Recent reviews by RyanDS

The follow-up to Lost Alone that I've been waiting for! The Telephone and Bloody Ink were fine, but too serious. Scary Shadow Spot brings back some of the sillier elements from Lost Alone that made it truly endearing and memorable to me.

Last Farewell is basically the same game as all the other Doesn't Matter Games games, which I don't consider to be a bad thing. Run around a spooky environment picking up items to solve a huge variety of inventory puzzles. Some of the puzzles require a little thought, some just require you to put objects where they belong. Along the way you'll get jumpscared over and over again. In this game, there are a few short chase sequences where an enemy spawns and then you have to run down the hall to a hiding spot until the enemy gets bored and walks away. It's not going to push your gaming or puzzle-solving skills in any meaningful way, but I still find it to be plenty of fun.

There's always a bit of a twist at the end of these games, and personally, I feel stupid for not having realized this one until like five minutes before the end. In fact, a baby had to tip me off before I got it.

Graphics look great, though the characters animations are a bit stiff in cutscenes. The AI(?) lip syncing is hilariously goofy and I find it charming. Having played all the previous Doesn't Matter games, I went in knowing that there would be a wealth of AI-generated art all over the walls, so it doesn't bother me. What does bother me is the AI voice acting. It's not great, but not quite bad enough to enjoy ironically. I'm sure there's a YouTuber/streamer out there who could do a better job for cheap/free *hint hint*.

All in all, I very much enjoyed my time in Last Farewell and am very much looking forward to playing Bitter Glass and any other Scary Shadow Spot games that follow.

I won't lie, it's rough around the edges. The story isn't especially deep, and the characters ramble on interminably. The stages are pretty samey and the geometry of the terrain can screw you over in so many ways.

HOWEVER!

I had a really great time playing this game! The combat is simple, but smooth. The music is pretty darn good, especially when you're in a hectic boss fight. And the boss fights themselves are all fairly unique and fun. Levelling up your weapons and adding to your skill trees is satisfying. There are fun little puzzle and challenge rooms scattered around the world (I wish there had been more). Oh and the title is still so stupid that I can't help but laugh every time I see it. In a good way.

All in all, it's not something I'd have ever thought I'd get 28 hours of enjoyment out of, but here we are. It should actually probably be more like 20 hours, but I didn't realize that fast travel existed until like 80% of the way through. That's my bad.

Fantastic throwback to the NES days. Mega Man, Castlevania, GI Joe... all the games of my childhood are referenced here!

But it's not just the references that make this game solid, it's a damn fine action platformer in its own right. Every stage has its own gimmick (or two!), and all of the bosses are completely unique. Oh, and the soundtrack. THE SOUNDTRACK. I can't believe that I haven't heard more praise for this game online, because it absolutely deserves to be talked about.

So, I really like this game. The music is great, the platforming is tight, the stages are big without being overwhelming. Basically everything about it design-wise worked for me.

HOWEVER! I think it probably took me legitimately about an hour to finish the game, but I have three hours on record because the game crashed *at least* a dozen times across my playthrough. I don't know if this is the game being unstable, or if it was caused by something on my end, but the constant crashing really ruined the experience for me. I'd like nothing more than to give Lunistice a big ol' recommendation, but I can't. It's simply too broken.

A very competently made metoridvania. Graphics and music are nice, I like the element-switching mechanic, and the smooth transitioning between transformations is greatly appreciated. Enjoyed my time with it, and will likely play it again sometime in the future.

The game is a good size and length, though it is a bit linear (especially the "portrait" sections) and maybe a little bit too easy overall. That said, the difficulty spike on the final boss is ludicrous.

Super fun game. The combination of metroidvania and bullet-hell shooter is a winner!

Story isn't terribly original, but it works and the main character is great. I enjoyed the deck-building aspect much more than I expected to, and the in-game unlockable cheats made the 100% clean-up much more manageable than it would have been otherwise.

On the other hand, the maps (and the game as a whole) are a bit too linear, with a limited fast-travel system. Also there's a looooot of dialogue to get through. A lot of it is either charming or funny, but it's still a bit too much.

Very cool Metroidvania with a brawler-esque combat system. I'm not crazy about the character designs, but the gameplay is super fun, the graphics are excellent, and the story is interesting. Glad I took a chance on this one.

That said, there seems to be a map bug that can/will keep you from getting 100% so...

Really fun collection of short games tied together by a spooky house full of puzzles. I really liked it! There's something interesting about every game in the collection, and while I think most of them were pretty good in general, there are a couple of stinkers. Each game is short, with the longest ones being about an hour long, so even the bad ones don't stick around for too long. Definitely worth playing!

A fun -if somewhat frustrating- little game that left me with a big, dumb grin on my face.

Fun game with an interesting story and mechanics. Genuinely spooky sometimes. Highly recommended!