Recent reviews by AP

My favorite Paradox-Style game, just ahead of Crusader Kings 2. Honestly may be my favorite 4x grand strategy, because the more I play this, the more cringe the Wonders system of Civ 5 looks.

PROS

+ Narrative-driven game (but you must read)
+ Solid gameplay
+ Procedurally generated world map = exciting exploration into fog of war
+ Ironman Mode is goated (bad decisions are fixable and if u make a macro blunder, restarting and playing the early game again is refreshing)
+ Tech discovery a mixture of choice and RNG
+ Good Tutorial
+ Replayability


CONS

- $300 pricetag, which goes on sale for max 50% off.
- $13 a month subcription fee to unlock all DLCs may make the most sense, even tho subbing to a single player game sounds ridiculous LOL. I guess its throwback to borrowing a game from Blockbuster 20 years ago? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I would say the intro bundle that comes with Utopia and Galactic Paragons is the *minimum* you need to have an enjoyable game.

This reminds me of To The Moon. After experiencing it, I feel like the former would have benefited greatly had its story been told in a visual novel format as well. I appreciate that with this format there are no annoying or tedious mechanics that distract from the plot. Playing this is essentially reading a short story with accompanying music, sound effects, and illustrations which come alive through animation.

I cannot compare this to other visual novels as I haven't read any others. I thought the writing was great and was convincing of its setting in 18th century England. The writing is a step above anything you could get from other mediums of video games, and it very well should be, considering what this game really is.

I finished this in two hours but it could definitely be read faster than that.

Sappy story that is well-written and well-told ;-;

A+

The Novelist is a captivating story. It is concise enough to draw me in despite my short attention span, and the outcomes of my decisons were sometimes tough enough to give sum real feels. Some people say it can be depressing but I did not find this to be the case.

This game does not have the over-the-top production value of a Telltale Adventure game, but this is fine because its portrayal of dynamic characters is still conveyed. A comparable game is Gone Home which is also good.

Gone Home is a game that is worth playing and I would recommend it to everyone. And this is coming from someone who almost never enjoys story-driven adventure games.

The plot is engaging and well told, and the game clocks at an appropriate length of ~ 2 hours, so as not to get monotonous and frustrating.

Cave Story is such a great game! Its strengths lie in the storytelling and art-style.

Storywise, character development is achieved by slowly revealing new information about the characters. The game has a level emotional depth to its characters, which is something not often found in this genre. Multiple branches in the story will happen based on the players actions or inaction, which will have an impact on the outcomes of the characters you meet and befriend. This branching is done in a way that it's not always apparent when you have made a 'choice'.

This depth is why I enjoyed the game (I am not a particular platformer fan) and probably why it has a sort of cult-like status. I find it similar to how Pixar finds success in Toy Story, which has complex emotional themes despite being a movie for children.