Posted on by Annie Gallagher

YOU and ME and HER: A Love Story (PC): A Masterful Step (Detailed Review)

YOU and ME and HER | Cover art

Some times, the best things are those you don’t see coming. Prior to last week, I didn’t even know this game existed. Despite the fact that my reviews of visual novels tend to gain the most reviews, I haven’t found myself as familiar with the genre as some other visual novel fans. And honestly I have to ask, HOW is something as brilliant as this game not more popular? I get that it has only just now been released in the US, but you’d think that word of mouth would travel beyond language barriers.

Simply put, I have not been this floored by a game since I played Euphoria, and this game may be even better than it. Let that sink in… I wrote a thesis length essay on Euphoria… I was expecting to never find another work of fiction in any genre that blew my mind the same way. I don’t even know where to begin. Even though you obviously won’t see this piece until I complete it, right now I don’t even know how I’m going to. I just can’t think of the words to adequately describe my feelings towards this game, and describing my feelings towards games is my fucking job! Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher

Standard Review: Scratches: Director’s Cut (PC)

Scratches: Director’s Cut is an updated port of an Argentinean point and click horror game, simply titled Scratches, that was originally released in 2006. The Director’s Cut of the game was originally released in 2007 and was released on Steam in 2011, only to later be removed. Looking it up, I was intrigued by what I heard about this game. There was very little that was mentioned about this game beforehand, but pretty much everything I heard was something good. Specifically what I heard that caught my attention was that it was a game that managed to scare people without including a single drop of blood. Yes this game is a T rated horror game, and not only does it have no blood, but there are not even any enemies or ways to die. Despite this, Scratches does an excellent job at building up suspense and being legitimately scary at some points.

Admittedly, I would not say it is the scariest horror game I have played, and I have not even played that many, but it does have a story that is very compelling and suspenseful. Unfortunately it is also pretty slow and takes a while to build up to where it gets really exciting, and considering that the gameplay is rather poorly handled, it means that it will not catch your attention right away. To add to this, the game is pretty short lived and somewhat uneventful. Overall Scratches is good for what it is and what it accomplishes. It manages to provide a compelling and creepy atmosphere without any violence despite being a bit slow. Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 1 Comment

Standard Review: Serena (PC)

Serena | Logo

Serena is a very brief yet powerful point and click game that leaves a large emotional impact on the player. It has received a lot of support from the adventure fan community and has had some high profile people involved such as former Sierra staff member Josh Mandel, and the character Serena being voiced by Sarah Wilson, otherwise known as Pushing up Roses. This game was also the first to be developed by Senscape, who is headed by Agustin Cordes. When compared to Agustin Corde’s previous game, Scratches, Serena’s story is far more compelling and deep yet the game itself also has far less content. The one important aspect to note about Serena is that the game can be beaten in less than an hour. However, the game is free to play, and as a result, I cannot think of any reason not to recommend Serena. Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 12 Comments

Bayonetta (PS3/PS4/360/XONE/WiiU/Switch/PC): One of a Kind (Detailed Review)

Bayonetta | Sapentia

I’d imagine that given my propensity towards fanservicey anime-esque games with sexy women involved, that it comes as a surprise that I haven’t played Bayonetta until recently. The major reason I haven’t played it until recently is because it originally released back in 2010 when I didn’t have a PS3 or 360. I actually acquired a copy of the Wii U version of Bayonetta 2 back around 2014 or 2015, but I never got around to playing it or many of the Wii U games I owned in general due to the fact that depression hit me pretty hard around that time, and before that I was in a phase where I was only interested in JRPGs.

I actually decided to play and review the first Bayonetta as a result of a poll I held on my now suspended Twitter account, and it was held to serve as a milestone to me gaining $50 a month through Patreon. That was over a year ago, and I am just now getting to that review. Yes I know, I am very slow. And Bayonetta is fucking amazing! Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 1 Comment

Standard Review: Asphyxia (PC)

Asphyxia | Logo

Asphyxia is a rather conflicting game for me. It, at first, seems like a recipe for a hit given its odd premise of being a yuri dating sim where the girls are based off of British authors from the 1800s and early 1900s (which is going to be lost on anyone who is not an English major, so I’m not going to be talking about it much). It also tells what by all means should be a very engrossing and compelling storyline with deep characters and mature themes. There is a lot to like about Asphyxia, but for once the problem with a story is not that it is shallow or amateurishly written.

Instead, much like those works of “classic” literature that we we’re forced to plow through in school, Asphyxia’s writing is plodding and stuffy. The characters do not talk like real people, there is an unnecessary amount of description put into insignificant details, and I just found myself trying to speed read through as much as I could in order to finish the game. In the end, I was curious enough about the storyline to get every ending, but it is not a game I plan to replay nor is it one I can recommend. Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 3 Comments

Lucah: Born of a Dream (PC/Switch): Obscured by Darkness (Detailed Review)

Lucah: Born of a Dream | Messiah

Just now, I needed to take a look at my previous review of The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa. I needed to do so because my feelings on Lucah: Born of a Dream are similar to that game, and I don’t want people to think I’ve gotten lazy (although with my less frequent updates, that ship has probably sailed). Also similarly to The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa, I did not care for this game.

Both are unique games that clearly had a strong ambition, and both are games that I can imagine a specific niche of people enjoying, but ultimately, both games disregard some of the most important rules of game design and create something that fails to engage overall. The difference between the two games is that they abandon different rules. Ringo Ishikawa abandoned the rules that games should be fun or accessible and tried to use its abysmal gameplay as a storytelling tool.

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Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 3 Comments

Standard Review: The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa (Switch/PC)

The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa | header

It’s no doubt that I have covered some strange games over the past few years. I could have taken the typical route as video game blogger and just covered all the newest and most popular games, but there is something that always draws me to these odd titles that are not perfect by any means, yet still have their own unique charm to them.

The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa is the most recent game I’ve played that fits this category. It is one of those “I would not have played this on my own if I didn’t get a review copy” games, and I would say that I’m glad I played it, although I’m not sure I will be playing it again any time soon. Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 5 Comments

Standard Review: Amayakase – Spoiling My Silver-Haired Girlfriend (PC) (NSFW)

Amayakase | Box

CW: Incest, pedophilia.

I seem to have been having terrible luck with titles from Jast USA. Thus far, the Jast USA titles I have played are Starless: Nymphomaniac’s Paradise, Saya no Uta, Lightning Warrior Raidy III, Do You Like Horny Bunnies!?, and Amayakase – Spoiling My Silver-Haired Girlfriend. Of these five, the only one I thought was good was Saya no Uta, although I am planning on giving Raidy another go at some point which is why I do not plan on re-posting my old GameFAQs review of it any time soon.

I’ve recently come to the realization that if my end goal is views and popularity, then I could stick to reviewing eroge. My eroge reviews almost always seem to be disproportionately popular compared to my other work. One could dismiss that as people just being horny perverts, but If that were the case then Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 5 Comments

Standard Review: Youkai Douchuuki (Arcade/NES/TG16)

Youkai Douchuuki | Flyer

My interest in this unique Japan only platformer, Youkai Douchuuki was piqued several years ago when I saw it mentioned in an article about the representations of Hell in video games. I unfortunately cannot seem to find the original article, but I think it may have been Gamesradar, and I remember it opening with a section about this game, but it being used as an excuse to promote EA’s Dante’s Inferno before release.

I recall hearing how the game was a platformer with multiple endings based on your actions in-game, and how each ending represented the player character’s afterlife. I’ve always had a fascination for game’s with afterlife settings, especially since I have a morbid curiosity regarding the concept of Hell. A place of unimaginable horrors and torment has always provoked thought in regards to what it must be like. Read more

Posted on by Annie Gallagher · 2 Comments

Standard Review: Neverending Nightmares (PS4/Vita/PC/Ios/Ouya)

CW: Gore.

Neverending Nightmares was a rather interesting horror title released towards the end of last year for both Steam and Ouya. Right from looking at some screenshots, you can already see it has a unique art style as well as some frightening imagery. It also has a unique premise in that it is about a mental patient who has an unending series of nightmares as he struggles to awake from them. This is also a game that relies a lot more heavily on atmosphere than on mere jumpscares and traditional scares that try to assault your senses. Read more