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Descenders is a good, well-rounded game, but it's hard to give it more praise than that.

Starting off, the online features such as ghosts & daily challenge leaderboards make the world feel truly alive. From the second you enter the hub at the beginning of the game, you'll see other players trying new tricks & crashing hard, which helps add to the community feel of the game. The lobbies are fairly small in size, but there's enough people to be seen on tracks & in the hub to bring the world a bit more to life.

The gameplay is strong - Tricks are easy to land but often tricky to commit 100% to due to the unfamiliarity of the procedurally generated worlds, which makes the daily challenge an enjoyable game of risk/reward. Descenders also conveys a real sense of speed, though it's very easy to deviate off the track in one of the steeper levels, & find yourself plummeting at 100km/h+ into a rock at the bottom of a hill, which certainly isn't a complaint - it just ties further into that risk/reward cycle! If you go hard at a jump you'll be able to get enough air time to maybe fit in an extra trick, but the chances of you overshooting it & ending up sliding down the mountain side go up, also.

The gameplay loop is where I started to lose a bit of interest after a while. To start with, there are 4+4 zones, each with a variety of procedurally generated levels to get through. The game works on a HP system, where you gain HP for fulfilling certain criteria per level (ie, perform 2 backflips), & lose HP for bailing - The impact of this system depends entirely on how you decide to approach the game. It's very manageable to complete zones 1-4 (& 5-8) in order without running out of lives by playing very passively, though to get a decent score, you're going to have to go harder at it.

Once I'd done the 1-4/5-8 clears, I found myself pretty disinterested in replaying through the career content. Thankfully, there's also a decent collection of custom community made maps for people of all skill levels. They're fun to play around with, & some are incredibly challenging to the point where I've given up ever completing them, but if you enjoy the gameplay, I'm sure you'll find a lot to love here. I still plan on playing the daily challenge for a while, but that's about it.

The OST is an enjoyable (albeit limited) collection of middle of the road electronica. There's a few tunes I'd heard before & a few new to me, but my biggest gripe with the OST is that it seems to be a few songs short of what a game like this should offer. Still, what's there is solid, & there's nothing stopping you turning the music volume to 0% & playing your own music in the background while you play (which is what I ended up doing.

In conclusion, the best (& worst) thing I can say about Descenders is that everything it does is to a good standard; there are no major shortcomings, & no missing features - but there's also no major high points, must-see mechanics, or incredible features to get you coming back to it. It's an all-round solid experience that's worth trying for yourself (especially if you're a fan of mountain biking), but don't expect any major staying power beyond the daily challenge unless you're really into score chasing/adore the gameplay.

A decent little chess experience, but not without its flaws, with the biggest being that there's a few levels with multiple ways of getting the checkmate, but the game only ever accepts the answer in its system. There's also a few times where the game wasn't registering my inputs properly, & the lack of visual feedback certainly doesn't help with that.

Fairly solid otherwise, though! I've seen some people say there's a lot of repeated/overly similar scenarios in play, though I'd argue that getting a few core ideas drilled into your mind is more helpful than anything else.

Worth the $£€.

A very reasonable jigsaw experience for the money. It feels intuitive & simple (which is something, somehow, other jigsaw games often fail at), & the images are pleasant enough to work towards across each of the five levels & difficulties. The original piece of music is rather lovely, though since it's just a single track on loop, I had to turn it off eventually - Once I did that, I couldn't turn it back on, no matter what I did.

Unspectacular, but good enough to justify at the price asked.

Despite its slick presentation, Delete lost me very early thanks to its reliance on guesswork to get through puzzles. If you're after a Minesweeper-like experience that can be solved without a serious dose of RNG, I'd suggest checking out "Hexcells" or "Globesweeper" instead.

£2/$3? Bargain!

Cut to the Core's impressive aesthetic grabbed me the moment I saw it, & when I saw the price/format, I just knew I had to give it a go. There's a lot more to it than the brilliant retro comic book gore, too!

The story is pretty damn compelling, though as the art/store page suggests, it certainly isn't a tale for the squeamish. The game covers several touchy subjects, but never in a way that's downplaying the horrors of such situations - make sure to read the "MATURE CONTENT DESCRIPTION" on the store page if you feel you're likely to be upset by something, or go in absolutely blind if you're wanting the most out of the read.

The sound design is almost every bit as brilliant as the comic book art, & helps elevate CttC even further. A strong OST, & horrible, gory sound effects help turn CttC into something more substantial than a traditional comic could offer.

It's hard to go into too many details without giving too much away, but at £2/$3, Cut to the Core is an absolute no brainer for horror fans, VN fans, & fans of anyone who honestly just wants something totally different to what they're used to. The art & sound design are fantastic, & while it feels like they might be propping up the story a tiny bit, the story itself is still very memorable thanks to its gruesome nature & the brilliance of the format.

A proper mixed bag, but what a finale!

While Kinkoi presents itself positively with its high quality art & surprisingly strong OST, to say it gets off to a shaky start would be somewhat of an understatement. The first half of the common route falls flat on its face, with the humour often missing its mark, & characters failing to grab much attention early on. If I had to describe it, it felt like an AI was fed some plot points & told to make a moege... Perhaps that's a bit harsh, but really, it didn't leave a great first impression. Thankfully it starts to pick up towards the end of the common route, though at very few points does it ever come across as anything other than average.

The character routes are, for the most part, another step up over the common route, with the final of the five routes being absolutely sublime, almost justifying the rest of the reads shortcomings on its own. Three of the other four routes impress to varying degrees, though Akane's route feels like a bit of an odd one out - Perhaps a side character that ended up becoming a main character to bolster numbers? Whatever the case, it felt like a bit of an afterthought, & didn't live up to the quality of the other routes.

Nekonyan's translation is as well done as you'd expect, though I did notice some (very) minor technical issues including screen/element flickering while interacting with software on secondary/tertiary displays. This isn't something I've noticed in other games/VNs, but it could just be an odd hardware issue on my end - either way it doesn't detract from the experience all that much, but is worth mentioning all the same.

Overall, I'm left with vibes similar to when I finished "Summer Pockets" - There's just so much forgettable stuff on the way to its finale that it'd be hard to recommend if the finale itself wasn't very good, but that's thankfully not an issue as Kinkoi really manages to stick the landing, & manages to pick up the quality throughout the second half of the read as a whole. Does that justify giving it a shot despite the flaws? I believe so, but at the same time, there are funnier VNs, more emotional VNs, & better story-driven VNs out there, so I'd suggest going into it with tempered expectations & seeing for yourself. For me, I'm at a point now where I'm fairly invested in the characters & what's going on, so I look forward to reading "Golden Time" in the very near future!

(PS. I didn't play with the 18+ patch so I can't comment on the quality/consistency of the H-scenes, but I do know from reading the discussions page that they seem to be a mixed bag, with OOC moments being the biggest culprit. If this is important to you, perhaps do a bit of extra research beforehand).

Step 1: Don't play FUT because it's a scam.
Step 2: Queue for online Seasons.
Step 3: Enjoy a varied selection of opponents from PSG, PSG in their away kit, PSG at their ground, & PSG at their ground in their away kit.
Step 4: Prepare for half of your losses to be quitting out of games against people with hamster powered 56kbps dial-up modems from 1996.

8/10.

What a ride!

Right from the get-go, Marco dazzles with its brilliant mixture of animated sequences & plethora of traditional VN art, all of which is done to an incredibly high standard. The quality of the presentation doesn't end there: The voice acting is also fantastic, & the amalgamation of classical pieces & original works come together to form a memorable OST (though I did feel some classical pieces were misplaced, even if the goal was an unusual juxtaposition).

As far as the story goes, it's a bit all over the shop, but it definitely comes from a place of good intentions. All the plot points of a good story are present, but the pacing is sadly all over the place, & the primary villain is about as default as it gets. The same cannot be said about Marco however, who is a fantastic lead character in a pretty strong cast overall. Despite its shortcomings, the story was still impactful, & the sense of humour present throughout the read, while sometimes a bit over the top, made for a truly memorable experience.

Overall, while narrative shortcomings hold Marco back from being one of the absolute best short VNs out there, its humour, S-tier presentation, & passion on display help cement it as a must-play regardless.

A spectacular achievement.

Whether you're a fan of OSRS or not, Melvor Idle is a brilliant standalone experience with plenty of content, fresh ideas for veterans of the MMO, & hundreds if not thousands of hours of fun to be had. It takes what makes MMO leveling fun, strips away the RSI inducing elements (no tick granite mining \o\), & leaves you instead with an experience that's more about planning & goal-setting rather than the amount of time spent clicking. With a maximum offline progression time of 18 hours, you needn't log in more than twice a day to find yourself at near maximum efficiency.

Presentation is crisp, with a smooth, modern UI bringing everything together nicely, even if it might be a little too much to take in at once - even if you're knowledgeable about the source material. The tutorial is a bit lacklustre, but it shouldn't hold you back too much.

As with all games of this nature, there are more efficient ways to do things that can undoubtedly be found with a bit of Google-fu, but in my experience, the game is a whole lot more rewarding when you go about things your own way. You can have several characters at once, so taking a new character into a different game mode with the knowledge you've built up over time will lead to faster progression naturally.

With it's strong presentation, more than a thousand items, hundreds of monsters, dozens of dungeons, & a hell of a lot more on the way thanks to a cheap expansion planned later in the year, Melvor Idle is simply unbeatable in the idler RPG space. It has its nuances & its quirks, but for OSRS fans & newbies alike, there's a hell of a lot to love here.

Just a quick note: While Seventh Lair is a standalone title that can technically be read without reading "The House in Fata Morgana" first, I think doing so would not only lessen your enjoyment of this game, but that one as well. If you've not read it, I really suggest doing so, since it truly is an absolute masterpiece worthy of your consideration.

The story of Seventh Lair varies from the absurd to the beautiful, with flashes of despair & nostalgia to the older days of the internet expertly sprinkled throughout. It's hilarious scenario paired with its darker, contrasting moments make for a short experience that's worthy of the Fata Morgana name, despite it's short length & limited scope. It had me laughing from the get go, and by the end of it, I had that typical lump in my throat that I associate with the parent read. It ties everything beautifully together with a blog post/forum snippet that's absolutely worth reading through alongside the game.

The music is amazing. I do prefer it usually when vocal tracks are in something other than English, as I find my ability to understand them often limits my enjoyment of them, however there was no such issue here - The vocal tracks are beautiful, & they're not alone... THE CHIPTUNE! The chiptune music played during the comedic parts of the story are phenomenal, & had me reminiscing over the good ol' days of Game Boys & 8/16-bit era consoles.

In conclusion, Seventh Lair is everything I could've asked for in a spin-off of one of my all time favourites. The story goes from effortless light-hearted comedy to heavy meaningful moments in an incredibly natural way, & the new additions to the Fata Morgana music library are just as varied. While you can read it as a standalone & no doubt enjoy it, fans of the main story will definitely appreciate the nuances & characters on show moreso than those who are yet to experience it.