Recent reviews by Toast

I've been a fan of Detective Grimoire from the start so maybe I'm a little biased but this was a really fun, if not a little short game to play through (or maybe I just marathoned it too much...?). It's a charming game that's cozy but also refined in the art, animation and voice acting. I think the game has parts where it holds your hand a little too much; places where Grimoire has an a-ha moment I don't get to until I've presented 3 wrong pieces of evidence but I do prefer that over some games where you're agonizing over the dorky lawyer to get it together already.
Anyway, it's a good game if you're chasing the nostalgia of playing Hotel Dusk or Professor Layton for the first time as a kid but want something refreshing and with a much more contained story. Or if you just like puzzles.

One the whole: Love the game. Try it if you like RPGs/ Dungeons and Dragons/ a bit of gore/ snarky humor
This game is perfect for those into the Dungeons and Dragons like experience but don't necessarily want to coordinate enough people for one and/or don't have the storytelling ability for dungeon mastering. That being said, it also makes for a great solo/duo game with some solid replay value.
Gameplay:
I personally dislike turn based gameplay but this game gives you so many options even I enjoy it. The variety of abilities and ability interactions is very interesting, even if it leads to my comrades exploding me while I stand vaguely near poison. A close-ish counterpart is Transistor where you plan out a variety of abilities + movement. Again, its like DnD but desktop so moving takes actions, abilities take actions etc.
Writing:
It's been a while since I played the story tbh but its interesting and I do like the characters, even if I didn't end up with a lot of them. The narration is adequately snarky and honestly interactions are so fun I specifically try to have Pet Pal (the ability to speak to animals) on my character every run. Recently starting a game with friends who have never played, people can get pretty lost since conversations can carry on without your specific character actively paying attention. Maybe my friends are extra chaotic. Who knows.
Other Comments:
- The game is a bit gorey, I never really noticed but when starting a game with a friend he physically cringed when I got backstab critical-ed and blood just splattered out of my character onto the ground. Burned to death bodies are charred, menus for looting bodies are uh reflective of that. So do be careful if you're squeamish.
- I would replay the game more if the first part wasn't so repetitive, that being said I haven't restarted with definitive edition in a while so skipping the tutorial area might be fast enough.
- Elves are appropriately freaky. Looking for sexy elves? Not here. I mean maybe you're into things being just a bit too long but they're freaky. They get memories from eating body parts. They're great.