Recent reviews by 檜山沙耶

SULFUR is a love/hate relationship to me, and as much as I'd like praise what it excels in, the experience simply doesn't ages well with time. But don't let this dissuade you from trying it as new patches might changes things around on a 'fundamental level' as dev claims it. Anw on with the review:

The pros: guns (lots of em), oil (power/debuff) = tons of combination; mods for guns (some layer of realism), RE's storage management style (big W), terrain generation engine (each run is diff). Theses factors already put SULFUR on a high tier rouge-like dungeon crawler FPS.

The cons: grindy (tediously so) - resorted to cheat engine for coins as many of the aforementioned positive perks are costly; weaker level design as the game progress (I'd say it peaked at the Library).

SULFUR is something I'd find myself casually pick up and not thinking about life for a solid hour, but at some point, you can't help but ask yourself why the victory felt so small and unimportant? You've been in these places before and tried out all dialogue, done some quests, and slain big bosses, but only for new convo option, sometime accompanied with rewards. I'd blame the slow development, and not the game as it were before big patches.

The story is indeed interesting at first, but it then gradually plateaued to pretty much non-existence as you die trying against long boss battles just for some new dialogues and promises in future patches. This is the root of the problem, story locked behind tedious grind and in an unfinished state, meaning it's an unfinished story. And a never ending story is one without closure, what's the meaning in reading anyway? This sap away its essence games after games. Thus after spending a long time here, who, in the right mind, would not grows bored of it all? In this sense, it is such a waste of potential.

Again, SULFUR is not a bad game, it's a good game with slow development in a high pace world. I simply can't wait 3 - 5 years just to finish a game. With that in mind, I hope anyone new to this game can enjoy it to the fullest.

Guns, glory, and everything noir. These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect colorblind-friendly FPS. But Professor Utonium accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction: Rat. Thus, Mouse P.I For hire was born.

Let's not dive into the typical aspects of a shooter title, but more so on what's interesting. First, the game is packed with references from yesterday's pop culture, and it sure vibes with certain gens (me incl). Though expect some jokes fly over your uncultured brain-rot of a mind (me incl). Second, the visuals. While B&W is a prominent style in various medium, it definitely causes some nuance with identifying objects in this case - which they accounted for by tweaked up highlights by a mile for interactable objects. I'd argue this is not a weakness in game/visual design, but more so on the noir style per se.

Narrative-wise, it's narrow but straight forward, almost like walking sims with light puzzles, and progress locked behind waves of enemy. Each stage is a location you must drive to on the mini map, and the pool typically spare you 2 places to pick from so no discovery element here. Combat is similar to Doom, meaning on higher difficulty, as long as you dash around scouting for heal it's all fine and dandy. I'd say combat is the least innovative part with clunky and sometime non-responsive enemy bot.

Again, Mouse P.I. For Hire is not a surprisingly good game but it is fun to try in the first 5-6hrs, after which the repetitive theme grows stale, leaving the story your sole motivation to cross the finishing line. Hence think of this game as a short novel with shooting element, and not shooting game with short story.

Unlike the rating of 6 from certain self-proclaimed game journalist, I'd give it 7/10 though it's closer to a 7.5 than a 6.5.

Probably top 5 in the series. Very good pace design, though a bit light for Leon part (that goes double for those coming straight from RE4). Voice acting and cinematic motion capture are icing on the cake too. RE have been around for decade now so the bar is off the chart, yet Requiem still brought something new to the table - clearly a big feast in itself. While the experience is on par with expectation, it took roughly 10hrs to finish main story (incl reading files, side puzzles, etc), which doesn't suits the 70 bucks price tag. Other than that, solid pick. 8/10

Potential but still a couple patches away from complete.

Game takes a while to polish but damn it aged like fine. Since last update, think the mystique lost its ember but story-wise it's still praiseworthy. Initially I felt the pacing might be a bit rushy, which seemed to have inherited from their previous hit (Slay the Princess), but it's consistent with the overall game. Writing is a thumb-up too. 8/10.

Redeemed itself alright. 8/10 Preem!

Solid pick for multiplayer sessions when you don't want to think too much. The game is akin to some titles you'd play on Armory or Stick Page, etc, just graphically polished. My only complaint is difficulty, could use some high risk high reward elements here and there but that's minor. Overall 8/10.

Worth

Not a fan of 2D gothic but surely enjoyed the first act. Plot is decent and has its charm, though the curiosity it garnered from the first couple hours soon died out once you get the hang of the game. Main mission is great so far but that's not the case for most side-quests. Still, game design is well done: Navigation cues using different biomes, strategic combat lesion through bosses, and choices (skill class, NPC interaction, crafting), etc. Take it slow and maybe you'll get to enjoy it. Overall 6/10.

Probably top tier hybrid puzzle game thus far, blending the rogue-like's "choices matter" with meticulous world building. Looking back from hours of commitment to this game, I have to admit the genius design of overall experience. To put it simply the game has three parts:

1. Teaching players the game mechanic, telling a story, and introducing relevant themes.
2. Encouraging experimentation, mastering item management, unlocking permanent perks, and extending the story + world.
3. Concluding several puzzle arcs but opening major one, and inspire community-based collaboration to solve the bigger mystery.

Part 1 is fairly straight forward, you have a singular goal - to access room 46. This phase is mostly about trial-and-error with simple puzzles, which teaches you to strategically draft and manage items. Unlockables are plentiful and easy to achieve. Once reached room 46, your will introduced with a new clue toward a series of challenging puzzles. It felt as if the game had just only began.

This brings us to Part 2 where drafting experience and detective skill outweights luck. Here, several puzzle arcs and upgrades will unlock permanents perks, allowing you to roam the mansion more freely. Attention to details and drafting experiment becomes essential in problem solving, which can be overwhelming without a clear focus on which puzzle you're trying to deal with. I can't stress how important it is to have a dedicated note/journal in this stage. After 100-ish attempts and most puzzles dealt with, we will now entering the cryptic part of the game, entering Part 3.

The late game in Blue Prince is not for everyone (most certainly not for me either) as it demands serious commitment, one typically requires efforts and willpower in our conventional life. Puzzle are no longer clear in sight, and only hinted by its clue. Experimentation and resourcefulness is still your your best friend, but every knowledge in the game counts, Plus it is necessary to be literate in Blue Prince's world. This comprises learning how to translate English into a new language, understanding symbolism, becoming well-versed with the Blue Prince's world history & geography, and most annoyingly - math. You will come to realize that the priorities are no longer within the mansion itself, especially when finding yet another mansion full of puzzles and cryptic sitting right outside the one you've been struggling for days , and the mechanics of each room must be fully optimized for new clues. Progress is slow and it's common to feel dissuaded. I think most player concluded their journey here (given Steam' Achievement stats). It's no doubt that this phase entices knowledge pooling effort from communities and enthusiast alike. At the time of writing, I don't think we've solved everything yet, assuming they are meant to be solved.

This reminds me of Animal Well, another masterpiece with just as much attention to details and a full blown onion of mystery. It's been a journey, and while barely close to the finishing line, my time in Blue Prince felt well spent. Overall 9/10.

So there you have it, my two cents.