It’s so damn satisfying when a game hits the perfect difficulty level for you where every stage demands 100% of your brain and eventually gets to a point where it FEELS impossible but rarely actually requires a restart. You’re fully engaged, panicking whenever the game throws some scary new thing at you but never actually frustrated because you can almost always just barely pull through if you strategize very carefully and make creative use of the wide array of tools the game gives you. At first I thought it was a fluke, but the past three big setpiece levels I’ve played have ALL been like this where I won by the skin of my teeth thanks to a desperate last-ditch strategy so I think it’s just exquisite difficulty balancing.

I can’t recommend Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery on Challenge+ mode enough if you are an SRPG fan, this is just such a meaty and content-rich game with so much room for tactical expression. It forces you to stay alert and take the game seriously without overdoing it and making you trial-and-error your way through levels. It’s a HUGE game, too, I don’t even think I’m halfway through yet…