Recent reviews by Unfortunately Alex

We come to this place for magic.

We come to Metaphor: ReFantazio to strike, to pierce, to slash.

Because we need that, all of us.

That indescribable feeling we get when thy long-stagnant stance hath finally been broken.

And we go somewhere we’ve never been before.

Not just awakened but somehow reborn, together.

60 FPS on an LCD Steam Deck.

Fervent Esperanto chanting that I can feel.

Somehow ripping your own heart out feels good in a place like this.

Our heroes feel like the best part of us, and stories feel perfect and powerful.

Because here, they are.

My favorite kind of roguelike-- deceptively simple to pick up, devilishly complicated to master.

This is gonna ruin every other RPG for the rest of time for me.

This game is aces.

A game for anyone who loves playing black in Magic: the Gathering.

Astrea is a delightfully devilish deckbuilder roguelike! It's easy to get into, but has an incredible amount of depth. I love the usage of life as a resource and the variety of playstyles available. Individual runs can be a little overwhelming because each "card" is effectively six, which means you'll be spending a lot of time looking at what each die in your hand can be rerolled into, but all told I'm incredibly impressed and look forward to wasting my life on this for months to come.

Also, special shoutout to the art direction-- I haven't been this captivated by the visuals like this in a roguelike since Hades.

X-Com + Persona 5 = God Tier

Love this! It could definitely use a little more variety, but the core gameplay loop is fantastic.

I had never played through a Souls game before. After beating Elden Ring twice, I feel compelled to play them all.

I love this game so much. It doesn't feel quite as deep as Arkane's other work, but what it lacks in some systems and worldbuilding, it makes up for with a ton of style and a great gameplay loop that constantly feels fresh and exciting. Moreover, unlike Prey and Dishonored, Deathloop actively encourages you to take advantage of all the options you're given throughout the game, thanks to the built-in opportunity to revisit encounters and the lack of moralizing should you choose to take a more violent approach.

This isn't a perfect game-- there are bugs, the AI feels bafflingly dumb at times, and I do wish there was more lore scattered around the island of Blackreef-- but at the end of the day, this is one of the most fun games I've played in a long time.

This game has a great deal of warmth to it. It's relatively simple and immediately engaging, which are two great qualities for those who have uncertain amounts of time to play. I wish there were more than three classes of heroes, as those core mechanics grow old rather quickly, but that's largely my only complaint with what is otherwise a pure delight of a game.