Recent reviews by 16BitPotato

This short, atmospheric walking simulator starts as a cheesy adventure, and twists and turns into a delightful thriller. What at first may appear odd idiosyncrasies fall together into well-placed foreshadowing, and, though stilted and perhaps corny at times, the characters and dialogue have an immediate charm and intrigue about them that plays perfectly into the story - the story itself, stiff and a little forced at parts, but nonetheless I found churns the imagination and sparks joy.

By far, the game's strongest point is its aesthetic - Simon Poole's ever-immaculate soundtrack, against the backdrop of classic Scandinavian landscape, blends into a soul-warming and immersive time in the game's deeply-researched, anemoiac rural village. Being a language-learner myself, I especially enjoyed wracking my brain for foreign words in time with the protagonist doing the same.

Psychedelic, witty, and delightfully sickening. A brilliantly thrilling mindscape that comes alive with pointed, evocative character writing supported by soft artwork and a lovely soundtrack.

Oiva is my hero.
He just like me fr

If you shoot the bad guys, does that make you a good guy?
This is genuinely a work of art. In a market bogged with hollow spectacle and forced storytelling, it's truly a treasure to find an honest, good ol' shooter that doesn't pretend, but just goes.

The story is delightful, often hilarious, and more than enough to keep you moving forward, but never keeps you long from the immaculate combat and gorgeous environments. The character of Vlad is immediately lovable, and needs few words to keep you sympathetic to what happens.

Enemies are always ready to outmaneuver and outwit you with new tricks, and the excellently-designed levels are constantly changing in format and feel, making for a constant, smooth flow of run-think-shoot-live that's become all too rare in this day and age. Every boss fight had surprises for me, and I felt great after every hard-earned progress.

Most importantly, the way morality is handled is brilliant. There's never anyone to ask what you should do, or chastise you for what you do and don't - there's only you, moving through every moment, maybe being a hero, maybe being a monster, and all you can do is think about it; it doesn't matter to Vlad, and it doesn't matter to the world. Should it matter to you?

Even the optimization is great; everything runs smooth, even on an older graphics card, and the settings menu has detailed tooltips for getting everything tuned how you want it. AAA devs, take notes.

This is "amateurity as a medium" at its finest. It doesn't hide the inspirations and ideas behind it; it holds them proudly on display, and it's beautiful.

This is a book that's certain to brighten your day. Show this to your little ones, if you have any nearby, or just enjoy the warm memories that spring up.

Phenomenally unique in concept and execution. This is a game that runs in your head just as much as your computer, and you'll still be playing it for hours after you shut it off. Every click injects a burst of context cues and mystery that will keep your imagination churning as a gripping story knits together before you, challenging you to wonder how much is true and how much is your own invention - just like real memories and the stories we tell ourselves.

This game is a true child of Rogue in a way rarely seen in contemporary roguelikes; everything is random, but everything is solvable. It's printed right on the tin what its influences are, but this game is honestly, truly something unique, and it's been jaw-dropping to watch the ambition behind it come to life. It's hard to encapsulate the delightful agony it will put you through.

Do you enjoy analysis paralysis?
Do you like inventory management that tasks you with juggling numbers, opportunity cost, and the knowledge that anything could be lost in an instant?
Do you like tense combat where Every. Single. Input. can make the difference between life and death?
Do you like religious mysticism? Russian philosophy? Eldritch horror? All three?

Be ready to laugh when you flawlessly cut down waves of elite combatants and incomprehensible horrors, and be ready to cry when you zig where you should've zagged. If you give it the chance, this game will give you a euphoric high like no other.

Make mistakes, learn from them, make the same mistakes again? An all-too-relatable twist on the once-naive conclusions of the base story, fresh with heightened tension and delightful puzzles, and ready to raise plenty of new questions for the protagonist and yourself. Once again, there's little subtlety at play, but being on the nose is just fine when it comes to terrible cycles that are always turning in front of you.

We're always hearing that we should hold onto hope - to faith - but how much is there to believe in when everything feels so false and hazy? When the haze lifts, how much can you even believe yourself - that you are loved, that things will get better, that there is something to hope for? If recent years have left you yearning, grieving, raging to stay in the world you remember - to stop in time, before things got so scary - this is a story that will understand you. If you feel lied to, alienated, isolated - floating away but you don't know where to - this story suggests a destination. If you feel like the world is hurtling towards the impact of generations of hurt and tension, this story offers something to look forward to.

Maybe you've heard a million stories already that are 'inspiring,' 'modern,' and 'deep.' Here's one that doesn't pretend to be anything - just a lot of ideas, a lot of questions, and maybe a lot of answers.

Strangers will confide in you tragedy, beauty, and absolute truths. Lonely people are in no short supply today, and something about this game brings out the best in those who would strive to change that.