Recent reviews by Eggroll

I really, really wanted to like this game. The idea of a 3D action game with souls inspired combat and levels mixed with the world and story telling of Final Fantasy sounded like it would be an absolute home run for me. Unfortunately, Stranger of Paradise managed to seemingly mess up everything that makes both of these types of games so popular and it ended up being an experience of constant disappointment and frustration, both with the game itself, and the terrible job the developers did of porting it to PC.


I want to start with combat because it's the only part of the game I had any enjoyment with at all. There's some great elements to the combat system, most notably the customization that's possible thanks to the job system. You can pick from a huge number of jobs and level those up to unlock new abilities, combos, and even more jobs. It was a lot of fun mixing and matching combos and abilities from all the jobs. There's a great variety of weapons as well letting you create a play style that works for you. Unfortunately though, the game is so stupidly easy for 99% of it, that you will never actually have to learn the intricacies of combat such as parrying, and getting the most out of your combos. The only exception to this is in some of the later levels where you can get stun locked and die in literally one or two hits to most enemies and bosses, which doesn't actually come off as challenging gameplay, but just artificial difficulty, especially since there's usually so many particle effects, and stuff going on that between all the effects, and the game dropping to 10 FPS everytime there's more than 3 attacks happening, you'll never know what actually killed you. Even the final boss of the game I managed to kill in under 30 seconds, and that was with underleveled equipment.


Honestly, I couldn't really tell you what happened in the game's story. It's somehow both extremely boring, and extremely confusing at the same time. There's elements of time travel, multiverse stuff I think, and towards the end it just becomes a confusing mess that I couldn't care less about. Perhaps this is because this might be the most generic and bland cast of characters in any Final Fantasy game ever. I couldn't tell you a single character trait any of these characters have. For a series with some of the favorite characters and stories in all of gaming I was hoping that it would at the very least nail this element of the game. Jack, the main character is the most bland, generic main character ever. Call of Duty games have main characters with more depth to them.


This is where the game really starts to fall apart. The game is broken up by missions you can select from a map, and none of these levels are interesting or well designed at all. You either end up running in a straight line through the same bland and ugly hallways, or end up in an equally ugly and bland maze you have to spend 30 minutes just figuring out where to go in. The side missions all take place in the same exact levels as the main missions as well, not just same aesthetics, but the literal same exact layouts. It's lazy level design in an already lazily designed game. Throughout these levels you get equipment to equip on members of your party, all with different boosts and stats. You get SO. MUCH. EQUIPMENT. One basic enemy will literally drop 3 or 4 pieces of equipment. After every single encounter I was going through all the stuff I got trying to figure out what was better or not that eventually I just started pressing the optimize button after every fight. If I didn't do this I probably would have spent another 6 or 7 hours just managing my equipment over the course of the game. This is terrible for 2 reasons. It deincentives exploration, because no matter what you find from a treasure chest, you'll find something better 5 minutes later just from killing enemies. and it also constantly disrupts the flow of the game, having you opening your inventory and messing around after every fight, and after the completion of every level so you can dismantle whatever junk is flooding your inventory. It also means there's no point in upgrading anything because like I said, you're guaranteed to find something better within 5 minutes just by playing the game normally.


The last thing I want to discuss is just how bad this port is. My computer easily surpasses the recommended specs for this game, and yet I was constantly greeted with single digit frames per second, laggy and choppy cutscenes, and graphical issues. Even when I set all the graphical settings to the lowest they could go, some sections of the game would just barely reach 15 FPS. This is unacceptable for a $40 game by a AAA developer. Some areas worked perfectly and I could enjoy them on max graphical settings, until combat set in. It doesn't matter how low your settings are, some combat encounters will just kill this game. If theres more than 4 enemies on the screen using attacks with particle effects, which is basically every single encounter, prepare to kiss your frames goodbye. Not only is this extremely frustrating, it makes parrying, dodging, or other precise combat moves nearly impossible, and was the main reason I couldn't try raising the difficulty. Some bosses were literal slide shows for me. How this game has been out for over a year, let alone even released in this state is shocking, and the developers should be ashamed in themselves for allowing this to be sold in the state it is. Even if all the other problems with the game were somehow fixed, I still couldn't recommend this game because of how bad the port is.


In conclusion Stranger of Paradise is just an all around disappointing game. From bland and uninspired levels to a combat system held back by the lack of any real difficulty, to forgettable characters and a terrible port, I did not enjoy my time with this game. I tried really hard to like it, but at the end of the day there's a reason it took me an entire week to beat this 13 hour game, and it wasn't due to a lack of free time. While it could possibly be fun with friends, the state of the technical side of the game means I can't in good consciousness recommend you spend money on this. For more reviews, follow my curator page.

Furi has a simple combat system, that manages to push the player to the limit with what they can do within that system. It's a series of boss fights only separated by short story segments that flesh out the world it takes place in. Despite this seemingly simple premise, it creates boss fights that are some of the most intense and engaging encounters in any game I've played. Backed by an incredible soundtrack and crisp stylized visuals, each of the 11 boss encounters in the game is memorable, challenging, and demands that you understand the mechanics of the fight in order to bypass it. If you enjoy fast paced combat, and boss fights, I highly recommend Furi.


The most important part of a game like Furi is the combat system. In Furi combat consists of 2 phases. A bullet hell style shooting phase where you must dodge and weave your way through waves of projectiles while shooting your own shots at the boss, and close quarter sword sections where you must dodge and parry the bosses attacks while finding gaps to get attacks in. Sometimes these will mix but for the most part you're doing one or the other. The controls worked perfectly for me, and parrying is extremely satisfying. Each boss has multiple phases, and you yourself have 3 lives. If you beat a phase of a boss, you get a life back, meaning you always have a fighting chance as long as you're alive. When you parry attacks you regain some health helping to keep you in the fight. Each boss is challenging in their own way and has mechanics that you must fully understand in order to defeat them. After almost every boss fight I thought to myself, "wow that was one of the best fights I've seen" and then the next one would top it. These boss fights are long encounters that can take upwards of 8-10 minutes sometimes to beat on your first attempts.


Furi has a story but it's not the main focus of the game. While it is cool to see this world fleshed out, and the build up to each boss does a good job of getting you hyped to battle it, I don't recommend Furi if you solely play games for their stories. What is here works great for the game, but it's not good enough to buy the game if the combat doesn't look interesting to you. You must escape a jail that you don't know how you ended up in. Each boss is a guardian, protecting the next layer of the jail. It's fine, and told in an interesting way through walking segments, and while these can be a little long, they do a good job of giving you a calming break between the intense fights.


Furi shows exactly what's possible with a simple yet engaging combat system when it's pushes to the max. The visuals, music, and combat encounters all mesh perfectly to create a thrilling and demanding experience that will leave you wanting more. Despite never getting new abilities, you will feel yourself getting stronger and stronger after every fight and that's not something a lot of games can achieve. If you want a demanding game with great boss fights, I highly recommend trying Furi. While it's short, it's replayable with different difficulty settings, and a the option to fight individual bosses to improve on your score. For more reviews, follow my curator page.

There's no doubt that Onimusha: Warlords was a great game 20+ years ago when it first came out, and it's still a great game, although it has some glaring issues that could have easily been fixed for this modern port. If you loved the original, absolutely get this game, the controls are improved, and like I said, the core game is great. There's a great story here with some solid gameplay in an awesome setting. If you're a fan of older games and this slipped under the radar, then absolutely give it a try on sale, but if you don't play a lot of older games, or aren't a fan of some of the more outdated aspects of them then maybe proceed with caution.


Onimusha still looks amazing after all these years. The backgrounds and settings are full of detail and there's great variety in the enemies and characters. Monsters squirt out blood when you slice them open, and the sword noises are extremely satisfying. The cutscenes look great even to this day considering the technology available at the time. The opening scene is cinematic as f*** and got my super intrigued and excited to play. The music is great and my only disappointment is the voice acting at some points but it was never bad, just sort of mid at times. You move through the world in fixed camera angles which can sometimes be frustrating, especially in combat where there might be 2 or 3 angles in a single room, and when they're constantly switching while you're trying to fight it can be very annoying and disorienting.


Onimusha is an old school hack n slash game with some nice elements to it. You have a variety of weapons you can unlock, some melee, some ranged. The ranged weapons, the bow especially are absolutely miserable to use so I just stuck with melee weapons. It can sometimes be hard to attack who you want in a crowd but it was never too bad. You can parry some attacks and you have magic for dealing with crowds. Slain enemies drop souls that can either be currency to upgrade weapons, magic refills, or health refills. You have to hold down the B button to collect these which adds an element of resource management in combat. Do you keep fighting and risk losing the souls, or try to get an opening where you can regain health. This was especially apparent in boss fights. There is also a fair share of puzzle solving which was a great distraction from combat, and these were often fun and challenging while not being frustrating. The boss fights were really fun except for one near the end.


The developers who made the port knew some elements of the original game needed to be changed for modern audiences such as the controls. You can now move in a full 360 range of motion, which is great, but they left some glaring and extremely frustrating outdated game design elements. Already mentioned is the fixed camera angles. 90% of the time these were fine, and I don't expect them to implement a free moving camera or anything but surely some of these rooms, especially the ones where you're fighting a boss could have done with some improved angles, or just have one top down angle. The final boss has one set camera angle and it's amazing. I don't know how anyone could think some of these bosses are ok to fight in a room with 3 angles, 2 of which are terrible. It made some fights far more frustrating and difficult then they should have been. This leads me to my second issue. Why in 2019 when this port came out, did the developers not add an option to skip cutscenes. Dying to a boss, only to have to sit through 3 minutes of cutscenes before having another try is miserable. It makes dying more of a punishment then it should be. This more then the camera issue could easily be implemented and would make a huge difference in my enjoyment of the game. It would also make the problem of the camera angles much less of an issue.


In conclusion, Onmusha: Warlords is still a great game all these years later, and I look forward to the new game coming out. I don't see a lot of people talking about this one and it's a shame because outside of some issues, which didn't affect the core gameplay all that much, it's an incredible game that I couldn't recommend more. Unfortunately the developers didn't go that extra mile in modernizing the game and because of this I can't recommend it to everyone. If you don't mind some outdated jank, you'll have an incredible time. For more reviews, follow my curator page.

I'll be honest, I had more fun with this game then I was expecting. Maybe it's because I grew up watching the movie a ton, maybe it's because I love the Finding Nemo theme park ride at EPCOT. Whatever the reason I would be lying if I said I didn't actually enjoy my time with this game. Is the gameplay overly simple and clearly made for kids? Yes. Are the graphics terrible? Yes. Did the game only last an hour? Yes. Did the game crash my entire computer 40 minutes in causing me to lose all my progress? Also yes. But at the end of the day I still enjoyed it enough to boot it back up again and speed through everything I did to finish the game, and that says something I think. It goes on sale for about $2.50 and for that price, it's not bad. Especially if you want a little nostalgia trip for the DS era, and one of the best animated movies ever made. The gameplay consists of point and click adventure style gameplay, and short minigames made for kids, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it for the hour it took me to beat it. For more reviews, follow my curator page.

No game has ever completely overtaken my life the way that Elden Ring has. From the moment I first turned it on to the moment I closed it after beating the DLC, I have lived, breathed, and slept this game. I have had dreams of fighting bosses or exploring locations that I visited and have on multiple occasions stayed up far far later than I should have after getting completely lost in the world of Elden Ring. No in game world has ever and very likely will ever have as many moments that left me in complete awe and wonder, leaving me with nothing else to say but "Holy sh!t". On top of this, it is so easily accessible to such a wide range of players that almost any gamer will be able to get enjoyment out of it. This was my first FromSoftware game and me and my summon had an absolute blast and with the exception of one DLC boss, and the infamous Melania never hit a brick wall in difficulty. The amount of content and the quality of said content in this game is an unbelievable achievement that should absolutely be celebrated the way it has been. My blind playthrough of the base game took me 47 hours, and even with me doing a ton of exploring, I know for a fact I misses entire boss fights, let alone a ton of gear and other loot. While it is very much a souls game at heart with the confusing quests, difficult bosses, and stunning set pieces, it's something that has never been seen before, and may never be seen again. It is an absolute steal for even $60, let alone the measely $36 I paid for it. People always talk about how it's a game where they wish they could go back and experience it for the first time again and I can see why. My first Elden Ring playthrough is probably the most memorable and magical experience I've ever had with a controller and I honestly don't know if anything will be able to top it.


Elden Ring's greatest accomplishment and what makes Elden Ring, Elden Ring is the world that has been created. You truly can go almost anywhere from the very beginning and it's full of surprises. Turning a corner only to find yourself in front of a massive castle that might take 3 or 4 hours to explore, only to come out of that castle on top of a mountain you didn't even see before will never get old and there's so much more to the world then what you will originally think. It just keeps growing larger and larger like it's an 8 year old's Christmas list. Things you couldn't even imagine will be around every corner and even when you think you've seen everything there is to see, the game will throw something new at you. Not only is this world massive and full of things to do but it's jaw droppingly gorgeous. I didn't even know medieval fantasy could look this great and with as much variety. The characters and enemies that fill this world are memorable, amazingly designed, and truly make The Lands Between feel lived in and full of danger.


Perhaps the most important thing in these games, combat in Elden Ring is great. There's enough options in gear, weapons, classes, and stats that you can invest in to truly build the perfect play style that suits you. If you wanna carry around a giant rusted anchor and stagger every enemy in your path you can (this is what I did). If you wanna run around naked smacking actual Gods with a wooden club, guess what, you can. If you wanna summon a pack of wolves to fight for you and cast spells from a distance, Elden Ring lets you. This leads me to the accessibility. I didn't think I could ever beat one of these games. In fact it's what stopped me from playing it sooner than I did but the game wants everyone to be able to succeed. There are so many tools given to you from summoning troops to fight along side you to even bringing in players to aid you in battle. Sure, you still need to have a level of competency to beat the bosses, but no game in this genre is as accessible as Elden Ring. The world design allows you to leave a tough encounter and come back when you're stronger and kick that suckers butt after you conquer a castle ro two. The more you explore, the stronger you become. Bosses and basic enemies will both require your attention and overcoming a tricky fight is extremely rewarding and satisfying.


My one slight disappointment with Elden Ring is its story but it's sort of my own fault. There's a great story here with some truly exceptional world building and lore but the game requires you to work for it. Reading item descriptions and looking around the environment is how you're going to get the most out of the story. Sure, the game provides you the basics with some cut scenes but if you really want to get into the story, you're going to need to put in the work, and there's nothing wrong with that, I just wasn't ready for it going into the game. I recommend watching lore videos on YouTube if this aspect of the game really intrigues you as you play along so that you can get the most out of it. The quests in the game are VERY confusing and nearly impossible to complete for the most part without some kind of guide which is sort of a shame. I wanted to experience my first playthrough without a guide and as blind as possible so I missed out on or messed up quite a few quests sadly but it also added to my experience in a way. It felt like everything I did had a consequence instead of just being spoonfed instructions and it kind of had a charm to it in a way, but be aware of this going in incase you do want to use a guide.


In conclusion, Elden Ring is truly a generation defining game and experience. There is easily over a hundred hours of content here and that's only in one playthrough, let alone completing the game with different classes and builds, or trying to beat the game with and without summons, or just exploring one of the most well crafted open worlds in any video game ever. The accessibility options make it so more people than ever will be able to enjoy this game, and if it looks even mildly interesting to you I can't recommend it enough. I don't think I'll ever forget my first playthrough and the absolute magic that I got to experience, and I look forward to revisiting it and seeing what I missed out on. Elden ring is an absolute must buy, and I can't recommend it more. For more reviews, follow my curator page.

Toree 3D is a short 3D platformer that takes around 30 minutes to beat. The levels are designed around being able to speedrun them and are genuinely fun to go through. The controls are tight and responsive and each of the unlockable characters have their own "ability" such as unlimited jumps. The best part of the game for me was the excellent music and settings of the levels. Each level felt unique from the others. The game really feels like a game that you would be playing on a Nintendo 64 or similar console and for a dollar you really can't go wrong. For more reviews, follow my curator page.

Everybody Wham Wham is a wonderful little game about building snowmen. It's not long, it doesn't have a crazy emotional story, it doesn't have riveting gameplay, and it doesn't have crazy realistic graphics, and the game is better for all of this. Everybody Wham Wham is one of those games that you can just lose yourself in for an hour or two and have a wonderful time doing it. The simplistic and charming graphics are perfect for what the game is, and all the characters are unique from each other and just ooze charm. Whether it's grabbing a drink with Rudy, or playing music with your group of friends at a fireplace, the characters are a joy to get to know. The game has a good amount of songs, all of which are incredibly well made and just add to the charm of the game. The only real gameplay in the game is building a snowman for the contest, having to pick the right parts for the theme, and making it the correct size, these segments are fun and short enough to where it doesn't get repetitive. Overall Everybody Wham Wham is just a great game to play around this time of the year, and it's something I can see myself coming back to each year, with it's great cast of characters, catchy songs, and funny story. If you like these simple little games, I highly recommend Everybody Wham Wham. For more reviews, follow my curator page.

Sunset Overdrive is a game that has one goal and one goal only, to be fun to play. Luckily for us, it delivers on that goal amazingly. Everything from the characters, to the movement, to the cutscenes, and the music, everything just encapsulates this idea of being as fun as possible. Although it's relatively short, with it taking around 10 hours for me to beat the main story and 2 dlc areas which are included with the game, I had a smile on my face for nearly every second of that. Although a few aspects of it are a little bit outdated such as the tower defense sections, these were still enjoyable, and Sunset Overdrive is absolutely worth your money and time.


The story is quite simple, a zombie outbreak of sorts leaves you stranded in the city looking for a way out. Sunset Overdrive however takes this and fills the story with an incredible and hilarious cast of characters, and takes you through some insane set pieces that you'll never see coming. Although the game never takes itself or the story seriously, you will find yourself getting attached to these characters and the shenanigans they drag you into. From a Japanese scout troop, to DnD roleplayers, the game is constantly taking you to different areas of the city constantly keeping the game fresh from start to finish. The humor in this game is quite unique, with lots of fourth wall breaks, meta jokes, and fun visuals, making it a delight to keep playing and seeing where it all goes next.


The most notable aspect of the game and what people still talk about to this day, is the movement. You're extremely vulnerable on the ground so you spend 99% of your time grinding and bouncing across the map which is an absolute joy. I never once used the fast travel option during the campaign because moving across the map is just that much fun. Throughout the game you unlock more options to use and as you master them all you can easily get across the entire map without ever touching the ground. It's fast, fluid, and the controls were extremely responsive. The gunplay here is great as well. Shooting down hordes of enemies as you glide across telephone wires is very satisfying and the wide variety of weapons from teddy bear tnt cannons, to shotguns, to freeze bombs makes it so your'e sure to find a weapon that you love and being able to have 8 equipped at a time and easily switch from weapon to weapon on the fly makes combat an absolute treat. There's not a ton of variety in enemies, but there's 3 different types you'll face, each with weaknesses so you'll have to switch weapons constantly. There are a few tower defense style segments of the game, and while they're not very long, they aren't super fun. You have to set up traps and protect some kind of machine or a couple of them and they never quite clicked for me. They're not hard luckily and they're pretty short but whenever one came up, I was ready to move on once I finished it.


10 years since release and the game still looks incredible thanks to the colorful cartoon stylized graphics. The characters and the world of Sunset City look great, with bright vibrant colors, and a nice variety of locations and districts to explore. Enemies explode with a satisfying burst of color and the elemental torment you can inflict is bright and fun. The best part about the games presentation for me though is the kick ass soundtrack. Every time I started the game up I was headbanging in the menu and that was before I even started playing. When the music kicks in while you're grinding, bouncing, and mowing down waves of enemies, you can't help but tap your foot along to the rock music and have a smile on your face.


Sunset Overdrive was an absolute joy to play from start to finish. The humor, movement, and cast of characters all came together to create a truly unique experience that I can't recommend more. For $20 it's a great deal and there's plenty of content to keep you busy well after the 10 hours of story and dlc missions. If you're looking for a hilarious game with great movement and satisfying shooting look no further, and I can only hope we get a sequel to this one day. For more reviews follow my curator page.

Coffee Talk is one of those games that just hits on every note for me. I had doubts going into it on how a coffee shop simulator could have such universal praise, and still be engaging without much real gameplay, but Coffee Talk's writing and atmosphere are incredible. This is essentially a visual novel with very very light gameplay consisting of picking 3 ingredients to mix into a drink every once in a while. Over the course of a few hours you will go on a journey with this rag tag group of characters and really feel like you get to know them, and go on some great journeys with them. Without spoiling anything, the game manages to cover some really complex and very real issues in a way that feels natural in this fictional world the game takes place in. If you don't want a game that covers real topics relevant to society today than I wouldn't play this, but personally I found it to be engaging and interesting. You don't get different results in this game by choosing different outcomes but by making the correct drinks for the customers, something that you will not be able to do perfectly on your first playthrough without either looking them or or experimenting in the endless mode. The lofi soundtrack is excellent and matches the beautiful pixel art coffee shop perfectly. The narrative was very well paced and the different characters stories felt very natural and not forced at all. Coffee Talk was a refreshing take on a visual novel and is often available for a really good price on sale. If you're a fan of visual novels with interesting elements or stories that apply to the real world, then definitely give it a shot. For more reviews, follow my curator page.

En Garde! is a very confusing game for me. It has the foundations of an extremely fun and unique combat style but the level design and the majority of the combat scenarios it puts you into are at odds with the very foundation it lays down. The games combat system is truly built for 1v1 combat, something that I think the games proves to itself with one of the boss fights, which is easily the best fight in the game, and yet it insists on throwing waves of enemies at you making the game much more frustrating then it should have been. Combat is built upon parrying, dodging, and kicking both enemies and parts of the environment at said enemies. Enemies will attack you with attacks that you must either parry or dodge, if you do the wrong one you will either take damage or the enemy will regain it's health. You can kick stuff at enemies to help stun them. This system is great with 1v1 encounters with fights playing out like a rhythm game almost once you learn the enemy attack patterns and is extremely satisfying to engage with. The problem comes when you have 10 enemies in a room, and you're forced to run around the room trying to frantically dodge attacks to find the next crate or barrel to kick at your opponents to stun them so that you can hopefully get one or two attacks off before the other 9 enemies catch up to you. The game becomes extremely frustrating in these cases as combat is no longer about skillfully reacting to the enemies attacks and countering them with your own but is instead about running around like a headless chicken where you are no longer the hunter but the prey. Even without this issue about the games painfully repetitive even with an extremely short campaign only lasting 4 episodes, one of which is a tutorial. The story itself might as well be nonexistent and the game reuses all 3 boss fights twice. I don't mind a short game, but I do mind a short game that doesn't know what it wants to be and has to reuse content because the developers can't come up with any more ideas. For $20 this game is absolutely not worth your money, and when it's on sale for $8, it might just barely be if your life long dream is to be one of the 3 musketeers for some reason. For more reviews, follow my curator page.