Recent reviews by Jin Hitori

There isn't much that hasn't already been said about the remake of RE2. It's gorgeous, runs as smooth as Mr.X's head, has plenty of interesting details and mechanics fleshed into it. Definitely a must-have for any RE fan, more so if you played the original however I do wish they retained the same zapping system. So instead of a proper review, I'll provide three spoiler-free tips I wish I knew when I started this game blind.

1.) Don't try to kill everything.
RE2 isn't an action shooter, but more of a strategic survival horror where most of the time you're evading enemies as opposed to blasting everything away. Ammo is scarce and zombies are damage sponges. Even the good old combat knife from the original game is now breakable. So be picky about which zombies to kill and spend more time avoiding them.

2.) There's no Dodge button.
Fresh from playing RE: Revelations 2, I got so used to having the dodge button to avoid enemies. There isn't one for this game. Instead, shoot them to stun them then run past them when they're stunned. Which brings me to my last point...

3.) Forget FPS rules.
Conditioning from playing FPS and other third person shooter games led me to believe that shooting for the head is always the best option but for RE2, it's not always the case. On normal zombies, shooting the head does the same amount of damage as it does if you shot it in the toe. The only difference is that a head shot has a small chance to put it down for good when you get a critical hit. For stunning, go for the knees instead or just shoot a leg completely off.

That's it. Hopefully your own blind playthrough will have a less painful start than mine.

Kingdom is a triumph in minimalistic but brilliant design that's both dripping with atmosphere and an absolute joy to play. Make sure you get it with the New Lands expansion and prepare lots of coffee, food and a stress ball.

The goal is simple, you play as a monarch to gather resources, hire followers, build and expand your kingdom, then repair the boat to get off the island in conquest of new lands.

This game has one of the best and intuitive UI design I've seen in a while. Every interaction is done with only three keys but don't be fooled by its simplistic design. The mechanics are very tight and beneath it are many little layered elements that you only notice as you play the game through over and over again, but that's where the game really shines.

The game throws you right into it at the start with a very basic tutorial. Not much will be revealed at first but that's the beauty of it. Unlike other rogue-like survival games where you get a little stronger with each playthrough, the focus in Kingdom is more of gained knowledge and experience.

With every playthrough, you learn more and more about the finer details and subtle cues to help you survive each island. I highly suggest NOT consulting a FAQ when playing this game for the first few times and just make your own mistakes to slowly peel away the layers for yourself.

Replayability comes in the form of unlocks which change how you play the game and since the land is semi-procedurally generated, it's up to you to adapt and manage your resources. Timing is very important in this game and there is no undo function to every command you make, so plan properly as even a poorly placed tree chop can spell the death of all your builders.

Get this game. It's sublime.

Creepy, beautiful, with a dash of whimsy. Fran Bow deserves a spot in your library if you are a fan of horror point and click adventures.

Fran Bow's world reminds me a little of American McGee's Alice which I also enjoyed. If you prefer jump-scares, this isn't the game for you. Instead, Fran Bow is a slow, bubbling, potion concoction. Decipher what you need from a rare witch's spell book, gather exotic ingredients from far and wide, then mix them all up together in a pot of pixie blood. The smell is exquisite as you stir gently, until finally, the potion is finished after 10 hours! Your tongue trembles in anticipation as the spoon reaches closer and as the colorful liquid begins to flow all over your tastebuds, you realize something. The potion didn't work. Plus it tastes like rose water with a hint of...salt? But maybe it doesn't matter because you still had fun preparing it.

Fran Bow is a very pretty psychological(or maybe not) horror point and click adventure which has a key mechanic that revolves around the protagonist switching between normal vision and Lovecraft vision to solve puzzles. The drastic environmental change adds beautiful layers to the atmosphere and lures the player in by presenting them with the choice to go down the rabbit hole and view the horrors that lie beyond.

The story is imaginative and entertaining if a bit messy and linear. Dialogue is mostly well written and conveys the right amount of innocence and curiosity from a child's perspective while remaining clever. The puzzles are logical and tricky enough but not overwhelmingly ridiculous (I'm looking at you, King's Quest).

That said, Fran Bow isn't without flaws. The build up is fantastic and you quickly get sucked into this wonderfully creepy world filled with compelling creatures and fully immerses and engages you. However, as the chapters progress, it gets more underwhelming in terms of presentation as compared to the earlier chapters right up to the ending which was abrupt and left you wanting more but not in a good way. Instead of "Aww...that was the end? I wish there was more...", it felt like "Uh...that was the end? I wish there was more..." but Fran Bow is more about the journey and not the outcome. I highly recommend it.

Exciting multiplayer game with friends. Ran the crystal on the first stage. Panicked from the encroaching mobs. Exited the floor safely. Wondered why I was alone in the elevator.

10/10 will abandon friends to a monster horde again.

DotE is one of those games I find frustrating but in a good way. It's a unique game that's simple yet hard to master. You control up to 4 heroes with a variety of playstyles that compliment each other combined with a loot inventory system allows for some interesting combinations.

The game is basically bringing a power crystal from the start to the exit of the dungeon safely. I recommend playing on Easy mode as Very Easy mode is terribly skewed. Take this game slow. Unless you feel like Leeroy Jenkins-ing it or are making a hail mary run to the exit, open only one door at a time as each time a door is opened, there's a chance for monster spawns. Positioning plays a big role while learning to shift and adapt your defenses to cover weak areas and the further in you are, the more weak areas there will be.

Most of the gameplay is automated with a huge focus on macro managing. While RNG will screw you over at times, it doesn't overly do it to the point of no return...I'm looking at you FTL... Best played alone or with a friend. While it can play up to 4 players, some players who end up as back end heroes may be a bit bored. One tip, the most imba function and your best friend during the later levels is the pause button. Never forget that you have it.

In conclusion, DotE balances frustration, challenges and rewards well all wrapped up in a very neat addictive package which will have you telling yourself "just one more door..." and then you realize it's morning and you've already reached floor 46 on the drill pod. Highly recommended.

Magic the Shards of Fate explores some nice concepts with the rpg and exploration elements all incorporated with a UI that's user-friendly enough. After a few hours of play though, many flaws become apparent. I've only played the campaign mode and can't be bothered to finish it so take this review as is.

Right off the bat, the character creation screen doesn't provide enough technical information for you to determine which type of deck you'd be starting out with. As they're tied to character class and race, the only information provided is flavor. I suggest consulting a wiki before starting.

The story gives you multiple choices but is ultimately shallow and the choices lead you back to the same paths.

The quests become tedious as you have to constantly reinvent your deck to beat certain ones and you only can save a single deck from what I saw.

It's a pay to win model. You get plenty of cards to start with but most of them are going to be pretty inefficient. Miss your 1 mana weakness which gives a target creature -2/-1? Here, have an ahtrophy instead which costs 4 and gives a troop -1/-1. Even if you do manage to build an efficient deck, you're still going to be screwed by the RNG which pretty much turns the game into an exercise in frustration.

The AI is TERRIBLE. You'd often catch them doing nonsensical things and sure it's pretty exploitable however, to compensate for terrible AI, you get even worse RNG. I love a bit of RNG in games but Hex just sends you beyond rage. Your typical hand draw against an AI opponent will be:

A.) 5 of your 7 starting cards will be lands. Subsequent draws more lands.
B.) 6 or all of your starting cards will NOT be lands. Subsequent draws no lands.
C.) 2 or 3 of your 7 starting cards will be lands, but not the right color. Subsequent draws cards of the other color.

Once in a while you get a good mix of everything and you get to see your deck work gloriously but expect to concede multiple times before being able to beat a quest. Sure you could buy legendary cards to quell your tears of frustration and finally craft the best deck out there but you're still going to be bent over by RNG and feel it in the morning.

Massuve Chalice is like a big plate of french fries. When it first arrives piping hot, it's delicious and enjoyable while you juggle the first few hot bites in your mouth but as you continue eating, it soon gets cold and you're left with a mouthful of staleness and regret as you stare at half the plate sitting there in front of you knowing that no matter how you reheat the fries, it'll never be the same.

The game plays around with some interesting concepts, but the execution ends up flat. The idea of bloodlines is interesting and how you manage heroes throughout the years but once you peel that first layer away, there's not much to it. The combat is simplistic without much depth to the strategy and soon gets dull. the characters both heroes and monsters lack variety and the story is pretty linear and bare. The game eventually ends up more of a chore and you feel it even more once you hit the halfway mark.

Buy if only heavily discounted and if you don't mind highly repetitive games, else go for the XCom series instead.

TLDR: Highly recommended. Be thankful with life. Develop hoarding tendencies. Get tissues.

This is a game that draws you in, keeps you addicted and can leave you feeling depressed in a good way.

This War of Mine transcends from being a game to a harrowing experience as you become acquainted with your little group of survivors, empathize with them, and mourn for them. The monotone visuals and ambient sounds really capture the bleakness of the environment and drips with atmosphere as you fight off raids, steal from others, and consume food from dubious sources. The pace is manageable yet does a good job of keeping pressure on you as you try to last just one more day.

What I like best about the game however, are the little touches the developer puts into it. There are a lot of very subtle mechanics at work which you don't see in many games, from the sophistication of NPC AI right down to the branching of individual stories you help forge, you can tell they put a lot of love into it.

Almost every decision you make feels weighted and as things escalate, eventually becomes less and less about what's right or wrong but rather what's most efficient enough to push you past the next day.

As with other survival games, you learn from multiple playthroughs(or scour the wikipedia pages). The only very minor gripes I have with this game is that some interactions are hard to see since everything is monotone, you're unable to queue tasks and some descriptions of items and their mechanics while flavorful tend to be pretty vague.

All in all, if you're someone who enjoys the survival genre, forethought, patience and are intrigued by the premise, This War of Mine is definitely worth getting. Two thumbs up.

Party Hard is an unexpectedly addictive indie gem that taps into some primal part of our prehistoric lizard brains. A little remeniscent of Hotline Miami and the SNES Metal Gear games, the high contrast colors, thumping beats and constant euphoric injections gel very nicely to fuel you with adrenaline when you pull off successful sneaky combos.

The game is decently meaty with procedurally generated elements, unlockable characters with different playstyles and custom community maps provide some decent replayability. The story is over the top and predictable but this isn\'t a game which focuses on narrative. The mechanics are solid and provides a refreshing experience. While it shouldn\'t be a slow game, some patience and planning is required.

Overall an enjoyable game that\'s easy to put down and pick up when you\'ve an hour to kill. Definitely play this with a controller and headphones with the bass up. A little tidbit that\'s nice is that the game also takes over your Alien FX lighting system for Alienware rigs to sync with the catchy soundtrack to create your very own mini disco.

Do you love watching paint dry? Enjoy the frenzied excitement of watching a snail move? Leave your life to the whims of the fickle winds of fate? Then this is the game for you! If not, read on.

If you do buy this game or have received it for free, then by all means enjoy it with the friend/enemy who gave it to you and never ever play with the AI. This game mimics the classic board game well but it\'s a vastly different experience when you play with a physical board, miniatures and a jolly group of friends in front of you. With the digital game, it just feels hollow without the expressions and emotions involved when a plan comes together or falls apart.

The game itself is quite easy to pick up but expect to spend at least 2 hours per playthrough depending on how many players in a match. There\'s a lot of downtime as to be expected with most board games while waiting for your turn to roll around and the mechanics are pretty rudimentary and very RNG dependent. Imagine your delight as you reach the very anticlimatic finale which is the Crown of Command. While there, expect to spend the remainder of your turns and probably 45 mins of your life just constantly failing a 50-50 chance a zillion times just to ATTEMPT to end the game while other players counterspell you, heal back up or just try to reach you.

Aside from destroying my mouse on multiple clicks to try to speed things up in frustration, the worst came when another player finally reached the Crown too then promptly died and left all his junk on the same tile which prompts an encounter at the start of each turn asking if you\'d like to pick up their stuff even when your own inventory is full thus adding more time to the excruciating endeavour.

If you must play the game, then I whole heartedly suggest playing the physical tabletop version with some good friends instead of the digital one.

The Yawhg is reminiscent of old choose your own adventure games that's visually appealing. Best played with imaginative friends who like to inject some role-playing into their characters to enrich the experience.

The game is extremely easy to get into and is all about making choices which sometimes lead to unexpected results. The story is left to some interpretation, the visuals are unique and pleasing coupled with ambient music that sets a whimsical, relaxing environment.

If you're looking for something light, somewhat random and quirky to kill a couple of hours, this would be a nice game to introduce to non-gamers. The Yawhg however, is quite short, simplistic and with consecutive multiple playthroughs to unlock all the endings, it becomes repetitive, thus I'd suggest only buying it when there's a sale going on.