Action Adventure

Abzû | 18th Nov, 2020 | 1:30hrs | rating: 2/5

Explore a variety of underwater environments.

GAMEPLAY: Swim around and occasionally interact with levers and machines to open doors. There’s very little going on in terms of gameplay, and many objects don’t even have collision detection.
AUDIOVISUALLY: I don’t find the visuals too impressive, but in combination with the immersive music and sound effects, the whole experience is very calming and relaxing.
STORY/PRESENTATION: You’re just dropped into the water and find your way from one area to the next. You get ehm, more powerful along the way, I think?

Certainly not a game played for its gameplay, but if you want to de-stress, it really does the job. And then it’s over before it barely even began.

Owl Boy | 19th Aug, 2020 | 6:00hrs | rating: 2/5

Fly around with your friends and save the world.

GAMEPLAY: A platformer with twin-stick shooter mechanics is a solid idea, but there’s just no “weight” to any of your moves, and it never gets remotely challenging. It makes the gameplay feel pointless, as if it’s just there for the story to qualify as a game.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Above average pixel art with below average character designs. The music is movie soundtracky and pretty nice, but not memorable.
STORY/PRESENTATION: It’s very plot-driven, but the story just doesn’t do anything for me.

This is the kind of game that’s built with a lot of passion and ideas, but they’ve forgotten that games need to be fun to actually play, even when removing plot and nice visuals. It’s just short, linear and unsatisfying.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons | 2nd Apr, 2020 | 3:00hrs | rating: 1.5/5

Two brothers set out to find a cure to save their dying father.

GAMEPLAY: All you do is move your character around and occasionally press the action button to activate an animation to climb, talk or interact with various elements. Despite this, the wonky physics and controls are nothing less than hilariously bad, and we often laughed at the random clipping and errors. This game is not played for its gameplay.
AUDIOVISUALLY: It looks like what I imagine Gamecube/PS2 games to look like in HD. It’s very basic, and the music is basically nonexistent.
STORY/PRESENTATION: The story is the strength. Can’t say it moved me at the end or anything, but there are some really cool and freaky scenarios on your adventure.
MULTIPLAYER: The whole game can be co-oped with a friend, and it certainly makes it a lot more fun, maybe partly because it caused even more bugs than when playing alone!

This feels like it wasn’t made by people with video game experience, but if gameplay isn’t very important to you, it’s a short but fascinating journey through a few environments and events.

Wuppo | 19th Mar, 2020 | 7:20hrs | rating: 2/5

You’re a small ball who gets kicked out of your hotel, and now you have to find your way back!

GAMEPLAY: The main mechanic is aiming your various guns with the right analog stick, but mostly you explore the world, do some light platforming and read a lot of (humorous) dialog.
AUDIOVISUALLY: I find it pretty ugly, like it’s made in classic Paint with modern effects on top. The music is very nice though, the best aspect of the game!
STORY/PRESENTATION: It starts interesting, but you get back to the hotel pretty quickly and after that it seems like they just made things up without any planning or structure. It’s just too aimless for this kind of game.
MULTIPLAYER: After a few minutes, a second player can join in as a bird buddy, but since most of the game is slow and eventless, it doesn’t really add anything.

I’m sure a lot of love was put into this, but it’s just too unfocused for me. Uncaptivating (though at least occasionally silly) plot, long empty corridors especially if you don’t know where to go next, lots of shops and areas that turned out to be useless in order to progress, regular slowdown and more than a few bugs like getting stuck in walls. I’d definitely recommend Wandersong instead, which is a similar adventure platformer but superior in every single way.

Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King | Mar 9, 2020 | 6:30hrs | rating: 2.5/5

A total Zelda clone where you’re a female knight out to save the kingdom.

GAMEPLAY: It controls fine, but it’s very much an easier, shorter and more repetitive Zelda. The dungeons are very linear and simple, and basically only 4-5 puzzle types keep appearing, most of them having you push blocks.
AUDIOVISUALLY: I like the atmosphere, but dislike the inconsistent sprite resolutions; it really makes it less professional-looking. The music also switches between Gameboy-sounding to much more modern sounds. It’s occasionally catchy, but inconsistent.
STORY/PRESENTATION: It’s charming how the story is told to kids by their grandfather, but other than that, it’s very simple and predictable.

At first it felt too derivative, but after a few hours I found myself still having fun. Then suddenly it was over. The formula works though, as long as you’re not looking for anything creative or original.

The Touryst | Dec 28, 2019 | 5:35hrs | rating: 2.5/5

Explore a bunch of squarey tourist islands and solve puzzles.

GAMEPLAY: Although there’s a large variation of side-quests/mini-games, they’re all extremely simple and short, and the “dungeons” are only a couple of rooms when they could have been 10 without getting boring. The most meaty part is an optional mine exploring game, which is fine but just nothing special. It’s a very light game.
AUDIOVISUALLY: The pixelated 3D visuals are quite special, but I’m not a huge fan except for the nice lighting. The audio is atmospheric, mostly sound of waves, but it’s effective.
STORY/PRESENTATION: It’s a charming presentation and the main mystery is nice but light. My take-away really is that the game has too little of it. Like a Zelda game if you strip away all enemies and 90% of its content.

I did found the game fun enough in a sort of relaxing way. Like, you do some arcade games, you make 35 lift ups, canoe a little. But its core needed to be at least twice as meaty to make a bigger impression on me.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 | Nov 20, 2019 | 18:30hrs | rating: 3.5/5

Once again you explore dark rooms and suck up everything that looks suckable.

GAMEPLAY: The gameplay loop is slow and methodical as you aim your vacuum at everything in order to unlock the next room, and occasionally suck up ghosts. I have no problem with the controls, but it does get repetitive, and you rarely feel rewarded for your exploration; it’s just money, money and more money, which all feels useless.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Visually it’s definitely among the best on Switch, and the animations are amazing. The audio is the most pleasant during the rare peaceful moments when you let go of the vacuum button. I think this is a negative, that the game is mostly just noise.
STORY/PRESENTATION: Great short cut-scenes that set the mood, and there’s a lot of variation visually. It has maybe the best presentation of any Nintendo game, and would really work as a cartoon series.
MULTIPLAYER: Once you’ve unlocked Gooigi, you can play through the whole adventure in co-op, which is absolutely great, and makes the game so much more fun. The additional multiplayer games are forgettable when you’re two people, but might be fun when you’re a whopping 8 players.

The big problem is the lack of rewards and upgrades. The gameplay never changes up, and in an exploration heavy game like this, you need more than 6 special trinkets per “level” to make exploring feel worthwhile. There’s so much ambition and love poured into the game, so it’s unfortunate that the gameplay loop always gets tiresome within an hour of playing.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening | Sep 29, 2019 | 19:00hrs | rating: 3.5/5

Easily the most focused and puzzle-based Zelda game, now with 3D graphics. But having played the original not too many years ago, it was a somewhat unexciting experience.

GAMEPLAY: It’s simple and easy but still satisfying. The world is so focused that it never gets boring.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Beautiful and charming, and I was never bothered by the frame drops. Music was also nice, although it missed some energy compared to the original soundtrack.
STORY/PRESENTATION: It has charming characters, but the plot is built on a cliché that I’ve never been a fan of.
MULTIPLAYER: None. I took turns playing with a friend though, and because the game is so focused compared to other Zelda games, it never gets boring to watch and give suggestions.

I feel a little weird after finishing this. I’ve only played the original once, but I was very impressed back then, immediately calling it my favorite 2D Zelda game. This time though? I’m a little “meh” on it. Maybe because the series simply works best the first time around, when it’s all new. Or maybe I just prefer the more expressive movement and gameplay of the platformer classics I’ve played lately.