Comprehensive player reviews, video game backlog slaying, and thoughts on video game culture.
Playing Koral left me feeling ambivalent. It is safe to say that Koral is best approached as a “zen game” in that it is a visually appealing yet simple game good for relaxation. Its dazzling graphics and mundane puzzle gameplay co-exist in discord. This game will only be a good fit for some and that’s okay.
Continue reading “Koral Review (Switch) – taking a deep dive”
Hyper Light Drifter is the game that finally won me over on pixel graphics. For a long time I thought it was just a modern gaming fad (“Retro style is so cool, bro!”). I had a hard time empathizing with pixel characters due to the lack of facial feature details. I understood the difficulty of pixel art design, but I was unaware of the depth and nuance that could truly be achieved with this medium– Until I met the Drifter.
Continue reading “Hyper Light Drifter (Switch SE) Review – a masterclass in “show, don’t tell” design”
Gris is a game I never knew I needed and yet wish had been developed years ago. Whomever had the idea for this game has a heart made of gold. Gris’s story is one that speaks most clearly to those who have experienced intense hardship or loss. It is meant to resonate somewhere deep within your soul, a quietly rising, inspirational call to the part of you that would never give up in the face of tragedy.
Continue reading “Gris Review (Switch) – an emotional masterpiece”
The World Next Door makes a great first impression with its unique character designs and interesting art style, which is a pleasant blend of mystical, rustic fantasy elements and modern urban sensibilities. The environments are vibrant and detailed, with lovingly designed NPCs inhabiting the world. However, there are not enough of them.
While absolutely beautiful, the world feels oddly empty as you move from area to area, even places such as the market that are typically a hub of activity in any other game. Just a handful of additional NPCs would have made the world of Emrys feel more alive. The World Next Door is a pretty package disguising a lack of functional content…
Little Dragons Café is much more polished than I was expecting, to be honest. It boasts a pleasant pallet of pastels and warm shades, with Wind Waker-ish cell shading that look as if drawn with colored pencil by a skilled artist. The inside of the café itself is a quaint, homey scene that could have been torn directly from a page in a children’s storybook tale, one of those picture books that both parents and kids adore.
Continue reading “Little Dragons Café Review (Switch) – a feel-good fairy tale for dragon lovers”
InnerSpace is different. It tries something novel with physics in a video game that is almost certainly worth your time to experience, if only to try something new that you won’t see in other games. Experimental titles like this are a breath of fresh air among the typical industry offerings. As is often the case with bold games taking risks, the feedback is divisive. InnerSpace is a very “love it or hate it” sort of game. If any of what you are about to read is interesting to you, it is likely that you would enjoy InnerSpace.
Continue reading “InnerSpace Review (Switch) – buckle up for something new”
Backlog Crusader 