Coming to Terms with Death in The Almost Gone

The Almost Gone is a puzzle game that follows the spirit of a girl as she attempts to piece together what happened to her.  The game features a muted color palette and subdued soundtrack that fits well with the uneasy atmosphere.  At the start, your character wakes up in her house, but something is decidedly off.  As you begin to snoop around, you start to discover that this is most definitely not a happy family.  The dad sounds controlling, the mother is mixing alcohol and pills, and the unfortunate daughter is caught in the middle of it.

Summer in Mara: Demo Review

In recent years, I’ve been finding myself increasingly interested in playing relaxing games, so when I downloaded the demo for Summer in Mara, I was quite curious to see if this was the next casual game to add to my library.  This game seems like it could be a bit like Harvest Moon meets Animal Crossing: New Horizons, where you can farm, craft, and cook on your own tropical island.

Transistor: Freezing Time in the Virtual City of Cloudbank

Having finally played the critically acclaimed Bastion, I decided it was finally time to check out another one of Supergiant’s games, Transistor.  The game takes place in a futuristic cyber city known as Cloudbank and follows the story of Red, a famous singer whose voice has been stolen.  She quickly teams up with the Transistor, a talking sword who will serve as your narrator throughout the game in a manner quite similar to Rucks in Bastion.  (They even share the same voice actor, Logan Cunningham.)

Cogen: Sword of Rewind: Demo Review

Cogen: Sword of Rewind is a 2D action game where you have the ability to rewind time by up to 3 seconds using the Ouroboros System, a feature of Kohaku’s talking sword, ExeBreaker.  In a way, the game gave me some old-school Mega Man vibes, with the high difficulty, side-scrolling gameplay, and the buttload of robots you need to defeat along the way.  The difference is the fact that you have a gun rather than a sword and that you have no health, meaning a single hit is enough to kill you, which is where that 3-second rewind comes in handy.

WarioWare: Get It Together! Demo Review

In case you’re not familiar, the WarioWare series consists of a bunch of quirky “microgames” that must be completed within several seconds.  Though I had watched people play a handful of these games on YouTube in the past, it wasn’t until I downloaded the demo for WarioWare: Get It Together! on the Switch that I finally got to try those silly microgames for myself.

Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer: Demo Review

Cadence of Hyrule is a rhythm-adventure game that takes place in the world of The Legend of Zelda! Apparently, some guy named Octavo put the King of Hyrule to sleep with his magic, and it’s up to Link (and several other playable characters) to defeat Octavo and his four champions.  Although I’m typically not a fan of rhythm games (partly because I’m downright bad at them), this is one game from the genre that I’m mighty tempted to see more of!

Miitopia is Way Better Than It Has Any Right to Be

When I initially saw a partial playthrough of the original 3DS release of Miitopia on YouTube, my expectations were low.  You see, I’ve never been a big fan of Mii’s.  For me, these simple, customizable characters were just not very appealing, and so I expected Miitopia to be a shallow and dull experience.  I was quickly surprised by how charming and quirky the game ended up being, and I found myself toying with the idea of playing Miitopia for myself.  I finally gave the game a try after the demo was released for the Switch, and it wasn’t long before a full copy of the game was added to my library.  I had been writing about my experiences with the game over the last few months, and today, it’s finally time for a full review.

Silt is a Delightfully Unsettling Experience

I’m always on the hunt for horror games that aren’t filled with gore and ghouls.  One such game is Silt, where you play as a mysterious scuba diver with the power to possess other creatures.  The game is more eerie than outright scary, making for an experience that is both unsettling and relaxing.

Raji: An Ancient Epic: Demo Review

Raji: An Ancient Epic is one of those intriguing looking games I had my eye on for a while.  Set in ancient India and based on Hindu mythology, the game follows Raji’s adventure to rescue her little brother Golu, who was kidnapped by demons.  The unique setting and theme of the game really helps it to stand out from countless other demos I’ve played, and from what I’ve seen from the screenshots, Raji also looks like it could be a rather beautiful game.  Not to mention the cut scenes take the form of a puppet show, which is super interesting, as well.  Subject matter and aesthetics aside, this is still a game, and so gameplay is inevitably going to be a vital part of the experience.

Spooky Mini-Review #8: Nelly Rapp: Monster Agent

Nelly Rapp: Monster Agent is a Swedish movie from 2020 where a young girl named Nelly spends fall break with her uncle Hannibal and learns that he’s actually a Monster Agent, someone who hunts down monsters. Perhaps it’s a bit of a spoiler, but this is another one of those stories where the monsters aren’t quite as monstrous as they initially appear. Although the English dubbing isn’t really the best (especially for the adult characters, most of whom speak in a rather stiff fashion), the movie was otherwise pretty entertaining, and I really liked Nelly’s new monster friend. I’d definitely recommend checking this one out if you’re looking for a family-friendly, atmospheric movie for Halloween. It can even be found for free on Youtube!