Recent reviews by Flingu

Oozing with love and style; Cuphead is an incredible experience that you would be worse off by skipping over. Don't let claims of it being "too hard" turn you away. While the game doesn't hold your hand it also doesn't leave you high and dry, with a variety of weapon types and perks at your disposal there is always another way to tackle even the hardest of bosses so you'll surely be able to wiggle your way through regardless of skill level.

Ugh, Play a real Shin Megami Tensei game, like Jack Bros or Demikids: Dark Version

Seriously though, this is a fantastic game that'll keep you entertained for tens of hours. Sure you'll have to push through the tropey anime stuff although if you're considering buying this in the first place, I doubt you care.
I've played it through on the vita twice and it still compels me to dive into yet another run on PC.

The characters while occasionally falling into an over-the-top stereotype of themselves for comedic effect still present their issues in an understandable and relatable way which makes them lovable & seem like a real group of friends.
The battles run on the "1 more!!!" system which should be fairly similar to anyone who has dipped their toes into Megaten as it's similar to press turn. This allows for fast paced encounters and a way to push the player towards utilizing one of the major game mechanics, demon fusion. The dungeons, while still randomly generated offer much more visual variation than Tartarus making them a nicer experience all-round.

Outside of the SMT-lite dungeon crawling you'll have to plan out how to spend your limited time in the calendar year which makes every playthrough different and adds a sense of strategy to the everyday life sections, want to spend time with Kanji at the local noodle bar so you can inch closer to upgrading his persona? go for it, but it may cost you as you'll have to turn down an invitation to train with the basketball team and get that limited time book that'll boost your stats.

If the descriptions of the game sound fun, then chances are you'll enjoy it, just don't forget to check out SMT once you're finished so that you can get chased around the 3th Kalpa by Dante or brutalize your Samurai friend into seppuku.

Great little rogue-lite. It has incredible visuals inspired by old Mac games and Junji Ito's work, while not feeling like a direct copy/paste or knockoff.

There are many different creepy scenarios to face, each with their own paths leading to different endings, you may need specific items or upgrades to see the additional choices which unfortunately means that you have to rely on RNG to serve them to you sometimes. The randomised encounters and events really add to the suspense although I'd like if there were more added that are tailored to the current mystery that you're facing.

The gameplay consists of taking down 5 mysteries in order to obtain the keys to the lighthouse. There's the basic set of RPG character stats which are used in skill checks along with a number of character perks that you can choose from each time you level up. Something to note is that you technically have 3 health bars, Stamina, Reason and Doom which all need maintaining, even if doom is rarely ever at real threat of maxing out.

There's a bunch of options aside from pursuing the current mystery case which can change the outcome of your run, going to one of the multiple shops or spending your time searching around for an item in a different part of town may prove useful or a detriment depending on your situation.

Lots of enemy variation means that you always have a disgusting or terrifying looking creature or even a more grounded realistic threat such as a rioter to face up against, the combat itself is rather simplistic however which leaves almost all battles having a similar winning strategy.

After finally beating my first run I can safely say that If you're interested in the art style and you're willing to put some faith into an early access rouge-lite game then it's definitely one to check out.

This game made me realize that locking a dog in a box for hours is ok,
That leaving a unattended lit candle display on a cake in a kids bedroom is fine,
That if decorations appear in your room overnight when everyone is asleep nothing is wrong,
And how much of a ♥♥♥♥ that dog is.

10/10

Bought this on launch day and It's still pulling me back in with updates over a decade later, if that isn't a major selling point then I don't know what is.