Recent reviews by trout

Super fun retro shooter game. I thoroughly enjoyed the quick paced combat and secret-filled levels. It's pretty incredible how engaging the game is for having no jump or crouch buttons.

A lovely little metroidvania game, I really enjoyed the combat and beautiful pixel art. It doesn't reinvent the wheel by any means, but I enjoyed my time with it nonetheless. It feels like a game whose sequel could be outstanding.

A truly incredible release. It is such a pleasure to have a game launch in a perfect state (game is completed, doesn't crash, has no bugs, etc.). Metaphor ReFantazio features a truly unique and beautiful art style, quick and challenging combat, and many archtypes that your characters can use to augment their combat abilities. I won't forget this one for a long time. I can't recommend this JRPG enough.

Super fun game! Beautiful pixel art, surprisingly large and intricate levels, useful upgrades that allow the player to experiment and learn new techniques as the game progresses, challenging but fair bosses, and a goofy sense of humour.

Having never played the original games, I got a lot of out this one. The 4th game (Dracula X) is not worth playing due to slow movement speed and what seems like intentionally annoying level design and enemy placement, but the other 3 games are absolute classics and hold up very well in the modern era.

Another grand slam from this game developer, I really enjoyed their take on a metroidvania. The bosses were challenging and fun, the map design and puzzles were engaging, and the art was gorgeous. You really can't go wrong with this one, or Islets and Sheepo for that matter.

Despite having a bad first impression of the game (I prefer classical fantasy to 4 bros riding around in a car), a few crashes and bugs, and some extraordinarily tough DLC achievements, I must admit that I enjoyed the game thoroughly. The combat was stellar throughout, and the open world was engaging. I particularly enjoyed the challenge dungeons at the end of the game.

I enjoyed this JRPG classic immensely. Even in 2024, it's quite a good experience. There is some extensive end game grinding involved in order to complete the achievement for an end-game optional boss, but if you don't care about that then there is nothing whatsoever to complain about - the combat is snappy and fun, the graphics are gorgeous, and the exploration is excellent.

Other than some particularly fussy achievements (having to buy the critical blaster chip PRIOR to leaving certain areas, even if you go into them to farm currency to buy the critical blaster chip...with no prior warning of this anywhere) that caused me play through the game a 3rd time, this was a true S tier metroidvania. Really impressive bosses with challenging and fast combat) engaging platforming sections, and meaningful upgrades. You can tell a lot of love went into this game.

A super fun and short JRPG. I got some serious Dragon Quest 11 vibes while playing this. A great modern remaster of an old classic game.