Recent reviews by Iskandar

There are A LOT of good things about this game. I loved what they did with the lore/story/dialogue.
I also really liked the general flow of the game, also the game wasn't easy but it also wasn't a mess to play in that it set you back heavily upon failures. The combat is whatever, but the movement feels great into attacking them and getting around, and made me use it's full arsenal of things to traverse. Also this was enjoyable on the steam deck, and ran without any issues. Bosses are also fun, while not the most memorable I did feel good beating them and they weren't badly designed, the flying "insect/animal" though was a little annoying with it's last platforms.

What I don't like is the "mid game twist" that is clearly displayed in the trailers. What becomes a fun sprint forward through levels with bosses to fight throughout (which is a core strength of this game), became a metroidvania. The problem with this is you have to traverse a lot of it trying to figure out what to do, there are only like 3 more bosses in the last 3/4ths of the game, you aren't actively getting new things to make exploring it any better while you got them at a faster pace in my experience in the linearity, and the new mechanic while cool visibly did offer more frustation than joy.

There were a few puzzles using the new mechanic (time) that used the fact that the levels were augmented due to time to solve them, and they sometimes made me go "heh" after solving one or two, but the added frustration of getting to a location and realizing you need to go half or a full map away to transition in time (it's not on the fly, honestly it should have been, that'd have been cool) to come back to a spot you found, or maybe even overlook a location because you're not in the right time, so you go elsewhere for half an hour looking for it. The fact that they essentially made the game map x2 is theatrically really cool, but in practice it wasn't worth it in this case. The fact that they alternated between 8 and 16 bit was cool though. In the end, I just found it offered more frustation due to how it was handled than benefit.

So you have an annoying time mechanic, you're going through the same maps (back and forth with a similarish version changed by time) trying to find little spots you haven't yet and dialogue you need to get to even activate them, you have vastly less bosses, and you don't have rewarding things safter the shift really that change how you interact with the world. Outside of one use items for dialogue and boots that are there just for like 2 segments of 2 maps (one being the place you find them and the 2nd I think you can technically do without them but it's much easier this way), and one item that just means you can see kind of in a location that lasts 20 seconds, it's just all annoying.

I loved the world/lore/writing, like genuinely great stuff there and makes me want to play their Sea of Stars game even more now, even if it won't have the satifying movement of this, but all those other things just made me stop liking the game like 5 hours in for the actual gameplay itself, and just kept playing to finish it/see how the story/world shifted.

I do like certain aspects about this game. I specifically like the fact that there is moving parts going on that make you look behind them and also just create some dynamic nature. That being said, there is a glaring issue with this game. The ufo don't all look like ufo, sometimes it's so different that even after pressing it you're like "wait really?". This kind of ruins the point of the game, it's like going "find all the cats" and saying a spider is one of them. It just kind of undermines the entire premise of a search and find game, because you aren't looking for the thing really. "it's unidenfied as well" doesn't really cut it, sometimes it's just a ring, other times it's random other things, it's just annoying.

It's free, I don't hate that I played it, but eh.

Measured on a game scale it's not great and super short.
Measured on a free game scale, you might as well play it.

It's every cat finding free game: The volume always has to be turned down instantly like always because it's blasting, it's only 1 big level free to find 100 cats, and a spam of achievements that you wish you weren't getting so fast. (devs do one every 10/20/25 and not every cat, or just one achievement for finding them all) It's the same general art style of black and white city. It's not the best free cat game but there aren't an infinite amount of them with how quickly you beat them.

Also

I honestly don't know when I got this game (some bundle in the past), but I know I didn't get it free since I've literally never got a game free because I'm just a rando person.

I also played this game wrong and still enjoyed it. I decided to try this since it's verified on steam deck, and it felt short enough where I could feel an influx of accomplishment without putting a lot of time into it.

What I got out of it was a charming experience where I got to learn about some game development details regarding it. Yes, that's where I played the game wrong, I did it with commentary which made me not even realize there was voice acting in the game that would have heightened the experience, while also kind of killing a lot of the atmsophere/mystery. Also the commentary tracks aren't spaced out enough where you can just listen while keeping a steady pace, instead having to stop. Despite this, I still enjoyed it. I don't know if I full price enjoyed it, but I'm glad I played it.

The experience you should have though is drastically different, play the game as is and ignore the commentary track addition (you have to opt in while in the menu to start your save, I opted in unwisely), and honestly MUCH better, yet I still enjoyed my experience.

The game is what "invented" the walking simulator genre, and the island you are on is very as the commentary says "dream-like". You definitely go to a variety of places, some of which are very beautiful, what apparently started as a half life 2 mod, evolved into a game, that evolved into multiple remasters seemingly. This is I believe the most up to date version. But yeah, it's just a cool little island to explore, there isn't a lot to do but you should be able to piece together a little narrative based on context clues, make edits in your head about what you think it means, and ultimately come through a sweet little experience.

Obviously as all things gaming is concerned, wait for a sale, but if this is your sort of game, I don't even think the 10 bucks is unreasonable or anything, but if this isn't your specific jam genre, then yeah, getting on sale and playing this the way I said should allow you to get some enjoyment out of this.

If you suffer from mental health issues or are empathetic, this is a game that I think you'll get some art out of. Of course the physical art you're looking at is good, but also you'll likely be able to feel a little from this game. As someone who's suffered depression and isn't exactly neuro typical (also empathetic enough to cry in movies a lot), I enjoyed this.

You essentially get to experience someone who's very far into it and who is suffering trauma, go through it, they definitely are going through it. Considering I don't have the same condition as the main character of this, I am not 100% sure if this is done in the MOST tasteful of ways, I couldn't be the judge of that, but I don't believe there was any issue. What this feels like is the creator opening their reality, a reality they're close to (be it someone else they know), or knowledgeable about, to us. I believe it reeks of authentic sincerity.

While it's a short visual novel, it's one I'm glad I played. The gameplay is built around how you interact (you might be a condition they suffer) to them, be it what continues the story, or by tearing them down. It's not really hard to figure out what they want you to say for some of it, though you might make an error on a late game choice (albeit you have to fail a few I believe to really lose). The game is also short enough where it honestly doesn't matter.

It's 99 cents off sale and cheaper on sale, and it's pretty much always on sale in recent memory, so just get it and get something out of the experience. Trigger warning though for death trauma/suicide. (it's trauma about past, nothing that happens during)

If you have a steam deck, you should play this.

While I wouldn't say it's a technical marvel that pushes what the steamdeck can play by any stretch, it is a cute little demonstration of what the steam deck can do controls wise. I had played other games after getting my steam deck, and only got to this a week or so into owning it, and it took me that long to realize the steam deck had access to motion controls. (I also had been aware of but hadn't used the back buttons)

The game is pretty quirky and even got a chuckle out of me in a certain reoccuring gag between scenes, but I'm sure fans of the valve universe will get even more out of it than I (someone who's never touched anything but portal 1 myself) did.

Overall it's free, so if you have a steam deck, play it as a first or early entry into your steam deck experience, it's enjoyable enough.

An enjoyable enough free (unless you get the dlc level thing) cat finding game that I've got way too into (the genre) because of my current partner. IT was fun and cheap (considering 0 money involved) to get in a little race to see who can find the 100 cats. This game also had a speedrun to time you so you can see if you can get it faster. I got 1:56 for my time.

There also is as the trailer shows, the ability to change colors, which I'm sure helps tremendously as an accessibility option, probably helping people out to even be able to play this game.

Overall a solid game to get for free if you're into this sort of game, certainly got more otu of it than a few other free to play ones out there, while still ultimately not being my fav of the cat finding genre.

Not the best cat finding game but it's free. One location, 100 cats, the cats aren't doing quirky stuff unique to each other where you can go "aww" a lot. Overall you get to find out some cats and it's not a waste of time, might be worth racing someone to see who can find all 100 first like I did, but that's about it. There are better cat games, most are dirt cheap while this is free, so there is that, but there is just the one location. Overall not bad, you can try it, it's literally free. I do get a little uncomfortable about giving it a positive review based on the fact that apparently it puts stuff into your steam bag, but I wasn't too focused when that happened. (unsure if I just quickly removed it without much thought or it didn't happen to me)

There isn't much variety on the stuff they do with the cats themselves for art, but it's free. There are better cat finding games but this is fine to play along with some other free ones. When you get to the decision to get the extra content, you'll be where I am and be able to decide, cuz you can get probably better ones out there for 99 cents, but it's still only 99 cents sooooo. I didn't personally feel inclined to get it considering I wasn't too impressed, but the game was free so I can't exactly complain anyway, I got a good handful of minutes out of this game, so a positive it gets. It's one location with 100 cats.

Just wish it didn't spam with achievements for every literal cat, but I guess some of you like that.

6 short classic games in one, mega man 1-6, also there are some extra challenges (rewind not able) in there as well that I didn't have much interest in.

This is a steal, especially at full price. It took until I got a steam deck to actually give it a try, because I felt it was great for the platform and owned it already form some bundle, but damn, it quickly became an experience I keep thinking back on.

Don't get me wrong, I abused the f out of the rewind feature, because this would probably be a much worse experience in it's natural state due to the sheer frustration of it (especially since 1 is apparently a mess anyway). With the rewind feature in mind though, I have a blast going through the games and although there wasn't a lot going on story wise, it did still draw me in on it's general simplicity and all the cool bosses.

It felt very satisfying to use the abilities of bosses I defeated, and it was actually even better than I thought because I had thought the usage didn't replenish between levels or could be filled again. You can fill them again mid level with drops and locations around the map, also between regular levels they do refresh, they don't outside of the mid level stuff though in the final multi stage push for Dr. Wily style scenarios (final boss), and so you conserve a little more there.

The open choice to pick which bosses to go for first (bar the final one) is nice too, because you can defeat one boss, then use that ability on a boss after that is weak to it, so on and so forth.

There are aspects the game never teaches you though. I had to look online to learn that sliding was a thing at a certain point in the series (unsure if it was 2 or 3), games start introducing you to non boss abilities which were never explained and are just in the game and you're expected to know how to use them, etc etc. At least these are uncommon though, with the prior happening once and then just being in the game, and the latter also just becoming a staple. I guess trial by error was their expectation with all that.

There are a lot of enemies where it seems crazy they expect you to defeat them without the rewind but it's there for if you want it, and you likely will, and with it, it's a blast, especially on the steam deck while relaxing. I liked just pushing through the series and enjoying myself in bed/on the couch. Definitely a game that I'd suggest, especially at it's current $5.99 price point, that's a buck for each game and it's a series I say most game fans should try. It's too bad the legacy collection 2 doesn't have the rewind feature, it makes me more anxious to try them while these games felt very welcoming and fun.