Izzy's 2022

[isthatallyougot]

33) As Dusk Falls (PC)



Choice heavy narrative games can be pretty enticing. The idea that your decisions can alter the flow of the story is engaging on a pretty fundamental level, and there are many games in a variety of genres which attempt this concept to varying degrees of success. One such game that recently released called As Dusk Falls tried its own spin on things. It's an adventure title in the vein of other minimally interactive games where the primary means of engagement is making a series of decisions related to conversation and actions. You play as a selection of characters from two families whose lives are intertwined via a convergence of circumstance where both were dealing with their own stresses and happened to cross paths at the Desert Dream Motel in Arizona in the late 90's. One of the families, the Holts, are in dire straits due to some risky actions of their patriarch, and the other, the Walkers are in the midst of a move due to their own patriarch having lost his job due to an accident at work. And how this mingling of circumstances and characters plays out will permanently impact the lives of all involved.

I really liked the setup for the conflict. There was realistic tension that motivated everyone and it was easy to feel empathy and/or disdain for how these characters responded to the forces that pressed upon them. The narrative and characters were pretty believable in both their choices (your potential actions) as well as their acting. I'm incredibly hard to please when it comes to voice work (as I've mentioned), but for the most part, this group of actors did a fine job with their roles, and that went a long way to facilitating my interest until the end. There are plenty of twists and turns and the game does a nice job of reinforcing the weight of your choices by providing certain “crossroad” moments that have added weight in addition to showing you branching path maps at the end of every chapter which displays all the possible routes, many of which are empty due to you having chosen other paths. There's surely plenty to see if you are invested enough to want to uncover all the permutations, although there are only a few major branching paths. Outside of those pivotal crossroad moments, you're also required to make many other decisions for dialogue and actions, and these are all time-based, forcing you to act instinctually rather than ponder at your leisure. For the conversation choices, the timer is lenient enough to give you time to consider things, but you'll need to choose within a reasonable window. For the action-based choices, there are many quick-time events where you'll either be swiping, spinning, holding or repeatedly clicking in response to on-screen prompts. Theses interactions are usually in moments of physical drama, and while I understand their inclusion, they're not very engaging or challenging. Overall though, the story was carried by a convincing set of characters that felt like they had genuine troubles, real-life personalities and were just trying to muddle their way through some challenging circumstances. Got to love having a fat guy in a t-shirt as one of the main characters. No one felt overly unrealistic though, and I found it really easy to appreciate their respective plights.

In terms of visual presentation, things were quite unique, for better or worse. In the first place, there's very little pure animation aside from some vehicle sections and a few other small elements within the scenes. Rather than pure motion, we're given static panels that sometimes shift in rather quick succession to impart the sense of action, but not at a rate to convey any sense of smoothness like you might expect in film or other games. It's a herky-jerky sequence of quick cuts and changes to impart movement. Secondly, the artwork has a feel of being real life photos with a painterly photo-editing filter applied, giving a lifelike, yet distanced from reality appearance that seems cheap. It kind of grew on me, but I never stopped feeling like it had a lazy, low-budget sort of feel. One issue that I found strange was the fact that the file size for the install was around 50 GB. How, just how?! It's mostly a collection of static frames. It must have been an incredibly inefficient use of storage. But I did really like the story, and that was the focus of this game. It took around 6 hours to finish, and while I liked it, I was satisfied to live with the choices of my single play-through. It's an enjoyable enough one-and-done in a genre that rarely reaches “special” status for me in terms of my gaming preferences. Worth playing though, and maybe very good for someone who is really drawn to this sort of experience. 3/5.

32) Arcade Spirits (PC)



Visual novels are not a genre that I have much familiarity with. I'm not against them in premise, but when story is pretty much all you've got, there's little wiggle room for error, and if the narrative doesn't click there's not much left to enjoy. So I've always been a little reluctant to try out games in this niche, especially because I've found so few game stories to be really worth experiencing, no matter the genre. But I found myself drawn to a game from my itch.io library called Arcade Spirits that focuses on an alternative future timeline in the year "20XX" where the arcade scene never fell out of fashion and they remained places where core gamers went to enjoy fellowship and both current and retro games. Being a child of the era where arcades were still booming, I've carried many positive memories of that now-defunct cultural scene, and I was enticed enough by this premise alone to give this game a try, and there were plenty of fun references to games of the formative arcade era throughout.

You start out as a character of your choosing. You define yourself in terms of appearance and gender prior to beginning. Things start out with you being down on your luck, having just lost yet another job, and believing in some sort of family curse that is holding you down. You're down in the dumps without any sense of direction or purpose. You've resigned yourself to your fate and are really just wallowing in your own misery while trying to keep your head above water. Your roommate Juniper intervenes and introduces you to an AI life-coach app called IRIS that she believes may help you get out of your funk by finding work and a life-purpose/setting that is in harmony with who you are. You decide to humor her, despite having little enthusiasm for her idea, and that sets into motion a chain of events that brings you to a mom and pop arcade called the Funplex, a little business in an out-of-the-way strip mall beside a bookshop and a variety of other quaint non-chain establishments. You have an interview with an older lady named Francine who you come to discover has owned this arcade for many years with her now-deceased husband, and she's looking for a floor manager to help put out all the little fires that can arise in the course of running this type of business. The interview goes well, and you find yourself on a new path. In the beginning, it's just a job, but over time you get to know and make close connections with the other members of the small team running the Funplex as well as some arcade regulars and a variety of others that make appearances in the course of dealing with the challenges that face you in your role. There are plenty of events in the narrative that put the crew under stress, and without spoiling things, I'll just say that there are dirty business interests to deal with in order to stay afloat. In these conflicts, there is a connection created with you and your new work family, and this crew develops tight bonds and came to remind me a bit of the Scooby Doo gang for some reason - maybe the van they drove to go hunting for new (retro) arcade cabinets. They were just this unified band of buds that stuck together, and I enjoyed getting to know their unique personalities. Everyone had a distinct character and remained consistent in who they were throughout, giving each one a fairly believable identity.

In terms of your interaction with the game, you are offered choices in many situations in terms of what you want to do and how you want to respond. There is a meter that allows you to choose responses based on different emotions from quirky, steady, kindly, gutsy and “basically", which is kind of a default when you don't like anything else, I suppose. How you respond builds your personality over the course of the game and gives you an identity that comes to define who you are and how you do business, both personal and professional. Your choices can and do affect the direction of your relationships and how the narrative unfolds. There are romance options which seemed pretty basic, although to be fair, I don't have much experience in games with this sort of mechanic. But I did end up wooing one of my co-workers and we found ourselves together outside of work context, ultimately having a happy ending. There's nothing explicit, and everything is very innocent. There seems to be a variety of ways things could play out, both in terms of romance and story, and so there is the potential for replay if you're really drawn in.

I also thought the artwork was mostly well done. Everything was colorful, vibrant and adequately detailed, although there was minimal animation in the backgrounds and character animation was mostly just a change of facial expression depending on the emotion of the response. There were a pretty good number of locales and scenarios that kept things fresh visually as well. The music was upbeat and techno-infused and contributed nicely to the overall mood.

In terms of the story itself, despite things being fairly interesting, it just didn't really have much electricity, ironically enough. There were plenty of twists and turns and a fair amount of drama, given the setting, but things still felt a bit lukewarm much of the time to me and never really got my pulse moving. It wasn't a bad story to be sure, and I liked the theme of finding your place and changing your circumstances and getting out of a negative mindset to find your purpose, but it never really elevated into an exciting tale I felt I couldn't put down. Decent, but not what I'd want from such a narrative-heavy experience in terms of my own desired sense of engagement. I will also say that Arcade Spirits wears its spirit - no pun intended - of inclusivity very obviously upon its sleeve. There are a variety of ages, body shapes, races, romantic orientations and gender/gender-identities, either implied or clearly suggested. I don't mean that as a bad thing, but it felt very transparent and obvious in that messaging, and it's clear that the voice behind this work may be of a younger, or at least more modern persuasion, despite the game making references to the long-past heyday of the arcade scene. I only say this because some are offended by such liberal choices of identity. I'm a live and let live type of guy, so it's all good with me, but in the interest of disclosure there is a prominent theme and message of "inclusivity", so take that as you will. It never feels like it's forcing any ideology upon the player, but the themes are there nonetheless.

In the end, I did find the game to be worth the roughly nine hours I spent with it. If nothing else, it made me more curious about the visual novel genre as a whole, and I found myself wondering what hidden gems may be out there waiting for me to discover. I've already done some digging into some others that I think may be more compelling to me. And the setting where the 1983 video game crash never happened and the arcade scene continued to flourish kept me interested, if sometimes only because of my own history and nostalgia for the period. And the generally hopeful tone of the game was enjoyable in a feel-good sort of way. It's not a can't-miss game in my view, but I'm glad I gave it my time. 3/5.

31) Skautfold : Shrouded in Sanity (PC)



You find yourself on your knees in front of a man named Waltham who asks you to sign a contract after informing you that “It worked perfectly.” He tells you that if you fulfill the contract he wishes you to sign that you will freely walk the land, a rare condition for this place and time. You are free to refuse, upon which the game ends immediately, as I found out - not much of a choice, ha. So upon signing, you then learn that you have been given some “new abilities” and are led to a gothic manor while undergoing a brief tutorial of the basics. Within the manor, you are instructed that the king and his four knights reside within and that no one can leave. You are also told that you are free to explore as you wish, but you must kill the 5 individuals and that only the king matters. Additionally, if you are killed, Waltham informs you that “the contract” will allow him to bring you back. Thus began a lesser known indie Soulsbourne-like called Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity.

So off you go in this open-world hack and slash adventure. You are given a sword and a pistol and have nothing else to do but discover the world about you. As you explore, you'll find a variety of enemies with attack patterns that can be learned and exploited. There are other weapon and sword-wielding foes as well as more Lovecraftian monstrosities that stand in your way. You can parry enemy attacks if your timing is right, bringing them to their knees (if they have them) which opens up a potentially powerful finisher. You can fire your pistol to damage the bad guys, although you only have five bullets at the outset. Whenever you slay your enemies you can extract vitae, a vital essence that when accumulated allows you to eventually upgrade the number of bullets you carry (and a variety of other potential perks) or buy "Yth stones" from a particular vendor. These stones can also be found as rare drops from enemies and they give you the opportunity to upgrade the damage of your sword as well as your overall health and stamina at various NPCs within the manor and its surroundings. If you die, you lose all your vitae, yet this can be recovered if you are able to return to the spot of your demise, as in the Souls series. The variety of enemies and their attacks were fairly different and interesting in their well-animated movements, and they presented a pretty stiff challenge.

Discovering the manor unveiled not only more resistance, but also a fair bit of lore and flavor text, imparting a sense of place to everything. It all revolved around royalty, power, some deep cosmic mystery and some sinister deeds, and I enjoyed what was given, but I would have liked a bit more clarity and cohesiveness to the details. As it was presented, I felt like I only got a limited and frustratingly incomplete taste of who I was and the overall conflict. I don't mind doing the work for clarity, but here there weren't enough dots to connect. Another issue was the layout of the environments. Navigating from place to place could be a bit confusing at times, and there is no in-game map, so it forced me to learn by memory. The frequent deaths could sometimes make getting a feel for your surroundings and how to get from place to place a bit challenging, but the world wasn't so huge that it was an unreasonable task. I would have also liked to see more equipment as a part of the experience. All you ever have is your sword and pistol that you receive at the beginning, upgrades aside. There was no armor or loot to play around with, and to be fair, it wasn't a big deal, but I just felt that pull of wanting to develop my character as you do in games that provided the inspiration for Skautfold.

Overall though, I mostly enjoyed my time with this game. It took me about six hours to beat the game, but there is a new game+ which offers, what we are told is, a much harder experience. (I thought the game was tough enough the first go round.) There is also a chance to play the game as any of the bosses that you defeated, and I thought that was an interesting twist. At its core, things felt very “Soulsy” with the stamina-management, the combat rhythm of rolling/dodging, parrying and learning enemy patterns. The overall atmosphere was well-done, visually and sonically, and I had a pretty good time with this one. It was missing some of the depth that I crave in this type of game, but I found it to be worth seeing through to the end. I'm also curious about where this series goes, as the developer has made five games in this universe, each being a bit of a different genre apparently - a very interesting and enticing premise. I've already got four of the five games in my library, and I had enough fun that I'll see what the sequels bring to the table at some point. Good, but potential for improvement that I hope is realized in the games that followed. 3/5.

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30) Eternal Ring (PS2)



Back on the launch day of the PS2 I was incredibly excited. My ex-wife waited with me at a local Wal*Mart, along with a fairly big crowd, for the midnight release of the successor to one of my other favorite consoles in the original Playstation. I was only mildly interested in the launch lineup though, having already picked up Madden 2001, which dropped a few days prior to the console's arrival. I paid some attention to the other group of titles, and there seemed to be a few interesting offerings - which I eventually played, but my focus was on the insanely good-looking (for the time) new pigskin title, and so I let the rest pass by at the time. One of those titles I skipped was Eternal Ring by FROM, who eventually, via my introduction to their RPGs with King's Field IV and Demon's Souls, became probably my favorite developer. I had no interest in their earlier RPGs at that time. I thought the PS1 King's Field games looked horribly low-res and didn't pass the quick eye test enough to grab me back then. I thought Armored Core looked somewhat appealing, but again, didn't really draw my interest enough to dive in. Having subsequently gone back and experienced the glory of King's Field the Ancient City years ago, I developed an appreciation for the first-person dungeon crawlers that FROM developed, realizing that they were much more interesting than my cursory inspection revealed long ago. With that cultivated appreciation, I was interested in righting the wrong of overlooking this PS2 launch entry, and I finally got around to it in 2022.

The first thing that is apparent is that technology has come a long way. I'm not a graphics-elitist, not by any stretch. I love and play many games that are considered ugly or not even worthy of attention by the average gamer. But going back to the beginnings of the PS2, and with this game, I was reminded of how far graphics have come in terms of raw power. It's not necessarily what I would call a bad-looking game artistically, it's just that it's limited in terms of resources and that is quite obvious. And FROM was never known for graphical excellence in their dungeon crawlers to begin with. But that's not really a barrier to my enjoyment. The fundamentals are very reminiscent of King's Field. You are in an open world and navigate via the d-pad or directional stick, but the way these games are created, the d-pad is the tool of choice, in my opinion. And the second analog stick functionality, which might normally be used for camera control, is instead assigned to the L2 and R2 triggers, which are used for looking up and down, respectively. And the L1 and R1 bumpers are used for strafing left and right. It's certainly not the most intuitive set-up, especially coming from more modern games, but The Ancient City also used this control scheme and while it could have been better with analog camera control, you eventually get used to it without too much awkwardness. You have an attack button assigned to your sword, of which there are only a very limited number to find, but they're still useful, especially if you are lucky enough to get a rare drop, which I did at one point. However, the main focus of things is a ring system, appropriately enough. Enemies drop elemental gems after felling them in combat and you can also find “blank” base magic rings in game, which are not overly abundant. These unimbued magical rings can be infused with up to six elemental stones in order to create a variety of effects. You can create either an “attribute” ring or a magical spell ring. The former requires no base ring and carries persistent effects like enhancing certain elemental properties, or splitting your magical attacks into multiples, or adding a homing effect to your spells, among many others. The latter type of ring will grant certain attack or defense abilities, and both ring forms are tied to an overall pool of magic points which increase as you level up. You can wear five rings on each hand, which really opens up a wide array of approaches to enemy encounters, and I really appreciated that depth. There are tons of rings to find and/or craft if you have the right stones, and just experimenting with combinations was fun. The downside is that there is no real tutorial on how the system works. You simply encounter a character at certain spots who offers you the opportunity to create rings - a method where you have six slots with which to place gems, three on each side of a formation of pillars, that are then infused into your ring. And of course, for the non-attribute/persistent rings, you are limited to the number of blank magical rings you can find, and so it can be easy to waste them with combinations that don't yield something you want. I worked around this via emulation and save states, lol, but I would consider the way the game functions in the absence of "gaming" the system to be a bit too obtuse and punitive, unless you're planning on multiple replays. And these rings can be crucial to progression due to both environmental and combat challenges. For example, early on you must navigate through a poisonous area and if you don't have a ring to protect from poison (which, to be fair, you are given in this instance) and/or to heal from poisoning, it can be next to impossible to thoroughly investigate and explore the area, making progress very challenging. It's similar to other FROM RPGs in this regard with that sense of challenge, but you could really find yourself in a bind if you don't maximize the use of your ring creation. It is a nice feeling how the crafting and discovery of rings carries weight though, and it makes getting or finding new rings feel consequential, a feeling that is often present in FROM's work. Overall though, the whole ring system was very interesting and just seeing the list of potential rings in the “collection” screen made me very curious about all the potential discoveries that could change the way combat functioned. I thought it was creative and really engaging. Music was hit or miss. As a person who has played The Ancient City and still considers it one of my favorite gaming soundtracks, I had very high expectations. There were some really good pieces that were mixed with some more forgettable arrangements, but none of the tracks reached the lofty heights of the PS2 King's Field entry, which crafted such an incredible and unforgettable mood and sense of place. So I was, despite some examples, a bit disappointed with the totality of the music overall. More problematic was the rest of the sound design. The voice work ranged from occasionally passable to beyond so-bad-it's-good territory...just dreadful in spots. And some of the sounds like water or footsteps or fire, in some cases, were bottom-of-the-barrel bad. I know this was a launch title, but attaching a decent sound file to an action shouldn't be rocket science, and some of these environmental sounds should be shameful to any self-respecting audio designer. Another issue that arose was that of navigation. Being an early PS2 title, I can understand the hardware limitations, but there were some locations that were filled with repeating textures and/or thick fog. These locations were sometimes labyrinthine in nature, twisting and winding back around on themselves, and my sense of where I was could be very challenging to maintain. It may be realistic to feel turned around and lost in some caverns or jungles in real life, but let it be because of my own failures at recognizing distinct structures and not because there are no unique landmarks. Either give me a map or some unique geometry or let me drop my own breadcrumbs to avoid the sense of having no idea where to go. You will eventually stumble on the right track through dumb luck and/or persistence, but that isn't very good game design, in my view. And there was just a general awkwardness and lack of clarity in terms of progression. It was hard to figure out where to go or what to do next at times. I like it when games don't hold my hand, but here things often felt strange and unintuitive, with no clear and logical next step. One example is regarding the use of colored keys which gate your progress. In one case, there was a puzzle to release some lava that freed (with no display confirming this) a crucial red key. The flow of lava (in the cut-scene) gave no indication what it was accomplishing for the player. It simply showed lava moving through some channels and then stopping. I moved on and investigated other rooms and areas, but found nothing. I was fortunate that I happened to glance under a small structure in that room (within the channels) that held the dislodged key. I had no idea that the lava had revealed the key, and the game did not make it clear. I could have been wandering aimlessly forever. A final complaint I will mention is regarding the final boss. Without spoiling things, I will just say that this foe was certainly different, and while I have an appreciation for that, it was in no way a climactic or suitable feeling end-game conflict. Just a very weird character that, while perhaps fitting with the rest of the throwaway narrative, did little to inspire a satisfying feeling that you look for at the end of an RPG - or any game, for that matter.

Overall, despite my complaints, I did enjoy my time with Eternal Ring. There was often that same sensation I love in FROMs other works - that sensation of exploring a hostile, labyrinthine world that reveals its secrets via gradual improvement and exploration. There's a very nice sense of discovery and satisfying progression that comes without intrusive and unnecessary guidance that plagues so many games, even if you sometimes feel like you're stumbling aimlessly in the dark. The combat was mostly fun, and while it felt very “mechanical” and slow / methodical, in that there wasn't a sense of fluidity or really dynamic interaction, the enemies did vary greatly in their means of attack, both in terms of range and movement, and engaging with them via your constantly changing arsenal was a fun experience most of the time, making accumulating item drops and leveling up a mostly fun process. And the ring making system is something I would love to see in other games, although perhaps with a bit more clarity in terms of the systems governing their creation. The game was held back by a poor and uninteresting narrative and some awkward navigation and back-tracking, along with some controls that are quite antiquated. And it certainly didn't reach the glorious heights of its most similar and obvious form of comparison in the console's wonderful King's Field entry, but if you're a fan of first person dungeon crawlers and don't mind a little awkwardness to things, there's a decent game to enjoy here. Once you get into a groove, it's hard to put down despite its problems and you just want to discover more of whatever might be around the next corner, and I really like that feeling. For me, it's a 3/5. I was disappointed that it didn't match my hopes inspired by my experience with King's Field IV, but it was still worth a play. In the end, I can safely say that I'm not out of sync with the rest of the world. I played a FROM developed “E...Ring” game in 2022. I'm not out of touch with the mainstream...not at all. .

29) Area 51 (PS2)



The PS2 seems to be home to endless games that I still want to play, but there's only so many hours in a day and there's always both new games and games from other eras/devices that I want to play too. First world problems - it's tough man! I decided to go back to a game that intrigued me from that venerable black monolith in the form of Area 51. I had bought the game in physical form but sold it before ever opening it, and so I decided to sail the high seas. (It's been offered free on PC for a long time, so I'm not quite the dastardly rogue I may appear. I guess I should have probably just played the PC version rather than the PS2 version, but what's done is done.)

I remember being intrigued because of the fact that it was sci-fi themed, which I always find alluring, and because David Duchovny was doing the voice work for the main character. You (via Duchovny) play as Ethan Cole, a government grunt sent into the mythical desert base to investigate and deal with some sort of viral outbreak. Naturally, things have gone horribly awry, and, predictably, the end result is you getting your death sticks primed, lubricated, and pointed at all threats to order and control. There are a variety of weapons, mostly standard fare. You've got a pistol, shotgun, automatic assault rifle and sniper weapon, along with a couple of pieces of alien tech, eventually. Things are pretty satisfying mechanically. There's a decent weight and impact to the action, and it's fairly intense, if a bit run of the mill in terms of overall feel. The couple of alien firearms are different in that one can fire without ammunition, although it only slowly recharges, so if you empty the juice, you'll have to switch to another weapon while you wait. The other is a “Meson Cannon” which fires out a ball of energy that subsequently expels electrical rays that disperse and dispatch all nearby foes. It's a fun weapon, but it's only found fairly late game and ammunition is incredibly sparse, so while it was a treat, it felt a bit underutilized.

Aside from the shooting action, there's plenty of the typical conspiracies, illuminati, genetic engineering, alien life forms and the like, everything which you might expect in a sci-fi property of this nature. In addition to what is covered in the primary in-game narrative, there's a good amount of documents, videos and such to scan and catalogue on your journey via a wrist device that functions as a jack of all trades scanner, revealing and collecting information that you can peruse outside the main game. These little bits work to flesh out the story and overall setting and there's a good number to find. When I had finished, I had only found 31 out of 90 of the collectibles, and if you're really into the game, it's nice that there's that added content to immerse yourself in as well as the prospect of finding them all if you're a completionist. The obtaining of these reminded me a bit of Metroid Prime with its environmental scans, and I enjoyed looking at some of the pieces I had found after I completed the game. While I didn't find the overall narrative to be really gripping, it functioned well enough to propel you forward if not being necessarily memorable or particularly unique in terms of content. But the atmosphere was done well and the visuals were very nice for an old PS2 game with plenty of color, particularly rich with teal and blue hues that facilitated an otherworldly mood, especially as you made your way later in the game into more alien environments.

Overall, things were pretty straightforward. There weren't really any puzzles, although sometimes you did have to work out how to navigate to your next objective, which involved a bit of observation and some occasional platforming. And while I appreciated the famous voice-work, from Duchovny as well as Marilyn Manson and Powers Boothe, I can't say that their work really stood out other than in the sense of familiarity. And enemy variety could have been better and more interesting. The bulk of the game was fighting mostly similar viral mutants or opposing soldiers. Also, while the game offered a nice challenge and was nicely intense in spots, the conclusion was a bit of an off-putting spike. The final approach saw you fighting against a being that could disseminate enemies at will while you tried to break down a force-field that protected him and had to contend with a turret that was targeting you. So you had continual threats coming from all directions without much cover or healing available as well as potential ammo scarcity. And while perhaps climactic, it felt pretty uneven, despite the fairly good challenge present prior to the end. And then once that threat was dealt with, you had to deal with an enemy shooting death beams while you had to remain protected behind a moving barrier while simultaneously trying to hit small targets on a rotating and spinning object. I just thought the balance wasn't as smooth and even as I would have liked to see, even if it worked in terms of being a tough climax.

My final impression of the game is that it was a good game, and I had fun with it. But it's the sort of game that can feel like you've done it all before, and probably many times. It just didn't do anything to really distinguish itself or make it really pop in a memorable way. It was surely worth playing and was well made, yet it was just lacking that inspiration or real creative spark to make it stand out. It's a real solid 3/5 and a good example of the bulk of good games you'll play in life that most surely entertain for their duration, but don't make a lasting mark in your collection of experiences within this hobby. It's worth a single play if you enjoy the genre and setting.

28) SpongeBob SquarePants : Battle for Biking Bottom (PC)



I might not seem like the demographic that would be interested in SpongeBob, but my child was little during the height of the square sponge's popularity, and as a result, we ended up watching a whole lot of the show together. And as easy as it is to enjoy something vicariously with a loved one, I also found myself enjoying the show for its own merits, much to my surprise. The whimsical show was full of colorful characters - both in the visual and metaphorical sense, characters who were well-voiced and had persistent traits and narratives over the course of the show that were interesting enough for me to invest in. From SpongeBob's light-hearted enthusiasm, to Squidward's dour “realism”, to Patrick's lovable stupidity, to Sandy's Texas-tough-enough to be a squirrel living under the sea, and Mr. Krab's miserly, money-loving spirit, there were plenty of dynamics for fun, both from the primary cast as well as the secondary players. There was an obvious love and craft put into the show, whether you could stomach its silliness or not, and I had a great time with everything. It's not something I've ever watched on my own, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't necessarily, given enough hours in the hypothetically endless day.

Having this background, I acquired a remake of a PS2-era game in the fictional universe that was part of a Humble Bundle - a remake of SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Biking Bottom (now with the subtitle: “Rehydrated”). I was in the mood for something a little less serious as I had found myself in a stretch of heavy and or scary games, and I usually enjoy collectathon platformers, so I figured it was a good time to try this one out. Right off the bat, everything pops full of color, as you might expect from a game based on this show. Things are vibrant and sharp, with lots of different, brightly engaging environments referencing the series. From Bikini Bottom with SpongeBob's pineapple house and his neighbor Patrick and Squidward's familiar dwellings, to Goo Lagoon, Jellyfish Fields, The Mermalair, Rock Bottom, and the Flying Dutchman's graveyard, among several others. There's plenty of fan-service to enjoy for anyone who likes the show.

The narrative hook is that Plankton (whose character and voice I've always loved), has created an army of robots in his ongoing, but fruitless, efforts to steal the Krabby Patty formula. Unfortunately for Bikini Bottom, his “genius” plan saw him forget to set the switch on his robot-producing machinery to “Obey”, resulting in his creations running amok and causing all sorts of unintended damage to the denizens under the sea. So it's left to Sponge and pals to clean up the mess and restore order. Mechanically, everything plays out in traditional platformer style, with plenty of running and (double) jumping and dispatching of enemies. There are three playable characters, SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy, and they all have some unique moves that can help out in certain situations. There are “Bus Stops” within levels that let you switch out who you're controlling so you can utilize the right character for the job. Progress is gated at various Taxi Stands that have a collectable requirement needing a certain number of “Golden Spatulas”, the game's most significant carrot-on-a-stick. Once you've got enough via completing certain tasks, collecting other items - like 10 of Patrick's stinky socks, or simply finding them hidden in levels, you are free to explore new areas and collect more of the myriad doodads to unlock various points of progression, both within and into new levels. There was a nice flow to everything, and the collecting was enjoyable in that goal-oriented way as you tried moving further along in the game. There are 100 Golden Spatulas to collect in the entire game, but you only have to accumulate 75 in order to unlock the final area and boss. And speaking of said bosses, there are a handful of primary and mini-bosses to contend with, and they all play out in the well-established pattern-recognition gameplay that has long been integral to the genre. There are also other fun activities like races to enjoy which, while not being super speedy, were fun with branching paths revealing shorter routes and hidden collectibles, as well as offering Golden Spatulas for beating certain times. And there were some fun opportunities to get your air on, as you were flung across or above the map on trampolines and other means of propulsion - a sensation I always enjoy. Overall, despite feeling formulaic in some ways, Battle for Bikini Bottom was comfort food for the seasoned gamer in me, and I mostly had a fun time with it.

I say mostly because there were some rotten spots on this pineapple that needed to be trimmed off. The most disappointing shock to the system was to hear a different voice for a couple of characters. Mr. Krabs is no longer voiced by Clancy Brown. (Of The Shawshank Redemption fame. I never knew he did the voice prior to writing this review.) The new actor just feels off and doesn't capture the essence of that iconic character. And Ernest Borgnine is not the voice of Mermaid Man here, and a great deal of personality is lost in his absence. (He was still alive for the original game's production.) Those omissions diminished a significant amount of flavor that is found in the series, and it did detract from my enjoyment. There are also quite a bit of invisible walls and the like that bothered me. In some spots there are these big open vistas that seem to be begging you to explore, but if you wander off the, often undefined, proper path, “Hans” - the disembodied hand from the show, will grab you and put you back. In some vertical places, it was particularly annoying. Sandy had an ability that allowed her to hover with her lasso over longer gaps, and you would be on your way to an easily reachable platform, but the game had decided that you were not allowed to reach one area from another, and so it would grab you and restore you to a previous point. That really felt awkward and diminished the sense of exploration that seemed so inviting visually at times, pulling back the curtain on things and revealing a feeble wizard of a game in spots. And there were a variety of other minor niggles that aren't necessarily worth mentioning, and while taken in isolation seem rather small, but cumulatively start to feel heavier and drain some of the fun that was otherwise very evident.

In the final analysis, Battle for Bikini Bottom was a certain type of familiar fun to anyone who likes this sort of well-played genre. There are so many examples of this sort of game, and if you want to be special, you've got to really shine to stand out. I can't say that SpongeBob really hit enough high notes to strongly recommend, but I had enough fun to finish it and still continue playing a bit afterwards. I think anyone who enjoys the collectathon and/or the property will probably have a good enough time here to warrant a single play. It's easily digestible gaming comfort food. 3/5.

[isthatallyougot]

27) South Park : The Fractured but Whole (PC)



Licensed games used to be a thing for mockery most of the time. They were usually quick and easy, lazy cash-ins on popular properties that resulted in disappointment for any unfortunate enough to buy into their hype. But over the years that has changed, and now we often get video game representations of popular films, shows and characters from other media that are lovingly crafted. A number of years ago, South Park and its fans were fortunate enough to be graced by such a translation in The Stick of Truth, a game that felt very much like - even identical to - its inspiration. You felt like you were living in the world of that crazy fictional Colorado town, and it was, unsurprisingly, very popular. That popularity afforded us with a sequel in 2017's The Fractured But Whole, a hilarious play on words that embodies the tone of this follow-up.

You are, of course, the “new kid” on the scene and get to interact with all the familiar characters from the show. This time around, everything is a spoof on comic universes and their conflicts for superiority. Rather than real-world superhero factions, the kids have made their own, and part of what was really enjoyable about TFBW was the sensation of childhood imagination - the idea of kids (albeit special kids, lol) at play, engaged in make-believe. They've all invented their own heroes with their associated powers, and in the course of the game we get to see these “heroes” wage battle on their journeys. You, as the new kid, have a special skill with butt-related powers, appropriately enough, and the game focused heavily on that theme, with endless fart-related powers and jokes. I will say that while I can appreciate the juvenile as much as the next arrested-adolescent, the jokes felt overplayed, both in and out of game-play, and started to feel stale well before the conclusion. There's something to be said for a bit of restraint in comedy, and when you pound your audience over the head with the same routine again and again, it mutes the impact, and I felt like The Fractured But Whole, failed to mix things up adequately, and things became tired. That's not to say there is a lack of enjoyable humor in the game. There are plenty of great moments - the fight with Jared from Subway, lol, but there was an over-reliance on a single note, and music is best played with an interplay of contrasting and complimentary sounds, of course.

In terms of mechanics, there are plenty of powers for all the heroes that you can swap in and out of your party. There are multiple classes, each with their own abilities, and you can specialize in several, giving you a plethora of moves to choose when equipping your character for battle. There are some fun special moves as well that are both epic and humorous, which added to the fun spectacle. Overall, however, the battle system, while functional, felt limited and just didn't have the spark I was hoping for. It wasn't as fun or as deep as I would have liked. And there were some battles that were particularly annoying and not well-designed in my opinion - the “stay out of this zone” and the “make it to the end of the hall” conflicts were really tedious and poorly constructed. I also preferred the fantasy setting of The Stick of Truth to the currently overplayed superhero motif. And in general, I just thought that The Stick of Truth was the better game, both in terms of humor and in terms of design. That's not to say that TFBW was a bad game. It was similarly very authentic to the show in terms of visuals, characters, locales, and humor. I really appreciated this return trip to the "real" South Park in that regard. And the incorrigible Cartman is endlessly lovable in a twisted sort of way. He's absolutely irredeemable, which makes him oddly endearing as a miscreant. But overall, I just failed to find the same joy in this return to the franchise. The Stick of Truth was a solid 4/5, but TFBW slipped down a noticeable notch for me, yet it's a comfortable and familiar 3/5. Good game, but relatively disappointing.

26) Ori and the Blind Forest (PC)



I knew of Ori and the Blind Forest's sterling reputation long ago, and I finally got the chance to play it in 2022. You play as a forest spirit, trying to restore light and life to a darkened, withering woodland. The narrative is sparse but does a good job of conveying that magical tone inherent in the mystery dwelling within shadows and recesses that we subconsciously know lay hidden in the moss, trees and undiscovered caves and crannies far removed from civilization - a world of fae and ancient entities belonging to mother earth that dare not, need not, sully themselves with man and his misguided interests. The vibe and presentation are wonderfully absorbing in this regard, and I was drawn in right away.

Visually everything is sharp and colorful with top-notch animations to both Ori and the other forest dwellers. There's such a smoothness and fluidity to the way Ori moves and unlocking more attack and traversal options as you progress in this metroidvania always brought a sense of empowerment and fun as you discovered more of the fairly large world. Learning to double jump, wall-climb, charge jump, dash - both on ground and eventually in air, and feather glide along with a variety of other moves really opened up the world as you familiarized yourself with what could be done. I particularly liked the concept of using enemies and their projectiles as launch points for platforming and attacks, and it made for a real sense of creative navigation as you utilized hazards as propulsion through environments in a dynamic flow with the ever-changing scenery. Generally, things were quite satisfying mechanically.

In terms of finding your way through the world, I thought Ori did a really good job of offering subtle guidance and direction, leading you on the proper path for progression without ever blatantly pointing out the way. Because of this, I felt like there was a nice sense of discovery and accomplishment. And there are plenty of little secrets and things to find as you gain experience to earn new and optional ways to accentuate your powers in a three-spoked skill tree. I also liked the fact that saving your progress was tied to in-game collectibles. There was a nice risk-reward to using your save currency versus pressing on and taking a chance that you might not make it, forcing you back to a prior save point. I will say that it was more challenging than I realized going in. I knew very little of the game other than its positive reputation, having never even read a review, but there's a good sense of challenge for a platforming veteran, and even on normal difficulty.

But as much as I loved a great deal of what Ori had to offer, there were some trouble spots for me. There are some “escape” sequences where you're navigating an environmental pursuit, such as rising water, for example. And while they were surely exhilarating moments, these sections can be a bit longer than I'd like to have seen, given the number of challenges and obstacles without a save point. It was easy to make a mistake or two well into the section, forcing you all the way back to the beginning, which was deflating. There were also plenty of environmental hazards throughout the game - mostly plant thorns or spikes - that blended in with the world in ways that didn't always make them readily distinguishable against the rest of the backdrops, and it was easy to bump into something that could kill you instantly without having seen it clearly. And enemy combat was not very engaging. Rather than simply jumping on enemies like you might expect (you can dispatch enemies in this way as well via the stomp ability eventually, albeit not ideal), you use “spirit flame” to cast homing projectiles against enemies that have health bars and shoot their own hazards at you, which felt strange and a bit out of place to me in this game. It was nice in terms of the platforming, but the combat itself was usually pretty boring and repetitive, and enemies re-spawned fairly quickly after you ventured out of range only a small distance, causing ongoing boring encounters in brief spans of navigation. And the platforming in general, while very responsive, felt a bit looser than I would like. It's not that it controls poorly - far from it, it's just a little more slippery than I prefer. All of these things ultimately did detract from some of my enjoyment here. Despite the phenomenal presentation and some great core elements, I sometimes found things tedious and annoying. As much as I loved what Ori did well, it's ultimately a 3/5 for me. It's a good game, no doubt about it, and I certainly enjoyed it. A part of me feels conflicted for not scoring it higher because of the incredibly obvious strengths it possesses, but the negatives really pressed against my overall sense of pleasure and admiration for things frequently enough to scar my overall sense of appreciation. I've heard the sequel does everything better, and I certainly did like this entry enough to consider giving the follow-up a go one day. The original has plenty of qualities that I'd consider worthy of a better judgment, but I just can't see the whole experience as more than “good” with some incredible polish and presentation that was undermined by some frustrating negatives. To be fair, I realize I'm in the minority, given the near universal high-praise.

25) Mountain (PC)



In the evolution of this medium, the term “video game” has come to mean much more than was initially imagined. In that expansion, we are given window into new concepts and ideas that allow for this format to take us to new places hitherto not conceived or expressed. The interactive aspect of gaming has come to include narrative, emotional, and philosophical engagement in addition to the medium's roots of purely mechanical experience. With that flowering, experiences beyond the scope of mere “entertainment” have become possible. We can be taken to places of deeper value in addition to the simple, yet worthwhile joys of fun distraction.

Enter Mountain, an experience I spent some time with on the PC. In this experience, you are a floating and rotating mountain, peppered with trees and your own small landscape, with its own little natural sounds (when viewed up close) that cycles from day to night and season to season. You sit floating in space and as you idle in observation the camera will zoom and pan in and out, showing you the steadiness of your being both in nearness and as a point of distant light, not unlike a star in the firmament. (You can also manipulate the perspective if you wish.) As you observe, the stillness and persistence of the mountain is transferred to the watcher. The sense that you are the mountain, that you are unchanging stillness, is conveyed. Things occasionally come in and out of experience, with objects sometimes landing on your surface - items which can be plucked out and released if desired or “touched” for some item-appropriate auditory flavor. But whatever enters or departs, whatever you allow in or choose to release, and from whatever angle things are viewed, you remain the constant, immutable witness, the blank screen upon which all experience manifests.

There is a real meditative quality to sitting quietly and observing Mountain, and it's nicely suited to achieving a Zen-like state if you really surrender to it. If you quiet yourself, like the mountain, there is serene peace to be found within this experience. I found this to be a stark contrast and wonderful palate cleanser from the attention draining, information overload, ADD, check-your-phone-every-two-minutes, quick-camera-cut world we live in. It may seem like a bit of nothing at first, but that emptiness transmutes as you allow yourself to be absorbed by its rhythms...by its stillness. You don't need Mountain as a meditation practice, but it does offer a similar sensation to quiet meditation or breath work that has been practiced for thousands of years, and that state is certainly a worthwhile condition to which I like to regularly return. I wouldn't expect many to find much to praise here, but if it resonates with you like it does me, you'll know what it's all about. 4/5

[canedaddy]

Hey now, we're into the 4/5s. What are the first two, 3s or 4s? America needs to know!

[isthatallyougot]

Hey now, we're into the 4/5s. What are the first two, 3s or 4s? America needs to know!

You mean #27 and #26?

If so they're 3s. I thought I said so in the reviews. Or maybe I'm not understanding?

[canedaddy]

You mean #27 and #26?

If so they're 3s. I thought I said so in the reviews. Or maybe I'm not understanding?

Oh, you did. I missed it. I've been conditioned to expect the number at the end.

[isthatallyougot]

Oh, you did. I missed it. I've been conditioned to expect the number at the end.

No one's even reading my reviews. It's almost like nobody's even heard of most of these games.

24) Super Mario Kart (SNES)



I'm not sure if Nintendo invented the kart racing genre or not, but Mario Kart is often thought of as the staple example. I loved Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U and Double Dash was also great fun on the GameCube. I had never played any other entries until this year when I went back to the roots to give Super Mario Kart on the SNES a chance. I was curious how basic it may be compared to the evolution of the franchise, but knowing Nintendo, I expected it to be a well-made and fun game. In doing a little research about it, I came to find out that this series started with the intentions of being an F-Zero multiplayer title, but due to hardware constraints they couldn't render the longer straightaways of that series in both a bottom and top image for split-screen racing, so a team was charged with developing a multiplayer racer that could work within the hardware limitations of the SNES, and thus Super Mario Kart, with its tight and intimate courses with lots of twists and turns was born. Visually, I found it to be appealing in the way that many of Nintendo's properties are. Everything was bright and colorful, with plenty of personality, negating attention on technical attributes. The “Mode 7” also did a good job of mimicking 3D for the time. The courses were all fun and learning to power slide in this first iteration of the racer was different and more challenging than the other entries I've played when on the higher difficulties. Any little mistake could throw you from the front to the back as there were severe speed penalties for many hazards, and sometimes roadways were very narrow and you'd find yourself getting bumped in the scrum and grinding your teeth as everyone raced by. The AI in general could also be very cheap as they'd perfectly throw hazard pickups right in front of you oftentimes. The rubber-banding also felt very tight in this one. I understand that the developers are tasked with making things challenging for the single player, but the cheese was strong in this first entry. And despite the fundamentals of the series being evident and well-represented, things felt pretty basic and unevolved through the lens of the present, but that's no fault of this game, and quite understandable. The nuts and bolts of the racing are still quite fun, even if lacking some of the accoutrements fans have come to enjoy. The single player doesn't have the legs I would have liked, but I had a good time with this blast from the past. The bones of the franchise are in place here already. It's really fun today, and I imagine it would have been all the more impressive so many years ago. 4/5.

23) Soul Searching (PC)



Sometimes gaming has wonderful little surprises that you weren't expecting. I didn't remember when I picked up Soul Searching for Steam, but I looked it up and I found that I bought it in the winter sale of 2019 for $2.49. I don't remember why I was intrigued enough to buy it, but browsing my library, I was looking for some things to run on my daytime (Linux) machine that isn't very high-powered like my primary gaming PC and I stumbled across this. So I installed it, knowing that if it didn't click, it was a quick uninstall. I didn't know (or remember) much at all about the game, so it was mostly a blind swing of the bat.

From still screens, you would think that Soul Searching is not a good-looking game. It's blocky with little apparent detail, but as the saying goes, “You can't always judge a book by its cover.” Granted, the graphics are rudimentary, but in motion they create this wonderfully immersive setting. (More on the presentation later) On the surface, this game is about an islander who leaves home to go on a high seas adventure, visiting a variety of islands in the region. He learns of an age-old conflict between the ancient dragons and humans and seeks to understand its essence. Eventually we learn, through flashbacks, of another layer about a man who works in a present-day suicide hotline call-center, a man who, likely because of his work - at least in part, is dealing with existential questions about life that we all face in our more contemplative moments. What is the point/meaning? Is all predestined? Is there any purpose at all? In searching for deeper meaning, are we looking for something real and profound that actually exists beyond surface experience and appearances or are we simply escaping “reality” through mental abstraction? This background narrative unfolds as we adventure in this collection of islands through the primary experience. We board a simple raft and head out for uncharted isles, rowing our simple craft in the hopes of adventure and/or meaning, despite the pleas of the residents of our island home imploring us to stay. But go we must.

The structure of the game has some mild survival elements as we must manage our hunger, thirst, and energy levels. As we travel on the seas, we eventually find ourselves landing on other islands. In these new places we meet various locals who have their own moods and little stories, and we discover that we can upgrade our boat with gold we've found floating on the seas or from selling fish we've caught for more funds. We can get a bucket for fresh water so that we can drink on longer journeys, we can get new oars (or eventually a motor) to make navigating easier, there is a map which can open up a view of islands to which we may want to venture or haven't yet visited (besides finding islanders who can give us map pieces that show more islands), we can get a sleeping bag in order to replenish our energy while sailing (well, technically not “sailing” but it has the same vibe), we can get a fishing pole to keep us fed while out on the seas or while docked at a rest stop, there is a ladder to get on and off your boat when finding a variety of things floating at sea, as well as a pair of binoculars, which were practically pointless. So there is a bit of depth to everything. You can also find these glowing “souls” out on the ocean. When you pick them up, they make a little human-like sound and they then follow you around. I thought they had no purpose mechanically for much of the game until I found out that there is magic to be learned, a variety of spells which can make you run faster, call dolphins to your aid, summon your boat and control the wind to help push you on your preferred course, and these souls are the currency spent to activate the various magics. I did use the run faster spell a few times, and it was nice to have a little added depth, but, in truth, the spells aren't really needed. As you made your way, there were plenty of unique events and dangers that presented themselves. There was a giant bird that liked to scoop you up and drop you in the distance, forcing you to swim back to your boat. Flying fish would fly over landing on the surface of your watercraft, giving you needed sustenance. There could be rain and/or electrical storms that threatened your safety. Dolphins may follow you. Crows would sometimes land and try to eat up your food stores and drink your water, and you had to chase them away before losing too many of your essentials. The worst problem was the arrival of a dragon that would breathe fire on your boat, often doing permanent damage if you couldn't douse the flames quickly enough. It was quite discouraging to lose your oars or motor, map, or fresh water. All in all, things were kept fresh by a variety of experiences and encounters on the open ocean in between island visits.

Back to the atmosphere, I found myself quite pleasantly surprised at how compelling and absorbing the setting was, despite the modest assets. The sound is of particular note as everything is full of ambient noises, from birds and wind to the ocean itself. The sense of place was wonderfully imparted via the audio. That aspect alone made me feel as if I was on this magical sailing adventure. And the graphics, while basic, had plenty of charm from the shimmering light off the surface of the water, to the shadows of fish swimming below, to the wisps of clouds floating past and the variety of lighting conditions as the game's day to night cycle shifted. There were some occasional acoustic guitar pieces that played which were really lovely and came infrequently enough that they felt special and added another layer to the overall flavor of things as you drifted upon the seas. The bottom line in regards to presentation is that this was much more than I imagined or would probably appear to anyone just taking a cursory look at still images. It was really more than I could have possibly expected going in, and I absolutely loved the setting and its feel.

Overall, I had a really enjoyable time with Soul Searching, surprisingly so. I spent a little over 5 hours with the game, and that included the main game and seven strange art-project side stories. But the main game was the bulk of the experience for me at around four and a half hours, I suppose. I could have finished a little sooner perhaps, but I was enjoying sailing around and visiting islands, and really just soaking in the overall atmosphere, so I played longer than was required. And yet there were still unvisited and undiscovered places as I learned after the fact. As good as the vibe was, I wished that it had been longer and deeper, but it was certainly worthwhile as it was. In addition to the surface layer enjoyment, the game did attempt to pose some deeper questions about life, and there was an admittedly depressive undertone in the background, but if that's a turnoff, I will say that it didn't penetrate the primary experience of the main game. Although I'm quite certain that the creator either is or has been terribly depressed. But the bottom line for me is that this was an enjoyable game, and I have no problem recommending it to anyone who enjoys adventure and/or the open water and has room for more modest visuals in their gaming diet. 4/5.

22) Finding Paradise (PC)



All of us, no matter how we may have lived, whether in harmony with our dreams and ideals most of the time or frequently off our internal path, will have accumulated regret on some level. And the idea of “fixing” things to a state that removes that sensation can be powerful as you age and something I think most everyone can relate to. But life is a teacher, a learning experience, and things are the way they are. Good intentions don't always result in good or desired outcomes. So we carry at least some tinge of melancholy and longing for what could have been or what we wished to be, realistic or not. Life always possesses that bittersweet quality of appreciation for what we've loved and heartache for the unrealized dreams. A sequel to 2011's To the Moon, Finding paradise continues an examination of that condition.

Employees of the Sigmund corporation, a business which helps people to realize their dying wish through a machine that allows for memory manipulation, Dr. Rosalene and Watts are given the assignment of helping Colin Reeds find fulfillment of his unrealized dream as he lay on his deathbed. Colin, an awkward, introverted and isolated child who found himself living a life that he ultimately describes as a good life, seeks help from these dream weavers as an old man to satisfy something that he felt eluded him in life. His wife is understandably saddened, confused and frustrated over her husband's wish to change things, especially as he reassures her that he is grateful for the people he loves and is happy with the life that he lived. He even makes it a point, without being specific, to request that the doctors change as little as possible when altering his memories, which presents quite a challenge. How to fulfill a man's dreams who doesn't want things to change and has identified as happy with the life that he lived? And so the two begin the process, via their technology, of roaming around Colin's memories and looking for that subtle element that he may have been missing. Within each memory, they find mementos that need to be activated by finding a certain number of events that will allow them to activate the object and its significance via a light puzzle mini-game. Once activated, the memento ushers the two into another point in Mr. Reeds past and the process continues as we learn about his life in greater detail as we traverse his various ages and experiences. I can't say too much about the narrative without spoiling the experience, but it should be obvious that the tone will be of an emotionally effecting nature. But there are also plenty of light-hearted moments and some pretty funny humor that keeps the balance, avoiding an overly heavy and oppressive sentimental state. Without giving everything away, I'll just say that it's ultimately a love story with an interesting and unexpected twist.

Aside from the narrative, the gameplay, as in To The Moon, is minimal. Aside from the aforementioned activation of mementos, there are a few brief nods to shooters, fighting games and RPGs, but they are very simple and brief. This is not a game you play for that sort of engagement. It's narrative at the front from beginning to end, with only minimal navigation through environments as the bulk of the interactive side. The graphics were charming SNES era inspired and looked very nice. The audio had a lovely main theme, which was quite moving. Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Finding Paradise. There was a nice sense of mystery and anticipation about what Colin wanted to change in his life, and the game posed some philosophical questions that I won't share in order to avoid spoiling anything. My biggest issues were the lack of gameplay and the fact that I ultimately wasn't as moved by the twist/ending as I was anticipating. Maybe I was expecting too much, given the suggestive lead-up and consistently poignant music, but despite the reveal being interesting, it was not as impactful or moving as I hoped and expected, and I did feel a bit let-down. It just didn't have the emotional charge in its conclusion that it seemed to be promising for me, and honestly came off a bit silly from my perspective. The payoff did not validate the premise. It failed to live up to To The Moon in that regard, yet I still preferred it as an overall package. But the journey was a really fun ride, and like life, better than any ultimate destination. It was worth the trip in the end. 4/5.

[canedaddy]

No one's even reading my reviews. It's almost like nobody's even heard of most of these games.

Ha, well I've read most of the write-ups on games that looked interesting to me, including the last two here. Soul Searching especially seems up my alley. If I ever get another Switch, I'll grab it. (No chance I'll play on PC.)

[isthatallyougot]

Ha, well I've read most of the write-ups on games that looked interesting to me, including the last two here. Soul Searching especially seems up my alley. If I ever get another Switch, I'll grab it. (No chance I'll play on PC.)

Yeah, I figured it might be interesting to you.

Just curious, what's your aversion to playing on PC? Is it just the potential tweaking that is occasionally needed?

Personally, it doesn't matter too much to me what I play on - just whatever works best (for me). PC is best for me, but I still love my consoles - if I ever dig them out of storage, I'll certainly play them again. I've been hankering for some PS3 goodness lately. Maybe I'll get around to that.

[canedaddy]

Just curious, what's your aversion to playing on PC? Is it just the potential tweaking that is occasionally needed?

It's just that I sit at my PC for work all day and don't want to go back to my workspace come gaming time... I just want to chill in my recliner in front of the TV.