Last Stop presents three different stories set in the same city, mixing family drama with the fantastical: they are mostly well-told tales, featuring endearing characters and some neat ideas, even though they take too long to converge into a proper climax, which consequently feels rushed and underdeveloped. There are three main characters in Last Stop. We have John Smith, a …
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What Remains of Edith Finch
One of the main distinguishable elements of the Gothic genre is the spectral presence of the past, which returns to haunt the characters and remind them of the things they want to forget. The setting in What Remains of Edith Finch is a house built on memories, which hide the key to understanding the curse that plagues the Finch family: …
Read More »Replaced
Replaced is quite beautiful. The framing of the scenes, the buildings in the background, and especially the striking use of lightning and depth can all make us gasp in wonder. The HD-2D pixel art is atmospheric, and the environments are all incredibly detailed, layered, and bustling with life. We fully believe in Replaced’s world and are immersed in it just …
Read More »The Medium
Developed by Bloober Team, The Medium tries to blend the point-and-click with survival horror, failing to live up to both genres. With a problematic story that quickly derails after a promising start and a main gimmick that is wasted by poor puzzle design, The Medium eventually falls short of all its ambitions. The game starts with Marianne, a young Polish …
Read More »Nobody Wants to Die
Do you remember, in Black Panther, when Killmonger had a point until he decided to go full bonkers heartless villain because that’s what villains are supposed to do? Or, in The Batman, when Riddler had a point until the third act, when he decides to ruin Gotham in a way that betrays his own history and ideals? I thought a …
Read More »Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2
“What if this fear is worth listening to?” a voice asks Senua while she’s heading up a hill alone at night, watching the trees move by themselves, opening a path to her, while the sound of drums booms in the distance, disturbing the torches’ flames. She can hear the grunts and growls of the dead, too, echoing around her, mixed …
Read More »Call of the Sea
Call of the Sea is a first-person point-and-click adventure that tries to put a new spin on the Cthulhu mythos. With a colorful and vibrant art style, the game is unfortunately marred by exposition-heavy writing and questionable puzzle design. It’s the 1930s, and a woman called Nora Everharti is traveling to a remote island in the Pacific in search of …
Read More »Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
Birth by Sleep, originally released for the PSP, is a great prequel that excels when it comes to expanding the Kingdom Hearts’ universe and lore, even though it never quite succeeds at justifying its burdensome narrative structure: there’s this great expression in Portuguese, which can be translated literally to “forcing a friendship,” that is basically how anyone feels about the …
Read More »Arietta of Spirits
Length is a curious thing. Some say that a good movie (or game) is never too long and a bad one is never short enough, but there’s also the kind that is almost there, almost reaching greatness, where we feel more time was needed because the end result is, for the lack of a better word, undercooked. Arietta of Spirits …
Read More »Dragon Quest I HD-2D
The JRPG that began it all, establishing the tropes and structure of the genre, the first Dragon Quest has just received a substantial new coat of paint with this HD remake that presents a by-the-books, but very charming story with an intriguing combat system that is fun precisely because of its apparent unfairness. We play as the descendant of the …
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