Marcomix

House of Necrosis [2025] is Mystery Dungeon with classic horror merged harmoniously. Compared to other Mystery Dungeons, this one is short and sweet with a challenging postgame if you want more. It deliberately has no diagonal movement but makes up for it with a big list of powerful spells to learn.

I enjoyed Tomb Raider [1996 via 2024 Remaster] way more than I was expecting. It's exploring with intent, tasking you with carefully planning out your jumps and executing them. It's stiff and it has a bit of a learning curve, but the remaster allows you to save anywhere which can take the edge off.

TR3 in particular gets downright cacophonous at times and it's really frustrating. Several times I turned SFX down to 10% because I was lost in an area blaring a siren. By far, I feel this is the thing that drags TR3 down, because sure there were a couple sirens in TR2 but it's so frequent here!

I enjoyed Tomb Raider [1996 via 2024 Remaster] way more than I was expecting. It's exploring with intent, tasking you with carefully planning out your jumps and executing them. It's stiff and it has a bit of a learning curve, but the remaster allows you to save anywhere which can take the edge off.

It has to be one of the absolute worst boats I've ever had the displeasure of using in a game. Highest highs and lowest lows, right? Just so clunky to control in white water rapids that shunt you around mercilessly. Hard to figure out how to disembark too. They did boats in TR2! Why is this so bad!

I enjoyed Tomb Raider [1996 via 2024 Remaster] way more than I was expecting. It's exploring with intent, tasking you with carefully planning out your jumps and executing them. It's stiff and it has a bit of a learning curve, but the remaster allows you to save anywhere which can take the edge off.

I love secrets like this, but it's tough when you don't even know where the critical path is and you keep fumbling into areas that don't actually lead to the end. Feels easy to lose track of what you should be doing next.

I enjoyed Tomb Raider [1996 via 2024 Remaster] way more than I was expecting. It's exploring with intent, tasking you with carefully planning out your jumps and executing them. It's stiff and it has a bit of a learning curve, but the remaster allows you to save anywhere which can take the edge off.

The final move Lara gained is a sprint, but it's very situational, probably for the best. It doesn't connect with any other move than a kinda useless dodge roll, so you're never expected to sprint into a leap of faith or anything. You sacrifice all precision for faster movement and that's about it.

I enjoyed Tomb Raider [1996 via 2024 Remaster] way more than I was expecting. It's exploring with intent, tasking you with carefully planning out your jumps and executing them. It's stiff and it has a bit of a learning curve, but the remaster allows you to save anywhere which can take the edge off.

She also gained the ability to swing on monkey bars and I ended up liking this more as I thought about it. They have a similar problem as crawling where it's quite a slow action, but they're also grappling with the toughest thing of all: you need to look up to notice them.

I enjoyed Tomb Raider [1996 via 2024 Remaster] way more than I was expecting. It's exploring with intent, tasking you with carefully planning out your jumps and executing them. It's stiff and it has a bit of a learning curve, but the remaster allows you to save anywhere which can take the edge off.

Why couldn't Tomb Raider crawl? Well she can now. This means she needs spaces to crawl into, obviously, but crawling is not particularly fast nor fun. It feels like a movement option that's obvious to add for navigating tight maze-like spaces, but the result is tedium.

I enjoyed Tomb Raider [1996 via 2024 Remaster] way more than I was expecting. It's exploring with intent, tasking you with carefully planning out your jumps and executing them. It's stiff and it has a bit of a learning curve, but the remaster allows you to save anywhere which can take the edge off.

The gunplay and ladders stand out to me because really, the rest of the game I loved. It really benefited from being an iteration over such a solid foundation and it's looking like the next game pushes it even further which is exactly what I want to see.

Final Fantasy V [GBA version, 2006] is an incredible RPG that's a couple little grievances away from being an all-timer for me. Its Job system, while simple on the surface, has depth that's engrossing to tinker with, and I'm glad it saw life again in games like the Tactics and Octopath series.

It's all wrapped up with an endgame that is up to you for how much you want to prepare for it, with many little adventures you can opt to embark on, or not, before making your way through the final dungeon. You get a lot of good stuff for doing it so I'm glad I made an effort.

Final Fantasy V [GBA version, 2006] is an incredible RPG that's a couple little grievances away from being an all-timer for me. Its Job system, while simple on the surface, has depth that's engrossing to tinker with, and I'm glad it saw life again in games like the Tactics and Octopath series.

Lots of gear has stats not considered optimal like the Protect Ring which grants passive Regen, and there's the joke weapon Excalipoor which has massive stats (considered optimal) but only does 1 damage in battle. I should have sold that damn thing, but I wasn't sure if maybe it had a secret use!

Final Fantasy V [GBA version, 2006] is an incredible RPG that's a couple little grievances away from being an all-timer for me. Its Job system, while simple on the surface, has depth that's engrossing to tinker with, and I'm glad it saw life again in games like the Tactics and Octopath series.

The system sounds great, right? But it does have some issues. This game heavily relies on Optimization for equipping your characters: Whenever you change a job or even an ability, it will either optimize or clear all gear based on your settings, which becomes a problem during many edge cases.

Final Fantasy V [GBA version, 2006] is an incredible RPG that's a couple little grievances away from being an all-timer for me. Its Job system, while simple on the surface, has depth that's engrossing to tinker with, and I'm glad it saw life again in games like the Tactics and Octopath series.

It's simple: you gain AP from battles to boost your Job level, and as it levels up it gains passive abilities, one of which you can then use with a different Job. As an example: Faris here is a Mystic Knight using Ninja's Dual-Wield, enabling enchanting both swords with powerful magic.

I enjoyed Tomb Raider [1996 via 2024 Remaster] way more than I was expecting. It's exploring with intent, tasking you with carefully planning out your jumps and executing them. It's stiff and it has a bit of a learning curve, but the remaster allows you to save anywhere which can take the edge off.

The dark areas can really get oppressively dark, like completely pitch black, so good thing there are flares! You find plenty of them too, because they don't last long. Lara also gains the ability to climb certain surfaces like ladders, ridged walls or bookshelves, but the animation is rather slow.

I enjoyed Tomb Raider [1996 via 2024 Remaster] way more than I was expecting. It's exploring with intent, tasking you with carefully planning out your jumps and executing them. It's stiff and it has a bit of a learning curve, but the remaster allows you to save anywhere which can take the edge off.

The detail extends to the level design, featuring much more complex interweaving areas full of levers, keys, locked doors and vehicles. It's a much harder game overall! Even the first level throws you in the deep end with a big panic setpiece full of traps and beasts.

I enjoyed Tomb Raider [1996 via 2024 Remaster] way more than I was expecting. It's exploring with intent, tasking you with carefully planning out your jumps and executing them. It's stiff and it has a bit of a learning curve, but the remaster allows you to save anywhere which can take the edge off.

That's where Tomb Raider is at its best. However, when you're forced to move quickly either to avoid traps or defend yourself in combat, the stiff controls tended to cause problems for me. Ultimately, the rest of the game was so engaging that it's no deal breaker. I'm already playing the sequel!

I enjoyed Tomb Raider [1996 via 2024 Remaster] way more than I was expecting. It's exploring with intent, tasking you with carefully planning out your jumps and executing them. It's stiff and it has a bit of a learning curve, but the remaster allows you to save anywhere which can take the edge off.

Grabbing ledges and climbing up is not automatic. By holding the action button in midair, you're choosing to grip any ledge Lara grazes if she's not moving at terminal velocity. At the same time, reaching out slows her momentum, so for particularly distant jumps you want to grab as late as possible.

I enjoyed Tomb Raider [1996 via 2024 Remaster] way more than I was expecting. It's exploring with intent, tasking you with carefully planning out your jumps and executing them. It's stiff and it has a bit of a learning curve, but the remaster allows you to save anywhere which can take the edge off.

SPRAWL zero [2026] is intense all the way through, with extreme forward momentum. It's a game focused on gameplay feel with levels that feel good to sprint through, crushing any in your way. You have one gun at a time and you'll rip your next ones out of your enemies' hands.

There's no inventory so while there are secrets to find, I mainly ran through on instinct, tapping the navigation button occasionally. It just felt appropriate with the rushing DnB soundtrack! The lack of inventory might stifle its design a bit but the result is a tight experience with great pacing.