Recent reviews by h4x1

A truly excellent game and one of the only prequels I know of that is actually the ideal starting point for newcomers. Anyone curious about this franchise's perfect blend of intriguing crime drama and wacky hijinks should start here, and prepare to be hooked.

An infamous horror game whose notoriety can mainly be attributed to its influence. This is about as barebones as survival horror gets - you wander around a mansion while a big purple oaf chases you at random intervals, with a plot that is nothing more than one big trope. Simple, yet it works so well that I can't help but appreciate it. The first hour or so of this game before the predictability sets in genuinely got my heart pounding at times, despite being quite familiar with the horror genre. Once the spooks wear off, you're left with a string of puzzles which vary in quality, most of which I found enjoyable so long as they remained rational.

Actually a really cool concept. Unfortunately this is just awful Unity slop.

A visual novel completely drenched in atmosphere that's as memorable as it is short.

The Bridge Constructor series doesn't exactly have the best reputation, due in large part to the games' physics being quite shoddy and unpredictable at times, so it's amazing that Valve even lent one of their flagship IPs to make this game happen. Luckily, it turned out well.

It just so happens that all of Portal's mechanics carried over into this game fit well, making for mostly fun and engaging puzzles that only sometimes devolve into frustrating jank. Overall, a nice brain teaser.

An alright horror puzzle game with a surprisingly fresh take on the mascot horror genre. It basically plays like a virtual escape room, with most of the solutions being fairly logical if you attentively watch the tapes.

My only gripe with this game lies in the other hallmark of this genre, the needlessly cryptic lore. I don't necessarily have a problem with storytelling that encourages a lot of theorizing, but I felt that simply playing through the game and getting the main endings gives you disappointingly little of what's going on.

You know those time-waster mobile games that are objectively serviceable but never really stimulate any part of your brain in an enticing way? To me, Worms Crazy Golf is just like that.

Being a singleplayer-oriented spin-off to an otherwise multiplayer-centric franchise, the game takes the Worms formula and turns it into a slow-paced golf ordeal. Nothing wrong with that on a conceptual level, but the way the game attempts to make your money's worth is through various objectives. To make progress, you have to replay the same levels over and over, first going for the par score, then getting all the coins, then hitting all the enemy worms, then... whatever, man.

It's just tedious, really. I can't really fault the presentation or anything, but it all just isn't worth doing. It's not all that "crazy", either.

The sprawling Worms franchise now consists of a multitude of sequels and spin-offs that are no doubt a confusion for any newcomers looking to have some simple worm-based fun. I've examined enough of these games to consider myself a trustworthy tour guide for this somewhat samey series and I can say with confidence that this is among the handful games worth your time, the greatest of which being Armageddon (undoubtedly the best one) and Ultimate Mayhem (the clunky 3D one I'm too amused by to discount).

So what's the appeal here? More of the same really, but it works well. What you get is basically tantamount to Armageddon with some new additions and refinements that definitely don't replace said title, but make for a worthwhile alternative. The one glaring omission with this and some of the subsequent titles is the custom map feature, which is a real bummer if you're like me and want to battle on an unsightly collage of PNGs. I'd never champion for this game, but I'm far from pinching my temples if I see a wormer start here.

A somewhat undercooked but ultimately quite enjoyable puzzle roguelike.

A delightful hour long treat for fans of a nearly quadranscentennial webtoon.