Recent reviews by たまご

Combat can get a little stale, I wish it was just a little more ambitious with some of the options you get in the game, but the visual aesthetic, the folklore pulls, the soundtrack, and the story give this game a fun and interesting vibe that makes it worth experiencing. I wouldn't play this if you're expecting something that will keep your blood pumping like a Devil May Cry or something like that, but a nice experience nonetheless.

The issue with this game, in my opinion, is that there's *too many options*. In a game like Smash, there's multiple buttons for shield and multiple buttons for jump, and these things can lead to things like macros for those who wish to use them like L+A being grab if you don't wish to use the Z Button, or softly tapping the shield button making light shield, et cetera. But every button has its own use, from standard jab/tilts to Strong attacks, to guarding and parrying and grabbing, meaning I personally don't feel that there is a button layout in this game that doesn't feel cumbersome. On top of this there's the RPS system that needs to be accounted for while in Grab. It doesn't come up exceptionally often, but it is still there, you have to accommodate not only for what the other person might do during your grab but also make sure your DI is going to be effective after the grab. It feels like there's not a single moment of this game where I can more easily relax or think a little bit less like some other fighters, there's constantly things to account for. With difficult controls to handle and a constant need to be sweating and dealing with mindgames, it just feels like they tried to add a lot more in to the Rivals experience and it ends up being too much. They added too much sauce, I can't taste the meat through all the sauce they tried to implement.

Additionally, this is a bit more personal and probably not as objective as a review should be, but I feel like platfighters are an incredibly insular gaming experience - you either play Smash or you're one of the two dozen people in the scene for your niche platfighter. This leads to everyone you meet online being incredibly technical supergeniuses who, even at low MMR, can perfectly parry most moves in the game, know perfect spacing, taunt/teabag when they win to flex, et cetera, leading to a game that I feel doesn't welcome new players with a clunky button scheme, overwhelming amount of options, and an insular group of players. If you had started playing the game upon its release I'm sure you're still getting plenty of enjoyment out of it, but as someone who dabbles I feel like I'm being told I'm unwanted.

Incredibly charming. The art, the sound design, the writing, the vibes. I've always adored work by thecatamites and I'm happy to say Anthology of the Killer continues to show why this creator is such a fantastic name in the indie gaming space. Charming, spooky, uniquely aesthetic.

Do Wario Ware or Pizza Tower just not give you enough stimulus? Do you ever find yourself playing Crash Bandicoot on 3x speed and thinking "golly, I wish I was also watching Subway Surfers and listening to a brainrot tiktok compilation right now"? Do you wish Wario was allowed to swear and drink? Then this is the game for you.

Despite my qualms with the general control or the game feel, it makes up for those things in style. The visuals, the vibes, the music, and the breakneck ridiculous use of silly sound effects, it is a charming experience despite some issues. Definitely not a game I would tell people not to play, for sure.

It's a fun little romp with some fantastic music, funny writing where it exists, and a very charming visual style. I am always very much enticed by these short and sweet games with offbeat visual aesthetics and sound - after previously playing Pual Blart Ghoul Cop and now A Fistful of Cowboys, I'm really excited to see what Frog comes up with next. I do hope I can state them as a darling indie creator in the same vein as thecatamites and blebuel in the future.

I do feel like the Dodge takes a little bit too much time to recover - there's moments that feel like the dash is required to complete them and it can lead to you being incredibly low on the resource very quickly. Additionally, not every ability can be remapped, which can be quite a pain.

I will also say, the final wave is kind of annoyingly difficult. Beneath the visual noise, the auto-lock between either freeing a friend or teleporting to another area, and enemies being able to essentially stand on where you're going to spawn and effectively give you undodgable damage, it has some issues with readability that can lose the charm of the aesthetic and just become a little annoying.

This game is incredibly frustrating. The enemies roll exactly what they need to have a perfect turn 95% of the time, leaving everything up to chance, but not for everyone, just for you. Losing to the first enemy as the Thief character because you consistently roll unusable dice for 6 turns in a row is not fun.

Unimaginable horrors of the deep be damned my boy can fish

I have waited a long time for this game to come out, and it has been worth the wait. This game is fast, frenetic, and irreverent. Sometimes you're not fully in control, but it never feels like, it's unwarranted, you know? You're meant to be running around when the madcap mayhem ensues around you - and during the moments when you do feel in control, it feels fantastic. Each of the stages brings something unique and new to Peppino's movement and abilities that gives levels identity and keeps things fresh constantly. This game is ridiculously good.

B U Y M E
S E L L M E
J U I C E M E
S Q U E E Z E M E
Y O U P I E C E

I tried and tried and tried writing a review for this and it always ended up becoming rambling ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. A majority of this work feels like a vent piece regarding his feelings towards fandom/stan culture, depression, the ever-changing nature of the internet, and UH OH A WHOLE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ OF POLITICAL MUSING. I don't feel like this is unwarranted coming from the guy who created Homestuck and the whole bucket of worms that unleashed onto the internet. But the characters in this story don't really have the same charm or character to them as a story like Problem Sleuth or Homestuck before them, the latter being an unrealistic expectation due to Hussie writing more than the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Iliad or some ♥♥♥♥ for that.

After Chapter 9 has released I have to say... It's fine. There's no "meh" option for reviews. I'm assuming you're already a fan of Hussie's ridiculously wonky work, so I don't think it's worth NOT recommending - if someone told me they were gonna start reading Psycholonials I'm not gonna say "DON'T DO IT IT'S BAD" but if you told me you wanted to read Psycholonials with no previous knowledge of Hussie as a writer, I'd like to welcome you out from under the Internet equivalent of a rock that you've been living under and go read Problem Sleuth. It's sick as hell. Then maybe come back to this.