Recent reviews by Xunkar

While it is still early to judge, it already feels like Rogue Legacy 2 is everything a sequel should be. This is achieved by simply improving the game in every aspects. The visuals are gorgeous, with great animations and visual effects. The gameplay is as tight as ever, with additional mechanics to play with. More classes, more secrets, more enemies... if you've enjoyed the first Rogue Legacy I'd say this sequel is a very safe purchase, even in this early access form.

For everyone else, I would recommend waiting just a little bit. Rogue Legacy 2 is already a great experience in my opinion and it's shaping up to be a top-tier roguelite, surpassing the first title. But this is obviously not a complete game yet. So if you haven't played the first Rogue Legacy, start there.

Quite possibly the best rhythm game I've ever played. Mechanics are innovative and feel amazing once you start getting comfortable with them. Difficulties are balanced, providing an insane amount of challenge if you're into that. However unlike most rhythm games out there Spin Rhythm manages to make the easier difficulties really enjoyable. The game also features a vast number of accessibility options so you can play the way you want. I was amazed to find a rhythm game that feels both difficult and fair, never blaming poor mapping or delay for my mistakes. The track catalog is good although I wish different genres were also available.

The only negative points I can think of are a) the tutorial being hidden as a non-default track in arcade mode, maybe adding it to the main menu would be best; and b) the default length of the color bands for color matching should be higher in my opinion. This was for me the thing that made the game easier to understand, but hey at least you *can* change it to what suits you better.

I'd recommend the base game, but wouldn't recommend the Chicken Republic DLC.

The base game is very short but provides a fun experience with a story full of gaming references and jokes. The highest difficulty could be a bit more challenging as I found myself easily breezing through (as an experience rhythm game player) but overall the balance is correct. The soundtrack is excellent, although the very first track of the game is quite possibly the weakest, in a style that contrasts heavily with the rest of the game. However OSM suffers from a few issues that I found easy to overlook in the main game, but absolutely detrimental in the DLC.

The layout is not the easiest to read. Notes arrive from the four edges of the screen and because screens are rectangles and not square, a left or right note will appear on the screen before a top or bottom note, even if it should be played after. On the faster tracks it can mess with your mind, as your brain registers note appearing in the wrong order. Even without this issue, the fact that notes come from all directions makes it quite difficult to read them, especially with fast alternating notes.

Bars sections are even worse however. When the left/right alternation is too fast you can't be perfectly sure that they are indeed alternating or should be pressed simultaneously. The biggest offender though is when notes sections transition into bars sections. Because notes are converging at the middle of the screen and bars at the top, notes intersect bars during those transitions. Your eyes are also forced to refocus on the new converging point. It's hard to describe, but I find those transitions extremely messy.

When Chicken Republic comes around with its very difficult tracks, those issues become aggravating. The DLC also features increasingly obnoxious and eye-straining effects as handicaps. I don't suppose rhythm games is a genre friendly to photosensitive people, but this one would be an absolute nightmare for them. The visual effects will probably be problematic for color blind people too and sadly there aren't any options for accessibility.

At first, those handicaps are fun and interesting. But quickly it becomes overwhelming, obscuring so much of the notes that you can no longer see them. Towards the end of the DLC you feel like pressing random directions hoping to survive on luck, and it no longer feels like a rhythm game. What makes it worse are a) the impossibility to practice the tracks before playing them with the handicaps, b) the awful game over screen which makes fun of you, and c) the impossibility to adjust your input and audio delay manually.

This last point deserves a little more explaining. The game offers an option to calibrate input and audio delay automatically. Unfortunately you cannot change it manually forcing you to do them both all over again if you end up not being comfortable with the automatic values. And I found that it was often the case in my playthrough.

A truly unique experience for puzzle lovers that pushes the boundaries of the genre. One thing to remember: don't spoil yourself, don't read guides or anything it would ruin the interest of the game.