Nylige anmeldelser av Protagonistical

Pretty cool game. Heavily reliant on atmosphere and sound. Less so on puzzles. Obviously, it takes inspiration from games like Limbo, Inside, and Little Nightmares.

Be warned, there isn't a lot to the game. It takes about two and a half hours to get through the whole thing. It's very linear and not very challenging. It's got a decent story going, but it explains a lot more than it should.

The hardest challenge is near the end, when you're stuck in a room with bars on the door and nowhere you can see to go. I had to look up where I was supposed to go, because there was no visual indicator to help me out.

Still, it's got a nice dystopian world full of darkness both literal and figurative. Definitely get it on sale if you're going to buy it.

This is a game that makes your brain hurt. This is a game for people with excellent memories and reasonable deductive abilities. This is a game that, if you don't have the aforementioned qualities, makes you a masochist. Really though, it's an extremely intricate game with good mechanics and stunning visuals.

It's a clever game with clever mechanics made for clever people. And I am about as clever as a guinea pig. So without clear directions, or at least a simple set of rules, I was lost at sea, or rather, lost on the island. If you think you're good at puzzles, think again. If you KNOW you're good at puzzles, then maybe this is for you.

This game requires a certain amount of 'thinking outside the box' so if you lean towards rigid thinking, or have trouble with 3-D thinking and/or lateral thinking, then if you're going to get the game, have a good walkthrough handy. You'll need it.

Also, get the game on sale. It's not worth full price.

SPOILER-FREE ONE-STOP-SHOP Review (initially written at ~600 hours in, minor tweaks done ~1000)

It's free. FREE.
There's cats and dogs. That you can have - in your ship, where you can stare at them and coo over their tiny paws stretching out when they sleep. AND you can pet them.

If that's not enough for you, here's more reasons.

As you can see from the amount of time I've spent playing this game, I clearly adore Warframe. As a fairly experienced player, I have to tell you that I do NOT feel experienced at all; I feel fairly confident in soloing and 100-percenting about half of the game's levels. But that's part of the charm. You try something, and it's too hard. So you pull back to where you can play comfortably, and gather resources and create new weapons, and level those weapons and yourself up, until you can try it again and feel better about your odds.

I should also warn you that this game is very addicting. The gameplay is fluid, dynamic, exciting, and intuitive. There are also daily log-in rewards that incentivize you. At about the 300-hour mark, I'd log-in for five minutes. But then I'd remember that I had to pet my dogs (before the animal updates), and then I'd remember that, last time, I was trying to get enough materials to forge a pretty rad pair of swords, and then I'd go play a level, and then I'd play another, and before I knew it, I'd be five hours in.

As far as customization goes, this game has it all. You can change almost every aspect of your character. You can change colors, add attatchments, get skins, etc. Fashionframe is almost as good as Fashion Souls, only hampered by the fact that some customizations are locked behind purchases of either money or an in-game currency that is extremely rare.

There are 21 types. My personal faves are Exterminate (self-explanatory) and Spy (involving sneaking and hacking - puzzle-like and rewarding). Funnily enough, I tend to play Rhino, who, as it sounds, is a tanky behemoth who looks hilarious balancing on a tightrope above unaware enemies. There are a few mission types that are easier with a group, so if you don't have friends to play with, you can switch to global and join a team automatically. If you dislike a certain type of mission, you can join a group to make it easier on you. Or, if you're like me, you try the bull-headed route and try to brute force your way through any type of mission solo. And that's fine. You can really play the game however you want. But screw Excavation, Disruption, and Defection missions. Nobody likes those. Especially if you're new to the game or low-level.

Multiplayer. If you're like me, you just flinched internally. Calm down. You don't need to play multiplayer. You can solo almost the entire game if you spend enough time leveling up, which is my pick. You can play alone, play with a friend/friends, or play with strangers. If you do join a random group and you've spent a respectable amount of time in the game (say, about 600 hours), be prepared to either lead the group, or be shown up by at least one player that is a complete badass ninja and carries the entire team on his or her formidable shoulders.

The combat is engaging. There's nothing better than landing a headshot and blowing an enemy away. Wait, I take it back. There's nothing better than slam-attacking into a group of enemies and taking out them all in a whirlwind of slashing blades. Yeah. So there's three weapon categories - primary weapons, secondary weapons, and melee weapons. Primaries are the heavy-duty guns like sniper rifles and shotguns. Secondaries are pistols and such. Melee is melee. There are so many weapons in the game that you'll find yourself switching to ones you don't use that often just to make a lower-level mission more challenging and to gain those sweet, sweet level-ups. I actually spent a ton of in-game rare currency to expand my weapon storage just to have more of them. And what does leveling up a weapon do? It lets you add mods to it. Mods are these card-like things that you pick up in missions. These can range from simply upgrading your damage, to increasing your clip size and magazine, to upping your critical chance, etc. You can also mod your character, from upping your health, to letting you sprint faster, to being able to aim-glide farther, to letting you jump higher, and much more. I'm not even getting into the crazy stuff. I'll leave that up to you to discover. Oh, and you can customize your weapons, too.

If combat's not really your thing, you can spend hours on end hunting and fishing. Which I have. Particularly fishing. Fishing is my go-to in games like this and Stardew Valley. It's a great way to get resources, improve your aim and peripheral vision, and gain standing with the various factions. There are three planets you can fish on, and each has a unique visual style. Learn the best fishing spots by trial-and-error, or seek an online guide. I've spent hours doing nothing but fishing, because it is a great mix of relaxing and stimulating. Hunting, on the other hand, is more dangerous. BUT, it also has its own rewards.

Standing. I just mentioned it. There are 17 syndicates in the game. There are 4 'cities' that you can complete bounties for (which I almost never do), or you can fish and hunt, and turn in your gains for standing. Standing is used to rank up with the associated syndicates, which gives you access to better rewards. There are a couple 'hidden' syndicates in each city that are much harder to get standing for, like hunting down the big baddies of the area or doing some sweet tricks on your hoverboard. There are also 6 'factions' that you can choose from. Choosing one faction affects your relationship with the other factions; each one has a faction they are allied with (giving you +50% reputation gain with them), opposed with (-50% reputation loss), and enemies with (-100% reputation loss). Upon joining a faction, there are technically 3 ways of gaining standing - completing specified missions marked with that faction's sign, collecting and turning in faction-specific medallions that you find on those marked missions, and wearing that faction's sigil on normal missions and earning standing based on a percentage of your exp gain. I prefer to wear the sigil, but it's super fun to go on a bunch of marked missions, gather a bunch of medallions, and turn in a bunch for the max amount of standing for each day.

Also, the game is seriously pretty, from the particle effect on the abilities, to just the maps themselves. There are many planets, each with their own unique looks and maps. There are overarching themes to the planets based on what type of enemy holds it. For the more intrepid gamer, there's secrets to discover. Your scanner might be more important than you think, just to let you know.

And there's a surprisingly in-depth storyline to follow, full of twists and lore.

Alright. I've spent enough time extolling the game's virtues. As for negatives, the biggest thing I can think of is that it takes a ton of grinding (playing and replaying levels). There are rare resources which you might not come across on a casual playthrough. You'll have only a set number of missions unlocked at a given time, so replaying is something you'll get used to quickly. You start to recognize the maps and rooms, which isn't necessarily a negative; I enjoy knowing the layout and the best spots to hide in/for a quick escape, but I realize some players might not like seeing the same things over and over. If you like singleplayer only, then you'll dislike putting in the hours of extra time to level yourself up, or having to join a team just to get past this one level or boss so that you can get a story arc done or to make it to a level that you CAN do by yourself.

But, again, it's a free game. If you don't like it, just uninstall it. But try it out. What's the harm? You'll figure out pretty quickly if it's something you want to invest your time in.

A thought-provoking platformer with well-made puzzles and some deep philosophical questions. Does just having thoughts indicate sentience? What is the nature of a soul? Would you still be yourself if your soul left your body and inhabited another? What are you willing to do to survive; moreover, what SHOULD you do to survive? Is survival worth the cost? Are you still human?

If you want a relaxing, linear experience solving puzzles and contemplating fundamental questions of our existence, this game is for you. This game is perfect for people who like putting together pieces of information to discover lore, because the story is notably and purposefully twisty and ambiguous. I'd recommend playing through it twice; the first to just experience the story, and then a second time to appreciate and realize more about the story. Don't worry; the game is short. Altogether, I spent about 6 hours for two playthroughs.

Yes, the game is a touch stereotypical, but considering that it was originally released in 2013, it has held up extraordinarily well against the last decade's rapidly growing inclination towards deep philosophical questions.

Even if you're not great at puzzles, you'll enjoy this game; it isn't too challenging. I myself am not great at puzzles that require this kind of thinking, but I got through about 60% of the game without having to look up a walkthrough, and then on the second playthrough, I was able to do all but three of the puzzles without a guide.

If any of this appeals to you at all, I'd urge you to give the game a try.

Spent 10 hours creeping around Limgrave avoiding the Tree Sentinel. And then, because I had leveled up some and found some upgrades, that I might try to beat him.

Nope. Got smushed into the dirt by a golden horse rump.

So I crawled away and went exploring some more.

30 hours in, and I remembered, 'oh, yeah, I never beat that dumb Goldilocks on a pony' so I went back. It went okay, I got him to half health and then got bitchslapped by a golden halberd so hard I ended back up at the Church of Elleh.

70 hours in. I come back to the Church to buy more arrows, hear that cutrate Ponyboy stomping around, and have an anime-style facedown in which I do the whole 'Omae wa mou shindeiru' 'Nani?' thing.

He ded. Mega-ded.

FromSoft gave me the means, and I have become a god of this world.

Except for other players. Those guys scare me.


EDIT: Finally finished my first playthrough! For the sake of posterity, here's some of my stats. Played a total of 150 hours, although 30-40 of those were just farming. Got 39 achievements. Went with Ranni's ending. Favorite weapons: bloodhound's fang and rivers of blood. Got to level 300 exactly. Barely scraped past Malenia and the last one/two bosses. Sidenote: Radahn is an awesome dude, and probably one of my favorite FromSoft characters.

The companions I met along the way were Crootcovitz, Kinkonga, F, and Sleepybird. I don't know who is who, but I wanted to thank you regardless.

Firstly, to whomever helped me with that bridge puzzle, thank you, I would've spent another ten minutes trying and failing to fly my way up to that first broken piece of the bridge. But you chirped incessantly for at least two minutes straight until I finally looked around to see what was going on. And you waited until I had definitely seen you before heading to the next ribbon; you could've just moved on, but you made sure I knew the solution before you did.

To the person who got me all the way to the cold level and either had their game crash or quit out, and who dealt with my chirping at random times with grace and more chirping, thank you; I leapt off the iced ribbon bridge after you when you fell off, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat, even if it means redoing the snow level. You let me lead the way, even when I didn't know what on earth was happening, and gently helped me out when I was struggling. Miss you already.

Lastly, to whomever was there with me at the end, thanks for the achievement, but also for the company; I didn't know what to expect at the top of that mountain, and it was nice to follow someone into the unknown. You didn't have to wait for me to catch up, but you did.


Thank you all, for making Journey a true journey.

Easily my favorite of the series so far! It has the best balance of anomaly types (cough cough, IOOD 2), and didn't overdo it with the number of rooms (OOD2 cough cough again). I like how the original formula was reinstated, but better than ever. I like the powerlessness of having to wait for something to happen, while looking through the fixed perspectives of the cameras. The anomalies in this game are the best-crafted, and much more subtle than previous instalments.

My only suggestion is that, if there's another one in the works, is to add a sound, like a chime or horn, to signal that an anomaly has taken root. That would help focus the feelings of dread and fear. On the other hand, the feeling of not knowing when something is wrong, is incredibly effective at inducing paranoia.

10/10 Would experience this type of existential uncertainty again.

To whomever thought up that part in the Ringed City where you run from the second bonfire to the third, I hope your life is plagued by small inconveniences that slowly drive you mad. Why not something more extreme, like death or eternal punishment? Because I am petty and vindictive when I'm pissed. And guess what, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥? I'M PISSED!


I hope that whenever your favorite songs come on the radio, there's just enough static so that you can make out what the song is, but not enough for you to actually enjoy it.

I hope that you consistently underestimate how long to microwave your food, so that you never know exactly how long to put something in for, so that you either get underwhelmingly tepid food or blisteringly hot food.

I hope your eyeglasses get a single scratch that doesn't obstruct your vision but that you notice when you wear them, and I hope the scratch is faint enough so that you don't have an excuse to buy a new pair.

I hope that you discover a new phobia.

I hope that one side of your headphones cuts out every so often, but only on random days, like every 17th day or any time I curse your existence in the privacy of my own thoughts.

I hope that you never notice your Freudian slips.

I hope that you never find that one movie/book/TV show/game/song that is entirely your style and that you would love, but that it doesn't get enough publicity for you to ever know it exists.


...
Otherwise, it's a great game. Still infuriating, but not nearly as much as the f*ckhead mentioned here is.

Play a nice farming simulator, they said. It'll be relaxing, they said.

Yeah, sooo relaxing, running away from slime creatures so I don't die in the mines and lose my loot. It's just so calming, frantically running after my favorite villagers because I need their affection to assuage my sense of self-worth. Yeah, I love missing a crop in a specific season and then having to wait a full year to be able to plant it again.

No, seriously, I do. Somehow, some way, this game makes it work. It's tedious and frustrating and slow and anxiety-inducing, and yet it's great. It's addicting and wholesome and cute and interesting and I love it to absolute pieces. Despite how it sometimes makes me want to tear my hair out by the roots.

I have to admit that this is one of the most satisfying games I've ever played. As far as the cleaning goes, it's leagues above House Flipper in how fun it is.

I'm impressed by how well-made the game is. The devs really listened to the community the whole way through early access. They changed how ladders worked, they added in aim mode for people (like me) who would get motion sickness from playing. There's humor, and a plotline, and plenty of cats.

A few tips for beginners: save up for the upgraded powerwashers, and don't waste your money on soap. Also, the 15-degree yellow nozzle will be your best friend. And the Prime Vista Pro has a brand-new attatchment that is, quite literally, the best thing in the game.