Bibbidybuff

Monster Sanctuary was on its way to being a favorite of mine, as it combined the two genres I tend to enjoy the most and it felt pretty fresh. I love the idea that monsters grant you the metroidvania abilities, I love the art in your "dex" with long entries on each monster, I love the art style even though the environments were fairly uninspired, and I love that the combat feels completely separate from Pokemon. The music isn't very good, so I had the volume off for most of my time playing. The story is weak, but that doesn't matter too much in this sort of game. My problem comes in where the Metroidvania aspects seem to be tacked on to expand off the combat system. I feel like the developers made the monster combat and polished up how that system works and then said "waaaaait, let's put it in a Metroid map". That's just what it feels like from my perspective. Maybe if they had mixed up the gameplay where some battles are Metroidvania style where your abilities for battle are based on the monsters you choose. There is no catching mechanic, so obtaining a new monster relies on RNG drops (in your favor, it seems, this never gave me issues). Most monsters do not evolve, only a select few use random items that you give to a tree. I suppose this was to differentiate from Pokemon, but if that's the reason than why only give this to a few monsters? Maybe that should have given me a clue that the game doesn't care if you like your monsters or not, it expects you to consider a min-max team. I did not beat the game, because the monsters I had at the final fight were not enough to win and I preferred to walk away with a pleasant experience than look up the meta. I'm not sure why they decided to slap a difficulty curve at the climax of the game. Maybe they forgot the Elite Four isn't leveled to 100 so their lvl 40 cap that the last fights match is fine? Anyway, in a monster collector game I would prefer to win with the monsters I've bonded with along the way, not dump them at the last second. I have no doubt Pokemon haters will praise this game to no end and ignore the mediocrity, they can find a way to glorify an old potato if someone claims it's like Pokemon. One last issue, it's disappointing that you get to pick between two white dudes at the start and there's no character customization whatsoever. If I'm not really supposed to care for the monsters, then at least give me some options for my own look (or at least a female character). In the end, I would still recommend giving this game a try. It's a good game with some design flaws here and there that leave it middle of the road in the end. It's still going to be more interesting than most of the big releases.

Adorable and wacky game that certainly had me caught in the cycle of "just one more round". The lack of mini-games might make it drag for some players, but I appreciate not having to pay too close attention and just waiting on my turn. I feel like it's trying to keep it simple, so buying property doesn't have the same immediate weight that it would in Monopoly, especially since it doesn't create an obstacle for other players. In some ways, that makes the game feel less cutthroat than Mario Party. That being said, if you've been dancing around the goal for several turns and someone nails it from halfway across Japan you may never forgive them.

This game surprised me with how well it integrated Breath of the Wild's gameplay mechanics into the Warriors formula. It's not often I go for completion on a game, but this is one case where I enjoy the diversity of the characters so much that I'll be sad when I've run out of challenges. The story is enjoyable and I appreciate that it wasn't focused solely on Link. I frequently forget that this is a spin-off since the UI and art design is taken directly from BotW. I enjoyed both of the previous Warriors/Nintendo collaborations, but this one expanded the combat so much so that it never felt like a repetitive slog for me. I hope we'll be seeing even more Warriors spin-off games like this in the future.

It's snake. It looks pretty with the eastern inspired style, but it's just snake. Dragons are always cool, but this is snake. Snake is good though, so Dragon Snakes is good too.

This game was interesting for a few moments, but there's not much here. At least at the game's early runs I was surprised how dull and lifeless the game turned out to be for me. Perhaps if you power through the cards will become interesting and the game will improve, but there's not much reason to from that start. It's a shame, it showed a flicker of promise for a moment before fading to drudgery.

I expected a masterpiece when I got this one. People acted like this was the golden child torch-bearer of the metroidvania genre. No, this game looks cool but it's a total bore to play most of the time. My biggest pet peeve is poked by the game obviously check-listing itself to qualify as a metroidvania. The inspiration is overdone so it lacks character in the gameplay. The combat is the biggest disappointment, looks over substance. I give it a 4 because it's a playable title that barely misses the average. The hype ruined this for me, it's just a side-scroller.

If the game worked I'd still be playing this nonsense. The graphical issues of this port make the game inexcusably unplayable and I'm fairly certain this port is censored. I wish we'd gotten a legitimate port that we could enjoy.

This is an underrated and cruel little title that I'm too young to know how on earth to improve myself with it. I enjoy trying my best with it and the Yokai are obviously a joy, but geez this game is tough. I haven't had the pleasure of playing the true rouge-style games, so I'm not sure how it compares. Give it a try for history's sake.

Woops, Diablo ruined this for me. I played this on PC years ago and loved it, so when I saw it coming to Switch I was excited to play it again. Unfortunately, since then Diablo spoiled me and this just doesn't measure up. Maybe I'll give it another chance sometime, but the disappoint had me deleting this after one sitting.

I'm sorry, I really want to like this game and it has so much that I should enjoy. Point-click like my childhood, paranormal investigation for some silly spooks, but this game is just dumb and the controls do not feel good enough to bother.

I'm not sure this is a good game, but I felt like I was in the back seat of my grandparent's minivan tapping away on everyone's favorite gray brick. To me, this was a good game, as a game? Probably not, which in a way makes me like it a lot more.

This is one of those games I got hoping I'd get lucky and it'd be a cute, silly fun time. Sadly, this is just garbageware and there are no fun times to be had in this sad disappointment.

You know Sundered, I really gave you my best effort. I tried so hard to excuse your problems and trudge onward. Sundered, you are quite likely the worst metroidvania I will ever play in my life. For all your beauty on the outside, you really don't know how to be a good game on the inside. Maybe it's not you, maybe it's just me. Go away Sundered, the only Eldritch in you must be that sad side of HP we don't like talking about.

No SoLB, I will not say bad things about you. You did a very good thing making a game mocking the trash of "triple a" gaming. You may not know how to make a game we can actually play, but you really gave them what-for. You didn't actually say much from from what was playable, but oh boy did you try. Or did you take advantage of our hatred for disgusting, skeevy, predatory business practices and as a result became the very thing you swore to destroy??? You were my brother SoLB, use my money you took to pay for some game design classes.

These scallywags plundered me wallet! Be warned matey, there be a very shallow waters **** ahead! In seriousness, this game is not worth more than a dollar given the utter lack of content. It controls well enough and looks fine, but you'll have to break into way too much rum to find any fun.

It's probably a mobile game or belongs on mobile, but it's a fun puzzle game. If you're in the mood for a cutesy puzzle then go for it.

It's cute and entertaining for a bit. The art style looks cool and the gameplay works, but you can figure out almost immediately where it's going. I think this game needed a little more inspiration from Papers, Please to feel like more than a simple mobile game or a coin-eater at the arcade. I'm not wasting my time finishing this, as I said you know exactly what this is at level 1 and you can tell it's not going far.

Why did I buy it? Because the robed thingy looked cool... Why won't I play it? Because the robed thingy was a trap so I'd buy this worthless mess. This is more boring than counting the wax droplets fall from a 10 foot candle.

I do not entirely understand what I enjoyed about this game and why I would have continued playing for several hours, but doggone it this silliness is amazing.

The deep sea is a passing fascination of mine and I'll always give a game a shot if it'll let me take a dive to the unknown depths. And how beautiful those depths are in Deep Ones! Too bad you won't see much because this is potentially the most sluggish, rigid game I have ever played. I swear if there was a way to pick up the pace and actually maneuver and I somehow missed the "please MOVE" button I will gladly return and keep exploring whatever this game has that I couldn't reach. If you can get it for a good price at least try it for the visuals.

Something about this game really let me down, but it certainly tries to be a Metroid game! I don't think "metroidvania" and rogue-like belong together by principle, but Dead Cells did alright. I'll be honest, this is not a great game and I'm genuinely confused by the positive reviews. I don't want Metroid on the go in short bursts. I want to sit down an be enveloped by a wondrous alien world to the point I have no idea how the time has past. This game fails to invite me to whatever party it must be having with other players.

It's okay for a playthrough or two, but I doubt you'll "git gud". Everything seems to run by a gamble, which is fine I suppose, but there's an illusion of strategy that just frustrates me. Something about the games tone makes me feel like I'm supposed to know what to do, when it should be emphasizing the stupidity of the risks or giving some sort of hints. I realize little hints in the dialogue would have to be very well written not to be obvious and that would reduce replayability. There's no reason whatsoever to care about the ugly characters, which are only more ugly due to their complete lack of character. I almost feel as though this was a game built with Youtubers in mind.

The only good thing about this game is that it makes me appreciate how well the Smash series is designed. Oh wait, I learned that when I excitedly bought Playstation All Stars and was disgusted with how awful that game turned out. So, I suppose that means there's nothing good about this game. I don't hate the character designs for Brawlout, but I don't like them either. That wouldn't matter if the controls could even closely resemble Smash, but they just feel cheap and messy. As a fighting game, it's a party game at best, I don't think we'll see this at EVO. I wish the Drifter could be taken out and moved into a game that deserves the cameo. Moral of the story? If you don't know how to clone Smash, please don't bother trying.

Turned this off, deleted it, never looked back. Just buy Bomberman if you want Bomberman.

I adore the aesthetic of this game at certain moments and the gameplay is alright. Can't be too critical of it, but don't have much to praise either. It's one of those games that doesn't require much focus so I could mindlessly play this while a movie's on.

What a fantastic, intriguing little treat ****. Whenever the sequel comes out I will purchase that instantly to see where they take this world. The mechanics feel incredibly smooth and seem so finely tuned to let us feel like we can do the craziest moves without hesitation. The art style is perfectly cyberpunk and the story really had me feeling for a couple of pixel people running around. My only problem is that it took me so long to finally get to playing this to learn it's one of the best on the Switch. Also, thank you for not making yet another 300 hour game.

Even though people keep praising the aesthetic, the look is mediocre at best. The enemy design is awful, the player's character fails to interest me, and the backgrounds are nothing special. The mechanics of this game work in concept and I would forgive the boring look if the game actually worked. There is essentially no feedback to immerse the player into the beat and I'm honestly unsure if the game shows you information to know you're close to the fail-state. A few levels in basic enemies are placed almost on top of each other and since you can't hit both at once you get hit by the second because it's not on beat to hit it in time. Maybe there's an unexplained mechanic to deal with that, but that's just an indication of this game's design failure. Thankfully I paid less than a dollar for this nonsense, but it's not even worth that.