I cannot tell you how much I loved this world. It's like a weird surreal David Lynchian world full of Lovecraftian cosmic horror. It's Panos Cosmatos meets Stephen King. It's esoteric. It's anachronistic. It's paranormal. It's sci-fi. It's so beautifully creepy and unique that I just absolutely loved the setting and atmosphere. The bland brutalistic government building paired with the highly stylized extradimensional threats mixes well to create this highly unsettling world. It's a bit The Void, it's a bit Stranger Things, and they even managed to cram in some Last of Us style fungus based zombies. Brilliant.

As far as gameplay goes this is so incredibly right up my alley. I love 3rd person shooter games with superpowers. Things like the Infamous franchise come to mind, as well as Dark Sector, and Deadpool. The latter of which I platinumed on Ps3 and Ps4 because I liked it so much. It's possibly my favorite type of gameplay for action adventure games. I love horror and I love superheroes. They are probably my 2 favorite genres right now. And Control was able to perfectly blend the 2 genres in a way that a big budget movie has failed to ever really do for me.

Poor navigation and some technical issues are what kept me from giving this game a perfect score. I'm glad I stuck with this game. I loved this world so much it really makes me want to play Alan Wake.

a game made for grasshopper fans (not for nmh fans), i can greatly appreciate how personal this game is for suda and how open he is about his emotions and his journey in his life and the gaming industry. a love letter to indie games too, i love how there's a whole level about how awesome hotline miami is lol. maybe its a skill issue but i found this game to be pretty challenging at points (in sort of a bad way). art style is really cute. soundtrack is amazing, one of the best in the kill the past series. enjoyed this alot but i feel like its close to being something really incredible.

TL;DR Girlboss Christmas makes for peak fiction

Witch on the Holy Night, or Mahoyo as it's been abbreviated, is not only one of the best gateway visual novels for newcomers, but stands heads over heels as one of the best in the medium. The story of self-discovery and reflection for the main cast is both emotionally captivating and highly relatable, paired with amazing animation/visuals and a beautiful score, makes for one the best game experiences I've had in years, and I hope leads to a brighter future for Type Moon themselves.

Each one of the main casts struggles and growth are wonderful to see unfold, from Alice's acceptance and gradual appreciation of Soujyuro's company, Soujyuro's culture shock of modern society, and the importance of the fragile lives around us to Aoko. Personally, almost every one of Soujyuro's scenes left a mark on me I was not prepared for and will never forget. The grander narrative may have some few (and very well done) high octane action moments, but it's in the quiet and somber scenes these characters and their story feel the warmest in its cold winter months.

Visually, Mahoyo has no contenders in the visual novel medium. The storyboarding and actual animation throughout its playtime are amazing to watch. I think this is helped by the story taking a 3rd person perspective rather than the usual 1st person that other Type Moon VN's take, allowing certain shots and angles that more risks and succeed for almost the entire runtime.

Paired with the amazing visuals is an equally amazing score. It's comforting to hear the works of repeated Type Moon composers return, but the standout among them is the work of Hideyuki Fukasawa. If I had to pick one piece from this soundtrack that just shows how much he gets this story and characters would be Soujyuro's theme. A piece that shows a great understanding of his character and impact for the story represented in this 5-minute track. And the best part? It plays for 5 seconds as part of a joke in a bonus chapter unlocked after completing the main story. I can't think of any other way to show how much Fukasawa just gets these characters and can represent so much of them through his music.

If there's any downers for this, it would simply come down to the spelling and grammar issues that start to show their heads in the final chapters. I'd like to think the reason for these are simply deadline issues for when this translation was done and can be fixed from patches.

It's crazy to think that back when Mahoyo was first released in 2012, Nasu wanted it to cause a big shake up for the industry, to show a new standard for visual novels is being reached and others needed to catch up, but failed to do. And now, 10 years later with this rerelease, I think Mahoyo is going to succeed to heights he's not expecting thanks to this official English release.

A story that almost failed to capture its audience when it first released, now brought to a new audience who've waited a decade to experience it, finding love, appreciation and relation for a near timeless story he first wrote over 2 decades ago and laid the foundation for his future, much beloved works.

I hope that whatever the future holds for these wonderful characters, it will be equally as amazing as it's first outing.

Gorgeous. This is a magnificently gorgeous VN. A perfect one? Probably not. But the presentation was so classy and refined that I feel the need to gush about it out of the gate.

I finished the main story of this VN a week ago, but I've been having a bit of a hard time coming up with a good, reasoned review of it. The thing is, it suits my particular tastes (or a subset of them, at least) so well that it's hard to sort out the this-was-done-wells from the how-I-like-it-dones.

It's an NVL style VN narrated in the third-person released in the year-of-our-Lord 2022. That, from the outset, is not something I've seen often. Part of my surprise may simply be my own lack of experience, as I am still relatively fresh to the medium, but when even The House in Fata Morgana uses the ADV format for text and a pseudo-third-person perspective, I'm inclined to believe that Witch on the Holy Night is a bit of rarity on those points.

In fact, I think Umineko is the only other VN I've read with a third-person perspective...

I bring that up because (in contrast to my ability to talk about the game) that style brought a detached objectiveness to the telling of the story that let it give detail and context as needed. Yet, it could also naturally maintain the atmosphere of secrets and solitude that were fundamental to the experience. To put my impression in a very generalized metaphor: compared to most VNs I've played this felt like watching a stage play compared to hearing a story from your buddy at the bar. That's not a measure of quality, but the difference was refreshing.

As for the content of the story, I'll start by levying what I imagine to be the biggest complaint that could be levied against it, which is that if you're already played or watched Type Moon's other prominent works, particularly Tsukihime or Fate/Stay Night, the broad strokes of the story here will feel very familiar. However, there's shift in tone and structure that I think make this the more compelling of the bunch (unless the fights in Fate are your main interest).

It's not as relentlessly edgy of a story as Tsukihime or Stay Night, and the plot is fundamentally more intimate. It's still set in Type Moon's signature secret world of "Magi" with all of their cutthroat ambitions and hazy sense of morality (which for the record, I enjoy about all of them), but there's no grand contest motivating the actors like a Holy Grail War. Instead, its very personal, immediate goals that spur the story along. Frankly, it's exactly the story I wanted from Type Moon after I finished Tsukihime just over a year ago.

I especially enjoyed the character writing here. Every cast member has a good amount of depth that's gradually revealed over the course of the story. The variety of happenings along the narrative reveal different layers of each personality, and those layers generally feel very consistent with the core of each character. But where there is some discrepency, it makes sense and you get just enough of a peek into the casts' internal conflicts to understand the mismatch in their actions. Their relationships with each other also evolve satisfyingly: sometimes through the tempering flame of conflict, sometimes through small gestures of compassion.

What I found rather surprising is, while there are certainly some fun romantic undertones in some of the interactions, the story never actually becomes a "romance." Normally I'd actually see this as a mark against it; nothing annoys me more than a romance that's teased and never delivered in a story. But here it actually works as the writing sets the expectation that romance won't be a focus, and more importantly it gives time to other kinds of meaningful character interactions to develop the characters' relationships. Conversations about goals, fears, values, history... you know, all those little parts of a peoples' lives that might be important.

The pacing is quite nice, too. It's definitely more on the methodical side, but the setting and presentation do their work to get you into its rhythm. With the winter imagery, the elegant artwork, the restrained framing and animation, and fairy-tale-esque elements; even a chimp-brain, button masher like me was convinced to slow down and take it in at the novel's pace.

I even waited for the text animations to finish (most of the time), which is practically unheard of for me.

And I will say yet again, the art and animation work was phenomenal. While it's not nearly as bombastic as a Muv-Luv, or Danganronpa, or Phoenix Wright, the amount of effort and subtle dynamism in every scene of the game was astounding to me.

... And yet as I sit here and throw all this praise at this game, I'm not actually sure how much of it would be appreciated by the wider audience. If I were being pretentious, I could say, "People just won't understand it's subtleties." But really what I'm curious about is how much other people will really relate to those details even when they see them. It's admittedly a fairly eccentric story at times even accounting for the cultural differences of it being a Japanese novel.

That perfectly fits my kind of eccentric, and while I'm not the most eccentric personality out there, I still feel like I just can't promise you'll come out as hot on it as I am.

I do have one objective complaint about the game, though. The translation seems like it could have used another editing pass. I don't know enough Japanese to spot any major discrepencies in the content itself, and it mostly read quite well in English, but there were a few moments with noticeable typos or small mismatches between what's said in the original VO and the English text. Nothing experience ruining, but I would have liked to see this novel get a little more polish there.

So, as far as recommendations go, I would say any regular VN enjoyer should put this on their radar. If you're a Type Moon fan already, then get this on the top of your backlog stack. For everyone else, look at some screenshots and promotional videos. If you like the atmosphere you see, I can at least assure it will deliver on that.

Out of the so far four re-releases that have released in 2023 thus far, RE4 was the one that initially I felt did not need to exist. The original game not only holds up super well and still looks great, but it's also available on enough platforms to make Todd Howard jealous. Yet despite all that, this remake is everything it possibly needed to be.

Building off of the RE Engine, Leon moves and handles similar to his RE2R counterpart with a new exciting parry mechanic which can be used to deflect an impressive number of different attacks (and projectiles). All the guns feel great too and are all more or less viable depending on player preferences. If I have any real complaints about the experience at all, it's the loss of cutscene QTE's (but I'm one of those weirdos).

The structure of the game is largely the same with some minor new choices to differentiate itself from the original release and keep things fresh. A couple of sections from the original game were cut or shortened, and other new ones were introduced or expanded upon in a meaningful way. The characterization has been dramatically improved as well; especially Ashley, and surprisingly the Merchant as well through new side quests. Overall, the atmosphere and tone of the game are a fair bit more serious. Leon still has his moments but the experience feels a lot less of an arcade-y action shooter with horror window-dressing and a lot more in line with what 2R, 3R, 7, and 8 have established.

I think that all goes to say, RE4R is a masterpiece not just because it feels so good and stands on its own for both new and old fans, but also because it DOESN'T wholesale replace the original. It was the only way this could have been executed properly with how widely beloved and iconic the original game is. It is a decidedly different take and I'll certainly be spending a lot more time with it (especially if they do Mercenaries right this time).

Resident Evil 4 Remake, as someone who has experienced most, but not all of the original, was a sight to behold. Each version feels distinct from one another and have their own charms. The atmosphere, pacing, and world building were a masterclass of its form. RE Engine once again raising the bar for the most stunning visuals to be put out by an engine. Everything is so much darker and goes for way more of a horror feel, which I really appreciate. Another thing I really appreciate is the punch weapons give off. They're so satisfying to use and listen to in combat. Leon's and Ashley's performances were fantastic as well. Ada's and Saddler's were passable. A truly worthy successor to the original masterpiece. Definitely up there for one of my favorites this year.

Though I had been chugging away at Octopath 2 and Like A Dragon Ishin, I immediately dropped them both to focus on Resident Evil 4 Remake upon its release. The RE remakes have all been fantastic (except for 3), and RE4 is no exception to that. This remake keeps a lot about what made the original game special, improved on many of its shortcomings, and made some changes that fans of the original are either going to love or hate.

I won't waste too much of your time explaining the systems and mechanics here, but I would like to talk about the added things that the developers put in here. For starters, I love the knife parrying system. This system was made for that iconic Krauser fight, and it works so well in every other encounter. It can be difficult to master, but once you do, you feel as much like a badass as Leon probably does. QTEs are almost completely gone, which I myself am perfectly fine with. There are still some context-sensitive QTEs, such as dodging certain attacks from enemies, which feels like a good compromise. A lot of the original game's notorious areas (such as the water hall) are a LOT more manageable as well thanks to a few tweaks and changes. These changes show that the developers really wanted to improve upon the original game where they could, while keeping it as faithful of a remake as possible.

Now I have already seem some purists talk about how the new tone, lighting, and script are not to their liking. To be perfectly honest with you, I loved most of the changes. Sure, I do lowkey miss some of the more iconic cheesy lines, but there are still more than plenty cheesy lines and scenes in this remake that make up for it. The tone is more serious, and the game takes more of a horror approach than action movie, but I felt that everything came together really well. The new VAs do an amazing job of capturing their characters. I especially enjoyed the moments of Leon recounting the events of RE2 and how that has effected him for the last 8 years.

Other than that, everything is pretty superb. Exploration, looting, and combat all feel great here. I did think that Leon's default walk speed was a bit too slow for my liking (especially because the walk speed in 2 remake was pretty much perfect), but that is such a minor nitpick it is hardly worth mentioning. You can't help but have a great time exploring the village, castle, and island all over again.

Did I mention that the game has some of the best visuals of any game I have ever played? Because it does. The visuals here are absolutely phenomenal. The attention to detail alone in character models, as well as the environments is insane. This is without a doubt the best looking RE game to date imo. I couldn't help but take in the visuals whenever there was a quiet moment to do so.

RE4 Remake may piss some hardcore fans of the original off, and I honestly understand why. RE4 didn't really need to be remade. However, Capcom did it in the best way possible. RE4 Remake is more than able to justify its reason for existing with just how excellent it ended up being. And for those who don't like it, just because this game exists, doesn't mean the 2004 original is now irrelevant or doesn't exist anymore. You can still go back and play that game whenever you want. But for me, both games are 10/10 masterpieces of not only the series, and not only the genre, but in gaming in general.

A perfect Guardians of the Galaxy game; feels like a "best of both worlds" scenario as it combines the dark wit, rock soundtracks, and emotional sincerity of the Gunn films while embracing more comic accurate roots in regards to characterization, art design, and general story. This is a treasure trove of references and deep cuts but also never forgets to tell it's own story, and said story explores death, grief, and alienation in a way that's refreshing and poignant.

It helps it's rock solid from a gameplay perspective too. Fluid as hell, and the other Guardians don't feel like added weight but instead have their own unique contributions (NONE of them are useless). Runs out of steam a little bit towards the end once you've unlocked everything (which is exceptionally easy) and combat becomes mostly perfunctory - the only real failing of the game - but otherwise this is a nigh-perfect superhero game. Adored this!

I've been taking it easy with games lately since I am burned out but I managed to complete Quantum Break last night. A game I have been interested in a few months now. Very good game.

I really overall dig the time traveling and time manipulation story for this the fact it's based on hard science such as quantum physics to create its own science called chronon particles to make its concept of time shattering and freezing in certain points feel more believable. I honestly thought Quantum Break was lacking in actual time traveling at first but near the end, everything came together super nicely while making its plot complex while still inheriting the basic laws of physics and how time worked in the past.

The world-building and amount of text are pretty impressive as well, considering I only spent like 15 hours in the game. With these text files scattered around the levels. You get insight into characters' histories, further in-depth explanations of physics, what is going on in the town from other people's perspectives, even fun stuff like an awfully cliche play based on cheesy sci fi tropes etc. It made the world more alive and I live for detailed worlds, so big plus for me.

What stood out for me is the decision-making that affects the story. Although there are only a few choices and it doesn't change too much of the overall story. The decisions you can make as the main antagonist give you a greater sense of immersion, control and perspective of him. It encourages replay value as well to see how the choices can affect the story. Between that and other triggers during the game, there are about 40 variations for the live-action TV show, so that's a lot of airing they have to do!

Speaking of that, what's especially cool is the TV series going alongside with the game. While I don't think the episodes being live action super necessary, I still think it's a super cool concept I've never seen in a game and it puts characters that are barely in the main game at all in the spotlight. I think the TV show as a standalone is pretty eh since the characters are weak and sorta unlikeable at times and feel like a generic gritty action show. And I'm not really a fan of Liam tbh since the whole super soldier thing just felt unbelievable (even if there's a reason why he could fight well). Yea for a game that lets the main character, Jack have time powers. Liam having a similar body count with no powers felt ridiculous. But even then, I appreciate the TV show for adding on insight to its world and I still think how the actors perfectly mirror its game model counterparts is super cool.

The gameplay is fun, tight, solid thrid person shooting action. While the standard mechanics are plain with your typical arsenal of guns and shooter mechanics like covering. The time manipulation powers help make the combat stand out a lot such as time dodge to quickly avoid enemy gunfire or a time sheld that will reflect enemy gunfire and let you heal for a few seconds. These abilities will help you maintain the upper hand with the waves of enemies. Although they lack variety, it's still a consistent experience.

If I have one complaint, is the game have a case of serious ludonarrative dissonance. Maybe because I don't really play a lot of shooters these days but it kinda bothers me how the main protagonist, Jack supposes to be this seemingly normal and likable enough guy that basically wipes out an entire army in one day and he is basically psychologically unaffected. Quantum Break being a game is a double edge sword. I feel like the detailed world-building is something they could only pull off as a game but I also felt like there were countless waves of enemies just to pad out the game and give some kind of active content to interact with. It's just a bit off-putting and unbelievable that Jack is unaffected by all this death and it's barely talked about but that might be just me being overly sensitive to how death is treated in media as of late haha.

A few unbelievable character moments and iffy writing for the TV show aside. Quantum Break is a really good game that does both gameplay and story well and I thought the idea of mixing live action with a game with decision making was a unique way to present a story. Highly recommend it to anyone that likes sci-fi, especially time-traveling stories.