Tokyo 42

A world with colors as vibrant as a toy box and a futuristic Tokyo filled with playful concepts. While there were a few disappointing aspects, such as camera angles and controls that could use improvement, spending time in the beautifully stylish Neo Tokyo was truly enjoyable.

Stylish, fun mash-up of some old-school games (sort of GTA meets Syndicate, somehow). Most content is great, some is a bit filler-y (~20 kill the gang missions for some reason, for instance, when most of the missions are quirky and fun).

Beautiful game with somewhat lackluster combat and stealth.
I actually really enjoyed the switching camera forcing me to develop spatial awareness of all enemies and possible paths.

Greatest vibes, music, art. That is the first game, where architecture stood out to me and indeed, one of the creators is an architect. I like the geometricality of it so much, that I'm going to leave positive review, but the gameplay is not good.
One of the main ideas, as I understand, is to make a puzzle out of perspective. Isometric projection, fixed view angles obfuscate a lot of information, and transversing/shooting requires understanding of environment's geometry, so the act of viewing an environment from multiple fixed angles and choosing one of them as the main for each action event becomes a challenge. Considering how amazing and diverse the geometry and design of the environment is, at first I was really excited about this novel gameplay. I would even call it different genre. But unfortunately this puzzly gameplay clashes with the most prominent part of the game - pretty standart bullet hell shooter with cover. You can find in the comments many examples of why this mix feels extremely frustrating and unfair. Besides the shooter, there's a lot of exploration and secret-hunting, and these parts of my playthrough I definitely found very enjoyable! It's such a shame that 50-70% of the time is spent in shooter mode. For my skill level, I found that the most effective tactic is to shoot as many bullets as possible in the general direction of the enemy, while concentrating on dodging and praying. In tough fights it works with probability of 10%, so you just replay every fight 10 times. If doesn't work - throw 100 grenades. Other approaches either less effective, or much slower and bore me to death.
I wonder if it is feasible to get rid of bullet hell aspect completely, make impact of the shots instanteneous, after the warning and add some gadgets for transversal through walls/ceilings, mind posession, etc; making it much more of a tactical experience, which more leans into unique geometric puzzle. But you need a really good game designer who can spend all of their time on solving this.

Great game, original stuff, looking great, great flow and all but why the heck CANT A BIKE GO BACKWARDS ?? If anyone knows if its possible please tell me :D that thing is a nightmare to ride without ability to go reverse...

Underrated game! Cool mechanics make you feel powerful without making the game too easy. The exploration is fun, and there are usually a couple of ways to approach each mission. A good game for completionists, as there are achievements for completing missions with stealth, melee kills only, etc.

I had the privilege of meeting one of the designers of this game many years ago—what feels like light years ago, in a place in my mind where memories of my past self reside. Looking back, I was likely an odd character in the tapestry of these brilliant, creative people whose talents were iconic.
Getting a glimpse into the minds of such artists left an impression that has stayed with me my entire life. As I’ve grown older and (hopefully) more mature, I look back on that time with a deep sense of gratitude.
There’s a bond—an unspoken connection—between creators and players. To see how their journey as artists has unfolded across space and time evokes a profound feeling—a kind of awe—that lingers long after the screen fades. I’ve never considered myself particularly worthy, but beneath it all, I felt their generosity of spirit. I learned to love. xx