Recent reviews by Kapsaicin

Felt bad about leaving the review as a copypasta with nothing of substance, so quick summary of why I think this is the worst collab pack (even moreso than TEKKEN or Falcom):

Minus like three of the ten songs (those being Angelic Sphere, ANiMA, and Magnolia), the songlist is EXTREMELY boring and unsubstantial. They don't fit in a game like this at all, each have max 5* difficulty on SC, and honestly blend together too much to really feel like different songs. What the three good songs can't escape is how NONE of them are keysounded (weird given they come from a game that's all pianos and originally keysounded), and how their BGAs are nothing a single image being panned or moved around -- and yet they still manage to be super distracting and annoying during gameplay!! $15 off-sale for a pack with 3/10 good songs, BGAs made from 15 minutes in After Effects, and not even full difficulty spreads on most songs, you're way better off skipping this one unless you're trying to complete all the achievements (which are Terrible anyways -- you have to clear 42 different patterns for the achievement, 3 on each song to get their plates, you can easily imagine how much of a slog that is). And yet the EZ2ON pack has a lower rating despite being better in every regard...

(Original review: Ever fallen asleep while playing the DEEMO pack? Well, you're not alone. Apparently, NEOWIZ was tasked with creating a rhythm game collab pack that would help insomnia patients with sleep. Inspired by the infamously boring Chinese game's songlist, the studio got to work, creating the most sleep-inducing DLC pack imaginable. When tested with patients, a staggering 90% increase was shown in sleep time and quality. So if you're ever looking for a good nap, just remember to play a song from the DEEMO pack.)

Balatro

I feel like the developer's idea about the game summarizes it best -- A fun, free game with several flaws here and there, but still a beautiful passion project where you can feel the efforts of each team member come together in one beautiful, complete package. I've followed the game since launch mainly just for the rhythm game (and have participated in both of its major tournaments so far!), but slowly engrossed myself in its mechanics, story, puzzle, and aesthetic -- which is executed decently for the most part, albeit with several issues that kinda soured the whole thing by the finale. However, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it given my playtime (lol) and commitment to the game.

The story is something I didn't expect to have such a grasp on me, to the point that I crafted full-day schedules around reading through each chapter as they dropped. The story establishes its setting quite nicely, the characters are pretty charming, and the slice-of-life moments as scenes transitioned were my favorite. This was true for much Chapters 1-3, and Chapter 5 (last/hours) would've been a nice finishing chapter with how it wrapped up the protagonist's development, but I completely tuned out by the Finale's fall from grace, what with all the overwhelming jargon, unreadable cutscenes, and dissatisfactory conclusion. I can definitely see the appeal and love how much the community comes together to celebrate their passion for the story, I'm just quite torn given other factors like the aggressively difficult puzzles, the extensive use of the Betweenspace exploration, and the developer's resentful attitude towards their own community per the interactions I've observed in the official Discord server (though that's more of a personal gripe).

As for the rhythm game portion, it's actually really good! I know people don't really like the bumpers, but they're introduced and implemented very naturally and familiar so long as the player works their way up from the lower-leveled songs, treating the game like its own thing. It's also refreshing to see such a liberal use of gimmicks and backgrounds to match each song's aesthetic perfectly... though they can get a bit overzealous with them on certain other songs. It's somewhat of a mixed bag -- the 10-14 difficulty range has some of the most fun charts I've played in any rhythm game, whereas the higher-level charting and difficulty inflation has gotten way out of control long since the early chapters. But as the product of a free game, the contributions of a community who absolutely loves rhythm games, and a debut game for a passionate studio -- it's a very charming/worthwhile experience to play, and is the reason I have so many hours sunk into this game :]

There's more I could talk about in this review, like the very sluggish Soundscan grind, issues with interactions in the inner community, and the excellent focus on accessibility that I wish more games would adopt, but the review's already a bit too long for all that. As a complete and free experience, disconnected from the internet (save for the puzzles where it's required), the game delivers just fine with a few road bumps along the way. It's not for everyone, but definitely worth checking out if a funky little arthouse(?) experience (or any other positive I mentioned above) piques your interest, so a solid... 3/5.