Recent reviews by Gay Model

A game that brilliantly uses the format of the 'cozy game' genre to tell a story about burnout, intrusive thoughts, and the unpleasant parts of change and recovery. The gameplay is a little clunky in places at least on mouse/keyboard, but not enough to detract from the story, which is phenomenal.

Pathologic is hands down one of the best and most valuable games I've ever played. It's very difficult and ugly and unpleasant, and that is wonderful. The game is deliberately unsatisfying and stressful in nearly every aspect, but it serves a purpose. If Pathologic were not constructed the way it is, the story would not have nearly the same impact, I would argue.

The character you play is one of three doctors, each more exhausted and stressed than the last. What better way to get you into the head of these characters by making the survival mechanics harsh and unforgiving, pitting you against multiple clocks that each need to be sated in increasingly difficult ways? What better way to emphasize that you are a single, helpless person, caught in a struggle much bigger than yourself than to make conversation tense and full of deception?

The game hammers home again and again that the player characters are powerless and so very human. For example, the combat is very good at making you feel helpless. Everything does so much damage and healing it back is very difficult and can't be done mid-fight. Your attacks are slow and animations are random and inconsistent. You have guns, but they're expensive and bullets aren't infinite, so you really don't want to waste them. But it makes sense. You're not Batman, you're a doctor.

The story itself is incredible and complicated, every character has different motivations and goals and morals and all three player characters get to see different sides of them. The writing style is a dense and wordy, sometimes difficult to parse, but again, there's a purpose. I'm sure plenty of nuances were lost in translation, but the English version tells it all well enough for me.

There are a few genuine gripes with the game. It's very janky. I never encountered any game-breaking bugs, most things I encountered were minor, but still annoying. Some mechanics are not communicated very well. It took me far to long to figure out how to buy things. Did you know that you get sent letters and some you absolutely need to read to know what's going on? The game does not tell you this. One of the most frustrating things to me in the game was inventory management as the Haruspex. It was just annoying having to spend so much time depositing excess items constantly, having to plan my routes around stopping to put stuff away. None of these things were a dealbreaker for me, but I can perfectly understand how they would be.

Overall this game is a 10/10 and honestly don't know if I can recommend it. Describing it to people makes them question why I played it at all, to which my answer was always, "The story is really good and the hard parts are a part of it.".
If you do decide to play it and see it through to the end, welcome to hell. I'd recommend James's spoiler free guides to help you through the game.

Hollow Knight is probably my favorite game of all time. The art, music, and gameplay are all incredible, it's incredibly difficult at times but fun enough that you want to get better. The story is deep and complex, the charcters are interesting and charming, and exploring the world is involving and interesting. Honestly I could just gush about this game for hours. Please play it.

one of my friends bought the four pack and gave me a copy and im real glad he did, because ive been playing it nonstop since i got it
its very fun, and filled the need for a game like this after getting bored of the binding of isaac after 700+ hours. the character building system is very easy to understand and very good, the art is cute, the gameplay feels smooth, and the writing is very charming.
the only real complaints i have is that i wish there was more content (more levels, characters, items, etc)

One of the most unique games ive ever played, super fun once you get used to the mechanics. It's a little difficult but it's one of those games that's so much fun you don't really mind.