Recent reviews by Rotav

You already know that something titled 1000xRESIST is going to be some pretentious, existential ♥♥♥♥ à la Evangelion, so if that isn't your vibe turn back now. Fortunately that is my vibe, so I dig this a lot. And if the title doesn't tick you off that this game is weird, then the Steam description definitely will; this game has the kind of lore, story, and world that would make Hideo Kojima and Suda51 blush.


It's 1000 years in the future and everyone's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ dead. Well, not everyone... One girl managed to survive the infection which led to human extinction: Iris, a living, breathing Mary Sue who's not only immune to the disease, but is also immortal too. Developing a God complex larger than Kanye West's, she renames herself Allmother. Since she's the only one in an underground bunker called the Orchard, the Allmother creates new life - because she can do that now apparently. Deciding that men are cringe, she creates six sisters to assist her: Knower, Fixer, Bang Bang Fire (lol), Healer, Principal, and Watcher. Each of them have their own role and function in the Orchard.


You are Watcher. As Watcher, you get to be a peeping Tom and explore the Allmother's memories through a process called communions. Through communions, you find the answers and truths to 1000xRESIST's world and characters, but you'll also be asking yourself many new questions as well. These mysteries are what drives the game's narrative, and it's very well paced throughout - it is incredibly hard to predict what will happen next in the story (in a good way).


And if it isn't obvious, this is a very story-focused game. In fact, calling this a game is almost a little too loose. This is basically a visual novel with some walking simulator elements. You definitely don't want to boot this up with gamer brain enabled, because if all you care about in games is shooty-shooty bang-bang, you're going to be disappointed. The game description mentions there are puzzles in this game, but that's honestly a bit of a stretch too. You should be buying this game for the crazy dystopian world and narrative, and nothing more.


There are a handful of issues with the game worth noting. Many of the issues derive from a general feeling that the budget for this game was lower than a pub crawl for me on a Friday night. Art and animation feels amateurish, and occasionally the voice actors deliver lines poorly (though for the most part they did a great job). Environments and assets are often recycled and reused in the game, and although the narrative supports this, it's still clear that this was a clever and purposeful way to cut down on the budget.


These issues are easily overlooked however because the world and story is so fantastic. I was mildly disappointed by the ending (I felt like the epilogue could have been longer), but other than that I was completely hooked throughout. There's a lot of themes in here not explored very often in game stories (existentialism, diaspora, crazy sci-fi settings), so it's always great to see cool and unique ♥♥♥♥ like this being created.

Hekki grace to the developers. I hope they get the opportunity to make more games in the future - they're clearly very talented at what they do.

Overall: 8/10

Absolute coomer bait with a side of boring, uninspired puzzles. Look up rule 34 of these characters whilst playing Tetris on another screen and you'll have an infinitely more enjoyable experience on both fronts.

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An atmospheric masterpiece; Ebb Software has more than delivered in creating something with an unparalleled ambience. It is a game truly carried by its art direction: Every frame is a putrid painting, every sound discomposing, every animation stomach churning; these elements combine and compliment each other to deliver a grotesque world seldom seen in video games. You will find yourself stopping to look around many times during your playthrough not due to any difficult roadblock, but simply due to your own curiosity and awe of the environment's intricate detail which limitlessly envelops you.

Ebb Software is a small team however, and although its clear that an incredible amount of effort went into the crafting the game's art and world, the same - unfortunately - cannot be said for its gameplay. The puzzles are painfully average, with nothing particularly to write home about regarding them. The combat is atrocious, with the main culprits being a severe lack of ammunition, and the game's God-awful melee weapon. Whenever you wish to conserve your ammo, using this thing is horrible: Not only does it have a hitbox which demands accuracy, but you can only use it twice before needing to recharge your stamina. This coupled with the fact that trying to use the weapon with insufficient stamina will freeze the stamina regeneration makes it feel incredibly stringent and frustrating to use.

Scorn often feels like an interactive art piece more so than a game, and with its demands of the player for patience, discovery, and ability to theorise its mysteries, you certainly won't get the same experience watching a playthrough than you will actually playing it. Your personal enjoyment then will ultmately come down to both your own interest in the game's setting, and whether you feel this interest will carry itself through lackluster gameplay. For me, this answer was a resounding yes, but this certainly won't be the case for everyone.

7/10

If there's a description I would give to describe the gameplay of Spelunky 2, it would be "perfectly balanced chaos". That phrase is a major contradiction, but so were my initial feelings on the game when it first released. I had a lot of fun in those first few hours. I also absolutely hated the game and how it would ruthlessly kick my ass at every turn without mercy. I liked the first game, but I was never a huge fan of it, and much like the first game, it felt needlessly difficult.

But at a certain point, my opinion shifted completely.

It's hard to say when exactly my opinion shifted, but if I had to pinpoint it, it was after completing my first normal run. At a very fundamental level, games can fall under four different categories:

• Easy to learn, easy to master.
  
• Easy to learn, hard to master.
  
• Hard to learn, easy to master.
  
• Hard to learn, hard to master.

I used to think that out of these four options, "easy to learn, hard to master" was the best that a game should strive for, but after playing Spelunky 2 I realise that "hard to learn, hard to master" can be just as incredible. Whilst a game that is "easy to learn, hard to master" is great, only the speedrunning crowd will really care about that "hard to master" aspect of the game. Spelunky 2 forces you to master it as a mere means of surivival in its unforgiving world. Every tip and trick you find will be useful for all kinds of playthroughs - not just speedrunning. You begin to realise that you probably shouldn't risk life and limb to grab every little piece of gold. You figure out how to manipulate the shopkeepers to your advantage. You find the most optimal way to kill enemies and bosses.

And as you keep playing, hidden mechanics and details begin to reveal and unravel themselves to you in a natural, organic way, all through its gameplay. You begin to work out the best ways to use your bombs, ropes, and whip. You find out how to access secret areas you didn't even know existed. You figure out ways to skip entire sections of the game.

Unlike roguelikes such as The Binding of Isaac or Enter the Gungeon, you don't unlock items, new areas, or anything that changes the gameplay in Spelunky 2. In Spelunky 2, everything has been there from the start, and the only thing that has progressed is your own skill. Where most roguelikes focus on synergies between the items you collect in a playthrough, Spelunky 2's focus is on the synergies between enemies, the environment, and the player. A trap roguelikes can fall into by focusing on item synergy is making the player horribly overpowered, or so underpowered that the run is over by no fault of the player. In Spelunky 2 this rarely happens due to the low item list: Each item is unique from each other, balanced with advantages and disadvantages, and often have one or two uses that are not immediately obvious to player. This adds so much depth that a game with 300+ items can feel shallow in comparison to Spelunky 2's well-crafted list of around 50 items.

To go into details on the incredible secrets and the little details that Spelunky 2 hides would be a disservice to the game. If you think you have what it takes to tackle what is a very difficult platformer I highly recommend Spelunky 2. As I discovered just how deep the rabbit hole goes in terms of its mechanics, my opinion changed from thinking of Spelunky 2 as a good game, to a great game, and then - finally - to perhaps my favourite game of all time. There aren't many games which come close to its genius, and its last challenge is so insane that I'll probably be playing this Kali-forsaken game for many years to come.

10/10

Though this DLC might still appeal to the hardcore Furi fans, for me I felt Onnamusha doesn't really warrant its price tag. It's been several years since I played Furi last, and I felt nothing significant really changed since when I first played the game.

So what does this DLC add exactly? It adds a new character with a slightly (and I do mean slightly) different playstyle. Instead of your character doing a consistent damage output like in the base game, you are choosing your opportunties to strike with large amounts of damage in short bursts. And... That's pretty much it. There are no story changes. No new enemies. No changes to enemy movesets. No additional modes, unlockables, or achievements. There isn't much in the way of aesthetic changes for the Onnamusha character either beyond the similar-looking female reskin; you're wielding the same gun and sword as always.

I was hoping that there would be at least a few changes which stuck out, but ultimately this just felt like the same game I played five years ago. I would have probably been happy putting down $7 for a couple new bosses over this. If you're absolutely ravenous about getting more Furi goodness, no matter how small the changes, then go ahead with purchasing Onnamusha, but as a player returning to Furi after several years, I felt I would have got the same experience this DLC offers by just replaying the base game again.

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I'm pretty torn on this DLC, but in the end I think I'm going to give it a negative review. The first half of Echoes of the Eye is amazing; finding and discovering the new area that the DLC provides is nothing short of that Outer Wilds magic that the base game captured so well. This new area is much larger than any of the base game's planets, and it was a lot of fun discovering some of its initial secrets and landmarks.

As the playthrough approached its latter half however, the DLC veered from an expertly crafted addition to Outer Wilds' universe, into what can only be described as one of the most tedious stealth segments I've ever had to play in a video game. Having tacked-on stealth in a game which has nothing to do with stealth is already a sin in of itself, but Echoes of the Eye goes the extra mile by having you complete these sections in the pitch black dark with very little use of a light source, not to mention the 22 minute time limit still looming over your head that the time loop provides. Being caught or falling into one of the many pools of water that you can barely see pulls you back to the beginning of the stealth section you were doing, forcing you to rinse and repeat the tedium. The only way that you have any hope of completing these areas is either through brute force, or by purposely spoiling a mechanic for yourself which is only revealed to you after finishing one of these stealth sections normally.

My hope was this sudden misstep by the developers would be mitigated by a satisfying ending, but unfortunately this wasn't the case. I wasn't expecting something nearly as poignant as the base game's ending, but when I did see the DLC's conclusion I found myself looking up whether if there was anything more to it than what I saw; it really was that underwhelming to me.

Ultimately, Echoes of the Eye starts off strong, yet falls short of its predecessor, as well as its own potential. There's inklings towards the end that Mobius Digital or their publisher felt development for this DLC was taking too long, and thus needed to be rushed out of the door. As a result, Echoes of the Eye is ambitious and exciting, however - unlike Outer Wilds' own universe - concludes not with a spectacular bang, but a disappointing whimper.

This happened to my buddy Eric

Possibly the best stealth game in terms of gameplay. With the game consistently updated by the developers, plus a wealth of content already existing both official and user made, Hitman 2 is essentially an endless game. My only gripe is that there must have an online connection even when playing single player, which can be annoying if there are issues with internet connection. I also hope that the developers have an end of life plan for the game when they have to inevitably remove official online functionality in the future.

9.5/10

Ignore the Metacritic score. Rain World is one of my all-time favourite games, there aren’t really any experiences quite like it, and because of that it won’t be for everyone (especially for game reviewers with the high difficulty and steep learning curve). I recommend starting the game with The Survivor first rather than playing with The Monk initially since the former is the intended as the desired way to play by the developers.

After a brief cutscene and tutorial, you’re left to your own devices to explore the world. There isn’t any clear objective other than survival, and the only thing preventing you from progressing to new areas are karma gates. These require you to have survived multiple days without dying in order to open it to a new area. Reviewers often claim that this is an unfair mechanic, but in reality, these gates require you to become better at the game before accessing a new area. If you’re trying to get through a gate with high karma, it usually means that it’s an unintended route and the area beyond is much more difficult. This prevents unskilled players from accessing areas which they might get stuck in because of the difficulty, whilst also allowing any player to go to any area they want, the only thing keeping you back is your own skill.

One of the best things about this game is the AI. They behave dynamically dependent on the current situation, which makes them much more detailed than the average game. Predators may try to hunt you down for example, but they also may have their own predators too, and they’ll prioritise hiding from them than trying to hunt you. Throughout the game you’ll get the impression that nothing is truly your enemy, but rather just another creature in the world trying to find food to survive, just like you.

I don’t really want to spoil too much of this game because quite a lot of the enjoyment comes from discovering things. If you think you’ll enjoy exploring a vast world with an ecosystem that all interact with each other, this game might be for you. Just keep in mind that this game is difficult, and you’ll be solving most conflicts by sneaking around or running away, especially near the start (it took me about 15 hours to kill my first lizard).

• When viewing the map it shows your current karma and food meter, but it also shows the current time until the rain comes with dots around the karma symbol. When it reaches 50% you should think about finding shelter.
  
• You can gently drop an item by pressing down and eat at the same time.
  
• You can swap the items in your hands by double tapping the eat button. The item in the left hand is always used/thrown first.
  
• You can swallow some objects such as pearls for later use by holding the eat button to swallow/throw up an item.
  
• If you find yourself in a dark area of the drainage system in early/mid game, I recommend NOT going through the gate there. You’re probably better off killing yourself than going through that gate.
  
• Don’t be afraid to look at the wiki if you’re stuck or confused.
  
  This game is around 20-40 hours for a first playthrough dependent on how much of the world you explore, which is definitely worth the asking price. I hope that the developers decide to continue Rain World at some point through a sequel, though it’s doubtful. However the game has a small but dedicated modding community, which will probably add many more hours in the coming years.
  
  10/10.
  
  

• A fresh take on the top-down twin stick shooter formula which blends both melee and ranged combat effortlessly.
  
• Great storyline
  
• Memorable characters.
  
• Great pixel art with an incredible attention to detail.
  
• A great amount of side content, much of it being very good and worthwhile.
  
• Very long game, especially for the price (50-90 hours).
  
• Unique enemy design.
  
• Amazing boss battles.
  
• Some good puzzles
  
  
  Cons:
• Although I for the most part liked them, some puzzles in the game are incredibly difficult and require a lot of trial and error, which might not be for everyone.
  
• Trying to navigate some areas is very frustrating. It can be hard to tell where exactly you need to go to get to a certain area (some places being on completely opposite sides of the map). Platforming can also get very annoying. It can be difficult to judge where you can and can't jump and one mistake could result in having to start that platforming segment all over again.
  
• Some side quests are a little uninspired and basically consist of collecting x amount of items for someone.
  
• The pacing of the game is a little shaky in the first area of the game until you get to the first dungeon.
  
• The storyline is quite boring up until after the second dungeon. It becomes very engaging after that point, but it does take a little bit too long for it to gain traction.
  
  Despite a handful of frustrations minor gripes, this is probably the best indie release of the year. With so much great content and promises of even more free content in the future, this is an easy recommendation.
  9/10