Recent reviews by Flawless Ruby

I was excited to play through this demo, since finding tycoon games in this day and age made without AI-generated assets has seemingly become exceeding difficult, and I really enjoyed my time with this demo!

That said, the later released demo uses AI-generated assets (I don't think this one does; as it doesn't include the Steam-required warning and that one does), and that has killed most of my interest in the full release. If the AI stuff was taken out and replaced with actual, human-made assets I'd be jumping on this game the day it launches--the gameplay loop is a ton of fun for me personally, especially the ability to do stocking and cashier tasks manually if you choose.

As-is, though, this is another disappointment in a long line of them. I sincerely hope the dev changes course, because I'd love to recommend this game, but given the circumstances I just can't.

As far as the Yakuza experience goes, this seems to be a very solid example so far; if the game interests you at all, I'd say give the demo a shot. It gives you a good bit of freedom to explore and mess around with side activities, which to me is what makes the series so great, and allows you to play with both forms of combat as much as you like. There's not a lot of story stuff here if that's what you're interested in, though.

Terraria is a game that I hold close to my heart, having followed it since before 1.3 released and feeling like it's only improved with time. This is actually the game I made a Steam account for, once upon a time, and probably the first not-quite-casual game I ever got really, really into.

(Not that I ever got any good at it.)

That said, I had the benefit of friends teaching me how to play on a multiplayer server, and I do think that HOW you learn to play is likely to influence your opinion on the game--especially if you've heard the age-old comparison of '2D Minecraft', which is an incredibly surface level assessment.

They're both survival games with some emphasis on exploration and crafting. The similarities, for the most part, end there.

Terraria is a game focused on progression, where you can and will die for stupid reasons frequently. There are tons of boss fights and invasion events, several NPCs to help you on your journey, and several types of damage to class into.

You definitely don't have to be a super hardcore player to enjoy it, especially with the addition of Journey mode (which is similar to but very distinct from Minecraft's creative mode: it allows you to adjust enemy difficulty, increase or decrease spawn rates, duplicate items once you've researched them enough times, and adjust the weather/time of day).

(Or you can go the old-fashioned way: downloading a world that has stacks of every item in the game and steamrolling everything with endgame gear for fun.)

It's also one of those games that isn't always super intuitive, so it helps to have a wiki handy; either for guides or just for when you want to know if something is useful and what for.

Terraria is the kind of game that absolutely is not for everyone--but when it clicks, it clicks.

Like Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 is a fun game. Also like SA1, it has a lot of that 3D Sonic jank, which can at times be more frustrating than anything else. For the sake of your sanity, even if you don't typically mod things, I would highly recommend getting a mod that fixes the audio mixing so you can actually hear what's being said. There are some other mods that streamline controls, but I'm not an expert on that kind of thing, I just know that the sound issue is impossible to ignore.

Narratively, this is the game to introduce Shadow the Hedgehog (and, of course, Rouge the Bat!). At this point in time, I think most people who would be interested in SA2 already know half the story, but that doesn't mean it's not worth playing.

SA2 also features six playable characters, but unlike the first game's odd intersecting narrative the game is simply split into two campaigns: Hero, focusing on Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails; and Dark, focusing on Shadow, Rouge, and Eggman. There are three gameplay styles, which the characters serving as mirrors/rivals of one another. Sonic and Shadow have Sonic-type gameplay, Rouge and Knuckles share the treasure hunting stages originally seen in Sonic Adventure, and Tails and Eggman have taken a page from Gamma's book and brought giant mechs to the fight.

There's no explorable overworld like there is in SA1, but the Chao Garden can be accessed from the level select menu and has been expanded on compared to the first game, so it's not all bad.

Sonic Adventure DX (or as I like to call it 'Chao Garden Simulator') is a fun game. It's got a lot of that 3D Sonic jank, but that's part of the fun to me. The stories are mostly pretty simple, and the writing sometimes leaves a bit to be desired, but it gave us some truly iconic moments in Sonic history ('oh no'; 'ya big drip'; my beloved Big the Cat) and really, I can't help but love it. To me, it's silly and strange and charming, even when it's kind of a mess.

The intersecting narrative is especially interesting, where if two playable characters interact each one will recall that interaction differently. I think that little bit of implied bias from everyone is a fun detail.

And of course, despite the general hit-or-miss of the writing and intersecting narratives, Gamma's story alone is something to experience.

what is there left to say about skyrim in 2025? you know what skyrim is. you probably know if you'll like it or not already. they've sold it to you a dozen times in a slightly different font.

and at its core, as much as i love to break it with mods, i do love skyrim. there's a reason i've played so much of it across both legendary and special edition.

but if the question is whether skyrim is worth the base asking price today...

then the answer is no.

i got anniversary edition because i owned legendary edition already, and i got it on sale for a little less than CDN$10.

skyrim is ABSOLUTELY worth at least $10. maybe even $20.

but as much as i love it, i cannot in good faith recommend it as a AAA-priced game in 2025.

For a game that goes on major sales pretty frequently, Elder Scrolls Online is actually a really solid experience--if, that is, you fall into one of a few specific categories.

Roleplayers will find plenty of community, whatever kind you're looking for (though the consequences for story choices are sometimes lackluster, they do make for fun flavor); lore lovers will find new details and expansions on several near-forgotten aspects of Elder Scrolls lore within the many DLC zones (most of which are far more polished than the base game). I can't speak to the hardcore experience, but I've heard a lot of complaints about the PVP content over the years.

(Regular overland combat isn't really challenging at the moment, especially playing as the Arcanist class included with Necrom, but it has been confirmed that the overall difficulty will be buffed at some point this year so that will most likely change. Whether that change is minor or drastic remains to be seen.)

There are also several side activities that may or may not catch your attention, from fishing (not my cup of tea) to a card game (which I am terrible at but do love to play) to housing and character customization (both of which are commonly considered 'endgame content').

If you're searching for a game with multiplayer elements, but that is mostly playable solo, I'd say this is a good pick. There's a good bit of content that's difficult or impossible to do alone (Dungeons, Trials, etc), so if you're a completionist you'll need to team up with other people from time to time. And likewise, if you want to play entirely multiplayer, you'll probably be ignoring the quests and story; since those are almost entirely solo content.

The game DOES have a subscription, but it's entirely optional... Unless you care about crafting your own armor/weapons/furniture/whatever else, in which case inventory management is a nightmare without it until you've upgraded your storage space enough. This is somewhat alleviated by the twice-yearly (usually) week-long free trials.

Something else to note: the base game gives access to the original three Alliance War campaigns (Ebonheart Pact, Aldmeri Dominion, and Daggerfall Covenant) as well as the first chapter DLC, Morrowind. The Collection will instead give you access to the Chapter DLC releases, including the latest. The Collection does NOT include the minor DLCs, which until 2023 were usually part of the longer story arcs.

The subscription offers some extra bonuses, like increased gold and experience gain (as well as a certain amount of premium currency, which I believe is intended to be roughly equivalent to the sub cost in USD, though I could be wrong on that), but the main draw is access to every piece of DLC released that isn't that year's major Chapter release--something likely to change, as the devs have implied there won't be Chapter releases going forward, with increased focus on minor DLC releases.

If the game interests you, I would advise grabbing the base game on sale (or playing during one of the occasional free play weekends, which typically also happen a few times a year) and seeing if it grabs you--and if you're here for questing and story stuff, I would recommend the Morrowind DLC over the main base game to get a better feel for what it's like overall. If you want to play more after messing around with that stuff, the subscription is probably the best way to access all of the DLC; especially since you can cancel it without being locked out of the game overall or your account, like in fully sub-based games.

Finally, there ARE microtransactions and lootboxes in ESO. They're primarily cosmetic, and the few non-cosmetic rewards are both minor (temporary experience boosts, potions/poisons, and items to level your mount stats faster) and offered pretty frequently as login rewards; as well as not necessarily having to pay to obtain them (with the lootboxes themselves occasionally being login rewards, and their contents being available via the Seals of Endeavor system, if not as easily). But that's something to consider if gambling is a concern.

I've put a lot of time into this game because I enjoy it immensely, but it's absolutely not going to be for everyone. The best way to know if you'll like it is to give it a shot, but that's not feasible for everyone, so I hope this review can help provide some insight into what may be a draw or a detriment for different kinds of players.

There's definitely still a lot of stuff I've overlooked in this review, but it's getting pretty long; so if you actually read this far, thank you!

There's some bits that could absolutely use polish and some of the later things feel a bit rushed (as well as some of the required challenges feeling a little unfair), but having completed the game I really enjoyed it! The writing was good, the story was excellent, and the characters felt on point- most of all, that carried me through the bits that I really disliked.

Even if it's far from perfect, it feels like there's a lot of heart and a lot of love put into this, and I hope to see them carry it forward to the next adventure!

My only really petty complaint is that it feels way too hard to trigger area/idle lines, so I hope that gets fixed eventually? They feel too rare at the moment.

a very enjoyable and highly replayable experience, and if you get bored or frustrated with a particular aspect there's almost definitely a mod out there to either expand upon or fix it, or add something completely new! it adds to the already insane replay value

all in all, 10/10. would feed rocks to my wife again

play obsessively for 2-3 days, forget about it for a year, rinse and repeat