Recent reviews by Shortbread Head

I want to love this game because it's beautiful, the soundtrack is great, the systems are all great and the art is outstanding but as it currently stands I cannot recommend it.

The control scheme when using a controller is absolutely horrendous, which also makes playing on the steam deck, which should be perfect (since it runs so well on it) an unplayable disaster. So I'll explain all the problems with it that I've encountered so far as it's not just one thing, it's more or less everything.

-There is no world in which navigating the menus should be done with the analogue stick, the d pad is what should be switched to automatically but instead I'm having to flick the stick over and over just to move, you can't even hold the stick in a direction to continuously move through options or items, so you're going to get fatigue from that alone.

-the mini games for cooking do not work right at all, when it tells you to press the directional buttons it doesn't work, you, again, have to use the analog stick and sometimes this actually makes it impossible to do. In fact even if the one mini game that is similar to Friday night funkin was moved to the d pad it would still be unplayable as some of them ask you to press both left and right at the exact same time and such, anyone who knows how controls work know that this is not how controllers work. I can understand that on keyboard is would be easy to press A and D at the same time but without adapting the mini game to recognise when it's a controller being used (which it is, as it's showing to use d pad buttons, not wasd, which is again not what it actually wants you to press) it will not function.

-Hunting is not possible. It claims that it wants you to hold R2 but it doesn't, it wants you to hold A to charge a shot, it wants you to do this while also moving around with the left analog stick and aiming with the right analog stick continuously micro adjusting. I do not have 3 arms and I don't want to crab claw every game I play. A simple solution would be to, well first of all make sure the controls it's asking you to press are correct in the first place and second, offering a lock on system similar to dark souls, where clicking the right stick locks on to the nearest target and flicking the stick in the direction of another target switches the lock on.

-Navigating sub menus in any context does not work right and I feel that it may be a result of the navigation being forced to the analog stick yet again. If I am in the skill menu and trying to go left to choose a different category that is a challenge itself, "left doesn't work, oh wait up worked, no.. no wait now I'm back in this skill tree and up isn't moving me back out, I know, I'll press B. Ah ha that worked, now I'll just flick down to choose that other category aaaand I'm back in this skill tree". It shouldn't be this difficult to leave a menu and choose something else.
It is also the same when viewing side quests in the notice board. Trying to switch between them is so difficult and trying to go UP to the close button you can almost forget about, it's also so easy to accidentally select the wrong quest because the default settings of the game has zero deadline and no way to change it, so I could finally get over the the one I want, press to accept it but before I've realised, it has flicked back left and selected that mission as I've released the analog stick. Seriously it needs to be possible to navigate menus with the d pad, because if you think all of that sounds bad.. imagine what it's like when it asks you to use the in game keyboard to write something...

Those are the main issues with controlling the game and they are genuinely enough to make the game impossible to play. There are other problems that could be addressed too, such as:

-having the option to select an empty slot in my tool bar so you don't accidentally swing a tool when you're trying to talk to someone as you weren't in the exact pixel perfect spot it demanded of you causing you to lose stamina

-not being able to talk to NPCs from any angle except directly in front of them in that very tiny spot,

-the lack of distinction between what you are currently hovering over in the menu in general, it needs some changes to show you're definitely hilighting something. This is an issue for many reasons, especially since you can't undo any choices like skill selection, quest selection and you aren't even asked "are you sure you want to quit?" If you accidentally press that. All it needs is a white border around it and for the colour to become saturated, currently it only becomes ever so slightly duller, and I mean slightly.

-The lack of zero accessibility controls for anyone who needs them, if it's hard for me to deal with some of these things I can only imagine someone who is colour blind just taking one look and never touching the game again.

-Having tools that you acquire be automatically be added to the toolbar would be extremely helpful and doesn't make sense why they don't already do that. Going back to what I said about being able to select an empty slot, why not just make it so that a button "sheaths"/equips the tool you are hovering over, it would save a lot of trouble and prevent issues if the bar is ever full of tools.


So yeah sadly I cannot recommend this to anyone in its current state as much as I would like to. Hopefully all of these issues will be addressed since even though the controller issues are definitely more of a major issue, the other issues are still major issues that make the game unplayable.

Between this and berry bury berry I have been LOVING this trend of taking incremental games and actually making them interesting and fun with more to them than just "make number go up".

I'd love to see more added to this game in the future but I love what there is here right now albeit a bit slow to start. It did take me a while to really get into the swing of things but I think that's my bad for not looking at how I could move forward.. that's the best I can say without ruining anything game related.

The only gripe I have is that I wish the dungeon section was ACTUALLY dungeon crawling, although I'm not really sure how that could be implemented with the way the game is because it would have to be retooled completely to allow for equipment within dungeons (although I guess that could be a thing if the equipment was temporary for that run to add to the randomness and roguelike-ness of that aspect of the game).

I bought this game 4.5 hours ago, I couldn't put it down the whole time. So I hope that at least says SOMETHING about the game.

The atmosphere is mint, I want more of this please

It's great to both play and have running as the most relaxing thing in the background ever.

The name of the game literally says it all, you can either choose to manually cast or you can chill. You can do both at the same time.

The art is amazing, the vibes are immaculate and all I want is more

This is where mixed would definitely be a great option to choose because I DO recommend this but I can't as it regularly stands. Yes it's a great pack to get, almost necessary but not at full price. Do not buy this at full price.

I hope they realise that people DO want this and would buy to support the games but they're just far too expensive.

Free=good

This is a fun little game, I was surprised when it got updates with more content considering it's free! It deserves the love! I hope it gets its profile features limited tag removed some day!

I rarely review games but this game has a chokehold on me. It's not easy to pick up and put down, because it isn't easy to put down at all!

The art, the music, the gameplay loop, the tone and the gear are all fantastic.

Don't buy this if you want to get things done, do buy it you want a game that is amazing

Was worth the wait, love the difficulty increase

Still holds up to this day and I find that I prefer it to the remake because there were things done better in some regards, like the scene setting, the credible world design and clever interweaving of tutorials where they managed to hide them in plain sight.

The facial expressions are so good and perfectly display the intended emotion, and I feel that this version of the game managed to better blend the lighthearted and serious moments far better.
This is why it was released so many times before a remaster was even talked about, it didn't seem to need to be, much like Resident Evil 1 and the gamecube version, changing things can change everything.

Some of the negatives I have about this version are easily fixed with some mods, and some mods are recommended for the best experience, such as re4hd. However the two things I still struggle to get a feel for are related to the controls

• The awkward tank controls not being something I ever liked are something that I think I could come to get used to if it weren't for how sluggish it is overall with no way to really speed this up or resolve it. I don't think anything would be lost in the experience if modern movement controls were somehow an option for this version, and I think even then it could still be retained. If the controls were modernised for movement out of combat but when in combat they became stiff and close to how they are at the moment (with a slight speed boost as mentioned before) I feel like this could work as it would suggest tension and stress, keeping the intended claustrophobic panic and feeling of fear. This is just my thoughts on it though
  
• The other issue I have is more so related to the fact that I think the controls for aiming weapons on the Wii were incredible, so there's not an all around fix that could translate this to the PC version, but I do think it could be emulated if gyro controls could be used for aiming if a controller that supports this was being used. Most games that support this don't make it a mandatory method of aiming which is for the best considering those who don't enjoy it, but for precise aiming there is nothing like it.

Like I said, these issues are really just personal but I do truly think adding the ability to have these choices, more so the second would enhance the experience dramatically.

Regardless, this game is one I would recommend to everyone as an absolute must play during your lifetime. Don't skip it for the remake or if you have already played the remake still don't skip it!

Nothing like running around collecting an item to collect another item to collect another item.

Aside from that the game also feels like it is still in early access, the options menu is an absolute disgrace, the pacing isn't "calm", it is slow and stretched out to the point of enhancing your boredom.

I will never recommend this, it might be beautiful to look at but that's it. If you enjoy being an errand boy then go for it, but that is ALL it is