Phenomenal Spongbob game that is the closest to playing BFBB (Battle for Bikini Bottom for anyone that doesn't know) from the 6th gen console era (Gamecube, PS2, Xbox) with fluid controls and movement especially on the Steam Deck. I played Purple Lamp's previous game Cosmic Shake and felt that the sidequests were just filler instead of the good pacing BFBB & its remake had. When I saw how polished the new challenges Purple Lamp provided without being a drag like the previous game, I knew BFBB finally had a worthy successor. The only negative I can give is that there is a season pass for costumes and future content which currently as I'm writing I don't know when Purple Lamp will release the content.

I also appreciate the easter eggs from the early 2000s Spongebob movie (if you know you will know) which has given me some hope that some day Nickelodeon might finally give permission to remaster the spongebob movie game since it was one of the few good licensed movies games in the same realm as the LOTR games, Looney Tunes Back in Action, Barnyard, Toy story 3 & many other great licensed games from the early 2000s & 2010s.

Proud to say this game is worth the full price & just wait when the full content on the season pass is released since currently there's only portal challenges available which are very demanding on your focus.

As a point & click the narrative is so tightly constructed & tense enough to cut through ice that I thought I was watching a great tv series or a once in lifetime good movie.

On the store page they mention Stephen King as an influence which this game really reminded me of Firestarter (not one of my fav books), Later & some of his short stories. Unfortunately I don't know much about Crichton except for Jurassic Park & Westworld. For John Carpenter, I only know of the classic Halloween movie & not the rest of his filmography.

The biggest thing I appreciate as the game advertises is no pixel hunting & the puzzles (they require common sense & no obtuse solutions) which don't take up too much of your time. The voice acting is crisp too selling each character's role spectacularly.

I also appreciate the game's exploration of different scenarios following grief & overall I strongly recommend the game.

I hate to give this game a negative review since I love MGS 2 & I have a love-hate relationship with MGS 3. From an unpopular POV I don’t think the original MGS has aged well & while I understand how it popularized the stealth genre & even did some unique concepts including the infamous psycho mantis battle that I saw online a lot, It just feels awful to play especially with how Konami treated this port. The movement & aiming is so finicky especially when there is boss battles that do require precise movement & aiming (1v1 sniping shows the worst of the aiming which you have to do twice or four times if you want to get both end routes) which even on normal difficulty feels like the game is on hard mode.

The fact that the game which is currently on Version 1.5 doesn’t save your control layout in the settings is unforgivable on the Steam Deck. On the Deck you're stuck with B button as confirm & A button as the back button, on top of that the VR missions (game's version of a tutorial) barely scratch the surface of the controls since you're left on your own to learning how to grab enemies which is crucial to the stealth.

If this game got the remake treatment like MGS 3 is currently getting with much needed QoL like the ability to crouch walk, better tutorials & better controls then I might finally enjoy MGS 1. Better yet I would rather play Twin Snakes version on steam if MGS1 can’t be remade properly.

The only positives I can give are the story, characters & world building since for a late 90s game it still is ahead of its time with its outlook on the future. The discussion of gene experimentation wasn't even a topic back then & currently in the mid 2020s is now haunting to know Kojima & the rest of his writers thought that far ahead. Even more impactful if anyone plays through the canon timeline which sadly games like Peace Walker & MGS4 won't see the light of day anytime soon.

Overall if you do insist on trying the game, get it on a deep sale since Konami couldn't bother to get anything right.

This is my first review trying out the steam deck with the magnifying feature since the in-game letters are small.

The mixture of puzzles & roguelike is a risky choice which is targeted towards a certain player that has a lot of patience & doesn't mind repetition that'll slowly reward you. The game will tease you with the goal & because of RNG (The Dark Room & Furnace are run breakers) your floor plans are completely ruined which is my main gripe especially seeing the same rooms in a row. The puzzles themselves range from normal (Billiards testing your math skills) to hard difficulty (solving the breaker box code) which make up for the RNG aspects that annoyed me a little.

If you don't mind all of these game design choices then you would enjoy this game whether for full price or on sale. The story sadly didn't grip me, I wanted to see if I would like this puzzle since I do like roguelikes for their replayability when done right. Unfortunately for me the puzzles don't work with roguelike elements. I hope to see an experiment like this done properly in a future game since there is potential for a new type of dopamine in the roguelike genre.

Very unique point and click adventure. The game's choice to make it split screen is like you're either wearing glasses or you the player act as the main character's brain. If I had to compare it to past media it's like a Lynchian (Specifically Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks and Inland Empire all mixed together) Psycho movie (the game really plays with sociopath tropes especially the Norman Bates type ones) that was never released to the public due to cults using the movie to recruit newcomers psychedelically.

The way the gameplay encourages facial expressions as dialogue options and getting the context of William Clarke's story through mishaps is a wonderful portrayal of autism that can be way too relatable at times. Our mysterious alien antagonist is the sociopath who has possession powers & our victim is the unfortunate soul who acts like a vessel committing heinous actions to feed this alien. Philosophically it really delves into whether you(Yu) control your body or if something else controls your body, Jungian relationships with parental figures, whether humans have a Will(iam) or not & bunch of other rich ideas that are discussed through the tarot cards you collect.

The ARG sections are also done well & usually require minimal effort especially with creative ways to progress the story & secrets. I would recommend this game to anyone who wants out of the box storytelling, crime tropes being played with & one of the best indie mysteries that's open to interpretation to exist. Me writing this review right now would bring it injustice to talk about it any further because you really need to play it blind to really open up to its strangeness.

The closest to getting that Ace Attorney fix with a touch of learning Chinese history set in the late Qing Dynasty with touches of Sherlock Holmes as an influence. I really loved learning both the bad and good of China's 19th & 20th century with how they dealt with the tragedy of Opium use especially with the last case showing the lengths greed would go to keep addicts sending money to corporations (the worst case being the Sassoon family's influence), how controversial the Mixed court system was for allowing corruption & bias in criminal cases which I never realized Britain's influence in China at the time, how China struggled to compete against Britain & Germany regarding Steel & other metals, How the chinese were inspired by classic books like The Wizard of Oz as a way of opening up their culture more to different ideas, how oppressive China was towards their own people, how corporal punishment was reduced with new legislation attempting to be more like the western approach of fairness while also preserving their culture & so many other facts that were never taught in school.

Even with the influences the devs noted, the game does a pretty good job telling a story while also educating the player on a part of history that isn't really talked about. I do have to warn you that for the default settings the FPS settings are set on unlimited for some reason so you'll have to immediately set that down if you want to play smoothly without screen tearing. I can't wait to see what they do with the DLC since the journalist character never got a lot of spotlight except for the final case. The voice acting is also pretty good for a small studio & the ink/painted brush graphic style the game chooses really fit the vibe of reading an old scroll.

If you're looking for an Ace attorney with some more mechanics to it like debating, logical reasoning and so on then I definitely recommend this game either full price or on sale. I really valued its message against drug abuse and showcasing the tragic history of how drugs stayed in business illegally. I could tell this was an important part of the game the devs wanted to share and it was very heartfelt with how connected the cases were regarding drugs.

This one will be a cautious positive review since I still feel conflicted on the use of AI in our entertainment. I was originally going to avoid this game until I saw how fluent the conversations can lead into this game. The game has a 450 character limit & I've never in my lifetime played a game where you can actually feel like a detective without restrictions such as choice boxes and other previous tools used in older games. Especially in RPGs where choice is one of main enjoyments such as Fallout New Vegas or newer games like Disco Elysium with good writing. I see why actors and ones that do voice acting are horrified of AI. AI as unknown as it is currently does a more capable job of being believable than a written script. It's really scary the lengths it goes and I believe the devs did a good job showing how dangerous this new tool is with each of the cases. Exploring the ethics of AI, what happens if we can reverse death with AI, how we deal with grief, the impact of art in the technological world & so many other relevant topics that I believe are very important in how we steer the future.

I say this is cautious because not everyone will be for games with Deep learning AI in them such as ChatGPT or other tools. I know infamously when creatives such as Studio GHIBLI director Hayao Miyazaki was shown the potential of AI, he was so disgusted that he believed robots will never understand human pain. After playing this game I believe this technology will be inevitable for usage despite past warnings. Unfortunately a lot of bad knowing our human history of discovery but with a cautious approach like how the devs handled the use of AI. I believe we can still keep AI as a tool instead of our downfall.

This one is a potential 2024 GOTY for me for asking the important questions of life while also being a well written detective mystery. For some people it'll be a last straw for innovation, that we went too far. The third and fifth case for me were a reminder of the dangers of unresolved grief and having to remind the player the simple lesson to move on. Never forget your relatives to empower you but don't disrupt the biggest step to life which is death. I still miss my father but I wouldn't want to resurrect him at all knowing how personalities can be forgotten.

EDIT: I nominated this game for the 2024 Steam Awards GOTY category

I've been on a puppet combo rush lately and after playing for the first time Cannibal Abduction (this game is one of my favs and the closest to why I loved Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Glass Staircase (Mid game IMO), Nun Massacre (love the lore), Blood Wash (I wished it was longer, definitely one of the more messed up villain lores), Night in the Gates of Hell and Christmas Massacre on the Xbox. The game is pretty nostalgic of when Blockbuster used to be around with funny references to Titanic, Godfather, Indiana Jones, Toy Story, Halloween and other classic movies as you try to work as a clerk dealing with rude customers, a rude boss, and a killer on the loose.

When I first saw the store screenshots I thought the villain for this game would be aggressive but the game is actually more forgiving (there's only one chapter that isn't a scripted chase which involves the most out of memorizing the level layout) and more of a puzzle game with a beginning that involves minor management. Plot is the closest to a B movie horror as you can get and I wanted to know more of the actual setting and minor characters including why the killer became the way he is. I'm also hoping if this store setting is brought back again, it involves more management and freaky shenanigans since it has potential to be really scary.

I would say overall to either buy it full price or wait on a sale if you like VHS styled horror. If I had one more critique the chase music could've been improved, it doesn't fit the vibe of being chased at all by a killer. Still loved the concept & game but hoping the next project by the devs will be expanded on better.

Pretty decent conspiracy thriller with a good twist to the story. Mostly deals with identity and the purpose of your job at the FDI. Has a cliffhanger ending which burns the experience a bit. The only time I struggled with the game is with the bomb defusal which is the most frustrating to do in the game, other than that I loved how the desktop plays a huge role in uncovering clues. You become either a loyal agent or an espionage spy which it does pretty well to keep the player engaged.

Price wise it's a bit on the expensive side for only 3-4 hours of gameplay so I would wait for a sale overall. This is the closest to something X-files, Bones or Mindhunter just as tv show examples would've done in a videogame format in the perspective of a techie. Hopefully if the sequel is released it can expand on the underdeveloped tools like the sample analysis for example, have multiple endings and remove the time limited puzzles. The opportunity to do multiple cases (subplots which would either help your detective or not) instead of following the main story would be amazing potential as well if that's possible too.