Recent reviews by deadoceans

There is no reason to go on after 8 hours of gameplay; I'm simply getting nothing out of what feels like a mindless experience of repetition with no context or substance.

After a brief introduction where you gather some semblance of what's going on through stilted characters and dialog, you're thrust into a mechanistic and predictable gameplay loop without much room for variation or variety. Although a few bosses have been creative, and the developers deserve credit for this, I have not had fun in this game.

The stats seem useless. There is no building a "unique" character here. It's an afterthought.

It feels like Remnant is lacking a cohesive vision and after a certain point, which comes relatively fast, it feels as if you're continuing on for no purpose whatsoever except for entering new environments that are relatively empty and lack a sense of reward for exploration. Several times throughout the course of co-op, my friend and I asked each other, "Wait, what the ♥♥♥♥ are we even doing here again? And why?"

I knew after a few times of saying this, I was sapped of any desire to continue on.

Despite the first game also becoming repetitive and boring, it had a certain charm to it. This entry feels devoid of any soul. Barren on every level except the aesthetic.

Very fitting for this era of time. You bite into it and there's nothing. The matter disappears behind dissociation.

Signalis is like no other game I've played. And I do not mean that in a superficial sense; you can play a variety of games in the realm of survival horror with similar combat and puzzle mechanics. Although this game may be like several of those, including the predecessors it is inspired by that I've seen mentioned in other reviews, it is simultaneously like none of those and nothing else at all.

To me, what Signalis propagates with its being is something that exists in the realms where other-worldly love and nauseating existential horror precariously join hands as one, creating an indissoluble conglomerate of paradox. It's quite disturbing, but just as captivating and engrossing, and I believe it's because we all have these pieces within us if we search hard enough.

I am haunted by certain ideas from time to time. These ideas tend to encapsulate something that I think about quite often: the disintegration of life, of myself, of the few people I love. The decay of the body, the decay of memories and of the self that once was - the prospect of every discrete point of time in an individual's life that has existed being methodically and deliberately broken down faster and faster to a singular point of destruction, like a loose freight train whose brakes have failed, tumbling head first into its final absolution with a quickening pace. And nothing in the universe can possibly stop it: it is the ultimate truth of everything in existence, indifferent to our desires and wishes, indifferent to our suffering and our pleas.

It is the omnipotent fact that we are powerless against destruction from time itself; the idea that infects the mind like a rapidly replicating virus and never leaves you until you are finally relieved of consciousness and rotting in the ground.

As you venture through the remains of this post-dystopia Signalis presents you, ripe with environmental horrors of once living, human-like units being absorbed into the walls and floors and a space enmeshed with uncanny claustrophobia that toes the line between psychotic hallucination and cold sanity, you begin to uncover these underlying ideas of breakdown and putrefaction that will claim us all without exception.

It's in the bloodied and crumpled notes, in the unnerving cut scenes that were hacked together with dizzying imagery, conjuring subconsciously repressed perceptions, hidden intuitions, fragmented memories, aspects of reality that exist on the exterior lines of one's conscious self: Signalis presents to you the dissolution of the body and the annihilation of the mind through both the cruelty of the hands of time and through an oppressive, uncaring regime that treats the individual as nothing more than an object, a tool: a paradigm that is not far off from the one we currently exist in.

The esoteric subjects this game touches on cannot be found in many places. Enjoy your time with it, savor it and relish it, because it is a rarity, especially in its unique anime-like presentation that I found resemblances to in the art of Tsutomu Nihei with its wiry, dark, cyberhorror design.


For all of it's darkness, all of its screeches and gore and ominous, encrypted aesthetic that permeate the fabric of your senses while you experience this unique piece of art, there is an undying desire and an unflinching love to see another person once more that carries you - the main character - onward until the end.

In the desolate and barren world that Elster finds herself in, she will stop at nothing to reach her goal. Not a missing arm, nor a shredded torso cavity exposing vital organs will prevent this from happening. She made a promise. She would once again see the one who brought her a feeling akin to happiness in the chaos of the inhumane, relentlessly hierarchical and mechanically delineated machine.

I loved how Signalis managed to interweave a romance story - a search for the other - into its bleak horror. The combination of these two things, at first glance, is an unlikely pairing. But they only reinforce each other's strengths, because it is through the misfortunes and the tragedy in our life that our bonds with others are strengthened and become that much more important, and it is through our connection with others that we feel that we can gather more strength to face the dismal environment that has cared for us not once. Sometimes, you simply need something else - or someone else - to carry onward.

With few words and sparing, minimalist imagery, Signalis let's you catch a glimpse of the mysterious, melancholy-laden story of Elster and her companion, and their relationship to the futile world they inhabit.


Signalis has everything I could ask for. Survival horror. Aesthetic. Melancholy. Obfuscation. Anime. Distorted and questionable perceptions that may not correspond to reality. The deleterious effect of oppressive regimes on the psyche.

Although there were times that I felt the combat to be clunky, or times where I was kind of annoyed that I had to backtrack again and trigger the same sounds and soundtrack from the monsters, I enjoyed every minute of Signalis. I knew I would enjoy it from the moment I booted it up and saw (and listened to) the menu screen. There is really not much to complain about, and I did not encounter a single bug my entire playthrough. This is, overall, a high quality, well-designed game with clear intentions that it managed to execute flawlessly for its target audience.

Since analysis tends to create a wall between you and the raw, objective truth, you really have to play this one to experience it for yourself and draw your own conclusions: don't just listen to my interpretation of it (although I hope I've convinced you to give it a try). This game, like all great pieces of arcane art, will always have a niche audience and appeal to a specific type of person. It will never appeal to the masses at large.

I say that's a good thing. Let us enjoy our weird, fringe games together on the outskirts of this synthetic, mass-produced landfill. The developers deserve the support from us, the players who will always find our way to what we want and need to play.

Anything else that rose-engine puts out in the future? It's going in my cart, no questions asked.

Replicant, the progenitor of the Nier series.

The most pervasive theme throughout the course of this project is the following adage: there is always more to the story. There are things you are not seeing with your biased, limited perception, but things which nonetheless exist. All it takes is more time and a shift in perspective perhaps, and slowly, you begin to develop a fuller, more universal understanding. And with increasing perspectives that are not so self-referential and thus, self-limiting, you begin to develop compassion. You begin to develop empathy.

There are those you love, those who you would go to the end of the Earth for. The people you would die for. The people who would do the same for you.

But you are not the only one. No - your enemy too may feel much the same. Everyone is connected by this condition that is inherent to the human race, but it is this condition that pits us against one another when we so easily let it. Most conflict is the result of these passions clashing together, from one side trying to win out when in reality, everyone is objectively on equal footing in some very unifying, fundamental sense. A sense that can only be discerned indirectly, whether that be the innocent smile on your friends face when they see you for the first time in so long, or an act of selfless kindness from a stranger with a warm heart.

Humanity is much like a ball of material whose molecules are crying out to connect to one another, but at the same time, violently repulse each other. We are dichotomous and contradictory, and we always will be. But it's what makes us so interesting and captivating. We are the givers of birth while also being the purveyors of unspeakable chaos and destruction.

Nier Replicant shows these ideas to you through its storytelling format - through its propensity to require multiple playthroughs to glean more and more information from the storyline, each of which peels back the layers of the one you call the enemy. It requires patience and fortitude, just as anything good does.

And once you obtain this knowledge and you see the other side of the situation, you are forced to advance forward, to be the victor of your strong passions and the hero of your story in spite of the pain and the self-doubt brought about by your newfound perspectives.

I don't feel like comparing Replicant with Automata too much, as it's unfair; this game was created during a time of less resources, less advanced technology, less experience, and less funding. In other words, do not come here expecting Automata gameplay, although arguably, Replicant does the story and the characters much better.

What you will get when all of the bells and whistles of the series are stripped away is a deeply human and moving story, one which is not so easily found in video games. Indeed, you can almost feel the soul and the emotions of the creators of this game incarnated into the characters themselves and the development they undergo.

Attachment. Detachment. Insecurity about one's appearance. Trauma from the past. The inability to connect. Feeling like you lack love and understanding. Being painfully different.

If you are willing to listen, all of these and more are found in Replicant, although not as subtle as I would've liked them to be. If you are a particular kind of person, this is a game worth playing in spite of its age and flaws and numerous fetch-quests. If you can't bear the gameplay but enjoy the story and characters, then reading about the game or watching the cutscenes and endings is more than ok; never waste your time on something you genuinely don't like.

Nier Replicant is a very unique and emotional experience, and after obtaining all of the possible endings, I am putting it to rest in my memory.

This VN deserves another playthrough from me. Due to life circumstances, I played it in brief and sporadic chunks. It's best read in a few long stretches closer to one another, or even a single sitting if you can manage it.

Pale Cachexia radiates a distinctive sense of atmosphere and feeling tones that cannot be found in many other visual novels or video games. Various labels can be used to classify it, but in a true artistic fashion, conglomerations of language only serve to skew its underlying core that presents itself differently to each individual.

It's strengths manifest in its well written dialog, gorgeous drawings, and haunting soundtrack. Beyond all of these visual illusions are its greatest strength: focus in story and presentation.

As time progresses and we become exposed to more and more fictional mediums, we feel as if the same ideas get repeated many times over in slightly different permutations. An over-saturated market. We become desensitized.

A common approach to mitigating this is creating ever larger and more expansive worlds, filled with numerous characters and ever increasing plot complexity.

There is a different way, a more counter-intuitive way to create something that shines in a sea of mediocrity and repetition, and it is found in this visual novel.

Simplicity, minimalism, and focus. Quality over quantity. Honing in on a strong plot and seeing it through to the end without progressive divergence into tangents. Crafting a small number of characters, giving them each the time to develop and show their nuances, quirks, and motivations. More simply - creating a good story.

Because when all is said and done, what really captures the interests of humanity and stands the tests of time is a good story. In other words, the tale of how a deeply flawed character experiences the world they find themselves in, and how they change in the process of overcoming the difficulty the universe has thrown at them.

The story grabs you, sucks you in with its subtlety and design, and has you exercising a level of empathy you did not know existed within you. The characters become real in their personality and delicate interactions. You are able to see the pain within.

Pale Cachexia realizes this. It does away with the flashiness, the needless complexity, the extraneous, and as a result, quality, substance, and style emerge.

This fact, combined with the marvelous illustrations and music, make this a highly recommended visual novel from me. And it's a shame it's not more popular.

It feels like an awkward trope to bring up Dark Souls in a review for a souls-like game, but I can't help doing so.  Part of me wonders if the developers of games like this are honored or if they instead become mildly nauseated when seeing another review comparing their game to their source of inspiration instead of reviewing it for what it is, floating by itself in a vacuum.

Mostly without deviation, the behavioral pattern for a Soulsborne player holds true.

A process of frustration, then hesitant neutrality, then blooming interest, and then subsequent borderline obsession that carries a player from their first Souls game until their last.  The Moon Presence allowing, the hunt begins for the next game to strike that chord that makes them feel as if they are alone within an expansive yet interconnected alien world rife with cyclical death and rebirth.

You are here because you find yourself in a market that is oversaturated with the popular Dark Souls formula.  You are wondering if Hellpoint strikes that same chord.  It does.  To some extent.

When I remember this game, I remember the atmosphere and the artwork.  The environments.  A comparison framework is only so helpful here - Hellpoint has hints of inspiration from Dead Space, H.R. Giger, and the environmental feel of perhaps Doom 2016 and Quake in places.  But it's weird . 

The feel of Hellpoint is uniquely its own, hence my comment about comparisons.  You realize this once you open up your first breach that resembles an ethereal black hole.

It is a dreary and mechanized sort of world full of ambience.  The kind that you don't find in very many places in such varied and unconventional combinations.  I found myself downright intrigued and curious at most of the locations and art, and that does not happen often for me.

This would not be a positive review if not for the stroke of genius that is the Hellpoint environment and design.

Co-op play within Hellpoint is another high point.  I can't tell you how big my smile was when I realized that Hellpoint had done away with the archaic and overused souls-like feature whereby a) it takes special effort to get a player into your game through finite consumables and/or b) the player inside of your game is sent away when the player beats an area boss, never to return to that area.

Imagine that.  A team who finally discards one of the worst parts of souls gameplay to reward co-op enthusiasts with a more uninterrupted and hassle-free experience.  If nothing else, I give the developers credit for being progressive. My friends and I were able to share the experience of seamlessly traveling between areas, fighting bosses together, discovering Hellpoint's unique black hole event system, and getting the best loot while not having to waste much mental bandwidth from simply trying to meetup in the first place.  Absolutely brilliant.

On the other hand, the enemies are the weakest link in the formula.  Most of them have monotonous and uninspired movesets and as you progress further in the game, you discover that they are rehashed bosses.  Recycled assets with the same movesets.  Objects on your screen that become annoying obstacles overshadowing the fascinating and enjoyable exploration of the world.

The disappointment I had with this cannot be overstated, as I'm someone who believes that the enemies and the combat within games clearly inspired by the Souls series should be paramount.

The bosses were somewhat of a different story - most of them were memorable to me, because, with the exception of the Archon Knights, they were distinct and typically entertaining.  I can't help but feel they could have been better too, though. Faster, more deadly, with louder music on a grander scale. A nearly insurmountable challenge.

This game would have been damn near perfect for me if the boss fights, enemies, and combat were fine tuned and revised enough to match the best that this genre has to offer. For whatever reason, these types of games generally fall short of being monumental masterpieces, but I'd like to think that this is what reviews are for. The development team can reassess their strategy and level up their real life stats to produce something even more groundbreaking. Not every team can produce a Hollow Knight at first, and that's ok.

On the subject of player stats, the Hellpoint system took an interesting perspective by including two stats that I have not seen before in an RPG: cognition and foresight. Although the names are unique, they are simply black-box measurements that are associated with the damage scaling of certain weapon types and thresholds to utilize them.

Weapons which are, unfortunately, not very interesting - especially the strength based weapons. You will not find a large abundance of weapons in this game, which is not necessarily a bad thing assuming that each of the weapons is entertaining, unique, and intuitive. Instead you will likely find that you have a limited selection of weapons that do not meet the previous criteria. This is subjective of course, but I'm sure that you realize reviews are the opinions of the reviewer.

I've sermonized quite heavily about the shortcoming of Hellpoint, but it was important to warn you before you decide to purchase the game.

If you're going to play Hellpoint, now is the time to do so. Unlike a lot of other souls-like games which have entire wiki pages and walkthroughs devoted to them across the internet due to their age and popularity, the information surrounding the game is a bit sparse. Incomplete wiki pages and a handful of guides inspire in the player a sense of working with arcane knowledge in a world of intrigue and loneliness, which is exactly the aesthetic that this game presents.

You will stumble across many strange and unexplained mechanics and locations in Hellpoint, and the best things to do is absorb the experience for what it is - alone, or with a good friend.

For a short time I was quite enthralled with Hellpoint, but after my first playthrough and subsequent bout of achievement hunting, I do not have any desire to play again and I will be moving on to something else.

One listen to the main menu theme song was a prognostication that this was going to be good. I remember seeing this game back when there was a demo available, and I knew I'd buy it as soon as it came out.

I won't repeat the obvious information that you've seen in the description and tags, but I want to say that this game, rather than being a "souls-like," is more of a "bloodborne-like." It takes a lot of inspiration from Bloodborne, ranging from the blood vial system to the names of certain areas and the overall dark gothic, cosmic horror aesthetic. Rather than copying directly off of Bloodborne, however, it sort of deviates by doing its own thing with the setting, most notably with the main character and her role.

If you've ever watched the anime or read the manga called Claymore, it sort of reminded me of that. You are a light haired warrior female with a sword who seems to have the singular purpose of taking on the abominations and horrors that humanity is plagued with but is incapable of directly facing.


If there is one thing that Vigil does very well it's the gameplay.

Dodging and general movement is very fluid, satisfying, and responsive. I never felt annoyed that my character was not responding the way I wanted her to, possibly leading to unnecessary deaths. As the story went on and I acquired more movement abilities, I found navigation of the environment and the combat even more smile-inducing, perhaps even to the point of being overpowered during combat, outmaneuvering nearly everything.

There are four different weapon classes in the game that you can specialize in through skill trees, each with their own benefits and drawbacks, and there is an additional skill tree reserved for general skills, which encompasses everything from stamina boosts, to item drop rate, to additional mana for arcane item usage. You won't have a problem leveling up what you'd like to by the end of the first playthrough.

And speaking of arcane (yes, probably a Bloodborne reference), the arcane damage in this game is also implemented primarily through arcane item usage. There are quite a few arcane items you can collect, each unique enough in their effects to not be confused with the other items. I found a lot of them fun to use, but I also found myself coming back to 2 or 3 of them that were extremely overpowered and made some fights trivial provided that you had decent arcane skills. I should mention that the items have some rather strange names if some of my review headings are any indication.

It may be unclear on how to level up your arcane skills when first playing, but it turns out that reading collectible manuscripts serves this purpose, which I found kind of neat.

You can also infuse your weapons with gems in this game to provide auxiliary effects. However, instead of Dark Souls where the infusions would often cause split damage with physical and the special effect scaling with a certain stat, the infusions in this game seem to only provide a net benefit by creating an additional effect on top of the base damage. Interestingly, the items of clothing or armor that you wear can also be infused with the same gems, often creating a defensive effect instead of an offensive one.

Weapons, armor, and arcane items were not very common to come by - they are something that require exploration and work to obtain. I liked this feature of Vigil - it meant that my inventory never got absurdly crowded and more effort could be put into the weapons and items themselves by developers since this feature was not spread too thin by its breadth.

The different weapon classes and specializations, infusions, and arcane items allowed for the creation of a character that was satisfyingly customizable. And really, any build you do is viable. This game was not particularly challenging to me personally (with the exception of some of the later bosses), and if you're a souls veteran, you definitely want to play on the hardest difficulty.


I'm going to discuss three of the more artistic sides of Vigil - the art, music, and the narrative and characters. Spoiler alert - the art and music were excellent while the narrative and characters were the weakest part of the game.

I don't think the screenshots provided in the Steam store really do this game's art justice. If you like a certain art style, then this game was made for you and it will be a pleasure to look at from beginning to end. The best way that I can describe it is dark gothic aesthetics and monstrosities infused with a glowing, fantasy, fairy-tale-like color palette. I've seen some people complain about the glowing and over saturation, but I personally loved it. The world in this game suffers from perpetual darkness yet the blood and strange creatures are accented. It's beautiful, I think.

To make things even better, several of the areas were vastly different from one another with some examples being vast forests, the catacombs, an ice world, and underground mines. They did an excellent job on the environments and the transitions between them, as well as the fast travel system.

Overall, the music was a strong point, especially the main menu music and the music in the town with its melancholy, brooding tone, reminiscent of some of the more reflective tracks from the Dark Souls series. There are not many times in the game where you are walking in complete silence - in addition to bosses having their own soundtrack, the areas have their own soundtrack as well. Not all of them were a hit - I found the music in the forest to be a bit too over the top for me and highly repetitive, and several of the boss soundtracks were not very memorable. It was not bad by any means, though.

And then comes the narrative and characters. Rather than talking too much about this point, I want to say that a more well developed and interesting plot, as well as more engaging and unique characters, perhaps combined with some solid voice acting, could've put this game on a whole different level. What I'd love to see is well done souls game mechanics combined with an astounding narrative and engaging, nuanced characters - a game that is the complete package and ends up being far more than the sum of its equally strong parts - but perhaps this is too much to realistically ask.

I think that if the developers of Vigil could at least hire some skilled voice actors to express the personalities of the characters in this game to get you to empathize with them, things would be more remarkable, but unfortunately, I found myself not really engaged too much with this aspect of the game. And it's a shame, because I think improvements in this domain would've made Vigil far more enjoyable in more ways than the gameplay and art, as it would've infused it with emotion and meaning, and of course, these are the things that we remember the most as humans.


So, is Vigil worth buying? Absolutely - especially on sale. This is the most fun I've had in a metroidvania, souls-like game in quite some time. I knew I'd finish it within the first few hours of playing it because I kept thinking about it when I was not playing it, itching to come back and explore new areas and fight different bosses. It's NG+ feature may enhance replayability as well, but I'm not sure to what extent things change in it.

You may find yourself mashing the buttons on the controller to get through the dialogue sometimes, but the combat and environment will always make up for your lack of emotional engagement in Vigil.

With the exception of a few bugs, I'm impressed that a small indie team was able to make a game of this scope and quality, and I highly recommend a playthrough for something different if you're a fan of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, or Metroidvania stuff.

Enjoy slaying grotesque beasts, you blonde haired, sword wielding waifu, you.

Dark Souls III was my first souls game. I had never played the original in my past - I bought it as a result of my infatuation with the third, hoping to get more of the same unique experience. So, while I may be wearing my Symbol of Avarice, I am not wearing my nostalgia goggles while I sit and write this review.


In my mind's eye, Dark Souls is a relic of an era gone. It was the starting point of a series of games which spawned the entire genre of "souls like" titles that have attempted to capture the core gameplay loop and sense of esoteric dread it set forth. But I'm sure you already know this, so I won't waste your time with any more unoriginal ideas.

The point is, I respect this game for what it is: an architect of a genre and a work of art. For this reason, along with the standard merits warranted from getting to play a souls game, I recommend any fan play through it at least once.


Everything that makes a souls game what it is exists here. The boss fights, the frequently contrasting restrictive and vast areas that are the nightmares of claustrophobics and agoraphobics alike, the weapon upgrading and infusion, the stat allocation and level system, the magic, the healing flasks, the bonfires.

But more often than not, I found myself getting annoyed and not having nearly as much fun as I did in the vastly improved Dark Souls III and Bloodborne.

If I was to compare the experience of the shortcomings of this game with something, it would be the dreaded unexpected 2-step verification. You know - I just typed in my password that I could barely remember because it had to meet a 7 criteria requirement and now a code has apparently been sent to my phone that is turned off and charging in another part of the house. So now I have to go get it, turn it on, wait for it to boot up, get the passcode, input that, and finally, I'm able to get into the website. What an ordeal.

More often than not, the sought after experience of a technical challenge requiring skill, strategy, and learning from your mistakes was tainted with tediousness and irrelevant noise. Everything from the obnoxiously long runs from the bonfire to the boss that collectively racked up an uncomfortable amount of total playtime, to traveling from bonfire A -> B, dying, and then being sent back to bonfire A because you didn't sit down at bonfire B, to weak and uninspired areas, enemies, and bosses (a single boss was fought in 3 different contexts and we all know about Lost Izalith), to a soundtrack that had more than 2 or 3 songs which made me turn the music volume to 0 (Seath's song - what the hell was that?), to a main character that felt slow, clunky, constrained, and unresponsive.

It's no wonder that it took me so long to beat this one - I was just not coming back to it like I did to my other soulsborne games.


So, is this a bad game? Absolutely not. It is novel and inspired in its design, and by all accounts, the experimentation and flaws are what make this game genre-defining art. As for what I mentioned above - maybe it will not bother you at all. Maybe I'm just spoiled from my experiences with Dark Souls III, Bloodborne, and some of the more well developed souls-like games in recent times that have really hit the mark. I wish I could compartmentalize the experience of playing it without a frame of reference, but I just don't seem to work like that.

But make no mistake - one thing is for certain. This game is unbelievably important not only for its role serving as an originator for future predecessors, but also the incredible collective experiences and lessons the Dark Souls series has imparted to players all over the world. And I think we will all cherish that forever. So here is my thumbs up.

I'm going to cut straight to the point.

This is the best point-and-click game I've played. I haven't played a ton, so perhaps that's not saying much, but I think this game is much more than the sum of its parts, where each of those parts is masterfully crafted in their own right.

Feel free to read the rest of my thoughts below if you want more than a TL;DR.


The characters and the dialog are the apotheosis of Primordia.

I was shocked at how well done the characterizations of Horatio and his sidekick were (I'm desensitized to the kind of characters you find in most modern games, after all). They are congruent in their beliefs and behavior most of the time while allowing for slight deviations and quirks when the situation calls for it. In other words, they are not flat, two-dimensional characters that serve as cliches or archetypes or devices to allow for the advancement of the plot. They feel real and alive, and it might fly under the radar at first glance because of the subtlety with which it is implemented.

Horatio and Crispin may be the highlights of the game since they are the main characters, but that does not mean that the rest of the characters you can interact with in the game were sort of swept under the rug as an afterthought. No, each of them has their own distinct personality and motivations as well, and none of them, in my opinion, are overdone, underdone, obnoxious, or boring. I enjoyed interacting with all of them and their dialogue never overstayed its welcome, which brings me to my next point.

The writing in this game is smart, witty, and entertaining. It's a pleasure to read, it's immersive, and you look forward to the next exchange of words between characters. This is the hallmark of good writing - when you're able to savor the text and voice acting instead of skimming and quickly clicking through to get to the next exciting plot point.

And it's genuinely funny at times. I have an obscure sense of humor and it takes a lot to make me go from not cracking a smile to a slight smirk. But this game did it. Some of the absurd stuff Horatio, Crispin, and other characters would say to each other was so well done. If sentient machines with personalities had a great sense of humor, this would be it. It pays a nice homage to people who have dealt with computer programming as well (Horatio, at one point, sarcastically compares something unfavorable Crispin suggests with having unbalanced parentheses somewhere inside of him). This programming humor has the potential to be unfunny and cringe-worthy as it usually is in your typical office space or classroom, but the delivery was smooth and self-aware enough to make it work.


If you're reading this review, you already know what the art looks like. Yes, it's heavily pixelated and low resolution. But of course, that's part of the aesthetic. I couldn't really imagine Primordia being a game with high resolution artwork and animations. It just wouldn't be the same. I wouldn't like it as much. The way it's done is perfect for the atmosphere and setting, I think, and I wouldn't change a thing. If you like this retro, low-resolution aesthetic, it's all the more reason to buy the game.

A few times throughout the experience, you view higher-resolution cut scenes at important moments. It's a pretty large contrast to the pixelated art you're used to seeing, and when you come across these cut scenes, they seem magical and intriguing because you get to see what the characters really look like. It reminds me of the contrast between looking underwater with and without goggles. Both are cool in their own right, but the comparison our brain makes between the two perceptions is where the wonder exists.


The story of Primordia was unorthodox and interesting. Perhaps not groundbreaking or original on all fronts, but well developed enough to warrant a playthrough even if the character and dialogue features described above were toned down a few notches.

My favorite part about it is that it's stripped of the extraneous to the extent to where you don't get bogged down in the details and can just enjoy the plot as it unfolds.

It's not very self-revealing until towards the end, where you encounter the truth and a few twists along the way. The story of Horatio was hinted at a few times earlier in the game, but the way it was fleshed out at the end was a satisfying and cathartic ending to a journey of self-discovery and knowledge.

Two of the endings were very good. The rest were ok. I recommend you save at a certain point in the game where you're given the option to think about your final decision and reload it to get the rest of the endings.


The gameplay of Primordia is centered around its puzzle mechanics. You cannot progress forward until you solve them.

The solutions to the puzzles require creativity, backtracking, and odd combinations.

Unless you want to spend a lot of time exhausting all possible options, you may want to use a guide at some points, because a few of the puzzles were so non-trivial that it was hard to find a lead on where to even start or gain a hint from short of wandering around and trying random things. When I consulted a guide to find out what to do at a few places, I was like "How was I supposed to come to this conclusion?" In some places, it's like you need preconceived knowledge to move forward. I'd like to think I'm not a dumbass, but maybe I am, and maybe you will have an easier time.

That said, I'd prefer the difficulty of these puzzles over having boring and generic ones. If you like problem solving in the context of an interesting plot and likeable characters, well, here is your game.


I've tried to break this game down into its constituent components so you can more easily evaluate the game. However, the experience of Primordia, like I said at the beginning of the review and like all good creative works should be, is more than the sum of its parts. So don't take everything at face value.

You'd have to play it to know what I mean, and I cannot recommend you do so highly enough, especially if you're a fan of point and clicks, non-obvious puzzles, sci-fi, or just entertaining characters and dialogue.

Other games in the same genre will have to step up their ingenuity if they want to compete with these developers and writers. This game is highly deserving of its overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Looking forward to what they put out next.

To echo what some other reviewers have said, I really wanted to like this game. The screenshots looked promising and I wanted to experience some good horror. I don't like leaving negative reviews, but I just can't bring myself to finish this game and wanted to provide some people with information before they spend their money looking at the screenshots and the 'very positive' rating.

What can you expect from The Cursed Forest?

Absolutely gorgeous visuals and environments which are the highlight of the game. It would better fit as a tech demo or college project to show what good assets, lighting, and design can produce in CRYENGINE from an indie developer.

Unfortunately, this does not mean it's a fun and engaging experience.

The horror is comprised almost exclusively of very similar jumpscares throughout the entire game (at least, what I've played through in ~2.3 hours, in reference to the total completion time which I've read is 3 - 4 hours). Falling down holes, a dark figure peeking out of a corner or running through a narrow archway and disappearing, etc. This repeats over and over, making it extremely predictable and monotonous.

The lore is told through notes that you pick up and read. Although very well written, they were disjointed and not not terribly captivating.

I just couldn't find myself with the motivation to carry on. There was nothing that kept me latched on in any meaningful way.

The achievements were probably the funnest part of the game, and there was clearly some measure creativity and humor involved in them.

Overall, I don't think the price is justified for this game. Luckily, I got it on sale, but what you are paying for is essentially a relatively linear walking simulator in a beautiful, dreary forest for a few hours. If you don't like the idea of this, then I recommend you spend your precious time elsewhere.

What RUINER offers is fast paced, adrenaline filled action as you slaughter hordes of enemies using a variety of creative weaponry in detailed and satisfying reddish-hued cyberpunk environments. All the while, a hardcore synth-wave like soundtrack is playing in the background as you dash around slicing thugs into gory pieces and annihilating cyborgs with plasma weapons. The whole gameplay loop of RUINER is very satisfying... it gave me the same sort of feelings DOOM 2016 did at points.

Looking back on my playthrough, the game was somewhat repetitive and formulaic. But here's the thing: it didn't feel repetitive and dull at the time. Especially not dull. And it was just the right length; it certainly did not overstay its welcome.

RUINER did a great job of actually being a fun gaming experience, the highlight being the combat and gameplay (where the use of a controller is a must, in my opinion).


The plot and characters simply serve to move the action forward so you don't just feel like you're playing in arena mode the entire time.

Don't go in expecting an in-depth story with tons of lore and character development when it comes to this game. Hopefully you didn't buy it for that. But I wouldn't be complaining if this game also shined in those areas and explored some themes in depth without being overbearing. I feel like they could've done a lot more with this setting they created which is dripping with life and possibilities.

The ending felt rushed and somewhat unsatisfying.

The boss battles, while fun, could've used more creativity. It felt like I was fighting slightly different looking forms of the same boss or mini-boss most of the time.


I highly recommend playing this game. Above all, it's a ton of adrenaline pumping, rage channeling, fun.

And the soundtrack is on another level entirely. Seriously. Buy the soundtrack too and feel like you're hacking into an android main frame in the heat of battle when you're actually just writing some boilerplate code for work.