Apesar das fortes inspirações em franquias como Resident Evil e Bioshock, Crisol: Theater of Idols consegue ser um jogo com muita identidade.
Incrivelmente eu não sabia desse projeto de publisher da Blumhouse, acho uma iniciativa muito interessante. E Crisol: Theater of Idols é um jogo espanhol, um double AA que talvez não fosse feito e revelado ao mundo se não fosse pela Blumhouse Games.
Eu me interessei desde o começo pela história e direção de arte. Um clima de mistério e desconfiança perpetua pelo jogo. O mundo é muito bem detalhado, diferente de jogos de terror que usam cartas para contar a história, Crisol utiliza de "memórias", de uma forma que impacta mais comparado ao tradicional. No final, a história é uma tragédia grega, apesar de não gostar tanto do plot twist o final é bom.
O sangue é usado como munição contra uma religião opressora. Mas o protagonista também segue cegamente um deus, será ele bom? Essa batalha de deuses é o tema principal da história. Padre Arroyo é um antagonista sensacional, mesmo com pouco tempo de tela ele brilha, rende ainda uma das melhores cutscenes do jogo.
Mas tenho que falar de coisas ruins também, como a variedade de inimigos que é escassa e só na reta final começa a aparecer um inimigo que é bem assustador e interessante. As estátuas são bem repetitivas, mas vejo no jogo um foco maior na ambientação e puzzles.
E finalmente um jogo que tem puzzles que eu goste, quase sempre não gosto de puzzles em jogo não focados em puzzle. São divertidos de fazer e com uma certa dificuldade. Um dos melhores com certeza é o de uma das sereias que você tem que encontrar, tem todo uma história de uma "família" de mulheres, em uma casa abandonada, uma das melhores ambientações do jogo. E nisso o jogo é excelente, em ter várias histórias nesse mundo, mostrando como é essa cidade com a liderança do Deus do Mar.
Os personagens são ótimos, tanto o protagonista e a guria que te ajuda, e os "vilões" que são os personagens mais "humanos". E o design da personagem Dolores é do caralho.
É um jogo que recomendo pra todo mundo, 50 reais na steam. O maior mérito do jogo com certeza é a história, ainda tem a ludonarrativa muito boa com o sistema de munição.

Game Review #41

I can't express how much I LOVE astro bot, unlike many, I know him from "Astro Bot Rescue Mission" for the VR1, and ever since I've loved this little guy and its world, then, as many know, with the PS5 comes included (preinstalled) Astro's Playroom, which was a great tech demo for the PS5, and that just made me love this even more, spending countless hours on the speedrun mode, so you can imagine my face when 'Astro Bot' got announced AND released, I mean, this game is SO GOOD, it won Game of the Year, beating Elden Ring, and of course I got a plushie and the controller of him. I love Astro Bot.

Rant Over, now about the actual game, it's SO FUN, and it will literally never get you bored, it's a joyride from start to finish, one of the best platformers ever, it does everything right, controlling Astro feels so good, the game is similar to 3d Mario, so if you like these games, you'll love Astro, it has so much passion put into every corner, there are many franchises mentioned here, with the VIP bots that you can rescue.

Also, the hub world is really cool, feels like Delfino Plaza but instead of a plaza it's a desert with many, many bots, them you can rescue bots and puzzle pieces.

The music is awesome, go listen to. "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2tj7u8RyfA" or "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0L6MM4KHIU" these are all amazing songs.

if you haven't played it because it's too "childish", please just shut up and play, trust me, these bots are so cute it's irresistible, I love this game and it's universe.

Thanks, Team Asobi, We love you.

Mega Marathon 9/50

Mega Man bosses peaked here where one of the bosses is bouncing DVD screensaver screen.

Did... Did this 4th entry in the gameboy line become my favorite Mega Man? Well. Probably not I think 5 on NES beats it out still overall but I was FLOORED at the quality in this game. In fact the first thing when starting being a cutscene with text boxes I had to progress setting up THERES A SHOP NOW followed by a stage select without profile boxes was last thing I expected. This game while reusing assets and stage ideas from last games yet again injected a LOT of personality and gameplay into things.

One of those personality things being, a full charge shot knocks Rock back a bit with kickback! A wild "nerf" to the power of charge shots. Didn't really bug me overall learning to deal with it. As far as I know this is likely only game with it but it added a slight change to how I played the game. Back to the more early days where jump and gun happy testing jumps more. We have a shop now too. With the first energy convertor tool so Rock doesn't have to switch to a weapon when picking up weapon power. I very much saved all my money for that an S tank for the boss rush which returned like a classic mega Man boss rush.

A maybe controversial last observation but this is the most "spiritually sonic the hedgehog" mega Man game I've seen. The final battle playing out very much like how a Robotnik fight does. Maybe Wily took notes from another mad robot scientist from giant him themed robot with giant punchy hands to using flying saucer to destroy ground elements to force more platforming. What a gem. Not everything in this one is the peak but the things they trailblazed for a handheld game for the series cannot be forgotten.

'as hermit crabs do' is a short photography game in which your life is soon to end. you're hidden away in a greenhouse, the world outside now uninhabitable. the plants and your camera are your only company, the droning guitar music, the ebb and flow of strange daylight. you have space for one last photo.

so, before you die, it's up to you what this last image will be. that's it - you explore at your own pace until you end the game with that final snapped photograph.

it's a soothing experience if you flow with things. first person games usually even make me motion sick, but this one's so short and self-paced that i could settle right in.

when the in-game photo didn't save for me however, i had to laugh. impermanence is kind of what it's all about, you know? we love what we have, and what we've had, and can't help but want to share with the future. (buuut if you're playing on linux, just remember to take a screenshot at the end as a safety measure like i certainly didn't do.)

'as hermit crabs do' is such a perfectly bittersweet experience. no two images will be identical. even on a replay, i couldn't recreate what i once had. <3