Recent reviews by Kina-chan

PRICE isn't a horror game as much as it's a Grimm fairy tale or perhaps more along the lines of Gothic literature. There are certainly disturbing moments and I guess a few "scares," but as a self-proclaimed scaredy-cat, I didn't get much of a horror feel from the game. I would describe the story as more macabre. Regardless, PRICE is an excellent game. I found the story very compelling and the characters, especially the hero Ivry, even more so. The visuals were phenomenal and the music was pretty much perfect.

The only "problem" I had with the game was the puzzles. They were a little hard... or maybe I'm just not smart enough to be able to solve them? Generally, I knew what to do and was able to follow the clues in the game to the next piece of the puzzle no problem, but I did end up having to consult a guide. I messed up on the order of things a few times, which caused me to become stuck, and there was one part of a puzzle in particular that I would have never thought to do until seeing it in the guide. But despite the challenge I had with the puzzles (which arguably could kind of be said makes up the whole game) I didn't find that the difficulty subtracted anything from the story or made me enjoy the game any less.

All in all, PRICE was a wonderful game. I really can't get over the story. I absolutely loved it!
I recommend this game to everyone really, teen and up. It's tame enough in the scare factor that even people who aren't a fan of horror can enjoy it. And really, the story is just so beautiful that I want everyone to play this, although perhaps the theme is a little niche? Anyway, the game is relatively short, free, and has achievements, which I know is a big draw to a lot of people. I see no downside to playing through PRICE.

So, I played this game six times in a row... I'm not even joking. There are two reasons I did this: 1) achievements and 2) this game is ridiculously fun and entertaining. I've spent basically 82 hours playing this game and I had fun each and every time I did it! Seriously, even though I was basically doing the exact same things as I'd done before over and over, I still thoroughly enjoyed playing. Which lead me to question how in the world I didn't get tired of the game even remotely. I came up with a list to answer that question, which I will now share.

I think a large part of it is the sheer amount of humor in the West of Loathing. Humor and puns are practically the lifeblood of this game! There's so much attention to detail, from the bigger stuff like the quests and missions to the smaller stuff like random encounters and even minute details like the personalization of tombstones and notes! Every single character that appears in the game is unique. What's more, the way you play and the choices you make affect literally everything in the game, from how the story ends to the encounters you have and the way you handle them. In all of my playthroughs of this game (and I intend to do at least one or two more), there seemed to always be something new.

I so highly recommend West of Loathing. This game is ridiculously fun and I don't think one could ever grow bored of playing it. One of the best games I've ever played!

A detective noir with supernatural elements, The Monster Inside is an interesting and intriguing audio-visual novella. The game is short and consists of seven chapters. Even such, maybe especially so, I found it surprising how easily and effectively I was able to immerse myself into the story in such a short amount of time. I imagine the ease was assisted greatly by the monochromatic visuals and the music, both of which added a level of ambiance that really helped set the scene. Visually and audibly this is a quintessential example of detective noir done right. The dialogue in the game was on point, and I especially enjoyed the internal monologues of the player character. And as with every great detective noir game, you are able to investigate crime scenes. I liked the ability to actually interact within the crime scenes during investigations, but I wish there was a little more interactivity while searching for clues and whatnot. This section of the game I found a bit lacking; it was also too easy. The final reveal, or the solving of the case, seemed a bit sudden, but I still loved it.

I really enjoyed this game and recommend it to any fans of detective noir style games. The VN nature of the game may seem a bit off-putting to some, but I really urge those who are curious to try the game anyway. If nothing else, it's free, short, and you can get some achievements out of playing it. It's a win-win situation!

Ever since I learned about this game from the Game Grumps I've been following the process step-by-step. I was a tad skeptical about how exactly the creators of the game, Vernon Shaw and Leighton Gray, were going to pull off a dad dating game... but the team really knocked it out of the park. It's much better than I could have ever expected! From the story to the artwork to the (sometimes infuriating) mini-games... it's just all so awesome! I LOVE all the dad puns!!!

There is such an excellent cast of characters, and not just the dads. I mean, the Dream Daddies are obviously the most important part, but the side characters provide a lot of insight into not only the dads but the story as well. It was fascinating to see the impact the other characters had on the dads. And I love the dads! Each one was completely unique. I mean, it's typical for dating simulators to have unique characters, but there usually seem to be some overlapping in character design or something of the sort in the dateable characters. Not the case with DDADDS. Each dad's story and character is entirely unique. And I was surprised at just how in-depth the story went into each character. Each dad had a powerful story, full of feels and squeals and love. It was just all so perfect.
My favorite Dream Daddies in descending order: Damien, Hugo, Craig, Robert, Brian, Joseph, and Mat~♥

There's so much in this game that I don't even know how to include it all in a proper review. All I can say is you just have to play it to truly see it. You can read as many reviews as you like, but until you actually try it, you won't be able to get a proper understanding of just how awesome this game is. I highly, highly recommend it!

Truthfully I only picked up the Pretty Girl Mahjong games for the mahjong solitaire, but I did enjoy this particular one beyond the gameplay. For starters, it's very relaxing, especially if you put the game on "easy" so that you're not running on a time limit. I really liked the girls, too. They weren't overly sexualized and the costumes were tasteful rather than just pure fanservice. I didn't keep the voice audio on however, simply because I didn't like hearing the occassional moans from the girls. It kind of saddened me because I did really like the voice acting for the girls and hearing them when they made the odd comment here and there. I know the moaning is supposed to be part of the appeal or whatever, but it just put me off and distracted me. I did like the background music, though!

So yeah, all in all I really like this game and I recommend it~♥

This game is so weird I just can't help but love it!

With mostly negative reviews I was going into it expecting poor content, but (not entirely) to my surprise I found that I enjoyed this VN. Sure, it had a few flaws, but it was overall quite charming. My only criticism would be about the pricing. I bought it on sale for a little over $2, which I think is a much more reasonable price than the original simply because of the game's length. My favorite part? The artwork--the character artwork is beautiful.

There were really only two things that bothered me about this game, the optional voice acting being one of them. Some of the voice acting was actually done pretty well, but some of it was bland, too. It's the same with the art. There were clearly a couple different artists used, and most of the artwork was great, but there were a couple instances where the quality of the art wasn't quite up to par with the rest. The periodic change in artstyle also messed up the rhythm of the story for me, but it only really happened during special scenes and I grew used to it.

I know that might sound like a lot of criticism, but I actually really did enjoy this game. I found the story interesting and engaging, I had fun playing through it.

This game is one of the greatest games I have ever played, especially as far as RPGs go. I mean, an RPG where you can choose to spare your opponent in battle? It's absolutely game changing! Truly, Undertale set a new standard for RPG games. This one game changed my entire outlook on the genre. I can't help but think back on other RPGs I've played and wonder how things would have went if I had the option to spare my enemies. But enough about that, this is about Undertale!

I love every little thing about this game. First off, the game has three different way to play: pacifist, genocide, and a mixture of both. I love being able to choose how I want to play (I went the pacifist route). The gameplay is astounding, from the battles to the puzzles it was all exciting and fun. Plus there are all these little secrets in the game. Some aren't really all that game changing, but some really provide some insight into the story or characters. It was fun searching for them. The artstyle is absolutely charming. I fell in love with all of the characters, and they'll probably always hold a special place in my heart. The story itself... words cannot describe. The true pacifist story and ending is just phenomenal. It was such a beautiful ending, and I love how the game developer even made the credits into part of the game!

Everything about this game is wonderful. I recommend it to everyone. But be prepared for some major feels if you go the true pacifist route! And stay DETERMINED!

A charming, little murder mystery game. It was fun, well-paced, and cute. It's quite odd to think of a murder mystery as being "cute," but the art style and overall design of the game was just too pleasant for it to be anything less.