough Dark Souls cough), but most of the time it’s about your skill as a player improving. Here, the frustration stems from the randomness of the Mt. Holly Estate, not the player’s skill or even puzzle solving ability. Frequently, I had the answer to a puzzle, and was ready to execute on it, but the game refused to give me the correct room or pathway to get to where I needed to go. When I was solving puzzles and making forward progress in the house, it was one of the most satisfying games I’ve ever played, but when I was blocked from solutions arbitrarily and randomly, it was incredibly frustrating.
A screenshot of the Deltarune website countdown for Chapter 5’s release in 14 days (2 weeks (a fortnight (hence the joke)))
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for BALL x PIT. The review says the following: Rating: 8/10 Played on: Switch 2 Infinite dopamine simulator the video game. In a world full of Vampire Survivors-like games, I feel like it's difficult to stand out when the OG just does it best. This breakout version of the concept comes the closest I've seen so far. Characters offer a good amount of variety, there's always something new to unlock, and runs are short and sweet. The hub world base building aspect is an interesting concept, but feels a little underbaked and out of place with the rest of the gameplay loop. It's fun enough, but once you have dozens of buildings and resources to fit in there, it's mostly just trying to puzzle where everything can go as opposed to fully strategizing the optimal place for every building. Not too much more to say on it, just that it crashed about three quarters of the way through my second run of the final level, so I took that as a sign that I should be done playing for now. I'll probably hop back in when another update drops, but for now, this was the ideal game for one of the rare Nintendo Online game trials (much like how I got into Vampire Survivors). Got me hook, line, and sinker.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park. The review says the following: Rating: 5/10 Played on: Switch 2 Meh. There are so many better ways to spend $20. It's still Mario Wonder at its core, so there's some value here, but the main game is tight enough of an experience to really not need this (hence why it came 3 years later). The new boss fights are alright, but they would have been better if you didn't have to do them 3 times, and once without being hit at all. The minigames are... there? I only played a few of them, and they're ok. Closer to Mario Party minigames than full on Nintendo Land attractions. The Toad Brigade missions were more tedious than fun, and despite the decorations and collectibles being cute, there's way too much grinding involved to get all of them. I didn't end up doing it. Just go buy an indie game or two instead. Or replay the main game, it's still really good!
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Baba Is You. The review says the following: 21. Baba Is You Image IS [an image of the game's logo] Rating IS 9/10 Played on IS itch.io Review IS Baba Is You might be the most challenging puzzle game I've played. It's fascinating to me how simple the concept of pushing rules around is, but in execution, it gets surprisingly complex. Often times, the rules are only there to be broken. Your assumptions are always challenged, and you always get the "aha" moment once everything clicks into place. From the beginning of the game where you are just learning how each of the different rules work, to the secret levels after the credits, the levels always did something new. Even stages which were remixes of other levels with just one word or block missing could have vastly different solutions.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for SOMA. The review says the following: Rating: 8/10 Played on: Steam Deck SOMA is an incredible sci-fi horror story, with intense themes surrounding identity, humanity, reality, and the sense of self we are burdened with. It has a unique and beautifully terrifying setting under the Atlantic Ocean, with a rare positive spin on the ocean for the genre - the scary monsters and horrifying elements come from inside the man-made structures, not nature. Unfortunately, this story is trapped in a modern horror video game, with most of the tropes and issues that I dislike from the genre as a whole.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Wandersong. The review says the following: Rating: 10/10 Played on: Steam Deck Wandersong is a beautiful piece of art. It perfectly encapsulates themes of identity, tradition, imposter syndrome, and friendship through both its gameplay and story. I’m not surprised, considering this is also the team behind Chicory: A Colorful Tale, and more recently, Beastieball! It hit especially hard for me because I chose to play it during the week I was getting married! I eloped with my wonderful partner, so the idea of breaking tradition and doing what makes sense for you really resonated with me.
A 5x5 grid of my favorite characters in media. Depicted are: Shuichi Saihara - Danganronpa V3 Siffrin - In Stars and Time Cloud Strife - Final Fantasy VII Simon - Gurren Lagann Aki - Chainsaw Man Madeline - Celeste Kyoko Kirigiri - Danganronpa Naoto Shirogane - Persona 4 Chihiro Fujisaki - Danganronpa Sailor Uranus/Haruka Tenou - Sailor Moon Shinji Ikari - Neon Genesis Evangelion Hero - OMORI Free Space Mob - Mob Psycho 100 Beat - UNBEATABLE Fuuka Yamagishi - Persona 3 Aerith Gainsborough - Final Fantasy VII Noelle - Deltarune Makoto Yuki - Persona 3 Celes Chere - Final Fantasy VI Bonnie - In Stars and Time Ada Paige - Rhythm Doctor Miles Edgeworth - Ace Attorney Garnet - Steven Universe Gwen Stacy - Spiderverse
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth. The review says the following: Rating: 8/10 Played on: Switch 2 Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in between and outside of the gender binary... I'm a Digimon fan now. I had SO much fun playing Cyber Sleuth, and I'm glad I'm finally giving this series a shot. Disclaimer, I played the Complete Edition but haven't played Hacker's Memory yet, as I poorly depecited in the image above. I'm counting it as a separate game so there will be a different review for that when I get to it. Also, I'll probably compare to Pokémon a lot. I'm sure Digimon fans are annoyed by that by now, but it's my largest frame of reference so... sorry.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review of Vampire Crawlers. The review says the following: Rating: 9/10 Played on: Steam Deck Goddammit, they got me again. I avoided Vampire Survivors for a long time because I knew it would suck me in, and when I finally tried it a year and a half ago, I learned my suspicions were correct, and got hopelessly addicted to it. I 100%ed the main game, played through a lot of the DLC, discovered plenty of fun secrets and broken strategies, and found all of the vampires the game had to offer. Then, just when I thought I had broken the addiction, a spinoff roguelike deckbuilder is announced, with dungeon crawling like Etrian Odyssey. And suddenly there’s a demo for Steam NextFest that I play for like 4 hours straight. And then a few months later the game comes out and I’m already pretty damn close to 100%ing it within a week. If there’s one thing this team is good at, it’s keeping you addicted. The dopamine of hitting a super high combo with your cards is incredible, evolving and upgrading your abilities is just as satisfying as it was in Survivors, and it impressively feels like a good brain scratcher and a good “brain turn off and watch number go up” game. I’m glad I played the first game before this, because it’s genuinely impressive how they mapped the functionality and usefulness of different weapons and items to a completely different genre. I’ll cautiously highly recommend this game - just beware that if it hits your brain just right, you will be addicted.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for CloverPit. The review says the following: Rating: 9/10 Played on: Steam Deck LET’S GO GAMBLING! Aw, dangit! LET'S GO GAMBLING! I adore this game. Great unsettling atmosphere akin to Inscryption, a satisfying mix of luck and strategy, fun unlockables, and a variety of items and synergies. The game nails the addicting and satisfying nature of hitting a jackpot, and the fact that you are spinning slots for your life makes it even more thrilling and intoxicating to hit a good roll. There are many surprises and mysteries here, some I still haven’t discovered even after rolling credits once. Plus, the DLC adding fusion items for a respectably low price, even more gameplay depth is added to the core gameplay loop. I don’t want to say too much here to not spoil the surprises in store, just play the game, it’s so good.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review of Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers. The review says the following: Rating: 8/10 Played on: Steam Deck Another casino roguelike, but this one feels completely different from Balatro, due to it being in development at the same time. Blackjack lends itself surprisingly well to this style of roguelike. Having the difference between your score and your opponents equal damage done makes a lot of intuitive sense, and hitting a blackjack giving you a bonus depending on your suit feels satisfying every time. I haven’t experienced all of the decks in this one yet, but from what I’ve played, I’ve found two dominant strategies - drawing your entire deck of low valued or negative cards to eventually hit 21, or making your entire deck worth 10 so you can consistently score 20 and only lose health if your opponent blackjacks. This game feels more akin to StS or Balatro though, in that getting your deck to the point of running one of those dominant strategies is the struggle, and being able to adapt to different opponents decks that disrupt your scores or cards is just as important. It will definitely be a game I continue playing after writing this review.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Raccoin: Coin Pusher Roguelike. The review says the following: Rating: 7/10 Played on: Steam Deck Raccoin manages to be very unique feeling while also wearing its inspirations on its sleeve. Clearly inspired by the casino roguelike craze post-Balatro, and the physics based roguelike style of Peglin, this coinpusher game has plenty of fun synergies and possibilities. In fact, I’d argue it has… too many synergies. It took me about 4 runs to completely crack the game wide open. I got a score of 2.5e199, and only stopped because I got bored and wanted to start a new run. It’s satisfying and dopamine providing, sure, but when that happens every run, it loses its luster pretty quickly. It’s not that there’s not enough content, it’s almost the opposite - there’s too many things to help enhance your score. There’s coins, clips, consumable items, gadgets and stickers to put on your board, a wheel to customize, expansions to how many coins you can have, different characters, and probably more that I’m forgetting or haven’t even unlocked yet. There’s multiple difficulty levels too, but honestly the game didn’t hook me enough to want to pursue those. Overall, much like how I felt about Peglin, it’s fun for the first few runs, but it gets repetitive and stale pretty quickly. I could go into a huge game design rant about input vs. output randomness in these kinds of games, but I’ll save that for another day.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Slay the Spire II. The review says the following: Rating: 9/10 Played on: Steam Deck Speaking of sequels, here’s the big one! I’ve been excited for StS2 for years, and I’m so glad it’s finally here. It’s in a very unique position, as StS was THE foundational deck-building-roguelike experience that most games in the genre took inspiration from. Now, nearly a decade later, StS2 takes elements from those inspired games, mods of the original game, and its own fun and unique ideas to make a brilliant new experience. Cards can be upgraded in more than one way, there’s a multiplayer mode that I have yet to experience, new and old characters have fun new synergies and mechanics, there are different branching acts, a slew of new enemy and boss mechanics, events, relics, and so much more. There’s even more lore and unlocks compared to the first game, which helps the extrinsic replayability factor as opposed to just focusing on the intrinsic value of getting better at the game.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Monster Train. The review says the following: Rating: 8/10 Played on: Steam/Steam Deck/Apple Arcade It’s been a while, huh? Where’ve I been, what have I been playing since FFVI last month? Well, in between sessions of my current RPG, my first Digimon game (Cyber Sleuth), I’ve been playing a lot of deck builder roguelikes! My reviews have historically come out once I beat a game, sometimes I even wait until I 100% complete it. I’ve sort of gotten into this mentality that once I write and publish my review, I’m done playing that game - with only a few exceptions over the last few years. I want to break that habit, and feel like I’m able to go back and play more of a game after I review it, so I’m starting by reviewing all of the deck builders I’ve played this month in rapid fire fashion. Some, I’ve been playing for months, others I’m only a few runs into, but all of them I have defined enough opinions on to feel comfortable assigning a score to and writing a small review of. Most of them I’ll probably continue playing after I write these reviews.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review of Final Fantasy VI. The review says the following: Rating: 9/10 Played on: Steam Deck I can see why this game is a lot of people's favorite Final Fantasy. However, knowing that before playing it warped my expectations, and probably made my overall experience worse. I still love the game, but I went in with the intent of seeing everything the game had to offer, because I knew so many people loved it, and I wanted to understand why. In trying to 100% complete the game, I definitely understood, but the experience was hindered compared to if I had just gone at my own pace and played my way. But let's start with the general stuff. This game is the peak culmination of everything the NES and SNES era Final Fantasy games stood for. I'm of the opinion that apart from FFII, every game from I-VII improved on the previous one, which is pretty rare for a long running series like this. VI had the epic, grandiose story like I, II, and IV, the named, complex, and tragic characters of IV and V, the extreme customizability and flexibility of characters in battle of III and V, and the beutiful soundtrack to rival even future games like VII. The ensemble cast is fun, with a few main characters that get most of the development, like Terra, Locke, and Celes, and then a bunch of very one-note characters to just fill out the gameplay variety. I definitely prefer the more tight-knit cast of VII, but the main trio in this one were all great, Celes especially is such an interesting character.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review of VVVVVV. The review says the following: Rating: 7/10 Played on: itch.io VVVVVV comes from the early age of indie games that I saw from afar as a kid that I told myself I wanted to experience eventually. It's in the same vein as Cave Story and Super Meat Boy to me, both games I also want to play eventually. Well, now is the time! This game takes the simple premise of one button platforming and creates a whole Metroidvania out of it. Except, there are no items for progression, just 20 optional secrets scattered around the map and fun platforming challenges. Instead of jumping, you just flip gravity, and despite the simple concept, each area puts a fun new twist on it. Disappearing platforms, lines across the screen that flip you automatically, screen wrapping, etc. The game is hard, but fair, for the most part, with only a few spots where I felt cheated by offscreen surprises. Overall, its a fun, quick 2 hour romp, and I enjoyed it!
“Slay the Spire 2” spelled out in the Pokémon Pokopia font on the logo for Pokopia.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. The review says the following: Rating: 9/10 Played on: PS5 Let me make one thing clear before I continue. I like this game! There are many flaws and gripes I have with it, I don't think it's game of the year, decade, all time, etc. I'll probably spend a lot of this review explaining reasons I didn't like the game as much, but the experience overall was enjoyable and I think it is quite a grand accomplishment for this new team of indie developers. To show that I liked it, let's talk about the good parts. Great parts, even. This game is incredibly fun to play. While it definitely took some getting used to, I really like the way that the turn based combat plays out. The Mario RPG esque action commands for stronger attacks and dodges and parries were very satisfying to get right, even if it took a while to understand the patterns. The flexability from the lumina and pictos systems were vast, and really let you do whatever you want with each character. Additionally, each character had so many different options for skills, combos, and synergies with the rest of the cast. Every time I got a new party member, I was entralled by their new moveset, and tried to find as many fun combinations of moves and party members as possible.
Beastieball’s Steam listing for $24.99 as well as its soundtrack for $11.99 and the free demo!
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Fire Emblem. The review says the following: Rating: 8/10 Played on: Switch 2 (Yes, I know it's subtitled The Blazing Blade, and yes, I know it's actually the 7th game in the series but the first one localized overseas, just wanted to stay consitent with the title on the console I played it on.) The curse is finally broken. I have finished a Fire Emblem game! This series has always been fascinating to me, ever since I played Brawl as a kid and didn't know where the heck these blue haired swordsmen game from. Since then, I've tried Awakening, Three Houses, and this game, but always stopped between halfway and 75% of the way through. I don't know if it was boredom or just a loss of interest, but it happened consistently everytime I tried to play one of these games (except the Warriors spinoff, I put so many hours in that one). After dropping it in 2023, I finally had a renewed interest in this GBA classic, and booted it back up this month. I then proceeded to play it and only it until I finished it, because it FINALLY got it's hooks in me. While I struggle to get into medieval fantasy adventure stories because they tend to just be proper noun fests, the characters here were strong enough to keep me interested. I love the relationship between the three protagonists, the twists that occur in the latter half of the game are well executed, and the main villain is comically evil while having a surprisingly sympathetic origin story.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review of Life is Strange: Before the Storm Remasted. The review says the following: Rating: 8/10 Played on: PS5 Prequels are so hard to get right. I mean, the inherent premise of writing about what happened before the interesting stuff in the original material occurs already places a massive challenge ahead of you. Plus, you don't want to tarnish the reputation of the original, or retcon a bunch of stuff that happens. All that being said, I think Before the Storm is a surprisingly good effort to make a sequel for the incredibly emotional and powerful Life is Strange. Everything this game does feels like a natural extension to the world of Life is Strange. Chloe and Rachel's relationship doesn't feel forced, and it feels properly built up through the events of the story, you get to see the beginning of Chloe's character arc, and it doesn't feel unsatisfying to leave it halfway through, because the next game picks up essentially right afterwards.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Nubby's Number Factory. The review says the following: Rating: 7/10 Played on: Steam Deck Finally unlocked and beat the last Tony, so I think I'm done enough with this game to review it. Nubby is a surprisingly complex plinko style roguelike game, with similarities to Peglin, Balatro, and other similar games in the genre. Monatarily, this is your best option at only $5, and it absolutely is worth the price. There are plenty of unique styles of play with each supervisor Tony, custom challenges, and lots of items and synergies to explore. Unfortunately, unlike games like Balatro where pretty much anything is viable if you try hard enough, you tend to need the "correct" combination of items in Nubby, based on the challenge or supervisor you're doing. This would be fine if the combinations were different, but I realistically only used combos involving halving and doubling pegs, as that broke the game wide open the most consistently. Overall, it doesn't have as much staying power as other games in the genre, but for $5, an extremely unique presentation, and some good vibes, it's a great recommendation for those who enjoy a good number go up game.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Fantasian. The review says the following: Rating: 7/10 Played on: Apple Arcade Don't get it twisted, despite this game's mobile status, it is anything but a turn off your brain and autobattle your way through kind of RPG. This is one of the most challenging RPGs I've ever gotten through. Unfortunately, aside from the difficulty, there's nothing much to write home about here. Characters and story are on the level of the NES/SNES era Final Fantasy games, where there's nothing bad, persay, just cliche. Amnesiac main character, serious princess who wants go on an adventure, old man with a ship you travel the world on, main villain gets betrayed by even bigger villain, etc. Music is alright, but it's definitely not Uematsu's best work - I do really like the second boss battle theme though. The backgrounds and locales are really interesting to look at, and I can absolutely respect the hand-crafted diaromas made for every room, but controlling your character through touch inputs and having the camera swing around wildly is a bit jarring to get used to, especially when trying to solve puzzles. The game is at its most unique and interesting with everything revolving around the battles. Moves don't just target one or all enemies, most attacks you have to line up just right to hit the most foes, which is built for the touch screen input of a mobile device and is very satisfying. Random encounters are stored in the Dimengeon, an item that can hold a whole bunch of enemies so you can battle them all at once instead of being interupted by small encounters constantly. This is genuinely my favorite aspect of this game and it's going to make it difficult to play any other RPG without this mechanic, it's such a good quality of life feature.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Rhythm Doctor. The review says the following: Rating: 9/10 Played on: Steam Deck What a fantastic little rhythm game. I've been aware of it for a while while it was in early access, but finally picked it up and played it once it got it's full release, and I certainly didn't regret it. The simple one button rhythm gameplay mixed with the adorable pixel art juxtaposed with some hard as hell rhythmic patterns and mechanics and insane visuals that happen in some of the later levels really made this game stand out from the crowd. Every level had some new unique mechanic, and a vast majority of them were surprisingly intuitive to grasp. I think the thing this game excels at the most is the readability of each level. Even with several patients at once with different rhythmic patterns, it never felt too unfair. Most levels took me a few attempts to nail, but once I understood the patterns, it felt SO good to flow with the music. Even when the game tries to distract you with insane visuals and distortion effects, trusting your gut and the music tends to just work. It's one of the most satisfying rhythm game experiences I've had. And all this is on top of a surprisingly well developed story with great characters. It's basically a hospital drama with recurring patients and doctors, an overarching plot involving a specific disease that's being curing with rhythm treatments, and some adorable character interactions, all conveyed through the rhythm gameplay and great pixel art. It's just such a fantastic experience throughout, and I can't recommend it enough.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for What Remains of Edith Finch. The review says the following: Rating: 8/10 Played on: Steam Deck A great little exploration story game with a captivating mystery, beautiful visuals of the Pacific Northwest, and a surprise around every corner. The gameplay is varied, the story takes many twists and turns, but everything is done very effectively. I don't want to say too much, considering it's only 2 hours, so explaining much more would kind of ruin the experience. Just another really cool and mysterious adventure game I played with my girlfriend. :)
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Dispatch. The review says the following: Rating: 6/10 Played on: Steam Deck Okay, before everyone torches me to death for the number rating, I still enjoyed the game. I just don't think that it's perfect, and I personally don't think it's as revolutionary as a lot of folks are saying it is. That being said, it's a fun story game with surprisingly fun gameplay and an incredible visual style. My main problem with the game is derived from the characters, especially the female cast. You play as Robert, a sad, straight, lonely white guy. He doesn't have superpowers in this world full of heroes, he was just nepo-babied into being one from his rich dad and grandfather. Not only that, but he is the most attractive man of all time according to several different women at his new job, especially his boss and one of his employees. Immediately, this destroys any semblance of empathy I can have for this character. He is our main character, we're making decisions as him, we should be able to relate to him, which tells me that the target audience for this game is sad lonely guys who wish women were attracted to them without putting any work in.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review of UNBEATABLE. The review says the following: Rating: 10/10 Played on: Steam Deck I started off this year with a HIGH bar for other games to try and cross. UNBEATABLE is one of my new favorite games of all time. Since learning about it and playing the demo a few months ago, I knew it was going to be good, but this game exceeded all expectations. "Music is illegal and you do crimes" may be the most effective tagline for a video game ever. I was sold immediately on premise alone, but the Trigger-style anime cutscenes, fantastically bold character designs, a banger punk rock soundtrack, and fun, dynamic rhythm gameplay were all added layers of sellability for me. All of these aspects were present throughout my playthrough, alongside an emotional story, a sense of humor perfectly aligned with my own, and powerfully shocking twists, story and gameplay-wise. You basically get two games in one here. First, there's beefy 10-15 hour story mode with charming and lovable characters, a complex and emotional story, cute little minigames and different gameplay styles, and a BOP of a soundtrack, with plenty of variety. Then, when you're ready to sink your teeth into the rhythm game itself, there's a whole arcade mode with a massive amount of content. Charts for 5-6 difficulties on each song, a whole host of remixes and guest tracks, and over a hundred achievements and tasks for exploring every aspect of the game. I've barely scratched the surface of this mode, and will be continuing to play it for a while yet, I'm sure, as the rhythm gameplay is addicting and incredibly satisfying to get good at.
10/10: Deltarune, Life is Strange Remastered, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, Ico 9/10: Metroid Fusion, Metal Gear Solid 2, Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door HD, Metroid: Samus Returns, Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, Pseudoregalia, Rhythm Heaven Fever 8/10: Mouthwashing, The Wolf Among Us, Ace Attorney Investigations 2, Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memories, SMG1 + SMG2, Final Fantasy V, Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy, Final Fantasy IV, Vampire Survivors, this game will end in 205 clicks., Mario & Luigi: Brothership, Ace Attorney Investigations 1, Earthbound Beginnings, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Etrian Odyssey III HD, 30 Birds, Pokémon HeartGold, Firewatch, Cobalt Core 7/10: Pokémon Legends Z-A, Catherine: Full Body, Mario Kart World, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, Persona Q2, Persona 4 Dancing, Professor Layton and the Last Specter 6/10: Everhood 2, Fortune Street, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Warriors: Abyss 5/10: Persona5: The Phantom X, Kirby's Pinball Land 4/10: Persona 3 Dancing, Persona 5 Dancing 3/10: N/A 2/10: N/A 1/10: The Hundred Line Last Defense Academy
The Hundred Line Last Defense Academy's logo
The Sayonara Wild Hearts logo (again)
The Sayonara Wild Hearts logo
The Mouthwashing logo
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD's Logo
The 30 Birds Logo
The Ico boxart.
The Earthbound logo
The Unbeatable logo
The logo for Life Is Strange Remastered
The logo for DELTARUNE
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Persona5: The Phantom X. The review says the following: Rating: 5/10 Played on: Steam No, I did not typo the name and forget a space, that is how the game's title is officially formatted. Look it up, it makes me unreasonably upset. Regrettably, this is the game I easily spent the most hours in this year. It is the longest amount of time a gacha game has ever had its hooks in me, and I'm not proud of it. Usually, I play a game like this for a few weeks at most, before getting bored and moving on with my life. Unfortunately for me, this game came out right when I was about to start my job, and Atlus made this game so. God. Damn. Addicting. My gaming routine for several months wascoming home from work and playing this game for upwards of 2-3 hours at a time, then playing whatever other game I was in the middle of for a bit afterwards. That's why when June came around, the number of games I was beating and reviewing each month dropped off so hard. I was still playing stuff, arguably more than usual, it was all just being dumped into here. But... why though? Why did I log 160 hours into this game over only 3 or 4 months? Multiple reasons, really. First of all, the gameplay was genuinely fun for a long while. The battle system is simpler than a real Persona game, because its a gacha game, but the synergies and combos you could pull off with each character's limited skillset was insanely creative and fun to pull off. I rarely found myself fast forwarding or auto-battling, because I was genuinely having fun thinking through turns and comboing weak points of enemies to do the most damage possible per turn.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition. The review says the following: Rating: 9/10 Played on: Switch So... you know how I said Vampire Survivors was addicting and hooked me for nearly a hundred hours? This game is the reason I stopped playing it as frequently. It overtook that slot for me and streamrolled my free time. Easily my most played game on my Switch this year, even including all the new Switch 2 titles. I played the original game on Wii U a bit when it game out, but didn't really do much past beating the story mode and about half of the adventure map. I was feeling nostalgic for it, so I picked up the definitive edition and fell in love with the game in a way that I never did with the Wii U release. I'd played more Zelda games since then, and I've played even more after I binged this game for the first half of 2025. I understood a lot more about the characters, their backstories and personalities, and even though the story is nothing to write home about, I enjoyed it a lot more than I remembered based on my newfound familiarity with the characters. The gameplay here is absolute peak dopamine. Much like Vampire Survivors, slaying thousands of enemies in just a few minutes is just pure, unabashed fun. And with all of the unique characters, weapons, specials, abilities, items, and much, much more, the game is always throwing something new your way. While the story mode is great, the main timesink is the adventure mode, with nearly ten full fledged maps with hundreds of challenges to conquer. Nearly every square unlocks something, whether it's a new character, weapon, upgrade, item, crafting material, costume, or something else I'm probably forgetting. There are hundreds, if not thousands of hours of content in this game, and you can play through it in practically any way you want to.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Vampire Survivors. The review says the following: Rating: 8/10 Played on: Switch It took me a while to finally play Vampire Survivors, but when I finally did, it had its hooks in me immediately. For a few months at the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, this was my comfort game to throw time into after playing something else and getting bored of it for the day. Somehow, this racked up nearly a hundred hours, 100% completion of the main game and a few of the DLC expansions, and still no vampires. I haven't played the Contra or Castlevania DLC yet, which is part of why I kept delaying the review of this. However, its been a while since I've touched the game, and I feel that a majority of my hours have already been logged, so maybe I'll come back to those and review them seperately later. Until then, what I did play was awesome. The gameplay loop of surviving as long as you can to unlock more ways to survive longer next time was simple, repetitive, and absolutely addicting. The pure amount of... THINGS to do in this game is staggering. I was surprised at every twist and turn in the main game, with items and abilities unlocking that reshaped the entire way the game worked showing up nearly constantly. There is a near constant dopamine rush as the numbers go up, your attacks get bigger, and the entire screen fills up with magical explosions and damage trackers. I even got the game to crash on me several times because I simply had too much stuff on screen at once.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster. The review says the following: Rating: 8/10 Played on: Steam I'll never understand why more people don't talk about this one. FFV is such a good entry in the series, and shows the evolution of the Final Fantasy formula in such a stellar way. It has the perfect fusion of FFIII and FFIV's best elements: unique, individual characters with distinct personalities, goals, and trauma, in addition to an incredibly customizable job system to let each character be molded into exactly what you need them to be. It perfectly fits the arguement that each Final Fantasy is better than the last for the pre-3D era (barring FFII that game was a disaster). While the characters aren't quite as plentiful as the playable cast of FFIV, the ones that are here are a lot of fun. Bartz is your classic happy-go-lucky hero who just kind of stumbles into the adventure, Lenna is the princess who loves her pet dragon, Faris is the rough and tough pirate, and Galuf is the old man mentor type. Krile is... also here. The fact that each of them have unique outfits for every job really adds to each character. I mean, hard to beat the idea of the crazy old man Galuf ripping off his shirt to become a Berserker and punching goblins and fish into oblivion.
A screenshot of my Steam checkout page purchasing Rhythm Doctor, Bits & Bops, and UNBEATABLE, all games that have come out within the past few days.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review of Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy. The review says the following: Rating: 8/10 Played on: 3DS This was a great final entry in the Layton anthology. It manages to continue the legacy of what makes the series what it is, while expanding it to a global adventure of epic proportions and evolving game mechanics to new heights. It’s a bittersweet, melancholic journey about tradition, breaking tradition, and forging a new path forward, ironically describing the future of the Layton series perfectly. The story was great, and kept me interested throughout the game’s 25 hour runtime; an impressive feat for the longest entry in the series. The pacing slowed down a little bit during the long Chapter 4 egg hunt, which was essentially 5 mini Layton games in one, but there were enough plot teases and interesting environments to not slow the game down too much. The mysteries were well foreshadowed, and it was a great conclusion to the overarching plot line through the entire prequel trilogy. It evolves Layton as a character further, being the first time that he feels blind-sighted by a trademark ending twist. It provides a satisfying arc for Emmy, who mostly just existed in the previous two games, and follows in Miracle Mask’s footsteps when it comes to sympathetic villains. There were good emotional moments, especially in the ending cutscenes, but they never quite hit the highs of Unwound Future in my opinion.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Pokémon Legends: Z-A. The review says the following: Rating: 7/10 Played on: Switch 2 Modern Pokémon continues to exist in the nebulous space of fun, but not good. Did I have a great time battling with my favorite little guys? Yes. Do I think this game is the peak Pokémon experience? No. The gameplay loops starts off pretty interesting, especially with the new battle system. I like the way that it makes different moves more or less viable than they are in the main series, and running around commanding your Pokémon is very fun. The big Rogue Mega Evolution boss battles are interesting, but get a little tedious and HP spongy later in the game. Wild zones are an interesting concept, but with the whole game being in one city, the areas don't feel very distinct. Most of my problems with the game are due to the incredibly small scope of the environment. Lumiose City is pretty big, sure, but spending 50 plus hours exploring the same buildings and alleyways with zero changes in environment gets really boring really quickly. Especially when most of the fun, unique Pokémon you can encounter are locked until much later in the game. I was so excited to use some of my favorite Pokémon like Heliolisk and Falinks, but you just can't encounter them for over half of the main story, and then they're outclassed by all your early game Pokémon from the start of the game. I've learned that I prefer to adapt my teambuilding as I go in these games, especially after playing so much Persona, so to see that very little effort has been put in to make it easier to edit your team as you go whie aso locking so many Pokémon in the late game is extremely annoying.
A screenshot of my tumblr review for Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask. The review says the following: Rating: 7/10 Played on: 3DS Stop me if you’ve heard this one before about a video game franchise: Professor Layton had a rough transition to 3D. Miracle Mask is definitely an early 3DS title, and it shows. From the uncannily motion captured 3D models to the stiff, over animated expressions, this game is… ugly. The juxtaposition between the beautifully rendered backgrounds typical of the series and the beautiful 2D cutscenes alongside the awful 3D cutscenes and character models gives the game a weird dissonant feeling throughout, which especially sucks when this is the most character driven Layton game yet. I loved the story here. The plot doesn’t focus on the who or the how of the mystery, explaining, instead highlighting the why. We delve into Layton’s past, showing him as an imperfect teenager with flaws. We learn to care about a supporting cast of characters. There are even loose ends that are left loose to tee up the final game in the prequel trilogy. I’d argue this is right behind Unwound Future in the story and character department. Unfortunately, the visuals aren’t the only thing bringing it down. It’s clear that the transition to the more narrow audience of the 3DS had the developers rethinking the puzzle design too. Many of this game’s puzzles aren’t logic problems, clever wordplay, or unique math equations, but are instead more gamified. Solving mazes, horseback riding minigames where you dodge barrels, puzzles where reaction time is required, dungeon crawling, using the gyroscope of the 3DS, etc. While I can understand the reasoning behind these choices, it makes for a less cohesive experience.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2. The review says the following: Rating: 8/10 Played on: Switch 2 Let's get one thing out of the way first. Galaxy 1 is my favorite game of all time, and Galaxy 2 is also really really good. This review is specifically rated in regards to the Switch port released last month. I love both of these games, so the score doesn't decrease too much for all my problems with the ports, but my problems are significant enough to warrent a decrease. I won't be talking about why I love these games, this will just be a quick dunking on how bad these ports are, even in comparison to the 3D All Stars port 5 years ago. Galaxy 1 is actually pretty decent, mostly because it's practically identical to the 3D All Stars port. The upscaled textures and resolution are great, the new storybook chapter is cute, it's mostly just Galaxy again. There are some cutscenes where the lighting looks a little strange, but overall, it's a decent port. Not for $40, but fine if you've somehow never experienced this masterpiece. Galaxy 2 on the other hand... how did they mess this up so bad? The storybook chapters are the only worthwhile addition here, and they're fine. Nothing super groundbreaking, just the origins of Lubba, who I didn't really care too much about in the first place. Otherwise, this port seemed pretty intent on removing content, and making the experience worse. Most aggregiously, the Banktoad is gone. Really cool feature on the Wii to put extra star bits into and then transfer over to other files. It was really helpful for speedruns, prevented grinding for The Perfect Run at the end of the game, and was overall just a neat little feature. I don't know why save file interaction was deemed so difficult in this port that it was outright removed, and replaced with an amiibo shill, when the amiibo gives you a grand total of 5 star bits when scanned. FIVE. This made me way more upset than it should have.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth. The review says the following: Rating: 7/10 Played on: 3DS It may have taken me over a year after beating the first Persona Q, but I finally finished this game. And it’s… not as good. Still fun, don’t get me wrong, but I preferred Q1 in almost every aspect. First of all, let’s talk story. As a spin-off with the memory loss/it-was-all-a-dream trope to make it ambiguously canon, the overarching plot isn’t too important here, but they still tried their best to make the crossover aspect make sense in Persona lore while pretending PQ1 never happened. I would’ve preferred to see the two games be a bit more connected, but oh well. With the cast of Persona 3, 4, and 5 here, surely this will lead to an epic story of crazy proportions, right? No, you’re mostly just helping one girl gain self worth, which is arbitrarily extended to the general public near the end of the game. And it’s all done through watching movies? I’m all for fiction affecting reality, but this story was pretty silly overall, and didn’t hit the same way that the first Q game did.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Pseudoregalia. The review says the following: Rating: 9/10 Played on: Steam In an era where most companies don't make very many movement-based 3D platformers anymore, I'm glad indie developers are still here to carry the torch and create fantastic schmovement games (very real and technical genre name). Pseudoregalia is an incredibly smooth and well put together 3D Metroidvania, with satisfying mechanics, a gorgeous retro aesthetic, and an atmospherically catchy soundtrack. Even before getting all of the upgrades, it's extremely satisfying to just move around. Controlling Sybil is fun and intuitive, and most of the upgrades you get throughout the game to unlock more moves and progress slot in very naturally to your existing moves. I even managed to take a pretty long break from the game and got the hang of the fully upgraded moveset fairly quickly. My one complaint is probably about the combat. It's not the central focus, and the game definitely is aware of that, so it's not throwing you in combat situations left and right, which is a good thing. However, a lot of the upgrades have to do with combat, making them feel slightly underwhelming at times, because the combat takes such a backseat. Things like charging your attack for more damage and a ranged projectile don't feel very substantial compared to the movement focused upgrades. This overall isn't too big of a deal, but it's something to consider. Otherwise, I really don't have anything else negative to say. My playthrough clocked in around 8 hours, which is the perfect length for a Metroidvania game in my opinion, and I was having fun the whole way through. I'll definitely be listening to the soundtrack for a while afterwards, it's so peak.
A picture of the Drawfee Youtooz pen holder figure on a wood desk.
A screenshot of my Tumblr review for Sayonara Wild Hearts. The review says the following: Rating: 9/10 Played on: Steam You know, they weren't kidding when they said this was a playable pop album. What a wild and unique experience. There are so many different rhythm mechanics that perfectly match the music, a bunch of banger songs, extremely satisfying collectables, and, of course, lesbians. The soundtrack reminds me of a lot of the music that I've recently grown quite fond of, with some future funk, synthetic pop, and plenty more. If you like bands like CHVRCHES or Magdalena Bay I highly recommend at least listening to the soundtrack. For a rhythm game, it's surprisingly accessible. Typically, games like this can rely on you having near perfect timing to even just pass the level. This game is relatively easy, with some difficult spots here and there, but whenever you die, you just spawn a few seconds back with a broken combo. Makes it a bit annoying when going for gold ranks on all the stages, but makes just getting through them a breeze if you just want to experience what the game has to offer. I ended up gold ranking every stage, and it was quite satisfying to find some sneaky collectibles and areas to rack up a bunch of points in each level. I don't want to say too much more so as to not spoil the surprises and the experience, but I encourage anyone to check this game out, not just fans of rhythm games. If you need more convincing, it's gay as hell and Queen Latifah is the narrator. If that doesn't sell you, I don't know what will.