Recent reviews by Kohchu

Lethal Company is... a curious game. There is no doubt in my mind it's success is due to the insanely easy, yet addictive and fun simple gameplay loop. The essential loop being choose site, explore facility, learn what monsters lurk, and then either book it or risk it all to gather more loot. This simple All or Nothing loop makes it a very tense but fascinating game.

However, Lethal Company is strongly recommended for Online play. You can play it single player (and some of the rules are even adjusted to make it fair, such as Coilheads being slightly slower, and the Bracken being less aggressive then normal). But the experience of playing alone is walking a major tightrope. The quotas are smaller, but still super hard to hit effectively on your own, as time doesn't slow down for 1 player. You've gotta haul your salvage back to the ship pronto without getting cornered and or killed. And it's extremely difficult to get a good haul/run on your own. But, feels satisfying as hell to do.

The game obviously is intended for an Online experience, primarily playing with friends. You can play with up to 4 People max, and honestly when the team is running together, it's one of the most thrilling experiences for a horror game I've seen. You'll all get tense when you realise someone isn't talking; and then slowly uncover or fail to discover what happened. You'll all get desperate to fill the profit quota in order to make it in time; leading to taking more risks, and potentially more tragedies. It's super good if you have the right squad... But if you don't, you can always play online (though your results can vary wildly when playing online).

Honestly, imo Lethal Companys biggest issue; is that often times the encounters can feel outright unfair. Part of the charm of the game, is discovering what you're fighting, scanning them, then checking the Bestiary to find out what to do. Problem IS; you can only do that from the ship, and you have to be in the facility to scan creatures. So what USUALLY ends up happening, is a good chunk of the crew acts as bait to scan the monsters, so the person left to watch the cameras in the ship can learn what they do and radio it back to the crew. However, there is 0 precaution put into the game to prevent unfair combinations of enemies from spawning.

Take Coilheads for example. They operate under the logic of SCP-173, if you stare; they don't move. If you don't, they move REALLY fast and kill you. It's easy to work with on it's own... but then factor in something like a Snare Flea; which hangs on the ceiling and latches onto your head to suffocate you if you get to close. Under normal circumstances, Snare Fleas are countered by being observant; but you can't be observant when you have to stare at a Coilhead... This type of situation definitely makes the gameplay tense online, since 1 player can keep the Coilhead stuck, while the other deals with the other threats... But then factor in that the crew you work with might not have knowledge of how these things work, and the whole thing becomes a deathtrap. Single Player is a coinflip based on how lucky you get, which is why it doesn't come recommended.

Since the game is made for an Online/Friend experience in mind, this doesn't make the game bad by any means. Just know if you're buying this game and don't intend to play with friends/online... it's going to be a much more rough experience. Mods do allow you to add more players to online, and lots of other cool content, and the creator has stated more updates will be underway.

Alright, being completely serious here. This is a game I was super excited, but also very cautious for. The last game to do a 'Pokemon like' effort, was Temtem, and it crashed and burned horribly, by copying the Pokemon formula, and doing it worse... and while there's plenty of people saying Palworld is nothing but a "Pokemon ripoff" this is NOT a repeat of the Temtem situation.

As far as I'm concerned, anyone who tells you Palworld is just Pokemon, but worse; or a shameless copy: Is flat out lying to you, or hasn't played the game. Because Palworld is so much MORE then just a Pokemon clone. It has clear inspiration and influence from Pokemon, but the core gameplay, and the loop of gameplay are so radically different...

While Pokemon is a JRPG and sticks to being a standard RPG; Palworld is a hybrid Action Third Person shooter, Open World, Sim/Sandbox THING. It's hard to describe it exactly... but, it feels like a combination of Rust (Starting with nothing, building your way up in power from rocks to automatic weaponry), Breath of the Wild (climbing mechanics, gliding mechanics, open world exploration, secrets to uncover, Hot/Cold mechanics), Pokemon (The Pals are obviously inspired by Pokemon and can be captured by weakening them and then using a special item. They also have elemental strengths and weaknesses, but do NOT evolve), Monster Hunter (Killing Pals will net you a ton of resources and items you need to craft further items), Fallout (the base building mechanics, and Raids with defence feel very similar to those of Fallout 4) and a tiny dash of Harvest Moon (farming and construction mechanics).

If that sounds overwhelming... it's because it kinda is at first. The gameplay loop is simple, but there's so much to do, it can feel overwhelming early on. Palworld has a very slow start, as do most open world crafting games, but once the gears start turning; this game is worth it's weight in gold. The Pals and the ways you can interact and utilise them are something that must be seen to be believed. But there's so many avenues to explore. I spent the first 3 hours of Gameplay basically just building my base, because there's so much to do, and you're free to design it as you choose.

Ignore the people saying "It's just a Pokemon clone" or it's just a joke game. Palworld is unironically fantastic, and is worth the price full stop.

Live a livE is simply put, one of the best RPGs of all time. Fans badly wanted it to be brought out in some capacity, and Square's decision to revive the game using the Octopath traveller engine was a fantastic choice. I highly recommend this game if you are a fan of JRPGs as there are few RPGs on the market that can capture the essence of what Live a livE does.

On first glance, Live a livE might appear short and simple. It's 7 chapters set in different time periods; each telling their own story. Each one plays slightly different as well; such as Cube's being a point and click inspired experience, and Oboromaru's being an optional stealth mission. The core RPG gameplay is always present, so just because a chapter has a gimmick, doesn't mean you must obey it; but it does mean some chapters are shorter then others. Completing the initial 7 chapters will unlock and 8th chapter; and clearing that one will unlock the final.

Live a livE's strongest point in my opinion; is the respect it has for player time, and it's devotion to telling a narrative, rather then falling into the standard RPG trap of 'balloon up play time by enforcing grinding.' The level cap required to get your final move is 16, and the game can easily be beaten around this level. So there's no instances of being forced to power grind for hours on end (something improved over the original; where in some cases this was unavoidable); and the few instances that do require small bursts don't last long (Akira's chapter easily gets the worst of this).

The gameplay truly is the strongest aspect of Live a livE however. Overworlds are beautiful and fun to explore... and the combat is based on a grid system, with speed and range determining your attacks. Every character has a variety of moves will ranges and charge time, and learning which moves charge faster, have high damage, or additional effects like disrupting enemies; is paramount to victory.

If you've not played Live a livE, I highly recommend it to all. And while the SNES original can easily be played via emulation; I strongly recommend this remake moreso. It has some content the original does not, improves the game by reducing grinding; and despite what some people would say; isn't even really that censored or toned down. There are SOME instances of this, don't get me wrong... but it's still surprising how much they managed to get away with unedited.

Project Zomboid is a very interesting game. Mostly regarding just how many working parts it has going for it. In terms of what it is, it is part Sim Survival, and Part Topped Down Shooter, with a lot of extra features, including base building, and a truckload of other stuff.

From the start, you are in the middle of the Zombie Apocalypse. And you are the last survivor. Your only mission is to stay alive as long as possible, while killing or fleeing from the undead hoards. They will never stop coming, but eventually you will get hit and infected. How long can you survive the hoards of undead?

The best part of this game, is how in depth it is, but sadly, it can be insanely hard for a newer player to get in. The control scheme needs time to adapt and wrap your head around, and many of the mechanics are hidden and unexplained, requiring a lot of patience to learn, or a guide to read. But once you get the hang of it, you'll begin to appreciate the finer pieces of the game's design.

Scavenge for weapons and armor, to take the fight to the undead hoards. Search desperately for food and clean sources of water. Find safe shelter and hold up against their onslaught. And do anything and everything you need to in order to survive. Build and craft a base, hotwire and modify vehicles and gear, build a structure to suit your survival needs... it's all possible and very fun. It's overwhelming at first, but very interesting to keep you coming back for more.

My only real complaint, is just how awkward and sometimes glitchy mechanics can interact. But, the game also has a very active modding community to allow you to tune it as you see fit. You can also host servers to play with friends and survive the outbreak as a group. In general, this game has surprised me with just how flexible it is, don't overlook this hidden gem.

Oblivion is the game that truly introduced me to what an open world game experience is like. And while it has it's flaws and issues, such as poor optimisation and countless bugs; it's still a very addictive and fun experience. With so many quests, items to find, and characters to meet; not to mention the sheer number of character builds to try out; Oblivion, while not as a complex or in depth as Morrowind, or user/beginner friendly as Skyrim, I feel still has some good things worth revisiting.

Easily the biggest problem with Oblivion, is it's way of handling it's leveling system, which is confusing, and not at all well explained to the player. Unless you follow a guide, use mods, or console commands, getting your character to scale properly is almost impossible unless you mess with the difficulty slider to make the game easier. This flaw is one I feel will make or break Oblivion, as the standard difficulty turns enemies into meat walls that take way too many hits to kill early on; while you're fragile as a pool noodle.

Other then this issue; Oblivion is fantastic, and this says nothing about the DLC; which is an experience all it's own. Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles add tons of new content to experience, and while the house add-ons aren't the most essential thing in the world; they do add more fun to the experience. In addition; Mehrunes Razor provides a massive, lengthy dungeon, for those who want to truly test their worth to the god of destruction.

Overall, I highly recommend Oblivion to most players. If you're a fan of open world games, creating custom characters, or RPing in games; then Oblivion is a great starting point. I will admit, it DOES have it's problems, but most of them can be worked around using the PC version.

So the game has Denova; blah, blah, yes it's unneeded... but considering I played for 6 hours and never had a instance of slowdown, or stutter; I'd say it's not very threatening, unless you have a ♥♥♥♥ PC.

The games are all great, the extra content is fun to unlock. Don't listen to people insisting it's a cheap cash grab. If you're new to Sonic, and wanna see what all the excitement is about; Anniversary Mode is great for easing newer players in; and Classic Mode allows the people who prefer a challenge can go with the Lives and only one try system on Special Stages.

With that said and done... this is where the positivity stops. Because from here onwards, things get problematic. The games have a massive amount of new bugs introduced, which were never featured in any other version. Resulting in a strange collection of off, weird and strange occurances. It's because of this, that I recommend this game to newer players who just want to experience these games for the first time... but it's hard to recommend it to players who've played these games for years; as they will undeniably notice the weirdness.

Edit: Sonic Origins Plus is a bit of an insult. The game on release was met with a lot of criticism for it's lack of being the best versions of these games (especially since they delisted the more mod friendly original releases), but in addition to that, the original felt a bit like it was falsely advertising new characters in the game (Knuckles in Sonic 1 was the only 'new function' unless you count Tails and Knuckles, or Knuckles and Tails modes). The addition of Amy Rose, was a feature most of us expected or wanted in the vanilla experience, but is now going to be paid DLC. Hopefully there will be a patch to fix the majority of the issues in this version alongside the DLC, or the game itself will begin to feel like the cheap cash grab people called it on release. I still recommend it... but only if you've never played the original games.

I am leaving a negative review on account of Rockstar and TakeTwo's increasingly blatant anti-modding stance and the removal of several GTA mods as of July 17, 2021: https://gtaforums.com/topic/973749-take-two-changes-the-agreement-modding-take-downs/#comments

I am leaving a negative review on account of Rockstar and TakeTwo's increasingly blatant anti-modding stance and the removal of several GTA mods as of July 17, 2021: https://gtaforums.com/topic/973749-take-two-changes-the-agreement-modding-take-downs/#comments

I am leaving a negative review on account of Rockstar and TakeTwo's increasingly blatant anti-modding stance and the removal of several GTA mods as of July 17, 2021: https://gtaforums.com/topic/973749-take-two-changes-the-agreement-modding-take-downs/#comments

This is an interesting one to Approach. The Henry Stickmin collection, a game I never in a million years would've guessed would be released considering it's origin and original release. But, here it is, and it has managed to prove itself more then capable of standing tall on it's own. Is it a must purchase? No; the original games can all still be played for free on Newgrounds; so you can experience those before deciding if it's worth it for you, but access to these ones will give you updated versions, with more bonuses to collect, as well as a brand new 5th chapter to finish up the option; making the game feel like 5 remasters and a new entry. But, let's cut to the review:

- THE GOOD -
Henry Stickmin is a point and click game, which is very easy to grasp. It's a choose your own adventure game where you pick a ton of options, and see if you die, or get to keep moving. The concept is simple, and designed for replay value (hence why they reward you for unlocking all the fails), and there are easter eggs all over for you to find. Surprisingly, all the gaming and other references are all still in tact with this version; and several new references have been tossed in as well. And with the remakes of the first 5 games, everything was redrawn and updated to be more polished (after playing the newgrounds versions and comparing them to this, you can see the improvement to the design, but not gameplay). The new chapter, also offers several different stories depending on how you finished the other chapters; allowing you to majorly explore so many possibilities and get a ton of replay value out of it. Overall, my experience with this game was pretty positive, even though it didn't last long due to it's relatively short length. Even getting all the deaths doesn't take that long to do. Still, the fact this game was released in general is amazing; kudos to the game devs for taking something silly they made back in 2008 and giving it a full retail release with updates and more content here in 2020. I hope you continue to make great products and carry on with your career well off.

- THE BAD -
At the end of the day, they are still flash games at heart, and lack any sense of traditional gameplay. You click options, and either get to keep playing.... or die. And most of the options required to progress make literally no sense. So if you are the type of person who likes logic puzzles; this is trial and error until you guess the right guess. I get that the humor is the primary reason you'd want this (makes sense); but the gameplay on show isn't much to write home about. And with a pricetag of 20$; it doesn't amount to that much other then some laughs, but that is perfectly fine. Henry Stickmin doesn't try to re-write a narrative, or change the industry. It just tries to be funny, and in my opinion, succeeds well.... except uh....

- THE UGLY -
Hey guys, you like that Distraction Dance? What about Charles trying to crash his copter through the wall. How about the second Dance Off where Henry always gets hurt? In game, sure. These moments are hilarious, on point, and perfect for the situation. Now, let's take a step OUTSIDE the game for a minute. Since the release of this game, I think I have seen the Distraction Dance tossed all over the internet as a meme, about 7,396 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ times. Which quickly makes it less funny, more tired; and more annoying. Like many games that gain popularity, such as FNAF, Undertale and Doki-Doki Literature Club, I find that fans of the Henry Stickmin collection, more often then not do more damage to the game as a whole, then they actually do good. Because while the game isn't bad or anything; with the memes that have sprouted off of it constantly being fired around, eventually people begin to associate the product as just hot internet garbage that does nothing but make memelords laugh and spam emojis. Which is sad, because the game is actually good.

- OVERALL -
If you're looking for some good laughs and entertainment, it can be worth a glance. The Price is a little high for the game on display, but it does what it set out to do; which was make people laugh and does it in a respectable way. The community might be pushing itself in the direction of other "Indie sensations" but the product itself is good enough to stand on it's own. Overall, I enjoyed my time here, and if you want some laughs, you might too.