Happy Life
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kandagawa jet girls
10/10 animation, 8/10 game. There's nothing to say, and there's no need to. The gameplay trailer on Steam is self-explanatory.
witchspring r
Easy 10/10, I haven't seen such a soothing experience for a weary soul in a long time. A very cool implementation of character progression and the everyday life of a witch in exile, with all the corresponding elements; a very slow and intimate beginning, and at first it seems a little grindy - not in terms of difficulty, but in terms of the need to gather resources for crafting items, but soon it turns out that there is no problem, and you don't even need to do that, you have almost everything without extra effort. The world is small by JRPG standards, but something is constantly happening in already completed locations with a bunch of semi-random NPCs, so it feels very alive. A cool plot, well-written characters, a relatable protagonist, in general, it's just top-notch. I was especially pleased that, for once, the Japanese voice acting is worse than the original Korean one - although I've never liked it, but here it's a pleasure to listen to. I'll have to play through it again if they release more.
King Kuma: Delivered
Easy 9/10 + just top-notch; I can immediately recall a few other playable open-world games (which I generally don't like for being half-baked and lifeless), but I can't name a single one that surpasses it in fun and quality of development. I once thought it was a meme game because of a couple of streams and the general opinion on the internet, but I really liked the design of the forest and nature back then - it's as if I stepped out of my house in my neighborhood, I have never seen such a perfectly drawn depiction of the middle strip anywhere, the forests, meadows, and so on are drawn so realistically as possible in this genre - all it took was to pick up a brush, and not to frantically copy and paste in half an hour, like Todd and his team. And in the end, it turned out that it also has a cozy setting and atmosphere, cool quests and dialogues, entertaining combat (many didn't manage it, but it's not difficult and fun if you get the hang of it), the gameplay and the overall feeling of the world are also great, no uncanny valley like in Bethesda games.
Even after eight years, it's not without bugs, some of them quite unpleasant, but strangely enough, they don't spoil the overall impression today, but simply act as another game obstacle that needs to be overcome. There are other minor flaws, but overall it's great. I read on the internet that it was designed by a guy who was the designer of the first Mafia, which I hate for its clumsiness and ugliness. So, as much as I despise it, I enjoyed King Kuma just as much. I hope they don't "medievalize" it in the sequel, or if they do, they do it ironically.
And once again, I was convinced that a normal medieval setting is better than fantasy, because there's a hole in the floor in both, but the realism is much more organic than the cringe-worthy fairy tales about magic, races, classes, and fictional pseudo-realistic history filtered through the prism of modern perception.
Hands of Necromancy
A kind of Hexen-like boomer shooter with level-hubs, finding keys, and "puzzles" like "turn into a golem and break through a wall, and find the transformation on another map." It's boring, and I can say that it's because the levels are large and not very interesting, there aren't many enemies at the same time, and they are also more or less not different from each other, and most importantly, the weapons are mostly some kind of staffs, rings, scrolls that shoot elements, and do it with single shots, as a result, there is no feeling of excitement and drive that a good boomer shooter should bring. They are at least diverse in their mode of operation, and this saves it a little, but overall it's boring. Although you can play for an hour, overall it's about 6.8/10, there have been worse, for example:
Wrath: Aeon of Ruin
It's playable, and there are "fun" weapons, sometimes it's exciting, but overall it's tedious, I'm not even sure what the problem is. Maybe it's because instead of normal saves, there are only saves on a limited item and at checkpoints, and sometimes you have to replay individual moments, or maybe it's just that the levels are too huge, the mobs in them are the same, and there's nothing interesting except for the dilapidated fortresses, you play - like you're chewing on a Soviet lollipop, which is barely chewed and sticks to your teeth, loosening the fillings. It's similar to the first Quake, I fell asleep + dropped it / 10
Title
Kuromaru > Rin > Inori > Yuzu > Dina > Misa > Yennefer > Emily > Manatsu > Fuka > Zui > Kaguya > Naraku > Kamui
witchspring r
Easy 10/10, I haven't seen such a soothing experience for a weary soul in a long time. A very cool implementation of character progression and the everyday life of a witch in exile, with all the corresponding elements; a very slow and intimate beginning, and at first it seems a little grindy - not in terms of difficulty, but in terms of the need to gather resources for crafting items, but soon it turns out that there is no problem, and you don't even need to do that, you have almost everything without extra effort. The world is small by JRPG standards, but something is constantly happening in already completed locations with a bunch of semi-random NPCs, so it feels very alive. A cool plot, well-written characters, a relatable protagonist, in general, it's just top-notch. I was especially pleased that, for once, the Japanese voice acting is worse than the original Korean one - although I've never liked it, but here it's a pleasure to listen to. I'll have to play through it again if they release more.
King Kuma: Delivered
Easy 9/10 + just top-notch; I can immediately recall a few other playable open-world games (which I generally don't like for being half-baked and lifeless), but I can't name a single one that surpasses it in fun and quality of development. I once thought it was a meme game because of a couple of streams and the general opinion on the internet, but I really liked the design of the forest and nature back then - it's as if I stepped out of my house in my neighborhood, I have never seen such a perfectly drawn depiction of the middle strip anywhere, the forests, meadows, and so on are drawn so realistically as possible in this genre - all it took was to pick up a brush, and not to frantically copy and paste in half an hour, like Todd and his team. And in the end, it turned out that it also has a cozy setting and atmosphere, cool quests and dialogues, entertaining combat (many didn't manage it, but it's not difficult and fun if you get the hang of it), the gameplay and the overall feeling of the world are also great, no uncanny valley like in Bethesda games.
Even after eight years, it's not without bugs, some of them quite unpleasant, but strangely enough, they don't spoil the overall impression today, but simply act as another game obstacle that needs to be overcome. There are other minor flaws, but overall it's great. I read on the internet that it was designed by a guy who was the designer of the first Mafia, which I hate for its clumsiness and ugliness. So, as much as I despise it, I enjoyed King Kuma just as much. I hope they don't "medievalize" it in the sequel, or if they do, they do it ironically.
And once again, I was convinced that a normal medieval setting is better than fantasy, because there's a hole in the floor in both, but the realism is much more organic than the cringe-worthy fairy tales about magic, races, classes, and fictional pseudo-realistic history filtered through the prism of modern perception.
Hands of Necromancy
A kind of Hexen-like boomer shooter with level-hubs, finding keys, and "puzzles" like "turn into a golem and break through a wall, and find the transformation on another map." It's boring, and I can say that it's because the levels are large and not very interesting, there aren't many enemies at the same time, and they are also more or less not different from each other, and most importantly, the weapons are mostly some kind of staffs, rings, scrolls that shoot elements, and do it with single shots, as a result, there is no feeling of excitement and drive that a good boomer shooter should bring. They are at least diverse in their mode of operation, and this saves it a little, but overall it's boring. Although you can play for an hour, overall it's about 6.8/10, there have been worse, for example:
Wrath: Aeon of Ruin
It's playable, and there are "fun" weapons, sometimes it's exciting, but overall it's tedious, I'm not even sure what the problem is. Maybe it's because instead of normal saves, there are only saves on a limited item and at checkpoints, and sometimes you have to replay individual moments, or maybe it's just that the levels are too huge, the mobs in them are the same, and there's nothing interesting except for the dilapidated fortresses, you play - like you're chewing on a Soviet lollipop, which is barely chewed and sticks to your teeth, loosening the fillings. It's similar to the first Quake, I fell asleep + dropped it / 10
My sword, my trusted ally, unphased by my aspect.
