Recent reviews by Humblebee

To quickly address anyone reading this who has not played OneShot before, yes, the game is absolutely worth it! I can't go into details without giving away spoilers, so I won't, but I would consider this to be one of my favourite games of all time. If you're in for a story with meta elements, puzzles, and potentially some emotional moments, I can't recommend this game enough.

With that said, I'm going to assume that whoever is reading this review right now has already played OneShot before and just wants to know if the new version is worth buying over the original Steam release. And the answer to that is... maybe? I would say it's already worth it just to support the developers for making an incredible game, but really the biggest thing you may really want out of this is the capability to play it on your Steam Deck. Funnily enough, as a Steam Deck owner... I... didn't actually think to do that... So I don't actually know how well it works on that.

But the main difference in this version is that the game is now completely self-contained. You don't actually have to search your own computer for the files, as all the files that would be in your actual folders in the original Steam release will now be on a fake operating system that also runs the game itself. It's kind of like Doki Doki Literature Club Plus with all the meta elements happening in the game itself rather than in your actual game folders, though in some ways better implemented, less so in others.

What I mean by that is, keeping the game open to fiddle with the fake OS is no problem. Much like the original Steam release, it may feel slightly cumbersome, but nowhere near unplayable. On top of that, the World Machine Edition also includes character profiles, a CG gallery, a music player, as well as customization options for the fake OS, including wallpapers and colored themes. However, at the time of writing this review, navigating some of these galleries is kinda cumbersome. You can't just pick the music track or picture you want to open, but instead you have to click through all the ones before the one you want to get to. At the very least, a drop down menu would be appreciated. Or a folder like with the wallpapers and themes.

That said, the issues are minor and shouldn't hinder your experience with the game itself. OneShot is truly one of those games that you just can't overstate how amazing it really is. If you have played OneShot before, chances are there's not a whole lot extra for you here. But if you're looking to play it on the go on a Steam Deck, or if you're looking to play it for the first time, then this is absolutely the version for you.

As an avid Jackbox fan, this one is a huge disappointment. It takes two previous games and one original game and applies a naughty theme on all of them, and... well, I feel like it doesn't get the "naughty" theme across as much as the "what is up my fellow degenerates" vibe. It just doesn't feel right if the game is providing the horny prompts as opposed to the players providing the horny answers. But that might just be my own preference.

The games themselves are... Well, they're fine, in a sense... But going over them one at a time:

Faking It All Night Long
It's Faking It, but naughty. This one got the best treatment out of all of the games in this pack, since it now supports remote play, something that wasn't supported in the first game, so you had to do some huge workarounds to get it working remotely. Honestly, if the we could have the prompts from the first game and apply it to this new version of the game, I would absolutely love that.

Dirty Drawful
It's Drawful, but naughty... That's it. Nothing more to it... I guess it does have an undo button, something that the previous Drawful games didn't have. Beyond that, I would argue that every other version of Drawful feels more fun to play.

Let Me Finish
The only original game in the pack and it's bare bones. You're given pictures, and you're supposed to make drawings on them and then present your argument for the prompt. It feels like the very base of an idea for a game, the place where you start building a game upon, but there's just nothing beyond that.

In its entirety, the pack does have fun games to play, but there are much better versions of those games already available in previous packs. If you don't mind fiddling a little bit with Discord (or whatever communication app you use) to play a game of Faking It remotely, then the original, in most cases, is more fun to play. If you want to play Drawful, any other version of that game is about as good, except with less raunchiness. And if you want a presentation game, Junktopia, Talking Points and Patently Stupid all have so much more to offer than Let Me Finish.

To finish off, I do not write this review because I think the games themselves are bad. I just think that the naughty theme does not exactly work with Jackbox games as a whole, and the games that have been included are either inferior versions of games we already have, or there are already different games that work so much better available. So the question I leave you off with is: while the games in this pack can be fun, why would you buy this when there have better alternatives for sale for many years already?

I haven't really kept up with Helldivers 2 all that much since Sony tried to force PSN onto it, which would have prevented me from playing the game with friends. My previous review was negative in protest of that decision, but to my knowledge, they seem to have given up on that for the most part, if not completely. And if that is indeed the case, it's probably way overdue for me to actually change my review to reflect that change.

Sucks that Sony almost decided to limit the game to a surprisingly small portion of people in the world, but good on them for not going through with it. It's a good game, always has been, and I hope it stays that way.

"I don't care what it says on your stupid family register. You're Haru Suzuki and you're an absolutely amazing woman. So just - don't forget that, OK?" - Erika

A story of honesty and acceptance, a story of love, and a story of self-discovery. I thought I was in for a really cute visual novel about three girls maybe discovering love for one another. What I was not prepared for was the amount of real-talk and variety of different emotions that I ended up feeling. I'm not gonna lie, I cried a couple times.

I don't really know how much I can talk about this visual novel without giving spoilers, but the starting point of all of it is that one of the main characters, specifically Haru, is a trans woman who is constantly burdened by society to conform to gender norms that the world has put upon her. From there, the story blossoms into many directions. Haru doesn't want to burden any of her friends due to her being trans, Manami trying to reassure her that she's no less the person she is even if she is being pressured by society, and Erika, who only recently met Haru for the first time and admits to not knowing a lot about these things, trying to understand what Haru has to go through and to support Haru as time goes on. That's mostly a summary of the first chapter, but there's a bunch more in the following chapters.

This is one of the most mature takes on LGBTQ+ topics I've seen in a visual novel yet. It shows how people identify themselves as LGBTQ+ in some way have to deal with discrimination, how it makes them feel and how it kind of gaslights them into thinking that they're the ones being problematic, all the while showing that if you identify yourself as LGBTQ+ in some way, you deserve to be loved just like anyone else.

I have to apologize if I'm sounding insensitive about this, I've never really been good at talking about these things. I was assigned as male at birth and have always identified myself as male, so I can't straight up say that I understand what transgender people have to go through. I've always been open to learning and understanding since I don't want to stay ignorant, and while I still can't say that I'm all that knowledgeable about it even now, A Year of Springs really helped me at least get some sort of an idea about all of it.

Honestly, I can't recommend this enough. It's also cheap, only 5€, and not too long either. Maybe less than 5 hours or so. It treats the subject matter with the respect it deserves, and I think we need more visual novels like this. If you want an idea of what to expect, you can read the first chapter, "One Night, Hot Springs" for free on Steam.

Finally, I want to say: If you are someone that identifies themselves as LGBTQ+ in some way, please know that your sexuality and gender identity should be respected just like everyone else. You are your own person, and these things should not get in the way of people respecting or loving you. Be proud of who you are.

Selene ~Apoptosis~ is a horror visual novel about... *sigh* Ok, I have something to confess. I spent about 4 and a half hours on this visual novel, reading a little bit every time I had the chance, and I could not tell you anything interesting that happened. There's a lot of the main character going crazy, there's a humanoid cat that I have no idea if she was real or not, and for some reason there are a ton of these weird disturbing commercials that don't really seem connected to anything happening.

Now, full disclaimer here: I may have not gone through this visual novel 100%. I tried to see as much as I could, even following a guide, but I still somehow missed out on two achievements, which probably means that I must have missed something. That said, the guide itself said that the visual novel is buggy, and there apparently is a glitch that can prevent you from reading it 100%. And if that's the case, I dunno what to say. I either missed something or I got screwed. Hard to tell at this point.

The problem I have with this visual novel is that... I just don't get it? Whenever I'm reading it, I feel like it's trying to throw scares and creepy situations at me at random in hopes of scaring me. Beyond that, I don't get the story, I don't get what it's about, I don't see the whole thing as that scary to begin with... Maybe it's the few things here and there that I missed that ties it all together, but I went through most of it and still had no idea what was going on. Maybe the true story is cryptically hidden in those commercials and logs that the game gives you every once in a while, and if that's the case, then no wonder. I hate figuring stuff like that out when I just want something casual to read.

Do I recommend it though? ... Well, like I said, I don't really get it, but if you're the kind of person that looks deeper into these things, maybe you'll be able to figure something out. It's free, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to try it out if you're not squeamish. Me? I'm not that person. So I'm unfortunately gonna have to give it a "no."

There is a paid adult DLC, which I did get. The H-scenes aren't anything special. They feel like they're tacked on more than anything else. I don't think you really need the DLC.

It's a short, sappy story about girls falling in love. If you're not into that, there probably isn't a whole lot for you here then. I really like it though.

Originally released in 2016, it used to be free, but with the release of the Steam version, it now costs money (both on Steam and itch.io). And while I would normally have a bone to pick with developers and publishers who do that, I'm giving this one a pass since the price tag is very low and the content itself is, in my opinion, worth it.

I probably shouldn't be saying much about "Her tears were my light," since the visual novel is super short to begin with and talking extensively about it could give the whole story away. But to go a little more into detail, as the description suggests, this is a love story about the physical manifestations of time and space. The main gimmick of the visual novel is that, since you follow Time's perspective, you can rewind time to change the future. That's cleverly done through actually rewinding the text and restarting the story from the beginning. That's about all I can say about that before I start getting into spoiler territory, so I'll just finish it off by saying it gets pretty sappy.

That's about it honestly. I think it's a very cute story worth the asking price, even if the length is 30 minutes or less. Also, just to add, I'm super glad and super excited that Nami is bringing some of her games over to Steam. I hope they get more attention, because she makes some really cute and heartwarming games. I wish her all the best in her endeavors.

*sigh* I've had this game in my library for more than half a year by now, and having just finished it 100%, I'm beating myself up for not playing it earlier.

I've played a bunch of NomnomNami's games on Itch.io prior to this one, and I always found them very entertaining. If there were any games that made me feel all soft and fluffy with happiness inside, Nami's games would definitely be up there as some of my favourites that fit that category. So when I saw that this one managing to make it onto Steam, it was a very pleasant surprise and I couldn't be happier. But that's just me rambling, let's talk about the game itself.

Bad End Theater is an interactive visual novel where you get to play a story out the way you want to. You have four characters to choose from, and from there you make your choices and see how everything turns out. The only problem is that every path leads to a bad ending. The more endings you explore with a character, the more branches open up for different characters, and the more bad endings you can unlock. But maybe, somehow, somewhere in the game there could be some sort of good end waiting for you?

The game plays like a visual novel with quite a lot of choices which dictate what path you're put on. Unlocking certain paths will require you to make the specific choices for the character you picked, but also you need to have unlocked character traits for the other characters from doing more runs with them. It seems a little restrictive at first, but the more paths you try to do with more characters, the more choices you'll have later on. All of it culminates into a puzzle game of making the correct choices and picking the right traits to get that specific ending you want.

The game is really short. In just about 2 hours, I managed to 100% the game, excluding the full reset achievement (I don't think I'm mentally prepared to do that just yet as of writing this). For a game that's about 8€, it feels right around the "is it really worth that much" threshold. On one hand, it's a very short game, which can easily be done in one sitting. That alone seems like it might not be worth the price. On the other hand, I would consider this to be one of Nami's best works. Having played Bad End Theater made me remember why I like their games so much to begin with. There's always this feeling of happiness and satisfaction at the end that just makes me love these games more every time I play them.

So if you're having trouble deciding whether to get this game or not, I encourage you to get it! If you're discouraged about the price, then wait for a sale. I would still argue that this is well worth the money for the experience alone, despite it being a bit short. Or if you want a taste of what this game could be like, I recommend checking out NomnomNami's games on Itch.io. Most of them are free, so you don't have much to lose by trying them out.

... Man, I'm feeling a bit nostalgic now. It's been a few years, maybe I should go back and play some of Nami's older games again.

The store page description states:
"You wake up, alone, on a strangely familiar island full of puzzles that will frustrate and annoy you."

And... That's the gist of the game. It's a lot of maze puzzles that are either laughably easy or so incredibly vague, think-outside-of-the-box, cryptic bull that you'll either look up a walkthrough (like I did on several occasions) and then go "that's so stupid," or just quit the game then and there.

There is no options menu, so don't go expecting you can change even basic options, like mouse sensitivity (it was too low for me), screen resolution, and so and so forth. Also, for the sake of clarity, EVERYTHING is a maze puzzle, including the menu for continuing or exiting the game. Connect everything from START to END, that's about all you need to know about the mechanics of the game.

It probably takes like an hour or so to clear the game, it took me an hour and a half because I got stuck several times and had to look up a walkthrough. So an hour's worth of game... All of that is a lead-up to a punchline that was so unfunny and so not worth it to the point where it actually looped around to being funny and actually kinda worth it. That's pretty amazing in and of itself.

Do I recommend it? Well, it's free, so wouldn't hurt to give it a shot. Just be prepared to go "really?" or "oh come on!" a whole lot, and keep a walkthrough handy just in case. But like I said, I think the ending is kinda worth it, although don't expect it to be a life-changing revelation, and don't expect any form of catharsis from it.

With Lightkravte being released, I was in the mood to give this a re-read. It made me realize that I'm way overdue on writing a review for this.
(I should also disclose that I got this for donating to Alice in Dissonance's Patreon page back in 2018)

Mhakna Gramura and Fairy Bell is a children's tale written by well-known author Alissyn Rievegh, but the story was completely unknown to the rest of the world. That is, of course, until Alice in Dissonance took it upon themselves to localize it for the rest of us, so that we could enjoy classic children's stories.

... Or at least, that's the front of it. In reality, Alissyn Rievegh is an author from the fictional Fault universe, and Mhakna Gramura and Fairy Bell is a children's story well known in Rughzenhaide, also from that same universe. To make it abundantly clear, this is a spin-off of the Fault series developed by Alice in Dissonance, which doesn't really have much to do with the story of the main series it's based off of, with the obvious Rughzenhaide parallels being the exception, so you should be able to enjoy this without having read a single Fault visual novel. The reason I point this out is because that was kinda how I remember this visual novel being presented when I first saw it, and it did kinda give it a meta element to it. It's kinda neat. But what of the story itself?

Mhakna and Sebia live in a rather rundown orphanage run by the rather nasty Tigrah Anne, who shows no respect to the children by constantly abusing them, enforcing child labor, and turning the kids into animals and selling them off to other people if they don't get adopted before turning 10 years old. Needless to say, Mhakna and Sebia hate this current state of life that they have, and they pray to Fairy Bell to save them and bring them to eternal happiness. Fairy Bell hears their requests and take them to Enles Land, a land created by Fairy Bell to bring suffering and sad children to, so that they never have too feel so again. Fairy Bell allows Mhakna and Sebia to live in Enles Land forever, exploring new things to make them happy and meeting new friends along the way, so long as they promise one thing: to never grow up.

This is a kinetic novel, which means there aren't any choices to be made. It's also a short read, you'll probably read it through in less than two hours or so. But for those two hours, I gotta say: I felt a lot of different emotions. I felt sadness, joy, fear, relief, all sorts of emotions. If a visual novel can bring tears to my eyes or choke me up a bit, then I know it's doing something right, and this one did do that on a few occasions. I also do love how Mhakna Gramura and Fairy Bell sort of poses the question of what true happiness is, and what happiness means to different people. Considering that this is written in a children's book style, I think it fits pretty well in there. Although, as is on par with a lot of Alice in Dissonance visual novels, it does have it's dark moments here and there. I'm not gonna spoil much here, but all I will say is that Rughzenhaide children are probably a bit more emotionally hardened than the children of our world.

Beyond the main story, there's also an encyclopedia. This has entries from explanations of certain terms to character profiles. For those not familiar with the Fault universe, or just otherwise doesn't have a strong grasp of a lot of the concepts from Fault, it has some helpful terms to get you started on a couple things. However, regardless of whether you have knowledge from Fault or not, I still highly recommend checking it out for the character profiles, most of which you unlock after you've finished reading. These profiles add so much more depth to the characters, and it shows sides to them that you wouldn't otherwise see in the story as it unfolds. So once you've finished reading the story, go give the encyclopedia a read. You won't regret it one bit.

The art style is fantastic. This is one of the few visual novels I've read where pretty much every single piece of art is something akin to a full CG, rather than having character art on a background that talks to each other. Combined with the more stylized visuals and small motions that have been added to them, Mhakna Gramura and Fairy Bell just looks beautiful. And the soundtrack is just amazing. The main theme still brings a tear to my eye every once in a while, the orphanage theme is so melancholic and beautiful at the same time, the character themes for each character go perfectly with their personalities, and the creepy themes still give me chills. There aren't that many different tracks in the game, but with what it has, it knocks it out of the park. If you're considering getting the soundtrack as well, I cannot recommend it enough.

In conclusion, I feel like this is a must-buy for anyone who's into visual novels. For the asking price, I think the story itself is already enough to be worth it. And while I love the soundtrack to this, you could make the argument that the price for that is a little too high, considering it's twice the price of the actual visual novel. Still, if you get the chance, I recommend getting that soundtrack as well. If you don't think it's worth it for that price, wait for a sale. The music is too beautiful to go unnoticed.

Anyway, Mhakna Gramura and Fairy Bell gets huge recommendations from me. I don't think you'll regret reading it.

I'm gonna start off with a bit of a ramble, so if you wanna skip to the actual review, disregard the first few big paragraphs. I have things to say about the VN itself, but I want to unload something first.

Fault, as a series, isn't the most active one. Their first visual novel Milestone One came out in 2013, with the sequel Milestone Two Side:Above coming out two years later. I've been on board pretty much right before MS2a came out, and have been waiting with baited breath for a new installment. Since 2015, we have gotten a demo of the prequel Silence The Pedant, the spin-off Mhakna Gramura And Fairy Bell, both in 2018 I believe, and now Lightkravte. Besides that, it's been pretty radio silent outside of Patreon, and sometimes a little quiet on there as well. I've been donating to the devs through Patreon for years now, and after hitting some financial issues which I've since recovered from, I had to drop my pledge to a dollar a month. What I'm trying to say here is that I've stuck with this series since 2015, and would easily call it one of my favorites. I've seen their passion for the project, I've seen the growth of the studio, I've seen progress on their projects, I've seen them go through hardships... I've seen a lot, and I haven't seen even the most of what's been going on in the background. To this day, I see the potential of this series, and I want it to be big, I want it to succeed, and I want to see this story in its entirety. Unfortunately, what I haven't seen, and what many others haven't seen, is releases.

Over the course of 9 years, Fault has made 4 full releases, two of which are mainline stories and the other two spin-offs. There's also a prequel story in the works, which is a major part of the story in general, but that's been put on the back-burner, with only getting a demo release so far. Behind the scenes, and through Patreon posts I've seen that Alice in Dissonance has made a lot of progress in the technical and art department. It just bums me out that with all the progress they've shown us, we haven't had consistent and/or frequent releases. If not for those Patreon posts, I probably would have already given up on this series, but the potential it has to become phenomenal is too great for me to ignore. With how much people geek out about stuff like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, all these popular series, the Fault universe interests me so much that it has the potential to be that for me. It could be my Star Trek, my Lord of the Rings. But it misses that mark with the lack of releases. The fact that Lightkravte released in the first place is a sign of hope for me, and I sincerely wish... I hope... Alice in Dissonance can get everything together and pick the series up, then make good progress. Some would probably say I'm a fool supporting a lost cause, but after so many years, I still find the potential of the series incredible. I don't want to give up on that. It's just... frustrating, you know?

Phew! That was a lot. But I'm here to write a review about Lightkravte, so let's do just that.

Fault - STP - Lightkravte is a spin-off prequel of the Fault series. It takes place 5 years before Fault Milestone One, and is a story about a young boy called Khaji Oberg, who strives to be a painter. Unfortunately for him, he's not a very good one, as his work is way below subpar, and after two years of practicing daily, he hasn't gotten any better at it. Regardless, he still tries to find ways to pursue his passion and keep painting, even if the world says no.

I wouldn't say the story is all that important compared to the other entries in the series, but I do think it's a very interesting one. I love the world of Fault and I love seeing lore being build upon it, and this one does just that. The story by itself is also pretty good. It also has a lot less dark or gruesome turns compared to the other entries, but it still has its own little moments. Beyond that, I think it's a pretty fun story that presents questions about pursuing your dreams vs pursuing something more stable, stuff like the differences between wanting to do something vs enjoying it, things like that. I wouldn't say it's the most original topic, but it's still interesting.

The art is phenomenal! Be it the character art or the backgrounds or the CGs, the art of the game is beautiful. When I first saw the animated characters in Patreon posts, they didn't look all that good to me. But seeing them in game, I've come around to liking them, and quite a lot in fact. Unfortunately, there is no gallery to peruse the art in. I love looking at artwork from visual novels, either during my playthrough or after the fact, and unfortunately the only time you get to enjoy the art is when you're reading it. Which isn't bad in and of itself, but I guess I just like enjoying the little things just by themselves sometimes.

The music is also really pretty. Be it calm and casual, or dramatic, or sad, the music really adds so much to the mood. If there is a soundtrack available for it, I want to buy it.

Overall, Lightkravte is a good visual novel. I wouldn't say it's the best Fault has to offer, but considering the lack of entries into the series since 2015, I would say it's at least a somewhat welcome one. Though if you've read Fault before and are still looking for an installment that continues the story, this unfortunately isn't that. Still, I think it's a good read regardless of whether you've read any of the previous visual novels or not. You might be a bit lost on some of the characters if you haven't, but you'll learn who they are pretty fast anyway. I would recommend.