Recent reviews by What A Strange Game

This is the first time it made me feel like going to college was worth it.

I highly recommend playing this game in a call with a friend.

I don't want to go to Tammy, I want to go to Bauhaus!!

After 100%ing the game, I only want more to do.
I hope we get more Diana Caproni in the future.

On Your Tail manages to capture the nostalgia of being a tourist on vacation, the feelings of youth after school hours, and the early-2000s era of more experimental and less-polished gaming. It's like a combination of a young adult mystery novel, edutainment point-and-click adventure game, any early-season episode of Murder, She Wrote, and weird middle-shelf games you'd find for 20% off new. I know the intention was to feel like Shenmue, but having no time management makes the inspiration only superficial, and probably for the best too.

This game easily has some of my favorite locations in any game, the amount of artistry it takes to tell you about characters and their relationships/interests while also making everything feel natural is insane. It's easy to use the environment to make a caricature, but for example, Diana's house at the start of the game uses framed photos and quirky details like the chalkboard wall to sell that Diana has loving, caring, parents that want to foster her creativity. So it makes Diana's professor rejecting her work, and her mother discussion with her father about the viability of Diana's dream to become a writer feel only more suffocating. Diana doesn't have to explain her feelings, she's uncertain and anxious, and her leaving to find Borgo Marina off desperation to figure out something about a comforting figure in her life, her grandma, feel justified outside of just a burst of spontaneity. Plus it helps with the idea she's so upset she'd forget her smartphone, which is probably the biggest hand-waive needed for the plot to work completely.

The music is exceptional at being understated. The looping muzak tracks do the job of filling out the atmosphere, while the main theme is this nice dreamlike retro-feeling synth track with that sets you in the mood for "This is going to be like the 80s." It's hard to really talk about the soundtrack without spoilers or just saying "It sets the mood", but I don't regret buying the OST.

The puzzle solving is On Your Tail at its most focused, but also at its best AND worst. The main puzzles are the Deduction puzzles, where there's an incredibly charming board game diorama set up and you have to play the clues you found as cards to try to re-create the events, and there is just a metric ton of ways for every scene to play out.
But the lack of being able to undo a card is the ultimate test in patience, and specifically for the gelato puzzle. Someone made a guide for it, I solved it on my own because I wanted to experience *why* someone would make a guide for that puzzle specifically and Santa Maria it takes so long to retry, and you can't even just be like "Hey Paun, remember what flavor of gelato you had that night?", a single mistake can take minutes to manifest just from the animations alone.
Also I love Chea, she's my favorite of the four main friends, but I think she legitimately is just trolling you with her bag organization requests, She's obtuse in a way that made me question if I was stupid, and the only way to exit the bag sorting is by solving the riddle,. Basically helping Chea is like helping your Dad with car repairs when you were 6 and he asked for a 5/8" ratchet wrench and you have the entire toolbox on your lap like "What the fuuuuuu...." But also introducing the "Pink" jar of jam before the final puzzle where she asked for "One item of each color, each item from same/subsequent shelves" made me have a moment of enlightenment I hope to never experience again.

The non-idealic and kind of shlubby animal people paired with a vibrant Mediterranean setting with an overly saturated color palette all combined is just something that you don't really see anymore. It feels like I'm experiencing something like "Haven: Call of the King" or "Sly Cooper" again. On Your Tail feels like a game from 20 years ago and in the best way possible.
The lack of polish on a project with so much effort and passion put into it is legitimately something we don't see enough of anymore. For example: there's a unique model of a GameBoy placed on a bottom shelf in Dragut Arcade with no indication it's there, and on the opposite side of the room is a punk-rock furry recreation of the Mona Lisa, both of which are assets that are used only once that exist just to add to Cicci and Mucci's personalities (like all the doodles by Cicci on the cork bulletin board, which are also only used once)-- But the game would softlock if you interacted with a computer after buying all the gelato shop upgrades (fixed post release). Honestly, the warts make On Your Tail even more special to me, passion and vision alone can carry you farther than technical skill can on its own. They wanted to make "Shenmue but on Vacation" and instead made "Deadly Premonition without the horrible combat and actual sound mixing". Like. I can not come up with better praise, the game's weird and beautiful in a way I can't quantify besides saying it has "soul".

I don't know, I just kind of rambled for this review. It came out in the middle point between me turning 30 and 31, I just got a raise at my job, reconnected with my family after estranging myself for the last decade, and I'm in the middle of working 9 days in a row as of writing this review (on 3.5hrs of sleep, too. Day 6!), it's a weird mix of finding purpose and community while still having a bunch of uncertainty. I feel like On Your Tail is going to make a lasting impact on my life for at least the next few years just for helping me process my thoughts while also giving me a mini-vacation after work. Also, I don't think I've resonated with a protagonist more than I have with Diana, and I might need to get back into writing and drawing, even as just a hobby.

Also releasing this game in December when the American Midwest dips down to -2F/-18C with windchill is kind of diabolical, forget being nostalgic for childhood, I'm nostalgic for 4 months ago when I didn't need gloves to open my front door.

tl;dr: A rough gem that is going to remain one of my all-time favorites. Very digestible game that touches on heavy topics but with a "life goes on" attitude. Never knew a summertime fling could fill me with existential dread.

This is one of the most addicting FPS games I've played in a while, especially on max difficulty (Damage taken +150%, damage dealt +50%). It gives me the Duke Nukem fix without any of the parts I find annoying, while also being chill as ♥♥♥♥.

- Guns feel good, almost everything has a use even compared to upgraded versions. ie: Single Barrel Shotgun can auto-reload when unequipped, Double Barrel can't, but can fire both at once. Short-Barrel Shotgun has more damage+spread, pump Shotgun has good range and consistent dmg but bad burst. Auto Shotgun has huge burst but a revolver reload

- Stages are streamlined enough to maintain momentum, but still has room to explore. Also lots of secrets for how short they are. Only random stages are the city streets between levels.

- Meta-Progression is mostly fair. All weapons you pick up you can buy to start with. Figurines give permanent stats but are found in fixed areas. Armor is tied to Wallpapers found, but you can earn multiple a run if you break enough boxes. Your second loop unlocking a weaker version of the magical girl transformation is really cool too

- Per-Run perks being tied to buying from the weapon upgrade vending machine is nice. Max armor + ammo are both armor stats and something you can buy. (1 machine every 2 levels)

- Music and aesthetics are great, it's a very relaxed vibe. It's like nostalgia for the early 2000s disguised as a 80s throwback. The mix of sketches you can find among a bunch of pixel art feels like going through someone's DeviantArt history, it's honestly soulful

Very fun, short, throwback to the early days of RPGs.
I found out you can loop around to the tutorial and collect the free gp and items on loop, and I crashed the game by filling my inventory with goblin ♥♥♥

Downcels seethe at the Upchad

At first, the DP PC port's technical issues made me :(
but after hours of troubleshooting, I discovered how to make this port "stable" in "4" "easy" steps. I haven't had any crashes or instability in a while :)

Download DPfix by Durante and install in the Deadly Premonition folder, we are never launching this through steam. DPfix.ini is the only way to have graphics options

Before playing the game, set DP.exe and DPlauncher.exe to run as administrator. Check if the game can launch.
If no; set DPfix.ini to have the game run windowed (not fullscreen or borderless windowed). Check if the game can launch
If no; launch DP.exe directly
If no; set both DP.exe and DPlauncher.exe in compatibility mode for: Windows 8 -> 7 -> XP (breaks aiming, toggle lock-on to fix) -> 98/ME (sets the game to run on 1 core, how exciting!), try launching both from the launcher and DP.exe directly
If still no; it ends here, I'm sorry.

Download CFF Explorer, part of the Explorer Suite by NTcore.
Make a copy of DP.exe and save for backup. Open the original DP.exe in CFF Explorer.
On the left side; click File Header
Right side; click "Click Here" in the Characteristics row. In the pop-up window, tick "This app can handle >2gb address space"
Close the pop-up, then click File > Save.

This fixes a vast majority of crashes relating to cutscenes and scene transitions

If you play on KB+M, attempt to play the game! If not:

Deadly Premonition's PC port reversed the X and Y axis on its controller support. Meaning that up/down = left/right respectively. It's really awesome and in the spirit of the game's programming typos, since Coffee (Black) costs 31.50 while Coffee (Milk) costs 13.50

Steam -> Settings -> Controller -> General Controller Settings
Tick "Xbox Configuration Support"

DPlauncher.exe -> Setting -> tick "Controller". Map your controls here as well when done setting up

I have not found a remapper yet that lets you *remap analog directions*, only ones that let you invert controls or swap L/R stick functions

launch DP.exe and open steam overlay, then click Controller Configuration.

Search for the "Deadly Premonition Controller+" config by theraineydaze
Unfortunately, it turns the right analog stick into a binary input, so it's either no input or maximum input. But you get used to it :)

Download DS4windows and make a new profile emulating a 360 controller
Bind right analog stick to:
Up = Left (-X)
Down = Right (+X)
Left = Up (-Y)
Right = Down (+Y)

Save and make sure DS4windows is running (it says "Stop" in the lower right of the window if it is)

Open the windows control panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Devices and Printers -> Right click a controller and click "Game Controller Settings" -> Advanced -> Set "Preferred Device" to the 360 controller

You can use a steam preset still if you want, but this way lets you have full right stick analog control

Disable hyperthreading / simultaneous multithreading (SMT) in your BIOS.
Look up the steps how to do so for your motherboard.

Deadly Premonition does NOT know how to handle threading at all and a HUGE amount of glitches result from this, such as falling through the world while drving, having the world stop loading, randomly freezing and hard crashing your PC, etc.
Essentially, the PC port likes to bit-flip its self

Also disable steam overlay after setting up your controller if applicable. This game is held together with wishes and prayers, any amount of potential instability should be avoided.

*disabling Hyperthreading/SMT does not actually cut your CPU in half. Recommended to disable this feature anyway both due to a potential exploit using your CPU cache when it's enabled, and for stability with a lot of x32/x84 applications and running things like BlueStacks

There's severe incompatibilities with any audio set up besides Stereo and Windows' default audio driver.
If you have screeching cars, blown out audio coming from different speakers, and/or constant footsteps behind you, try:

1) Set Windows audio to stereo

2) Disable any non-windows audio software (such as a virtual audio cable, or motherboard specific programs like Sonic Studio with Asus)

3) Unplug your extra speakers, if applicable.

4) Restart your PC if still not fixed.

5) Reinstall Deadly Premonition as a last resort.

No.
These steps don't even fix all the bcrashes. You still need to smoke a cigarette after interrogating Nick to avoid crashing when leaving the diner (save before talking to Olivia), and there's still some random crashes like going to the graveyard at certain times of day (?). But there's no more runtime errors, so it makes the game playable

edit: forgot to actually review the game. It's a very uncanny, light hearted, "Horror" game, with a protagonist that is equally full of "Facts and Logic" as he is "Insanity," in a world that can't take its self seriously. A murder scene gets upstaged by "Life is Beautiful", and York recalling the case where a guy used human skulls as cups is immediately overshadowed by the fact he's comparing this to shoplifting and bar brawls.

The PC port, all things considered, also has the best audio mixing. For example, the 360 version has no directional audio, only left and right.

If you're a fan of Twin Peaks, you are probably going to find things to enjoy here. It's also very reminiscent of "Mizurna Falls" for the PSX if you're a fan of obscure Japan-only games, just in a post-RE4 world.

Huh. Never expected a meme H-game based off of a throw-away comic turned into a 4chan sensation turned into an RPG maker game would become associated with NFTs. This is going to get a little long.
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Pt 1: Towergirls

Little background to the idea that became Princess & Conquest; the original idea comes from a tumblr comic someone did of a chivalrous knight rescuing a princess from a tower, that turned out to be a kobold, leading to the "I'm getting too chivalrous for this ♥♥♥♥" reaction image of the knight you might have seen out of context before.

Then Towergirls kind of took off on its own mostly by 4chan and the idea of a "Meet and ♥♥♥♥ Kingdom but with hot monster girls that have thematic perks and downsides" type game, but one issue; there never really was a set *genre* for the game, just a collection of princesses in card layout form, and what they offered you.

So, Towergirls lead to the creation of multiple fan projects to attempt to create something tangible to go with the idea of jacking it to the idea of an over-bearing dog-girl forcing her to be your only waifu with no riches or benefits besides her insecurity asking if she's not good enough for you.

Way back in the 2015 era of actually using forums, a humble fan of Towergirls started an ambitious RPG Maker MV Project, with this simple premise:

"In the game you basically have to decide the fate a kingdom divided by the influences of different princesses in their castle (12 in the final product, 5 for now); the situation starts peaceful but there are many things that can go wrong, and you can choose or not to go with the flow."

Unexpectedly, or entirely expectedly; the originator of the "Towergirls" artwork/concept, joined the project. Suddenly, this ambitious game became the closest thing to an "official" Towergirls anyone was going to get. Unfortunately.

====================
Pt.2: Why is this game not called Towergirls?

Going to paraphrase the original artist just to make it a bit harder for them to find me quoting them, but essentially; They are not involved with the project. Not since 2019, the year this game was released on steam. All money this game makes does not go to the original inspiration and artist for this concept, and the game still relies heavily on their earlier involvement with the game.

I'm not going to go into detail, but the original "Towergirls Guy" was involved with a settlement with this project and is no longer associated with it in any capacity, so the 'official' Towergirls game is now back to being essentially a fan-project, that has been in progress for 6 years.

====================
Pt 3.: Princess & Conquest

The opening of the game has not been touched since the first released demo, it was not good then, it's definitely not good now. If you struggle to get into this game despite wanting to see H-content with recognizable characters but end up getting blocked by how seriously the game takes its self after the abyssmal opening sequence where you are more than likely going to get softlocked either through getting stuck on terrain, or the combat... It's actually 30-40 minutes before you get to your first H-scene.

That said, the game its self is kind of "Real time strategy" game where you focus on diplomacy to try to maintain your hold on the "Board". The game is made in RPG Maker, so being able to actually feel the real-time occurrences or the game just being seeded is literally impossible to tell for the most part.

I won't go in-depth on the update history of this game, since there seems to be effort put in to try to mitigate all the glitches that get implemented with each update, but P&C is nearing on Yandere Simulator levels on the feature-to-optimization ratio.

The combat is meh, music is eh, and the writing gets very draining for me, but the art is the main thing to sit through this game for. It's just very unfortunate that it's locked behind so much tedium. Luckily, **if you support this project on Patreon after already buying it**, you get access to a password that unlocks cheat functions so you can avoid playing the actual game and just get to the scenes you want.

Or-- You can find a RPG Maker decryption tool and rip all the art assets from the game just so you can have them yourself. The H-scenes, character sprites, random generation parts, and outfits are all just PNGs you can extract. (Optimal frame rate for most of the H-scenes when stitching them together is 110ms)

That said, this is a very middling game. You can squeeze enjoyment out of it, but it definitely takes a certain kind of person that is willing to get invested in this world and overlook its gameplay. Sadly, it's hard to recommend it on presentation though since like mentioned above; the original artist is no longer associated, and they are still being riffed off of.

====================
Pt. 4: NFTs

Crash-course on NFTs: A Non-Fungible Token (NFT) is a form of crypto-currency that acts as a "Receipt" or "Certificate of Authenticity" to one particular thing by hashing it; generating a unique string of letters/numbers that can get decoded back into the original data. It's a way to introduce the concept of scarcity to Digital Art, by creating a token that says "This is a unique piece of art, I own this specific one. If you copy it, you own a copy, while I own the Hash."

Owning the NFT does NOT mean you are the rights holder. It's essentially owning the Master Tape that was used to mint a production run of The Beetles. You own the tape, but not the rights to The Beetles. In other words; it's a collector's item to most people, and a commodity to a VERY small group of people.

I'm not going to go into the energy usage it takes to process the Hashing process, or the very real possibility that NFTs are essentially an early-adopter focused scheme where the sooner you get on board, the less likely you are to lose money. Nor am I going to get into the concept of creating scarcity for digital goods is antithetical to the medium of digital art and is just an attempt to bring back the concept of High Art in the Covid lockdown era (RIP, New York City and its "Art community")

That said, there are NFTs using art assets from this game, minted by the developer. Of what is essentially a fan game.
Included plans for minting are a batch of 4,000 Kobolds that look suspiciously like a certain artist's work despite their insistence to not be a part of the project anymore.

edit: removed a part insinuating that this game is essentially going to be dumped with no evidence

One of the worst games I have ever played

Despite the fact that DotEMU did yet ANOTHER BAD PORT JOB, HOW DO YOU GUYS KEEP GETTING WORK, The Last Blade on Steam is something I've been asking for ever since the first wave of SNK arcade classics getting re-released.

Yes, the game is available for free on FightCade.
Yes, The Last Blade 2 is overall a much better fighting game (despite no character specific stages and just how strong Zantetsu, Moriya, Washizuka, and Mukuro are at high levels).

But being able to support this game and vote with money to tell SNK to make a Last Blade 3? ♥♥♥♥ yeah, I'll do it.

I've been on this series for over a decade and I've been trying to get people into it for a very long time. I'm just glad it could maybe find an audience again, despite the bad port job.

Seriously, Moriya teleporting can cause the screen to freeze.
And the screen freezes on its own on Shikiyo's stage.


Edit; Got boss code to work, I just had to mash it way faster than usual. Character select; C 6 times, B 3, C 4. Unlocks Musashi.