Inestimate's Game Reviews

    Console: Steam, 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. Nuclear Blaze  is a rare game that focuses on firefighting: with little emphasis on combat and platforming for the sake of platforming, all of the game's playtime is spent exploring an abandoned military facility and taming the fires within while uncovering its secrets. The tone is more on the lighthearted side, and the game's simple narrative is far from overbearing. The ...

  Console: Switch Developer: Grezzo Release Date:  September 20th 2019 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening  is a top-down action-adventure game that centers around exploration, puzzle-solving, and combat. A remake of the Game Boy original of the same name, Link's Awakening  is a pretty faithful remake, adding quality of life updates but keeping the essence of the original essentially intact. I wasn't too familiar with Link's Awakening ; I am far more familiar with the two Game Boy games of the same vein that came nearly ten years later:  Oracle of Ages  and Oracle of Seasons . In fact, I had never even come close to finishing Link's Awakening , so this was a rare occasion for me to play a Zelda game I had ostensibly never played. As is to be expected from a faithful remake of an early Game Boy game, Link's Awakening  is a basic game with not much in terms of narrative or in-depth mechanics. The game itself is rather short, and I doubt a normal playth...

Console: Switch Developer: Nintendo EPD Release Date: May 12th 2023 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom  is an open world action-adventure game with survival and RPG elements that centers around player freedom, creative puzzle-solving, and exploration. The sequel to the universally acclaimed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild , Tears of the Kingdom  does something heretofore unseen in the Zelda franchise: it is a direct sequel that uses the first game as a base, including its map, mechanics, and narrative. My biggest concern was that it'd just feel like more Breath of the Wild  and not feel different enough, and my fears were abated as the game's marketing carried on.  Breath of the Wild  is one of my favorite games of all time, so it was difficult to keep my expectations in check. Making matters worse, it was essentially the last major new thing I really bonded over with my late father, and we were really looking forward to playing Tears of the ...

  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.