First of all: Rollerdrome is not for everyone. No game is. Is it worth it if you're looking for a cRPG? Not really, no. But given what it is -- and what it attempts to be --, it is the perfect game. A mix of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on roller skates with Max Payne, all coated with a Jean Giraud/Mœbius art style. You play as Kara Hassan, an up-and-coming athlete, and without wanting to spoil anything, the game has some rather nice and intricate story prologues to each of the chapters, done in first person but retaining the same graphical style, in case you want something more to your arena roller skate shooter. I found the story to be extremely interesting, and you can discover it at your own pace, but some people will probably find it "too political"; to those, Roll7 included a Skip button (though you do have to play it the first time around, but you can head straight for the door and just start the mission). It's there, but it's not forced on anyone. Graphically, the game is gorgeous. It feels like we're playing a Mœbius comic. Retrofuturistic, cel-shaded with thin lines, nice effects all around, superb use of colour. In terms of gameplay, while a controller is recommended, the game plays wonderfully with keyboard and mouse -- controlling the camera with the mouse is arguably the superior way to play it, I'd even say. It's a third person game (if you exclude the story portions), extremely fluid, with tight, responsive controls. You never stop once you start going (unless you hold the back directional input), so you can focus on the combat and pulling tricks to replenish your ammo. It can be hard at times, but there are accessibility options in case you want to enjoy the game but are struggling (it can get a bit overwhelming). The game is extremely well optimized, it will run on pretty much anything, so you should be fine. Though Roll7 will no longer get our money, this is a game I can't recommend enough for what it accomplished. If you're remotely interested, get it.
Captain Blood feels like a late 6th/early 7th console generation game lazily ported to PC, with sluggish controls, audio mixing that never feels quite right, some graphical glitching, barebones options with which to optimize what is there. Having said this, that's fine. Captain Blood delivers on its promise, definitely, except what it promised roughly 25-ish years ago hasn't aged particularly well or doesn't make much sense, these days. You'll have to deal with QTEs, janky animation, fixed cameras. And that's OK. Captain Blood is a time capsule of an era where the third person action-adventure was becoming the spectacle fighter, so it's a mix of genres typical of the time. It's cartoony, it's over the top, it's silly, it doesn't take itself seriously. It also has a pretty full-fledged demo I urge you to try out, in order to better understand if you want to take the plunge (I do think the game is a bit on the expensive side, considering what it's offering, so take that into account). I'm giving it 4/5 stars mostly because it's fun and it delivers on what it advertised, even if what it advertised didn't stand the test of time all that well. It would probably be more like a 3.5/5, to be fair. Get it when discounted, provided you know what you're getting into.
I paid 16€ for this game and it's a fair price for what I got. I knew nothing about the "controversies" surrounding this title and if you're interested in getting into it, I suggest you try to steer away from those. As a game, it's fine. Apparently, it wasn't in the best of states back when it was originally released, but all seems to have been ironed out, by now. It works flawlessly, no bugs that I came across, it's brilliantly optimized (I'm running it on a 2021 laptop with an integrated 1GB VRAM GPU, which had no right whatsoever to run it, but somehow it does -- on Medium graphics preset, even). For this, alone, I should give it four stars. I can't, though, because the game is great if you know what you're expecting, and I clearly didn't. This isn't an action-adventure title, as GOG claims, it's a stealth game. I couldn't tell you whether it's a good or bad stealth game, because it's not really a genre I play, let alone stealth with light survival elements. It's slow, which I guess is fine, considering the genre, but it will bother those who are looking for a more fast-paced adventure. I'm not even bothering with the nests and such, basically driving from one main mission to the next, since that part of the gameplay tends to slow my enjoyment of the game a lot. The writing is kind of all over the place, with some writers clearly wanting to do their own thing, but some head-honcho was apparently extremely "anti-PC/anti-woke" and every instance of the word "god" had to be capitalized, even in expressions like "goddamn" and subsequent variations. It's also very... "US-centric", in the sense it will one-sidedly address some issues most of the world couldn't care less about, like gun control and prison overcrowding. If you want to play an action game that's post-apocalyptic, has a vehicle and (great) driving and combat mechanics, I'd suggest you get Mad Max (available on GOG, as well) instead. If you like stealth, then I guess this is the better choice of the two.
The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails is a spinoff of the Trails/Kiseki series of games, and it was released originally for the Playstation Portable in Japan in 2012. Unlike the other games in the series, Nayuta isn't open world and doesn't have turn-based mechanics. In fact, other than some vague mentions, you wouldn't be able to tell this was a Trails game. Gameplay-wise, it feels much more like other titles, namely a couple of smaller ones Falcom had been experimenting with since 2001, with the release of Zwei!!, then 2004's Gurumin and 2008's Zwei II. The world is divided into a main hub, where you get stores, NPCs and sidequests, and a series of stages that play like a 3D platformer with combat and puzzles. Each of these stages can be replayed in the seasons you unlock, and they all have challenges for you to engage in (they're not mandatory, but they do give you the means to get more abilities and equipment via the hub's trainer). The bosses are fun to fight; they're easier than the Ys games ones, but they feel unique and can provide a challenge on harder difficulties. Graphically, PH3 worked their magic and the game looks great, but it's still based on a PSP version, so that's just how it is. Personally, I really like this graphical style, but YMMV. Story-wise, don't expect something too involved, it's a light-hearted tale about friendship, kind of your standard JRPG fare. The characters are extremely well written, though, and I did experience a fair amount of touching scenes. So, should you buy this game? I think so, yes. If you're a fan of Falcom's Kiseki/Trails series because of the turn-based combat, then maybe skip it, since you won't really be missing out, but to everyone else, I'd say get it. Unlike other NISA releases, the price is extremely fair for what you're getting, even without a discount, and you'll be playing what is essentially the culmination of Falcom's experimentation with their smaller spinoff games, brought to perfection here.
I've been waiting for Super Catboy for three years, now. I had high hopes for it, to say the least, and I played the demo a lot. The final version is... a bit of a letdown, if I'm being completely honest. I've put more time into the demo than what it took me to finish the final version of the game. I do realize we went through a global health crisis that affected how such a small studio could work on a game, but it ended up suffering because of that. Super Catboy is gorgeous, if you're into pixel art (if you're not, then, well... what are you even doing here, reading this review?) and it plays like a charm. Unlike the demo, all of the keyboard controls are fully rebindable, which is a huge pro in my book, too. It's fast paced, everything plays and runs as it should and you probably won't need the latest generation "PC gamer pr0" rig to run it. It's a great pick-up-and-play for when you feel bored and/or feel like killing some time, but, sadly, that's all there is to it. Not much in the way of replayability, since there is no easy way to save high scores, and getting all the items/collectibles in a level doesn't really unlock anything. The game is extremely simple in that way, which is fine, but they could have added a bit more. The writing is OK, nothing too good, fortunately not appalling, either. It took me roughly 3h30m to finish the main story and, effectively, the entire game, since there's really not much else to do. I would have given it a full 5 star review if only it had something of a replay value, or if they had made it an hour longer, at least. Mind you, I'm no pro whatsoever, so if you're really good at platformers, you can probably finish it in under 2 hours, maybe even less. All in all, I do recommend it, but at a discount. I honestly don't feel like it's worth the 10€ full price.
Burnhouse Lane started out as The Cat Lady 2, and it shows. They tell us this in a letter included in the Extras section. They also tell us it's their most ambitious project yet, something that's also obvious, considering how graphically more polished Burnhouse Lane is, compared to Rem's previous work. That being said, it feels like the lesser game. Unlike the first Cat Lady (one of my favourite games ever), we get an info dump right at the start, something that we would have discovered alongside Susan, in the first title, by playing the game with her and keeping her company. We don't know (or, to be honest, even care about) this new protagonist, and they just tell us a bunch of stuff right from the start that could have happened to Susan Ashworth but it's less impactful. Then we go on our mission, we are obviously a nurse, since Rem apparently can't make a single game that's not about nurses or includes a nurse at some point (I loved it in The Cat Lady, but you have to stop at some point, right?), we make a deal with some otherworldly figure that isn't as interesting as the Queen of Maggots from the previous games, just a version of the Cheshire Cat from American McGee's Alice and, just like in the first game, we are charged with punishing some rotten souls in order to save ourselves from lung cancer, because this game is basically an enormous anti-smoking ad. As for the gameplay, it's OK, plays like the other games, they included some platforming that's not perfect but at least it's... serviceable? I'm all for devs trying out new things in their games, but maybe try stuff you're actually good at developing, next time? micAmic's music is good, but the choices of background music in some parts are really bad and do not set the right tone for the moment. That's it. If you're a fan of Rem's games, get it; otherwise, just stick to The Cat Lady and Downfall Redux (maybe Lorelai, even though... meh). Not much in this, that you wouldn't get from the previous titles.
