Inestimate's Reviews

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: 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.

  Console: Gamecube, Wii, PS3, PS4 , PC, Xbox 360, XB1, Switch Developer: Capcom Release Date:  April 30, 2002 (Gamecube), January 20, 2015 (PS4) Resident Evil (2002)  is a survival horror remake of the 1996 game of the same name. It's centered around inventory management, threat management and puzzle solving. To be quite honest, I've never been a survival horror person; I'm much more into horror adventure, action, or visual novel games and games that lean more into spooky than scary. However, I love watching people play games like  Resident Evil  and  Silent Hill , and as a way to step out of my comfort zone, I decided to tackle this game. 

Console: PC, Switch, XB1, PS4 Developer: Team Cherry Release Date:  February 24, 2017 (Voidheart Edition: September 25, 2018) Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition  is a complete version of  Hollow Knight  including its DLC  The Grimm Troupe  and three free content packs  Lifeblood ,  Hidden Dreams , and  Godmaster .  Hollow Knight  is a 2D metroidvania with a strong emphasis on boss battles, gameplay customization, and exploration with a moody, dreary atmosphere. An indie darling from the first day its Kickstarter campaign went life (if not before),  Hollow Knight  is almost universally beloved and widely considered as one of the greatest indie games ever, if not greatest games ever full-stop. I had only tried it once years ago and bounced off of it, not being in the mood for it, and I came back to play it, as many did, since its extremely anticipated sequel,  Silksong , is finally coming out.

  Console: PC , Switch, PS4, PS5, XB1, XSX Developer: Not A Sailor Studios Release Date: February 18, 2021 Buddy Simulator 1984  is a narrative game whose genre evolves over time, based around the relationship between the player and the eponymous Buddy, a computer program who is designed to emulate the feeling of playing games with a "best friend". Not A Sailor Studios is a team of four, and made  Buddy Simulator 1984  with some additional help from about four more people. I'd consider the game to be split into four major parts, and I'll tackle them all without spoiling as much as I can. 

      Console: Switch, PS4 , PC Developer: CAVYHOUSE Release Date:  October 3, 2018 The Midnight Sanctuary  is a 3D visual novel with heavy religious and occult themes. Developed by CAVYHOUSE, a Japanese indie two-person studio, The Midnight Sanctuary  is a visual novel with no real gameplay; instead, the player merely chooses which area to go and then proceeds to watch a cutscene. There are no missable cutscenes, and the entire thing will last around 4-5 hours.

Console: PSVita, PS4, PC , Switch, XB1 Developer: Digital Reality/Grasshopper Manufacture Release Date:  August 8, 2017 ( November 9, 2012 for the original) Sine Mora EX is a bullet hell shoot 'em up with a dieselpunk aesthetic focused on a time travelling narrative. Developed mostly by Digital Reality, with Grasshopper Manufacture only handling art direction and sound design, Sine Mora EX  is an extended version of the original Sine Mora , with some added features like co-op, some quality of life changes, and a few new options. This is one of the first shmup games I've ever really clicked with, so I was pretty excited to play it again through this EX  version.

  Console: PSVita, PS4 , PC, Switch Developer: Arc System Works/APLUS Release Date:  March 24, 2015 ( May 31, 2017 for HD Edition) Damascus Gear: Operation Tokyo  is an isometric action RPG with a focus on combat and a mission-based structure. Developed by Arc System Works, most well-known for their fighting games, Damascus Gear  is one of the many non-fighting games the company has made, a couple of years before the final Blazblue  game or their first 3D Guilty Gear  game. At this point, people only really knew them for their fighting games and a few other projects, like the Contra spin-off  Hard Corps: Uprising  or   the Xblaze  visual novels. And I'm being generous. It's worth noting that this game is technically made by APLUS which, from what I can tell, is a subsidiary of Arcsys and has also developed Kill la Kill: if . 

Console: PC, PS4, PS5 , XSX Developer: ILCA Release Date: April 26, 2024 Sand Land  is an open-world action RPG with a large focus on vehicular customisation and combat. The game adaptation of Sand Land: The Series , which is an adaptation of the Sand Land  manga, the Sand Land  game serves as a retelling of the original manga by Akira Toriyama as well as the new sequel story created for Sand Land: The Series. As the manga was only 14 chapters and the anime 13 episodes (with the first 6 being the manga's story), making a 40-60 hour open-world RPG out of it was pretty surprising to me, even before I knew what Sand Land really was. Just how in the world do you even manage that?

       Console: PS4, PS5 , XB1, XSX, PC Developer:  Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio Release Date: November 10 2020 Yakuza: Like A Dragon  is a turn-based RPG with a focus on its narrative, character bonds, and variety of gameplay experiences. As the Like A Dragon  series' eighth main title, Yakuza: Like A Dragon  (which I'll refer to as Yakuza 7  to prevent confusion with both of the series' names) is a massive change from the rest of the games in the series by not only changing protagonists fully for the first time, but also switching genres, going from a beat 'em up action RPG to a turn-based RPG. 

    Console: PC , Switch, PS4 Developer:  Deepnight Games Release Date: October 18th 2021 Nuclear Blaze  is a sidescrolling firefighting game with a focus on water management, quick thinking, and risk assessment. Developed by a single developer, the leading designer behind Motion Twin's Dead Cells , Nuclear Blaze  started as a Ludum Dare game jam project. Created in 48 hours, this version is included with the game, at least on Steam.  While this is the fully realized concept of Nuclear Blaze , this is still a short and sweet experience in the 3-4 hour range on a casual playthrough.

  Console: PC , PS4, Switch Developer: Migami Games Release Date: February 28th 2020 Wallachia: Reign of Dracula is a run and gun game that is very much a tribute to late 80's to mid 90's arcade games of its genre. Simply put, Wallachia  looks like a Castlevania game, but plays like a Contra game. Developed by Migami Games, a stalwart freeware game developer based in France since the late 90's, Wallachia  appears to be their first game to be released at a price. They are perhaps best known for the Haunted Castle  series and the Castlevania: The Lecarde Chronicle  fangames. To be completely honest, I bought Wallachia  because it looked like an old Castlevania  game, and I was surprised to find that it actually was a run and gun game. Or, more accurately, a run and arrow game.

Console: PC , Switch, XB1, PS4, PS5, PSVR2, Quest 2, Quest 3 Developer:  Origame Digital Release Date: May 19th 2020 (Macro DLC released November 7th 2020) Umurangi Generation  is a first-person photography game all about artistic expression, exploration, and masterful environmental storytelling. Developed by solo Māori developer Tali Faulkner in 10 months, Umurangi Generation  is visually reminiscent of the PSX-era of games: low-poly, low-res, and blocky with mostly flat textures, but with tons of visual charm anyway. However, it very much plays like a modern FPS game, and the tutorial even says so. Just replace the guns with camera lenses.

Console:  Switch, XSX, XB1, PS4, PS5,  PC Developer: Pixadome Release Date:  September 1st 2022 Chenso Club is a roguelite platform brawler with cute pixel art, charming characters, and a focus on difficulty. The second release by the now-dormant Pixadome, Chenso Club  makes a good first impression, but struggles to keep the momentum going and ends up stifled by its own design choices.

Console: PC , XB1, XSX, PS4, PS5, Switch Developer: Foreign Gnomes Release Date: March 4th 2021 Everhood is a rhythm-based RPG with strong narrative leanings focused around immortality, death, and goofy characters. Created by Chris Nordgren and Jordi Roca, Everhood  takes massive inspirations from multiple indie games, but none are clearer than Undertale  and Yume Nikki. Yet, I think it mostly succeeds at being its own thing.

Console: Switch, XSX, XB1, PS4, PS5,  PC Developer: Froach Club Release Date: April 6th 2023 Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories  is a narrative adventure game made in RPG Maker with a distinct art style reminiscent of a classic Game Boy game, complete with a green monochrome look. This is, as far as I can tell, the first "big" game released by Froach Club, with the rest of their catalog being on itch.io. 

Console: PC , PS4/PS5, XB1/XSX, Switch Developer: Geometric Interactive Release Date: September 29th 2023 Cocoon  is a puzzle game centered around navigating worlds inside worlds. It's the first game by Danish indie studio Geometric Interactive, formed by Playdead ( Limbo , Inside ) alumni Jeppe Carlsen and Jakob Schmid alongside a few others. Cocoon  was nominated for Best Independent Game at The Game Awards 2023 and won Best Debut Indie Game at the same event.