Anodyne

An otherworldy experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the unique mood this game creates. It often left me in a contemplative headspace. The gameplay was also quite nice, albeit a bit straightforward for this style of game. The only thing I didn't appreciate was the obtuse post-game collect-a-thon.

This game is fun and pretty difficult but it has one big issue that even strays me away from buying the sequel. About halfway through the game you realize that the entire game is collecting cards and if you get so many cards per area, you unlock the next area. I was watching a developer playthrough of this because I was stuck on getting a card and he purposely showed off an exploit he left in the game that makes it so you skip past the entire game.... Bro :-( After learning I could have just skipped the entire hotel sequence I damn nearly lost my mind and stopped playing this for a loooooooooooong time The hotel is the hardest part in the entire game up until where I stopped and the boss battle is frustrating as all Hell So, after I found out I could just skip the hotel, I wanted to rip my hair out.

Too scary :(

I didn't enjoy the dungeons I played through in this game. It is heavily inspired by older Zelda games but I found the graphics and gameplay to feel outdated and mediocre.

Charming and fun, I love the dialogue and writing aspects. It doesn't take itself too seriously and I enjoy that most. The pixel art is also very appealing to me. I have enjoyed getting lost in this world and discovering new areas.

The game did some interesting things. Overall though, the game experience was very frustrating due to all the jank.