Recent reviews by Talreth

Just starting episode 3, and while the game is good and fun, I do think it has issues.

The main thing is that there's a lot of unpolished jank that keeps taking me out of the experience. It's all relatively small things but they add up. Things like:

- Randomly in the same scene a character will have a voice line, then won't, then will.
- Moving along the main path the character weirdly responds to geometry that makes her jitter.
- Some beats during gameplay just don't have good audio feedback
- I read fast and hit A so I can see all dialogue when a character speaks, but dialogue for other characters is dependent on another character's word appearing so that causes all characters to speak at once
- Default keybinds feel really weird to me, and those can only be changed on the main menu and not in-game
- When you're walking, party members take a sec to catch up and then stop until you move away. It creates this awkward loop of them stopping and going at your default speed. Just awkward.

I could keep going as these aren't the only ones. It's all small "whatever" things that don't majorly impact the overall game in a vacuum, but they do become noticeable the more of them pop up.

I'm still hooked enough to see where the story goes, and all the cool variations of rhythm gameplay are fun and interesting. Just wish the minor annoyances didn't keep detracting from what is a fascinating artsy rhythm game.

**Update** After episode 3, I can't recommend Unbeatable. The bugs seriously harm the experience, the pacing is all over the place, and it's just not engaging me how I wanted based on the trailers.

There were two breaking points: both involving cutscenes. The first involved my characters standing in an "empty" stage lamenting how nobody came to their performance. I put "empty" in quotes because the antagonist's sprites had bugged out and were literally standing on top of Beat and Quaver. They teleported to their correct spot when they walked in. It killed the scene.

The other bug was a cathartic moment between Beat and Quaver. A beautifully hand drawn scene, suddenly interrupted by the game's UI popped in when you stand still too long. This caused the following gameplay to be bugged where all my inputs went towards the gameplay AND the UI, which was frustrating as it was a touching moment ruined by yet another bug.

The game is just sloppy, which is a huge shame.

**Update to the Update**
I beat the game, an I'm changing my thoughts back to recommend. There's a lot to love about this game, but there is an undeniable amount of jank. Like a ton. I don't know if its done intentionally, as theres a big theme of growth and accepting oneself and finding beauty in the flaws and what have you. Bob Ross style.

What I think the game does best is it makes you think. At it's core, it is art. Art is messy. It makes you think. It makes me think what I value in a game, in a story, in a game that tells a story. It's like an art gallery piece, you stop and look at it and maybe not even enjoy it, but you stop and think about it nonetheless.

I enjoyed Unbeatable, but a lot about it bothers me. Was it worth the money? Sure, I enjoyed what I got out of it. Do I think a game that costs $28 should be less jank? I do, and just because a game is artsy and visually appealing I don't think it gets a pass. A lot of the jank is heavily detracting and I'm really surprised it got to this state. The jank is SO distracting that it made me leave a negative review previously, which is why I'm leaving it all up. I value that, it bothers me, and I feel it should be said. Hell, saying what I think and being honest about it is something Unbeatable has as a theme.

If you like artsy games, get it. Accept the jank that comes with it, and you'll have a good time.

It's really good. Cool character designs, cool abilities, cool music, great visuals, lots of build variety, interesting worldbuilding.

It's a complete package at $25, executed extremely well.

Biggest criticisms are bugs and jank when using a controller. Targeting enemies uses right joystick which can be awkward. Some menu buttons like the talent trees or map nodes straight up can't be selected with a controller. Both problems easy to fix (get good, use my mouse for a sec)

The amount of times I said "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ this game ♥♥♥♥♥♥ RULES" is extremely high.

Satisfying combos, cool build variety, lots to discover, deep worldbuilding. Extremely worth the money!

This game is as good as the booty is fat.

And the booty is fat.

Holy crap Windblown is amazing

I wanted to leave a recommended review, even though I refunded the game. The truth is that I am dog doo doo at RoA. I was in 1, and that didn't change in 2.

I would still recommend anybody who enjoys the competitive side of platform fighters to give this a try! I had a smooth experience playing the matches I did. The characters felt lively, the controls felt great, and actually hitting a combo felt good when I did. RoA2 would benefit greatly from better training and tutorials, which I know is in the works.

Maybe in the future I will pick this up again, but for now I can't justify the purchase for myself.

I genuinely think this game is perfect. Just try it, and I promise you will enjoy it.

Rambley's performance and animation steal the show.

This is great for early access!

Keep in mind that the core of the gameplay is a survival crafter. You've probably seen other games like it: collect resources in the world so you can craft better technology, which lets you acquire better resources to make better technology, so on the loop goes.

The original part of Palworld is that the Pals are your workers that support your crafting efforts. Some Pals are great at collecting wood, some for cooking, some for fighting, etc.. You're incentivized to explore the world searching for new and better Pals to help with your base and level your player stats. Its a fun system that keeps you going! Complimenting the gameplay is the cuteness of the Pals themselves. It's not fair to simply write Palworld off as a clone of other titles, there is genuine heart to the Pals that makes me want to be in this world.

I hope that the massive successful launch of Palworld means we'll see more content, as the team has struck gold. I can't wait to see where this goes!

This game is stupidly fun and the characters are super cute!