End of March Update!

🎵 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙚𝙚𝙚𝙚𝙚𝙚𝙚𝙚𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝘿𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙮, 𝙬𝙝𝙤'𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙖 𝙗𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢…. 🎵

Dream Daddy is a light-hearted visual novel where you are a new-in-the-neighborhood single father. You choose to date other single fathers in your Cul-de-sac. I really enjoyed everything about this game!
Each character is likable and the dads all have a depth to them the more you get to know them. Dating the dad's is fun but on top of that, there is also a sweet father and daughter relationship at the forefront of the story.

Each path has a different tone, but most play like a quality rom-com. I enjoyed the writing, the art was really nice, and it never overstayed it's welcome. Overall I'd give this game a 4 out of 5!

ᴬˡˢᵒ, ᴹᵃᵗ ᶦˢ ᵇᵉˢᵗ ᵈᵃᵈ

Punch Club does a lot of things right, but the same amount of things wrong…

Punch Club is a boxing management game where you play a man trying to avenge his dead father. At the start, it's a lot of fun and very addicting. You choose between three paths (the bear, tiger, or turtle.) This translates to strength, stamina, and agility. You build up your stats by training, entering fights and earning money. Meanwhile, there are side missions to do, tons of fun references, and a branching storyline to explore.

The problem of the game becomes apparent in the middle half of Punch Club. It turns less into a "management" game and more accurately into a heavy grind. The game runs on a day cycle, and each day your stats go down (the higher your stats, the higher it goes down.) The games recommend you only focus on one or two paths since you cannot keep all of strength, agility, and stamina up at once.
Even with that knowledge, you have to keep the stats up while also keeping your hunger, happiness, and fatigue in check. While doing this, you're also trying to do the missions, work for money, etc.. If you don't spend the entire day in your basement or in the gym training, you lose too many stats. This leads to you grinding for hours on the game so that you can afford to lose a couple of days doing other activities. There are abilities in the trees that let you lock stats, but not by enough, and it takes a while to get to it.
This problem becomes very apparent at the end of the game where you are forced into a situation where you must do multiple things, while also keeping your stats up. That section alone took most of my time. Someone in the reviews described it as a "three steps forward, two steps back mechanic."

Even though the problem really bogged down the gameplay, I still really enjoyed this game. I love the art style, I loved the different paths and missions. It felt nostalgic but new. I'd still recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind a heavy grind. The ending was a pretty big let-down, but it's probably better if you do a second playthrough.

Overall I give Punch Club a 3.5 (a 4?). I can't choose! 3.75 it is!

I received Evoland: Legendary Edition for free because I already had Evoland 2 in my library. I hadn't beaten either game, so it was a nice addition!
I'll break this review up into two, for both games. Although I'll have a lot more to say about the second one.

𝐄𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝
The first Evoland is more of a demo than an actual game. It has little to no story and has cliche's written all over it. The draw of the game is that it cycles through different game eras and graphics while you play. At first, it was entertaining, but then it turned boring quick. At some point, it stops being creative and just makes you play a generic RPG with bad controls and weird difficulty spikes. The jokes and references rarely land and when you die it sends you back to the menu (for most of the game anyway.) The game is only about 3 hours, so there isn't much loss. I didn't enjoy it though and I'm glad I stuck through it and played Evoland 2…

𝐄𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝟐
Evoland 2 is an improvement in every single way. You don't even have to play the first game, because this one stands on its own with its characters, story, and creative gameplay. Evoland 2 also has the gimmick of shifting through game eras. But this time, it's done with purpose. You also get to play through a wide variety of game genres. They are incorporated in a way that feels appropriate for the scenes and downright enjoyable.

The gameplay isn't the only thing going for Evoland 2. It has a surprisingly in-depth story. It does have a very slow build, so I recommend being patient until it gets going! There are tons of fun references and plenty of collectibles to find. They even introduced a card game that is different than the one in Evoland, and way more people to challenge cards with.

I think this is a great game, but I do have some small gripes.
Some portions went on a little too long (looking at you, shoot em up section). Also I found the dialogue pretty corny and sappy. There was nothing particularly wrong with it, but it was to sugar sweet for me. It made it hard for me to attach myself to the characters.
I also felt like the ending left some unanswered questions, but I guess that's why theories are formed.
I know a lot of people reported bugs, but I only ran into one small bug. Overall, Evoland 2 was a bug-free experience for me.

My review was probably vague, but I don't want to spoiler anything. The gameplay is the main draw of Evoland 2, so if you like a light-hearted RPG that explores different eras and genres in gaming, then I would definitely recommend picking this up! Both games are not connected, so they can be played separately or together.

Overall, I give the whole Evoland: Legendary Edition a 4 out of 5.

I read tsupertsundere's review on Ceress and Orea recently and It grabbed my interest. Rpg-maker games are a guilty pleasure of mine, and this one had lovely art and an adorable story.
After playing though, I definitely agree with tsupertsundere's statement about it "lacking a certain sumthin’ to really push it over the top."

Ceress and Orea is a short but sweet love story. After being sentenced to death, Ceress fights her way through the afterlife to be with her love, Orea. The gameplay consists of walking around and doing "puzzles." The puzzles are the easiest I've ever seen. Some involved collecting things and backtracking, which become very tedious.

The story is nice, but simple and won't surprise you in any way. It does have some flashbacks of the two characters that you can find by exploring.

Overall, the game was alright. I don't regret the dollar I paid for it. I'll give Ceress and Orea a 3 out of 5.

What can I say about Portal that hasn't been said already?

I played Portal for the first time about 7 years ago and absolutely loved it. Playing it again 7 years later has not changed my mind.

For those who don't know, Portal is a puzzle game made by Valve. You are given two portal guns that let you travel from one portal you set to the other. Using this ability, you have to solve puzzles in each chamber while listening to the passive-aggressive, sarcastic robot, GLaDOS.

If you haven't played this game yet, I'd fully recommend it. The puzzles still feel innovative. The portal gun is fun to use. GLaDOS is as sassy as always, and one of the best characters you'll find in a game. I enjoy the dark humor and the final boss fight was a lot of fun.

Funny enough, I never actually played Portal 2. I beat the multiplayer campaign with my friend several times, and saw them play the sequel a bit, but never beat the game myself. That will be my next project whenever it goes on sale.

I give Portal a short but sweet 5 out of 5.