Recent reviews by Wakarimasen

Taking the open world mayhem concept but applying it to a Nazi occupation of France with PLENTY of opportunity to undermine the Third Reich in some of the most satisfying ways possible.

Elbowing some solider prick to death as he was threatening some poor soul on the street just feels like justice.

It's a particularly good game to play if you just feel like you don't have control over the authoritarian creep out there.

And you'll be speaking in an Irish accent for days :)

I love open world games with story and progression as a general rule. This game scratches that itch EXTREMELY well, on top of being a really satisfying brawler at the end of a stressful day.

Lots to see, lots to do.

Pretty rock solid game, too. Only a couple of weird oddities where the dog would sense minefields where there weren't any. And one "Intergration" in the credits :)

I really felt like I was IN the Mad Max world, with its petroleum, rusty cars, near vanished water (which is never explained here nor in the movies - I'd love to know, but it's not a bad thing to have as a mystery), rusty ships and dried out coral beds, sand over the roads, buried houses, abandoned airports, war boys, Buzzards... everything.

And the explosions. OH, the satisfying explosions. Whether by shotgun, lit gas canister, or shoving a lit thunderpoon in someone's belly, just, awwww yeah.

I freaking love Chumbucket. I wish I could make Max love him too.

I also wish there was a way to steer via the mouse. Sometimes, A and D just don't cut it, especially in the final race.

That was great. I had another mission and a bunch of little scrap areas but... I think I'm done. :)

It's an open world game where you slowly grow in capabilities and territory, where you get to experience Tokyo with all the lights and none of the people. I was watching Alice in Borderland alternating with this and I perked up as I saw things from the game in that TV show's Tokyo setting, especially around Shibuya.

It is a creepy game that you nevertheless get used to, steeped in feelings of Japanese myths and legends, and there are few more satisfying things than sneaking up behind a visitor and banishing them, screaming, back to where they came from.

I loved the use of audio and lighting cues. You can HEAR money and shrines when you 'ping' out from your location, and it helps. The street lighting is usually white, until visitors notice you, and then come after you. All the street lights going red makes you properly FEEL like you're in trouble.

There are plenty of bits and pieces for the completionists among us as well. Me, I... got tired after 90% ;)

All in all, it felt SATISFYING. I finished it, and I'm going to put it away now.

A LOT of replayability in this game.

I still haven't won it yet, but I am having a lot of fun trying.

Particles galore, particles everywhere, status effects, enemies, perks and a whole lot of wand crafting with spells and effects you find.

Sometimes, you will hurt yourself. Sometimes, you will anger the gods. Sometimes, you will make half the screen explode.

There's an awful lot of bargaining - can you find another, better wand with 22 health left before some dude with a shotgun gets you? Is it better to have enemies turn into belligerent mushrooms when they die, or is it better to be invisible when you're not stained with blood or slime? Is it better to try to explode your way through things, or dig?

Fun, fun, fun.

Far from the overpowered, confident, brassy tanks in other games, the protagonist in this feels extraordinarily vulnerable but skilled and determined. It's an interesting take and it feels empowering and utterly horrifying and endearing in a way.

Some of the sequences are a bit "that's nice, but you should have died", some are "oh my god, I'm fending off an assault right now; this feels WAY more personal that dispatching people from afar".

This game really does tickle my "find all the secrets" bone and whoever is doing the art for this is spot-on. I've played a number of games with rough, cartoonish representations of caves and paths - the rocks and paths here FEEL PROPER. I've been out in the mountains, and this is exactly what things look like (given licence for an ancient civilization in there, of course).

I do wish there was a bit more of an option to give enemies the chance to surrender or leave or something. For someone unused to killing, it gets too easy in a way. I'd rather it be a harder choice to make because that's what one of the few bits that feels cartoony.

It was a compelling enough experience that I had to buy the other game in the series.

I like it when developers go out of their way to build up alternate histories, narratives, creatures and cultures, and this game does that in spades. I would kill for keyboard shortcuts for inventory items, but as for the rest of it, this alternative post-apocalyptic world is filled with all sorts of things that evoke but don't over-explain a long narrative background. Full of imagination, this one.

I really like games that do a good job of world-building. Soul Reaver, Guacamelee, Borderlands, all plunge you into a strange world with its own creatures and rules and stories. This game was a surprisingly nice addition.

I wish there had ended up being more choices along the way, but it was a compelling enough experience that I played it pretty solidly until it was done and the Dismal Swamp DLC as well, which comes at it from another character.

There are some games where I absolutely dread getting new abilities, because they end up being integral to the puzzles in more and more complicated ways. Blades of Time generally doesn't throw too many different things at you at the same time, though it's a challenge (I didn't attempt hard mode, mind)

Plenty of secrets and puzzles, different locations and stories, and playing a gymnastic badass female protagonist in some not terrible high-resolution but nevertheless amazing locations made for an enjoyable game. Recommended.

I really, really like this game.

This is the kind of rogue-lite I like, with fairly quick action, tough at first but you're able to progress, PLENTY of unlockables, interesting secrets and plenty to do.

The enemies are largely gun-themed or with a gun pun, the weapons are often either homages to something (like Judge Dredd or Ghostbusters, Super Mario or Blade Runner) or ridiculous (like the gun that shoots bullets that shoot guns) and the items have a wide array of abilities, from sunglasses (which slow down time when an explosion happens) to junk (that sometimes turns into Ser Junkan, who can be upgraded with more junk)

You can rescue people... and creatures (like a giant d20) from the Gungeon and they may sell you things or issue challenges, if you somehow get bored of the "normal" mode, you can pay galactic credits (the only 'money' that survives death) to mix up your next game.

It's fun and quick. I haven't had this much fun since The Binding Of Isaac :)

I absolutely *love* this game, early access though it may be.

It's *brutal*. It's not uncommon to roll away from an enemy and straight onto some spikes within seconds of starting the game.

But it's *fun*. It's like Spelunky (you HAVE played Spelunky, haven't you?) except with some traditional action RPG elements like classes, equipment, skills and attributes, and it makes for lots of intriguing possibilities.

Maybe you play as a Wanderer, and you pick up the first Grumbul corpse you find, hold down V to track the Grumbuls. You find the leveling orb and level up Intelligence and choose Trajectory. You aim the first mystery potion you have at a pair of Grumbuls, but it's a potion of might! Fortunately, you also knocked over a sconce and set the floor on fire. One of them makes a beeline for you, so you run like mad. Fortunately, you chose Boots of Gossamer and you don't trip the pressure plate, but the Grumbul does... but not slow enough to get caught by it. It hits you for two health out of your four and sets you on fire. You roll into water to put the fire out and then jump out of the water, but not before a pissed-off fishana jumps out of the water and takes your final health point.

Maybe you play as a poet, and you chance it with three health. You learn the Double Jump spell (it's a spell in this game!) and find another Magic In Motion spellbook. You hold C to learn that one, too, but click on the middle, which gives you the floating book skill "Otherblink". You get the leveling orb and choose Strength with the skill Heavy Lifting, which lets you lift boulders around, one of the more satisfying ways of killing enemies. You accidentally come across three Grumbuls and hightail it out of there, only to end up in a chamber with lava on the bottom and little room to maneuver. You hit V a few times as your pursuers get closer and it Otherblinks two of them into the lava. You deliberately click a trap and a weight comes smashing down, and you jump up and ride up, but make sure to jump out before you're flattened. You hunt and consume five green goos and overheal for three points but get poisoned by mushroom gas. You hightail it to the exit door, snapping a line which fills the area with flammable gas and lights it. You barely avoid it, but out of curiosity, hang around in the gas caused by another potion that got too got and evaporated. Ugh! Getting zapped! But since it's from a gas, it doesn't last as long. Wow, there's the door. I actually made it to level 2 this time?

Part of the fun is that it's *really* hard to tank this game. You can often win against the occasional Grumbul, but you have to be really strategic if you want to survive. The Grumbuls in later levels are often special - fire-resistant, poison-spewing or extra strong and you might want to really plan out your attack.

Even in the character creation, you have to compromise a great deal. If you're willing to take on negative traits such as clumsiness, bad swimmer, loud, messy eater or hates <weapon type>, you can get more health and magic, but the negatives can really trip you up. Choosing a character with a damaged weapon can do the same, but you had better find a good weapon soon - some damaged starter weapons have difficulty even hurting goos.

Some elements of the game are just a joy. There's something satisfying about shaking a chest open instead of the usual game mechanic of opening the lid. Throwing dead Grumbuls into the water will totally distract the fish. Throwing a dead slime at a Grumbul will splat and cover its eyes for a couple of [precious] seconds. Some lifeforms in the dungeon piss each other off and you can use this to your advantage, especially later in the game.

Really looking forward to more development. It takes quite a while between releases, it seems, but they are jam-packed with stuff.

I hope they make a class that's better with traps, even if there are other compromises, because sometimes, I need a break from dying on spikes :)

(Though note: if you choose Defense twice, you can choose a trait that prevents one-shot kills if your health is >75%. Thoughtful :) )

It's Guitar Hero for real guitars, but to sum it up like that doesn't convey the depth of it.

As an electric guitar learning tool, this is simply incredible, though be aware that if bought on Steam, it still requires a special ~$30 cable to plug into the 1/4" jack of a guitar and, of course, a guitar!

It adjusts the difficulty on the fly as you play, gives you techniques, challenges, and a reason to come back, on top of having a pretty good song library both in the game and aftermarket.

At the end of the day, if you get really good at it, even just on a single song, well, you have the take-away of actually being able to play the song on real equipment elsewhere. What other game has transferable skills like that?