Bleak-Creep's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Queen Boat]

An incredibly harsh and unrelentingly bleak experience, but a powerful one nonetheless. The minimal presentation really puts the focus on the writing, but there are some brilliant choices in that presentation as well.

I love the way the protagonist's early psyche is presented; his head down, he doesn't even have the courage to look up from a person's shoes. You get the sense that he's been treated like a child for so long that he's started to internalize it, and just becomes a follower to avoid conflict.

The descriptions of his sexual encounters and their eventual ghosting became expected after reading a couple of them, but it didn't lessen the impact of any of them; you can feel the disappointment and desperation each time.

If I have any complaints, it's that there's very little joy here. I don't think that's it's too one note, but because each moment of happiness is dashed away in an instant, it can be hard to continue on. The punches don't need to be pulled, but an audience needs hope in order to hang on.

Either way, you have a fantastic game here.

[You Have To Go Fishing]

I wish there were a bit more to this game, because the music is pure zen and I could genuinely listen to it all day long. Still, what's here is strangely comforting, and finding the shop is a nice little curveball on expectations. There's definitely something here.

(I also just wanted to say I loved this little guy's running animation so much. It's so goofy and cute)

[Creature Collab 2024]

This is very different take on the Creature Collab than previous years, and you don't really get to see a lot of the creatures right up front as a result, but I think "crafting" a creature is a really fun concept and it seems like a surprising amount of work went into making it feel a little more "game-y" which is nice to see.

Gonna do some more experimenting, but love me more Creature Collab!

[Tankmas ADVENTure 2024]

I just wanted to say I love today's music so much. It's very very different than all of the other days, and even kind of somber and melancholy, but Tankmas is finally over and it feels fitting. In any case, it's a beautiful song.

This was the first Tankmas I ever played through each day, and it was a joy to watch it develop over the course of the month, even if it started out a little rough around the edges.

Proud to be a part of this!

squidly responds:

I keep saying this but somehow the track always fits

[SCAMS_FOR_THRILLS]

This was really addictive. Reminded me a lot of Jackbox's Devil and the Details with all the quick little minigames and I liked the way you could minimize them on the fly if you just wanted to do a quicker scam. Love the seamlessness in the way the story is implemented too. Really well designed game!

crow-seeds responds:

https://imgur.com/a/MqvU4fd

Devils in the Details was one of my biggest inspirations when I was making the minigames, happy someone caught that haha. Glad you enjoyed the game!!

[Advent Chickendar 2024]

The descriptions for all of the medals after you unlock them are one of my favorite parts of this. Just a sweet little NG love letter loaded up with Easter eggs.

[Shadow Gauntlets]

Got stuck on the 11th level with the swinging tires, but this is a nice game! The controls take a bit of time to get acquainted with, and admittedly, I'm not quite fully acquainted myself just yet, but they get the job done.

I love the simplicity of the art, and you clearly had a lot of fun coming up with a theme to each of the levels; each one feels fresh and it keeps things interesting when you're always trying to guess what might pop up next.

One of the best Flash Forward entries I've played so far! :D

VicBiss responds:

Thank you! It was all worth it for people to see my stir fry animation.

Getting stuck on level 11 seems to be a common theme, those orange levels are supposed to transition from the more aesthetic and chill levels to the more challenging levels but it's obviously a steeper curve than intended

I made a couple of changes, level 11 as well as a few later levels should be easier and grapples should be more 'magnetic' where you don't need to be as accurate with your clicks. Pushing the update may have wiped your save data, sorry about that!

[Skeleton Day]

Feels like a promising start to SOMETHING, but I don't really know what that might be yet...
Visually, it looks great though, and the goofy vibe is pretty charming.

TeamTamago responds:

Thanks, all I can say is Bone Santa

[Dwarf Planet One]

Will need to play more of this later on, but really impressed with the bit I did so far. Like your entry from last year's Flash Forward, this is a similarly otherworldly experience, and I still can't get enough out of all these surreal geometric patterns and textures you've got going on here. Overall, there's a fantastic aesthetic and atmosphere and the intro does a really nice job at setting the stage.

I can potentially see this being a bit tedious and frustrating depending on just how big this level gets as it opens up, but the mechanics themselves are really interesting and inspired. Gonna have to circle back around to this one after I play some more of the other entries, but I think this is my favorite so far.

Emrox responds:

Hey thanks! I just played your entry, and thought it was really good as well! (And an ambitious length - that is a lot of drawings for something so manicured-looking!)

[Los Tostadores]

A cute little romp, I love the animations and the art style has a ton of charm to it. Kinda wish you could still shoot while sitting on your toaster horse, but it's definitely not a deal breaker. If I've got any gripes, it's that it's a little on the short side and the level design never really evolves, but the charm really makes up for a lot of these shortcomings.