Recent reviews by obj_isiah.games

If you like pure platformers then Celeste is perfect for you. Great soundtrack, great gameplay, and a narrative that's easy to get invested in.

A good hour of fun. Good difficulty progression. Good times.

It's a text adventure game, so there's a lot of reading, which is fine. I'm not entirely sure from where I got in the story before I checked out that the characteristics of your reclusiveness are even depression -- it's more of introversion. I find myself identifying with most of what the character describes feeling, despite being a relatively happy person, so it's hard for me to say that the game does a very good job of actually conveying depression.

Now, every once in a while there are options for paths that are crossed out. I'm not quite sure what's going on there, there are clearly some things happening behind the scenes to determine what you can and can't select, but it doesn't give much agency to the player if they can't really tell, at the very least, if and why their decisions have led to fewer choices. If this formula were visible perhaps there'd be a greater connection that would convey the point more.

Moreover, the effect would perhaps be more dramatic if the very first choice you made didn't involve a crossed-off option, increasing the contrast when you fall deeper into depression. To be fair, the first few choices crossed off were definitely things I myself wouldn't do, and again, I'm a relatively happy person, so there's still the question of if this aided in the conveyence. If a player were able to make these decisions, establishing a character that would normally want to, then removing that option might be more powerful, but removing that option in the first place forces the establishment of a character that doesn't really help one way or the other.

I like hard games. I even love hard games. But I cannot tolerate hard games that punish your failure with time. Titan Souls is an otherwise lovably hard game in which you spend more time getting back to where you were before you died than you spend playing the actual game. That's bad.

It takes upwards of 30 seconds to get to a boss that can kill you in an instant. I have no problem with instant death, but the ratio is a little skewed. If you respawned right in front of the boss door this game would be recommended, but I can't even summon the patience to play it.

I think, to a certain extent, you either like it or you don't. But I would say that it lacks what it needs to carry most people, or at least myself, into the "like it" zone.

If you don't know, Gone Home is a game where you walk around a house and explore, listening to a character's diary of sorts to find out what's happened while you're gone, and while the gameplay isn't particularly engaging, it's very atmospheric, and the house is so detailed it's easy to get immersed in the story.

The problem is, the game puts all of its focus on the story and, in my opinion, fails to deliver a good story.

I read reviews before I played the game, and was upset when all everyone got out of the game was "It's lesbians," partly because it's a mild spoiler (I guess, although it's a lesbian love story so it's slightly vital for the premise), but it really seemed like the general opinion of those who didn't like the game was that all it had was lesbians.

But the thing is, remove the homosexuality, make one of the characters a guy, and there's absolutely no substance. The story doesn't really go anywhere for a while, and it doesn't really offer anything. It even feels like the characters don't have much personality most of the time.

As immersed as I was, I was really disinterested in the plot and the characters as it played out, and I really wanted to like it. It does suck, because the story is the main draw of the game, but I also feel it's its biggest weakness.


Now, I want to talk about what I DID like about the game.

For one, the house is really cool. It was big enough (almost a mansion) that there was a lot to explore, but small enough that it would be realistic to live in, under the right economic circumstances (ALMOST a mansion). And it was filled with such meticulous detail that if you like exploring environments in games, you'll apreciate this. With the detail, and the soft sound of rain outside, it really sets a cool, relaxed mood.

The voice acting was really good. It helps that there was exactly one voice actor, but man, did they cast well. Paired with the intamacy of the diary entries, I was so immersed that I actually became really uncomfortable when she talked about when she discovered she was gay; I felt like I was intruding. This is actually so good it's bad, but I'm sure that was just me, and most people won't have that reaction.

The "put back" ability. THIS. You can pick something up and throw it around like a lot of first person games (Amnesia comes to mind), but this is the first game I've played where you can place something back exactly as you found it. This should be in every first person game from now on! I spent probably about 15 minutes just doing that and enjoying it.
As a side note, that also adds to the atmosphere, as if you want to take the game seriously, it doesn't quite seem realistic for the character to be walking around, throwing everything she picks up. Good game design!

The 90s nostalgia is strong in this one. Seriously. It's really well done.


Overall, this game did a lot right to put you into it, and I didn't actually find anything tedius like others did; as long as you know what you're getting yourself into, you'll enjoy the "gameplay." But, unfortunately, I think the game failed to deliver on its main goal. It had a lot of potential, and I don't think the game is "bad," and in fact I'd love to see more games work like this. But those games' stories are going to have to have more substance for them to work.

This game is better than any other shooter I've ever played, and it was made 10 years ago. A decade has passed and this is still the best.

This isn't nostalgia glasses, either. I wear contacts. And I played this game for the first time last month.

Health-pack-based health instead of regenerative-hide-behind-cover-based health, you can and will carry more than 2 guns at a time, and even though there are probably about 12 to use all at once, you get used to them as you get them, and they're all unique in an immediately recognizable way, so you know which ones are better for certain situations, and which ones are objectively terrible and should be used in case of emergency.

Each area offers something new to enjoy, so the gameplay never offers a sense of monotony.

Even the graphics are well done enough that you don't notive this game is a decade old. At least, I didn't.

I only have two problems: The abundance of aircrafts you have to destroy with the missile launcher (it's a little much), and the confusion of the story. I feel like the story doesn't make it very clear what's going on, and the game shouldn't make me feel like I'm supposed to know what's happening but don't.

With that said, the game gets a 9.5/10.

A cool puzzle platformer where things only exist when they are in the light. That includes the floor.

Pros:
-Good level design with a bunch of stages.
-Genuinely enjoyable and intuitive tutorial levels.
-Amazing colorless graphics that are incredible to look at.
-Decent minimalistic storytelling.
-Hidden collectibles to unlock the true ending.
-Amazing soundtrack.
-Developer commentary when you beat the game that is pretty interesting.
-Different "worlds" have 24 levels each and you can go from world to world as you want, so if you get stuck in level 6 of one you can move on to level 1 of another, and so on.
-The difficulty curve is actually not hindered too much by the above, sinc each world introduces a mechanic unique to that world.

Cons:
-Sometimes it can get frustrating. There are certain points in the game where you may know what to do but fail to execute it several times, which can just be discouraging.
-Especially if that happens, the music can repeat ad nausium, and the looping isn't very good, so it can get annoying, as well.
-Less than terrific replayability, unless you're going for the developer commentary.

Overall:
The game's initial runtime is long enough that it's not too upsetting that the replayability isn't great (and it's a puzzle platformer, so that's not unexpected). The moments of frustration don't happen very often, maybe 3 or 4 times in all the 90-something levels. I've gotten genuinely stuck several times but it was very satisfying to eventually overcome obstacles. It's one of few games I've beaten 100%, perhaps because it's small enough that even though that is a challenge it's not necessarily a time sink. I'd recommend this game wholeheartedly if you like puzzle platformers.

Rating: 8/10.

It should also be noted that there IS a flash version of this game that was made prior, and many of the levels in this game are replicas of the flash levels, although improved. There are many differences between the free flash version and the Steam version, which make this one better, not the least of which is that this one is longer.

For those wondering: The flash version is much more basic, the engine isn't quite as smooth, and conveyence for certain things like what light-holster activated what mechanical thing, and what light-orbs disapear when you get near them isn't very good (or existent). You could play the flash to get an idea of what the game is like but keep in mind the flash is essentially the beta for what the full game ended up being.

Probably the most I've played day-to-day, and the most I've analyzed any game. You will die a lot, but you will be fine with that, because you will get better, and every playthrough you will disover something new. If I had to rate it, I'd give it a 9/10. Completely worth the 80+ hours of my life (so far) I definitely didn't have time to spend on it.