Recent reviews by Maeve

A MASTERFUL SEQUEL!

I remember playing SteamWorld Dig 1 ages ago on my 3DS when I was a kid, was tons of fun back then.
This game captures that and delivers even more than the first game, improving on every front.
If you played the first, the biggest change you'll immediately notice are; the graphics! The first game has a charming look to it, but this one is clearly a lot better looking. The other big thing are the controls being tighter. You have a lot more control over Dorothy than Rusty, specially later into the game once you start to get some of the better mobility upgrades.

To put it simply, it's a nice short Metroidvania style game that makes the most out of its thematic.
A direct sequel to the first game, with a bittersweet conclusion. I can hardly believe it took me this long to play it.

Literal Masterpiece.
7 years in development well spent, and they DELIVERED!
First off, this game's gameplay improves massively over the first game, which was already fairly good on its own. This? This is just the perfect 2D speed platformer. It's so good it basically puts every 2D Sonic game to SHAME.

It's gonna take you a little while playing around with the controls to understand how to make the most out of the mechanics in this game, so please do not get discouraged early, there is a very rewarding learning curve as you progress through the game. Not to mention that many of the stages are meant to be replayed, either to lower the time, or find new secrets.
Your first run of a stage might take you, idk 7~10 minutes for most.
Then once you get acquainted with the mechanics, you'll see that time be cut in half if not even more.

All 4 playable characters have their own strengths and weaknesses, but they all perform about the same once you've picked up some practice. Often you'll find yourself going to different parts of the stages with different characters.

The story? TLDR: It's a story about colonialism with a tragic character. Not spoiling much else, but do go out of your way to collect the time capsules, they hold some VERY juicy information regarding the lore.
Another thing of note is that each character has specific cutscenes throughout the story, so I highly recommend playing through it with all 4, or at the very least with Lilac and Carol, since those two hold the most specific cutscenes of all the 4 characters.

The 2D sprites in this game are BEAUTIFUL. The main 4 characters are extremely expressive, the side characters have pretty good variety, the NPCs are honestly really cute, I love how bats look in this game. I know that the lead dev's favorite animal is a bat, so no wonder why they look awesome. The stages are wildly varied, with many details hidden in the background, as well as other attention to detail elements that you'd only noticed if you stopped to look.

THE VOICE ACTING, OH BROTHER THE VOICE ACTING.
General Serpentine's VA is awesome, love hearing him.
Both Neera and Merga have crazy good emotional performances, love them both.
Milla's voice fits her character way too well, and a massive improvement over the first game.
Same for Carol.
Glad to hear Lilac again.

Despite all the sadness in the game, there is also a lot of hilarious stuff, a lot of which you'll find in those character specific cutscenes I mentioned earlier.

BUY THE GAME, IT'S STUPID GOOD! I 100% it and speedran the game with all 4 characters, managing to beat it under 2 hours with each. Short and sweet.
Your first run will definitely take WAY longer however.

Btw Neera supremacy.

Sega better damn give us another Sonic game building upon this beauty.

This game is very sex.

I'm gonna make this brief.
The story is amazing, the characters are amazing, the gameplay is fun, the game is challenging enough, AND THE MUSIC SLAPS (especially the credits song,)
Seriously, go buy the game, it's a work of art.

Very fun how the game KEEPS DELETING MY SAVE FILE NEAR THE END ON HARD MODE. I am literally only missing that achievement, but the game just loves to delete the save files... So, I ran through it like what? 4 times?

This is going to be a rather long review. First of all, I want to say that this game has helped me through some rather unfortunate times, a lot So much in fact, that I changed my name to the main character's name, and thus, I am more inclined to point out the positives rather than the negatives. Not that there are many to begin with. Though I've noticed that I have definitely overlooked some negative aspects, and to an extent, even forget about them. But if someone asked me to recommend this game without a reason, I would absolutely do so without hesitation. This game is a gem that should not be overlooked. So, let's start.

-*Gameplay*

CrossCode is an Action RPG with a vast and flexible combat system. There are two main types of attacks. Melee, composed of close range crescent and circular chakram swings. And Ranged projectiles, composed of small spheres, or "balls" as the game likes to call them. They come in two variations, weak, and strong; Weak charges are a simple small projectile that vanish upon contact with a surface or enemy. Strong on the other hand as a lot more applications, especially in puzzles. You will be using this A LOT. Strong projectiles bounce off objects, except enemies. However, they have greater knockback and damage, they can even break opponent's defenses, making them vulnerable and a perfect opportunity to go all out. Along side melee and ranged attacks, you can use combat arts. There combat arts are separated between 4 elements, Heat, Cold, Wave, and Shock. Each with very unique properties and effects, often used in puzzle solving as well, due to their unique properties. Apart from these 4 elements that you obtain as you go through the main story, you have normal mode, with its own bundle of arts and stats. The game heavily focuses on a strength vs weaknesses; meaning that most enemies will be strong against one or more elements, but weaker against another element. Often exploiting the weaknesses will break the enemy, stunning them, and lowering the defenses significantly, especially in boss fights. The fun that comes with the combat is also in great part because of the skill tree, or "circuits" as they are called in the game. THERE IS A LOT TO THIS SKILL TREE, AND I MEAN IT. Each elemental skill tree has 4 main routes that can all be taken at once. One for defense, another for melee attacks, another for range attacks, and lastly, one for evasion (dashing.) Within these routes, you will encounter extremely useful combat arts that will be essential to your fights. Anything from making a huge iceberg pop out of the ground, to land mines and homing missiles.

-*Puzzles*

I am going to be honest with you. The puzzles in this game are definitely tough, especially if you are not used to these type of games. Puzzles are wide and varied, however, many of them require you to master previous puzzles in order to understand how to solve future puzzles, that although they utilize the same core mechanic, they may vary drastically in how they are executed. It is crucial that you take your time to figure out the puzzles on your own for a smooth sail through the game. With that said, puzzles will often require you to use the 4 elements you have available. Heat, Cold, Wave, and Shock. Each element can do very specific things. For example, the Shock element can activate electric circuits to open doors. The wave element can teleport you, sometimes through walls if the puzzle requires it. The heat element can melt ice, or evaporate water, the cold element can freeze water or put off fire by creating a small chunk of ice from water.
Often you will see bosses require you to solve puzzles as you are fighting them with the element they are weak to.

-*Story*

First, I will absolutely not spoil anything about the story, as I believe that the story of this game is something that you should experience for YOURSELF. This is one of those games where going blind into the story will get you the most enjoyment, and trust me, it sure is an amazing one. However, I will give the premise of the game. You play as Lea, an avatar in a real life MMO setting. Think of it as Sword Art Online, but executed well. Many of the NPCs you encounter through-out the game are "real players." At least in the sense of the CrossCode world. Your mission given at the beginning of the game is to simply play through the game in hopes of regaining your memory through experiencing things again. You are told that you have already played the game before, and that playing through it again might help you recover those memories. And thus, your journey through this vast game begins.

-*World*

There is a lot to say about the world of CrossCode. The environments are really well made, each region themed after places that you'd find in real life. A forest, an icy mountain, a desert, a savannah, a jungle, a cave. Within each of these regions there resides a big city/building to explore with many traders and quests, each giving their own charming atmosphere. Not to mention that each region will have new enemies with specific weaknesses and designs. In one place you'll be fighting cute icy bunnies, while in another you'll be fighting Samurai bugs. CrossCode wouldn't be CrossCode without it's Puzzles, of which there are tons throughout there areas, aside from the main dungeons of the game. Many of these puzzles will lead to treasure chests containing sweet loot to collect; anything from equipment or consumables, to key items to progress in a quest/story. Some of these chests are only able to be open once you obtain their specific key. Do not worry, you are given these keys in the main dungeons of the game. You can always backtrack and collect those chests later, although I highly recommend that you leave a map stamp (press N to leave a stamp on the map) at their location whenever you find one. These chests usually contain really good items.
Throughout your journey in these regions, you'll notice that both humans and the native habitants of the planet the game is played on have vastly different interactions.

-*Characters*

Lastly, we have characters. I will try to not spoil any characters, thus I will only be giving very baseline information about them. First and foremost, the main character, Lea. You'll come to absolutely adore her and empathize with many of her feelings. Despite being unable to talk, she conveys a lot of emotion through facial expressions and body language. THIS, THIS IS HOW YOU SHOULD HANDLE A MUTE/QUIET CHARACTER. I cannot think of any better example of this type of character, she just absolutely wrecks the category. Very well written.
On top of the main character, you have your party members, of which they embody a specific trope, but... surprisingly, not in a bad way.
Emilie, who embodies a hot headed French individual. You will love her, especially at the beginning and towards the end of the game.
C'tron is your other major party member. He is basically that really smart party member who seems to knows most everything, and points out things that make no sense within the CrossCode world, such as flying sea horses... On an icy mountain, with wings. C'tron and Emilie make a great combo, as they are practically the opposite.
There are plenty more character, far more than I could talk about. They are all amazing within their own right.

-*Negatives*

For me there aren't that many things to complain about. But there is definitely one thing that came to mind when playing through the game. That is when the perception of height is lost in some areas, and you keep jumping off a cliff over and over, just to realize that the platform that you are trying to jump to is actually on another height level even though it looks like it's even with the one you are standing on. It's not really a big issue, considering that you heal back naturally very quickly, and that you don't really lose any progress. It's just a thing that can be frustrating.

Well, this game is certainly a surprised. First I was wondering why so many of my friends had this game, and then I was wondering why this game had nearly 42k reviews, many of which were overwhelmingly positive, especially with such a low price tag of just $0.79. Was this some hidden gem that I had no idea it existed?... Surprisingly, yeah it kinda is. For such a low price, the game offers really good artwork and even Japanese voice acting. Other reviews have called this game a cheaper HuniePop; which is not too far off.

The game offers a novel like story between the girls showcased on the shattered mirror, of which there are 8 (+ some cheap DLC with more girls.) The novel has a seamlessly good transition between the story telling and the actual game. Not to mention that the choices you are giving during the story novel affect the stats of the girl during the battle; they can become tankier, stronger, fraguile, or weaker. Think of HuniePop, but with some slight turns here and there. For example, instead of Romancing the girls through solving the puzzles, you instead attack them, and they attack you back. Both you and the girls have an HP system that and also a temporary clothing shredding system that enrages the girls and makes them hit harder, but as a trade off they also take more damage. You can cast physical and magical attacks with the tiles, and depending on how you arrange the tiles you will unleash a different skill. There are a plethora of different skills you can equip that upon connecting tiles of the same type, they will unleash a special effect. Anything from raw damage, to stealing HP. If you are not aware by now, yes, this game contains sex scenes. AND YES, the game is by default censored a little, but can be easily removed with a patch the community has provided. Go to the community hub for this game, guides, then modding and configurations. You'll find what you are looking for in there.

Do I recommend this game?
Absolutely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ yes, especially with such a low price tag of just $0.79. It's actually rather insane to see such quality from a type of game that usually has the reputation of just being a cheap knock-off looking for a quick cash grab. The DLC is pretty cheap too, I don't see why you shouldn't get it along the main game. Enjoy!! :)

Blah blah blah. TIME TO RANT.

First of, do not buy this version of the game. Just get the "The Ultimate Edition." Why? Very simple, if you ever want to play the DLC, which locks a decent amount of content behind it. You'll have to pay a total of $46 USD, oppose to $30 from The Ultimate Edition, which comes with all the DLC. Sadly the DLC is not bundled up, and the price amounts to $26, basically what The Ultimate Edition costs. However, it might be slightly better to get this version if it's on sale along the DLC. One more thing regarding DLC. Sorry for having to be that one person, but I absolutely hate how like 1/3 of the achievements are locked behind the DLC. It really sucks.

Do I recommend this game? Yes, no, maybe, perhaps. I can't say with certainty. If I were to recommend a Shantae game to someone, it would definitely be Pirate's Curse.

What do I personally find bad about the game. It comes mostly comes down to the boss battles vs environmental hazards. I kid you not, the final boss is easier than all the environmental hazards through-out the stage. This wasn't just a final stage issue. It was also during the Tassel Town Tower climb, and the parkour with all those harpies and munchers. The boss of that stage, pretty easy. Done hitless. Then you have the Carper Race. Lost more HP to falling off a carpet than getting hit by the boss of the stage. As well as falling into a pit during the air ships/getting obliterated by lasers. It feels like the entirety of the game is focused behind you not trying to ♥♥♥♥ up a jump and be sent back to the beginning of that section. Enemies don't really do anything to you, and the bosses are very underwhelming.

Something that some people might not be into. There is a LOT of backtracking. Naturally, this being a Metroidvania type of game. If you are not up for a lot of back tracking, this game is definitely not for you, since that's what you'll be doing the most. There are a total of 6 stages. And you'll only be going through 4 repeatedly.

The Story. If you are here for the story, throw that out the window. The game can be summed up pretty quick. Risky has evil plan, you play into her, and now you must save your fellow Genies.

How many hours can you squeeze out of this game? To be honest. I'm not really sure. You have to complete the game multiple times. Considering you already know what to do and where every item is, I suppose it would take you some 12~14 hours to 100% it. You can definitely 100% the base game in 7 hours.

Did I absolutely disliked the game? No, not really. Otherwise I wouldn't have put 10 hours into it. It definitely has its own charm. The art style is pretty good. And the transformations allow for different ways of traversing the stages, which is pretty neat.

(One small last thing. The Fan Art Gallery is extremely wack. Some of the Fan Art is not even Shantae related, lol)

I remember when the game first came out back in 2016 on PS4. It was a big release, yet so many people were disappointed with the game after waiting for so long. That put me off for a while, especially after many kept on telling me that the game was simply not worth it. Well.... I picked it up eventually during the Summer sale. My goodness. All of these years I went without playing this amazing game. It truly got to me. Now onto some real review

Pros:
-The Music in this game is absolutely amazing. Veiled in Black and Apocalypsis Aquarius are bangers. Real good battle themes.
-The world is actually pretty big. While traveling on the Regalia, it seems much smaller than it really is. However, if you travel by foot. You'll see just how big the world is.
-The story is more than meets the eye. There is a lot of stuff the game doesn't tell you directly. It's not just "revenge, I'll take my kingdom back."
-Regalia Type-F
-Riding Chocobos is pretty fun
-Prompto takes random pictures while the characters are awake. Some of the shots he takes are pretty amazing.
-There are 4 DLCs out currently. Episode Gladio, Episode Ignis, Episode Prompto, Episode Ardyn. Playing these 4 DLCs changes your perspective on the game A LOT. In a very positive way to put it simply.
-The titan boss battles. Although mostly cinematic/quick time events are pretty good.
-The Ending is.... D E E P. Play the game.
-The characters are pretty solid. Especially the 4 bros.


Cons:
-The battle system is pretty nice. However, it can become such a drag sometimes. When all you are doing is spamming Warp Strike doing 9999 damage each time you hit and having to repeat the process 20 times until the large enemy/boss dies. Some enemies just feel like damage sponges and nothing else. It takes a lot of 9999 damage hits to take them down. At least later on the game changes your play style completely for a brief story segment. It's a small breeze of something that could've made the combat better.
-Quests Quest Quests QUEST Q U E S T S. Side quests are optional, but that doesn't make it any better. A lot of the quests are really repetitive. Talk to this one dude some 8 times, and have him give you a very similar task all those times. Just in different locations. It's very time consuming. If you just go through the main story, the game falls at less than 20 hours.
-3 DLCs were cancelled. Rip
-The game gets super linear after Chapter 8. Personally I didn't see anything too detrimental about it. It allowed for the story to be shown much easier. But going from this big open world to a dungeon with narrow af corridors, and with Magitek troopers jumping at you from the floor at every second. Yeah, it gets really annoying, and I see why people don't like the later chapters as much.

In conclusion, is the game worth buying? Definitely. It's not perfect, it has flaws like any other game. But the game holds it's ground pretty well. Whether you want to buy it on sale or not is up to you. I personally got 60+ hours out of it already, and there is content I want to get through still. The game has gone on sale pretty much during every major holiday sale on steam for just $25. Great time to pick it up.