Recent reviews by Pogee

Ibb and obb is one of those games that didn't immediately click with me. The pacing of the first few levels was quite slow. The levels were rather easy and didn't introduce many fresh ideas that would keep you very engaged. But the more you played, harder the game got. The levels remained structurally simple but the puzzle how to beat them got more and more difficult in terms of skill and the correct order of jumps and movement. This is where it lays the game's geniusness. With very few elements it does a lot. But both players will need to be equally able to perform difficult jump/movement patterns as the game trully requires cooperation and correct timing. For many levels it took us many many attempts. It was quite stressful as you need to complete a whole set of levels before the game saves your progress. Here I think the game could have implemented save feature at each major checkpoint, as the levels require your full brain and motorical skills which is exhausting.

Art styile by itself is not my favourite but i fully appreciate the commitment to the gradiental art direction. Music is also great. My only complaint is that the game should have a bit more dynamic ideas in terms of level design. Levels are great but to keep the common player engaged they would need some more concepts that would keep it fresh. Something like driving a car through obsticales or other kind of coordinated cooperation between two players.

Overall I recommend this game for any duo that seeks good puzzle platforming challenge.

The game is a very simple 2D tactical shooter where you have enemies to kill and hostages to save. The whole game also makes fun of the excessive use of police force that sometimes results into civilians being killed.

The game plays well. You have several police classes with skill tree and several weapons. The game also introduces few different level game modes that are quite similar. A more memorable of them would be bomb diffusal that requires player to find a bomb within the time frame. You can also play with zombie mode that just adds some more chaos to the game as zombies also attack generic enemies and hostages that turn to more zombies. The core game is very engaging and you can have quite some fun without many new items or enemies introduced.

However that becomes a big pain in later levels as there are no new enemy types, weapons are basically all the same and map layouts and graphic design are so similar that it seems as you have seen exact same situation several times already. I have played the game for 9 hours and had good time with it but I didn't complete all chapters as I got bored. It is a shame as with some more creative level variety this game would be great. Please look at the Broforce for some inspiration.

I bought this game years ago. Around 2021 I think. The moment I found it I knew that that it looked something that I will most probably like. The theme was right up my alley and top down stealth gameplay seemed well made. However for some reason I never brought myself to try it. Until few months ago.

I woke up with a terrible hangover and I wasn't planning to do anything productive that day. So I fired up my TV and picked up my controller. I wanted to try something new and I saw Shadow Tactics collecting digital dust in my library. I fired it up and got immediately hooked.

The game has quite advanced controls but It introduces them with a great pace with minimal learning curve. I played with the controller, however I imagine that using keyboard and mouse might be even more straightforward.

There are 13 levels that are big and beautifully crafted. Each took me 1-3 hours to beat. The final level took me a whooping 5 hours as it was a bit more challenging. Each level is generally an environment with different arrangement of enemies, places to hide and different team members. The cooperation between them is crucial as each member on your team has its strengths and weaknesses. Takuma is gameplay wise probably the most interesting character that you control. He is an old man that unlike other characters, can not jump, climb on vines or use hooks to pull himself on the roofs. He can't even backstab enemies. He of course has other talents, but given his disabilities he also becomes a part of the puzzle how to get all your characters to point A to point B. While everyone but him can jump, climb and easily kill enemies you need to use them to clear the path for Takuma.

An awesome feature of this game is also an ability give each character an instruction that is executed upon your command. For example, if you want to take down two enemies simultaneously, you can instruct two characters to do so. This mechanic opens up so many more possibilities like luring enemies or distracting them as other character can make a stealth kill.

And this is why this game is such a delightful time sink as you have so many options how will you tackle the problem. Will you kill the guard or try to distract him? Should you raise an alarm or is there another more sneaky way to proceed? The game also encourages replayability as it gives you various challenges on how should you complete a level. For example not using a specific skill, not being detected or complete a mission without the casualties.

This brilliant gameplay is packed in a beautiful art style. While the art style is not very unique, it is very well executed. Each level is memorable with different weather, color pallette and distinct level features. The music is also great and helps you immersing into edo period Japan.

Hands down this is one of the best games I played in recent years. Many tend to agree as game received overwhelmingly positive reviews. I can not recommend it enough.

I really enjoyed Magicka 1, even though I probably played just a third of the whole campaign. Casting spells and trying all the different combinations truly felt magical, especially when playing with someone else that can heal / revive you as you mess up your spells countless times. However, playing with the controller wasn't very intuitive. It had quite a learning curve and even when you learned the controls, it felt a bit clunky. This is where Magicka 2 shines over its predecessor. Playing with the controller felt much more natural and the implementation of spell "shortcuts" made casting a bit easier. But fun and well executed mechanics of spell casting unfortunately don't justify shortcomings of this game.

The enemies don't have much variety and almost all of them fight the same way. Besides different weak / strong points for spell casting they are exactly the same. The combat usually consists of healing and casting the same spell that you have memorized the most. For me that was fire + electricity + death. Powerful and efficient.

The whole game underutilizes its powerful magic system. The game would be much more interesting if the world would be built more around the mechanic. Whether that would be with adding more magic related puzzles or enemies that force you to use specific combination of spells. A hint of such variation can be seen in some boss battles such is the last boss battle that was really great.

It also bothered me a bit that you are so damn powerful. Some kind of progression that would limit your arsenal of magic and make it upgrade able could be a nice addition as well. That way the game could force you to fight with the given skillset that can grow. The whole havoc of combining 8 different elements could therefore be saved for the late game.

Bottom line this game could very much benefit from some more ideas. I didn't play any of the countless DLCs. Having that many of them is distasteful to begin with. But the core game can be entertaining enough for the 7 hours of gameplay it provides. Especially if you are playing with a friend. However, playing single player is probably rather tedious activity.

As players we are usually quite mean in the videogames, aren't we? We destroy clay pots, crates, shoot and kick living things... because it is fun. But no game made me feel as bad for my rude behaviour as Pikuniku did. And I feel that this is the game's main theme.

The world of Pikuniku is adorable. The colors and art direction paint style that resembles cute japanese cartoons. The game is very easy, but what makes it special are all the silly and brilliantly written dialogues and encounters that are weaved in quite thoughtful story.

The story itself has, by contrast, a more serious tone. It describes a society of naive and clueless folks that are being exploited by an evil corporation that is taking their crops and destroying the enviroment. You join the group of rebels and help them bring the evil capitalist to the knees. The whole story is really well told in ironic and comical way. Some gags almost felt too real as they reflect thinking of the masses in real world.

The game unsurprisingly ends on a positive note. The good beats evil and everyone is happy.

However, for the most npcs, life doesn't change after you have saved everyone from being killed by a man made disaster. They seemingly dont even care that you have just saved everybody. Some don't even like you. But who cares really. What matters are the small interactios that you make with the people. Whether you helped someone or just being kind enough to not destroy their pots.

I love this wholesome game. It is as optimistic as it is weirdly realistic. I would love to see more games like this. I warmly recommend.

I am always on a lookout for narrative driven coop experiences so I naturally got really excited as I learned that Spiritfarer can be played in a local coop. Playing this game with someone was definitely a better experience, since I am not a big fan of games that make you do daily chores. I always preferred crafting over mining in Minecraft and Spiritfarer is no different.

The concept of the game is awesome. You have your own ship and you sail to different islands on a map, completing quests. Sorts like the 2D version of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. However upgrading the ship is a core mechanic that makes you progress in Spiritfarer. You collect resources and then craft / build new buildings for your crew or upgrade ship to access new areas in the ocean. While you are doing that, you spend a lot of time talking and caring for your spirits onboard. Apparently the game is heavily inspired by the Ghibli's Spirited Away and I see the connection.

Spirits on your ship are quite demanding. Requesting you to build expensive upgrades, cook specific dishes and taking them to specific places. Through completing their requests they will tell you insights about their lives. Spirits are vibrant and memorable. You spend quite some time with each of them before saying goodbye. However piecing together all the fragmented bits of information that the spirits tell you about themselves, proved to be rather difficult for me. It is like reading a book where the story makes sense only at the very end. So the patience is required when playing this game.Especially considering hefty 30 hours of playtime, required to complete the game,

But I would lie if I said that the game is boring. You easily end up playing for several hours straight, telling yourself to complete only one more task before closing the game. However mid to late game does slows down significantly as you already discover most or all the map and you just cruise up and down gathering resources. And at this point game does become repetitive. Depending how much you are entertained by the mini games onboard your ship, this last part will drag. I liked crafting mini games - sawing wood, crushing materials, smelting metals... but gathering materials in different events wasn't doing it for me. Such events usually feature materials falling from the sky that you just need to catch. My co player was luckily greatly entertained by the cooking mechanic, although figuring out new combinations that produce new dishes, was almost impossible in the late game , as you didn't have proper way of tracking your cooking experiments.

But regardless of repetition, playing this game felt good. The art direction is superb with diverse themes and color palettes of different areas and islands. Soundtrack is memorable and NPCs add liveliness to the places you visit with well written dialogue that entertains you.

Luckly I do not have much experience with death - a core theme of this game. But it defenitely got me thinking about the concept of dealing with the loss and ultimately accepting it. I will definitely remember this game when such event ultimately comes in someone's life.

Gato Roboto is a lovely game. The art style alone made me want to try it - featuring pixel art and only two colors. A very minimalist approach indeed.

The game is a classic metroidvania. Anyone playing any 2D metroid game should feel very familiar with almost everything. Besides base non linear structure it also features a set of familiar character upgrades such are double jump, dash, and standard health / damage upgrades.

However a standard Metroid upgrade - morph ball, that gives you an ability to squeeze through narrow gaps, is replaced with an original mechanic of cat leaving its suit. As you leave your suit you become one hit kill target without a way to defend yourself. But instead you can climb walls, squeeze through gaps and even swim. It is a very simple and clever core mechanic that enables some interesting level design. However in terms of gameplay it does not drastically differentiate itself from all other Metroid clones - a comment that matters only if you have already played many metroidvanias or have completed one recently as I did (Metroid: Zero Mission).

But the game nails pretty much everything that it set itself to achieve. Movement is great, enemies are fun to fight and boss fights are very satisfying with just the right difficulty. The game also features cartridges - probably one of my all time favorite collectables in any game. Cartridges change your dual color palette of the game. After you have collected them, you can swap between them as you please. During your gameplay you will find some great visual puns - My favorite being virtual cat (virtual boy reference) Considering that, visuals are perfect. The authors really mastered the art style.

My only minor complaint would be that some areas were a bit difficult to differentiate from each other. Which was emphasized by the fact that you don't have the map to show you all areas. But the map is quite small so you shouldn't have too many problems memorizing all the exits to different areas.

The story itself is pretty basic but it serves its purpose to give context and meaning to the game. The cat dialogue is lovely. Soundtrack is also nicely composed.

With that said go play it. It is short and sweet. Meow.

I am not the biggest fan of how psychonauts play. It is a bit clunky and platforming itself can be a bit annoying. Luckily the game gives you a double jump and slow falling option which makes the controls a bit more forgivable. By itself it is really not a hard game. Platofrming rarely presents a challenge, which in my opinion is good, since thee game is all about walking you through a story while enabling you to explore and collect some fun stuff.

A story focused platformer without the best platforming is not something that would usually get a pass, since the game needs to do something extraordinarily to compensate for the mediocre core mechanics. But Psychonauts manages to do something extraordinary. And I really didn't expect that.

What makes Psychonauts that great is art direction, character design, great voice acting and brilliant idea that is quite well executed. For the most part it felt like i was watching an intractable cartoon from the old Cartoon Network. Which felt amazing.

Every level is a new adventure with completely different vibe. And I got surprised and intrigued the more I played. Character design is also amazing. I don't remember seeing so much variety and personality in main and side characters in a videogame.

Even If I didn't like playing some of the levels, I can't praise enough how well the authors managed to convert mental problems into a visual and interactive experience. It is very hard to draw abstract concepts like love, paranoia, anger and fear. But Psychonauts manages to create entire mental worlds with graet visual hints and allegories.

My favorite levels are Milkman Conspiracy, Black Velvetopia and Waterloo World The levels that I didn't like that much were Lungfishopolis, Brain Tumbler Experiment, Gloria’s Theater and Meat Circus

The game, of course, had to simplify some of the mental problem concepts in order to make the experience understandable and digestible. I personally don't have a problem with that. But it would definitely be cool to see these mental worlds paint more multidimensional perspective on given troubles or circumstances that led character into such mental state.

With that said I recommend playing Psychonauts. Although the 3D platforming standards from 2005 should be noted. But if you can get past the clunky controls, a great adventure awaits you.

Having been impressed by the author's previous game, "Four Last Things," I was filled with excitement to try its sequel, "The Procession to Calvary."

I adore the concept of animated Renaissance paintings presented in a bizarre and humorous context. The rich symbolism found in old paintings becomes a delightful experience as visual concepts are reinterpreted with a touch of humor. The game's immersive atmosphere is further enhanced by the classical music soundtrack.

However, when comparing "The Procession to Calvary" to its predecessor, "Four Last Things," it becomes evident which game design choices excel.

The Procession to Calvary" boasts a straightforward plot. You assume the role of a bloodthirsty character driven by a desire for revenge against the emperor from the previous game. A sword is introduced, providing you with the option to eliminate any obstacles in your path. While a peaceful approach leads to the best ending, the allure of witnessing the consequences of choosing violence is irresistible. Notably, this path allows for swift progression, leading to the "bad" ending in just 15 minutes.

In theory that is not bad, since it shows you pretty quickly that the violence is not the way to go. But the problem I have is the fact that most of the game's scenes are uncovered within those initial 15 minutes. Since the game is very much an interactive painting, this quick revelation somewhat diminishes the anticipation and intrigue surrounding the ending.

Of course you don't get to see everything, since there is a peaceful and longer way to progress in the game. You got to access a couple more scenes and rooms. My favorite being the art gallery, where you can see all the original works of paintings that the game uses to build the world.

Regrettably, I found the puzzle-solving logic towards the game's conclusion less captivating. While it started promisingly, I struggled and eventually gave up on the last few puzzles, including the talent show, devil sacrifice, and a farting skunktalent show, devil sacrifice and a farting skunk..

The ultimate two good endings didn't really provide additional content, that I hoped for. Hence my complains towards the bad ending being too revealing. Consequently, the frustrating puzzles towards the end and an underwhelming climax, left kinda sour taste in mouth.

Nonetheless, "The Procession to Calvary" deserves applause for its ability to once again create beautiful collages of Renaissance paintings. And for that I am willing to pay money and would love to see more of. Even though as a game, it might not be the best.

Games are indeed works of art, and viewing "The Procession to Calvary" from that perspective mitigates some of its flaws. Nevertheless, I would recommend redirecting your attention to the author's first game, "Four Last Things," which, in my opinion, offers a superior experience.

This game is quite a gem. Its visual presentation is stellar and it also plays quite well.

The game truly is gorgeous, especially if you are a fan of Asian aesthetics as myself. Every level had a bit different setting so I kept playing just to see what nice landscape comes next. The graphics looks a bit similar to Firewatch - at least the color palette - so you know that it is gorgeous.

When it comes to gameplay it is also not bad. The game offers many upgrades through your progression, including weapons and stat upgrades. You also gain some new abilities along the way that spice up the combat. Otherwise it is quite a standard beat em up. The gameplay can get a bit repetitive as there isn't much variety in enemy types. There are various enemies with different levels of armour/damage or a bit different set of attacks, but none of them (except necromancer) force you to fundamental change your strategy when fighting them. Boss fights are especially disappointing because they have the same problem. They are just another enemy with more damage and slightly different attack pattern.

The game features several difficulty levels. The "normal" difficulty was a bit easy for me, while one level harder felt quite nice. But this harder difficulty also disabled all the check points in the level which was a bit too punishing. So I remained playing on normal difficulty, which made many levels a breeze to beat. Nonetheless it was fun to crush all the enemies.

I also played in local coop mode. I always love when the games are fully designed to be beaten with your buddy alongside you. Coop experience was mostly smooth although the camera just focuses player 1 which is fine for the most part. However there was a particular level where that posed a serious problem and player 2 kept falling out of the view port.

The story is ridiculous. I have no idea what is it about but essentially you are the good guy and there are several bad guys that you need to beat. The problem is that such basic concept gets way too complicated in this game's narration, without really giving a good reason for that. Lucky the story is not essential to enjoy in this game. I must also compliment the voice acting which was quite good.

Overall I give this game a thumbs up. I had a great time beating up enemies and I recommend it for all couch multiplayer enthusiasts. And also the graphics are truly beautiful.