TruckDumpy

Want to love this game and there’s a lot I do like. However, the pacing is completely derailed by cooking. Constantly competing with inventory management. Endless scavenger hunts for ingredients. Pit stop for grocery essentials… all those can eat up half of a day in the very short time allotted for said day. THEN the terribly designed cooking mechanics. Fumbling through 4 different windows, no idea how much of any recipe you can craft. Eats up the rest of the day for these bottomless pits of your human guests. There’s an auto-cook mechanic that was added but it’s a poor bandaid to a bigger problem. It takes too much time, and progression tanks. What should be a cozy, chill experience, becomes nothing of the sort as you’re constantly fighting the clock, and poorly designed UI. Pausing the clock while cooking will help some, also completely removing the cook time, another. Increasing the number of meals per recipe and allowing for larger stacks of cooked meals, another. Rather than 4 menus to bounce around; consider branching menus staring from the recipe. Allowing for more screen space for details on available ingredients, or better yet, the maximum you can currently create with what you have. Inventory management could also use an overhaul. An easy fix is greatly increasing inventory size. There are numerous crafting materials, even more cooking ingredients, and a lot of furniture. There are no where near enough spaces available. A cleaner option would be to have separate inventories for food, and building materials. If refrigerators are meant to store food, they need more than a few available slots and be integrated with the cooking mechanics. They’re mostly useless otherwise. Smaller issues are some quality of life enhancements. Being in building menus should automatically filter out food and vice versa. Also, auto sort should not clear the filter. Being able to adjust a room’s size should be easier. Unless it’s hidden in some button presses I’m unaware of, you have to completely delete the room (usually multiple rooms) and rebuild from scratch. Recycling should be instant and not padded to force you to wait an arbitrary time. Crafted food, materials from recycling, and similar situations should default to the Take All button, currently have to move several spaces every time. Art style is great as are expressions and animations. Most of the characters are pretty entertaining. Your mom and friends from the beginning need bigger roles in all of this. They kind of disappear and become irrelevant. Would be great if they helped out at the various resorts. You know, cooked or something…

I will give one point in I like the pixel art. The rest of this game is a miserable experience only for gamers who’ve never experienced joy, or any type of happiness. Lore is nothing more than gross stuff juxtaposed nonsensical platitudes. Your character, pretentiously titled the penitent one, controls like garbage. Enemies are only difficult because they follow the cheapest design philosophies: flying in ground and wall, massive hit boxes, no hit stun, chunk off huge portions of your hp, tight timing windows for dodges and parries, almost no hit stun. Garbage game design that needs to either evolve or retire. Character is slow, unresponsive, and everything they do has a ton of end lag. A try-hard **** through and through. The whole finding happiness in misery and suffering is delusional, and religions should be ashamed for how much damage they’ve inflicted on people’s minds and bodies. And how much terror they’ve caused to men, women, children, and everyone who identifies otherwise.

Pretty much a miserable experience from start to finish. Cheap enemy design and placement. Many enemies fly through walls and floors making them invulnerable. Others constantly rain projectiles on you. Found myself using nothing but cheese strategies because it’s a miserable time otherwise. Your main attack is one of the most pathetic hit boxes I’ve ever seen. Magic is next to useless. Monster forms are poorly balanced, you’ll spend most time in lion and dragon forms and only switch to the others when necessary. Music is pretty bad and sounds like grade school band class. Couple decent tracks, but locked to areas or boss fights. Most of the puzzles are nothing but try-hard time trials. Shame because there is potential. Balancing seems either rushed, or only tuned for a hardcore audience that demands digital misery. Seriously don’t get it. Why does every game need to be a try-hard ****? And banking on cheap tactics is not helping this title at all. Monster forms needed more polish and the amount of equipment is completely unnecessary. In fact a lot of the equipment bonuses should be power ups for the monster forms, so they’re all viable and balanced through the game. Metroidvania elements need work too because a lot of paths were blocked by story related keys, rather than power up. Boss fights are probably the best part of the game. They usually utilize the monster forms best.

Another miserable try hard ****. Where you must lizard brain skitter through the game. Wish devs/pubs would realize that not everyone wants to play games like this, or at this pace. Not even a get good thing, I genuinely hate playing games like this; regardless if I’m playing well, or **** a fat one. Your lizard brain impulsivity is for life or death situations, something I want far away from my digital entertainment.

I wish there were more games like this. This is a game for people who like logic puzzles, taking notes, and reviewing things from all angles. The fact that this is seamlessly woven in the story made me unable to put it down. Only a few of the puzzles seemed a bit unfair, with elements being distractions and irrelevant to the solution. Only other criticism is that I wish there were dedicated Back and Menu buttons. The one handed control setup is great and would still work with these added buttons. Great game to play one handed while petting your dog.

Absolutely loved Crow Country. Always preferred the original Resident Evil aesthetic, and wish the series evolved into something like Crow Country instead of what it is now.Though I’m rating it a 10/10, I have some critiques, so will start with those. These are very minor and obviously have no impact on my rating, though could improve the experience **** dialogue could be a little better to portray emotion of the characters and give the cast their own identity. It could help to amplify the story, and give the characters a sense of purpose/drive.I have no problem with easier games, but options to fine tune the experience could be great to increase longevity. Offering accessibility options to increase enemy health, movement speed, number of enemies, more or less ammo drops would be great. Some of the puzzles were a little too straightforward and could use a bit of added complexity.I enjoyed the story, but wish there was a bit more flushed out in terms of what is actually happening. Avoiding spoilers more on the how and why would help. Even adding small snippets of information about the Guests throughout the story could help. Overall I enjoyed the story and writing, however. Some great lines give Mara a sense of humor. The silly humor moments give a great campy vibe.Control and shooting mechanics work great. Options to tweak x/y acceleration independently could help for more control, but there is nothing wrong or bad about aiming.I appreciate the FF7 style graphics and think they work well. Some locations had black backgrounds that were a little distracting. Filling those in with scenery would be **** a lot of fun with this title and am looking forward to a sequel or another game in this style.

In an era where AAA publishers and industry higher ups crank out the same games reskinned with copy paste gameplay…this is a breath of fresh air. It is so nice using different regions of my brain instead of lizard brain skittering through games as I am expected. There are no dodges, parries, or samey timed button presses that plague the games industry. Just clever, unique game design and mechanics to experiment with. Puzzles incredibly well thought out, and fun ways to explore the beautiful, reactive world. This game puts AAA to shame and exposes them as the soulless, over-produced, factory pumped, gaming addiction fuel that they are. Don’t get me wrong…I know most devs, the ones actually making the games, are doing their best. It’s the leadership that’s the problem and the insatiable greed of the ones calling all the shots, hold all the power and control. I’m fed up with this industry and its masterpieces like this that deserve all the attention. This is everything I want in a game: beautiful art direction and design, unique mechanics, high quality and well polished. Something I will be coming back to again and again; year after year.

Castlevania SotN is one of my favorite games of all time and I’ve only recently played it. I appreciate this in its attempt to tribute the classic. However, it stumbles in some major ways. First the crafting system is completely unnecessary, and takes away from the experience in finding loot. Almost all weapons and armor need to be crafted, and you’re stuck farming materials just like any other game. The Shards are possibly the only exception, but having to farm 9 for max potency is ridiculous. It pads out the game in a bad way. Next, enemy ai is awful. Either they run away from you clipping through the environment, or bum rushing you with their giant contact damage hit box. On most enemies your hits do 0 hit stun or knock back yet, the toe of an enemy will cancel your attack animation. A collision with a bat for 1 hp of damage will send you flying and into a free fall. Story is overall ridiculous, too much talking about nothing. Plot twists are foreseeable hours ahead. I like the level design but some parts were way too cryptic to determine progression. Backtracking with the obnoxious enemies made me lose interest in wanting to figure it out on my own, so I ended up using a guide. Having access to the Accelerator Shard earlier would have helped a lot. I really wanted to like this game and there are parts that I do. However, the terrible enemy ai and unnecessary crafting system will likely prevent me from playing it again.

Very disappointing. The story was incredibly dumb with typical, predictable plot twists. The character reasoning for the different endings is nonsensical: especially Roland’s, but Frederica, and Benedict’s are not much better. Golden Route designed to be obtained on new game plus, even if it is possible it would be a miserable experience for a player on the first playthrough. Scales of Conviction are pointless, just have a vote. The dialogue is 40% formalities (“Pray forgive me my lord” or “Thank you for receiving me” blah, blah, blah), 50% redundancy (characters having to put in their two cents and doing absolutely nothing for the story) and 10% actual substantial plot elements. THEN the narrator literally repeats everything that was just said. The entire story is in reality paper thin (one nation hoards salt and is insanely wealthy at the expense of the other nations; leadership of all nations is despicable and incompetent) and made worse with Square Enix’s desire to inject pointless plots twists. Now remember that you have to do all of this at least 4 times for completion. The balancing of battles seemed like a rush job, often giving enemies way better skills than what is available to you. Percentages to hit and status effects are an outright lie. Many skills with status effects are next to useless, because in reality they land at a 40% rate. Progressing the story is a slog as you need to grind to meet level requirements, and have enough money for upgrades. However, I did like the option to replay story battles, if only to see the demise of Thalas and Erika multiple times. They’re the worst and if the game was rated M; Frederica should have special cut-scenes to explode their heads, and/or melt them into goo. Music for the most part is underwhelming, and the encampment (where you do all upgrades) is awful. Had to mute it because it’s so repetitive. The cast is completely whitewashed with next to no diversity. Less than a handful of characters have Asian features, the rest white. Main character, Seranoa is generic with next to no development, aside from a completely pointless plot twist. Frederica is the only character with a decent story arc. Roland has almost the opposite of a story arc, didn’t even know such a thing was possible. Benedict is all over the place. The remaining characters are mostly one dimensional, and nothing more than character archetypes: assassin, big brother, big sister, manipulative woman, gifted child, gifted child but with magic, etc. Overall this game was not fun and not interesting. I would not recommend.

I’m genuinely sick of how combat is designed in games these days. Enemy double standards galore as they: have no hit stun, armor through attacks for days, infinite attack priority, damage sponges, and act like they’re playing an entirely different game! Because in a sense they are. Combat can be designed in a number of ways but all we ever see is the same try-hard ****, centralized around a dodge and/or parry system. It is old, tired and crusty game design that I never want to see again.

Could be a fantastic rpg, but completely ruined by the Overdrive mechanic. All it is is fake difficulty as it pigeonholes you to play exactly the way the game wants you to. Battles end up being is a tug of war with this mechanic. Then the game arbitrarily decides to put you in Overheat for no apparent reason; where you take more damage and skills cost more to use. Getting out of Overheat completely derails the flow of the battles, and it makes no sense. There are either turns, or situations hardcoded, or it’s designed to be a pain. For example: a skill is highlighted yellow-orange (arbitrarily mind you) that will significantly lower the overdrive bar, often times forcing the player to use a skill that’s not beneficial. Sienna’s Pilfer when there’s nothing to steal, or you need to heal but some random skill lowers the Overdrive gauge, which allows you to temporarily play the game until it randomly throws you back into overheat. Give me an option to disable this stupid mechanic and I’d likely change my review score.

I am so glad I ignored reviews as I found this to be a fantastic little gem ****. First playthrough took about 3 hours. For a 16 Bit Pixel art style I wasn’t expecting to be scared at all but there were a few startling surprises. Think the stalker mechanic was done really well. Only criticism is that they seemed to linger in rooms you’re hiding in for a bit too long. It did get in the way of a few puzzles, but never derailed the experience. Only other criticism is that a couple of the puzzles were hard to decipher; mainly due to using similar nautical and oceanic themes. Art, sound design, music, and control all come together in a fantastic package. Characters could have used a little more development, however digging into the lore and mystery was fun and interesting. With 3 endings and several documents to find there’s a bit of replayability. I would love to see more games in this style.

It’s as if Platinum Games has stripped everything I loved about this series and only kept the parts I didn’t like. This game feels like an imposter. It feels like this game was made under toxic working conditions and it seeped into the final product. Gone is the perfect camera that shows all the action. Gone is the fantastic art direction and rock solid 60fps frame rate. With few exceptions, gone is the great dialogue and character banter. Viola and Enzo being the only exceptions. Gone is the great combat system that allowed for nearly endless improv. Enemies have next to no hit stun. Hits don’t even feel like they connect. Gone is great enemy design. Gone is a normal mode that isn’t a miserable try-hard ****. Insanely tight timing windows are lame and nothing but padding to a game. Easy mode is an insult and a joke. Platinum Games has made it clear that they only want to cater to the hardcore, so I will no long support their products. I find hardcore gaming neither interesting or enjoyable. Gone is great enemy ai. Miserable campy/passive enemies. I don’t play online games because I hate this behavior. Nothing I consider fun about this enemy ai and same goes for human beings that play this way. They ****. Living or digital. Albeit bonkers, gone is a great story that embraces its time travel paradoxes.

This is nothing but a “Push Button at Exact Moment or Die” game. This is all you’ll be doing from hour 1 to hour 100+. That’s all this game has to offer. You lizard-brain skitter through it. Difficulty is nothing special, same enemy double standards seen in every game. Damage sponge enemies vs 2-3 hits = dead. Homing attacks and projectiles with massive hit boxes vs your lame limited move set. Hardcore gaming has become a joke. Developers and publishers would rather reskin, repackage, and crank out what was successful before then dare try to innovate. And that sums up AAA games for over a decade.

I was hooked by the opening scene and could not put it down until the credits rolled. Cross between a top down Zelda and Pikmin; gameplay is fun and easy to understand. There is some combat, but mostly puzzles and exploration. Story is great; wholesome, with a mystery to unfold, and fun characters that move it along. Though it is a complete story, it leaves room for a sequel. Hoping one does eventually come. Criticisms are minor. Load times on Switch are a little long. A full army of Spritelings can get a little glitchy: one or two may trail behind, stutter and teleport to catch up to the group. Performance is solid, drops in frames seemed minimal and for brief moments. Could not recommend this game enough.

The only reason this score is not lower is that the story and characters are great. Combat is the same trash we see in any AAA game; push button at exact moment or die gameplay. It’s appalling how the developers capture so much tedious animation only to completely **** the bed as enemy moves track you demanding a dodge button press. I’m sick of enemies sliding and skidding all over the place because the try-hard demographic demands it. It looks stupid and it is not fun. Other issues I have: 1) climbing; I’d rather the game not have it if it’s going to be implemented in such a way. Seconds long animations to move a few pixels gets old instantly. 2) collision: constantly getting stuck on collision geometry. Riding the metal dinosaurs isn’t even worth it 90% of the time because they will get stuck on everything. 3) Farming and upgrades: RNG padding as heck. I don’t need to say more. AAA games are all starting to feel the same and major fault lies in how games are balanced. Balance the same as any AAA game and it’s going to feel and play like any other AAA game. I want parameters to adjust game speed, timing windows, RNG mechanics, enemy health, and so on. I’ll balance this myself, since this industry is too lazy to do anything other than try-hard nonsense.

This game would be 10 if it weren’t for a major flaw. The enemy AI. Literally every enemy type is programmed like the lamest of lame online players. All lame play is is PADDING! I quit playing online games because of lame playing people. Now they’re invading single player experiences and I’ve had enough. The enemies do nothing but run away and finally attack when you’re in end lag. It’s lame cheap programming. Top all that off with enemies spamming projectiles, or moves with armor. There’s no fun to be had just try hard bs. Also your character’s movement speed is the slowest in any video game ever. May as well be added to the Guinness Book of World Records for slowest character movement in a game. To any devs wanting to make a beat-em-up…Do the opposite with your AI than these developers who have no idea what fun is.

Overall disappointing. The graphics at times are pretty, but you can easily see where all the sacrifices had to be made. This is just another SquareEnix Hallway RPG. This game has 10-20 hours of padding. Storytelling is all emotion and little to no substance. Tired Hollywood story arcs; along with the meta, near 4th wall breaking ‘Whispers’ loses all impact of the story. Characters are unlikeable. Cloud and Aerith are awful. Secondary characters like Johnny and Kyrie get too much screen time and are more meme than human. There’s also an uncomfortable alliance with ‘The Trio’ even though they are sex traffickers. This game almost glorifies the villains, and the heroes just kinda ****. Environments are static and lifeless, there are next to no interactions, or world building. In fact there are numbers of opportunity to insert lore and it’s absent. The battle system is nothing but lame lizard brain gameplay, the original turn-based system was better.