Recent reviews by Auburn Arcana

Kitsune Tails is a platformer that plays like a spiritual successor to Super Mario Bros. 3. It's inspired by Japanese folklore, and tells a cute story about relationships between kitsune and humans.

Combined with the artwork and music, the tone is set incredibly well. It's simple like SMB3, but establishes its own style by taking the player across scenic forests, oceans, mountains, and more. Likewise, the music is generally calm and very pleasant to listen to while exploring. The human, sky, and fire worlds' music are among my personal favorites.

The game is friendly to different skill levels. Newcomers to the genre can play easily and enjoy the variety of powerups the entire way through. On the other hand, skilled players are in for a good challenge, between the variety of levels, minigames, and perhaps a few other surprises.

The gameplay does suffer from some minor rough edges.
- The biggest among them is that there are weird hitboxes in some scenarios, including a decent number of boss attacks. I would be curious about visuals that more accurately reflect where some of these will hit.
- There is also an achievement that's effectively awarded for not getting hit for an entire half of a playthrough while holding a certain item, which some players might find to pose a drastic difficulty spike (at least without the dev console).
Otherwise, the bosses, foes, and environmental pieces all have some very fun mechanics & variety.

The game is moddable as well! Using the Steam Workshop, one can play or even make custom levels or minigames of their own.

Overall, Kitsune Tails is a very cute and well-playing platformer game. I can strongly recommend it to anybody who enjoyed SMB3 or likes foxes!

~✦~ Summary ~✦~

= Poker roguelike; aim for target scores to defeat each blind
+ Easy to learn, but with good gameplay variety - both in individual runs and overall game
- Minor issue with difficulty levels, some feeling more artificial than others
= On the luck-based side
+ Art style is distinct and colorful
+ Music does what it needs to, thanks to dynamic tracks filling out the game smoothly
+ Well-optimized game, taking less than 100MB

Conclusion: Balatro is simple and easy to learn, but also builds substantially on the core concept. It has plenty of content that's worth taking a look at!

~✦~ Detail ~✦~

Balatro is essentially poker in a roguelike format. The player plays a number of hands and aims for target scores to defeat "blinds", with the goal to get through each set of blinds (plus "boss blinds" with unique abilities) and reach a final boss blind at the end.

The game is easy to learn, with a simple core concept. However, it also has a very good level of variety. Equippable Jokers provide various powers to the player (more score, more multiplier, utilities, etc.). Other power-up cards can help by modifying playing cards or leveling up hand types, and vouchers can provide passive effects as a run continues.

Naturally, there's a macro-game aspect as well. New decks with different abilities can be unlocked while playing. Higher difficulty levels can be unlocked per deck, and for the most part add interesting new run modifiers to push builds. There are even challenge decks that are separate from the main runs, each of which pose unique scenarios.

A minor issue that I have seen with difficulty levels is that some feel more like artificial difficulty than others. For example, Blue Stake's addition of -1 Discard throughout a run can cause failed runs to feel more forced than things such as detrimental Joker properties or higher shop prices. This is generally negligible, given the relatively luck-based, easy-to-play nature of the game otherwise.

Balatro's presentation is distinct and colorful. It uses detailed pixel art in a retro style, perhaps like a retro TV (with configurable visual filters!). It fits the atmosphere perfectly.

The music also does what it needs to. It has one track, but it fits the atmosphere well and it's varied in enough ways to fill out the entire game relatively smoothly - even with hours of playing.

On top of that, the game is very well optimized. In fact, it takes less than 100MB on a hard drive. (That's compared to other games at a similar release time whose demos alone took upwards of 2-3GB!) Given how easy it is to get invested, it's certainly nice to have it play smoothly.

In summary, Balatro's simple, easy-to-learn gameplay is very unique in what it does, how it builds on the core concept, and how it's presented. For anybody who enjoys card games or the roguelike formula, I can confidently recommend taking a look at this one!

Note: This is a very in-depth review, so it will be very long! See the summary right below if you want the more concise details, or the review proper farther below if you'd like an in-depth analysis.

~✦~ Summary ~✦~

+ Unique battle system with fair yet challenging encounters, and next to no design issues (mainly minor jank occasionally)
+ Excellent pacing throughout all main content, presenting the main experience well
+ Plenty of side content
- Not enough unique battles for 100% completion without some grinding
--- Not to compare apples to oranges, but Epic Battle Fantasy 4 has a good model for 100%; the player can do every battle on the map exactly once and be paced for full completion
+ High level of worldbuilding detail, between things that can be examined, in-depth characters, and an alive-feeling world with wholesome and serious moments alike
- Minor issues with background consistency
+ Colorful character portraits and pixel art in a classic 90s retro anime art style; consistently fun to look at, and improves over time (such as Beach Episode art)
+ Music fits the atmosphere greatly
~ Made in Game Maker by a passionate developer, with help from quite a few dedicated people - and a Kickstarter campaign
+ There's a cat in a spacesuit

✦ Conclusion: Between fun gameplay, enjoyable art and music, and fascinating worldbuilding, LunarLux is easily one of my all-time favorites. I can recommend it to anybody who enjoys RPGs, sci-fi, and/or retro anime!

~✦~ Detail ~✦~

LunarLux is an RPG adventure on the moon! It's a story about Bella Grey, a member of the Lunex Force who protects the people of Luna from danger - ranging from regular criminals to the recent incursion of the Murks, antimatter monsters from space. She's joined by a cast of scientists, fellow Lunex Force members, and her energetic robot sidekick Tetra.

One of LunarLux's biggest appeals is its atmosphere and storytelling. The retro anime style is front and center, ranging from colorful portraits of numerous characters to the world's and characters' immaculate pixel art.

The backgrounds are also well detailed. One of my favorites is Regolithia, which has a vast-looking background with lots of details added in - such as the world's Astro-Barrier system, the sun, and some distant cities. This happens on multiple layers to give a good sense of depth, so the background alone feels very alive. I would be curious about seeing this amount of detail (and depth) in the rest of the areas' backgrounds as well (such as Tycho and maybe Mt. Piton), but I was supremely impressed with Regolithia's first impression of the game!

I always find the game consistently fun to look at due to all of the excellent art, especially with updates. The improvement over time is well placed.

Similarly, the music adds a lot to the game. Every song adds something substantial to the game's atmosphere - and is a lot of fun to listen to besides that!

The worldbuilding is incredibly fascinating as well. Nearly everything in the sci-fi world can be examined; signs on a space station scroll through news, logs of scientists' experiments & notes are easy to discern, and the unusual machines and devices across Luna make a lot of sense when looked at. Naturally, a few exceptions can appear when exploring, but these are generally minor - perhaps to be expected with this kind of scale.

Individual characters are exciting to meet, thanks to their large amount of depth and/or fun lore - even minor, random, and other side characters. (I have some personal favorites, including Aldrid in Copernicus, LO-Ogi in Kepler Ranch, and Lily in Lunex Station.) There's even a forum-style BBS board where characters' entries add more. Of course, the major characters all get plenty of development and story involvement as well. The wholesome and serious moments alike help the world to feel very alive and lived in.

Despite that level of detail, the world still manages to keep things concise enough to go through easily, and informative enough to get a lot out of looking up close. Personally, I learned a lot about worldbuilding from the way that this game does it!

LunarLux's active gameplay is in a battle system, combining mechanics from the likes of Mega Man Battle Network, Super Mario RPG, and Undertale, to make something unique of its own. The player can use a variety of useful skills, most (but not all) of which have extra actions that can be done to add to the effect. Bella can even perform Lux Combos, a valuable addition to her arsenal.

Encounters are fair yet challenging, with next to no design issues (lingering hitboxes, jank bits, etc.), although some of the hard "ZX" foe variants are prone to this issue. The pacing is also generally done excellently. The player can see most content and the main experience, but they're also invited to try the side content, ranging from sidequests to upgraded/hidden encounters.

The side content suffers from one glaring issue: there aren't enough unique battles to get to 100% completion without some grinding. One sidequest and a Steam achievement both necessitate a large number of S ranks (from perfect battles), not to mention the number of skill points needed to max out everything (for another achievement). Another RPG that I played long ago, Epic Battle Fantasy 4, has a good model: the player can do every battle in the game exactly once and be perfectly paced for 100% completion. There is a lot of potential to fill things out with, even as simple as different arrangements of foes.

As it is, LunarLux has a lot of mainline and optional content that all does a lot for the experience. This was all made with Game Maker by a passionate developer, with help from quite a few people - and a Kickstarter campaign - all of which are included in a comprehensive credits list.

In summary, the world of Luna is well worth exploring. Between its fun gameplay mechanics, enjoyable art & music, and fascinating worldbuilding & story, LunarLux is easily one of my all-time favorites. I can recommend it to anybody who enjoys RPGs, sci-fi, and/or retro anime!

Also, there's a friendly cat in a spacesuit.

~✦~ Summary ~✦~

+ Interesting central mechanic involving optimizing an arrangement of items in one's pack
+ High variety of items
+ Numerous characters with unique items and mechanics
= Good variety of foes, but slightly short of adequate replay value given other game content
+ Interesting Story Mode features, with lots of quests for different gimmicks and challenges
- Story Mode has some occasional difficulty spikes or repetitive quests
- Story Mode finale felt highly rushed
+ Game's art does what it needs to, and sprites are generally fun to look at
+ Excellent music
- Occasional jank bugs, slightly unpolished gameplay
= Has modding compatibility, but isn't very in-depth beyond items

Conclusion: Rough around the edges, but has some promising gameplay mechanics that are well worth trying!

~~~~~~~~

~✦~ Detail ~✦~

Backpack Hero is an inventory management roguelike that depends on the items that the player collects. Many items power each other up or apply helpful or not-so-helpful effects. A high variety of items gives a lot of possible build combinations. Numerous playable characters further vary the gameplay with unique items and variations on the backpack theme, ensuring that each run is generally unique.

The foes that the player faces have a good variety. They also use various mechanics, but sometimes use status effects or even apply hazards to the backpack to work around mid-battle. They're generally very fair to the player, although they might not always have adequate replay value for how much other content is in the game.

For example, Story Mode is a meta-progression town builder that puts the backstories of the protagonists in motion. It makes the setting of Haversack Hills feel generally alive by letting the player customize their town - but more front-and-center, there are various characters, lore items for those so inclined, and a large variety of quests for the player to complete. These quests provide opportunities to try different item combinations, gimmicks, and challenges that might otherwise not be experienced.

Story Mode does suffer from a few issues. Most quests don't do much difficulty scaling, but some pose serious difficulty spikes (such as CR8's Micro Build quest). Some others feel disconnected or even repetitive. Two of Pochette's quests, Fragile Tribe and Everyone Comes Home (unlocked by Fragile Tribe) feel effectively similar due to a lack of other distinct mechanics. On the other hand, not all quests need to be cleared to complete Story Mode.

One of the most glaring issues is that it feels incomplete. I felt rather underwhelmed by the Act 4 area that opened up just for the finale run. It had no music, no map layouts, and no encounters of any kind except for the boss, and so the final boss felt like a mere one-note acknowledgement more than a full-fledged finale. The credits similarly lacked unique music, scrolled stuttering text, and had a broken Skip button - though the game did save. Overall, Story Mode had some genuinely fun experiences and mechanics, but did at times feel rushed.

Similarly, the game itself sometimes has janky moments. For example, items might overlap weirdly, or a button (or an item) might not work as expected. The game is still unfortunately missing some polishing to take care of these issues, despite having been released for a while.

The game's art does what it needs to. The items are well sprited and fun to look at. The music is excellent to listen to, and is often positively compared to Chrono Trigger. My personal favorite part is the Frozen Heart area.

The game has modding compatibility, mainly focused on items. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any in-depth integration for more foes, areas, or other mechanics.

Although the game is rough around the edges, I find its concept to be a lot of fun, as well as the often puzzling scenarios that arise. Combined with the fun music and the variety of mechanics that it does have, I can still easily recommend Backpack Hero to anybody looking for something different to the roguelike approach.

Yoiyami Dancers is a Touhou fangame that combines Touhou gameplay with rhythm-based movement akin to Crypt of the Necrodancer. It has a series of premade bullet hell stages, all with various foes and patterns that are fun to navigate.

Combined with separate stage sets and multiple difficulty levels, the gameplay can stay fun and fresh for quite a while! I would recommend starting on the easier difficulties for anybody getting into this, so that you can familiarize properly with the mechanics.

As for the character mechanics themselves, Rumia powers up by collecting dropped P-Items, and she can pick up and use a variety of items such as healing items, a cute doll helper, and the classic bomb. On the other hand, Larva relies on her magical flower, which has a variety of charge-up abilities that upgrade her powers as she goes.

Aside from that, the art style is cute and easy to read - including both characters and backgrounds. It adds a lot to the playful, lighthearted tone of the game, as do the variety of Touhou song remixes to play to. I won't spoil too much of the cuteness here, so please take a look for yourself!

(On a side note, the game's artist regularly posts more Touhou art on social media for those who enjoy it enough!)

Given how well made it is, I can easily recommend Yoiyami Dancers to any fans of Touhou or Necrodancer. It's an excellent experience for anybody looking to get into either!

✦ Summary ✦
= Multi-genre game (twin-stick bullet hell, Metroidvania, spellcard deck building)
= Story about environmental issues intertwined with influencer culture
+ Gameplay aspects connect well, with a variety of foes, environments, spell cards, and upgrades
- Slightly rough around the edges
--- Occasional difficulty spikes
--- Some backtracking issues
--- Makes up for this with unlocks to track and collect things
--- Other minor issue: Game mutes on alt-tab (fixable with Special K)
+ Natural, dynamic worldbuilding and characters
+ Well-detailed, atmospheric art style
+ Fun music that fits every environment
+ Highly recommended for its effective arrangement of themes and gameplay

✦ Detail ✦

The Knight Witch is a multi-genre game that combines twin-stick bullet hell, Metroidvania, and spell card deck building. It tells a story about a world damaged by environmental issues, intertwined with one about the Knight Witches themselves, heroes who are powered by Link - manifested trust from those that they help.

I found each aspect of gameplay to connect well with each other. Numerous different foes and environments make the world fun to explore and the action exciting, combined with a variety of spell cards and upgrades to choose from for a fun tactics aspect.

The game is slightly rough around the edges. Some of the biggest issues are occasional difficulty spikes (mostly with one or two bosses that require substantial strategizing and learning) and some backtracking issues (compounded without an overall world map or the ability to teleport *to* individual save points). However, the game makes up for this with unlocks that can help to track and collect everything in each area. I'll spare the full details on the minor issues, but I ultimately simply enjoyed the experience of navigating and adapting with each encounter.

I also enjoyed the game's art style and music. The worldbuilding itself and the characters all felt very natural and dynamic. Likewise, the art has a lot of detail and delivers the atmosphere perfectly. The music is also fun to listen to, and it's excellent for the atmosphere of each and every environment. (The regular boss music, Giga Tree, and Mirror Lake are probably among my personal favorites.)

In summary, I can highly recommend The Knight Witch for its effective arrangement of different themes and gameplay aspects, presented in a coherent story and its own identity fitting to the name. If you enjoy hybrid themes, gameplay, and storytelling, you'll most likely enjoy The Knight Witch as well!

Peglin is a game that combines Peggle with roguelike elements, in which you help a cute goblin claim treasure from the depths. The entire art style of the game is on the cute side, between the characters, scenery, and even most of the foes. The fun upbeat, perhaps pleasantly goblin-ey music adds to the atmosphere as well.

The Peggle element shows through a variety of pegboards (and pegs) specific to each possible encounter, but various items and weapons (Orbs) affect how a ball gets sent through the board each turn. Some may hit multiple pegs, heal after hitting enough pegs, or help with refreshing the board for more hits, to name a few - not to mention dealing with various foes in different ways. A large variety of builds can make each run unique if you let them!

On top of that, the game is highly replayable. Different classes each have specific passives, as well as item pools both shared and specific to each. The Cruciball offers numerous difficulty levels that each add a small bit of extra challenge, adding up to what will most likely be twenty levels.

On that note, the game is currently in development even now! Updates from time to time always add polishing to the graphics, more variety in the events, and better balancing. Even in early access the game feels highly complete, with a lot of potential playtime - and a variety of funny orb silliness along the way!

The Hatsune Miku character DLC is a fully-featured character addition for the game, featuring a very unique character, a new soundtrack, and even unique armor skins! Her very colorful and detailed sprites are all very fun to look at.

Miku's gameplay features a leek (keeping with her memes) that lets her zip through enemies. Dealing damage four times in a row gives her a charge of her Sing spell, something between Bomb, Charm, and Heal. It makes for a fun playstyle, encouraging careful lineups while still letting collectible items influence the run.

As for the soundtrack, it's a collection of songs that give a good experience of what Miku music is like - especially to somebody like myself with limited prior experience with anything Miku-related. For context, she's effectively the equivalent of a musical instrument for song creators, so she appears in quite a lot of different kinds of songs. That includes the selection for this game, all of which I enjoy! (I have too many favorites to list, but I'll mention 3-1 and 3-2 as a few.)

With that said, I do notice a few issues. First and foremost, the soundtrack doesn't extend to the boss floors, unlike the game's other soundtracks. I would be curious about what kinds of Miku songs could fit into these points.

I also noticed that the songs don't quite line up with the game's regular BPMs and song lengths, but this is inconsequential when they're on their own character. I do find that it may leave room, however, for a possible soundtrack of originals for the other characters to play with (for score & speedrun consistency's sake). I enjoy Danny B's own 1-1 and 5-3 remixes, for example! (Originals could also help to keep the soundtrack streamer-friendly, which I find to be good practice for the sake of the Necrodancer community's streamers.)

In any case, as somebody with limited prior experience with anything Miku-related, the DLC is a perfect match between Miku and Necrodancer! As a bonus, it's even compatible with non-DLC players in multiplayer settings and highly inexpensive. I've already been having a lot of fun with this latest addition to the official roster (and the songs), and I'm very grateful for all of the hard work from the developers. ^.^

Cult of the Lamb is a roguelite game that combines base-building with in-depth battles. At front and center is the Lamb's quest against the Old Faith. Throughout the easy-to-understand zones, the lore reveals itself at an excellent pace, and a vast variety of foes & obstacles each bring something new for the player.

Meanwhile, the Lamb is tasked with building a following of their own. At a home base, a variety of helpful facilities intertwine with many aesthetic building options. Through the help (and faith) of the recruitable followers, the Lamb can unlock new powers and items - aided also by the cast of mysterious characters that they can meet.

Better yet, extra modes - difficulty and Twitch Integration, among others - help to customize the experience.

The art style also fits excellently. The demonic aspects mix well with simple elements, cute characters, and colorful environments, allowing everything to get distinguished in their own ways. The music helps just as well, adding to the atmosphere with its dark yet at times cheery themes.

In summary, this game is well worth playing for its variety all within the gameplay loop of battling evil cultists, helping friendly figures, and developing your own following. The in-depth battle system, cheerful demonic themes, and customizability make Cult of the Lamb a very well-balanced experience.



Also, the Lamb has a dedicated bleat button.

Note: I last played Noita substantially in March, but wanted to get around to writing a review for it.

~✦~ Summary ~✦~

=Roguelike pixel sandbox game about exploring and crafting spells
+Every pixel is simulated, which does put a strain on computer resources but overall brings a well-working new mechanic to the game involving combining materials
+Plenty of things to discover in the world, including wands, spells, flasks, pouches, and many rarer others
+Hundreds of different opponents to find and many different "perks" to power up with
=Battle is geared towards having good items, which can be freely assembled at some key locations or by other means; some skill is still involved, at least in normal gameplay
=The game can become unbalanced at higher levels, both in and against the player's favor (immunities, high health, obliterating foes vs. polymorph KOs, collapsing terrain, dangerous liquids...)
~ Not a necessity at all to rebalance this, as the game's very playable around these mechanics and still more or less fair
= High difficulty; Murphy's Law is common, and the need to be observant plays heavily into the game
+ Good art and animations, as well as colorful spell effects and customizability
- Feels incomplete at some points, such as some barren outer regions - but the "main" areas of the game are perfectly playable
+ Plenty of secrets to discover, with a good community that gathers together to find them
+ Music does what it needs to, but is occasionally placed oddly (usually but not always in the "outer areas" where the world's less complete)
+ Supports mods

Overall, Noita has very fun spell-crafting and exploration mechanics that play and replay well, as well as many secrets and achievements to discover! It's well worth the investment for those interested in the kind of magic that Noita can offer.

~✦~✦~✦~✦~✦~✦~✦~

~✦~ Detail ~✦~

Noita is a roguelike pixel sandbox game that revolves around exploration and crafting spells of one's own design. The roguelike element comes first and foremost, featuring a Holy Mountain that the mysterious wizard protagonist descends in search of treasure.

Every pixel in the game is simulated, and has plenty of potential to interact with other elements. Naturally, this would cause substantial resource use, but the game overall still manages to operate. Because of that, it's easy to discover a variety of uses for the different materials; water and lava mix to make rock, and toxic sludge can be purified with water, to name a few.

On that note of exploration, the world itself also has a lot to discover. Wands are one of the most common items, alongside flasks for liquids and the occasional pouch for dust-type materials. Of course, a variety of rarer items - stones, unique wands, tools, and the like - can be found in the world or in some cases in its hidden corners. Combined with the hundreds of enemies to find, perks to unlock powers with, and the numerous biomes, there's plenty to discover in Noita's world!

Because of the way that Noita's spell crafting works, the battle system is geared towards having good items. Typically, they can be freely assembled at some key locations or in some cases by other means. Some skill is still involved, however - at least in normal gameplay.

One potential issue for some players may be the balance of the game. Given the sheer potential for immunities and high health, the player can get extremely powerful under the right circumstances. On the other hand, certain effects can simply outright eliminate the player, such as the infamous polymorphine - completely ignoring perks and health. I'll spare details on what ideas I might have for this myself (disabling select perks, health scaling, etc.), but as a disclaimer, it's not a necessity to rebalance it by any means.

Besides, a part of the game is the high difficulty and the need to be observant - making such things still fair as long as they're avoidable and preventable. With that said, "Noita'd" is a common meme given how frequently Murphy's Law comes into play. In fact, it's actually rather fun to deal with those dangers carefully - or figure out how to overcome them outright.

Regarding the art, it works incredibly well for the theme of the game. Enemies are animated well, and the bigger pieces have substantial detail. Biomes' terrain flows nicely, textures are generally well laid out (even if not entirely seamless), and larger enemies are sprited with plenty of care. Likewise, the spells' effects and graphics look nice, and the customizability of the wands gives them many, many possibilities.

One of the small issues that I do have with the game is that it feels incomplete at some points. To a regular player, exploring the game for its front-and-center roguelike elements, the "main" areas of the game are perfectly playable and very interesting to explore. Beyond that, however, some biomes feel empty for a released game. I'll spare the spoilers here, but two share their name with a particular room instead of having their own names, and at least three - given their size - could do with more substance in them.

Another issue is that two of the... rarer enemies required incredibly thorough searching in near-impossible locations, one more than the other. The only reason that I found them without consulting a wiki is because I caught on to a certain clue regarding the area. However, Noita's community is also oriented around helping each other find and decipher the game's secrets, so perhaps these kinds of easter eggs work just as well as the more clear or direct ones.

As for the music, it generally does what it needs to, and it's fun to listen to in each of the biomes! I do recall it blurring together quite a lot when I got far into one run, when going through the biomes - suffice to say - also started to blur together. In other, outer areas, the music is outright missing. Placement of the music in a game is as important as the music itself, especially with the introduction of more content.

Oh, and the game does support mods! I haven't played any yet at the time of this writing, but I've seen some really good ones so far, and even now can recommend looking at those as well.

Despite the game feeling slightly incomplete to more completionist explorers like myself, the game is overall incredibly well made. The mechanics are very interesting and unique, they play well, and they're even replayable, given the exploration and roguelike elements. With the addition of fun secrets to uncover and achievements to aim for, Noita is well worth the experience for those interested in making their own spells in a very dynamic, magical world.