Recent reviews by RocketPotatoL62

This game obviously has the touch of developers who care a lot about the ocean. Making a setting inspired by microplastics and garbage patches is bold, but they made it work. The tones work between lighthearted and unfiltered about what it is, and I like the balance they struck. The game was worthwhile just with the locations and characters, and I enjoyed the gameplay itself too.

The exploration and combat is nice, and blocking with whatever shell I can find is fun. If anyone struggles with it, the developers weren't shy to put assist options that go anywhere from making things a bit easier, a lot easier, to breaking the game. Nobody's gonna get walled off by a skill issue in here, it's accessible.

They'd even give you a gun if it opens the game any further. I dunno how much it'd appeal to those who seek out this genre for the challenge, since even without assists the game isn't the hardest save for some bosses who step it up more. Either way, the art direction is where it's at for me. There's a living ocean in there, even in the looming circumstances.

The most fun video game I ever played both in singleplayer and in co-op. Every run can end as soon as it starts, everything is fast and only gets more explosive the further you go. The pace is much faster than other rogue-lites but the learning curve is about what you'd expect for this kind of game. Nearly 400 hours at the time of this review and I don't regret a single moment of it.

frog

This game is *tight*, the meatiest *airtight* MEAT of a game I ever played. I played this to death years ago and recently returned to it again and it is still so FUN! It has a reputation of being a "rage game", but really the main game's difficulty curve is extremely forgiving for what it is, and it does a great job teaching the player about all the tricks from start to finish.

The post-game is where things get ridiculous, but that is optional aaand a good place to keep pushing the skill ceiling which is ludicrously high and it's great. Sure, everything kills you instantly, but the levels are so short and you move so fast that trying again feels natural- and the music only fuels pushing forward even harder. The game is a tough challenge, and unlike a lot of challenging games, it is a FUN one.

yes

Going Under quickly became one of my favorite games. The gameplay, art, and writing all weaves together nicely around a unique setting based on a hellish job market inspired by present-day, making it oddly relatable despite all the absurdity happening. The gameplay has you constantly adapting to your surroundings, as all the furniture and appliances in the room are weapons to take and break. The combat features many lil' quirks and interactions that make the improvised office fights more fun and chaotic.

The aesthetic is simple and colorful, and generally makes something nice and charming out of an otherwise sterile corporate artstyle. The animations are lively and full of personality that add to the game's flavor. There are innumerable visual gags and thematically appropriate puns hidden in plain sight, and the character interactions got me looking forward to all the dialogues that'd pop up in-between runs. The plot is also more than I expected for this kind of game.

The main caveat is that the camera takes a bit getting used to for this 3D dungeon crawler, but that becomes second nature relatively quickly. Overall, this game is definitely worth the investment.

Guacamelee 2 is in-part a solid sequel, but it is a mixed bag. The art direction is constant eyecandy full of vibrant colors that remain easy on the eye. Visuals have a lot of extra polish, going as far as dynamic lighting which makes the artstyle shine even more. The music is a solid upgrade as well and a great complement to the art.

The gameplay is more-or-less the same as before with improvements and regressions alike. Combos were heavily improved with a satisfying snowball effect, and chicken form was elevated from a lil' gimmick to a full-fledged bundle of solid mechanics with frequent uses.

The boss design was improved and the level design got more clever here and there. The platforming got harder and instant-kill mechanics became more invasive, which are immensely good reasons to pretend this game doesn't exist. I fortunately got to cheese a lot of the instant-kill platforming via co-op over parsec. If you can get a friend to play this with you, it makes for a much better experience than singleplayer.

The co-op for guacamelee is surprisingly forgiving and well-thought out. Players have an easy way to revive eachother and can use the dimension swap mechanic independently of one another. For the most part, it works extremely well, though some mechanics still work better in singleplayer, which is understandable for a primarily singleplayer game.

The writing is abhorrent, and the game would be a better experience without any dialogue. It breaks the pace with pointless memes, misplaced references, and generally scenes that do nothing to move the "plot" forward. It's also a multiverse plot which gets in the way of anything worth being invested in.

The story isn't all bad though, the game has its own flavor of humor and wit that shines whenever references are absent. The charm of the story's more sincere moments makes it all-the-more frustrating that the writing is cluttered with shoehorned memes. I wish the writers would drop the references entirely to hone their original ideas more. There's substance, but it's muffled in maymays.

The original ideas aren't all good though, the "villain" of this "plot" is more shallow than Shadow the Hedgehog and barely gets development aside brief exposition near the end of the game. The inevitable boss fight against him was cool though, so there's that. If you can get past the cluttered writing and precision platforming, the rest of the game's qualities make the experience worthwhile.

Superliminal is a special game, and it's a unique experience. Unfortunately, it does not explore its mechanics very far. I don't mind a short package, but it felt like I never left the tutorial and spent a little too much time just walking around. It's a neat walking simulator with a surreal puzzle appetizer, but really just an appetizer.

For perspective, my 5-hour runtime includes thoroughly searching for nooks and crannies, so this game is short to say the least, but I'll ignore that in the name of quality vs quantity. Its optical illusions are interesting and the few core mechanics are one-of-a-kind, but expect no more than light puzzles out of them. In a way, the mechanics feel like overkill for how simple the puzzles are. You give me this great esoteric flamethrower, and all I get to do with it is light a lil' candle.

So, if you're in the mood for a short & sweet artistic walking-simulator, then this is a good pick. As a puzzler, I would not recommend it. For anyone looking to scratch a puzzle itch, I'd sooner recommend the Pedestrian. Of course, no game could replace seeing Superliminal's nonsense firsthand. If you want to check it out, pick it up on a sale and keep expectations low for the best mileage.

Imagine a jigsaw puzzle, except you're inside the puzzle pieces and putting the puzzle together sets your path. That is the core mechanic of the Pedestrian, and the whole game is built around it. Each new mechanic brings a clever twist to the basal concept, and I'd dare compare the cleverness to Portal.

From beginning to end, the game's visuals are filled with lots of passionately crafted detail, and the way the environment occasionally interacts with the puzzles makes interesting solutions. The game may be short, but its qualities more than make up for it.

Pick this up if you want a creative short & sweet puzzler.

If you're here, you're likely a Drawn to Life fan. There hasn't been a new game in 11 years, so you might be tempted to impulse-buy this. Buyer beware: the game's divisive even among fans. If you're interested in this and haven't already played the old DTL games or scribblenauts, I'd recommend looking at those instead.

Two Realms is what it says on the tin: two realms. You can explore two lovely pixel art hubworlds filled with cute little characters and buildings all done in a style that's highly reminiscent of the old games while still having its own identity. Unfortunately, once you've seen the two hub-worlds, you've seen everything.

The basic gimmick of drawing your own hero is present, and you do get to draw lil' decorations in the hub worlds, but there is nothing else to draw beyond that. There is no exploration beyond the "two realms", the gameplay is contained entirely within what's called "imagination battles", each composed of a set of "platforming" challenges.

In the game's main story, these battles are typically 3 'levels' long. The first two levels are essentially bite-sized introductions to new mechanics, and the third level lets you place the enemies & misc. yourself. The meat of the game is small puzzles where you place the enemies in the right way to progress.

You can try this game for a spin and see if you like the "imagination battles". 2 hours is more than enough to know whether you'd enjoy this or not. If you don't, you can refund if you wish since this is the whole game. It's extremely easy to softlock yourself, and you might get stumped since the game doesn't properly explain all the mechanics.

So, there are no bosses, no drawn-to-life style levels, no wings, no weapons. The game's essentially a stripped-down version of scribblenauts except you're limited to a few toys rather than any word you can think of. What if we don't care about the gameplay, what if we just want the story? Well, it's nothing groundbreaking.

The story is, once again, a very scribblenautsish thing in the vein of using PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER to solve mundane issues. Also, there is very little character development, since the hero solves everything for everyone.

However, the plot does respect the previous games' endings. What we discover over the plot is the aftermath of Mike's accident, and I think the way they handled Wilfre was fitting. Wilfre is no longer a villain, yet he retains his personality and sense of mystery. His role is extremely important yet low-key, and I'm honestly more interested in his "work" than the actual plot.

I'm still glad Drawn to Life came back at all, though in a- experimental form. The gameplay will certainly alienate old time fans quickly, and I don't think it's fun enough to pull in newcomers.

I'm not familiar with this genre of games, but even a brief go at the game had me charmed with its uplifting music, impressively lively animations, lovely characters, and lighthearted writing. The gameplay is fun and I'm eager to learn more about its mechanics once I get the time to do so.

It's relaxing GBC-styled time brimming with personality, what's not to like?