Accessibility:70%
Story:80%
Difficulty:70%
Score:73%
I had been looking forward to Dreamlight Valley for well over a month. Upon its announcement I had never felt so angsty before. I have immense comfort and special interest in Disney. And the fact it was stardew-esque and animal crossing-esque was exciting. So this was huge for me. And I have a very generally positive opinion of this game. Very positive. But I'm gonna start off with its issues first to get it out of the way.

My two hugest issues with this game is its glitches and its half assed completion. I have encountered more glitches than I can count on both hands and despite not many of them being completely game breaking its so so annoying. Characters tied to the water are often unreachable or glitched. Characters tell you good morning at 7 PM. Your legs shrink and unshrink when you run. When you leave menus the camera zooms to parts of the map you are not in. Its such odd glitches and mistakes that happen so often it seems as if it wasnt even play tested before dropping.

Its incompleteness is the absolute worst of it though. They have had to emergency patch it very soon after dropping because of things that seems like shouldve been thought through. They have item spawn issues that can and has held up peoples games. Being soft locked is the worst. Especially in a brand new game. The way you progress with characters is so fun and gives me serotonin to run around with Donald Duck and talk to him every day. But there are two sea-bound characters that its almost like they were either too lazy or didnt think of what it would do to their progression. Perhaps they ran out of time or couldn't figure it out but even though I don't personally love The Little Mermaid I see it as one of their biggest fuck ups in the game. Progression with them is botched as they cant follow you around so you really can only progress with them at a snails pace. The daily gifts are randomized so theres no garuntee that will help either.

There are special upgrades that help you get through areas to unlock the map fully. But theres a part of the map thats Lion King themed with Bones blocking your path. When they released the game and still so there is no way to upgrade and destroy this path blockage. This seems like a huge thing to not have in your game since you can destroy every other blockage on the map. And the next character release isn't even The Lion King so theres no hope of fixing that very soon. Things can drop out of bounds incapable to be collected and seems like another simple thing play testing could have helped. It also has a lot of crashes that only seemed to up after they patched. It seems like their code may be made of spaghetti.

Which leads me to my conclusion on most of the negative things on this game. I don't think its the devs and people who put their heart into this game. I think Disney is so rich it could afford to have put more into this game and I think it qould make a difference. The game was out soon after announcement which makes me worried they had to crunch as well. I think the company itself is why theres so many issues with the game. Not the devs. And because of this assumption I'm fairly willing to forgive most of it especially since its going to ne a long project and I cant wait to see the fixes and additions they add.

Its a good time to mention it was strange it was announced as free but has no free version upon release. This makes me worry if the added characters and what not will cost money or not. Something Disney doesnt really need. This however is speculation and I have no way in knowing until the Toy Story pack drops.

One last negative that I do fault the developers for, accessibility. They have a streamer mode but no way to turn off flashing lights during storms or even a warning for that. There is no subtitles so when you pass your favorite character if you can not hear or process words you cant hear them tell you good morning or that they love you. My dyslexic friend says the blue background on the text helps with reading but it could be greatly improved. The text size isnt adjustable and is not very big at all. The customization is broad in the way that you can always use it which I love but doesnt have bigger bodies or any form of having your character as disabled with no mobility aids which I am always disappointed in. The function for the phone and editing your house is garbage and barely functional especially for disabled folk. Overall the accessibility options are absolute garbage but most of the base game play is fairly understandable and functional.

My only complaints with the difficulty have to do with spawn rates and my usual quests requiring a lot more effort as you go on. Since this is a problem for a lot of people with learning disabilities and gaming the difficulty arc can just make them give up, frustrated, discouraged, etc. I have quit the game many times when I saw for example Minnie needed 200 clay... But I digress. The spawn rate and the issue with the bones can hinder and soft lock a quest as well so it can be even worse.

The story is pretty good. I have my theories about the plot development and twists but I think its really good so far. Its premise is fun and the characters are amazing and voiced by their original actors. Its really good. I didnt give it a hundred only because it was published without any closure or completion to the story. I know they will add more to the game but they could have added more plot points and stories as well. Again this may be due to crunching and underfunding so not as many points off for this.

Small positive notes the furniture and clothes are vast and amazing. The character interactions and canon friendships are shocking and adorable. You can change your gender at any time. The food making is a fun mechanic I like to guess and put random things together. The hang out option is great. I never knew I'd love Merlin so much. The gardening is fun. Lastly, I love Mickey Mouse. He is my best friend. That is all.

Accessibility:90%
Story:100%
Difficulty:90%
Score:95%
Calico is an amazing fantastic game that is one of those games you genuinely dont want to end. I really wish I could endlessly play it I really do. I did the side stories before pretty much all of the main stories and I wouldnt recommend that. Id just recommend unlocking the map first. You can pick from any animal and take your time getting to know the characters. Its the best way to go trust me. I think that its perfectly quaint and easy to get lost in. Theres a surplus of people complaining about the controls but I didn't personally find them overly confusing and had very little complaints.

But I'll start with my praise and ecnouragement to play it. It's customization is not only amazing and allowed my character to be fat, but is ALWAYS available. If you want to change the appearance for gender, plural, or any reason under the sun you can at literally anytime. And its a huge plus that you can unlock cute patterns to put on the clothes you buy too. Its very different than customization I've seen before.

And with that and the way you can decorate your cafe, collect cute animals, and decide which ones are visiting your cafe or roaming around with you is really just like the dream of a girlgames.com nostalgic person. Which is me. I appreciate the mechanics and activities you can do in the game. Honest to god this is one of the only games I felt was friendly to my learning disability because I never once felt like I had to stop or wasnt having fun because it got too hard. Which honestly happens to me on almost all games unfortunately because I'm not usually amongst gaming "target audiences" with the skills my disability hinders.

On top of that I loved the quests, characters, setting, and the game over all. Huge shoutout to the cooking minigame which I found ridiculously pleasant. It really grounded the cafe portion of the game and also made me look up and learn how flan is made hooray. Its not hard to 100% or get the achievements its just a fun game to actually have fun and I really truly loved it. The accessibility options were quite decent as well.

Now for my sole and only complaint is that a few of the quests werent hard but confusing. Purrhaps I was missing the point or cue but I only had issues with two quests (the same ones I saw everyone else question about as well). So if you see this and want to play, carry the bunnies to the pin and the last pigeon is in Blossom's yard lol. You want a second complaint? Okay it wasn't long enough I wanted it to have more content, but that doesnt matter because they are very literally fulfilling that soon. They will be dropping a free update with more content and minigames and I know 100% I will love it just as much.

Also if youre wondering I had in my party: Pudgems, Poe, Mr. Bear, Kovu, And the gray tabby I can't recall their name because I called them Ralph after my cat.

Accessibility:100%
Story:95%
Difficulty:100%
Score:97%
I don't want to ramble too long about Paradise Killer, but I might. I was weary upon my spouse downloading it because if I'm honest I've never really been into vaporwave. I was however thrilled whenwe first brought it up. It was right after playing a horribly boring game with no diversity for about ten minutes and giving up. So you can imagine our surprise when we went to turn on the subtitles and saw the accessibility menu. We were overwhelmed with how much they had considered their players. It was really a great start.

I was still apprehensive as I'm not a fan of new things and as I said I don't like vaporwave so had never played a vaporwave game or given much time to anything to do with it. But even though I wasn't won over I was immediately shocked it wasn't a full 2d game but a tasteful combination of both 2d and 3d. The scenery even in the starting room was beautiful. And the reticle is a heart come onnnnn. The first character you meet surprised me with his design I knew immediately this game was very unique.

As were all the characters. Very diverse and all very easy to hate or love. Excellent writing is just like that. And it was really full of that. It's not only so unique that I'm fairly sure it's the only vaporwave mystery game, but I think it stands out in both categories alone. The mystery was so well woven I honestly was still worried I was wrong and was met with surprise in the ending's reveal.

The map was open, immersive, and beautiful. The lore was thick but felt natural and easy to consume. The only issue I had with the story is barely a complaint at all and that it was soooo easy to get distracted. Which could be good because of finding things you wouldn't otherwise have found. But sometimes it felt like it was so easy to get lost or forget where things were. My spouse mentioned an active minimap would have cured that for him. The map was good but not the most informative.

The collectibles and extras were amazing and the overall game was so good I was almost shocked to hear they weren't planning another yet. It felt like such a natural ending I was excited to see what came next and didn't want it to be over. Obviously all making this, in my autistic opinion, a very good game.

Initial reaction:
Redfall bleh
Expanding:
Its probably because its a shooter game but I did not find it compelling or interesting even a little bit. And I didnt like the cartoony style joined with blood and gore because I think game makers who welcome children into horror even subliminally with style and design choices are pigs that should be slaughtered :o)

Initial reaction:
Hollow knight good for them
Expanding:
Ive never played hollow knight but i know people really love it so im very happy for them to get a date and news.

Initial reaction:
Rick and morty creator game skipped this ew
Exanding:
No

Initial reaction:
Mobile games drop dont care
Expanding:
Not needed

Initial reaction:
Plague tale not interesting
Expanding:
Didnt look very compelling to me nor very diverse.

Initial reaction:
Forza wheres fucking fable 4
Expanding:
I hate cars

Initial reaction:
Flight simulator dont care
Expanding:
Planes. Okay. Saw giraffes tho love that.

Initial reaction:
What is this overwatch 2
Expanding:
Its overwatch 2

Initial reaction:
Is this civilization fr... Ara? Wtf
Expanding:
Not interested and unsure what the gameplay was supposed to look like

Initial reaction:
Vinn deisel on a dinasour yippee /s
Expanding:
I have never been interested in dinosaur games but I was in love with the accurate feathered designs!!

Initial reaction:
Skipped gore game
Expanding:
Cant didnt watch it lol

Initial reaction:
Flintlock good char design big floppa
Expanding:
It looked good but I wouodnt play it but my spouse liked it! And the little cat thing was cute.

Initial reaction:
Minecraft 2? Just play minecraft
Expanding:
I'm sure others will like it but im not into that style of game and would rather play minecraft.

Initial reaction:
Frontier good graphics n farming yay
Expanding:
I wouldnt play it but it was very pretty

Initial reaction:
Furry game cute not my style
Expanding:
The font was unreadable for me so I couldnt see the title but the design really was precious. Not interested in the play style though.

Initial reaction:
The last case of benedict fox not interesting to me but cool design
Expanding:
It was pretty cool to watch but I wouldnt play it myself.

Initial reaction:
Dusk fall not my style cool tho ig
Expanding:
It did look very unique and new. I would watch it if my spouse played it but not myself.

Initial reaction:
Naraka pretty
Expanding:
Im not drawn to fighting games but it really is beautiful

Initial reaction:
Pentiment lame 0 diversity
Expanding:
A fine example of games excluding diversity from the olden times fantasy aesthetic and it bores me to tears

Initial reaction:
Grounded is it done
Expanding:
Its done

Initial reaction:
Ereban interesting dont get it tho
Expanding:
Im not gonna lie right now this one didnt stick out so much I cant remember it at all xD

Initial reaction:
Diablo ok gross
Expanding:
I dont care for this type of game and it was just adding a class.

Initial reaction:
This is THE ONLY GOOD THING IN THIS SHOWCASE I LOVE SEA OF THIEVES
Expanding:
I literally have nothing but good things to say about Sea of thieves. Its amazing and you can have pride flags and its such a fun and beautiful game theyre not even doing capitalist pride its literally been this good for a long time.

Initial reaction:
Oh pretty fucking cool ravenlok is so cool
Expanding:
This does look amazing and I was sold on the giant cat. I was not suprised as the makers did amazing on Echo generation.

Initial reaction:
Reminds me of journey very very pretty cocoon oooo
Expanding:
Cocoon looked amazing and as I said reminded me of Journey and I will very much be watching a playthrough.

Inital reaction:
Wo long looks neat not my style
Expanding:
Didnt stand out but only because my personal taste in play style.
Initial reaction:
Persona on xbox cool ive been wanting to play
Expanding:
Not new but cool anyways.

Initial reaction:
Hideo Kojima i LOVE YOU happy mcr reunion
Expanding:
There's not even a game announcement here just that theyre working on something new and I'm incredibly happy for him and happy to see him.

Initial reaction:
Starfield yes very good thank you fallout and skyrims baby yea this shit rocks oh yeah baby yes i will play this yes
Expanding:
This is the only one I really have much to say about. I am not really interested in space themed games so much but I would still play this one. Its expansive and clearly a produxt of time and love. It has all the right combinations of aspects from Bethesdas best games. The customization of the ship made me scream excitedly. And when they showed you can actually make a fat character I was honestly so relieved because thats my biggest complaint with their previous games is certain lack of diversity but I was really impressed with all the character cuatomization. The plot looks interesting even despite being space themed which is not for me. Unclear if there will be romance options that they're renowned for but I think even without it I'm still enticed. Overall very positive and hopeful for this game.