TL;DR: The only criticism you can make about this game is that it's on the shorter side.

This is a cute little game about cleaning up autumn leaves. An experience I would categorize as a cozy, zen incremental; visually stunning especially if you have a display like an OLED where the colors can really pop.

Fair for the price, it's one to two hours long if you are only playing it once, although there are achievements that will require you to perform at least two additional playthroughs with different strategies.

(I really hope the developer had tools to place leaves around the game in bulk; manually placing 102,400 leaf objects sounds like it would've been unpleasant.)

TL;DR: The game will ask a lot of you, but it's absolutely a masterpiece.

Silksong is a massive game. Many games over the years have gotten me to think "Alright, it's almost over" before surprising me with some twist or other that reveals there's more to do. Not many games can do that more than once. Silksong did that and more -- I was thinking, multiple times, "How can there still be more game in this game??" by the time I finally, actually, approached its end.

The game is not without its flaws. If you lean too heavily on offensive tools, you can end up strapped for shell shards (the currency used to craft ammo for tools) pretty easily, and it's hard to figure out the appropriate balance where they are adding to your options without being overly relied on. The tool that attracts rosaries (currency for shops, etc) to your character feels mandatory, and even with it, rosaries feel scarce for a majority of the game if you are unlocking benches and fast travel points as you go. However, later in the game it isn't a major chore to get them, especially once you know of relevant bonuses and a couple decent farming routes. There are a small handful of very cruel tricks played on the player, which I don't personally count as a negative because they fit thematically, but did get me cursing the developer for a bit (I don't really mean it though, we're cool.) And again while I personally don't dislike it for this, the game can be very difficult. You are really expected to learn and master each and every thing that you have access to in order to meet this game's challenges. There were several moments during my first playthrough where I exasperatedly remarked "Seriously? You're expecting me to do THAT? How the hell am I ever going to do that?!?" ...and ten or twenty attempts later, I surprised even myself by overcoming those obstacles. Hornet is so satisfying to control, and the abilities you unlock throughout the game build on each other so wonderfully, that you start to feel like a ridiculous flying ninja eventually - but the challenge rises to meet you so that you have to rely on ALL of these skills and fight hard to win.

It is easy to live with those flaws in contrast to how amazing the game is in every other aspect. Incredible art and a bouquet of unique biomes to visit on your journey. Fantastic music, that you may not often pay attention to because you're busy fighting for your life (listen to the OST outside of the game please!) Some of the smoothest combat and traversal I've ever experienced in a Metroidvania. An unbelievably vast and interconnected world, without any scarcity in secret areas. Myriad NPCs with their own stories, and often there are differences in how things play out depending on your choices and actions within the game. A truly staggering amount of attention to detail, this game feels fully fleshed out, stuffed to the brim with content honestly, and kind of unbelievable that it ONLY took seven years to make.

This is a nice little platforming puzzle game. It is not a particularly long game, I beat it in one hour, but it was a great experience with a fun concept and an amazing twist near the end.

I briefly started the DLC but it looks like it is going to be a substantial addition as it seems like it wants you to understand everything you learn in the base game from the start. If I remember to, I'll update the review when I can give an opinion on that too.

TL;DR: Blue Prince is a bit genre-defying, with some mystery, puzzle, roguelike, and deckbuilding elements. If you like solving puzzles and unraveling mysteries, you should play this game and take great care not to learn any details or spoilers ahead of time. 9/10 only because there is still a lot of room for visual polish (holes visible in the environment from certain angles or when looking through a window in a specific place, etc.)

THIS GAME IS ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. It's hard to substantiate this with evidence without spoiling anything, because the game is like Outer Wilds in that *your knowledge about the game* is one of the most important elements of meta-progression. But that is not the only meta-progression there is.

There are multiple ways to unlock permanent benefits that apply on future days. There are multiple ways to find boosts that let you influence and mitigate the RNG aspect involved in drafting rooms. There are multiple ways to create and exploit synergies that allow you huge benefits or gigantic amounts of resources. And there are also permanent choices you can make that can have benefits and/or drawbacks for your entire save file. For those who desire 100% completion, this is a small spoiler, but it is not possible to do everything in one save file, and there is a mechanism in the game that allows you to transfer from other save files to eventually obtain 100%.

With that said, I am over 30 hours in to the game, have "beaten it" and seen the credits, but I keep uncovering new layers of mystery, new puzzles, and sometimes even the reward for solving a puzzle is another riddle or hint to an even grander puzzle. This game has an unbelievable amount of depth, and you never know what small details might suddenly be relevant a dozen hours later.

YOU WILL WANT TO HAVE A PHYSICAL NOTEPAD AVAILABLE ON THE SIDE. The game explicitly tells you this in an early room, but it's truly important. Not just hints you might find about puzzles, but details on *how* mechanics of the game work can be discovered, and they're all crucial to your progress. There is so much content that you will need space to take notes, speculate, draw conclusions... Sometimes this may include symbols or diagrams that can't be represented with just text, so unless you have a stylus or tablet, I recommend physical paper. The mysteries and puzzles don't come anywhere close to stopping when you "reach the goal" and see the credits. And over 30 hours in, I am still finding subtle clues, connecting dots, having revelations. I have no idea how deep the rabbit hole truly goes. They worked on this for eight years.

Some folks have focused negatively on the RNG elements. It is true that it's possible to be very unlucky and have a run end much quicker than you would like. However, most of the time when this occurs you can learn something by inspecting your choices and order of operations, and alter your strategy going forward. I would estimate that only 10-15% of my runs have felt like they ended quickly and it WASN'T the fault of a choice I made.

This game is a mess, and an insult to DOOM's legacy.

I couldn't get through the first two levels without encountering a variety of bugs. Physics objects sliding around indefinitely, UI scrollbars not working in certain contexts, and tabbing out and back in to the game enough caused it to hang and lock up my mouse cursor, requiring me to Ctrl-Alt-Del and kill it through the Task Manager using only keyboard inputs. Just a real lack of polish.

And it's just so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bloated - you don't need weapon/suit upgrades or weapon mods. It's DOOM. It should be run and gun, not scour the map for secrets so that you can get more upgrade points. Very disappointing.

ATLYSS is a wonderful action RPG with platforming elements that is clearly made by someone who is passionate and well-versed in video gaming and its history.

(Please do not be discouraged by the suggestive content. You can turn off jiggle physics and limit certain... proportions in the settings, which is already very accommodating from the developer. And frankly I think they deserve to be a little self-indulgent with their artistic choices given how masterful the gameplay they've crafted is.)

After choosing from one of five unique and charming playable races, you can customize your character's looks and starting weapon and then the game drops you off in a hub town. There is very little tutorializing (one quest to visit the major landmarks in the hub) before the main quest line and side quests open up to you.

The game plays like a third-person cross between Diablo 2 and the many niche MMORPGs of the 2000's: you talk to townsfolk and accept one-time or repeatable quests that have level ranges; add stat and skill points upon leveling up; travel through zones that have respawning monsters; loot materials, consumables, and equipment, some that drop with affixes. You can cast a spell to teleport back to town at any time, and return through it to the map you came from when you are done. There are instanced dungeons, one at time of review with multiple difficulty levels, and you can even party up in multiplayer to take them on in a group.

You advance to one of three classes at Level 10 (the staples: Fighter, Mystic, and Bandit), with a second tier of class advancement planned. There are at least two weapon types for each class, and the most unique feature of itemization is that the stat which scales damage for a weapon can actually be changed using a certain item and a fee. If you want to make a tanky Fighter who picks things off with a Strength-powered magic scepter? You can do that. Want to make a Mystic who gets in close with Mind-fueled katars while casting spells? You can do that too. You are given seven character slots and it's easy to see why: even after completing all the content available, I found myself gladly doing it all over again to experience it from a different class's perspective.

Movement in this game is gorgeous. Everyone gets a double jump and a generous horizontal dash, with just enough of a cooldown that you can dash twice with a double jump in between for some serious traversal capability. It is exactly the kind of active movement that makes traveling from place to place engaging, and skilled players can use it in combat too, staying just out of reach of enemies for some very satisfying battles. Of course there is blocking and parrying too, so there are a multitude of ways to approach encounters depending on your class and play style.

And I would be remiss not to mention that ATLYSS's homage game is top-tier. Seasoned gamers will know they are in for something special immediately upon launch, because right off the bat, the title screen animation evokes Unreal. The little soundbite when you pull a switch and a door opens elsewhere screams Hexen. The wisp enemies are reminiscent of Bubbles from Wind Waker, with how they occasionally bounce on the ground in frustration. You have stumps, and later axe stumps, evidently inspired by MapleStory. In particular, the different iterations of boar enemies are exactly the kind of asset-reuse-with-variations that feels disappointingly lazy from a large MMO that can afford better, but charming and resourceful when coming from an indie dev. I am sure I am only scratching the surface of the references and little nods that this game contains. Please comment if there are any I've missed!

The game isn't without its flaws, but it is largely the stuff you expect to run into in an Early Access title. The writing could use some polish in places. Some quests feel like they are a bit unbalanced or out-of-order difficulty wise. There are a handful of bugs here and there. I was even able to get out-of-bounds in one area with some clever platforming, although personally this adds to my experience rather than detracting from it, I cannot be contained by mere physics and terrain! But above all, you will simply want *more*.

At time of writing, content exists up to Lv. 21, and the developer has stated that about 25% of the planned content is currently available. Unfortunately nothing but time and support is going to bring this game's completion to us sooner. In my opinion though, for ten dollars you are already getting more than your money's worth. This is an awesome experience with a huge amount of potential looking forward. I highly recommend it.

This is a great incremental about magic. There are plenty of different ways you can choose to play, variety is encouraged, and there are MANY unfolding and unlocking aspects. I am less than halfway through according to the events I have completed.

This was a rollercoaster ride and not a particularly good one. Wasn't as successful at progressing nonlethally in this one, and figured it had earned me a "bad ending" -- but nope, there are no branching paths or major consequences, it is in fact just a poor ending.

Very interesting clicker (well, two) , very playable, disappointingly short progression for how long it's been out. Eagerly await more updates.