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.

First of all I must say - Daisy being playable is a lovely surprise. Never thought that would happen in a mainline Mario game. She's my primary choice in a lot of the spinoffs so this was an awesome addition.

I 100%'d this game which I haven't felt compelled to do in a Mario game in a very long time. The last one I did it in was probably Mario Galaxy.

This might be the best 2D Mario game. It's between this and Super Mario World, for sure. This probably takes the cake due to its creativity and due to it having all of the improvements that modernity brings. I've never been a mega-fan of Mario games. I've liked some, loved some, and was indifferent to some. The New Super Mario Bros. era in particular was a clear downhill slope for me. I thought I'd never be interested in 2D Mario games again. They felt like they had no soul; they were stale. I appreciated what they did with Mario Maker but I don't really care for creating my own things in games, so those were pretty neutral for me as well. This game finally met my expectations for Nintendo's flagship series. This is what I've been wanting since.... literally 1990. Well, I wasn't even born then so I guess 1997 or so. There have been so many great 2D Platformers over the past couple decades and it's crazy to think that Mario hasn't really been in that conversation until now, considering where it started.

Anyways... this game is a joy to play. Here I'll break down some of the stand out positives and negatives I experienced.


Positives:

+ Most importantly, this game feels right. It's hard to explain, but if you know what I mean then you know what I mean. NSMB was too floaty and lacked expressive animations. You had too much control mid-jump and it felt like you were light as a feather/on ice. Wonder has the correct amount of weight and timing behind its core mechanics.

+ Despite being a 2D game, there are plenty of ways that they hide little secrets. There are even some meaningful secrets that actually lead to important things like Wonder Flowers.

+ No timer. This helps incentivize exploring levels and doesn't force you to always continue on a linear path.

+ Enemy variety. Some familiar faces return but there are plenty of newcomers with unique visual styles and even unique attack patterns.

+ I love the way music is used to help physically alter some levels. Jumping to the beat or having enemies react to the music is always a fun way to engage the player more directly.

+ The enemies are given more personality. The best example is related to my last 2 points; the singing piranha plants are glorious.

+ The talking flowers are a very welcome addition. Finding a hidden area just to be rewarded with a sassy remark from a talking flower is one of the highlights of this game, despite that sounding ridiculous. I always tried to go out of my way to see what they'd say. It's also pretty common that they would say exactly what I was thinking which is hilarious and shows how thoughtfully they were placed around the levels.

+ The overworld exploration is fun - I liked finding hidden areas and discovering new levels that weren't there at first glance.

+ The Wonder Flowers were a bit hit or miss for me, but generally a great addition. Some of them weren't particularly interesting but most of them were very creative and added a layer of wackiness to the level. As far as "a heavily relied on gimmick in a Nintendo game" goes, this one is one of the better ones as it varies so much that it doesn't really get old or ruin the flow of the game.

+ The animations are pretty much flawlessly done. The amount of expression in not only the characters but the enemies is pretty astounding. They really focused on making everything feel alive and reactive to things around them. Enemies that had to be hit more than once to eliminate them always had great reactions. Not only this, but your character would constantly express a wide variety of emotions when just about anything happens. This even extended to unique little ways the characters enter and exit pipes. To be honest, this game is just cute.

+ The badges are a fun addition. I like that you have to use certain ones for certain challenges as that creates a lot more variety in the level design throughout the game. The developers created a way to allow themselves many more options to explore.

+ The difficulty was just right. Some of the later levels were a bit of a challenge but nothing was too crazy. The last level took me 52 tries to beat, but that's not so bad. It was certainly much more difficult than the rest of the game. Most levels I died 0-2 times. I like that balance. Specifically when trying to get all the purple coins, this game just feels right in the difficulty department.

+ As with most 1st party Switch games, Nintendo did a good job of making this game look great despite being stuck on the Stinky Switch. The colours are popping and the creative juices ain't stopping. Everything looks lovely - including the UI, overworld, backgrounds, etc.

+ I love the powerups. I have always enjoyed fire flowers. They make Daisy's outfits white and orange which is pretty nice. The bubble and drill powerups are fun additions. I liked both quite a bit. Elephant comment moved to the negative section

+ The character roster is fairly expansive for a game like this. It's neat that they have a way for more inexperienced people to play the game by having characters that are OP.

Negatives:

- ... but Yoshi was done dirty, though. When I saw that Yoshi was playable I was excited to play as him until I realized he was just a cheat mode. :( Listing 4 Yoshi reskins as 4 playable characters is pretty disingenuous, too. Those 4 and Nabbit barely count as characters when they can't be used if you want to play normally. Plus the Toad re-colours as well?... The roster is really only 6 characters to me. If you want to be even more reductive, Mario and Luigi are basically the same. Peach and Daisy are basically the same. Toad and Toadette are basically the same. That makes 3 characters. I don't actually think there are only 3 options but when you break it down like this, the roster feels tiny and doesn't truly have much variation. It's just a bunch of clones.

- I did say the badges were a cool addition but I must also add that they mostly felt redundant or irrelevant at some point. There was always one badge that I wanted to stick with. A few badges in, I picked one. Then a few badges later I picked another. Then a few badges later, I picked another one that I stuck with for the rest of the game. Most of them were pretty experimental and didn't have much use outside of the couple levels that they were necessary for. I feel as though they could have balanced this better. It would be tough to do, since you don't want to create sudden roadblocks that are only passable with a specific badge. They should be supplemental. I do think if you could equip more than one at a time, this could have been expanded on much further. Or if you could change them at any time mid-level. That would have made for endless opportunity within levels and given them the ability to make levels harder, more creative, and even a little more puzzling. I would have loved that.

- The (regular) characters are all identical. I get that the badges essentially do things that would previously be deemed character traits, but it would still be neat if they had slight differences. For instance Peach floating or Luigi jumping higher back in Super Mario Bros 2. Distinctions like that are lost here. They don't necessarily have to be that drastic because I understand their desire to focus on the badges, but it would have been nice to have some little perk for picking your character. Perhaps it could even be that certain characters have affinity for certain badges. The floaty badge could be better suited to the two ladies, for example. Idk. Mario and Daisy and Toad being identical rubs me the wrong way.


- The elephant powerup I could do without. I don't really like the way the characters look with it at all. I like the way the trunk works, smashing things is always welcome. It's just the aesthetic of the characters being literal elephants that gets me. Maybe if it was a cooler animal. Where's Tiger Luigi or Crocodile Daisy? Heck, I'd take a Rhino over an elephant if we need to smash things.

I did not play multiplayer online. Just local. I'm unsure about how that works. Just wanted to clarify that before this next point.

- The multiplayer doesn't work very well. Someone is assigned a crown and then everyone else is at their mercy. I don't know what the best way to fix this even is, but it ruins a lot of moments. Especially when there's a skill difference between the people playing. When someone is unable to keep up, especially in an area where you must keep moving, it ruins it for them. This happens constantly. Being left behind and not being able to play or get in to a rhythm sucks. Basically, any remotely difficult section ends up being a waiting game if they get caught being behind even briefly. I feel like they could maybe... zoom out a bit more so it's less likely to happen? I didn't like it in NSMB, and it's not great here, either. It's fun in terms of it being chaotic and silly, but in my opinion playing in multiplayer is actually a detriment to the game itself. You're actively making the game worse when you do it.

I'm probably missing some things but I need to stop writing.

This game can be summed up pretty easily: it made me smile a lot. More so than any other game this year, probably. Maybe not Hi-Fi Rush.

I did not play Alan Wake 1. I played Control for 5-10 hours and didn't like it much so I gave up. I had zero interest in Alan Wake 2 throughout all of its pre-release trailers and such.

Then the reviews came out and the word of mouth spread fast. Apparently this game was awesome in plenty of unique ways. I decided to bite.

I'm very glad I did. It's fantastic, and mostly for reasons that other games don't even attempt to pull off. In some weird way, I'd describe this game as a Naughty Dog/Capcom game that for some reason Kojima was given creative control over. It's a strange mix of TLoU, RE, and a Kojima game. I guess that's just kind of Remedy's thing, but I don't think they've pulled it off til now. To be fair, I have only attempted playing one other game by them. But Control seems to be the one people claim is their best work (until this?), so I think this is a massive step in the right direction.

First, I will get a couple of my issues out of the way. I think it's odd that you are given the freedom to switch between the two characters for the majority of the game. I think it should be streamlined and forced a bit more. It might be a little more coherent if it was told in a more specific order instead of leaving it up to the player to figure out the timing of. I understood what was going on (to an extent) but it was always in the back of my mind... "should I be switching to Alan now?" and vice versa. I didn't like the added stress knowing I had to interrupt the flow I was in. I played most of Saga's story back to back to back because I preferred playing as her. Then I had to revisit Alan's story near the end and it was a bit of a weird transition. To sum that up - the pacing is a bit strange because it is self-dictated in a way. It would probably still be strange even if they made it more linear, but it would be less distracting that way.

The controls are just... fine. Fighting things didn't feel fantastic but it also worked well enough that it never really bothered me. I'm also glad they kept the combat to a minimum. I assume they knew it wasn't a strong point and wasn't going to be why people were engaged. The spooky atmosphere and the way everything draws your eye and attention is what is engaging. Heck, even the story itself is engaging which I can't say for a whole lot of games. I will say I constantly had way too many resources, though. For the last third of the game I literally couldn't pick things up because my inventory AND my storage box was full. I think they messed up on the balance in that regard. The game felt too easy, despite it also feeling stressful due to the way the enemies worked. Never really knowing when you're going to be attacked (or straight up jump-scared) kept me on the edge the entire game, which was great. Like I said, though, I was never afraid of actually dying, so that was a bit of a weird juxtaposition. Perhaps I should have played on Hard, if that was an option. I don't remember, but probably.

Those are really my only gripes. Now on to the good stuff.

I touched on it already so I'll expand on my thoughts. The plot(s) held my interest all the way through. This is a very difficult thing for a game to do for me. I generally don't care, unless the game really excels in this category. Even though I didn't play the things that lead up to this game, I fully enjoyed the story here. (I did watch a couple recaps, at least, so I kind of knew what I was getting in to.) Those claiming Alan Wake 1 must be played before hand are simply incorrect, because I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Some highlights are:
- Saga's Mind Place - it was oddly enjoyable piecing together the evidence on the board. It made it easier to keep up with all the aspects of the story.
- The way Alan narrates things while you play to help you understand what's going on without it breaking immersion because it actually makes sense in context. This is VERY noticeable in contrast to most games where protagonists talk to themselves for no reason. I hate that shit.
- Most of the characters are very well acted and memorable such as Saga, Alan, Ahti, Casey, Mr. Door, Tor and Odin, The Koskela Brothers, Rose, and plenty of other smaller characters. This is where I feel that Naughty Dog feeling creep in.
- For the most part, I enjoyed solving the puzzles. There were a decent amount and I never really got tired of doing them. I'd say there were 2 or 3 where I looked up a solution because I totally did not get it. Otherwise, they're pretty fun to figure out. A little more sensical than the way RE deals with things. Sticking random objects in random places is not intuitive.
- This might be the scariest game I've ever played. Or, at least... the most unsettling. I loved it. I always felt a sense of dread despite what I said earlier about not actually being afraid of dying due to the difficulty. It just makes you feel like you constantly need to be looking over your shoulder, especially when playing as Alan.
- The maps were the perfect size, and the game is the perfect length. I never felt as though there was too much ground to cover. I loved exploring every inch of each area and making sure to find everything there was to find. The game didn't overstay its welcome and I was satisfied when it ended.

All in all, it's a wonderful package. This game does a lot of special things that I hope Naughty Dog, Capcom (RE) and Kojima Productions take note of. Sure, other studios have a lot they can take from here as well, but those 3 specifically stand to benefit a ton if they took some cues from this.

OH, I FORGOT THE MUSIC BREAKS.

Man... I loved the musical interludes in between the chapters. It was always a pleasure to just sit and listen to each one as you reflect on what just happened. Specifically, a couple chapters in when "Follow you in to the Dark" played, this game solidified itself for me as one of the greats. I've listened to it many times since. Listening to it now and getting goosebumps again. I do think the game peaked early with the music but it was still great afterwards.

...also... that music video sequence with Alan was insanity. Seeing a few people on Twitter write about "that sequence" when the game released without spoiling it was one of the reasons I caved and bought the game. The insistence everyone had to ensure that was kept a secret but also the insistence on saying something about whatever "THAT" was sold me. It really is THAT wild as a concept in a mostly serious video game.

I guess that's my final thought. They did a GREAT job of making a game that is simultaneously very serious and very funny. They also don't let these two things step on each others toes... ever. This game is funny, scary, introspective, creepy, sensory-overloading, unsettling, and a little bit wholesome all rolled in to one very unique experience that I don't think will be replicated for a while.

Remedy just rose way up the ranks for me. Before this game, I didn't care about them at all, really.

This is a significant step up in multiple ways from the previous Spiderman games. I enjoyed my time with it from start to finish; enough so that I was compelled to get the platinum trophy! I think this is one of those games that is best played to "full completion".

The way the game paces you by limiting side-quests until certain main quests are completed is great. It makes it so that the map is not littered with annoying icons all the time, as long as you're doing side stuff at a reasonable pace, yourself. I found that I enjoyed most of the side missions and appreciated that they all actually lead to story moments. None of them really fall flat and feels useless, like side content often does in open world games.

Speaking of, the world feels relatively small (in a good way) and keeps the game at a reasonable length. I think I spent about 30-35 hours with it. If I hadn't gone out of my way to make sure to do everything, I probably would have spent about 20 hours, which is a great length for a game like this. The fast travel system is incredible - I used it multiple times. I also opted not to fast travel plenty of times due to just being in the mood to swing or fly around some more. Again, it has a great way of letting you set your own pace.

The movement in this game is unreal, and it looks absolutely beautiful at the same time. It's a sight to behold, truly. The web swinging, corner turning and especially the web-wing gliding feel essentially perfected. The way the animations seamlessly transition between one another as you are constantly pressing different buttons while in traversal is pretty incredible.

This extends to the combat, which is absolutely the best combat of "this kind" there's ever been. If Spiderman is an extension of where the Arkham combat started, boy, we've come a long way. There feels like an excessive amount of ways you can maneuver around enemies, hit them, stun them, etc. It's very hectic, yet it always just... works. It is always smooth and elegant in terms of the frame rate holding its own, too! The gadgets + the abilities + the second set of abilites + the regular punches + the web attacks + environmental bonus attacks = an insane amount of dynamic fighting. I found myself constantly trying new things, because it was always fun to see how things played out. This game is super fun.

The characters and the overall story are great, I was definitely more invested in this game than I was in the previous. In the second half, I felt myself not wanting to put the game down and keep going from main mission to main mission. I had to pace myself in order not to. As someone who isn't really a Spiderman fan (or a superhero fan in general), I wasn't necessarily sure what was going to unfold. It certainly had some surprising moments. They return the (infamous?) MJ missions, but boy oh boy, they made her fun to play as now! Cool. Glad they did that. Definitely the worst part of the original.

This is the game that puts Insomniac higher up in Sony's first party for me. I know many people have loved them for a long time (I have too, just not as much as some others). This game does it for me. I think it's almost as good as Naughty Dog or Santa Monica's recent outings. Almost. I don't think Spiderman 2018 or Miles Morales are this good. This is absolutely a step up, and I'm glad they managed to pull this off. It's still not quiiiite there, though - in my eyes.

After about 6 hours of playing, I'm going to move on. I figured out the best way to explain my feelings about this game, though.

It feels like the exact kind of game that I personally would end up making if I was fresh out of game-design school and was miraculously given a decent budget. On paper, it's absolutely a game for me. I love Souls games. I love shooters. I love risk/reward. I love equipment leveling and management.

It just kinda does all of these things at the most basic level. I think there's a lot of promise here - I wanted to play this specifically because I wanted to try Remnant 2. I'm actually not 100% confident I'm going to try Remnant 2 at this point, I'm a bit mixed. I've read plenty of takes claiming it's an improvement... but how much? I think there's a lot to work out here.

It feels bland to look at; there's really no uniqueness to the environments or the enemy design. The dragon boss was cool, though. The shooting is solid, but the melee attacks feel loose and awkward. I'm not sure what to think. This could have been something fantastic. Perhaps that's what 2 is... but now I'm afraid to jump in and try.

I played for a week or so by myself cause I felt like playing a shooter. It's great. However, you have to use a mouse and keyboard and I just can't get used to it no matter how long I try with it. I will always prefer a controller, and that barrier is enough to stop me from continuing. Otherwise, I love everything about CS and this iteration in particular is great. Even if I used a controller, which I think you're able to do, it wouldn't feel right given how twitchy and headshot-based this game is.

The ruleset the game uses, how the rounds play out, how tactical it is, and how guns look and feel when using them are all top-notch.

Listen, you've read enough praise of this game already.

I was super excited about this because I adored Divinity Original Sin 2 despite having a general distaste for games that use a perspective like this and are generally PC-centric. I played it on PS4 and it was one of the best games I've ever played.

This game shares basically all of the praise I gave DOS2. It's a fantastic achievement - and I also played it entirely with a controller. They made using a controller even more intuitive here which is greatly appreciated. Loved the wheels and the UI.

The writing and characters are full of charm. The performances in particular by the main cast are top tier.

Honestly, I just love everything about this game. Exploring each area to its fullest, finding every quest and completing them all never felt like a chore. I'm sure there are plenty I didn't come across because this game is so dense and that's perfectly okay. My journey went exactly how I wanted it to.

I love these games because of the combat, mostly. Manipulating the environment to achieve crazy outcomes is always a blast. The amount of things you can do is seemingly never-ending, and it's very rewarding to come up with your own unique plans and then execute them. I played very similarly to how I played DOS2 (although that was co-op with my girlfriend). Two melee classes + a magic user + a ranged attacker. I like the set-up and I ended up using it here again.

I will say I actually prefer the combat mechanics/the leveling up/stat systems of DOS2. I think the only things that detract from my enjoyment of Baldurs Gate 3 are the parts that are directly taken from Dungeons and Dragons. I could do without the literal dice rolls, the D&D naming conventions, and the advantage system. All of that, to me, made the game slightly less enjoyable for me. It's absolutely a better game that has way more polish, production value, and options in every way (except the leveling system).

It's probably ridiculous to read, considering how much I love this game - but I don't like the direct D&D inclusions. My least favourite part of the game is that it's a D&D game. That probably doesn't make sense - maybe to some of you it will. I guess what I mean to say is that this exact game, minus the D&D license, would be better to me. It would be somewhere in between BG3 and DOS2, and I hope it's where Larian goes next.

Anyways, this game deserves all the praise it has gotten. Believe it.

I don't know where to begin here. This game blew me away. Upon its initial reveal trailer I was interested - it looked like Bloodborne. That's an instant eyebrow raise for me - I adore From Software. Based on Pinocchio? Meh. Don't really care about that either way. I kept it in the back of my mind and leading up until release I was interested but I didn't think it was going to be anything particularly special. Many developers have tried to do what FromSoft does at this point and they've all either failed (OG Lords of the Fallen/Wo Long (imo)) or made something pretty good (Surge 2/Nioh).

Nobody ever gets it right. Either they stray far enough from the formula that they're clearly going for their own unique take (like Nioh) OR they just don't study FromSoft enough. Nobody can get the feeling right.

Until now!!! Someone did it! This relatively unknown studio has broken the code and made a miracle happen!

The combat is nearly identical in feel to a proper Souls game. I'd say it's 95% there. The parry timing was a tiny bit iffy to me in certain instances - I think because you have to raise your weapon to block and time it perfectly makes it juuuust barely feel off in some boss fights where the boss attacks in very quick succession. Outside of that, I dare say this game is pretty perfect.

As someone who is VERY critical of every action game involving swinging melee weapons since Dark Souls' release in 2011 - I declare that this game does it correctly. If you like From Softwares game this is a MUST play. This is the one. I'm telling you. Almost everything that you like about Souls games - this game has. In order to not write for another hour, I'm going to go in to point form mode to point out the things I think this game does equally (or almost equally) as well as FS.

- Linear level design with looping shortcuts (like Dark Souls)
- The feel of combat (extremely important)
- Intimidating bosses (also creepy)
- Generally spooky ambience while exploring the environments
- Feeling of unease when entering a new area
- Oddly endearing NPCs while also appearing untrustworthy
- Off-putting voice acting that adds to the tension and unease of the world
- Invincibility frames while dodging
- Blocking allows you to recover lost health (like Bloodborne)
- Perfect blocking can break enemy weapons (like Sekiro)
- Boss weapons are pretty cool
- Lots of regular weapons are also pretty cool
- Build variety
- Replayability due to build variety
- Great ambient music and noises
- Healing items that replenish when you rest + can be increased (Estus flasks NOT blood vials)


Now that I've got those out of the way - let's move on to the things this game does that are NEW that enhance the experience.

Your arm is a weapon and can be turned in to various tools to use as you see fit. I only used the grappling hook and electric surge ones, so I can't speak to the others. They also seemed cool but I was a big fan of the electricity so I stuck with it. Really cool how you can mix these in to your melee attacks and cover more ground in terms of magical weaknesses and such.

The upgrade tree is a really cool addition to the Souls formula. Adding little stat boosts here and there and essentially unlocking perks is a great way to further customize each playthrough. Getting more healing items, increasing your ability to stagger enemies, more movement options, do more damage with particular kinds of items or weapons, etc. There's just so many options in the P-Organ skill tree - I love it. It's a perfect skill tree.

The ability to break apart weapons and mix/match them to suit your playstyle is also awesome. Lots of reason to experiment here and again, it increases the reasons for wanting to replay the game.

Your "Souls" get put BEFORE the boss room when you die, so you don't have to risk your life going back in to the boss room to get them if you don't want to.

Fun fact - I lost my "Souls" exactly zero times throughout the entirety of this game. Despite dying plenty of times (probably...70?) (which was 90% to bosses) I never died before picking my stuff back up. Not once. I find that interesting, because I considered this game pretty equivalent in difficulty to FS' games. I guess that just points out how the game is designed. Generally quick returns to boss rooms + not having to go in to retrieve your Souls really made that aspect easier. I think I like it better this way. Dying is expected and it's rewarding to overcome. Dying twice and losing tons of resources really just sucks.

You get a grindstone that you have to use to repair your weapons on the fly. I love this mechanic. Much better than how FS games have treated durability in the past, imo. I like having to manage the sharpness of your weapon while you are in the heat of battle. It adds another layer of responsibility that deepens your concentration. Finding the right time to sharpen your weapon in a boss fight is key, and it was always fun to pull off just right.

In addition, your grindstone also allows you to buff your weapon once per Stargazer visit. I love this. As someone who frequently uses elemental weapon buffs in games like this, it's nice to have the freedom to use one every time you fight a boss without consuming single-use items all the time.

Oh boy. I can't believe this game might be my favourite of the year???? In this year??? The best year of all time? I didn't see this coming, which is probably why I feel so strongly about it. It's nice to be surprised.

It does nearly everything right. Some things are not quite up to FS standards, but MOST things are on par. Also, some things they have absolutely out-done FS with. That's wild for me to say, but it's true.

Fantastic job. This is one of the greats, in a year full of 'em.

I don't really get it. I've played about 20 runs or so and I've given up on playing anymore. I think the aesthetic of the game puts a damper on my ability to enjoy it, for sure. I don't really like when games are THIS minimalistic with their visuals. As a Dark Souls fanatic, I can get down with a game not telling you things and over-tutorializing everything, but I felt nothing pulling me forward here. I felt no intrigue to find new items or wands, no reason to want to explore a new area. It wasn't really fun to move around. Honestly, I'm not sure I can come up with any redeeming qualities.

I love roguelikes and I love games that are mysterious in regards to how the systems work or what your goal is. For whatever reason, this one just didn't do it for me at all.

I guess part of it is that I have realized I like "roguelites" and not roguelikes. Not being able to clearly see you are progressing and getting better is a put off. I didn't feel as though I had made any progress despite playing for 5 hours or so.

This is quite a pleasant little game. It's rare nowadays for me to get hooked on a turn-based RPG. In general, they tend to lose my interest. They're just not consistently interactive enough. Perhaps this is why I found myself drawn to the various Mario RPGs when I was younger. This game does a lot of things right.

I love how the battle system encourages you to constantly be engaged. You "don't have to" time your attacks and blocks, so says the game, but it felt necessary to keep yourself in a healthy position in fights. I died about 2 or 3 times but it was never overwhelming. I feel like it was balanced perfectly. I frequently felt as though I was in danger, but always managed to get through fights. I like how carefully crafted the enemy placement, XP gain, and progression felt. It's a nice change of pace to what is usually necessary grinding. Learning new attacks or getting new party members and figuring out how to time their actions was always rewarding.

Your team member died? Well, you just need to hang in there for a couple turns until they come back. Perfect.
Your attacks and magic all have specific properties that allow you to break enemies' concentration and prevent them from using their more powerful attacks? Perfect.
You can switch out party members on the fly at no penalty to your turn order? Perfect.
You can use regular attacks as a way to power up your own future attacks or the attacks of your teammates, plus that's also tied to your elemental output in regards to breaking enemy concentration? Perfect.

I love the Moonerang attack. So fun - every time. It never got old. Also, using Serai's kick that would delay an enemies turn? So satisfying when you are able to perfectly execute an enemy by making use of it at the right time.


The writing was corny at times, but I generally cared about the characters and the overall story. I also liked how short and sweet the dialogue felt. I didn't feel overwhelmed by fluff. Usually there's just too much exposition in RPGs of this nature, but they really held back in that department and it kept the pace of the game moving quickly.

It is absolutely beautiful. One of the best looking games in this "style". The colours were always popping and the animations were very fluid. I loved how the Ultimate attacks looked as well, although after a couple times using them I did wish I could skip the animation.

The music is top tier. From upbeat, foot-tapping battle themes to peaceful town themes, it has a wide range of songs that I had stuck in my head for days.

I will say, despite it being fairly linear I did have to look up where I was supposed to be going next a couple times. In a lot of circumstances, if I didn't quite catch the next destination or the "goal" someone just described to me, speaking to them again would not repeat the message. In that regard, the game was a little vague.

I loved the way you could explore areas you were in - playing with the perspective every so slightly to let you move in and out of what appeared to be the foreground was cool. The sense of depth was a joy to move around in. I especially LOVED how you had a climb button and could climb up somewhat tall ledges + be able to fall a significant distance to get back to places quickly. The verticality is something that is not only rare but usually completely absent from games that use this perspective. I REALLY appreciated how they took advantage of this constantly. It's probably my favourite aspect of the game.

However, as I was alluding to before - the more grand sense of the "exploration" was pretty lackluster. I didn't like the traveling system, and it felt like a lengthy/difficult task to go somewhere outside of the linear progression of the game. In more than one instance I had a desire to revisit an old area (with good reason) but decided not to when I realized how inconvenient it was to return. This is where the (mostly great) linear progression of the game clashes with the lackluster overall travelling system.

Overall, I highly recommend this game. It was a surprising hit for me that stayed engaging throughout despite being the kind of game that usually puts me off for being too slow/boring. Its snappy combat and dialogue + the fun of exploring areas kept me having fun. I forgot to mention it, but heck, even the puzzles were pretty snappy! Good job on that one, too.

After dabbling in Halo 1 and 2 earlier this year for the first time, I decided to jump to Infinites multiplayer to get a feel for where the series is now.

It's fine. I wasn't good at it at all, because I barely knew the controls. It's probably not a fair judgement to make after about 4 hours of playing it, but I wasn't having much fun. I appreciate the way the game handles and how it feels and looks. It's probably a lot of fun if you put in the time to get better, but I did not feel a desire to do so.

Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNiPjlrB83g

Final Fantasy 16 is too easy, lacks almost everything you’d expect from an RPG, has mostly excruciatingly boring side quests, the locations lack personality, and it’s generally unfun to traverse any of the areas. Despite all of that, I had a fantastic time playing through this game. Not only that, but I went out of my way to play it twice and get the Platinum trophy – something I haven’t felt compelled to do for any other game in over a year. Why?

The combat is fun. I absolutely loved a few of the characters. Most importantly – this game is a sight to behold. The spectacle is unreal.

Once you have a few of the Eikons at your disposal, you can get in to what feels like a rhythmic flow state with the battle system. It STRONGLY reminds me of how I played the two recent God of War games. Chaining abilities together while peppering in some regular attacks as you wait for the cooldowns to end feels great. I’d say I enjoyed God of War combat a similar amount, but for a different reason. As Kratos, it’s like you’re playing as a Strength build – absolutely decimating things with raw power. In this, it’s more about your speed and finesse – dashing around, making precise dodges while taking every opportunity to get some damage in. Not only that but you’re constantly summoning magical beasts to do your bidding. Dad Kratos and Clive feel like they’re born from the same battle system, but they’re two completely different classes. The Barbarian and the Magical Soldier Boy, if you will.

It is certainly too easy – I only died once in my first playthrough, and it was because I failed to enter Joshua’s forcefield when Bahamut was about to unleash the full force of 10,000 moons upon us. Apparently “get behind me” actually meant “mount me”. Anyways, this is usually a major deal breaker for me. Calling difficulty a preference is probably an understatement. In most cases, a game being easy or simple is an outright dealbreaker for me. I’m a From Software fanboy. When games don’t push back (or when they hold your hand) it frustrates me. It’s hard to pinpoint, but the pace of the fights + the spectacle + the timely management of your dodges and abilities made it fun despite it being easy. My second playthrough on Final Fantasy mode did make it a bit more difficult – I died a few times – but it didn’t change much. Honestly, playing through it on hard made me realize that a game like this might have been hindered by being more difficult. I think it would ruin the pace of the fights. I was constantly in awe (especially in the Eikon fights) and I would have just been annoyed if I had to replay cinematic moments because they were more bullet spongey. It’s strange, but I think the easy nature actually benefits the spectacle of it all and let’s that aspect shine more brightly. And BOY, does it shine. The Eikon fights are some of the highest highs I’ve experienced in a video game. They just ooze style, are super satisfying, and have what is likely the best animation I’ve ever seen. It’s like Michael Bay decided to make the coolest anime of all time. It’s the Godzilla game I never truly knew I wanted.

Clive, Cid and Dion are some of the best written/acted characters in any video game. Honestly, I think Clive is possibly THE most likeable protagonist I’ve witnessed to date. This may be the only game where my favourite character is the main one. It’s almost always the supporting cast that wins me over. I’m looking at you, Sully. I might like Cid more (that voice though), but I’m trying to make a point here – so I’m going with Clive. My point is that the MC is usually boring – this game is refreshing in that regard.

The game is too long, as most games are these days. It could have been 30-50% shorter and it would be better for it. 90% of the side quests were uninteresting, and that bled over in to some of the main quests, too, for some reason. The amount of times I had to walk back and forth in the hub area made me want to get someone to treat me like Clive treated Hugo. (whisper: the whole de-handing thing)

When I really think about it, playing this game and ignoring most side quests would actually make it a better game. It would make it more difficult, as you’d be a lower level – plus you would skip most of the monotonous parts. It’s a shame I always feel compelled to do everything in a game like this.

The implementation of RPG mechanics here is a shame. There’s little to no customization in terms of your equipment. You basically always have access to the best thing you could need at any given point. To bring up the recent God of War games again – they had more RPG elements than this! That’s nuts. I want to customize Clive more. I want to have an actual “party” of characters. I want to choose who is in that party, and then I want to customize THEM as well. None of that is here. I understand why due to the focus on the narrative and the way it progresses. It would be a much different game with a party system, but that doesn’t shy me away from wanting that change. That’s a pillar of Final Fantasy.

With that in mind, I’ll make my final point. This doesn’t feel like a Final Fantasy game. However, this isn’t a detractor to me. I’m more of a modern FF enjoyer myself, so I don’t have a lot of skin in the game. I think all of the aspects that do feel like FF such as the eikons and the focus on crystals greatly enhance the experience, but it feels weird to consider this the new template for a core game. It’s really not an RPG. It’s an action game.

Overall, in what is probably the best year of all time for video games, this sits near the top despite all of its flaws. The highs in this game are so incredibly high that I can’t help but feel overwhelmed by its sheer cinematic glory. In an age where “cinematic storytelling” can frequently feel uninvolved and passive, this remained highly engaging when it really mattered.

I don't get it. This is the second time I have given this game a chance. I tried the PS3 version of the PS2 original about a decade ago, and I figured that maybe this newer version would remedy the problems I had. I feel like I'm being gaslit in to believing it's a good video game. This has got to be the biggest discrepancy in terms of critical acclaim vs. how I feel. I legitimately think it's a bad one. Without exaggeration, I'm giving it a 1/5. The only redeeming qualities are the lovely music and the sense of atmosphere/scale it provides. Outside of that, there's nothing to enjoy here.

The only feeling I felt while playing was frustration. And no, I don't think it's due to it being 'difficult'. It's just annoying. I got through the first 3 colossi without much issue. I just have no desire to continue on.

Agro is one of the worst controlling horses in all of video games. Imagine the absolute horror of using this thing after experiencing the perfection of the double-jumping horse that can turn on a dime in Elden Ring.

Jumping feels bad. Climbing feels bad. Orienting the camera is a pain. It constantly wants to shift the camera to behind you to give you a cinematic view. I want to put the camera facing behind me as I run away from the giant beast, game! Why can't I do that without it fighting with me to re-center?

This game is nothing but a lump of frustration covered in a thin layer of intriguing aspects like the world/ambience.

Yes, I know it's "intended" for things to be frustrating but that doesn't excuse it. That's a bad decision. Nothing should feel intentionally bad - this is a video game. If something is going to feel "intentionally difficult to perform" it should still be fun to try to figure out and overcome. There's no fun to be had here. That would be like someone sitting beside me as I play a Zelda game and punching me in the face every time I try to use a weapon against the boss. "It's immersive, bro!"

Like I said, this second attempt at playing this has solidified my opinion even further. This has got to be the single most overrated game of all time. It's not like other games such as Pikmin, Animal Crossing, or Microsoft Flight Simulator where I can look at it and go "you know what? That's a great game - it's just not for me." No, this is not a great game. I refuse to accept that people genuinely feel that way about this. It's bad.

Sorry for such a negative rant, but I don't know how else to put it. LOL

I just had my first experience with any Punch-Out game. It's 2023. Strange how I've never touched this series. It's really just Dark Souls boss fights boiled down to their simplest form, eh?

I enjoyed my time with it. I got stuck on a couple fights for 10+ tries but eventually kept pulling through. It's all about learning patterns and punishing very specific things in very specific ways. That's cool and all, but I definitely require more depth out of my games to truly enjoy them. I made it to Mr. Sandman within a few hours of playing. Tried that fight a couple times and failed, and haven't felt any urge to go back and continue. I think I'm gonna leave it there for now. It's certainly a bit repetitive due to lack of available inputs. Perhaps I'll revisit it (or another entry in the series) in the future.

The music is fantastic. The sense of scale and danger is actually pretty cool considering the very limited art style due to it being an NES game.

I also have to say, this game does hold up. I always claim that most old games do not hold up, but this one does due to how basic it is. It's all about reaction time - plus, you only have a couple of options at your disposal. It still feels good to play, 3 decades later. I know this is due to it being 2D in design - those tend to hold up a lot better than older 3D titles. Still, gotta give props where they're due.

I can totally see why people would have gotten obsessive over this - it's "git gud" in its purest form.

For context, I would like to first highlight that going in to this game, all I knew was that "something crazy" happens. I didn't know what it would be or how it would manifest, but I knew that this game wasn't exactly as it appeared from the outside. Luckily, despite hearing many people speak of this game over the last 6 years, I never truly had it spoiled.

Also important is that I streamed the entirety of my playthrough on Twitch, though again nobody spoiled anything and I was mostly just performing the game aloud which honestly got me way more in to it than I otherwise would have.

However, I think the hype that built up around it for being "not as it appears" somewhat ruined the experience for me. I do have to note here, though, that there is a 0% chance I would have played this game at all, let alone for 3+ hours to get to the interesting parts, had I not known something wild was going to happen.

Anyways... it's not that wild. It's kind of what I expected, but honestly much less explicit than I thought it would be. Based on the way it had been described in the past, I actually thought "it's not as it appears" implied that it would change genres, and would end up not being a visual novel. Like I said, my expectations were all out of whack. I was waiting for some catastrophic murderous event to occur and the game suddenly shifts to first-person or something.

It gave me Danganronpa vibes immediately, but it doesn't really go in that direction. It's moreso about peoples internal struggles and how people suppress their true feelings around others. It's also full of pretty sharp twists and turns in the last 20% of the game, which is appreciated. Honestly, figuring out on my own that I needed to open up a Steam folder and delete the characters file was pretty great. I love that. However, I will point out that once the game restarted again (for the final part) after that, I tried to delete Natsuki and it didn't work. :(

I have a high tolerance for things that would be right at home in a horror movie, so nothing here really surprised or upset me in the way I believe was intended. I feel like if this wasn't about teenage girls, it would have been a lot more effective. I just can't care about characters that are this young that are being presented as potential girlfriends. It's weird. I get the feeling that this game is supposed to shock you over and over, and it never shocked me.

Visual novels are very much so not for me, and that's never going to change. Games like Persona and Danganronpa do things at such a high quality and in such interesting ways that they are able to engage me despite being relatives to a game like this.

DDLC has some interesting writing, and I appreciate how it loops your experience to get you to notice subtle changes and slowly clue you in to the fact that something is very wrong. I appreciate the psychological element - it's done pretty well. They portray 'intrusive thoughts' in a somewhat realistic way, and I like how willing this game was to go the extra distance in attempt to freak you out. I will say, though, that at times I was quite bored. The first 3 hours (which I thought was the entire length of the game, before I started playing) was all set-up and it was kind of tiresome. After that, things started getting interesting but they also repeat a lot of beats. I get why, and I liked it to some extent, but in the end it was just.... so wordy. So much reading. So... visually novelly.

Being a visual novel is an instant no for me, so it's really gotta earn its right to be enjoyed. DDLC kind of does. I'm disappointed it didn't go way further in its attempts to psychologically screw with you.

The music was quite a bop, though.