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Previous Years: 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

First 50:

51. Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling - Switch
52. Banner of the Maid - Switch
53. CrossCode - Switch
54. Total Annihilation: The Core Contingency - PC
55. Ultima Underworld - PC
56. Betrayal at Krondor - PC
57. Assassin's Creed: Origins - PC
58. Axiom Verge 2 - Switch
59. Elderborn - PC
60. Hellbound - PC
61. Wargroove - Switch
62. Eye of the Beholder - PC
63. Quake: Dimension of the Past - PC
64. Quake: Dimension of the Machine - PC
65. Legends of Amberland: The Forgotten Crown - Switch
66. Anopek - PC
67. Baten Kaitos - Gamecube
68. No More Heroes 3 - Switch
69. Eye of the Beholder II - PC
70. Eye of the Beholder III - PC
71. Hedon II - PC
72. Deathloop - PC
73. Tales of Arise - PS5
74. Mechwarrior 5: Legend of the Kestrel Lancers - PC
75. Maneater: Truth Quest - PC
76. G String - PC
77. Thief (2014) - PC
78. Metroid Dread - Switch
79. Vomitoreum - PC
80. Severed Steel - PC
81. Syndicate - PC
82. Alan Wake - PC
83. Limitless Hunger - PC

I'm honestly not sure how this one ended up on my Steam wishlist, but it went live yesterday and the price was dirt cheap; $5 plus a launch discount. I figured what did I have to lose? Well, apparently about an hour of my life, as this was singularly unsatisfying.

This is a pretty basic FPS, taking inspiration from Serious Sam in terms of gameplay with lots of hordes that spawn in and fairly open arenas. The developer did it in Unity and had to calibrate all their own physics, which leads to a jump with a bit too much apex time and full air control (which is extremely apparent with the apex time). There is a chain you can throw at an enemy that pulls you to them and regains some health; this is mostly just a way to get some health back (though if you keep your armor up you don't need it, as armor is Goldeneye style, rather than Doom style), though there is one spot where you need to use it to cross a gap. There's a points system with multipliers based on presumably performance, though the feedback sucks so you don't really know. Points actually have a use; a handful of times you can trade in points for weapon upgrades, with the unlockable secondary functions being the star (and also being dirt cheap).

Overall, everything is half baked. The menu graphics are garbage, enemy models are decent enough, and textures are fine (obviously purchased assets). The levels are a mix of a handful of ones with actual level progression and then mostly combat arenas, with several levels just being a boss fight or a short corridor to a boss fight. You don't even get a final boss at the end, just a set of brand new enemies who have too much health and too much hitscan ranged. Weapons all feel very poor, with the one nice thing is the secondary features are all good and have infinite ammo, just a cooldown. The shotgun's is the most useful, as it is a grenade. Assault rifle just refills ammo and makes it infinite for a bit which actually makes the gun usable, as it chews through ammo for too little damage otherwise.

If you compare this game with Anopek, another budget FPS I played earlier this year, you find this game compares very unfavorably. While Anopek was simple, building off of a Catacomb 3D base, it worked hard to do interesting things and was thoughtfully put together. Limitless Hunger, by comparison, feels like the sort of game you would have created when you were 12 and would do stuff because it was "cool", rather than iterating to find what was fun. Even at its price this is a pass.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch Remake)
2. Super Mario Maker 2
3. Super Mario Odyssey
4. New Super Mario Bros. U DELUXE
5. Daemon X Machina
6. Turrican
7. Turrican 2: The Final Fight
8. SUPERHOT
9. Untitled Geese Game
10. Mega Turrican
11. Super Turrican (SNES)
12. Haven
13. Gunlord X
14. Super Mario 3D World
15. Bowser's Fury
16. Cathedral
17. Super Robot Wars T
18. Ninja Saviors - Return of the Warriors
19. Raiden V
20. Quake: Dimension of the Past
21. Quake: Dimension of the Machine
22. Supercharged Robot Vulkaiser
23. Streets of Rage 4 Anniversary Edition
24. Metroid Dread
25. Metroid mOTHER
26. Metroid: Samus Returns

When this game first game out I really wasn't feeling it and sort of just stopped playing about two-thirds of the way through. With MercurySteam blowing me away with Metroid Dread I thought I'd give it another go and see if I appreciate it more.

I did end up having a better time with it, as evidenced by my beating it in a few sittings, but it's not without its issues. The game really does come off as a testing ground for the developer to figure out what works, what doesn't and what needed to be tweaked before putting in the effort on an original entry.

Ignoring the obvious baggage that comes with remaking Metroid 2 and it's very linear progression and somewhat boring and repetitive metroid hunt, there are a few things they massively improved upon when making Dread. The first issue with Samus Returns is that they were way too in love with Samus' parry attack which was the major innovation they gave to the Metroid formula. Most enemies either need to be parried or are a lot less of a pain if they are, especially in the early game when they just soak up your attacks, and while the mechanic works well it becomes exhausting pretty quickly.

Another issue is its length, or rather its pacing. The game drags on and on and doesn't really present you with new enemies as you're just fighting slightly stronger versions of the same handful of enemies at the end of the game as you were in the beginning. It's hard not to place some of this blame squarely at the feet of the original Metroid 2's game design however even that game knew when to give you a breather at the end. Samus Returns doesn't let up and by the time I reached the end I really wanted it to be over.

On the positive side, their boss design was already stellar. The metroids themselves, get pretty old quickly but the three main bosses, one being the Metroid Queen and the other two added for this game specifically, are extremely fun fights that are a preview of what was to come in Dread though they feel even tougher here since Samus doesn't have the same level of mobility. It's a wonder what a slide and a dash can do for you.

Overall I ended up liking Samus Returns a bit more, especially in seeing it as a rough draft of Dread and thinking about what elements they improved upon. It's not one I'll likely revisit though, unlike Super, Fusion, Zero Mission and likely Dread which I'm always happy to zip through.

The Colonel's Bequest: A Laura Bow Mystery

The reviews were pretty fair on this one. An ambitious title that, unfortunately, is largely boring.

This is a late-eighties Sierra adventure title helmed by Roberta Williams. The story and story-telling here is a bit better than her King's Quest series (at least, the first four). The premise is pretty neat-- you play as a young college student who gets drawn into a murder mystery in an old plantation mansion. There is a huge cast of characters who actually move around and do things, a fun change of pace from the typical adventure game, where every character except the protagonist tends to stay in one location, eternally performing the same task.
In this sense I guess it has a little bit of a Shenmue vibe.

There is a time factor, as characters move around and do things at different times. However, "time" is not real-time. Rather, the clock advances as you wander around and perform actions and observe things. Unfortunately, that caused me a lot of annoyance.

Often in an Adventure game, you get stuck and just start trying random things until something clicks and you make progress. Almost the entire game here is like that. You don't have goals. Puzzles are limited. You mostly just advance the clock by wandering around and trying the same things over and over again until they trigger then next clock advancement and things begin to happen.

Despite the tedium, if I had an unlimited supply of free time I might give this one a second run-through. I almost completely missed out on an optional side-plot that would have been a bit more puzzle-driven. But my gaming time is very limited these days, and I don't want to spend what hours I do have replaying every section of this game over and over to ensure I didn't miss anything. The game does give a lot of helpful hints at the end for things that you missed if you want to do a replay.

First 50

51. Ninja Gaiden Trilogy (SNES)
52. Kung Fu Master (Arcade)
53. Kung Fu Master (7800)
54. Vigilante (Master System)
55. Vigilante (Arcade)
56. Donkey Kong (7800)
57. Touhou Luna Nights (Switch)
58. Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Switch)
59. Robbit Mon Dieu (PS1)

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is a superb metroidvania that improves upon its pretty-great predecessor in every way. Great platforming, satisfying combat, beautiful graphics, a touching story, and thrilling set pieces combine to create a fantastic experience that I really can’t recommend highly enough. The Switch version isn’t technically perfect. There’s some stuttering, some slowdown, and a few bugs. (I also crashed the game a few times.) Still, I loved it.

The wonderfully-titled Robbit Mon Dieu is the third game in the Jumping Flash series. It was exclusive to Japan, and it isn’t nearly as good as it’s predecessors. I’ll write more about it in this month’s TR thread.

Partridge Senpai's 2021 Beaten Games:
Previously: 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
* indicates a repeat

Games 1~51

Games 52~100

101. Splatterhouse (PCE)
102. Shin Megami Tensei 2 (SFC)
103. Shin Megami Tensei if... (SFC)
104. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner (Saturn)
105. Alundra (PS1)
106. Lunar: Silver Star Story (Saturn)

107. Tales of Xillia (PS3)

I've been really meaning to play another Tales game this year, but getting hella addicted to first Atelier (beaten ten games so far this year ^^;) and then SMT (beat four games ^^;) really didn't help that effort XD. So I looked at the ones I had on hand to play, and I figured Xillia would fit the bill well, as that's the one immediately after my favorite, Graces, and it's one I've had recommended in particular from several friends in the past. It took me some 51 or so hours (and then mucking about for another 10 or so in post-game) to finish the Japanese version of the game, and I enjoyed my time with it very much ^w^

Tales of Xillia is the first game in the Tales series (to the best of my knowledge) to take a page from the Atelier playbook and have two main characters instead of one. First you have Jude, the 15 year old med school student who becomes embroiled in trying to stop a plot by his city/kingdom to plunge the world into war (or worse). Then you have Milla, the living avatar of the master of elementals, Maxwell, who is the one who embroils Jude in trying to destroy the evil Jin machinery that the government is trying to use for evil purposes. There's a cast of four main/playable characters outside of them, but they're the two the plot primarily revolves around. You can actually pick from playing either's route before you start the game, but Jude's is the one you should play first (as I did) and it's also the most complete. Milla's perspective on things is almost identical to Jude's, and Jude is the real main character when all is said and done, no matter how much Namco may try to pretend otherwise (although Milla is a very good #2 story focus).

I really loved the story and especially the character writing in Tales of Graces, and Tales of Xillia did not disappoint on that front either. All six of the main cast are really well portrayed and developed (with my personal favorite being Teepo), with the story's main themes being conviction, duty, and finding one's purpose. The antagonist is also very interesting for a JRPG, as I really can't think of any other one that I've played where the ultimate conflict between the main hero and villain comes down to such an almost mutually agreed upon point that their conflict ends the way it does here. Being a more recent Tales game, this is a longer story with two major twists (although it's oddly enough split across four acts), and I think it handles the writing really well in the way Tales so often does. The familiar fantasy-with-technology setting and larger themes of environmentalism and anti-colonialism are here, sure, but they're done in an entertaining and still unique way from other Tales games to make this one as engaging as ever.

The gameplay has changed a little and a lot, but it's mostly changed in the very incremental way that the Tales series is so reliable with. Where Vesperia had learnable skills tied to weapons you equipped and Graces had skills tied to your titles you equipped, now equippable skills are tied to a large sphere grid-style board you can slot points into upon leveling up. It also provides stat buffs and such on top of what you get for normally leveling up, but it isn't anything super revolutionary (although it is a trend the series would continue for some time). The way you walk around the world has also changed, with the narrower corridors that used to define dungeons and fields being replaced with wider areas, particularly in the fields. You can look around these locations for materials and treasure chests, but it again isn't a terribly significant change to how things had been done so far. The game has no overworld, but it does have fast travel available very early, and the way it does its shops is also quite clever. Instead of having multiple shops, all types of shop are effectively the same all over the world (no hunting for that ONE shop that sells the thing you need), and you use those materials you win in battles or find around the world to trade in and upgrade them and the stock they hold. It's a very neat idea to reward exploration and also make shopping much more convenient.

The combat system has the same sort of combo/chain limit style that Tales of Graces has, but refined even further so it doesn't have nearly such a steep learning curve as that one did. However, while they have kept the chain system, they've also re-introduced a mana system, so you can't use artes and special moves like you used to. They take a lot of how technical and important your movement was (side-steps are completely removed) and refocus it instead on dodging and attacks that more easily flow into one another. A really cool move that Jude can do is if he dodges with a back-step just before an attack, he teleports behind the enemy to hit them for higher damage!

This also helps build up your link gauge faster, and linking is this game's overlimit mechanic. During battle, you can link to another party member, and they'll both gain a special power to use in battle as well as help you kill whatever you're killing (both guarding your back as well as helping you focus-fire). When you've either taken or dealt enough hits to reach a pip of the meter, you can press R2 after you do a particular special move (every partner has particular artes they can do this with) to do a super powerful move. Filling the bar all the way means you can use those special moves as much as you want until the meter runs out and/or unleash an ultimate attack. Tons of Tales games have overlimit mechanics like this, but this is definitely the overlimit mechanic that I've enjoyed and actually used the most instead of just forgetting to ever use it XP

The presentation is really nice. Music is pretty and atmospheric, which is very usual for a Tales game, and the anime graphics style of Tales is as pretty as it always is. Character design is good and fan service is very thankfully kept low (save for a few fairly revealing outfits). There are some slight performance hitches in very large battles (generally post-game battles or optional super hard fights with lots of movement and particle effects), but even when they happen they don't disrupt your ability to fight too badly. It feels more like you suddenly have bullet time than anything XD

Verdict: Highly Recommended. This game didn't take the top spot of Tales of Graces for my favorite Tales game, but it came damn close. Xillia is honestly probably just a better game than Graces, if I'm being more objective, but Graces's themes and characters just hit home for me in a way I'm not sure any game can top. This is a really solid Tales game and an excellent one to check out if you've ever been interested in the series. It may not be quite as good as Vesperia to use as your entry to the series, if you've ever played one at all before, but it's still a really good one that you wouldn't be going wrong with either as a newbie or a series veteran~

Previous Years: 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

First 50:

51. Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling - Switch
52. Banner of the Maid - Switch
53. CrossCode - Switch
54. Total Annihilation: The Core Contingency - PC
55. Ultima Underworld - PC
56. Betrayal at Krondor - PC
57. Assassin's Creed: Origins - PC
58. Axiom Verge 2 - Switch
59. Elderborn - PC
60. Hellbound - PC
61. Wargroove - Switch
62. Eye of the Beholder - PC
63. Quake: Dimension of the Past - PC
64. Quake: Dimension of the Machine - PC
65. Legends of Amberland: The Forgotten Crown - Switch
66. Anopek - PC
67. Baten Kaitos - Gamecube
68. No More Heroes 3 - Switch
69. Eye of the Beholder II - PC
70. Eye of the Beholder III - PC
71. Hedon II - PC
72. Deathloop - PC
73. Tales of Arise - PS5
74. Mechwarrior 5: Legend of the Kestrel Lancers - PC
75. Maneater: Truth Quest - PC
76. G String - PC
77. Thief (2014) - PC
78. Metroid Dread - Switch
79. Vomitoreum - PC
80. Severed Steel - PC
81. Syndicate - PC
82. Alan Wake - PC
83. Limitless Hunger - PC
84. Syndicate Wars - PC

Syndicate Wars is the follow up to Syndicate that is now IN THREE DEE! At it's core it's the same game, but with a bit more money spent. There's some good changes, some bad changes, and overall it's pretty much a sidegrade to the original.

Set several decades after the first game, EuroCorp has been running the world and keeping the populace in check by the Utopia program, which overwrites their perception of reality through their implants. But one day a virus is uploaded to the system and citizens become to be unplugged. The overall disruption means new powers can start to challenge EuroCorp's domination and so begin the Syndicate Wars. Unlike the first game there's actually a real story here. You initially are dealing with the aftermath of the virus before discovering who was behind it and needing to stop their overall plan (which is VERY bad for the Earth).

Like before, the game is a real time tactics game of managing your squad of four cybernetic agents as you accomplish mission objectives. The missions in Wars have a lot more interesting scripting in them, which ends up being both good and bad. On the good side it means that overall missions tend to be more interesting than the original game's, where the only time you cared about the map was whether or not you needed a vehicle to get past a gate. Here you have a lot more considerations around the terrain, especially since almost all buildings can be destroyed for fun and profit (profit especially with the banks, and you'll need that cash since taxes aren't a thing). Controlling your agents ends up being a bit more cumbersome; while you now can control groups or two or three agents it's now harder to quickly go from moving all agents to one, and selecting weapons is now a click and drag operation, rather than a grid that's always up. The drugs have been simplified to a single meter, and there's not a lot of apparent difference between the two. They also feel nerfed; in general enemies with equal weaposn will be able to hit you before you fire back, which severely reduces the drug usefulness (especially since it lowers health and energy regen).

You still perform R&D to gain new weapons and mods. You need to collect an item before you can research it (but don't need to keep it), and while you can use an unresearched item in battle you run the risk of your energy being blown away. There is no longer ammo, instead agents have an energy bar and all weapons draw from this bar. You generally only notice it when you have a really long series of back to back firefights and you are liberal with your trigger finger. One neat new feature is you can gain the ability to disguise as civilians, which drains energy rapidly but can be used to bypass some nasty objectives.

Due to the changes to drugs and such, the missions end up getting much harder in the last quarter. Some of that is certain missions end up having scripting that you need to really know about in advance to have a chance. This is most prevalent in the second to last mission, where following the objectives triggers a countdown and you need to do a lot of the map to stop the countdown, while you can preemptively handle it if you know about it going in. But the other part is enemies scale to the same high powered weapons as you, move fast, and your drugs won't give you the jump on them. So you need to click fast and furious and frankly the game isn't designed for it. A thing you also need to account for is that time no longer passes on the main menu and you can't repeat missions, so you can find that you get a great new upgrade that would be awesome in the next mission, but you won't actually get access until after said mission.

Overall while you get more interesting missions and weapons you also end up taking some hits in moment to moment gameplay due to the balance changes they made. Combining that with some mean scripting and the game ends up being both better and worse than the original. It is satisfying when you do get through a particularly rough mission, but since you still have no mid-mission saves this also can be stressful when it's a long mission with lots of "if you screw up you lose" points. Worth checking out if you liked the original, but be prepared to maybe not like this as much.

1. Cosmic Star Heroine (NS)
2. Boom Blox (Wii)
3. Grandia (NS)
4. New Super Mario Bros. (NDS)
5. Moss (PSVR)
6. Portal 2 (PS3)
7. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA (PS4)

8. Pokemon Snap (N64)

I beat Pokemon Snap a couple of nights ago. I bought this game on a whim about a week back when it showed up on kijiji in my neighbourhood for $10. It isn't a game that I was seeking out in any way, and wasn't a game I had ever played, but showing up at a decent price so close by I decided to pick it up. I figured I could always get my money back by reselling it if I didn't like it.

Well, I did like it. This will never make a favourite's list for me(not even just on the N64), but it was an enjoyable playthrough that was easy to learn and play, convenient to just put a few minutes into when I had the time, and short enough that once I started I figured I might as well finish it. It's really an on-rails shooter game, with a few items you pick up on the way to change what is going on with your targets or the level.

There are only 7 courses to ride through, but you'll have to do each multiple times to unlock levels and different events. The game doesn't give a ton of clues, and I chose to check a walkthrough on how to unlock the last level rather than trial-and-error my way into it.

Cute game, worth a try to see if if interests you(you'll probably know after running through 2 or 3 courses), but I don't see a lot of replayability, so I may still just get my money back by selling in the near future.

Pokemon Snap seems like it should be some strange jazz rhythm game.

Games Beaten in 2021 - 98
* denotes a replay

January (12 Games Beaten)


February (5 Games Beaten)


March (3 Games Beaten)


April (7 Games Beaten)


May (9 Games Beaten)


June (17 Games Beaten)


July (31 Games Beaten)


August (2 Games Beaten)


September (6 Games Beaten)


October (5 Games Beaten)


98. Parasite Eve - PS1 - October 20



Parasite Eve is a game that I’d been meaning to play for a long time considering what a classic PlayStation game it is. It’s one of those games that just stayed on my backlog, though, for one reason or another. Another game that I was more excited about came out, or I got sucked into a book, or I got busy with work; it was just one of those games where life always seems to get in the way. My interest in the game spiked when Bring Me the Horizon’s god-tier song entitled Parasite Eve came out inspired by the game. Between how killer that song is and how sick the music video is, I knew I had put it off for too long. I finally got around to playing through it for Halloween 2021, and while I don’t think it was quite as good as its legacy suggests, it’s definitely a solid game, and I understand why it’s usually held as a PlayStation classic.



Parasite Eve is ostensibly a horror game, and I can see why it gets that label, but it’s definitely not horror in the same way that Silent Hill or Resident Evil is. It’s fairly consistently creepy, but it was only occasionally scary. The music and environments were, for the most part, not all scary. Still, though, the story definitely fits the bill. The game’s narrative blends actual science with science fiction. The basic premise is that the mitochondria, the cellular organelle responsible for cellular respiration and energy production, is actually an ancient organize that developed a symbiotic relationship with the host organism hence the difference between mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA; the host provides the mitochondria with food and protection, and the mitochondria provides the host with energy. The game opens with the lead actress in a play singing as the entire audience spontaneously combusts, and you get your first view of the power of the antagonist of the game, “Mitochondrial Eve.” In actual science, there is a “Mitochondrial Eve,” although she actually has nothing to do with magic parasites or anything; the term simply refers to the most recent common female ancestor of all currently living humans as determined by mitochondrial DNA as that’s inherited from the mother (although recent research has shown that mitochondrial DNA can possibly be inherited from the father as well, the game is more than 20 years older than that study, so we’ll ignore that).



The game’s progression is broken into six chapters to which the game refers as “days,” although since Day 6 is just the final boss, there’s really only five chapters’ worth of content. As far as gameplay mechanics goes, it’s sort of reminiscent of Final Fantasy VII in that the camera angles are fixed, but battles can occur randomly, and the battles are done in a sort of pseudo-real time setup where you and the enemies move around in real time, and you can attack whenever your action meter fills. Unlike Capcom’s and Konami’s PS1 horror classics, Parasite Eve takes an RPG approach here; as you defeat enemies, you gain experience. When you level up, your various stats - the most important of which are your hit points and parasite points - increase. You also get access to more parasite powers - basically the game’s magic spells - as your level increases. Combining these stat increases with upgrading or swapping out your equipment is the key to success.



Parasite Eve was a bit of a slow burn for me, and took me a little while to really get into the game, but once I did, I was fairly invested in the story. I never reached the level of hooked that had me salivating to get home and fire up my PS1, but I was definitely interested in the game and wanted to finish it. I’m not sure I’d call this a “must play” for all PS1 owners, but it’s definitely worth giving a shot if you’re into classic horror games. Just make sure that you go into the game knowing what it is and what it isn’t, and keep your expectations appropriately tempered. I was a bit let down when I first started because I didn’t know what type of gameplay I was going to get, so I had been expecting a tense horror game with overworld encounters like Resident Evil or Silent Hill. Parasite Eve is absolutely a good game, but it’s definitely not your typical horror experience.

Previous Years: 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

First 50:

51. Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling - Switch
52. Banner of the Maid - Switch
53. CrossCode - Switch
54. Total Annihilation: The Core Contingency - PC
55. Ultima Underworld - PC
56. Betrayal at Krondor - PC
57. Assassin's Creed: Origins - PC
58. Axiom Verge 2 - Switch
59. Elderborn - PC
60. Hellbound - PC
61. Wargroove - Switch
62. Eye of the Beholder - PC
63. Quake: Dimension of the Past - PC
64. Quake: Dimension of the Machine - PC
65. Legends of Amberland: The Forgotten Crown - Switch
66. Anopek - PC
67. Baten Kaitos - Gamecube
68. No More Heroes 3 - Switch
69. Eye of the Beholder II - PC
70. Eye of the Beholder III - PC
71. Hedon II - PC
72. Deathloop - PC
73. Tales of Arise - PS5
74. Mechwarrior 5: Legend of the Kestrel Lancers - PC
75. Maneater: Truth Quest - PC
76. G String - PC
77. Thief (2014) - PC
78. Metroid Dread - Switch
79. Vomitoreum - PC
80. Severed Steel - PC
81. Syndicate - PC
82. Alan Wake - PC
83. Limitless Hunger - PC
84. Syndicate Wars - PC
85. They Always Run - PC

They Always Run is an indie story-driven platformer that takes a lot of cues from the cinematic platformer subgenre, though not quite enough to call it a full on cinematic platformer. It's set in space starring Aidan, a bounty hunter who is chasing after someone specific for revenge. It's a reasonably fun game, though there are some design problems and a few frustrating sections in levels where they forget to put their usual good checkpoints.

The game has a combo-based combat system similar to Bloodrayne Betrayal. You've got your basic melee combo, a dodge, and many enemies can block you. You can counterattack enemies which is an instant kill and refills a resource. You will gain some pistols with limited ammo that is quite effective at thinning herds. And the unique gimmick is you have a third arm which is used to bash enemies and walls. It has a limited resource, the one filled by the counterattacks. If you have the resource you bash an enemy hard and send them flying. If you don't then you do a weak punch which is good enough to stagger a guard but not so good for crowd control. As you progress you can purchase ability upgrades to give yourself additional capabilities.

As mentioned, the game does take some cues from cinematic platformers. All the animations are fairly long, and you have this weird combination of heavy and slippery; you have a lot of initial momentum to overcome, but once you do you're committed for a bit while an animation plays. The net result is there are several points where you'll accidentally jump off a ledge when attacking an unaware enemy at the edge, or you'll feel the need to carefully inch towards a zipline that you have to activate to use. But it isn't a full cinematic platformer; you have a lot of mobility options gained as you progress, though it's never any sort of Metroidvania style. You just have to do lots of long platforming segments with instant death if you fail.

There's a mildly interesting story here, but the game cuts out right at the point where the hero is at their lowest, after a major revelation. All the important threads are completely unresolved. It would be like ending Tim Burton's Batman when the Joker kidnaps Vicki and says the line that makes Bruce realize he was his parents' killer. Combined with some of the rough bits around controls and platforming and I find it hard to recommend the game, which is a shame because when it's firing on all cylinders it's quite fun. It's definitely not a bad game by any stretch, but I was left feeling really let down by the ending and it makes the parts in the middle that bothered me really stand out.