Recent reviews by The Malevolent One

Not Recommended

I will say this: the voice acting is okay. Amanda's voice is a little grating at times, but the cast does what they can with what they're given. Unfortunately, what they're given is an unintuitive, lazy, nonsensical mess that fails in almost every fundamental way compared to the first game.

Amanda the Adventurer was genuinely good in comparison: the puzzles were clever, the pacing kept you hooked, and the story had genuine intrigue behind it. This feels like a rushed cash grab that took everything that worked and mashed it together to try and recreate a feeling of the original which in execution completely fails to do so.

The puzzles are a particular low point. They feel haphazardly slapped together with difficulty being an afterthought. The library, which should be an interesting set piece, is completely wasted as little more than set dressing, serving up one of the most asinine, tedious book-scanning puzzles I've suffered through. The pig minigame is stupid, and the fast forward mechanic actively punishes you for using it, which makes no sense whatsoever. Rather than rewarding the player for skipping, it resets your coins entirely. Who designed this?

The narrative is somehow even more of a disappointment. The masked stranger is boring and almost entirely pointless to the plot. They have perhaps six lines of meaningful dialogue across the entire game, and yet the story expects you to care deeply about their reveal. I didn't. Finding out the masked stranger was Joanne made me feel absolutely nothing. I stared at the screen and thought, okay, this is happening now, and then it was over.

The timeline surrounding the reveal is also genuinely confusing. If the masked person visited Kate's house the night she died, why was Riley never informed by the police? The story just barrels forward without asking these questions, using radio dialogue as an obvious McGuffin to drag the plot along, and it is painfully transparent every single time.

Amanda's character is somehow even more convoluted. The first game at least hinted at the duality between Amanda and the monster in a way that felt intriguing. Here, the distinction between the two is just outright confusing. She can apparently command it now? Or is she it? The game never makes this coherent and seems uninterested in trying.

The 'true' ending's masked exposition monologue is the final insult. An uninteresting character dumping information at the player in the most graceless way imaginable, for a conclusion that feels utterly hollow. Either way the masked person dies, so why should I have invested anything in them at all?
I went through half a playthrough and one full playthrough, with multiple restarts due to buggy and inconsistently triggering achievements. Seven hours I will not be getting back.

The first game earned its reputation. This does nothing to build on it, expand the wider story in any meaningful way, or justify its existence beyond a quick follow-up. A complete and total disappointment.

I do not recommend this game and now I have all it's achievements I never have to play it ever again. I merely got through this slog of a game to move on to the third.

Alright if not tad confusing story, ok voice acting, and an entertaining atmospheric environment with some genuinely good (if not a little cheap) scares at points.

Life is Strange understands something its successors largely forgot: emotional weight has to be earned before it can be spent.

Max and Chloe are given room to breathe, to be annoying, to be funny, to feel like real people before the game starts asking you to make decisions that actually matter, breathing room its successors particularly Life is Strange 2 refused to provide. The Kate scene is perhaps the clearest demonstration of this. Heavy-handed in its messaging, yes, but by that point you are genuinely invested enough that the weight of that scene lands. The fact that the game remembers her afterward, giving you a quiet moment with her in the hospital, shows a care for its characters that the later entries frequently abandon.

The illusion of choice criticism that applies to every Life is Strange applies here too. All roads lead to the same conclusion regardless of your decisions. I give LIS 1 and Before the Storm more grace on this than LIS 2, partly because this was the original attempt at the format, and partly because the journey here is compelling enough that the destination feels less like a betrayal.

The game's attention to continuity deserves mention. The junkyard scene where Frank takes Chloe's gun reads as a loss in the moment, but the callback later when Chloe can acquire two guns, even if not utilised that effectively, still gave me a feeling that it would be possible to deal with the threat after dealing with Frank's book client code. There's even a brief graphical bug where the wrong gun appears in the cutscene, but the intent of the continuity is clear and appreciated. These small details suggest a development team that genuinely cared about the world they were building.
Not everything lands. Warren is framed as a romantic interest but comes across as a creepy stalker. There is a reason the camera catches him watching Max's window, even if the game never seems to acknowledge this as the red flag it is. Stella I found grating with little payoff for the irritation. The diner phone call scene involving Chloe felt contrived, existing purely to manufacture plot rather than arising naturally from character.

The Jefferson reveal genuinely shocked me. When I first encountered it years ago I did not see it coming at all, and replaying with the knowledge of what he is recontextualises his scenes in a way that demonstrates strong writing beneath the surface.

The ending, however, feels rushed in a way that undercuts everything built before it. Five episodes of carefully constructed emotional investment and the final choice is presented with a weight the pacing of Episode 5 never quite earns. It arrives before you've had time to settle into what's happening, perhaps as a way to demonstrate the pressure and little amount of time Max and Chloe have to make their decision, despite the actual choice not being timed.

Despite its flaws, Life is Strange remains the strongest entry in the series precisely because it trusted its players enough to sit with its characters before putting them through anything. That patience is what makes everything else work, and it's what the sequels have consistently failed to replicate.

--- In terms of the Remaster itself ---

The remaster was a cashgrab. Launch reported plenty of bugs, washed out lighting, and jarring pre-rendered to real-time cutscene transitions. That being said, having only experienced them fully this year (2026), the visuals are genuinely what I remembered the game looking like as a kid. Returning to the original graphics as an adult I was not prepared for how badly they had dated, laughably so. All in all I'd recommend it.

Life is Strange: True Colors (Colours) is a game that succeeds in spite of itself. While I recommend it for the Haven Springs setting, the mostly excellent voice acting ([spoilers]props to Karen Slack (Eleanor's VA)[/spoiler]), and some genuinely strong character moments. This is unfortunately parried by inconsistent writing, unresolved plot threads and the same fundamental issue that plagued Life is Strange 2: the illusion of choice.

To start with the positives: Haven Springs is beautifully crafted. The small town vibe creates an atmosphere that feels lived-in, authentic, if not a little rundown. Steph's return from Before The Storm, was a welcome surprise and seeing her character continue to be developed from that brief but memorable tabletop session, or in the hospital was satisfying.

The game's pacing is notably faster than previous entries, which appears intentional given the heavy focus on streaming features. When examining objects, Alex immediately begins speaking with a quick glance, whereas Max would drift slowly toward an object and pause before offering her thoughts. It took some adjustment, but I ultimately enjoyed the freedom and quicker pace this provided, even if I missed the slower, more contemplative moments of the original Life is Strange. Given the Twitch Crowd Choice extension and the entire "streamer mode" implementation, it's clear this game was designed with streaming audiences in mind, which raises questions about whether gameplay pacing was adjusted to accommodate shorter attention spans. The outfit customization is okay.

However the narrative stumbles repeatedly. Ethan exists purely in the first episode as nothing more than a McGuffin (a plot device that exists) to cause Gabe's death & the subsequent unnecessary Charlotte drama. Once he was saved he disappeared having served his purpose (like not showing up at the Gabe's wake).

Most egregiously, I was given no reason to care about Gabe before he was killed off. The game expects his death to devastate both Alex and the player, but there simply isn't enough time spent developing that relationship to earn the emotional weight it demands. This lack of development creates further confusion with Steph's arc. Gabe 'convinced' Steph to stay in Haven Springs but once he's dead she's thrilled to be able to leave, it's never adequately explained why Gabe and Steph's deal is never brought up ever again. This worsens with the Steph ending where she stays, this caused an immense amount of confusion as One moment she's ready to leave, the next she's willing to stay forever and rip up her ticket, which feels inconsistent and confusing.

The mystery itself is laughably predictable. I called Jed as the villain the moment he appeared, purely because he was the only nice person offering Alex unreasonable generosity (free accommodation for barely waitressing three tables? Barely giving her any work.). The dramatic irony is that Jed is more of a father figure to Alex than Mr. Chen ever was, which makes the game's expectation that I mourn Chen's death baffling. A man who abandoned his underage children rather than even putting them into the system himself doesn't earn sympathy just because he died. Consequently, I chose to forgive Jed because he did more to support and welcome her into the town (whether out of guilt or not) than their 'father' ever did.

Alex's empathy power is frustratingly inconsistent. Sometimes she reads minds and memories, sometimes she reads the memories of dead people from objects, and sometimes she can directly influence others' emotions. The rules seem to change based on narrative convenience rather than any coherent internal logic.

The game's messaging around empathy becomes increasingly heavy-handed as it progresses. There's this constant insistence that empathy is the solution to everything, that if you just feel what others feel, you can fix any problem. It's well-intentioned but exhausting, and it doesn't leave much room for complexity or critical thinking about when empathy might not be enough, or when boundaries might actually be necessary. Given that the game was clearly designed with streaming in mind; the Twitch Crowd Choice extension, the streamer mode, the faster pacing... it feels like the developers may have simplified the emotional themes to appeal to a broader, more passive audience rather than trusting players to engage with something more nuanced.

The same problem that plagued Life is Strange 2 persists here: choices have no actual story progression effect. The game creates the illusion of branching paths, but ultimately everything moves toward the same predetermined outcomes regardless of your decisions.

In conclusion, for fans of the previous Life is Strange games, True Colors (Colours) is a mixed bag. It excels in atmosphere, voice acting, and small character touches, but it falters in narrative cohesion, character development, and meaningful choice. The game shines when it lets players enjoy and feel in Haven Springs and its quirky inhabitants, yet stumbles when it tries to force emotional beats that the story hasn’t earned. It strips away some of the depth and nuance that gave the original games their emotional resonance.

The side characters and townfolk add life to Haven Springs, even if they rarely get more than surface-level development. Eleanor deserves special mention her, her voice acting (Karen Slack) is phenomenal, particularly in the devastating scene where you remind her about Gabe's death after she forgot his wake. The way her cheery demeanour shifts as slow realisation to tears (the choked up 'excuse me' line) is masterfully performed, creating one of the game's most emotionally compelling moments. This scene works because it earned its emotional weight through performance rather than relying on narrative shortcuts (Alex literally teleporting out of the bottom of the mine be like...).

It’s a game that can be enjoyed in fragments: the scenery, the personalities, the amazing voice acting, the occasional emotional beat but as a whole, it doesn’t stick the landing. It’s more style than substance, and more 'streamable' than memorable. Fans of the series will find things to like (as did I), but anyone hoping for narrative weight and nuanced storytelling will be disappointed.

As for a silly headcanon to end on a lighter note: Daniel was secretly the CEO of Typhon all along and was the one who threw that comically terribly animated rock.

Life is Strange: Before the Storm is, at its core, a game for fans of the original Life is Strange. If you loved Chloe, were intrigued by the implied dynamic between her and Rachel, and wanted more of both of them, Before the Storm delivers exactly that. If Chloe wasn't a character you particularly connected with, or Rachel's absence in the first game didn't leave you wanting answers, something like Double Exposure may suit you better.

What the game does well is flesh out Chloe and Rachel as a dynamic while it feels a bit rushed and fast paced, for anyone who went into this already invested in both of them from the first game, watching their relationship develop is still compelling. The voice acting carries a lot of this weight and does so effectively, managing to capture Chloe's emotional vulnerability beneath her defensive exterior, and both character's anger at their parental figure.

This extends to the subplot surrounding Rachel's father and the payments. The gradual unraveling of who he really is beneath the carefully maintained image of a respectable district attorney adds genuine weight to Rachel's arc, and recontextualises a lot of what drives her. The revelation that Sera is Rachel's biological mother, and James's willingness to pay either Sera herself or a wanted criminal, Damon to keep her away, transforms him from concerned father into something far more controlling and morally compromised with his own fear leading to his ultimate undoing.

The Backtalk mechanic is an interesting idea in theory, and the moment Chloe backtalks her way into the concert early, begins to highlight the flaw in the mechanic as it becomes increasingly inconsistent as the game progresses. Some of the responses available feel stale or flat, and it doesn't always land with the same energy or clever writing the first game had.

The graffiti mechanic as a replacement for the polaroids from the first game is fine conceptually. It fits Chloe's personality and aesthetic, giving her a voice through art rather than photography. In practice, however, it's a little tedious, especially when hunting down every tag for completion's sake feels more like busywork than genuine expression, and the choice of what to tag has no affect whatsoever.

The scene involving Damon and Rachel's mother is genuinely disturbing, and intentionally so. Even having seen it before, revisiting it as an adult makes it hit harder rather than less. Knowing how hard Sera has worked, how carefully rebuilt her life, attempting to fix past mistakes, makes what happens to her in that moment feel all the more violating and cruel and her speech about how it makes her feel is genuinely saddening.

That said, Damon's death being handled off-screen feels like a deliberate creative decision to protect Frank's likability going into the first game. Which is a frustrating piece of soft writing when you consider that Frank is, at the end of the day, still a drug dealer who was complicit in Damon's operation. The attempt to keep his hands clean for the sake of a future appearance does not hold up to scrutiny, and it robs the narrative of a more honest reckoning with the violence lurking just beneath Arcadia Bay's surface.

Whether Rachel herself had some form of supernatural ability is never confirmed, but given that Max and later Daniel both exist within the same universe and share similarly unexplained powers, it is not an unreasonable guess (as well as theorised by fans that Rachel is the storm in LIS 1). The recurring imagery of fire, the way it mirrors her emotional state, (i.e. stopping when she gets stabbed) and the forest fire that consumes the mill all feel too deliberate to be purely coincidental. Whether it's literal or metaphorical is left ambiguous, which frankly fits the tone of the series.

All in all, Before the Storm is a worthwhile entry for fans of the original. It rewards investment in these characters and adds genuine depth to a relationship that the first game could only gesture toward. The tragedy of Rachel's fate in the original game is made all the more devastating by actually spending time with her here, seeing her hopes and her flaws laid bare, with the dramatic irony that the player is already aware of her fate.

For those who already love Chloe and Rachel, it meets expectations. For those who didn't, it likely won't change that.

Life is Strange 2 starts off with genuine hope, but quickly devolves into a story written like a sadist's wet dream, where the writers seem obsessed with endlessly torturing the characters (and subsequently us as players) rather than telling a natural story, either to continue its heavy-handed messaging, or to ensure the story cannot end before its underwhelming final episode.

To start with the positives: the graphics are okay, and the voice acting is genuinely good. The initial setup in the first episode, the closeness the boys had with their father, and their dynamic as brothers up until about the cabin episode were well done and actually succeeded in making me care about them.

However, the game constantly punishes you for caring. I am particularly disgusted with the developers for the inclusion of R.I.P. Mushroom :(, an inescapable, horrible punishment the player is forced to endure just to progress with the narrative. It highlights the game's most frustrating flaw: the complete illusion of choice. I did everything perfectly at the grandparents' house and the market (with the game forcing one person to notice during a cutscene), and yet the game continued to force me to leave for plot contrivance.

Adding to this frustration is the game's exhausting story, and its messaging is so heavy-handed that it feels like the game is constantly slapping you across the back of the head every single episode. It constantly throws these characters, and randomly introduced new ones, into miserable situations purely to force the plot to progress. I actually had to take a month-long break between episodes 4 and 5 because the narrative's incessant need to pander to Daniel became unbearable. You spend the whole game trying to maintain his fragile morality, to the point where Sean barely exists as his own character by the end. We are just a side character to the main character of Daniel.

There is also a frustrating double standard regarding their ages. Sean is 16, but it feels like the writers scripted him to be 18 or older. He rarely acts like a regular 16-year-old until the pot farm, when he finally just indulges. Naturally, the game frames this negatively because it sets a bad example for Daniel, proving once again that Sean isn't allowed to have any agency of his own.

Honestly, three hours for each episode was too much time. It was unnecessary, like the walking in the desert scene with the trucker who isn't a racist. I would have enjoyed the story far more if Sean could have just ditched the brat with the grandparents and gone off on his own, maybe dealing with the guilt of having abandoned him. Or is it purely that Sean kept Daniel around simply because he had powers?

I chose the route of surrendering with high morality because I wanted a happy ending. Instead, Daniel gets absolutely no punishment, and Sean gets 15 years in prison for an undeserved crime. The reunion in the woods was a brief moment I was glad about, but then it immediately turns depressing again, highlighting Sean's trauma before they just drive off in separate cars. I wish the developers had taken a page out of Detroit: Become Human (or even learned from their own predecessors) and allowed the story to actually branch or end early. Forcing the player into these miserable, railroaded endings is terrible design, and just leaves the player feeling empty, like there's something left, and not with a feeling of closure.

Something I did not find comfortable at all was the constant thematic ripping away of safety. I understand its purpose to emphasise the harsh, unforgiving reality of the brothers' situation. However, understanding the intent doesn't make the execution any less exhausting or repetitive. It felt less like natural storytelling and more like intentional cruelty to the audience, providing a brief haven every single episode only to predictably and cheaply snatch it away:


Episode 1: The home is safe, the plot commences, and they run. This was fine and sad. They find Brody in the end, and the motel safety returns, but then Daniel finds out about their dad and Sean's forced narrative lie.

Episode 2: The cabin. Then, Mushroom is killed for a cheap-shot jab at the player, despite it not even being a choice in reality since she comes with you regardless. At the grandparents' house, their safety returns, then the market cheaply rips it away in a forced cutscene where someone sees Sean.

Episode 3: Forced to run away again to the pot farm. Initially, it seems safe and comradic, then Merrill and the plot walk in, and safety is diminished.

Episode 4: Sean wakes up in the hospital, providing a brief moment of physical safety and medical care, but he is under arrest. After a miserable escape, he finds Daniel at Haven Point, which is presented as a safe sanctuary but quickly devolves into a manipulative cult. Safety is shattered, and they are forced into yet another destructive escape.

Episode 5: They finally reach the wall, only for safety to be removed by personifications of its main messaging, leading to an admittedly good police station scene, only to conclude with a disappointing ending.


All in all, the game forces you to care and then actively wastes your time and emotional investment with a rollercoaster of pointless things that happen. Then it ends, and your choice does nothing (except selecting which happy ending Daniel gets). So, I cannot recommend it.

---After Other Ending and All Tapes--- (The white and pink discs endings)
My thoughts have not changed I was not provided any reason to care for the world, its story or characters and all in all despite a good time killer its a 'nothing burger' of a story. The chainsaw bit I was just staring blankly at like okay this is happening now and then it was over.


---Initial Review--- (key door ending)

After just having completed my first playthrough of Berry Bury Berry (putting in about 6 hours, 169 rounds, and earning over $33 million), I can definitively say that the gameplay loop of throwing ♥♥♥♥ into a hole and watching it grow was oddly addictive. Being able to upgrade and expand felt like an achievement to finally spend MORE money.

Throwing fruit into the ominous hole with that weird star creature looming over was intriguing for the first hour or two. (Having come from the first 20 minutes of the Daz Games video immediately interested in the concept although that may have just been the amusing commentary and ideas suggested make the story more fascinating that in reality it actually came to be.)

But I found the game to be taxing based on the amount of energy I had to push through 'just one more wall'. The wall mechanic was tedious and time wasting, and the walls felt like they should have been twice the size that was actually being broken as to waste more player time.

The key to the "Together" ending was basically capitalism for 5 year olds, and the jumpscare was not scary whatsoever. I was mainly bored waiting for the lecture to be over, very disappointing ending, the game in of itself lacked any true horror. The what feels like anti-capitalist message is so ham stringed on that I do not quite understand who it is meant to appeal to.

I have not found all the tapes and all things yet, I only got 1 of the 4 endings. In conclusion I will update the review once I fully gain all the achievements as while the story hasn't caught my attention like Amanda the Adventurer. It definitely leans into that same kind of VHS style horror and it feels similar with the mascots too, but Amanda actually had a story that kept me hooked instead of just giving me a boring lecture at the end, the story kept me intrigued and while the ONLY reason I am going back for the achievements is because the gameplay loop can be satisfying and a good way to kill some time.

Short and simple, but great fun and good puzzles, entertaining voice acting. Would recommend.

As of version 0.4.4.

For anyone jumping into the new beta branch and reading my earlier gripes about the law enforcement being a tedious nuisance: do not let that deter you. The police system I later found is easily beaten with the smoking the right combination of product (I wish the effects lasted just a little longer.). (Hail Anti-Gravity effect! Makes travelling across the map a breeze and sneaky is a life saver when trying to deliver product with an almost complete disregard for law enforcement while jumping from roof to roof like some druggie god.)

Bypassing the cops using your own custom mixes turns the whole thing into a satisfying achievement rather than a disjointed penalty. Despite the bugs, the core loop is oddly addictive and absolutely worth the investment.

As of version: 0.4.2.

Schedule I is a game that I quite enjoy... as a foundation. In its current early access state, I must admit I didn't anticipate how fun it was actually going to be. If I could have predicted how enjoyable it would be to mix and match random strains of weed and other substances like some kind of illicit pick-and-mix, I would have bought it far sooner. There's something oddly satisfying about the creation of a new mix and stumbling onto a new combination that is worth more, which is quite entertaining.

What kept me hooked beyond the mixing mechanics was the sequential progression. There's a genuine sense of achievement when you've saved enough to buy a new property or business and begin expanding your operation. For some players, the idea of having to rebuy and relocate all your equipment to a new property, reinvest profits, and carefully manage stock levels, including how much your dealers can reliably move, may sound like busywork. But that's precisely where the satisfaction lives. Completing a large sale after carefully managing all the parts feels earned, as a player achievement and not a linear objective marker.

Being in early access, I feel the price is, for the most part, justified as long as you approach it with the mindset that it is still incomplete and has quite a few bugs and some minor oversights. That said, I'm genuinely not sure what the purpose of the law enforcement system is beyond existing as a nuisance. The never-ending wanted system quickly goes from tense to tedious, and the logic behind it is questionable at best.

A bug I experienced which was particularly annoying was waiting at the stop and search when another vehicle proceeded to hit mine, which pushed into an officer (or two, based on the 'you got caught' fee), and immediately triggered wanted dead or alive. Bugs in early access are nothing new and sometimes, much like the initial release of Cyberpunk 2077, they can be hilarious. I had an officer chase me, wanted, straight into my house where all the illegal drugs were, and then charge me based on the contents of my vehicle.

The police/wanted system I feel is disjointed. It acts more like a nuisance or something to waste time avoiding than something actually detrimental or significant. This poorly contrasts against the action-like chase scenes that must be endured before you realise this isn't GTA 6 and they will hunt you for eternity. In my 15 hours of playtime, I got rid of the wanted status once.

For an early access title, Schedule I offers enough of a foundation to justify the investment, and I do intend to keep playing. The core loop is genuinely enjoyable and the progression feels rewarding in a way that suggests the developer has a solid vision for where this is heading. My hopes for future updates would primarily be a meaningful rework of the law enforcement system, something that makes it feel consequential rather than arbitrary, as well as continued expansion of the content available. If the same care that went into the business and progression mechanics is applied to the rougher edges of the game, Schedule I has the potential to be something worth far more than its early access price tag.

From a gameplay perspective, I quite enjoyed the apparently realistic depiction of developing photos. I appreciated that the developers made the intent decision to have the photos develop quickly, respecting the player's time by not bogging the experience down with numerous cutscenes or time-wasting mechanics outside of specific narrative triggers.

The horror elements naturally were shocking, particularly the more obscene moments like Giulia's dead baby and the mirror self-harm sequence. Can't forget the face peeling scene!. Despite the controversy, I felt these depictions were justified, serving purely as a demonstration of the deterioration of Martha's mind.

Martha herself is quite interesting; her cold disposition is intriguing, and the scar in the shadows somewhat hinting toward the developer's other game, The Town of Light, was a detail where Irene's past is exposed at her time (and subsequentially Martha's in the asylum) I appreciated.

However, the immersion is occasionally shattered by frustrating design choices. While the controls are typical for a walking simulator, the camera focus can be a tad annoying. More egregiously, the "White Lady" collection sequence breaks the narrative flow completely, forcing you to go all the way to a grave, back to develop a photo, then back to a grave to pull out a necklace without any prior context that Martha would know its location.

All in all, apart from that incident and another section where you have to follow a stupid crow, it was a good experience. The boat sequence and the meeting with the White Lady were highlights that made the frustration worth it. I would recommend this game 9/10