Recent reviews by HollowAtelier

Beyond Citadel is the sequel to The Citadel, and is an improvement in pretty much every possible way.

To get the adult content stuff out of the way: yes, the protagonist, aka The Martyr, is very scantily clad and there are suggestive artwork you can find if you're into that stuff. I have no opinion on the more suggestive pieces, but there are some really nice Chapter Art and the creativity with some of the enemy designs is particularly innovative.

I especially like the loading screen art.

As for the game-play: This is what Shooters used to be. This is a visceral, kinetic demonstration of how the Grandfather's of the genre did things. As you progress through the game, you keep this momentum going. Aided by an expanded variety of options in terms of not just hardware, but also passive and active options on how you can go about engaging your foes.

I felt more like a force of nature in this than the Modern DOOM games. They can keep their QTE Glory Kills and other gimmicks.

The modernity of the shooting mechanics, with optional reloading features gives Beyond Citadel some tactical flair. It doesn't take too long to get used to how it works, and if you don't like it: you can turn it off. Same goes for the above mentioned adult content.

My only regret is that I beat it so quickly. Bravo, Doekuramori: This was an absolute treat.

A fun enough romp through a Lego branded take on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings Movie Trilogy. I bought it during the most recent sale and I feel quite satisfied with my purchase.

It has the usual Lego series brand of humor and wasn't too challenging. Some encounters (particularly boss fights) tended to overstay their welcome through poor conveyance of what it is you have to do. At times the game fails to explain that you need to switch to characters (and usually it's Legolas) to move forward in fights.

As a collectathon-style platformer. There are side quests to do. Characters to unlock, and some replay value after completing the story.

I will warn you that switching Characters gets a little tedious because only certain Characters can perform certain actions. Such as only Gimli can break certain rocks, and Gollum is the only one able to climb certain paths. I really hope you like Legolas, as you'll be switching to him often throughout the adventure.

While it didn't grip me enough to really stick with it, particularly with the post-game content, it's a fun enough romp. Plus I got it on sale for about $3-4 USD. So I really can't complain.

Spirit City: Lofi Sessions is less of a game and more of a productivity tool designed around a comfortable, anime-esque, modern-fantasy aesthetic set to low intensity music. It's accompanied by additional (optional) visual and sound effects you can turn on to add ambiance to your given session: light rain, thunderstorms, a gentle breeze, and so on.

Arachnophobia Warning: There is a Spider-like Spirit that, while cartoonish, might bother some people.

The more time you put in (or leave it on) the more options you'll eventually have. The Dev team is very small at only 3 people. They are active daily on their Discord, and have intentions to build on the foundation presented.

Looking forward to the next big update, whenever that might happen.

TLDR: A fun, but limited Co-Op focused (3 person) experience in the Aliens Franchise. There's a limited variety of missions, but they have means to break them up to add some variety to each run. Challenge Cards are fun, but I wish we could use more than one of them at a time.

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I got 42 hours out of this, running missions several times over. Most of those runs in 2 person Co-Op.

There's nothing to stop you from running missions solo. You have two AI companions, literal Synths, who are okay for the introductory easy and normal difficulties: but are absolutely not designed for harder difficulties.

To get this out of the way, there are only so many missions in this. Each is broken down into three parts. The first is often an introduction to the area and the objective. The second one is often getting to the objective itself. Then the final mission is actually completing that objective.

Despite the limited number of missions, there is plenty of variety to missions. Much in the same way of Left 4 Dead or Vermintide. You have a set destination, but the tasks that you might end up doing (particularly minor tasks) may change. The destination remains the same, what you need to do between A to B does change.

Sometimes you can go straight to the next mission, and sometimes it forces you to go back to the main hub. I don't quite understand why this is the case.

The VA for Mission Control and the Supporting Cast is great. They have a fun and authentic feel to what they're saying and how they go about it. The NPCs on the ship lack any kind of lip sync, and while that is a bit lackluster: it really feels like the effort was put more into the missions and game-play. So I'm not bothered by it, but I know some people might feel like the game might seem cheap because of this.

If I had a nitpick about the game, honestly: I wish we could take advantage of multiple Challenge Cards at one time.

To explain, a Challenge Card is a disposable modifier that changes how your mission is played out. Some do mundane things like doubling your maximum ammo, or reducing cool downs and stuff like that. Other's provide perks like extra experience or credit bonuses. Humdrum basic bonuses you'd expect to get out of an event.

The rarer ones can cause a Xenomorph Drone to spawn endlessly throughout a mission. Or they cause the camera to have retro effects. Or removes the ammo from your magazine if you reload early.

Fun things like that.

Unfortunately the game only allows you to have one of these Cards active at any one time. So you can't double up on anything or have multiple modifiers running simultaneously.

I feel like this is a huge missed opportunity.

Honestly. I found it rather fun. I feel like I got my money's worth.

So what is Black Skylands?

It's a top down, mixed ground and air-ship based shooter. You explore the titular Skylands as Eva, an adventurer of sorts with her Moth companion, Luma. The story is genuinely interesting, and has some twists and turns I didn't see coming. Which is always nice.

As for the Gameplay: It's a top-down shooter with your usual assortment of weapons you can expect. Pistols, Shotguns, Automatics, Precision Weapons, and so on. You can carry as many as you can find/purchase, but you can only use three of them at any one point in time. Once you find a set of three that works for you, it can be a breeze to get through the game with those. There are no instances where you really feel compelled or required to switch things up.

Additionally your Ship also has it's own assortment of weapons. You have a forward mounted Gatling Gun for dealing with close and agile threats, while you have broad-side mounted cannons for flanking targets. There isn't as much variety for your ship, but they work well enough. You cannot change your Ship's equipment (or upgrade it) outside of a designated Shipyard.

There's quite a bit to upgrade, you can upgrade your individual hand-held weapons, your main base of operations (the Fathership), your own Ship, and a few other things. These require your usual allotment of resources and aren't very difficult to ultimately collect. Like the Pet from Torchlight, Luma (your Moth) can be sent out to drop off items at your ship's Hold instead of you having to carry it there. If you need to get back to your ship: you can hold down the same button to essentially teleport to your ship. It's quite handy for quickly returning and getting back if you accidentally find your ship inaccessible.

It cannot buy or sell things for you, so it doesn't have that feature. Just to be clear.

As for Puzzles: They're there, they help you upgrade supportive technologies, and I didn't find them too difficult. None of them are timed or having to be done under pressure: so you can keep at them until you eventually get it (or look up a guide.)

As for the Plot: The story is interesting with some twists and turns. The story does have a definitive beginning and ending. Even if it lends itself open to a sequel in the end. It doesn't leave on a cliffhanger or leave the story it intends to tell incomplete. Which is always nice.

All in all the game does what it sets out to do well, and I got about 14-16 hours out of it, post release. With some of my allotted time during Early Access. I have a hugely negative critique about a decision that is tangentially unrelated to the game, and I'll include that as a comment.

My Time at Sandrock is the next installment in the often quirky My Time at X Franchise. Following and improving upon what the Devs learned from their efforts with My Time at Portia.

The TLDR: It's more Portia with various requested refinements. If you liked Portia, this is more of that with some requested features to flesh out the world across many facets. A worthwhile sequel in every sense of the word.

To say it's a quirky game is to put it rather succinctly. The Devs clearly don't have English as their first language so the dialogue is often full of strange word choices and awkward decisions.

The major religion of the setting wishes you to grant "Telesis" to the world. Which is not a word any native English speaker would ever use on a regular basis. For those curious, it means "progress that is intelligently planned and directed." It does NOT mean what the Devs seem to think it means, which is analogous to "be good to your neighbors and the world." How and why they settled on that word is beyond me.

Anyway, my niggling need to correct language aside, Sandrock is a graphically enhanced, upgrade to the same general gameplay that defined Portia. Which is, you are a Builder, whose job is to fulfill commissions by salvaging and collecting materials and then constructing objects to help out Sandrock or to be turned in to the NPC wanting the particular item in question. Getting paid for your services in various ways.

The game really is a bigger and better version of Portia.

There is a much more action-orientated aspect to Sandrock with it being more of a wild, desert frontier than Portia's green pastoral setting. It has a much stronger narrative focus on improving the town and integrating you more into being a member of it, rather than a one-man/woman swiss-army-knife of construction that Portia ended up doing.

Sandrock also delivers on the much requested ability to do more traditional Farming-Life Sim aspects of being able to tend to crops and animals. There is some of that in Portia, but Sandrock was designed with this in mind rather than having it feel like a last-minute addition. It really feels like you can make a nice little Ranch once you have your land upgraded to a decent size.

Character Creation is also notably improved with various outfits and character features. Providing more options than Portia. Your character creation choice does not restrict your choices as far as who you choose to woo, either. Which can be seen as a pro and a con depending on your disposition with certain characters.

All in all, it's a solid sequel that builds on the first game in pretty much every way.

I will warn you of a collection of things though:

1. The "Pet Pack Lil Gecko" can solve one of the early-game challenges by being sent out every day to collect water without consequence. This can break the challenge of the game's introductory stages over it's knee. It is DLC, but it can have a huge impact in the early game. So be wary of that.

2. There's a character whose disposition is, I imagine, intended to be funny but it comes across as demeaning and extremely uncomfortable to be around. Unsuur is such an uncomfortable portrayal of a mentally disabled person that I seriously contemplated asking for a refund. I have no idea what the Devs were thinking with his dialogue and events. He's one of the Bachelors as well AND a prominent character throughout many of the main story beats.

So he's an unavoidable aspect of the game.

I'm not bothered by that, to be clear. I'm bothered by how I really can't tell if the intention behind the character was for his dialogue and actions to be funny (laughing with his antics) or laughing because of his antics. Laughing because of his snark and intelligence is one thing, but if we're supposed to be laughing because of his observations, intense focus, and general disposition? That feels wrong.

His character leaves me so uncomfortable that I don't have any intentions with starting another playthrough. As I don't want to go through any of his cutscenes or events again.

Check out any of his events on Youtube and decide for yourself.

3. The Devs did drop Portia pretty quickly and got to work on Sandrock surprisingly fast after Portia released. So that set a precedent I would be amiss to not mention. There's a timeline for them to continue supporting Sandrock, but the idea that they could drop that at any time is worth pointing out.

Anyway, it's a solid sequel. If my second comment is me thinking too deeply about that, I'm welcome to hearing otherwise. That said, I can heartily recommend it.

I'm curious what they might do for the next game, whenever they get around to it.

Still waiting for Valve to implement a Mixed/Conflicted Rating.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a gorgeous, graphically stunning jungle adventure that aims to conclude the "Survivor" Timeline started with the Tomb Raider reboot. I found myself often stopping to just observe various vistas and locations throughout the game. Reaching a new area is a visual treat. There are some genuinely beautiful areas to experience throughout this game.

It also has a fantastically implemented Difficulty System that I want to see in more of:

You can change Exploration, Combat, and Puzzles independently of each other. So if you want easy navigation but challenging combat and puzzles? Go for it. Want a grueling navigational experience but easy combat and middle of the road puzzles: that's available too. You are not locked into any of these choices, either. So you can change the games challenge on the fly. More of this, please!

There's an Immersion mode where you can listen to other characters talk in their Native Language rather than English. I found it to be a delightful experience. The Ending Cutscene, for whatever reason, does not care about this choice though. I feel like that's a bug.

Lara can use mud as camouflage and it leads to some of the more intense and fun fights in the game. I just wish that could be used more often. It is limited by context-sensitive areas, so you can't take advantage of this whenever you want. It did generate some excitement to see the popup when you come across it though.

Mechanically it is a mostly fine experience, I had some of the usual hiccups with Lara failing to grab onto objects, but that's pretty standard faire for the Franchise. Upgrades, both weapon wise and tool wise felt the weakest of the entire trilogy and I feel it all relates to the below.

My major gripes with Shadow of the Tomb Raider is in how disjointed it feels and how it has a lot of interesting ideas but never really follows through with them in a satisfying way.

For example:

This Tomb Raider has probably the most outfits for Lara to wear in the entire series. Too bad that with 20+ designs (split between full outfits, tops, and leggings), you'll be stuck wearing the same green chickensuit because you have to, to do anything. Many of these outfits (and parts of them) come with some helpful perks you can't use because of the aforementioned chickensuit. So be prepared to have some of your options arbitrarily locked off because of contextual reasons and then some of them not mattering because you have to don the chickensuit to advance. I know it's not a chickensuit, but I'm calling it that because I learned to HATE that stupid outfit over the course of the nearly 40 hours I put into this game.

There's a large city hub that can be confusing to navigate and a pain to figure out what you might be missing if you want to get 100% completion. Many areas overlap or stretch out from it, so you can have as many as 10-12 icons trying to occupy the same space in some areas. The Zoom feature does not help with completion. Map Navigational Markers can also become confused and end up in physically unreachable locations due to overlapping environments. SOME areas require the Chickensuit to even enter.

Most Challenge Tombs are gated behind Side Quests. So there's little in the way of actual discovery. There are still optional ones dotted around the map while you're doing main-quest stuff, but the vast majority of side content requires a "ticket to ride." Which just feels awful and antithetical to the series and franchise as a whole.

Combat feels so mixed. Mechanically its fine, but there's gameplay and story ideas that are conflicting. You can only use certain weapons in certain areas, and when you can use your entire kit: There's a cutscene that ruins any tension you might have about walking into a new area. There is also a time in the game where your enemies can use Firearms but you can't. Which is always fun and makes you question why you're restricted but they aren't. Furthermore, it's hard to really get the feel for upgrading weapons you can't use them the vast majority of the time.

By the time I could: I would have them fully upgraded so I have no idea how those upgrades really change anything. Upgrades in the other two games (in the timeline) felt much more meaningful and impactful.

Finally, the Skill-Grid-Thing places upgrades in really strange locations. There's very useful, if temporary, buffs located on the very edges (requiring the most effort to unlock), and more situational stuff towards the center. So you can get a perk that helps you swim for longer underwater but it could be HOURS before you unlock the ability to apply temporary buffs like Damage Mitigation or enhancing your Focus for easier aiming. Why? Who thought that was a good idea?

There's nothing stopping you from upgrading as you please, but without advanced knowledge that those are what those unlocks do: I wouldn't be surprised if I'm not alone in spending 30+ hours being unaware that I could have been using Damage Mitigation "potions" to help get through some of the tougher encounters.

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I really like the game. There's aspects of the story that's interesting and you get some pretty stunning vistas and locations. The ability to fine-tune the difficulty is fantastic. There's a great game here. I just feel like there's things that could have been taken a step further towards a more cohesive whole.

If all of the above doesn't bother you. I can recommend it. If you'd rather not, ending with Rise of the Tomb Raider is a much better choice. This doesn't really add a compelling enough experience to justify buying it at full price.

For the record: I HATE recommending that. Good people worked on making this quite the experience. It's just that, as the end of a Trilogy: It doesn't feel like a good ending. The Story didn't grip me like Rise did. I learned to actively hate the main city that the game was trying so hard to revolve around.

In the end, I'm just satisfied that it's over and I can move on to other games. Will I still look forward to the next Tomb Raider game? Definitely.

I wanted to like 9 Years of Shadows. It has gorgeous art and charming character portraits. The Character interactions are few and far between, but there are some stunningly detailed pixelated cutscenes.

It has a strong visual aesthetic but flops hard mechanically.

The elements are fine, but the execution could have used some more work.

Beyond the game not really being a Metroidvania despite having all the visual trappings of one: the game is very linear with a very clearly defined path. Good for an introduction to this type of game, but if you can't get into a place you're not supposed to be: it's not one. It's an action-adventure game at best.

Some people might find this tedious, but Europa's movement is okay in the beginning but feels progressively slower as the scope of the world opens up. Traversal across Talos (the Castle) vertically is fine (via a Fast Travel Elevator), but there is no way to go from the left or right sides of the map. Meaning if you have to get from one side to the other, you have to go through 30+ rooms to get there.

Four interconnecting rooms between the Top and Bottom sides of the left and right areas would have made traversal so much more appealing. Even just a pair of rooms to help facilitate this.

As demonstrated in the promotional materials: there are armors with mobility related features, some of which are quite quick. You can only use these abilities when the relevant armor and environmental features are present. So you can't use them to alleviate the above problem either. You do get an ultimate upgrade to somewhat ease this burden, but it's like finally unlocking the ability to sprint than anything like the Speed Booster. A 1.5x speed boost at best.

Upgrades don't really feel like upgrades. If there is a difference between the Tier 1 and Tier 2 Armors: I could not tell you. Visually or mechanically. If they deal more damage or provide better protection: I could not tell you.

The ultimate upgrade implies a lot of power, but it really is underwhelming. I found it to be an actual downgrade to how the game teaches you to use other mechanics (notably healing) and does away with both. Leaving you with a vulnerability rather than an advantage.

There are two last things I want to add:

There are unskippable cutscenes. Every boss fight features either introductory dialogue or an introductory animation. These get old, fast. It might be only a few seconds every time (for the animations) but going through six to seven lines of dialogue is annoying either way.

Please respect our time!

Other than that, they force you to go through a series of Kickstarter Backer rooms between the rest of the game and the final encounter. It might feel great for the backers to have their portrait aligned somewhere special in that congealed mass of vertical rooms: but it means absolutely nothing to those who didn't participate in backing the game.

Keep those to their own little rooms. Don't make them part of the actual required progression.

I don't regret my time with 9 Years of Shadows, but I can't recommend it on looks alone. If you're looking for a moderately challenging, linear, action-adventure game. Get it on a sale.

Say No More is a fantastic, if brief, game with an aesthetic style reminiscent of blocky, PS1 character models. The game is short, but it's full of charming interactions.

Say No More is entirely about it's story and it's Aesop, so if you're not charmed by the graphics or the theme, then this might not be a good choice for you.

The game-play is limited, but focused. Choosing when and how to say no has an impact. So there are opportunities to make mistakes and end up being mean to characters that aren't making awful demands. It is really satisfying though to yell "NO!" at various characters making unrealistic demands. Especially to see them and other objects around them fly across the environment as well.

All in all, I enjoyed the brevity. It's a fun, engrossing experience that doesn't take too much of your time to work through.

I found myself clearing it (once) in just under the time to return it, and I wouldn't want to deprive the Devs of their efforts. It might be short, but it's worthwhile. Since it's so short, I can imagine I'll be playing through it's story at least a few more times just to see if there are alternate endings.

I wouldn't be amiss to experience another game in this highly focused, story-centric style.

TLDR: It's massive map transforms what would be an otherwise decent game into an ordeal. Mechanics in this do not work like other established games in the genre, leading to muscle memory and gameplay decisions that will get you killed. I hope you like the need to grind.

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After 26 hours I feel I've gotten enough experience with Afterimage for a good confirmation on my feelings about it.

Afterimage is a Metroidvania with a MUCH heavier focus on the Castlevania part of the genre. Yes, you do unlock new powers and abilities to help you navigate, but it is much more focused on RPG mechanics such as leveling up, finding new gear, and traversing zones appropriate to your level.

Beyond the significant need for moments where you simply have to grind in order to level up enough to actually survive various areas, Afterimage has one other thing going for it.

The map is absolutely, and utterly, too big. It's so massive compared to contemporaries that it well exceeds any reasonable size. Even after 26 hours, I don't feel like I'm anywhere near filling out the entire map. It's entertaining at first when you encounter a new biome, but it wears thin after more and more areas keep opening up and your destination, when you know where you *should* be going, is still so very far away.

Also, teleportation between locations requires a consumable item. So the size of the map just weighs down on the experience when travel becomes an ordeal only alleviated with a disposable item.

While the art style is gorgeous and the animations are well done, it feels like it's a hybrid of various other games that have come out previously and have done things, honestly, better. Ender Lilies, Ghost Song, and of course Hollow Knight come to mind. Furthermore, I'm not too particularly bothered by the voice acting, although it's clear that the script is a translation and the various word choices for character roles is just odd. Conjurers = Chefs, "Master Mage" instead of "Archmage" etc, etc, etc.

There are some baffling design decisions that have been constantly frustrating me over the course of this 26 or so hour journey. Mostly the fact that your evasive options is not a viable means to avoid damage, only insofar as avoiding the attack entirely. You cannot use it to phase through enemies, like in Hollow Knight, Ender Lilies, and other 2D Melee based Metroidvanias. This has tripped me up enough to make combat feel like a chore.

Contact damage involving enemies above your level, and especially bosses, will three shot you. Making the attacks that enemies do pale in comparison to the damage they can do to you just by touching them. So games that have taught you that your dash is an effective way to avoid damage is a guaranteed way to get yourself wounded or outright killed.

I was not put off by the placement of various enemies unlike other reviews, and the platforming restart locations (when you inevitably fall into or move into spikes) isn't as atrocious as other reviews have commented on, but it can still be annoying in some spots. So the update did fix that problem at least.

The need to grind is another issue. You can only earn currency from enemies that reward experience. So only enemies above your level may drop Dews. As a result, I had a constant problem keeping a decent supply of Potions, buying anything of value from merchant(s) and conjurers.

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All in all, I can only recommend Afterimage if you're not put off by the size of the map and the need to grind levels and currency to keep yourself topped off.

It's not a bad game, and not the worst game I've played in this genre, this year, it's just marred by some questionable design decisions.

I don't know if I'll put any additional time into this or not.