Recent reviews by Slumber

(Note: I am writing this review with 5 playthroughs completed, and thus 5 achievements earned. This is not so much a complete idea of the story and it's themes so much as it is a playbook of my current thoughts on what the Visual Novel is trying to represent. Thank you.)

Landmine Princess shreds the usual visual novel playbook, packing five whirlwind dates with Mina into a sub-two-minute speedrun that spits out a hell of a lot of endings. It’s casual, click-happy, and brutally honest about how we chase love like dopamine hits. You’re basically stat-grinding tiny conversation trees while trying not to trigger Mina’s emotional landmine response. Mess up and she blows up on you in a way that feels uncomfortably real if you’ve ever felt ghosted or gaslit.

At heart this is a hyperreality with romance distilled into pure simulacra. The game’s Lore Drops and bite-sized horror slaps are mass-produced cultural fragments meant to hook you. It’s a weird mirror for modern dating’s master-slave flips, where you alternate between chasing and fleeing, trading up for that next “better” ending like a hypergamous ritual.

Mina herself is a walking case study in BPD style splitting. One click she’s glowing with idealized affection, next click she’s ice-cold and accusatory. It’s raw affective volatility transformed into gameplay, an experiential schizosophy that drags you through manic highs and depressive dips in microbursts. You’ll catch yourself thinking in loops: did I click the right line, did I invest enough points in trust, am I enough for her?

Spoiler alert pal! Probably not, and that sting is the point.

In the end Landmine Princess is less a comfort read and more a philosophical pinch. It forces you to stare at the mechanics of desire, the hollow promises of love, the addictive hooks of mass culture psychosis, and the emotional toll of always being “on". And then it nudges you toward silence, toward letting things be without manic clicking. If you’re up for a game that’s a bit casual, a bit brutal, and wildly deep, then...

Welcome to the landmine.

"You are the lens of your own world."

Was the final thoughts I was left with as I clicked off the game to write this review. The story starts itself in the throws of crises between two friends; a robot and a human. A world in regression, a soul haunted, and a soul near the cusp of breaking.

A troubled human, and a troubled robot. Both incapable of protecting themselves and forced to watch as each other suffers as well.

A phenomenal story I would recommend to anyone.

Liminal Void poses itself as a very angsty, Bleach inspired roguelike cake layered with glitchy surrealism and phantasmagoria as its core aesthetic motifs.

The base premise is that you are of the caste known as the "Liminal Layer Society", a ragtag group of societal abjects reborn as hunters to chase down and kill the "Void Gods"; Supposed deities that lurk in these liminal realms—spaces caught between the fabrics of our reality.

Four characters, each bearing the weight of their trauma manifested into magical abilities, are thrust into a vast labyrinthine, ever-changing dungeon to reach Layer 444 the domain of the aforementioned malicious gods.

The game is currently in an early release state. As of writing this I was unable to choose my own difficulty, glitches abounded and there was a host of spelling errors in the dialogue; But don't let those minor gripes dissuade you from trying out this game. There is a lot of soul put into this and I highly recommend to throw yourself deep into the pits to begin fashioning the enzymes to digest this piece of art.

A game that holds its cards too long, and plays them perfectly.

I initially encountered this game through an article that was recommending VNs similar to Steins;Gate. The character designs immediately stuck out to me, and I was hooked; Having intentionally avoided the plot synopsis aside from a brief(er) description, I bought the game and decided to give it a shot.

I'll jump to the side for a second and say it's a shame that this game hasn't a proper translation. I dove down the rabbit hole of the various translations that exist (*cough* The infamous character who holds the top review on Steam *cough*) after playing through the game. The game is rife with spelling errors and grammatical inconsistencies, but please don't let that stop you from experiencing what's inside this stories 1.5G worth of space. The story isn't whole in this translation, there's a lot of context, story beats, jokes and deeper meanings that either could not be properly extrapolated or were just missed by amateur translators.

So my best suggestion would be to get familiar, very familiar, with Japanese and then come back.

Though I say that, I still recommend it. It's a gripping story of the human condition, and our indomitable spirits. It's a story that showcases mental illness and trauma in their raw, nasty and toxic forms, but it also shows growth, it shows the ability to overcome your nature, your desires, your trauma and it shows that, at the end of the day, we're only human after all.

The protagonist is flawed. Deeply. Incredibly so. Through no fault of his own he was cast into an expansive void rife with chaos, and because of a series of unfortunate events ended up in the hands of wicked people, who did wicked things.

I think that every character can be related to in one way or the other. I found myself in tears over every one of them, even you Sakuraba. The soundtrack as well is fantastic. 'Signal' is by far my favorite in the OST; It's haunting melodies and use of voice as an instrument made me immediately add it to my daily playlist.

If you have or suffer from mental illness, you will feel a connection to the characters and the story.

Much love.

The avant-garde, hand-drawn RPG that has captured my own heart. This game, created by the visionary artist Cam Collins, is a true work of art. It is a masterclass in outsider storytelling, a journey through a world unlike any other, with characters as eccentric and captivating as the landscapes they inhabit.

From the moment I first set foot in the world of Copper Odyssey, I was entranced by its unique vision. The hand-drawn art style is unlike anything I have ever seen before, it's thematic emphasis on printmaking imbues every character and location with a sense of wonder and enchantment. The attention to detail is simply stunning, from the intricate patterns that adorn the walls of ancient ruins to the delicate tracery of leaves on the trees.

I can not for the life of me recommend this game enough. Each character has their own charm, and the dialogue truly makes you feel as if this is a living, breathing world.

Respect The Craft!

I killed a lootbug and I'm not so proud about it. :'c

(edit)

Don't sleep on Barrelmancy.

Just writing to boost my SSS capacity x

"Some things scratch the surface while others strike at your soul.”
― Gianna Perada

This quote is the exact sentiment I felt after finishing this game.
Möbler is an interesting title that was released on the 7th of june, 2019 by a group of students attending the Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands; not to be confused with the nether, a 'hellish' underworld in Mojang's Minecraft.

Gameplay - 10/10

The gameplay features simple platforming while furniture and appliances infinitely stack upon each other. Your goal is to continue to reach the top to avoid being eaten by the Intergalactic Space Whale (I.S.W).
From what I've been able to tell the farther you climb gathering points, the faster the objects fall and the faster the I.S.W consumes.

The controls feel tight and reactive, as they should for a platformer of such caliber.

Story - 11/10

Forgive me, I can't help but give this game a 10 with a +1 to it. The story in this game is absolutely astonishing. For a simple platformer, it's as if they hired the help of the great; Tolkien, Martin, Barron, Pratchett, Rowling, Rothfuss, Gaiman and etc...

The deep complexities and nuance to the storytelling had me at the edge of my seat every second I was tabbed-in, and I could not keep my gaze away for more than a second before I felt a kind of bloodlust to continue on with the game.

Never before has a game simultaneously made me sad while throwing a curve ball and to my excitement, completely changing the atmosphere of the whole game!

Sound Design - 10/10

Simple, yet effective.
I have not much to say hear.

Design/Art-Style/Graphics - 10/10

The team assembled to create this project clearly know what they are doing in all fields of game design, even extending to the aesthetics. Now usually if a game had bad graphics and an amazing storyline + interesting characters I would still give it praise for such. This game takes the whole buffet! An amazing art-style (very much so distinct; their own.), interesting characters and stories, polished gameplay & good sound design?

It makes me want to think this a AAA game studio disguising themselves as but indie game devs attending university.

Overall 10/10 - A+ - 100/100

Amazing game. Definitely worth checking out.

SJ

Summoner 2 port pls