Recent reviews by Neoman

I bought this game with the Crosscode bundle for 15 dollars since I already owned Crosscode and I more or less got my money's worth.
Like other people said, this is a fairly short game. I beat it in 8 hours but I messed around quite a bit so it's certainly possible to do so faster.

Definitely the strongest part about this game is the presentation. The sprites are extremely well animated and very lively, which really does a lot for the experience. As well, the music is fantastic, there are some real great tracks and some are damn catchy.

The battle system is interesting but underutilized. I initially farmed credits just to get some customization going, but unfortunately most fights in the game do not require it. For the most part, going for the three elements + healing or physical will do just fine. I like the idea of on-the-fly customization, but it needs more depth than just "slot in the purple spell for the green enemy"
That being said, I appreciate this RPG being one where status effects work on bosses and I always like RPGs which let you use the turn order for planning.

People bag on the writing, but I honestly enjoyed the silly slang. It reminded me of Shadowrun or other similar sci-fi TRPGs so I was alright with it. I never felt like it got overbearing but YMMV. The writing gets into some real issues in the final act, it feels like it's trying to juggle too much and ends up feeling very rushed. Others said this game ends up feeling like a prologue and I have to agree.

I recommend this game if you're looking for a bite-sized RPG. I can't say it's revolutionary, but it's very enjoyable as it is and I hope the ideas introduced here will be expanded on.

Gotta be honest, I feel cheated. I was promised a Metroidvania with a cool aesthetic and instead I got a frankly by-the-numbers platformer-beat-em-up which abuses padding to increase its game time. Every single step in your quest is a Fed-ex quest. Go to the guy, get the key, stick it into the thing. I'm serious, every single step is like this. It gets old incredibly quickly and no amount of cool animations or impressive spritework will let you look past how utterly boring this game becomes.

The writing kind of has the same problem, it starts out charming but it quickly gets bogged down in its Proper Nouns and, seeing how you're gonna be sent on a Fed-ex quest by the end of the conversation anyway, quickly becomes tiresome white noise. Which is a shame, because I did enjoy the whole "computer terms as fragments of power" aspect of the writing while it lasted.

I also hated fighting bosses in this game. It's nothing but waiting for them to actually appear and become vulnerable, buuuuuut you can't really use any of your cool techniques reliably or else you take a hit, so you end up just pecking at them with basic slashes during the vuln phases. Again, it's padding. The whole wait...attack...wait...attack is a sign of bad design.

On the whole, I cannot recommend this game. I have about 2 hours of playtime which got me through 1/3 of the game and it was a chore. I have no desire to pick it up again.

The product's description is not joking. This is a really tough puzzle game. I'd even call it puzzle-horror due to how unsettling the surreal landscape is.
This is a game for people who like beating a level after smashing their heads against it fifteen times in a row. Puzzles start by giving you a vague hint, and then sending you on your way. You only have three tools, your space bar to jump (usually), your LMB to Emit and capture souls (usually) and your RMB which resets the level. Each level has different rules, and you need to understand them before you can win. The levels are purposefully made to be quite short, though some puzzles require some finesse and can feel longer as a result.

I am not kidding when I say this game's tough. If you start up the game and go "wow I barely beat that level on World 1!" don't feel discouraged. Even the first few worlds are quite challening and you should be proud of yourself that you were up for the task.

Atmosphere-wise, this is a game for people who wished The Witness was a bit more like OFF. The game uses a lot of filters and effects, which can turn off some people, but they eventually grew on me.

I will say right away that this game is not for everyone. The visual effects can be a bit much at times, so play the demo to make sure they don't make you sick. Some of them get really, really trippy.

Overall, I don't regret buying Ilamentia. I have not finished it, but I got about 60-70% of the puzzles. I still play it from time to time to try and crack a few more puzzles. It's always easy to pick up, but very hard to master.

A deceptivly smart and clever game that hides behind its almost-painful title. Has a really good soundtrack to boot. It says a lot about video games, their development and their fans but it never beats you over the head with its message. I highly recommend it.

realtalk I spent most of this playtime bullet jumping in my ship

A game that oozes charm and atmosphere. Well worth the asking price.
The deck mechanics combined with the combat of the Arkham games help this title stay fresh and not get boring. While you will admittedly end up going through the same cards, such is the nature of the beast, it never feels bland. The game encourages you to keep trying new cards for their tokens. If you are having trouble, chances are you should go back to earlier levels with new cards. Or give Endless Mode a spin. The game is nice enough to let you progress even if you die; any tokens you get will still unlock their cards, so you are never completely stuck.

As for the difficulty spike, it's there. I cleared all of the bosses, including the last one, on my first try but I understand why people have a tough time with them. The best advice I can give you is to complete the entire quest chain that starts with "The Crucible". This will unlock a powerful encounter card which will make things A LOT easier. Good luck, and may Fate deal you a winning Hand.