Recent reviews by jykes

I got wayyyy too invested in this game than what I originally wanted to. Good long but sometimes confusing atmospheric game.

It took some time but I finally got the time to play Sanabi after one year of its initial release. It was such an absolute crime that it took me this long to play this hidden gem. If not for its cyberpunk aspect, I wouldn't have known that I was missing out so much on this game— from its jaw-dropping and scenic pixel art to its fluid and masterful game design all the way to its beautifully woven plot that had both been tugging at my heartstrings and shoving onions down in my eyeholes, this game is nothing short from perfection. If you love story-rich games and fast-paced gameplay, then this game would not disappoint you.


Look, I love video games as much as the next person, but you know what I love more than video games? Stories. Stories are what I believe to be are the butter to the bread to any videogame, and this game is no stranger to that. I pride myself from time to time to be able to predict what happens in shows or any media to what could this plot turn out to be, but somehow, not this game. The way they convey the plot gets you hooked in red herrings that I find myself trying to speedrun the game just to get more of the story, and wow it did not disappoint. For an eight-hour game, they have managed to tug at my heart in ways I did not know it could, get me hooked on the characters’ personalities and interactions they have between each other, and leave me wanting for more content than they have initially provided (I’m crossing my fingers here for any hope for a DLC in the future). If I have to pick a favorite scene out of the game, it would probably be every scene where the General and Daughter would interact with each other. I have a very soft spot for those kind of interactions, and the way they delivered the dialogues, as well as make their personality pop out, I catch myself grinning to hard from the cuteness of it all. It’s one of those games that you just have to play for yourself to absolutely capture the feeling they want you to feel, so if you’re an empathetic person or just love stories in general, then there’s no game better than Sanabi to jumpstart your emotions.


I love physics. Applied physics. Theoretical stuff just goes over my head. That’s why when you actually apply it, it gets really fun. Sanabi is what I would call a spiderman-esque game (it doesn’t help that I just finished playing Webbed, which had a similar primary gameplay mechanic style. Your character uses a chain arm to swing from places to places, getting from point A to point B. As the story progresses, you obtain certain abilities that compliments its primary gameplay mechanic and you can be more dynamic with your movement, as well as pull off some pretty sick moves that’ll propel you to basically any platform. This was one of those games that I never felt that the gameplay was too repetitive and I genuinely kept having fun as the game progresses more and more and more and more. Although, this may be me nitpicking here, but I did find myself just parkouring and swinging around the stage during boss fights just trying to figure out how do you beat them, particularly Firebird and Major Song fights had me swinging around not more than 10 minutes. But other than that, it’s a pretty easy concept to grasp, and would not be a huge hinder progression-wise.


I really appreciate that the game gave us a chance to continue the story even when you chose the basement. I was really worried that I had to replay the whole game just to get to the other ending on my first run. I had to stay faithful to my character so I purposefully chose it (ahh— to be a doomed character) and I can see that the game had a lot of considerations on how they wanted the story to progress, making it a pretty clean-cut linear-storyline. As I’ve mentioned earlier, I love stories and I don’t mind the linear storyline that they were trying to achieve, as it gives me less pressure on how the story could have gone and regret my choices afterwards. Personally, I was hoping the game would be a bit more longer, but they could chose to cut it perfectly. As much as it left a hole in my heart, it also somehow filled it. This will be a game that I would probably be close to my heart. Maybe it was the father-daughter interactions, maybe it was its addictive chain-gun gameplay, or maybe even just how Major Song interacted with our character, this game will be hard to let go. I can’t wait if they decide to add a DLC, considering they did well up until today. It’s definitely a perfect 10-out-of-10 game.

This game came to me [strikethrough]in a dream[/strikethrough] years ago when I saw Markiplier and the likes played it for the first time. Granted, I never watched those videos but soundtracks and covers made it to me and that was my first exposure to the game. I've learned Everything's Alright – Laura Shigihara on the acoustic guitar first before I even had the chance to play the game. It was such a powerful song in it's own that even now, years have passed, I can still play it on the guitar. That's just how impactful this game was, and we're only talking about the soundtrack yet.

It's hard to give a justified review of this game without spoiling it (but then again, it's been more than a decade so the statue of limitations for spoilers must have passed by now). The story this game gives is nothing short of phenomenal. From Dr. Rosalene and Dr. Watts' natural back and forth banters, all the way through the crux of why they do the things they do. This story tugs your heartstrings as you venture deeper into the story, and the pay-off in the end of it all is what brings everything together. The game follows a non-linear storyline as you go through and sift through the numerous memories of a dying man, finding the reason for his dreams. There's a lot of classic twists and gags you'd enjoy, some outdated, and some managed to still hit despite the time gap from the release. Honestly, if you want to know more, you'd actually have to play the game because I for one, am not spoiling it this time.

And by that, I'm referring to the game's graphic and controls. This game was made way back in 2011, so comparing it to new games, it's not fair. It's a very rigid control system, especially on turning corners and seemingly invisible walls. But that doesn't really matter much since most of the time it's clear and concise where the game wants you to go and where things should be. Despite those obstacles, even if you play it now, the characters in this game are still very expressive thanks to emotive sprites and animated movement (as much as a pixel art can move) that conveys every character present in the scene as alive.

The OST for this game is absolutely perfect. Kan Gao and Laura Shigihara (our beloved PvZ composer and vocalist, and Rakuen creator) did such an amazing job on this game. There was never a dull moment in the game, whether you were wandering around to find stuff or just listening to the "For River" piano in the mansion; the music from this game breathed in so much life into the story.

And where does that bring us? Well, to the moon, no doubt. It's grown to be one of my favorite story games I've ever played throughout the years. I've played this on and off every now and then since it's a short story (somehow didn't record offline playing back then for some reason) and I really wanted to put my review out there despite it being long overdue by a few years. I'm still gathering the time and courage to play the sequels and other games released the same studio. Regardless, if you do buy this, make sure you have tissues on hand. TO THE MOON gets a 9/10 from me.

Disco Elysium is to me is one of those games that's just hard to explain why it's great unless you go through it yourself. I came in the game with the intention of just "winging it" and "let's see how this will go" and ended up on the other side with such an unironically profound sense of self. The story it tells doesn't stop at our protagonist, but somehow also extends to the player itself. It sounds so corny when I'm writing it out but like I told you, it's one of those games you just gotta live though. Right now, I'm giving it a rest so when I come back when I replay this game, it'll feel like the first time again.

This game has a special place in my heart for slowly getting me acclimated to survival horror games. Actually built my tolerance and social skills with playing in community servers and multiplayer in general. It's free, try it.

a classic.

I remember putting down tons of hours into this because I loved the game and it's premise. So much content, so much playstyles, so much to do.

If not for it's 83 GB requirement to play, I would still be playing this.

pretty good. slimes are a hassle though.

Right off the bat: if you like the aesthetics of the first Resident Evil, the horror aspect of Silent Hill, the doomsday scenario of Neon Genesis Evangelion, the fast flashcard flick of texts of Monogatari, and/or even the grittiness of Ghost in the Shell's andriods? Then don't think, just BUY this game.

Count yourself lucky if you haven't seen, heard, nor was spoiled of what this game could be. It's one of those games that's honestly best enjoyed with zero expectations coming in (I know I did).

I'll try to keep it to a minimum.

I'll admit it. At first, during the first hour of the game it was kinda hard to connect what the story is going to be. Was it something like RE:8 where you're going throughout the story progressing in a linear perspective, knowing what you set out to do? Was it a missing memory situation where you find yourself rediscovering with the protagonist why you're here? Heck, I even thought it was a rescue mission gone bad because it started as a downed ship setting. The story was way more abstract than what I usually can handle when playing horror games (with only a few during the writing of this review) and it was kind of hard to predict where this was going. But one thing it did great was never letting go of the suspense. With story games, I usually can go on 2-3 hours before tiring out and leaving the game to continuing it for a next day but this one got me gripped for 6 hours straight on the first run. It honestly was one of those games that just hooks you in so perfectly that you wouldn't notice how much time as already passed.

It has a few unique in-game mechanics that I loved fiddling around with, especially the radio. And as tradition for most horror games, you get limited inventory slots which makes you prioritize and leave behind stuff you may or may not need further along down the line it has an off-character inventory box so it alleviates the guilt of having to leave/destroy stuff behind since they're in all safe rooms. My only irk at this game was at some point in game, the requirement to progress got a bit repetitive, specifically before moving to a new chapter/location. Specifically the "collect-all-the-keys-to-open-this-door-to-proceed-to-the-next-room puzzles. The element keys, the plates, and the tarot cards specifically. At one point, I just stopped caring about the horror aesthetic this game kept trying to make me feel because I was so tired and annoyed of running back and forth between rooms again and again and again just trying to find out what I missed or left behind. At least the pay-offs with cutscenes and hooking me with the story worked, thank the lesbians for that.

I run a questionable PC where in some enemy-less rooms I get to 60 fps normally but drop down to around 15 fps when there's enemies around, so in a way, that took some of the jumpscares away since I just immediately know when there's something in the room I need to worry about, but that didn't take away how hard it is to deal with some of the enemies, plus knowing when to fight or to run and dodge away.

From gameplay graphics all the way to the seamless transitions to cutscenes and Monogtari-esque text flashes that's heavily featured in this game. I don't speak German myself so I found it hard to connect with what the texts meant at first but at some point, you just feel what they want you to see and you get the message instinctively; [i/ idk I can't explain the feeling exactly but it was like that[/i].

Overall, even though I was late to the party (congrats on getting Best Indie Horror in 2023!) the game was such an experience that I want to go through again. I'll have to revisit the game another time, let it sit again for a while so I can relive the game once more in a fresh set of eyes (and hopefully with a new ending this time). Definitely give this game a try, especially if you're a fans of [whatever I said in the opening statement]. SIGNALIS gets a full 9/10 from me.

If you're a fan of the neon-cyberpunk genre, it's not a must have game but it'll definitely look good in your steam library.

I bought the game with the expectation that it would be a chill game and it delivered (pun intended) on that part. That's pretty much the reason for my Yes recommendation. That and pretty nice setting the game takes place based on the trailer and pictures alone. Now put that aside...

It's basically a railroaded visual novel with pretty lights and an interesting concept. Echoing the reviews before me, the story definitely falls flat as it makes it hard for me to actually care what's happening. The way the story progressed felt so random and out-of-the-blue, that the choice that you're supposed to make doesn't weigh anything. Matter of fact, you don't really feel any of the choices you make since they are only mentioned in passing conversations; (e.g. the explosion early on the game, the decision you do for Dolly, whether or not you deliver the "timed" events on time, etc) or worse, never brought up at all.

It's also a Point A to Point B delivery game. Pretty clear cut from the start right up until the end. Don't expect much out of it. The HOVA upgrade effects are barely noticeable at all, making me believe the currency system doesn't really do anything except refurbish your apartment that you never really visit because the game just throws fetch quests on you for literal second-after-second and change your trail color.

tldr; Don't expect a good story out of this. The aesthetics are nice and the gameplay is pretty clear from the get-go but other than that, there's really not much else to do than just bring this/them here to there. It's a 6/10. Definitely only buy it when it's on a big sale. Cheers.