Recent reviews by Nad

(18 hours played from a Family Share account) Shovel Knight Dig is a curious game to talk about, but the TL;DR is a cautious recommendation. As for details:

There are many things I genuinely enjoy about Dig! The visuals are a great, natural extension of the original's style. The character interactions are lovely, particularly getting more screen time with Shield Knight for an absolutely charming dynamic with SK. The music is fabulous as well, and the general control scheme is easy to conceptually grasp for pick up and play sessions. Getting the normal ending is pleasantly quick once you have a grasp on what the game can throw at you, and fun to do!

BUT.

The game *will* sucker punch you with its game balance from the procedural generation. Some level gimmicks across the stage biomes are straight up death sentences compared to others in the same zone, and only with time and experience will you understand either how to survive them or outright avoid them. Upgrade RNG is wildly varied, with some runs through raining down loads of useful items and health upgrades while with others you only find expendable relics or one-time heals. Enemies of certain types or configurations will ambush you before you have an honest chance to react, and only with a pessimistic play style will you avoid unnecessary damage. Often there is just a bit too much going on with enemies and hazards to coherently decipher your next correct line of play.

Importantly, the route to the true ending will test your patience, at least at this moment before the last big DLC update drops a balance patch to generation. It took me 8 hours of attempts to successfully achieve the true ending, mainly because the stage hazards and enemy groups will cause you to miss pivotal chances to progress the route and force you to begin again from scratch. If the game is aware that the true ending route flags are checked, some fixed items or room patterns would greatly reduce the literal trials and errors that come with attempts. As of writing, only 4.6% of players have achieved the true ending, which seems comically low, and speaks to how the game punishes players in a way that only RNG is capable of delivering.

That said, I don't regret my time playing this, and I do want to try the Wish DLC when it launches! So that's a definitive compliment. Just understand that while at its heart I think this is a game made to be enjoyed, the procedural nature of this beast will tell you that you will try again, and again, for a majority of your game time.

This game made me realize how much I missed Star Fox. And not just being a rail shooter; I mean being a goofy space animal, in a space ship, blasting other goofy space animals. I don't need any mind bending plot to unfold, I'm just happy seeing critters dramatically spout some quips before you annihilate some also-goofy animal-shaped mech being driven by said goofy space animals. Plus the SNES homage visual style is just my jam!

The gameplay moves faster than Star Fox currently, and because of that the difficulty is a little harder. At the moment I'd say some basic enemy attacks aren't telegraphed quite well enough to give you dodge time unless you already knew of the attack type, so your first time doing level runs you'll probably be sweating it out at a few spots from enemy formations. On the other hand, though, bosses are generally well telegraphed and you have just the right amount of health to survive on the edge of your pilot's seat. Feels good to get out by a hair!

The soundtrack is incredibly good, by the person who also did the soundtrack to Skeleton Boomerang, and I highly suggest supporting it. The composer, +TEK, also has it on Bandcamp so if Steam isn't your thing for music, I recommend you check there! Stage 6 and Stage 9 (called Stage 7 on the OST) are the stand out hits to my ears, but all of it is pleasantly high energy. You'll be swinging your ship/bike/flying heroine from side to side enjoying it!

My only larger criticisms of the game, as it currently is, is that Stage 5's boss is a massive damage sponge, and that Stage 7 is a bit *too* tight on difficulty, being a tower defense of sorts in the all-range mode. But enemy health tweaks in both of those would likely fix that issue for the player, and overall I have greatly enjoyed my romp of the currently available stages.

Overall, a very reasonably priced nostalgia trip if you want more Star Fox animals in your life as Nintendo keeps Fox locked in a kennel. Got it on sale, but had I known of this game beforehand I'd very easily pay the current Early Access price for it as well.

This was worth the wait! The first Freedom Planet stole my heart with the possibilities it presented, and now after about 8 years, it delivered. I love that the level design adds so many unique elements to it, as that's honestly the most you can ask for in a platformer. It's surprisingly hefty, too; my first full run as Lilac was an impressive 10+ hours, which is over double the time it took me for a run in the first game. That's a lot of content, considering the other character routes that await me someday! For now, though, I'm content after playing my heart out over two days.

Probably my only nitpick is that the action gets a little too chaotic when there's a ton of regular peons in your way, but everything else was fabulous. The team is quick to smooth out any launch day bugs, and personally I loved the fact I could learn the boss patterns as I went to overcome the challenges. The game is really flexible on your difficulty curve, and avoids a lot of problems afflicting certain Sonic level design tendencies. If you're either passing time until Frontiers comes out, or just want another experience on par with Mania, I think this will get you your fix!

Have no doubt about it, friends: Iconoclasts is a wonderful game. The core gameplay consists of roughly five mechanics, and it's executed greatly. As is true to the Metroidvania genre, you spend your time exploring a large, platforming map pulling off various feats and fights as you make your way through the story. And it's that aspect that I was wowed by!

Seriously, this game gave way more time developing its characters than I would have expected, and that's a good thing. It never felt like it went for too long in any particular scene, as the cutscenes serve as breaks usually right after something intense, such as a boss fight. (There are many good bosses.) I was legitimately fascinated by the personalities of the main reoccuring characters, and I cared for them as I discovered their flaws. I'm also extremely impressed by how the game approached their arcs, appreciating how it was chosen to address their issues in a realistic way I could sympathize with.

The gameplay itself feels silky smooth, with a flow that snaps to you after a few hours getting your boots wet. You're introduced to your gameplay mechanics one at a time, and like a great game it usually spends an area letting you test out the limits of this idea before moving on to the next. Later on, these intertwine as combinations that never felt cheap, and the smaller number of options meant it was natural to swap between them to devise an answer. The map design is also great, being large enough to feel like a fleshed out place, but never so large or needlessly structured to get lost in. Every room has its purpose, and besides a few puzzle rooms for collectables you'll encounter everything just by your own intuition. Speaking of the collectables, I'm happy to say the game never pressures you into feeling like you need to amass a large pile of things in order to have the strength to progress. It's essentially all optional, with your own loadout able to overcome the game's obstacles.

The bosses are all unique--with one maybe being more of a redux, but it's still remixed well--and there was one particular sequence that was a great emotional end to an arc that I loved. The music for that piece absolutely nailed the feeling too, wow. (Side note: great soundtrack!)

This labor of love absolutely shines, and it's a shame it feels like this game has been overshadowed by the also great Celeste. From wonderful sprite work, great music, engaging characters, to solid gameplay, this is a Metroidvania anyone with an itch should play, hands down.

Credit where it's due, Sr Pelo was the way I discovered this game exists.

How many of us have imposed self-made challenges on ourselves to old platformers we know by heart? Those silly, pointless rules that nevertheless made an otherwise mundane segment into something much more challenging, leading us to question our own decision making and/or skills?

Skeleton Boomerang is that, personified. In the ultimate case of "Why am I making this so hard", the boomerang juggling for points changes what would otherwise be standard platforming fare into a combination of physics manipulation, reflexes, and luck for your score. It was smart of the game to tie your upgrades into your accumulated score in order to encourage this, and it creates its own replay value in two ways when you return somewhere both to bump towards and upgrade but also for your own standards. It'll also be the reason you fail to take down an enemy before taking damage, leading you to at some point to go "Why juggle when I can just throw it at them straight?" But that's okay, you'll silence that corner of your mind over time.

The art style is lovely with Hunter having charming little animations (and for your many, bony foes), and the music is so catchy it's one of the factors that got my attention to buy the game. I do think a few levels tend to drag on to the longer side than what's necessary (mainly because you only get a mid-level checkpoint in each), but that wasn't enough of a factor to make me look at this negatively.

Oh, and I hope you like a combination of bone puns and facts. "Bonunaga's Ambition" as a level name made me die in the best, possible way.

Was a slacker backer to this years ago, and I've gotta say this game has ship-loads of charm.

I've played the final release to 100% completion on Time Pieces now, and can safely say this was a blast. While shorter than I thought it would be (I never kept *that* much up the devs, just general time windows to the launch), the good news is that what's there feels *great*. I cannot emphasize enough how nice it is to jump around as Hat Kid, with the sort of responsiveness that I haven't felt from a non-Nintendo platformer in a long while. With all your abilities unlocked at the end, you're a high flying, hat swapping machine. The little touch of the dive cancelling and mild wall climbing/jumping opens the exploration up to a level close to SM64/SMS, and I'm the kind of person who really likes taking the oddball way to my goals when possible. A few camera hiccups aside (and that's next to impossible to avoid having in this genre), I always had confidence my jumps were going to land where I intended, and wasn't proven wrong.

Beyond a control standpoint, the presentation is smile-inducing. The voice acting that's here is surprsingly memorable, which almost all character types having something distinct to their voices to accomadate their physical appearance. My besty description is that I'd see some shady crows, have one talk to me, and I'd go "Yeah, that's how I thought they'd sound!" It's very fitting, and in a few cases, surprisingly earnest during the sparse moments that are more serious/sincere. I really liked the tweaks to the HUD on particular missions, and the screen effects used during key moments or challenges were right on point. The humor is well done too, and in two instances a really comedic combination of grim and honest.

I wish there was more at launch and am aware there's more coming, but I also don't feel gipped out of a quality game, either. It's a very concise game without padding/fluff, and what is there is very memorable. (By the way, the boss fight songs get stupendous.) If you want to itch that SM64/SMS vibe and can't get/wait for Odyssey, you should give the devs here some credit and buy this game. There's clearly been a lot of love put into this concept, even if it's changed a little from the Alpha/Beta days to now.

I really hope anyone discovering this series witnesses it in the correct order, cause there's a lot to cover.

Basically, yes, this game is like if Phoenix Wright decided to chill with the Hunger Games while witnessing an episode of Jojo at Persona's house. It's exploded in popularity in recent years since its official introduction to the States, and I'm glad I got this game as a gift. It really opened my eyes to the DR universe, and I'm pretty hooked!

The premise is split between learning about the characters, then watching and participating in a case of who-dunnit as members of the quirky cast are taken out due to various circumstances. I can't really say much more than that since the game's plot is so reliant on going in blind, I'd be doing everyone a disservice! I was worried the game would unfold too quickly for my PW-accustomed brain to adapt, but there's no need to fear about the game's time limit in trials. I had loads of time to figure out what was going on and piece together the inconsistencies. You stumble upon a lot of evidence, but the game handily only provides small groups per segment so you don't feel flustered.

The story is pretty crazy, and will leave you wondering what else could be done with it. Thankfully the series continued to let us find out! DR2 is superior in basically every aspect, but you absolutely want to play this first. Trust me, your Danganronpa order needs to be this game and the sequel before anything else. The spin off is far less required to be in the loop if you give the excellent DR3 anime a view.

To wrap it up: if you love mystery VNs that go a little deeper than your PWs, give this game a shot. Also, don't attempt to look up anything about it on the internet lest you want to be spoiled on basically everything. Even Spotify is a spoiler!

19 hours in as of writing, but figured I'd put this out there. I'll update it if something changes?

--NEP REVIEW PART 2: ATTACK OF THE ROBO GE-GES--

Okay, so now I've cleared my first run of the game and can say a bit more. Even on a regular ending, the plot was quite enjoyable! I liked a lot of the jokes and references the game makes, some were unexpected.

The difficulty never ramped up, it actually got much easier, haha. If you use the scouting system strategically (AKA you put the experience booster wherever you are) you level up far above what's required through a little grinding. That said, I greatly appreciate the ability to fast forward/skip battle animations, with how easily my party of waifus obliterated foes battles would take literally a handful of seconds. Combine that with certain characters and their abilities and you're able to tank through dungeons with barely any problems as long as you pay attention.

Got to NG+ where you can literally bring everything over progress wise (including all your end game party members unlocked from the beginning!!) so I can unlock the true ending, and they hand you all sorts of bonuses to make your second run faster, I can already tell. Props that they make multi-runs accessible, now I can dig into the other systems of the game I basically ignored without having to trudge through the game again. Smart thinking!

Final-Final thoughts are it's not a particularly challenging RPG for those willing to bite down deep with its systems, but it is a particularly-outstandingly fun one. I did feel like my goddess-like (CPU humor!) power was the result of my own planning, so I was proud of my first run. Totes fun, ya'll. Oh, and it took me 34 hours to clear the game due to super-over-levelling at the end. (Hint: The colosseum is an amazing grind spot for EXP and money, I leveled 6 times in an hour)

--Original Review from 19 Hours in--

Nep's been my closet enjoyment for the last couple of years since deciding to try it from watching my friend get the first remake of Re;birth 1, and this is the one I can definitively say is what you want out of the series. I'll admit that when I played the first few in the Re;birth series I liked the concept of the world and its characters, but that the game flow (primarily being so attached to the guild quest structure) didn't feel very cohesive. Re;birth 3 started getting better, and now we've got this one on our hands. It's finally clicked!

Maybe it just took me multiple games, but now all the systems the game has in place makes sense. You'll get the hang of the attack combo system, investing in your nations, and grinding your way to (as of now!) powering a hole into those bosses. The writing is getting better with each entry too, and the VAs really give their perfomances a lot of heart for something like this (I'm a bit biased towards my lord waifu Nepgear, but ya know).

If you're someone like me, getting past the fan service hurdles can be some mental hopskotch, but there's nothing quite like mashing your way through that obligatory bath shot still screen to avoid family judgment while still trying to comprehend what's being said. Keeps you on your toes!

TL;DR the jokes are better, references are abound, and gameplay is totally up to snuff. Judgment by your friends and love ones can be healed with time and acceptance towards your strange, new hobby and you'll be all the better for it.

Face it, fellas; whenever a game has the user-assigned tag "America", you know you have to own it.

As a huge convert of 80s and 90s aciton flicks the past couple of years--particularly of Stallone and Schwarzenegger--this game is my personal playground. The enviroments are beautifully destructive and the action is fast and furious; you'll never even be a particular character for any reasonable length of time, as rescuing hostages will always switch you with another Bro. And you'll welcome it too, as the very diverse cast of our favorite action movies are in the cast, ranging from Rambo to RoboCop to John McClaine to freaking Agent J.

The control scheme is simplistic, but exactly what's needed for this type of game. Basically, you have your movement, your main gun, a melee attack, and a secondary special weapon with limited uses, each of those differing for every Bro. As you unlock more, the roulette of "Which favorite is next?" will keep every level a unique blast from the last.

Seriously, this game is just at Beta, basically? Late summer can't come faster for this game, but until then there's always time to hang with the Bros.