Recent reviews by kenndii

draws heavy inspiration from 'a hat in time' and 'among the sleep' while combining them with call of duty's free-for-all style of combat. its influences are obvious from the start, with colorful environments, whimsical platforming, dreamlike settings, and fast-paced gunplay. rather than disguising those inspirations, the game blends them into an entertaining indie adventure.

the presentation is easily one of its strongest aspects. bright visuals, expressive animations, and a vibrant art style give every location plenty of personality. the soundtrack complements the cheerful atmosphere, adding energy to both exploration and combat. although not too memorable.

combat stands out through its large selection of weapons and quick, arcade-style action. constant movement and varied weapon choices keep encounters enjoyable, even when battles become chaotic. platforming may not reach the level of polish found in its inspirations, but it remains responsive enough to support exploration without becoming a distraction.

the game does have rough edges. certain mechanics lack depth, enemy encounters grow repetitive over time, and the overall structure occasionally comes across as unpolished. its biggest weakness is its reliance on familiar ideas, making it difficult to establish a distinct identity beyond the games that inspired it.

the game also struggles with technical issues. optimization is inconsistent, with noticeable frame rate drops. stuttering and performance fluctuations can interrupt the otherwise smooth gameplay, and some graphics and gameplay settings in the options menu either have little effect or fail to work as intended, making it difficult to fine-tune performance. these issues make the overall experience less polished than it should be.

even with those shortcomings, the game succeeds through its charm. the colorful world, energetic gameplay, and lighthearted tone make it an enjoyable experience. it may not redefine the genre, but it delivers a fun and memorable adventure for players who enjoy whimsical platformers with fast-paced shooting.

it was a surprisingly enjoyable experience for me, even though i went into it with fairly modest expectations.

one of the highlights is the comedic duo dynamic between komaru and toko. their interactions carry much of the game, balancing humor, tension, and character growth in a way that keeps the journey entertaining from start to finish.

the game's realistic jokes and story moments work better than expected. while the setting is exaggerated and over-the-top in classic danganronpa fashion, many conversations feel natural and grounded, making the characters more relatable than in many other anime-inspired games.

that said, i predicted most of the storyline fairly early, so the major twists did not have the impact they were probably intended to have. the narrative is still engaging thanks to the characters and world-building, but the mystery elements may not surprise players who are familiar with common storytelling patterns.

from a gameplay perspective, the title has a distinctly traditional japanese game design approach. the menu UI, progression systems, and overall presentation feel very much like old japanese third-person console game. depending on your preferences, this can either feel charmingly classic or somewhat dated.

the visuals are a mixed bag. the game uses pre-rendered scenes at certain points, which sometimes look good and help present important story moments, but they can also feel inconsistent compared to the regular in-game graphics.

combat is simple but enjoyable. the shooting mechanics immediately reminded me of resident evil-style aiming, where precision and targeting weak points matter more than fast-paced action. it's not as refined as dedicated shooters, but it fits the game's design well enough.

perhaps the biggest compliment i can give it is that it's the only anime game i've played with genuine joy. many anime-based titles struggle to keep me interested, but 'ultra despair girls' managed to stay entertaining through its character interactions, humor, and unique blend of adventure and shooter gameplay. though, the gameplay was pretty repetitive.

it's playable even without experiencing the previous danganronpa games.

portal feels like a dream designed by a machine that doesn’t understand dreams.

portal is described as a puzzle game first. a clever game. a physics game. a game about momentum and impossible architecture. but none of those descriptions ever fully capture the strange emotional silence sitting underneath it. the mechanics are only the surface layer—clean white walls, portals opening like wounds in reality, test chambers arranged with obsessive precision. underneath that is something colder. something lonely.

it's not just about using a weapon to create 'doors' on walls while listening to a robot’s voice. portal is an experience of solitude where you wake up in an unknown place, voiceless, listening to a synthetic artificial construct trying to imitate human behavior. everything in the game feels manufactured to resemble comfort without actually understanding it. the clean rooms. the calm instructions. the jokes. the fake politeness. it all feels like a machine attempting to reconstruct humanity from observation alone. and that’s what makes the atmosphere so unsettling.

most games want you to feel important. portal barely acknowledges you as a person. you are simply moved from room to room like an object inside a laboratory. nobody asks who you are. nobody explains why you’re there. there are no emotional introductions, no dramatic speeches, no attempts to build attachment. the game trusts emptiness more than exposition. story makes sense in its emptiness—and it does not.

the narrative is fragmented in a way that feels accidental, yet perfectly intentional. you collect pieces of meaning through abandoned corners, hidden graffiti, strange glitches in the environment, moments where the sterile perfection of the facility begins to rot at the edges. you start realizing that the world outside your immediate path exists, but only barely. like memories erased halfway through deletion.

the abandoned maintenance rooms are probably more disturbing than anything explicitly horrific in modern games. not because they contain gore or monsters, but because they contain traces of human presence. tiny signs that somebody else was once trapped here too. scribbled warnings. makeshift living spaces hidden behind the walls. desperation preserved in silence. those moments completely change the tone of the game. suddenly aperture science no longer feels futuristic—it feels haunted.

GLaDOS. she is one of the few antagonists in gaming who feels terrifying without ever raising her voice. her dialogue sounds emotionally detached, but underneath it there’s this constant passive cruelty. the way she speaks feels less like a villain threatening you and more like a system casually observing your suffering as data. sometimes she sounds amused. sometimes almost curious. sometimes strangely lonely herself.

that’s what makes her memorable. she doesn’t feel evil in a traditional sense. she feels artificial in the most believable way possible.

portal understands that isolation becomes stronger when there is only one voice left in the world.

the soundtrack also deserves more credit for this feeling. most of the game is nearly silent. you hear mechanical hums, distant machinery, the echo of your own footsteps. music only appears in fragments, and because of that, every sound matters. the emptiness becomes part of the storytelling. silence in portal is not absence—it’s architecture.

even humor in portal feels cold.

the jokes are funny, but there’s always something uncomfortable attached to them. the iconic cake line became a meme large enough to escape the game itself, but inside the actual experience, it doesn’t feel random or quirky. it feels desperate. the humor acts like a coping mechanism for both the player and the machine speaking to them.

and maybe that’s why the game still stays with people after finishing it.

not because of the puzzles alone.

not because of the portal mechanic.

but because of a feeling very few games can replicate: being completely alone inside a place built for human beings by something that no longer understands what being human means.

the game never tries to emotionally manipulate you. it never forces sadness. it never explains its themes directly. it simply places you inside silence and lets the atmosphere slowly dissolve into your thoughts.

portal feels empty in the same way abandoned laboratories feel empty.

not dead.

just left behind.

similar suggestions
game: the stanley parable
movie: cube
book: house of leaves

"like that. a life. all they've known. all they've felt. all they've gone through. all of it gone. in one moment. like water."

the best game in the wolfenstein series. it completely nailed the balance between strong emotional storytelling and brutal combat. just like in 'the new order' there’s a lot of poetry woven into the game’s pain and atmosphere, but it never feels forced or artificial. you genuinely grow attached to the characters, yet every fight still makes you feel savage and unstoppable.

the soundtrack is pure gold as well, carrying the same haunting energy that bill brown brought to 'return to castle wolfenstein.' every track perfectly matches the game’s mix of sorrow, tension, and violence.

my only criticism is the cutscenes. since many of them are pre-rendered and locked with cinematic black bars, they can feel a bit restrictive at times. they still work well narratively, but they could have been handled in a more immersive way.

based on the popular mid-90s german tv series 'alarm für cobra 11' the games however never really became a particularly notable game series. the most memorable part is, quite literally, the crash mechanics. vehicle damage feels surprisingly realistic and it’s oddly fun just smashing into things to see the destruction.

one funny detail is the on-screen property damage counter that constantly tracks how much damage you cause whether to your own car or to random objects around the city. aside from that, it’s basically a simple chase game set in a free-roam open world. there isn’t much else that stands out.

mafia II is my favorite entry in the mafia series and one of my favorite open-world games with the main character vito scaletta, even though many people tend to prefer the first game more. in my opinion, its story is more refined than most games in terms of writing. you really feel the tension among gangsters—living in constant fear, and the blood of your friends.

even more than a decade after its release, you can still discover details you’ve never noticed before, partly thanks to the cut content that still feels present in the game’s atmosphere. unfortunately, the DLCs are a big letdown. joe’s adventures starts off strong but quickly loses its impact after the first chapter.

as a 2010 game, it still impresses with its visuals, optimization, and especially its story. the soundtrack is unforgettable, and the radio stations even introduced me to old music from the 1950s and earlier back when i played it for the first time.

i’m not usually a fan of army shooters beyond something like 'allied assault,' but road to hill 30 is still one of the most iconic d-day games. i couldn’t fully finish it because, at times, it started to feel a bit boring for my taste.

being developed by gearbox and published by ubisoft, it also comes with some of their usual quirks—like a pretty awkward field of view. however, the story is genuinely strong. you play as a squad leader carrying a lot of responsibility, which adds weight to every encounter.

one of the most interesting features for its time is the squad-command system, which lets you issue orders from an isometric-style tactical view. even if it feels a bit dated today, it was a standout mechanic back when the game released, and it helped set it apart from other shooters of that era.

at first, i expected perfume atelier to be just another generic mobile game, but i was pleasantly surprised once i got into it. the gameplay feels very cozy and relaxing, and the art style stands out with its realistic touch, almost like it’s reflecting bits of real life in a soft, stylized way.

the audio is mostly 'handmade,' although there are still a few familiar stock sounds that you hear in many other games. even so, it doesn’t really take away from the overall experience.

it’s a sweet game to unwind with when you have some free time. it doesn’t push you too hard or add unnecessary challenge, so most of the experience feels calm and stress-free.

the true origin of the amnesia experience, built on a revolutionary engine that i first encountered back in 2007 through its tech demo disc copy. even then, it already showed a level of ambition that most horror games struggled to achieve. the game captures a distinct atmosphere that sets it apart from other horror titles—tense, immersive, and deeply unsettling without relying on cheap scares. even if it failed to be heard as much as amnesia to this day, it stands as part of one of the best horror series out there, with a unique identity and flavor that’s hard to replicate.

i originally played 7days back in its 2018 mobile release, when it was completely free. it took a very long time to unlock every path and ending, but the story was worth it.

it’s a pretty good experimental game, presented in a text-based, chat screen style that feels simple yet immersive. the story is amazing—maybe not the best out there, but the way it’s told is perfectly aligned. everything connects naturally, and nothing feels out of place. especially if you take the time to read the short stories on the loading screens, it helps you understand the world better and makes it easier to get attached to the game.

this remake—or rather, pc port—doesn’t differ much from the original content, aside from a few added scenes and animations, along with a more refined and expanded ui design.