Recent reviews by bubbles

“I’m glad I made it out… I just didn’t want to leave.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

9/10 – ✅ Highly recommend: A survival game built around real exploration and discovery—no hand-holding, just you learning the world piece by piece, and getting completely pulled into it.

Subnautica’s is executed in a way that is truly special, an all-time classic. There are no quest markers telling you exactly where to go, so progress comes from paying attention, following clues, and pushing into places you’re not ready for. It can be frustrating when you’re trying to find something specific, but it also makes every discovery feel earned. The story is mostly told through the environment and logs, and while it stays in the background, it builds into something that actually lands emotionally by the end.

What Works:

• Exploration → you’re not guided, you figure things out, which makes every new area feel meaningful
• World design → completely disorienting at first, but over time you build a mental map of the world that makes it feel familiar (except for the leviathans… never those)
• Atmosphere → calm one minute, terrifying the next, especially when you realize how far from safety you are
• Base building → gives you a real sense of safety and routine in an otherwise hostile world
• Story → subtle and easy to miss, but taking the time to read the logs really makes the game so much better

What Doesn’t:

• Navigation → finding specific locations can be frustrating, even when you know what you’re looking for
• Lack of direction → rewarding overall, but can slow the game down when you’re stuck
• Bugs → mostly small, but noticeable enough to be annoying at times

There were plenty of moments where I was just swimming around trying to find one thing and getting nowhere, and it genuinely got on my nerves. But every other aspect of the game made up for all the frustration. It's worth the struggle. Looking back, those moments are part of what made the world feel real and not just designed around the player.

100% Experience:
Nothing special, but because all the achievements are tied to story progression, I can't complain. Beating the game will net you 99% of the achievements.

Overall:
A game that makes leaving feel like an accomplishment and a loss at the same time.
One of those rare experiences that sticks with you long after you’re done.

“A survival game that actually respects your time.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

9/10 -✅ Highly recommend: One of the most satisfying survival crafting games I’ve played in a long time, with great progression, smart design, and a strong SCP-like atmosphere.

Abiotic Factor balances its story and survival elements really well; explore, unlock, upgrade, repeat - and it stays satisfying the whole way through. The story is solid and surprisingly poignant at times, but never shoved in your face. Most of it comes through environmental storytelling, which keeps things engaging without pulling you out of the gameplay.

What Works:

• Level design → areas loop back on themselves, making exploration feel rewarding

• Progression → constantly unlocking new gear and paths keeps things fresh

• Base building → simple but enough to make your space feel personal

• Atmosphere → cozy but eerie, with some good chuckles

• Characters & voice acting → natural, a bit goofy, and full of personality

• Music → nothing crazy, but a solid supplement that only adds to the vibe

• Survival systems → hunger, thirst, and other effects are present but never overbearing (even having to poop is easy to manage)

What Doesn’t:

• Late game balance → feels off, at least in solo

• Reactor sections → wave-based parts (gale reactor) are not fun in solo

• Final boss → comes in a bit suddenly and lacks buildup

• Build variety → some gear and playstyles clearly outperform others

• Performance → some lag spikes here and there, consistent in the areas they happen (labs..)

100% Experience:
One of my favorite 100% completions. Not grindy, just fully experiencing the major game elements.

Overall:
A super satisfying survival game with a great gameplay loop and strong identity.
The last stretch isn’t perfect, but the rest of the game more than makes up for it.

“A masterpiece. Simple as that.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

10/10 – ✅ Highly recommend: One of the best games I’ve ever played, with a story that actually sticks with you, memorable boss fights, and gameplay that still holds up.

Metal Gear Solid 3 blends stealth, survival, and story in a way that stays engaging the whole time; the pacing is tight and never drags or feels rushed. The story is the main draw—it builds naturally, has real emotional weight, and actually lands by the end.

What Works:

• Story & writing → builds naturally, stays engaging, and has a payoff that hits

• Boss fights → each one feels unique and forces you to change how you play

• Gameplay → stealth and survival systems give you multiple ways to approach situations

• Level design → large, open jungle areas let you sneak, avoid fights, or set up ambushes… or yknow, mass murder

• Music → paul allen’s card type of perfect

• Voice acting → immaculate, serious when it needs to be but also intentionally silly at times

• Visuals → looks better than it ever has

What Doesn’t:

• Movement & camera → feel kinda stiff compared to modern third person games

100% Experience:
Very satisfying to complete. Encourages trying unique ways of playing the game.

Overall:
An all-time great that still plays well and delivers where it matters.
If you’ve never played it, this is an easy place to start.

“A fun island adventure held back by rough edges.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

6/10 – ⚠️ Recommended with caveats: A solid survival/exploration game with satisfying progression and great quality-of-life features, but held back by performance issues and a frustrating endgame.

Lens Island is at its best when you’re exploring and progressing. The core loop works well; explore, gather, upgrade - and it stays engaging for most of the game. Progression gives you clear upgrades that make you stronger and open up new areas, and the overall length feels right without dragging things out. The quality-of-life features are a big standout; they make everything smoother and are a big reason the game stays enjoyable.

What Works:

• Gameplay loop → explore, gather, and upgrade - feels satisfying throughout

• Progression → upgrades noticeably improve your strength (until the final dungeon) and open new areas to explore

• Exploration → moving across the islands feels good and naturally leads you to new resources and locations

• Quality of life → qol systems remove a lot of the usual survival game friction and make everything feel smoother

• Pacing → reaches a natural stopping point without overstaying its welcome

What Doesn’t:

• Performance → frequent lag even on a high-end PC, specifically during normal play

• Story → doesn’t build any real attachment or reason to care about what’s happening

• Endgame difficulty → spikes hard out of nowhere and turns into a slog even with the best gear

• Music → forgettable, nothing really stands out

100% Experience:
Good overall. Unlocking everything is satisfying, but the repeated dungeon clears and 10 blackjacks requirement are pretty lame.

Overall:
A fun game if you like the idea of an ARPG, open-world, survival game, with really nice QOL features
that being said, very rough around the edges; not something I’d recommend to everyone.

“Looks great, but lacks identity"
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ - 6/10

I really wanted to love RE9, but it just didn’t land for me. The graphics are incredible, the environments look fantastic, and the voice acting is strong. Plus Leon is in the game I mean come on. But outside of the presentation, the experience never really came together.

My biggest issues are pacing and progression. Unlocking new weapons and upgrades rarely feels satisfying, and the areas don’t feel interconnected the way they do in RE2. The one place that came close was the Chronic Care Center, which was a really cool area - but you’re only there briefly, and even the surrounding areas feel disconnected from the facility itself.

The constant switching between Leon and Grace hurts the flow. It doesn’t feel like meaningful variety - it just prevents either gameplay style from feeling fleshed out. Grace’s upgrades feel bland, and switching back to Leon makes progression feel awkward and uneven. Grace herself is poorly written: she’s an FBI agent who struggles to communicate, rarely uses strategy, and spends most of her time panicking or whimpering. She comes off like another damsel-in-distress, which made her sections frustrating.

The bosses look cool but are underwhelming and extremely easy, so few encounters ever feel memorable.

On top of everything else, the performance is unacceptable. Consistent lag spikes every minute or so even on a high end PC - there's no excuse for that in a AAA release.

I tried so hard to like the game, but I just couldn't. I’m glad others love it. I know I'm in the minority, but that's fine by me.

I really feel like they dropped the ball - this isn’t a masterpiece; it’s just a decent Resident Evil. I'm so disappointed. It just doesn't compare to RE2 and RE4.

The only reason I'm not recommending the game is because I don't think this game deserves overwhelmingly positive (my negative review wont change much). This is all my opinion, if you don't like it then go read the other thousands of positive reviews lol.

First playthrough is good — fast, chaotic, fun. Then you go for the A+ grades and realize the achievements completely destroy everything that made the game enjoyable in the first place. Instead of rewarding you for experiencing the game, they punish you for not playing it in one specific optimal way. Enemies that are supposedly predictable do whatever they want, input delays decide whether you live or die. Fun game, achievement design that actively makes you hate it.

Developers need to put more effort into making their achievements actually enjoyable to 100%.

I'm not recommending it because it made me want to dig a 6' hole. Also its overrated in my opinion. That being said, for one playthrough its fun.

“Just as good as everyone says, if not better.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ - 9/10

I put about 50 hours into Dave the Diver and had a blast almost the entire time. The game is adorable, from Duff’s ridiculous animations to Bancho’s dramatic sushi cuts. The story is genuinely good, and there’s just so much to do - fishing, farming, managing the restaurant, diving roguelike-style, even gambling. There’s almost too much content, but it never really becomes a problem.

Achievement hunting was fun, though the Gyao! minigame was painfully tedious. Still, getting 100% was fun and satisfying. The music is such a vibe. It shifts from chill to upbeat in all the right moments and just makes everything feel alive. The graphics are simple, but they add to the game’s uniqueness and do an amazing job showing off the beauty of the world. It runs like a dream too.

If I had to nitpick, the controls felt a little clunky at first, and weapon upgrades can get pretty grindy to unlock. But those are small complaints in an otherwise fantastic experience.

“Bugged beyond saving.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ - 6/10

I put about 12 hours into The Outer Worlds and made it to Monarch. The quests were interesting, the gameplay enjoyable, the worlds were beautiful and fun to explore, sadly the characters were mostly annoying, that being said, overall I was having a fun time—until the game completely broke on me.

If you explore too much of Monarch before continuing the “Radio Free Monarch” questline, the game can bug out and consider Zoe and Sanjar dead. With them gone, the main questline becomes impossible to finish. The only fix? Load an earlier save or restart the entire game.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know this ahead of time. I had no save from before exploring Monarch and doing side quests, so my playthrough was permanently ruined. I’m not restarting, and this completely killed the game for me.

If you decide to play, make sure you save constantly. Otherwise, you risk losing hours of progress like I did.

“Cute, chill, and surprisingly addicting.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ - 8/10

Slime Rancher is one of the most relaxing games I’ve played. The slimes are adorable, the progression is satisfying, and unlocking new areas always feels rewarding. It’s got a light story that fits the vibe, and the whole experience is just unique and wholesome.

Going for 100% is fun too—it never feels like a grind, just a chill time collecting and exploring (except for rush mode lol). If you enjoy cozy games like Stardew Valley, this is definitely worth picking up.

“Immersive, even with the flaws.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ - 9/10

Pacific Drive nails atmosphere—fantastic voice acting, satisfying progression, and a world that’s unlike anything else. Cruising around with the radio on while scavenging and dodging anomalies is incredibly immersive.

The story is interesting, but it doesn’t hit as hard as it could. The ending feels a little lackluster, and I wish more of the narrative had real weight. The quirk system? Turned it off instantly—easily the worst part of the game, though thankfully optional.

Still, this is one of those games where the experience outweighs the flaws. It’s unique, fun, and absolutely worth your time if you’re looking for something different.