Recent reviews by Bard of Snow

Sequel to the acclaimed Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight, Momodora: Moonlight Farwell is the next installment in rdein's Momodora franchise. Following on lessons learned from making the Momodora spiritual successor, Minoria, rdein refines the core of the fantastic metroidvania style exploration and combat that the Momdora franchise is known for. With 36 "sigils" to change your gameplay, the inclusion of an "install drive" style mechanic, typical exploration upgrades, Moonlight Farewell is a fast paced and very customizable game. Completion time on one playthrough is approximately 6 hours, and is a perfect "rainy weekend" game, providing great music and good vibes the entire way through.

As someone who began playing rdein's games with RUtM a few years ago; Moonlight Farewell shows me as a fan that he understand exactly what makes the Momodora franchise tick and what makes it stick with so many people. Thanks again for making another great game, and I look forward to whatever comes next, be it Momodora or not!

Balatro is so cool; I wish that poker was real

A good introductory game to the Monster Hunter franchise with a variety of unique gameplay elements (wire bugs, switch skills, etc.) to spice up the game for veterans. While the game does have it's issues that are exasperating long standing (and more recent) issues with the series, this game is far superior to the previous entry in the series (Monster Hunter World) and is the best way to play the Monster Hunter franchise currently on PC.

To expand on the negatives referenced above, the longsword has been given far and above the best switch skills in the game, allowing one to virtually walk through the game if you are even halfway competent and have more than one functioning brain cell. This is an exasperation of the general balance issues brought up by many fans that the most popular weapons get the most "love" when it comes to balance changes between games and expansions. In comparison to the complaints that the average powerfan has for longsword, Gunlance has been given a much needed buff and is now the best it has ever been.

As a personal complaint in terms of weapon design, I have found that the changes to Hunting Horn have take it from one of my favorite weapons, to one of my least favorite weapons in the game. The gutting of the music tree for an even simpler version has lead me to drop the weapon in it's entirety, and I will most likely never touch the weapon again if it remains in this state moving forward. MHWorld solved the "problem" of this weapon by simply showing you what song you will be playing with your notes, and provided easy reference in terms of what notes you needed to play while keeping the song tree expansive like the games before it. The note reduction and song reduction in Rise is genuinely baffling and has ruined an entire weapon.

The new 'rampage mode' is also a miss for me in terms of design. Tower defense is an interesting idea to try and incorporate into Monster Hunter game, but I feel that it clashes with the overall design of the franchise, making the monsters feel even weaker than they should. It's something that I'm personally not tied to in any way, and I wouldn't even call the negative feelings I have strong, I just find the mode boring. It's an interruption to the classically great gameplay that I wish wasn't even in the game so that I could just get back to hunting.

The switch skill and wire bugs lead to a fast paced environment by providing hunters with powerful skills on a too-short cooldown that in some cases (longsword) provide protection from monsters in addition to high damage. While the switch skills expand upon ideas introduced in MHXX/MHGenerations, the very low cooldown and generally boring gameplay of them in comparison to the vastly gameplay changing moves of XX leads to it feeling less like a step forward and more like a step back in terms of design. I don't see a problem with the series providing powerful moves to hunters in a limited environment, but the short cooldown, ability to make it shorter, and get more wirebugs, just leads to it feeling far too powerful for it's own good, and leads into my next issue with the game.

As a final point of complaint, MH Rise continues the problem that has occurred since XX and World of a continuing reduction in difficulty for the series. For full transparency, I began my foray into monster hunter back in 2014/2015 with MH4U on the 3DS. I found the game to be difficult, but very rewarding, it not frustrating at times due to it's generally obfuscating language and design. However, once I understood how the game worked, those obfuscating details became points that I love about the series. MHXX was generally designed to be a love letter to the series at large, and the new mechanic of "styles" that were particularly powerful due to monster designs not being changed. The styles in question were "adept" and "valor" and provided safe abilities to avoid monsters. XX being an easy game isn't something that particularly bothers me, however what does bother me is that we have seen a continual power increase in the hunters since. With the changes to armor in World continuing into Rise (skills are now on a 'pip' system, rather than a 'point' system and the only negatives to armor are in relation to the defensive elemental stats), increase in overall damage, and the increase in "safe" damage moves, has lead to an irreconcilable arms race between the hunters and the monsters, and the hunters have been winning for close to 5 years now. I will always hope to see a return, at least thematically, for armors to bring negative consequences back to the hunters that wear them to better exemplify the monster that was hunted for them, but I doubt it will ever return at this point.

While this review has contained a large amount of negative points, these are larger complaints than just in relation to Rise, and are more about the direction that Monster Hunter is taking as a whole. This game is still a ton of fun, the core Monster Hunter gameplay is still amazing. The new monsters are great additions to the series, and while they retain some of the more "grounded" weapons of World, the return of the "goofy" weapon designs does bring a tear of joy to my eye. The new map designs expanding upon World's design are a massive step-up, and they are something that I genuinely hope they continue to refine going forward. Now instead of just sprawling mazes with arenas at the end of the them, the corridors and arenas feel more natural and combat can flow easily into and between them with a little bit of pushing and prodding.

TL;DR: game good, buy it. 4/5 stars, nerf LS and fix HH.

From Tango Gameworks comes another smash hit. Following up on their last major release Ghostwire: Tokyo comes a new smash hit playing off the classic action games like the Devil May Cry franchise. Taking the idea of rhythm and mixing them in with character action to make your attacks in time with the music makes for an addicting combat flow, along with making every action you do feel fantastic in game. The inclusion of character assists to keep your combos going along with providing in-action assists to defeat enemies adds an additional layer of complexity on top of the general action. While not as overtly complex as games like DMC or Beyonetta due to a limited weapon poll (Chai's Guitar only), this allows Tango Gameworks to do everything they can to perfect the combat with this one weapon to make it feel as good as possible.

For my first playthrough I played on "Hard" (3/4 difficulties available) and I found myself having a reasonably good time even though I am not the best at rhythm or character action games. If you have good game sense, I would highly recommend playing on this difficulty.

The music in this game is a smash hit, however the inclusion of real world musical talent (The Black Keys & Nine Inch Nails) leads to this game having some rather strict anti-cheat from what I've read online. The shame is that the composers of Shuichi Kobori, Reo Uratani, and Masatoshi Yanagi are clearly talented individuals and I'm sure if given the time and the money, would have been able to produce some killer tracks to push out the licensed music. I've found myself jamming to the excess amount of killer tracks from the composers, and the licensed music limited use does make it seem included for semi-marketing purposes. The licensed music's use in levels and fights is fantastic due to it's interactions with the game itself, and it seems like the bands really did allow for a lot of creative freedom is mixing the tracks to be in line with the game flow.

As a final point on the games writing, Hi-Fi Rush does not take itself seriously in any way. A large amount of gags are felt across the series with references to various pieces of pop-culture; anything from a Jo-Jo Pose to a Twin Peaks gag. It's a game made by people who love entertainment and love to entertain and wanted to create a game that would be able to evoke feelings of joy in their players. And it's a game that will certainly be one that I hope to come back to and enjoy all over again in a few years time.

If you're willing and able to, I would recommend Hi-Fi Rush at MSRP ($30USD). It's a fantastic example of what a studio can put out if given the time and care, and clearly this passion and love is felt by it's sheer popularity. Highly recommended.

If you're a fan of David Szymanski's general writing and presentation, Fingerbones is a great (and free) way to experience some of David's forays into atmospheric horror. Considering it's price point, it's overall playtime, and it's general presentation and usage of atmospheric tricks, Fingersbones is a great way to spend some time on a cold dreary weekend experiencing the experiments of one game dev.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a game that I can definitively say is one of the best sequels to a game that I have ever played. It takes everything that was fantastic about the original and continues to play with and incorporate more ideas to expand upon the original. Maps are expanded, movement options increased, new weapons and types of attacks and magic are added. The game feels fantastic to explore and the visuals have grown to be even more beautiful than the original. Moon Studios truly understands not only what they excel at, but what makes Ori and a game series excel, and with the fluidity of the movement options and how well they understand their own franchise, I cannot wait to see what they produce next.

Platformer and speedrun simulator at it's core, Neon White exemplifies design perfect. Your weapons are cards that you can discard for additional movement options, and the games goal is to go fast. If you think you can go faster, the answer is that you probably can. With a large variety of weapons that the game continues to build on, as well as creative levels with many different ways to shortcut and get around, Neon White is some of the most fun I've had gaming in years. The writing may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I found it to be refreshingly light and fun story, with a lovable cast of goofball characters who are really quite endearing.

If you love jumping, precise movement, and pretending to be a Lockheed SR-71, then this is the game for you. 5/5 for 5 great pictures from Mikey.

Shinji Mikami has been a director and producer on some of the greatest and most memorable games of all time. And as of 2022, The Evil Within is his latest directorial roll after the likes of "God Hand" and "Vanquished", The Evil Within is truly a return to the classic survival horror form. Placing a great atmosphere that may not be every players cup of tea, but coupling it with nightmarish landscapes and enemy designs leads to a fiendish dive into the mind of villains and friends alike.

The Evil Within plays into both the strengths of the classic third person survival horror games and the weaknesses as well, with the inevitable "getting stuck in a corner because you can't turn around quick enough", and "having difficulty aiming on controller because you've played every shooter on PC for the past decade". But in between these rather minimal complaints, the game does a great job at balancing you using your resources as much as you can to make your way through encounters, leaving you with just enough to let you eke through until the next set of encounters.

If you enjoy third person shooters, survival horror games, or just an atmospheric experience, The Evil Within is highly recommended.

The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories is a delightful puzzle game that has serviceable puzzles that follow the greater thematic story of the game. The characters ability to be torn apart to progress ties in very well with the overall themes and story, and I really enjoyed how the puzzles and various environments interacted with this mechanic. Story-wise, the game does not outstay its welcome, my only real criticism is that there isn't a lot of puzzle based challenge after the story is over. I think I would have enjoyed some minor challenges afterward for fun, but for an 8 hour romp, I highly recommend it.

I generally dislike (most) MMO's, and I found that the DPS gameplay loop for FF14 was a lot of fun. The writing for "A Realm Reborn" is incredibly generic and bland, but does a decent enough job to start setting up large plot lines explored in future content (ARR Post Game, Heavensward). Going through the MSQ with all new content, you will most likely be playing roughly 5-15 levels above the MSQ, and while this does push you to leveling other classes, it does mean that if you enjoy a particular class you may have to leave it behind for extended periods of time.

I've recently started playing Extreme content for ARR & Heavensward, and the difficulty increase is welcome, and it really feels like the victory is a shared and great group effort.

Edit as of 700 hours: Lali-ho! Final Fantasy 14 is truly a masterpiece of gaming. I doubt I'll ever get into another MMO like this one, but if you want to enter another world and enjoy high end gaming content, FF14 is the game for you. May your rotations never drop, and may your roll needs always be high. I hope to see you in Eorzea.