Recent reviews by Renfrew

I randomly stumbled across this game on YouTube and decided I had to try it. I bought it all the way back in 2019, so just now getting round to playing it! It is short and sweet, so let me break it down in some short bullet points:

• The story is barebones, and a little generic (the peaceful land is dying, you are the saviour), but that is enough motivation to get you to do something
  
• The atmosphere, visuals, and music are amazing! I wish the music was developed a bit more instead of being short loops.
  
• The game's mechanics are very simple and unfortunately once mastered offer very little replayability and challenge (that is why the hardest difficulty lazily just makes everything kill you in one hit).

If you want an introduction to a 2D Metroidvania with combat mechanics then this is a good place to start, and that is why I am recommending it despite my criticisms. I certainly cannot say I did not have fun, so that's another factor.


If that's not good enough for you to try this, then I would recommend Rabi-Ribi instead. It is not made by the same devs, but it is very similar. One major difference is that it leans a lot more into the bullet hell genre with its combat, so do keep that in mind:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/400910/RabiRibi/

Its main downside is that the story is pretty bad and incoherent. There is some suggestive imagery; I personally am not bothered by this, but some people are. Overall it is far longer, has a HUGE map, has much better difficulty choices, hundreds of items, character skill point allocation (known as badge points), ranged attack customisations, and many abilities.

I will compare something as simple as the ranged attack.
In Momodora your ranged attack is a bow and arrow. As it is upgraded it can be charged to fire a barrage of arrows, and then the next charge will fire a hail of arrows directly at the target. The charge speed can be reduced, and some passive effects affect your arrows and that's about it.
In Rabi-Ribi you have a fairy companion who serves as your ranged attack. She also has 2 additional charged states, however she can also customise what her attack does, from homing orbs, to lasers, to energy fields that slow down enemies and so on. She has many passive effects to upgrade her attacks. You can also upgrade her to do her basic weak attack while she is charging allowing you to maintain damage, and even has ultimate abilities which range from healing, to a damage boost, to a laser of death, to becoming the source of bullets in a bullet hell and more!

I will stop there otherwise it will become a review for Rabi-Ribi, but I think you get the point. In terms of pricing it is double the cost (depends on region pricing) for way more than double the content!

Positives:

• Introduces new mechanics.
  
• Well-designed puzzles

Neutral:
The story is passable, and quite repetitive (i.e. similar to previous games). Voice acting was a little off in some places. It is free and a Portal game. so can't really be upset here.

Negatives:
The puzzles were not difficult enough for my liking. Maybe I just have a lot of experience, making me able to figure out solutions fairly quickly. Overall would give the difficulty a 2.5/5.

Overall:
A decent Portal game, that has clearly had a lot of love put into it. A must play alongside other mods, if you feel you still need more Portal puzzles!

Wishing there was a neutral option, but leaning more towards not liking this game than liking it, so not recommended will have to do.

Octahedron, has an interesting mechanic where you can create temporary platforms under your character in order to traverse its levels. This builds into the platforming puzzles.

• Any given screen is a mess to look at. It is colourful and retro, but not very practical.
  
• First time playing through levels, it is difficult to understand what can and can't kill you. That's fine, trial and error isn't unusual for platformers however this is yet another visual design choice flaw, and you can end up confusing yourself as you progress and more mechanics are introduced
  
• The default keyboard controls are terrible, if you plan to play this make sure to change them. "Control" for jump instead of "space"? "Y" is to change platform type along with "X", have the developers never seen a keyboard before?
  
• Speaking of controls, this character controls poorly, feels sluggish to balance the platform mechanic, and sometimes platforms are created slightly below the character, which doesn't seem like an issue until you try to create a platform and quickly jump, thus not being able to jump due to not being on a surface (this is hell for least time challenges)
  
• Challenges are not too difficult, but the least time challenges are hell. If you want to complete those, good luck, as they are are beyond unbalanced, you must play perfectly, no room for error at all. You will frequently find yourself failing by a few seconds because of this.

The only thing I can say I like is that the gameplay is somewhat interesting, but that's about it... I boot up this game every once in a while, with the intent of getting all the achievements, because that appears to be the most enjoyment I am getting out of this.

• Music is meh, nothing stellar and nothing I haven't heard before. It's bordering on generic.
  
• There isn't really a story, a man is sucked into a strange world, and is trying to progress (honestly the intro is so forgettable, that I sometimes forget that it even happened). So you just kind of progress through the levels, and the only real motivation is just to challenge yourself.

Overall a 5/10, it's not terrible or unplayable, but it could be better. I may have got it on sale, but the full price is hard to justify.

I am going to begin by addressing the elephant in the room, yes this is inspired by The Stanley Parable, which on its own isn't a bad thing. What hurts this game in that regard is the release date on this is 2020, 7 years after The Stanley Parable. What could have been a love letter, is instead a lazy cop out.

The entire game revolves around this fourth wall trope of "nobody will like this game", which is oversaturated and been done many times. There is no real reward for going off track, either to have a very forgettable easter egg, or a proverb which you've probably already heard somewhere else. Besides that the game is very linear. It starts off interesting, but seems to be lazy towards the end.

It is extremely linear and unsatisfying.

Every time you press the button the game closes... It doesn't reset, it doesn't send you back to the menu, it outright shuts down the game. Why design it like this?

4/10 - It's inexpensive, but it's forgettable and really frustrating to play through

Quick edit: Forgot to say I left the game open which is why my play time is not reflective.

I had 32 mins by the final part, and now doing the achievements (because what else is there to do?)

So I won't associate myself with the morons who say the DLCs under-delivered. For some reason the community gaslighted themselves into thinking they were getting DLCs on-par with BL2, when Gearbox had already said numerous times these were not gonna be proper DLCs. Is it overpriced? Sure, but they kept their word, but of course the truth doesn't matter in this moronic community.

Anyone who disagrees is welcome to show me EVIDENCE that this is not what Gearbox promised

Anyway, the reason for this negative review is because Shattering Spectreglass is currently bugged and does not show up for Season Pass owners. I bet you Gearbox and 2K are hoping you shell out money again before they fix this. They insist Steam is at fault, given the track record of Steam, I am inclined to not take that claim seriously...

Even if they fix it, I am keeping this review negative, there is no justification...

Edit:
Just to point out how moronic some people in this community are, some guy went through all the effort to harass me (enjoy that ban btw) because he was triggered by this review but still couldn't even send me a link as evidence, and the whole time I am just laughing. It's so hilarious! Imagine being that pathetic, I won't link this person's profile because of Steam guidelines, even though they fully deserve it. To quote Claptrap: "Your tears nourish me!", in other words cope harder.

After the fustercluck that is BL3 and all its controversy it's nice to actually get a break from the series. Sure, Wonderlands uses Borderlands elements at its core, and yet it feels like a fresh experience. It shows the potential for the Borderlands series to become something more and explore new areas; perhaps even Wonderlands can be its own spin-off series with sequels.


The writing
I know someone is going to point out that "ackshually" this is Borderlands 2.5, but besides Assault on Dragon Keep, this is far from being anything like BL2, so from a features standpoint 3.5 is more accurate. Technicalities aside, the game takes place between 2 and 3, but Borderlands universe is definitely not the main focus here, and that is what makes this feel fresh. If we had just got another Pre-Sequel, it would have been a lore dump that could have passed off as a DLC, but because it decides to do its own thing it is better than that. To embrace the fantasy element the manufacturers as well as gear have been renamed to better suit that, and of course that doesn't stop Tina from adding guns to a fantasy story!

Unlike Assault on Dragon Keep it is not a reimagining of an existing story it is its own story. It's on the same level as any other fantasy game in terms of cliches (you are the chosen one, etc.), but it is shaken up by the D and D aspect, which adds a sort of 4th wall element, that compliments the gameplay and writing. The villain is much better than the twins, nowhere near Handsome Jack level, but is a significant improvement over those two. Lots of humour sprinkled throughout, I think anyone expecting something more serious will be annoyed, but consider the context; you are playing a board game, Handsome Jack is dead, there is no reason for things to be serious. Do what the characters are doing and just focus on having fun!


Gameplay
The gameplay of course has taken on the more modernised FPS elements that appeared in BL3, but it still is Borderlands at its core, as there is no shortage of looting, farming, and trying new builds. Speaking of which we now have a sub-class system that allows you to pick a second class in addition to your current one, once you complete a certain mission, allowing a combination of 15 classes (there is a new class on the horizon, that raises that number to 21!) This makes the replay value huge, and I know some people (like myself) will explore every single combination as we have fun playing this game for hours on end. I am worried that so many class combinations will lead to poor balance in the long run (i.e. some combinations might be fun, but weak), but so far I am very happy with the balance, as gear seems to be primary and class skills secondary.

Wonderlands has added a difficulty setting (not talking about instanced loot from BL3, as in literal easy, normal, hard). Naturally as a veteran I am playing on the hardest, but I guess things will feel much more like a challenge at max level + Chaos levels. So far just like BL3 I feel like the difficulty is lacking compared to BL2. Don't get me wrong BL2's difficulty had flaws, but I am so used to that challenge now (especially as my main was Krieg), that this feels a bit easy in comparison. It's definitely not a cake walk though and will be enjoyable to everyone.


Epic exclusivity
No matter which side you are on, one thing is very clear, the only reason the game came in 3 months instead of 6 is a lack of sales. There is no other possibility. This is a good thing. Epic and 2K's anti-consumer practices are catching up to them and by being patient, we are making progress.

Major downsides that need to be addressed
- Endgame content is severely lacking:
a) Chaos Chambers are encounters that you have to do over and over. They increased the Chaos Level multiple times and it is now at 100, this is way too high and takes forever to do.
b) No new game+ or ability to reset playthrough
c) DLC are short combat encounters

- Farming is the worst it has ever been:
a) I see what they were going for with Loot Luck, which is keeping farming an endgame thing, but the implementation is terrible. If you are not maximising Loot Luck you will not get good drops. Problem is you need to get all dice (which is a chore, but thankfully apply to all characters), loot luck bonuses from gear (more on that later), hit max level and increase your chaos levels. Needs to be rebalanced to rely less on dice and chaos levels, which give huge multipliers
b) Class mod farming is awful there are 21 unique combinations of classes. For class mods this is bad because for class mods that includes whether the class is primary or secondary which doubles that number to 42! They should make it so that only the classes you are using affect the class mods that spawn.
c) Getting good stats on gear is awful. Class mods, amulets and trinkets all have a chance of spawning with additional stats, this would not be so bad, if there was not already the issues that class mods currently have, and additionally as an example if you wanted a melee focused amulet and ring it can also roll gun focused bonuses, despite the main stat being melee. There is farming and then there is torture.
d Loot luck as a bonus stat is evil, it forces you to optimise your build or get better loot and was never an issue in other titles. In the end game not optimising your build is a bad idea, as the difficulty curve is insane.


Overall
My original review was way too positive, and it has taken me way too long to finally change it, I am left disappointed in some ways. It's a great experience, but it could be better. Borderlands 2 remains the best game in the franchise in my opinion.

This game is insanely fun and doesn't even cost that much! I initially bought it to add to my list of games to play with friends, but enjoyed it so much that I have been playing solo. Here are my thoughts, but in general if you like PAC-MAN conceptually, but wish it wasn't the same thing over and over, then this is for you.

What it does well:
- Procedurally generated and therefore has tons of replayability.
- The ghosts have fixed predictable behaviour (depending on the colour), so deaths never feel unfair as it is up to the player to plan their route
- There are missions that appear in single player, and reward you with coins that let you upgrade power ups
- Although there are a lot of power ups you pick three that you like and then they are the only power ups that will spawn alongside the power pellet, giving you a bit more control over the outcome
- It has local co-op, which is the best kind!

Neutral:
- Missions sometimes require you to use specific power ups, which can be annoying once you have found your optimised combination, but it can also help you find a new way of appreciating that power up
- You can upgrade power ups to make them stronger, but this is very slow and can leave you feeling cheated that you died because your power up didn't have that +1s added to your duration


Criticisms:
- Once you get your first 256 chain you quickly realise that optimising power ups that help maintain a chain are best, thus limiting playstyle
- Some power ups are niche, objectively worse than others, or are direct upgrades of previous ones. The latter raises the question why it wasn't just setup so that a power up at max level gets a bonus, instead of showing a lack of creativity by reusing the same power up with an upgrade. It also makes you feel annoyed if you invested a lot into a power up only to discover there is a better version later.
- if you stop munching for 1 square then you lose your chain. This can be frustrating as there are often random gaps with no dots, coins or power ups in them, forcing you to break your chain


Overall:
9/10. The negative aspects can be attributed to the fact that this game was a smartphone port and thus the lazier aspects come from that sort of genre. It is still a fantastic game and those downsides aren't enough to hinder the fun.

Edit:

On the topic of repeat power ups, an argument could be made that it allows you to take two versions of the same power up, one being a lesser version, but that's quite a stretch, considering other power up evolutions will do a much better job.

This series went pretty downhill after the first game. It tried to do too much, but I still play this series for the custom night challenge. Sadly this game suffers in the same way FNaF 2 does: over-reliance on RNG to artificially inflate difficulty. A practice that fangames are cutting down and encouraging consistency.

Before I get into that let's talk about the worst aspect of this game:
It changed the formula and did something completely new, instead of a predictable formula (Slowly introducing animatronics which get progressively more and more aggressive each night), you are met with a bunch of minigames (glorified lore dumps) each night that are all very different. The problem here is the minigames get tougher and tougher (ignoring Night 5 normal/true ending - this Night is a joke in terms of difficulty, and serves as nothing but a lore dump into the already fustercluck, that is the FNaF lore), but because they are new mechanics you will inevitably struggle with them and may lose once or twice on the more challenging ones.

Then there's the secret/fake ending, which introduces the familiar system we know, but with only one animatronic and with ABSURD power drain. Due to how fast power drains you have to listen to audio cues to shut doors, and only check the cameras to confirm whether you need to keep a door shut. This would be straightforward if this animatronic didn't stay at the doors for extended periods of time, instead of a fixed time. You will have to play through this multiple times just to hope you get good RNG, and each time you die you will have to go through the whole of Night 5 to get back to that part, wasting listening to the same lore dump lines over and over, before you can try again.

Now on to my biggest gripe which is with the Custom Night, that same power drain is back (barely less forgiving), although the nights are comparatively faster than they are in other titles. This reintroduces the same problem where RNG is the largest factor. Dealing with the animatronics on any difficulty is a cake walk, but you will always find yourself struggling to keep your power up, as a result of the inconsistent durations that waste your power.

To prove how horrendous the RNG is in this game is, DJ Sterf (one of the best, dedicated and well-known FNaF players within the community) managed to get 15% power left on the hardest challenge, but somehow only managed 10% on an easier challenge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqX9TUQq24A
Shouldn't it be the other way around?

The only good thing I can say about this custom night is it introduced keyboard controls instead of the annoying point and click, this was carried over to UCN, and I am glad that it was done.

It's a 5/10 FNaF game

As I recall I bought this in a bundle, and have to say this is worse than Amnesia (another game by the developer). I enjoyed Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but this feels like a less polished fangame. The dogs aren't scary (maybe there are more enemies? I am guessing the spiders, but even that is meh at best), controls are clunky, graphics are ancient, sound design is okay at best.

Even the narrative so far is not that interesting, guy's father who he never met died and left him some instructions to go to a place all the way in the Arctic, and that's it. So what? Why should I care? There's nothing to be invested in here, we go to the Arctic because the plot demands it, and find monsters and solve puzzles.

Terrible horror game, bad gameplay, weak narrative. Nothing to keep me interested here.

Edit:
Thanks for the award, make me laugh more by rewarding me with Steam points because you can't handle reality. Cope more, your tears nourish me.

A friend gave me this for free, and I haven't really bothered with it (as you can tell by my hours logged). I think I am going to get all the achievements and then forget about it, but given that I have had this game in my library for 3+ years it's gonna be another 5 before I ever get round to it...

Positives:
- Interesting mechanics feels similar to cut the rope at first, but then gets more complicated

Neutral:
- Costumes are unnecessary in a game like this, but if some people like that power to them.

Negatives:
- Awful physics. You know exactly what the solution to getting 3 stars is, but because the physics are inconsistent and you have to be ultra precise you start to get annoyed at the fact that you are refreshing the same level for a few minutes just to get 3 stars.
- Not a good PC game. I feel this would work better as a mobile game, as it even has similar premises (e.g. levels that get progressively harder, a 3 star mechanic, it's quick and casual unless you plan to 3 star everything). As fate would have it, it is in fact available on Android, so not sure a PC release was ever necessary, but it's nice to have no ads as I imagine the Android version does have ads to compensate for being free.

Buy this if you are that interested in this type of game, the screenshots and trailer are pretty accurate as a summary, but I can imagine for most people that even on sale it's probably not worth buying. It's not a bad game, it's just not particularly good either.