FlipWitch - Forbidden Sex Hex

After I finished FlipWitch, I immediately went and bought several other highly rated Metroidvanias, a genre that I would never have given any time to before. Not something I normally would have tried, but I'm glad I did, for I had a fantastic time with it and went for the 100%. If there was a story to write about, if the h-scenes were more varied, and if the magic had some use, I could have easily added this to my favorites—but as it stands, it'll always be remembered fondly as the game that opened up my eyes to a genre I was blind to.

Hi, my name is Alex Harper!

I am a transfem graphic designer who loves being creative, while enjoying creative mediums! Games, movies, shows, art, stories, music, whatever!I started this website as an outlet for my writing, but more focused on reviewing games that I love (and some that I hate.) It'll be updated periodically as I find games I want to write about. I'm not aiming specifically for new releases, just anything that I play that makes me feel one way or another.

The best Zelda game I've ever played

For a game to wear it's inspiration so clearly on it's sleeve, Genshin does do a lot to differentiate itself from the pack. From it's beautifully crafted world, to it's excellent sound design, to a multitude of content updates, Genshin Impact isn't just another gacha game to roll on and move to the next one. It deserves your attention, though sometimes it may feel like it's trying to steal that attention from other games.If you've played the last offerings from The Legend of Zelda, Teyvat might feel awfully familiar. There's a huge anime style world for you to explore, whether that's by running, climbing, or gliding, with lots of chests and secrets to find. Dungeons litter the world and contain various challenges, and there's always an enemy or two waiting around the corner. Several different kinds of collectables are hidden throughout each region too, so you always feel rewarded for just exploring.The combat system is a unique one, having you build a party of four different characters of various elemental types to cause elemental combos. If you catch an enemy on fire, for example, then hit them with electro, they'll explode. Soak an enemy with hydro and follow up with cryo to freeze them. Some elements have more synergy than others, and it's fun trying to build teams that play off each other really well. This can be a bit of a double edge'd sword though, as some characters don't play nice with one another, and can have you side-lining a favorite to make a team work with characters you care less about. However, with a roster of over 60 characters as of the time of writing, this doesn't happen often - depending on your luck.Genshin Impact is a very extensive RPG, but at it's heart it's still a gacha, and your enjoyment can vary wildly depending on your rolls for characters and weapons. Characters come in two flavors, 4 star and 5 star, while weapons can be anywhere from 1 to 5 stars. With 5 stars being the highest for both, these are the premium rolls and can change the way you play single-handedly. To their credit, Mihoyo has done an admirable job keeping things balanced - The game doesn't require 5 stars to beat any of the content, and the 4 star characters feel pretty strong on their own.Story-wise, there's a lot to unpack. Besides the main story, which is very text heavy, there's stories for each of the characters as well. Then there's event stories that only stick around for a week or two at a time, so you're going to miss something unless you focus heavily on the game. This is a big downside to being a live service game; they hide some interesting bits in those events and then they're gone forever.The sound design is some of the best I've heard. Character voices can vary between ok and great, but the music is the real hero here. Each region sounds very distinct, and you can easily pick out which song belongs where after getting a feel for each one. Bosses are scored epically and the numerous character themes are a bop that I keep coming back to. The only minor complain I have here is some of the random voice lines characters say can get grating if they repeat too often, but that's a minor flaw in an otherwise flawless area.All-in-all, Genshin Impact has slowly become one of my favorite games to keep coming back to. There's always something new going on, and the world is only getting bigger and more fun to explore. While the controls take a moment to adjust to, and the gacha elements can feel unfair at times, everything else feels so polished. Mihoyo has knocked it out of the park with their first console release.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

(Reviewed on PlayStation 5)

At times we must purge things from this world
because they should not exist

To say Deadly Premonition is awful would be an understatement, and a gross exaggeration. It has terrible controls, terrible sound quality, terrible animations and graphics, yet it's terribly charming and unique. With a bizarre story told from the perspective of one FBI Agent Francis York Morgan—Just call him York, everybody else does—that you can't quite be sure what's real and what's make believe, you'll be stuck on the edge of your seat for it's ~20 hour long campaign. I didn't know what to expect the first time through, and I still don't know what to expect on the 4th playthrough.The story starts off in the lovely scenic town of Greenvale, a small town where everyone knows everyone, and crime is an afterthought. There's been a murder, and the FBI has been sent in to investigate whether it's connected to a string of murders across the country. Things escalate quickly, and after a second body shows up, York must hurry to close the case. It sounds like a familiar situation to any true crime fan, but as things unfold you find out it's anything but.You'll alternate between investigations with enemies, and story beats with interrogations. The investigations are pretty dated, even when the game released. Shooting is comparable to the original Resident Evil 4, where you are locked in place in order to aim, but it feels a little extra clunky. Enemies slowly walk toward you, with a few teleports and glitchiness behavior that gives it some creep factor, but nothing is particularly challenging on the surface. You can't actually see your crosshair though unless it's over an enemy, so you'll constantly lose track of where you are aiming. Thankfully you can hold your breath to "turn invisible" to the enemies, if you get overwhelmed; this drops the camera sensitivity to nothing, so turning becomes a chore.The story segments are much better by comparison. Long cutscenes will play out as you get to know the eccentric cast of townies, and on occassion you'll have the opportunity to interact with them and get more information. These parts are where the charm comes in, as each person exudes personality. Outside of these moments, the characters go about their daily lives, driving around town, visiting bars and stores. You can drive in the semi-open world to them and follow up with any questions York may have, fleshing out the already extensive story. Everyone is suspicious and has something to hide, so trying to determine who the killer is as you play is fun experience.All of this sounds like a solid game, but it's not until you actually get a controller in your hands that you realize it's all terribly executed. Driving around the massively "small" town gets old quickly as cars seemingly have no weight to them, turning on a dime and swerving around. There's fuel and durability mechanics that serve little purpose, but let any of them hit 0% and you're in for a long, tedious walk to find another cop car. There's a running clock that serves as a time limit on activities, but it moves so slowly you'll rarely miss appointments.My favorite part of the whole package has to be the sound design. Music is limited to the same 3 tracks on repeat most of the time, even though there are over 20 songs in the game, and the audio levels fluctuate high and low multiple times per scene. The voice acting is decent, during the times you can actually hear it; sometimes the music levels are too loud and drown out the rest of the audio.There's also the odd inclusion of a hunger and tiredness meter, which I can't find a purpose for other than tedium. You have a beard that continually grows and you can shave, but this also does little in terms of gameplay. Your suits get dirty and can be washed so flies don't gather, but again, what's the point? It seems silly to complain about them though when I enjoy the flavor the add to the game. It's quirky in the best way. Why's this here? Just because!That's the magic of Deadly Premonition. Nothing should work, but it does. Like the bad b-movies York will talk about ad nauseam as you drive around, you can't help but smile and nod along, isn't that right Zach?

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

(Reviewed on Nintendo Switch)

Charming enough to ignore its many faults

I have a confession to make: I love linear games. I can't get enough of being essentially guided through to the end. So when Pokémon announced a new open-world game with multiple objectives, I was a bit apprehensive to say the least. After all, some of my fondest gaming memories are playing Pokémon Silver late into the night, going along the easy to follow routes and catching all the Pokémon in between towns. Imagine my surprise when I realized I was having a similar amount of fun in the giant world of Paldea, unfettered by routes and barriers guiding me forward.Anyone who has played a mainline Pokémon game before should know what to expect: Start with a Fire, Grass, or Water-type Pokémon, take on the 8 different Pokémon gyms, and finish things up with the Elite 4 to become a Pokémon champion. That story is largely the same in Scarlet & Violet, but they've added two other story lines to do alongside the gym challenge. Path of Legends has you tackling Titan Pokémon, unlocking new abilities for your trusty sidekick Koraidon or Miraidon—a legendary Pokémon that you can ride around the world—while Starfall Street has you infiltrating bases as you take down Team Star and unlock more TMs. You're free to tackle any of the three stories in whichever order you please, though there's no level scaling in the game, so you still can wonder into areas higher level than you are.The three stories are serviceable, with Path of Legends being my favorite. It hints at something much larger, which comes together once you finish the different story lines for an incredible finale. Having skipped all the DS/3DS Pokémon games, I wasn't sure what to expect with the stories, but was pleasantly surprised with how developed they were. It's a shame that Game Freak hasn't opted for voice acting, because it's sorely missed through the 50 hours it took me to finish the game.The Pokémon experience™ is still a good time; there's 400 monsters to hunt down and capture, play with, level up, breed, and trade with friends. Co-op has been included for a decent romp through Paldea as well—up to 3 friends can run around and travel with you, battle with you, or trade with you as you progress through the stories together—but the ability to interact with each other's world is sorely lacking; don't expect any double battles here.The gimmick this time around is something called Terastallization and it allows you to either buff one of a Pokémon's typing, or add a third type that it can change into. I found this mechanic incredibly interesting, but ultimately a throwaway. I can't think of a single time that I used it outside of when it's introduced. I'm a casual player though, so I'm sure this has changed up the meta and allows for some really slick combos for the hardcore competitive scene.Unless you're living under a rock, you've probably heard about the poor performance of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. Two years later, fully patched up, and the game is still a mess. Townsfolk blink in and out of existence, the frame rate dips sometimes as low as the teens, and graphics flicker on and off. Nothing game breaking, at least in my experience, but it can be off putting at times.Despite all that, there's something undeniably fun about the game, which makes it hard to put down. Sure, Game Freak should be held to a higher standard, as no game should release in this state, but is it unplayable? No. There's a good time to be had if you can just get past all the technical issues.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

(Reviewed on Nintendo Switch)

A solid Metroidvania with a side of genderbending

I've never been one for Metroidvanias. Something about getting lost in a huge maze of screens trying to figure out what I've unlocked and where just never clicked for me. But when I saw the genderbending Flipwitch - Forbidden Sex Hex on Steam, I just had to try it. Something about the adorable pixel art merged with the ability to change gender at will was right up my alley; it being an h-game didn't hurt, either.Normally I'd start the review talking about the story, but it's so non-existent that there's not a lot to say. In fact, it's downright forgettable what little story there is. Sidequests litter the map, each with an h-scene reward or a new outfit, but they add nothing to the overarching plot. The main mechanic, the ability to change your gender at will, also plays such a minor part that you'll be disappointed if you're hoping for any kind of story in regards to it. At most, some people will only talk to you if you're the right gender.Gameplay wise, the mechanic is a little more prominent. There are certain platforms that react only if you're one way or the other, and this makes for some really fun platforming sections—unfortunately that's mostly the extent of it. A couple bosses have skills that only hurt one gender or the other, but it feels underutilized as a whole. Exploring the map was a delight with each screen being memorable enough that you hardly ever get lost. Each zone has it's own color scheme and theme, and bring along new h-scenes as well. These also vary based on which gender you are, but for all the W/W scenes there are, there's not a single M/M scene included. They also begin to feel very samey by the end of the game, as it keeps things very safe and vanilla.Along the many h-scenes included are some that can only be unlocked via an in-game gacha system. Hidden throughout the large map are coins that you can use to try your luck and earn more scenes. These are usually solo affairs of monsters and characters in the game. Aside from collecting those, the aforementioned sidequests reward outfits that can be used to unlock more quests or areas, and each gender has 9 unique outfits that you can run around in. Despite the minor collectathon, it never feels like a chore trying to find them all.The controls feel very responsive and intuitive, which made the game very beginner friendly for someone who has never had much luck playing games like this. My only complaint is the magic button feels poorly mapped, and it's the only combo you can't remap in the settings. In fact, it's easier to simply ignore the magic mechanic altogether, as the game isn't very hard and doesn't require you to use it for any of the fights.The beautiful pixel art can seem a bit busy at times, but I never felt like I lost where my character was. The color palette for each zone is fitting and memorable, much like the soundtrack is; the main city sounds bustling and the forest has a lovely flute arrangement. Spooky sounds emanate the further down you go and the angelic choir plays as you head further up. It's all very fitting for each zone, and definitely was a highlight for me.After I finished FlipWitch, I immediately went and bought several other highly rated Metroidvanias, a genre that I would never have given any time to before. Not something I normally would have tried, but I'm glad I did, for I had a fantastic time with it and went for the 100%. If there was a story to write about, if the h-scenes were more varied, and if the magic had some use, I could have easily added this to my favorites—but as it stands, it'll always be remembered fondly as the game that opened up my eyes to a genre I was blind to.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

(Reviewed on PC)