While the game has beautifully stylized artwork, a lovely soundtrack, and effective sound effects, the sheer bleakness of the game and the far too grinding nature of the gameplay reduce the experience to both an emotionally and mentally numbing time. In My Lovely Daughter you play the amnesiac alchemist Faust. In an attempt to revive your daughter (the 'Lovely Daughter' of the title) you summon, level, and brutally murder homunculi in order to harvest their emotional energy. The homunculi are also your 'daughters' (or 'sons' if you choose the sex flipped option) and they look up to you as a father, which makes the ease and brutality with which Faust murders them offputting. The Devs are open to the fact that this is a rather blatant allegory of child abuse, and its the first text on the screen warning you to this fact. That Faust is completely without redeeming features, with the exception of two non-true endings, makes it hard to find enjoyment in his actions. This isn't a man summoning non-sentient entities to work and dispose of, but homunculi with personalities, emotions and voices that scream in horror at their demises. Still, I would have rate the game higher if the gameplay arc wasn't less of a grind. It's essentially a management game where you send your homunculi out to work, earning money and levelling up before you harvest them and attempt to get the right balance to successfully resurrect your daughter's soul... or go for one of the other endings. Unfortunately, once you get one of the endings, it then wipes your save game and you get to start over from scratch with a fresh save file with no carry over. This turns what should have been a short game into one that can take a couple of dozen hours just to work back up to the 'point where you meet the ending requirements. All up, if you're curious about it, just be aware of the content and that it is incredibly grindy to get the endings.
I held off on writing this review until after I completed a playthrough. Rogue Trader is the first Owlcat game that I have played, although I've been a fan of isometric RPGs going back to Ultima and the Gold Box classics. Rogue Trader takes a different route than most other RPGs where instead of starting out as a lowly adventurer, you're a person with a career before the game and you're soon thrust into the role of one of the four most people in the Expanse. This viewpoint from the role of a ruler, and the way that the story flows and works around that perspective gives Rogue Trader a unique feel, even as the glorious mesh of influences and inspirations of the 40K universe give you a different experience than the usual 'There is only war' narrative. And that is for the stronger, as you get to explore the people, cultures and worlds of the setting, and leave your mark. Playing it on Normal, the combat wasn't the most challenging (it helps that my build was sensible) but the harder ones can wait for another playthrough. The differences in the three ideologies and the outcomes of following them lead me to want to replay this already massive game again to see how the different paths end. I would definitely make some different decisions on another playthrough, given the outcomes of choices, as well as give different fates to various characters than the ones they had. The only thing that I didn't enjoy was the ending slides, as from my choices through the game, there were a fair amount of more bitter than sweet to the finale. Still, I can greatly recommend to fans of roleplaying games that are more than hack and slash, as well as those that enjoy the Lore of the Warhammer 40K universe. Other reviews may mention how buggy it was at launch, but playing it now it feels really solid and I didn't have any notable bugs. There was some minor slowdown in the last dungeon of the game, but giving the visual scope and scale, I can give it a pass there.
Slay the Princess I came into with curiosity at a visual novel that had earned near universal praise, something that the genre doesn't tend to get. I avoided most of the reviews and the marketing for the game itself to try and go in as blind as I could, and it was definitely worth it. The game does have a vibe that is similar to other games with a meta narrator, however in this instance it exceeded my expectations and provided surprises that drew me in for the 3 1/2 hours of my first playthrough with hardly wanting to pause despite the plans I'd made earlier. The narrative and conceits, along with the voice acting makes the characters all stand out, with all the aspects unique without a sense of just hearing the same over again. That it takes your actions and weaves them into a remembered narrative, as well as some meta gameplay elements are handled well, and the ending I experienced was perfect. Its somewhat hard to write without too many spoilers, so I'll just say that the entire experience came together in the end. At a little under quarter of the achievements from that playthrough, there does appear to be quite a fair amount of replayability with other routes to seek. I can definitely recommend this, and for what it is, particularly for those that enjoy horror and romance.
Shootas, Blood & Teef (TBF) is a frenetic and frequently chaotic mix of Warhammer 40k and Metal Slug. The game is gorgeous, with a cartoonish style that perfectly captures the vibe of the Orks and the depictions of various factions and their units. What I thought was going to be a short jaunt turned into a 6 1/2 hour romp through loving 40k Fanservice, where its a lot of fun reading the background posters to see the cute twists they put on various catch phrases. The game oozes character, with spot on voices and acting, a rocking soundtrack and the right level of 'oomph' to the effects. While the controls are responsive using mouse and keyboard, I had some moments where it didn't move the way I wanted, or my mouse movements sent the aim everywhere, but thats partially user and partially just minor annoyances. In the time I played, I had three crashes max. With the difficulty, I did a self-inflicted Hard mode run off the get go, where most of the game wasn't too bad, but half a dozen encounters took a fair few attempts. A few of the bosses were curiously easy, particularly with the weapons loadout that I found to be my preference. With the weapons, I didn't feel much of an urge to stray from one particular weapon in each group. Unfortunately there are a number of multiplayer achievements, however from my time looking I wasn't able to find any games, so it'd be a case of finding someone else with a copy to play multiplayer rather than hopping into random matches. All in all, I had a lot of fun and I can really recommend it.
There are a lot of things that would bring a recommendation to Witch's Rhythm Puzzle. The wonderful pixel art, the music, the seeming simplicity of the rhythm game and the dialogue that pokes fun at the ridiculousness of the concept. All these things would lead to a good score however the difficulty of the game is unbalanced on the frustrating side. Clearing stages becomes less an exercise in skill and more repetition as you find yourself slapped down by the computer as it more often than not manages to ace walls of blocks that are impossible for you to counter. There are some later stages that I cleared with ease, but that seems to be more the underlying mechanics of the level causing whoever gets the first round of blocks to just absolutely crush the other side. The gallery, once you've cleared the game, is nice with the ability to turn on and off the various clothing layers of the sprites, but I have no desire whatsoever to try the endless mode. So I give it a three star. It does a lot of things right, but the difficulty curve is just monstrous.
After having owned Death end re;quest since the Steam launch, I decided to give it a try with the GOG launch after having bounced off other IFI titles. Der;q sits under the Galapagos RPG banner, which is for darker and more mature titles than the fluffier Neptunia games that Compile Heart / IFI are better known for. It delivers on those promises in spade, with a storyline that presses all the right buttons with its explorations of the occult, conspiracies, urban legends and a dose of creepypasta. The game ran well for me, with no hitches, slowdowns or crashes. I can only speak for the japanese voice acting, but theres a sincerity to the delivery of the lines that drew me in. This isn't a game with teenage protagonists or high schools, instead focussing on characters that are mostly in their mid to late twenties employed in the video game industry. Thee are small doses of fanservice, but they are very light, and mostly as relief from the increasingly oppresive storyline. The Death ends in the title refer to bad endings that compare well to similar games like Corpse Party, with really tight sound work, writing and voice acting for the horrific ends that can befall the characters. All in all, I can definitely recommend the title for lovers of conspiracies, occult, horror and JRPGs, whether all of them or if they'd be interested in trying them out.
