Recent reviews by RootPith

Immediately bought it after seeing the first "GOG preservation program" game on steam.

I hope other games, like OG Resident Evil Trilogy and Breath of Fire 4, also release on Steam soon.

Easy purchase, but it still needs cloud saves & achievements. Add one of them and will turn this review into a positive one.

A short and sweet indie game; another clay-motion work of art from the creators of Judero. The gameplay loop wears out a bit faster, so while I couldn’t love it as much as Judero, I’m still glad I played it.

7/10

Angeline Era immediately caught my attention with its music and visual style, and based on the gameplay videos I watched, I thought I would enjoy playing it. However, the gameplay feels stiff and unfun, and the characters talk too much without saying anything meaningful. The game just didn’t ‘flow’ for me.

The game looks great and is very appealing for someone who has a strong connection to PS1/N64-era 3D platformers, but I don’t think it’s particularly fun. I played up to about halfway through and then dropped it; the main reason was the lack of polish in the controls. If Frogun’s mechanic for grabbing onto the spot it hits had worked perfectly, I think I would have enjoyed this game.

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is a captivating JRPG that I managed to complete without ever feeling like quitting. That said, there is an overwhelming amount of dialogue—much of it feeling empty or disconnected from the main narrative—to the point where I ended up skimming through most of the NPC chatter and casual banter.

The remake shines in its presentation. The art direction and soundtrack are beautiful, and the combat system is engaging and strategic. I played on normal difficulty and found the main story to be reasonably challenging without requiring any grinding, although I did complete most of the side quests.

This game leans heavily into classic anime tropes, so go in with that expectation. There are plenty of eye-roll-worthy, trope-heavy scenes, and I often felt like the game wasn’t really aimed at a 30+ player like myself. During many of these moments, I genuinely questioned why I was still playing. However, despite this, the game is filled with enjoyable elements that kept me going until the end.

While I didn’t enjoy the constant micro-level chatter and slice-of-life storytelling, I did enjoy the macro-level narrative. The broader story, world-building, and setting are strong enough that I believe this game does an excellent job of setting the stage for the rest of the Trails series. The slice-of-life elements can largely be ignored without harming your understanding or enjoyment of the world, which is why I’m willing to give Second Chapter a chance.

Overall, I’d give this game an 8/10. It’s not the “masterpiece” many claim it to be, but as a remake of the game that originally launched the Trails franchise, it does a very solid job of modernizing the experience while successfully laying the foundation for everything that follows.

• The game is too short for its price. It should have been $8 at most without discounts. I wouldn’t complain about getting it for $2 during a sale, though.
• The rhythm timing feels off, and many people seem to agree in the discussions. Thankfully, there are accessibility options to compensate for this, but I still couldn’t lock onto the beat the way I can in other well-known rhythm games.
• In my opinion, it’s more of a “vibe” game than a substantial experience. You can easily imagine Instagram gamers vibing with their lilac-colored setups and this game on the screen. Honestly, it’s more style than substance.

I honestly wouldn’t have paid more than $2 for this. I completed all the content in about 90 minutes and could legally refund it, but for ethical reasons, I won’t.

4/10

This game is the very definition of art.

If there’s any debate about whether video games can be considered a form of art, Judero should be one of the strongest arguments in their defense.

From the very beginning, it’s a striking audiovisual experience. Every nook and cranny feels hand-crafted and deliberately curated to evoke emotion or resonate with the artist’s state of mind as the journey unfolds.

Judero takes place in a strange, rural world inspired by Scottish folklore, particularly the myths and traditions of isolated island communities. You play as a lone figure traveling between small settlements, meeting eccentric and often unsettling characters, and learning about local beliefs and conflicts through direct dialogue and simple objectives.

I genuinely don’t understand how this game has received so little media coverage and collective awareness, because it’s an absolute gem—both visually and sonically.

The writing and context are just as compelling: funny, meaningful, existential, and layered in ways that are hard to fully catalog. There’s always something beneath the surface, inviting reflection without ever feeling heavy-handed.

It’s roughly a five-hour adventure that I think anyone even remotely interested in video games should experience. The gameplay is intentionally simple, making it easy to jump in and focus on the atmosphere and ideas rather than mechanical complexity.

Playing Judero felt like walking through a modern art museum—one that moves, speaks, and invites you to linger.

8.5 / 10

It’s astonishing that a game like this exists. It’s a surprisingly polished Zelda CD-i-inspired title, and its Metroidvania-lite mechanics make it consistently engaging. I didn’t know I wanted this, but I definitely did.


7/10

I originally played TPP on PS4 about 10 years ago, and this is the first time I’ve ever beaten an open-world game twice. I always thought open-world games lost their replayability because of their repetitive nature, but this playthrough proved something to me: if the gameplay is truly captivating, none of that matters. In terms of depth and variety, I honestly think nothing—except maybe Zelda BOTW/TOTK—comes close to what this game achieves.

Gameplay is everything, and this game absolutely nails it. It’s easily in my top 10 of all time purely for its gameplay. Even with the 3-minute helicopter deployments, it still has the best flow in the entire Metal Gear series, in my opinion.

You’ve all heard the usual complaints about this game:
• “Main/Side Ops are repetitive.”
Sure, but when the gameplay is this good, even your 20th armored-unit takedown feels fresh.
• “The story doesn’t conclude properly.”
I actually think it fills in Venom’s arc really well. Yes, the Liquid/Mantis storyline doesn’t fully wrap up, but honestly, the MG series has always had missing pieces in its timeline—even after Kojima went full lore-dump mode in MGS4.
• “Konami’s greed stopped Kojima from making his dream game.”
Maybe, maybe not—but Kojima was already losing passion for Metal Gear, and we’ve all seen how the Sony–Kojima partnership went. Spoiler: Death Stranding is a much more deeply flawed game compared to this masterpiece.

The music is incredible, the graphics still hold up, it runs beautifully on the Steam Deck, and somehow the online servers are still alive after 10 years.

9.5/10

Dumb fun in the best way — super fun to play, but the controls never feel completely tight. Parrying and dodging don’t flow as smoothly as in other Platinum titles; something always feels a bit out of your hands, like the game’s fighting you back.

Raiden’s mid-game identity crisis is absolute nonsense, and the character motivations are paper-thin. Still, it’s definitely more philosophical than your average hack-and-slash game. Sure, you can’t expect the same philosophical depth as a mainline Metal Gear title, but honestly? The game just flows and it’s fun, and that’s all I really want from it.

Also, the fact that the Senator used to play college football cracks me up every single time.

8 / 10