Recent reviews by Xenon

Amazing remake

Improves on a lot from Persona like the social links always leveling up, meaning you don't have to play with a guide open 24/7. Also the battle system is more complex than Persona and allows for more strategy than just hit "weakness -> baton pass" over and over. Story and voice acting was amazing. Overall a recommend.

To start with some positive things: The writing is funny and the music is really good. If you liked West of Loathing, you'll (probably) like this. However, it feels like a downgrade from WoL in multiple ways.
1. Game still has misable side quests/achievements that require you to start the game over even if you missed the tiniest thing. I forgot to grab an item (cheeze whiz) from the prolongue and I wasn't about to finished the rat side quest. Yes, I missed an item from THE PROLOGUE, before the game even started, and 10 hours later I'm penalized for it. Another example is I killed the crow in Maize Maze and couldn't complete the quest, yet I had no way of knowing not to kill him, nor the fact he wouldn't respawn. In WoL, this was my least favorite thing about the game and I expected them to fix it, but they actually made it worse. WoL also had this but a.) WoL was a waaaay shorter/easier game so reseting didn't feel as bad and b.) Most of the reset achievements could be done quick (buying the horses, etc). In SoL, it is long and tedious.
2. They removed funny walking and replaced it with boots, but funny walking was better because it cycled through multiple walk animations whereas boots are just the same one. On top of that, half of the boots have annoying sound effects constant playing which make you not even want to wear them. This sound like a silly complaint but you walk A LOT during the game so it is clearly noticeable. Game is a sequel that came over 5 years later, yet it feels like a downgrade from the previous system.
3. The map. 6 different maps whereas WoL had every compilled on one map. Obviously SoL is a bigger game but menu navigation felt more annoying because I had to cycle through all the maps. Even if I just wanted to view the map for a certain area, you have to go to the area then open the map.
4. Puzzle difficulty. In WoL I looked at a guide maybe a handful of times to check the solution for a puzzle, but in SoL, cursed puzzles feel unsolvable without using a guide. In WoL when I checked a guide, it was usually "ah that makes sense", whereas in SoL it was "how on earth was I supposed to figure that out?"
5. The locations are boring. A forrest, a swamp, a gray countryside, and abandoned government buildings. The only interesting location was the college. Maybe it was intentional to set a tone for the game but it just made the environment feel boring compared to WoL.
6. Game is more grindy compared to WoL. In SoL, there are sooo many stat checks that just require grinding to get your stats up, or get XP to level up the elemental armor through the books. On top of that, combat is a lot more harder compared to WoL which means you gotta grind a bit for XP. This isn't a problem in itself, but combined with the miseable achievements and the game expecting you to reset if you make a mistake or miss something, then if makes the game unnecesarily longer/harder/unfun when you do have to reset.
7. Alien language was more fun to learn than hobo code. Hobo code just felt like another stat check whereas alien language felt like a puzzle where each word was being plugged into the right spot. This is just a small example, yet WoL came out 5 years before SoL, so you naturally expect SoL to improve on things, yet it feels like it regresses instead.

If you like those quests in Zelda where you find an item then use it at a later point, or get an item and go back to a previous area, then this is the game for you.

Game is amazing, if you liked Skyrim, you'll like this. It's more or less like Skyrim except your character can speak an the story/characters are way better. Only downsides are lack of factions like in Skyrim, and no stealth mechanics (you can't even crouch lol). The final mission is also super rushed but everything up until then is an 11/10 .

The games are good. The port is bad.
I played through the first game, so many audio bugs and random crashes. The game crashed SEVERAL times but I powered through it. However, I went to the second game, CoM, and the final boss fight is literally unbeatable due to the crashing. He has 2 phases, and when you beat the 1st phase, and it loads into the second, it crashes. I have beaten his first phase 3 times and it crashes every single time.
Like I said, the games are good. Get them on PS4 if you can.

Monkey brain see big number and neurons activate.

Fantastic mystery game from the creator of Papers, Please. It is not easy, but it is satisfying when you solve the fates correctly. The graphics are a bit ugly, but if you look past that, then you have an amazing story and one of the most challenging games Steam has to offer.

2>1>3 imo but this game is still amazing.

tic tac spacemen