Recent reviews by Mantis Toboggan

Did an in-depth review here: https://youtu.be/D3rN2wQ8PwA

As it stands, I can't recommend this game at full price. I wish there were a "mixed" review option, because Crossing Souls does a few things right that the devs should get more praise for.

Pros:

- gorgeous art style
- extreme attention to detail, especially in the first area. The worlds feels very alive and authentic.
- absolutely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ BALLER soundtrack composed by the likes of Chris Köbke and Timecop 1983
- tasteful and clever nods to 1980s media.

Cons. Oh boy.

- repetitive combat that requires no strategy. All you do is bash the attack button until everything is dead.
- no progression system, weapon upgrades and skill trees. Not every games needs these things, of course, but they could've helped compensate for the repetitive combat.
- an over-reliance on puzzles, platforming AND puzzle platforming.
- bland characters. Each character has one defining characteristic, and that's about it. They're as tropey as they can get.
- story starts strong, but it gets off the rails as soon as you enter the second chapter.
- dozens of examples of ludonarrative dissonance that it'll take a long time to cover here.

Overall, Crossing Souls had potential, but it fails to deliver in the most important departments - gameplay and story. To Fourratic's credit, it's obvious they poured a lot of love and care into this game and it's their first project. Not to mention that making games is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ HARD and it's near impossible to get it right from the first try.

I did an in depth review of SAM here: https://youtu.be/1Iy6N19KTfk

I enjoyed my time with SAM. It’s a huge improvement over ASM, and although it feels A LITTLE thin on content, the devs are hard at work to improve the game and very responsive to feedback.

So, to summarize SAM in convenient bullet-point fashion:

Pros:

- stellar writing. Clever meta-jokes, pop culture references and intriguing characters
- Detailed and varied environments
- mature, grounded story that feels like a natural continuation and evolution from the young-adulthood angst of ASM
- Ridiculously high degree of replayability


Cons:

- some minor typos here and there that have been probably fixed by the time I’m writing this review
- late game needs more content
- I would like if the game offered more side activities to do with spouse/other NPCs

All in all, SAM is a worthy successor and totally worth the wait. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this series.

it's okay

Okay, so, let me start this by disclosing that I'm not a big adventure player. My experience is limited to the Sam and Max series (including Hit the Road from 1993) and the first Monkey Island game. So I can't really offer an ''expert'' opinion on the quality of the puzzles. However, what I CAN do is talk about the rest of the game which is, quite frankly, pretty damn good.

-excellent writing. Tons of examples of (clever) 4th wall breaking, like the narrator referring to itself as ''the voice'' and talking directly to the protagonist and the player. It's pretty crazy.
-an absurdly anachronistic world where characters reference modern pop culture and devices even though the game is technically set in a medieval universe.
-excellent voice casting, especially the narrator.
-clever humor. To call this game ''medieval fantasy comedy'' would be a disservice. The medieval setting is just pretext for the writers to dump their most absurd and idiosyncratic jokes.
-did I mention the humour? Yeah, it's pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ funny.

Cons:
-as much as I love the references, I feel like the humour relies too much on them instead of the strength of the writing. Maybe try spreading them around a bit?
-the animations are a bit wonky.

All in all, I'd say that Madievals is on the right path. With a bit more technical polish and some restraint from the writers vis a vis references, I truly believe this could become one of the better adventure games.

>Booted the game planning to roleplay as a McNulty-type detective who doesn’t play by the rules and gets the job done
>Ended up kicking a post-office box that was ♥♥♥♥-talking me

The Wire season 2 theme song/10

Out of the 70 hours I've put into this game so far, I've wasted about 69 trying to keep Sir Loras alive. ♥♥♥♥ him.

If you've ever wanted to experience captain Nemo's journeys in game form, this is the closest experience available at the moment. The atmosphere and sound design are great, and the leviathan class monsters are truly terryfing. It does kinda drag on early-mid game after unlocking the Seamoth. To go below 200 m you have to build the Moonpool building, an upgrade console and then fabricate a special module, which could take an extra 5-10 hours, depending on how often you check the wiki. But after that, the progression is flawless - being able to reach higher depths gives access to more rare resources, which can be used to fabricate advanced materials for more complex vehicles/buildings. This game is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gem, and I'm enjoying every second of it. I can't wait for the sequel.

A game for those who got bored of Isaac and couldn't bear Nuclear Throne's difficulty.

the pilot and the convict are obviously not thinly veiled references to Han Solo and Bonnie from Bonnie and Clyde/10

Nobody wanted to dance with me at the Spring festival even though I improved the local economy by working on my farm. Ended up selling the town to the Joja Corporation and destroying everybody's livelihood.

That's what you get for not dancing with me. You don't mess with the man who has the means to grow 3 turnips per week. What is this, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ high school?

5/7

Things I can do in Cities: Skylines that I couldn't do in SimCity:

1. Play.

17/10