AuldWolf 最近的评测

Update II:

This game has ruined me for monster tamers. I swear, if Nexomon 3 doesn't have Darine, Florozard, and a Coco-like character? I'm starting a riot.

It's on sale, buy this thing! It's so, so damn good.

Update:

The more I play this, the more I adore it. I don't think it's hyperbole to call this one of the best monster taming games in decades. I adore the story, I love the character of Coco, and I genuinely cannot get over how good the Nexomon designs are. You need to look up a monster list to see for yourself. Some personal favorites are: Darine; Florozard; Dracly; and Domigator. Just some names to look up to see how good these designs are.

I haven't enjoyed a monster tamer this much in a while. The cores system for upgrading one's nexomon is really rad, it's such a nifty idea as it adds an RPG-like equipment system to the dynamic of monster taming, and I want this in everything now. I know it only has one type per mon, but I'm finding I actually prefer this as it keeps type match-ups sane, I think types have gotten too bloated in a lot of games and it's just so much to memorise for each new game. It's exhausting. It'd be especially so in a game with as many critters as Nexomon has, so it's a good choice.

There's just so much of a passion to this game that... It just drags me along with the emotion of it. I can tell Vewo loves Nexomon, and I love it too. There's just so much personality in it. There's this one scene where you gain your tamer badge, and your character does a heavy metal guitar slide, only to be judged for it by a crowd of on-lookers. It's just one of a number of scenes that's gotten a giggle out of me. I'm a huge fan of how self-aware the writing is.

I can't praiss this game enough. It deserves attention.

Original Review:

Coming off of Cassette Beasts, which I didn't think much of, I needed a palate cleanser. And I'm stunned how well Nexomon: Extinction has checked all the boxes thus far. I was after something that was a little light-hearted, well-written, and self-aware, that could tell a decently written story with at least a couple of characters I liked, and with no pseudo-intellectual navel-gazing. Nexomon delivered!

After Cassette Beasts having crammed a "Super-serious story about how humans are so special-great, with a super-magical destiny, and monsters are here to serve and obey us as slaves!" down my throat, coupled with unimaginative monster designs that weren't very inclusive? I needed the opposite of Cassette Beasts. As I said, Nexomon: Extinction overdelivered on the story and light-hearted humour, top marks for that, but what about the monsters?

Well, this is the most diverse grouping I've seen since Monster Rancher! There truly is something here for everyone. The reason I loved Monster Rancher back in the day was that it truly had a critter for everyone. Cool, spooky, cute, eccentric, animal, robot, plant, or just a dragon because one really likes dragons. Monster Rancher hit such a strange sweet spot of having something for everyone. In this sense? Pokemon, Digimon, and others paled in comparison. It's been a long, long time since I've seen a game that has a mon for everyone, but I sincerely believe thst Nexomon: Extinction delivers on this front. I wanted robots snd dragons, my partner wanted frogs and weirdos made of food. We both ended up with a full party we loved, plus extras. I haven't been so spoiled that I've had to make tough choices since Monster Rancher!

The gameplay mechanics are really great, too. There's a point where adding too much granularity, bolting on too many extra gimmicks, that dillutes the strategy. I think Pokemon hit that a while back, and they're still adding unnecessary gimmicks. Nexomon was a fresh experience as the battles felt like they were just about interesting tactics, rather than fighting annoying gimmicks and shallow mechanics that add nothing for the overall experience. The move pools of so many mons are well balanced woth cool and interesting status effects, including even attacks that also convey statuses. Great stuff.

The art, frankly, is fantastic. It's better than the vast majority of mon games, even those without huge budgets. They stick the execution. The areas are vibrant and there's much for one's eyes to explore, and not only are the critters diverse, but the execution is so consistently nailed! It's just such a joy to explore, there's always something new to see, and they can really surprise a person with clever, original, and even funny environmental features (no spoilers), which I just wasn't expecting. It's a feast for the eyes and quite delightful.

I do have a few quibbles, though. But gosh are they minor. So I'll run down them now.

Animation: It has a very flash animation vibe to it, eith key-frames. I get why. Small team and all. I wish a little more could've been done, but I feel so petty for even mentioning this. I just want to be honest.

Static Environments: There are places where I'd look at the screen and feel that a little more movement could've brought everything to life so much more. A few more frames of animation on the water, parallax-scrolling on areas that had foggy/blurred distant backgrounds. It's so frustratingly close to perfect so, again, I feel petty for mentioning it.

Serviceable Music: This is funny as a negative, I suppose. See, the music was merely fine. It was serviceable. But at times it was also quite forgettable. It does the job, but it doesn't go that extra mile to evoke wmotion or wonder. And when it's coupled with a game this good? That makes the music stand out even more. It's definitely serviceable, though. Just not as amazing as the game deserves.

As I said, minor quibbles on an otherwise incredible experience. So far, 10/10 from me! If that changes by the time I've completed it? I'll update the review. But it has me VERY excited for Nexomon 3!

I have such complicated feelings about this one.

The music is fantastic, for sure. The gameplay mechanics are pretty neat, though the type-handling is fairly bloated (to the game's detriment). But oh, that story...

I don't know why, but I've grown so tired of pseudo-intellectual navel-gazing. So, hey, caveat lector as I'm gonna get into the story a bit. If you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading. If you have concerns, though... I think it might be worth being prepared.

So, overall, the story is a shallow take on having a bunch of parasitic entities which are borne of facets of humanity. You know how it goes. This one is greed, that one is domination, this one is rebellion. Anthropomorphised seven deadly sins ♥♥♥♥, you've seen this before. And Dragon Age was hardly the first to do it, either.

That's not the extent of it, though. The whole thing is is that humans have a magical destiny, because they're the most incredibly special-est species in the Universe. God's Chosen Ones, by the deity they created in their own image and all that. It's got this kind of... weird species narcissism? It doesn't sit well with me. As someone who's been targeted by prejudice, this notion of any entity being born superior, more whole, more complete is icksome.

It's incredibly frustrating as it detracts from the monsters and this being a creature collecting game. It recontextualises them as resources, they're no more than the beasts of burdens that humans are born into the privilege of using and abusing. And you have to abuse them, because nature is a cold, unyielding beast and only humans can know care and kindness. The game actually says this, often. It kinda beats you over the head with it.

The further I went, the worse the bad vibes got. I mean, there were these real estate agents who're vampires. Why're they vampires? They can't be humans as humans are good. "What separates us humans from them monsters is infrastructure, strategy, or whatever flimsily chosen thing we happen to pick on any given day!" It's exhausting. It's absolutely exhausting. It's just so utterly shallow.

I'm not against a stupid story. I'm not. I just want an author to be self-aware about it. It should be fun, silly, and not take itself seriously. It should parody itself and have fun with its concepts. Cassette Beasts takes itself so unerringly seriously. I mean, yes, even with the vampiric real estate agents. It's just... It thinks it's so clever. It's cloying and nauseating.

I'm fine with a dumb story. I adore an intelligent story. I'm drained and fatigued by one of this ilk, where it's just... It's so smug in how clever it thinks it is, when really it's just vaingloriously superficial.

I don't like it.

I mean, I know a lot of people will love it. I know that there're those out there who love this idea of being the most special-est, of being superior to others, and that giving them the privilege to use and abuse those others like resources because they have a magical destiny. Y'know, Aryan ♥♥♥♥. People will like this. I can see how they will. I don't. I just don't. I'm sorry.

And it's frustrating because, yes, the music is really good actually! The game is fun. I dig that it uses Godot. I wanted to like it so badly. I think that's why it left me feeling so angry in the end, more at myself than anything, because I was taken in and I wanted to like it. I really did. But it takes more than great music and neat gameplay mechanics to be a worthwhile game.

So, it's up to you. I can't tell you what to think. I can only warn you. If you're as tired of this concept as I am? Maybe give it a miss. Avoid the disappointment. If Aryan ♥♥♥♥ about being the special-est with a magical destiny that grants you abuse privileges over otherness gets you going? Buy it.

I don't know. I'm just so disappointed. I'm not allowing comments as I know fans can be fans and it'll turn into a dumpster-fire of disingenuous, insincere accusations of trolling coupled with character assassination. Instead of actually contending with what I've got to say. I'm not writing this for the fans, though. I'm writing it as a warning for those who're like me.

Cassette Beasts is just not a good experience.

Please don't support Krafton.

They're up to some really shady stuff, look into the Unknown Wrolds lawsuit. Also, look into astroturfing as they've been astroturfing the heck out of the Reddit Subnautica, which is really rude.

You don't need to buy this right now, and I honestly think even Valve would agree with that. I'd wait until all this has blown over, and your money can make it into the right hands.

Sincerely one of the best games I've played in a while. It has no expectations, it's full of heart, and it isn't afraid to be weird. There's some meta-commentary in there too, which amused me.

I'm not a fan of "wholesome," I don't like it as a descriptor as it often means homogeneous, of the dominant social identity, no weirdness allowed. It isn't at all fair to describe L'il Gator that way. Like I said, he's a really weird little guy, and some of his friends are quite odd, which is precisely what I found so endearing about it.

It excels at evoking childlike wonder, which I'm pretty certain is the point, and it's fun to simply explore and help out around the island—forging connections and bonds while you're at it.

One thing I will implore you to do though is not to stop playing after the credits roll, as that isn't the full ending. To appreciate it fully, you'll need to ensure you've done every last thing on the island.

The story's a bit of a hit to the feels, in a good way.

I think the only other thing I wanted to mention is that I really dug the aesthetics. There's that weirdness present there, too. I'm just so glad that they weren't afraid to be weird. I mean, kids ARE weird, they aren't bloody homogeneous pod people. And if you're neurodivergent, I feel you never lose that weird. I certainly haven't.

I think you should play it. I don't often say something so overtly, but... I can't imagine anyone being disappointed by this, either as a game or as an experience.

A miserable experience. Poorly optimised, buggy, and what scant story exists doesn't play due to the aforementioned bugs (even though it was supposed to be fixed). I don't know what else to say, really. It could've been something, there was definitely some world-building there, but... It wasn't enjoyable enough to endure thee absense of story and the many, many, many bugs. Oh, the unnecessary busywork and padding didn't help, either.

I like this a lot. The art is excellent, but that much you can already tell from the screenshots. The writing's pretty great too, and honestly, for the price? If you have any interest in dragons, just pick it up. We don't get much dragon content as it is, and it's worth supporting. I tend to do that even with game genres I'm not fond of, too. Thankfully though, this title was one I was rather fond of. I definitely recommend it. For me, it was worth well enough the price for the art alone, so all of the other well made aspects of this game were just a lovely bonus.

It's not designed to get your dopamine-pumping (not necessarily a good thing), it isn't meant to be some innovative new genre for everyone to copy, nor is it meant to be an exercise in navel-gazing with forced tragedy because those without empathy think that's art for some reason. It does have some meaningful messages within, but they aren't ham-fisted in their handling. Give it a try.

This is a criminally unnoticed game.

Now, you'll see some complain about the controls. This is because it uses very oldschool isometric controls that not everyone will be able to wrap their heads around. If you aren't familiar with isometric controls, it's best to accept that there will be a barrier to entry. And due to it using isometric controls, it's naturally best played with a controller. If you've played Sabrewulf, Landstalker, Equinox, Head Over Heels, or the like though you'll be right at home. It certainly isn't a hardcore game though, so don't expect that, it's just that the unfamiliar controls provide a barrier to entry.

It's a very chill exploration-puzzle game and it reminds me of the kinds of shareware games from ages past that would go criminally unseen. It only has sixteen reviews, so I suspect that this isn't a game that gets a lot of eyes on it. And that's a damn shame. The thing is? There's not a lot being done to really sell the game on its merits, I feel some indie devs are really bad at that.

So what are this game's virtues? Well, it has a nifty art style for one but the screenshots don't really do it justice as it feels much better in motion, it's very smooth and fluid. The animations are really neat. It's enjoyable to just pick up and play if you have a short amount of time between other things, the suit customisation is fun, and it has a collectibles aspect (it's enjoyable to find everything).

It has a good message about protecting the environment too, but I know that won't matter to most people. More's the pity, but it's important to accept the reality. I think the game is very enjoyable though despite whether you think that's important or not.

It's definitely worth a few quid and I think in moments of downtime you'll find this a very cathartic game. It's one of those games that can grant a decent feeling of catharsis over a short period, and it's nice for that. It isn't especially challenging (aside from controls that one might be unfamiliar with), but it is enjoyable. It's difficult to quantify games like this beyond that.

TL;DR: If you like cute aesthetics and collecting things? You'll likely dig Doomsday Vault. Just understand that it has isometric controls and it's important to have some familiarity with them.

I'm in a position where I've enjoyed a lot of Sonic games. I liked the 2D era, of which CD was my favourite with its cleverly-designed, open levels. I loved Advetnure, I thought Sonic Unleashed was rad, I had a fun time with Sonic Colors, I dug the Sonic Boom cartoon, I could even see how appealing Sonic Forces would be to kids wih that OC creator so—from a position of empathy—I chose not to ♥♥♥♥ on a game kids would like.

Where does that leave me with Sonic Frontiers?

To answer that, I want to point out that I've been playing video games for a very long time. I cut my teeth on the ZX Spectrum, which is a really weird thing to say because why does one cut their teeth? That era was experimental to its core. No one knew what a video game was, could be, or was supposed to be. That meant that a video gaem could be absolutely anything.

By the time the 16-bit era, there was a division on that. A video game was a polished experience that shared verisimilitude to other games, where the focus should be on polish and perfect mechanics. Or, the holdouts of the experimental era where we're still not sure yet and there's a vibe that we haven't really plumbed the depths of what can be done with interactive entertainment. The Amiga was a fantastic font for off-kilter gaming, but so was SEGA.

Nintendo gave us The Legned of Zelda: A Link to the Past. That was a brilliant, perfectly made, mechanically expert, polished video game where nothing was done wrong. Except it was also predictable. SEGA gave us Landstalker, which had odd puzzles, riddles, unusual isometric platforming harking back to the home computer days, a weird story that wasn't about saving the world, and jank. This division has existed ever since, where a developer has to decide whether they want to try to make the same thing again but better (as was the case with Sonic GEnerations), or whether they want to go balls-to-the-walls crazy.

Sonic Frontiers wears its inspirations on its sleeve. It's clear that they were looking at Breath of the Wild, Saints Row, and others when they were putting together the DNA for this title in design documents. By remixing that DNA though with an extremely experimental direction? They made it their own. What I'm saying is that this is SEGA doing what I've always liked best about SEGA. This is why SEGA gave us the likes of Landstalker, Burning Rangers, and Sonic Adventure. Sonic Frontiers is weird!

The weird is back. That means, for me, Sonic is back.

It doesn't mean that I haven't enjoyed the games of the preceding years. Like I said, I even saw the positive aspects of Forces. No, it's just that those games were exactly what they thought they were supposed to be, if that makes sense. They were incredibly safe games. There was a little bit of that experimental soul present there in gimmicks like the OC creator, wisps, the werehog, and so on but it didn't really embrace the weird as Sonic Frontiers has.

You could say that Sonic Frontiers is a bit like a lot of things, but it absolutely at the same time is like nothing else you've ever played. It's unique. It's a set of imaginative, clever, and fun playgrounds that celebrate teh physics and speed of Sonic the Hedgehog. This game isn't afraid to profess its love for speedsters and parkour, and it's cpatured the feeling of that more than any other game I've played. It really does make you feel the superpower of speed, and I've played so many superhero games and Sonic games that haven't come close.

This was SEGA doing what they do best, going back to the drawing board and starting over to see what they can come up with that's just different than anything they've done. And at the same itme, what they could do to capture the ethos, the spirit of whatever it is they're working with. Frontiers is great at making you feel fast, and clever. It'll sometimes go about as fast as you're able to react and the thrill is real. It's an exploration and a celebration.

This is important. I'll try to articulate it.

It's an exploration and a celebration in that the world isn't ending, those stories are so tired now and I'm fed up with them. No, this is a mystery, it's something to be unpacked and poured over, there's so much about it to consider and ruminate about. And it isn't just in the lore and the world, either but what it means to be a speedster as well. Am I going to wax lyrical about "Gotta go fast?" Well. Yes. I kind of am. I don't know why you're still reading this either.

The thing is is that not being a speedster, it's kind of hard to imagine how that would feel. Is it just that time would slow down? Would you be moving through treacle? What you experience the speed? If you're rying to capture the experience of being a speedster, then yuo need to answer these questions, but more, you need to provide the means to explore being a speedster. Frontiers is a playground where they set out to try to tackle what it feels like to be a speedster. It isn't about saving the world, it's about going fast for the sake of going fast, and doing what only a speedster can do.

And in the spectacle of it all, it's a celebration of that sensation, of the experience. In this way, it reminds me most of Saints Row IV, which also revelled in questions regarding super powers. Just like SR4, it's a virtual world so don't concern yourself too much with how all of these rails literring the sky got there. It's a virtual world! It's fine! Instead of being constrained by reality, see what you can do to provide a fun experience for a speedster, for that power set.

And it works! It feels great! Does that mean that Sonic Frontiers is my favourite Sonic game? Hm. That's a tough question. I don't know. I have a special place in my heart for Sonic Adventure. What I will say though is that no other Sonic game has come quite this close to being my favourite, and that's because of how experimental it is, and how it wants to explore and celebrate what it means to be Sonic the Hedgehog.

I've only got one level and the final boss to go at this point, I've also done a whole bunch of the time trials. Going by my achievements, I've gotten further into the game than the vast majority of players, just to give you an idea of where I am and how much I can talk of.

So, up front? Yes, Marsupilami is quite easy up until the half-way point where the game ramps up. Is the game short? It's on the shorter side for a game of its ilk, but only slightly. It has three worlds and they all have their own sets of aesthetics.

Why this game, then?

It's hard to articulate. It's something that only someone who plays a lot of games like this would understand. Sometimes, it isn't about difficulty, it's about the level design and the feeling and freedom of movement, it's abuot the moves, the controls, and the agency they give you. This is what Ocellus absolutely nailed with this game! It's a good experience just to play it, the way it feels is spot on, the animations are so smooth... It's just a feeling thing, the joy of movement in a game like this is difficult to get right and I feel that many games fail this, including many difficult games that are regularly worshipped.

If you want a comparison? It's to Donkey Kong Country 1 what Freedom Planet is to Sonic. It has that style of play, but it's built upon it, evolved it, and honestly I had a lot more fun playing this than I had playing Tropical Freeze. The issue with Freeze is that it didn't have that feeling of movement, of really being in control. There's just this sense of incredible platform parkour that some games have that look and feel fantastic. This is what Marsupilami has. When you run a sequence, you're just going to feel cool playing it.

Like I said, it's difficult to articulate and not all platformers nail it. I'll say that I hope it's a game Playtonic play as it's got the magic sauce that Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair was missing, for me. And it really does come down to that feeling of really being in control. I'd say that difficulty in many, many bad platformers comes from taking control away from you, making it so that if you aren't precise with its bad controls? You fail. I'm getting more and more sick of htat approach to platformer development. I've gotten to a point where I've played enough platformers to say that difficulty comes from bad design rather than actually building completely fair trickiness into the game.

I'd say Spyro is a good example of how this feels when compared to a 3D platformer as Spyro also has that freedom of movement, the difficulty doesn't come from hamstringing you. I don't want to be fighting the controls, I want to be enjoying the game.

It's resposnive, it's reactive, and it just feels great to play.

If you prefer to be forced to contend with bad controls to experience artficial difficulty? It won't be for you.

What else? There's some really neat unlocks. The concept art is nice, but what I really like are these nifty dioramas they've made that you can look at from various angles. I love cutaway dioramas like that, so that was a treat for me. There are also other characters you can play as, they're reskins but it's a nice option that's there.

It's difficult to say who this game is for, really. As I said, part of it is how difficult I find it to articulate what makes it so enjoyable. I think though that if this has resonated with you, and you're tired of struggling with bad controls or bad design? You'll like this. It's got a great difficulty curve, and it just... feels nice to play.

I'll be looking forward to seeing what Ocellus does in the future, I'll say that.

The game is broken on Linux right now. I tried to report the problem but the community was incredibly, profoundly toxic. Operating system tribalism doesn't help a developer grow, especially when Steam Deck sales are so important.

So, yes. As of right now? I can't recommend this game to Linux users or Steam Deck owners. In part because it's broken right now, obviously, but also due to how toxic and exclusionary (over an operating system) the community is. It's ridiculous.