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Despite all these issues, I still enjoy playing Children of Morta. It is very far from anything I would call a great experience, but there's enough going on in its combat design and storytelling that I feel compelled by it. Just know that if you do pick it up you'll have to wade through a lot of compromises, unless... you know.. you just buy it on some other platform.

Will I let a few bad puzzles tarnish my entire perspective on this game? Well, yes. But I will also say that despite those glaring and frustrating flaws Unforeseen Incidents is quite enjoyable and has more to say than a lot of other adventure games I've played.

If you've reached the end here and are wondering what my score has to do with these words, I guess I can break it down here: Although Balatro looks great and is clearly very well designed, I do in fact wish there were some more options to make this mobile version friendlier for the small screen. There are other games that do Balatro's thing with enough of the same kind of flair while also adapting better, and if I'm going out of my way to play the mobile version, that is more important to me. Outside of the hype surrounding this game--which will fade--it shakes out to feeling like another great game to add to a pile of similarly great games.

My feelings about RESIDENT EVIL 7 biohazard are almost perfectly summed up by the opening moments of booting the game. Before you reach the game menu, there's this opening cinematic that plays set to a cover of "Go Tell Aunt Rhody." Choosing a centuries old folk song that has decidedly creepy vibes is a really inspired and evocative song choice, but this performance of it is so melodramatic and over-the-top that it loses all of its impact. Looking back on my time with RESIDENT EVIL 7 biohazard, it's fairly easy to see this pattern of excellent decision-making getting kneecapped all over the place. It makes for an uneven, and sometimes frustrating--experience, but one that is nonetheless easier to enjoy than its less-inspired counterparts on the App Store.

There's nothing about Zenless Zone Zero that will change any set feelings about gacha games. But, assessing it for what it is, it's a great one of those games that offers something different from this new wave of gachas that reward dedicated play as much (if not more) than those with deep pockets.

Roia is at its best when you're just chilling out to its wonderful soundtrack and in a flow of land sculpting. There are moments in the game that intentionally disrupt this to provide some challenge, create some surprise, and add some contextual storytelling which feel necessary to make it a full experience as opposed to a toy. Some of these segments could potentially use some refinement, but overall Roia is still enjoyable for what it is as it is.

GUNCHO is by no means a bad game, but it does feel like it's missing something. Previous games from Rauers have a few more wrinkles to them that help make them stand out, whereas this game is just another solid roguelike.

There are a lot of novel and extremely clever ideas in Strange Horticulture, but by the time I finished with the game I was truly tired of its gameplay. I'm sure the issues with the game's UI had a lot to do with this, but even when things are working as they should, there's just a lot of procedural referencing and looking up that can get sloggy after a while. I'm sure another game like this could come around and find some success, but I don't think I'd be ready to play a game like Strange Horticulture again for a good long time.

Loop Hero hasn't suddenly turned into a different game in the years since its release, but you can also see why there haven't been any splashy games like it since. At times, the game feels like lightning in a bottle. At others, it gives the feel of countless other games that are just random systems slurries. When you could play it somewhat idly (and when folks had a lot more idle time), I imagine it felt more magical than it does now playing on a device where you have to face its imperfections head on.

Ghost Trick is a charming and unique puzzle adventure experience, and I'm not sure there's anything else out there quite like it. It's certainly not the smoothest play (especially these days), but this remaster definitely adds enough shine to make it worth picking up on iOS.