Recent reviews by Iceberg

Adult oriented games tend to get a bad rap, usually because said mature content takes preference over the game itself instead of both being worked on equally, which leads to the final product being lacklustre as a result: at that point, many would simply choose to look up what they want to see on the Internet and not bother to play the game. Midnight Castle Succubus DX isn’t like that: it’s an adult game that delivers its adult material throughout a well-crafted and fun experience.

The game’s a 2D side-scrolling metroidvania through and through, and one specifically inspired by one of the earliest pioneers of the genre all the way back on the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), which is Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest. The open-ended level design encourages exploration, and the map is comprised of various areas with diverse locales for the players to go through as they make their way towards rescuing the captive girls and to face the final boss.

It’s worth mentioning that the game’s structure isn’t the only thing the creators took inspiration from: the game itself is basically a throwback to the third console generation. The graphics, which carry a moderately anime aesthetic, look just like those of the 8-bit era, albeit of better quality but visually appealing nonetheless and running flawlessly. Similarly, the music also has retro acoustics, yet that doesn’t stop it from providing a great soundtrack. Some of my favourite compositions are Afterlight Confrontation, Shrouded in Twilight, Crisis at Evenfall, Deadlock and Flames in the Dark.

Gameplay-wise, the heroine uses a whip as her main weapon to fend off any threats in her path and can progressively become more powerful via the acquisition of some of the collectibles and by purchasing upgrades, from stronger whips to tomes that improve her mobility and versatility. Said upgrades are bought with coins, which also serve as ammo for the different sub-weapons found across the levels. Finally, while not directly playable, four companions can be recruited on the journey which, when selected, will tag along with the playable character, primarily helping to dish out more damage although some like the thief can also be useful by pointing out secrets, for example.

There are different types of collectibles throughout the adventure which will be beneficious in one way or another, either right after grabbing them, during the playthrough or upon starting New Game Plus to purchase extras such as new character sprites, an OP (overpowered) mode, or a gallery that shows a large collection of erotic pixel portraits, a topic which I’ll get more into right away.

The player will always be asked to select which version they wish to play before the game boots up, either SFW (Safe for Work) or NSFW (Not Safe for Work), a very thoughtful feature on its own that ensures the game can be played anywhere without risk. The content within the game will change depending on what’s chosen, either uncensored or censored: for example, both loading and game over screens will display erotic pixelated art and animated sequences respectively or be blank, bosses will appear in more feminine and sexualised figures or more genderless and monster-like looking, and the captive girl sprites will either be sexually engaging with monsters while naked or all dressed and standing up.

It took me just a little over eight hours to finish my first playthrough of the game, though I’m pretty sure seasoned players need less than that. In addition, the game’s difficulty can be toggled at any moment from the Settings menu, and you’re allowed to save anywhere, anytime, so it’s as convenient as it can be. As briefly mentioned with the collectibles, completionists will be provided with extra rewards that are sure to serve as a nice incentive for replaying the game and trying them out.

Just as with any metroidvania, the sensation one gets from looking back at the starting point once they’ve advanced and become progressively more powerful and capable, enough to breeze through previously challenging sections and be prepared for whatever comes next, is one of the main goals games of this genre should strive for and Midnight Castle Succubus DX delivers it in spades: it was that pleasant sensation that made me not mind backtracking to previous areas for one reason or another and showed me how far I came since I began playing.

Needless to say, I’ve very much enjoyed my time playing Midnight Castle Succubus DX and would love to see more adult games made like this; it proves they can be of quality and just as good as any other game you can think of. I believe the asking price is very much worth it as is, though I’d still encourage those curious but doubtful to pick it up while it’s on sale: hopefully, more people will purchase it and support good adult games and their creators.

Specs of the machine I used to play the game:
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
- Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™ i3-4005U @ 1.70 GHz, 1700 Mhz
- Graphics Card (GPU): Intel® HD Graphics Family
- Memory (RAM): 4 GB

There isn’t much to say about how I ran into CHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience beyond noticing it while browsing the store, thinking it may make for a peculiar experience since the concept seemed promising as well as the fact I could run it, and finally buying it once I had the spare money for it.

While the game struck me as a side-scrolling visual novel of sorts at first, it doesn’t take long to find out about its management and rogue-like elements, which end up being the most notorious. The premise is simple: you’ll play as a homeless person and your goal is to escape that destiny, which you’ll do by obtaining a job and saving up some money to rent your own place.

You have 3 main bars on display once you start playing, all going all the way to 100: Hunger, Happiness and Hygiene. Happiness is by far the most important, for not only having it go down will make things harder for the player, reaching 0 with it means your run is over: keeping it in check requires that you manage the other two efficiently (although Hunger is way more important than Hygiene if you ask me), amongst other things. Additionally, there are 3 extra bars on the pause menu for your Study, Crime and Reputation levels: depending on your actions and the events that take place, these will either go up and down (basically make sure Crime is the only one that stays at 0).

Working along with these are many other mechanics, which add complexity to how things progress while you play: the benefits you obtain from purchased items, the skills you obtain from performing certain actions, the maladies you may contract, city events and more. Additionally, regardless of how a run ends, you’ll obtain experience and eventually level up your game, which will unlock new content such as meals, buildings and items. Finally, if you do some extra things during a run, you may also unlock new playable characters with different backstories as well as reality levels, which are basically runs with a difficulty stipulation.

Now, while reading all this may feel daunting at first, it’s not that big of an issue once you play: I found it intuitive enough as is and honestly, you may be able to get by even if you don’t fully grasp absolutely everything. This may seem like it’s going to be a blast then, right? Well, far from it: this ended up being one of the most frustrating times I’ve had for quite a while.

First of all, the method for beating the game is mostly going to be the same for all runs: you’ll begin by exploring a little and getting an idea about where things are as well as selecting what you feel is the shelter with the best location and obtaining residence; from there, survive daily while also earning money (usually through Day Labour) and slowly increasing your Study level until you have enough to start applying for a normal job; finally, once you have a job, keep going to work and saving up until you have what’s needed to rent a place and finish the run. One could argue it doesn’t always have to play like that but it’s the most optimal way to make progress, and there will be times when this feels repetitive.

That, however, isn’t the biggest problem this game has: the main issue I have with it is what feels like a major lack of balance in many areas. The game will slowly become more manageable as the player develops new skills and perks, obtains resources and much more, but the beginning of each new run tends to be way too harsh. Major chunks of the Hunger bar will go down every now and then (especially noticeable while waiting to be picked up for Day Labour), requiring constant eating; failing to do so will hit the Happiness bar hard and it may take a while until there’s a reliable way to slowly refill it. Combining that with weather effects (rain and cold) can be fatal to any run, and on that note, the game level which you get experience for when a run ends will eventually max out, so that experience will eventually be useless if there’s no other possible use for it.

The RNG is an important part of any rogue-like game and I’m afraid to say either this one is broken or is tailor made to be unkind. I’ve run into all sorts of issues: not being paid for day labour several times straight, which crippled my money; constantly having bad thoughts or events during the night to further reduce my Happiness; doing my best at jobs only for something to go wrong out of nowhere and be penalized by losing job buffs, etc. If I had to pick a specific case, it’d have to be the way in which the city’s layout is built for each run: I obviously don’t know how the game creates it, yet I’ve experience multiple runs in which the given layout was pretty awful and making progress in it would be extremely tedious, hence making it a better option to just move to another area or start over.

And now for something that drove me insane once I actually started getting invested and working on 100% completion: the bugs. They don’t make the game an unplayable mess, far from it, but the ones I ran into were bad enough to make me want to stop playing over and over. The worst by far is that, if you decide to pause and exit your run, you’re going to find the city layout modified once you come back: not only this means you’ll have to relearn where things are and the new distribution is worse, it can also mean your residential shelter is gone, which means losing residence and access to your bank account. That’s one you can easily run into, and while many of the ones I’ll refer to next usually happen during especially lengthy runs, they’re still terrible: to mention a few, shelters will randomly become closed without any warning, forcing you to reallocate; shelters marked as just for women and children accepting you while you play as a male while neutral ones don’t; and sleeping in shelters ceasing to increase your Hunger meter during the night, instead only increasing your Hygiene one.

Achievement wise, all of them can be obtained through multiple runs, some of them simpler and some others way harder, mainly the reality check ones. A couple of things are worth mentioning though: the Story master achievement took a while to trigger for me after meeting the requirements, randomly popping up during my next run a few days into it (this is a bug that was reported some time ago and seems to persist so be wary of experiencing it); another achievement, the Perk Collector one, can be extremely grindy, thus forcing a run to become very long and then having to deal with some of the aforementioned bugs, so I’d suggest focusing a run to getting only that one with a neutral character, like the poverty one.

I’m wrapping things up here and it’s obvious I’ve been mostly negative while getting into detail, but I just can’t help it: again, even if you want to argue that it’s supposed to be hard because the life of the homeless is tough, I’m pretty sure it isn’t due to things like city layouts changing while they’re not looking. I can see promise in this game but also a severe need of polishing to iron out its issues. Perhaps my stance will change in the future if things are fixed, but as it is now, I can’t recommend CHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience: I could tell people “But it at your own risk”, but I’ve already left things up to luck while I was playing and I won’t do the same with the enjoyment of others.

I believe it was back during my mid teenage years that I first heard about Chrono Trigger, specifically being referred to as one of the greatest JRPGs of its era as well as one that stood the test of time, thus still being very enjoyable and fun. Back then I just nodded and took it as a fact, one which I didn’t question because everyone said so, but years have passed and I just happened to find it on sale some time ago, so I thought I should get it, experience it, and form my own opinion of it, which is as follows: Chrono Trigger is a very good game. Keep that in mind because I’ll get back to this later and I want to distinguish between game and version.

I’ll get the obvious out of the way: the game visuals are excellent (the original ones, obviously) and the soundtrack is a treat to my ears, it’s good to see those have remained solid over the years. The combat system was very fun too: even when I’m much more of a fan of turn based battle systems, this game provided a very comfortable active time battle system to adapt to (not to mention I could always go into the Techniques or Objects menus to pause if I needed it). One of my favourite features were the double and triple techniques: the characters usually get a good bunch of options on their own, but it is with the abilities that require cooperation that things get interesting and very fun, it gives variety and reason to experiment with party formation.

Even the equipment was fun to manage: I mean, of course I’m going to eventually want to get and use the best equipment available for the characters, but the small bonuses weapons, gear and accessories may have made them preferable over bigger numbers in more than one occasion. That and paying attention in combat are key in order to win by just attacking normally all the time, which you can’t get away as the story progresses.

Speaking of the story, I quite liked it… well, more so I liked some parts of it, but it was good enough as a whole, and what I also liked a fair bunch were the characters: either through their side quests, their bits of dialogue during certain scenes, the little touches like how they act in the map once you stop and more made me very fond of them, some more than others but a solid cast as a whole. The side quests are especially worth doing not only because of the rewards you get from them but also to observe how your actions have changed different eras and lives for the better (special mention goes to the one involving Lucca’s mother).

The only content that I wasn’t all that fond of was the extra content added past the original version, which are the Lost Sanctum and Dimensional Vortices: the former gives you lots of useful equipment but is tedious to travel through the same areas all the time along with the need to change between two different time eras; the Dimensional Vortices are just a smidge better, dungeons which will power up one of your characters by the end and which unlock a new final boss and extra ending once all 3 are conquered, but my issue here is that you have to do 3 of them instead of one, which further drags on. At the very least the achievements are manageable, mostly asking for different endings, and if you know what you’re doing, you can get everything in 2 or 3 playthroughs.

So yes, like I said before, Chrono Trigger is a very good game, right? That it is. Now, here’s another thing that needs to be mentioned: the Steam version of Chrono Trigger has to be one of the most pathetic, careless, lazy and embarrassing rereleases Square Enix has done to date, and yes, this is after the several patches they delivered to fix (not improve) the original version they released, which was even worse and a straight copy of the mobile version from what I’ve read. The control and keyboard options are a mess, making me have to change them whenever I wanted to do the minigame to get the Crono doll; the game has crashed more than 30 times as I’ve been playing and for no apparent reason; I’ve counted a couple of times when some words from sentences appeared on the upper screen instead of within the textbox on the bottom half; these are just 3 examples of things that have constantly made the experience miserable on my end, specially the crashing, and they’ve been bad enough to make me question the game, but that’s why I said Chrono Trigger is a good game and not this version.

At this point, I feel this is the first game I’ll recommend along with a “Buy at your own risk” and only when it’s on sale, and it upsets me it had to be with this one: like I’ve said, it is a great game but in a terrible version and Square Enix ought to be embarrassed that this is the way they’re presenting a masterpiece like Chrono Trigger to such a huge public. Again, if you buy this game, do so when it’s on sale (it’s not fair that they get all the money they’re asking for when the product is this lacklustre) and mod it as much as you please until it’s polished: it would seem fans are way more capable of making a game be good than its creator just because they are able to care and that’s just sad.

To be honest, I think puzzle games can be lots of fun yet don’t play them very often: it had been some time since my last experience with one up until I played Braid a while ago, and even then, that was a platformer too. I wanted to try playing another one and I believe that’s how I ran into The Witness… also the fact both it and Braid come from the same creative mind. Yes, the price seemed quite high, but the game was showered in praise, so I was willing to take the plunge.

Right off the bat there’s one unmistakable fact about the game: it is pretty, very pretty. The visuals are an obvious highlight when you play and they’re made in such a way that they’ll remain gorgeous to look at all the time, not to mention the many vistas you’ll reach through basic exploration. The game doesn’t really have music (except for one thing I’ll mention later) but the sound design is spot on, mostly ambiance for the different areas you’ll visit.

While you’ll play a big part of the game moving around in first person and scouting the island, the puzzles are the main course: the ones required for main progression are placed on electric panels for most of the game, some individually and some followed one after the other. Some might not have power to them, in which case the one which is active is supposed to work as a tutorial that hints the player about how the mechanics work and will gradually expand on them. Each area will usually have a main mechanic, but you’ll eventually run into puzzles combining them, specially at the Town and at the Endgame, which you can only access after activating laser boxes in each of the areas.

Now, while I get that letting the player figure things out is the main goal, there are some points in which things don’t quite work out, either obligatory or optional: to mention a couple, the entrance door to the Quarry and the Sunken Ship door puzzle were particularly annoying up until I just decided to look up an explanation for them, the former being somewhat reasonable and the later being a sick prank. From my own experience, the Orchard, the Glass Factory and the Jungle make for the best starting points for new players. The environmental puzzles are also pretty entertaining to look after, even though some take things a bit too far, and the Endgame can be hard and tedious at points but overall manageable if one applies all the knowledge acquired thus far.

And now we come to what became my Hell for a few days until beating it: the Time Challenge. By that point, while I understood many basics of puzzles, I still took a bit of time to get things right… well, not anymore, sir: if you want to beat this, you’re going to do a whole set of randomly generated puzzles each time both right and fast, and few things are going to get you nervous like being just a few puzzles away from the end and having In the Hall of the Mountain King playing, one of the two tracks that play during the puzzle, the second and the one that lets you know time is running out. Now, personally, I have a couple of issues with the challenge as a whole: the last section, which has 2 pillars, can be problematic to those who (like me) want to get this done before finishing the game, which means they may not even run into pillar puzzles before then and they come right before the end, and along with that, I loathed the maze because not only I forget the layout easily, there are times when you’re given awful ones to traverse through. Thankfully I got through it in due time and received one of the two achievements the game has, the other one awarded by simply beating it, so that was nice.

If you’re someone who needs things laid out clear in order to understand them, you may struggle with The Witness more than once, so it can be a hard sell: despite that, I believe this is a very good game and worth trying out if you ever feel like experimenting with an out of the ordinary puzzle game, and while the main goal is to make the player solve the puzzles on their own, there’s no shame in looking up some help on the basics if you ever feel stuck and can’t figure out how to progress.

Oh, Final Fantasy III: the fact I’ve played Final Fantasy V before you, and not only that, but it also was my first Final Fantasy experience is really… REALLY not doing you any favours, huh? Oh well, I still must judge the game for what it is, so I’ll try to keep that in mind the best I can… but this isn’t the last time I’ll bring up Final Fantasy V in this review, that’s for sure.

The game is based on the 3D remake released back in 2006, though the UI makes me think this is yet another mobile version brought to Steam: so far this seems to be the case for everything I played, doesn’t make me feel positive about how Square Enix treats its main franchise but I digress. It’s based on an old Famicom game and there’s no doubt the job system is the best thing on offer: I like the variety and possibilities it has to offer, which will be greatly expanded in Final Fantasy V. The ships were also pretty cool, especially the Nautilus and the Invincible, and the fact the dungeons were short and straightforward for the most part was wonderful.

I dig the visuals well enough, the game has some great tunes and the story… exists, I guess: it’s not much but at least the 3D remake gave the main characters a sliver of personality and identity. It felt very episodic as I was playing through it and sometimes it was hard to see how the different events I’d run into were connected in the world as a whole. Again, I know the scope is limited because of what the original was made for, but this is still pretty bare when a remake would have been the perfect time to do more with it.

Okay, so I’m just going to say it now before I go into the negatives: I think the game is decent enough BUT it has way too many things that are going to make the experience worse. Honestly, I’m surprised I found so many things to dislike as I played: the job adjustment phase is just dumb and actually discouraged me from changing classes and experimenting often just so I didn’t have to deal with that stupid cooldown mechanic, the spell charges I outright hate along with the fact I had to be shuffling the magic my characters knew or else they’d have stuff they just can’t use, forcing me to change classes at times just to be able to get by (the Scholar class sucks), the jobs take forever to grind to max with all 4 characters and the Crystal Tower… the Crystal Tower can burn in hell for all I care. You have to go across another dungeon before you can enter it and you have to leave the Invincible parked outside, and considering the game has absolutely no save points in dungeons, the endgame is going to be an annoying marathon. This may not seem like a lot but trust me, it adds up and can give you a pretty miserable experience way too often.

The achievements don’t really help with it: again, why is it necessary to have achievements that can easily be screwed up if you’re not using a guide? Why do you want me to open all the chests if some are missable? Why do you want me to fight all the enemies if some are missable? Why do you want me to level all jobs to level 99 with all 4 characters when it’s nothing but a chore? Yes, you’re going to be overpowered and you should also get your normal level to 99 in that process, but this is just mindless grinding. It’s not fun.

Maybe I feel this way because I’ve already complained about this in previous games and this one is more archaic but these things… ugh. Back when I reviewed Final Fantasy V, I mentioned that I had a great time despite reading and hearing that it’s not a good starting point into the franchise: well, they got that mixed up. Final Fantasy III is exactly that: play Final Final Fantasy V over this one, no matter if it’s your first game or not. This one, while decent, is just for those who already know what they’re getting into, so be prepared to endure its worst aspects. I didn't completely hate my time with it: the game starts out great and is fine enough as it advances but drops the ball big time by the end.

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is a treat: I’d usually wait until the end of a written review to sum up my thoughts, but this is one where I barely found anything wrong with it. I remember finding this one on the store a while after I finished the remaster of Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap, proceeded to purchase it and began playing it a while later. It’s a gem.

Much like its predecessor, the game mixes a variety of different genres, mainly 2D platforming and metroidvania with light RPG and adventure bits. It carries over many of the mechanics from the past game and improves on them: my favourites are that grinding money isn’t as much of a pain as it was previously, the controls feel more responsive and overall better, and it’s no longer necessary to constantly shuffle your gear when transforming.

Presentation remains as one of its best aspects and I’d say it’s even better: the game is gorgeous to look at and runs perfectly, and the music continues to deliver pleasant tunes that accompany you throughout the whole journey. In fact, the whole game made me think heavily of Saturday morning cartoons, specially thanks to that intro and its opening theme, which I’ve listened to over and over and wish there was an extended/full version of it (and by that, I mean a complete version to make it a longer song, not just the same short version in a loop). The story would be the only aspect that remains simplistic, but it exists more so to give you a reason to go forth and it’s also non-intrusive, which is appreciated.

Besides being lost for brief moments in some areas like the volcano and haunted manor, and probably because I wasn’t paying enough attention, there is nothing cryptic nor difficulty spikes in the game: needless to say, since it’s a metroidvania, the more stuff you collect the more manageable you’ll be making your journey, and while I obviously went for 100% completion (I usually do with the games I play), someone who hasn’t shouldn’t struggle to finish it.

Completion wise, this is one game that doesn’t ask for much and I’d actually encourage people to go for it: most achievements are very straightforward and easy to obtain, and none is going to be frustrating (at least they weren’t for me). If anything, those that require you to do everything of certain aspects (such as explore the whole map, open all the chests, obtain all the gear and eat all the types of truffles, for example) will be the ones you’ll need to put a bit more work into, but even then they’re not a big deal: if you decide to comb the map right before the final boss, once you have all sorts of resources available to you, it’ll be a breeze, and that’s without mentioning the fact that previous stuff you may have found but couldn’t access (like chests that require a high number of uses of a power) are marked in your map.

I realize this review has mostly been about me singing the praises of the game, but it really is that good: Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is an excellent game, one that everyone should play. It’s very much worth its full price and has a demo available in case you’re not convinced yet. As for me, this is likely to be a game I’ll replay at some point in the future and that’s something I barely do with games, so at least from my perspective, it says a lot. Very much recommended and I hope future games of this kind (or at least this franchise) are like this one.

I don’t remember exactly how I first stumbled upon Underhero though I recall having its dialogue, music and character design catch my eye from the beginning and doing so again just a few months ago, when I found it on sale and made sure to pick it up right away. Despite my lack of expectations, the game turned out to be a pleasant surprise and rather enjoyable while still flawed in some areas.

I liked the character design a whole lot, something which was maintained as the adventure progressed and new species were introduced: the game uses pixel art for its visuals, and while it didn’t go out of its way artistically like other indies have, it manages to remain appealing thanks to its art style. The music also did a solid job and I feel it gets better and better as one keeps making progress. The dialogue was probably the best part of it all: not every conversation is a winner but there are lots of truly entertaining banter that’s worth reading through to have a laugh.

Plot wise, the game isn’t out to be an epic adventure or anything like that, and I honestly like it a lot for that: I’m not sure if other games have done this before but I was into playing as a villain’s underling who managed to defeat the hero and see where things went from there. I won’t say much more about it but know that the journey is there to be fun and ends up going to unexpected places as the end draws near.

You’ll take control of your minion once the intro is over and start exploring different 2D areas and running into battles, as you typically do in RPGs. The combat system reminds me of Paper Mario due to the different types of actions you need to take depending on the enemies and timing your presses to deal some serious damage. I feel the game never gets unfair though it can be a little annoying during the second half when multiple enemies start busting out shields to cover themselves. I really liked bribing as a mechanic and the fact some of those enemies may have specific dialogue if you talk with them afterwards: that, along with giving all of them names and a bit of personality, contributes on making them feel alive as characters instead of just disposable fodder.

Completion wise, the game isn’t too strict and most of the achievements can be obtained naturally as one plays through the game: nevertheless, there are a few things you’ll want to take into consideration. You’ll need to manage money so that you have enough to buy all upgrades as well as bribe enough enemies: not too hard but beware of going on a spending spree. Second, be thorough while exploring the different areas so you don’t miss any collectables, such as cassette tapes and apartment keys (special emphasis goes to the half jungle half underwater maze in the third area, which was my least favourite part of the whole game). Besides that, there are a few things here and there which you just need to be mindful of, such as winning the ice skate competition, reading all the robot text logs, sparing certain enemies or some side quests: there’s not a lot of mystery to these, just keep an eye out for them.

All in all, I think Underhero is a pretty cute game: I haven’t seen it blow up in popularity like other indies have but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth checking out, it very much is. To me, it mostly sets a promising base for the creators to work on and improve with their future projects, which I’ll be curious to see. For the time being, if you’re curious about anything that I just mentioned, get the game and give it a go. I believe it’s worth your time and money.

I don’t consider myself a huge Paper Mario fan, but I enjoyed some of its earlier titles a lot, specifically the GameCube one: sadly, it would seem Nintendo has become more and more unwilling to provide a proper game in the franchise as years went on. This is just one of the many reasons why Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling is an excellent game: not only it provides something that we’ve been starved of for many years, but it’s also better than its spiritual predecessor.

Graphically speaking and unlike how others feel, they were appealing in my eyes: even if they come across as simple for some, I believe they are a good steppingstone for Moonsprout Games to get a feel for what they want their games to be like and experiment. There’s plenty of different locales with varied scenarios to explore, not to mention how it’s adapted to the perspective of small bugs and how ingenious it is. Along with that, the music is wonderful: it had many tracks that had me either tapping my feet or humming to the rhythm. A great soundtrack, one which you’ll get to experience as you play through the story, which is peppered with witty and comedic dialogue that didn’t fail to have me smirking, chuckling or laughing through it all.

Gameplay is pretty much the evolution of its predecessor: turn-based RPG combat in which minding the position of Team Snakemouth and the correct execution of their many Skills as well as blocking can take you to victory, no matter the opponent. The customization of what the heroes can do resides in the Medals, and this is one of the best features expanded upon: the different possibilities and strategies that can originate from them are impressive, some of them I’ve tried myself and are things which I wouldn’t have considered in other games like these, yet this game helped me see the value and fun of tinkering with them. That goes along with the world exploration, which slowly unfolds up until there’s not a single corner of Bugaria you haven’t visited and thus allowing you to gather the many different types of collectables around the world as well as taking care of all the Quests.

My only real issue with the game came with an accidental softlock during Chapter 2, in which I was able to open a gate to the desert earlier than expected through a bug I didn’t know about and that costed me 100% completion in the end, something which was very aggravating upon realization: after my attempts to contact the devs and their lack of response back as well as the argument from other players that fixing this would hurt speedruns, the best I can do is put it here so other completionists don’t run into the same issue and hope that the developers improve their communication in the future.

Despite that and having to replay everything from scratch, my first impressions remain very high and my first playthrough of Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling (up until the postgame) was one of the best experiences I’ve had playing games for many years: the game’s well worth the asking price and more. This is the type of game I’ve wanted for years and seemingly no one has been interested to provide: the least that we can do is buy it, play it, enjoy it and support the team who made it. I want to see more projects like this one in the future, and given what Paper Mario has become, I can say with confidence I’m not longer a fan of that: I am a fan of Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling.

The Count Lucanor is yet another game I came across during a Steam sale and my interest on it grew just from the name alone: it was based on a medieval Spanish literature classic of the same name, and while I knew for a fact it wouldn’t be an exact adaptation of those 51 tales, I wanted to see what it would be like. The answer? A rather short yet entertaining adventure game with some horror vibes.

First of all, I’d hope people don’t ignore this game because of its visuals: yes, they’re not going to blow anyone’s mind but that’s not their purpose anyway. I’m not too demanding with graphics and didn’t mind them, plus I think they have their own retro charm in a way. The music was fitting enough for the scenarios in which the game takes place, so it’ll help in reinforcing the ambiance no matter where you are.

The game itself combines exploration and adventure with light puzzle solving and horror elements. You’re likely to find more and more things to fill your inventory with and use in case of need: I was rewarded with something every single time I chose to explore around the area I was in rather than just following along the path, which felt great. Nothing stops you from staying focused on your main objective, but it is while looking around for those extras that you’ll get to know more about the game’s lore and also decide which of the available endings you’ll obtain: combining that with the fact the game isn’t super long makes the idea of replaying it an easy sell since it won’t be exhausting.

I could go more into detail but it’s not necessary: overall, The Count Lucanor is a small and modest game that wants to tell a story, entertain you with it and make you feel fulfilled. There’s no hesitation in recommending it: the price is already good as it is, it can be even better during a Steam Sale and it includes the soundtrack too. There’s no harm in getting it.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap is a game I already knew about before getting it on Steam: my first time noticing it was when it released for the Switch and the visuals alone convinced me to pick it up. I played it and had fun for the most part. Then, not too long ago, I picked it up during a Steam sale to support the work of the studio behind it and to reexperience it, wondering if my first impressions of it would change in my new run of it on Hard Mode.

There isn’t much to say when it comes to presentation that hasn’t been said before. The visuals are beautiful; they were the reason why I wanted to buy it on the first place and have remained as appealing as they were back then. The art style reminds me of the illustrations one would find in those old children story books from past decades: they’re pretty charming. The music is quite good too although I feel it didn’t impact me as much as the art did, yet that doesn’t mean it’s bad.

Now, gameplay and such is where I have to get critical: this is the remake of an old Sega Master System game and no matter how many changes its exterior receives, the core remains the same. That’s not to say it’s bad: I enjoyed a lot the adventure and platform combination it provides along with a few RPG touches regarding the equipment. I like exploring so returning to previous areas to find secrets or things I may have missed wasn’t too bad for me.

Instead, my issues would come with the control itself: I didn’t expect the game to be turned into a hack and slash, but the movements remain rather stiff in execution. For example, I’d lose momentum after jumping if I decided to attack in the air, which feels weird: it’s not the worst thing in the world, it’s more so manageable. Now, what is the WORST THING IN THE WHOLE GAME is the knockback: the miserable, miserable knockback. The number of times I’ve been pushed back, kicked off and outright locked bouncing between enemies as if they were playing tennis with my character as the ball is absurd: the worst part of this came, if I recall correctly, with the second boss, which would go from one end of the room to the other and drag me along the whole way through with no way of escaping if I didn’t land a hit properly. That’s one of the main sour spots of the game and one that sadly doesn’t go away so it’s up to the player to learn to deal with it.

The other questionable aspect would be the grinding, and not so much for experience but for money: besides being healed and purchasing some powers (if you find them), what you’ll want to buy is new swords, shields and armour. It’s very important to expand your equipment from time to time, not only because of the attack and defence boosts it provides but also because those have a number value which changes depending on what’s the character’s current form. As such, you need the right gear to get through the new areas and the prices can be rather high, specially if you want to get some of the best pieces for sale yet that requires you to find specific grind spots and go at it for a long time before having enough for just one.

With that said, Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap is in no way a bad game, it probably won’t be for everyone: it’s worth checking out but make sure you know what you’ll get yourself into if you decide to buy it and don’t hesitate to check out a guide if you really need it and it helps make your journey more manageable.