Recent reviews by 8Res

Hades 2 is to Hades 1 as Silksong is to Hollow Knight, in that it took an overall overhyped game of its genre and made it rise up to the standards people implied the original was. Hades was bland and busted even compared to Isaac, but this one's genuinely a great Roguelite.

It learns from the predecessor's mistakes, expands upon mechanics that existed already, included more weapon types, build options, and boons that aren't as afraid to fail if it mean making fun emergent gameplay, and finally, admittedly, more appealing characters and artstyle.

My only gripe is, generally, I miss Zagreus.

This one's a real metroidvania boys

I might like this video game

I completed this game without a guide, and it strikes a fair balance compared to mods like Mel or Reloaded in terms of difficulty. If you want to get into portal mods or map packs with significant difficulty attached to them, I think Revolution is a great way to put your first leg forward. Notably, the single-portal chambers are the first I've seen that aren't perfunctory tutorial/de-rusting chambers.
In terms of story, I'm hard to impress, but the game is literally free. You have to be actively revolting to turn me off when the gameplay is fantastic. My only gripe is that the final level could have brought more back than it did, and the build-up during the final level is a tad rushed.
But it's not about the destination, right? It's about the journey, and what a journey it is.

I've been waiting since the demo to call this game peak

I got this game thinking it'd be a nicer roguelite with some cult sim elements. What I got instead was a great cult sim with a completely un-noteworthy roguelite. These things don't clash, but I derived a lot more fun from managing the cult's happiness and making it super efficient and pretty, rather than the roguelike combat gameplay that felt generic. (the health system is literally Rebirth Isaac's. C'mon now.)

If you buy this game, buy it for the cult sim and the story, not the roguelite.

Marble Blast Ultra/Gold for the modern generation with all that implies. You should be aware, however, that there are more modern design philosophies, such as daily login/run bonuses and bright flashy popups. Even with that, it nails its goal as a Marble Blast spiritual sequel square on the head. Those who loved the original can probably look aside the modern sensibilities and enjoy this game too.
I personally got this game before the ultra update, and I'd say it's still worth that price point. Snag it on sale, it's definitely worth 20 freedom dollars.

More proper review later - in short, unique enemies (I gotta hand it to them), fun secrets to crawl into, and satisfying weapons (finally, a superweapon that has the same feeling as Doom's BFG), weakest part is the environments blending together during the middle and a couple gotcha moments throughout the game that didn't feel satisfying to be gotcha'd by. It's those shovelware 2000's FPS games, but good.

This is a very fun autoshooter with a large variety of characters to choose from and fun progression. It is also free, which is a huge boon.
However, this comes with a major drawback: Specificity. This is a love-letter to a company of virtual streamers on youtube, and there are a million references back and forth and down and up.
If you are anime, or more specifically, vtuber-adverse, then your life is better spent on another game. That's the only thing that could really turn anybody away. As well, you'd enjoy this game a LOT more as a fan of these streamers. If one interests you, watch them, come back, and enjoy the game more by picking up their little references.
Also, you can aim attacks. That makes it infinitely better than Vampire Survivors by a million trillion for me.

This fan-game is one of the must-gets for Touhou fans, though I hear that there's a sector of Diner Dash fans that enjoy this game as well? Whatever the case may be, the gameplay loop is one of the best I've experienced, the atmosphere is that perfect mix of "it feels super comfy, but you can tell the chef is panicking in the back of the kitchen".

I do lament that the partner system didn't gel with me. Being vague-ish, Yellow is an active hindrance and I never felt like I used Red if I was doing my job. As well, cash started to lose meaning entirely once I was able to buy out every vendor and still profit in a day on average, so you'll miss your debt to reign in your spending habits soon enough. However, Those are minor gripes about a game with addicting gameplay, comfy music that saves the experience from feeling stressful (most of the time), excellent dialogue, absolutely adorable pixel art, and nods to canon all over the place. (Though, I didn't expect a certain character to show up, given her canonicity?!)

If you're someone who loved Diner Dash and can handle a bit of weeb, or are an avid touhou fan looking for fangames to play, Buy this game and the DLCs.