Recent reviews by White Fire

Everyone yelling at you nonstop while you try to figure out the game's confusing controls that everyone thinks should be obvious is kind of like being neurodivergent if being neurodivergent actually gave you superpowers like TV wants you to think. 8/10 game, would relive years of neurodivergent trauma all over again.

Game is meh. Some good scenes worth sticking around for, but otherwise horribly dull. People have had a good time with it, but I think you could find much better games at a better price. Flaws include glitchy graphics, bland dialogue, dull investigation scenes, forgettable antagonists, and horribly pretentious themes that I believe are trying to be edgy and deep but come across as the writers not knowing what they're talking about. Extra points off for the botched attempt at giving the protagonist mental health issues. I think the story flaws have to do with a significant amount of content being cut from the game due to budget constraints, which I do sympathize with, but that doesn't mean I have to like the final product.

I don't think I could add much more to this conversation than what's already been said. It's just a lousy followup to Tales From The Borderlands (and all of Borderlands in general). Ideas that could have been good are buried under layers and layers of plot holes, wasted potential, and a desperate need to crack jokes at all costs, even at the expense of mood and character development. I don't think the writers could decide if they wanted the game to be like a wacky space sitcom or a serious drama about everyday human struggles, and I think that identity crisis is what ultimately crippled this game. Now I only have experience with the Tales games and don't have knowledge of Borderlands otherwise, so I didn't pick up on some of the inconsistencies with the lore of the other games until I read other reviews (like the whole thing with Katagawa Sr. or the fact that Tediore was never written as a serious corporation in other games), so I guess I wasn't as outraged as some other players. Regardless, if poorly written plots frustrate you, you should stay away from this one.

Oddly enough, I kind of enjoyed myself a little though? Maybe knowing it's going to be a stupid mess beforehand dulls the pain and just lets you enjoy the ride. The game definitely knows how to create spectacle, so maybe that's what did it.

For the record, the only Borderlands experience I had before this game was ten minutes of playing BL3 before realizing my puny computer wouldn't run it. I only got this game because it was part of a massive Humble Bundle sale. I don't think you need to understand Borderlands to understand this game, although perhaps I'm so used to gaming sequel/spinoff tropes that I can appreciate a reference even when I don't know the source material well. I think it's a lovely game with a lot of strong characters and plot beats. It looks good and runs well on my computer with only a little lag, which surprised me because my computer is only a little better than a potato.

There are only a few things I didn't like. I don't like that the plot often resorts to using a lot of typical adventure movie/game cliches (For example, I probably don't have enough fingers to count on two hands how many times I've seen the dorky but charming everyman guy/no nonsense fighter girl protagonist dynamic). There's also plenty of the ol' "mash buttons to create tension" gimmick, but perhaps since this is an older game we can forgive it for being a product of its time. I also think the parts where you walk around and explore should either have been cut or reworked to feel less awkward and janky.

But overall, I think this game would be a fantastic addition to your library. With a celebrity voice cast putting in their all, great dialogue, gorgeous visuals and soundtrack, and a (mostly) unpredictable plot, I think this will make for a great weekend for any adventure/action enthusiast.

I was skeptical of this game at first, mainly because the conflicting art styles, obviously reused assets, and cheap animation positively scream low-budget. I guess they needed to dial it down after the Herculean task that was making Half-Genie Hero. What you're getting here is definitely not the most polished Shantae game in terms of production value. That being said, I think there's still all the same heart and charm in the story and the dialogue as there ever was. It's also still fun to play. I really liked the new dances and transformations. I like that you can use animal transformations automatically and use the dances for exploration instead of just for transforming. I think that's a really fresh take on the series' magic system. I hope this game is a sign that Way Forward hasn't completely given up on this franchise and is instead taking a step back and trying new things. If they do make a new game, here's what I would add/change if I could:

1) The monster card feature is the only part of this game that felt weak to me. Drops are rare, so grinding for all the cards takes forever. I also learned far too late that they only drop if you use your hair whip to defeat enemies, which means I wasted way too much time trying to use magic to harvest cards. Even after learning this, it still felt like a chore to get them all. If they're ever brought back, I think either the drop rate should be higher or else there should be a power or item that makes them easier to get. Maybe some could also be purchased?
2) The difficulty is absurdly unbalanced. The first boss took me an hour to defeat because each attack does massive damage and they're all almost impossible to dodge. The final boss was a joke because I had collected so many items that I could just cheese the whole thing. There are also enemies that do massive damage but take almost no effort to beat. I think there could be more strategy overall.
3) Stop teasing information about Shantae's mother and then leaving us with nothing, good gRaVY. would it have killed you to include what Shantae's mother wrote in the scrapbook? We're not even getting a bone here? I get that they have to keep people interested in these games, but after five games of doing the equivalent of the "will-they-won't-they" game, it just feels like I'm being led along with no payoff. You guys have so many great characters and so much interesting lore here, just take that to the next level instead of giving us a plot that's on the level of a Saturday morning cartoon. At least we have more half-genies now, so maybe that's a sign that the writers are trying to tap more into that aspect of the world.

Also can we maybe get more clothes on the women? I'm not saying we need to erase all their curves or even that we need to eliminate all the little innuendos (I get that the whole thing is harmless and tongue-in-cheek in this franchise), but it's getting disturbing watching the characters become visually younger with each entry and yet still barely have anything covered. Maybe it made sense to make the characters eye candy back in 2002 when this series was new and female protagonists didn't sell as well without some cleavage showing, but it's 2023 and there are so many games with female protagonists that have found sizable and loyal fanbases without the weird pedo vibes. I think the series would have an easier time finding an audience if the devs would either commit to making the visuals as child-friendly as the story or else commit to making a more mature adult experience. I imagine I'll be pilloried for this, but that's just my opinion.

I'm not sure where I'd rank this game. It's definitely below Pirate's Curse and Half Genie Hero, but it doesn't feel right putting it at the bottom. I think this is a good Shantae game, but not a great one.

Pyre is probably more polarizing than Supergiant's other games: you'll find folks who love the basketball and hate the visual novel and people who love the story but hate the basketball. If you hate reading your games then you'll probably want to skip this one, but I really think there's a lot to love here. There was clearly more detail and hard work thrown into making your choices actually matter than most big studios with massive budgets can muster. For example, there's a character you meet with a name that you can actually choose yourself and they actually went ahead and recorded dialogue for every single name you can choose, and that's a minor detail that wasn't even necessary...I think even if you don't like this game, I think you have to respect the care and detail that went into it because there was clearly a lot.

The great parts:
*Because your choices actually matter, there's a lot of replayability, far more than in the previous Supergiant games (Bastion and Transistor)
*Extremely likable and sympathetic characters that are also complex. Someone left a negative review saying that the sole breaking point for them was that the characters didn't get enough development. I definitely think there was room for a little more expansion, but they do get meaningful development if you look beneath the surface. It's incredibly hard to say goodbye to them, but at the same time the alternative is leaving them in exile and wasting all their efforts.
*Gameplay that's engaging enough without being too complex. There's an occasional character who isn't very fun to handle, but for the most part I think it isn't too hard to get the hang of. I don't think it's groundbreaking, but that's kind of a ridiculous goal to ask of anyone.

Granted there are a few flops here and there (awkward character handling during the Rites, a little too much dialogue sometimes, the pacing rushing a bit during the end), but I think allowing those to taint your view of this game is picky and unfair. This is definitely one of the more worthwhile games out there and yet another success for Supergiant.

I'm going to give this DLC a thumbs up because I don't think the challenges are *quite* as impossible as people claim, but yeah they're brutal and not very fun for achievement hunters. I think it takes about 30% skill and 70% luck to beat these levels. There are even some achievements I couldn't get without exploiting bugs (like Headhunter). That being said, I don't think these are "tHe hArdESt aChiEVEmENTs iN tHE wOrLd!!!!!1!" like some people claim. There are some achievements that I think top these in terms of difficulty, like the ones from the Ori games where you only get one life to beat the whole game or BLACKHOLE where you have to speedrun every single level (which requires an insane amount of precise timing). Meanwhile, you can get the achievements in this DLC fairly easily if you're patient and study a few videos on YouTube. But if you don't have a lot of time to play games in your day, I can see why this might be frustrating. Definitely read all the reviews to decide whether or not you want to put yourself through this slog.

0/10, Sonic isn't actually murdered, it's just a murder mystery dinner party they're throwing (not a spoiler, this is established at the beginning of the game). This is false advertising >:(




Just kidding, this is a very cute and funny game that Sonic fans will enjoy and that fans of the Ace Attorney/Danganronpa family of games will probably appreciate. One playthrough takes about two to four hours to play depending on how much you want to read and how good you are at the minigames (in true Danganronpa fashion, there are minigames you play during interrogation phases with difficulty ranging from mildly challenging to frustratingly irritating). The plot can be a tad tricky to follow on occasion, but there are plenty of interesting twists and turns that ought to keep the player engaged. There's also a lot of humor, and I have to admit I laughed out loud on a couple of occasions (mostly at visual gags, but at some clever dialogue too).

One small thing that I think would have been an improvement: all the Sonic characters are playing characters in a murder mystery, and they're all given lore cards with information about their fictional backstories. I think it would have been fun to see these incorporated a little more; we only get the bare minimum necessary to understand the plot. Either that, or have the characters really play up the gag where they only "put on a show" for Amy's sake and immediately drop the act when she's gone (Knuckles does this, but not many other characters put much effort into their roles). Then again, I think the game is very well-written without those details.

Overall, I think this is about as good a game as is reasonable to expect as an April Fool's Day gag. I think this would be great if you want to kill some time for an afternoon, or if you're dying to introduce a friend or child to the Ace Attorney/Danganronpa style of gameplay but they're too sensitive for those games' mature themes and imagery.

TLDR: You navigate a teenage girl through a dangerous facility while some nerd tells you about all the games you could be playing instead of this one

Longer version: This is a decent game, decent enough to the point where giving it a thumbs down would be unfair. It's about the quality I would expect from a port of a mobile game; nothing is quite as polished as it should be, but it's got spirit. I will make some pro and con lists:

The good:
+The story for the first few episodes is pretty good and kept me wanting more. There are a number of twists that are very well done. They're so subtly woven into the plot that you don't even realize you're about to get hit in the feels with a truck until it's too late.
+Voice acting is great, cast includes VAs you might have heard from other games without realizing it. It's hard to pick a favorite, but I think David Hayter should be especially commended for pulling off deranged revolutionary Daniel Zager. You can believe that he can win followers to his cause while still recognizing his dark side, and that's mostly due to his voice.
+Gameplay is challenging enough without being punishing (I think some of this game's naysayers expect this game to be something you can hack and slash your way through when it's really more like a puzzle). You interact with the environment to distract guards and steal weapons to get Hope safely out of the facility. You lose all your loot if you're caught by guards, but you can just try to steal it back. Nothing to lose once it's all been lost. There are different outfits that change the difficulty if you need it.
+Music is pretty atmospheric and cool
+Cooper. His text-to-speech method of communicating is a bit unconventional for games in this genre, but it works. He's just an adorable human being.

The bad:
-The story stagnates in Episode 4 and implodes in Episode 5. I don't think the writers had a plan for the ending (if they did, then it wasn't thought through as well as it could have been). There are several plot points that are tied together rather in a rather loose fashion like the question of what's in the box the Headmaster gives Hope. Turns out the devs don't even know, as they just have the Prizrak steal it in the final chapter without explaining what it is or why it's valuable. It's also just a very unsatisfying end to the story. Let's just say they tried to make a splash during the finale and ended up belly flopping (if you know what I'm getting at).
-Backtracking through areas to collect all the collectibles is tedious. This wouldn't matter as much if you didn't need to collect so much stuff just for the story to make sense. I think the devs should have at least made it possible to take out or bypass all the guards in a chapter once you've seen and done everything once. They could have even used the vents to create a fast travel system.
-Some of the dialogue, especially from the Overseer, is so pretentious and convoluted that it makes it hard to understand what's going on. When the Overseer does say something coherent, it's almost comedic. For example, he has many speeches about why he's banned certain books. Some of his monologues make me wonder if he's even read the books in question. I feel like this game is trying to say something *super deep*, but it ends up spreading itself across too many topics and becomes incredibly shallow.
-Hope will occasionally throw herself right in the path of the guards if you don't click fast enough. I think this is a bug with the feature where Hope is supposed to get out of their way. It doesn't happen often, but it's often enough to be noticeable. Very sad to lose all my stuff just because Hope decided to walk straight in front of a Prizrak for no reason.
-Five of the game's achievements are related to hacking into all of Metamorphosis' several hundred cameras. I can understand collecting all the files and books, but finding all the cameras seems too far, especially since there's always one or two that are easy to miss. There's also no designation for which cameras you've used already, meaning that if you missed one in your travels then you have to search absolutely everywhere to get the last one. Unused cameras should have been made a different color in OMNI View.

I'm not sure why I've never been able to find a point-and-click game that I think is *fantastic.* This feels like the skeleton of a fantastic game. I think if the devs were to make a sequel or a reboot of the game that repeats its successes while learning from its failures, it could be a pretty fun experience. As for Republique as it stands now, though, I won't say it's a must-buy, but it's not a complete waste of time either. It's average. I think I'd play a similar game if the kinks with the gameplay could be ironed out and the story were more polished.

This game isn't flashy or innovative from a gameplay/aesthetic standpoint, but boy there sure was a lot of passion and charm thrown into this project. All of the writing, especially the humor, is pretty great (especially 95% of Luis' dialogue; I love that guy so much). The combat evolves and becomes more complex as the game goes on, which keeps things fresh and interesting. Selatria is a great example of how an RPG Maker game can be really fun and entertaining. That being said, it's worth noting that this project is currently incomplete. It makes up roughly half of the full intended length of the story. The full version is projected to be released at the end of 2023. I recommend either buying this version on sale or waiting for the full version to be released. In any case, I think this is a project worth keeping an eye on.