Recent reviews by DarkChaplain

A great take on the Metroidvania / Souls formulae that hits the sweet spot in terms of tone and playtime. No zone overstays its welcome (unless you're impatient like me and keep jumping into pendulums, of course....) and the atmosphere and lore are highly intriguing. The gameplay mechanics are instantly familiar and surprisingly tight.

After completing the game 100%, I'm right back in for a second, faster playthrough to challenge myself a little more.

While the atmosphere could well be darker and bleaker from the start, and the performance of Unreal Engine 4 is dreadful as you might expect, this Playable Teaser is actually rather promising.

Mechanically, it's pretty much on point for what I'd want from a remake that takes cues from modern technology, including some innovations in the combat area by taking inspiration from the likes of For Honor and Kingdom Come: Deliverance; while the combat system itself feels a little clunky and slow right now, that's precisely the kind of thing that'd be best sped up for harder encounters down the line / when venturing out of the comfort zone(s).

Design-wise, I quite like it, although again, desaturating the environment a tad and reducing bloom would go a long way towards calming people's chest areas. And while our protagonist is a chatterbox, especially in the intro, and some of the dialogue feels stilted and like it is pausing too much, the writing itself feels charming and engaging, especially when paired with well-done animations for NPCs.

I'm in, I'd like to see what THQ Nordic have up their sleeves for this project.

It's Darksiders, and that's a good thing.

It does what Darksiders does, with a different camera perspective and segregated levels, plus the option for co-op.
The visual design is on point, as expected from Airship Syndicate and Joe MAD, the music is phenomenal and the gameplay fun and fresh, or familiar in the case of War.

A decent enough Where's Waldo-like. It's quirky, lightweight and comedic. If you need to relax for a while, this one might be for you.

My big point of criticism would be how fiddly a lot of the lineart can be. A lot of small objects to be found here are very tricky to pin down simply because you can't really tell what they are in the first place - or that their drawings are so simplistic, with few lines used, that their likeness could be found in many spots.

It's fun, and worth playing through, but be aware that there's potential for frustration. Another bugbear would be that - once again - the DLC levels are right there on display, redirecting you to the store. It could be worse, but it once more makes the DLC feel like missing content rather than a bonus to look forward to.

Generally, the value of Slay the Spire is impressive. With a fourth character currently in Beta - at no charge - and plenty of well-balanced items and cards in the game, there's enough variety to keep things exciting without bloating the game like some other games tend to do (looking at you, Isaac!).

Instead of adding too many cards to the pool, StS has just enough for each character to offer various viable builds, without having any obviously bad cards in the game. Situational ones do exist, and some won't synergize with your current run at all, but outright bad? Nope. As such, it is easy to appreciate the developers' work here.
If you have any interest in card game adventures, figuring out how to best approach tricky fights with the cards you are dealt, then this game is clearly something you should consider.

Even without any real desire to beat the game's rising difficulty Ascensions on each character, I find myself coming back to Slay the Spire even after 70 hours. It's quick, engaging and the daily mode alone offers a nice challenge on the regular.

If, down the line, the developers decide to create a proper, full expansion to the game, with new environments, enemies, potentially mechanics or even alternative routes through the Spire, I'll be sure to open my wallet for it.

Having fallen in love with the original Guacamelee! to the point of beating it at least three times to 100% completion, including in the Super Turbo Championship Edition, I had high expectations for Guacamelee! 2.

I was not disappointed. The gameplay is still as snappy as ever, despite additions and changes (most notably the way projectiles are(n't) affected by certain moves anymore), and the new abilities are great fun (if a bit fiddly in the case of the Eagle Shot - you'll get used to it before long, but it can feel a bit counterintuitive at first).
Most excitingly, the Pollo Form is actually viable for a good deal of the game! Yes, turning into a chicken and bringing doom upon all things undead works better than ever, and the chicken-only traversal/combat skills open up a few interesting avenues for the game. Getting to visit a secretive underground illuminati society of chicken was also a cool and funny aspect.

Thematically, Guacamelee! 2 follows up on what the first game did, while introducing the concept of the Mexiverse, rushing Juan through various timelines, with the Darkest Timeline being the primary stage of the game. The Chosen Juan has new enemies and bosses to face throughout, ranging from reminiscent of the original game to entirely fresh. Enemy variety has been expanded or changed, with a few of the more specific types from the first game only appearing briefly. New enemy behavior mechanics are introduced, some annoyingly mean enemies reprise their roles to make Juan's life harder (looking at you, explodey balls and undodgeable groundpounders!), mixing everything into a nice pot of chili that should keep you entertained and challenged in equal measure.

There are some negative aspects to talk about - though whether you consider them truly noteworthy may depend on your own sense of humor. Guacamelee! has always been tongue in cheek to begin with, with many background elements like lucha-advertisements being filled with pop culture references and silly jokes throughout dialogue, but Guacamelee! 2 can be a bit more on the nose with this stuff.
While hopping timelines, Juan ends up in various (indie) game inspired worlds, if only for brief moments; the first one that stood out to me was one based on Limbo, which felt super cool. Beating up a car in homage to Street Fighter was fun as well, but other worlds can be seen as a bit too meme-inspired - something that the game itself actually recognizes later on, throwing you into the Dankest Timeline and commenting on and citing fake(?) player reactions to the chosen comedy style. "It'd be great if not for the memes", for example.
Whether you enjoy meme-culture and pop-references may have a larger impact on your enjoyment here than with the first game, at the very least. Though, thankfully, the general writing is still rather hilarious and imaginative.

Additionally, I had the feeling that there were more instant death traps in this one, compared to the Super Turbo Championship Edition. While clearly delineated as such, they've made certain sections of dungeons and puzzle rooms in particular a bit more reliant on trial and error than I expected. They're no deal breaker, and usually follow on from checkpoints, but they can be a tad frustrating depending on your level of play.

One other point I'm lamenting is that a part of the game is locked behind DLC, preventing 100% completion without buying the add-on. It's not that the price is egregious, but it did feel like a let-down to reach the Proving Grounds area in the game, having it clearly marked on the map, just to be told at the entrance by yet another Goat-Shaman that you'll have to pay your dues and open the storepage. The challenge rooms in Hell back in Guacamelee! 1 were some of the most challenging content in the game, and I'd expect the Proving Grounds to follow suit, but I wish they had implemented it in a different manner. Instead of teasing the player with the area, they should have locked it off seamlessly until the DLC was purchased, not let you enter a few steps and kick you out.

In fact, the Proving Grounds DLC's existence is the reason I have yet to complete the game; I felt too miffed to buy it straight away, but am unwilling to beat the final boss/section before getting my hands on it. I'll pick it up at the next possible sale, but until then, I've had my fill and will remain patient - thankfully, Guacamelee! is like a friend you'll want to come back to revisit before long, and I'm sure I'll get another full playthrough out of it after all is said and done .

Guacamelee! 2 proved to me that the concept, style and most importantly gameplay of the original game would still be exciting a few years later, and that the plot could be reasonably continued / spun off from to provide further installments. The writers at Drinkbox Studios also had enough fuel to go on, and the level design is once again a perfect blend of simplicity achieved through its polygonal platform style and imaginative by virtue of its backdrops and overall challenge difficulty.

I am hugely satisfied by the game, and believe that fans of the original owe it to themselves to play the follow-up as well. Newcomers will probably still be better off starting with the STCE instead; while starting here wouldn't be a mistake, you'll better appreciate the additions and jokes after the first game. Though frankly, both are of an equally high quality grade to begin with, and you should feel right at home coming from one to the other.

Lara Croft Go is surprisingly thematic; Solving the various tombs feels reminiscent of the classic Tomb Raider adventures, if - necessarily - more limited in scope and gameplay than the classics.

While not boasting many enemy types, for example (and I would certainly have liked seeing a bear in here!), they are made to be intuitive to navigate around while solving puzzles. Only the DLC let me down a tad here, as the missions present different environments that may easily have swapped more than an enemy's paintjob. However, none of this took away from the fun of the game; it just made me wonder what could have been improved or expanded on, had it been a PC title initially, rather than developed for touch devices.

Speaking of touch, the controls take a bit of getting used to. Most of the time I was dragging my mouse in the movement directions, which was totally fine for me (though a gamepad may have been smoother), but moving pillars would still require clicking little arrows next to them (which, in at least two instances early on, I almost didn't notice), and in stressful puzzles, you may end up accidentally swiping the mouse to move Lara accordingly, just to realize you didn't take the pillar with you and will have to start over from the last checkpoint. It's a relic of the launch platform that may have been made more intuitive for PC use. For reference, the gamepad controls would have you hold Y / Triangle while moving in the desired direction.
Generally, I was surprised by the lack of use for the right mouse button. Interacting with the environment may have made more sense using that, especially if it is just flipping a lever on your current space.

However, as negative as it may sound, these were only small hurdles to adjust to initially, and thoughts on how a good game could have been made to feel more natural on the PC platform. I don't intend them to turn you off from giving the game a try, but to prepare you for the first few levels before you're used to them. Things work out relatively quickly.

The puzzles themselves range from easy to rather challenging, with only a few real trial and error ones in here, which is cool to see. Moving a bunch of pillars in a confined space to shuffle them into the right order certainly took the longest for me, though I was able to do so without enemies in said puzzle room. Generally, your options are well-limited to not confuse you too much, with decoys being easily discernible if you stop to think - which the game allows you to do even with a boulder rolling towards you. To my surprise, I didn't feel less threatened by those boulders, lizards or the giant boss of the main game, just because I could stop and hold, as enemies and traps only react when Lara does. They still add a good deal of pressure to not screw up your next steps and think on your feet. The tools at your disposal are always clearly visible on the current screen, too.

Honestly, I don't think there was a puzzle room in here that I was really frustrated by, even though some had me stuck a bit longer than others. The developers managed to put together an intuitive puzzler here, which I applaud.

As a bonus, you can also collect various doodads throughout the levels, with each act granting a costume from the Tomb Raider series; whether you want the Angel of Darkness design or Wetsuit Lara, the game's got a wide range of low poly style player character models to unlock. It's a nice touch for fans of the wider franchise, if a bit finicky to find all those gempots sometimes. Thankfully, you can easily see and select missions you missed something at.

Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised by Lara Croft Go, and can appreciate the wealth of positive coverage it has gotten since release. Yeah, I'd agree that this was one of the actually good mobile games at the time, and am happy to see it on PC as well. If you're into puzzle games, you should consider picking this one up.

While incredibly short, to the point of being able to finish it leisurely within 45 minutes, I actually enjoyed DareSora's first part enough to be looking forward to the other, upcoming episodes.

It does rather well presenting the reader with a mystery, building up drama and then rushing straight to the lunatic conclusion, which offers more questions, some hints, and insane "fun", competently voice acted. The premise and execution certainly have me intrigued and I didn't have any trouble just breezing through it in one sitting, without getting distracted. The pacing generally works out well, especially seeing how this could be viewed as a prologue episode to the VN.

Where it falls a tad short is with its characterizations of three of the four club members, only two plus one of which you are able to meet on a single playthrough, due to start-of-game-randomization. There simply isn't enough time to develop these three characters properly, especially since they prove little more than hangers-on in the group scenes, where the focus is firmly on the protagonist and Mio, the guaranteed character. With only a single choice in the novel, you'll only be able to elaborate a little more on one of the three secondary characters per playthrough, although save/load shenanigans are possible, as these choices do not appear to influence the story beyond the impressions the scenes will give the reader.

On the flipside, I thought Mio was rather well-developed and I took a liking to her almost immediately. Her role in the novel going forward is going to be interesting to follow. In that sense, I felt it easy to relate to the protagonist's views. Generally, though, I wish that the other characters had been constructed a little more like Mio's role, at least in terms of building familiarity and depth of relationships, especially since the story flashes ahead and skips a few days at one point - time which could have been used to fill in exactly the kind of scenes that would have benefitted the cast.

But then again, the brief nature of the story as a whole, with its relative lack of excess fat, mirrors the opening scene quite clearly. It strips the story of meandering scenes, skips chances for boredom, and reaches its twist with fanfares. I can applaud the author's intent here.

Looking at the main menu / banner art, I am certainly hopeful for future episodes to realize more of DareSora's inherent potential. I'll be keeping my eyes and ears open for further releases. As it stands, with only this first, very brief episode, though, I can't say that I didn't get my money's worth out of it, or that I didn't feel satisfied by the way the story was delivered. While I certainly have questions and would be somewhat upset if they decided to not release any more than this, it'd have more to do with the story's potential being snuffed, rather than dissatisfaction with the first episode. Just realize what you're in for and take it on it's own merits.

The brilliance of this game is already self-evident. Nothing else needs to be said about it.

A fantastically tense, unsettling game. I have a few technical nitpicks (like not having separate audio sliders and some detection of the interaction-boxes), but damn that first ride was satisfying.

Seeing how there's still countless endings and different choices to make after how much time I put in so far for a single playthrough, I'm excited to dive right back into New Game+ and Broken Memories.