Recent reviews by Sophilautia

What a great game! The most fun I've ever had with the Yakuza series. I love the way the RPG mechanics allow much greater cohesion between the game's main story and all of the various minigames and sub stories you can participate in. This is a new peak for the series, and also a perfect starting point for new players.

Ichiban is the best MC.

I've always been a fan of Ryukishi07's writing, but for some reason nobody ever talks about Iwaihime. It was always the forgotten child of his works. Up until recently I wasn't sure if it would ever be localised into English, but then all of a sudden, it appeared out of nowhere. And now that I've read it, I can't imagine a world where I'd never have had the opportunity to read this wonderful visual novel.

But first, the content warnings. This game contains visceral depictions of gore, murder, suicide, sexual abuse, body horror, and all manner of ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up imagery. It's not for the light of heart, and I can fully respect anyone who feels this story is too much for them.

Make no mistake, Iwaihime is disturbing. Much like Higanbana, it pulls no punches with the opening act, thrusting the reader into a world of horror, grotesque aberrations, and tragedy. But Iwaihime is not just despair porn. These curses and monsters present an opportunity to think, to reflect on what caused them, to reason it out and make the effort to understand the people behind the shadows.

The first few hours really are unpleasant, but it's the kind of displeasure that leaves you with a burning desire to reach an ending where everyone can be happy. Is such an ending really possible? What must be sacrificed to achieve happiness? Is a curse the bane of all happiness, or can happiness be found through a curse?

What I wasn't expecting was that Iwaihime would drive me to tears by the end. This is a very emotional visual novel, the kind of storytelling I'd expect more from Key's writers than Ryukishi07. But it's powerful, backed up by an incredible plot and amazingly real characters. Iwaihime is a journey through the dark side of the psyche, and the dark side of the Shinto faith. But perhaps what awaits you at the end of that journey might just make it worth experiencing that darkness. Maybe, at the end of the journey, you might be enormously thankful to have read this story, like I am.

I wholeheartedly recommend this visual novel to any fans of the medium. Right now I feel like it's found its way into my ranks of my favourite visual novels ever, and I have a feeling it will remain in my thoughts for a very long time.

Cool beans

Can't recommend this game enough. I haven't enjoyed an Action RPG this much in years, and all from a completely unknown developer!

What can you expect from Crosscode?

- Super interesting and original sci-fi story with relatable, lovable characters, set in a pseudo-real MMO. Features a deep yet fun multi-layered narrative, where you'll get to experience the fun of making friends in an MMO while also trying to uncover the mysteries of yourself and the sinister underside of the CrossWorlds.
- Amazing 16-bit pixel art with beautiful effects, best looking pixel 16 bit art on the market!
- Frantic fast-paced combat with an awesome feeling of momentum, letting you switch between four different elements / skill trees, and rewards you for chaining combos of battles. You'll be challenging yourself dancing through hoards of enemies just for fun!
- Deep and engaging RPG systems that let you customise your playstyle as you like, without locking you into one set progression for your character.
- 7 massive dungeons with bind-bending puzzles that challenge both your reflexes and your creative problem solving, all built around your simple-yet-creative toolkit of shooting spheres and switching elements. These puzzles hold up against the very best of the Zelda series, arguably surpassing them!

There's also additional story content coming in a future update, so look forward to that!

Recommended for: Zelda fans, and lovers of action RPGs in general.
Not recommended for: People who hate amazing games.

Seriously, don't sleep on this one.

Anime souls

Improves on the original Endless Space with more complex and varied systems and a much more pretty look! One of the most easily addicting 4X Strategy games I've ever played, you can't put it down!

Let me open this review by saying I'm extremely biased. Little Busters changed me, it set my life on a course I never would've expected and allowed me to meet so many fantastic people, it shaped who I am as a person, and became part of who I am. I'll always remember one day I was in Tokyo wearing my Little Busters jumper and a salaryman excitedly shook my hand and did the muscle dance with me. This is a work which affects people on a deep and personal level. This is not an objective review, it's just the musings of one of those people it impacted. I'm writing this review based on the old fan translation of the game.

Little Busters sets up with a very humble presentation. A bunch of childhood friends in high school do a bunch of wacky stuff together to pass their time, a clique full of such unique energy that the rest of the student body can't possibly ignore them, many drawn to them and wanting to join in. The game is full of silly minigames that will keep you coming back and complement the story nicely; I've spent many hours chilling out with the batting practice, it's the perfect stress relief. It's hilarious and heartwarming watching their circle grow and the scale of the shenanigans increase, it takes me back to an idyllic representation of youth, where I could just laugh with my friends every day without a care.

But please, don't mistake Little Busters for a comedy series. Little Busters is a story about youth, and the process of growing up, and it doesn't shy away from the harsh realities that come with that process. It's about finding one's own identity, clashing with the identites of others, and finding a way to live. Each character in the story feels very much a real person, and they all have their own crises to deal with in their process of growing up. The writing is beautiful, and you'll find yourself hitting the screenshot button every other minute. Its positive representation of mental health issues and its atypically feminine male lead are particularly praiseworthy.

But that's not all, Little Busters is filled with intrigue thanks to an overarching mystery that gradually presents itself throughout the various character routes, culminating in the most incredible final route of any visual novel I've read. And then there's the EX routes which are available in English for the very first time!

If you open the game and you find the characters and dialogue very annoying, maybe Little Busters isn't for you. But if you find it charming and funny, stick with it, because you're only going to fall deeper and deeper in love with all the cast. Little Busters is one of my favourite works of fiction ever, and if even just a few new people come to experience it through this release, then I'd be very happy.

If you love beautifully written stories featuring a wide cast of immensely lovable characters, then I hope you'll give this wonderful visual novel a chance.

There's also a secret ending about the school getting taken over by muscle mania, that's a thing.

Dungeon Keeper was one of my favourite RTS games ever when I was younger. It was so unique, and the gameplay of building your own dungeon and filling it with minions and traps was ever addicting. A third Dungeon Keeper was never released, but for all intents and purposes, War for the Overworld is the Dungeon Keeper 3 we were all waiting for. With some new rooms, new minions and new features, it feels like a true successor to Dungeon Keeper that only improves on the flaws of the older games. And it even has online multiplayer!!

For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, War for the Overworld is really fun blend of dungeon management sim with real-time strategy, and it makes for some insane fun, especially if you're looking for something a little different from your standard RTS faire. Come get the game and play with me! I don't have enough friends to play this awesome game with.

I've played a lot of metroid-likes, but this feels like the first one to really stick to what makes 2D metroid games great, while also including enough flair and variety of power-ups to feel remarkably distinct. It's everything you love about Super Metroid with a bunch of unique abilities and a very different story. Anybody looking for the next big thing since Zero Mission was released however many years ago, this will likely scratch that itch for you.

Once you get over the table-flipping gimmick and spamming items, Tabletop Simulator proves itself as an amazing piece of software for bringing the experience of playing board games with friends to the digital sphere. If there's a board game you like, chances are high it exists as a mod on TTS. In many regards, playing a game on TTS is more convenient than having to set it up yourself. Just hit up a bunch of friends on Skype or Discord, get a voice call going and play a round of Secret Hitler or Danmaku. I've got many hundreds of hours of fun yet to be had with this piece of software.

If you're at all into board games and have friends you can play with over the net, this is for you.