Recent reviews by John Gamer

Playing this game is a test of patience like no other. I am not even halfway through and my patience is out, which is why I'm posting this review. Every aspect of this game except the visuals and music is an absolute mess.
The biggest offenders are the controls and level design. This game feels so unbelievably slow, both literally and and in terms of pacing. Your character moves as fast as a snail when compared to the ground you are expected to cover, it feels like you are constantly covered in a layer of oil no matter what you do. Dodging has an input delay, attacking has an input delay, and the animations of actions themselves take long. Now some people, including the marketing team, say this creates "slow and deliberate combat", but playing it is anything but deliberate, unless you're talking about deliberately making you suffer. Combine all that sluggishness on your character's shoulders with enemies that have none of that. Long, fast combos with no windows to stun or dodge away, a mountainload of AoE and projectile attacks with ridiculously large hitboxes, and just generally moving way faster than the player. It feels like the controls and enemy design were taken from 2 completely different games and mashed together. All the bosses I have fought so far have been extremely mediocre and take way too long to kill.
The next worst thing is the level design. Now at first it's actually pretty decent. The whole city area and tomb are quite enjoyable and can be reasonably completed without any trial and error. But once I got to the snow area my original opinion of an okay 6-7/10 metroidvania dropped several points. The enemies are even faster while you have to deal with ice-based mechanics that are just as miserable as they sound.
The game tries to copy Bloodborne and similar better souls-likes, but instead the developers decided to take parts of those games that no one likes, such as blood vial farming or insta kill traps and pits. It doesn't just feel janky to play, it feels like the designers deliberately meshed together conflicting mechanics to create as miserable of an experience as they could conjure. I will try to complete the game and see if gets better but I don't have high hopes at all.
Who is this game even for?

Fromsoftware's most experimental game since Dark Souls 2. While there is plenty to complain about, with some obvious oversights like no duos and poor communication options, or in the game itself a noticeable lack of structure and boss variety, it is such a fun time with friends. And that's the best you can ask from a Co-op game.

And the positives don't stop there. All the 8 nightlords in this game are some of the most unique bosses fromsoft has made in terms of atmosphere, presentation, music and mechanics, and i think this aspect of the game specifically is nearly 10/10 material. Some ideas don't land, but that's just the nature of an experimental title. The biggest success in my opinion is the quest progression. It is such a big step up from literally every previous game except maybe Shadow of the Erdtree, and made me actually interested in completing all the quests, let alone being able to solve them without a guide.

The game has huge potential and is already on track to fixing some of its problems, particularly exciting being the 3rd phases that should be coming sometime soon.
Did I mention how amazing the music is?

Game is good but my friend is so braindead we couldn't even solve the second puzzle and I almost wanted to put a negative review

This game is like taking crack cocaine while lying in a meth lab with Baby Blue playing in the background, all while being high on every type of weed.

Fantastic immersive demo. Couldn't put it down until I was done. A lot of performance issues unfortunately though.

A barebones hotline miami-inspired game with a shockingly good and actually funny story that makes getting through the boring gameplay worth it.

Zeekers is such a creative and fun developer and has quickly become one of my favourite to follow. He has such a distinct style that seeps through each aspect of his games, from the visuals, to the music, to even the game design itself. This is no exception. The Upturned is genuinely funny, scary when it needs to be, and most importantly it's plain fun. HIghly recommend.

peak

Game absolutely nails the aesthetic, atmosphere and especially the music of Silent Hill-esc survival horror games, which it is heavily inspired by. Although the gameplay is extremely basic, and thus not really to my taste, the simple but good story and vibe kept me engaged throughout the runtime. There were a couple of genuinely good scares as well. The soundtrack is the highlight though.

fun challenging gameplay, banger music and sesbian lex: all you need for a good game