Recent reviews by underFlorence

Only played like 10 of the games and already found like 3 games that are up there as my favorite games of the year (Campanella, Party House, Warptank). Can't wait to try out more of them!

It's such a cool aesthetic and well-designed and well-written and just... so good and fun and has some amazing 4th wall stuff. Really good game.

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The worldbuilding in this game is just so super good - there's so many interconnected lore threads and although some are made quite clear, the connections are never spelt out for the player and experiencing the world like this is super engaging. The cast of characters is memorable and fun, and most of them manage to grow out of the stereotypes they seem to initially have. The art is also super good and the soundtrack's amazing - for most of the game, you set up your own playlist from the OST, and it makes the whole thing feel more personal and unique.

OneShot made me interact with a video game in a way I never had to before. Please play it, it's so very good.

This is a game you can play for a super long time just because there's so many variables that make each run unique. There's so many unique items (and some stinkers), and it just feels good to slowly learn how the game works and whatnot.

Spoilers for like the whole game ahead.

Ok, so, for starters, I guess for the elephant in the room: YouTuber JonTron has a voice role, and the dev team has been quiet about it so take that as you will. Even though JonTron is a terrible person, it's not a dealbreaker for me, though a statement by the devs would really be appreciated. I do wanna put that out there as a disclaimer, though, so people are informed.

With that out of the way, this game is really good. The best thing about it is probably how varied it is. Every world has a vastly different mission structure: Chapter 1, Mafia Town, is pretty straightforward initially, but after you're "done" with it and beat the Mafia boss, it gets more open, especially with it containing a Mission you need a Chapter 4 powerup to beat. Thankfully, the game tells you on the Mission Select Screen if you lack something you need to progress. Chapter 2, Battle of the Birds, takes place in a few more linear areas as opposed to Mafia Town's island. Additionally, there's two paths, each for a movie director who wants to make the best movie, and your perfomance in those levels determines who wins, which impacts the boss fight at the end of the chapter. Chapter 3, Subcon Forest, has mostly linear missions, but the world is probably the most open (and sometimes confusing) of the game. The catch here is that you have to sign contracts before you can access missions, so you have to commit to what you do. Chapter 4, Alpine Skyline, is completely open with no selectable missions and isntead only a "Free Roam" option. You can get the 4 main Time Pieces in this world in any order. Chapter 5, Time's End, is only a linear gauntlet with one level.

Chapter 1, 2 and 3 are all very good, with Chapter 2 being the best in the game due to the variety. You have to solve a murder mystery on a train, gain a penguin fanclub and run away from a deadly parade. Chapter 3's dark undertones (for instance, there's a noose trying to talk you into suicide and an absolutely terrifying haunted mansion) make it a close second, though, with it mostly being held back by the confusing and samey layout. You definitely learn it, but it's unintuitive compared to Mafia Town or Alpine Skyline. Alpine Skyline has some really nice challenges, but it feels like it's missing something, especially near the end where it just kinda... ends without a boss fight. Chapter 5 has a nice premise of everyone being prosecuted for their alleged crimes and it has some nice callbacks, but it ultimately feels a bit too generic compared to everything else. The final boss also isn't as good as the previous fights, especially with both Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 having amazing boss fights, Chapter 2's being one of the best bosses I've seen in some time due to the way it calls back to the previous chapters while also just being really fun. The final boss has this nice twist with the enemies being aware of their deaths creating health, but both the Chapter 2 (a time bomb from a previous chapter gets tied to you) and Chapter 3 (you paint the boss blue with his own attack so he becomes vulnerable) bosses had better twists.

Sprinkled throughout the game are time rifts, which have to be discovered before they can be found in the stages. Each stage has 2 blue time rifts and 1 purple time rift. The blue ones are unlocked as you progress whereas the purple ones are unlocked by assembling artifacts that are sprinkled throughout the levels. Their position is hinted at with a photo of their location. While that is a pretty cool idea, some photos are a bit too generic so it's pretty hard to find those rifts. Blue rifts lead to Super Mario Sunshine Secret Stage-esque platforming-centered stages which are usually pretty fun, whereas purple rifts lead to exploration-based stages where you have to find crowns to progress. The latter also contain pages, which you can collect in order to get some backstory for the characters. I would prefer it if the pages were counted by stage instead of globally, since some of the rifts can have a lot of stages so it's tough to know where you missed a page.

The soundtrack is absolutely amazing and oh my god please buy it

The writing is absolutely amazing and oh my god please... buy... it..?

In the end, this game starts out strong, then gets better, but can't hold that standard until the end, unfortunately. It's definitely still a great game, though!

Part of the game's content is locked away by my heart.