Recent reviews by atlasJams

It couldn't be more apparent how much care Supergiant puts into a project.
This is one of the most unique gaming experiences I've had, and this level of ingenuity is almost never executed with this much charm and polish.

It takes one look at any of the promotional material to expect at least one thing from Transistor: the art is captivating.
It wasn't a surprise that the neo-noir world of Cloudbank (abstract light fixtures, hand-painted cityscapes, talking swords and all) is a sight for sore eyes. Visually, it's dreamlike. It's compelling. It's romantic.
It was a surprise that the artful attention to detail flows down into every aspect of the project: the writing, the acting, the soundtrack, the sound design, and—arguably most importantly—the mechanics. I can't reasonably explain how satisfying a discovery it was that Cloudbank actually is a dreamlike, compelling, romantic world—and not just on a visual surface level.

There are these contextual Scott Pilgrim-eqsue data figures next to every object you can interact with. Sometimes informational, sometimes humorous.
The music and sound effects are subtlely panned to whichever direction the nearest glowing door is.
The game has a dedicated button for making the main character hum along to the music.

The minute-by-minute gameplay is part real-time, part turn-based; a blend so unique I frequently forgot it wasn't one vs. the other. It took some getting used to, but was well worth doing so.
Each of the abilities in this game can be used as an active skill, a passive skill, or an upgrade to an existing skill. Being encouraged to mix and match your abilities lends itself to a diverse variety of playstyles, which I love. Every move at your disposal is equally viable, a la Phantom Dust or Lovers In a Dangerous Spacetime.

Creativity meets strategy.

It was so satisfying to find combinations that worked, I jumped right back into the New Game+ to try out the ones I missed. It's great that watching a playthrough of this game doesn't necessarily feel like watching a walkthrough because there is no best way to play. (Or if there is, the designers didn't hand-feed it to you.)

Considering the combat system, plus the ability to level up faster via self-imposed setbacks called Limiters, the game essentially places the difficulty curve in your hands.

Games that respect your intelligence this much usually aren't so pretty.

Shout out Jen Zee[jenzee.deviantart.com] for the incredible art, Logan Cunningham and Ashley Lynn Barrett for the great vocal performances, Darren Korb for the music, and Amir Rao & Greg Kasavin for the writing and design. I loved every second.

Beautiful.

The least I can say is: it makes a great case for games as art.

It's melancholic, thought-provoking, nostalgia-provoking, imperfect.
If you care about the medium, you should play it.

A funny, unique game. Bonanza Bros. meets Hotline Miami meets a smear campaign trail led by a purple bunny who speaks as if he just got his hands on a children's thesaurus.
Last time I raided a drug empire in a video game (or rescued a panda from the yakuza, or escorted an old lady to her decrepit apartment), the soundtrack definitely wasn't well-arranged chiptune (think Anamanaguchi circa Scott Pilgrim soundtrack) and "♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥ money mandem only" definitely wasn't scribbled in pixellated graffiti on the walls. There's a great character about it. I'll say though, that most of the characters being Family Guy-level stereotypes/caricatures got old pretty quickly.

Roll7 keeps everything pretty fresh; the cast of characters give gameplay variety, and the story is just short enough to maintain its charm. The dialogue is just campy enough, the art direction is just detail-oriented enough, and the music rides the line between cheesily-and-daftly-fitting.

Overall, it's put together well, and has a style all its own. Worth trying if you have a sense of humor, political or otherwise.

A refreshing sense of scale and exploration for a stealth game. Excited for the sequel to this one.

So much love for this game. A customizable music visualizer, with some cool mechanics that make every play session different from the last.

One of the best competitive games out there. Also, Soundcloud compatibility.

Finally cleared this out of the backlog after four years. It's fun.

The concept is really neat, in my opinion; as the name implies, you run an item shop for adventurers and townspeople to visit and spend their anime-dollar$. The values of capitalism abound, all in a cutesy anime locale. Perfect for reversing the brainwashing of the com;munis T pPar_ty !

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The dungeoneering gets a little repetitive, though.

I love everything that this game is about.

Right off the bat, the most admirable features of Dustforce are its depth and the multifaceted ways there are to complete each stage with a perfect rank. It's a speedrunner's dream. The basic moves are simple: run, jump, dash, attack. But check out what the most talented players can do with them. There is a path laid out for you, and it's up to you to decide how to traverse it. Mechanics like dashing at the end of a slope or boosting downward to increase momentum illustrate how the gameplay is meant to be experimented with, and it feels awesome.

My personal favorite part of this game, though, is the atmosphere. It's self-aware, but not "I-am-self-aware"-self-aware; there isn't an attempt at a story, there isn't any humor, there isn't even any characterization beyond some subtle win animations (without the internet, the only way we'd even know the names of the characters would be looking through the game's files). It's just the ever-so-video-game-ish premise of acrobatic janitors sweeping up and down the walls, and it's done so smoothly. The controls are easy to get used to, the animations are smooth, the environments are beautiful, and the music is soothing, composed by the awesome Lifeformed [lifeformed.bandcamp.com].

Also worth mentioning is the awesome community surrounding Dustforce. The subreddit is a pretty active place, and with replays being attached to every rank on every leaderboard, the best way to learn how to get better is by watching and learning from others.

In short, if you like platformers, you should try it. If you like speedrun-able/"perfect run" type games, definitely try it. If you're a janitor, it just might change your life.

Often referred to as "what Max Payne 3's multiplayer should have been," this game packs all the charm of a Source mod into an action movie enthusiast's wet dream.

Boogaloo.

An instant offline-multiplayer classic. Really easy to jump into, and hilariously fun.

Ridiculously addicting and satisfying. If you like a fast-paced challenge, it's perfect.