It's been a while since I did something like this, but since I've been shifting my blog more towards being about games, at least for now, I wanted to get back to logging my impressions on the games I get during sales. And since Black Friday was about a week ago and I had just gotten a bunch of new games, this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
Eschatos: Despite being one of my favorite composers ever, I actually haven't talked too much about Yousuke Yasui on here. He's an absolute FM legend, all of the stuff he makes is incredible, and one of his best-known soundtracks is for a pretty under-the-radar but well-liked shmup by Qute called Eschatos. So yeah, I got this game entirely for the music, but is it also good on a gameplay level? Yeah, totally.
Mechanically, Eschatos is a very simple and easy-to-understand shmup without any crazy scoring systems or weapon mechanics. It's just an incredibly fun and blisteringly paced 30-minute romp as you destroy some nameless aliens, elevated by some absolutely nuts 2.5D level design. Eschatos is known for its incredibly dynamic camera that zips around the battlefield and constantly puts enemies and bosses on an entirely different plane from the player, which leads to so many fun and memorable setpieces that keep the game feeling fresh without crossing the line into pure gimmickry. Eschatos isn't one of the greatest shmups I've ever played, but it's an impressively consistent one with not a single dip in quality throughout its entire runtime.
While the whole package is pretty expensive at $27, it does come with a ton of extra options and features including an incredibly fun Time Attack mode where you race against the clock to beat the game, a ton of achievements and unlockable options that you get through playing, and two additional Wonderswan games also by Qute called Judgement Silversword and Cardinal Sins. I was expecting the two bonus games to feel exactly that, like bonus novelties you play for a minute before leaving to stick with the main event, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Both Judgement Silversword and Cardinal Sins are also great and surprisingly content-rich shmups in their own right and it's fascinating to see the DNA of Eschatos within these earlier releases.
As far as presentation goes, I think this is the one area where Eschatos somewhat falters. I don't want to be too hard on Qute since they were and still are a pretty small developer and probably didn't have too many resources, but while Eschatos does have some striking bits of simplicity within the enemy and UFO designs, I found the game overall to look somewhat muted and empty, particularly the city area at the start of the game which feels entirely barren and unpopulated. That being said, as I alluded to earlier, the soundtrack is phenomenal. Eschatos's score is nonstop adrenaline with every single major theme being a fast-paced energetic FM banger. It's not my favorite Yasui soundtrack, that would be Mamorukun Curse, but it's very close behind.
Overall, Eschatos is pretty good. It doesn't break any new ground with its mechanics, but it's an incredibly consistent and confident shmup with inventive level design, solid gameplay fundamentals, tons of content, and a fantastic soundtrack.
4.5/5 Stars
Elechead: Elechead was a game I had my eye on for a while due to how much praise it has recieved. I've heard it repeatedly called a masterclass in puzzle design, and that immediately got my interest. So, did it live up to the hype? Ehhhhhh, almost.
Elechead is a puzzle-platformer where you play as a robot whose head can electrify platforms, which in turn can activate platforms, gates, switches, and electrical bolts. You can also throw your head onto platforms far away from you, but you'll have only 10 seconds to retrieve it. It's a simple concept, but Elechead does a fantastic job of mining all the potential out of this concept as possible, with a ton of immaculately designed puzzles that are tough enough to make me feel smart without feeling impenetrable. In terms of its individual puzzles, Elechead is in fact a masterclass. Elechead also boasts a pretty strong presentation, with fluid and striking monochromatic spritework, and a great efficient soundtrack by Tsuyomi. So much of Elechead is incredibly well-designed, but...
Elechead does have one crippling flaw that made it hard for me to truly adore it as much as everyone else seemed to. Elechead is not a level-based puzzle game, instead taking place in a large interconnected map. There are a few portals you can activate to fast travel around, but they are spaced far apart. The problem is that Elechead also has a lot of collectibles to find, many of which you need to find to get even a single ending. While the collectibles themselves are well-hidden, they're also easy to miss, and since the game often blocks you from backtracking, I found myself repeatedly having to fast travel back to every checkpoint and re-do many of the puzzles over and over again until I found the collectibles. So much of my playtime of Elechead was composed of backtracking, and it dragged the game down for me a lot. And by the time I got to the end and I found out that the true ending was gained through even more backtracking, I didn't even bother going for it. Elechead is a short game that can ideally be beaten in around an hour. It took me two, and about half of that was backtracking for collectibles. I get what the developer was going for with the interconnected map, but I don't think it was the right decision for this game.
That being said, I stand by thinking that most of Elechead is still really good. The meat of the game, the puzzles, are incredibly well-designed. The gameplay feels good, the presentation is slick, and the collectibles are well-hidden. But I think I would've preferred it a lot more if it was level-based, and the decision to give it a more metroidvania-esque structure did more damage that it was worth.
4/5 Stars
Transiruby: Transiruby is the latest game by developer Skipmore, who I've been following from quite some time. They're known for Kamiko, Picontier, and the Fairune games primarily. I like Skipmore's stuff. Their games aren't ground-breaking by any means, but they're consistently satisfying and polished Ys-inspired adventure games with lush distinct spritework and fun gameplay. Transiruby is Skipmore's take on the metroidvania genre, and yeah, it's just as fun.
Transiruby has you play as a cyborg called Siruby and explore a weird planet to discover its secrets, a classic metroidvania premise. While it's totally enjoyable on its own merits, the coolest thing about Transiruby's story for me was how it weaved together iconography and plot points from some of Skipmore's other games, particularly Kamiko and Fairune. But even on its own merits, the narrative is simple but charming with some fun and well-designed characters. The gameplay loop mostly revolves around you exploring each area of the planet and finding all the scattered coins to get you to the next area, so it actually feels almost like a collectathon at points too. Skipmore's games have always felt really satisfying to complete because of how well all the collectibles click together, and Transiruby is no exception. Finding all the upgrades, coins, and optional collectibles and reaching that 100% was an incredibly rewarding experience, especially with how well laid-out the menus are.
The controls are pretty great too, super tight and precise. Transiruby revolves around your element gun which you can use to freeze enemies to reach higher platforms and hit certain switches, it's a neat mechanic that's explored surprisingly thoroughly throughout the game. Combat is pretty simple as you have a three-hit combo, but the addition of an Ys-esque combo system to encourage you to rush through and defeat enemies in quick succession keeps it engaging. And you'll need to rack up those combos too because the crystals you get from defeating enemies gives you more ammo for your element gun. And about a third in, Siruby gets the ability to transform into a bike and mow down weaker enemies, and it's an absolute rush to do so. As far as negatives go, though, I do think Transiruby can feel a bit too simple at times. Difficulty wise, it's very easy and the loop of collecting coins can get a bit repetitive at points, though the game isn't long enough to overstay its welcome and offers a fun twist in the final area to keep things fresh. Still, Skipmore set out to make a "stress-free metroidvania" with Transiruby and he did a good job.
One of the things that really struck out to me about Transiruby is just how complete it feels. I already talked about how fun and rewarding 100% completion was, but the game also comes with so many other extras. There's achievements to get, a database you can fill out with info on all the characters, unlockable gallery pictures, a timer and leaderboard for speedrun enthusiasts, and even an entirely original digital manual Skipmore designed himself. You can feel the love Skipmore put into this game seeping through every pore, especially once you get a certain collectible in the final world. Like with most Skipmore games, the spritework and pixelart is also gorgeous, super colorful and lush. And the music is great too, not as good as Kamiko's soundtrack, but very close behind. You'll be listening to the same few area themes over and over again, but they're so catchy that they never get old or tired.
Transiruby may not be some metroidvania masterpiece, but it is an incredibly polished, fun, and complete package with solid gameplay, rewarding exploration, beautiful presentation, and tons of extras. Skipmore has just become such a reliable indie developer, all of his games have been an absolute blast to play and Transiruby is no exception.
4/5 Stars
Rayman Legends: I won't linger too much on Rayman Legends because it's actually a game I already owned. I had Legends on an XBOX One I used to have and really liked it, but then I sold the XBOX so I decided to get it again for my Switch while it was on a sale. It's still great! The gameplay is fluid, the level design and bosses (except the last one) are inventive and fun, the orchestrated soundtrack is beautiful, there's tons of content, and it even includes most of the levels from Rayman Origins. While it can feel a bit disjointed and Murfy's stages are hit-or-miss, I still think Legends is the better game over Origins for just how more creative it is. Still a great game, probably even one of the best platformers of the 2010s.
4.5/5 Stars
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