Recent reviews by Jeremoople

This is genuinely one of the most effective ludonarrative concepts I've ever played.

The premise of a violent, horror-adjacent typing game may make you think of The Typing of the Dead, but that game just tacked the typing mechanic onto an existing game as a joke. In The Textorcist, you're not simply typing random words in place of shooting a gun; you're typing Biblical phrases to perform exorcisms while dodging demonic particles bullet-hell-style. The plot itself is merely serviceable, but its synergy with the core gameplay mechanic makes it more immersive than many other games.

It's like if Demon's Tilt was relaxing

It doesn't charge you $150 for the privilege of turning the screen sideways

It doesn't ask you to email a photo to customer support in exchange for a code that you have to enter every time you boot up the game for the privilege of turning the screen sideways.

This game really makes you feel like you're playing it on miniclip.com on a middle school computer because you finished your essay revisions early and have 20 minutes of free time before the bell.

Incredibly fun. It's very easy to get into while also having a surprising amount of potential for competitive depth. Unfortunately, it's missing a lot of very basic features that would allow it to actually be a competitive game. Still, for how cheap it is, it's a great little diversion. Here's hoping updates come out that'll help it be more than that.

This is one of those games that's purpose is not to be fun, but to immerse the player in an unsettling atmosphere. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. I've played several games of this style before and I'm glad I did. This game is also very short. Again, there's nothing inherently wrong with that since it has such a low price. However, the majority of that short playtime is spent in a single area near the end of the game in which you wander around a maze consisting entirely of identical floors and walls hoping to find the exit. The earlier, more varied parts of the game were captivating, but that last maze is just monotonous. Monotony is not profound, artistic, or immersive.

If Yume Nikki was a sidescroller, it would be this. It's decent if you get it on sale.

I have a theory that the only thing you need to make a popular IP is an appealing character design that people will want to draw and cosplay. Bendy and the Ink Machine is the best proof for this theory I could ask for. Bendy's character design is good. He's unique, instantly recognizable, simultaneously cute and creepy, and simple enough that he can be interpreted in many ways while still maintaining his core design. Unfortunately, everything else about the game itself is garbage. It's astounding that it's managed to garner such a large and passionate fanbase. It has merchandise at Hot Topic, it has multiple fan songs on Youtube with millions of views each, and it has a spinoff mobile game on the way. There are so many other indie projects out there MUCH more deserving of that kind of attention. So what's so bad about Bendy? Let me break it down by each chapter released so far.

Chapter 1
This is actually the chapter I have the least problem with, mainly because it's free. It only takes about five minutes to complete and most of that time is spent doing a really basic fetch quest. It's not good, but again it's free. It's more of a teaser than anything and it at least ends with a pretty well-executed jump scare and leaves some inklings (heh) of what could be an interesting story.

Chapter 2
Chapter 2 was advertised as being three times as long as Chapter 1. That's great, right? But wasn't Chapter 1 only five minutes long? Does that mean that Chapter 2 is only fifteen minutes long? YUP. And this time it costs money! There's a little more variety here and the plot does beging to thicken, but none of that matters when it's so short. I know a game's quality isn't determined by its length, but there comes a point where you're being ripped off and this is it. I know it's only $6, but compare it to other forms of entertainment. 15 minutes is about a third of the length of a single, standard TV episode. Heck, look at all the other games with a similar price on steam and see how much more content they have for the price.

Chapter 3
Finally, a chapter that's a decent length! This one is about two hours long, but after playing it, I wish it wasn't. You will still have seen everything the chapter has to offer in the first fifteen minutes. The only reason it manages to be so much longer than the previous chapters is because it has you repeating the same fetch quest multiple times while artificially extending the length by having you report back to talk to a certain character each time. Every time you do the fetch quest, you're told you get a new weapon, but really, it's the same generic swinging stick each time, just with a different model. Also, even with the added length, this chapter arguably reveals the least about the story. It was flat out agonizing to get to the end of this chapter and it's still not worth your money.


So that's how I feel about Bendy and the Ink Machine. It's not an exciting new horror game, it's shovelware that people (mostly young kids) were tricked into turning into a legitimate franchise. There are two more chapters to be released along with updates to the existing chapters, but from what I've played so far, my faith in this game getting any better is abysmally low.

This is one of the best RPG Maker games I've played. Its uniqueness is largely due to its battle system known as "spell fusion." Basically, you have two party members, each with two types of spells, "innate" which is learned through leveling and "magic" which is equipped. If one character uses an innate spell and the second character follows it up with a magic spell, the latter will be significantly enhanced. It's addicting to find all the combinations and it's no arbitrary mechanic either; it's near impossible to succeed at this game without using it.

The story and atmosphere are also very nice, making me want to know more about this dreary world.

The enemy designs are also legitimately scary, so that's impressive.

If you like RPG Maker games at all, check this out. It's very much worth the low price. Like most RPG Maker games, it's very short (about two hours,) but unlike most RPG Maker games, it feels like a complete experience.

This game is surprisingly good. Sure it looks like a run-of-the-mill flash game-type platformer, but the physics and platforming are incredibly smooth. It's pure, simple fun.