Annette Polis


83 games reviewed
76.7 average score
80 median score
58.0% of games recommended
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9 / 10.0 - Scarlet Nexus
Jun 23, 2021

Having finished Kasane's version of the story and getting ready to experience Yuito's side, I'm truly appreciative of the storytelling. Japanese sci-fi has long been a genre I enjoy. Last year players were spoiled with 13 Sentinels, and Scarlet Nexus has delivered another wonderfully woven narrative worth playing. Do not sleep on this game! JRPG July is just around the corner and the perfect time to spend 60 hours playing video games.

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Aug 13, 2021

Greak: Memories of Azur provided me the opportunity to experience a beautiful hand-drawn world in a way that best suits my gaming time and style. As I get older and find myself more and more selective with my gaming, intimate experiences like Greak are so much more rewarding than the biennial installment of a huge triple A title. Perhaps you're noticing the same habit forming with your gaming. If so, this hidden gem might be exactly what you've been looking for, too.

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9 / 10.0 - Tales of Arise
Sep 8, 2021

Tales of Arise is gorgeous. The lands are lush and vibrant, even those trapped in extreme weather patterns. Calaglia's arid landscape makes me thirsty and trudging through Cyslodia's tundra reminds me of long Canadian winters. Sadly this all seems to be lost when it's time to throw in some anime. The switch from game graphics to anime cutscenes is actually rather jarring and I'm not a fan. I like the anime separately as its own entity, just not within the game itself. If the coloring matched the game, sure. But it washes out all of the hard work the level design team put into the game. Pair this with just way too much going on with the artes system and you can see how, though a fantastic game, it falls just shy of hitting a perfect ten.

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Jan 22, 2019

Holy Potatoes! We're in Space?! sticks to its strengths, keeping true to their time management roots and nailing those parodies. That tutorial battle took me a little longer than I thought it would, but eventually I got the hang of it. There was some trial and error during the first mission as I had to switch my brain from thinking this was A Weapon Shop?!. But once I put on my Mal Reynolds suspenders, it was smooth sailing. Now I'm the best damn pilot in the galaxy, zipping all over the place blasting baddies out of the sky. I even have a furry sidekick. This could be your life, too, since Holy Potatoes! We're in Space?! is out now on the PlayStation 4.

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Jul 12, 2019

BonusXP has taken the hit Netflix series and crafted a fun, yet at times frustrating, pixelated adventure game. Some of the boss battles can really try your patience, and limits on recovery items (medkits and Coke) certainly don’t help matters as you push toward the final episode. On the flip side, there are all kinds of hidden areas to return to and explore further; even if I haven’t seen a percentage log, there’s just something about knowing you’ve 100% cleared a game.

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8.5 / 10.0 - Oninaki
Aug 21, 2019

No question, ONINAKI has reignited my long extinguished JRPG spark. I've actually been looking forward to booting up my PS4 every day to follow Kagachi and Linne's journey. It's not a slam dunk game; there is a lot of predictability in the storyline, but even then, I'm compelled to see this through to the very end. There are Daemons I absolutely do not enjoy having in my party but will eventually grind out simply to view all of their lore and max out skill trees. All in pursuit of that feeling of accomplishment for hitting the one hundred percent completion mark, or perhaps in this case, my next Platinum trophy.

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8.5 / 10.0 - The Blackout Club
Aug 5, 2019

There's a lot going on in The Blackout Club, and while I haven't seen what the endgame is yet, I am looking forward to playing more of this with my friends. I'm not sold on sacrificing my character to a Voice and starting over just to see my name on the Leaderboards, though. I think I'll stick to offering small tributes when I find myself in possession of them. If you're an avid of Dead by Daylight or Friday the 13th player looking for a new challenge, you might want to spend the $30 and take this game for a spin yourself.

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Jan 22, 2020

Playing in the Dusk world from start to finish, self-contained with no other influences is a much better entry point for me.

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8.5 / 10.0 - Dread Nautical
Apr 29, 2020

This game has been so much fun to play. Even when I am cursing at the screen during a boss fight, Dread Nautical has me coming back for more.

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8.5 / 10.0 - Othercide
Jul 27, 2020

Othercide provides a challenge without breaking the player's spirit. It hits on all the right notes of an engaging turn-based game, accentuated by the integrated roguelike elements, and an artistic beauty. Add in the lore and you have a pretty solid title worth checking out.

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Oct 12, 2021

Up until that bizarre glitch, enjoying Alan Wake Remastered was like the best kind of deja vu. Muscle memory steered me toward the hidden caches, triggered reminders to backtrack just a little here and there or look around that corner for collectibles. Alan's somewhat stiff voice, the ancient rockers, Barry-all of these things, campy as they were, welcomed me home. Those cold waters of Cauldron Lake sure are impossible to escape.

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8.5 / 10.0 - Röki
Oct 28, 2021

The only downside to this Roki PS5 port is that it fails to use any of the new technology available to it via the DualSense. I would have loved to hear the crunch of snow come via the controller instead of my TV, and maybe let me use the touchpad to select/drag/combine items from Tove's backpack-things that would have enhanced the experience and made it stand out from Roki's other releases. That said, this is a solid puzzle game and one I highly recommend devoting an afternoon or two to.

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Aug 6, 2018

Maybe that means I should get back to the grindstone, clear up those PS4 trophies, and then tackle the Journey to Olympus DLC that is included in the PS4 and Switch releases.

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Nov 28, 2018

With so many choices left unexplored and far too many hidden items I have yet to discover, 11-11: Memories Retold is a replayable title with new experiences for me to discover. What if I don't send that picture to Julia and send this one instead? And where is that last card game I seem to have missed? It only took about four and a half hours for me to complete the game once. Surely I can spare another afternoon or two to bolster my trophy count and make some tough choices.

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Apr 16, 2019

After an entire calendar year in Portia, there's still so much more for me to do. There are new areas to unlock and explore, buildings to reopen, and I still haven't convinced Gust that we should be married and become a powerhouse architect firm. I may not reconstruct every single lost relic that lays beneath Portia in the ruins, but I'll be damned if I don't get Gust to wear my ring.

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8 / 10.0 - Megaquarium
Oct 18, 2019

Megaquarium is a fintastic game to relax and unwind with at the end of a long day. I like to couple that with some of my favorite sushi rolls, but to each their own. Here I am, nine levels later and still having a lot of fun trying to make the best aquarium ever. Sure, nothing I design will ever rival the Georgia Aquarium, the world's largest aquarium and one I have been to a few times, but that doesn't mean I'll stop trying. There's only one more level for me to tackle, and my fingers are crossed that I can finally get some dolphins to do elaborate hoop routines while whistling the US national anthem for me.

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8 / 10.0 - Stories Untold
Nov 4, 2020

Everything comes to a head in the final chapter. "The Last Session" does a serviceable job rolling my previous experiences into a cohesive yet predictable end. It may not have been a stunning revelation, however it was a satisfying one. All in all not a bad way to spend about three hours on a Saturday afternoon. Stories Untold is a great journey to take part in and one I'm glad to have taken.

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Nov 10, 2020

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is charming and challenging in all the right ways. Even now, as I sit here spending time working on this review, I wish I were playing the game. In spite of a few frustrating puzzle sections here and there, Hinoe calls to me. Knowing that my rice needs tending to and my pantry probably needs more dried meat so we can make it through the winter is all I want to focus on. That's when you know a game has its hooks in you. Pretty, addictive hooks that have me all in.

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Nov 23, 2020

Planet Coaster is a solid theme park sim, and one I can see myself spending an unhealthy amount of time playing. I just need to remember not to be too hasty in loading games the second I get to the PS5 dashboard. Twice now I've immediately tried to boot it up within a minute of the PlayStation 5 getting to the home screen and crashed it so hard the console databases need rebuilding. Goes to show just how much I like theme parks, right?

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Nov 27, 2020

Exploring Iceland as a furry fox friend has been a real treat. It's delicious eye candy with a satisfyingly chewy center. Yes, there were times when I hoped for a little more direction in solving puzzles. Those brand new help cards on the PlayStation 5 dashboard sure would have been nice (fingers crossed we see those when the game officially releases). That said, Spirit of the North is too beautiful and captivating to be disappointed for long. If you love games like Lost Ember, I can't recommend adding Spirit of the North to your collection enough.

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