Recent reviews by Frozen

A bit jank, but has character. I had some minor inconveniences when it comes to picking up items that are right next to interactive puzzle objects. Some of the collectibles (specifically keys) are also a bit hard to see, which while I normally wouldn't mind but this game gives you a hard time limit. The map already shows all the collectibles and interactable puzzle elements as soon as you enter the room so towards the end of the demo I'd just enter a room, immediately press M and grab what I needed. I'd prefer the collectibles be more visible but not show up on the map until you walk close by. Otherwise it was honestly extremely engaging and fun, can't wait to see the finished game.

A pretty good and simple metroidvania, with the added benefit that you actually feel fast from the beginning instead of needing to find a specific item or move to actually get places at a decent pace. The only real complaint I had was that I didn't enjoy the ship combat since it felt way more sluggish and generally out of place, thankfully those fights are brief.

This is probably one of the few games in a while that actually made me feel something and actually stuck with me for a while. I actively had a dream where I was growing teeth off my tongue because of this game. Unfortunately its one of those games that is better the less you know about it, so I can't really describe it well without taking away from the experience. But I will say its definitely worthwhile, especially if you love cosmic horror and/or body horror.

Not enough Gerald

If you think 1 Act (a single Act not a full on 2 Act Stage like the rest of the game's Stages) with 2 challenges with a "skin" that can only be used during said Act and 2 challenges is worth $5.99 is worth it go for it. It was a fine stage, and the challenges were actually pretty fun, but the asking price is a bit much for what I can't even describe as a level pack. If you want to pay six bucks for about 10 minutes of content go nuts, but I'd suggest waiting on a sale or bundle or something.

Also it's not Hang Castle/Mystic Mansion so Not Recommended.

You can fish in this game.

I wish there was a middling review because while I do enjoy it, there are some narrative and gameplay choices I didn't particularly like. First that the whole end of the world thing is probably metaphorical instead of literal. Second is the switching between perspectives of characters. Its more personal preference, but I would have preferred to stay in the main character's perspective listening to the patrons' stories with maybe some trippy things happening out the window to represent the story happening while continuing to cook.

The voice acting and even the character writing itself can be awkward and stilted at times, but I honestly find it more charming than anything since it gives off the SH2 vibe of all the characters not being all there. Unfortunately because of the extremely brief nature of the game the characters are extremely quick to tell their life story, all their traumas, and every dark secret to someone who gives them a burger or two. I understand for the 2 characters who have a pre-existing relationship with the player character, and maybe the conspiracy theorist who seems like he would be happy to tell anyone who'd listen, but the others telling you about infidelity and actual murder seems out of place. Which goes back to why I think the literal end of the world would have made more sense since people would be more likely want to get some closure or things off their chest before they die since it doesn't matter. I was hoping for a nihilistic, but hopeful, story about people coming to terms with their problems before their inevitable deaths with the choices you make being more about how and even if you can give them closure before it is all over.

Gameplay wise it is fairly basic, but that's probably for the best since you want to be able to pay attention to both the characters and the cooking. Switching to the other characters tends to just be basic walking around and in one case a really half baked shooter (again I wish it stayed through the perspective of the cooks). I won't say it needed to expand on the cooking because I enjoyed it for what it was, but I just wish the game would let me enjoy it instead of pulling me out of it constantly. I understand pulling me away for a second to experience the player character's own trauma, delusions, and memories, but any time I had to switch to the patrons it really just took the wind out of my sails.

Overall its a pretty good, if brief, game for a fairly cheap price. Not exactly what I was hoping for when I tried the demo but still enjoyable enough.

This review is mainly about the Shadow content they added onto the base game, since that is the stand out feature of this remake.

It's basically what people wanted out of a Sonic Generations DLC, more levels and not just some pinball machine. The game has a 3D open world, 6 levels (2 stages each), several challenges in and out of the levels, and 4 bosses. You can start and finish the campaign at any time. Like the Sonic campaign each level has a Modern Stage (3D) and a "Classic" Stage (2-2.5D). The main difference is that in the "Classic" style stages you retain all your abilities such as boosting and homing attacks which is extremely nice since one of the problems I had with the original is that switching between the two movesets can be jarring. Speaking of abilities, Shadow gets several moves and upgrades to set him apart from Sonic, from projectiles to surfing to flight and more. Even his homing attack has its own flare as when he uses it on an enemy he actually teleports to the target (which actually let's you go through certain obstacles) and hits them rather than the Sonic style of rolling into a ball and homing in on something. He also gets the iconic Chaos Control, which after building up power from taking out enemies allows him to freeze time for 5 seconds, allowing him to use certain hazards as platforms and stopping the stage clock itself. Even the side missions to get the keys for bosses are much more fun than base game because they are based around Shadows abilities rather than the base game's awkward gimmicks with Sonic's various friends. Special shout out to the challenges based around chaining Chaos Control to beat the clock, which tended to be my favorite kind of challenges from this game.

If I had any complaints it would be that Doom Surf, Wing, and ESPECIALLY Morph felt awkward whenever they were used in 3D, though it is far from unplayable. There wasn't much in the way of Shadow the Hedgehog (the game) level representation, unless you count the ARK, despite there being a Frontiers level for some reason. I was honestly expecting/hoping the final level to just be The Last Way or something. Also *insert the various levels that I wanted in* wasn't in.

If you've never given Sonic Generations a chance this is probably the best option (though the original's modding scene might give it the edge in the eyes of some). If you have already played Generations 50 bucks might seem a bit pricey for what is effectively DLC (honestly its in the vein of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury) but if you are a Sonic fan you are probably desperate for a good Sonic game so either be patient for a sale or cough up some money.

A nice addition that conversely to the previous DLC The Pale Reach feels like it's made more for endgame.

Unlike Pale Reach, I didn't blast through the entire DLC because I had endgame equipment. It took me roughly 5-6 hours to 100%, though I was trying to clean up the fishing catalog during the DLC story and not saving it for the end. It retroactively made the Pale Reach's reward (an anchor that you can throw in the ocean to make a two way portal) much more worthwhile especially since The Iron Rig takes you across the whole map (sans Pale Reach).

Mechanically it is still pretty simple, every time you finish a major part of the DLC's main quest cracks begin to form beneath the ocean releasing an oily substance into the waters of one of the areas from the base game. And you are being sent out to survey the area and collect samples of both the fish and the strange substance bubbling to the surface. Outside a special trawl that sucks up the goo you aren't doing too much different from the base game. While within the oil, you are slowed slightly and at lower sanity levels gain some unwanted attention from the monsters. Though even with the slowed speed I still didn't have much trouble avoiding the monsters with vanilla endgame equipment.

The Iron Rig does add some neat little toys. Mostly just some fishing rod upgrades to let you fish in the polluted waters and some consumables for repairing your hull/net/pots/sanity that I never really felt the need to use. They even added a trawler and pot that picks up materials instead of fish, which honestly is a nice passive way to get materials for the crafting they added for most of this stuff. You can also upgrade your lights, horn, and spyglass. The lights were probably brighter and sanity saving but I never really noticed, the horn did an excellent job of showing me things I could already see, and the spyglass was a legitimately nice QoL improvement. They even added some 1x1 passive stat improving items that work so long as they are somewhere in your cargo with improvements like less heat generation from Haste, faster fishing/dredging speed, faster turning and reversing, and better trawl odds. Useful for those corner slots in your cargo that you can't squeeze things into. Lastly and probably most useful for players that haven't caught every fish yet are the 3 new baits. Aberrated Bait, which will always give you an aberration appropriate to whatever biome you're in and whatever rods you have equipped. Insta-Crab Bait, which acts as an instant crab pot on demand, which for me personally came far too late to be of any use. Lastly is the Exotic Bait, which is used to recapture the exotic quest fish. I guess I should mention that you can upgrade to a Tier 5 hull and while the space is nice (I can finally have all the aberration fishing equipment equipped at the same time now), it isn't super useful since I get to use it for a grand total of one area before I have nothing I need to stuff in my ship anymore.

As always the new aberration art is appropriately grotesque and disconcerting as it should be, and the DLC even adds aberrations for Exotic fish (just use Exotic Bait in whatever biome you found them in the first place while holding a rod that could catch them and use Atrophy on the temporary fishing spot) as well as a new aberration only fish (must finish the scientist quest line, use Aberrated Bait directly beneath the rig's drill, may take a few attempts and you may need to finish the main DLC quest first).

Tim, you will never be a real competitor to Steam.