"fuck it, finally a fantasy"
~fred durst (2021)

consistently fun but bogged down by way-too-frequent mmo-esque fetch quests, a dogshit main antagonist and jill's comical lack of characterization

when it hits though, it really fucking hits. clive is a terrific lead, (kupka is also a fantastic rival) every major set piece manages to one up the last and the combat, while a bit easy for an action game absolutely braindead, is really fucking fun

only ps4/5 game thus far to feel like a truly "next gen" experience and a crystal clear reminder of the heights this series can reach when it's not rife with developmental problems

edit: that last line is still mostly correct but not in the way i'd like. it's certainly next-gen in terms of scope and scale with regards to spectacle, but the actual writing is piss poor. this was very much a honeymoon game and ng+ made it clear. xvi feels like a first draft

Almost perfect, but still incredibly good. To start with my only real complaint is that Ichibans side of the narrative is not the same quality of Kiryu's side. It's not bad, far from it, you can just tell the narrative team had their priorities and that was with Kiryu.

Onto the good, so everything else. This is a celebration of the series for those that have played the rest of the series. This isn't to say that you can't come in playing only 7, but you will not enjoy it nearly as much. This is very much a Kiryu focused game and the finale to his arc, all of his failures, regrets, and learning how to live again after being broken down to his core. I'm not going to go into too many spoilers other than it's a beautiful game with a beautiful message.