Short Reviews 2024 (in 2025)

Jan 4

(I would have published this article sooner if it hadn’t been for some meddling health issues. I’m doing better at the moment, so I’ve finished this writing challenge of 5-sentence reviews covering games that I played last year.)

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Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Developer: PlatinumGames
Publisher: Konami
First Released: 2013
Platforms: GOG | PS3 | Steam | Xbox 360
Trailer | Playthrough

Ignoring the disservice my clunky footage brought, MGR:R is actually a thrilling short-but-sweet hack n’ slash. I love how high-energy and over the top combat is, and pulling off “bullet time” (Blade Mode) slashes is immensely rewarding. I’m terrible with the stealth mechanics, but they seem like nice options that better-skilled players could take advantage of. While I have yet to play the other Metal Gears, MGR:R’s plot stands on its own well enough, with political commentary that remains eerily spot-on over 10 years later. As a whole, I love this game, and I intend on clearing it on a higher difficulty.

Silent Hill: The Short Message

Developer/Publisher: Konami
Released: 2024
Platforms: PS5
Trailer | Kiribbean Cruises Video

This is a rare instance in which a book can be accurately judged by its cover. The Short Message’s trailer reeks of out-of-touch adults trying to write a story for teenagers, and the full game plays out exactly as cringe as imaginable. Complicated discussions about mental health, childhood abuse, and school bullying aren’t given time to breathe. What should be a dark story instead feels like a parody of itself. To top it all off, The Short Message is a typical brainless and tedious walking sim, so I can’t even recommend it as a so-bad-it’s-good experience.

Revenge of the Colon

Developer/Publisher: Lilou Studio
Released: 2023
Platforms: Steam
Trailer | Kiribbean Cruises Video

(Screenshot from official Steam page)

This game has a fantastic gross atmosphere, but actually playing it is a dreadful slog. The player painfully crawls between hundreds of objects that can only be plucked, sawed, or burned off. With no stakes or challenges present, all 5 levels are functionally palette swaps of each other. The predictable and boring 3-checkpoint structure further destroys Revenge’s potential as a horror game. Also, it literally ends with a (defenseless) killer clown.

Yakuza 0

I’ve been hesitant to try out Yakuza due to the intimidating scale of the franchise, but I’m glad to finally understand the hype after playing 0. Social media seems to always focus on the goofier and meme-worthy elements, so I was pleasantly surprised to be hooked by the complex drama of its main story. The combat may not rank among my favorites in action games, but it’s still solid, and it’s endlessly fun to activate special moves on enemies. I only regret grinding out (most of) the optional Real Estate Royale with Kiryu, because it sucked out a lot of the enjoyment. Despite that, I’ll definitely (eventually) play Kiwami after such a great opener to the franchise.

Stellar Blade

Developer: Shiftup Corp.
Publisher: Sony
Released: 2024
Platforms: PS5
Trailer | Playthrough

While flawed, Stellar Blade is still fun. The combat is polished, consisting of classic (for the genre) ”blue” and “red” attacks, parrying, and an Estus Flask healing mechanic (GUYS IT’S JUST LIKE DARK SOULS!!!1!). Having the ability to grab dozens of costumes for free (and not as money-grubbing microtransactions) is refreshing, and sends me back to better days with video games. What restricts Stellar Blade from a higher rank is its obligatory and dull open world maps, a bare-bones gun to shoot with, and the constant painfully cliché sci-fi story beats. All that being said, you can’t go wrong with buying this game on sale.

Princess Peach: Showtime!

Developer: Good-Feel Co., Ltd.
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: 2024
Platforms: Switch
Trailer | One-off Stream

(Bored quit)

There’s so much charm to this game’s presentation, but Nintendo barely takes advantage of its selling point. The adorable costumes I tried out were exclusively used three times before getting dropped entirely. Often, I was underwhelmed by a level’s assigned gimmick, as if Nintendo went with the bare minimum with creativity. I think I fell victim to social media overhyping this game, because I don’t know what I was expecting out of something built for 5-year olds. I’m disappointed, but Princess Peach: Showtime! is ultimately inoffensive.

Arctic Eggs

Developer/Publisher: The Water Museum
Released: 2024
Platforms: Itch.io | Steam
Trailer | Kiribbean Cruises video

Arctic Eggs does a great job focusing on its one strong gimmick. With nothing but a frying pan and physics, various characters toss in eggs, meat, and other unusual ingredients for the player to cook. The dystopian world's lore gradually builds as each customer speaks their mind. The plot can be hit or miss with its combination of pretentious and “wacky” hijinks, but its symbolism and societal commentary have a decent payoff by the end. I wish Arctic Eggs wasn't such a short game, but I was highly entertained by what it did offer.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (Anniversary Edition)

Developer: Relic Entertainment Inc.
Publisher: THQ, SEGA
Released: 2012
Platforms: PS3 | Steam
Trailer | Playthrough

I set this game to Normal difficulty so I could have some good mindless fun shooting and bashing in skulls like it’s a Summertime action flick. Space Marine keeps its melee and gun combat simple, but that’s what makes it so fun. Unfortunately, this praise only applies to the first half of the game. Once Chaos Space Marines get thrown in, everything turns into a worse Gears of War without the ability to crouch. The fact I only enjoyed half of Space Marine makes it difficult for me to recommend.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun

(Hard difficulty)

Boltgun would be perfect if it wasn’t so bloated. Each level feels amazing to run and gun through, but completing them feels twice as long as necessary (although Hard mode probably has a factor in that). The game has a bad habit of spamming tanky enemies, which exacerbates the tedium. Don't even think about the grindy paste that is the DLC, where the spam is even worse. The best approach to Boltgun is playing in short bursts (and buying only the base game on sale).

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II

(Initial impressions, Veteran difficulty)

Note that I’ve only played some of the campaign, and none of the operations. As thrilled as I am to see Tyranids, Titus’s Space Marine 1 loadout isn’t ideal here, especially on Veteran difficulty. Changing finisher moves to regenerate armor instead of health was a horrible idea considering the sheer numbers of bugs that swarm around. CPU characters can be described as having “RE5-itus”, making it practically mandatory to play the campaign with friends. When I return to Space Marine 2, I’ll be knocking it down to its default “journalist” mode to hopefully find mindless fun like I did in the original.

Dante's Inferno

Developer: Visceral Games
Publisher: EA
Released: 2010
Platforms: PS3 & PSP | Xbox 360
Trailer | Playthrough

(Hellish difficulty)

I’m still behind on my God of War crash course, but can say that Dante’s Inferno is an average-at-best hack n’ slasher. It starts off strong, but peters out fast. The Lust stage doesn’t hold back (extremely creative phallic and yonic imagery galore), so I finally understand why footage of the game was practically banned off the Internet. Unfortunately, after the amazing Circle of Gluttony (juxtaposed right after Lust), the game becomes generic, and its combat unbalanced. With only a couple memorable parts, Dante’s Inferno won’t be staying in my collection.

Mouthwashing

Developer: Wrong Organ
Publisher: Critical Reflex
Released: 2024
Platforms: Steam
Trailer | Kiribbean Cruises Video

For a linear walking sim, Mouthwashing is a strong example of how the genre can be handled well. It allows the player to piece together its metaphor-heavy story by themselves, the characters are well fleshed out, and the roughly 3-hour runtime doesn’t overstay its welcome. Being a pretentious art piece with body horror elements are bonuses for my tastes. The only weak parts of Mouthwashing are its minigames, which are conceptually interesting but aren’t utilized to their full potential. Even so, this is one of my top walking sims that I highly recommend.

Zoochosis

Developer: Clapperheads
Publisher: PlayWorks
Released: 2024
Platforms: Steam
Trailer | Playthrough

(Rage quit)

I played this game during its first 4 patches (it reached 29 at the end of December), and all of its concepts felt half-baked. The zoo animals were dumber than a sack of rocks, and mutants largely ignored the player character (there’s a lore explanation for the latter… instead of better code). All tension was lost once I realized every mutant encounter played out the exact same way. Not even the survival resources mattered, as it was impossible to run out of them. My Twitch chat put it best: Zoochosis is a bad narrative game wearing the skin of a survival horror.

Winnie's Hole (Demo)

Developer/Publisher: Twice Different
To Be Released: Q2 2025
Platforms: Steam
Trailer | One-off Stream

After a year of a mere concept trailer, I was beginning to think Winnie's Hole was just another one of those jokes about “public domain cartoons, but edgy”. Fortunately, the demo’s gameplay shows promise, even though its difficulty curve is unfairly brutal. Using a deck of tetriminos to draw combos on a grid is addictive and a good fit for a roguelike. Mixing body horror with Winnie the Pooh is cringe, but it admittedly helped the trailer stand out. I look forward to future developments for this game.

DreadOut

Developer: Digital Happiness
Publisher: PT Digital Semantika Indonesia
Released: 2014
Platforms: Steam
Trailer | Playthrough

I was highly fascinated by the many ways Digital Happiness experimented with DreadOut. Sometimes it can be described as a Fatal Frame homage, a horror puzzle adventure, an interactive walking sim, and much more. The constant switching can seem a little jarring, but the passion behind each experiment can be felt. Out of all of them, my favorite was a boss fight utilizing the camera and a mirror to shock its invisible body into a tangible form. DreadOut is rough around the edges, but I’m glad to have played it.

Nightmare Kart

Developer/Publisher: LWMedia
Released: 2024
Platforms: Itch.io | Steam
Trailer | Playthrough

I’m grateful that Sony didn’t completely nuke this incredible Bloodborne fan project. Nightmare Kart is one of the best imitations of PS1-era games that I’ve played, down to the exact way the hardware would “wiggle” model vertices. The kart racer spin on its source material is charming, and I love the kart designs for each character. The controls are highly responsive and satisfying, with only a couple levels bringing out a jankier PS1 experience. It’s a good racing game in its own right, made better with the lovingly crafted tributes to Bloodborne’s set pieces.

Shadow Generations

Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: SEGA
Released: 2024
Platforms: Steam
Trailer | Playthrough

I don’t want to write too much here, as I’ll probably make a lengthy essay after I 100% this story mode of Sonic X Shadow Generations. The good news is that I’ve finally found a Sonic game that I unironically recommend playing. I don’t know why my child self bored quit Sonic Generations back in 2011. I’ll have plenty of nitpicks to share, but that’ll be saved for the full review.

As an aside, I’m glad that SEGA gave older Shadow fans decent lore additions, because the changes that were made in the Sonic 3 movie were borderline insulting.

Slitterhead

Developer/Publisher: Bokeh Game Studio Inc.
Released: 2024
Platforms: Epic Games | PS4 & PS5 | Steam | Xbox Series
Trailer | Playthrough

Slitterhead has so much potential that's squandered by its restricted scope. I’m worn out and frustrated after fighting the same 3 or 4 enemies for 20+ hours. Even variants (e.g. a “mimic octopus” or “mantis” Slitterhead) are dispatched with the same strategy, despite having 1 or 2 unique attacks. The filthy cramped streets of Kowloon make for amazing backdrops, but are often detrimental for the game’s combat (and camera), as it’s preferable to move in more open arenas. Because of its time travel story and possession mechanic, there was a running gag from my Twitch chat to go play The Third Birthday instead.

Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl - Gold

Developer: Level-5 Inc, h.a.n.d. Inc.
Publisher: Level-5 Inc.
Released: 2018
Platforms: Switch
Trailer

(Initial impressions)

The only reason I bought Snack World was because of its monster collector gimmick and the fact that Level-5 built it. It’s a baby’s first dungeon crawler with somewhat stiff controls and a few weird design choices (e.g. enemy and ally attacks are telegraphed with the same red-orange markers). The game is also crammed with cringe food and pop culture puns (including a Covfefe Lounge). I’m surprised it maintained a T rating for America considering its sleazy jokes, but I’d describe them as Animaniacs-tier and okay for a teen audience. Although it’s not Level-5’s strongest title, I’ll randomly boot up Snack World when I want a casual treasure hunting game.

Atlyss (Beta 1.6.2)

Developer: Kiseff
Publisher: KisSoft
Released: 2024
Platforms: itch.io | Steam
Trailer

There’s a lot of ridiculous furry bait, but Atlyss is awesome from a gameplay perspective, trust me. I agree with Vel’s assessment that the game scratches that MMO loot grind itch akin to PSO2. Although in Early Access, it offers a good amount of dungeon delving, combat is solid and addicting, and multiplayer connections are smooth as butter. Parts of the game admittedly suffer from the “spamming enemies = challenge” design trap, so I’m not sure how much they would sour a solo experience (whereas it’s manageable in multiplayer). Atlyss is one of the few Early Access games where I’m excited to play every single update, and I recommend playing it even in its unfinished state.

Dave the Diver

Developer: MINTROCKET
Publisher: MINTROCKET, Nexon Co., Ltd.
First Released: 2022
Platforms: PS4 & PS5 | Steam | Switch
Trailer

(Initial impressions)

While I enjoy Dave the Diver in a general sense, I can’t help but nitpick the parts I’ve experienced so far. The restaurant sim is a huge disappointment, because automation is key to making decent profits. Getting to easily hunt sharks early on completely skews the balance of the restaurant side, since their meat eclipses the value of other recipe ingredients. I’m not sure if “90’s jank” is the best way to describe combat, but it makes boss fights abysmal to deal with (I don’t care if it’s “realistic” for a fat guy trying to swim near ocean animals). I do still enjoy this game, but the minor grievances keep it from being more than just “decent”.

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Short Reviews 2024 (in 2025)

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