Recent reviews by Mom's Spaghetti にゃん

Original review can be found at https://fyx.space/2021/09/opus-echo-of-starsong-review/

-----------------------------------------------------

It’s beyond impressive when a creative endeavour can take clear influence and inspiration from many sources, and leverage them with care and respect to forge their own wholly unique, distinct voice. Developers Sigono proudly pin many different inspirations—including such greats as FTL, Mass Effect, Star Trek, and far more—on their proverbial sleeves with OPUS: Echo of Starsong; and they do so all while weaving a tale, universe, and game which is entirely their own. While each individual component which makes up OPUS: Echo of Starsong is good-to-great in its own respect, they all coalesce into an end product which is exponentially greater than the sum of its parts. A hopeful yet melancholic tale of a future not yet written, occupying a world—nay, a galaxy—which feels significantly larger than it initially lets on will serenade you with a grand, beautifully composed soundtrack as you breathe in its stunning art. All of this is in service of propelling the central core of OPUS: Echo of Starsong—its fantastic space opera story.

The game’s story is one with an absolutely phenomenal amount of thoughtfully crafted, creative lore which makes the scope of the universe feel enormous—far bigger than what’s present in the game itself. The entirety of the game takes place in space, with your characters piloting a ship to various space stations, asteroids, and other celestial bodies as you chart a course through the stars to solve a bevy of mysteries. Each of which has its own history, and is possibly occupied by members of one of several factions (each with their own history with other factions, mythos, beliefs, and customs). It is a universe full of adventurers, swindlers, refugees displaced by wars and religious persecution, honest people trying to make ends meet, and far more. So what is your role in all of this?

You and your crew are adventurers, however you have an advantage over most. You have the ability to interact with the “starsong.” What is the starsong? How does it manifest? What are the implications? Well, while I could explain it here, it’s far better to experience it for yourself. One of the most impressive aspects of OPUS: Echo of Starsong’s storytelling is that it introduces many concepts similarly unique as the starsongs themselves, and explains each of them in an intuitive, plausible way which is internally consistent with the enormous world they’ve built. Beyond the scope of this world being thoroughly impressive, the most important part of its story is the smaller-scope, more intimate tale it weaves about our intrepid adventurers. 

At its core, OPUS: Echo of Starsong is a story about life—the value of a life, the impact another person can have on your own life, the far-reaching effects your life and decisions have on others, as well as what it means to truly and deeply care for someone. The story primarily follows two characters, Jun & Eda, both of whom come from disparate backgrounds, and whose paths cross coincidentally. Their arc together is multi-layered and complicated, balancing and celebrating their differences while they both deal with very real, very human problems. They deal with their own instances of loss and longing, they both struggle and hesitate to say what they mean, and sometimes they make decisions which they know will be right in the end, but hurt in the moment. They have their own goals, and sometimes these goals mean making sacrifices which affect one another. Sometimes they make sacrifices they previously never would have expected in order to help each other, even if it means setting back their own plans and goals. There’s a lot to talk about, but to truly do it justice would require diving into deep spoilers—perhaps we will have a spoilercast in the future to touch on these intricate details.

All of this has been said, and we haven’t even yet touched on the act of playing the game. Or the beautiful, colourful, vividly imaginative visuals. Or the wonderful marriage between gameplay and audio, which routinely weaves its soundtrack into the world itself. There’s a ton to unpack, but for the sake of not writing a 10 000 word review, I’ll summarize most of it. The gameplay itself is often varied—alternating between a fixed-camera, side-scrolling adventure/puzzle game; a space-faring, resource-managing and decision-making strategy game; and a visual novel with a blend between 3D models interacting in a 3D world, and painterly 2D art which often manifests as gorgeous CGs at major plot points. While none of these gameplay systems are show-stoppingly excellent on their own, they’re all fun for different reasons and do a wonderful job of ensuring there’s enough variety in your playthrough to keep forward momentum which consistently moves the plot forward. There’s also a ton of side content to do, all of which is entirely missable and failable! This aspect is a bold choice which I thoroughly appreciate.

For a game which includes the term “song” directly in the title, that may conjure some expectations for the soundtrack to have significance, and to be well-crafted. Thankfully it delivers on all fronts, and the game is made exponentially better by a beautiful soundtrack. In fact, I’ve had it playing in the background throughout writing this review (it is available on Steam and comes highly recommended). It is certainly excellent as a standalone listening experience, but is all-powerful when contextualized amongst intense, emotionally charged scenes. Or giving a gentle moment a pitch-perfect atmosphere which punctuates character moments with appropriate bravado. All-in-all, the music (and sound design) tie an already impressive experience together in a way which elevates it far beyond any potential I could have anticipated. 

OPUS: Echo of Starsong is a triumph in all regards. It frequently punches above its weight, ambitiously growing the scale of its storytelling with each passing hour, and rarely (if ever) missing the mark. While there are certainly things which could be critiqued—occasional framerate dips, awkward animations at times, a few obtuse puzzles—they all pale in comparison to everything the game excels at. The layered story, the thorough lore, the carefully and thoughtfully constructed universe, the refreshing gameplay loops, the excellent characters, the gorgeous visuals, and the music which will stick with you hours beyond closing the game. It is a fantastic experience through-and-through, punctuated by an astounding ending worthy of the journey. Thank you to the whole team at Sigono, you’ve crafted a fantastic experience and one of the best games of the year.

I had to sit on writing this review for a few weeks before finally deciding to do it because it feels bad to write a negative review for a game which is so close to being excellent.

Firstly, there is so much to praise about Maquette. The visuals, the music, the voice acting, the general story, the creativity - there are a lot of things it does exceptionally well. The art direction in particular is fantastic, and there are a lot of moments which are genuinely stunning - especially near the beginning, as well as towards the end. The way it incorporates full-band music as well as emotive, believable voice acting truly brings the story it wants to tell to life. Honestly, if i was watching someone play this game, I would have no issue 1000% recommending it without issue.

However, I played it. And it had a ton of issues.

There were multiple times where I got completely soft-locked - key objects clipping through the ground, getting trapped in rooms, etc. Though, when it comes to getting trapped, near the end of the game they tell you to hold Triangle (on a PS4 controller) to reset to the center of the level - this would have been great to know during the tutorial, because I had to reset multiple times and lost tons of progress along the way. I'd tried every button on the controller to try and reset, but wasn't aware of the hold. Though, ultimately that's my fault, again if it had been present during the tutorial rather than only showing up during the last 20 minutes, it would have made a huge difference.

Beyond that, the controls were supremely bad in certain spots - especially in the latter half of the game. Some puzzles demanded far more precision than the systems allowed for, and beyond that, doing simple actions like rotation of objects started having effects on the player character. Things like doing a few rotations making the character randomly teleport, and also when moving the object in question, sometimes it would flip the camera around so that you constantly had to re-orient yourself.

There were many more issues I encountered of this nature, but the point is that finishing the game was actively unpleasant in the last few hours - which is really unfortunate for a relatively short game. Now, to be noted, I played the game on launch day and have not replayed it since patches were issued, so I cannot offer any insight as to whether these problems have since been ironed out. If they have, then I would recommend it; but I can only express my experience with the game, and while I greatly enjoyed parts of it, there was just too much struggle to truly enjoy it.

In short, it's a really great game which is unfortunately encased within a fairly bad game. I do hope that patches can improve the encountered issues; but as it stands from my personal experience, I cannot recommend Maquette.

The original Huniepop was a weird game. It walked the line between "something I can recommend" and "something you should keep locked away in a drawer and never show to anyone." While it had its lewd elements, they seemed to coincide with some unique aspects - a good puzzle system, humanized & grounded characters, and a throughline which seemed more playful and fun rather than edgy or negative.

The sequel throws all of the positive aspects out the door, and amplifies any and all negatives. Gone are the relatively nuanced and realistic(ish) interactions, instead replaced with openly racist caricatures and extremely uncomfortable conversations which routinely swap between being embarrassing and insulting. The throughline this time just seems misguided, with very little to be enjoyed.

The gameplay has also taken several steps back - while the core of the puzzle is still there, the ways in which it has changed feel regressive in a major way. For one, it feels more like a grind than the first ever did. The original game had a unique tension to it, where the first half of a puzzle was to be carefully considered and the latter to pick up the pace and be more actively engaging. Now? It's more just about how much grinding you can do, which removes all thought from the process, which stifles any enjoyment along the way.

Beyond that, the lewdness is just... Too much - I'll leave it there.

The jokes never hit, the racism is awful, the gameplay is mediocre, and overall it's not a great experience. Definitely can't recommend.

Edit: Weird, Steam says I have 0.4 hours on this but am >2 hours, oh well.

Have already played dozens of hours of Mixolumia pre-steam, and looking forward to playing dozens of hours more! It's a fantastic, unique puzzle game from a very supportive creator. Very easy to recommend!

Understated but still potent, When The Past Was Around manages to tell a fully, detailed narrative without a single word. Conveying everything it needs to with beautiful art, memorable music, and set pieces which will stick with you. On top of the charm, it has some great, clever puzzle design which will leave you going "ohhhhhhh" as soon as you understand the solution.

Great game, and well worth playing!!

Review originally posted at https://fyx.space/2020/08/necrobarista-review/


-----



I experienced a wholly unique feeling when playing Necrobarista. Putting it into words has proven difficult, but the closest, most succinct way goes something like this: after my first few hours I felt as though I needed to put it down—not because I wasn’t enjoying it, but rather because I was enjoying it too much. In the moment, I was able to recognize just how deep of an impression it was making within me, and actively wanted to savour the experience. That feeling persisted throughout, and amplified as its closing scenes drew closer. Now, as I reflect upon the experience holistically, any words I may have to adequately express just how much it resonated with me fall flat. It is, easily, one of the best games of the year.

The game comes from Route 59 Games, an indie effort out of Melbourne, Australia. It has been in active development since 2016, and has gone through many iterations, delays, and reimaginings up until its release in late July 2020. Through the developers’ own admission, the game was delayed for so long because they’d felt as though they needed to choose between either overworking themselves to exhaustion in order to get it out fast, or valuing their mental health, delaying it, and releasing it when it felt “right.” As a developer myself, I must applaud the team’s restraint and maturity in doing so. As a gamer, though the delays were difficult (I was excited for the game ever since the announcement trailer in 2017), I feel as though they absolutely made the correct decision. The product of their journey is a refined, impactful game which showcases the team’s mastery in each of their respective crafts.

It’s difficult to say which part made the strongest impact first, but one of the pieces which blew me away was the music. It consistently stood out as being a suite of high-quality compositions for every character/scenario, each with top tier production values. There were multiple times when the music made me say “yeah” aloud, to the point where I alt-tabbed away from the game to see if I could find a copy of the soundtrack. That quick search revealed all I needed to know—seeing Kevin Penkin’s name as the composer connected all of the dots. For followers of the site, Kevin composed the music to Florence (winner of our 2018 Game of the Year award for Best Music), and we have actively talked about the soundtrack to Made in Abyss multiple times on the podcast. I can’t tell you just how many times the music alone in the game made me smile, and I’d like to take a second to call it out explicitly: Kevin, we love you and your music.

Another aspect which is gripping from the first moments are the visuals, art design & cinematography—I have so many screenshots saved from this game purely because of how stunning it looks. Lighting, camera angles, set design, models, characters’ expressions, text effects, colours, background art—everything about the visuals work seamlessly together. And when I say “seamlessly together” I don’t just mean amongst themselves, but with the experience as a whole. Voice acting isn’t even needed with how effectively the visuals bring the characters to life. The world these characters inhabit feels real, and every scene feels as though it was curated and hand crafted by an expert cinematographer. The marriage of the impeccable visual design, the perfectly tuned music, and story make for a cohesive experience through and through. On that note, the story…

While I had saved many screenshots for the visual impact of numerous scenes, I saved even more to capture dialogue and story beats. There are very few games which compare to the standards of writing found in Necrobarista. The only one which feels immediately comparable is Disco Elysium, and it should be noted that we found that game to be especially notable for its writing. The moment-to-moment dialogue in Necrobarista is second-to-none. It can go from uproariously hilarious to soul-crushingly melancholic in just a few mouse clicks. Each character feels distinct and as though they have had months and years of history together. Their lives feel lived, and their interactions feel real. Everything they say feels like we’re seeing the genuine feelings of real human beings (and other creatures), and ultimately, the story they go through has all the more impact because we care about them as people.

While the story itself covers a broad gamut of topics over its playtime, the core of it is ultimately about two things: Death and Failure. They are two very real, very raw human experiences, and it is an extremely difficult feat to convey their true weight in a game. The ways in which these themes appear throughout the story are conveyed with the sensitivity of one who clearly knows their true impact, and for a player who has had ample experience dealing with both, it hits very hard. The reason these parts of the story are so impactful is because, while the setting is somewhat fantastical (a café on the way between life and death), the human experience feels incredibly grounded. While it is a story about these dark, painful topics, it remains optimistic. It is not aiming to tell a story to leave you distraught, distressed, and fearful of these dark shadows, but rather, it offers strength and reassurance.

With all of this glowing praise, are there things to criticise? Sure, absolutely, and the developers themselves have even acknowledged some of the criticisms I would offer by talking about how they’re reworking one of these systems. There are moments here and there where something like a cup will be floating above a counter, or some clothes will be clipping through an object, or a short animation might be a bit janky. I found one or two words in some of the side content which were grammatically off; but, genuinely, none of these criticisms negatively impacted my experience in any way. They didn’t pull me out of it, they didn’t make any scenes less effective, and in some ways, their presence blew me away even more. These moments of imperfection serve as a reminder that this game was indeed created by a small team, and they gave me a deeper appreciation for just how polished and premium the other 99% of the game is.
“I’m Gonna Miss You, Mate”

Necrobarista is a gripping experience, and one which cannot be recommended highly enough. It is a game built with passion—a passion which can be felt across every aspect of every moment. It is one of those games that I wish I could erase from my memory to have the opportunity to experience it again for the first time.

There is beauty to be found in darkness, and Necrobarista shines a gentle, heartfelt light on it.

-------

If you are interested in a spoiler-heavy look at Necrobarista, we recommend checking out our Necrobarista Spoilercast

Before I Forget tells a beautiful story with fantastic voice acting, sound design, music, visuals, and that nebulous "feel." It takes cues from other walking sims in its atmosphere; but presents something entirely new, unique, and moving.

It tackles mental health in a realistic way which left me feeling as though I could at least understand the feeling of discovery / rediscovery / undiscovery which someone with dementia may go through in their everyday life. It's not an easy feeling to convey, and could have been easy for it to have felt cheesy or pandering; but it is neither. It is a story full of heart, love, and it's easy to tell it is the product of a lot of passion.

Easily completed in around an hour, it doesn't overstay its welcome and feels perfectly paced. If anything, I would have loved to learn more about Suni and her life; but that's a testament to the quality of the work.

On top of that, The Garden radio play is charming, well acted, well written, and well edited.

Before I Forget is a very, very easy recommendation.

I think this is an excellent, ambitious work for a small team. It's a great blend of heartfelt, intriguing, and confusing. While I felt the ending might not have been my favourite part of the game, the overall experience was fantastic and I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone who enjoys a well-told story.

Easily the best RPG I have played. Every bit of writing is meticulous, and every branch is thorough. I could gush about it for a very long time, but I'll leave it with six words: You really need to play it.

A lot of the game feels like exposition for something to come in the future, and occasionally it beats its metaphors into the ground (WALLS OF PEACE); but, in the end, I really enjoyed it. In particular, the last hour was some of my favourite writing in a very long time, and I'm certainly looking forward to the next phase in May!