Recent reviews by Gkumo

Jamme, jamme 'ncoppa, jamme jà!
Jamme, jamme 'ncoppa, jamme jà
Funiculì, funiculà, Funiculì, funiculà!

I wish I could give a neutral score, but I'll optimistically give this game a hesitant thumbs up, in the interest of being constructive.

For a Vast Future does quite a decent number of things right. It's a game that is kept compact and doesn't overcomplicate itself in terms of story of mechanics. Stuff like armor upgrades and powerups are kept to weapon upgrades and stat bonuses of your choosing (which are freely customizable to fit situations) rather than through a vast array of weapons and armors typical of RPGs. The one thing is that "magic" and "skills" really don't exist in this game. Instead, you either have bullet types or item types. I don't especially mind the nature of managing resources in this game, but basically everything is finite, which does kinda fit the theme of the game but also isn't always fun to deal with, especially if you used most of your resources getting through a boss or dungeon. I never quite hit the point of not being able to progress, but there were a couple points I basically had no choice but to backtrack and kill worthless mobs just to have a stockpile of resources. This creates somewhat of a self-defeating gameplay loop, which is often poor design. A few more options that didn't take resources would have been nice.

The other thing is the narrative. Now, I think this game does a couple things pretty well. Its limited scope keeps what is ultimately a small game simple in terms of narrative, and a lot of the lore is wisely left to various logs of abandoned computers and bookshelves, which both give the world a bit of depth and also fit its post-apocalyptic setting. This also means that you can get as much or little out of it as you want at your own pace. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the game's characters or main plot. They're simple and fine enough to get the game moving, but when it comes to moments of character actualization and development, things get really heavy-handed rather than showing any subtlety or intrigue. This would be fine, if not for there being some particular dialogue exchanges late in the game that just feel really clumsy. Which also ties into the main narrative. This game's final act narratively just feels really crappy, handwaving a kinda heavy subject a bit too quickly, and having just a pretty poor ending all around, like whatever was trying to be said with the narrative fell completely flat to the point it actually irks me, which is rare because I can often overlook this sort of thing if the rest of the game makes up for it.

To say nothing of at least a few bugs and oddities I encountered that periodically hindered the gameplay experience. As well, the 4-color Gameboy aesthetic honestly hurting the game visually more than helping. It's trying to go for a Final Fantasy Legend/SaGa 1-3 aesthetic but it can be a bit of an eyesore at times and the small sprites sometimes can make telling what is what frustrating. That's not to say they didn't try, and for the most part this isn't a problem, but occasional issues do end up occurring due to this stylistic choice. Music ain't bad though, at least.

I had a decent time with this game, the resource management aspect of its combat was interesting and it rarely felt like it was trying to be too ambitious, which worked for making an RPG that felt complete despite being only about 6-7 hours long on normal difficulty. But the game's final act was considerably heavy-handed and there are a couple parts of the combat system I didn't care for. If you want a short turn-based RPG with some interesting systems and that doesn't inundate you with text (instead leaving you to discover it and fill in the details of the world on your own time), it does pretty well, as long as you can overlook the rather...poor choices in writing (at least in my opinion) of the game's final act.

Absolutely mindnumbingly uninvolved. The aesthetics are nice at first but quickly make the game feel monotonous even when the game makes significant change in what it's doing, and most of combat is like a bogstandard beat-em-up/hack n' slash where you just go from screen to screen to kill 2-3 guys and repeat ad nauseum. Game is only about 4-5 hrs long but feels way longer.

There's potential there but it just doesn't work out in this case.

America ♥♥♥♥ yea

Relatively simple concept executed brilliantly. There were so many cool parts to this game that kept me on the edge of my seat, and it had that enjoyable rush that a challenging game provides when it feeds that dopamine as you start to feel you get better at this game.

Tons of really cool visual motifs, a great soundtrack, and all around really cool ideas make this genuinely one of the most fun experiences I've had playing a game in 2022. Wholly recommend.

Less of a glowing thumbs up and more of a "more good than bad" thumbs up.

I do like these sorta short story VNs where they stick to a theme and a small sense of scale. I think there are some really good lines/scenes here and there and there's a bit of thinking material for what it's trying to go for.

There are a couple key issues. The game isn't great about remembering what you've done and what you haven't and the fast-forward can be slower than just mashing confirm which makes trying to get all the endings more tedious. I also don't think there's a proper quicksave function, just a checkpoint system, which makes things a bit worse. The music is okay but can get repetitive. I did notice a share of typos and occasional translation errors, though I would say the script is largely fine outside of the occasional missing article or preposition. And while I did find myself engaged in the story, it has points where it kinda spouts the moral a bit bluntly (despite it already being a relatively obvious theme of the narrative) and it does lead to some heavyhandedness and muddies the narrative a bit, particularly once you get to Endings 1 and 0. There are also certain aspects with the characters I can easily see fall flat for some readers as well, though I was generally able to look past them much of the time.

I ultimately liked this VN, it sticks to a small nucleus and a limited setting, has enough tension to make you wonder what's going next while also feeling at least something for the characters, even if those feelings can be at odds with each other (which I suspect is what they were going for). But I do think the setup is more interesting than the conclusion, and some grievances with repetition and a couple plot points ultimately keep it from that next level.

I like what CreSpirit has put out thus far (despite the radically different tones between them) and I hope to see them continue making stuff I enjoy.

I got a few episodes in and glanced at a couple later ones, and apart from some okay BGM it really just bounces off me. The writing for both the plot and characters is not only bad, but the way it's presented at times just feels downright insulting and belittling to the player. It stars a completely unlikable protagonist (who isn't even unlikeable in a "good way") who starts off on an absolutely terrible foot and doesn't seem to get any better in a way that felt believable or satisfying to the player. Gameplay has been predominately bog standard box puzzles and "combat" is basic enough to make even the 1980's Ys games feel deep, and I get that that's not the focus but ramming into things while stock RPG maker sound effects play doesn't do much. It doesn't waste a lot of time but it also isn't engaging or that fun, and never got any better as I played more. Maybe the later chapters improve, but this wasn't worth the time or the money for me to the point I got to.

One of the best puzzle platformers I've ever played. Terrific game. The aesthetic kinda reminds me of certain other indie games but it has a unique actual gameplay system. It's a rare game that continually gets better as it introduces new ideas and integrates them with other ones. It doesn't overstay its welcome and is incredibly rewarding to play. Has a neat little story and the music is excellent. Criminally underrated game I regularly buy for people on a whim because of how much I want people to play it.

Bloody love this game. Bun bun

Fun but very brain-wracking with the reversed controls. Very much a budget title but the game is quite satisfying to get right.