LogFAQs > #969091386

Dusk Child (PC)

More itch.io backlog. This is a Pico-8 puzzle platformer. It doesn't overstay its welcome at about 30 minutes long but the controls are frustrating so I can't really recommend it.

MindSeize (Steam)

Good sci-fi Metroidvania that, unusually, does not copy Metroid in basically any way. It isn't a true Metroidvania because the whole game world isn't connected, but each planet is pretty large on its own and composed of multiple areas that are interconnected. The weapons are varied and I actually used almost all of them at different points in the game, rather than just sticking to one I liked. The upgrades are pretty well hidden so exploration is very incentivized, and - probably my favorite thing this game does - most of the hidden upgrades are not just more max health or whatever but full on new abilities or improvements to older ones.

This game also kicked my ass, the boss fights especially. You'll start a fight and go "oh, this pattern is tricky but I can deal with it, and my attack chunked off a tenth of the boss' health, everything's peaches and cream" but as the fight goes on, the boss pattern gets subtly faster and more chaotic until there's practically zero room to actually attack between dodges. Your heal takes a full second to activate and even then it only restores health over time, so it's hard to win battles of attrition too. I'm not trying to brag but usually I'm not particularly challenged by 2D games these days. MindSeize definitely brought me back to the days of, like, struggling with the Watcher Knights in Hollow Knight. Unfortunately the final boss is a bit of an anti-climax.