Inestimate's Reviews

  Console:  Switch , PC, XB1, Mobile Developer: Sectordub Release Date:  January 24, 2019 Pikuniku  is a simple adventure game with puzzle-platformer mechanics that focuses primarily on absurdity and dealing with somewhat goofy physics. Made by Sectordub, a small French-British team, I'd heard of  Pikuniku  without really knowing what it was. Following the announcement of  Pikuniku 2,  I noticed the first game was over 80% off, so I decided to play it on the spot! 

Console:  PS5 , Switch 2, XSX, PC Developer: Capcom Release Date:  April 17, 2026 Pragmata  is a third-person shooter and puzzle-action game hybrid with a focus on improvisation, multitasking, and risk management. Announced all the way back in 2020, when the PS5 was first revealed,  Pragmata  was delayed multiple times due to apparent difficulties with the game's core mechanics. While I was first intrigued by  Pragmata 's reveal, I only became truly interested when it reemerged following its long delays with a trailer that had gorgeous piano music that genuinely made me a bit weepy-eyed. I got the game day 1, and I don't regret it at all. This was one of my most anticipated games of the year, after all!

There is no real point to this, outside of me externalizing my own feelings over WWE. It might be a bit stream of consciousness-like and lacking structure. There are two mediums I've loved for basically my whole life: video games, and pro wrestling. Naturally, the former came first, but I've consistently loved pro wrestling since randomly stumbling on an episode of WWE's Monday Night Raw in the early 2000's (I never did find the episode back when the WWE Network was good and had everything, but I think it had Batista looking for someone in the parking lot or something, going down the stairs weirdly smoothly). I knew it was scripted from the get-go, my parents made sure to let me know, but it didn't change the fact that I was hooked, and it further helped me with my English. I got the video games on Gamecube, especially loving the two Day of Reckoning games. Over the years, I've dipped in and out of WWE for a year or two at a time during particularly bad lulls, b...

    Console: GBA Developer: Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe Release Date:  June 11th, 2001 Castlevania: Circle of the Moon  is a metroidvania with an equal focus on both combat and platforming, with a fairly hefty amount of exploration.  This is the first  Castlevania  game following the legendary  Symphony of the Night  to adopt a similar structure to it. Most notably,  Circle of the Moon  is not only included in the  Castlevania Advance Collection  (which is what I played it on), but it's the only game in the collection represented on the cover art. Outside of playing the very first  Castlevania  on an NES emulator and using save states as a teenager and watching a playthrough of Symphony of the Night , this is my first actual Castlevania game, so I was quite excited to finally play one.

  Console: PS2 Developer: Gust Release Date:  June 28th, 2005 Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana  is a turn-based RPG with a focus on item crafting.  Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana  is the first game in the  Atelier  series to be released outside of Japan, and is the sixth game in the franchise. Pretty notably, the  Atelier  games are, more or less, yearly releases, and have been since 1997's  Atelier Marie . As a result, these games are typically a bit lower in terms of quality and budget than other big JRPG series like  Final Fantasy.  Fittingly,  Atelier Iris  is the first game I played in the series back as a teenager through emulation, but I wasn't able to defeat the final boss despite loving the game. Now, I actually have the game and played it on my PS2. I've more or less completed 100% of the game: the bestiary is filled (though not all item drops are registered), the item list is complete, and there's nothing left for me...

Console: PS4, PS5 , Switch, PC, XB1, XSX Developer: Sonic Team Release Date:  November 8th, 2022 Sonic Frontiers  is an open world action platformer centered around exploration, collectibles and combat. As a bold new entry in the  Sonic the Hedgehog  series,  Frontiers  is the first time the series earnestly tries to be an open world game, and according to the director, is meant to be the model for future games, similar to how  Sonic Adventure  was when the series first transitioned to 3D. 

Console: PS5, Switch , PC Developer: Experience Release Date:  February 15th 2024 Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II  is a horror visual novel game with mystery and adventure mechanics that centers around exploration, puzzle-solving and its narrative. The third game in the  Spirit Hunter  franchise,  Death Mark II  is the most recent entry in the series and is actually a crowdfunded game. The game takes place four months after  Death Mark , and is thus technically a midquel due to taking place a few years before  NG . It is also a direct sequel to  Death Mark , featuring most of the characters from the game and putting the player in Kazuo Yashiki's shoes once again.

  Console: PSVita, PS4, Switch , PC Developer: Experience Release Date:  October 10th 2019 Spirit Hunter: NG  is a horror visual novel and adventure game with a focus on life and death choices, puzzle-solving, and ghost hunting. The second game in the  Spirit Hunter  series,  NG  is a standalone sequel to  Death Mark  that takes place around 5 years later, but it freely references it.  NG  came out about a year after  Death Mark , and unlike  Death Mark  it has no additional content of any kind, but is a little longer overall. Though it's a standalone game in essence, I'll be referencing  Death Mark  during the review, so if you want, you can  go back to my Death Mark review if you're curious . Naturally, I won't spoil anything important.

  Console: PSVita, PS4, Switch , PC, XB1 Developer: Experience Release Date:  October 31st 2018 Spirit Hunter: Death Mark  is a horror visual novel and adventure game with a focus on life and death choices, puzzle-solving, and ghost hunting. The first in the  Spirit Hunter  series,  Death Mark  is a game I've long been curious about and I'm glad to have played. I didn't even know the premise of the game outside of the fact it's a sort of ghost hunting detective game, and obviously since it's so narratively driven, I won't spoil anything important.  Death Mark  itself is a fairly interesting game in terms of its release, since the Switch version includes Chapter 6, which used to be DLC on other platforms, and also is the only version where the DLC Chapter 7 is available... which was released in April this year. It's a very strange thing to see, but I thankfully have the Switch version, so I had access to this DLC chapter.