Short Reviews 2025

Reviews

Dec 27

I felt inspired once more to look back at the games I played throughout the previous year. However, the 5-sentence challenge doesn’t interest me, so each entry will last as long as I can write about them.

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Dave the Diver

Developer: MINTROCKET
Publisher: MINTROCKET, Nexon Co., Ltd.
First Released: 2022
Platforms: PS4 & PS5 | Steam | Switch
Trailer | Playthrough

(Main story completed)

My opinion from last year that this game was “okay” didn’t change by the end of the main story. The greatest source of frustration is my inability to pinpoint what Dave could fix for a better experience.

When I think about each of the game’s core concepts, all that my inner voice can muster is to “keep expanding on that idea”. The land and fish farms? Too bare bones; they should have more depth. The restaurant sim? It’s boring and annoying because I’m forced to automate everything; it needs to be more fun. Food recipes? There's no reason to craft anything but shark dishes; they need to be better. Combat? Sluggish; it needs to feel more satisfying.

I wish I could provide better critiques. I'm a picky customer who doesn't actually know what I want. Dave the Diver isn’t bad in any particular area. It’s just okay to play.

Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl - Gold

Developer: Level-5 Inc, h.a.n.d. Inc.
Publisher: Level-5 Inc.
Released: 2018
Platforms: Switch
Trailer

(Rage Quit)

Snack World decided that I couldn't have fun anymore. After squeaking out a victory against the base game's obnoxious final boss, it didn't take long for me to hit a wall in the postgame. I lost track of how many hours I tried to “get gud” as one player with 3 Snacks (NPC monster allies).

The difficulty (intentional as well as jank) spiraled to the point that the game was figuratively asking me, “You guys have friends, right?”

Wight Head, the last boss I fought before the rage quit, provides a decent snapshot of the absurdity I dealt with. Snacks can't be given direct orders, so I had to pray that they'd either support me or distract the boss with their rudimentary AI. The arena is swarmed with projectiles that either induce sleep or reverse the player's controls. Potion slots work on an Estus Flask system, so cures for either status is a finite resource.

The best solution I slapped together was equipment to reach 100% sleep resistance, and 3 duplicate healers. Even then, I barely succeeded in that clip.

It crushes my soul that I've labelled Snack World as “impossible” to play solo. It's a janky game, but it was cozy fun until it nosedived with its demands. No one in America is playing this game online, and I'm not going to force anyone to endure it with me.

Ruined Nurse

Developer/Publisher: eTIRUe
Released: 2024
Platforms: Steam
Trailer | Playthrough

My writer’s block hit me hard as I tried to write about this game. I bought it as a joke, yet was surprised to find it more entertaining than expected. However, I don’t want to oversell it, because it’s not a great game.

I’m once again stealing an opinion from my Twitch chat for the perfect summary: if Ruined Nurse was a movie in RedLetterMedia’s “Best of the Worst”, it would be one of the good picks.

Ruined Nurse is designed in the spirit of old Resident Evils, but the dev's poor coding skills bring a lot of jank and optimization problems. Features such as bad audio mixing, stiff animations/physics, and failed texture loading are all present.

Despite these factors, there’s a charm to this game’s jank. If you need a funny B-movie (complete with shameless busty fanservice) in video game form, consider this one.

One more aside, and I don’t mean to prop the game onto a pedestal, but it’s hilarious how Ruined Nurse mocks the AAA industry (I'm not sure if intentionally or accidentally). I found yellow paint in only two locations for my entire playthrough. The game’s featured hospital is a maze because it lacks both a map and what I call “Go Here, Dumbass” markers. I had to actually engage my brain by memorizing its layout. Of all games, this is one that puts the dire, braindead state of the AAA scene into perspective.

Forgive Me Father

The one boomer shooter I got around to last year has some flaws, but overall I felt it was a decent pick.

The Priest and Journalist have identical upgrade trees and mostly play the same, but combat is energetic and fluid regardless of who you pick. Some of the enemy designs are clever, such as the basic zombies holding spare heads in case the main one pops off.

Guns are satisfying to use, although their branching level-up trees feel like they play favorites. For instance, you could upgrade the starting pistol to be more accurate with a small damage penalty, or you can wield two pistols with horrendous accuracy and twice the ammo usage. You could upgrade the shotgun to be stronger, or you could turn it into an aquatic abomination that shoots bouncy piercing shells.

Boss fights are the largest sin in Forgive Me Father. To explain this in the fewest words possible, one of my golden rare Steam achievements is from clearing the story as the Journalist. This wasn’t a special challenge mode or a higher difficulty. Out of all players on Steam (in 2025), 6.6% simply finished the game (it floats to a meager 10% with Priest). I’m confident that the bosses are the reason. I almost uninstalled the game twice due to “Big Ugly Fish” and Cthulhu himself, that's how bullshit the fights were.

And yet, later in the year, I found myself booting up the game again to play as the Priest. The positives clearly outweigh the negatives.

Monster Hunter: Wilds

Developer: Capcom Co., Ltd.
Publishers: Capcom Co., Ltd., Capcom U.S.A., Inc., CE Europe Ltd.
Released: 2025
Platforms: PS5 | Steam | Xbox Series
Trailer | (Unlisted Streams playlist)

(Initial release)

I doubt I can provide any insightful commentary when I barely scratched the surface of Wilds. I joined my friends during the main story, but wasn't motivated to follow them to the postgame (I even missed the Chocobo event! What is wrong with me?!). My playthroughs for World and Rise faced similar fates. For some reason, I have commitment issues with Monster Hunter in general.

Perhaps I'm distracted by too many other hobbies. Maybe I'm just “mad because bad” at its brutal difficulty. Regardless, I do appreciate the franchise for what it is (especially when it features an incredible variety of wildlife).

Based on what I played, I felt the main story was a little easier than usual. I was able to coast through fights with Lighting longswords, even when they weren't a favorable matchup against a monster. I have no idea if this means I've improved as a Hunter, or if it's a sign that Capcom is gradually simplifying combat mechanics.

I got a feeling that Monster Hunter is slowly “normie-fying” itself in general. As much as I like mounts returning from Rise, the fact they can automate walking literally anywhere is a little silly. Granted, I'm guilty of using this feature, because it gave Wilds more of an arcade feel (jump in, slay monster, jump out). But I can also acknowledge that it exists to rush through the repetitive parts of the game (tracking monsters, gathering resources, etc).

And, of course, there are the cutscenes that overstay their welcome. They test your patience like the longwinded scenes with humans in a typical Godzilla film. I don't mean to be a tourist, but can we please get to the part with the giant lizards?

Everhood 2

Developer/Publisher: Foreign Gnomes
Released: 2025
Platforms: Steam | Switch
Trailer | Playthrough

It hurts to say that this sequel was a letdown, especially when it started off so promising.

Everhood 2 received a simple yet brilliant update to its musical battles. You're no longer restricted to 3 notes to dish out attacks. So long as you don't take damage or swap colors, the combo can be stacked infinitely for a stronger volley. It's an addictive high-risk, high-reward mechanic. I wish it could be retroactively applied to the original Everhood.

The story is where things fell apart. I tried to be patient with it. An initially wacky and nonsensical adventure, that later unravels into existential discussions of the psyche, was exactly what I anticipated. But after 20 hours and 2 runs of the game, I can barely piece together its abstract concepts and symbolism.

My teammates had 1-note personalities for the majority of my playthrough. Meanwhile, the most engaging character I ran into was a sock puppet snake named Bobo. I could easily write an essay on this guy, but to avoid gabbing too much: there's seriously deep lore behind the big-tittied slime girls. Bobo's tragedy (or how I interpreted it, anyways) was nothing like the other character arcs I followed.

Did I miss some important dialogue? Did I simply not “get it”? These thoughts ran through my head, because I didn't want to be unreasonable when I had 20 hours of content to unpack.

But the 20 hours on its own might be the problem. If you want a wacky yet somber adventure full of symbolism, the original Everhood delivers it in less than 10 hours. A few bosses are exclusive to NG+ mode, but that first run provides more than enough material to work with.

Grinding for 20 hours to maybe understand Everhood 2 made the story feel unfocused and bloated with padding. It lacks the same impact as its short but sweet predecessor.

Pixel Cafe

Developer/Publisher: Baltoro Games Sp. z o.o.
Released: 2023
Platforms: PS4 & PS5 | Steam | Switch | Xbox One & Series
Trailer | One-off Stream

Baltoro Games is a company that keeps bumping their copy-paste restaurant simulators to the top of the Switch (1)’s eShop by perpetually leaving them on sale. I can’t confirm or deny if they’re asset flips, but I’ve occasionally checked their listings anyways. I’m hoping to eventually snipe one for a dollar or less. The genre appeals to me, so even for a cheap-looking clone, I’d gladly sacrifice the cost of a price-gouged ramen cup from my work’s break room.

I was surprised to find that Baltoro published another cooking sim, but with a distinct art style: Pixel Cafe. I decided to take a risk with a “whopping” 4 dollar sale price.

Pixel Cafe has a cozy feel to it while maintaining the typical stress management chaos you’d expect. On the Switch version, the controls can be somewhat finicky, but each level can reasonably be completed with said jank. The later levels in each restaurant provide a decent challenge.

My only major critique for the game is its story. The writing has a looping structure of the protagonist having a depressing life, dusting herself off by working at a new restaurant, having an uplifting moment, and then crashing back to depressing. However, these moments are isolated to cutscenes, so it’s ultimately a nitpick.

Bedrotting

Developer/Publisher: Marginal act
Released: 2024
Platforms: Steam | Switch
Trailer | Playthrough

(Screenshot from official Steam page)

Once again, I can thank the eShop for listing this extremely obscure spooky game. I bought the Steam version for 2 dollars, however, because who the hell at the eShop thought 15 was okay?

I’ll cut to the chase: it’s boring. Half of its gameplay is a stress management sim, where you’re constantly clicking on objects to prevent meters from either building or running out (I’m not sure if “FNAF-like” is an accurate description).

The other half is weaving the cursor around “terrifying” entities that accelerate the depression meter if hovered over. It’s like that old Scary Maze Game, except that it lacks any tension of a screamer appearing.

I wound up finishing this game anyways. At the very least, it gave me nostalgic vibes of horror YouTubers and the deep dives they take into random games.

(On a complete tangent: don’t worry about the… “strange object” on the game’s store banner and splash screen. It’s just there to be edgy; no such thing exists in it.)

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

Developer: Nihon Falcom Corp.
Publishers: Nihon Falcom Corp., NIS America, Inc., Nippon Ichi Software, Inc.
Released: 2016
Platforms: Luna | PS4, PS5, Vita | Steam | Switch
Trailer | Playthrough

Considering my tastes with ARPGs, Lacrimosa of Dana was a good way to ease me into Ys as a whole. I enjoyed it to the point that it became a contributor to my existential crisis with FF16.

It’s probably on the simpler side compared to other RPGs in general, but it’s crazy how refreshing it feels to have stats that matter, multiple characters and attack slots to pick from, and better equipment options to adjust their builds.

Ys 8 also hit a Goldilocks effect for me with its small map design. Terrain is varied enough to support and reward exploration without feeling completely like a hallway.

The story is neither amazing nor terrible. The weak English localization sometimes makes it sound corny, but for the most part it’s tolerable.

I liked Ys 8 enough to obtain the true ending, but I did the bare minimum with Dana’s time travel dungeons. It’s nice to have bonus content, but it felt more like forgettable filler to me.

Overall, I give Ys 8 the “just plain fun” stamp of approval.

(By the way, why did only 7.7% of y’all play as Hummel for more than 5 minutes? A couple of the dude’s attacks make him hilariously busted. I had a ton of fun cheesing with his easy counterattack and AOEs explosions.)

Coagulation Station

Developer/Publisher: The Big Onion Institute
Released: 2024
Platforms: Itch.io
Trailer | Playthrough

Although this short body horror experience can be boiled down to “click on stuff”, its atmosphere and sound design is incredible. The only immersion-breaking element I ran into was the aquatic behemoth lurking in the thick blood soup. It looks like a crude plastic dinosaur toy you’d find at a dollar store, it’s that comical.

Regardless, it serves as a great proof of concept, and I’d like the planned sequel, Fleshfall, to stop having a release date of “Coming Soon”.

While We Wait Here

The cooking segments in this game’s trailers are what caught my attention. In reality, they exist more as interactive filler content in-between the “walking sim” dialogue and cutscenes.

WWWH is an often painfully on-the-nose story about grief and breaking free of its clutches. Additional characters share their baggage and offer the player a couple choices to influence their destiny.

There are flashes of brilliance in the storytelling buried under an overall dull presentation. For example, I was genuinely caught off guard the first time I saw Hank’s father crawling at him as a large ghoulish husk. But in the cutscene prior, his personality is the tired and overblown “I revel in your suffering” abusive father trope.

Two of the NPCs are straight up a parody of Life is Strange. I haven’t played that game, but that unmistakable blue hair made me cringe nevertheless.

One hidden feature in WWWH is amazing, and it’s a shame that its full potential is nerfed. I don’t know if another walking sim already did this, so I’ll yap about it like it’s new.

You can technically select which of the two protagonists (Cliff or Nora) to play as, depending on how you answer a prompt at the beginning of the game. The biggest changes relate to the aforementioned destiny choices. If you pick the “morally correct” option of the two, each character unlocks a bonus cutscene. However, option A may only work for Cliff, while Nora wants the player to select option B.

It’s a fantastic gameplay-driven way to represent the difficult and nebulous nature of morality. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this game based on one smart mechanic. If there’s another game that already did this, it’d probably be worth playing instead.

Mashina

Developer: Talha and Jack Co Limited
Publisher: Judatone Studios
Released: 2025
Platforms: Steam
Trailer | Playthrough

There’s so much whimsy to the hodgepodge of clay and scrap materials comprising Mashina’s world. I think that the lead artist downplays his art style in the developer commentary video; his talents actually give the game a charming aesthetic.

When it comes to Mashina’s gameplay loop, it has potential that it falls short on. Digging for minerals can be cozy, but also tedious because of how little the game’s mechanics change between each zone. Conveyor belts also feel limited in scope; I used them mostly to empty Mashina’s pockets onto, or as breadcrumb trails to a cave’s entrance. The treasure radar is pointless when fetch quests directly point to the “hidden” objects that I need.

I can only speak in generalities as to what Mashina could do to elevate its experience. Its most promising features are exploration and gathering materials. I think a heavier focus as a collect-a-thon and/or a puzzle adventure would pair well with its laid-back gameplay.

Hotline Miami

Hotline Miami is grisly, fast-paced, and highly replayable game. Finding a rhythm to dish out carnage at lightning speed is immensely satisfying.

I only wish that the unlockable masks could adjust more than one aspect of the game at a time. Running slightly faster is okay, but it pales in comparison to punching my enemies to death in one hit.

With its short runtime designed to be played multiple times, so that $10 price tag might be steep for some people. When in doubt, it’s worth keeping an eye out for a sale.

Hollow Knight

This might be a hot take, but I don’t think the combat in Hollow Knight is good.

To be more specific, platforming and general movement are fine. Factoring in the permanent unlockable skills, I found a little jank at worst. However, there’s a clunkiness to the Nail and Soul attacks that I can’t put my finger on. There are charms that “fixed” the Nail’s range and speed for me, but I hate that most of my charm slots were occupied with them.

I may have been disappointed with that half of Hollow Knight, but I was absolutely hooked with exploration. It’s why I stuck with the game for over 70 hours. It perfectly nails (heh) that aspect of Metroidvanias.

Despite my mixed reception of the original game, I’m still curious to see what changes were made in Silksong (sometime in the future. My backlog is insane.)

Happy Game

Developer/Publisher: Amanita Design s.r.o
Released: 2021
Platforms: GOG | Steam
Trailer | Playthrough

This narrative-focused game attempts to push edgy and unsettling imagery on the player, but nothing truly stuck for me. I almost picked up symbolism with the child protagonist walking through core memories full of guilt and helplessness, but each chapter seems to bail with the old “it was just a dream” twist. I’m not spoiling much, considering how multiple (unmissable) Steam achievements explicitly include "nightmare" in their descriptions.

Destroy All Humans! (2020)

Developer: Black Forest Games GmbH
Publisher: THQ Nordic GmbH
Released: 2020
Platforms: Epic Games | PS4 | Steam | Xbox One & Cloud Gaming
Trailer | Playthrough

(Working towards 100% completion at time of writing)

Once I stopped overthinking this game’s straightforward mechanics, I was glad to have finally played it (I missed out on the original as a kid). Its stupid-yet-brilliant sense of humor is exactly what appeals to a fellow Earth human enthusiast of Invader Zim (it also helps that Richard Horvitz himself is playing a similar role in DAH!).

I hit writer’s block again for this game, so I guess that means it’s “just plain fun”. I have nitpicks about floaty animations during cutscenes, but the game overall is enjoyable.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A

Developer: Game Freak, Inc.
Publisher: Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Released: 2025
Platforms: Switch | Switch 2
Trailer | Playthrough

(Base game, ~30 hours in)

I know that purchasing this game makes me part of the problem. But I couldn’t get a read on Z-A being “good” or “bad” just by watching footage of it. I had to experience it for myself. Besides, I’m interested in Pokémon games that attempt to shake up the formula with something more experimental.

And… yeah, it’s bad.

Z-A feels like Game Freak built it around raid (Rogue Mega Evolution) battles first, and then worked backwards to fill in the other content. The new combat system that focuses on movement and timing kind of works in raids, but during normal NPC fights, I almost always mashed buttons two inches away from the opposing Pokémon. Watching fights in Z-A is completely different from how it feels to actually play it.

There are bizarre quirks in general with combat that endlessly frustrate me. You can’t issue commands unless you’re locked-on to a target, and the player character can’t dodge roll while locked on because the Y button switches to an attack slot. Dodge rolling often requires fidgeting with the camera, because - by the way - you drop your lock if you release ZL. I can’t make a “Dark Souls of ___” joke here, because even Dark Souls lets me stick the camera to my chosen subject.

Other nuisances include the inability to order my Pokémon to stand still or to follow the player character at a distance farther than “at the hip”. NPCs dedicate themselves to the main Rogue Pokémon while ignoring bonus mechanics (e.g. Binacles summoned near Mega Barbaracle). “Plus Moves” are offensively weak damage boosts that drain the meter needed to Mega Evolve (the objectively superior option).

Many people have mocked Z-A’s hideous graphics, but I was more bothered with Lumiose’s hollow atmosphere. Maybe if the Switch could load the map in smaller chunks, then the city could be populated with a better variety of interactions around people and wild Pokémon. There are small moments, such as a Fletchling preening or a Trubbish greeting the player, but not enough to shake that feeling of emptiness. It also doesn’t help that most of the game is spent around the same drab grey architecture (with flat-textured windows and balconies). There’s a shockingly low number of buildings to enter, as if it’s still Lumiose as it appears in X & Y Versions (it was excusable back when it was one of many locations to visit).

I’ll be sticking with Z-A through the main story, because it’s one of those bad yet entertaining games for me. But I’ll be avoiding the DLC like the plague.

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Kiribbean

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