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52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

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bikingjahuty:
21. Reanimal (PS5)

My first exposure to the Little Nightmares series was watching my wife play through the first two games. I remember thinking the atmosphere, art, and interesting puzzle/platforming gameplay looked interesting enough to where I wanted to try playing these games myself at some point. Well, that point came last year where I finally played the first Little Nightmares game and....it was okay. I honestly thought I'd like it more than I did, but for what it's worth, I still thought Little Nightmares was a decent, spooky game and given how short it was, I found it hard to be upset about not liking it more.


Given my lukewarm reaction to the first Little Nightmares was, I was in no rush to play Little Nightmares 2 and after my wife's fairly negative appraisal of Little Nightmares 3, I had no intention of playing that one. Enter Reanimal. Yes, I'm aware that Little Nightmares 3 is pretty much a Little Nightmares game by name only given it was developed by an entirely different team. On the flip side, Reanimal is essentially the real Little Nightmares 3 despite having a different, unrelated name. This was enough for my wife to want to pick up Reanimal and due to the inclusion of a local co-op option, I was willing to play it with her during our first playthrough. At only around 4 hours to beat, we blew through this game in a few evenings, beating the game tonight. And well, I feel about the same towards Reanimal as I did the first Little Nightmare games.


Like Little Nightmares, you control one of two children who are forced to navigate through a dreary, horror-filled world in a state of ruin. However, unlike Little Nightmares, there seems to be a bit more emphasis placed on some sort of story involving a well, sheep, and a bunch of other crap I was never able to wrap my head around. Luckily, the avant garde horror plot barely matters and instead the game's focus seems to be more on the experience of getting through each of the nightmarish sections that comprise Reanimal's world.


I actually didn't care for this game during the first quarter of it. You're being chased in a dilapidated city surrounded by a forest while a guy who looks like Coraline's Other Father collects skin suits from a bunch of unnamed inhabitants of the city. This section didn't really scare me or put me on edge, and honestly I just felt sort of bored. Luckily the game quickly picks up right after this part and outside an ending that was somewhat annoying to play through, the game does accomplish being a fairly interesting, unique horror setting. This setting is rendered pretty well in the game's visuals, however I have to point out that some areas become difficult to navigate or avoid obstacles due to how dark they are or how the fixed camera seems to be in the wrong place at times. Also, given how zoomed out most of the game is, there were a handful of times where I mistook my character I was controlling for the one my wife was controlling, or a few NPC characters that join you sporadically throughout your journey. These issues came up enough to where they certainly impacted my overall enjoyment of the visuals in Reanimal, but not enough to ruin the game or for me to even consider the visuals just decent. No, Reanimal's visuals are pretty good as is the overall art direction.


The audio in Reanimal, while pretty good from a sound design perspective, has little else to offer beyond that. Yes, there is an original soundtrack here, but outside enhancing the horror atmosphere, I never found it to be particularly alluring or good. There is a touch of voice acting in Reanimal, but honestly it's so infrequent and the characters speaking are practically whispering that it might as well have not been included. No, the best part of this game's audio is its sound design and effects which do a pretty good job of ramping up tension or anxiety as some hostile creature is running after you or something creepy suddenly appears out of nowhere.


This leaves Reanimal's gameplay, which is umm, pretty good...mostly. Anyone who has played Little Nightmares or its sequels will be familiar with how Reanimal controls. As one of the playable characters, your abilities remain fairly limited. You can essentially run, jump, and interact with a plethora of objects using an action button. Reanimal also gives the player an extra source of light in the darker portions of the game, just like its predecessors of a different name. However, Reanimal also offers the ability to fight, allowing you to use a variety of weapons to handle specific situations you run into. Unfortunately, these weapons and how often they're used does reduce some of the anxiety and tension the game is trying to make the player feel. It's also worth noting that due to some of the visuals issues I mentioned earlier, it's easy to get hung up on something or accidentally get detected when you thought you were hidden in cover. I also found the movement controls to be a bit vague and even floaty at times, which was an issue when I needed to make a jump or quickly change direction while trying to escape something. These were certainly issues, but on the whole, Reanimal is absolutely playable and mostly a well crafted experience to get through.


While I do have a decent amount of good things to say about Reanimal, I still unfortunately feel like this game just didn't land with me much like the first game. I'm at the point where I'm fairly certain these games use aren't for me when it comes to horror video games, a genre I'm typically a big fan of. Reanimal is not a bad game, not at all. However, it's a game that fails that really draw me in or give me anything objective to heap praise on, which means this will almost assuredly be the first and last time I ever play Reanimal and possibly be the last Little Nightmares-like game I have it in me to play. (3/8/26) [34/50]

dhaabi:

--- Quote from: bikingjahuty on March 09, 2026, 12:13:49 am ---21. Reanimal (PS5)

While I do have a decent amount of good things to say about Reanimal, I still unfortunately feel like this game just didn't land with me much like the first game. I'm at the point where I'm fairly certain these games use aren't for me when it comes to horror video games, a genre I'm typically a big fan of. Reanimal is not a bad game, not at all. However, it's a game that fails that really draw me in or give me anything objective to heap praise on, which means this will almost assuredly be the first and last time I ever play Reanimal and possibly be the last Little Nightmares-like game I have it in me to play. (3/8/26) [34/50]
--- End quote ---

Sometimes a decent or even good game just isn't the right game for us. On a general level, I feel as if a lot of people fail to recognize that when something simply doesn't cater to their preferences. Good to see you demonstrate that sensibility.

Out of curiosity—since your wife enjoyed Little Nightmares and Little Nightmares II but not Little Nightmares III, what was her overall opinion regarding Reanimal?

marvelvscapcom2:
18. New Super Mario Bros. 2 [3DS] - finished - March 2nd, 2026




KOOPA KINGDOM GOLD RUSH


New Super Mario 3DS is a familair face with new botox. Yet another gimmick pasted onto the New Super Mario bros series, and that is with all love and respect because I feel the entire identity of the Mario Franchise lives or dies by how well they can utilize a new concept or gimmick. With Wonder it was the musical sections. The elephant power up. With New Super Mario Bros 1 the whole schtick was that Mario can turn into a Godizlla sized gargantuan and plow through everything on screen. It had our ham in a can when we first seen it in 2006. Well Mario Bros 2's big gimmick?  Gold my friends.  Stinky, hedge against hybrid inflation, Scrooge McDuck level GOLD.  It's really magnificent all the fun they manage to sap out of the simplicity of the mario coin. Perhaps the most unassuming of all the Mario collectibles. But what they manage to accomplish is actually extremely fun.


DESIGN + Gimmick

Each of the 6 worlds is broken up into upwards of 8 levels. And each of these levels has 3 giant gold coins to find for completionist playthrough.  The 3 collectible coins are where 90 percent of the games challenge comes from. Most require expert level platforming, wall kicks, shell throws and powers to even get. But the Gold Rush didn't stop in the first city baby! Gold comes in other forms. It comes in the form of a giant gold block for a head that spits gold coins as you run. A golden flower power that blasts enemies with supersonic subatomic golden rays of gold. A power that turns all enemies gold allowing you to throw a koopa shell and follow a giant string of gold coins. And of course an entire mode called gold rush where you try to get as many gold coins in a 3 level gauntlet.  So yeah. The game loves it's Gold lol. It was probably produced by Rumplestilskin. I find that when you throw a golden Koopa shell following its path perfectly and hearing the chime of gold and 1ups is beautiful. I really enjoy the fluidity of that. The game is a casual sit through. It's calming. It's pretty for it's age. And also a happy fun time.


New Mario Bros 2 also has some of the best ghost levels I have ever played.  One where you need to time between looking at a giant Boo (ghost) and a smaller one while also navigating. If you stare at one too long it gets too close.  It is a feeling that walls are closing in as you traverse very spooky and brand appropriate haunted houses.  Then one of the later ghost houses feels very similar in nature to how super mario world does it's haunted house levels. It is a puzzle with trick doors.  Iconic, cute and perfected here.


Overall. New Super Mario Bros 2 is not akin to some monumentous epic or a glass of scotch.  It's more akin to a Capri Sun at Recess. It has sweet charismatic boss battles, colorful levels, fun new gimmicks and one of the most solid secondary collectible playthroughs I have seen.  In the palm of my hand it feels magnificent. 


Rating - 83/100

dhaabi:

--- Quote from: supremeusername on March 07, 2026, 05:56:59 pm ---
--- Quote from: dhaabi on March 05, 2026, 07:33:29 pm ---I wasn't familiar with Saya no Uta previously (I'm generally unfamiliar with visual novels), but I did become somewhat curious about it after reading your thoughts. Without really knowing the extent to just how explicit this game is even after some shallow searching, I decided to peruse images results. With that said, while it's not a game for me (probably only) because of its eroge content, it's interesting to know that this exists and as is popular as it is.

--- End quote ---

The Steam version cuts down on the eroge content, but I don't know how it's done. I've tried looking into it, but everyone has a slightly different description about what's shown and what's removed. I think you still get the context about what's happening, but the eroge dialogue & nudity is cut out. Some people liked the 'censored' version more after reading both, so you couldn't be wrong looking into the Steam version if you're interested. It's still gonna require some willpower to read though, no matter what version you pick.

--- End quote ---

This just seems like one of those instances where I probably will just elect to not play the game unless my opinion toward eroge ever changes. While I'm sure a formally censored version is fine, I'd always rather engage (particularly with how its implemented in a scenario like Saya no Uta, if my impression of the game is correct) with a piece of content how it was originally intended.

dhaabi:
12. Orironautilus: Oppressongo || Browser || 03.08.2026



Not too long ago, I came across a developer's itch.io page and was interested in the most popular game they had released up to that point. However, instead of playing that game first, I actually decided to delve further back into their history of creating games since most seem loosely related to each other (or it seems that way, anyway—maybe it's just a unifying design choice.) So, I decided to play through Orironautilus: Oppressongo.

Prior to playing, I really had no expectation for what kind of game Orironautilus is since its store page is vague, although I was aware of its brief play time. Even across the first minute or two of play, I wasn't really understanding what exactly I was doing, but, as it turns out, Orironautilus is a game of puzzle game combining memory and hidden object type play. In each stage, so to speak, players are tasked with finding and activating a path of five connecting dots on a screen that's wholly comprised of one static image with no other interactivity. These dots are sometimes usually simple to locate, though other times they're hidden by being more integrated into the on-screen illustration or maybe not formally present at all. For the latter especially, players may frantically move their cursor to trigger these dots, though that's seldom helpful despite the impulse to do so. The reason for that is because each dot segment must be triggered in the correct order. Failing to do so results in every previous activated segment to revert. And should the player move across any other segment besides the beginning one first, the image color shifts that serves as helpful player feedback.

Surprisingly, the game revolves around the premise of the protagonist experiencing a lucid dream—an oppressive one in particular. Each illustration is connected by the dots we're to activate as they guide us deeper into this semi-conscious journey and for allowing the protagonist the continued means to dream. However, simply activating each dot segment is not some passive activity without repercussions. Instead, there is a strict time limit of ten seconds to accomplish this task for each stage screen or else the screen reverts back to the previous one should the player fail to progress in time. So, the need to remember previous puzzles like a memory exercise is crucial, because a first playthrough will likely be confusing and more of a challenge than one may have anticipated. I'm not exactly sure how the time limit relates to lucid dreaming, but I suppose it's implemented as lucid dreaming is a phenomena requiring concentration, whether it be intentional or not.

Despite its simple gameplay, however, Orironautilus doesn't always function well. When hovering over the next dot segment, there are times when it doesn't activate. Also, there is a bug that occurs when the player keeps moving their cursor after the current puzzle is solved. If the cursor happens to hover over any of the five dots again, the game recognizes such action as triggering the puzzle in the incorrect order. As implied, this reset occurs even while the game is quickly loading the next stage. Even so, the time meter continues to deplete, so players will likely fail the current stage should this happens. Though I don't think these problems are intended, they do elevate the game's theme of oppressive dreams.

But concerning the game's presentation, it has its strengths and weaknesses. Visual design is decent, although obviously these are static illustrations with no virtually zero interactivity. Meanwhile, sound design could be better. Triggering each dot successfully produces an electrical beep that sounds out of place, though its contrasted by more appropriate-sounding thumps when selecting a segment out of order. All the while, a light static noise propels the nightmarish experience. A more mechanical element is a point and rank system that's implemented. When failing a stage, more points are lost than they are to be regained, so repeatedly failing can easily revert the player's score to zero. I wasn't particularly interested in that sort of element, but I did quickly play through the game a second time after memorizing each stage to see just how efficiently I could solve each puzzle while playing around the game's bug risks.

For a lot of these smaller indie games, my expectations for what exactly the type of experience they'll provide varies considerably; however, Orironautilus: Oppressongo is almost assuredly the one I so far began knowing the least about before I began playing, and perhaps that lack of awareness enhances the game's experience in some way. Overall, the game is a strange curio of sorts, and I don't regret my time playing it.

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