Recent reviews by StaunchStache

EDIT: Sony has announced they've backpedaled on their decision to force PSN registration. This review will change once a more detailed message is communicated and implemented.

I play on PC, not on a Sony platform.
I have no want or need to register to a shady third-party's DRM to play a game I bought on Steam.

The game is truly exceptional, but I don't think I would have bought and played it had the requirement to register on PSN been effective at launch, not do I think I will comply when it becomes mandatory.

I am seriously considering asking for a refund if and when that happens - and if unsuccessful, looking into my country's consumer laws for a recourse against this scummy practice.

Before Minagoroshi: "I hate Oyashiro-sama, all my homies hate Oyashiro-sama"
After Minagoroshi: "I want to protect Oyashiro-sama's smile"

Chapter 5 was a retelling of a previous chapter, but this one is a completely new narrative, yet still closely tied to another past chapter in a way that isn't revealed before the biggest rollercoaster of emotions in the series so far.

As for the mystery, some questions are answered, some remain, and yet a few more come up. I'm hooked.

Satoshi... I'm already a demon.

So, you've read through both previous chapters in the Higurashi series, and wish for a more grounded story this time, in which the protagonist won't fall victim to grisly murder?



The monkey's paw curls a finger.

A sweet - if a bit dull and heavy on the 'moe' - slice-of-life VN set in a small japanese countryside town, where nothing horrifying ever happened in the past.

To keep it short, Deep Rock Galactic is probably the single best co-op FPS on Steam.

The combination of simple but colorful textures, mesh-based destructible environments and emphasis on lighting gives it a truly unique atmosphere, all topped off by the soundtrack, which heavily features synths to give it that 80s sci-fi movie feeling.

The gameplay is a mix of navigating the procedurally-generated environments using each of the four character classes' unique movement tools, with periods of intense fighting with hordes of crawling bugs, along with the high-adrenaline escape sequence combining the two at the end of most missions.
The large selection of weapon builds for each class allows for very diverse playstyles and rewards your creativity.

Thanks to the game's context-sensitive laser pointer, even non-verbal communication is clear and easy, and helps make even playing with random people speaking different languages not simply doable, but fun.

Finally, the dwarves themselves are full of charm and quips for just about every situation, and their signature "Rock and Stone!" salute (which has a key solely dedicated to it) leads to a sense of camaraderie not found in any other game. I didn't expect to like the typical fantasy dwarves archetype so much.

To top it off, the game is regularly updated for free, and all extra downloadable content is strictly cosmetic, made primarily to help support the developers.

Five years after having bought this game, even having unlocked all gameplay-relevant items, I still find myself rocking and stoning every so often.

Simply put, this game is a masterpiece and you need to play it if you enjoy games that are not only fun on their own, but also have a gripping, thought-provoking storyline and philosophical themes.

Nier: Automata is written and directed by Yoko Taro, who is rather decently known for creating and writing unique and compelling narratives that will leave the player in shambles at the end of his games. Unfortunately, the development teams he worked with didn't quite have the budget and/or skill needed to put out a well-playing game, leading to the Drakengard and Nier games being rather... painful to play, without even getting to the story.

That's how it used to be, but fortunately this game was developed by none other than the famous Platinum Games studio. Now, it was handled by a younger team, so it isn't as much of a polished, over-the-top action games as the likes of Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising, but that wouldn't fit its direction anyway. Unlike most Platinum titles, it has RPG elements: your character level up as they fight and complete quests, becoming stronger over the course of the game. This can lead to some difficulty-related issues, as completing too many sidequests will quickly leave you curb-stomping story fights, which is a little sad as many of these sidequests have their own little narratives, even if they aren't exactly compelling gameplay-wise. Some of them are even highly relevant to the main story, making their optional, missable nature even more frustrating.

The game is also an "open world", but don't expect a large expanse full of repetitive activities. It's more of a number of interconnected areas of varying sizes with no loading screen to separate them, with a the ruins of a city serving as the largest, central "hub".

Now, let's get to the negatives: Nier: Automata's PC port is simply horrible, and riddled with bugs, poor performance and crashing. And the greatest sin: forcefully binding the all-important dodge move to double-tapping movement keys, making playing with a mouse and keyboard an exercice in frustration.
Fortunately, this is PC we're talking about, so some skilled people have found workarounds and made fixes: these come in the form of the FAR mod, which corrects just about any technical problem you might have with the game. Downloading and running it is thus strongly recommended in order to enjoy this game.
I personally had little to no problems after using it aside from a couple crashes (remember to save often - the game makes a point of telling you there isno autosave).

Now then, second and last negative point: the difficulty. Nier: Automata offer four difficulty settings: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Very Hard. Easy is nothing to write home about really.

Normal mode is rather imbalanced; it starts out rather hard, as you aren't allowed to save before completing the almost hour-long prologue, dying means restarting from the beginning, which is frustrating. Then once you get an understating of the game's mechanics (some equipment is massively powerful, the dodge action is spammable and has a huge window of invulnerability), difficulty quickly plummets, even more if as I mention you end up overleveled by completing sidequests.

Hard mode essentially have enemies deal much more damage than on Normal, ensuring the game remains challenging throughout. But good luck getting past the prologue. Otherwise, no difference from Normal. No achievements, nothing.

Very Hard is, as the game itself states, for those people. You know the kind. They'd take up the most insane challenge and work to complete it just because they can. In Very Hard, you die in one hit.
I forgot to mention this game has some elements highly reminiscent of shoot 'em up and bullet hells during certain sections. It's no Touhou... unless you play on Very Hard.

So there, you've been warned. Nier: Automata is a flawed masterpiece held back by a terrible port and gameplay that isn't always compelling, but a masterpiece nonetheless. Both the story and OST (how could I forget the soundtrack?) have shaken me to the core, and I can only hope you'll feel the same when playing this.

X-Note is not a bad VN by any means, especially compared to many you can find on Steam, but I cannot honestly recommend it either. I wish there was an option to give a neutral review rather than just "recommended/not recommended".

The visuals and music are decent; not exceptional, but they work. However, there seems to be no way to skip dialogue you have already read, which is frustrating when doing multiple playthroughs or simply trying again after getting a bad end.

The story, while it has some surprises and good flow, especially when the pieces of the puzzle finally start to fall together, is sadly not very original. The writing is not bad, but nothing to write home about.

Now, for the gameplay.
The game is a mix of a classic mystery VN with choices influencing the story's direction and a "raising sim" which gives you the choice between three different statistics to raise, not unlike an RPG. I had never played such a game before, and was disappointed that X-Note does not make those elements work very well. Rather than influencing the path the story takes, the skills mechanic only seems to serve as milestones you absolutely have to reach before a certain point in the story, or else it's game over.
At least the game gives you pointers so that you can avoid doing the same mistakes over and over again without knowing what was wrong.
There are also a couple minigames thrown inside, but they aren't very interesting, and some tend to be frustrating.

But X-Note's biggest flaw lies in its pricetag; 20 dollars/euros for such a short VN is a hefty one, and the main reason I cannot in good faith recommend this game.

At the time of writing this, there seems to be a bug with its pricing; no pricetag is shown, and people have reported simply not being able to buy the game.