This completely lived up to the hype. I was a bit intimidated going into the game, knowing how difficult it is considered, which it definitely was, but I hardly had a day where I didn't make great progress despite dying quite a bit. The art style is incredible and unique, the sound design and music are super atmospheric, the characters are all rich with personality and lore, and the world of Hallownest is endlessly rewarding to explore. I finished the main ending and look forward to coming back to this game, again and again, to tie up loose ends, do some more exploring, and continue to challenge myself with the extra boss battles. All things considered, I'm quite proud of how much I did complete in my first playthrough, getting 95% of the game done, only missing a few things here and there. I really enjoyed getting to learn each unique boss's patterns and attacks and eventually "git gud" enough to deliver the final blow each time, and each subsequent victory felt more rewarding than the last. I truly feel the game is a masterpiece and I look forward to watching countless hours of videos unpacking the lore.

Reviewed on Friday, February 17th, 2023, 5:51pm.

This was a really fun, (mostly) laid-back 3D platform collectathon game that really brought me back to the glory days of the Nintendo 64 with titles like Super Mario 64, Donkey Kong 64, and Banjo-Kazooie. I think the game does a really good job of not being completely derivative by not only giving each world its own very unique identity as well as the characters within, but also by making the gameplay itself vary in fun ways from mission to mission. It's not purely "go find a time piece and jump into it;" I found things like fulfilling the Snatcher's contractual obligations and making a movie with birds delightful and different enough to keep me guessing and not feeling fatigued.

Reviewed on Monday, August 14th, 2023, 11:48am.

This game felt kind of minor to me, and I'm glad it was relatively short because for the most part, it didn't hook me. The atmosphere was super creepy, which was cool, but really until the very end sequences, I felt somewhat hindered by the control of the main character feeling plodding and limited. There was a fair amount of tension throughout that kept things interesting and moving forward, and the enemy design was super gnarly to look at. Just something about the gameplay itself I didn't find all that fun. Can't put my finger on it, but I think a lot of it can be boiled down to the control of the main character was really slow and limited.

Reviewed on Thursday, September 21st, 2023, 2:45pm.