Hi. My name is Yowkz and I'm a recovering nonogram addict. It all started as a few innocent puzzles to figure out a pixelated picture, just like the first couple of cases in Murder By Numbers (later I learned these are known as "gateway nonograms"). I thought I was strong enough to resist temptation, but the game was slapped onto a murder mystery. I started sweating cold, teeth chattering, and before I noticed I had put a little over 40 hours into the game. I did all of it. ALL OF IT! Sometimes... I can still hear the repetitive music when I close my eyes; number-related pixel patterns muddling my dreams... Joking aside, I wish the developers had put an option to choose a specific puzzle or section in each case. It can be a little tiring to know you messed doing A-Rate/100% of a case because you used a small hint in one of the last puzzles and the only way to clear it is going through the whole case all over again. Story is fairly linear with a likeable cast, and you can guess the suspect mid-way through a case. It feels like a Saturday morning cartoon... with MUUURDEEER!... So like a regular Saturday morning cartoon of old. The music is upbeat and fun, but when you get to the later stages where you can spend 30+ minutes hopefully putting the squares where they should, it... it can be haunting to say the least. The artbook is nice, but it annoys me a little to know that Honor had a few designs for a dress which would've been perfect for the awards ceremony in the second case, but that's just nitpicking. The soundtrack... I-I think I better leave that alone... It has looped around in my head enough already. All in all, it gave me a fun time and satisfied my nonogram craving. I've been clean for about four months since I finished it, and I've recovered enough to look for a job again.
Absolver is a peculiar fighting game. It is not your standard combo-learning/button-mashing beast, and neither is it a standard deck-builder. It is a game that shows the promise of creating your own fighting style, and if you have the patience to learn the moves and experiment with deck-building, that is exactly what it does. You can get incredibly good at it (you just need to check some youtube videos to see that), or you can be incredibly silly, and you'll find the fun in the fighting mechanics either way. I love that you don't have to worry about a meta or something of the sort. In my case, I built a deck with moves that seemed to flow nicely from one to the next, and it was a joy to perform. There are few things I wish could be improved. Trying to learn moves can be quite grindy, specially sword moves, getting fragments to buy items can also get grindy, and the main story was a bit too short. I know the focus is in the multiplayer and the developers added the dungeons/raids, which sorta have a story of its own, but I wish I had a little more to go on. Still, these are little things that, at least for me, didn't get too much in the way of enjoying the game. As for the deluxe edition, I'm a sucker for artbooks and this one was a treat. When it comes to the soundtrack, it reminded me of Dark Souls: moody, somber, and mysterious, very fitting for the world. Austin Wintory seems to be everywhere. I didn't know he had done the soundtrack until I double-checked to write this. I always recommend reading/watching other reviews and gameplay to see if you may like the game. I mostly wrote this because I want to support the developers and see a sequel or a spiritual successor of some sort. Sloclap had something amazing going on with this game, and it grabbed my attention like no other fighting game. If you're still not sure, you can always wait for a sale. Fun fact: the game was hand-animated, which is mind-blowing considering how fluid the movements are.
