Northern Journey: I enjoyed the vast majority of this game. Sudden difficulty spikes notwithstanding. But the quicksave button was a lifesaver. (The haunted glacier level & glider part sucked. And I could’ve done without 2 or 3 of the final five boss fights in the end game.) Hard to recommend to just anyone. But it’s nice to enjoy an FPS for once.
Overbowed: The things the game does get right (like little character interactions and health upgrades to reward exploration), doesn’t save it from being a little mediocre overall. Bosses aren’t fun to fight, and I really dislike how the map is designed to be one color/unable to be viewed in its entirety. (No custom map markers either. And for a metroidvania…that’s an odd choice to make.)
Dead Island 2: The gorey-looking combat and decent multiplayer doesn’t really save this game from being just okay either. As the plot and characters (and their dialogue) are pretty bad. And I got a little sick of how often it spammed enemies behind you & how long it took to kill literally everything.
I Wani Hug That Gator: No, it’s not actually a lewd game. Has genuinely good characters, and decent dialogue that lets you engage with the teenage melodrama of a plot. I don’t usually play visual novel games like this. But the internet (and the heaps of praise it gave this) got this one right.
Gris: I gave this one a try. But it was a very boring experience. Play something like Omno instead of this.
Nimbusfall: Just a bad arcade boss rush, that might be a little better with a friend. But I didn’t have one to play it with. So the simple one button combat and bad enemy hitboxes made me not want to finish this.
I’m very much enjoying Perennial Order. (Though I did want to play its Co-Op. I’m flying solo atm.) Though I’ve heard that it’s a bit of a “Boss Walk/Crawl”, because it has a lot of downtime between its fights. But the bleak world is nice to look at, and the character interactions are interesting. So I certainly haven’t minded it yet.
I will attempt to play more of Darkwood too. Because it really does have a nice spooky atmosphere. But its controls seem strangely unresponsive. (Especially with my mouse.) Maybe I’ll try using a controller instead?
Regardless, I'm getting closer to completing my last Christmas purchases. So I'll have plenty of room for more new games...