Souls Like Strings

• Vite is great, but different behaviour in dev/prod makes it very difficult to roll out with confidence
  • Especially when building and previewing locally doesn't work well with the way the project is set up
• Not having types for your JS package should be a crime; how am I meant to know it crashes unless the options object has an attributes key?
• Make sure you don't have 'Persist Logs' on when trying to figure out why cached files are still being served
• Vite (8 at least) has oxc built in as a minifier
• Alternatives to passing sensitive...

Solid with a smattering of spectacular

Why

• Detailed pixel art which improves in creativity as the game progresses
• Some very unique/mechanically stimulating boss fights
• Plenty of secrets, some creatively hidden/hinted at

Why Not

• Instakill lava
• Only one type of map marker
• Story is kinda just there

Impressions

Kingdom Shell starts off as bog standard as a Metroidvania can be, albeit with very detailed pixel art. You have some basic melee and ranged enemies to beat up, ability gates to bounce off and secrets to discover. This persists even after the first boss, where...

Number go up in its purest form

Why

• Great second screen game
• Very committed to its excellent blobby aesthetic
• You can have runs so broken that it doesn't matter where you launch the ball
• Probably not something you can sink hundreds of hours into

Why Not

• Probably not something you can sink hundreds of hours into
• (Seemingly) not that much strategic depth

Impressions

I put in about 2 hours of shifts at Nubby's Number Factory while watching League, and it did its job of filling in gaps in the action brilliantly. I like...

But why schoolgirls?

Why

• Extremely varied approaches to combat, almost immersive sim-like
• Detailed, dynamically lit pixel art
• Clearly a lot of care and attention to detail

Why Not

• You will feel the need to google 'how to hide games from my Steam friends'
• Seriously, the devs are just too goddamn horny

Impressions

Lost Ruins has a lot of interesting ideas, from realistic interactions between the elements and various aspects of the environment to survival-horror like item scarcity and lack of healing at checkpoints. The combat is just solid gameplay-wise but really shines in...

I'm starting to think I just don't like puzzle games

Why

• Beautiful painting-inspired art style
• Constantly introducing new wrinkles
• A lot of puzzles have very clever/creative solutions

Why Not

• Some frustration from platforming, even with rewinds
• You don't like puzzle games, not matter how many great ones you play

Impressions

Braid is clearly a great game and I can see why its one of the classics of the genre, but I just can't make myself finish it. My brain-rotted millennial attention span has me reaching for hints or even a guide after ~5...