Thetageist's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Botanica Demo]

Got no criticisms other than what FutureCopLGF pointed out. I can see a lot of heart put into this, what you created is a very beautiful game. I love the music especially, though I kinda wish the whole thing were united by the same musical style as what plays in the first level - the woods level theme felt off given that it went standard orchestral instead of more traditional folk-instrument.

Some of the dialogue also needs proofreading, I see a couple errors.

Oddly enough, I beat the boss with the weapon I was least good at using (thorn grenade).

[Candle in the Woods]

I like the general concept and mechanics, as well as the story I've seen so far!

Music and sound design leaves some to be desired - repetitive music tracks, bat noises being very loud, and very treble-heavy sound design overall. I'd love to offer my services for future games if you're looking for someone to do that.

I really don't like that the bats in the maze regenerate whenever I go back to a torch. I backtrack to keep my candle meter filled, and knocking out a bat takes a lot out, which means I'm stuck in an endless backtrack loop trying to keep it filled enough to hit the same bat. Otherwise, I'd love to keep going!

[Goober Game]

This is by far the weirdest Suikalike I've seen. I love it.
Physics are a bit weird and bouncy in this one, but the sound design is great, which makes sense given who it's by, heh.

(Edit: Physics problem may be due to the charging thing that I didn't understand how to do in my first playthrough.)

[Planet Invasion]

This game is pretty unforgiving - small planets tend to spawn very rarely, so in some cases you're just screwed, especially with the addition of space junk. Bosses destroying planets in their path make for even slimmer pickings for ammo, and I spend so much time healing that I can't really buy more defenses.

Very adorable theming, however!

[Fit Cats]

I feel like less is more, honestly. I can tell there was a lot of effort put into the graphics and music, but I feel like they distract from the gameplay and make it feel soulless. To be blunt, you had me wondering whether this game was a mobile game industry plant posted on Newgrounds to get awards, especially since I know Suika Game is a hot trend right now and lots of companies want to capitalize on that.

The rat mechanic is a fun and creative addition for a Suikalike such as this, including the need to interact with what's normally a static game background. I feel like it needs some balancing, though, because there's not much reward for waiting as long as I do to get all five rats. So I'd recommend either making the requirement a smaller number of rats (as another user said), or have the rats cause a bigger rat-splosion that will take out multiple cats.

The basics seem solid at least!

[super Hero Maker version 2]

Much improved! I appreciate the additions of more color pickers!

[Darkwood]

Gameplay wise, this is really solid! I don't have enough knowledge to comment on the auto-attack, but everything works together pretty well I think. Dodge is really useful, especially with the big dude from the gravestone that I kept triggering by accident.

I like the art style and general theme, but I think that your GUI is at times a bit too minimalist - I'd appreciate landmarks being marked on the minimap once I've seen them before, as well as more introduction to what some of these things mean. I also don't know what the heck the shopkeeper does, since I don't think I actually received the item I bought?

Also unsure whether looping back to the beginning and continuing the exact same order makes sense narratively. I'll think about it. Bosses aren't scaling very well to higher difficulties, as most of their difficulty lies in their attack patterns and how easy/hard those are to avoid.

I'll be sure to update my review as I discover more stuff!

ErikSwahn responds:

Thank you! A great idea indeed about the landmarks on the map. The merchant spawns a bag on the ground when you buy an item, so just pick it up. I agree it is a bit odd to repeat the same loop in a narrative perspective but the original idea was to make it endless.

[Lime Attack]

This is a really good Scratch project overall! My one complaint is that almost every sound in the game is loud enough to make the audio peak, and I'm on a pretty low setting on my headphones, so it'd be good to turn it all down. Otherwise, looks good!

[RECURSION]

I can't help but feel like this game is about something more. The title, the distressed face on the player square and the presence of a happy square far away from it in the brief intro image, the melancholy music that seems to go on without end, the heart-shaped objective that you eventually can't reach, the ending with more happy squares that you are being separated from, and the display of a broken heart when you try to reach them. It all seems to point to an emotional message as well as being a regular puzzle game.

Gameplay-wise, this definitely made me think outside the box! I learned a lot of new strategies that allowed me to beat tougher levels, like the one where you're trapped in a grid with bouncing balls. The addition of having two buttons down to move diagonally while keeping things the same color was a really clever one!

Back to the subject of meaning, as someone struggling with mental health issues, this game seemed to capture the type of feeling I get sometimes when I have the time to sit with my thoughts. Alone, overwhelmed, with no idea what to do and at most a faint glimmer of hope that I'll ever find happiness or love - that I'll ever be like the other people who I see getting to enjoy those things. I get a warped sense of time and space at those points sometimes, kinda like what you do with the visuals and soundtrack there. So, I guess, in case you're struggling with that too, just know you aren't the only one.

[Emo Maker 2000]

The WebGL loader froze my browser, but I really want to play it once you can get that fixed!