Recent reviews by Xerodo

Void Stranger is a game about descending into hell. This describes the game's story as well as what it is like to play it.

This game will not be an experience everyone will enjoy. It's difficult, unforgiving, and doesn't really seem to care if you actually enjoy it. It's the opposite of accessible. For some people this is going to be a huge turn off but if you get wrapped up in what the game is trying to do it'll suck you in.

Wanted: Dead is a mess, but it's a mess with character.

My time with the game was mostly spent questioning a series of baffling but entertaining design choices. Why does the main character have an almost incomprehensible Swiss accent? Why do parts of the story just seem to be sort of missing? Why does the Karaoke rhythm game have only one song while the Ramen eating mini-game has ten of them? Why did I unlock a video where Stephanie Joosten teaches me how to make a Lasanga? All of these decisions make the game an experience to play through. Not necessarily a *good* experience, but an entertaining one.

The biggest negative in the game is probably the gameplay itself. Wanted Dead takes inspiration from a whole host of PS2/360 era action games. This was a great time for games, and we're seeing more and more games take inspiration from that era. The reality is that in 2023 no one really wants to play a B-game from a bygone era- you want to play the idea of what a B-Game was like in your head with a bunch of modern conventions that make it play better. Wanted Dead's messy gameplay is more memorable of the poor designs of that time than it is the good ones.

Despite all of this I'd still be willing to give the game a positive recommendation for the experience of how weird it was and how much I enjoyed the whole vibe it's trying to pull off but in the end it's really hard to justify it at a $60 price point. At full price this is a pretty easy pass but if you're down for a gonzo throwback experience it's a recommendation once it's on sale.

Stonefly is a fun little game with a lot of original ideas. I don't think I've ever played anything quite like it.

You pilot a mech that looks like a small bug. You have to navigate through larger than life environments like a log in a swamp, or a large tree, as if you yourself with the size of the big. These exploration bits are where the game does well- the art and audio design is fantastic.

Occasionally the game will shift into combat arenas, where you need to defeat enemy bugs. You'll stun the bugs by dropping small bombs on them and once stunned they can be blown off the side of the arena. This combat system takes some getting used to, and has some quirks to it, but the combat is generally forgiving enough that I quickly forgot about most of my "oh come on!" moments. You're constantly unlocking new upgrades and abilities to play with too, so the combat stays fresh despite some repetitive enemy types by the final areas. If the occasional moment of frustration is enough to turn you off of the combat this might not be the game for you, but I feel a bit more forgiving considering I don't even really have another game to compare the combat system to.

The one major downfall in the game is that- despite it's relatively short length- it can be fairly grindy. Multiple times in the story you'll need to collect a large amount of materials to progress forward. If you explore and fight enemies enough you'll typically have enough materials on hand to upgrade your mech, but the resource sink segments of the story really drag down the pacing and probably could have been reduced significantly.

Stonefly is a very inventive game, and I think that's where your level of enjoyment will fall with it. It has some game design growing pains trying to make it's unique style work, but I think the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Astral Gunners is a great little SHMUP.

This game was fun and easy to get into even on easy mode. You can earn additional continues by clearing certain levels and earning achievements which makes taking on the harder difficulties or learning new characters more forgiving. The different characters are fun to mess around with and offer a lot of different abilities that make it fun to play through the game multiple times. Add in a great soundtrack and some polished art work and it's a great little package.

I'm excited to see what the full release will look like.