What if, instead of portraying the horrors of alien planets, we explored the horrors of our own? There’s something really interesting in taking a genre that usually takes place in speculative, fantastical environments like Zebes or the City of Tears and instead setting it so close to home. Our own oceans are frighteningly unknown, exciting, and terrifying, and yet they’re part of the same biosphere. Porgy is a game about that. It’s about all of that, from the relative familiarity of the layers close to shore to the unknown horrors of the deep to the ecological connectedness we have with the ocean.

It also masterfully executes the tense beginning, power-fantasy ending that’s core to the appeal of a metroidvania. Sure, it can get frustrating at times, but the mechanics it uses to convey this are fresh in a world where the idea of periodic save rooms is old hat. I’ll take frustrating and fresh over familiar, any day.

Plus, you play as a submarine with eyes. That’s pretty good.

The thing I like about Rail Heist is how well it encourages so much experimentation and allows for so much variance in strategy. There's a surprising amount of actions packed into just a dpad and two buttons (and the button overloading manages to be only rarely annoying), and there's so many different objects and interactions available. There's a wide variety of ways to beat any of the scenarios. A misstep often results in a tough scenario you can still turn around, rather than an immediate restart. There's a lot of tools you can consider using at any one time. It really is a "strategy platformer". It could also be described as a bit of an immersive sim.

The thing I don't like about Rail Heist is the ways in which it doesn't encourage experimentation. The major one is the optional time goals, as if you screw up your route while attempting one you probably won't make it in time anymore. (Thankfully the genocide and pacifist goals allow a satisfying level of experimentation.) The other major annoyance is the lack of an option to restart the level. You have to either restart the entire game from the main menu and scroll to the level, or try to find a way to quickly die.

I got all sixty stars and even shaved my times down a bit further than the time goals. Good game.