Recent reviews by squirrelbaffler

I don't usually write reviews, in general. UNBEATABLE deserves it. A team that cares as much about their game as D-CELL cares about UNBEATABLE deserves my few minutes writing my thoughts.

First, let's talk about the rhythm part of this rhythm game. I have less to say here - it's a game with quirks and opinions, and I don't agree with them all. Left-and-right note streams are fine, if a little disorienting, only 2 buttons for those is weird, and has thrown me off quite often. Different note directions between "normal" mode and "beat cops" mode is confusing when they're interspersed. The driving game is a little hard to parse at times. On the upside, the hit effects are sublime - when the flow gets going, they add to the soundtrack like you're clapping along at a concert. On that note, the *soundtrack*, wow. This was the reason I was interested in the game in the first place, I cared only a little for the plot concept, character design, vibe, whatever, this soundtrack *rocks* and I needed it. If any of the trailers pulled you in, trust me, it gets better.

But that's all in Arcade mode. There's also a story mode, and that's even more janky and opinionated, and so full of passion for music and art and expression. I played through the game on Ubuntu 25.10, which is pretty much entirely unsupported, and it only broke a few times, which is respectable. It's also full of design flaws: it's hard to identify what is interactable, the camera fights you at the best of times, and the stylization often makes it difficult to determine what's happening in the minigames. The speech system is a standout when it works, truly effective in natural conversation where characters talk over one another. But all of that aside, I need to echo what the voice of Treble said in his video: If you buy this game, you *must* finish the story mode. I won't get into spoilers, but I'll say this game made me cry, and then made me have to play a rhythm game while crying, which was mean when I couldn't easily see the notes. It might not connect with you, it might not be for you, but if you're like me, this game will speak more closely to how you feel about art and expression and music in a way that no other media piece has ever done.

11/10 and that's counting when the game crashed trying to play the end credits, while I was still taking in the final pieces.

Very cool detective geoguessr-style game. Progression is solid, starts off maybe a bit too easy but ramps up into something worthwhile. I had to lean on 1 or 2 hints when I convinced myself something was true, when it actually wasn't. Looking forward to this getting much more fleshed out, it's got excellent bones!