Recent reviews by Zhnigo

Fotonica is a port of a mobile game, and it shows. It has one button control - hold to run, release to jump, hold again to descend quicker. The game quickly goes from minimalistic to lacking when you realize there are only eight stages, and the imposing four difficulties presented only affect the speed. As the game progresses, the gameplay becomes increasingly frustrating, relying on memorizing the stage instead of reacting as you go, as one mistake near the end of the course can easily cost you the run.
The graphics aim for a retro vector screen look, but fall short because of lack of proper anti-aliasing - the wireframe lines are heavily pixelated and flickering. A clean look can only be achieved in "Solid" graphics mode, where white polygons are filled in, but even then the shaky particle effects appear somewhat out of place. Although the framerate seems to be uncapped, the camera movement appears jittery at times, especially at lower speed, further detracting from the game's promise of the experience of continous fluid movement.
The music is certainly not of bad quality, but quickly forgettable.

If you want this game, get it for your smartphone. It's good for short sessions, but not engaging enough for extended play.

A hard-hitting existential horror dealing with the morality of cloning and what constitutes human consciousness. If you liked Soma, you'll like this one.

GOOD:

• Clean, minimalistic, vivid graphics and beautiful environments.
  
• Good learning curve, seamless and unintrisive tutorials, high difficulty and sense of reward
  
• A lot of different and clever uses for a singular puzzle mechanic - drawing a line from point A to point B
  
• Spoiler: Landscape puzzles (and perspective-based mini-secrets) are easily the best thing about the game and its selling point for me. Discovering one for the first time was definitely a "wow" moment.

BAD:

• Greatly overpriced for what it offers
  
• The insitence to have the line-drawing mechanic be the only way to interact with the world makes some interfaces needlesly cumbersome and complex
  
• Playing with pen and paper at hand is nearly a must - some kind of system to take notes within the game would be appreciated
  
• For a game that claims to "treat (the player's) time as precious" it has a fair share of deliberately slow sequences forcing the player to wait
  
• The biggest flaw: Instead of actual writing, or even an attempt at writing, the game only has audio recordings of quotes by scientists, philosophers, and other famous people. Most of them are taken out of context and have nothing to do with the puzzle/s at hand. A good part of them is overly long or spoken out with undue emphasis - it quickly becomes evident that they're meant to be read, not listened to. One particular quote from the top of the mountatin is extremely long-winded, naive, and generally poorly written - which is no surprise considering its author is not even a writer - proving distracting and ruining the atmosphere. All in all they add the feeling of unpleasant, clumsy pretentiousness and holier-than-thou attitude to what would otherwise be a humble, minimalist game like Braid was.

BOTTOM LINE:
If you like inventive puzzles, beautiful scenery and good writing, buy Talos Principle.
If you like inventive puzzles, beautiful scenery, and dislike good writing, go for Witness - when it gets a 50% discount.

A prime example of why western studios shouldn't be allowed near japanese franchises.

Now I'm motivated.

the russian Katawa Shoujo
10/10 would ride the bus to soviet gensokyo again

DEPRESSION IS SERIOUS BUSINESS GUYS, AND SO IS THIS GAME! HERE'S A LINK TO THE SUICIDE HOTLINE!

I cured my character's depression by getting a cat and petting it five times.

upd: i got depression irl now and this game is even more ♥♥♥♥ than i thought before

I went slow once and it was awful.

upd: ten years later and it still hurts

ONLINE SERVICE HAS BEEN SUSPENDED. It's still playable through hamachi, but just so you know.

Mario Kart done right. Awesome (and rage-worthy!) multiplayer, but sadly it has some serious technical flaws.