Anodyne 2: Return to Dust

What was going through my head when I decided I wanted to try playing Anodyne 2? I had already tried it's predecessor, Anodyne, many years ago, and I don't even remember what it was about, but I remember I didn't like it. So why did I think Anodyne 2 was going to be better? The slightly higher reviews? Being more modern? Beats me. This was not the type of game I'd enjoy.

I don't quite know what Anodyne is about. It doesn't help that I didn't play for too long, but it's definitely more of a story game. There's two parts to the gameplay. One's like a 3D platformer, and from there you can go into smaller worlds to complete them as 2D casual puzzle games.
There's a lot of text, not too much gameplay, and the theme of the story and the visuals is definitely more art-y than game-y. I think the stories try to tell me some tales I might care about, but writing is abstract and the tone is often so ridiculous I can't take any of it seriously. Sadly, it's not the funny type of ridiculous to me either, it just doesn't feel good.

It's no news I'm critical towards story-focused games, especially if they act as some from of interpretative art. I don't have much to say. The game just isn't fun, and neither is the story. It's not for me, and I can't even being to explain why people would like it, and thus I can't recommend it.

Dead Cells

Time for a game off my "anticipated" list of games for a change. It's the incredibly popular and well-received action roguelike Dead Cells. But does it stand up to all the hype I've been hearing about it?

Dead Cells offers a high-action platformer through a series of randomly generated levels. Each level has a different thematic in terms of its level design and the enemies featured within, and some end in a boss fight. You can find a plethora of weapons and skills, of which you can carry two of each. Between each level, you have the opportunity to permanently unlock more options, as well as unlock general buffs like more money, more potions, or an inventory slot for an extra weapon. Completing certain areas in levels (including completing the whole game for the first time) unlocks permanent powers that allow you to access new levels and content, creating a replayability loop.

Starting from first impressions, it's quite fascinating how fast-paced they managed to make the game, yet how responsive and non-button-mashy it still is. Fast animations and animation cancelling into dodges is to thank for this, and it feels really nice. The first dozen hours are enjoyable, as you're constantly finding new weapons, new upgrades, reaching new milestones, unlocking new content. Most weapons play quite differently, especially so if they're from the different classes (sword / bow / shield), and each area's thematic makes you approach traversing it at least a little bit differently.
But roughly around the time when you first beat the game, things have started to significantly slow down. You're quite familiar with the enemies and levels, unlocking a new weapon or skill isn't that impactful, since you might not find it in-game, and unlocking a whole new level becomes a rare occasion. You also start to understand what the game "values". You want to efficiently grind for the permanent currency (cells). Enemies are quite lethal, so you really shouldn't be getting hit. On a personal level, these things don't necessarily align with how I would like to play the game. The most efficient way to get more cells might not be the most fun. Not getting hit steers me too much towards certain weapons and skills, as well as encouraging cheese tactics like dropping a turret which does 10x less damage than me, and staying out of harms way. Some of these might not be problems for you, but they were for me.
After running through the game a couple more times, I felt I was basically just doing the same thing over and over again, with next to no progress. I know there were still mechanics to unlock, and I'd heard that completing the game a few more times would unlock something, but I had no clue when or where the next unlock, that wasn't just a new weapon or skill I didn't care about, was going to be. It didn't help that despite using different weapons, I didn't feel I had a lot of room for choice. I attempted the same tactic I deemed most efficient, and whether I lucked out with items, such as getting a legendary item or not, determined if I was going to complete the run or not.

All that said, I still enjoyed Dead Cells. The action combat was very well executed, and there was enough randomness to keep things fresh for at least 20 hours. It's not as long or replayable as many other roguelikes, and I expected a bit more given it's stellar reputation, but the quality is still definitely top notch. I give Dead Cells a recommendation, and a low spot in my favorite roguelikes category.

Deep Rock Galactic

The following three paragraphs were written back in March 2019.

Deep Rock Galactic just enjoyed a free weekend, prompting me to play it before it got out of Early Access. If I had to explain it in terms of other games, then it's very much like Left 4 Dead, but with dwarves and mining instead. It's a 1-4 player PvE co-op game where the goal is to complete various missions. The missions make you run and dig around the map, gather various minerals or other things in the cave to complete the objective, fight various critters that try to stop you, and possibly gather some more for health, ammo call-ins, and tiny upgrades to your character outside the mission. There's 4 quite distinct classes, and lots of little silly things to do besides doing what you're supposed to. In terms of the "co-op" atmosphere, it reminds me more of Magicka, in that it's rather lighthearted, and there's lots of yelling at each other to (not) do things.

However, despite having lots of missions, they feel rather similar and repetitive because of their similarity. As explained, the loop is the same each time - explore, gather, fight, repeat - and it's just not quite entertaining enough after the first 5-10 times. The character and weapon upgrades also don't provide much variety, being just stat increases.
This is kind of exactly the reason why I would rather not try games in Early Access. I liked the game, it was really fun for a while, and I even feel like it could be enjoyable for a longer amount of time, had they perhaps more time to tweak things. In other words, the core gameplay is nice, but what's built around it, less so.

I'm going to be optimistic about things, and put this game back to sit on the list until it's out of Early Access and I can give it another shot. I would say I wouldn't give my verdict on this, but literally, as I could not yet recommend this, I am not recommending it. I just figured I'd write my thoughts on it now instead of later, since there's still a good chance that "later" won't come for whatever reason. And if it doesn't, you can probably assume that what's written here is still mostly accurate.

The rest of the paragraphs are my new thoughts.

Coming back 2 years later due to yet another free weekend, I don't feel Deep Rock Galactic has changed all that much. The core gameplay is the same. They've added a few new mission types, weapons, and smaller things to do, but the loop is still the same, and it's still not interesting to do over and over.
I would also mention this time around that I was bugged by the fact that it was somewhat difficult to understand what was going on at times. Enemies hitting you from angles you can't recognize, hitting through terrain or objects, and personally, a weird lack of depth perception regarding how far the ground is. Maybe that last one's just me. Also, the gunplay wasn't particularly exciting.

Overall, I wouldn't call it a bad game by far. It's quite novel with its fully destructible terrain, but perhaps doesn't do enough with that possibility, or doesn't give enough opportunities for different classes to really fill a role no one else can. (I guess you couldn't play with less than 4 people otherwise.) Still, I don't understand the stellar reviews the game has gotten and would not personally recommend it, since it gets repetitive in just a few hours, and isn't super fun before that either.

Rush Rover

Rush Rover is a very basic twin-stick shooter. There is a randomly generated map, a dozen or so enemy types, slots for a primary and secondary weapon, dash, ability, a passive, and more, depending on the upgrades you get. You can also upgrade the slots themselves, and each slot has multiple different things to put in them. If you manage to find and aquire them, that is. Other that that, just move around the map, clear room after room, shoot the enemies, and don't get hit yourself.

This game has the barest of bones of what makes an acceptable twin-stick shooter. I have no complaints about the execution of any of the systems. Everything worked just fine, played smoothly, was well-polished... But as I've said on occasion before, it was all just terribly unambitious. There is not a single remarkable feature I would like to call out. Nothing to separate it from the other twin-stick shooters out there. And mind you, there are plenty of very well received games of this exact genre that do everything just as well as Rush Rover does, and then some.

What definitely did not help was the short length of the game, as well as the lack of difficulty. I put the game on hard mode for my first try, and I beat it on that first try without even a moment where things got tough. Most rooms, I did not get hit, and completed it within the bonus time limit. I'd like to think I'm actually rather poor at all kinds of shooter games, so I think most people will find this game far too easy. After completing the whole thing in a bit more than an hour, I didn't feel like going for another run, even if I'd get to experience new weapons or whatever. I'm happy to leave this entirely forgettable game behind, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone either.