Topshelf Tymbal

Thoughts on games in specific character counts.

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Thoughts on Tomb Raider on Game Boy Colour in exactly 1000 characters

On PlayStation, Tomb Raider had us explore colossal caverns and eerie crypts, often with the echoing of our footsteps as our only company. The humble Game Boy could never hope to replicate this ambience or grandeur, so the tombs we raid throughout this bite-sized adventure are predictably uninspiring.

What is surprising though, is how well Lara’s acrobatic abilities were scaled down onto the handheld. With only a few buttons we can roll under traps, backflip off ladders, and leap across chasms, all whilst fluid animations convey weight and momentum. We can even peer ahead to size up gaps and check for deadly spike pits.

Without the power to bring us wondrous tombs this adventure was always going to be somewhat bland. Yet ultimately, it’s a successful miniature Tomb Raider outing because for the most part it encourages us to go about our raiding with the same cautious approach as usual. To succeed, you must still look before you leap, step back carefully, and take a daring running jump.

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Thoughts on Another Code - Two Memories in exactly 1000 characters

Upon disembarking onto Blood Edward Island we find an abandoned mansion to explore and intriguing mysteries to investigate. However, the answers we seek are often kept from us by frustratingly unforthcoming characters, and the further we progress down the mansion’s strange endless corridors, the less authentic it all feels.

While these unresolved elements make for merely passable experience, Another Code is worthy of remembrance for being the first adventure that we could reach out and touch. Well before touchscreens were a fixture of our everyday lives, Another Code introduced the graphic adventure genre to the Nintendo DS, and integrated the two with creative elegance.

In one moment our stylus is a knife cutting through rope, and then in the next it’s a pencil that we’re scrawling across a page. It’s easy to take it all for granted today, but poking around rooms and fidgeting with puzzles had never been as tactile or immersive. There’s a little magic in that - even if only in memory.

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Thoughts on Nioh in exactly 1000 characters

In your standard action RPG, the level up screen asks us to stop and determine what our priorities are. Do we need to upgrade our attack, or are we lacking evasion?

Nioh’s greatest success is drawing these questions out of the confines of the menu screen and into the rhythm of every combat encounter. At any moment we can switch our combat stance to amplify a different aspect of our character - empowering us to reprioritise on the fly.

As our foe winds up to strike, we could boost our evasion by dropping our centre of gravity into low stance, swirling gracefully out of the way. Now our foe has left an opening we might raise our blade into high stance and bring it down hard for an especially damaging blow.

With a meandering plot and somewhat generic aesthetic, memory of Nioh dulls the moment you put the controller down. However, for as long as it’s in hand, the ingenious stance system transforms every combat encounter into a lethal and dynamic dance, ensuring there’s never a dull moment.

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Thoughts on Clair Obscur - Expedition 33 in exactly 1000 characters

In Clair Obscur, our party sets out to confront the Paintress - a mysterious being counting down to the end of humanity. Despite this fantastical scenario, naturalistic performances make each party member relatable. In fact, their struggles are depicted so earnestly that it’s hard to not become invested in their fight for liberty ourselves.

While the colossal Paintress is always on the horizon, our path to reach her is far from straight. Twists and turns drastically reshape not only our journey, but the story itself. By the third act Clair Obscur has revealed itself to be a tale of familial trauma, and while this comes to a beautiful denouement, it is not a conclusion to the struggle for liberty we enlisted in.

The spark of rebellion that invested players may have petered out, but stylish battles, powerful music, and lovable characters are a constant throughout, making for an absorbing work of art. The canvas may be muddled, but the developer’s passion is apparent in every brushstroke.

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Thoughts on Hotel Dusk - Room 215 in exactly 1000 characters

In a time where other visual novels were featuring shocking crimes and bombastic characters to bring us to the edges of our seats, Hotel Dusk encouraged us to lean back and slow down.

By having us hold our DS sideways “like a book” we assume a relaxed posture and are primed for the restrained evening that lies ahead. We spend our stay entirely within the walls of a run-down hotel, poking around shabby rooms and quizzing unhappy guests, all to solve an art heist cold case.

By video game standards it’s a very low stakes affair, but with lounge jazz underscoring our investigations and gorgeously hand drawn characters to interrogate, it’s distinctly pleasant to kick back and comb over the hotel’s forgotten corners.

Some unintuitive puzzles disrupt the calm, but we’re rewarded with a mystery that deepens as dawn approaches. As we pull on its last threads the stakes raise ever so gently, and the impact of this is felt all the more keenly thanks to the uncommon restraint Hotel Dusk has shown.

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Thoughts on Hollow Knight in exactly 1000 characters

Hollow Knight draws inspiration from many sources. Our moves consist of common jumps and dashes, whilst our map looks straight out of Metroid. Even the plot synopsis of a fallen kingdom sustained beyond its time applies just as well to Dark Souls.

As a result, many will feel a creeping sense of déjà vu as we delve into the insectoid kingdom of Hallownest. Thankfully, that soon gives way to appreciation of Hollow Knight’s remarkable quality.

The map conceals an astonishing wealth of surprises amongst its crevices, and our moves prove to be uncommonly responsive for cutting down hostile critters blocking the way. But best of all are the friendlier bugs we meet, whose charming personalities powerfully contrast the hopelessness of the setting.

Looking down from up high, it’s easy to label Hollow Knight. It’s Metroid. It’s Dark Souls. Shrunk down to bug-size however, we experience a unique texture comprised of charm, sorrow, and beauty. It’s Hollow Knight - and there’s nothing else like it.