#gbgl25

[corvidgames]

#4 1000xRESIST

THIS IS NOT A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

1000xRESIST gave me the same sort of feeling that I got when I played Signalis for the first time. It was a truly unique indie title that sent me through an emotional journey stronger than anything I had been expecting.

I saw great reviews and takes online about the game, and a whole load of fanart, before I decided to give it a try, and I'm so glad that I did because goddamn this game is good. The characters are well-written and the story pulled me into such a great level of immersion that I could take seriously characters with strange names (looking at you Bang Bang Fire) and drawings that were designed to be those of a younger child or very early artist sprinkled in that would have often drawn me out for a moment or two.

I've rarely played a game that can so deeply pull at a feeling of guilt as well as 1000xRESIST does so early into it's plot. The story we see of imperfect people trying their best is believable even when they make horrible mistakes, and I found myself empathising even with the most "unforgivable" antagonists and their cruelist actions. It's a real gem, especially considering it's rather low price tag as an indie title.

If you get the chance, I'd highly reccommend trying it out. It's going to be one of my top games I've played this year, I can feel it, and it's only March.

Hekki ALLMO, sisters.

Rating Calculation

Story: 9.5/10

The story of 1000xRESIST is one so poigniant that it's themes of regret and guilt gnawed at me from the first chapter all the way through to the end. The immediate betrayal of Fixer and all of the glimpses we got into her and Watcher's lives that followed were devastating. Seeing Fixer sing of feeling isolated so much in the same way as Watcher, watching them grow together, only to ruin that relationship for a cause we've been conditioned to think is right... it hurts. It hurts so good.

The endings are perhaps the only reason that I don't quite rate the story a perfect 10. The option to choose the fates of all the sisters is interesting, but the abruptness of many of the endings (save for the two epitaph endings, which I assume are the true ends of the game) break the immersion that has been built for so long throughout the game. I spent so long painstakingly deciding what I thought was best for the future, only for it to not really matter, because at the end of the day, Mauve shot and killed everyone and it was all for nothing. I suppose there is a sort of poigniancy in that, but the sudden thrust back into the selection screen made it all feel a bit unnecessary. I ended up looking at a guide in order to unlock the correct endings for a satisfying story.

I think the choice of picking your own ending is a really interesting one, don't get me wrong, and it would have been unreasonable to expect every outcome to have some elaborate full ending to it (especially for an indie game budget) but I can't say it wasn't a little disheartening. I think making the choices far more limited would have been for the better, choosing a very simple "do we forgive the Principle? Do we want to maintain the Red Guard? Do we trust Mauve?" or something similar instead of such a wide array may have given more space for a few more impactful endings.

Character(s): 8/10

Despite the vast majority of the cast being clones of the exact same person, every character was incredibly distinct and likeable/hateable in their own respects. Their designs and clothing were interesting and really gave an insight into their personalities, and getting to explore more of their individual struggles through the communions and talking with them over the course of the story was a delight.

Everyone felt real.

Atmosphere: 9/10

1000xRESIST has a very particular feeling that it keeps up in pretty much it's entierty. The crushing feeling of guilt, of duty, of faith in a world where everything feels likt its falling apart, despite its changing perspectives, protagonists and time periods, the feelings are rarely lost. The game makes me feel so constantly through its dialogue, audio and graphical choices, it really resonated with me. I only really felt it break in fleeting moments, such as my problems with the ending system I mentioned above.

Style/Graphics: 7/10

The brightly coloured cyberpunk world of 1000xRESIST is beautiful. Contrasting to the bland and sterile feeling of the orchard and ship sections, the characters stand out constantly and the reminder of their duties are so baked into their colours that they resonate whenever you see them.

The graphics are clean, stylised into a familar anime-esque look that doesn't settle for realism in the least. There were a few instances of models clipping hair (especially in the cutscenes with father) where it was a little harder to take them seriously, but it was rare enough that I didn't see much of an issue.

The lighting is bright and vibrant and the level designs are perfectly made to reflect it.

Sound Design: 7/10

The backing OST of 1000xRESIST is beautiful. The piano that plays throughout most of the important cutscnes is emotional and perfectly matched with what was going on.

It isn't the kind of music that I'd listen to much on its own, but as backing tracks they're seamless. I really appreciate them.

Mechanics: 6/10

The movement mechanics due to the switching camera angles are ocassionally clunky and give the same vibe as old RES-E games where you end up running back in the same direction you came from because of perspective shifts.

Outside of that, however, the mechanics of time-travel for puzzle solving, platforming elements with the grapple mechanics in the communion sections, and general interactions were well implemented and felt truly in-place within the universe. They played well into making you really feel like Watcher as she travelled through her communions.

Performance/optimisation: 6/10

Throughout my time playing through 1000xRESIST, I expereinced a consistent smooth 150+ frames, sometimes exceeding 200 in certain areas and cutscenes. There were very few areas of issue, but I did experience crashing a few times throughout the playthrough. I have no idea what caused these, but they occured decently often enough that I had to constantly ensure my save file was up to date or risk losing progress.

I will admit, however, I can't tell if this was an issue on my PCs end, or on the game's end. Stress testing after the crashes showed no problems with my hardware, and it's an issue I haven't had since on other games, though, so I'm lead to believe it's a strange issue specificially with 1000xRESIST on my device.

(9.5 + 8 + 9 +7 +7 + 6 + 6)/7 = 7.5 = 75/100

Date of completion: 08/03/2025

Genre: Adventure (I guess, I really have no idea how to cleanly categorise this game into one genre)

Time to beat: 9hrs 12mins

Level of completion: Main story + all endings + some side content

Trophies/Gamerscore: 26/32

1-100 rating: 75%

Platform: PC/Steam

[corvidgames]

#7 DOOM: The Dark Ages

Doom The Dark ages was an incredibly fun entry to the series, with one small issue. It was entirely unplayable on PC.

I ended up playing the game on console after experiencing almost 10 hours of lost gameplay from crashes that happened every time I tried to play, despite my system exceeding the required hardware.

I will admit, outside of these issues, once I played on console, I absolutely had a great time, one that I would totally recommend to people ON CONSOLE, but with how terrible the launch was on PC for both NVIDIA and AMD cards, it's really hard to reccomend there.

It's a shame because, had I not had these issues my overall rating would have increased significantly for how many times I was stunned by just how cool this game was. But in it's current state, as rickety as it is, I just can't say that as my main point in good faith.

Rating Calculation

Story: 5/10

The story isn't exactly what people go for in a boomer shooter, but the story of Doom The Dark Ages was alright, regardless. It was a fun, dramatic story with a few twists that leant well into the gameplay. In particular, getting to crawl up and out of the dead, after being slain in battle near the end of the game, only to be summoned in a lake of blood by my comdrades in arms was awesome.

Character(s): 5/10

The characters can, similarly to the story, be taken or left. Everyone loves the slayer, myself included, he's just as angry and dedicated as ever in this entry, and the subtle moments of his facial expression thorugh the helmet visor were always impactful whenever they came.

The rest of the cast were kind of forgettable, I will admit. It wasn't what kept me going by any means.

Atmosphere: 8/10

It's DOOM, it's gory, its hellish, it's fast paced and full of action, what isn't there to love? With the combination of awesome graphics, great music, and smooth gameplay, the atmosphere of Doom is exactly what you'd expect it to be.

Style/Graphics: 7/10

Realistic and gritty, the art style of DOOM The Dark ages was immersive and kept me right in the drivers seat all throughout. There's not too much you can say about a game with graphics intended to look mostly realistic, especially when it succeeded. It's lighting and physics were superb on console, and I experienced very few issues with them there.

Sound Design: 8/10

The music, whilst a little different to the entires on the part of it having a different producer behind it (as far as I'm aware) is still just as weighty and awesome as ever. Running around bashing in the skulls of demons remains fun as all hell.

Parrying and melee have satisfyingly crunchy and poigniant sound design that makes every hit feel impactful, and it really helps add to the experience.

Mechanics: 7/10

Mechanically, Dark Ages felt different from the rest in that it introduced parrying as a constant mechanic. It's got a different feel to the raw bullet hell of other entries in the series, though I found that I really liked it.

Combat felt like a blend of OG Doom and Sekiro. As you progress further through the game, it's a LOT of parrying and poking with damage, which I can appreciate some people wouldn't like as much as the raw RIP AND TEAR of older entires, but I really liked it. I enjoy both forms of combat so it was nice to try something new in the series.

Performance/optimisation: 2/10

My main issue with Doom The Dark Ages was that it just Would Not Work on PC whatsoever. After downloading it at launch I tried endlessly to try and get the game to play without crashing to no avail. I was in contact with Bethesda support on and off for weeks trying to get the game to work, reinstalling, repairing and altering files and settings both in-game and on my PC, but at the end of it all, nothing worked. My play time was boosted so much thanks to the crashes on PC. If I had only played on console, as I ended up needing to at the end of the PC debacle, I would have likely finished somewhere in the mid 20 hours range, accounting for all the save data I lost in crashes.

On console I experienced very few issues, but PC was utterly unplayable, I'm glad I played through gamepass and didn't buy it ouright or I would have very quickly been demanding a refund.

(5 + 5 + 8 + 7 + 8 + 7 + 2) / 7 = 6 = 60%

Date of completion: 16/06/2025

Genre: Boomer Shooter

Time to beat: 32hrs 34mins

Level of completion: Main story + All side content

Trophies/Gamerscore: 28/28 1000G

1-100 rating: 60%

Platform: Xbox/PC

[corvidgames]

Oops

I sort of fell off GBGL25 hardddd last year for various reasons.

But I’m back to try again for 2026 👉😎👉

This time I’m simplifying my process a little, as the in depth process of reviewing drained a lot of the fun out of this for me. I’m going back to 2024’s method most likely.

Soooo

Wish me luck 🙂‍↕️ #GBGL26 here I come

[corvidgames]

April Full Stats

Crawling through the list once again, uni is on my ass and other hobbies are taking what little time I have. Still having fun with what little time I'm spending on the list :)

Backlog length: 57

Owned/accessible games: 50

Currently playing: Baldur's Gate 3, Monster Hunter Wilds

Next up: Clair Obscur Expedition 33

Games completed: Another Crab's Treasure, VTM: Shadows of New York

Games removed/DNF: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Games added: Clair Obscur Expedition 33

Hours logged: 19 hrs 3mins

-

game of the month:

🦇VTM: Shadows of New York 🩸

After enjoying Coteries a couple of years ago this was a nobrainer for me to play, I'm really glad that I finally got around to it! Spooky and full of the twists and turns of beaurocratic vampire bullshit you'd expect from a VTM title, my time with Shadows was even better than its predecessor.

See my full entry on VTM: Shadows of New York here

[corvidgames]

#6 Vampire the Masquerade: Shadow's of New York

VTM: Shadows of New York was a great sequel to a game that I already loved a few years ago, and a game that I can't believe I put off playing for so long. When I first finished Coteries I thought of picking up Shadows but decided against it, but now I've finally got around to it my expectations were totally exceeded.

The almost painted-looking artstyle remains beautiful, the music gothic and heavy and the storyline full of twists and turns as you navigate the world through a new set of eyes. Julia Sowinksi of clan Lasombra, to be exact.

The focus on one protagonist instead of three means that we get far more time with Julia and the plot feels more grounded at times than it was in Coteries. Instead of dividing your attention with different playthroughs, we get one stronger storyline.

The entire trilogy is on sale on Steam at this review's time of writing, I'd highly recommend checking it out!

Rating Calculation

Story: 8/10

The story of VTM: Shadows of New York is a slowly unwinding mystery filled with political intrigue and dark discoveries around every corner. It's a slow paced game, I'll give it that, with very little in the way of action, blood, guts and gore, unlike some moments of Coteries as it's predacessor (shoutout to Qadir cutting off your legs in the first hour of the game). But that slow pace gives time to really let you get into the world that Shadows is presenting and the story it wants to tell.

I've always been a massive fan of gothic/noir vampire stories so, of course, I'm heavily biased, but everything on this blog is biased. It's my personal opinions on games, after all. I felt the hours slip away before I even knew what was going on.

Callbacks to the previous Coteries entery had me pulling up the wikis to refresh myself on what had happened in between games (it's been a few years since I finished Coteries) and the continuing storyline felt really rewarding to watch play out as someone who really enjoyed the previous entry.

I found myself unlocking the "good" ending on my first playthrough, prioritising myself as Julia first and foremost on every occasion. I lied, cheated, blamed and beat my way through anything that opposed my investigation and then sold out my partner without a thought. I became ruthless, and was rewarded in the cuthrought Caramilla society as one would expect. It was a really fun descent into a morally abhorrent protagonist, one that felt perfectly fitting considering the story's focus on making Julia suffer all throughout her life as a human.

The "bad" ending that I went for afterwards in order to get the final achievements I needed for 100% was therefore less compelling to me, but I can see the appeal for someone who didn't characterise Julia as so cutthroat. For me, after the way the story tended to push for us to be proactive (even if that means immoral) acting otherwise felt a little flat, I guess. It was nice to see Dakota and Julia get to remain in a positive relationship though, even if our internal monologue shows that Julia isn't even certain of her love.

Character(s): 8/10

Julia, our protagonist, was an incredibly compelling one for the tone of the story. I've seen a few reviews characterise her as whiny and bitchy and YES, YES SHE IS... at the start. It feels like the point of her character to be that way, and appreciating that is what made her descent over the story into a worse and worse person feel so satisfying to me.

She's a tired, jaded writer, who had no prospects left for her other than living off her girlfriend's money after her life's biggest work was thrown away and she was backstabbed by the one person in her company that she trusted, of course she's going to be bitchy about it.

I can understand that abbrasiveness can be unappealing to some though, but it worked out just perfectly for the story that I wanted to experience in Shadows.

Qadir and Co are back in full swing, the characters I remember getting invested in back in Coteries are returning into the light and getting to see how things ended for each of those that we tried to initiate into our failed Coterie at the end of the first game was really cool! Having them worked into the mystery we needed to solve was even moreso.

Atmosphere: 8/10

The music and style of this game, combined with its introspective writing combine to create a perfect gothic atmosphere that remains all throughout. We really feel the dark, gritty nature of NY, especially as it's set in the midst of the covid pandemic and the streets are so empty and (intentionally so) lifeless.

Style/Graphics: 8/10

The art style of Shadows remains consistent with that of Coteries. It's a really unique stylised approach that kept me engaged with the background and character designs all thorughout. The faint hues of blue, red and purple almost give a sort of neon energy to most scenes of the game. It sort of feels like a nod to the very life of NY itself, making those lower light scenes feel more impactful in how grounded they are in comparison (like Callihan's office and the church).

Sound Design: 7/10

I don't have much to say about the sound design of this game outside of the fact that it's music was perfectly fitting to the story it told. The droaning dark ambiance it creates is right on key with the events unfolding on screen.

Mechanics: 5/10

There's not much to talk about when we're dealing with a visual novel. We click to go through dialogue, we hold cntrl to skip what we don't feel like reading... It's fine, it works fine, everything is just as it should be.

The choices we get to pick between are polar by nature and provide a very clear indication of the sort of character we're creating in Julia. Getting called out on it by Tamika based on our character traits that we earn from these choices was a really cool inclusion, I'll point that out in particular. It was the first moment in the game that I felt as though my choices really were going to have a vast impact on the story.

Performance/optimisation: 8/10

I had no issues save for the resolution not wanting to stick to 1440p at first on launch? It was only a minor issue, other than that, I experienced one time that the game almost crashed but didn't but absolutley nothing else.

(8 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 7 + 5 + 8)/7 = 7.43 = 74/100

Date of completion: 16/04/2025

Genre: Visual Novel / Mystery / Noir

Time to beat: 4hrs

Level of completion: Main story + all side content

Trophies/Gamerscore: 14/14 Steam Perfect

1-100 rating: 74%

Platform: PC/Steam

[corvidgames]

#5 Another Crab's Treasure

THIS IS NOT A SPOILER FREE REVIEW

Another Crab's Treasure was a pretty fun soulslike with a fun and whacky world to explore and combat reminiscent of its genre's conventions. It wasn't soul-shatteringly difficult like some others in the genre, but it did have a good kick of difficulty to keep it interesting.

It wasn't the sort of game that I feel like ranting and raving about in my review, but it was pretty fun as an experience to sort of shut my brain off to. The visuals were cute and interesting, the world was fun to traverse, and the story was just enough to keep it from feeling hollow.

I kind of just wish it had something that gripped me that little bit more...

Rating Calculation

Story: 4/10

The story of Another Crab's Treasure was alright. It wasn't bad but it definitley wasn't anything that felt particularly worth putting any real emotional investment into. Don't get me wrong, it was fun to see what the cartoony antics of Kril and Co as we travelled around, collecting pieces of a treasure map, fighting venture capitalists and trying to save the world. But at the end of the day, it isn't the kind of thing you find yourself getting interested in to more than a surface level.

The messaging of anti-capitalism and the effects of pollution on our oceans and environments was neat! I have to say that, my uni degree is ecology, after all. I really do appreciate the messaging that Aggro Crab was presenting throughout the game.

The ending was... grim. Funny for a moment, but a little disappointing for having spent 15 hours leading up to it. The tool with which we could save the world magically is destroyed and unusable, the city is doomed to pollution and the people inside will all be infected and overrun with the gunk, and there's nothing we can do about it. We traverse the city, talk with a few NPCs as they celebrate the raining trash on the city, unaware of the danger they're in, and confront the prawn that stole our hermit crab's shell.

Then we kill him. No dramatic change of heart, no "I'm better than this, my friends taught me violence wasn't the way" (like the story had been building all throughout as a theme) we just... slash him across the chest and steal our shell without a word. The prawn dies, and we give the shell to a homeless hermit crab after we realise that, even though we thought we wanted it all along, we really don't care anymore.

It's a pretty bleak ending, something fitting I guess for the Soulslike genre, but nothing about it felt weighty enough to be truly satisfying in any way. I guess that's the point? I'm all for a bad ending, subverting expectations is great in fiction, but this felt a little cheap.

Character(s): 4/10

The main character Kril is a tired, frustrated hermit crab hellbent on getting his shell back from a loan shark that stole it as collateral for taxes he didn't know he owed to a government he didn't have any part in getting into power. He's pretty funny at times, the dialogue is full of little quips and jokes and plays at his naivety allthroughout the game.

The ensemble that follows him is forgettable at best and at times annoying at worst. I think in part this was intentional, as we embody Kril as our perspective. He did not and does not care about anyone around him, they were all just on the same path, and sometimes, like Firth, they were simply in the way of our goals. They weren't particularly memorable, I can only tell you about Firth and Roland by name from memory as they were pretty substantial enemies and eventual bosses to fight, but the rest entirely slip my mind.

Atmosphere: 6/10

The atmosphere in Another Crab's Treasure is one of it's strengths for sure. It manages to switch near seamlessly between cartoony fun and sudden grim-dark (well, as grim dark as a game about cartoon crabs can get) with ease. The jarring feeling it creates is intentional, as we're thrust headfirst into Kril's confusion and have to navigate it ourselves to find the answers to the questions it brings.

Colours and saturation is used often to achieve this, with the first stage starting out full of vibrant colour and then quickly switching to a desturatred grey junk-pit after we beat our first few bosses and watch the world fall into pollution. It's a very cool way to quickly convey just how dire the world's situation is.

Style/Graphics: 7/10

See my comments above for some points on styling :) The graphics of Another Crab's Treasure are smooth and fun, it's a very stylised game by nature, so nothing is remotely "realistic" but that's hardly what it was going for. It has the energy as a children's TV show , but with a little more weight behind it, letting itself be taken more seriously when necessary.

Sound Design: 5/10

The clanging and swishing of movement and the chittering of enemies was great, each move felt weighty and purposeful with its accompanying SFX. The music wasn't anything particularly special (I'll admit I got a little bored and spent most of my time playing music on Spotify instead) and the voice acting wasn't stellar but it wasn't bad by any means. Everything did it's job.

Mechanics: 8/10

The combat was fun! Really, that was the biggest highlight of the game, as it should be for any Soulslike. Rolling, parrying and outlasting enemies ten times my size was rewarding and learning the mechanics was enough to get me through without having to cheese enemies very often. There were a few bosses I'll admit I wasn't a fan of, (Pagurus, I'm looking at you) but for the most part, I enjoyed almost all the major fights and felt satisfied by the time I managed to put them in the ground.

Like other soulslikes Another Crab's Treasure does, however, deal with the problem of power creep as you approach the end of the game. Between the levels of experience, the added umami abilities, the moonsnails upgrades, and a better understanding of general mechanics, the last 5 or so bosses were incredibly easy compared to those at the beginning.

Once you learn to parry almost nothing is a match for you.

Performance/optimisation: 5/10

I had a few areas of the game, suddenly have frame drops and the game crashed a few times throughout my time with it. It wasn't often enough that I was overly frustrated, but the frame drops were at times near impossible to navigate until they passed. It was always in transition areas, which often had parkour, and it would send me hurtling off the map every time, often to my death and loss of substantial progress.

(4 + 4 + 6 + 7 + 5 + 8 + 5)/7 = 5.57 = 56/100

Date of completion: 15/04/2025

Genre: Souls-like

Time to beat: 15 hrs 3mins

Level of completion:m Main story + most side content

Trophies/Gamerscore: 700/100G 29/32

1-100 rating: 56%

Platform: PC/Xbox Gamepass

[corvidgames]

March Full Stats

Another slower month, League, Rivals and other hobbies (and obviously uni work and my job) have taken a lot of the time I'd usually spend on solo games as of late. Regardless, I'm having fun working through the list as usual :)

Backlog length: 58

Owned/accessible games: 50

Currently playing: Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Melatonin, Another Crab's Treasure

Next up: Metaphor ReFantazio (maybe?)

Games completed: 1000X RESIST

Games removed/DNF: CONVERGENCE, Avowed, Armored Core VI

Know I only just added Convergence and Avowed and was super hyped for them last month but I bounced right off both of them :( When it comes to Armored Core, I consider it already complete at this point, I had beaten the game 3 times over before the beginning of this year and it was only trophy cleanup, I'm clearing it from the list for that reason (absolutley loved it though, should have made a post for it last year tbh)

Games added: Melatonin, Vampire the Masquerade: Shadow's of New York, Vampire Therapist, Monster Hunter Wilds (platform undecided)

Hours logged: 9hrs 12mins

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game of the month:

🐋1000X RESIST☀️

There is a star and a star and a dangerous gravity...

1000X RESIST is a masterpiece of storytelling, it made me feel so deeply that I was reminded of my time with Signalis last year. May I remind you humbly that Signalis was my absolute top rated game last year, so I really can't sing 1000X RESIST's praises any louder.

See my full entry on 1000X RESIST here.

[corvidgames]

February Full Stats

Another slower month, Marvel Rivals, League and Helldivers have all decided as of late to take over my life and replace any ounce of single player time with sweating out comp matches and screaming with my friends as automatons blow me up for the millionth time. It's all good though! I'm not letting myself get too worked up about the number of games I beat as long as I'm having fun.

Backlog length: 60

Owned/accessible games: 54

Currently playing: Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Next up: 1000X Resist

Games completed: Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2:, Thank Goodness You're Here!

Games removed/DNF: The Convenience Store, Aviary Attorney

Games added: Avowed, CONVERGENCE

Hours logged: 11hrs 7mins

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game of the month:

🗡️Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2🛡️

Not masses of choice once again, but the graphics, storytelling and musical underscore of Hellblade 2 are all incredible! The series is quickly shaping up to be a personal favourite, even if this one wasn't as fun to me as the first.

See my full entry on Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 here.