9 Years of Shadows Review (Nintendo Switch)
Metroid Fusion is one of my most favorite and cherished metroidvanias from my childhood. It’s not the perfect metroidvania by any means, but it’s memorable because of how it told a mysterious and intriguing story set in the Metroid universe alongside tight platforming combat and rewarding exploration. That said, it’s a short game – the last time I replayed Metroid Fusion, I was able to complete it...[Read More]
Broken Pieces
Broken Pieces evokes numerous other games during its opening hours–an often endearing quality when eventually those inspirations manifest into something wholly original. Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Alan Wake, Control, Gone Home, Alone in the Dark. Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft began to rapidly trickle in as did a number of avant-garde thrillers. If anything, Broken Pieces cements itself in...[Read More]
Dreamscaper (Switch)
Cassidy is a moderately normal young woman. She struggles with making a human connection. A tragic past event has put her guard up. Anxiety weakens her ability to communicate. And she can’t get a good night’s sleep. These days, though, who can? But Cassidy’s restless nights are plagued by a deadly dream world, twisted by her subconscious. In her dreams, her real world issues coag...[Read More]
Godstrike
Games like Godstrike are akin to mathematical puzzles. There’s a certain logic, a science behind the programming of the hundreds of balls of energy that encircle and threaten to harm the player. The fractal patterns of bullets spewing from a boss construct the constantly tantalizing bullet hells that delight the most masochistic. Being poor at math and, sometimes, pattern recognition, the ge...[Read More]