A Summer's End - Hong Kong 1986

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on August 23rd, 2025.

A Summer's End - Hong Kong 1986 is a short and sweet period piece visual novel. Lots of pinks, blues and purples, packed together with a great 1980s-inspired soundtrack and presentation. I'm leaving satisfied.

The art looks fabulous and relies heavily on the vibrant colors of the idealized 1980s aesthetics. As a period piece from an interesting, and in games not often seen, place like Hong Kong, I think the art style lends itself really well. I also really liked all the different outfits of the heroines. I'm not too sure whether that's a common practice in visual novels to have that many different outfits (especially for the game's length), but I wholeheartedly welcome it.

The writing was to the point. It doesn't meander too much on excessive fluff or overly describing the situation, but it's not too fast-paced either. It manages to strike just the right balance. At least for me. The protagonists written are believable and likable. And when it comes to the secondary cast, even then, all the characters add a worthy layer of complexity to the protagonists. Even if you disagree with what they have to say, you can still understand where they might be coming from. It managed to create just the right mix of emotions within me.

I suppose you could point out that it could have been a bit longer, offer more, or nitpick about the perhaps slightly exposition dump-ey beginning. But that didn't bother me at all after I was invested, which really didn't take long.

Oh, and the music was great too. Fitting, fun to listen to, and accommodating for both the upbeat and somber moments. It's one of those soundtracks I can definitely see myself returning to, just to casually listen to it. So, yes, consider me a fan. 

 

Overall rating: 90%

Playtime: 8h 12m

Played on PC.

I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on August 19th, 2025.

I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator. What a lengthy title. Almost certainly parodying the often so made fun of titles of manga and anime.

Well, how do you rate this... Okay, I understand that you're not exactly supposed to take this seriously, and I will try not to, but I also don't want to write this off as only a joke or a meme. What you have here is a simple visual novel, published by KFC themselves, about dating Colonel Sanders. It is short, linear, and to be honest, not even that funny. I will admit, it did give me an amused snort here and there, but the majority of the text is not that entertaining and just too nonsensical. For less than a 2-hour-long game, it didn't feel as short, and I sadly don't mean that as a compliment. Its text is essentially composed of ridiculous scenarios, characters and absurdist jokes. Some might like it, some might not. I did not.

Even for a visual novel, though, it felt like it lacked features. I'm not asking for anything revolutionary, but even such small things like the lack of any text rollback or proper save system annoyed me. Maybe it seems dumb to complain about that in such a short, joke game like this, but still. A simple RenPy project would have that baked-in, if I understand correctly. Since it's so short, I decided to try to get all the endings, and the lack of these features kind of annoyed me.

The art and music are alright, but there really isn't anything worth playing this for, other than being able to say that you played a dating sim with Colonel Sanders. I get it, I get it, it's just a simple freeware dating sim, that's essentially just an elaborate advertisement. In the end, it just wasn't as funny as I thought it might have been. For some reason, I cannot stop thinking that it is more fun knowing that this thing exists, rather than actually playing it.

Overall rating: 40%

Playtime: 2h 41m

Played on PC.

Emergency Police

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on September 5th, 2024.

 

I liked the first game, but this stand-alone expansion felt a bit buggier and some of the missions felt too constrained in some aspects. The focus on the police units specifically still does not feel like a great idea to me, as it feels more limited by design than the first game, which focused on all of the three emergency services, nicely complementing each other in the gameplay. The rest of the gameplay and the graphics in this expansion are pretty much identical to the first game and this was released 3 years later, so I expected it to be a bit better. Nonetheless, it was still fun.

 

Overall rating: 60%

Playtime: 14h 26m

Played on PC, Emulated on PCEM.

Serial Experiments Lain

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on December 26th, 2023.

 

A very moving experience, which I now actually prefer over the anime.

It has barely any elements of an actual game – no puzzles, challenges or anything like that. The closest you can compare it to is probably a visual novel. Like the anime, this game touches on the same subjects, though I have to say, it manages to present them in a more real and authentic-feeling way. There is less of a focus on the sci-fi elements than in the anime, in exchange for the focus on the psyche of Lain and Touko, her counsellor.

They are both well-written, believable and they do not feel one-dimensional, which is good since they are essentially the core of the entire experience. You explore the story in a non-linear fashion, which forces you to piece the story together yourself. However, even with the non-linear storytelling the story is still more coherent than its anime counterpart, which focuses more on the surrealistic, avant-garde and sci-fi elements. I like this though, as it really allows the whole experience to feel much more impactful.

The atmosphere, together with the sound effects and the OST, is very charming. After some parts of the game you really just stop, listen, take in all the atmosphere and think about what you have been hearing and witnessing, while the soothing sombre tune plays in the background. Perfect execution for a game like this.

The only problem is the controls, which can sometimes feel clunky and slow, having to wait for animations to finish and such. You just have to bear with it. Thankfully, you can at least jump multiple levels of the menu without having to go one by one.

 

Overall rating: 90%

Playtime: 14h 42m

Played on PC, in a browser.

Gran Turismo

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on November 4th, 2023.

 

I have to say, I was pretty surprised with how this game turned out to be. I was not expecting to be this satisfied with it. (I did play on an emulator with a 60FPS patch, however.)

The car selection is big (for the time) and features not only sports cars but primarily focuses on normal road cars. Throughout the game, it was quite satisfying to get credits, upgrade your cars and receive new ones as a reward for the championships. This worked well within the progression which was also nice — albeit the endgame with the endurance races feels a bit too dull.

The graphics were also something I enjoyed, but I get that this is more of a personal preference. It definitely gives the game more of an identity, looking at it from a modern standpoint. It feels like they really got the most out of what they had to work with regarding the hardware of the PS1.

Now, for the most important part, the driving physics. They are still pretty good for most of the time. They can freak out a bit after you drive over a curb quickly which can send you flying into a corner if you're not careful, but other than that, they aged pretty well. I don't have anything to complain about here that much.

As for the negatives, some of the licence tests were ridiculously hard to get gold in. (It doesn't have to be easy, but it just felt like a bit too much.) Next, the track list is solid, but it would be nice to have just a little bit more. The tracks can get repetitive later on and this is made worse by the fact that if you, especially in the early game, don't spend your money wisely, you might need to grind for some time.

It isn't for everybody, but I do think that if you are a fan of racing games and can appreciate older ones, give the original Gran Turismo a try. 

 

Overall rating: 80%

Playtime: 26h 9m

Played on PC, Emulated on Duckstation.

Lugi's Mansion

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on October 13th, 2023.

 

Luigi's Mansion is a truly unique and atmospheric experience. It's also not too long or short and offers a decent challenge if you want to go for the higher ranks.

It comes with some flaws, like sometimes a bit of annoying controls or the final boss fight, which, in my opinion, was probably the weakest part of the game.

It's still a really charming game though, that felt pretty satisfying to play.

Overall rating: 80%

Playtime: 10h 27m

Played on PC, Emulated.

Dirt: Showdown

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on September 29th, 2023.

Dirt: Showdown is a decent and different entry in the Dirt series.

There is a pretty good variety of event types and also cars. I was honestly pretty surprised by how they managed to put a spin on the typical races and demolition derbies. The driving and crashing physics are satisfying and come with a decent damage model. The graphics are nice, the soundtrack is alright and the (Advanced) difficulty was challenging enough to keep me engaged.

Now, my complaints. The optimization is not perfect, because of the framerate dips. There is a lack of a custom race mode, excluding the multiplayer, which is nowadays dead anyway. Another thing is the campaign, it is just a collection of events put together with nothing in between. I will give them that, they tried by reserving some of the environments for later in the campaign and by naming the opponents, but it just didn't do it for me. The whole campaign just felt really uninspired.

It is a solid game. While it doesn't do anything really new or special, it can still be fun, especially if you're looking for a demolition derby racing game.

Overall rating: 70%

Playtime: 18h 21m

Played on PC.

Back to Bed

Originally published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on September 10th, 2023.

 

Back to Bed is a short little puzzle game with elegant graphics, inspired by the art of M. C. Escher and Salvador Dalí.

The art is nice, and it is definitely the main draw of the game, but the game’s difficulty is a bit iffy. Your objective is to guide the character to his bed using items to influence his path. This is however not very challenging, except perhaps for a few levels in the main story.

The levels get fun and challenging mostly in the New Game Plus “Nightmare mode”, where you must collect additional pickups, which make the levels more complicated. It is however shame that you have to basically beat the game for it to get challenging.

The narrative could have also been improved, as it acts more as a context for what is happening, but I suppose it is not really the most important thing in a puzzle game. Other than this, the art and the difficulty, there really isn’t much to talk about. It is one of those games where what you see, is what you get.

In the end, it is just a little puzzle game with cool visuals, but not much to offer otherwise. If you stick around though, which isn’t that long to the game’s advantage, it can be pretty fun and satisfying for what it is. 

Overall rating: 60%

Playtime: 4h 2m

Played on PC.

Azutama

Published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on August 29th, 2023.

 

Short but sweet and satisfying arcade action for the fans of the anime. It reminds me of those old-school '90s and early 2000s freeware games included on CDs in gaming magazines. It also has pleasant sprite artwork and powerups. 

Overall rating: 80%

Playtime: 2h 13m

Played on PC.

Grand Theft Auto V

Published on my HLTB account.

Originally written and published on August 25th, 2023.

 

Grand Theft Auto V can be breathtaking and includes some amazing details; however, it is also a regression from Rockstar’s previous work in some aspects.

The game features an amazing presentation, open world and world-building full of details, which makes it seem like a real living place. On the other hand, the characters felt quite unlikable for the majority of the story, police AI is not good (because of their omniscient presence and their knowledge of your hiding spot even when out of their sight), some side content was buggy, there is a lack of interiors when compared to the previous games, and vehicle damage, hand combat and the control of the character are regressed.

I have also faced numerous small bugs during my playthrough such as cars phasing through small walls and fences, a pair of invisible NPCs during switches or missions, peyote plants failing to trigger, a broken steering wheel during a switch cutscene and some minor clothing clipping issues.

Even with all these mistakes and imperfections, I still think it’s an awesome game, especially because of its amazing world-building and humour, but also relatively satisfying gameplay.

 

 

Overall rating: 85%

Playtime: 121h 41m

Played on PC.

Crash Time: Autobahn Pursuit

Published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on April 1st, 2023.

 

Pros: 

 + Surprisingly good driving and damage physics
+ Quite a few unnecessary details, like usable blinkers and character models in the car changing depending on the context
+ World design - feels lively, includes hidden routes
+ Well-balanced hard difficulty - challenging but not unfairly hard
+ Vehicle Variety

Cons and nitpicks:

- Objectives can become repetitive
- You cannot continue the cases where you left off but have to complete them fully in one go
- If you fail a mission, the retire button is first, and you might accidentally choose it instead of retrying, therefore having the repeat the whole case
- No ability to choose colours in the single race mode (even though the cars support different colours in the career and for other racers)
- No Free-roam
- Some dialogues before missions are unskippable, making it tedious if you fail the mission

 

Overall rating: 75% 

Playtime: 9h 30m

Played on PC.

Burnout 3: Takedown

Published on my HLTB profile.

Originally written and published on July 18th, 2023.

 

One of the best arcade racing games of the 2000s. Awesome soundtrack, fun handling, Crash Mode and a lot of variety in the locations that still feel significantly unique nearly 20 years later.

There are some minor flaws like the boring color selection on most of the cars, the sometimes-annoying camera angle in the impact mode and the traffic in Europe and Asia could use a bit more variety since the game uses American-style cab-over trucks in these regions.

But other than that, it’s pretty much a perfect game at what it’s trying to do.

Overall rating: 95%

Playtime: 26h 12m

Played on PC, emulated on PCSX2 Nightly 1.7.4687.

Game version: USA version 1.0.

Need for Speed: Shift

Published on my HLTB account.

Originally written and published on July 5th, 2023.

Pros:

+ Great feel of speed
+ Detailed car models for its time
+ Good driving and crash physics
+ Good performance customization
+ Interesting racetrack selection

 

Cons and nitpicks:

- The career is just a collection of events, it would benefit from having a sponsor and a team feature à la GRID for example.
- In some races, with certain cars, the AI feels unfairly fast and stable. The difficulty is mostly fine, but some races can be infuriating if you're going for all the stars.
- Unbalanced and poorly designed side objectives in some events. Like spinning out the opponents when the game just refuses to let them spin out and in a way, it is easier to flip them.
- Physics can sometimes freak out, such as when the cars bump the ground a lot on slopes, and sometimes it feels like the cars purposefully pull themselves toward the barriers if you hit them and are still on the grass.

This is a solid simcade racer, especially for the time. It has inconsistent difficulty in some places and lacks polish in some areas, but I have enjoyed it altogether.

Overall rating: 70%

Playtime: 55h 14m

Played on PC.