Recent reviews by Flippy_D

Very charming, very basic adventure/combat game.

Appealing aesthetics and decent if infrequent writing form the main impetus to play, with some clear inspiration from Ghibli in particular. It's a world you want to see, and a story you'd like to listen to.

Fairly open levels split into linear routes make for a mostly untroubled and steady sense of progression. The main challenge is the fighting, which is above average difficulty although this it partly due to the controls (disclaimed: I played on a keyboard, which they do say not to do). Damage can stack up quickly if you let it, and for a long time you don't have much health. Dark Souls it ain't though: like, you will die, but it won't ultimately stop you.

Secrets, unlockables and hidden items create longevity, plus there's some endgame to frolic in for a while. For a small game there's an impressive sense of depth. If you like Zelda-esque titles and/or want something that is laid back whilst also offering a bit of a test, this is great option.

Not quite the game I had hoped for. Maybe that's on me. It's fiiiiine - I completed it, it's very cutsey, you can see the love. But the question is specifically 'would you recommend this game to others?' and I just don't think I would.

TOEM is neither challenging enough to be rewarding nor chill enough to be zen. It has charm, but not really enough of it. Graphics are fine yet weirdly low res for no apparent reason. Missions are mostly trivial, except some that are made hard (read: unclear) mostly by accident of translation. Even the final goal, which you get tasked with right at the start, gets no more than a brief smile. Nothing really hits home as you'd hope.

Worst of all, the PC controls are an absolute pig. You cannot change them, and they really have not been thought through at all. Obvious example: your Camera, which is in constant use, should be a toggle. It's not! You instead have to open with C and close with ESC, which is beyond tiresome. This plus a dozen other niggling little discomforts, from walking to selecting dialogue options, make traversing the world an aggravating chore rather than a pleasure. And when a game is riding so much on soft, accessible, comforting appeal, it's a particularly critical failure.

- Would you like to solve some smart-but-not-smug puzzles?
- Would you like to navigate a beautiful, cohesive set of environments?
- Would you, and this is important, like to be slightly grossed out the entire time?

If you answered yes to all of these, then Cocoon is for you. If you're not quite sure, here's the skinny: Cocoon is a 3rd person puzzler where you control a lil' bug-man guy who can pick up and put down orbs. You solve puzzles with the orbs. The orbs also contain entire worlds, which you dive in and out of. Sometimes you put a world within a world, and then maybe need a cigarette.

The graphics are great. The story is wordless and oblique but told well, and also not the main draw (although the mystique is nice). But really, you're here for the puzzles - and that's just dandy. They're good puzzles. They're not the toughest, mind. It's not unfair to observe the game is a little on-rails at times. But, given the inception-like quantum possibilities that would otherwise strangle your brain in the counterfactual, there's no real harm in this.

If you liked INSIDE, Little Nightmares, Braid, or Brothers:AToTS then this should be well worth your attention.

'Yes but'.

1) You generally need to care about Monkey Island
2) You need to not care too much about Monkey Island

The art is good, the animation acceptable, the voice and writing about the same calibre as ever. If nitpicking, LeChuck's voice actor wasn't great and Elaine's softened characterisation (plus voice) didn't always sit right with me. But broadly, the aesthetics and world are fine to good.

Gameplay wise some of the puzzles are a bit janky: oddly sequenced, over-reliant on repeat tricks, a little too old school in the level of specificity. However, the in-game dynamic hint book does a decent job of ironing out the wrinkles - albeit you will mostly think 'okay, that's what I was trying to do' and/or 'fine, have it your way'.

I mean, you'll get to the finish line one way or the other.

Once you do, though, there's also a lot that feels left unresolved in a way that is... exasperating. Some of this just looks like the team had a few too many loose ends to tie up. Yet more of it, however, is intentional. Hurry, hurry - the universe is packing up, and not all your questions are going to get answered.

Upon completing the game you can read a letter from Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman. It's reflective, personal, a little indulgent, And it explains why the game they have made is also reflective, personal, and a little indulgent.

They returned to Monkey Island. They had the mastery of it all at their disposal. They could do whatever they wanted. And with that in mind, they thought about it, leaned back, and - 31 long, long years later, now we're all grown and with the world grown around us - once again... chose ambiguity.

Despite absolutely loving the concept and look of it, I just cannot motivate myself to finish this game. A shame.

Don't waste your time.

A boringly self-important game that takes breathless delight in how clever it is - which would be completely forgivable, if it didn't stop being at all satisfying about halfway through.

Pros:
- Pretty world
- Fairly original
- Some good puzzles

Cons:
- Quite a lot of bad or tedious puzzles
- Basically no story
- Grim pseudo-intellectualism
- Variable (though infrequent) voice acting

The Witness is very... hollow. The world is shallow, you are weightless, and your actions mean little. Contrary to the store page summary, you do not 'regain your memory' or 'find your way home'. I don't think these are spoilers, because they are absent entirely - the subject of your memory or journey simply doesn't come up. Some Googling suggests that this is perhaps partly referenced in a secret post-game area, but: too bad! That's not the game! You have to put it in the main bit!

The story, if you can call it that, is sadly a pretentious bust. Recitals of abstracts from astronauts and 15th-century theologians do not a narrative make. Not even if they are (as one indeed is) 8 whole minutes long. The ending is a dire disappointment that made me wish I hadn't bothered persevering. I even unlocked the secret ending, with its corresponding real-life video, but all that did was make it more apparent in a truly toe-curling manner that the supposed intelligence is all affectation. Real 17-year-old film student stuff.

I could bear with the poseur philosophising (some of the quotes are nice!) and the abstraction and the quasi-mysticism if the game was itself fun to play. But it's not. Again, and in typing here I now realise this is the binding theme, The Witness is simply desperate to show you how clever it is. When it isn't. A recurring sin is that obfuscation is mistaken for acumen. The difficulty curve more generally is off-grade and poorly designed, with low levels of the satisfaction payoff that it should provide. The many layers of mechanics do not change that the core challenge is repetitive, and occasional dynamic features are clunky.

If I had paid full price for this I would be really annoyed. Don't bother. For better servings on religion, philosophy, humanity, voice acting, story, and puzzles - get The Talos Principle instead.

An unusual and compelling game, with flaws.

Take the original Half Life experience of being inside a colossal, secretive government building invaded by Bad Things From The Outside, then smash it into 1970's aesthetics with a twist of David Lynch. Scatter some Bioshock-style audiologs and mythmaking plus some sidequesting and you have a decent approximation of Control.

There are some things that are hard to get over: the odd rubberface of the character models and the inconsistent quality of the script and acting drag down a well-built and realised world. Some narrative delivery trickles into needless indulgence. Fiddly controls cast itchy interference on what should be a more balletic sense of power. The upgrade system in general has not had enough thought.

The difficulty curve is also inexpertly graded - with regular encounters sometimes far harder than actual bossfights - and towards the end is highly dependent on finding one specific upgrade for one specific weapon. Likewise the style of combat spends ages coaching you to whittle away from distance (because otherwise you will definitely die), only to abruptly lurch forward into almost a brawler-style up-close-n-personal mode with heavy emphasis on one-hit kills.

Nonetheless, the game itself is worth playing! It is! The core plot devices and world-logic are novel and clever and good and deserves your attention. The main character has her charm. The maps and environments are complex but rewarding to learn, and the game has a good sense of its own secrecy which rewards those inclined to explore; the initial limits you encounter fold away as your power grows. Some set-pieces are just terrific, especially when stepping fully into the most reality-twisting modes, and the combat and weaponry has its moments.

At its heart, Control is a good central conceit generally well-executed. There is no aspect of the core game (story, combat, navigation, mechanics) that does not have at least one moment of being impressively paid off. It might not stick the landing every time, but for these instances - and just plain being more inventive than your average shooter - Control deserves a look.

Cons:
- At times a bit too obtuse
- So-so graphics
- Wildly various level of difficulty
- Occasionally clunky controls
- In particular, one planet is very poorly adapted to PC play (you know who you are)
- Fatigue sets in after 20-ish hours of play

Pros:
- Nothing else like it
- Actively rewards curiosity
- Exceptionally inventive
- Compelling storyline
- You fly a spaceship
- Polygon has a really good walkthrough if you just want to enjoy the game

Extremely good for when you feel like horribly destroying something but in, like, an irreverent and harmless way.

Play this game!

A Plague Tale is generally a strong game. Other reviewers seem to take undue issue with small problems. In particular, the controls are not the best in the world but they really are not going to be the cause of untold grief.

Combat is mostly fine because it's not really combat at all. The stealth mechanics work reasonably well, with the occasional rough patch that is harder than it should be through faulty design.

Collectibles will satisfy the 100%ers out there as there is a lot to be discovered (or missed!) even for a typically assiduous player.

The game is both longer and more in-depth than I expected, and draws you in quite effectively. It is absolutely worth, say, £15.

The story doesn't give you every detail with absolute clarity but this probably reflects the fact that you are playing from the periphery: you are not a detective-style character who uncovers the plot á la Deus Ex, rather you are simply caught up in it. Being told with a European sensibility also inures it from certain Anglophone tropes.

In any event, it's a solid 7.5/10. If you like story-driven titles (Hellblade, Firewatch, Brothers AToTS), third person adventure (Tomb Raider, Shadow of Mordor) and/or stealth mechanics (Dishonoured, Hitman) there is plenty for you here.