Recent reviews by onion status: delivered

I wanted to rewrite this to make it more concise so... I'm just gonna start off by saying this game(s) is good. Damn good. Every game in this collection brings something new to the table in some capacity, even the sequels to games within the collection itself offer a wildly new mechanic or shift the genre to something completely different.

Some of these games are insanely brutal, especially if you're aiming for the cherry objectives... and that's the point. Every game within this collection for better or worse is a true love letter to the NES library and that means a game may kick your ass a few times. However unlike many NES games these have the wonder of modern game design fundamentals, so while they may be brutal anyone can beat any of these games with enough practice.

There's just so many wonderful things to say about this game from its artistic direction as well, the fictional console the games play on known as the LX also adheres to the idea of palette limits, every game in this collection uses colors from a 32-bit color palette, coupled with the amazing music it makes for an experience that feels like an alternate universe library of games 80s kids might've grown up with.

Overall? For 25 bucks this is an insane package, I've already clocked over 50 hours and haven't even played every game yet. You get 50 full games for 50 cents a piece and that's genuinely a crazy deal (Especially in the currently market of triple-a slop)

At the time of writing this most bugs introduced via the new code base have been fixed, I can 100% recommend this DLC in its current state as its confirmed more fixes are on the way. Most issues related to this DLC weren't the developers but rather corporate and higher ups wanting to push this content as fast as possible without proper testing.

That being said! Most content added in this expansion rocks, my only major gripes being that Chef's primary could be reworked as well as sear being given a bit more range. A few of the new items such as the transmitter, thorns, antlers, and lantern could also use some overhauling as their use-cases are either entirely useless or borderline detrimental if you're using them correctly.

Overall the new stages, boss, characters, and enemies are welcomed additions overall, just needs a bit more refinement. Its obvious that the team working on this clearly cares about Risk of Rain as a whole and I can't wait to see what they do next (as long as they're actually given time to test content before it needs to be released)

I replay this game at least once a year and its genuinely one of my favorite games ever created, even more so than Cave Story. It just good videogames

legally ambiguous money generator, its like a transparent version of csgo gambling except you don't spend money

Never been a big CSGO/CS2 player (really just played source a few times) But I can absolutely say the state of their live service FPS games is laughable due to cheaters, botting, and lack of proper upkeep on these issues.

They need put forth the resources for the dreaded "treadmill work" of maintaining an anti-cheat for games they're treating as actively supported products. Like this game just got an overhaul and it even started having cheater issues in the beta.

Disclamer for this review: I am currently on the 3/4th layer of depth this game has to offer and currently working with friends/the community to figure out what exactly we need to do next. I've gotten all the collectibles we know of so far.

It should also be mentioned that if you stumbled across this review or one of the ones that ACTUALLY TALKS ABOUT THE GAME please understand those are the truest reviews here, I've heard many people are hesitant to check out this game because of all the """funny""" joke reviews. This is a genuinely great game that deserves your time, not an epic wacky wahoo youtuber moment. Remember that Dunkey is the publisher that helped fund/get eyes on the game, not Billy Basso; the dev who made 100% of everything himself.

Animal is a puzzle-focused metroidvania with little to no "direct combat". Rather than approach the game as a sort of action-combat platformer animal well is primarily focused on its collectibles post game content as well as its main first ending. Its hard to go into detail about either of this without spoiling much of the game itself.

This is a game that treats the player with a ton of respect, never outright telling you how an item or mechanic works but rather being forgiving enough (in most cases) for the player to figure it out themselves. Some instances of collectibles or pathways in this game often require the player to figure out a new clever way to use an item, often in combination with another at the same time Link's Awakening style.

At the time of writing this I've completed the first ending and I'm not sure how much more is deeper below, I've got a current goal in mind in finding the remaining items + collectibles but I know there's much more to be found besides that, this gaming having so much packed into it and only being 34 MB is genuinely a feat of programming and game design as a whole.

Overall? This is one of the best metroidvanias/games in general I've played in quite some time, it treats the player with a great deal of respect and trusts that they're smart enough to figure out even the wildest puzzles, alongside giving you mapping tools and markers the game is incredibly accessible no matter what level of completionist you may be.

Remembered this game recently after logging onto Kickstarter to see I was a backer.

This game is a fun bout for an hour or two but after that you've seen all the depth and fun you could possibly get out of it. The strongest positive this game brings to the table is letting you know Jack the Reaper exists and the "demo" for that game is amazing in itself.

This game's gimmick was rebalanced a few times but it really feels like a neutered smash bros in more ways than one, the reliance on hopping + heavy hits results in unsatisfying gameplay. As it stands many years later it still just "misses" the mark for me, I love the character choices overall but that isn't enough to save a game like this for me.

We're Costco guys, of course we look at the revolver in the safe when we get violet vessel on ante 8.

Charming art direction and a decent soundtrack. That's all I can say in terms of positives.

After the first few hours however this game falls into one of the roguelike genre's greatest pitfalls; monotony
Nearly every run feels the same and most of the gameplay and loot variety doesn't lend itself to enhancing gameplay in any significant way, sure there's optional content to engage with but the core loop is GRATING.

Writing this review years later after seeing an art for it on the publishers YouTube channel... I can attest that this game is a waste of your time and there's plenty of better games in the genre to spend your time with (for the same price OR even less)

(Revised review after getting 100% completion)

Brutal Orchestra is a sort of roguelike-RPG where every run follows the 4 man party with a variety of items and characters to run into throughout your run, often leading to synergies or key changes to combat that may result in your making careful decisions for optimal survival.

This game's combat system is very simple but a lot of underlying depth. Attacks requirement pigment, a resource that comes in multiple colors and comes from 3 sources: Enemies when you attack them, a bonus when performing an attack, or via you taking damage. This system requires you to have certain pigments to do specific attacks as well as make sure if doesn't overflow, if this happens the entire party will take damage depending upon how high the stack overflow is. This is where the strategy behind it rocks, in that you can use incorrect pigment colors to make 1 party member empty the overflow at the cost of their attack dealing self-damage to themselves specifically.

The game's structure consists of going through zones while finding shops, for both party members and items. Alongside this the player may encounter npcs and fights that yield you money. Every zone has a boss and these are the main course of showing how much the combat shines, every one of these fights requires a gameplan and proper team strategy to make sure no one dies or the fight snowballs out of control into chaos.

That's the best basis I can give without spoiling a lot of content so onto the negatives:
Overall? Its only negative may be the monotony some completionists may not enjoy, while I personally find random runs and fishing for a strategy fun that requires the player to get item unlocks and character unlocks, while most party members are very easy and natural to acquire the items are a different story for many. There's 2 sets of items related to beating the late late game bosses, requiring every character to have been in your party alive upon these bosses being defeated, while monotonous for some this definitely lets a lot of the party members shine. But for some this is similar to Balatro stake climbing, where you'll only enjoy it if you enjoy the game as a whole.

Overall? Super underrated game with plenty of optional content added in some free updates the game got before I even purchased it, and who knows if even more gets added lol.