Recent reviews by Aeronaut

Silksong is easily one of the most visually beautiful and mechanically rewarding games I've ever played. The in-game world is absolutely filled with characters, challenges, lore, and secrets upon secrets. Despite a few clearly-intentionally-frustrating segments, the platforming felt fair and exploring felt totally worth it (especially to find the aforementioned secrets). The boss fights were generally challenging but learnable, though some took much longer to learn than others.

I'll leave out specifics because I had an absolute blast going into Silksong with no information whatsoever. Discovering Pharloom's secrets and challenges for myself was an awesome experience that I know for sure others will enjoy as well.

(The 220+ hours of play time are from four separate, non-optimal/non-guide-following playthroughs to get all of the game's achievements.)

A cute, charming little science/puzzle game about frog genetics and biodiversity. Though a little mechanically jank at times on the Steam Deck, I nonetheless found it quite fun to follow along with the story and secrets!

That said, there is quite a bit of waiting involved in the game's main frog-spawning gameplay loop. If you're patient and/or willing to multitask, I would absolutely recommend this game as a chill and relaxing experience.

(The 39+ hours you see on my play time is for a full clear with all achievements -- good luck!)

A somehow simultaneously relaxing and rage-inducing experience, Dustforce combines a unique, calm aesthetic with challenging platforming gameplay. It's been a long time since I've played this game, but I still feel absolutely justified recommending Dustforce on the basis of its soundtrack alone.

The artwork/environments are beautiful, the combat is really fun, and perhaps most importantly, many of the puzzles are extremely clever and well-thought-out.

Although it's clearly not finished as of the time I'm writing this review, CrossCode is an absolute gem of a game that seems to be getting the love and polish it very much deserves from its developers and community. I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of it as it progresses and I can't wait for the full release.

Stardew Valley is a cute, laid-back game about starting a new life on a farm in a small town... on the surface. What seems to be a somewhat small explorable area is quickly revealed to contain far more to do than meets the eye.

I've been told that time passes quicker in this game than it does in real life, but I'm honestly not sure I believe that.

Undertale is without a doubt one of the greatest games I have ever played.

It has humor, it has wit, it has references, and it has secrets. I'm also pretty sure it has a genre of its own. This game is the grand sum of a fantastic soundtrack, a unique battle system, and an absolutely incredible amount of attention to detail. Seriously.

Undertale is an experience like no other. If you're determined enough to complete it, I can assure you that it will be worth the price you paid. For the game, of course.

Let me begin by saying that Tengami is absolutely beautiful. As an origami enthusiast, I adored the premise that the world was made of paper. Watching the game's landscapes literally unfold themselves hearkened back to my experiences with the graphics of the Paper Mario series, which are still some of my favorite graphics of all time.

That said, Tengami is a very atmospheric and calm, albeit very short, experience. The music suits the game's various environments perfectly, and (in my opinion) the puzzles felt very clever, particularly the last few. Though I was able to finish the whole game in one sitting, I would nonetheless strongly recommend playing it on the basis of its creativity alone. Really, it was that great! :D

Length: ~2 hours
Difficulty: Easy (but tricky; requires thinking!)

Risk of Rain is a frantic, fast-pased platforming/action game with a relatively short story and a HUGE degree of random variance.

Playing as one of several characters (all "crew members" of a crashed delivery spaceship), you fight your way through mobs of enemies, relying on both skill and powerups scattered throughout stages to survive. These powerups are insanely random, each granting you an often-ridiculous bonus. Some are crazier than others, and many are so powerful or stupid that I can't even begin to describe them here. What's important, in my opinion, is that they're all fun to pick up.

...and you'd better be picking them up frantically, because the game's difficulty scales with time. The longer you take on a stage, the longer you dawdle trying to find treasure chests or shops with powerful items in them, the more powerful enemies will be on this stage and the next. The longer you spend fighting, in other words, the tougher the fighting becomes.

A successful game of Risk of Rain usually lasts anywhere from about 40 to 60 minutes. The powerups on any given level vary wildly between playthroughs. The levels themselves can have multiple layouts and multiple styles. All of the characters--even the immediately-unlocked "Commando"--collectively provide a large number of different ways to make it to the next teleporter or die trying.

In the end, the game is a crazy race against time to acquire powerups, kill enemies, and ultimately (hopefully) fight the final boss with a nonsensical menagerie of gear. This is without a doubt one of the most addicting games I've ever played. I highly recommend it.

Aquaria's trailer sold me on the game's aesthetic alone, and, rest assured, it truly is a beautiful game. The soundtrack is hauntingly amazing and meshes perfectly with the game's multitudes of undersea environments. Those environments are in turn amazing as well, though I dare not spoil their specific contents.

In spite of any appearances to the contrary, Aquaria is a game in the same vein as Metroid and Castlevania. It offers an expansive, incredibly vivid undersea world filled with myriad collectibles, fascinating creatures, and, of course, a very large number of rewarding secrets. Having just beaten it at the time I'm writing this message, I am still honestly surprised at just how awesome the entire experience was.

The puzzles (as sparse as they are) felt both creative and fair; every single boss felt like a fresh experience. I was constantly looking forward to getting new abilities and exploring more places. The game also tells a story, and that story was pretty cool to boot.

I went in blind and put a solid 16 hours into my first playthrough.

I would ultimately recommend this game to everyone, without reservation. If you can pick up the soundtrack with it, do it.