Hollow Knight Review

                Hollow Knight started as a Kickstarter in 2016. The aspiring indie group Team Cherry promoted a 2D platformer that takes place in a surreal world of insects. The Kickstarter was very successful raising almost $60k AUD (almost 40k USD). Unfortunately I was never there for the Kickstarter itself. I came across the game on Steam, and I also heard of its popularity floating around the internet. I played the game with my boyfriend, us being overachievers and finding ways to clear 100% with our first run of the game.

OneShot Review

                

               Imagine waking up in a world where there is no sun, and the worlds only hope is you. All the weight of saving the world being dropped on your shoulders the second you step out of the house. Well, really you’re not the messiah of the world, but it’s Niko, the small cat like boy that you help control. You yourself are actually the god of the world, and you have to help Niko save it.

                The game plays off like your standard RPG maker game at first. Walk around, collect items, and solve puzzles. The puzzles in OneShot are one of the most interesting features in this game. Some of them are sometimes simple, but the ones that stand out can leave you a bit stumped or even amazed. I dare not spoil on what these puzzles are exactly like, but the majority of them involve breaking the 4^th wall.

                The world of OneShot has three areas to it, The Barrens, the Glen, and the Refuge. The art and color to these areas are dark, but pleasing to the eye. You can tell which characters come from which area just by their look. Sometimes you can see full pixel art scenes, and they are beautiful to look at. The length of the game is not daunting, but you might have to go through the three short areas another time if you want the full experience.

                Characters in the world are very memorable. Everyone’s personalities flow from their appearance to their way of speaking. I never found a character here that I disliked. If anything, you might be the most attached to the main character Niko, because of all the time you spend with him.

                The game itself is pretty sensitive on how you play it. So sensitive that if you close the game and reopen it, Niko will be worried that you have left him. Just be sure that you don’t close the game when you’re outside, I’m warning you. There are times in the game where you might have to check files in the game’s folder itself, but that is all part of the experience. Don’t be alarmed what the game might throw at you. The difficulty may be easy, but it’s not too forgiving when it comes to choices. Remember, you only have One Shot.

               Overall, OneShot is a really fun experience. I'd say if you're a fan of story based RPG's, it's worth a shot. There's no combat, but the story of the game is one of it's strongest points. The game is available on Steam for you to try out.

Freedom Planet: "What's this? AN INDIE GAME REVIEW?!"

Yes, it's true, contrary to what I've reviewed, I do play other games, and I play indie games. Granted not as much as I'd like for indies, but I am working on it. I was first introduced to this game via an event called SAGE, the Sonic Armature Games Expo back in 2012, where this game was first shown off, and I had a blast playing it. It was a great demo and is one of the kickstarter projects I wish I had the money at the time to endorse. However, it was released to the world recently, and even got a WiiU Port (Which is the version I used for this review, however I do have experience with the PC version, and will be getting said PC version to let's play soon).

Undertale

keybug55's reviews:

Undertale

Take the bullet hell shoot 'em up games, mix them with some charming RPG elements, and make it so every character is lovable in some way or another. You get a game known as Undertale. I'll try my best to explain the game without giving too much spoilers.

The game's background is basically there's two races, humans and monsters. Monsters got sealed away into the underground, and you are a human child that fell down there. You explore the Underground meeting various interesting monsters with their own distinct personalities.

Every action you make can change the ending in one way or another, and I do mean EVERY action. Even if you restart without saving, the game will remember, and it will be sure to let you know it does. There is every possible outcome for almost every possible option. What I mainly love about this game is that everything is very well thought out. There are plenty of secrets and easter eggs to go back to, making this game highly replayable. Some secrets you have to find by closing and reopening the game.

If I had any complaint about this game, I would say that the beginning is a bit slow, but it's enough to get you immersed in the game. The first character you meet is Toreil that gives you the rundown of the game. You can say, she'll give you a...TuTORIEL?! Yeah this whole game is filled with lame puns.

One main thing I also love about this game are the characters. Each character no matter how nice, mean, annoying, or sadistic they are have a lot of charm and heart put into them. Mind you, if you play through genocide you'll have to eventually kill these characters. Especially if you do pacifist first, it might break your heart to see these characters die, but I think that just adds to the experience.

The battle system is pretty creative too. Basically you're a heart that has to dodge the attacks of various monsters, like a bullet hell game.  Sometimes it's simple, most times it's pretty crazy. Although I would say the difficulty overall is pretty fair. There are two options that change the game very drastically. You have a choice of killing an enemy, or sparing it. The more enemies you kill, you gain EXP and gain levels, this path is called Genocide. To reach the True Pacifist ending, you'll have to spare every enemy and boss. Arguably, it's easier to get though the game killing everything, though I would not recommend starting with it. You will have a bad time later on, and it will alter True Pacifist's ending even when you reset.

Overall this game is very well thought out, extremely charming, and a joy to go through even at the tough parts. It's not too long either, for this game only has seven areas. If you're a fan of RPGs like Earthbound, I'd recommend you try this game. Even if you aren't, it's a nice game to start with.

-Marissa (keybug55)

Four games at Freddy's: I solomly swear that there will be no jump scares in this post. Besides, have you tried typing Jump scares?

Five Nights at Freddy's, chances are you've herd of these game if you've spent any time on Youtube this past year, that's what happens when one person puts out four well received horror games in under a year, which bugs me even of itself, as I feel that the quality of the games is diminished as a result. But, I did promise last year that I'd review the first game, and I'm doing one, I may as well do all four. So, here's my review of the four Five Nights at Freddy's games. As a forewarn, I'm reviewing the PC versions of all of these games, but iOS and android versions do exist.

Team Fortress 2: "A World war themed hat simulator" - Valve

What is there to say about Team Fortress 2 that hasn’t been said? If you play First person shooters or have Steam, then you know of this game. It’s one of the few FPS games that doesn’t try to take itself seriously and never has. The trailers, the taunts in game, the weapons, the characters, everything about this game is designed to be comical.