Recent reviews by An Irresponsible Person

I've never felt so conflicted about giving a positive review, so I'll start with the negative bits:

1. This game originated as an SCP fangame, and then the devs made a deal with the SCP wiki admins to "file off the serial numbers", so to speak, and eventually got the green light from them for the project. That unfortunately means that if you don't know the SCP lore (and we're talkin' some deep cuts, like Bright and Clef having a sword duel), there are large portions of the plot, especially the endgame, that make zero sense. That's really a shame, considering that the portions of the game that aren't SCP references depict an interesting cyberpunk world that's obviously had some thought put into it. I wish the game had done more with that.

2. The fighting system feels 'clunky', particularly when compared to ICEY and other games in the same 2D-using-3D platformer fighters or beat-em-ups. You do not get to cancel out of moves, which is a standard mechanic for the genre, and comboing is relatively difficult unless you're using the wildly overpowered twin blades.

3. Speaking of the twin blades, they're simply OP. Out of every single option you have in your arsenal, the twin blades are so much better than everything else (except for dealing with flying enemies, which is why you have a gun) that you'll be using them from the moment you get them up until the endgame. They're just objectively better than any other weapon type you could have in their slot.

4. There are trap options in the weapon skill upgrade trees that actually make the weapons more difficult to use because you'll accidentally do the input for the 'special attack' you don't want, get locked into the animation for it, and suffer the consequences.

5. The save point system, limited inventory, and expensive healing items are trying to evoke the old-school survival horror games in an action platformer. It doesn't work too well, especially given the next point:

6. Money is a massive obstacle to advancement, up until the point you can basically fish for infinite gold. The earlygame is brutally stingy with item drops and gold, but once you start fishing, you're swimming in dosh and can just buy the almost-best weapons and stack your inventory with healing items that used to be too expensive to waste, but are now basically soda pop.

7. The soundtrack is... decently ambient for the genre and tone of the game, but has no standout tracks that make you go "AWW YEAH! IT'S THAT TRACK FROM ANNO: MUTATIONEM!" Even the boss themes are kinda forgettable.

So why, you may ask, am I giving this game a thumbs up?

1. It has a wonderful aesthetic, blending 2D and 3D almost seamlessly, with art that strikes a very hard-to-hit balance between chunky pixels and expressive characters.

2. It's actually pretty fun (especially after you unlock the twinblades and can fish for infinite money), and the story and characters are interesting.

3. Its sidequests provide an interesting look into its cyberpunk setting, and sometimes have hilarious and unexpected difficulty spikes that keep you on your toes. You might have just sliced your way through a VERY TOP SECRET UNDERGROUND LAB with monsters running loose in it without breaking a sweat - and then you get your clock cleaned by a few ganger chumps in an alleyway on a sidequest.

4. Jill and her Boss from VA11HA11A show up as cameos, and actually cover your shifts at the family business (a cyberpunk bar, of course). And they fit right in with the visual style.

5. You get to fight SCP-076 TWICE, mop the floor with SCP-682, and go toe-to-toe with Dr. Clef's dragon form because why not? This is the flipside of my complaints about the game being an obvious SCP fangame with 'the serial numbers filed off': if you do get the references, it's funny as all get out to take on some of the baddest badasses in the SCP setting and fight them to a standstill or outright WIN.

6. The bosses have unique and interesting mechanics. Don't want to spoil too much here, but have you ever fought a skeletal giant crocodile on a platform floating atop sulfuric acid and it's actually a game mechanic where on the platform you and the giant crocodile are, because both of you have weight and tip the platform in various directions (often leading to someone getting a sulfuric acid bath. I hear it's good for the skin)? That's just one of the many bossfight gimmicks this game has on offer, and the rest are interesting in their own right.

7. The protagonist and deuteragonist are a classic 'buddy cop' or 'straight man and oddball comedy duo', and while it's a little grating at first, once you realize the style of comedy they're going for, it's great. Every stoic cyberpunk badass can use a comedic relief character.

8. The endings. It is a binary choice at the end, but both endings feel true to the characters, and the game allows you to load straight to that decision after getting one ending, which is a nice convenience, because you're going to want to see both.

It's got that endearing chunky pixel art vibe from the Melty Blood series and other doujin fighting games, it's got pretty low execution requirements to play decently, and ...uh, I'm not really sure who any of these characters are or why the game uses "stream on!" to begin fights and "Seiso!" for a perfect no-damage round.

But it's fun, and there doesn't seem to be anything horribly unbalanced. It's got a bit of kusoge charm, it's got some nice references to other fighting game franchises, its controls are simple for its genre (I think that's a good thing - forcing the focus onto learning and stringing together moves rather than doing a pretzel motion with your stick. Yes, Terumi, I remember how awful your Astral Finish is to pull off), and it's kinda chill once you get a handle on its systems and mechanics.

Not the best fighting game I've ever played, but certainly not the worst, and extremely good quality for the wonderful price of FREE. So check it out.

Yoko Taro has served everyone on the dance floor. They don't know it. He doesn't know it. He might not have meant to do it, but he has.

Nier:Automata is an incredible statement on art, culture, and philosophy in the early 21st century.

Androids and machines, clinging to past ideals, philosophies, ways of action, saying and doing things because it's what people before them did, despite those actions having no meaning in the present, imitating what has gone before without a shred of the substance within that made those things tick.

Much like most cultural produce in these times, and the words people cling to as philosophies.

BUT NONE OF THAT MATTERS TO THE FACT THAT THIS IS A REALLY REALLY REALLY GOOD VIDEOGAME.

Any philosophy, and even the great story, with its twists, reveals, and everything else is unintrusive icing on the cake that is this game. The core combat is good (and the I-frames are nice and forgiving). The switches between Platinum Character Action/Spectacle Fighter, Twin Stick Shooter Bullet Hell, Sidescroller, and Neo Retro Twin Stick Shooter Bullet Hell, are stylish and (mostly) smooth, and unlike so many games, each different component manages to be good on its own.

There's a level of care and consideration put into every aspect of this game (except possibly the 1080p 60fps max res/framerate lock, and the model pop-in) that's just incredible.

Uninstall your OS program? There's an ending for that.

Use the Self-Destruct in the hyper-secret orbital space station base? They thought of that too.

Equip a spear and a large sword? Oh, yeah, there's a special combo and set of gorgeous animations for that.

And the animations are so good, too. This whole game is great. It's wonderful. Buy it, play it, love it.

Even if you're just thinking about how much you want to **** 2B.

This is a game about what it means to be an American. About America's place in the shattering politics of the 21st century, seen in the darkly shining techno-dystopian mirror of Hideo Kojima's vision of the future, a recognizable reflection of our own world.

The product of a development process obviously defined more by drug usage than focus groups, REVENGEANCE is a pleasure to play from its high-octane beginning to its jaw-dropping final battle. You're here to argue philosophy with terrorists, turn cyborgs into sashimi, stop time to deliver perfect bisecting slashes to titanic war machines, and restore your health by ripping out and crushing their beating mechanical hearts, all set to a fantastic soundtrack.

This game can induce a flow state like few others. Parrying, attacking, recovering health from finishing strikes, and all the other things this game has to offer blend together into a wonderful stream of action and excitement. The mechanics are well thought out and masterfully executed, and each boss demands mastery of a specific aspect of the game's combat, culminating in the final encounter, which calls upon all the skills you've learned over the course of the game.

This game is fairly short, clocking in at around 7 hours for a skilled player, but only a very small percentage of that could be called filler, and the harder difficulty modes and included free DLC side stories provide a good bit of replay value.

The moments when you hit the final stage of a boss encounter, and the vocals kick in on their massive electro-metal themes are well worth the price of admission.

It's anime fightan games, complete with on-demand OVERDRIVE super mode, making the over-the-top crazy even more over the top. Solid mechanics, balanced cast (although some matchups can be frustrating), with a wide variety of playstyles. Online play still has enough people to get matches regularly, during NA and EU hours. Netcode is good. It's awesome, and you should get it.

I played the demo when it came out, and really loved the time gimmick, the incredibly streamlined gameplay, and the general sense of uncertainty about what was going on.

So I backed the Kickstarter.

I'm disappointed with the result. The framing device strips away all the mystery the original had, and adds a layer of staticy screens and other fuffery that gets in the way of the game's experience. I wish there was an option to disable all the visual improvements and go back to the demo's graphics.

In the end, the core gameplay is still there, and they've added some cool new things (the full-speed replay is fun), but I don't think the other additions really add much to the game.

Considering the price difference, it's worth just replaying the demo a couple of times.