Recent reviews by Techim

The store description describes the game as "core gameplay inspired by Rockman Zero series".
It's an understatement. There are some recognizable locations / game narrative from other Megaman series as well, mostly the X and ZX series, even from the spiritual successor games Gunvolt.

Gameplay wise, its a decent Megaman Zero clone.
You have Zero's triple slash, charged slash, dash slash, rolling air slash, buster gun.
And the potential to get double jump with air dash.
And the ability to learn some boss abilities that the Megaman franchise is known for.

The game's strength is definitely gameplay and OST.
Story wise, the English translation isn't perfect.
They also tried to mix some significant Megaman Zero and ZX storylines.
Spoiler examples are a player doppelganger enemy, a space station, a triple phase final boss fight and a falling space station.
It would probably have been better with a more original storyline.

The game recommends using a controller, but I went with keyboard controls.
I've seen a review complaining about keyboard configuration, but it really comes down to customizing to your preference.
I went with the layout below and it works just fine for me.

• Q = previous card; W = switch card; E = next card
  
• 4 directional movements = the arrow keys
  
• A = dash; S = jump; spacebar = flying kick
  
• D = main weapon; C = sub weapon; R = support skill
  
• Enter = main menu page; Z = previous menu page; X = next menu page
  
• J = confirm; K = back

If this game gets a sequel, I'd definitely keep an eye out for it.

I don't have a beefy PC, so 2D indie games are my main guilty pleasure, especially 2D side scrolling platformers. Freedom Planet 1 happens to be the first game I remember buying on Steam within launch week, and I had fun exploring the levels, listening to the soundtracks, trying out the different characters.

Fast forward to 2022 and we now have Freedom Planet 2, and the developers definitely have much more work invested here. More levels (more than double the size of the first game), more soundtracks, a longer storyline, more characters, more pixels! The stages also all have something setting themselves apart from each other, each stage has its own theme / gimmick. They even threw in extra stuff like the museum and battlesphere which are decent additions.

This 2nd game seems to have taken at least 8 years to release, and that's already with some ideas scaled back or left out, so that they could release what we have today. The plus side is, the devs are quick to try and fix/patch most bugs.

If a 3rd game is planned, count me in as one of those excited for it. Freedom Planet was originally inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog games, but I think I had more fun with just FP1 + FP2, compared to playing Sonic(s) 1,2 CD, 3 and Mania combined.

Much better than most of the 3D Sonic games.

• Hope and Despair
  
• Trust and Betrayal
  
• Truth and Lies
  
• Love and Hate
  
• Salvation and Damnation
  
• The Scorned and The Adorned

This VN digs deeper into those themes compared to the rest of the VNs on Steam so far, making it a unique read. Trying to read the whole VN in one go, I tell you, will be very tempting, but this has an estimated length of 20-30 hours depending on your reading speed, so, be wary.

An unrelated, but relevant quote from the video game Castlevania: Symphony of The Night, shines in the storytelling here.

" What is a man ? A miserable little pile of secrets ! ! "

I've read quite a number of good VNs as they became available on Steam;

• Area-X
  
• Clannad
  
• Danganronpa 1+2
  
• eden*
  
• Fault Milestone 1+2
  
• The Fruit of Grisaia
  
• Gakhthun
  
• Higurashi Ch1+2
  
• Lucy ~The Eternity She Wished for~
  
• Magical Eyes ~Red is for Anguish~
  
• Planetarian
  
• Princess Evangile
  
• Sound of Drop
  
• Tokyo Babel

In my opinion, from the list above, what makes a good VN, is:

• an obvious / decent attempt at the visuals and /or storytelling,
  
• not be an obvious "this VN was created mainly around fanservice*
  like the Sakura series
  
• at least something that makes the VN unique compared to others

This VN is RIDICULOUSLY GOOD. (compared to all VNs available on Steam)

If I have to rank the VNs I listed above,
Root Double is now in my Top 3 favorite VNs.

I also appreciate the thoughtfulness on the sound effects.
Eg characters talking in a certain enclosed space have an obvious echo.


PS: Root Double may be a bit difficult without a walkthrough for 100% completion, so I'll link one here.[docs.google.com]

2 hours into this game and I've already found cameo / references to characters from Is The Order A Rabbit anime series and Nekopara visual novel series . Really nice indie game, this Rabi Ribi.

Edit: (months later after initial release)

The developer and his team is one of the better (if not the best) ones around. Responsive to bug reports, uploading game patches as soon as possible, unexpected but nice updates (eg numbering the order of people you send to town, spike damage, new order of sequence breaking for a metroidvania, new paths, new achievements, free DLC, etc).

The game that started the Metal Slug series...

If I remember reading it somewhere, Metal Slug was supposed to be:
1) A game similar to, but much easier than Contra
- you don't die just by physical contact with enemy soldiers
---> you obviously will if they knife you though
---> you can knife them enemy soldiers to save ammo too

- you don't die just by physical contact with enemy vehicles
--->you obviously will if they drive over you or you get shot by a tank cannon..

2) to have the comedy lacking in Contra
-- you bomb a toilet stall. The terrified soldier within flushes himself away to safety...Wait, what?
-- a big enough explosion in some parts of the game will launch some soldiers towards the 4th wall
(aka towards the camera, or you, the player)

3) main difference with Contra, you get to ride a vehicle!
-- aka the namesake tank known as Metal Slug
-- run over enemy soldiers !!
-- drive over and crush innocent, unsuspecting cars !!
-- bomb enemies with the tank cannon !!
-- unlimited tank machine gun !!
-- self-destruct the Metal Slug if you wish !!
-- the only tank that can jump !! (albeit a small jump)

Well, you've been reading other reviews before reading mine, so I'll try highlighting something different.

Metal Slug is mentioned a lot by the others.
True, this Guns, Gore & Cannoli game is also a 2d side-scrolling shooter platformer.
In terms of the zombie warfare mechanism though, personally I think GGC is better.

Why do I say so?
To deal with zombies in Metal Slug, you have several options, eg:
- shooting any part of the zombie does equal damage
- being trigger happy, shoot everything that moves with whatever weapon you are using.
- or you can just run away past them
- if you don't have a special weapon, then spam rapid fire of your basic, infinite bullets handgun.
- get close to the zombies and melee them to death with a knife or several kicks

To deal with zombies in Guns, Gore & Cannoli,:
- headshots usually offer the fastest kill per zombie
- you have to manage your ammo since it carries over to subsequent areas
- knowing how and when to use a certain weapon is very useful
(eg single handgun shot for a lone zombie, grenade for a group of zombies, flamethrower for a really large horde,etc)
- running past enemies is usually a bad idea, they will chase you throughout the level. (and there are a lot)
- you don't have a reliable melee attack to kill enemies. Kicking enemies only helps you get a few seconds to reload weapons. Unless you kick them into fire or off a rooftop. I guess that counts as melee kill?

Didn't know anything about this until Sekai Project revealed it on Greenlight.
Loved the title music when the demo was released.

Having access to the full Kinetic Novel now, ----JUST FINISHED THE GAME EDIT---
and I like what I read/ heard throughout the KN. For me, the story has some pretty strong themes, made even better to imagine by pretty good and appropriate music.

There are many themes covered in this supposed Episode One alone;
if I were to sum it up in my own opinion, it would go like this:
Magic vs Magic.
Magic vs Science.
Science vs Religion.
Religon vs Corporation.
Science vs Humanity.
Friendship vs Fate.
Friendship vs Magic.
Now from those; Fault Milestone One may sound like some a heavy and serious story, but it actually does a nice blend of those themes without obvious jarring. Though by the time you reach the ending of it, a certain story scene will instantly remind you that this is just a prologue and that there will be more episodes, hopefully.

My only complaints:
1) No voices.
2) No plans for an OST release. In my opinion the soundtracks are really good.
I put in about 3 hours to read the entire Fault milestone one.
The rest of my hours? Just listening to the soundtrack.
(I've asked Sekai Project about the OST in the community hub, you can check there)

This would make a decent show if it gets adapted into anime. Ufotable, please =)

Few minutes in, and this instantly goes as one of the best demo's I've tried in a long time.
Its the first time I'm seeing a VN with an Emote System...probably the norm for Japanese otakus by now?Not sure about that, but it is refreshing for me.

The Emote system from what I see is basically minor animations added to the characters so that the characters are rarely static pictures, but with slight movements. No, not 3D 360 degree movement, but just enough for you to imagine an anime version of this game.

The configurations gives you everything you can come to expect from a decent Visual Novel, eg Game Settings, Voice Settings, Sound Settings, and something related to the Emote System that's new for me:
-the ability to adjust chest bounciness.

Whatttttttttttttttttttttt?
10/10

* I recommend you not set bounciness to maximum. It becomes rather.....distracting.
** You thought the fox girls in the Sakura Spirit VN on Steam are interesting?
The cat girls of Nekopara are tons better =3 And that is only my experience from the demo.
*** I have never heard of the Nekopara series before its debut on Greenlight, but I am an anime fan, so the art style and character interactions are immediately enjoyable for me.

It feels like the finished product isn't too far off from offiicial release date...I hope it's less than a month. No problem, this for me just went from "interested to buy" to "definitely must buy".

TLDR Pros
1) Very comprehensive but simple User Interface (Game/Sound/Voice settings)
2) Emote system makes this VN unique compared to all existing ones on Steam so far
3) For a demo its very impressive.....Totally no bugs or computer crash encountered.
4) Cats are nice. Girls are nice. Cat-girls? Niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
5) You can adjust "bounciness" factor...
6) My prediction: Reviews for the actual game will be Overwhelmingly Positive.
7) Definitely better than Sakura Spirit VN (fox-girls VN on Steam)

TLDR Cons
1) The full game isn't out yet.
2) No indications of soundtrack DLC. (I would like that).
3) Steam is only allowing the All-Ages version of this.