Recent reviews by electra heart

if you like games like paradise killer or signalis or disco elysium because it's fun to discover a world that has different rules and histories than ours, then you should give this a try. i loved it a lot, and the soundtrack especially was so immersive and emotional throughout i couldn't put it down. special note to the voice acting as well which sounded a bit...unprofessional at first? but i very quickly began to really love it as the characters sound really real and there are so many notable line readings especially in difficult conversations that are just so well directed and delivered.

absolutely nothing like it and i do love it very much

170 hours on the switch version, a few hours into canon of vengeance and unless the rest of the story is just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ (in which case the game is still good, you would just play canon of creation) this is a strong recommend from me.

smt v was already my favorite rpg ever and the absolutely bonkers amount of qol and new content added with vengeance means this is the easiest damn buy of my life. the game runs really smoothly, looks really good (though not enough anti-aliasing, tf is up with that. also the menus feel like theyre 30fps for some reason).

the new story beats start fairly quickly in canon of vengeance, so you'll meet new characters and have new boss fights relatively soon into the playthrough. but the overall story doesn't change for a long while. remains to be soon how different the first act of each story feels, but it's definitely already more diverged than, say, playthroughs A and B of nier automata (story/content wise).

the new mechanics are a lot of fun and they are reaaallly leveraging not being stuck only on the switch with some of the new features. hitting up on the d-pad to instantly see a birds-eye view of the entire area that you can pan and zoom around is reaaaally useful for making sure you aren't missing any miman.

i've also already encountered multiple new songs including new battle themes INCLUDING a remix of the normal battle da'at theme and a remix of the negotiation theme. wow. i can't ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ wait for more of the soundtrack. smt v already hit extremely hard in this regard and vengeance is promising so much more

I love Revachol.
I hope she loves me too.

This game is special. This game has you encounter the most caustic, monarchist, racist, right-wing piece of ♥♥♥♥ who is so selfish and vile that he treats the people in his life like total garbage. And when confronted with his ultimate fate, his final remaining friend tells you he loved him, and you, the player, are moved to tears. Because this game (and maybe only this game, at least convincingly), forces you to confront the idea that you must believe the real ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of society are still lovable by someone, somewhere. Because if they can't be redeemable, how can you be? Because real darkness has love for a face?

criticism first:
the input is kind of annoying. other than start, every single button on your controller does the same thing. that means if you want to back out of a menu, you have to navigate over to the 'x' and hit a button. this really ♥♥♥♥♥ with me. please let me use the B button to back out! it also means if you walk up to a door and want to check your notes for something, you have to rotate away from the door so you can open your menu. otherwise you'll just attempt to open the door. the point where this really kinda pisses me off is when you attempt a puzzle, even if its just to look at it, you cant exit it without trying something. for most locks this is kinda okay because you can navigate to the lock..bar thing and it counts as an attempt. but for keypads, you have to hit the button over and over again. one of the keypads in this game is a SIXTEEN DIGIT INPUT. BOY howdy that was annoying until we figured it out.
no sound options -- game can be loud at times, please let me turn it down without having to use windows's sound mixer!

everything else so far is basically a 10/10. the puzzles are fun with really varied, but good difficulty. only a couple ones were kinda eh but they were for optional shortcut doors anyway. all the other puzzles feel reasonable and are fun to figure out. strongly recommend playing in a group or with a friend as having multiple heads to think about puzzles in different ways counts for a lot. its also nice to have someone besides the player writing down stuff. you thankfully dont need to write down a TON as you have access to your notes at almost all times, but occasionally its easier to write down the order of an input than it is to try to memorize it for 10 seconds while you walk to the lock.

the story is really intriguing, unique, and interesting. i love the characters so much. the game is also extremely funny, ive had several laugh out loud moments. i love the weird idioms that feel like they were directly translated from italian with no context. "too much salt for the pope" is an all-timer man.

the art is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ perfect and i love the perspective and artsyle changes the game goes through at times too. they all feel really impactful. i love all the tactility and sound designs of the keys and locks and man. its just such a pleasure to go through and figure stuff out. i love building a mental map of where and what locks i still have to deal with, and its SO rewarding to open things up that have been blocking you for a while. if you're into puzzle games.......you gotta try it

its only kind of like undertale. it's maybe inspired by the tone and format and meta-ness but that's kind of it. it's really not that similar. this is neither a good nor a bad thing, just setting expectations.

aside from that, it's very fun. the battles and soundtrack are really great, and there's a lot to do with multiple routes and stuff. i really like the way the gameplay evolves, that felt creative. excited for the sequel

(playtime disclaimer: i played many hours of this during the playtest)
this game feels like hades 1 (a great thing) but with very noticeable differences. the way your cast works (especially with boons) feels completely different. so you already know its fun

the main thing though, for me, is how WITCHY this game is. tarot cards, witches brew, spells, magic circles, the new enemies, and especially the new 1st area are so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ witchy that it is such an interesting take for hades. i really love it, it's executed super well.

the new character designs (especially those for returning cast members) are absolutely amazing. the new music is the same: familiar but different enough that it's exciting. and of course it's good, it's darren korb.

its a must play if you like hades 1. that much is obvious.

competitive multiplayer solitaire...be sure to play this in voice with your friends (and try not to get NERTED)

this game is very very real. few games feel this meaningful about actual life. very good, engrossing writing and a very relevant narrative

immediately engrossing story with really unique and interesting characters. the looping mechanic is fun and there's diagetic QoL to make it not exhausting (you don't have to repeat actions once you've achieved a goal in a previous loop). the world is gorgeous and fairly fun to explore, and the story and mysteries are just really exquisite to experience. i got a lot of paradise killer vibes from this but i think this game stuck the landing much harder. a must play imo