After about 30 minutes with the game, I had to give up. It controls so poorly. It feels, and also kind of looks like a game made in Dreams. Not at all what I expected. I understand you get different movement options as you go along, and those seem neat - but I have no desire to play more to get to them. After stumbling around for a bit and reading some dialogue, I was prompted to play an instrument. Cool! Yikes, it was also not engaging whatsoever.

I feel bad because it's clearly a game made from the hearts of the developers, but it plays so poorly that I just can't see anything redeeming about it.

I didn't know much going in, and wow - this game surprised me! I'm usually pretty opposed to games that go for a "cozy" vibe, but this one struck a chord with me. It's slow-paced, sure, but it's also full of little moments of action that keep it entertaining. You've got to stay focused while underwater or you might just meet your demise.

I'm a big fan of ocean-dwellers; specifically sharks. Since I was little I was always fascinated by them. It's cool to see a bunch of familiar creatures and figure out how to approach/catch them. Exploring the ocean never really got tiring. I even enjoyed doing what was essentially the same thing multiple days in a row as I was simply just interested in catching sharks for a while. It was oddly relaxing.

I'm not really a fan of anything this game aims for individually, but as a whole it just felt right. I don't like slow games. I don't like relaxing games. I don't like farming games. I don't like "simulator" games (like cooking/serving). This game just manages all of that stuff really well. I liked running the restaurant. Managing your stock and creating the correct dishes was something I looked forward to doing at the end of every in-game day.

Unfortunately, this game does try to do too much. I'm not really sure why, as most of the core mechanics are well thought out and would make for a complete-feeling game on their own. The need to add tons of minigames, some meaningless side quests, and continually expanding the way you create your food was a bit much. I could have done without the introduction of... eggs. Even the farm itself was a bit much for me.

The game excels when it's you, your restaurant, and the open sea. They should have left it at that. Cut about 30% of the extra stuff and it could be an incredible game. The way it is; it's still awesome. I loved it. But it wasn't consistently enjoyable in the second half. There are also plenty of points where you are slowed down even more than usual with puzzle rooms. No thanks. I like exploring the ocean; not wasting time pulling levers and such.

On the other hand, I do think it is paced well in general. You unlock things consistently and are always being lead in a new interesting direction. Despite not enjoying every new aspect that's added, they cadence they were introduced was one of the best around. Most games mess this up. I loved upgrading weapons, my restaurant, my staff, my fish farm, etc. It was a very rewarding loop and there was always something new and interesting that I wanted to work towards.

The characters are all charming, the music is somehow simultaneously catchy but also soothing, the little animated cinematics were always a treat to watch, and you could really feel the love poured in to every aspect of the game by the developers.

"Managing" things in a game has rarely felt this fun. No other game has done sea exploration as well as this, it's just a shame that they tried to also do too many other things at once.

Let me preface by saying that I thoroughly enjoy multiple "Metroidvanias". I think it's finally time to admit to the fact that I'm just not going to enjoy any Metroid games. Super Metroid, Dread, and now this have all tried their best to annoy me enough to stop playing. Despite low expectations going in, this game still disappoints.

Listen, if I played this back in 2001 it's possible I would have loved it and have plenty of nostalgia for it. Surely it's something special considering the time of release. However, in modernity it just oozes issues. Playing this in 2023 means it's held to a different standard now, and it falls flat in regards to most of them. I could not imagine playing the original considering how dated the controls would feel. This game actually playing pretty smoothly is one of its only silver linings.

Why do Metroid games deal with backtracking so poorly? Why?! The games that take inspiration from them have pulled off much more interesting ways of dealing with this feature. Guacamelee 1&2, Ori 1&2, Hollow Knight, and Bloodstained to name a few are so much better at being Metroid games than any of the 3 Metroid games I've played. All of those games are better than all 3 Metroid games I've played in almost every conceivable metric. This game requires a guide in multiple instances because it does such a poor job of explaining what you're capable of doing/seeing at any given point. It feels like it expects you to either meticulously study every room you find and record that information (literally) or it just wants you to wander around aimlessly until you find something new you can interact with. Neither of those sound enjoyable, which means you must resort to a guide unless you take pride in wasting your own time.

To add to this problem, Prime half-asses it when it comes to using video game logic. In a game like Guacamelee, the moves you learn are very explicitly linked to certain colours so you can very clearly understand what each attack accomplishes. Yes, that's non-sensical but it's also embracing that its a video game. In this, it wants to be video gamey and use colours but it also randomly blocks off plenty of doors and areas with... blocks? Rocks? Other random material? Oh no, that type of rock can't be blown up with a powerful rocket! You have to use this other bomb that can only be used when you're in your weaker form! Duh! Idiot.

What? Everything just feels arbitrary. This is something I noticed in Dread, as well. It doesn't feel like it's got any sort of reasoning behind it. It's not designed to make things more fun. It's not fun to be like "oh I have this new more powerful explosive move, let's try to blow up these rocks now!" to have it not work because there's arbitrarily another blast move you don't know yet. To bring up Guacamelee again, the way your moveset expands lends itself to finding new ways to explore. Things that actually take some skill to pull off. Prime just pointlessly gates you over and over. Sometimes it does it after you walk down a narrow path for 20 minutes only to find out you can't progress because of another different looking rock. Welp, time to head back.

Manually. This game desperately needs fast travel. I think it would be game breaking to have full control over where you can travel. But it would greatly benefit from at least being able to revisit a couple areas once you've done A, B, or C. Something. The game is paced horribly and doesn't flow well at all. The amount of times I have to stop and go "ok, so now where am I headed?" is unmatched. No other series places you in this trap as much as Metroid seems to. Also, no, I'm not just bad and stupid. I made plenty of connections and enjoyed remembering certain points of interest. Taking mental notes of grappling spots, for instance, was fun - to a degree. There's just too many different ways to open a door and it becomes a chore once you've sunk 10 or so hours in to it.

The main word that comes to mind that perfectly sums up this game is 'nuisances'. The enemies are a nuisance - they absorb some shots, and some require you to switch weapons - but in reality they're all the same thing and they don't put up much of a fight. Almost every fight is the same. Not only that, but the respawn when you re-enter rooms which puts even more emphasis on the annoyance that is back tracking. The back tracking itself is a nuisance - it's not fun whatsoever and is very poorly integrated. The controls are a nuisance - why are there so many almost identical actions that you must switch between? The weapons barely feel different outside of their visual effect. Plus it's annoying having to swap visor functions constantly so that you don't feel like you're missing something.

I got about 10-12 hours in and I decided to quit. I fully intended to beat the game but I just could not deal with the immense amount of my time the game was literally wasting. Backtracking in this game brings me no joy. The other mechanics don't make up for it. Shooting things feels... fine. Moving around is actually pretty fluid - I'll give it that. Rolling around is fun! It would be nice if doors just opened themselves once you have them unlocked, though. Why do I have to switch forms and then switch weapons just to get through every single door after the first time?! Again - the pacing is ruined. I like the feeling of the jumping. I like the visuals. The strong and vibrant colours speak to me. The music is great.

Like I've said about the other 2 Metroid games - I would love to love this. It's got so much potential. It's a shame that potential has only been lived up to in other series. We'll see how Metroid Prime 4 goes - I intend to try it. That will be my last shot at the series. If that doesn't land for me, I'm out for good for sure. I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt due to it finally being a truly modern 3D Metroid. We'll see - Dread probably should have been my realization a couple years ago that Metroid wasn't going to do it for me.

In a year full of remakes and remasters ranging from fantastic to good - this one sticks out as a sore reminder that Metroid is a very stubborn franchise that has many issues that need to be addressed. Why it's praised so much, I do not understand. With each attempt I make at understanding, it makes less sense to me. Everything else is better at being a Metroid game than Metroid games are.

My first time experiencing RE4 this year was incredible. Dead Space is better than it was back in 2008. Super Mario RPG was still fun and charming.

This? Nah, this is a mess. Fluid movement, pretty visuals and effects, and an eerily cool soundtrack aren't enough to save it from being one.

I feel like the praise being given to this remaster is a hold-over from its original praise. If this was a new game, surely it would get roasted for all of these issues, right? I would hope so. It feels silly to me to shower it in compliments because of what the original meant. That's not fair, imo. Praise the original all you want for what it pulled off over two decades ago. Surely that's quite a feat and was very impressive for its time. Nowadays, this games structure is out of whack and outdated. It's not impressive in any way anymore. It should be treated as such.

Oh boy, people are really sleeping on this game. Don't overlook it because it seems like a meaningless spin-off. It is probably my favourite Tactical RPG. It's pretty similar in a few ways to the Mario + Rabbids series, but it does a better job in most categories.

Unfortunately, I played the game on the regular difficulty and I totally forgot there were other options. Nearing the end of the game I was thinking "Hmm, one of my main issues is that it's too easy." By that point, I didn't feel like swapping difficulties suddenly but I have read that the higher difficulties are balanced better. I wish I would have played on hard or higher. Instead, I'll just leave this here in case this review convinces you to play the game. It's not just about health increases, it makes the game more tactical due to friendly fire and a couple other changes. Check 'em out. I don't recommend playing on normal unless you want to breeze through or have a tough time with games like this.

I would also like to point out here that I played Persona 5, but not Royal or Strikers. I did play Dancing, but that wasn't much of anything. Anways, I say this to acknowledge that I don't feel "burnt out" by P5 whatsoever, which may have made this experience better than what others may claim.

I'm gonna go with a simple positives and negatives list for this one.

+ This combat system is awesome! I love the way you move around. I love how you can strategize to take your turns in a certain order to maximize your movement. I love how you can position enemies a certain way to consistently enable "1-more!" attack and extend your turn.

+ With your team of 3, you can use your mobility options to maneuver the map and then triangulate your position. If you make sure you are surrounding at least one "downed" enemy - anyone within the triangle you have created will be eviscerated by an All-Out Attack. It's probably the most fun and engaging thing I've done in an RPG of this nature. It's so satisfying every single time. It made me feel like a genius consistently. Ensuring your team is spread out is more risky, as you are less able to help one another; but it allows you to cover the entire map in a giant deadly triangle.

+ Partially related to the above comment is how much I liked certain levels in this game. For example, navigating an arena that has tons of rising/falling platforms that can only be accessed from certain directions is actually really fun. It turns the battles in to a maze of sorts, but in a good way. It adds to your sense of mobility. It makes it harder to move around, but it also allows you to really feel like you're solving a fun perspective puzzle at the same time. This isn't always executed well in games; but it's great here.

+ ... and partially related to THAT comment is just my general enjoyment of the verticality of the battle arenas. I love using height to your advantage. There are multiple ways they use the vertical nature of levels to give you ways to advantageously position yourself. Rising/falling platforms, ladders, attacks that take advantage of height, etc. all make for really fun ways to turn the layout of the map in your favor.

+ Fine-tuning each characters stats to suit the role you want them to fill is very rewarding. They all have strengths built in, but you can customize them a bit to do exactly what you want. Whether it be firearm usage, Persona usage, melee attacks, or mobility. There are lots of options in terms of the crafting of your team.

+ Not only that, but in a miraculous turn of events that most games fail to do... YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE JOKER! It's painful when you're playing a Mario RPG, for instance, and you have to use Mario. Ew. The supporting cast in most RPGs are almost always my preferred team to use, and it's rarely an option to ditch the MC. Funnily enough, I actually like Joker so I used him frequently. Actually, this leads me to my next point.

+ The game encourages you to not use the same team every time, by incentivizing you with bonuses. Most missions consist of 2 or 3 back-to-back fights. Between them you can tweak some things. One of those tweaks you can make is your team set-up. However, if you swap to a new team member at this time - you get an HP and SP (Skill Point) bonus! What I did was switch up my team every single time. You can use 3 party members at once so I swapped between Makoto, Erina, Haru, Ryuji, Joker, and Ann. Use 3 of them, then swap to the other 3. Love it. Morgana and Yusuke were only used when I was forced to in a side mission. I really don't care for them as characters, so I was happy to leave them out. Ann isn't the best either, but I prefer her to them. To wrap up my point - not only did I not HAVE to use the main character, but I was also able to reasonably use all the characters I like! Not only was I not punished for switching up my team all the time, but I was encouraged to do so! This might be my favourite implementation of the way a team is structed in an RPG. Good stuff.

+ As always, the art style, UI design, and animation quality is top-notch. Love it. I'm not a HUGE fan of the "chibi" nature, but it doesn't really bother me. It's only really present in a couple of cutscenes and it doesn't subtract much from the experience. Otherwise, it's beautiful in every way. I will never get over the way Persona games look. The Persona team are untouched in this category. Actually, Hi-Fi Rush managed to match it, tbh.

+ I enjoyed the Persona fusion system. What was even more fun is something you unlock a bit later that I won't spoil, but it involves your weapons. It's a cool feature that I'd like to see more of.

+ Great music, as per usual. I will say nothing stood out as a uniquely fantastic track, but overall it's one of the better OSTs this year.

+ The two new characters introduced in to this game are excellent. Erina especially is a lovely addition to the cast. Toshiro is cool, too. I won't spoil anything about them here.

+ Additionally, the voice acting is great. It is mostly voice acted outside of side activities, which is greatly appreciated. Again, the 2 new characters specifically do a great job here.

+ It's written well, though it does get a bit repetitive with its messaging at times. Mixing wholesome with humour is something Persona always does well, and it's no different here.

- At what turned out to be about 75% through the game, I was satisfied with the games length. I thought it was ending, but then it continues for another 5-8 hours in classic Persona fashion. I kinda wish it didn't. I was happy with the 25 or so hours I had spent with it, but it ended up being about 32 hours (I think?) I'm glad it's as short as it is (as opposed to it being 100 hours), but it does get a bit repetitive in the later missions.

- The enemy variety is a bit lackluster. One of the enemies in particular is just annoying, as well. It isn't really satisfying to deal with; it's really just there to block your path which kinda sucks.

- Contrary to one of my positive points, a couple of the levels are annoying to deal with, particularly when you're presented with doors that open/close. Some are by your doing, and some are based on what turn it is. Either way, they impede movement. Your movement options are a highlight of this games combat system, and you're pretty restricted in the levels with doors. Not a fan.

- It's too easy. But again I don't know if this is truly valid as I didn't play on a harder difficulty, which I totally should have. I wish I could comment on the added features of the higher difficulties.

Overall, if you like Persona or you like tactical RPGs; I highly suggest you do not skip this. It's one of the best of both of those things, though it does have its fair share of issues. I could see a world where I could give this game a 5/5. If I had played on a higher difficulty... it may have happened. Although the game does suffer from a problem of repetition, which might just be too big an issue for a more glowing review to occur.

Video version of this review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRBQOJsowE0

I've stayed away from Pikmin since its inception because I didn't think I would like it. It seemed too slow-paced, and I am usually not a fan of this perspective in games that are "active". After decades of being told "no, Pikmin is so much fun! It's great!" I caved and decided to try out 4. It seemed modernized in a few ways and I figured I might finally be able to enjoy it.

Nah. It's cute, sure. I like how colourful it is. The music is jolly. That's about all I can give it. After about 6 hours, I can't do it anymore.

The core of the game is not even remotely fun. Throwing Pikmin at things and then waiting for them to play the game for you makes the game not feel like I'm really playing a part. "Combat" is also really detached. I'm sure these things get more complex, but I don't see it getting more interesting for me. I don't enjoy this for the same reason playing Olimar in Smash sucks. It's not me doing the work, I'm telling something else to do it for me. Speaking of that, his presence in that series is also a legitimate reason I've stayed away from Pikmin for all these years hahaha.

It's slow. It constantly interrupts you to tell you things. It also interrupts you just to have one of the characters tell you something pointless in their annoying little voice. Having to constantly wait for things to be done for you, and then having to go and retrieve the Pikmin from the base is painful. I'm sure things like this are more convenient and sped-up over time (at least I hope) but I couldn't slog through any more to get to that point.

Managing your inventory and trying to figure out where things are is a little bit messy. Too many separate menus. Too many notifications telling you to look at new data entries. Those may seem like meaningless complaints, but they just add to my frustration when I'm trying to relax and enjoy a game. It's already pausing my moment constantly to slowly point things out AND it's already super slow to move around; I don't need more things slowing me down.

It's not just the perspectives fault, nor is it the type of games' fault. I think this series is uniquely not good at what it's trying to do. Last year I thoroughly enjoyed Tinykin, which is actually a reason I was willing to check out P4. Tinykin is more action-oriented and has tons of fun ways to move around the map. I loved it for that. It did this style of game WAY better in every single way. I know they're not identical in terms of genre, but they're close enough and I believe it's just a straight up better interpretation of what Pikmin could be. Not only that, but I love tactical isometric games. Baldur's Gate 3 and Persona 5 Tactica this year are great examples of making gameplay from that perspective fun and consistently engaging.

Pikmin just isn't very good at anything in particular, unfortunately. It has that "Nintendo charm" but that's about it. Even in that category, it fails to reach the heights of most other Nintendo franchises.

I won't be revisiting this series ever again, probably. I'm really surprised by why people adore it so much, frankly. I think it's just one of those games that's meant to be relaxing and not very engaging - which is just not for me. The likes of Stardew Valley, for instance, never do it for me.

A couple of months ago I finally tried out Remnant 1. It was a game I had heard about for years but never got around to. Let's just say... I was very underwhelmed. It did not play very well and it felt generic as heck.

I love Souls games. I love shooters. This should have been a match made in heaven.

Now, on to attempt number 2. Yes! This is much better! It's crazy to see plenty of people saying this is "just as good" as the first, or that it's "more of the same". That's wild to me. The first one was pretty bad, but 2 is great!

The guns feel great. The dodging feels great. The UI is awesome. I love your equipment page and how everything is laid out. This game is also much more visually appealing than the first one, too. There are multiple distinct areas for you to progress through, and all of them are beautiful in their own way. I'm actually surprised by how good this game looks.

Here are some positives and negatives:

+ The guns are weighty and feel great to shoot, swap, and reload.

+ The dodge mechanic is fluid, works well, and is satisfying to pull off consistently.

+ Great bosses. Unique move sets and "gimmicks" that I haven't really seen in any other games.

+ It's fun to explore these mini open worlds. The maps are the perfect size.

+ I loved the variety of the rings. I was constantly picking up new ones that I wanted to use and had to consistently make hard decisions regarding what to replace - there are so many good ones!

+ The weapon mods add a custom feel to your weapon. I liked experimenting with a couple until I found the ones I wanted to stick with. (For reference this was the double-barrel shotgun with the root tentacle mod, and the automatic poison(?) pistol with the thing that shot tracking poison clouds to enemies) Since I was playing alone, it was cool to send out what were essentially minions to help deal with enemies while I was picking them off with my shotgun. Good times.

- I tried out a couple other weapons and nothing else really stuck with me. Everything felt weak.

- The melee combat is a huge letdown. It was bad in the first, and it's barely changed here. There are almost no variations to your moveset. You swing the weapon. It doesn't feel great to do so, either. It feels a little bit like swinging through the air even if you make contact with an enemy. This is where it's apparent that this game really isn't taking one of the most important aspects from From Software's games. Melee hits should feel impactful and hefty. There's none of that. It's disappointing, and makes it so I rarely used that aspect in battles. You can charge your attack a bit, but that's it. Otherwise it's just you sloppily swinging your thing around like you're playing Wii Sports Tennis.

- I did not care about anything in regards to the story or the characters. Everyone felt lifeless. Some of the characters out in the world were unique and were decently acted, but all of the humans were essentially talking cardboard. Overall, this game is really lacking in the personality department. It doesn't have a "vibe" outside of "oh no, the worlds ending and we're scared". Or something like that. Honestly, I don't even know what was going on because I skipped most of the dialogue once I hit the half way point.

I was looking forward to eventually trying this out. Hey, guess what? It just went on game pass! Time to try it out with a pal of mine.

...I feel like perhaps this experience would have went more smoothly if I got it on PS5? I don't care to try it out there again, though. So here we are with a pretty bad experience.

My PC is decent enough. I've played multiple modern games on it at medium-high settings. This game felt awful to play. I looked up impressions and it seems that others have had similar issues. It feels like it's stuttering, it's pretty ugly, the framerate was slightly awkward. Everything just felt sluggish. I changed up my settings a couple times to see if I could fix the issue, but no - it's just how the game feels. It's disappointing because it could otherwise have potential to be nearly as fun as Monster Hunter. I can tell there are things to enjoy here.

Outside of the performance issues, I noticed a couple things.

I liked a lot of the visual design. The monsters looked cool, the weapons looked cool, even the UI was good once I got used to it. But then... the move sets of the weapons felt pretty bland. It seemed as though the game might get repetitive. Unfortunately this isn't surprising, seeing as it came from Omega Force. The kings of bad, repetitive, floaty and sloppy melee combat. The building of materials seemed pretty cool. I wanted to see how that played out over time. The characters/story were not very interesting, outside of this one guy who was for some reason really enthusiastic and sarcastic. Love him. The voice acting (including him) is really bad overall. Even when I had the game on high settings, it was ugly.

After about 4 hours, we both gave up trying to play. He also had perfomance issues, though his may have been slightly more influenced by an older PC. Still, it didn't feel great to play.

I guess the moral of the story is to not trust Omega Force. This game probably could have been cool if it wasn't them behind it.

For some reason I forgot to review this back in January, so my memory here is a bit hazy.

In the last couple FE games that I played, I enjoyed the flow of the battles and the many ways you could upgrade, customize, and tactfully deploy your characters. They had somewhat off-putting and meaningless moments of dialogue, but for the most part; I could deal with it. Some of it was actually interesting.

However, this game throws half the game under the bus. The dialogue is almost all meaningless and frequently downright cringeworthy. By the second half of the game, I gave up reading anything that wasn't the main plot. I skipped all dialogue. It's that bad.

That's kind of alright with me, though, because what I care about most is how a game plays. This is still a good tactical RPG. Although I wasn't particularly fond of how you interact in the "hub" - it felt very shallow. I didn't care for the way you have to go about your inventory management either. It isn't streamlined very well and relies a lot on you running from vendor to vendor trying to sort it all out. Blah. On the other hand, the core of the gameplay you would expect from FE is great. The fights were fun and everything is fluid - including the battle UI. I enjoyed the way you could pair past FE characters with your new units. It felt like a fun way to push this game slightly more in the Persona direction, which they did (in a completely different way with Three Houses). It's weird; they really want FE to be Persona but they're only half-committing.

This is especially true and even more strange because I am currently playing Persona 5 Tactica and it blows this game out of the water. It's better in every way. It really goes to show how shallow FE:E is in terms of the narrative, general writing, and especially how bland the characters are. While playing through this I did not care about any single character. The coolest part was seeing characters like Roy, Ike, and Marth in action. It's pretty reliant on fanservice (no, not that kind) (well, actually - that kind, too).

Unfortunately I don't remember all the finer aspects of the game at this point, but that just goes to show that this game is not memorable whatsoever.

I like it. I desperately wish we got a full-scale F-Zero instead. After finally playing GX for the first time last year, I'm glad this series may still have life left in it. This is the best attempt at a "battle royale" Nintendo has made so far.

The sense of speed is solid. Of course, this is what truly matters most for a game like this. However, I think F-Zero deserves an entry with high production values, a crazy soundtrack, brutal online racing, and perhaps another corny campaign.

This game is fun for a couple days; the best thing FZ99 has done for me is give me hope for the future of this IP outside of Smash/Kart.

I don't know why I bought this. This has got to be the stupidest purchase of the year for me. I knew I wasn't going to want to play it, yet I bought it anyways. It's totally fine, and it's definitely better than the first attempt. After 5 hours, I realized I didn't want to play it at all anymore. It's one of the better attempts at a Smash clone. Probably second only to PlayStation All Stars, so far. I think it just annoyed me immediately that everyone online was trying to emulate Melee gameplay. Seeing people wavedash around pissed me off LOL. I feel like everyone playing this game was coming directly from playing Melee and it rubbed me the wrong way. I have no desire to play any more of it. The single player portion didn't intrigue me, either.

The thing is, I don't care about almost any of these characters. That's kinda the main reason Smash is so beloved. It's also why I loved PSASBR so much. These attempts at a Smash clone have to consist of video game-centric characters, or I'm probably not going to care.

As a huge From Software fan, I have a lot of things to say about this game. I have a decent amount of negative thoughts, but honestly, it's mostly positive. I'm very surprised by the reaction to this game; though I have a feeling a lot of people that are trashing it barely played it (or didn't play it at all).

I will say, I played this a month and a half after release (after the patch where lots of stuff was rebalanced to make it "more difficult"). This may affect my feelings towards the game versus someone who played it at launch. I am aware that people were experiencing technical issues (to varying degrees). I did not really experience any.

If this game came out before Lies of P, I may have enjoyed it even more. I think everyone would have. Since LoP came out the month before this, I think some people were burnt out on soulslikes already, which is unfortunate. It also doesn't help that LoP is definitely the superior game overall. It overshadows this for sure. Don't let that deter you from trying this one, though. It's great, too.

As always, the most important aspect of a video game for me is how it feels - and Lords of the Fallen feels great. Not perfect, but great. Miles better than the first attempt 9 years ago. The original LotF is a complete joke compared to this. Not only does it feel great to control, but there are multiple additions to combat that I enjoyed a lot. The moveset felt more varied than in a From Soft game, for one. I loved the dashing/dodging R2 attacks, for instance. The fact that there was a different animation and different attack for dashing R2, dodging R2, charged R2, and regular R2 was awesome. FS games usually implement a couple of these but LotF has more options in regards to regular attacks, and that made the combat more dynamic. I also really liked using a crossbow as a second weapon and easily switching to it by holding L2 without having to swap out my regular weapon. Good stuff. I started off the game using a "great hammer" and wasn't particularly enjoying the combat. It was SO slow. 10 hours in or so I crafted a halberd using boss materials and stuck with that the rest of the game. Once I started using that, the game felt a lot better.

I like the idea of the "two worlds simultaneously" mechanic, but it isn't implemented super well. It just feels like a bunch of unnecessary roadblocks. The game wouldn't have been any worse off if this mechanic were entirely absent. I think it would be better, actually. It's just a chore to switch dimensions to solve an easy puzzle, then find a way to switch back to the normal world. It's pointless. Lore-wise, I'm sure it's not pointless, but I can assure you I didn't listen to a single thing anyone in this game had to say. I did not care whatsoever. Nothing about the world was interesting to me. I was just here for the combat and exploration, as I usually am with Souls(like) games - unless it's particularly intriguing.

Speaking of the exploration, this is where the game misses the mark the most. I frequently felt lost because a lot of the areas look the same. There wasn't much personality or distinction between them. Especially when you are constantly switching to the Umbral world. In that world, everything truly is identical - and you're in it constantly. Bland grey and brown areas galore - sometimes with a blue tint. It's just not very interesting to look at. This combined with the way the game handles attempting to give you shortcuts and you have somewhat of a mess in terms of the readability of the environment. I like the idea of placing your own checkpoints in theory, but it's not executed well. Plenty of times I would place a temporary checkpoint somewhere to then instantly come across a shortcut back to a previous checkpoint - and realize I wasted a resource. I was constantly robbed of the feeling a shortcut is supposed to give. It was all over the place in terms of the pacing of the permanent checkpoints vs. the temporary checkpoint spots vs. the shortcuts. It's like different people designed each of these features and they did not communicate with each other.

Difficulty-wise, I found it balanced very well. It's definitely easier than a Souls game but that's totally fine with me. It's not a perfect game so if it was any more difficult I could see it becoming frustrating much faster than a FS game would.

The enemy designs were pretty unremarkable. Pretty standard fare; nothing stands out too much. Also, there was not much variety. On top of that, they constantly threw re-used bosses at you as regular enemies as the game went on. It felt a bit lazy for lack of a better term. I don't like using that word but it really did feel like it here.

A few more positive notes: I liked the build variety, the leveling system, the equipment options, the UI, the speed you used consumables and switched to your ranged weapons, and the ability to change your armor color (although that was a bit lackluster in terms of options).

Overall, there are plenty of great aspects to this game. Absolutely try it out if you're a Souls fan. Between this and Lies of P, LoP is better overall. I would argue that LotF and LoP both have excellent takes on the combat of a Soulslike game. LoP comes out as the clear winner when you add in explorative design and the way the game presents itself. Whether that be the world around you or the characters you interact with. LotF feels generic in some ways, but like I said - it got the most important part right. The combat. So hurray for them!

I have avoided playing this game since it was first released because I assumed it just wasn't for me. A couple weeks ago I decided to finally try it out, since I've heard nothing but praise for it for years now.

Well, turns out it isn't for me. I intended on streaming the entire game. I streamed it for probably 6 hours. About 2 hours in I had an absolutely FIT of laughter when I got my character to suddenly do a run, jump, backwards-middle finger flip in to a lady in a wheelchair. It was one of the funniest things I've seen in a video game. It hooked me.

Over the course of the next 4 hours, I was getting increasingly bored of everything going on. Nothing was interesting. Nothing funny happened, outside of one small instance. Nothing was hooking me. All I got was walls of text, boring stories, and things I had no context for. I also wasn't really interested in the things I was finding, nor the RPG mechanics.

Essentially - all the systems in this game had a ton of potential... if they were connected to an actually fun game. This game is basically what Baldur's Gate 3 is, minus being enjoyable to play. I suppose you could say it's similar to Divinity: OS2, which actually came out before this.

A game having fun mechanics to interact with is the most important aspect for me, and it felt totally absent here. I don't want to do nothing but sit and listen to a narrator for hours (although I loved the narrators voice). The fact that the "original" version of this game didn't have the narrator would have made this game entirely unplayable for me.

Anyways, this one has shot to the top of the "overrated" list for me, joining Shadow of the Colossus, Portal, and Journey. It's insane considering how much I enjoyed the one interaction a couple hours in. Afterwards, the game showed me that it was an anomaly, unfortunately. By the way, I'm sure there are plenty of moments in this game that would give me a similar reaction, but the thing is that there's no way I'm wading through hours of boredom to get to the parts I enjoy.

I'm not trying to read a book or listen to an audiobook, I'm trying to play a video game.

This game is cute. This game is wholesome. Those are two things that usually don't do it for me. SM RPG pulls it off. Bring back Mallow and Geno! They're great characters. Upon playing this, it occurred to me that Mallow is really under appreciated and Geno is kinda over appreciated.

I played the original somewhere between the ages of 4 and 10, on and off. Not sure when I actually played through all of it, but I did. With this version, I recognized every level as I got to it, so that was cool. Otherwise my memory of the game is/was pretty hazy.

Although I think this is obviously just a better, cleaner version of the original... I'm rating it lower than the original because it just doesn't impress me much in 2023, compared to how groundbreaking it was back then.

The music is awesome. I actually switched back and forth between modern/classic. I never really mess with that setting when it's available; I always go with whatever the new version is. I appreciate that the option was here because both OSTs are great.

I love the updated visuals. Mario looks weird to me, but the rest of the cast looks fantastic. Always good to see over-animated Bowser back in action. Love his expressions so much in all of the RPG games. The cinematics for the "ultimate moves" were really cool to see. I loved the one with Peach and Bowser. Mario flip-kicking Bowser's star-infused shell never got old.

Another thing that's partially related to the visuals is the much, much improved UI. It's beautiful, clean, and organized in a lovely way. This is something that's a deal breaker for me when it comes to revisiting old games. Menus are slow and un-optimized. Things like being able to equip new equipment immediately after purchasing them, then selling the old item within a couple seconds is huge. I have no patience for wasting time dealing with clunky UI anymore. We're past that as a society. Quick access to items/special moves when walking around is also appreciated. Somewhat unrelated but its another quality of life improvement, so screw it. Run being the default movement option is fantastic.

The enemy variety and how creative the enemies designs and attacks are is really cool. It's crazy to think that this is probably the peak in terms of that. Where are all the crazy new designs in more recent Mario games? Until extremely recently (Wonder) I feel like they've been playing it pretty safe for decades now.

This game is way too easy, though. I remember this game being difficult and confusing. I get the confusing part (as a child), as some aspects of this game are not very straight-forward (and I can tell there were a few things put in place here to make things easier to understand). The difficulty though... perhaps it was just because I was young and dumb. I assume the plentiful nature of the items in this game was not the case in the original, because that's the main thing that kept this game a breeze throughout.

I do appreciate the length of the game. It absolutely doesn't overstay its welcome. I think I only spent about 10-12 hours with it. Realistically, I would have liked it to be a bit longer - but at the same time I was totally rushing through the last 20% of the game just wanting it to be over. If the game was more dynamic and challenging, I would've wanted more for sure.

I must say, though - I don't think this game is nearly as incredible as people generally deem it as. I think upon its original release - absolutely. Over time, it's been outdone by various other games. Other Mario RPGs, sure - but also things like Sea of Stars. Playing this in 2023 is a nice little nostalgia trip, but it's also a reminder that the game is overly simple and has a lot of room for improvement - which it has gotten via decades of "sequels". Something this game does better than all of its predecessors is the dynamics of its ensemble cast. I love the variety and the way they interact with each other. This is something I want expanded on even further. Bring in DK, Wario, etc. and make this cast as wacky as possible.

Overall, it's a nice and cute lil' package. The reason this game excites me is less about the game itself and more about how this succeeding could affect their desire to make more Mario RPG games, since they've generally left that whole aspect on the table for a while now.

Here's hoping.

I was moderately excited for this. I loved Fallout 3. Enjoyed Skyrim a decent amount. Fallout 4 was just kinda whatever. It felt dated. I didn't have many expectations for this and didn't know what to expect. I had avoided all trailers, as I do with most games.

I finally got around to trying it a couple weeks ago. After an hour with it, I decided I wasn't going to continue.

It still feels dated. The controls are loose. That's something I can sometimes get past. The dialogue in the first hour wasn't interesting me at all and it felt like the characters had no soul, as with past Bethesda games.

What really broke me was being put in to a space ship, shown some dials and shit on the screen. I sat there for a minute playing around with it and then I felt compelled to exit the game. It's just not going to be for me.

This is not a fair judgement of the game, I am aware of that. But I'm still going to put my review in here. I'm not going to "score" it because I barely touched it. Based on what I've heard from others + my minimal experience + the fact that I really don't care for sci-fi settings generally - I'm out. I can't be bothered to mess around with ship building and space exploration. Not my thing at all, but I figured I'd at least try.