OFF Review

OFF is the first game in awhile that gave me nightmares.

I play all kinds of horror games like Resident Evil in VR, Silent Hill, and various indie titles, but they didn't effect me like OFF does. 

Which is weird because it is originally a turned based RPG from 2008, that looks like it has a shoestring budget, because it did. It was originally a free game that the creator Mortis Ghost (real name Martin Georis) and a small team created. 

So how why did it unnerve me so much? The key there is how intense it is. 

The game starts with you controlling a character named The Batter and a Cheshire Cat like creature named The Judge starts asking your real name, and your pronouns. You are then thrust into a battle tutorial, and before you know it, you have to write down numbers to solve a puzzle to move on. 

 OFF isn't a game that you can half pay attention to. You always have to keep aware for clues, and know that writing down numbers, words, and symbols could be the only thing between you and being stuck. The game also follows this same design with its story. Even when things are explained to you, the greater context is something you need to figure out for yourself. One moment you can be talking to some sad office worker, and the next that same office worker could get you into a turn based battle. 

The battle system, as paired down and clean as a turn based RPG it is, is filled with strangeness. The way the game works is that usually the entirety of the game is in a 4:3 window with borders, but the battle scenes are 16:9, and even the resolution and pixel density feels off. Combined with a sudden battle transition from your field view to battle view (this can be modified in the accessibility if it is too much) every battle feels like a mild bonk to the head. You then use attacks ("Competencies" as they are called in game) named things like "Saturated String" and "Run with Dementia" and the whole thing feels like a fever dream.   

The world of OFF is one of misery, strangeness, and metaphor. It is never clear exactly what is happening, and the more you try to scrutinize it, the more it feels like nothing is how it should be. Despite The Batter's purity as shown on the status screen, or the sheer incorruptibility of his purpose, you as the player never feel safe. There is not a moment in OFF that you feel like you have a handle on things. The biggest contributor of this feeling is the amazing soundtrack. With tracks from morusque, Toby Fox, and more, the soundtrack never lets up as it is constantly either weirding you out, hyping you up, or whispering in your ear the emotional truth of this world. 

The truth then becomes that OFF is a meditation. Is is a mediation on purpose, on resolve, on how we gather resources to live, and how long will we put up with the state of things. Are the facades and stories we create worth the pain and suffering? What would you sacrifice, and when you reap what you have sown, are you prepared for the consequences? The game never asks you to really determine how things will proceed, and it doesn't care for your cleverness, or if you could have done things better. It just asks how you feel, and to be honest, I feel uneasy.

In 2025, I can see OFF being, well, off-putting. For me, sure it gave me nightmares, but maybe in an uncaring, pure world, even a nightmare can be a sanctuary.

Soul Hackers 2 Review

Reviewing Soul Hackers 2 is tough because there are so many lenses you can review it through.

I could talk about how the version I played is so much more improved than the version that was released originally, and how things like being able to speed up battles improves the game so much that most reviews you see online might not even put that into account.

I could talk about how the game is a commentary on the Shin Megami Tensei series as a whole and how it priorities your relationships over a Law/Chaos/Neutral system. It postulates that maybe the only difference between Law and Chaos is how you feel about it.

What I landed on is how this game feels much more of the moment in 2025 than it did in 2021. Soul Hackers 2 is set in a future world that seems ready to die. People have lost their passion, and things have just gotten worse. One group called the Phantom Society is looking to end the world, and they almost have all the macguffins to do it. While the game events have you trying to stop them, a lot of the game's narrative, especially early on, is getting to know your team.

You have mainly 4 characters, Ringo, the super advanced techobiological being born from an AI intelligence to save the world, Arrow, the boy scout tough guy himbo, Milady, the evil assassin cynical lady, and Saizo, the cool jazzy goofus freelancer. Whether you like the game will be mostly based on your interest in seeing these four people, and more, into fully realized people.

That is what surprised me the most, I ended up liking all four of these party members in the end, even Arrow, which I pegged as sort of boring at first, but eventually won me over. That is the trick the game pulls. I even started learning the names of the shopkeepers and became interested in their whole deal. The game is at its best when it fights the premise of a world full of apathy, and fills it with vibrant characters. The game wants you to realize that maybe if you got the whole picture, people would make different decisions.

This is what made it resonate so hard for me. 2025 is a time where the US government is using people’s ignorance and apathy to hurt people and let people suffer in order to gain advantage. It makes you wonder if the Phantom Society is somehow in the right for trying to end it all. The game winds up with an answer I wasn’t expecting to affect me so much. I was expecting a game in which I stop the bad guys and save the day, but this isn’t all about that.Yes, stop the bad people, but make sure you are also building your community. Make sure you know the people closest to you, and if they are hurting, because if you don’t, you may end up with a bigger problem than you were fighting in the first place.

The game does have some issues, like I think the dungeon design and the level progression slows the game to a crawl that I needed to just listen to podcasts instead of the game audio for large swaths of it, but the stuff it does right I think outweighs those moments (also I like listening to podcasts, so I did catch up on a bunch of them while playing). I felt the 50 hours of doing most of the sidequests and the DLC was completely worth it.

If you are looking for a turn-based RPG about building a community to save the world, and making sure it stays saved, then Soul Hackers 2 is worth a play through.

Video Game Quarterly Report

 

Games I have played through

Resident Evil 2 Remake

I started this game years ago, and I finally played it through this year. I have watched an old friend play through the original PS1 game in the 90’s, and never actually played it through myself. The Remake ended up being the perfect way to finally get to it. Playing through as Claire first, and then Leon with the PS1 classic costume and the original PS1 music I really enjoyed. One day I’ll play through the game with Leon first and then Claire with the PS1 model, but for now I’ll move on to the Resident Evil 3 Remake.

Lost Your Marbles and Executive Golf

The first Playdate games I have played through. The Playdate I have been mostly playing more on the go, arcade-y games that don’t really have endings, but these were the first ones I played through and got to credits. Honestly, I don't have a ton to say about the games without getting into minutiae about the mechanics, so I’ll just say that I love the form factor and looking to play more! Reminds me a lot of the original Gameboy I played with ages ago.

Marvel vs Capcom Arcade Collection

I don’t have a ton of arcade game experience, but the ones I have are X-Men vs Street Fighter and Marvel vs Capcom. I never got super good at either, but neither did anyone I played with, so I had tons of fun with these back in the day. Playing this collection almost got me thinking maybe I should practice these a bunch and see if I can play online, but not quite. I am more comfortable at just setting the difficulty low and playing through each game. More of a content tourist at this point.

Capcom Beat ‘em up Collection

Big collection year so far. I imagine because this year started off really rough, and I needed some comfort food. Beat ‘em ups are the most comfort food of comfort for me. Nothing really insightful to say other than Warriors of Fate is better than I remember (despite the odd localization) and Battle Circuit was disappointing.

Poinpy

Poinpy is the spiritual successor to Down Well if not only because it was made by the same creator, but now you are going up instead of down. My favorite iOS game, and something I wish I didn’t have to have a Netflix account to play, but what can you do? This will be my 2nd time playing it through and hope that it remains available to play in the future.

Terry’s Other Games

Terry Cavanagh is one of the best game designers living today, and has made some of my favorite games with some of the best video game OSTs. Mainly got this for Don’t Look Back, which is such a brilliant little game. Haven’t played much else yet, but hidden in this collection is the secret best version of Flappy Bird.

Pepper Grinder

I played this mostly because Patrick Klepick of Remap recommended this and I get why. For platformer fans, it is the level design of New Super Mario Brothers with the speed of a Sonic the Hedgehog game. It works for a while, and when it doesn’t, it changes it up. I don’t think it really lives up to its inspirations, but it is fun, and has a killer soundtrack.

Ender Magnolia

I loved the previous game Ender Lilies, so this had a lot to live up to. Luckily, I ended up loving this one just as much, if not more. My first GOTY contender. Love playing a good search action game early in the year.

Streets of Rage 4

If Beat ‘em ups are my comfort food, Streets of Rage 4 is like gourmet hot chocolate, with the perfect amount of sweetness, and maybe even a little booze to really get you in the mood. Honestly the only other game that competes is Streets of Rage 2 as far as satisfyingly beating up people in the street.

Capcom Fighting Collection

Mostly played in anticipation of Collection 2, which I am really looking forward to (Capcom vs SNK 2 is probably my favorite fighting game). I did enjoy finally playing as Hsien-ko in a fighting game after enjoying her character design for so long. I can’t say I really love the Capcom Collection interface for them to keep reusing it, but it is good enough. Really wish these games had some sort of Ending viewer, but I get that with youtube and whatever, the need for that probably is not worth the work.

Angel At Dusk

A bullet hell shooter in the vein of Mushihime-sama Futari, Ikaruga, or whatever game people remember (1943? Does anyone remember these games under the age of 35?) that lured me in with its gory visuals, and made me stay with the surprisingly cheeky and silly UI. One of the best one of these games I have played in a good while.

UFO 50

I put 30 hours in this game, and I haven’t even played all of the titular 50 games. I did manage to get through 5 of them, and this might end up on my GOTY list again.

Games I am playing now

Paper Mario

I beat Mario RPG last year, so I am hoping to finally play through this now.

Zelda Echoes of Wisdom

Maybe it is because everyone was saying it was mid, but I am having a lot of fun with this one. It is all about finding silly solutions to things.

Another Crab’s Treasure

This is the first Dark Souls-like game that has really grabbed me. I love so much of what this game is doing with the story, environments, and skill load out. I think I am nearing the end, and I hope it really closes out good because if so this will end up on the GOTY list for sure.

Suikoden 1+2

Finally going to play through 1 ever since quitting before the final area, and play through 2 which I heard is great.

Super Lesbian Animal RPG

Sort of reminds me of Suikoden 1, but with more lesbians, and more animals.

Assassin Creed Shadows and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Not sure if I will have the time to get through these games but we’ll see.

Naiad and Toem

Both seem like relaxing games that make good use of the Dual Sense controller. Gotta find quiet times to put on the good headphones and really vibe out with these.

Like 18 Visual Novels

Shout out to Seabed, Misericorde, and Hello Girl. I swear I will at least play more of these!!!

Games of the Year 2024

For this year, I found that not only did I play too many games I liked, but a lot of them paired up in an interesting way, so I am going to have a list with no particular order about pairs of games I thought were worth writing about. Shout outs to games like Shinobi non Grata and Smushi Come Home that I rather enjoyed but didn’t quite fit with this framing.

    Theatrhythm Final Bar Line and Mario Wonder

So these are games I really should have put on my Game of the Year list last year. The way I make these lists is that I take the list of games I got through for the year, highlight the ones I really liked, and then I choose about ten or so for a list. I don’t know how I forgot Theatrhythm. It is not only the best rhythm game I played, but also one of my favorite rhythm games of all time. It has some of the best music, and the charts, especially the hardest Supreme level charts, make you feel less like a rhythm game and more like you are learning some sort of strange, ultra modern instrument. I imagine I just forgot it because I have a bad memory, and use game narrative (which this game has none of) to really remember what I played. As far as Mario Wonder, I just didn’t finish it. One of my rules of these lists is that I have to finish the game to qualify, and Mario Wonder I just wanted to savor. It delivers the promise that the New Mario Bros. series never quite lived up to where it is a sublime 2D platformer with fun art and music to boot. I loved these games, and I look forward to other games like Resistx1000 appearing here next year.

    Drakengard 3 and Astrobot

These two games on the surface really couldn’t be more different. Astrobot is a super polished 3D platformer made for mainstream audiences, while Drakengard 3 is a sequel to a cult hit Playstation 2 beat ‘em up action RPG series that seems to be designed for people to hate it. Astrobot is super smooth, looks great, and wants you to play it more, and Drakengard 3 feels like it wasn’t even made for the system it was created for. It feels like a bad port, despite only having one version in existence. In this way, I couldn’t help making the connection. Astrobot is a game that wants you to love it so much that it comes off as hollow, while Drakengard 3 wants you to hate it so much that I ended up loving it anyway. This video game dyad of my creation was a microcosm of how 2024 went for me. The year wanted to be seen like the happiness and optimism of an Astrobot, but in reality it was the horrible pain and suffering of Drakengard 3. It was not something like Astrobot that could be loved by all, but something like Drakengard 3 where you had to get the backstory and experience the pain of the past to understand why it is all happening. Astrobot is the game I wanted to love and be a part of what made the year great, but Drakengard 3 is the game that resonated with my soul. Astrobot is the fulfillment that is always barrier away or in the past, and Drakengard 3 is the pandora’s box, but instead of hope, it offers only catharsis and pathos. Sometimes bringing your amazing game to a tough year is going to feel like bringing your favorite dance playlist to a funeral. On the other hand, please play the Final Song (Saigo no Uta) from the Drakengard 3 OST at my funeral.

    Anodyne 1 and Anodyne 2

Anodyne 1 and 2 by themselves are good games. Anodyne 1 feels like a take on the classic Legend of Zelda series, while Anodyne 2 takes 3D platforming exploration and combines them with classic 2D dungeon puzzling. By themselves, Anodyne 2 is the better experience, and if you are only going to play one, 2 is the to go with. That being said, something special happens if you play both, a sort of synthesis that comes with sequels being 10 years apart. It is a 10 year conversation that enriches both games, and makes two pretty good games into a narrative that is sort of mind blowing with implications. The things Anodyne 1 leaves out, but is then covered by Anodyne 2 and vice versa isn’t always obvious, but when combined together they really feel like they were always meant to be played together, even if that isn’t super obvious. Sometimes it takes 10 years to make an amazing story that makes it worth experiencing.

    Momodora Moonlit Farewell and Shadow Generations.

Momodora and Shadow Generations are on opposite sides of a trend I had this year where I would play a game, and then play many games in that same series or genre. With Momodora, I played it early in the year, and then proceeded to play through many of the 2D Metroidvania/Search Action games such as Castlevania Symphony of the Night and Hollow Knight. With Shadow Generations, I actually started with Sonic Mania, and I played through all the classic Genesis Sonic games, and ended up with Sonic x Shadow Generations by the end of it. When playing all those Metroidvanias, I actually grew fond of Momodora Moonlit Farewell and appreciate it much more than I did when I played it originally. Shadow Generation then felt like a culmination of what made Sonic the Hedgehog gameplay fun (having the mechanics to speed run through a level) and felt like the developers finally got why this series is fun in the first place. Like Anodyne 1 & 2, I find playing games that are in conversation with each other to be one of the best parts of playing video games as a hobby, and makes all the money and time I invest worth it, so I have these two games to help thank with that.

    If Found… and Milk Outside A Bag Of Milk Outside A Bag

I find it hard to recommend games sometimes, especially the narrative ones I love. Visual Novels in particular feel different to recommend than a book. A book you can just recommend the writing, or the story, but with Visual Novels there is a sort of synthesis with interacting with the game and the story being told that is hard to really articulate at a party or get together. A lot of times a part of me just wants to tell people to just trust me, buy the game, and you won’t be disappointed, but I know that isn’t really the thing that actually gets people to play it. I remember recommending Kentucky Route Zero (which is still one of my favorite games of all time) to people and it sounded more like a desperate plea than a convincing recommendation. Knowing that, If Found… and Milk Outside A Bag Of Milk Outside A Bag are games about the human condition that I think are just required experiences. If Found… especially, as Milk Outside A Bag Of Milk Outside A Bag can be a bit disturbing and weird as it explores mental illness. If Found… is about a youth trying to find themselves and finding it is a bit harder than it should be. As much as I could write about both, seeing as they are mostly about reading and story, it is hard to really go into without spoiling, and so much of the joy of these games is the discovery, so as bad habits go, this is one I will repeat. Please play these games.

    UFO 50 and Resident Evil 4 Remake VR

If I was doing a more traditional Game of the Year list with numbers that indicated best to not as best, UFO 50 and Resident Evil 4 Remake VR would have been my 1 and 2. UFO 50 is the perfect platonic ideal of video games with 50 games to play and discover what they are all about. They are also a great representative of how I got into old video games this year, and loved finding those obscure treasures I would never have found normally. Resident Evil 4 Remake VR (RE4RVR) is the most fun I had with an action game this year, and the VR experience was both beautiful and a perfect way to reimagine this classic game. Both these games are games I will carry with me, and I haven’t even played all of the games in UFO 50, so that might even be eligible for next year. Hell, I could play Resident Evil 4 Remake in flat mode and that could be eligible too. Let’s keep the good games going!

    Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore and Thank Goodness You’re Here!

Like I mentioned in the #2 entry, 2024 was a tough year. Medical stuff, moving stuff, life stuff, it was all tough to adjust and get through, and that is why I wanted to leave off with two games that really made me smile. Arzette is a take on the old, bad Zelda CD-i games that were more known for their odd cutscenes than awful gameplay, and Thank Goodness You’re Here is a take on the traditional adventure game, but instead of dialog choices and inventory puzzles, you just are a little man who punches things. Both games take their genre and spin it in a way that just brought me joy. Both games are fun adventures where you get to help a bunch of odd characters have better days. Neither are perfect, Arzette without the cutscenes is just a competent 2D action adventure, and Thank Goodness You’re Here can feel like it is punching down a bit with its humor, but I think what really alleviates them is how they are both about doing good things and building communities. As we go into the darkness and uncertainty of 2025, I think these games allow us both the opportunity to laugh, and maybe instructions on how to survive: sometimes you just gotta help people and hope they say something like Matt Berry in response.