Recent reviews by Sitara

If sonic 2's chaos emerald stages, starfox, just dance, and synthwave made a baby, it would be this game

Also, it has no invert axis which is unforgivable

I don't know why I bother with F2P games, they all suck. This feels like a glorified mobile game. Terrible onboarding process, cluttered UI, the same usual garbage formula.
"But it's so fun if you ignore all that stuff"
Yeah, well maybe I don't want to ignore that stuff when there are literally thousands of better games I could be playing
TL2 is the goat, but this aint it

I do recommend his, but if you're reading negative reviews you probably want to hear some critiques so here's mine:
- gameplay loop is fun an addictive but there are some annoying sections and some moments were I felt hit detection and enemy detection of you was a bit clunky.
- music is great but could use a few more tracks
- story is pretentious, tries way too hard to make you question "your violent nature' when in actuality the answer to why anyone kills anything in this game is because its a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game and thats the mechanic. its not that deep and both the devs and fans are reading way too much into it.

that stuff aside, solid game, very unique.

If there was any integrity in gaming "journalism" today, this would be GOTY, hands down, instead of some DLC or sqenix remake.

Where it Shines:
SotN Clone My Beloved - 10/10
Spirit System - 10/10
Art and Music - 8/10

The Good:
Fellas, this is the SotN clone you've been waiting for. Forget Bloodstained.
Everything SotN does is here. This feels more like a Castlevania game than any Castlevania game to come out since SotN.
- Character is basically "What if Alucard was a girl???". even the animation trails, the cape, the way the sprite moves, it's all so blatantly SotN and I'm here for it.
- Though the art and music isn't AS good as SotN (what could be), it is better than most Castlevanias
- The level design, the enemy design, the dialogue that makes no sense and a story that really isn't even a story at all???? Yeah, it's here, just like SotN! And that's a great thing.
- The spirit system is so much fun to use. It's reminiscent of Ikaruga where you have two types, one being invulnerable to the other. There are barriers in the game you have to make sure you have the right spirit selected to pass through, and there are some great boss fights that utilize this to their advantage.
- Speaking of Boss fights, AMAZING in this game. The human ones kinda suck but the monster ones? Top shelf.
- It's just dang FUN.

The Bad:
- There are some obnoxious bow/arrow puzzles where you have to shoot gears and ♥♥♥♥ and they unwind if you don't hit them, but you have to actually hit them at the right angle or they will WIND instead of UNWINDING and it's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ annoying as all heck.
- The weapon variety is decent here, but could use some work.
- There really needs to be a better item management system. It's better than SotN in that you don't have to go to a menu to do it, but you're basically sifting through over a dozen items because it doesn't differentiate your spells from potions for some reason.
- This has got to be the worst name I've ever heard for a game, and would make anyone want to avoid it.

Summary:
If you love Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, then you HAVE to play Deedlit in the Record of the Labyrinth War Electric Lodoss Bugaloo. Seriously, I don't know why more people aren't gushing over this game, it's exactly what we've been craving as SotN fans. JUST TRUST ME BRO AND PLAY IT

Rarely does a game come out from a studio that cares this much about their product.
There's a damn good reason this game won Indie GOTY and that it's my favourite game of all time now, no joke.
It's the most accessible RPG for new players in terms of QOL improvements and removing grind, and it's also great for veterans of the genre and fans of SNES era JRPGs.
Often you hear "Chrono Trigger Spiritual Successor" and all it does is make me eyeroll. Is SoS better than CT? Objectively, no, but it did manage to transport me back in time to my childhood playing CT on a CRT, escaping into a vibrant world full of charming characters, memorable stories, beautiful music...I didn't want it to end.
Ignore my playtime at time of of review; I've beaten this game already on Gamepass and loved it so much I bought a copy on steam and switch.
I wish more studios were like Sabotage.

I'm glad this game is finally in EA so I can review it.
Overall, this game was a let down. Does it have potential? Maybe. But the game feels so bland and generic, even for a Beta/EA game.
- The races are literally Terran/Zerg/Protoss, only worse because they have less of an identity
- The game looks like a mobile game from 2010
- The unit pathing and movement is so clunky. Most of the time you feel like you're fighting the game, not your opponent. Many units are just so large and slow that any units that kite have a huge advantage.
- There is almost no unit distinction, it's gotten better as they've "upgraded" the graphics, but it can be hard to tell things apart when watching matches or even when playing.
- They have controversy surrounding their funding for this game, initially saying they were totally funded through EA via KS, then doubling back and saying they weren't and asking for some NFT scam levels of user investment. I'm not gonna go as far as to say the studio is intentionally scamming people, I just think they are incompetent and didn't secure enough funding nor implement the MTX they needed early enough to allow them to fund the game further. It's costing them an obscene amount of money monthly and they have ZERO REVENUE.

The sad part is, this game really did do some things right. There are a lot of QOL fixes that make the game easier to learn and to play. I like that it's a bit slower paced and your entire worker line isn't dying because you didn't micro away from some garbo unit within .5 seconds. I like that the game has areas of the map you are contesting through creeps for a small eco boost. It feels like all these things should make for a fun experience, but in reality, it's just boring and feels like an RTS from 2006 with some minor improvements. This is supposed to be the next gen of RTS e-sports? I'll stick with SC2.

I hope the game improves, I hope in a few years it's still around and it has found it's footing and looks and plays a lot better. But this is gonna be the last time I ever fund a game through KS, what a waste. Lesson learned, don't trust KS game companies, even if they are a team that made some of the greatest games of all time.

As of now, nothing excites me about this game. You've got potential Frost Giant, don't squander it like you've been doing.

This is an early thoughts review.
Obvious SV clone, but in all the right ways imo.
The pixel art is gorgeous and super polished. The characters are all really well drawn.
The game seems to emphasize the dating/relationships aspects a bit more at the beginning that SV does, which I kind of like for a single player cozy game.
There are also just some amazing inclusivity pieces right from the get go, you can choose a lot of different pronouns, including all pronouns which I NEVER see and am so happy. You can also change this, as well as your skin color, outfits, hair, etc, at ANY time from the get go unlike SV.
I'm not saying any of this as a slight to SV, which is obviously GOATED, but if you're looking for something a little cuter, a little gayer, want to play dressup, and want a little more action from a cozy game, FoM is for you.
I think it stands on its own in this sea of SV clones, and manages to do its own thing while not changing too much of what makes SV great.
Easy recommend so far, even for an EA game, which is impressive. You can tell the love that is going into this.

Dead Cells but actually good and not overrated as f

The game has some translation issue, some text that is flat out unreadable due to being obscured by portraits, some annoying small QOL issues, and multiple endings that in my opinion, water down the experience (one good well thought ending would be better in this instance).
However, despite all this, being a free game, it is an easy recommend. None of these things ruined the playthrough for me, and in fact, I found myself really liking the quirky combat system, the simple crafting, and the sensible level and dungeon design. It's a game I kept wanting to come back to night after night, and really gave me a sense of nostalgia for SNES era games like Terranigma.

It's not gonna win any awards, and it may only be something like a 2.5/5 stars, but it's a very SOLID 2.5 stars, and an easy recommend due to it's short playthrough and being free.

Give it a try! You can tell a lot of love went into the project.