stop9091

I loved the first chapter, but the second one is very different, and will disappoint players expecting a similar experience. First, this is only a very light metroidvania, as it's essentially linear. Second, and most important, this is a hard platformer (much harder than the first), with artificially difficult mechanics. The designers added a grappling system that is very hard to use, and require the player to use it a lot. It gets frustrating very quickly, especially, because it's hard to see what's ahead. This game could be a good hard platformer, deserving a high rating, but should not be part of the Guacamelee series.

Difficult to assess. The atmosphere is great, which in a horror game, is everything. On the other hand, it quite suffers from the low budget. The game is very heavily inspired by Alone in the Dark, so I kept imagining new horrors at every corner... but there isn't much. However, if one is more attracted to reading letters, as in many indie games, then it may be a better fit. The shooting dynamics are also, sometimes, VERY frustrating. I wish all the best to the devs though. They clearly have talent!

First of all, NHG is an arena shooter; some may like it, some may not (I don't). While the game is very likeable, IMO, it has some very annoying flaws: - it's buggy: there are clipping issues; sometimes, the player inadvertly gets out of the level boundaries, and they will be unable to get back in, necessarily losing a life - occasional "find the exit" mechanics: in an action game, such mechanics are not appropriate; it's out of place to figure out silly puzzles about finding how to escape - side missions are somewhat miscalibrated; it's hard to finish them before some levelling up; and again, some "find the exit" objectives are very annoying - glory kills are too slow - they really break the flow - and they're also not very clear as in Doom - at times, it's unclear if the objective is to escape an arena or keep killing enemies (and in the first case, one ends up wasting time) - at least one boss in the first half of the game is a silly bullet-sponge enemy; it takes something like 15/20 minutes of almost continued shooting, to the point that it's not clear if there's some other objective that one should pursue. It's a big shame, because the world is fantastic IMO.

I'm very surprised by the positive reviews. People must love Borderlands regardless. This is, by far, the worst DLC of B1 and B2. It's a very lazily cash-in. I can't say it's as bad as being tortured by communists, however, it's very poor: - the game art has no character; it's the standard desert theme, mostly, a loooooooooooooooooong road, then a city section (where nothing happens) and a jail... that's pretty much it; - the map design is atrocious; most of the game is just a single road; they didn't even care to make interesting parts in the surroundings; - the story, including the characters, doesn't have anything interesting - it's bland like the game art; all the Borderlands DLC typically expand on a funny character and/or story; this is essentially open the door/fetch the key/free the prisoner/kill the villain. but most infuriatingly, there are no outposts. there is a disproportionate amount of backtracking. and the sections in between are flat boring (they're just roads.

A game not without defects, but with a fantastic atmosphere... which in this genre/type of game is essentially everything. I think it captures perfectly the feeling of the Lovecraft stories. This is a double edged sword, though: while it will please the writer's fans, it will disappoint people expecting linearity and logic, and possibly, "generic horror" fans. Another thing to consider is that the game is just a bit more than a walking simulator; this is also not everybody's cup of tea. Regarding the defects: - mediocre 3D engine; stutters a lot, independently of the graphic settings; capable of dipping from 140 frames to 30 in the same room - the character animations are sometimes terrible - some chapters (and characters) are just fillers - the RPG part is an afterthought; it gives the impression that changes little or nothing, at least, to the casual user All in all, as a fan of Lovecraft, I'm very happy, since it's hard to find good games/movies based on his writings.

A superficially charming but ultimately disappointing game: - the art and game design mimick the classic rotoscope adventures (Another world, Flashback...), however, it's much more of a shooter than an adventure - this is a great disappointment for me; - the art design is attractive and "retro-innovative", however it's excessive; in my perception, the imposed limit penalizes the immersion too much; - by having a very strictly old schools structure, it has slow and imprecise controls; - finally, I find extremely annoying (and confusing) when a game forces the player to use 6+ buttons, when it could comfortably do with half; Another World used one, and it didn't even have analogue controls! All in all, I'd say it's a myopic game, made by designers who did "retro for the retro's sake".

A game with good potential which ultimately misses! The Other Half classifies more or less as walking simulator, which is a genre I like. The reason for this is that there is none to little challenge; the motivation to go forward is to uncover the story and relate to the characters. In this genre, the most important aspect is the human experience - narrative, message, visuals, and so on. While TOH does have a strong narrative, it's too sparse. The game ultimately consists in slashing enemies and listen to a fragment of the story. While this could be said of many walking adventures, there's too little to compensate the sparseness of the story, and the gameplay gets increasigly more boring, until the last third of the game, which is extremely tedious - enemies are pretty much always the same, and the gameplay is not (intentionally) complex/challenging. It's a shame, because I find the idea fascinating, in particular, how the game is a metaphor of the story of the main characters.

A very good looking, but also very overrated and flawed, game. The game captures the GnG essence very well, both in the presentation and the mechanics. However, it's very unpolished and flawed. Therefore, first, an advice: the demo does *not* give a good idea of the game, so, if you're interested in the game, download a pirated copy, play for an hour, delete it, and only then make a decision whether to buy it or not. The story mode, which is has a metroidvania structure, as many reviews point out, is very confusing and lacks, without any particular design reason, the core elements of the genre - there's no map and no quest list. The maps are aimless. It's not clear whether the authors wanted to truly replicate the "artificial" difficulties of the 80s games, however, there are more modern ways of making a game hard in 2018. The arcade mode is in my opinion, the most fit structure for a GnG game. However, as again pointed out by other reviewers, it's buggy. For example, at some point, in a difficult part of a map, spawning frequently happens on the beforelast checkpoint rather than the last, and it's obviously very frustrating. I don't want to follow up for hours wrestling bugs rather than focusing on the game challenges. The lack of polish is very evident all over the experience. A few examples: - no keys remapping - no quick cutscenes skipping (one can skip, but it's still slow) - money is rewarded to the player in story mode, but it makes no sense, and it's not counted - the scaling routine of the title screen is broken, showing a terrible, smeared, look Shame, because a modern, well written, GnG game was an excellent premise.

A game with striking visuals and an interesting theme, that ultimately boils down to a bland game. I'm disappointed because I was expecting a game with the depth of What Remains of Edith Finch, but it doesn't get even close. The design of the game could fit an aesthetic game (essentially, walking simulators). The problem is that the narrative is quite shallow, and the mechanics are very annoying; there's lots of repetition that is supposed to feed the atmosphere, but ultimately is just annoying (and unskippable...) filler. By the way, it's not very clear what the "all-star team of creators" is. Besides Jess Cope, it seems that there is no other "star" in the "team".

A funny little beat 'em up. Pros: - outstanding art style - entertaining - one can find its own style in the (excessive amount of) moves So-so - two levels of difficulty; the easy is a walk in the park, maybe a bit too easy - the combo system is sort of "slow"; although it's a somewhat fast game, it hasn't the reaction times of a fast platformer, since one has to wait the animations to complete. this is not necessarily bad, but some people may not like it (I don't) - there are a lot of moves, maybe too much. some may like it, some not (I don't) - gun directions are weird Cons: - the controls are unnecessarily complex. the devs fit in the disturbing modern trend that **** doesn't use 8 buttons, it's not worth developing - the combo system has minor bugs, e.g. sometimes a dash doesn't cross the enemy, or the direction doesn't change if pointing in the opposite direction during button mashin, ****. - boss battles are all the same: wait, dash and hit, over and over again.

More or less the same experience, with more refined graphics (although the first chapter's graphics were very good already) and higher difficulty (reasonable choice, as the first was arguably too easy). However, what I found really disturbing is that they took a terrible control system and made it even worse - in addition to the parade of unnecessary buttons, the right thumbstick is now required, too. I wonder if Shank 3 will require using two pads at the same time.

Total garbage. I like walking simulators, but this is an extremely lazily produced one; it's poorly programmed and designed. I stopped at the second "level" because the environment is extremely repetitive. The invisible walls also detract a lot from the already poor experience. The 3d engine has very poor performance. Player looking for psychedelic adventures can likely find (much) better, ie. Californium.

A very peculiar walking simulator, although not for all the tastes. I found the mechanics a bit boring, however, the atmosphere is amazing.

It's a bit hard to judge, as it's a game essentially without challenge. The game production, however, is very good: the atmosphere resembles very much 16-bit games like Superfrog, and the controls are tight.

It's difficult to give a general score to this game, because, while being well-produced, it's envisioned to be run in a very specific way (multiple runs, in veteran level, with increasingly difficult mode). The other alternatives (straight single run (even in veteran level), or multiple runs at casual level) are relatively easy, making the game pretty short (2/4 hours and without interesting challenges).

A hit or miss game. At the core, it's a very banal platformer (even the controls are bad), so ultimately, it's a matter or liking the humor or not. If one doesn't, like me, it's a miss, since there's nothing else interesting in the game. For those liking satires, I'd suggest Jazzpunk, instead.

Great artwork, but terrible, terrible, controls. The first episode's controls were bad, this made them worse. The game tries to be a modern Metal Slug, but it lacks the core simplicity.

A competently produced, but derivative, simplistic, repetitive, unimaginative platform, design to ride the 80s nastalgia wave. I can't say anything positive, although the game has nothing glaringly wrong either (in particular, the commands are not too bad, and the difficult is not high).

Very arguable graphics; this is way beyond pixellated... it's stamp-sized screen. The user interface is terrible; keys are fixed, can't use a gamepad, and couldn't find any obvious way to show which key does what (after the initial help). A standard point and click interface would have done the job good enough (much better anyway). Also, it's a sort of point and click, but it's never obvious what to click, so one ends up clicking on everything. Detention is similar, in a way, and has a much better interface. All in all, a game designed like point and click had never existed.

A curious but underwhelming cross between Borderlands and Metal slug. The artwork and music are nice, but there isn't much else to this game. The RPG element is a sort of excuse for mediocre platforming design; the player will repeat the same maps over and over again. The weapons system is... hard to say. Some people like it. I think it's fairly poor, as I end up using very few combinations. The biggest problem though, is that there isn't much difference - it's purely a matter of stats: a little farther, a litter more powerful, a little lighter... doesn't change much. The same could be said of Borderlands, of course, with the exception that Borderlands had a great atmosphere, larger maps, interesting weapons, story, characters... And as a platformer, this game doesn't hold a candle to the smoothness of Metal slug. Especially, the controls are so-so. I can't believe that a platform in 2018 doesn't allow the player to turn direction while crouched, or to move directly from standing from a direction to crouching in the opposite. Picking the items is a sort of pixel-perfect sort of action; one gets used to, but why not making it easier? All in all, it's an addictive but mediocre game.

The artwork is obviously astounding, however, I'm very skeptical about how many player actually spent time playing the game, because it is very single-dimensional: it's essentially a sequence of boss fights, not a platform game in a strict sense.

A beautiful, dark game. The game is halfway between a walking simulator, a puzzle game and a platformer. The controls are AWFUL (AWFUL AWFUL), fortunately, the game is not hard, so the narrative and the atmosphere give a very immersive feeling. This game has a somewhat open interpretation, however, less cryptic than Inside.

An emotional, oniric game, in a way, like Edith Finch, without the dramatic depth of the latter, though. I guess it's a hit or miss (a miss, for me). Try before you buy, but I wouldn't pay more than a couple of bucks regardless. And, damn, why can't the user remap the keys???

A game designed for the mobile audience, but not for the desktop ones. Breakneck is the typical stats-based game. It's well done, nothing to object, but after a few hours, and reaching around the 200km mark, the game will start to look the same again and again... because it is the same again and again. It's somewhat a shame because I liked a lot the idea of charging the boost by staying close to walls; it could have been a much more interesting game, but I also recognize that making a properly designed game would have required resources that evidently the producers don't have.

A very well produced, although derivative, Metroid clone (not metroidvania!), of the same genre of Axiom Verge. I prefer Axiom Verge for a couple of reasons: - better story; The Mummy feels very random, not only story-wise, but also in the context (enemies, environments...) - death mechanism: the stupidest idea I've ever seen in a videogame I don't agree with some other reviews, as they don't understand the health mechanics subtleties. While it's true that not regenerating health at savepoints is arguable at best, still, the game will give health points, as loot, until the player will recharge until more or less half (after half, it becomes exhausting farming). This gives the players the option not to do farming, and play with around half energy, or farm, and get full energy. This is not a very hard game. It's not Nintendo hard, and nothing in the likes of Super Meat Boy. I've finished in around 5.5 hours, and I'm not a great platform player.

A fun, madly fast game. It's a mix between Jazzpunk and Doom 4 (sped up 3x). I can see this being a perfect game for speedruns. It would be slightly better if it would be polished - there are relatively frequent clipping problems, and Beelzebot's difficulty is a sudden spike (it could be made clear how to beat it, and it would still be challenging). The game also suffers from mild stuttering.

An interesting, but cheaply designed game. First, the good part: the artwork is amazing. The, the bad: everything else. - there is extreme stuttering, independently of the graphical settings - the voice acting is amateurish - the script is very banal, and hammered into the game and finally, this game is not a horror as presented - not even unsettling; it's a fantasy game.

Very good artwork, but the cutscenes are unbearable; they are very slow even when tapping, and they completely ruin the pace of the game. Controls are mediocre; sometimes, the game won't process a jump. The screen is also very confusing, as it shakes when an enemy is hit. Probably these problem can be solved, and that would make the game much, much better.

Amateurish game. It suffers from both technical and design problems. On the technical side, joysting keys don't bind correctly, and they're also not referenced correctly, so it's very confusing what to push during the game. The controls are quit poor; for unclear reasons, double jump isn't always execute. On the design design, the game is unfortunately quite "random"; it has no atmosphere; it's a mix between reality and imagination that doesn't really work.

Extremely poor sequel for a lot of reasons. On top of the poor game design, there is also many issues: crashes, accidental invisible walls, player getting stuck. Terrible.

Too short, and a ho-hum story. I like walking simultors, and this game has been quite carefully crafted (even though Fullbright can't still develop a decent 3D engine; it stutters very often, albeit less than Gone Home), but the story is just not very appealing, primarily due to the narrative structure of developing a past event. At 20$, this game is excessively expensive. If you played SOMA, and expect a similar (great) experience, stay clear of Tacoma; if you didn't play it, then buy that one instead.

A very good and atmospheric point and click adventure (very easy - almost a walking game). Be warned though, this is a dark fantasy drama, not a horror. It does start as the second, halfway through the game, it turns toward the first; therefore, if you're expecting a horror (in a strict sense), you're going to fall asleep for a large part of the game. I didn't end up liking this game in fact, but I must admit I had the wrong expectations, and since the game itself is beautiful as drama, I'm still giving a good score.

Unberably slow, primarily because of the structure of the dialogues, made of micro-statements ("hello" (click) "hello" (click) "it's me" (click) "oh it's you" (click)), which ends up in very frustrating button mashing. Shame, because the artwork is very interesting.

Visually beautiful, but very polarizing game. Either you will love the atmosphere, or you will find the game terribly boring. For a few dollars, it's a good experience.

It's not a bad game, but I've been very disappointed by the fact that they changed the game from a mix of esplorative-ish/puzzle-ish/stealth-ish to a hardcore stealth; you will spend all the time either hiding or running away. Some people will surely like it, but it's a polarizing approach to game design (especially, when compared to the first installment). The atmosphere/graphics are great, for sure, and I have nothing against stealth game - therefore, the 6.

I've played this game for around an hour, and I found it trivially easy, virtually with no difficulty, at least, when compared to other platform/metroidvania games. I find it hard to picture it as a game for adults, both because of the easiness, but also because of the fairy tale atmosphere. The controls have an odd feeling, I'm not sure if there is some minor imprecision with the hitboxes, or I just have to get used to. Regardless, the idea of having the glide button doubling also as a double jump is definitely terrible; this is traditionally performed by clicking the jump button once, then the glide button, and it works perfectly - why changing it?

This game is really an punch in the eye. While I enjoy pixelated graphics, for example Modora or Axio Verge, this is an entirely different level, we're talking about VIC-20 resolution here. It's a shame because the mechanics, although derivative, are actually enjoyable good.

It's a bit hard to judge this game, because it'a a mix of a pure platform and a metroidvania, but it does so without too much success. First, the good: - the energies idea is interesting; it works as platform (although, the large amount of life makes the hurdles a bit too forgiving) - the bosses are great. I give one point just for them. - it's a stilish game - at least the first map, and the bosses, look really great The meh: - wall jumping has fixed trajectory; this is a missed chance for more skillful playing - the variety and strategy of the enemies are good enough; maybe not great, but good enough. - the story is not too good, but not too bad. summary: everybody on earth goes **** crazy; the player beats the crap out of everybody The negative: - the art style looks flat after a while; although individually taken, the environments are aesthetically interesting, they look somewhat the same as a whole - the upgrade system is bland - only life and charge energy - the upgrade system is fueled by money. after a while, colleting money becomes uninsteresting; in order to "buy" (offer money!?) the upgrade from the most obvious upgrade locations, it's enough to collect the accessible money. - WHY SHOWING A GUIDE!!! WHY!!! It completely ruins the metroidvania experience. completely!!!! All in all, it very much fails as metroidvania, because it lacks the depth, but it pleasantly succeeds as a platform.

The art style is gorgeous. I like the way combat works; the weapons make melee interesting (although I'm somewhat skeptical about aiming). I didn't go far enought to judge the explorative part, but if you like melee combat (and action-oriented metroidvanias in general), you will like this game.

A beaufiful old-school metroidvania-ish, which I definitely recommend but with one large disclaimer. This is an old-schoold metroidvania: it doesn't introduce any innovation in the genre, and/or uses super-tricky passages (see Ori, or Guacamelle), but it has tight controls and smooth playthrough - very similar to Axiom Verge. Positive: - GREAT atmosphere; although cartoonish, it's quite dark and sad - as a metroidvania, I think the areas are well designed, and you won't waste time backtracking [just a little]. - I felt very eager to explore and I never got bored until the end (which instead, happened with Axiom Verge in the last stage) - great controls; I never wanted to smash the pad into the screen (ahem, Axiom Verge's grapple...) - for some reason, the game gives me a vague Castlevania SOTN feeling Meh: - it's quite short (~5 hours in easy mode) - as a metroidvania, it's lacking in character capabilities; you start straight away with double jump, and the only extra capability you get is transforming into a cat. the architecture at the very end is quite linear (I liked it regardless); Axiom Verge is definitely significantly deeper in this regard - the story is not well-developed; as part of this, the NPCs are paper-thin and feel redundant Negative (this is the disclaimer): - the difficulty is f**ked; the "normal" level is (nintendo-)hard, while the easy level is a bit too easy. I think most of the gamers will miss the middle ground All in all, I think casual gamers without "triple-A" expectations will greatly enjoy it - at the easy level!

A very shallow metroidvania. Not worth more than 1.5/2$ The game is simply too trivial. I share all the points of the other negative review, eg.: - tiny area - trivial (or no) platforming experience - too minimal artwork (music, graphics) - retro-inspired is one thing, lazy and trivial is another. - useless enemies - you'll end up just going around them - poor controls: fixed jump? WTF? this subtracts a lot from gaming depth; flexible jump gives opportunities for skilled play - poor controls again: the game doesn't really accept a fast turn-fire-turn The game is also quite poorly (or lazily) programmed. I can't remember seeing a game using Windows menus for the options, for example. Or one which expects you to throttle it if you have a fast screen. All in all, there are much better options: - for the retro-interested, Axiom Verge - for the retro-masochists, Caste in the darkness

A good Metroid-style (some will say clone), although I've been disappointed towards the end. I have a few gripes. The game doesn't try add modern mechanics/gameplay - it's "just" a well-done, straight old-schoold, Metroid. Ori and Guacamelee, independently of their aesthetics, add interesting, modern, elements. F**KING CONTROLS!! The grapple, which becomes more important in the second half of the game, is awfully controlled/designed. Why does it jump on left/right (and oblique) taps?? There is a jump button for this!! Dash is tricky to use in some parts (timing when crossing platforms vertically is unnecessarily strict). I spent the last part of the game fighting controls very often. There is no teletransport. If you want to move through worlds (sections), well, get ready for a long walk. Some of the last segments are just tedious. There is a large part of a world where there is only one type of enemy which must be killed stealthily. The boss enemies are... uh... trivial. I'm not a hard boss type of player, but there were no interesting mechanics. ----- Now for the good. Well, if you like(d) Metroid, you will like this. That's pretty much it. I did, to be fair, but towards the end the appeal starts to wear out. And unfortunately, I can't avoid comparisons with Ori, which I've played just before.

Although the idea is interesting, this game has been definitely, implementation wise, out of reach for the softare house. The graphics are **** engine is seriously underperforming, there are relatively few and very unusual graphic settings, and the game has a seriously small palette (which has 256 colors at most), which makes the look extremely flat. You can see all of this in the "Let's play" playthough. The voiceplay is amateurish. I think that when a software house has limited budget and/or talent, they should try hard with a simple/innovative idea with manageable technology, rather than a complex idea with unreachable technological capacity.

A game with potential, marred by lack of polish. Between the many flaws mentioned, the camera is truly abysmal. As a player, you will constantly fight against it, which is paradoxical, since camera placement is a foundation of stealth gaming. It's a shame, because I liked the atmosphere.

Fun bullet hell game. Recently, the developers have added a save functionality, so that the game is now also playable for people without a boatload of time.

The developer(s) did an exact clone of an 80s NES game. This is not how good modern-retro games are done; good games in this category have, under the (pixelated) hood, modern mechanics (eg. Shovel Knight). This game instead is stuck with poor controls, trivial mechanics, and instadeaths everywhere. If you feel like playing a pixelated metroidvania, play Axiom Verge. If you feel like playing a platformer, play Shovel Knight. If you feel like playing a modern metroidvania, play Ori and the blind forest. If you feel like a masochist bound to nostalgia and bad taste, then do play Castle in the Darkness.

A masterpiece (although with a nonsensical plot). The only thing worth adding to everything that has been said, is that, as many modern platform games, the fact that the player doesn't die is balanced by some very tricky platforming parts. VERY tricky. To be completely fair, the hard parts are always feasible with proper effort, and they're also very creative. If you don't have nerves of steel, though, don't be fooled by the appearance, this game is not for you.

Potentially interesting game, but definitely not in a finished state of development. I'm very puzzled. The game is so approximately developed - jerky camera movements, extremely rough controls - that it looks like the product is in beta stage. Even the low price point doesn't make it worth in such condition. If the developers clean it up and bring it to a releasable state, then it's likely a good product, but not before.

A great waste. It starts great, but then it becomes boring and repetitive. It's a shame because the atmosphere and the ideas are good, but everything is wasted. During the first third of the game, there is just no plot; the main character just runs behind the enemy. Why do forensics if the enemy is 5 meters from you!? For the entire game you kill heaps of hobo-zombies The hob-ies are just annoying; they all feel the same, and just can just kill them by rage-clicking (at least, on "normal" level), even without blocking. Again, a wasted idea. The forensic tools are again a great idea, which is again wasted. They're essentially used as mini-puzzles sprinkled though the game. They're not integrated in the plot or in the game in general; they're isolated. But wait, they're not puzzles either, as they're just trivial. Birds and pieces of metal are probably remains of a **** idea. They're completely useless. All in all, it feels like a team of very talented people, lead with a very bland and clueless direction. Shame. This could have been a great game in the hands **** lead.

A very strange puzzle game. The narrative is a meta-game: the player plays the hacking of a videogame machine in order to escape it (!). The difficulty of the puzzles is low, but not trivial. It is very fascinating though. It will take only a few hours to complete, so it's definitely worth trying it.