Recent reviews by Bartimaeus

Comparing new 3D platformers to ye classics of old is always fraught with disappointment, as these pastiches very rarely learn the lessons from their predecessors that they ought to have if they're really going to stand up on their own. Cavern of Dreams is one of those rare exceptions where even though it does take a lot from other games, it doesn't do so thoughtlessly and it also manages to have some neat ideas of its own. No, it's not Banjo-Kazooie for a number of reasons, but the game is perfectly digestible without ever being either under or overwhelming, you're given a great move-set that feels specifically designed to test your mastery of the controls and let you kind of set your own pace as you're playing, the world and level design is solid, and the game doesn't unnecessarily waste your time or patience. In other words, it all comes together to be a pretty good game that I very much enjoyed, which is really not something I can hardly ever say about modern 3D platformers that I've played (or rather, tried to play and usually quickly given up on because they're too mediocre and plain just not very interesting or fun).

There is also room for improvement, particularly when it comes to memorable writing and characters - not that what's there is bad per se, but maybe a bit too simple, straightforward, and sparse - and also really honing in on your world design to make each one even more distinctive mechanically and thematically (visually and musically as well!). I think if the developer took what they did right from this game and then hit their few weaker-but-still-solid points out of the park in a new title, they could go from having a really quite good game to an actually legitimately great game. Also, the controls are so powerful that it feels like you can accomplish a number of tasks in not what seemed to be unintended ways, but I honestly thought that was part of the fun so you won't hear me complaining about it.

Thanks for making a new 3D platformer that I enjoyed, it's the first time in a very long time for me.

First two episodes were enjoyable, but for the third and especially the fourth, the game decided to do the predictable thing that these sorts of narrative-driven indie games tend to do: rather than just be an interesting and atmospheric game for its own sake, make it be about something "bigger" than it needs to be in the most clumsy and ham-fisted way possible. I am so tired of these kinds of games ending with what is effectively a dream sequence where the player wanders through a series of empty corridors while it hits you with a barrage of dialogue yammering endlessly on about about the themes...followed by a pile of cutscenes doing the same. There has to be better ways to end a video game than this.

The developers have updated the game several times with new content, the soundtrack is pretty much perfect for this game, I like the simple but good art and animation, and the game gives you plenty of things to figure out and explore.

I've played through a few games in this genre (whatever this happens to be - 2D overhead horror exploration adventure?), and this has been the most complete, entertaining, and engrossing one by far. A decent mix of charming, quirky, likable, and/or memorable characters, a bizarre premise that the game mostly holds up on, and tons of little details (both hidden and in plain sight) that make the game feel rewarding. However, I do unfortunately think the final act of the game, regardless of which ending you go down, isn't...particularly rewarding, great, or even necessarily sensible (it's definitely the weak point of the game), but it's at least thankfully not anywhere near bad enough to erase the good feelings I had for the game before it. Felt like there was just...something missing, some sort of greater connective tissue or awesome payoff that would've made the game an instant classic. Nevertheless, would love more games like this.

It's alright, but the writing is like at a bad anime level that makes me not care at all, the whispering/sighing/whatever lady constantly talking to you gets on my nerves, and the gameplay is...just decent, but not very challenging or engaging with nothing much else working for the game. Difficult to recommend.

Psychedelic and absurd, shockingly good "don't touch the walls" + sometimes Undertale-esque bullet hell puzzle game. Has a lot going on from level to level that makes it a creative, fairly challenging, and great (IMO) game.

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(e): Actually, screw that: this game freaking sucks. It's an embarrassing hack fraud rip-off of Dark Souls that manages to be worse in virtually every possible way - sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot. Level design and especially world design are bad, enemy variety is quite poor, bosses feel sloppy and not that difficult, story and dialogue are both unbearably (and I really do mean unbearably) awful, there are only seven weapons (and anything else that would suggest to the contrary is just more or less meaningless numbers to dress up the fact that they only designed seven weapons), loot system is just a hassle and a huge waste of time, the game is overall too easy, etc., etc. It started out fine, I thought I was enjoying it for the first ten hours or so, and it ended up being one of the biggest games I most regret playing all the way through. Horrid.

It was a Paper Mario-style RPG with timing-based combat elements. The premise is that you're going to play a rando minion that, rather than getting effortlessly brushed aside by the hero in battle, instead took initiative and concocted a plan to basically drop an anvil on the hero's head and instantly murder them while they were walking up to the main villain's lair, and now what is everyone going to do with the hero dead?

It's an interesting premise, the environmental characters are appropriately wacky and zany like you might expect of a MOTHER/EarthBound-type game, it has solid enough gameplay, but the main characters and plot were written so flatly and by the numbers that I found myself completely checking out about half of the way through the game in a world-investment sense. The main character becomes the hero for no discernible reason (there was literally zero motivation for the protagonist doing anything at all the entire game - it felt really weird and inappropriate/nonsensical given that the first thing you do is murder the hero), and worse, there was a big "the villain isn't really the villain + let's all come together and do this" sequence a la Undertale at the end involving a completely unlikable cast of characters that fell so completely on its face that I started laughing at the game. Really unfortunate for an otherwise solid game that they went that direction. Still, it wasn't too bad - just a little disappointing.

Charging money for what's effectively a 60FPS and >720p patch on a game that was released in 2013 is honestly a little gross, especially given the amount of love that the PC community has already given this game series since its debut on Steam. It's difficult for me to understand why this is even a thing.

It's a fun little easy-going strategy game with nice ambience music and pleasant visuals. The difficulty curve can spike up and down a bit from level to level, but I quite enjoyed it.