Recent reviews by ebaynetflix

Good art and acting in a game that just completely falls apart at the end.

The tutorial is a strong game with interesting mechanics and puzzles that hint at a game with strong consequences. The first hour of the first day is also strong, giving you a short term goal with a hard time limit and real consequences.

Everything that follows that is half baked unfortunately. The time mechanic is so poorly managed that I played poorly and still managed to get the good ending while skipping nearly the entire third day. This completely removed any weight the puzzles once hold, because wasted time is the only real consequence. Additionally, the game tries to force every narrative into its research and hypothesis structure, but about half the "mysteries" in the game are things the characters admit openly: The Irish woman wants to bless the well while her younger brother wants to help as both constantly tell all the other guest, but for some reason we can only act on this after extensive questioning and confronting them as if this is a big secret.

The plot also doesn't really lead to anywhere beyond a Wikipedia article lore dump on various mystic beliefs from around the globe. The mystery culminates in a predictable twist that fails to tie its many substories together in a meaningful way.

Game makes heavy use of AI in art and writing despite not disclosing this on Steam as per Valve's policy. This is actual dialogue in the game:

"No, we can't justify this - there's no victory worth such a cost. These experiments - they're destroying what remains of us."
"You know full well, Arthur, that this isn't about victory. It's about survival."

Not just AI, but terrible writing at that. DNF & Have requested a refund.

Grime has enthralling visuals and audio on top of an evocative theme so surreal I'd struggle to try to pin down one specific meaning to the experience. It reminds me of the best weird fantasy stories from China Melville or Clive Barker.

It's mechanics are tried and true copies of other games, similar to how Hollow Knight is composed almost entirely of a hodgepodge of mechanics from the designer's favorite game. Thankfully, the combat and platforming are done well enough I don't mind a little plagarism in this case (the weapon improvements even follow the shard and chunk progression tree).

But this is the first indie game in awhile where its technical limitations show. Objects pop in and out of the foreground consistently as I walk back and forth. Music stops playing mid boss fight, and some bosses have their audio fail to play. Far too frequently I got stuck in geometry. Once I was even killed by a Z axis error that I haven't seen since Mario 64.

If you want an evocative metroidvania, play Grime.
If you want innovative mechanics, this probably isn't the game for you.
If you have a low tolerance for technical jank, I'd avoid entirely.

A really strong puzzle game with a Saturday morning cartoon tier story.

The best coming out story on Steam

I didn't play Final Fantasy growing up; we were poor so I played Legend of Dragoon instead. Other than the one big spoiler everything knows and the faces of the cast, I knew nothing about this game.

The combat has a steep learning curve, and if you don't try to adapt, you're playing a subpar action game. The level up/materia system is also very free. My final Cloud build was a physical damage healer (wish that sword wasn't so ugly); I can't think of a single healer in an RPG that doubles as the primary attacker as well.

The story is well done minus some normal Square Enix issues. Its strongest quality are its cast who are well developed. Sephiorth in particular makes a great villain since he agrees with the party that the world is hurting, but in his nihillistic world view, he'd rather it die a quick death than a slow one; that makes for a strong contrast to Aerith in particular. I related to Cloud more than I thought I would. Cut that stupid cartoon cat though, what the hell was that. . .

My biggest gripe is that from start to finish, you traverse slowly in exclusively industrial environments. This becomes really grading over time, especially compared to other RPGs that often are world trekking affairs. I worry the next game might be the inverse as I explore outdoor environments of green and brown.

Lastly, the side quest and motorcycle sequences were more a slog than a nice change of pace.

Pro-monarchist propaganda. Lore states the the "populist" monarch started a war with a city of royals that lead to genocide. Other countries stepped in, deposed the monarch, and let the people run their own government which caused the government to "become authoritarian." Monarchies are already authoritarian. The events of the game exist as a reason to bring the monarchy back and present those who work to achieve that as sympathetic and good.

Simple but effective horror story about male anger. If you know The Chinese Room, you know what you're getting coming in. Hoping they can continue to improve their craft so that their next game can have a bit more bite to it.

The story pulls its punches, but the overall experience is way smoother than Hades 1. No longer do I dread seeing any of the boons; each God has boons worth taking. I also no longer have to deal with boons as bad as Pos's Legendary Fishing boon. The weapons are also better tuned and there's no weapon I actively avoid.

One of the few works that lets aliens feel truly otherworldly, but ends just as the puzzles start to really heat up. Hoping for a Cocoon 2 that makes full use of this wild mechanic.