i went into this scared shitless and came out of it with one of the most cerebral thrashing experiences ive ever had in a video game.

It's NOT an understatement when I say this game would be in my top 5 favorite games of all time if it personally hit the same merits to me as my actual top 5, but that is saying something because this game embodies everything that I love about the medium in its own way.

You know the usual with Killer7 if youre reading this, yeah each smith is really fun to play and they have their own unique weapon and weird little superpower going on but what really nails it all
what really brings this all together
is the SOUNDS
the sounds of heaven smiles laughing as they march towards you and you immediately start mashing your button trying to locate where they are
the sounds of the music being gradually sifted out when they approach closer and closer
some with panting breaths and others with weird little indicator noises

That feeling you get when you miss a shot, anxiety hitting you as it marches closer and closer flinching only as if the heaven smiles were stung by bees and not even taking a bullet to the head
their weakpoints sometimes not even being fully apparent and the sound of your reload and empty rounds dropping like marbles on the floor praying you can hit the weakpoint and recenter yourself to deliver that sweet blow
and THAT is what EVERY encounter feels like in this game, its a consistent mix of weird intrigue and unsettling adrenaline swirled together like peanut butter and chocolate bro
It's the palpable atmosphere you can taste thats followed by political critique galore, yet it never even fuckin dwells any particular take or statement for Too Long
Like the game itself was made full in the intention that some dialogue you just mull over, you get crumbs of information and if youre like me and you only played No More Heroes 1 or NONE of Suda51's games, i think youre in the perfect position to be knocked flat on your ass

Some say the story purely doesnt make sense & honestly i could totally see how someone could play start to finish and just be confused the whole time, but i was actively trying to piece things together through the remnant psyches, every cutscene in this damn game felt like a drop of fiji water in my mouth after dragging my tits through a mile of hot asphallt
I genuinely dont think ill ever be playing something this good or this interesting ever again in my entire life

(ErrRMM SO WHY NOT 5/5 STARS? IF U LIKE IT SO MUCH?? ERMMM?)
WELL
the nitty gritty of the gameplay Does have its flaws, like certain smith personalities' upgrades are totally left in the dark to you, and while thats just a given
sometimes that IS annoying,
because every boss in Killer7!! is actually pretty piss easy (in the default modes)
Like yeah youll die maybe once or twice on a couple later ones MAYBE??????? but.. I personally found some smile encounters harder since i prioritized weakpoint above all

And that segways into my other gripe
the map in this game kinda sucks mammoth cock im ngl, I think it Gets The Job Done but i doubt im asking for a lot when i say i wish there was atleast a little dot indicator or something to better display
I was especially wishing for this in the Alter Ego target more than any of the other missions really bc of the backtracking in that one LMAO

And my final gripe is just how turning your fucking head around to look around can't be adjusted, there's no sensitivity toggle for smthin like that and while most of the time its not a Major concern, theres times in the game where theres a smile that drops down..
im mashin scan
i look everywhere mashin scan
I still cant find the smile
and then i get blown tf up
this happened like atleast twice but again, it didnt happen all the time just kind of a pain in the dick. hell i got a game over like maybe three times at most while playing the game too, pants shitting aside i think its actually pretty easy on normal which is a good thing because that means the higher modes offer better skilled players which i am uh.... not sure i am but COOL

Overall uhhh ahah if u havent played this game and ur reading this u should absolutely try this game, ATLEAST do yourself the solid of playing the first mission in full because there is nothing like Killer7 in style, game vibe or anything in the way that it conveys
i am So glad my lil bro pointed me at this shit