Recent reviews by LBX

RATING PER CATEGORY:

Moon Hunters has just enough novelty to place it above the median roguelite experience, but not enough to make it one of the best. If you enjoy the art style and like the idea of creating a unique personality with each run, this is definitely worth a buy. Just don't expect a life-changing combat experience.

I did not play NieR Automata, so this is a stand-alone review of NieR Replicant as a game. Here are some important things you should know before you buy:

Do Not PLay With Keyboard/Mouse
Although keyboard+mouse is a an option, this game is made solely for controller. Regardless, I played through the whole game without one. Unfortunately, I found that some parts of the game are quite-literally unplayable without a controller (i.e. fishing—trust me, I tried) and combat is far more difficult. You can create custom key-bindings for some actions, but you cannot map to mouse buttons or custom keys. If you want to use a gaming mouse/keypad for this game, you will have to bind custom input methods to standard QWERTY keys outside of the program.

Some of the Worst Puzzles/Decision Making in any RPG
My biggest complaint about this game is that your choices have little-to-no impact on the game (the exact opposite of what most people expect out of an RPG). Despite playing on the hardest difficulty, I would not have had to complete side quests to finish the game. In fact, side quests, farming, and grinding provide very little in return, especially since the most powerful weapons are either obtained in the main story or bought using main-story-acquired gold. Your primary damage to many bosses is dealt—sometimes exclusively—through abilities. These abilities can only be upgraded by obtaining "words", which are released in a predetermined order and based on the number of enemies you kill. There is no spending ability points to max-out certain traits or play to certain strategies. Your only viable strategy will be to spam a single spell (one you learn very early in the game).

As for the "puzzles" given in a few dungeons, all I can say is that they are an insult to dungeon puzzles everywhere. They are tedious, require no thought, and serve only to waste your time.

MY RATING PER CATEGORY:

If you liked NieR Automata, you will probably like this game too. The story is phenomenal, and right on-par with other Square Enix titles (albeit a little short). However, the gameplay falls extremely flat to a point where it feels less like an RPG and more like one big fetch-quest with some hack-and-slash elements sprinkled in here and there. Unless there is a huge sale you can't pass-up, I suggest you save your money. And of course, do not bother playing without a controller.

I would happily pay for this game, but I appreciate that it is free.

If you expect this to be a normal point-and click adventure, you will find the pacing to be a little slow. Instead, approach this solely as a visual novel. The characters are surprisingly 3-dimensional with often heart-braking backstories (this is the afterlife after all and everyone has regrets). Also, most of the decision making is made through dialogue, not by interacting with the environment.

This is a casual, character-focused story with several features that will delightfully surprise you. The only way to "lose" is to end the game early—there are no bad choices.

This game is 100% worth a play.