Games You Beat in 2022: PXoD's Bogus Journey

[Mister Jack]

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2

 

Got this in the last Steam sale. It's a good bit longer than the first game, and while it's been a while since I played the first one it also felt harder, sometimes to an annoying degree. The later boss battles in the game are pretty brutal and the checkpoints are pretty far back, which is faithful to the days of the NES, sure, but that doesn't stop it from being annoying as shit to have to redo several screens of punishing enemies and platforming every time you lose a life before you can tackle the boss again. You also have to beat the game three times to get the true ending, and I'm never a fan of this kind of padding, but to be fair each playthrough does have some slight differences so that replaying the same levels isn't EXACTLY the same. Despite these complaints I'd still say it's a pretty good game. The playable characters all feel unique and useful in their own ways (although Zangetsu feels underpowered), the levels are well designed with branching paths and shortcuts to explore, the bosses are challenging, and the music is good. A nice throwback for fans of classic Castlevania.

[TheMightyEthan]

TIS-100

 

That was neat. It wasn't nearly as involved as Exapunks, but it also didn't cost as much so can't really complain. I only beat the main game, not all the optional puzzles (I will probably dive into those now), and I left one puzzle unsolved, but I solved the main mystery of the computer, so I'm still counting it as beat. Also, I only skipped the one because when I googled it I found several people saying "I am a professional programmer and could not solve this puzzle" so I don't feel bad about that. 

 

I definitely think Exapunks is the better game, both the setup and the constraints you're working with are more interesting, but I would still recommend this to anyone who likes Exapunks and wants more of that kind of thing.

 

Grade: B

[toxicitizen]

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy

 

Okay, this one actually surprised the hell out of me. I had heard good things around the time it came out but, unlike Jedi: Fallen Order, there wasn't really anything about it that especially appealed to me. I heard the writing was good and GotG is probably my favorite subseries within the MCU but that's about it. The initial reveal was pretty meh to me and, while I didn't have any issues with the character designs (they sure as hell seemed better to me than Avengers), making it a third-person shooter where you only control Star-Lord seemed like a disappointing choice. I wanted to give it a shot anyway, though, but I was waiting for a deep discount and even 30 bucks is more than I was planning to pay for it. This was a total impulse purchase because "hey this would be a perfect game to play while I wait for the Spider-Man port!"

 

Early on it was more or less what I expected. Kinda fun and the writing and characters seemed good but the combat wasn't really that interesting. I kept playing but it seemed like one of those games that's fine but that I end up being distracted from and never coming back to. Then I kept playing, got deeper into the story, unlocked more abilities for the Guardians and... holy fuck, how did this game get so fucking good?!

 

The third-person shooter combat looks deceptively boring because in reality controlling all the Guardians as a team is key. I knew you could give them orders but what I didn't realize was that you're really controlling the entire team as if it were a party. In a way, it reminded me of Brutal Legend: Star-Lord is more like a cursor that just happens to have guns and his own move set. Once you unlock more abilities for the team, things get way more interesting and finding ways to combine the Guardian's various moves to take down strong enemies super quickly is just a ton of fun.

 

The writing is also shockingly good. I'd honestly put it up there with the Gunn films. Hell, in some aspects I think it even surpasses them. The plot itself is really solid and surprisingly long for this kind of game. There's so many twists and turns and basically all of it is set up perfectly. What seems like a throwaway line early in the game can turn into a major plot point later on. I don't remember the last time I played a linear, story-driven, single-player game with this meaty of a campaign. My one complaint about the story would be that it feels like there's a missing cutscene at the end.

 

Without spoiling anything, it seemed like just a short bit showing things going back to normal would've gone a long way towards making the ending feel more "complete". As it is, it comes off a little artificial and sudden how you beat that one boss and then it's like "Yay, you won!" without really acknowledging everything going on outside the boss room. Like, think in Guardians 2 where you see these quick cutaways that show what Ego is doing on various planets throughout the galaxy. It seems like something like that was missing. It didn't even need to be completely new locations, just show things going back to normal in a few places you've already visited over the course of the game. I imagine it was probably a budget thing, though. So it's a minor complaint, it just really stood out to me.

 

Then there's the characters, which is the main area where I find the game surpassed its MCU counterpart. I found both Drax and Gamora way more likeable in this. I feel like the game showed me a side of them that the movies didn't. Drax in particular felt like more of a full character instead of being relegated to more of a comic relief sidekick role. Rocket came across as an even bigger asshole to the point where I actively disliked him at times, which allowed moments later in the game have a bigger impact. Groot is, well, Groot. But the biggest difference for me was Star-Lord.

 

Keep in mind I've never read the comics, so I didn't really know anything about the characters other than what's in the MCU movies. So I don't know which version is more "true to the character" and, frankly, I don't really give a shit. All I know is that I found Game-Quill to be massively more likeable than Movie-Quill. And it's not like I hate Chris Pratt's Star-Lord or anything. The game just makes him seem like a self-centered, juvenile asshole in comparison. Like, he is a juvenile asshole, even in the game. That's part of his character. But if you go out of your way to go through all the optional conversations with the Guardians, Game-Quill is also a dude that seems to genuinely care about the Guardians and has the ability to be thoughtful towards them and even help them on a more personal level. The movies tell you the Guardians are a family but the game shows you that they are.

 

That's not a knock against the Gunn movies, though. Obviously the game had way more room to develop the characters and a big part of me liking the game versions more likely has to do with the fact that I got to spend like 20+ hours with them as opposed to just a couple of 2 hour long movies.

 

One point where the Gunn films are better is the music choices. There's some really fun licensed tracks in the game but overall I still think Gunn handled that aspect better. That being said, props to Eidos Montreal for going above and beyond and outdoing even Remedy here. Alan Wake and Control had a few Old Gods of Asgards songs but Guardians of the Galaxy has an actual full album for Star-Lord and it honestly fucking slaps.

 

I'm starting to think that putting a fictional heavy metal band in your game is a surefire way to ensure I'll fall in love with both the game and the band. About halfway through the game I found myself humming some of the songs because they were stuck in my head and I started listening to them outside the game. Zero to Hero in particular is my fucking jam!

 

 

Also, another one with no hassle:

 

 

I had heard this game was janky in how chapter select works and how collectibles are tracked, so I was using a guide early on but I found that to be a miserable way to play the game so I stopped after a few chapters. Fortunately, it gave me enough of a sense of how the collectibles were hidden that I found enough of them on my own to get the 65% you need for the achievement. Late in the game I also paid attention to combat achievements and got most of them before I was done. So at the end I only needed to use chapter select for two combat achievements and a handful of outfits I had missed.

 

Thank fuck the outfits save as soon as you collect them, though, because having to replay the whole game would've been painful. It's great but it's also very story-driven so even just doing partial replays of a few chapters was annoying as hell in how many unskippable cutscenes or slow sections there were. Having to do a second full playthrough immediately after would've probably soured me on the game a bit. I'd definitely love to replay it eventually, though, if only to see some of the alternate scenarios your choices can lead to.

 

So yeah, this one was a massively pleasant surprise. I was disappointed that Eidos Montreal made this over another Deus Ex but now I'm honestly a little sad this one probably won't get a sequel. At the very least, now I'll be willing to give the benefit of doubt to anything they make. I still need a new Deus Ex, though...

Edited August 9, 2022 by toxicitizen

[Mister Jack]

Oh yeah the writing was phenomenal. I still remember my favorite bit of dialogue in the whole game that sticks with me even now.

 

Spoiler

"The idea is you light something to remember someone. To pay tribute. It's not magic or anything. It doesn't bring anyone back. It's a gesture. A small thing in the face of a very bad thing. Sometimes that's all we have."

 

[toxicitizen]

54 minutes ago, Mister Jack said:

Oh yeah the writing was phenomenal. I still remember my favorite bit of dialogue in the whole game that sticks with me even now.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

"The idea is you light something to remember someone. To pay tribute. It's not magic or anything. It doesn't bring anyone back. It's a gesture. A small thing in the face of a very bad thing. Sometimes that's all we have."

 

 

Yeah, by that point I already felt like I was seeing a completely different Quill than in the movies but that moment really cemented it. I honestly cannot imagine Chris Pratt's version saying that line and it coming across as sincere or in-character.

[TheMightyEthan]

Shenzhen I/O

 

Yet another Zachtronics coding game! Apparently I like these things or something, too bad there aren't more of them...

 

In this one you're working as an electrical engineering, you have to design integrated circuits to perform set tasks, and code the chips to do each step. The coding part is a lot like TIS-100, with extremely similar language and limitations, but in this one you get to arrange how the pieces are connected for yourself, so it has more flexibility. That flexibility allows for more complex puzzles, but also makes them more approachable. In TIS-100 in the later puzzles I often felt like there was one "correct" solution that I was trying to work out, whereas in this game there are tons of approaches you can take, so you don't end up beating your head against a wall when you can't figure out the one single answer.

 

It also has more of a frame than TIS-100, with you working for an electronics company in China, and the different puzzles being contracts your company has been hired on, and surrounded by e-mail discussions with your coworkers. I don't know why, but that kind of thing really enhances my enjoyment of a game, so it's a definite plus.
 

Basically, it's like TIS-100 but better in every way.

 

Grade: A

[toxicitizen]

How the fuck are you going through these so quickly?! I know TIS-100 isn't that long, the only reason I never finished it is that every time I pick it up again I start over... and then I eventually stop again lol. But Shenzhen I/O is pretty long IIRC. It took me longer than Exapunks to beat, at least.

 

Wait, let me guess. You don't waste hours on the solitaire minigames, do you? As I was typing that and looking at my playtimes and achievements, I realized that could totally account for it.

Edited August 10, 2022 by toxicitizen

[TheMightyEthan]

lol, you're correct about the solitaire, but also I just have been bingeing them like crazy, I got 27 hours in Shenzhen in 5 days.

[TheMightyEthan]

The Looker

 

This is a parody of The Witness, but even though it's short (took me just over an hour start to finish), it's a neat little puzzle game in its own right.

 

Grade: B

[danielpholt]

On 8/12/2022 at 2:35 AM, TheMightyEthan said:

The Looker

 

This is a parody of The Witness, but even though it's short (took me just over an hour start to finish), it's a neat little puzzle game in its own right.

 

Grade: B

 

Saw a quick look of this a few weeks ago and it looks really interesting. What's more interesting is the reaction that Jonathan Blow had to this games release. I can't imagine he's the sort of person to take that sort of thing too well. 

(I get the impression he's a bit pompous?) 

[TheMightyEthan]

Yeah, I hear he's kind of a dick. I didn't hear anything about his reaction to this though, what was it?

[Mister Jack]

Blow is a blow-hard and Braid is one of the most pretentious and overrated games I've ever played in my life. I still haven't played The Witness because it just put me off so much.

[toxicitizen]

7 hours ago, danielpholt said:

(I get the impression he's a bit pompous?) 

 

Lol a bit? I love his games but the dude went too far up his own ass years ago and got lost in there. Also yeah, I'm very curious to hear what he had to say about The Looker lol.

[danielpholt]

3 hours ago, Mister Jack said:

Blow is a blow-hard and Braid is one of the most pretentious and overrated games I've ever played in my life. I still haven't played The Witness because it just put me off so much.

 

I actually have no idea what, if anything, he said about the game. I do remember that during Indie Game: The Movie he came across almost offended that people were playing, and having a lot of fun with Braid in a manner he maybe didn't love. 

 

[Mister Jack]

Stray

 

Also known as Kitty Simulator 2022. This was an adorable little game. I wouldn't quite call it a walking simulator but it is a very guided experience. The platforming is pretty much automated but I actually think that was the right call here because cats are famously agile and surefooted animals and it would be pretty immersion breaking to have total control over the cat's jumping onto tiny surfaces only to constantly miss and stumble. The gameplay of this mostly consists of interacting with the characters, doing some simple puzzles, a few stealth segments here and there, and navigating your way through environments by finding out where the cat can go that the robot NPCs can't. It's not super deep but it's pretty charming and it doesn't wear out its welcome. I finished it in roughly 5 hours, though that was without hunting down every collectible. The cat's movements and behavior are quite realistic and, while I hate to sound like IGN here, it really does feel like you're playing an actual cat. My favorite thing about the game is how many of the puzzle solutions require you to act like a little asshole. You know, like a cat. You knock things off of shelves, steal things, scratch up furniture, make messes, and just generally do dickish cat things to progress in the game, which I found very amusing. If you're not already a cat lover then maybe you might be underwhelmed, but if you're not a cat lover then why are you playing the kitty simulator to begin with?

[TheMightyEthan]

Paraphrasing a Kinda Funny discussion of the game:

 

Greg (a dog person): I just wasn't feeling that the cat was emotionally invested in any of this.

 

Janet (a cat person): Of course not, it's a cat! My cat loves me, but if someone came in here and shot me she would be upset because there was a loud noise.

[MetalCaveman]

The Future You've Been Dreaming Of

 

This is a game, that exists, it was made, part of Qureate's expansion into other genres, the main character and her struggles are fairly relatable.

 

That's about as positive as I can be.

 

The story: Sachi Usui is a college student struggling with, well, everything, studying, trying to find a job, losing her apartment, friends who all seem to be living way more successful lives, etc. That's when she finds a cheap apartment that's inhabited by a zashiki-warashi, a friendly spirit who is tasked by their mentor to watch over Sachi and hopefully guide her to a bright future.

 

The game: You play as the friendly spirit, by looking around the apartment, you can point Sachi towards certain activities that will either raise or lower her stats, for example, cleaning the room raises the Living Environment and Self-esteem stats, reading manga raises Self-esteem but lowers Knowledge, etc. These stats affect the ending you get, kinda, on top of needing the right stats at the right level, you also need to collect notes which are scattered throughout the apartment, for each ending, you need the right stat levels and all notes specific to that ending, otherwise you get the default ending.

 

Where it all burns down: Basically, everything.

 

The controls are weird, for a game where you're essentially just moving a camera around, camera movement and speed feel awkward as hell, tweaking some settings helps but it still feels like it takes forever to start turning. Looking at an interactive item on the room is supposed to "glue" the camera to it so they're easier to identify, but this sometimes won't work unless you're really close to it while other times it will work on something that's on the other side of the room.

 

Some animations are wonky, and in some cases this can lead to nightmarish results.

 

Each chapter consists of a day, during which you guide Sachi to different activities, the issue is that you're limited by time, you get about 5 minutes per chapter, this time limit is made worse by how much time each activity takes, specially as there's a TON of wasted time on certain animations. You can queue activities, but this doesn't help much. Each day becomes a race against time, and against the game itself, which seems focused on wasting as much time as possible.

 

Some examples of this waste of time: Selecting study, Sachi walks towards her desk, stands still for a moment, walks closer to the desk, sits down, grabs a book, studies for a couple of seconds, puts the book away, stands up, walks away from desk, stands there for a while before moving to the next activity.

 

This leads to some extremely frustrating moments when queuing activities that take place in the same area, studying, eating candy and browsing the web all use the desk, yet if you try to queue these three, Sachi will repeat the stand up, walk away from desk, stand there for a while, walk towards desk, sit down, animation sequence for EACH OF THESE TASKS. The "instant action" option in the settings doesn't seem to do anything in regards to this issue, in fact, it doesn't seem to do anything at all.

 

As I said before, to get each ending you not only need to have the required stats, but also notes for that specific ending, these notes are scattered across the room and you can't pick them directly, you have to guide Sachi towards each of them, so that's another thing you have to manage. Got the stats right but missed a note? Fuck you! Ran out of time before getting the last note you needed? Fuck you!

 

As you get different endings you unlock items which allow you to increase or decrease each stat by a fixed amount, this eventually leads to the game just being: Get note, use item, get note, use item, repeat as necessary, however, to get to this point you do need to have gotten a bunch of different endings.

 

Of the 20 endings, I only got 2, the default one and the next easiest one,  and I've no desire to even try and get the others lol.

 

TL;DR: Shout-out to Qureate for trying to explore other genres, and the main character is fairly relatable, everything else is a solid -1/10 though.

 

I had originally prepared some harsher words, but I ended up leaving the tab open without actually posting this review and when I came back to it I had chilled a bit lol.

[TheMightyEthan]

Jurassic World Evolution 2

 

I don't think I really need to explain what this game is beyond it's a Jurassic World-themed park builder. The Chaos Theory scenarios in this game were pretty good, where you have to do a scenario from each movie but try to prevent it from going to shit. At their core you're just building a park each time, but with bespoke objectives that make each one feel enough different that it doesn't get too repetitive. There are a few little annoyances (really, I have to research how to make wider sidewalks?), which bring it down a notch or two, but not enough to stop it from being enjoyable.

 

If you like management sims and have any affinity at all for Jurassic Park/World, I'd recommend it, especially since it's on Game Pass. I liked it enough that I think I'm gonna get the Dominion DLC.

 

Grade: B+

[MetalCaveman]

Prison Princess

 

Normally not a fan of puzzle games like this one, but add some anime fanservice and I'm in. Puzzle difficulty seemed fine to me, most of them are fairly simple, others do require some attention, and there's a couple that do require that you remember/take note of stuff that you found in other rooms. There was only one that gave me a fair bit of trouble and I did end up looking up a guide on how to solve it. Overall though, I enjoyed the challenge, though more puzzle-oriented people might find it a bit too easy though.   It's certainly nowhere near The Room or Please Don't Touch Anything in terms of complexity.

 

The story was fun, the Demon King has been rampaging, the Hero, accompanied by the Sage sets out to defeat said Demon King... and dies before being able to do anything.

 

That's when the game actually starts, two princesses, Aria from the Kingdom of Aria Zaza and Zena from Zanji Zed are kidnapped by the Demon King and sent to a castle as prisoners. There, the Hero (well, his spirit) appears, refusing to die and determined to save the princesses.

 

Much like Duel Princess however, as serious and dramatic as the story sounds, most of it is played for laughs, from the Hero's inability to interact with anything, being able to only point the princesses towards items or help with certain puzzles, to the fact that the princesses could have escaped their cells on their own, as it turns out, Aria can just casually use extremely powerful spells, and Zena can just Hulk SMASH whatever gets in her way.

 

The endings is where things get more serious, in two of them at least, and when things get interesting, given that, as a prequel to Duel Princess, the True and Bad(ish) endings are actually switched.

 

The game has five endings and I did manage to get them all, though it was done via the ancient power of just reload an old save. Most of them are fairly easy to get, though I did use a guide for two of them as these require that you solve certain puzzles in order and there's a couple of puzzles you're supposed to fail the first time around too.

 

The endings in question:

Spoiler

Save Aria, Zena remains trapped and though it's implied that you do save her, it's also mentioned that you just die there after all that, you need to fail a puzzle with Zena and do some other stuff to get this.

 

Save Zena, Aria remains trapped, you save her and banish into nothingness. Fail a puzzle with Aria and get other items to get this.

 

Then there's the normal ending, easily obtained by playing normally, unless you're the kind of person that explores and inspects EVERYTHING, then you may actually end up with either the True of the Bad endings.

 

Spoiler

You save the princesses, who return to their kingdoms and announce that they'll work together to form an army to fight against the Demon King. You peacefully banish, knowing that the princesses will defeat the Demon King.

 

Then there's the True and Bad(ish) endings, the only difference between this is a choice you make after the last puzzle, and this was interesting after playing Duel Princess as the story in that game sort of causes these two to be switched.

 

Spoiler

True Ending, it turns out this was never a Demon King castle and he didn't have anything to do with the kidnapping of the princesses, it was the Sage, friend and adventure companion of the Hero. Sage did this for two reasons, one, to have the princesses meet each other and form a lasting friendship and to recruit their help in a ritual to revive the Hero using his relics that the Sage had obtained and hidden behind some magic. After obtaining both relics and refusing to accept the power of the Demon King, the Hero is revived and he sets out with the two princesses to destroy the Demon King once and for all. The kingdoms of Aria Zaza and Zanji Zed form an alliance that brings their people eternal prosperity. The Hero and the princesses retire to live the rest of their lives together.

 

Bad(ish) ending, the Hero chooses to accept power and instead of being revived, is banished by the Sage, the princesses, now wielding the Hero's relics, his legendary Sword, capable of killing demons and the Goblet possessing his magic power, face the Demon King and vanquish his evil once and for all, the princesses become best friends forging a powerful alliance between their kingdoms.

 

This, as established in Duel Princess, is actually the true ending, as they do mention the events of this game there, but instead of living with the hero, both princesses wield the relics as they set out to fight the Great Demon King.

 

 

TL;DR: A fun puzzle game with a healthy dose of fanservice. 100/10. Liked it enough to get all achievements. \m/ \m/

[TheMightyEthan]

Jurassic World Evolution 2: Dominion Biosyn DLC

 

This was a nice expansion, mostly more of the same from the main game, but with a couple new campaign levels and a new Chaos Theory level. I enjoyed it, though it's probably not worth the full price (I played the base game through Game Pass though so I'm not too bothered by it).

 

It does get docked a little because it introduces poachers, which are irritating to deal with, but overall if you like the base game you'll probably like this, but if you didn't then this won't change anything.

 

Grade: B

[MetalCaveman]

Aperture Desk Job

 

Spoiler

"Killed" Cave Johnson using a toilet turret, only to find the giant head had a backup power unit, got fired immediately after.

 

10/10.

 

Yeah, it's basically just a showcase/tutorial of the Steam Deck, but even if you don't have one, it's worth playing for the humour and writing.

[Mister Jack]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)

 

I played it on the Cowabunga Collection, which is probably obvious. This was one of those childhood games I never beat because it was too hard, and I wanted to go back and finally beat the bastard and do it without relying on save states with the exception of one save after level 3 when I wanted to take a break. As a whole, the game wasn't nearly as hard as I expected going back with one exception, and this is mostly thanks to two factors. One: The Cowabunga Collection includes a very helpful in-game strategy guide with maps you can follow so you won't ever get lost if you refer to it. Two: I watched a Youtube guide from U Can Beat Video Games that was full of helpful tips I never knew about as a kid such as pizza farming spots, individual turtle strengths and weaknesses, and boss exploits. The furthest I ever got as a kid was that freaking dam in level 2, but the in-game map made it much more doable. Once you get past the enormous hurdle that is the dam, the biggest danger in the game for the most part is getting lost and worn down in a war of attrition, and with the map always available it becomes much more manageable. However, as I mentioned earlier, there was still one spot where I still ended up using three continues because it was just blatantly unfair.

 

 

This fucking hallway. Those jetpack foot soldiers are impossible to dodge, take several hits even with Donatello, and their lasers are hard to dodge without backing up, which will just spawn more jetpack soldiers when you go right again. I really couldn't figure out any better way to get through this than just running through it and switching turtles whenever one of them started to get close to death. It is just straight up bullshit game design and if I couldn't exploit an AI glitch to get down the most narrow part of the hallway I probably never would have made it to Shredder. But I did it. Every turtle was on the brink of death by the time I finished, but I finally beat this game decades later. 

[TheMightyEthan]

Death Stranding

 

Beat it again on PC through Game Pass. Still one of my favorite games of all time. So calming to play, and such an interesting setting.

 

Grade: A+

[TheMightyEthan]

Escape Academy

 

Played this with my wife, and it was a lot of fun, especially once they added the ability to turn off splitscreen when playing online coop. Initially splitscreen was always on, but turning it off means you actually have to talk to each other to work it out instead of being able to look at the other's screen. The puzzles were exactly the right difficulty for the two of us together, often stumping us for a little while, but never for so long as to cause us to use a hint or look up a guide. Somehow they even managed to avoid causing bickering, which is impressive for a game where you're relying on another person to do things.

 

There is a little bit of technical jankiness to it, but design-wise everything's great. Can't wait for the expansion scheduled for later this year.

 

Grade: A

[toxicitizen]

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R

 

You don't really beat fighting games but I've gone through all the single-player content so I'm calling it done. This is a super fun game if you love JoJo. It's a pretty solid fighting game and it goes really hard with the fan service. I haven't tried all the characters but most of those I did try were pretty fun to play. Usually I'll try characters until I find one that works for me and stick with them but I can't really see myself maining anyone in this game. The roster is just too much fun to stick to any one character. I only have one minor nitpick and one major complaint.

 

So, I guess the original release of this game was from before the anime really took off. So it's pretty cool that they went to the trouble of hiring the voice actors from the anime to (re-?)record the voiceovers. What sucks is that they didn't go the extra mile and license the music as well. That anime's music is so good and iconic at this point that hearing the actual character's voices without it made it feel like something was missing. It's a small thing and doesn't really impact the game's overall quality but I thought it really stood out.

 

That was the minor nitpick. As for the major complaint, it's something that does impact the quality in a big way: the netcode. The game is basically unplayable online. If you set it to be the host and limit it to same region only you'll get plenty of matches that are perfectly fine but do quick match and holy fucking hell. At some point I had gotten so used to various degrees of slowdown that once I finally got a normal match it felt like the game was running in fast-forward. It's that bad.

 

Concurrent player count on Steam alone has already dropped by like 50% in the two weeks since launch. Lack of crossplay means it's only going to get harder and harder to find nearby players to play online and lack of rollback netcode means whatever matches you can find will play like absolute shit. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this game dies completely before it even has a chance to be considered for EVO next year. Which really sucks because it's so much fucking fun!

 

So yeah, this game is definitely worth a look if you're a JoJo fan but it's hard to recommend unless you're mostly interested in it for offline play. I'm treating this one as a single-player game, personally.

 

 

I might hop back online for the occasional match but now that I'm done with the achievements I'm moving on. I was always going into it as more of a "fuck around" game, I never intended to try and get good at it like I did with SFV and am currently doing with GG Strive, but even if I wanted to it just wouldn't be feasible with that garbage netcode.

Edited September 11, 2022 by toxicitizen