List items
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This game really surprised me at how much I enjoyed it. It's a point-and-click adventure game - in terms of its puzzle design - coupled with a story of a girl, Tove, trying to reclaim her family (in multiple senses). Her brother has been kidnapped, her mother has passed away, and her father is in such a deep bout of mourning that he is basically unavailable. This family story is juxtaposed with a tale of mythical Swedish creatures and gods helping out Tove, and it all works really well, and the story sticks the landing at the end.
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Was fun to revisit these games from my youth that I have a lot of adoration for. Still fun!!!
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I liked the vibe and weirdness and voxel look of this game, but had some issues with the gameplay mechanics, I feel like the battle system could have used another design pass. The game is very stingy with battle encounters, and they don't respawn most of the time, so it is hard to level up. The only way to get new moves is to find collectibles, and they can be easy to miss, and a lot of time the later-game moves didn't seem worth using over earlier ones, particularly when comparing the extra skill point cost against a very minor increase in damage.
I also had a lot of instances of not being able to progress because I didn't find an item way earlier in the game, which was frustrating. I ended up needing a guide open for the last third of the game or so for every time I got stuck and couldn't figure out what to do.
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Great game, really enjoyed it. A nice breezy Metroidvania with some cool mechanics. The game engine Ladybug is using for this and their Touhou Luna Nights game is really nice. Runs well, beautiful art & animations, feels good to play.
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Really cool game, nice to see Image & Form stretch their boundaries with a full on 3D adventure after years of Steamworld games. I quite enjoyed it, it tells its story in a pretty brisk fashion with a fun "cleaning stuff up" mechanic and some light puzzles. I wanted to play more even after reaching the end of the story, so that's a good sign I suppose. I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel to this down the road.
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Nice to see Hello Games go back to the smaller indie titles I am used to from them (See: Joe Danger!!!). This was a pleasant, cute little meditation on death (at least that's how I took it) with some nice puzzles.
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A well-designed little puzzle game that is just challenging enough to be a real thinker without getting frustrated. The worst thing you run into is some of the puzzles require a very specific setup of steps to complete, and you end up having to redo that when you screw up halfway through by performing a non-reversible action.
Every world adds in new mechanics to keep things interesting, but I still found this game to be better played in smaller chunks, as it could start to feel a little repetitious & flat (no pun intended) during longer play sessions.
Minor spoiler : As a follow-on to my previous point...this game introduces some brand new stuff out of right field in the final 5% that made me really wish it was incorporated more into the game as a whole. I think it would have rectified my complaint a bit.
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This game has a neat core idea (navigating around these MC Escher-esque structures with different directions of gravity), but it is shockingly short. I finished it in like...90 minutes? There's 5 levels, the first 2 are quite easy and short, but it really ramps up in the final 3, difficulty wise.
This game needed to either be fleshed out with more mechanics, more content, or (preferably) both.
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Apparently this is a very long running series in Asian territories; I decided to check it out since this is the first game localized in English. I ended up liking it pretty well, actually! Gameplay-wise, it is an action RPG with fairly snappy combat; it looks open-world on its face but is actually fairly linear (which is a plus in my book, it's around a 20 hr game).
The English script is decent, a bit stilted in spots, but it has heart. I think that carries over to the main characters (of which there are really only a handful) and the depictions of their relationships, which actually feel pretty natural - especially the brother (your character) & sister who are the initial focus of the plot and the catalyst for the adventure (when your sister's soul gets ripped out of her body). You eventually get a couple other folks in your crew, but it is a bit spoilery to expound on who they are.
Anyways, really glad I checked this out, it is a super solid B-tier budget RPG.
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Cool game, it's basically a platforming-focused Metroidvania boiled down to a 3 hour experience. The powers you get are different transformations that give you extra traversal options. Neat soundtrack as well, definitely has a particular vibe with weird instrumentation and things like that.
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Really fun Zelda x bullet hell game!
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Very charming and funny little game.
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Really enjoyed this game, has a nice art style that lends to its storybook feel (along with the narration by the Witcher himself, Doug Cockle). Pretty challenging but fun combat as well.
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Basically as if they made a Monty Python-esque point-and-click adventure completely composed of famous paintings. Very very goofy but enjoyable. Being able to stab any NPC and just skip puzzles is a nice bit of accessibility that also ties into the protagonist's main quest and motivations (mainly her love of stabbing and murder).
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This is like the fifth platformer in the last couple years I have played where you are some sort of spherical creature. Anyways, the movement is floaty yet precise and you can pull off some cool moves using your array of techniques. Feels like a game that speedrunners would be into, but is still fun to play casually.
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Very cool throwback platformer. Sucks that it is only like an hour long! (I promise I am not exaggerating).
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Finished up the first of the pair of GAA games, the English localization they did on this is truly phenomenal. Going to take a bit of a hiatus before tackling game 2.
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Finally saw credits on this game (yes, I know it was on my GOTY list from last year, I had played QUITE a bit at that point, just hadn't "finished" it), apparently the final boss is on floor 90, not 99 like I expected. Going to keep playing through, the last 10 floors seem like they are "post-game" stuff, and I bet there's a super duper final boss at the bottom!
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Pretty fun platformer, feels a bit like Donkey Kong Country, but what if you had a jetpack that made you mobile and speedy.
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This plays a bit like OG Castlevania, but your main weapon is a bow and arrow instead of melee, which gives it a bit of a Contra feel. Can be challenging at times, but I still finished all the levels in just a couple hours.
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Really loved this game, has a very unique creepy vibe.
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Was not expecting the "world ruined by capitalism" backstory here to be any more than window dressing, but this game does a lot with it, and marries it to a pretty fun little golf game.
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I liked how well-rounded and realistic the character portrayals were in this game, despite some of the supernatural elements.
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Dumped another 30 hours into my dumb stupid Musou addiction.
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Neat puzzle design in this, the emotional beats and story trappings didn't do much for me though.
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Genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed this decade plus old movie tie-in game, it's actually pretty good! Fun combat, a lot of Prince of Persia-esque climbing and vaulting, and nice visuals and music.
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Checked this out after seeing a few recommendations, really fun run n' gun game with fantastic art and presentation. It has an 80s Escape from New York sort of vibe that really works. A lot of the bosses are very creative and they are all pretty different from each other as well.
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Not a bad little Metroidvania.
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Really loved this game, it has a very addicting gameplay loop with all the per-transformation task lists that feed into your overall progression.
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This weird anachronistic witches with guns combo works pretty well; there is actually a lot of pretty silly lore to explain the state of the world. Gameplay-wise, pretty fun twin-stick shooter set in a Zelda-like progression and overworld.
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Satisfying and challenging 3d platformer with a unique aesthetic that works for it.
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Rare to see a point-and-click style game go full 3D, but it works here. A lot of the puzzles use a unique mechanic where you are hacking objects and messing with their internal logic that I enjoyed. I'm probably going to go check out the previous game Beneath A Steel Sky now, there were a lot of allusions to it in this followup.
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Really enjoyed this, very pretty game even on PS4. Felt like a bit of a throwback PS2 platformer (in a good way). Some of the battles (mainly the bosses) were way harder than I expected, but not to a frustrating degree.
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Pretty good VN, has some great world building that I think is the best part of it. It's a unique intersection of magic and technology. This is the first part of a series, and ends on a wild cliffhanger.
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Very strange game about a boxing duck that is heavily inspired by Punch Out! But there are entire levels between the fights that vary from platforming sections to puzzle solving to rhythm games, some of which work better than the others. Glad I checked it out, it's neat!
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They finally pulled me back in, this is the first Pokemon game I have cared to play in over a decade, and I must say I really enjoyed this take on the series. It's a departure in a lot of neat ways that made it feel more like a Pokemon Snap game with how you are cataloging and completing tasks, and more in the natural environment of the creatures.
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This game was a little too slight for my tastes, too much padding of mundane mail delivery between story beats and character interactions.
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Decent little twin-stick shooter take on Centipede, I didn't hate it. The main character is a really bratty dude, though.
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Gorgeous game with gameplay in the vein of a really fleshed out version of The Lost Vikings. It flounders a little when you are trying to manage big combat encounters with multiple characters, but luckily that doesn't happen too often.
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My favorite game so far this year. Stellar writing, art, and music. Fantastic worldbuilding that expertly captures a sense of place and the dread of global warming and capitalism right on your doorstep. I adore this game.
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Super neat timeloop game wrapped around a fast-moving 2D platformer that feels great to control. I like the structure of the game and how it catalogs the information and items you have accumulated over your runs. It culminates in something reminiscent of Outer Worlds where you have to make a perfect run in a short amount of time using all the knowledge you have accumulated over the game, very neat!
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Very beautiful and pleasant platformer with a calming soundtrack. It's low stakes but enjoyable and fairly short.
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Played a ton of this classic Cave shmup, has a neat disco theme and soundtrack.
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Was in the mood for a mindless romp while battling a cold over a few days, and this fit the bill, haha. It's uh, not very innovative, and reminiscent of the first Crackdown in a lot of ways, but I had fun with it.
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I finally finished all 200 levels in the campaign of this game! Fantastic and addictive puzzle game, glad it came to Switch.
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Cute and fun and pleasant.
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Very silly and relaxing, good Game Pass game to check out.
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Really great arcade-y space combat game with beautiful graphics. Surprisingly decent world-building, story, and voice acting as well. Kinda surprised it was released at a budget price, especially being published by Deep Silver; it's a meaty game, took me about 25-30 hours to finish (doing most of the side quests as well as the main story).
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Really loved this game, great art style and fun combat. The Taiwanese setting was unique and I liked the story revolving around the country dealing with Japanese colonization at the time, was not expecting something like that.
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This definitely cribbed from God of War about as hard as a game possibly could. It at least plays pretty well, and was enough dumb fun for me to finish it.
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Cool little game with a unique combat system. I liked the Tim Burton vibes and funny, charming writing.
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This might be the best throwback 16-bit RPG I have played. Surprisingly compelling and well-designed all around.
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Not a bad little Silent Hill/Resident Evil homage. My main beef was the use of the "you need items for saves" system a la typewriter ribbons in early RE; it is pretty punishing in the first couple hours of the game until you start amassing more of them.
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Tied with NORCO as my favorite game this year, loved it.
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A bit slight, but goofy fun while it lasts.
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The writing in this was a lot better than I was expecting, honestly. It is pretty effective at what it's trying to accomplish. Definitely worth the 5 hours or so to experience it.
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Great game, cleverly designed with puzzles that make you feel smart once you crack them. Glad to hear it is being ported to Switch, hopefully more folks will play it.
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Okay game, have seen this concept many times before. The transitioning to/from shadows is a bit janky, I feel like I got kicked out of walls a lot when I shouldn't have.
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Loved this game! Great soundtrack, hard puzzles, and far more story/character work than I expected out of a Sokoban-style game like this. I actually found a lot of the narrative stuff pretty compelling - and often the gameplay mechanics would reflect the narrative in neat ways.
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This game is a nice mix of chill exploration and occasional stressful bouts with enemies or the environment. Really enjoyed the main gameplay thrust of having to find certain materials to upgrade your suit and go deeper and deeper, it gives you a clear objective to aim for.
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This is a not great puzzle game that attempts some emotional storytelling that also didn't really work for me. Not recommended.
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A little grindy in some early sections, but I liked the weird melding of genres here. It plays things a little more straightforward than something like Golf Story.
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Pretty similar to the previous game, but there are some changes to the mechanics in this one that are neat.
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Killer presentation on this game. I was initially turned off by the simple combat, but you get a decent amount of new skills and it gets interesting by the end.
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Finally got around to playing this, it is weird and delightful and I ended up really liking the characters.
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Really clever game that is a bit of a brainburner by the end.
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Also finally got around to playing this, the environmental storytelling is definitely its biggest strength.
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This is a really great combination of a retro facade married with modern gameplay elements. Good sense of exploration, although occasionally the map is a little bit too much of a labyrinth.
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Occasionally a little slow paced in the beginning hours, but gets going eventually. I thought the pixel art was gorgeous, the soundtrack was great, and the writing was super charming. The localization is so good I did not realize until the credits rolled that the developer was based out of Shanghai.
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I thought this was an affecting little coming of age story, enjoyed it.
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Clever little puzzle game with the aesthetics of an old dungeon crawler.
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I liked the presentation of this game, but the shooting sections are a little stiff and the voice acting is quite uneven.
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Very cool narrative / mystery game, really sucks you in.
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This has some even crazier upgrades / gameplay mechanics from the first game, quite enjoyed it.
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Finally got a PS5, so finally got to play this, haha. Was nice to play a bite-sized version of this sort of game. I liked Miles more as a character than Peter as well, and his local neighborhood story was compelling.
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VERY happy to be able to finally play the new Ratchet game! Loved that they finally got way more into the Lombax species backstory and really explored that.
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Fun little throwback platformer, 100%-ed it
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I ended up REALLY liking this by the end, the last few hours are wild. Something very appealing as well about each chapter using the same set of actors but playing different characters in different time periods - it felt like watching a bunch of mini-plays or something.
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cute little puzzle game, pretty challenging at points too
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This is very much a "checklist" crafting game, but I found it cozy and enjoyable. The art is fantastic and the writing is surprisingly evocative as well.
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Feels like a long-lost Treasure game from the Genesis era, very much my wheelhouse.
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Love the art style with its big chunky sprites, fun game
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Was happy to replay both of these games from my childhood.
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I liked the theme and how it is used in game (especially some of the creative enemy designs), but the game is SUPER short. Was disappointed when it finished after like 2-3 hours.
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Extremely creative and a masterclass in short storytelling. Brings together everything in a very cool way by the end. And does it all in about 25-30 hours. There's way more here than in JRPGs multiple times its length. Really glad this finally got an official English localization, I adored it.
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Did not enjoy this as much as the first game, it loses steam in the middle and really feels beholden to its Yakuza roots with how it shoehorns the criminal elements into the story. I wish it would have focused more strictly on the bullying plot, that was handled pretty well and with care.
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Like Klonoa, also happy to replay a game from my youth. I thought this was still a pretty fun time in 2022, sad they didn't remaster the sequel as well (Pac-Man World 3 I can do without though, it's a much more generic 3d platformer).
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Pretty neat mechanics, similar to Superhot where things only move when you move, but more of a puzzle game. Enjoyed this one!
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One of the weirdest mashups I have ever seen, a VN combined with a shump. Feels like a Danganronpa-lite in a lot of ways, but still enjoyed the game. One of the narrative twists I liked in this was that the mastermind's plan doesn't always go off as planned and they are left scrambling to come up with a plan B for the contestants.
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This game is in a weird space in between a kids' game and an adult game, not exactly sure who the audience is. Far too much writing for kids to deal with, and a super saccharine tone and story that might be too much for adults. The battle system is pretty unique though, basically a combination of symbol matching, minigames, and conversation trees.
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Loved this game, very cute and chill puzzle photography game. Glad this came to PS plus.
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What a bizarre but mechanically interesting and fun game. It has just the right cocktail of random dice rolling but being able to build your character out in ways to mitigate the risk slightly. Also pizza!!!! Appreciate the QL on the site for turning me on to this game. This actually might be one of my favorite things I have played this year.
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Another under-the-radar game that is one of my favorite things from this year - a nice looking, fast paced, super fun, side scrolling shooter. You get a lot of different weapons and loadout tweaks through the campaign that you can really tailor to your gameplay style. It's just very well made, and does what it sets out to do, extremely well.
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Decided to hook up my PSVR after a long hiatus and played some stuff I never completely finished, including this game, which was a very clever puzzle game that I quite enjoyed.
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Fun little mystery game. Really loved the art and the voice acting (the latter was impressively good throughout the whole game and for all the characters).
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This game didn't knock my socks off like a lot of other folks, but I thought the art direction and lighting were stellar.
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Really cool game that I was not aware of until the recent re-release.
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