Recent reviews by Boiman

Not even 20 minutes of game time and I've already mashed my keys so hard that I somehow opened Blender during a song. 10/10

this happened to my buddy Kevin once

Game is great, and I don't particularly like horror games. I even bought my own copy after playing it from family share to support the developers because they really do deserve it. Do yourself a favor and go in blind.

Praying for you 🕯️ O Great Mita 💝

I can't believe it. He's really back this time.

Shadow Generations is worth the price alone. It may be short, but it does not waste *any* of that time, nothing but greatness the entire way through. The Doom powers may seem a bit cliche at first glance, but don't judge a book by its cover. They are implemented so well into the core gameplay that they feel like Shadow has always had them.

If I would have to recommend any Sonic game, it's this one, no question. Sonic fan or not, please play this game.

Oh and if you're new to the franchise, Sonic Generations is also great, so play that one, too.

I'd recommend this if you happen to really be into Touhou Project like me. This game isn't hard to understand if you don't know anything about Touhou, but it feels like the enjoyment you can get from it relies heavily on whether or not you like the franchise. This game on its own doesn't really do a whole lot to characterize them, or to give you a unique action RPG experience you can't find anywhere else.

That being said, I did enjoy my time with this game, sometimes. The levels themselves are nothing to write home about, and are actually quite boring at times. You end up running from room to room beating up enemies or running around beating up enemies in sorta empty bigger rooms.

The bosses are where the game gets a bit better. These are usually pretty fun, although admittedly the cracks start to show after a while. This is mostly because on normal mode, which I played on, the game lets you heal WAY too often. I imagine this is a bit better on hard mode, but even for normal mode this feels like a design misstep.

The story is..... passable. Once again I feel like your enjoyment of this hinges on your enjoyment of Touhou as a whole, and even then I'd recommend other Touhou fan games if you care about story over everything else.

I'd recommend this game, with the stipulation that it's on sale OR you *really* like Touhou. It's not a bad game, far from it, but it has this strange empty feeling to it all.

If you came here looking for an entry point to Touhou, I'd recommend Touhou Luna Nights or one of the official danmaku games over this.

You're just as beautiful as the day I lost you.

You ever play one of those games where you finish it and just sit there thinking for a moment? Yeah this is like that but you are actually just stuck trying to figure out what you just played.

No but seriously this is the most I've laughed at a game in a long while. If you're not acquainted with more eccentric humor, go in with an open mind.

Oh and there's air hockey too. It's good, but it's got a couple of odd difficulty spikes, so it ends up being a fun distraction at best and an irritating roadblock at worst.

That being said, this is definitely worth the asking price. I would even say this would be a good time without knowing anything about the Touhou Project.

Mashing x is my life now, sincerely your local Charlotta main!

An absolute must-play for any Yakuza/Like a Dragon fan, or any JRPG fan for that matter. A lot of familiar faces from past games show up here, but most of this story is self-contained, so any new players can hop in on this game if they so choose, even though long-time fans may not approve of that. The battle system is quite fun, but some bouts of grinding will likely be necessary to get past some roadblocks in the late-game, causing things to get repetitive at times. There's also a plethora of side quests and minigames to take part in just like every other title in the franchise. The story is one of the best in the franchise as well.

GOTY 2023 in my opinion, an absolute must-play without question. The grappling mechanics are simple to understand and difficult to master, but are fun 100% of the time. The story hurts in the best way. I was never bored even ONCE in this game.

Play it. Just play it. Please. I need more of this.

If an ending kills a game for you, don't go for this.

That being said....

Game's fun. The presentation can be wonky at some points, but nothing that really detracts from the overall experience in my opinion. I was kind of surprised at how well the character bond stuff was done, it felt as close to its Persona inspiration as you could reasonably expect an indie title to get. Speaking of which, the writing overall was great, the story was good even though I feel like some plot points could have been elaborated on in a bit more detail. The comic relief in the game is stellar, although that might just be because it panders to my sense of humor. I'd describe it as "unhinged."

The gameplay is fairly solid, despite its basic nature. The most complex part of the game is timing your dodges with enemy attacks, which can get quite difficult as the game throws harder enemies with more health and more vaguely telegraphed attacks. There's also the thing where you call upon a teammate to attack an enemy with their respective element to break elemental barriers. The elements that enemies are weak to are easily figured out, especially since when finding a new character, you are put into a situation where the game essentially teaches you what the character is strong against.

However, I am extremely conflicted on how to feel about the endgame. This kind of ending alone can ruin the experience for some players, especially with how the game is structured. I personally feel like the ending was too serious, as I remember the comedic and lighthearted moments more than the plot-important "we're in an apocalypse let's get our s**t together" moments. Just know that the ending hits your emotions hard, and this is a good or bad thing depending on who you ask.

Overall, I do think the game is worth its price tag, even more so if you happen to find it on sale. If you like hack n' slash games that can be a bit mindless fun or the social elements of the Persona series and dating simulators, this is a solid buy. Just be aware of the ending being a "you either love it or you hate it" deal.