Recent reviews by TeaFrog

If you're looking for an MMO and think you might be interested in FFXIV, go ahead and give it a go. It scratches the itch, is beautiful, and I'm having a fun time.

A fun time if you enjoy weird, convoluted mysteries and don't mind a plot that involves good deal of suspending disbelief at the end. Overall, I had a fun time with it and look forward to more in the series. The only thing I strongly disliked was the poor handling of a trans- character's identity.

You like board games? Buy Tabletop Simulator. I have had so much fun with my friends in so little time.

I'm not normally much of rogue-like player, but Crypt of the NecroDancer got its hooks in me and won't let go. The visuals are charming, the gameplay is tight, and the music is outstanding. I'm not very good at Crypt, but I love it, and have never been happier while raging.

No other game has ever made me feel more torn between "This is so hard, it hurts, make it stop" and "AGAIN!"

Well, that was really weird. But, it made me laugh out loud and I found it interesting. Pick it up if you want to spend ten minutes going "huh?" Huh.

Oh, how I wish we had a "mixed" or "neutral" button for Steam reviews, because I certainly have mixed feelings on this game.

I've been playing Nancy Drew games since the beginning, so I'm well-acquainted with the franchise, which is probably biasing me. Midnight in Salem is a huge shift for HeR Interactive and featured a lot of changes for the series.

I liked the improved visuals overall, but a lot of the character models felt glitchy as they talked. Their gestures wouldn't match up with their words or tone at all, and overall their movements were a bit unsettling. They looked great when idle, but as soon as they were engaged in conversation, they became distracting.

And there is a LOT of conversation. As other reviews have mentioned, there's a lot of talking in this game, and a good chunk of it seems to be for no good reason. I always enjoy the conversation aspects of Nancy Drew, but it felt like the whole game was just walking between points of dialogue. Walkking badly, because the pathing is not great, despite my general enjoyment of the increased camera control.

And all this dialogue severely cut into the puzzles. There are very, very few of them and they typically must be completed as you come across them, as they are holding the plot back. In previous games, I always appreciated being able to work on a puzzle, but having something else to do -- like another puzzle or a new area to explore -- and being able to come back to it without the game feeling like it was at a halt. And I like having lots of puzzles. That's the reason I play Nancy Drew games. This one would just throw one down every couple of hours and it had to be solved right then -- no stopping and coming back, because there was nothing else to do.

The story, setting, and characters were fine, I just wish Midnight in Salem had felt more like the Nancy Drew games I've come to know and love. It's not a horrible game, but I have to come down on the side of not recommending it, as I just feel disappointed now that I've finished it. People new to the franchise may enjoy it more than those who have gotten used to the style of classic Nancy Drews.

A Short Hike was exactly what I needed to unwind during a stressful period in my life. I loved exploring the forest the game takes place in and discovering all the little nooks and crannies that hold secrets and collectibles. It's a small enough map that you pick up on where things are in relation to each other fairly quickly, but large enough to have plenty of different zones with their own flavors. The NPCs Claire encounters on her journey are charming, and I enjoyed chatting and interacting with them while I climbed. And it was nice to not have to worry about taking damage if I got too confident with my climbing and flying abilities. Plus the soundtrack is great.

I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys being rewarded for exploration and who is looking for a short experience that's cute and relaxing.

A visually stunning and deeply engrossing logic puzzler. It's best to go in as blind as possible, but if you like solving mysteries and using your deduction skills, give this one a go. I found myself a bit frustrated with some of the final pieces of the puzzle, but overall, I absolutely loved it. Highly recommend.

Also, the soundtrack is banging.

I'm going to be honest: I kind of got this game as a joke. A friend showed me the trailer while we were drinking, so I bought it thinking it would provide a couple hours of silly entertainment.

It provides entertainment in spades, and quickly moves beyond silliness to suck you into a story that's got teeth. I very much enjoyed it and plan on putting a few more hours in to see some of the other endings.

There's not as much choice as I would like, but if you don't mind your visual novels being on rails, it's a fun read.

An amazing experience that I highly recommend, but take the warnings at the beginning seriously. This game is disturbing, and you'll want to play when you're in a stable mental place.