Recent reviews by astrobastard

The ultimate realization of the urge to "see what you can get away with" in a game. Schrödinger's Imm-sim. One of the single most satisfying things I've ever played as someone who was weaned on the early days of physics-enabled games. Hopelessly addictive and has some of my favorite sound design and music I've ever heard in a puzzle game. You'll know right from the jump if "final level can be literally impossible" is something you're willing to put up with, and I can't blame anyone for not doing so, but I still stand by the fact that the most interesting thing any game can do is *not* let you see or do everything. Happy that Mosa Lina wears it as a badge of honor

I was once seven years old playing Jet Set Radio: Future on an original Xbox in a camping chair. (You know, one of those folding, canvas ones. It was bright orange and honestly kind of uncomfortable.) I didn't realize it at the time, but with my controller set on the floor while munching on chips, I was forming a core memory: Beat stood motionless amidst the crowds of Rokkaku-dai Heights, while I listened to Scapegoat Wax's "Aisle 10 (Hello Allison)," the evening sun barreling down on him. Five or so years of school and a home-move later, I finally rediscovered Scapegoat Wax's ode to customer-service-based lust, and by extension, Jet Set Radio on 2010-era YouTube. I realized then and there that I'd formed a deep-seated desire for more games just like it: the true "flow state" game. The kind where you just *go,* exploring a handful of lovingly crafted, stylized urban environments by skating, grinding, and busting out insane tricks. Plenty of very talented people have tried to recreate this feeling, but none have gotten as close until August 2023.

Team Reptile has completely nailed it. Y2k-informed, scrappy, and ripped straight out of the alternate universe sixth console generation— Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is everything that a fan of *this kind of game* wants while being its own entity. It's abundantly clear where it came from, (if you know, you know, and you're here already,) but it's not one-to-one mimicking its inspirations. It's very similar, sure, but it's also learned from years of game design in this particular genre, drawing from the endangered pool of both extreme sports games and stylish platformers. It knows why you're here, it knows what you're here for, but it's not going to aggressively wink and nod at you the entire time while expecting your approval. It respects you enough to serve up an experience you'll love, while at the same time coolly saying: "do your thing." It's a game simply interested in being a game— Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is *just* Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, and it is, in fact, 1 second per second of advanced funkstyle. It is exactly what I've been asking for, and I couldn't be happier. (In fact, this is probably the happiest I've been playing any video game in a pretty long time.) The only complaint I have is that I wish I didn't have to leave so soon.

You can't go home again, but a team of skilled developers, artists and musicians can certainly make it feel like you have.

Fun as hell, charming, and disgustingly stylish, absolutely worth $6-$10 and shows the power of a small but laser-focused team. A love for arena shooters is absolutely a must, but if you're used to fast and frantic, this is for you. While all of the design work should be greatly applauded, I can't get over just how *good* the card art is especially. Tons of unbearably cute artwork. Excited to see where future content updates take it!

Extremely fun, charming game with just enough depth to be fun for the long haul, but approachable enough that I think anyone could enjoy it if they give it a good ol' college try. I still can't shake the feeling that my avatar is just a background character from Jimmy Neutron, which is weirdly, a good thing.

An amazing fan-made 'epilogue' of sorts to one of the most engrossing games I've ever played. It's quite rare to see user-created mods that stand up to the quality of the source material, but Downfall is a very clear example. From the writing and card flavor, to just how appealing of an idea playing as each of the bosses is, this mod scratches a colossal itch I've felt since I began doing Ascension runs in the base game. There are, of course, some rough edges. partially due to the ambition of the the entire damn thing, but as of the time of writing, there have been 'round-the-clock hotfix patches to squash these bugs just days out from its official integration on the Steam store. It's hard to fault the few issues Downfall *does* have due in part to JUST how much it's actually doing. I've put slightly over 300 hours into vanilla Slay the Spire and some of the boss characters still managed to seem overwhelming to me on my first run as each, and while that might scare some off, I found it incredibly enjoyable to wrap my brain around some of the insane mechanics the mod has to offer. A higher range of possibilities and an astronomically high skill ceiling for each character means even more limits to break, and countless more hours of experimenting, perfecting builds and outright breaking a game I still find so incredibly enjoyable. Downfall is a barn burner of technical and mechanical limit pushing that I wholeheartedly recommend.

Still *hands down* my favorite battle royale. Goofy, just the perfect amount of jank that works in the player's advantage, (squeezing into small spaces by just trying hard enough, being able to physically manipulate your gun with the environment, etc,) and generally just a whole lot of fun so long as you don't take it that seriously. F2P was long overdue but the game is now in the best state it's ever been and I hope beyond hope that TABG has a long life ahead of it.

High Hell is a short and sweet slice of bombastic, carefree anarchy, and I have to give it up for any game that uses this much #FF006B. If you enjoy arcadey, flashy shooters, you'll probably get a kick out of it, but keep in mind that if you know what you're doing you can probably go from cover-to-cover in under an hour. The one caveat I had with it, however, is that it feels woefully like a good proof of concept that could be blown up into something bigger and better. A few more weapons, a more fleshed out movement system, or generally some more variety in gameplay could've made High Hell something that stood high above publisher Devolver's other crazier experiences. However, what is here in High Hell is still quite enjoyable, as the great sound/visual design makes for a pretty damn memorable experience.

Think about every positive adjective you've ever heard in your life. All at one time. That's Katamari Damacy.

Fantastic game that just didn't get the play it needed to be a contender, and is soon to join the ranks of Fortnite, PUBG, and Radical Heights. Battle Royale will only serve to distill it into the exact mold that a BR game is in 2018. SOS was fun in that it combined social engineering/fragile alliances with a Battle Royale shooter, and had a unique and honestly very interesting idol system that forced players to work together in some way, shape or form. Forcing an already small player pool into two different queues and stripping the game of its original identity spells doom, and is just downright insulting.

Defeat your Kendo instructor in a burning barn to finally unmask the root of all evil.

Condemned: Criminal Origins is a great, turn-of-the-seventh-console-generation action-horror game that started my fascination with decrepit, urban horror. I'd recommend it in the same way that I'd recommend Dead Rising 1: recognize its few flaws, but definitely enjoy it for what it is. Now that the game is nearing its teenage years, it's starting to look pretty rough around the edges, and this port isn't exactly spotless, but if you look past some minor audio snags and lack of keybind prompts, you'll most likely enjoy it. Ranks up there with Dead Space 2 for having some very relatable swearing and grunting.