Inestimate's Game Reviews

  Console: Switch, Steam Developer: Simogo Release Date: May 16th 2024 Lorelei and the Laser Eyes  is a puzzle game with strong point-and-click and text adventure leanings that focuses on logic puzzles, a twisted narrative, and art. Developed by stand-out mobile game developer Simogo, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes  is their first console/PC exclusive. Simogo are most known in the console and PC space for Sayonara Wild Hearts , but it feels like Lorelei and the Laser Eyes  is poised to be their first big hit, relatively speaking. It's worth noting that, all things considered, Simogo are essentially a two developer team, and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes  was created in 4 years, according to the credits. It's hard to go in detail in this review, as a lot of the game's intricacies lie in its narrative, which I don't want to spoil, and I obviously can't detail all the puzzles. Immediately apparent in Lorelei and the Laser Eyes  is the game's rather unique presen...

Console: Switch Developer: Intelligent Systems Release Date: May 23rd 2024 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door  is a turn-based RPG with a focus on zany scenarios, gameplay customization, and strategy. A remake of the 2004 Gamecube game of the same name, Thousand-Year Door  still stands as perhaps the perfect game to play as your first turn-based RPG, with charm aplenty to keep players of any skill level entertained throughout its entire playtime.  The Paper Mario  franchise is one that's very near and dear to my heart: the original Nintendo 64 Paper Mario  and Thousand-Year Door  itself are formative games for me (especially the former). From being my first foray into the turn-based RPG genre to helping me learn English and widen my vocabulary, I owe a lot to those first two games... which is why all the spin-offs and sequels after Thousand-Year Door  have not hit the same for me, as the writing style changed, the visuals changed, the game design...

  Console: Steam, 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. Wallachia  stars Elcin, an archer who aims to kill Dracula for stealing her brother and killing her parents. And by Dracula, I indeed mean the "real" Dracula: V...

Console: Steam, 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, Steam 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. Chenso Club 's key mechanic is its difficulty counter: whenever a world is completed, the difficulty counter goes up by 1 and all enemies grow stronger and tougher. Upon death, as is typical of a roguelite, all powerups and upgrades are lost, and the difficulty counter returns to 1. The game also boasts four difficulty settings to allow the player the customize their experience, but it's quite clear that the target audience is firmly players who enjoy a difficult game, as the game can give you trouble even on Casual. Counting its final world, Chenso Club  has six unique worlds: the ...

Console: Steam, 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. While I would typically avoid drawing comparison with other games so early on in the review, Everhood 's inspirations are so blatant that they are part of the first impression of many players, and some can't go past this impression judging by its comparatively few negative reviews.  Indeed, the wacky cast of characters reeks of Undertale , down to the point of giving each character a "voice" with text noises. Similarly to Undertale  as well, this is a game more based on its narrative than gameplay, despite having unique gameplay. And the narr...

Console: Switch, XSX, XB1, PS4, PS5, Steam 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.  While this isn't made particularly clear, this is actually Melon Journey 2 : the original Melon Journey is available for free on their itch.io page, or the remake Melon Journey Pocket , playable on a real Game Boy, is available for $5 USD on Poppy Works's itch.io page. It is a 30 minute trade quest made in RPG Maker that actually introduces a lot of the characters and worldbuilding, as well as some inside jokes. It's hardly necessary to play it before playing this, but the game does take place after the first game. From this point forward, "Melon Journey...