Recent reviews by Rycod

Lizards > RUS

A masterpiece. Maybe even better than its predecessor. My only real complaint is how shallow/throwaway some of the characters seem, with the ending not really giving them any satisfying conclusions.
I saw many reviews complain about difficulty, and while 'gitgud' is as reliable a response as it's ever been, I do feel like the transition between base hollow knight (without godhome) and this game is a bit too steep, they probably could have gotten away with a 'story mode' or a difficulty slider that reduces damage at the cost of locking some achievements (Similar to 9Sols). Some reviews think that the difficulty is boring/unfair/unsatisfying. I disagree, I think even the tedious boss runs serve a purpose. Bilewater is memorable because of the runback, it's a place designed to be hated and finally beating the boss feels so satisfying not because of the boss themself but because you'll never have to do that runback again. Maybe the shard system needs a rework, cause I do think discouraging retrials are bad game design.
Other than those two gripes, the game does everything well. The mobility and platforming allow for so much more skill expression than HK, the soundtrack and boss design is on-point both thematically and gameplay-wise (yes even the ADDs), the story (aside from the side characters) is satisfying and gives you enough to appreciate without spoiling the mystery and world-building set up by HK, the combat gives you so many tools and playstyles but stays focussed and intentional.
9/10

so good! puzzles are all unique and fun to solve. also has a simple and well-made aesthetic and control-scheme

The game's charming! From the soundtrack, to the artstyle, to the well-thought out mechanics and level design. It oozes personality. The game can get difficult, but it's never unfair. It never gets frustrating as there's no downtime between dying and replaying a level. The difficulty pushes you to mastery which is extremely satisfying (you go from hoping not to die to hoping to beat the level's highscore)

If you like polished one-hit-kill fast-paced games like super hot, katana zero, hotline miami, then this will be right up your alley.

If you don't then gitgud

so fun and creative

can't tell if i love the game or hate myself

👍

👍

The issue with this game is so glaringly obvious. Roguelite.
It tries so hard in general, with the half-assed cryptic lore, the "MORE" title for all achievements, and the hyper retarded launcher.

Where it tries and fails the hardest, though, is in its core gameplay loop.
What makes the first game so memorable is the level design; every level felt like a puzzle that pushed the simple mechanics of the game further and gave room for creative approaches, certain constraints, or mastery and speedrunning.

This game tries so hard to force roguelite mechanics, everything is rng-based, power ups, weapons, enemies.. it just loses the trial and error process that made the predecessor special.

It's also really short, but somehow still manages to get repetitive and tedious as ♥♥♥♥. The levels feel samey and bloated. The game has 40 or so nodes, but less than 10 maps/stages. Each node has 5-10 levels. This means that to beat the game, you'd have to play the same stage 30 times each, what shallow variety there is, is only provided by the forced RNG mechanics.

Overall it just feels like the game is trying to milk its predecessor, with a tacked on "roguelite!" tag to capitalise on the popular-at-the-time genre. It tries to be self aware (with all the "MORE" ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥) but what good is that? The whole game should've been a dlc or side mode.

Great game! My only issues were a few technical issues (you can't manually select a server, so the ping can be completely ♥♥♥♥♥♥ for one player and very low for another. The game also crashed a few times), and its short length, but with a free friend's pass it's well-worth the asking price.

The puzzles are very creative and fun for both players. Every single puzzle is built with co-op in mind. My partner and I were constantly engaged and had things to do. They're not difficult by any stretch, but they can get stressful enough to elicit a few laughs once done, especially if the ♥♥♥♥ up is due to sheer brainrot from our part.

Some people might find the tasks get repetitive, but I thought the difficulty curve and having new gameplay mechanics thrown in in every mission kept the game fresh throughout.