Recent reviews by Gavin

Non-functional on steam deck (yellow my arse) and about 50 steps behind Subnautica which released 4 years prior.

Feels like youtube co-op grind-slop. Don't fall in the water or jump-scare shark will immediately bee-line at you. Never stop collecting wood or plastic because everything breaks in 10 uses and the shark bites chunks off your raft. Run around at less than walking pace on giant islands and collect crap to put in storage boxes. Put up with P1/2 bugs in a product you've paid for 3 years after launch. Like and Subscribe!

Remember when there were good Zelda games? Here's the best 3DS/GBA one except it's made by two french guys and you're a little ship that has to dodge bullets rather than a little green elf that goes "hut!".

Incredible, almost unbelievable that two people designed an overworld map and multiple dungeons of this quality and tuned the challenge to exactly the right level where you get obliterated going into a boss fight then beat it on your third or fourth try. Hats off. Buy it.

would you like to play a really janky banjo kazooie with none of the charm and a really awkwardly implemented gimmick mechanic? BOY HOWDY CLICK THAT INSTALL DEMO BUTTON!

It should be really embarrassing to Team Cherry that these guys have knocked out two of these in less than half of the wait between Hollow Knight and Silksong.

Honestly 2 thumbs up, I played Prince of Persia: Lost Crown less than 6 months ago and this has already BLASTED it clear out the water. Just gob-smacking, learned every correct lesson from Lilies and applied it, the moment to moment play is better, no more ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ contact damage, everything feels more refined to interact with, a double jump the second you get your first weapon. Just a real chefs kiss masterclass How To Metroidvania.

And it's got the juice! The first game was nearly there but you were sort of politely nodding along and saying "yes, I have also played a Fromsoft game" at the plot but this one really feels a step up in that regard as well. The SECOND you push go you're bought in and curious about where this is going and how we got here. The narrative feels more brave and developed, your menagerie of ghost robots all have more personality, there are quite a few characters you can interact with in ways other than killing then reading their item descriptions. Buy it. If you're at all interested in this sort of thing do yourself a big favour.

Got to be a No from me, I'm afraid. I like the idea of another Cultist Sim but:
1. This is nowhere near as interesting as Cultist Sim. There's no incredible writing, the music is TERRIBLE, the sound effects are very basic and it doesn't have The Juice. It feels like you're playing a boring incremental idler that you have to keep nudging to do stuff.
2. You have to refine the things you're lifting from! This solves none of the new run/bottlenecking issues that this sort of game seems to intrinsically suffer from, and while fair enough it's cheap as chips it's just not very fun, or compelling, or surprising.

God that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ music.

An idle game that absolutely juices that lizard part of your brain, but it's a tiny self contained experience that you can complete in a few hours. 82% of the people who've played this have 100%'d it. Buy it.

6 hours in and it lives up to the hype.

Everyone always compares these to Stardew Valley now, which you have to because it's the benchmark, but it's insane that SDV has been out there for what, 8 years? ten?! So I assume that I'll run out of content in this 6 month old early access game, unlike stardew where I unlock the second island and instantly feel my eyes roll back into my skull at the thought of all that extra busywork

I think Stardew can't be beat at what it does, tbh, the vibes and the ambience remains completely remarkable, but this is a more engaging Game. The choices for levelling up and how you interact with stuff and the ENDLESS QoL stuff are all so wonderful. The character writing is better, and it's got the banjo kazooie gobbledegook speech which I am always on board with. Hopefully there's going to be some shortcuts that I'll be able to unlock, but everything about it feels like Stardew, but more polished and refined.

So it that's what you're looking for, here it is.

Hoo boy. This one is going to steal some weeks.

Hey why does this keep making me cry. stop that.

It's Dead Space, but given the Capcom Remake treatment, what is not to love.

Biggest change for me is how much more shockingly intense the combat and encounters feel. You come out of a big set piece fight in this sat bolt upright, gripping the controller for dear life. Obviously all the visual fidelity updates and that actually interacting with the limb stuff from the original is Extremely Good as well. Big fan! Well worth whatever they're asking when it goes on sale.