I'm dreaming since I'm a kid of a sequel for shadowgate. I loved this game on my NES, like many others, for its aesthetic and its dark atmosphere. This game doesn't disappoint: - The game is long and, even if some puzzles are seriously far fetched, it's definitely possible to finish it without any walkthrough. - The atmosphere is intact, and the story is way better than the first game. - I don't think the pixel art is as good as the first game, but it's close. Of course nothing is perfect: - I didn't like the side quests, especially the one from the uninvited. It's not the same universe, to me it broke the immersion. Thankfully they're not that long, but I don't think they're optional either, which is a bit weird for a "side" quest. I might be wrong on this last point though. - The game is a bit too long for my taste. It's a very minor critic, but I think it would have been more cohesive without some parts in the later game. - The puzzles look sometimes dated, which can be a good or a bad thing. I like that (remind me the first game), but for a new comer to the serie it might be very frustrating.
I'm quite cheap when it comes to games: I never buy them full price, I always wait for a discount. My backlog of game to play is so big I need multiple lives to complete it anyway. Chained Echoes is the exception. I'm a big fan of SNES-era JRPG, and the trailer alone convinced me enough to buy it full price. It was mainly done by one person in 8 years, which is crazy to me, so I wanted to support that. I discovered it two weeks ago from a Youtube comment (didn't know it was possible to discover something that way :D), and I finished it yesterday. The story is really good, and the writing is clear and straight to the point. It's a bit complicated to follow at time, but the world feels more alive and immersive because you feel that the characters know the world (and don't break the fourth wall by explaining everything to you, The Player). Great 2D pixel-art; some stuffs are less good than others (the portraits are sometimes... expressionless). But overall it's very good. The combats are way better than all the inspirations of the game (Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Terranigma...), even if they are more difficult, and sometimes punishing. My favorite aspect: there are no trash fights. I found all the encounters interesting, which never happened before with a JRPG. There's a lot of gears customization too, which can be clunky at time, but still super interesting. In short: a very solid game, if you enjoy SNES-era JRPG, you'll enjoy this one.
