Recent reviews by pagliacci

If there's one thing NoBreadStudio is particularly good at, it's their ability to create compelling characters and story. I'm a big fan of this team, and while I don't usually keep up with video game news, I do follow them on Steam. Once they announced this game, I was beyond thrilled, and I didn't hesitate to purchase it upon release. I thoroughly enjoyed SoulSet, and fell in love with Blankspace, so suffice it to say, expectations were high for The Elevator Game with Catgirls. And NoBreadStudio easily exceeded those expectations. The art was beautiful, the puzzles were engaging, and the story was superb as always. Though I could predict several of the plot points, they still managed to subvert my expectations in little ways that made the obvious still feel fresh and interesting. Not to mention, the return of OddTillTheEnd for the music was welcome and highly appreciated.

It has been a great honour to be able to watch how this humble studio continues to grow with each new game. They've always managed to enamour me with their characters and plummet me into despair once these stories reach their zenith. That being said, though I feel they have a tendency towards open-ended endings, it does seem like those endings are imbued with the sort of hopefulness that make you want to let the story simmer in your mind, only to experience the game all over again in hopes of reaching that same addicting conclusion with fresh eyes. I fully recommend this and all of their other games, and look forward to what the future will hold for NoBreadStudio.

Paratopic is a grungy narrative experience with PSX era graphics. It's a short game—roughly 45 minutes—but interesting nonetheless. The city you're presented with in Paratopic is dilapidated and corrupt. Nothing is sacred in this grimy world, least of all the concept of time. There are points in the game where scenes jump between one another, disregarding whether or not the player is ready to move forward. While other scenes seem to drag on, forcing the player to reserve a wealth of patience even after examining everything in an area. These two things alone subvert the expectation modern games have set up for us. And it's jarring, in an oddly pleasant way. The way Paratopic manipulates time, building tension only to dissipate it in an instant makes each congruent part more intense. This is a broken-down, pitiful world—one that feels hopeless, with the only apparent pleasure found in banned VHS tapes. Something is clearly amiss with these tapes from the start, and by the end, the narrative expects you to draw your own conclusions about what's happened. That's a recipe for a cult classic, especially when compounded with all the other details.

On another note, I have played this game several times to get all the achievements, and again months later to review my thoughts on it. The two and a half hours that I've given to Paratopic were well spent, but I probably won't ever play it again. I've seen what it has to offer, and I'm happy with that. And that's just another way that Paratopic subverts expectations. In a world where games seem to strive for our continued attention more often than not, there's a stopping point here. It's a refreshing change from the norm. Whether or not you like the game, Paratopic is respectful of your time—even in the spaces where it crawls from scene-to-scene. Because ultimately, it does end.

FAST FOOD SHOP ONLINE is a game that is intriguing at face value. It’s advertised as a solo or multiplayer (up to 16 players) pizzeria simulator in which you make and sell pizzas for customers, while simultaneously upgrading your shop to overcome the increasing difficulty. Unfortunately, the premise is really all it has going for it. There are some nice visual touches here and there, and the game only has a few minor bugs and spelling mistakes, but it is dreadfully dull.

The only game mode is “endless” as you start every game and end it if you fail too many times or quit. There is no save function, which is fine because you won’t need it anyway. After upgrading everything, there is nothing else to do except endlessly make the same pizzas that you’ve always made, only now with no option to increase the difficulty. And that’s another thing—the proposed challenge that the game suggests is non-existent. One of the upgrades is to increase advertising for your pizzeria in order to pull customers. So in essence, you are the one choosing when to increase the difficulty, not the game. Ergo, the idea that the game “gets harder with time” isn’t really true. Which in turn, makes the upgrades that you work towards vain attempts to pad the game with content.

I played with one other person and it was a real slog (can’t imagine a lobby of 16). At the start, you receive one customer every thirty seconds, which feels like quite the wait even with one player. We played several sessions to make sure we gave this game a solid chance, but there were times that we were so bored we ended up running around and exploring the limited space around the shop, our duties forgotten. That was frankly more interesting than the core gameplay loop, though we did manage to complete a round where we upgraded everything possible. The game doesn’t ever get more complicated or challenging. In fact, it just gets easier, even with the maximum amount of advertising upgrades applied.

Another notable aspect is that although the pictures of the customer’s orders and on the shop marquee display the pizzas with a normal amount of toppings, when you make the pizzas, you only place a single topping for each ingredient. It was understandably confusing, but I soon realised that these pizzas are more of a “none sense with left beef” kind of pie.

Initially, I played this game over voice chat, which demonstrated that the audio level does not save upon beginning a game. No matter what the volume is adjusted to, it will reset once the round begins, and there is no option to access the audio setting within the game. To make matters worse, the audio from the main menu is the only tune that plays throughout the game, looping endlessly with zero variation. Despite it being somewhat pleasant at first—albeit a bit ill-fitting—it became maddening as my playthrough dragged on.

Overall, I can’t recommend this game as it is now. There is clearly some amount of effort put into it, but that isn’t saying much. From looking at the developer’s page, it seems that this game is essentially a copy of some of their other creations, for which the reviews mirror my own complaints with FAST FOOD SHOP ONLINE. At least, the game is rather cheap, but it doesn’t feel like you get your money’s worth out of it. There are similar Roblox games with more depth. And those are free.

Ys I & II Chronicles+ combines updated versions of the first two games of the long-standing Ys franchise. The series for the most part follows Adol Christin, a young man who is just starting off on his grand adventure when we first meet him in Ys I. While the series is generally full of stand-alone games, it bears noting that Ys II directly follows the events of Ys I (and Ys Origin is best played after completing those two despite being chronologically “first”).

Both games employ the use of a later retired combat system known as the “bump system” in which the player must attack enemies by pushing Adol into them, while trying to strategically attack in the right position to prevent taking damage. The combat is challenging (at least in Nightmare mode), with the difficulty consistently ramping up with each new level. This difficulty is also actually escalated on modern computers, with many people complaining that the final boss fight is impossible—however, this can easily be fixed. At least, the solution that works for me is to open the configuration tool before you begin the game and change the refresh rate to 60hz. Otherwise, Ys I & II Chronicles+ features stellar music, an interesting story, and the beginning of a franchise that doesn’t shy away from referencing characters and events in its predecessors. While by no means a household name, Ys has long ago cemented itself as a beloved ARPG classic.

(Edited for clarity)

MAMIYA found its way onto my Steam wishlist rather inexplicably. I'm certain I must have passed it while scrolling through the front page, though I have no memory of adding it or even looking at the page at first. I had it ranked within my top 10 and every so often came back to glance at the page without reading or looking further into it. Finally, one day I bought it on a whim. This strange sense of mystery, of something being present and somehow familiar in spite of it being the exact opposite, fits MAMIYA perfectly.

MAMIYA is a visual novel with so much going for it. The game has beautiful artistic design, a deeply emphatic story, varied and compelling music, and interesting characters. Though, as with any game it doesn't come without some flaws. For instance, having to fullscreen the game manually every time you open it (which can be done after starting or loading the game with the little square box in the lower left corner--just a helpful tip). Another flaw is the lack of Steam overlay, which is not a big deal to everyone. Lastly, one scene can be a real pain if you don't read at the speed of light, but the gist of it is easy to glean. Even with these few flaws, the game has quickly catapulted itself to my top 3 favourite visual novels.

MAMIYA is captivating in every way, but it is also incredibly dark. That's often something that grabs my attention, so long as there is hope interspersed within the darkness. For the first act of MAMIYA, hope is fleeting. The issues these characters face are very real, and the writing does a remarkable job of highlighting the intense loneliness that one feels when being in the midst of these issues. The subject matter is heavy, dealing with quite a handful of topics that may be too much for some. There were even days where I put off playing entirely because of this, but the journey is worth every moment. I would advise using your own discretion when delving into this game, as MAMIYA can dig its claws into your emotions in a way that few other games can. Additionally, for any who may be concerned, there are a number of scenes that flash rapidly onscreen.

There is not much else to say about MAMIYA. You'll certainly learn more from other reviews, and even from the game's Steam page, but this is one of those games that I would recommend going into as blindly as possible

A lot of people have mentioned in their own reviews that the developers have no intention of updating this game. For me, that's not necessarily a bad thing. As a gamer who grew up on the JRPGs of the PS2 era where internet connectivity for updates was non-existent, I have an inherent expectation for the games I play to come as a complete package. Not to say that game updates and added content aren't absolutely wonderful - they are - but a game should be playable and the gameplay loop should be able to entice the player to keep coming back.

If you're looking at those other reviews with this same lens, thinking that you don't need a game to be updated as long as it is complete, let me give you a word of warning.

I was drawn to this game because of its similarities to The Long Dark. There was no expectation for it to be an exact copy, rather I was eager to see what differences it could bring to the table. Unfortunately, the gameplay loop just isn't fun. According to Steam, I have played this game for "0.9 hours," which admittedly isn't a lot, but the game should have been able to grab my attention by that point. It didn't.

This game is beautiful, and that's frankly all it has going for it. What you see in the trailer and in the game's screenshots are... basically the whole game. You start at your cabin and run around in a relatively small map (especially for this type of game) gathering resources. You eat whatever you can find in the forest and quench your thirst from a nearby river/lake. The game has crafting and cooking, but these things must be done at your cabin as far as I've seen. The cabin can be expanded upon and even decorated, which is a nice touch, but everything sort of falls flat apart from the aesthetics.

I would not recommend Among Trees. It was a bit of a disappointment because I was really looking forward to it, but the short amount of time I spent with this game wasn't enough to convince me to continue playing it.