Recent reviews by hiaresu

What Remains of Edith Finch is one of the most simple, beautiful, and emotional pieces of interactive storytelling I've ever had the pleasure to experience. Edith Finch isn't a game with overwhelmingly complex mechanics, but the simplicity of the game play only serves to strengthen the emotional weight of the plot as you unravel the mystery of what happened to the Finch family.

Without spoiling too much, my favorite stories are those of Molly, Gregory, Barbara, and Lewis, but every story you encounter throughout the game is individual and uniquely memorable and tragic. The amount of characterization and detail the extremely talented development team was able to create for each member of the Finch family through narration, atmospheric storytelling, and creative flashback segments in only a few minutes is truly astounding, and in my opinion is more effective than the character development in most AAA franchises-- What Remains of Edith Finch is one of the few games I believe truly deserves every single award it has for storytelling and design.

If you do choose to play this game, be prepared to sit down for 2-4 hours and cry, because the mysteries and unique storytelling methods will undoubtedly have you hooked, and the reflections on life and death will most likely have you shedding tears.

It's unlike any game I've ever seen-- if you like vapor-wave city exploration, a diverse cast of characters, investigating crimes and EXECUTING JUSTICE this is the game for you. Admittedly, in the beginning of the game I was a bit confused about the premise, but if you stick with it, you'll understand why everyone who has played this game loves Paradise Killer. The amount of detail packed into this game is incredible, and there is no area where I feel the game play or quality is lacking. Kick-ass visuals? Check. Kick-ass soundtrack? Check. Kick-ass character designs? Check. Kick-ass story? Check! I'm so surprised at how small the development team was for this project and this has really raised my standards in what to expect from an indie game. Get ready for a lot of specific and awesome lore and to feel more immersed in an experience than you have in a long time.

And remember: ALL HAIL BEAR-CHAN!

I just finished this game after ~25 hours of playtime over just a few days, and I haven't stopped crying for about 20 minutes. Once I picked this game up, I couldn't put it down.

Aesthetically and visually, this game is a masterpiece, with a vibe I can only describe as a mixture of cottagecore, sea-farer, and cozy. Watching your ship transform from a small, junk covered dinghy to a majestic ship covered in buildings is extremely satisfying, with gameplay elements such as farming, cooking, smelting, foraging, and mining to keep the player engaged between the core storytelling elements.

Be warned, this game WILL make you cry. The characters are each unique and memorable (shout out to Alice, the first, but certainly not the last character in this game to make me openly weep in front of my boyfriend), and I feel as if my love for each can only grow larger with time. After completing the game, I suggest you look into the protagonist's backstory on the wiki-- it really sheds light on different elements of the story and puts the ending in context, and adds a whole new layer. I'm usually a completionist with games like these, but I felt it would do an injustice to the story to continue on trying to achievement grind, and I recommend if you're a fellow completionist to do the same. Letting the game end naturally is much more satisfying. 11/10 would play and sob again.

I plan to revisit this game very soon. Much love to the Thunder Lotus crew <3

I was honestly surprised at the quality of this game considering it's free-- so let me ramble about why it's awesome for a minute.

The art style is extremely charming and the artist is skilled in both choosing color palettes and pixel art. Being an artist myself, the main draw (ha, draw) when this game came up in my recommended was the promotional art. However, the quality doesn't stop there. The music is absolutely stellar, with a retro 8-bit arcade feel, and I cannot recommend the OST enough! It's become my go-to drawing music. Last, but certainly not least, comes the story. This game may be short, but that only improves the storytelling. I won't go into spoilers, however I was pleasantly surprised by the endings (that's right, multiple endings!). This game is definitely worth 2 hours of your time!

I see a lot of the reviews comparing this game to Undertale, and while the games are similar in regards to the battle system and the pixel art style, I'm tired of seeing games within this genre being pigeonholed as B-tech Undertale at best and copycats at worst. Please give this fun and unique little game a chance! I can't wait to see what the developer will put out in the future!

Dungeons? Check.
Dragons? Check.

Not trying to imply anything but I'll just leave this here...

Just kidding! This game is an absolutely stunning, immersive, high-fantasy RPG experience; full of the Bethesda quality I've come to expect. Thankfully, Skyrim isn't a carbon copy of slightly less quality of Oblivion; instead it builds upon Tamriel and expands the world, while combining the nostalgia of previous Elder Scrolls, and simultaneously raising the bar for fantasy RPG's. The world-building and NPC's are interesting and the open map makes for many unexpected hijinks while travelling through the wintery world of Skyrim. It appeals to every type of gamer. Love to grind through dungeons and find cool loot? You got it. Love player influenced, well written plot? We got it chief. Love simply wandering aimlessly through a realistic, beautifully designed fantasy world? Hell yeah. Though the main story isn't necessary to play or enjoy the game, the twists and turns, important decisions, and gorgeously voice acted characters make it worth you while. You can get lost in this game for hours!

If/when you 100% the game, the community built around it is just as diverse and beautiful as the game's contents; the Vortex engine is a quick and non-complicated way to expand your Skyrim experience for hundreds of hours, with community made mods and DLC size story expansions. Want a cool castle? There's a mod for that? How about new weapons and armors? There's a mod for that too! Want a mod exploring an entirely different region, completely built from scratch? We got that baby.

Overall I love Skyrim with my entire mind, body, and soul, and honestly think it's one of the best games out there. (I may be slightly biased as it was my introduction to "real" videogames, that is, videogames not played on my childhood DS...) It is well worth the buy, and if you enjoy it, I highly recommend buying the DLC!!!