Samantha Lienhard's Reviews
Gris is a relaxing, artistic experience that emphasizes its atmosphere over its gameplay. While it only lasts a few hours, fans of surreal worlds and symbolic storytelling should find it to be an enjoyable journey.
While its gameplay isn’t its strongest point, Liar Princess and the Blind Prince is a short yet sweet story-driven puzzle-platformer perfect for anyone who wants a fairytale about forbidden love.
You won’t find the same epic scale of storytelling here as in its predecessor, but Fate/Extella Link excels with superb battles and sets down the groundwork for what could be an even better sequel.
Blair Witch has a good atmosphere and lots of interesting concepts, its multiple endings provide replayability, and Bullet is a wonderful companion
While its storytelling might leave you with questions, LUNA The Shadow Dust is a beautiful game with some truly clever and challenging puzzles.
The story resolution won’t sit well with everyone, but it’s still worth playing for the mystery and clever puzzles.
Although it occasionally becomes tedious and some sections can be frustrating, Skully should please fans of the genre looking for a 3D puzzle platformer with a fun, well-told story to accompany its platforming challenges.
Maid of Sker might not be the scariest horror game out there, but the tense moments, sound-based gameplay design, and intriguing story come together to form a solid horror experience nevertheless.
Ary and the Secret of Seasons is cute, clever, and fun, with a beautiful world to explore and entertaining puzzles to solve.
Amnesia: Rebirth stumbles a little with its narrative-based approach and certain gameplay choices, but every time I started to feel frustrated with its direction, it had a nightmarish encounter waiting to remind me that no one does heart-pounding terror quite like Frictional Games.
The story might be a bit too slow and ambiguous for some, especially when it comes to the ending, but Shady Part of Me is filled with clever puzzles that should appeal to fans of the puzzle-platformer genre.
Blending survival horror gameplay with overt sexual themes and a cosmic horror story, Lust From Beyond isn’t a game for everyone and it knows that. It’s targeting a fairly specific audience, but if you fall into that audience, you’ll find a satisfying, compelling, and often macabre experience.
If you like your horror games to have a strong focus on exploration and a satisfying story to tell, you should come away from the surreal world of Mundaun feeling well-pleased with the experience.
Lost Words: Beyond the Page is a simple game with creative ideas and an emotional story.
If you love 3D collect-a-thon platformers, Kao the Kangaroo is worth taking a look at once its bugs are patched. It might not bring anything new to the genre, but it’s a short slice of what makes 3D platforming fun.
Despite some flaws, Signalis is a delightful addition to the survival horror genre in the style of the classics. A lot of care has been put into its world, and its gameplay never outstays its welcome. If you like traditional survival horror games and want another game that fills that niche, Signalis is a worthy title to keep in mind.
After all these years, the final chapter of Faith turned out to be worth the wait, and with all three chapters bundled in the Unholy Trinity release, there’s never been a better time to play. The dangerous world of Faith requires some patience, but the unsettling atmosphere and intense demonic encounters make it worthwhile for anyone who loves the horror genre.
Bayonetta 3 is a strange mix of some of the series’ best moments together with some of its worst. At its high points, Bayonetta 3 easily stands with or even surpasses its predecessors, but its glory is marred by questionable decisions and missed opportunities. How much importance you place on the story will likely determine how you feel about this entry. If the story is an afterthought for you, you’ll enjoy the high-quality combat and intense action, but if the story matters, prepare yourself for tonal differences and storytelling that raises more questions than answers.
If you're hoping for something new with Layers of Fear, you should be aware that the majority of your time will be spent on the original Layers of Fear and Layers of Fear 2. At the same time, if you just want to replay those games, keep in mind that the new structure means it's not as simple as that. But for fans who want to experience the games in a new way or newcomers to the series trying it out for the first time, the new Layers of Fear keeps the games largely true to the originals' themes while also making some notable improvements.
Gylt is a short horror game with a lot of good ideas. It doesn’t break any new ground, but it has a solid structure that provides a clear path to follow while rewarding exploration at the same time. The world has enough potential that I wouldn’t mind revisiting it in a sequel, but either way, it’s nice to see a game like this find new life now that Stadia is gone.