Steam Review - I'm not proud of that one, but also I'm not proud of this game …

Okay, I have nothing to say here. Asset flip, avoid like the plague.
To quote my Steam review: "I'll leave this review the same way the dev left the game - unfin"

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If someone tries to explain Genesis Noir to you, forget about it. There's no way one can convey the experience in a review, including myself. The short version of it is that this is an unique, haunting, profound artistic experience better experienced than described. It's not much in the sense of a traditional game, but that doesn't mean you should avoid it at all.

As a game, Genesis Noir is a straightforward point&click puzzle game. You mostly click on stuff, and hold the mouse button to navigate the environment, usually in a straight line. Sometimes there are 'tactile' puzzles that require you to push sliders, rotate knobs, that kind of stuff. It's pretty run-of-the-mill, nothing revolutionary in a gameplay sense, but fortunately, Genesis Noir is more than just gameplay. When it comes to presentation, narrative and setting, it's absolutely a mind-blowing masterpiece.

It's hard to break each of those elements, but I'll try my best. Visually, the game is stunning. It has a coherent artstyle that is utilized to it's fully extent here. "Everything looks gorgeous all the time" is a great way of describing it. It's hard to remember the last time I paused so often to take screenshots of my gaming session. It's a commitment to an artstyle that elevates it from a game towards an artpiece. Calling it anything other than art is undermining it's merits. To accompany such outstanding visual spectacle, we have a soundtrack that ebbs and flows between naturalistic background music to acid jazz in a heartbeat, but never separated from the vibe of the moment and the action on the screen. It's effortlessly enjoyable.

All of that is tied together by an incredible narrative arc that explores questions of human character and motivation, evolution, cosmology, astronomy, physics, fate, multiverses, and so much more that it's hard to even believe what I'm writing. I just finished playing it and I can barely believe how much ground it covers, and in such a grounded way. With everything else going on, it didn't need to go that hard on it's themes and narrative, but it does, and it's better for it.

So, if someone tells you Genesis Noir is an interactive, linear story with very little gameplay to boot, they are not lying. It's one way to interpret the game, that while not entirely wrong, is short-sighted. Don't use that as a reason to avoid this game. By all means, buy it, play it, and gawk at it. The regular price ($15) is fine, but it frequently is on sale ($3 as I write it), making it an absolute steal. Highly recommended.

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NSLT was a really good surprise. While I expected Bubsy 3D, what I got was more akin to A Hat in Time than I imagined.

Now, the difference is that NSLT is a much more simple game. Movement is pretty limited, and so is difficulty. Without such an expressive moveset as the one you have in AHIT (or SM64 for that matter), the devs can't ramp up the difficulty so much. Based on that and on the writing and character design, it's very clear that NSLT is aimed at children, but it can still be a funny game if you give it a chance and tame your expectations.

Graphically, it's fine. Probably could run on a PS2 with optimizations, or on a PS3 without any issues. There are no crazy graphic effects, but the worlds are all pretty diverse and creative, which is good. Music was generally enjoyable while I was playing and fit the mood, but nothing to write home about. Writing is cringy, but for the audience it's aiming it fits like a glove.

Each world is divided into levels and puzzles, with levels being 3D gauntlets, 2D gauntlets, or 2D auto-runners. In each level you need to collect 4 pages - one for clearing the level, one for getting 300 coins (frequently you'll find 500-900 coins per level if you look hard enough), one for a hidden page, and one for collecting the L-U-C-K-Y letters spread around the level. A lot of the levels rely on gimmicks, whcih overall keeps the game fresh. In that sense, it's less objective-based (such as AHIT or SM64) and more akin to Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time, which is refreshing. Puzzles are divided into block-sliding puzzles, which feel unnecessary, and marble puzzles, which are Super Monkey Ball-ish and I didn't really mind. The bosses were generally top-notch, as were the worlds you visit.

The weaker areas are the story - where you see your guardian friends only two times, in the opening cutscene and in the ending cutscene (lol) - and the combat. Like, enemies ARE simple, but the number of times I needed the burrow dive to defeat an enemy, only for it to not connect properly, was too many. Burrowing is a cool movement mechanic, but not a good combat mechanic. Movement overall is also very limited to double-jump -> tail swipe -> burrow dive, but burrow dive makes you lose altitude too quickly and ends up handicapping traversal.

All in all, it's a simple and funny game that will appeal immensely to children, and scratch that itch if you're looking for a classic 3D collect-a-thon platformer. It feels a bit too thin to justify the $30 price tag, but I would happily buy it at half that price.

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American Fugitive is an endearing mid-game. It's fun enough that you want to keep playing it until you beat, but not good enough for you to remember it after beating it. It's bad to the point you wonder why you're playing, but not bad enough for you to stop playing. It's a game that absolutely deserves to be bought on a sale, or even full price if you want to 100% it, but that has no chance of becoming a classic or to be remarked among the greatest games of the year.

In short, it's a throwback to the top-down GTAs, but adds enough flavor to be its own thing. The camera perspective, missions structure, open world, car-robbing, spray painting, and simplified gun combat from GTA 1 and 2 remain, but we're also introduced to house-robbing mechanics, skill trees, lockpicking, chest digging, lots of stores, clothes-swapping, pawning loot, and many gimmicks such as towing cars, operating cranes and forklifts, etc. Those are not revolutionary additions, but they mostly work in the game's favor. The problem is that those systems are too simplified or irrelevant to really matter, and most missions are too simple to take advantage of those systems. It's nothing that drags the game down, but never really helps it to soar high.

It's similar to graphics. The top-down camera perspective is familiar, and looking at individual models show that they are detailed, but then the world as a whole is really generic and unremarkable. You start to learn some of the map by heart after traversing it so much between missions, but it's never varied enough for you to really know where you are, which is a shame. It's good individual asset quality, but poor general art direction. Sound is similar - individual sound effects and songs make sense and have interesting production values, but once you quit the game, it's very hard to remember any of it. The lack of voice acting really hurts here, because the game tries really hard to tell a serious story (it's almost cute to see) but then the delivery is kind of slapstick.

Again, there are many negatives in the game, but they are not enough to justify a thumbs down. This is pure stupid brainless mid-level fun, and I'm fine with that

This is it. Elden Ring was a game I won from Vasharal on Taleplay, and I immediately got scared. I mean, how can you not? I never played any FromSoftware game, and the only souls-like games I've played were 2D, probably Hollow Knight and Moonscars. Elden Ring is so widely acclaimed that you can't help but feel anxious by the thought of finally getting to play it, right? It's similar to how I felt when I won Red Dead Redemption 2 from xxxka. And while I played RDR2 to death, racking in 144 hours on it, by the time I was over with Elden Ring I had played it for even longer - 153 hours, roughly. While I only got 40/42 achievements possible, this is because I messed up with one of the endings and getting it will require another playthrought -- which I want to do in the future. But for all practical purposes, I consider ER completed for me.

Now, where to start? I don't know. There's nothing about Elden Ring that hasn't been said already by more competent people, so I'll focus on my experience playing the game. The first thing that comes to mind is disorientation - the game is deep with its systems, but vague with its lore and narrative. It's simple in it's objective, yet deep in how you achieve it, be it through combat options, exploration options, or anything else. It's so much thrown at you at all times, regardless of whether you understand it or not. Which is really jarring at times, but also contribute to the feeling of 'wow' every time you turn a corner and witness something magical - a new location, a new monster, a new weapon.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what these moments are, but when Elden Ring goes big, it goes big. Seeing Liurnia for the first time. Taking the elevator to Siofra River. Fighting Radahn. Those are moments that get etched in your memory, and they refuse to go. When it is at its best, Elden Ring is close to perfect.

But of course, as with any open world game, it has some bloat. While the overworld is beautiful, fighting bosses repeated times get old very quickly. The first time you fight a Tree Spirit, it's wild and chaotic and nerve-wrecking and has such high stakes. By the time you're fighting it for the 8th time, but this time it hits like a truck and spews Scarlet Rot and there's an edge around the arena, it's just boring. Similarly with the Catacombs and Caves - the first time you're shot in the face by a trap, or find that the way forward is under a lift, is pure bliss. When you enter your 50th catacomb, you just want it to be done.

Elden Ring gets a rep for being both the easiest and the hardest FromSoft game out there. The easiest because you have so many tools to aid you in your journey - most instances where I was stuck in a boss fight was solved by summoning my favorite Spirit Ashes. The hardest because if you decide not to use those ashes, some bosses are pretty unforgiving. Everyone knows Malenia, but I also suffered a lot in the hands of Maliketh, Bell-Calling Hunters, Death Rite Birds, and the Black Knife Assassins, to name a few. But that feeling of finally 'getting' it, and triumphing over strong foes is such a blast. Some of the enemies that gave me that feeling include the Draconic Tree Knight outside Maliketh's arena (no summons, no cheese - just learning patterns until I defeated him no-hit), the first Crucible Knight in the evergaol, the evergaol Bloodhound Knight - almost all fights that force you to fight without summons were a personal triumph, unless I had to cheese them (Bell-Calling Hunters and Putrid Tree Spirits, I have no patience for you). In the end, you can mostly modulate your difficulty by skipping optional bosses and leveraging summons for the mandatory ones.

As I neared the end of the game, I started to feel really sad, because it's such an immense and entertaining world to be a part of. I'm still kind of sad that I mostly got to try one type of build, which is a Curved Greatsword powerstance build (with BHF and Morgott's Cursed Sword), although I played a bit with powerstancing Greatswords (blood-Gargoyle and cold-Flamberge). In NG+, I definitely want to try at least a dagger build (Reduvia), a katana one (Rivers of Blood, maybe Moonveil, who knows Meteoric Ore Blade or Malenia), and a Sword of Night and Flame build (SONAF ftw!). It's such a rich game. Cosplaying with your favorite armor also rocks.

I think at this point I already lost focus and I'm rambling, so let me stop here. TL;DR, incredible game, incredible experience, one of those things that make you think "Yeah, it's worth being a gamer". I can't thank Taleplay and Vasharal enough for the opportunity. If someone wants to gift me Dark Souls 1, I promise I'll play it next LOL

Oh, and of course: the meme review!

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A very faithful remaster of the original, which is not a good thing.

Oddworld: Abe's Odyssee was a game known for being a poor puzzler disguising as a platformer. Controls are very stiff and unresponsive, with Abe moving on a grid and frequently coming short or long of jumps, throws, and literally any action. Gameplay involves a lot of dying and quick-loading. A lot. An entire lot. It is designed around it. If you love reaching a new screen and dying to each and every hazard as you figure out the 'solution' to it, you might have fun. I didn't. Particularly because even when I knew the solution to a screen, the clunky controls would usually prevent me from executing it.

Well, but those are all criticisms of the original right, but the remaster has better graphics so it has to be better, right? Wrong. I ran the original on GOG without any issues, yet this version is so poorly optimized that I could barely get double-digit FPS. On the same PC where I play Red Dead Redemption 2, Elden Ring and The Last of Us. With mods and minimal quality settings I was able to barely get 20 FPS, enough to play and beat it. The sound is mostly the same as the original, which means I want to punch Abe every time he has something to say with his nasal voice, and so many 'Simon Says' puzzles require you to hear the constant grunt from the world inhabitants and many, many, many fart jokes and noises.

It's honestly a game I regret having played and I wish no one else had to go through the same experience

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The last three point&click adventure games I had played before Technobabylon were all a bit underwhelming, so I started this game without expecting much. But honestly, I was blown away by how good it was.

So, it had a great and detailed pixel artstyle that is consistent throughout the whole game. Character portraits are the best part, animations I would say are the weakest since they sometimes feel a bit stiff, but all in all, the game exhudes artistry in its visual design. Sound design is also excellent, with the voice acting being particularly good in helping flesh out the game and the story. Environmental sound effects were mostly fine, maybe unremarkable for the most part, but I love the sound effects you have when interacting with technology (such as entering and exiting Trance). It helps to sell the universe.

Mechanically, the game is your standard fare point&click game, but the episodic structure helps to alleviate inventory bloat and keep puzzles and scenarios relatively well contained. Most chapters have an intro cutscene, then a playspace which hardly exceeds 3 or 4 screens and 7 or 8 items you need to use, followed by an outro cutscene. This helps to make the pacing excellent, avoids frustration with having open ended puzzles and not knowing whether you have all the necessary items, and cuts on backtracking, making the moment to moment gameplay really enjoyable. This is really good design and other point & click games would benefit from that. If I could ask for one additional feature, would be a way to highlight interactables in a screen without having to pixel hunt. That would help me avoid a few instances where I thought I had found everything I could interact with, when in reality I had missed a small prop on one corner of the screen.

But the real meat of the game is the writing. Everything I've written so far are good things the game offers, but that wouldn't hold the game alone. The writing, the universe, the theming, the context, those things are enough to hold the game on its own. Heck, if there were books or movies set in this universe, I would consume them. It's such a well fleshed-out universe, and the plot utilizes it really well. I love the kind of small details that don't matter but help to flush out the world -- for instance, at one point, you can look at a world map and see the nations (or nation blocks) that are represented there. It's not reaaaaally that important from a gameplay perspective (it is one possible solution for a puzzle, but not mandatory), but hell, it was fun to see how the world looked like and imagine what chain of events led to this nation distribution and world order. Then you get small pieces of news that hint at world events, and all those things just help so much to make the world entirely believable. That was my favorite part.

The plot is mostly fine, characters are interesting and nuanced, but in the second half I felt the plot got too confusing and hard to follow, with a lot of twists. Not bad by any measures, but not my favorite element either.

TL;DR - if you are after a great universe setup, buy this immediately. If you're looking for a modern and streamlined point&click adventure, buy this immediately. If you're looking for an artistic passion project which doesn't compromise on gameplay or plot, buy this immediately. If you see anything from Wadjet Eye Games, you probably should buy it immediately

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TRI is a strong recommendation against. While the game is really creative and unconventional in a good way, the main game mechanics are still too janky to be fully enjoyable. Sometimes you understand exactly what you need to do, but struggles against the mechanics and the keyboard in order to be able to achieve what you want, which is one of the most frustrating things a game can do --- the challenge should be in figuring out the solution to a puzzle, not in executing it (at least not in a game like this -- maybe yes in a precision platformer, but not here).

If this was bad in the first 10 levels, wait until you get to level 11 and the whole light bending stuff. This is where you ragequite, believe me.

Now, don't get me wrong - this is a bold game. There are not a lot of first person puzzlers out there, and TRI is entirely capable of standing out from the crowd on its own. The idea of conjuring triangles out of nowhere to use as ramps, platforms, ledges, of defying gravity, walking on walls - this is not something you see everyday in a game. And my guess is because this must be hard as hell to implement. Well, TRI tries its best to implement it, and what we have is a playable product that suffers a bit from the jank mentioned earlier. Triangles are drawn but sometimes they are not walkable on. Sometimes they invert gravity, other times they don't. It's a bit too inconsistent and finicky to be enjoyable.

Aesthetically, it's a pleasing game. There are no photo-realistic graphics, but the stylized graphics we get are well done and enjoyable, and effects are usually pretty good. Most importantly, given the surreal geometry of the levels, the graphics are pretty readable which is something the devs could easily have fumbled. The soundscape is very unique and engaging -- it's a mix of zen with tribal sounds, and soothing tunes that carry enough energy to keep you playing, but not enough to drain you. It's a good mix.

There are outlines of a plot there, but we all know we're not playing for that and it barely matters. It doesn't hurt either, and to be honest, the few times you glimpse the fox running away from you are usually enjoayble. For achievement hunters (not my case), getting all the idols is an absolute chore even with a guide, and without a guide some of them are near impossible to find. While some might find this an engaging challenge, it felt like busywork to me. The base game is already challenging enough alone, and the idols add to the janky challenge, which is not something I was particularly after.

TL;DR: janky first person puzzle platformer with great aesthetic, both in visuals and sounds, but with meh controls and a steep difficulty curve that could throw you off more people than it retains