Ashina: The Red Witch comes to expand on a story told in other games, but it works on its own as a supernatural mystery tale that, even without being especially striking, can please those who like Japanese folklore. The gameplay is kept to a minimum of finding and delivering items and its simplicity disrupts the pace at times when the player would rather continue the story instead of making trades that don't seem relevant. Recommended for anyone who wants a playfully dark tale in retro game form and for those who enjoyed My Big Sister and Red Bow.
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Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy follows the formula and pleases, but it doesn't decide to take a step forward in its structure, nor in the shallow combat. Even so, the triad formed by the beautiful settings, the platform design with puzzles and the cooperative mode continues to be its biggest attraction, guaranteeing fun for veterans and newcomers to the saga of heroes who work as a team.
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Beautiful, intelligent, compelling, challenging and deeply human, Chants of Sennaar was to me a unique experience through its many faces. The concept of linguistic puzzles doesn't make it an adequate recommendation for every person, but those who like to explore the form and meaning of words, even if not through formal studies, should find satisfaction in deciphering the languages and its peoples who are simultaneously the lock and the key to this mysterious world.
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The rich setting of a city that has succumbed to its own ambitions is a great highlight in Lies of P, even though its potential is partially undermined by the gray and opaque look that permeates the landscapes. Likewise, the commitment to refined level design loses some of its luster due to the strict linearity of the campaign. The biggest problem lies with the bosses, their fights are always long and disproportionate to all the challenges posed by the region under their control. Therefore, it is difficult to recommend it as a gateway to soulslike, a genre famous for its punishing combat, but enthusiasts will certainly enjoy wandering around Krat in search of secrets and dangers.
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Paleo Pines hits the mark by putting its main attraction at the center of everything: the dinosaurs. Opening up more areas and finding out new dinos makes the campaign have a natural rhythm to it, always advancing a little more. Though the visuals aren't generally anything special, the cute design of the prehistoric animals charms us with its charisma and works in harmony with the lighthearted management.
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Pizza Possum delivers on its promise and the arcade loot chaos is a lot of fun, a well-done arcade feast that gets even better for those who want to steal food for two in co-op mode. However, like all yummy and ephemeral food, it leaves the taste of wanting more.
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Everhood: Eternity Edition brings to PlayStation platforms intense rhythm challenges, good electronic music, surrealist story and a lot of psychedelia. Fortunately, difficulty options help make this trip more accessible to those who want the dreamlike experience without suffering (too much) from the required reflexes. It may not be for everyone, but its peculiarities will fall in the taste of the target audience.
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In Cocoon, the strangely beautiful alien setting is a meticulously well-done job that, in general, compensates for the minimalism of the almost non-existent narrative structure. The journey is filled with puzzles that work with the elegant cohesion of a living organism, flowing into an experience that, on the one hand, is harmonious and rich, but on the other, is simpler and more restrained than it should be.
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Life of Delta is an efficient and charismatic point and click adventure in its simplicity. The lean context helps maintain the rhythm of the tale of a robot who wants to save his friend and the beautiful painted scenes do a good job of bringing the player closer to the world of Delta, but don't expect mysteries, twists and explanations of the story of this post-modern apocalyptic dystopia. Just enjoy the puzzles and move forward in the metallic skin of the tiny and very human service robot.
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Mail Time is a brief and lovely game for anyone who wants the tranquil experience of scouring a small open world while engaging with fun characters and doing favors. Although it gives the feeling that it could be more and lacks polish in some areas, the tale of the young wallet's first day of work is interesting and playful. It's like a picture book that you can jump into, glide and enjoy a relaxing pace.
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I hope we see more games along the lines of careful remakes, attentive to detail and refreshing as happened with Star Ocean: The Second Story R. Even without matching the visual standards of the most recent AAA games, the recreation choices hit the nail on the head in ways to value everything that the original already had that was good and adjusts the problems, even if it doesn't perform miracles with the chaotic combat.
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Ebenezer and the Invisible World enchants with its drawn visuals and fantastic narrative, being above the average metroidvanias in these two aspects, but the same cannot be said of other fields. The fights are lukewarm and the map design can be off-putting with backtracking and the small print annoying. Those who like the graphic style, Victorian stories, and A Christmas Carol will have a lot to appreciate here, which can make up for the perception that the gameplay is average and doesn't stand out in the genre.
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Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery aims to entertain and make you laugh in a light and silly way, with no intention of surprising or challenging with its investigation mechanics. The focus is all on the absurd narrative, really funny for those who like this type of naive comedy with eccentric characters, which should especially appeal to children. The package compiles the three cases and brings a scooter minigame that can be fun for a while, but not much. The new feature of the console version is the Brazilian Portuguese localization, present on all platforms.
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During its best moments, Jusant is simultaneously beautiful, memorable and deep. The short adventure brings few new mechanics beyond the initial ones but it's exactly this brevity that makes it not an issue and avoids pushing the game down into monotony. Climbing the Tower is a narrative progress that further compelled me to find out what was on the top; I must say I left this adventure satisfied and moved.
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The Talos Principle 2 is a masterpiece that ventures into puzzles and the philosophical universe of deep questions. Although it is aimed at an audience that seeks exciting, challenging and honest intellectual stimuli, this is a less intimidating experience than it may seem, thanks to the flexibility to advance in the campaign and the certainty that each puzzle already brings with it everything necessary to solve it. Few games have given me so much satisfaction with the beauty of seeing it all connect and finally unravel the riddle before me, making me rush right to the next one. This is one of the best games of 2023 and I'm glad it exists.
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Worldless is visually stunning and enchanted me in its first few hours, but the sudden increase in complexity in the final third and the requirement for precise timing to advance in the main battles took away my desire to continue. When I consider the imprecise map, the lack of fast travel and the slow and empty crossings when revisiting certain sections, I think I can only recommend it to the patient or the skilled, as, unfortunately, frustration has several times taken me out of the spell in which the beautiful atmosphere enveloped me time after time.
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The Last Faith enters the ambivalence of familiarity: while it delivers on its promise to blend metroidvania and soulslike competently, it never surprises or innovates. The campaign is challenging, but its good pace of shortcuts, fast travel points, and leveling up propels us to advance further and further through the melancholy world of beautifully detailed gothic pixel art.
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Even if it's still limited by trends in the genre, Roots of Pacha builds a farming simulator with its own personality by centering the theme of community in its upbeat and relaxing campaign. Unfortunately, this didn't extend to multiplayer, which is online-only and doesn't allow you to share the screen locally with the loved ones who are next to you.
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Rising Dusk treads its own 2D platformer beats with a fresh perspective on the collectible coins that have populated the genre for decades. The execution is as good as the idea, and the concept of “anti-currencies” is used to create intuitive puzzles and replayability through secrets, secondary paths and alternative exits. The visuals may not attract attention, but the lo-fi songs take a calming beat to drive a campaign with a flexible structure that will please fans of 2D games.
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Even with some mechanics that make gameplay more difficult, Laika: Aged Through Blood leaves a trail of intense emotions as you maneuver a motorcycle through the desert against a relentless army. The contrast between the raw violence and the beauty of the designed scenarios and, especially, the songs with vocals, converges to the representation of human tragedies in the fight for survival in this unique, bloody and beautifully melancholic metroidvania.
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