Yes, this is an amazing game, a worthy sequel to the original, a must for Metroidvania fans and anyone who loves games. I absolutely love it. What am I supposed to review? From the gameplay to the graphics, Silksong excels at everything. Stop reading this review and go play the gem for yourselves.
Neverending Nightmares is a title I really wanted to like, since it has so many things I would normally consider up my alley, such as gore and disturbing images. Unfortunately, the final product is underwhelming at best. The Positives -Unique art style. -An interesting premise. -Decent -though limited- soundtrack. The Negatives -The story. It is difficult to create a story that leaves most questions left unanswered that remains engaging. Unfortunately, NN is too abstract for my taste and left me feeling like there was very little to take away from it except from some disturbing scenes. Enjoyable as they may be, that is not enough for me. -The gameplay sections. If you are going to include gameplay in your story-focused game make sure it is more than a nuisance, which is exactly how it felt here. NN may be worth a try if you find it in a really good sale but it is not worth the full price. I still hope we see more games from this creator because their vision has the potential for something good.
I am a big fan both of The Cat Lady and the original version of Downfall. I view these two games as complimentary to each other, the former being the positive outcome of a grim horror story while the latter does its best to crush your soul. So when I first found out about this remake, I was extremely excited. The Positives -The game looks amazing. The graphics have improved dramatically since TCL and I wish they were able to print an artbook because I would buy it immediately. -Great soundtrack. Both the piano based tracks and the various songs that play throughout the game are exactly how they need to be. -Some interesting puzzles that are, thankfully, not impossible to figure out, a big flaw in many games of the adventure genre. Harvester games focused more on the story and less on riddle-solving and I think that works splendid. -Lots of gore. If you enjoy body horror Downfall has quite a lot of it and I love it for that reason. -No animal murders this time around. This was by far the least likeable part of the original game and TCL and I am thankful to not have to deal with it again. The Negatives -The voice acting. With a few exceptions (namely Agnes, Ivy, the Queen of Maggots, the Good Corpses and Susan) the rest of the cast is quite underwhelming. I love Jesse Gunn's music, he is a deeply charismatic singer and musician and his guest appearance on TCL was great. I don't know why but unfortunately his performance here is subpar. -Some of the story changes did not leave a good taste in my mouth. I loved the pessimism of the first game and I wish this remake did not try to add a more positive twist to the plot. -A little on the short side, especially if you are do not try to get all the endings. Overall this is a good sequel to The Cat Lady. If you enjoy horror and/or adventure games I highly recommend it.
I bought Bloodstained on a sale. It is rare that I say that I wish I could have paid full price because the game deserved it but this is definitely one of those. Let's take things one by one: Gameplay: Bloodstained's strongest aspect. Fast paced with a large variety of enemies that require different strategies to defeat. The shard system takes the experience to a whole new level and allows for experimentation on your style (personally I decided early on to upgrade Riga Storaema and combine it with long range weapons. Every room ended up on fire and I avoided a lot of damage this way). The crafting system allows further experimentation and I ended up taking notes to remember where I could find each of the elements I needed. Art/Music: Even though I prefer purely 2D graphics I still found Bloodstained a marvel to look at and even better to listen to. Seriously, this soundtrack has earned a place among my favorites. Even with my potato PC and with the display settings set to low the game looked excellent. My only minor issue was that I couldn't use my controller through GOG and I was forced to combine GOG and Steam in order to play the way I wanted to, which resulted in some kind of a bug which distorted the characters' dialogue. I had to turn the latter off, which is a shame. A definite must have for Metroidvania fans, Bloodstained deserves your time and money now.
