I'm trying not to be too critical of it since I think it was primarily made by one person and was in development for like 10(?) years or something.

It's such a mess though lol On paper, it's totally my kind of shit (character-action game, etc.), but I just can't look past some of this stuff 😭

The terminology thrown around in this game is WILD. The proper noun usage is out of control. I can't deal with this y'all 😭

All the dialogue in this game reads like this: "Let's defeat Lord Tincorn so the AlterCore Dimension collapses and the Roidvax Army has to retreat."

It seems like I'm in the minority when it comes to the remake. The issues I had with the first game are still mostly present here, but I'll have to write about it again to elaborate haha

It's also still buggy and crashed on me a bunch. I don't know what's going on with Playtonic.

Game #41 of 2025: Yooka-Re-Playlee; Playtonic's remake of their 2017 Kickstarter project. I think this is one of my most disappointing games of the year. It's a total mess still, despite some "improvements" made. I completed the game at 100% with the Platinum trophy earned because I'll never learn.

Game #40 of 2025: Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden; Don't Nod's ghost-hunting adventure. If they trimmed like 30% of it, refined the combat and chilled on the GoW 2018 influence, it may have been a classic. I completed the game on Very Hard difficulty (not recommended) and chose to resurrect Antea.

Happy Game (Machinarium dev)

Detention & Devotion (Nine Sols dev)

Decarnation (maybe a bit on the longer side of things but one of my favorite games from 2023).

GYLT (that formerly Stadia exclusive game is actually pretty good!).

The Exit 8/Platform 8 (might be more of what you're looking for).

Game #39 of 2025: Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed; the remake of Warren Spector's 3D platformer starring Mickey and the gang. I'm not much of a Disney guy, but I'm a 3D platformer aficionado, so I have a weird soft spot for the game. I finished a full Paint playthrough with 89/122 Pins collected.

Thank you! Yeah, it was a long time ago at this point but it was quite the year.

I didn't realize Vampyr also takes place in the same universe? It's on my list for next year haha

I just finished Banishers the other day (finally) and mostly loved it too. I wish the game sold well. There's a trophy/quest or two that's still bugged for me and I doubt it'll ever get patched =(

Gotcha and that's just as cool as an answer haha!

The blood burst effect is very reminiscent of Vandal Hearts. Not sure if that was a slight inspiration or not but it looks awesome! (I hope the sound effect is super crunchy too haha!)

Game #38 of 2025: Keeper; Double Fine's cinematic adventure game of sorts where you play as a lighthouse. It's got impeccable art direction and a really unique OST. I completed the game with all achievements unlocked and wished there was more to do. I wanted to spend many more hours in this world.

It never ends and there's so many sections where you're forced to fight and can't run. I don't know what the fuck they were thinking with some of these encounters.

Okay, I finished it. The last few hours are absolutely dreadful lol they totally fucked things up with the combat encounters, which is a bummer because I really, really liked the overall "dungeon" design throughout (although, I do think the puzzle difficulty is a bit all over the place too). 🙃

Yeah, I think the combat is mostly competent, although I'm still not sure where I land on the whole "perfect dodge/counter stuff being in SH" conversation.

Too many of the combat encounters fall in super tight corridors/rooms and the volume of enemies just feels a bit overboard, idk.