Morrinn

I have a love-hate relationship with Bloodborne. I loved everything about it, but this game did not return my affections, and I just could not 'git gud'. I floundered through it however, and somehow beat it, only just barely, and then put down the controller and never touched it again. It's absolutely a game I have fond (horrible) memories of, and it's a fashinating lovecraftian universe I would love to inhabit a bit longer, but that game just does not want me in there...

Oh man, memories. This is... an admittedly kinda crummy game, but it has a lot of nostalgia attached to it. I somehow really doubt many modern audiences will squeeze any enjoyment out of this, but if you lived through the FMV era... Well, I mean, I still wouldn't really recommend it...

Absolutely gorgeous, right up until you encounter human characters, then it's a quick dip into uncanny valley. Thankfully it's mostly still images and don't detract from the beautiful scenery, which again... Breathtakingly well done. The story is also quite interesting, and leaves you pondering the meaning without spoon feeding it to you or leaving you completely suspended. There are a handful of puzzles, but none are particularly challenging with the core drive being more about exploration and atmosphere. If you don't like "walking sims", you won't enjoy this one. Otherwise, it's a strong recommendation from me.

Pretty, and interesting atmosphere. I enjoyed my playthrough, but aside from the visuals and a few interesting tablous, it was rather forgettable. That being said, if you see it on sale and enjoy scenic walking sims, then I wouldn't advise against it.

Fantastic game, fantastic developer. This one gets a strong yes from me.

I always feel like people like to signal boost these stories to make it sound like there is a huge controversy going on. Like with Chutchel, the way some tell the story they make it sound like developer Amanita was *forced* to make changes to their protagonist, as if in response to an angry crowd laying siege through social media. If that's what really happened, you'd be hard pressed to find any evidence of said flame war, the discussion now being entirely dominated by those upset that the poor developer had to buck to public pressure and compromise their vision. Is that what happened? Or did Amanita possibly just decide, "Hey, you know, now that we think about it, this design might be a little problematic. let's change it to avoid upsetting anyone." Which of course set an even angrier flood in motion... This of course is just a slightly less ridiculous retread of what happened with Cuphead, and the non-controversy surrounding that game. So many people screaming into the void about how in the name of political correctness people are now getting upset at this game for paying homage to an animation style tangentially related to culturally insensitive cartoons. Nobody ever seemed to stop to ask, "Wait, who are we screaming at again?" Because truth was, while several journalists did broach the issue, nobody was actually accusing MDHR of insensitivity, or claiming that they were creating racist caricatures. By simply acknowledging the existence of racist cartoons, readers immediately assumed that journalists were once again trying to ruin our fun with some of that dreaded political correctness. And of course Cuphead isn't racist. Of course Chutchel isn't blackface. That's why it's so easy to get people worked up and angry over those 'Moral busybodies, ruining our fun', because it's obviously bullshit. But maybe, before you grab your pitchforks and torches, see if there's actually anyone out there genuinely making those claims, and see if the response you had planned is really warranted.

I have a really hard time putting my finger on what annoyed me about this game when I enjoyed other similarly nebulous to describe puzzler "Inside", by developer Playdead. It's not all that interesting, and I don't exactly know why and where exactly the game lost me.