A Little to the Left
Review:
A little to the left is a puzzle game developed by Canadian Indie Studio Max Inferno.
The main gameplay consists of 108 levels spread over 5 chapters. Every level has a small puzzle where you will find household items which you will have to arrange and sort in different patterns.
Sometimes a mischievous white cat will mess up your puzzle a little bit. The puzzles are not too difficult, but if you need help you can either consult a hint and if you're still not seeing the solution you'll be able to skip the level and move on to the next one. Most puzzles have multiple possible solutions, and there is a hint for every one of them.
Besides these levels, there is also the Daily Tidies, where you get a slightly altered version of one of the normal levels to solve every day. If you want to get the trophy, you'll need to complete 100 Daily Tidies.
I liked this game a lot. The puzzles are usually not too hard to solve, and the different solutions offer additional variety. Also, the game is just adorable.
The Daily Puzzles can get repetitive quickly. Especially if you aim to complete the full 100 days. I think in the levels, the symmetry puzzles are repeated a little bit too often.
Hades
Review:
Hades is a rougelike action role-play game developed by Supergiant Games.
You play as Zagreus, the immortal son of Hades that has had enough of the underworld and is trying to escape it. In order to do this, you'll have to get through the 4 levels of Hades, which feature multiple chambers you'll have to beat. At the end of every level, you'll encounter a boss.
After clearing a chamber, you'll receive of several prices before entering a new chamber. You will be able to choose one of several doors, each displaying the reward you'll get from it. These rewards include several resources you can use later to power yourself up. You'll also find abilities or Boons from the different Greek Gods that can also work together to make you more powerful.
When you die you'll be sent back to Hades Palace where you can use the aforementioned Resources to unlock new weapons, upgrade things like Zagreus health speed as well as other characteristics. Furthermore, you'll also find a variety of characters you can interact and form bonds with. They will also give you different items to make you more powerful, as well as different stories you can follow over the course of your runs.
Hades is one of my favorite games from the last few years.
I love the gameplay, especially figuring out the best combo of boons, weapons and other items. The story and characters are also great. Following Zagreus trying to figure out his place in Hades palace and helping his friend with their different problems is great. I also like how the game encourages you to frequently change the weapon you use as you go by giving them a bonus every run.
Even though I have finished this game a long while ago, I still love playing a few runs from time to time. Most of all now when I still have to wait for Hades 2 to be released on PlayStation.
Hellblade
Senua's Sacrifice
Review:
Hellblade is a game by the British developers Ninja Theory.
The game is heavily inspired by Norse mythology. It follows the titular Senua as she is traveling into the Norse underworld of Hel to save the Soul of her dead lover Dillion. Senua suffers from Psychosis which causes her to experience hallucinations, delusions and most importantly for now voices which are playing binaural in your ears if you're wearing headphones while playing the game.
On the path to Hel, you'll have to solve puzzles involving finding different Runes in the environment to open different doors. To do this you'll need a Zoom ability called Focus that will also be needed to collect the lore stones which offer small pieces about Norse mythology. Besides this, you'll also be forced into different enemy encounters where you'll have to beat shadowy enemies with Senua's Sword.
I liked the game. The rune puzzles change a bit, depending on the parts of the game. I personally found that they were really creative. Also, though I don't know much about the condition Senua has I found they showed how somebody suffering from mental illness would be treated and view themselves in a time period like this. I didn't really like some of the battles. Sometimes they feel like they just won't end and feel disruptive to the game narrative.
Persona 4 Golden
Review:
Pooool
