Recent reviews by Stofil

Having finished up the good doctor's laboratory, with each gem and floppy disk grabbed along the way, I found myself greatly satisfied.
It is a triumph of a game filled to burst with not only good ideas but also charming personality. Every bit of progress through the eponymous laboratory grows in scope and complexity with each floor, introducing bold new concepts in a way that for the most part feels natural and enhances the experience. Likewise the gaggle of kooky mechanical puppets and their mad creator are a mostly comedic element that forcibly inhabit the right side of the player's screen, shifting wildly between mockery and panic as you force your way through their levels. All this is completed with the small but solid chiptune soundtrack, striking a good balance where it creates a nice atmosphere and somehow never grows monotonous or distracting despite how long it takes you to solve a puzzle.
All these aspects end up bundled into a neat little packet in the form of a square grid, filled with an array of switches, panels, killer robots and most importantly: blocks to push. This simple format is what allows Dr. Kobushi to be such a well-executed, cohesive game, but it is also probably the part that will make or break whether you'll be able to enjoy the experience. There seems to be an intentional design decision to litter many levels with red herrings, putting spikes, enemies and sometimes even blocks into the stage that you're simply not supposed to (and sometimes straight up can't) interact with. For me the format worked, as some of the toughest challenges I faced turned out to simply be my own overestimation of a levels complexity, but for some it might end up feeling like visual and mental clutter that detracts from the purity of the solutions.

Finally, as solid of an experience as the game is, there is one notable miss along the way: The introduction of the dice block. The dice block is an obstacle meant to be rolled onto specific tiles with the correct number, occasionally turning into a tiring guessing game rather than a proper puzzle. It often ends up being easier to just roll the blocks around to guess the numbers rather than planning out a route, which feels neither fun nor rewarding. In addition, the dedicated dice panels ended up having their numbers obscured in several of the later levels, which necessitated frustrating trial and error for no discernible reason. This ends up trivializing many of the levels leading up to the finale, making them feel like mindless busywork rather than solving a problem. They're not common enough to sour the experience, but certainly feel off in a game that otherwise seems so meticulously crafted.

Dragon's Dogma is a confusing beast. On one hand it feels unpolished, featuring a boring overworld with very few actual locations of interest, a stupid stamina system that makes traversing annoying and some unfortunate mechanics that make you question why they even bothered implementing them (the "romance" system being the chief offender). On the other hand, the aspects of this game that work feel so good that the faults seem almost trivial. The game feels like a perfect mix between western fantasy and Japanese game sensibility, a classic tale of knights and dragons with a twist rooted in an interesting meta-narrative. Do you want to be a mighty sorcerer conjuring tornadoes and summoning meteors? You can do that. Do you want to be the sneaky ranged who climbs beasts with their daggers and shoot down flying fiends with their bow? You can do that. Do you want to be Guts from Berserk? You can do that.

Ultimately, Dragon's Dogma is a game that requires some patience to not only get into, but also to persevere through, but if you are a fan of a varied action RPG with the feel of DnD roleplaying and a very interesting AI companion system you should probably buy this.

Hotline Miami 2 is a very fragmented game in many aspects. The story (which is now far more prominent compared to the first game) is a multi-perspective, non-linear telling of events which ends up being near indecipherable if you do not find the optional text segments scattered around areas. What's there is certainly interesting, but the extra bits and pieces can be very hard to distinguish as they lack the signature arrows that distinguish everything else in the game.

The gameplay, while initially seeming to be more of the same has some heavy departure from the original game with your score being dependent on keeping a streak far more then any other option, which makes score attack a much more fast-paced affair but heavily penalizes any other playstyle. The mask system was also heavily revamped with quality over quantity changes, although a good third of the available unlocks are more or less copies of earlier unlocks but for another character.

By far the worst change, however, comes in the form of the level design. Corridors stretch far and wide with enemies waiting to snipe you the second you take one misstep, which makes holding your streak impossible until you know every nook and cranny of the level. It also heavily discourages certain playstyles over sniping enemies over long distances, which sometimes makes every enemy on the map hunt for you and sometimes does not. The variety of enemies is bigger than the original game (by about 4-5 new types), but they are utilized far too sparingly.

All in all, Hotline Miami 2 is still a good game, but it is a lot less focused compared to the original and has a few design decisions that detract more then they add. The level design is the deal breaker, but as there is a level editor in the works perhaps fans can use the game to create a larger variety of levels in the future.

This game is WAY too short, but what little there is turns out to be decent fun. Pick Wizard.

The base game is amazing fun with three friends, but what are all these furries and ♥♥♥♥♥♥ e-celebs doing in my speedrunning game?

La-Mulana is proof that a game that makes you want to tear your hair out in frustrated confusion can also be one of the most rewarding and satisfactory experiences in its field. A lot of love and effort went into this product, and it shows not only through the striking visuals and great soundtrack, but also through how truly fleshed out the ruins turn out to be. Not a single pixel seems to be wasted, each and every bit is part of a larger picture, another puzzle. The rabbit hole goes deep in this adventure, and you are equipped with the means of just barely being able to deal with it all.

La-Mulana is not for everyone, its sense of scale and pacing craves your attention and commitment on a level few products made for entertainment dears to tread, but it also makes sure that your hard work is worth it.

♥♥♥♥ Benny

Grab it while you can, lads.

Pretty much a perfect puzzle game. Visually interesting, minimalistic but effective storytelling and honest to god difficulty.

Vastly overrated, but still a solid run 'n gun platformer. Also old men should be left to die.