Recent reviews by Ashoka

Yooka-Laylee, a modern-day collectathon from the original Banjo-Kazooie team, was supposed to bring back the magic of classic platformers. Despite its $3.2 million budget and a lot of new and fresh ideas, the game ultimately falls short, feeling more like a 2000's movie tie-in game than a polished, modern title.

The level design is a major letdown. Remember games like Super Mario 64 or Dark Souls, which give you a clear mental map over time? Some of us can navigate those spaces blindfolded. Yooka-Laylee’s levels are the exact opposite; incohesive and confusing. There’s no sense of direction or flow, and I found myself getting lost repeatedly. It’s one of the worst cases of level design I’ve encountered in all of video games, making it nearly unplayable to navigate or find all collectables without a guide. In fact, the hub overworld is one of the worst examples of this. Just getting around between the five levels of this game is a chore, requiring you to navigate an unnecessarily complex maze of load screens. The transformations and minigames, while meant to add variety, end up being clunky, boring, and time-consuming. They offer a change of pace but are more of a slog than a delight. As for the boss fights, they are the absolute low point of the game. Each one gets progressively worse, culminating in a final boss that is unnecessarily long and difficult, completely out of sync with the rest of the game’s kid-friendly vibe. Not to mention the game's clunky controls that work against you more than they do with you.

One of my biggest complaints is the complete lack of a system to check which specific Pagies or Quills you’ve collected. Missed one of the 1,202 collectables? Good luck tracing every step backwards to check every single location! This makes it frustratingly difficult to track down missing items and adds to the already tedious experience.

Despite these issues, I did manage to complete the game 100%. The characters are charming, and I was thoroughly entertained by the fourth-wall-breaking humor characteristic of Rareware games. While I did enjoy much of the game, these moments of enjoyment were significantly overshadowed by the game's numerous flaws. I cannot think of a single person I would recommend this game to in my own personal life, which is why I cannot recommend it here either. I wanted to like Yooka-Laylee, but its incoherent level design, tedious mini-games, and downright abysmal boss fights severely hindered my experience. Nostalgia alone can't save it from these critical missteps. Unless you're a 3D platforming fanatic, save your money, and especially your time.

Raji: An Ancient Epic is a visually stunning journey through Indian folklore that offers a rich tapestry of culture and mythology which often goes criminally underrepresented in video games. The music is mesmerizing, and the cutscenes adorned in the style of Pahari paintings are a unique style never before seen in video games. The newly-added Hindi dub is very well done and completes the entire package.

As a South Asian myself, I very much so appreciated the game's dedication to representing the diversity and richness of the region's culture and mythology. The incorporation of Hindu mythology into the game's narrative is a refreshing departure from the norm, offering players a glimpse into stories and legends that are often overlooked in mainstream media. From the stories of powerful deities to the mythical creatures, the game does an incredible job at seamlessly weaving together all of these concepts. Optional in-game murals also provide voiced background details on the main deities represented here (Durga, Vishnu, and Shiva) for those who are not as well-versed.

This game is a visual marvel that does a fantastic job at immersing players in a breathtaking depiction of Indian folklore and culture. Every moment is a visual feast for the eyes. I found myself taking screenshots all too often! The intricate details of Rajasthani architecture, cutscenes that combine the styles of Pahari paintings and Kathputli; every scene is a work of art. The scenery and design elements in my opinion serve as a testament to the dedication of the developers in authentically representing South Asian culture.

One of the things that I found to be a major frustration was the game's exploration mechanics. Hidden upgrades are often missed due to unclear pathways and lack of backtracking options. The decision to block off certain paths after progressing further exacerbates the issue, leading to missed opportunities for upgrading your character. It was frustrating to feel limited in my abilities, only being held back by the game itself. Luckily by the end I had found enough orbs to fully upgrade, but getting there was harder.

The level design is fantastic though, and I found going through each area to be incredibly satisfying. Especially staring at those visuals! I wish there was more seamless integration between world movement and combat. Usually getting into a pre-determined area where enemies will spawn locks off the area for combat until all enemies are eliminated. This stunts the flow of the game.

While Raji excels in its visuals and storytelling, its combat mechanics leave much to be desired and are easily the weakest part of the experience. Although the concept of utilizing the terrain adds a very interesting dimension to the gameplay, the execution feels lacking, with combat often devolving into repetitive button-mashing. Many enemies also leave little to no opening, so the combat quickly devolves into mashing the dodge button until you wait and wait and wait to find a slight opening and send out one or two attacks. Boss battles, in particular, suffer from a lack of depth, becoming tedious battles of attrition rather than engaging tests of skill. The absence of a lock-on system only serves to further the issue, making it difficult to effectively target enemies and execute strategic maneuvers.

Despite its flaws, Raji: An Ancient Epic is a remarkable achievement and huge step in Indian game development and South Asian representation, showcasing what I believe to be the highest quality video game production to come out of the region. While the combat mechanics may fall short of expectations, the game's stunning visuals, rich narrative, and authentic representation of South Asian culture make it a journey worth embarking on for anyone eager to explore the wonders of Hindu mythology and Indian folklore. Hopefully they can improve the combat in a potential sequel, which I definitely would buy!

An outstanding sequel that somehow takes on the gargantuan task of being even better than the first one, and does it with finesse. Rise of the Tomb Raider takes everything good about Tomb Raider (2013) and improves upon it tenfold. The frankly insane number of achievements and collectibles can be daunting to even the best of completionists. If you're looking for an experience (time-wise) that is well worth your money, this is it. I'd highly recommend this game.

I thought for long on whether to give this game a thumbs down or not. Ultimately though, I came to the conclusion that I just would not recommend this game to someone. While I did get some enjoyment out of it, the game is mired in issues all too familiar to Assassin's Creed games of this era. The repetitive loop of entering enemy strongholds and fulfilling mundane challenges as you mow through enemies grew tiresome quickly and is completely unrewarding. By the end of the game, I ended up rushing through the story just to get it over with, even as hundreds of meaningless icons littered my map.

Virtually unplayable. I had to jump through many many hoops to even get this game working, and unfortunately, the experience still fell far short of enjoyable.

An absolute love letter to the fifth video game console generation (Nintendo 64, PlayStation 1, Sega Saturn), Pseudoregalia is 3D action-platforming done right. With movement as solid and locked down as—dare I say—Super Mario 64, the game excels in the Metroidvania genre, having you explore and find different abilities that further add to your movement arsenal. If you're a fan of these elements, this game is an absolute must-play. But with a runtime of ≈5 hours, and an extremely open-ended story, the game leaves the player with much to desire.

Probably the second weakest of the early Final Fantasy games (I-VI), after Final Fantasy III, but that still means it's like an 8/10! Nobuo Uematsu's musical compositions are masterpieces as always, and the gameplay is phenomenal. While the story is certainly not bad, I think the overall goals of the characters and the antagonist are lacking in depth. That being said, I love all the characters in this game, and the job system is at its best here.

I sat there for a week and played every single game in this collection. Hot take: Castlevania is pretty good!

Challenging NES games that will make you rage. Some of them are quite a bit worse than others. Kid Dracula especially is quite unique. Whether you're an old fan, or a new player interested in exploring this series, this is a great starting point!

P.S.: Do yourself a favor and use a guide for Castlevania II

If you're a fan of visual novels or the crime/mystery genre, this is a must-play. AI: The Somnium Files does a masterful job in building its characters and developing the story. The multiple branching paths allows you to learn different pieces of information that all come together in the penultimate moments of the story. The game is genuinely funny too!

The game struggles in the minimal gameplay sections, where arbitrary choices either reward or punish the player. Personally, I looked up a guide for these sections, just to see more of the story itself!

SIGNALIS is a masterclass in survival horror and psychological thriller, akin to the early releases of Silent Hill and Resident Evil. If any of that sounds appealing to you, this is a MUST BUY.