Door Plays!

Hey! This is Doors. I play stuff! Profile pic by https://twitter.com/calemonsi

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My Top Ten Games That I Played In 2025

I played a lot of games last year!!! I think it’s more than the usual years at this point. Played like 30 or 40 games?? That’s a lot! I’m glad I discovered and played so many games. I feel enriched seeing what other artists want to say through their games, experiencing their well-crafted worlds and mechanics.

I wanna talk about ten of the best games I played from 2025. I know it’s already around the middle of 2026, but hey, better late than never right? Let’s get to it.

#10: Wide Ocean Big Jacket

Read my review here!

This game felt like a chill time. Just a day in the life of a few people in a camping trip. The art is nice and cute, and the story is low-stakes yet compelling. It’s nice to see the differences between childhood and adulthood in this story, what they prioritize, what they get worried about, what they enjoy. It’s a roughly 1 hour experience that I enjoyed a fair bit!

#9: The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood

Read my review here!

A chill game where you play as a witch and make tarot cards, it has lovely music, great art, and nice vibes. I love that this game allowed me to express my creativity in making the tarot cards! And I loved the little stories that the game presented through its various characters. This game stuck with me because of how nice it felt playing it. It felt cozy and chill, and I need more coziness in my life.

#8: In Stars and Time

Read my review here!

Time loop stories, my beloved. While the gameplay of this game had some flaws for me, the storytelling for me was very strong. I got emotional at various points in the story, and even cried a couple of times. It’s a story about friendship, perseverance, insecurity, and trust, and that resonated with me a lot, as most time loop stories tend to do. I’m excited for the next game the dev is making!!!

#7: DEAD LETTER DEPT.

Read my review here!

I always have a hard time with horror games. I usually steer clear of them, but lately there have been so many good ones in the indie scene!! I get so tempted to experience them. Such was the case with Mouthwashing, and such is the case with DEAD LETTER DEPT. It’s an interesting typing game that injects horror into the mix, a more modern, urbane kind of horror that I find refreshing. I was properly spooked that at one point I just couldn’t continue playing and my friend had to finish the game for me!!! But that speaks to how easily scared I am more than anything. It’s a good game!!!

#6: Type Help

Read my review here!

I’ve gotten into text-based games sometime last year, and this one I would say is the one I most enjoyed. It’s a detective game where you have to unravel the mystery, and BOY what a mystery it was. The gameplay was understandable enough for me, and once I got in the groove of it, I just devoured the whole thing in pursuit of the mystery. It was GRIPPING. At one point I just wanted to know what was next! I started trying to get hints and answers online just so I could progress the story! It was such an enjoyable horror-thriller of a game.

#5: The Roottrees are Dead

Read my review here!

This was another fun detective game I played! It was such a fun experience mapping the family tree of an old, powerful family via Ye Olden Internet Explorer and various other items. I felt like SUCH a gossip reading all of this TEA about the various people in the family who had fucked up one way or another. And all of this just to maintain a family trust fund!! It’s an amusing mystery, and a fun game!

#4: Perfect Tides

Read my review here!

This game was made by one of my fave webcomic artists Meredith Gran. She made Octopus Pie, a webcomic about twenty-somethings navigating life. Here, she made a game about teens navigating life. This point-and-click game brought me much nostalgia, making me remember the ISP modem sounds, the fashion of emos and goths, the music… Sometimes though it’s hard to figure out what to do next in this game, which I guess is similar in experience to other point-and-click games back then. I found that the story more than makes up for it, however. A strong coming-of-age story with good humor and good themes.

#3: I Was a Teenage Exocolonist

Read my review here!

A coming-of-age story where you carefully choose how you spend your day-to-day, this game emphasizes the importance of your actions. Do you go to class or explore outside? Do you tell your parents of your adventures or keep them to yourself? Do you go out and fight the monster invading your colony or leave it to the adults? Each action leads you to a different branching path, and all of them are important. You get to mold the person you become, however you want yourself to be. You can choose to be different each timeline, or stay the same. I like this dynamism in terms of the story. The art and music are beautiful, and helps produce a chill vibe, despite how intense the game can become. And I liked how cozy it felt! Like I said earlier: I need more coziness in my life, and this delivered.

#2: Nine Sols

Read my review here!

This game was HARD. Felt like the same difficulty as Silksong, but IMO more fun. Parrying felt good to get right, and the fights felt more fast paced. The boss fights are well-made, and feel good to beat. The art is great! It really pops, and the gore feels striking against the art. The music SLAPS, a good fusion of Chinese aesthetics and cyberpunk vibes, which could be said of the art direction in general. What really got this high in my rankings though is the striking story. It got to me in a personal way, and it made me think and see things in a new light. I think this game has both great mechanics and great story, and I like it a lot because of that.

#1: Slay the Princess

Read my review here!

This is the game I was most enamored by!! It’s a good exploration of relationships and character archetypes. It plays around with the concepts of the Hero’s Journey and the Love Story, and does it with care. There’s some lovely humor, but it doesn’t detract from the seriousness of its story. It’s great finding out the twists and turns of the story, seeing how far the devs are willing to explore the themes. I really love the voice acting!! Jonathan Sims did a really good job with The Hero and the Narrator. The overall vibes are immaculate, and I really enjoyed the game. I’d talk about it more, but it’s hard to talk about this game without spoiling the experience, so I invite you, reader, to experience this game for yourself. It’s a great visual novel!

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And that’s it! I enjoyed a lot of games last year, and plan to enjoy more this year! I haven’t played as much as I like to be honest, but I’ll just play when I can. Can’t enjoy your hobbies when you’re forcing yourself to. But yeah, games are fun!!! I hope to enjoy more.

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Door Reviews Quick: BALL x PIT (2025)

I’ve heard this game talked about a bit in the latter half of 2025. People say it’s a fun roguelike and very addictive. Playdigious recently put forth a mobile port of the game, a demo you can try for free, after which you can buy the full game if you find it fun enough.

I tried it, and indeed found it fun enough to buy. And I’ve sunk in many hours into this game. Let’s talk about BALL x PIT!

It’s a roguelike that mixes brick breaking, bullet hell, and resource management into an addictive and wonderful mess. You control a character that fires out balls to destroy enemies. The enemies steadily advance towards you, and if you don’t deal with them soon enough they will damage you until you die. As you kill more enemies, you gain more experience, and with each level up you get to grab more unique balls that can help with your predicament. You can get fire balls, ice balls, poison balls, even vampire balls and spider balls! And you can combine these balls together to make even better balls, with various unique effects.

Progression is helped along by the resource management aspect of the game. You can buy farms, forests, and boulders for you to collect wheat, wood, and stone, which you can then use to make various buildings that unlock new characters and improve their stats. You have to arrange the buildings properly in order to maximize their effects, too. It’s an unexpectedly interesting side of the game.

The main game is so fun!!! It’s so wild seeing all of these balls thrown about, like a wacky pinball machine. It’s challenging to avoid all the enemies and their projectiles while aiming well enough to fire your balls at them. It’s fun to choose the right equipment and build towards certain balls.

It makes me feel nostalgic for an old game I played during my childhood: DX-Ball. It’s an old-fashioned brick-breaking game that has powerups. It feels similar to Pong, but with more unique mechanics. And now, we have yet another evolution of the genre. I love the rampant creativity present in gaming!!!

JUDGMENT:

This game is fucking addictive!!! It’s a good game to play in short bursts. I’ve been playing it a lot during my commutes and it’s been fun! The demo is free, both on steam and on mobile, so you can try it out and see for yourself if it’s fun or not. I very much think it’s a fun romp. Play it!

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Door Reviews: GRIS (2018)

Games are fun.

Games let you explore new worlds, engage with unique mechanics, dive into new experiences, and a lot more. They are vehicles for enjoyment and entertainment, specifically made to tickle your brain in various ways.

In my opinion, though, not enough credit is given to games as a way to make art. Music produced for it, art assets made for even the smallest things… games are an amalgamation of art fused to make something greater than the sum of its parts. All in the service of showing you a singular vision, a feeling, an experience.

I wanna talk about one such artistic endeavor today. Let’s talk about GRIS.

What’s it about? GRIS is a platformer game where you play as a woman who explores a barren land. You move through the world to collect stars that eventually form constellations, allowing you to restore more of the world.

STYLE (Gameplay, Graphics, Music)

The art of the game is beautiful. Very painterly, with intentional geometry. The game starts out in black and white, but as you progress through it, it becomes more colorful, and it shows. Rays of light shining, trees towering, bodies of water being still, yet beckoning… It’s all so pretty. honestly.

Despite the beauty, there is a sadness all throughout the game. The music is quiet, as if a sigh across the landscape with its pianos and vocals. The landscape starts out in the desert, with barely anyone accompanying you. There’s a meditative solitude to this game.

The game has you controlling a character that explores the land, jumping from place to place, collecting stars, learning new skills. It’s almost like a metroidvania, though the game’s linearity prevents it from being categorized as one. It’s simple enough gameplay, which helps with appreciating the artistic aspects this game has to offer.

All the aspects of the game combine to make a meditative experience on the nature of grief. It’s an interesting production, with great art and music, and I like it a good enough amount!

SUBSTANCE (Story, Characters, Impact)

The game’s story is intentionally vague, with plenty of symbolism to go around. A woman explores a wasteland, and as she explores, she restores the land’s beauty. Despite this, she is steeped in grief. Why is she sad? Why does she cry?

In my playthrough, I haven’t found decisive answers, only theories. And I think that’s the beauty of a game like this, in that you can supply your own meaning. Sometimes the professor asks you why the curtains are blue, and you have to provide an answer that is based on your own reading of the work instead of what everyone else thinks. And questions like that are good, since in answering based on your own reading, you discover more of yourself. Why is that your reading of the work? What made you think that’s why the curtains are blue?

Why do you think the woman is sad? Why does she cry? How is it that her exploration restores the world, and yet she is still grieving?

What does it all mean? The game doesn’t spell it out for you, but provides some hints that can help you fill in the blanks. But it is you who has to fill in those blanks on your own.

In an experience like this, I like this ‘less is more’ approach. It helps reinforce the quiet solitude the game provides, enhancing the experience. I like it.

VERDICT

GRIS is a good exploration of grief. It puts you in a sort of meditative mood, allowing you to explore a wasteland slowly restored. The art is breathtaking, each frame as if a painting. The only flaw of this game is its short length. I would have wanted to play more of this game and explore the world more! But if you want a short, quiet experience with great art and music, this game is for you.

Door Rates GRIS: 4/5!

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Door Reviews: Hades II (2025)

So. This game.

Supergiant Games is a rockstar of an indie company. I’ve loved their work since Bastion, and have played each one. I enjoyed Hades a lot, and when I heard that they were gonna come out with a sequel, I was excited, but also a bit sad. I enjoyed all of the worlds that Supergiant has created, and to hear that they’re returning to the world of Hades had me a bit disappointed that they won’t be making a new, original world. Nonetheless, I had faith that they’ll make a great game. And now, it’s released and ready to rock, after months of Early Access. Let’s talk about Hades II!

What’s it about? Chronos, the Titan of Time, has returned, claiming the House of Hades for himself and holding hostage all of its inhabitants. He wages war against all of Olympus. Melinoë, born to the House of Hades, and the only child who was whisked away before the chaos erupted, has trained all her life in the service of saving her family and bringing death to Chronos.

STYLE (Gameplay, Graphics, Music)

The art’s so cool!!! It follows the style of the previous game, but very much expanded with new characters and areas. Character sprites are shown next to the text box as they speak. Environments evoke differing emotions: the first area makes me feel wary, as if I was trapped in a foreboding forest, the third area feels sad and haunting, it’s all so interesting and well crafted.

The music is great. It helps with the ambience. Generally they play out very rock vibes, helping with pumping the adrenaline as you do combat. Other than that, the vibes are very Greek History, from the art to the music, which makes sense because this is a game about the Greek pantheon.

Gameplay is similar to the previous game, but much expanded upon. There are 5 new weapons, each playing differently. Each weapon also has unlockable aspects that change how they play. So it’s like having many different ways to play the game!!

Combat is expanded upon. You still have your main attack and your special attack. Your dash is a bit different: after the initial dash, you can hold the button to continue running at a faster pace. The cast is reworked: you press the button to unleash a circle on your feet that ensnares foes. The call is changed into a hex: a skill you get from Selene, the Moon Goddess. They function somewhat similarly to calls, in that they’re powerful skills you can use after charging them up. In this case, hexes are charged up via the accumulation of a new resource: Magick.

You have a set amount of Magick per encounter that you can use to unleash upgraded versions of your attack, special, and cast. These are called the Omega versions of each action, and the omega versions vary in their effectivity, but in general they are quite powerful. To activate the omega versions of each action, you just have to hold the button associated with the action until the indicator that appears fills up. You have to have the requisite magick amount to unleash the omega actions, however, and you only have a set amount per encounter. However, you can have boons that can give you ways to regenerate your magick during encounters, so you can work towards a build that makes liberal use of your omega actions more.

Speaking of boons, the boon system from the previous game is back! It’s what gives the game its roguelike feel. After some encounters, a god can offer you a boon that improves your combat capability in certain ways. It can give your attacks thunder powers, your special the power of the forge, your dash a blazing trail, your cast the ability to regenerate your magick, and other stuff.

The combat on the whole feels slick once you get used to it. I struggled a bit to get used to the new dash and the omega actions, but once I got used to them, I was tearing it up through all the regions. It was fun finding out the optimal builds and utilizing them to wreak havoc on my foes. It was great finding out how each boon can synergize with each other and with certain weapons.

Aside from the combat, Hades II introduces more resource collection. The previous game had fishing, where you exchange fish you catch for resources. In this game, you not only fish, but you also harvest plants, mine for ore, and take care of lost souls. The resources you get are tied to the progression of the game: you unlock key items and improvements with the resources you gather. You can use these resources at the Cauldron, where you can put in various plants and ores to make various things. These resources also help with your own character progression, as Melinoë can get more powerful the more resources you get, once you use them to improve aspects of Melinoë.

The Mirror of Night from the previous game is replaced with the Altar of Ashes, where Melinoë can choose which Arcana cards to use for her runs. Arcana cards give a variety of benefits, but you can only choose as many cards as your Grasp allows.

The resource gathering and game progression makes me feel the vibes of a witch. With the Arcana cards and the Cauldron, I definitely feel the aura of it, and I enjoy it!!

There’s so much to talk to about the gameplay, but I think my favorite addition is the familiar system, where you can encounter animals that you can convince to fight with you on runs. They give varying benefits, but I just love that they’re there to be your emotional support pet as you wreak havoc all throughout the place.

Overall, I love the game’s style. The art and the music are great!! The design of various characters are phenomenal. I wanna lick Hecate’s abs!!! Ares looks so fine!!! I love their interpretation of Narcissus. And the combat? It’s very much a triumph. It’s so fun, and I ended up doing a fair amount of runs playing through all the weapons. This game’s fun!!!

SUBSTANCE (Story, Characters, Impact)

The story goes like this: Melinoë’s family is captured by Chronos, who has waged war against Olympus. Melinoë now must work to free them and save the pantheon from Chronos’ wrath.

It’s a simple enough story, but they tell it well in this game. It’s much more serious than the previous game because there’s more stakes: compared to the family drama that Zagreus tries to manage, Melinoë has to save her family AND the pantheon from a multi-pronged assault from her own grandfather Chronos. It’s fitting that Melinoë has become a cold and calculating individual compared to Zagreus’s whimsy.

I liked the characters in this game. I like how varied they are, and I love the various character interactions between Melinoë and everyone else. I loved seeing the relationship between Hecate and Melinoë: Hecate being her mentor and her caretaker, almost her mother figure. I loved seeing the tension she has between her peers Nemesis and Eris. I loved seeing her interactions with Odysseus and Dora. I loved meeting and continuously interacting with the various characters in this game, both new and old.

I think the biggest flaw this game had was the ending. I played Hades II before they pushed the patch that changes up the ending, and I didn’t really enjoy it. There are also some questlines I didn’t enjoy the resolution of.

Despite this, though, I enjoyed the game’s telling of its story, and I enjoyed the characters.

VERDICT

Hades II is a great game in terms of gameplay. It’s fun. I’ve found myself doing so many runs already. I like experimenting with various builds! And it’s nice discovering more of the world of Hades II. The story could have done with a bit more tuning up, but ultimately I’m satisfied with the whole of what I got.

I’m gonna be honest: I wish Supergiant would have made a different game instead of Hades II. I enjoy their capacity to make unique worlds like they did with Transistor and Pyre. I wish they made a new world instead of revisiting this one. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my time in this game, and eagerly look forward to what they have next in store.

Door Rates Hades II: 4.5/5!

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Door Reviews Quick: Roadwarden (2022)

I forget where I heard of this game. It was in my wishlist for a fair bit, and I’ve heard some chatter on social media about it. However I heard of it, I managed to buy it and play it. Let’s talk about Roadwarden!

You play as the titular Roadwarden, someone tasked by the city to keep the roads safe, act as a diplomat between villages, and be someone who can be relied upon. You are tasked to be a roadwarden in a new peninsula by a merchant’s guild who plans to colonize the area, so your job is to explore the land, know its people, and judge their willingness to cooperate with the guild.

It’s a hard task, but you are helped by your meager coinage, your trusty axe, your armor, and your palfrey, a horse fit for riding. You go to villages and introduce yourself, making yourself available for any jobs that these villages might need done, and in doing so making yourself more trustworthy to them.

I’d describe it as a choices-matter visual novel, similar in flow to Disco Elysium, but has a more fantasy RPG style. You can have the background of a fighter, a mage, or a scholar, each background giving you different benefits for your journey. You can also dictate what kind of faith you follow in-game, which can also give you an advantage in some interactions.

There are a fair amount of important decisions to be made, as there are many villages, each with their own quirks. The world feels big, and yet your actions feel weighty enough that you can get a reputation with each village depending on your actions.

The art is nice. Simple, and depicts the lay of the land. Rarely does it depict the characters, though, which I find a negative. Kinda wish I had a better picture of what the characters looked like beyond text descriptions.

Overall, I like this game well enough. I’ve done one playthrough, and I don’t have the urge to do more.

JUDGMENT: A decent choices-matter RPG. It caught me for a spell, but I don’t feel too much pull to it to really love it. It’s likeable enough, but that’s it for me.

Some SPOILER thoughts:

It feels iffy for me to be the secret messenger of a group that plans to colonize the area. Having to do all of these things and then in the end promoting the benefits of trading with the city doesn’t sit well as someone who’s from a country who has suffered from colonialism for too long. I think there’s a way to unite the villages under one banner, but I didn’t manage to find out in my one playthrough.

The story of White Marshes feels tragic, in that a talented magician lost his way and turned to necromancy so that his village can survive. Sometimes we have to do things we don’t agree with in order to put food on the table, and this village’s story shows that.

I’m glad I managed to save Old Pagos from their plague. All the druids intended to just look out for themselves instead of saving the village, but if it were not for our decision, they really would have suffered.

As roadwarden, we have the capability to influence many things. We also risk so much just to reach that point of influence. I like how this game shows that progression and shows well the fruits of your labor.

The story of this game feels quiet, yet effective. Feels… stoic, I wanna say? It emphasizes the importance of working together, and being good.

I ultimately like the story, but would have liked more options in steering the fate of the peninsula.

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Door Reviews Quick: Wide Ocean Big Jacket (2020)

I heard of this game from dotzip, a podcast that talks about various short games. Hearing them talk about it, it seemed like a cozy enough game, like a warm hug. So I got it, and I finally got to playing it! Let’s talk about Wide Ocean Big Jacket!

I would describe it as a cozy little visual novel where you participate in a camping trip. You alternate control between four people: Mord, a rambunctious young teen, Ben, her boyfriend, Brad, her uncle, and Cloanne, her uncle’s wife. Each of them have their own perspectives in life and their own issues, which the game touches upon during this short camping trip.

The art is cute and lovely. It captures the camping trip feel, with all its appeal and some of its hassles. The music doesn’t overstay its welcome, and it has decent sound design. Overall, it’s a nice, short experience!

JUDGMENT: A short and sweet visual novel about youth and adulthood. It took me an hour to finish it. I recommend it!

I’m gonna talk some SPOILERS about this game now. If you don’t want any spoilers, stop reading now, and know that I wholeheartedly recommend this game.

I really like the story. Brad and Cloanne as a couple are cute. They have their own issues together, as Cloanne does not want children, and Brad does. They navigate this well enough in this camping trip where they have to babysit Mord and Ben. Despite everything, they’re a couple who chooses to stick together, and they navigate through this slowly, as they do a hobby they enjoy.

I like how Mord and Ben are as a couple too, with Mord being rambunctious and exploratory, and Ben being reserved, yet willing to learn. I loved hearing his ghost story in the game, and almost believed the story to be something that actually happened to him. He’s a good writer!!

The way these two couples interact with each other fully display its themes of navigating both youth and adulthood. The adults in this situation are shown to be competent in setting up camping trips, but not as fully competent in dealing with children. It makes for a good story in seeing them deal with something they did not quite expect to deal with: teaching and guiding children to where they think is safe. And they do it well, in not forcing anything on them, letting them be, yet giving advice when it is asked of them. Letting youth be something experienced by the young, in all its wonder.

The themes in this game are explored well for the length. I like how it doesn’t overstay its welcome, and doesn’t dwell too long on some things. It lets its moments breathe, and gives nice moments of amusement, awe, and wonder.

For a short experience, I think this game will stay with me for a decent amount of time. It’s a nice, cozy game.

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Door Reviews Quick: Infinitode 2 (2021)

I’ve been looking for games to play on my phone lately. Just some games that I can play when I need to pass the time. Like when I’m in line or I’m waiting for something. I looked up Tower Defense games in Reddit and found a few. One of them is this game. Let’s talk about Infinitode 2!

It’s your run-of-the-mill tower defense game really. Place towers strategically so that these towers can shoot at waves upon waves of enemies, preserving your base until the end. What I like is the simple sciencey vibes. Vector art, a sci-fi veneer, decent UI… I like how it all works together to make a unified sci-fi impression. The music is good too, with a lot of varied chiptune-like music beats.

I’m currently stuck in the second set of levels though, and I don’t know if it’s just my impatience, but it’s hard to get the stars needed to get through… Maybe it’s a skill issue on my part? Well, I have time between busywork to find out. It’s a chill enough game that you can exit and continue another time if you find yourself busy between waves of enemies. You can just put it down and pick it back up where you left off.

Overall, I like this game!

JUDGMENT: A decent enough tower defense game! Simple graphics and clean style. I like it!

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Door Reviews: Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (2009)

Here we are. One of the games I’ve been wanting to play for a while. And I finally played it.

I played the Ace Attorney Trilogy last year, and had a great time. I found myself loving Miles Edgeworth as a character. Discovering that he had his own duology was great!Discovering that Capcom made a remaster and released it on Steam? I absolutely HAD to have it. And so here we are, ready to talk about Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth!

What’s it about? Miles Edgeworth journeys back from overseas, ready to practice his profession again, but he gets dragged into various situations that require his expertise. He is drawn into a web of deceit, and it is his desire as a purveyor of truth to untangle it, for the good of all.

STYLE (Gameplay, Graphics, Music)

I loved seeing the updated sprites. Apparently they used 8-bit sprites before, and while they seem fine, it’s great seeing the updated sprites mix with the updated art. It feels like Miles Edgeworth is actually there, walking! It’s great.

The art is good. I enjoy the music. With regards to the gameplay, it definitely works with Edgeworth’s character: utilizing Logic to piece together various thoughts, and progressing the investigative cases you have by linking your thoughts with the evidence. I felt like a right and proper detective!

The talking sprites are classic Ace Attorney fare. I loved seeing the characters and seeing their small little art quirks.

Overall, art, music, and gameplay work well for me. The art works well, the music works well, and the gameplay fits Edgeworth well.

SUBSTANCE (Story, Characters, Impact)

I have issues with the story.

The first few cases… it felt like they didn’t raise the stakes enough for me, the way the original trilogy cases did. They didn’t have enough emotional draw for me to care for the cases. It felt like the devs cared more for the crafting of the investigation itself than for the emotional core of the cases. This gets better in the later cases, though, when we learn about more characters and more background lore.

I like the penultimate and the final case. At least, until the final case dragged on for far too long. There were so many moving parts in that one!! It overstayed its welcome in my opinion.

The game is a decent exploration into Miles Edgeworth as a character, but I do wish they put his quirks on display more. We see him solve cases, but we don’t see him as a person as much, in my opinion. There are flashes however, but not enough for my tastes.

Overall, despite my gripes… it’s a decent story, with good highs. I just find myself wishing it were better!

VERDICT

AAI1 is a decent game. It has Logic, it has deductions, it has decent characters, and decent storylines. And… I think that’s what frustrates me about it. It’s just decent! This is the first game that my favorite character of the AA series! He deserves better!

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the game somewhat. I enjoyed some of the storylines, and loved one of the villains. I just… wish it were better. I wish the stakes were better, I wish the story was better written, and I wish it didn’t drag.

I’m hopeful for the next game in this duology though: a lot of people hype it up as one of the best games of the series. I’m excited to play it!

Door Rates Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth: 3.5/5!

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Door Reviews Quick: Marvel Rivals (2024)

A couple of friends have been bugging me to play this game for a while now. It’s basically an Overwatch clone, but with Marvel characters. And despite myself, I’m finding it pretty fun! Let’s talk about Marvel Rivals!

Gameplay revolves around picking heroes and working with your team in order to win in the match’s goal, whether it is capturing points, defending locations, or escorting objectives. You have to be mindful of your team make-up, making sure you have enough healers, tanks, and DPS’s in order to have a good team. Beyond that, well, you have to have good FPS game sense, knowing where enemies are and being good enough to eliminate them.

Having the game have Marvel heroes is… unexpectedly cool. It’s nice to play as heroes like Starlord and Blade. Unexpected to play Rocket Raccoon as a healer even, but it works out.

Overall, I’m having fun! It’s not a groundbreaking game, but it passes the time well enough IMO.

JUDGMENT: A quaint little hero shooter that makes me feel like I’m reliving the early Overwatch days. It’s pretty fun.

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Door Reviews Quick: Brotato (2023)

I’ve seen a streamer I follow play this game sometimes. I’ve been wanting a good Android game to play on the go, so I downloaded it.

And promptly forgot about it for like. 5 months?

Anyway. I finally checked this game out and played it. Let’s talk about Brotato!

It bills itself as a top-down arena shooter roguelite. You’re a potato that has to fight waves upon waves of aliens, utilizing a variety of weapons and items to fend them all off.

I find that it plays similarly to Vampire Survivors. It’s a similar game where you have to choose your weapons and work towards a build. In Brotato, there are a set amount of waves that you have to prevail through, and between each wave you are given an opportunity to improve your build and loadout.

While the concept and gameplay loop is interesting, the Android version I’m playing with is… very much littered with ads. You don’t have to interface with them though if you don’t want to. But you are given options to get free items and weapons if you watch ads, and even to get free rerolls and free revivals.

I… don’t like the concept of freemium with regards to games. It’s kinda why I’m turned off of this one, at least for the Android. But I enjoyed Brotato nonetheless, and might play it on and off during dull moments.

JUDGMENT: A moderately fun mobile game dulled by its freemium aspects.

[doorplays]

Door Reviews: Hollow Knight: Silksong (2025)

With Hollow Knight: Silksong being one of the most wishlisted games in recent memory, it’s no surprise that it’s one of the most anticipated games. Which is why it IS a surprise when Team Cherry announced its release. To everyone’s surprise, the reason the game took so long is that they simply had too much fun making the game. Which made me more interested to try this game out! And so, I did. So far, I’ve played until the beginning of Act 2, but I feel comfortable enough to write a review on it. So let’s talk about Hollow Knight: Silksong!

What’s it about? Hornet, a character from Hollow Knight, is kidnapped by mysterious bugs. She manages to escape, and now she seeks to know why she was taken, even if she has to fight through many enemies to find out.

STYLE (Gameplay, Graphics, Music)

The art is, as before, very beautiful. You can feel the earthiness of the environments, and the haunting feeling of certain areas. Some areas feel gross, and some feel very hot. The art direction really comes through!!

Hornet’s design is simple and yet distinctive. Her red cloak and her mask denote that yes, she is the main character in this story. The design of the other bugs also feel notable. They have varying degrees of cute and scary. I’m impressed with Team Cherry’s ability to make bugs so cute and so scary in the same game!!

The gameplay is quick and snappy. Hornet slowly gets many movement skills and tools that help her deal with various enemies and obstacles. You can tell this isn’t the original Hollow Knight anymore with how even the concept of pogo-ing is incorporated with even one of the first areas of the game. And pogo-ing is supposed to be a relatively intermediate skill to pick up in the original game!

The gameplay loop is about discovery of new regions and fighting various bosses and enemies. The variety of bosses is truly enormous, and gives meaning to the fact that this is described as a soulslike metroidvania. You really have to learn the patterns of various bosses to get through this game. And you have to have good platforming skills to explore more of the world, which is filled with a lot of haunting, grotesque beauty.

The music is great. Christopher Larkin brought his A-Game to Silksong. He made good songs with Hollow Knight, and he made some good songs here in Silksong too!

Overall, this game oozes with its own style. Dark, haunting, unforgiving, and yet so rewarding when you manage to explore more of its world.

SUBSTANCE (Story, Characters, Impact)

The story of Silksong is told in key moments and in the environment. Benches you have to pay for to activate, ancient relics that give lore, expansive areas… You have to take everything in lest you miss out on some light story implications.

Generally though, the story of Silksong is felt mostly through the vibes of your gameplay. You fight through creepy places, see cute bugs, see scary bugs, and fight many bosses.

I think this is the weak point of Silksong for me. I wish that the story is more explicitly told. It’s hard for me to care more about Hornet, as I think her story and life could do with a bit more fleshing out.

Overall, the story is done in typical soulslike fashion. Whether that is a positive or negative is up to your taste.

VERDICT

Hollow Knight: Silksong is an expansive game, with a lot of exploration to offer. Dark and dank, green and hopeful, there are a lot of environments to see and enjoy. It’s a game that offers many challenges to those who seek it. I just wish I enjoyed it more, personally, as this game has only made me realize that I’m not that fond of soulslikes as a genre, and prefer games with stories that are better told. Nonetheless, I’m sure many out there will enjoy it, as Silksong is very well made, and has much to offer on its own. I think it was worth the wait.

Door Rates Hollow Knight: Silksong: 4/5!

[doorplays]

Door Reviews Quick: Tales from Off-Peak City, Vol. 1 (2020)

I’ve played some weird games. More memorable are the games of Cosmo D, a game developer who makes games centered around his world involving Off-Peak City. I played Betrayal of Club Low, and enjoyed it enough to check out his other work. And this is another one of his! Let’s talk about Tales from Off-Peak City, Vol. 1!

This game is WEIRD. It’s a walking simulator of sorts that has you making and delivering pizzas to various apartments, each with their own quirks. There are swimmers swimming in the sewers. There are big heads that are marked as apartments. There are robots??? And mysterious talk of a Factory?? It’s all so delightfully weird.

The main themes circle around music and pizza. The power of art. Community. Emotions. Conspiracies. There’s a lot to see if you’re willing to look and hear out everyone’s stories. From security guards to panhandlers to fishermen to photographers, everyone has their own little story to tell. All of it feels weird, yet real. I like this game!

JUDGMENT: It’s delightfully weird!! Play this game if you want something that’s strange yet cool.

[doorplays]

Door Reviews: In Stars and Time (2023)

Time loop games. There are an unexpected amount of them! There are a fair amount of interpretations to this unexpected genre, and this is one of them. It is an unexpected journey, this game!! And I think it uses the time loop mechanic decently. Let’s talk about In Stars and Time!

What’s it about? You arrive at the city of Dormont with your party, ready to take on the King, a villain who wants to freeze Vaugarde in time. You are here to stop him. You journey on to do so, and in this journey, you discover various things, chief of which is the fact that, well, you are stuck in a time loop! What will you dooooooo

STYLE (Gameplay, Graphics, Music)

It’s an RPG using Rock Paper Scissors as a base. Your attacks either have the Rock element, Paper element, or Scissors element, and you have to figure out which element the enemies are weak to in order to beat them faster. It’s… cutesy, I would say. Though mixed with the time-loop elements, it gets grating having to fight constantly just to get to the story points.

The art is nice. It’s some good 8-bit black and white fare, and depicts the setting well. The music is also good, giving flavor to the story beats well.

This is the game that made me realize that maybe… I don’t quite like RPGs? Due to their grindy nature? It sure felt grindy to fight enemies over and over at points.

Overall, the style is okay, I like the art, the music, but the gameplay could be better. Nonetheless, the time-loop elements were okay enough and used well enough within the story.

SUBSTANCE (Story, Characters, Impact)

I really like this game’s story.

It has a great cast of characters and wonderful character interactions. You get to focus on the protagonist’s state of mind, what he thinks of the other characters, and how he thinks about breaking the loop.

The worldbuilding is great. It’s fed to you slowly and casually, you getting to know some strange happenings. It’s an expansive world that feels alive. Not all of you are from the same country, and it shows in how diverse your experiences are.

The characters themselves have nice quirks and are very kind people. It’s somewhat refreshing to see such kindness in abundance here, as opposed to those gritty RPGs where your emotions sometimes gets tossed to the wayside.

The story is ever expansive, and unexpectedly deep. If you are ready to let the story beats hit, you will be very much rewarded.

VERDICT

In Stars and Time is a game with somewhat grindy gameplay but a great story. If you’re into emotional RPGs like Undertale, you’ll surely love this game!

Door Rates In Stars and Time: 4/5!

[doorplays]

Door Reviews Quick: The Making of Karateka (2023)

I like games. I like talking about games. I like knowing about the history of games. So it was only a matter of time until I checked this game out. A documentary that’s also a game, this game talks about how Karateka was made. Let’s talk about The Making of Karateka!

This game is a documentary that’s also a game, an interactive powerpoint of sorts that makes available to you a lot of historical documents and files. The amount of files they put in are a LOT. It boggles my mind how much was preserved to be honest. And it’s interesting seeing someone’s creativity in action, how they implement their vision. Step by step, we see how Karateka was born and how it became a landmark game for all that will come after.

It’s a wonderful feat of archiving, this game. 40 years later, we see how someone’s vision became reality. There is just so much recovered, from game prototypes to early design documents to various drafts, all of which can serve as inspiration to the people of today.

I would treat it more as an interactive documentary than a proper game, though there ARE some games and game prototypes included in The Making of Karateka. Nonetheless, it’s still a great piece of art and a great archive.

JUDGMENT: It’s a very fascinating way of making a documentary, with a lot of history available to you. Game prototypes, design docs, person-to=company communications, this game has stored and recorded a lot for historical archiving. And it is very respectable to have this and make it available to the masses.

[doorplays]

Door Reviews: Type Help (2025)

There have been a lot of good mystery games lately. Obra Dinn, Her Story, and in recent years, Golden Idol and Roottrees. There seems to be a renaissance in mystery games lately, with how many have been inspired by the games of before. I found this game in the Interactive Fiction Database, and I was surprised to see that this game was just released this year. And I found it to be amazing. Let’s talk about Type Help!

What’s it about? You are an agent tasked to review a cold case. This case is of a house that was thought to be abandoned, until a group of locals found themselves going there for reasons they themselves don’t know about. They discovered many bodies having died recently, with only a couple of the most recent deaths being identifiable. You must now piece together what happened that fateful day in that fateful house.

Unearthing the Mystery

It establishes early the way you look for files and discover more of the mystery, and it feels unique and utilizes the limitations of the interactive fiction medium well. It feels good when I find the next files in the sequence and discover more of the mystery. You have to keep in mind the time, the place, and the people involved in the various scenes in order to be able to progress and find out the next files.

A Gripping Story

It was a wild ride seeing the twists and turns this story took to get to its ending. I found myself sad, forlorn, shocked, aghast at the happenings. It’s a riveting tale. The mystery games I’ve played lately have not been of the horror variety, so it is nice to be reminded that the mystery and horror genres mix so well. I found myself glued to the game, wanting to know what comes next.

Final Thoughts

Type Help is a gripping tale, one I could not put down. The hinting system is unwieldly, yet elegant, especially when people will have different states of discovery. The solving is dynamic and leaves room for many eureka moments. It is so good!

JUDGMENT: Very much recommended!! Feel free to wishlist the remaster coming next year as well!

[doorplays]

Door Reviews: The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood (2023)

I’ve been trying to look for more games that feel cozy to me. I enjoyed I Was A Teenage Exocolonist, and it felt cozy to me, so I looked for similar games. Then I came across this game. I played it, and liked it! Let’s talk about The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood!

What’s it about? You are Fortuna, a fortune-telling Witch who has served 200 years of a 1,000 year exile. And you have had enough of it. You decide to take matters into your own hands, using forbidden powers to gain your freedom. This game is about you weaving your fate, in order that you achieve your goal.

STYLE (Gameplay, Graphics, Music)

This game is, at its heart, a visual novel. It tells a story, and mixes in some gameplay elements related to witchery and magic. You gather energy to make cards, which you then use to tell peoples’ fortune. These divination sessions then give you more energy that help you get more cards. A variety of cards gives you more access to more fortunes you can give to people, widening the possible futures you can foresee, depending on the person and their questions.

With regards to making these cards, the game gives you the option to choose how a card can look like. It feels like junk journalling, the way it lets you decorate a card with random stickers and implements depending on the background and arcana you choose for it. It’s surprisingly fun. I loved exercising my creativity in these gameplay bits.

The art is beautiful. It feels soft and cozy, which in tandem with the chill music, gives you a nice, cozy feeling of comfortably reading a book.

Overall, I would say that the style of this game feels cozy to me. I feel like I’m drinking cocoa besides a warm fire!

SUBSTANCE (Story, Characters, Impact)

The story is about the struggle of a witch torn away from her community. It shows the power of community, and how one person can make such a difference. Fortuna takes it into her hands to return to society however possible, and within a few visits she has already affected lives with her power.

While her turning to forbidden powers is described as having grim consequences, it is never judged harshly and treated with the care it deserves. Who would survive 200 years alone? I wouldn’t even survive a month!

I’m just ambling along here. I like the story, I like its twists and turns. I like how positive it feels in some ways, how powerful the characters are. I like that it’s woman-centric. I like a lot of things about it. I enjoyed my time with it!

VERDICT

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is a rather cozy game for me. It tells a tale of empowered women, women empowering other women, and the importance of community. I like it!

Door Rates The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood: 4/5!

[doorplays]

Door Reviews Quick: Mosa Lina (2023)

This game was made by Stuffed Wombat, the dev who made a game I previously reviewed in this blog: PRODUCER 2021. I saw they were making this game named Mosa Lina, and resolved to try it. I bought it, it collected dust in my library, and now I finally managed to play it. Let’s talk about Mosa Lina!

It is a game that presents a set amount of puzzles (so far, I haven’t quite beaten the first batch of puzzles) and asks you to solve them with the random tools you have. It can get annoying trying to solve them, but gratifying when you finally manage to. I got annoyed at first, but I slowly took a shine to the game with each success I had. It’s simple, it’s fun, and you can keep restarting until you beat the level. I like it! The puzzles are randomized each playthrough, so if you exit and start the game again, you have a new set of puzzles to solve. It’s an interesting game.

JUDGMENT: It is frustrating, then it hooks you with its raw randomness. It presents all of these puzzles and forces you to get creative with the tools you have. If you don’t like the tools? Try again! It’s unexpectedly fun!