Recent reviews by zoarian

A decent game with fairly good combat and a mediocre story. I’d be more harsh but it’s the developer’s first title and there’s still enjoyment to be found here, particularly if you’re a fan of cRPG or Diablo-like combat so a 3/5 from me.

Looking at the story it’s weak along two avenues: there’s not enough intrigue and the stakes are too high. As you progress through the tower there was a lot of potential to delve into its history, see how the various factions developed and vied for its control - and this is the direction some of the story took. Nonetheless it was too simple and the motivations of the major players were too straightforward to get excited about any of it.

If more attention was focused on developing these factions instead of the much bigger existential threat the story would benefit immensely from the additional mystery. Legitimate questions could be asked about what was the right thing to do, etc. This is also the big drawback of using immensely powerful evil entities. They suck out any nuance since the only rational thing to do is to fight them or run away. That entire part of the story was least interesting to me by far.

The combat was engaging though the economy made it trivial towards the end. I was playing on hard/epic difficulty and halfway through the battles just became tedious as opposed to challenging. I think they did actually scale the difficulty so that mobs get new abilities but my gear was so good it didn’t really matter.

Art and music were both pretty good. As you go deeper into the tower the setting becomes more technological than fantastical to reflect your knowledge of the world and its history. This was a pretty cool move and the music also had similar vibe going for it. It worked.

Despite my lukewarm review they’re not far off from making a true gem, I’m looking forward to their next game.

An extremely well crafted game, even though it just didn’t click with me. It might be because you have to retread through the missions occasionally and I'm not a big fan of repetition. Just about everyone should give this title a try since I wasn’t very enthused about playing it but still ended up enjoying it.

Overall, this game has just about everything. The gameplay intermingles with the story in a sublime way. It’s very easy to become part of the cold bureaucracy and stamp away denials, especially since your family depends on you. This is undercut by the quirky characters which shine a light of humanity into the dull life of an inspector and submerge the experience in questions of morality. Do you let a couple through at a cost to yourself? Do you blindly follow through the requirements of the state, even if you find them distasteful? These questions arise naturally and the game doesn’t damn or condone your choices, one way or another.

You might think this makes for a grim experience but there’s a surprising amount of humour to cushion it. From characters, to descriptions (sick sideburns) as well as the overall presentation I didn’t find myself crushed by despair. The minute to minute task of checking papers becomes both entrancing and tiring, depending on how long you've been playing. Personally, I found it to be on the tiring side but that's up to personal preference.

I very much enjoyed this game, its quirky style and innovative puzzle mechanics. The presentation was basic but it worked well with the systems and information was usually conveyed clearly, through level design. That’s probably one of the most impressive parts about Baba Is You - there’s no tutorial, manual or a guide telling you what to do or how mechanics work. A player has to figure out everything by themselves.

This is both the games greatest strength but also its biggest weakness. The puzzles are challenging and with no hints, a player will find themselves mulling over a level for up to half an hour, trying things out. This means getting tired and burned out is a certainty so playing in small doses is preferrable. Definitely don’t recommend playing in long sessions, it’s pretty tiring even though it ends up being satisfying. It also suffered the problem of many other puzzle games in that the music became very repetitive after a while.

An interesting mix of a visual novel and a point & click mystery game. Both the visual and audio presentation is stellar. The title brims with a speakeasy aesthetic and jazzy atmosphere, has a lot of charming moments like the talks with taxi drivers and the minimalist presentation fits right in with the style. The interactivity is minimal, but that’s to be expected in a game of this genre.

The mystery was genuinely engaging and my only complaint is that it’s not ambiguous enough. A player can beat the game simply by exhausting all of the conversation options and not rushing in with accusations. It’s nice that you can accuse a suspect early but I would prefer it if more than one candidate met the criteria for a solution of the final case, so that actual deduction would have to take place. Nonetheless, it was a very enjoyable experience.

One of the best cRPGs around. Heavily recommended.