SNESdude

Tchia deserves praise for its wonderful art direction, sublime soundtrack and as a cultural showcase, but it's this great potential the game holds that makes its other shortcomings so much more disappointing. So many moments in the main narrative feel so forced, awkward or in contrast to itself, it really takes you out of the experience. And while the game's core of collect-a-thon manages to carry enough of a base sense of fun, most every mechanic lacks any sense of depth and quite often fights to perform even eloquently. Sailing is a pain as speed control and steering are independently controlled. Song performances would often stutter (even while in performance mode on PS5). Gliding feels lacking is desired air time / speed. It was a very pretty game that sadly just lacked any weight to all other elements in its game design and presentation.

Note these impressions are from playing the game at launch on PS5 - The whole experience of Cyberpunk 2077 feels one of very much smoke and mirrors; It's a beautiful game on the surface with grand ambitions, but your choices or how you play never really seem to matter or have any satisfying depth to them. While I'm sure the game has since been patched significantly, the most poetic ending was having the game crash mid-credits.

What starts as the simple and pure joys of exploration as found in the likes of many a Zelda adventure turns into one of the greatest puzzle games ever such as one might find from The Witness or Fez. While the game may too cryptic at times for its own good, the way the world and puzzles hide in plain sight and unfold upon itself is nothing beyond brilliant. And the means of integrating a game manual as a central mechanic is just too cool.

RPG Time boasts stunning art direction and craft, but sadly very little else to forgive its numerous other shortcomings. The movement is slow and tedious, the gameplay consists a large degree of luck / trial and error, and when it doesn't, there is very little independent thought to be had due to an abundance of hand-holding. It very much captures the spirit of a game made by a child, which in part is somewhat endearing, but does little to create an invigorating experience beyond that.

An absolutely beautifully animated point-and-click adventure full of whimsical imagination and delightful humor. This game is like a Saturday morning cartoon came to life and the puzzle design contains just enough complexity without overstepping its boundaries. It may be a tad on the short side as its over sooner than you may hope for, but still manages to deliver a satisfying conclusion to an utterly charming story.

While Minute of Islands boasts a beautiful visual aesthetic and captivating world, the inner workings is ultimately a disappointing experience filled with uninspiring gameplay and a narrative devoid of any meaningful impact.

A charming capture of young adult struggles, friendships and life in a small town that unfortunately becomes muddled with other convoluted plots.

Yooka-Laylee is a sadly failed attempt to recapture the magic of such esteemed collect-a-thons as Banjo-Kazooie. Worlds feel slapped together with repeated characters and awkward item placements that annoyingly have to be expanded for further exploration, which instead makes them feel just sad spaces not lived in. The art and character design is mostly well crafted, but the end result sadly just lacks the passion of our goofy bear and bird.

Somerville sets up an intriguing world in which to explore, but fails in delivering an engaging experience due to sluggish controls and an uninspiring story.

Despite a few nitpicks, Samus Returns is a fantastic return to form for the Metroid series. It takes one of Metroid's most overlooked entries and gives it fresh new life with bold decisions such as a greater focus on action and superb polished looks. The act of hunting down and annihilating an entire alien species offers compelling stakes both narratively and as a gameplay mechanic.

SteamWorld Dig 2 succeeds in offering a more robust and grander adventure than that of its predecessor. While the gameplay remains as solid as ever, the narrative and repetitive nature of the game lessen the impact of what should be a more memorable experience. Even so, this game is such a finely tuned and well designed package, you'll be sure to find enjoyment digging and zipping around these twisting tunnels again.

The Way-Out is fine, but largely forgettable co-op game filled with many a cliche plot thread and uninspiring characters. The ending does provide some compelling moments that play well into such being co-op game, but the weight such carries is belittled due to the lack of care for these characters / story by this point of reaching the conclusion.

Imagine if Bomberman were a 2D platformer, except you were a chicken and you pooped your bombs into an ascending tower as a pseudo jumping mechanic. That is the creative beast that is Bomb Chicken. The game can be brutally finicky at times trying not to accidentally blow yourself up, but it's a delightfully unique experience watching this chubby chicken waddle about these strange ruins obsessed with fried foods.

A decent Metroidvania take that uses procedural world building to no offense perse, but not really any gain either. With solid enough mechanics, it's a fine game to scratch that Metroidvania itch if needed.

Wandersong is one of the most heartfelt and genuine games I've ever experienced. While the mechanics of the game may not be incredibly deep and a tad clumsy to control, it wonderfully embodies the narrative direction and finds its own creative means to continually surprise and intrigue the player, you can't help but growing an emotional attachment to these many characters and stakes of this world.

Inmost offers a superb style and atmosphere with the promise of some compelling Metroidvania gameplay and tantalizing narrative threads, but unfortunately never evolves much throughout. By the game's conclusion, the game takes an odd turn of scripting the final moments rather than letting you enjoy playing them for yourself.

A chill and beautiful game to drift around, endlessly roaming and exploring a vast desert region full of nomads and mysterious wonders. It perfectly captures the magic of exploration that is akin to something like Breath of the Wild, but falls just a bit short in satisfying rewards for these explorative exploits.

A game full of fun and quirky short stories that unfortunately do not come together into a satisfying whole / conclusion. Given the nature that these narratives take place across various periods of time, you would assume there is at least a thread of a shared timeline or such, but there sadly really is no connection to be found in these worlds aside what the game attempts to force into its final act.

Sonic's core gameplay design that is speed has never felt more at home than with an open world format. The game is full of such truly epic moments while also being riddled with an abundance of questionable design decisions. Ultimately though, the highs outweigh the lows in this case to make for a memorable and worthwhile experience.