It's stuck with me, it invaded my dreams last night, it's impactful like a knife tip is impactful. It's inescapable that at times it's sophomoric, but it's worth it for the more pervasive disturbia that ultimately rules.
As it is, it's a lovely, fun game that too frequently reminds me of its mistakes. And despite that, I want to keep playing. Which is probably rather important.
It's very charming, a lot of fun, and perhaps most importantly, executes its central conceit with deftness.
As it is, despite having spent dozens of hours playing this, I've always felt at arm's length.
It could be a lot better, but I really enjoy playing what it is.
There we are. A solid, decent picross game, that unquestionably stands in the shadow of Pictopix, the one picross game to rule them all.
Chuchel is a creation of pure joy, an absolute masterclass in silliness, with pleasingly involved puzzles to boot. It's a giant cuddle of a game, interesting to all ages, and with a manic edge that never slows down.
Everything in Super Seducer is tragic. It's deeply offensive, of course, perhaps even more so for what it deliberately leaves out than the wretched drivel it includes.
If you breeze through Spelunky and its ilk, this is unquestionably the game for you.
Hold your horses for the moment, is my tip, and hopefully in a month's time I'll be back with a far more positive recommendation.
I love that it exists. I don't begrudge it for any of its ridiculous failings, really. It'd have been amazing if it could have been this gently entertaining and interesting exploration of Egyptian history, perhaps something like an in-situ podcast. But it isn't. It's a museum audio tour, along with all their obvious shortcomings, that takes no advantages of its medium
It's clear that Cypher is beyond me. The first couple of rooms were a breeze, but quickly I was finding it too obtuse, too interested in being difficult and not interested enough in teaching me how to solve it. And that's very much a personal taste thing. For people super into this sort of thing, with brains bigger than mine, this'll be a sweet treat.
That it ultimately collapses into a string of unpleasant platforming sequences that the core design simply can't sustain means I grew to loathe Crossing Souls, once it entirely abandoned its redeeming features for everything it couldn't get right.
Octogeddon refers back to the arcade cabinets of the '80s, both in the simplicity of its opening premise, and in much of the presentation. But it is its own unique idea, that while not world-changing or particularly revolutionary, is quietly brilliant in its delivery. I only worry that it's slightly too quiet.
Of what I've played so far Dandara offers a fresh new way to play a very familiar format, with deft design and strong puzzling wit. I just wish it had remembered to give me a reason to do so.
This is a decent, very peculiar puzzler, that does entertaining nonsense to the insides of your brain. Hard not to like.
A truly beautiful game, uplifting, gorgeous and alive.
Paradise is a very satisfying and deeply peculiar game.
For me, the more of it I played, the more I found it got in its own way. Its clumsy prose is a struggle to read, its difficulty spikes are aggravating, and the sense of being directionless is too all-pervading. I feel certain this will find its audience, and what a joy for them. But sadly, not so much for me.
You absolutely should play it if you've played To The Moon. If you haven't, you should blooming well go and play that, and then this.