Recent reviews by Ashininity

This game delivers exactly what it promises: an old-school adventure experience wrapped inside a modern-day game. It's a faithful recreation of the classic text adventure, with all the quirks & frustrations intact. Don't play it expecting more (or less!) than that. It's about exploring & replaying until you find all the treasures, solve the puzzles & get the max score. It's not for everybody. But for those who enjoy the genre, it's a fun experience, with some laughs and surprises along the way.

In terms of style, I think the creators nailed the feel of playing through a text adventure with full visuals and sound. The narrator has a great voice, and if he ever gets annoying, you can turn him off. It's certainly not cutting-edge in terms of graphics (possibly held back by the need to support VR?) but I enjoyed the overall style and atmosphere. I wish I could have played it on a VR setup; that seems the ideal way to play this.

I encountered a few technical "hiccups" but no major bugs. I shared a few QoL wishes with a member of the dev team, who said they might be included in a future patch. An overall 8/10, but with a big asterisk: IMO, it's overpriced. For hardcore adventure fans, it might be worth paying the full price. For more general gamers and who aren't sold by the nostalgia of this title, it's probably best to wait for a sale.

TL:DR, I give this game a 6/10 "buy on sale" recommendation. Full thoughts below.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is a first-person, open-world, action-adventure game with a linear story, and it doesn't try to be more than that. As an entry in that genre, it's a very good game in many ways. The world is beautiful and detailed. The characters and story are interesting (thought a little exposition-heavy). The setting is (subjectively, as someone who would love to visit Tokyo someday) fantastic. The yokai (supernatural creatures that inhabit the world, both enemies and otherwise) are intriguing, and are based on real-world Japanese mythology. The interactions between the your player character and the ghost that pseudo-possesses him are very entertaining. I should note that the spoken dialog is entirely in Japanese; it brings authenticity to the experience, but may be a problem if you don't like reading subtitles.

At first, the combat was repetitive and bland, but it became far more enjoyable as I unlocked new abilities and encountered new enemies. My biggest problem with it is there's no dash or dodge ability. When a fast, ranged attack is coming at you, blocking is your only option, and you still take some damage unless you time it perfectly. On the other hand, a perfect block reflects some ranged attacks back at the attacker, which I like.

The city is beautiful, detailed, and jam-packed with enemies to fight and things to find that help upgrade your character. It can feel a little empty, since all the humans have vanished. However, there are tons of cats and dogs, and you can pet them all! You can also read their minds, and if you feed the dogs, they do an adorable, excited eating animation, and then sniff around dig through solid concrete to find you some money. Such good puppers!

My biggest complaint about the game is the movement mechanics. With such a big, vertical city to explore, they could have done so much more with your ability to move around. You're limited to basic running and jumping, with some climbing and limited grappling to reach high places. And it all feels sluggish, especially at first. Granted, I've just come off several weeks of playing Dying Light 2, and it's not fair for me to expect every game to be that kind of experience. However, I've played indie games from tiny studios that far exceed Ghostwire's movement mechanics. A game from Tango and Bethesda should have done better.

Despite that gripe, I've constantly enjoyed my time playing Ghostwire: Tokyo. And yet, something about it feels...flat. All aspects of it range from average to good, but nothing (except perhaps the sound design, and the animal animations) rises above to feel great. It doesn't require a ton of mental engagement, so even I (who can't multi-task at all) can easily play it while watching something on my other screen, except during the story-heavy parts of the main quest. Therefore, I say wait for a sale, and buy it if you're looking to play something casual and chill, and/or if you absolutely love Japanese culture and mythology.

Excellent gameplay, fantastic artwork, creative enemies and bosses, funny and cute premise with a retro vibe. Space Otter Charlie reminds me of old-school platformers like Commander Keen and Jetpack, but with modern mechanics/graphics. It's not a terribly difficult game, but the zero-gravity twist on the 2D puzzle-platformer formula provides some interesting situations and challenges. My only complaint is how short the game is (in my case, 6 hours for 100% completion); there was plenty of opportunity for a lot more content and creative uses for the various gadgets and weapons.

A couple of minor gripes: Beaming animal colonists aboard doesn't seem to provide any actual benefit beyond gaining an achievement; it would have been nice to have them actually do something for you. On the other hand, crafted outfits (which at first I assumed were purely cosmetic) each come with a unique weapon (some of the best in the game), but the game didn't tell me that until I actually made one.

Overall, it's a fantastic game, although it may not be worth the release price for 5-6 hours of gameplay.

Full video review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UulD9PNqSCs

Temper your expectations of this game, especially if you're a fan of Red Thread's previous game Dreamfall Chapters (which I am). Draugen is a walking simulator with a linear story that can be completed in about three hours. There are no real choices. The environment is beautiful and atmospheric, the music is great, and the story/mystery is intriguing with great thematic elements, but the game doesn't resolve in a satisfying way. Too many questions left unanswered. (That could be an issue of personal taste, but worth mentioning.)

Because of the unsatisfying ending and the shortness of game overall, I can't recommend it at this price.

UPDATE - Video review with more information here: https://youtu.be/t4YL_cZ5sjM

If you enjoy puzzle platformers & aesthetically pleasing games with lots of character, you'll like Seasons After Fall.

Our score: 8/10

Full review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1ECJCIv_M0

Likes:

- fantastic artwork and atmosphere
- unique concept
- fun gameplay
- challenging, but not overbearingly so

Dislikes:

- dying can set you back quite far, if you haven't hit a checkpoint in a while

Conclusion:

Flat Kingdom is a very fun platformer with some unique gameplay mechanics that set it apart from the pack. Definitely recommended. I live-streamed my first hour playing the game, which you can watch here: https://youtu.be/ZhvAoQ9vQNA