Rodrigo Lopes

A Brazilian critic and connoisseur of everything Jellicle.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Review

The remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening presents an old classic with a new but problematic coat of paint. It still offers the same adventure set in a memorable setting that is both mysterious and tragic, but now with an art style that robs the narrative of some of its impact. The game opens with Link sailing alone …

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Nintendo Switch 2: Welcome Tour

Switch 2 Welcome Tour review

Have you ever had the pleasure of hearing an artist talk in length about their work? Listening while they go on for hours about the tiniest of stuff, explaining how complicated it was to make those little things work within their original vision, how painstakingly hard it was to create a small bit you didn’t even pay proper attention to, …

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Bioshock: Rapture

Bioshock: Rapture Book Review

Bioshock: Rapture is a flawed complement to its great source material: Bioshock’s greatest strength was its fantastical setting – the grandiose underwater city of Rapture – and how it managed to tie the philosophy behind it to its horror elements. The novel may try to follow suit, focusing on the city’s initial years before its terrible downfall, but fails to …

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Close to the Sun

Close to the Sun Game Review

Close to the Sun is a narrative adventure game that falters when it comes to its most fundamental component: its narrative. With shallow, boring characters and undeveloped themes, the game even commits the modern sin of foregoing a proper conclusion in favor of leaving doors open for a sequel. The story takes place in 1897 in a reality where Nikola …

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Kingdom Hearts 2

Kingdom Hearts 2 Review

The following review comments heavily on the events of 358/2 Days. Beware of spoilers, for they’re coming. Kingdom Hearts 2 is a bigger, bolder sequel that goes all out in everything it does, delivering a more complex story and an action-focused combat system. It has its obvious share of faults – at this point, it wouldn’t be Kingdom Hearts without …

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Gone Girl

Gone Girl Book Review

“And they say marriage is such hard work,” someone ironically concludes in Gone Girl, a novel that employs a typical thriller structure to deconstruct the institution of marriage and, through the conflicts of deeply troubled characters, expose the difficulties of maintaining a long-lasting relationship. On his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne receives the news that his wife, Amy Dunne, has …

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The Doom That Came to Sarnath

The Doom That Came to Sarnath Review

The Lovecraft Project: Howard Phillips Lovecraft is the father of cosmic horror – the genre constructed around the notion that we humans are just a tiny, insignificant part of the universe, which holds much bigger, ancient, more powerful beings. We are nothing compared to what lies out there, beyond our reach and understanding. The plan is to write a few …

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AI: The Somnium Files

AI The Somnium Files Review

AI: The Somnium Files is a fascinating adventure game whose convoluted plot is easily outshone by the quirky characters that inhabit its absurd world – which is a great thing, as the story by itself is a bit shallow and quite, quite repetitive. On a rainy day, a woman called Shoko Nadami is found dead on a merry-go-round with an …

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Bayonetta 2

Bayonetta 2 Game Review

Somehow managing to be even more insane and frenetic than the first one (which is saying a lot) Bayonetta 2 is a unique action game that, with its fascinating heroine and engaging combat system, excels at wowing us with increasingly insane set pieces. The story begins when Bayonetta’s dear friend, Jeanne, is attacked and taken to hell by a demon that …

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The Miniaturist

The Miniaturist Book Review

The Miniaturist is a historical novel disguised as a mystery one: its real aim is not to explore the enigma that the title character represents, but to investigate and criticize the Dutch society of the early 17th century. The protagonist is Petronella Oortman, or Nella, a young woman who marries a successful merchant she doesn’t know, Johannes Brandt, and goes …

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