A cultural phenomena and zeitgeist of the mutiplayer experience

The multiplayer experience has never been so varied and open as it has been before. So many titles and genres to jump into and various ways to play them. From playing a fighting game against someone across the street to having that same match from someone across the world or gathering friends in a discord call to play "the usual" team based/battle royale game after a shift of work or getting home from school. We can even emulate consoles and play their initial local multiplayer counterpart with people from across the country, I can finally get a partner for Ratchet: Deadlocked since finding a partner will be nigh impossible in this day and age. I can't speak for everyone but from my experience talking to people online and in real life, we tend to have that "usual" title we jump into that we love despite the modern grievances that the mainline multiplayer titles have. I've essentially gone on a journey of playing Fortnite seriously for the first time this year playing every season of Chapter 4, playing Save the World to endgame and exploring the bottomless void that is Creative and what it brings to the game. There's so much to unpack and I apologize if things get extremely long winded. This is the longest I've played something other than Team Fortress 2 or Overwatch that I wanted to dedicate my thoughts to.

Crossing over

Getting a little ahead of myself and going a bit backwards at the same time, Fortnite has become this huge collaboration of media and pop culture to the point it has become part of Fortnite's identity. Despite this, I feel like there's a popular progenitor to this sort of crossing over that multiplayer shooters that somehow feels overlooked and not at the same time. My cumulative coming of age multiplayer experience has been playing Team Fortress 2 during the worst of times growing up. Valve was really ahead of times with some of the best (and worst) of things that would become huge mainstays in multiplayer experiences such as lootboxes and battle passes but that wasn't all they did. I might be wrong since I'm having trouble finding earlier examples but it was one of the first multiplayer shooters if not the first one that has collaborated with media and video game franchises bringing them into their own universe. From big names such as Assassin's Creed, Bioshock and even Alien at the time, there was something cool about playing Team Fortress 2 wearing the hood from Assassin's Creed while using the same hidden knife as a spy knife reskin. Something I've always wanted to mention is that Fortnite sort of just has this "TF2 energy" to me that feels like game isn't focused on purely a competitive spirit but more about just having fun.

Saving the World

In 2011, Epic Games announced a new project that shows off a post apocalyptic setting, cartoon artstyle and the process of building your own structures. It must have been an interesting direction to go in considering 2011's current trends in gaming, Skyrim has just released last month and Call of Duty and Battlefield are duking it out for the first person multiplayer title. I can't speak much on the earlier state of Save the World because I wasn't there and I'm sure a plethora of updates have changed the experience substantially so I'll be describing my own experience into "completing" Save The World. This consists of completely every main quest up and reaching a power level of 100 at the writing of this review. Playing Save The World is fun yet extremely grindy to say things in the most simplest of terms. The main fun factor of Save The World is the hero build variety, huge weapon variety, trap variety and how you can set up these structures and traps. There's so many ways you can tackle objectives and flexibility in how you can build death tunnels or a fort of death that really tickles the creative part of the brain for me. There's also a huge amount of weapons that do different things and I'm almost certain you'll find that exact weapon you're looking for. From hard hitting shotguns, bows that split into several arrows, bows that go through the entire map, burst rifles, light machine guns and so forth along with goofy modifiers. The same can be said about the traps too and how you can combo some of them for great effect. The only main thing I feel like that can deter people from really getting into this mode is the lack of support and how much time it's really gonna take to get into the higher echelons of the game. In essentially grinding for 6 hours a day for a month, it took me that long to finish the main quest and reach said power level of 100 and that's a huge amount of time to put into a game. The game doesn't really give you enough of anything in a proper pace to do fun things like make the traps and weapons of your liking and if you even want a specific weapon, you're going to need to find that schematic for it and level it up properly. The main things that you'll be improving and progressing is your commander (the character you'll play), a squad of survivors that server as your power level approximation, schematics for traps and weapons that need to be upgraded at certain points along with perk resources used to respec said schematics and improve the traits of them to your own liking. Getting survivors and heroes really feels reminiscent of a gacha game except you can't spend any money on trying to pull more anymore. As of the writing of this review, you can only spend in game resources to get more chances to get something and you cannot use V-bucks (Fortnite's micro-transaction currency). Doing the Storm Shield defenses is probably the most it felt like the original point of the game in that you make a huge base and defend against huge waves of enemies. I really enjoy this aspect in its most simple aspect but grinding the materials to make even more traps to my liking is already taking too much time as it is. Save The World eventually just becomes a game I play in the background while listening to a podcast or long form video.

An important thing to mention is that people who have gotten Founder's Editions of Fortnite during the early days have a special perk in that not only do they get X-Ray Tickets (the in game resource for getting llamas which are essentially lootboxes) but they also get V-bucks for every daily and mission alert as well. This is a huge incentive for a lot of people to play Save The World if you manage to become a Founder, you can technically still grab a Founder's code but the price approx for one is around the $200 USD range, if you love the game that much then it might be worth it but know what you're getting into

Addendum: Ventures

Something I once again forgot to mention is what keeps people playing after they get the max power level and the maxed schematics they want. This brings us to Ventures, Fortnite's Save the World seasonal mode in a sense. It lets players start from scratch in the simplest of terms and work their way up in a more accelerated pace in exchange for extremely hard to get endgame rewards. Ventures progression is separate but you can get evolution materials and other schematics for the main game doing this so it might be worth doing this especially for the vouchers and other hard to get stuff. It's more of a grind to take advantage of this but if you love Save The World, there's a rotational seasonal mode for you to always start fresh. There's no new seasons exactly and it's all more of a rotation of the usual stuff at this point though so don't expect much changes after experiencing Ventures after a year.

Experiences with Battle Royale: Chapter 4


I can't stress this enough that I'm fairly new to the Fortnite experience, I got into it via a friend in Chapter 4: Season 1 playing Zero Build and I was surprised which how fluid the game felt and the variety in the gameplay for each situation had. It's hard to deny that without the out of nowhere battle royale inclusion in 2017 that I wouldn't be writing this review but it's worth having a conversation about the stereotype Fortnite's multiplayer experience seems to have throughout the years with an older demographic that Fortnite is just mostly for cringy kids or something when I feel like Fortnite is more of a game for every single age group compared to other battle royales in the market. I was one of the people to quickly dismiss this game because of that association while I ended up playing Apex and Warzone, fun games in their own rights but taking things for granted in a sense. I'll talk more about this when I go over monetization. Something I've learned to appreciate about this game is that it's really easy to get people in general to play it which is a miracle in my friend groups as they vie for different titles. I'll be giving quick thoughts about every season I've played and then follow by what I like and don't like that Fortnite does in the general state of Battle Royale.


Chapter 4: Season 1 "A New Beginning"

My first foray into Fortnite and it was actually great, I didn't experience too much of this season as I got really into it at the tail end but it was just fun and ridiculous with the hammer and using Deku's Smash against buildings. Wish I had the chance to play this season more.

Chapter 4: Season 2 "MEGA"

This was where I started to get serious about the game. It was definitely a decent season due to the vast mobility options this season gave with ODM gear, the kinetic blade and the eventual Spider-Man gloves making a return. Only caveat was it felt like you had to do the same things every game to win like getting to loot island to get slurp juice and the overpowered pulse rifle, it was really giving people like a 30% extra chance of winning if you got that stuff and there wasn't much variety in the weapons this time around. It was still pretty fun and wasn't the worst thing in the world but the aesthetic was great.

Chapter 4: Season 3 "WILDS"

The lead up to WILDS was pretty cool actually but unfortunately for this year's summer season, it did not live up to the expectations the community had. The jungle biome was mixed on me as I did like that it did spice up the map layout but after enough time, it felt extremely annoying to traverse and this wasn't help but the complete lack of high mobility in the game. We've gone from ODM gear, the Spider-Man mythic and the kinetic blade to literally nothing but shockwave grenades if you're in zero build. The new weapons were extremely cheesy barring the mammoth pistol which felt really fun to use actually. The season eventually got better with the addition of previously stated weapon and grapple gloves but it felt too little, too late by the time they arrived. A few of my friends almost quit the game because of this season and we were hoping the next one would make up for it.


Chapter 4: Season 4 "Last Resort"

At the time of writing this segment, we are around a little over two weeks into the new season with the first update right around the corner so these will be first impressions. It's a huge step up from the previous season in every way. The theme of it being a heist season is immaculate, the new weapons are fun to use along with the Rocket Ram and additional ways to grab shockwaves now much alleviating the past few problems with the last season. It just feels more chaotic and varied which I feel Fortnite truly shines in this aspect. Who knows how this season will pan out but it's a strong start so far.

Fortnite always changes things up every season which I've come to really respect and it helps make each season feel really different when competitors usually just bring minor additions to gameplay or the map itself that don't really help it differentiate from each other. I do want to talk about Battle Royale's two main modes here, regular Battle Royale and Zero Build. I haven't had that much experience playing the regular Battle Royale but it's true to the original Fortnite's roots of having building as a integral part of the gameplay and one of the main things that make it different to the other battle royales. My main problem with this is that it makes the game much harder to get into than other games that mostly rely on only movement and aiming, building can probably be mastered with muscle memory if you're serious enough but a lot of people in my age group don't have the time or play other games to really commit to this idea. The main mode I usually play is Zero Build, it's essentially Fortnite without building of any kind so you rely on the map more and movement in general. Players in Zero Build are generally more tankier to make up for this but it provides a shorter skill floor so new players can get into Fortnite and not feel intimidated when they go against someone who builds an apartment complex and rely on one shot shotgun fights to really play. I got nothing against the regular mode in saying this and I'm really glad Fortnite gives people the option to really let people play how they want to play which a lot of battle royales don't even do. A huge appeal to letting new players get into Fortnite is how it handles giving players bot games, I think it really helps with keeping players playing your game if they're getting kills even if they're not human because going against a complete sweat lobby like in Apex where there's no bots unless you're starting out is not fun in the casual playlist. Battle Royale means the crown jewel of the Fortnite experience (for now at least), a lot of progression ties into this mode and a lot of the changes that each season bring also tie into it.

The endless spiral of Creative

Something Fortnite has going for itself is that it's made by Epic Games, creator of the Unreal Engine which is one of the most popular game engines used today in gaming. Whenever tech gets updated for the Unreal Engine, Fortnite is usually one of the first if not the first game to utilize this tech and this also ties into letting players create brand new game modes, maps and even games within games themselves. The most recent notable example is someone creating an Only Up! map in Fortnite and it gaining as much traction as the original game. I think creative shines the most when it creates different game modes in my opinion, you can play the Fortnite version of gun game, team deathmatch and even prop hunt with creative. The best part about this is that this also helps with progression too since it counts towards leveling up as well. If you ever felt burnt out with Battle Royale, you can probably just hop into a gun game map or join a 1v1 map if you feel like improving your gameplay. There's a lot of options here making Creative really fill out the rest of the gameplay niches people are looking for in shooting games. I wouldn't be surprised if Epic tries to make this game like Roblox and focus more in this mode in the future.

The state of progression in multiplayer games

Like every modern multiplayer game in the space, we don't or rarely have lifetime progression systems anymore due to the fact that companies want to promote consistent playtime over huge bursts and then heavy burnout later on thus bringing in the battle pass system. A brief description of the battle pass system is usually a time limited (usually seasonal) progression system that promotes you playing every day to get the most value out of it once bought in and incorporates huge amounts of FOMO (fear of missing out). If you're someone like me though (sadly), you're probably grinding like two or three battle passes at a time in different games because those cosmetics you really want are only gonna be there for a season and then they're usually gone forever. I overall do hate the notion that battle passes make playing the game feel like a second job but I don't actually mind this system as long as they respect your time which a lot of them rarely do. Apex Legends has two progression systems which consists of a lifetime one granting you legend tokens and loot boxes and the battle pass progression system that grants you the seasonal rewards once bought in. I actually like that Apex is one of the few games that still have this lifetime progression system but I don't like how much time Apex really takes for you to finish their battle passes. If you do your dailies every day and complete a huge amount of the weeklies, it would take around an average of 50-60 days to fully finish it and that's a lot of time to play to finish it and that comes from my over ten seasons of finished battle passes in Apex Legends. The worst case example for a battle pass is Overwatch 2's battle pass system. I can go on a tirade about how they screwed up Overwatch 2 but I'll just talk about how they gutted their lifetime progression system just to fall into a more modern monetization method. The only saving grace is that Overwatch 2's battle pass doesn't take terribly long to finish but their seasons are usually shorter too. The worst part is that you don't even get the premium currency back for buying it meaning you are going to be consistently spending money on a game every two months that already takes a bunch of your time. I don't like when battle passes don't pay back in premium currency because the initial benefit for companies to do battle passes is to keep you playing every day and checking out their item shops and tempting you to buy something extra. It's skins for our time playing and boosting their metrics in the end of the day.

The state of progression in Fortnite

Despite Fortnite popularizing this system, I really think they do this the absolute best in the entire medium that it's a shame nobody has really come close. Fortnite battle passes can take a very short amount of time to finish depending on the effort and you can level it up in a huge variety of ways that it's not even funny. If you just want to get levels for free without even trying, you can always do a creative exp glitch and gain 5 levels for 10 minutes of afking and 5 minutes of actual effort. Fortnite's experience system is extremely generous too with weeklies giving half or a full level for completing them. Playing Save The World or Creative just grants you a bunch of experience that it's very hard for me to not finish even with not playing much at all. For context, I've only really played a week of battle royale and a week of save the world for the new venture season, zero intention of grinding experience at all and I'm already level 140 only after two weeks of the new season starting, you only need to reach 100 to get every skin and 125 for every variation of said cosmetics not to mention that battle passes pay back 1.5x in Fortnite meaning you get an extra 500 vbucks as well. Fortnite's battle pass feels like a premium meal at a a michelin star restaurant while the other feels like grabbing some gas station hot wings that are gonna make me toilet bound for two days.

Connecting it with Monetization

Despite my praises, Fortnite does still do every cardinal sin that a modern multiplayer game does in the end of the day despite its excellent battle pass system and the respect for time. It has an item shop and it relies on an incredible amount of fear of missing out that it border on complete fervor for when new or old skins will return. This rings more true in that some of that fear of missing out ties in with media and pop culture characters like Marvel, DC or even popular anime characters. If you start Fortnite right now, you would have missed out on the chance to gain one of the most notable characters in the superhero space, Spider-Man. Spider-Man is a Chapter 3 Season 1 battle pass skin and it's a slim to very none chance anyone will ever get him again. Fortnite really feeds off this with its item shop because of how inconsistent it is. You really can't calculate when skins will come back to a science unless they're regular 30 day item shop rotational skins. This just really stings the most when you just get into the game as a new player because it feels like you're very late to a very fun party. One thing I like about Fortnite's monetization surprisingly enough is its membership program of sorts, Fortnite Crew. It's actually a great value compared to what $10-12 would get you in any other game. Usually that amount in USD would grant you just a battle pass for the season but if you buy Crew at the right time which is what a lot of people usually do for $11.99 USD, you get the current battle pass for free if you don't have it yet and the next one if it falls into the 30 day subscription window for the month, 1,000 vbucks (premium currency) and an exclusive skin for Crew Members of the month which vary in quality. I like doing this since it actually lets me utilize the shop more instead of completely ignoring it like in other games which might be what Epic is trying to do anyway. Another thing to Fortnite's strength is that the premium currency is 20% cheaper and their item shop prices are around that much cheaper for the same cosmetics of the same quality. The dollar feels like it goes a lot farther which might be a good thing, bad thing or something completely irrelevant to you because you don't want to spend money on a game like this which is fine too but it's something I noticed and had the word vomit to type out and express.


The Secret Sauce: Collaborations

If you're an older Fortnite fan, you are probably starting to hate collaborations since a common sentiment I hear online is that it ruins the storyline Fortnite has and removes more of its identity when it does. As a much newer player and more biased, I have to disagree. I know I missed out on the magical moments of Fortnite's peak but there's something really special about collaborations when they happen. It also feels like a mini event when it happens and the fandom associated with the collaboration get really excited when it does happen, having their favorite characters in a game they play a lot means a lot to players. Being able to play as Bender with Goku and Spider Gwen doing the griddy is something special. It also helps that Fortnite usually doesn't really half ass it and bring different gameplay mechanics or attention to detail in the specific cosmetics they bring. One of the best parts is that Fortnite's style really makes anything fit as well, it never feels jarring due to the artstyle being extremely flexible in that having western animation characters with realistic looking people doesn't look that bad. I hope Fortnite continues to bring some new collabs and maybe hopefully bring out something super niche just for the reaction.


What I didn't and couldn't go over

With playing as much Fortnite as I have throughout the year, there's a few things I missed or didn't feel confident enough to really go over and I'll just scramble my thoughts here. Fortnite's battle royale mode technically has a story and I can't say I'm really entranced by it despite reading up on what has happened so far but that might be an issue of Chapter 4 in general. Another aspect of this is talking about live events and concerts, I didn't get to experience any of these yet except for the Kid Laroi creative map which I thought was decent. I hope I can still experience one someday since they sound like amazing multiplayer experiences that connect the community into what's happening in the general scheme of things. There's a few specific things in Save The World I probably could've got over such as seasonal modes and modifiers such as Dungeons and Hit the Road but it would've made this smorgasbord of a review/thoughts more long winded than it already is.


Last Stop

If you actually managed to read the entire thing or most of it, thank you. There's bound to be spelling or grammatical errors and I told myself I wouldn't really write reviews anymore but I guess when you play a game for long enough, the thoughts you want to share swell up enough that it was bound to happen. I'm sorry if this review is just a long winded personal thought explosion on why I've came around on Fortnite in the past year. In a very short summary, Fortnite reminds me of why I've enjoyed TF2 in the last decade. It doesn't strictly focus on the competitive aspect of things, anyone can enjoy it and there's a certain interactivity that it has with other players that other games usually don't. From blasting someone with a Rocket Ram to starting a jug band or a train conga line in the pre-game lobby, that shit speaks to me. I'll leave you with this, see you in the internet space.

Heaven and Hell, time heals all wounds

It's hard to deny the trepidation initially surrounding Tears of the Kingdom's media cycle, not much was known and not much was given until the launch was right around the corner. We knew it would be riding of the idea that was initially being a DLC and even setting the COVID delays aside, the game has taken around 5-6 years to create. Breath of the Wild despite being lauded as a refreshing change to the formula and won critical and financial praise in the eyes of the general consensus, some longtime fans feel saddened by the change in formula. I've been in the same position myself before with being a traditional final fantasy fan seeing the titles go action based and seen it when Like a Dragon fans be angry when the mainline series goes turn based. I still wish for some of these series to continue in the original formula but it can also attribute to developer fatigue and what the higher ups want. Not to mention ever since the formula change, major zelda game releases are considered cultural events in the social zeitgeist now and are now some of the highly praised and financially successful games in recent time (not to say Zelda has not received critical acclaim before). With that said though, I feel like people need to relax with the flinging when someone doesn't like a critically acclaimed title and respect other people's opinions. In the end of the day, only your own opinion should matter. I personally enjoyed Breath of the Wild a lot, like many others it was my first switch game and I've put two hundred hours in the title which is a rarity these days with the constant flux of video games coming out that particularly interest me but a part of me does wonder if the magic can be recreated once again with Tears of the Kingdom, I admit a part of the magic was playing this back in 2017 and wondering how this world was even being rendered on a portable console of all things. It was unheard of at the time coming from the 3DS/Vita portable generation but here we are now with the Switch showing its age. To my own surprise, Tears of the Kingdom manages to bring back that magic and doubles down on the sandbox open world approach into a realm not many people see in titles like these. I apologize for the intro delving into the state of discussion about this title but these reviews are for me in the end of the day, thank you if you enjoy my reading and if you disagree with my opinions, that's alright too but please remember we're all human.


Tears of the Kingdoms provide the same story structure like Breath of the Wild but manages to keep it surprisingly focused despite its haphazard approach with cutscenes being locked into open world landmarks in a sense. You do have a main quest to progress but to gain insight on the story, you need to find these landmarks and view the cutscenes and likely they'll be out of order too. I was able to piece these together pretty much but I can understand if this approach is frustrating or confusing for some people. I really think the high points of the story are amazing though and actually had my jaw on the floor especially in the end and I'm not even that much of a fan of the series myself that much. It's definitely longer too but I feel like the ending nails the game on such a high note that it might be one of my favorite endings in a Nintendo first party series that isn't Xenoblade.

I and many others could write a book on the game design of Tears of the Kingdom and it feels like it would never be enough. This is why those sixty hours and two weeks flew on by for me. The tools given to you completely re-conceptualizes the world of the original Breath of the Wild while adding layers to the exploration with two new areas. The tools given to you can alter the world itself, alter the weapons you use, let you reach places otherwise unimaginable that feels like a developer tool and let you turn back time on objects. You've probably seen a bunch of specific creations on social media and wherever you go already on what people have built and it's hard to imagine what else you can do. This is one of the main strengths of Tears of the Kingdom: finding your own solutions to problems. I've essentially used ascend and recall cheese to complete 70% of the shrines and despite this sounding tedious, I had fun with this because this was the way I wanted to solve the problem instead of what the developer intended. My only complaint in the beginning was not getting enough Zonai devices early on and having to build every thing myself but I will assure you that there is an ability that alleviates this for the most part and if you want to grab this ability for yourself, look further in the depths. Combat has remained largely unchanged in the actual performance of fighting other than Fuse. In the relevance of the story, regular weapons don't remotely cut it anymore for damage so you're required to fuse to be able to properly output for damage and the game makes this apparent especially with some horns of enemies looking like actual axe heads. I think it's a pretty fun novelty to make your own weapons and experiment especially with the way some bases modify how the weapons act making some more risk and reward and so forth. The usual sequel fare is here with more quests, more enemies, just more things in general that refreshes this new foray into Hyrule once more. One strong complaint I have is the general performance of this title and how much frame drops are extremely apparent here. Now I'm forever impressed that Nintendo has managed to work such a huge world for the most part into almost ten year tech at this point (Tegra was 2015) and I'm usually willing to excuse performance dips if it's not common but it's taken up at least twenty to twenty five percent of my playtime that it's been hard to ignore. Using Ultrahand 50% of the time tanks it to 20 frames a second, specific places on the map just tanks it hard as well along with combat encounters too which hampers my enjoyment the most. Now I'm usually not a stickler for stuff like this usually but I feel like when it consistently hits that point, despite the actual quality of the game that it needs to be better in this department.

Something I want to talk about is the music in this game because I feel like they ramped up the epic pieces hardcore in this game. I can't say I'm a huge fan of Zelda's music in general other than the great fairy theme for how calming it can listen to in general but I feel like the epic pieces in this soundtrack mixed in with the distorted and eerie vocals really elevated the high moments of the story and made me feel like this cool hero which is the entire point. The fact that the eerie distorted vocals feels like a motif in a sense just filled me with this dread during specific moments and it almost felt surprising that Nintendo went for something like this. One of my favorite pieces that shows this off perfectly is this track that plays near the end (don't click if you don't want to get spoiled).

I really do think Tears of the Kingdom is the best sequel they could do with retaining most of the assets and ideas from the former title. The tools given to you essentially feel like debug tools, the story keeps the same format but has better beats, the music is better, there's more to do in general. If you weren't fond of Breath of the Wild in the first place then it might be hard to convince you that you would enjoy this game other than knowing that this game is a slow burn at the start, if you enjoyed Breath of the Wild then you're already playing the game as we speak. I hope they use a new map and premise for the next one, maybe create a more livelier version instead of the post apocalyptic feel of BOTW and TOTK.

Don't think it matters but this will be my last review for a while, don't mean to get personal blog post on a gaming log site but I will end my streak of reviewing every game I play here due to lack of time and not as much enjoyment in general doing so at the moment. I will still be using the site for its logging and tracking purpose but I'll probably refrain from posting comments or writing thoughts in general. Thank you for reading.

Turning something ordinary into extraordinary

Something about seeing text on screen with just purely animated images only for a sum of twenty hours sounds daunting to someone that can't focus for more than ten seconds and yet every word manages to grab my attention for most of it. Witch of the Holy Night (also known as Mahōtsukai no Yoru) feels like what happens when you the tiny things of regular life and drastic circumstances.

In terms of visual novels and pointing the complete obvious, narrative and the style of writing is complete key here in grabbing your attention and keeping it and the games manages to do that in spades for the most part. The way each grin, body language, item of the world is described manages to paint a complete picture of what's going on as you read. The voice acting is great here and really helps sell the emotions these characters feel throughout the story with hearing their anger, their triumph and their pain. There's a few slow moments during the action that I wish weren't there but after a certain point in the story, I found it hard to put down and every character in the main cast manages to get their moment in the spotlight. I just loved reading about the interactions and emotional actions during this experience, it was a great surprise but I really think Soujuurou Shizuki carries this whole experience for me, amazing character.

The art during the game was excellent, the small animation work was immaculate and the music was good too and ramped up at the right time. It felt enough that it helped paint a clear picture of the action along with the sound effects of blue bullets flying through the air too.

Never considered myself a TYPE-MOON fan and barely touching the surface of visual novels but if I can expect this type of writing from them, I might be on the look out for their other works down the line. Witch of the Holy Night is a great experience that brings a nice slice of life mix with a magical twist.

The calm before the storm

Serving as a small appetizer for fans and a little incentive as picking up the modern generation version of the Final Fantasy VII remake, Episode Intermission serves as a nice bit sized adventure fleshing out one of the original cast with her own prologue before her main debut with activities and story.

What the episode here does more than anything is bring Yuffie into context of the story before her initial debut, plenty of fun side activities that keep you busy for an hour or two and a story that doesn't slow down and bring some exciting elements that weren't there in the original. Yuffie's characterization is more charming and actually gives her more personal stakes in the eventual main journey along with Sonon making a great foil and sidekick for Yuffie's antics. The other characters are cool but considering the pace of the story, they don't get much time to shine other than serve as context for other important characters.

Yuffie is incredibly fun to control and that's a great thing considering she's the only character you'll truly control for this five hour romp. Sonon will join you as an extension more than someone you can truly control and it's mostly fun since you can select ATB commands for him but in terms of pure real time control, that's a negative. The main meat of combat is here with the additional element of synergizing with Sonon which lets you focus on a target for extra damage and access to more powerful techniques with the price of reducing how much Sonon builds up his ATB gauge which prevents you from constantly being synergized. While combat is just as fun, Fort Condor is a surprisingly fun mini game within the episode being a remix of the original except it being a two sided tower defense hybrid game. Despite being only able to control one character, the game does not overstay its welcome too much this time around so the novelty ran its course perfectly.

I kinda like the idea of a DLC like this if priced correctly and released at the right time, providing a little of something for the fans to tide yourself over until the next main release. Games are taking longer and longer to make so anything to make the wait a little easier is always nice especially since we'll only be able to play only so many games in our lifetime. Final Fantasy and Madden will (probably) exist after most of us go so it's nice to get more of it if done right. This comes with Intergrade by default on PC and new copies on PS5 which provides a code, I can't comment if used copies of Intergrade will have this since mine came with a code so you might have to pay $20 for this one and it's a little iffy on value unless you really want more of the remake's style of game.

Different definitions of justice

Lost Judgment represents a step forward and a step back for Ryu Ga Gotoku's spin off brawler series. The concept of the themes of the game are extremely interesting as it tackles the consequences of bullying but it also stumbles a bit with the other themes and its meaning of justice. With that step backward, the step forward is just as substantial with more refined combat, a new style and generally more content that feels meaningful that makes exploring Ijincho more vibrant.

The initial set-up of the mystery and intrigue of Lost Judgment was setting this game up for success in its themes and forever wondering how the pieces will eventually fall in later on. Yagami is asked by his friends to help investigate a high school for bullying and in RGG fashion, the conspiracies only grow bigger from there. My main problem with the plot was that it sort of revealed its best cards too early and at the half point of the game, you already knew a huge chunk of the major players and their intentions leaving very little and very boring answers left to find until it all comes into a head. I also find it hard to like Yagami as much as the other protagonists due to his very attitude and it feels a bit more annoying in Lost Judgment when the game tries to show that Yagami is not always objectively right in this situation and the way he handled some things later in the story bothered me a little bit but I might detract that for the bad writing in general. The side characters, the school kids and everyone else was pretty charming and provide some of the best side content RGG has made in years though and it does paint Yagami in a decent light in this counselor role. I also appreciate one character that acts like a foil to Yagami which I think is a little more sympathetic than Yagami at this point.

Brawling in Judgment was fun and Lost Judgment made so many tiny touches that made combat somehow even more fluid. Swapping styles in the middle of the carnage is much quicker and easier letting you experiment more with the moves each style brings with a new Snake focusing on parrying and throwing that reminds me of some of the more tricky characters in the earlier Like a Dragon games. The side content is more vast and less tedious compared to the other games providing a lot of entertaining stories and exploration. The usual detective activities do make a return but they're a little annoying but I will never understand why developers add tailing missions to games since it just feels a bit like padding at this point.

Another point for Lost Judgment is the music in this game is amazing, SEGA truly knows no bounds in making energetic music like the chase theme and one of the better final boss themes in a long time.

Despite starting out strong, fumbling a few plot beats and almost ending in a whimper, Lost Judgment does bring the series forward in some respects. More than anything, I do understand that creating narratives like this can be hard, planning out the major players and all that but it really does feel like the definition of busting at the poker table before the night has ended. Lost Judgment as it stands provides the best action gameplay RGG has made (have not played Ishin at the time of this review), more meaningful side content, a really interesting concept and great music.

Survival horror and third person action redefined

Resident Evil at a glance for the most part is a prodigious series in gaming, essentially bringing forth survival horror as a genre in video games and providing some of Capcom's best titles to date. It will come to a surprise that I've played every Resident Evil but 4, the almost undisputed landmark title in the series. It's not easy to ignore the constant praise the game gets (and rightfully) deserves almost the past two decades since its release back in 2005. With the remake making news and media rounds, I wanted to finally experience what people have been clamoring about and the discussion about the controls since to be honest, I was a bit worried I wouldn't like the game as much, tank controls aren't usually my cup of tea especially in a game that's more centric in the action than horror this time around. Resident Evil 4 stands to be a great package but it also feels like a jack of all trades and at most a master of one.

The story of Resident Evil 4 brings Leon S. Kennedy to a village in Spain to search for the president's daughter, almost felt routine at first but then things ramp up pretty quickly. Leon must use whatever he can to get through their lines to get Ashley out and escape in one piece but other players on the board have other plans for themselves. Leon is really snarky and quippy during the game and it's mostly entertaining throughout the game with a few standout moments but honestly, it's not much to write home about. The most humorous parts are the calls between the main villains and Leon himself just constantly belittling each other after Leon gets through an obstacle and the fact that it feels so unnecessary adds to the detail. Despite that, I feel like the story doesn't really make any sense due to a detail surrounding the villain wanting her to go home but still stopping you and making their actual plans known yet they do everything to get you away from her and leave that it kinda disconnected me for a bit. It feels more like a device for the characters and the game itself at that point and that was fine with me.

It's no secret Resident Evil 4 skewed towards action and less on making you uncomfortable and relying on pure horror to immerse yourself in your surroundings. The path of resistance is strong against Leon and all he has are the weapons at his arsenal, a knife and a merchant willing to sell him these tools of destruction. Resident Evil 4 relies on "tank" controls but they feel like the best iteration of them that I never minded them at all. To this day, they feel fluid, movement feels fast paced yet methodical with the way quick turning and aiming works. Personal space management, where to aim, inventory management amalgamates into a timeless action horror ride that mostly keeps going. The puzzles and areas aren't too long and the boss fights are really fun with never a dull moment although I wished the game was a little less longer since I was starting to feel a little bit of the fatigue right at the end. Inventory management is almost a game in itself with how you manage your items in this satisfying feeling that almost feels reminiscent of Tetris when shapes go together perfectly and allows you to really make the most of out of each slot since items are not equal in size all the time, a rocket launcher is not gonna take the same space as an egg for example.

Time has served the game well, playing the PC version on a Steam Deck makes the game still look incredibly gorgeous to this day. The models and lighting work really did wonders here and the almost gritty feel really helps here. The use of music is great here with high paced music playing when there's enemies nearby and the music immediately cutting off into silence when the last enemy has been dispatched giving you that feeling of relief that another part is down. As always, Resident Evil safe room themes are always a great calm before the storm and 4 is no exception.

I understand the love for this game a little bit more after playing it, the action is great, the music is great, even the game still looks great to me. The story itself could use a little bit more work and maybe cut down a little more but it still made for this cohesive action horror experience kept you on your toes. I even glossed over Ashley herself as she didn't feel that bad either, I only had her die once but she's been great at staying alive in my playthrough but maybe I was lucky, the escort stuff wasn't that bad at all. But I digress, Resident Evil 4 in my opinion deserves the praise it's gotten over the years. With the remake widely available now and my own preference for the action the remake provides, I might not return to this one but I'm glad I had the chance to play it with pure eyes and see that the game is great and still is.

Experimentation in resistance and fantasy

When you create a unique property that is successful, the first thing people tend think of these days are sequels, a continuation of sorts. The general idea tends to be take what made the original great, add in a new story and build up the foundation the game has set up with more things to do and more to experience. As my friend pointed out though, sequels around this time were more experimental than you would think. The original Zelda was followed up by Zelda 2, Castlevania followed by Castlevania II and so forth, even Dragon Quest II had its own spin and improvements on the formula the first game set out to create. The original Final Fantasy was a very basic yet enjoyable RPG and was considered a success for Square. Final Fantasy II did not rest on their laurels and created a very unique sequel that kinda scrapped what made the first one great with a gameplay system I felt added nothing nor satisfying customization to the experience albeit with an interesting concept for the world and narrative.

The story of II tells a more ambitious narrative with as soon as editing the names of the main four characters, you are immediately thrust into a battle you cannot win. Starting out as four adopted siblings with no power to wield, barely brought back to death by the resistance. It's a tale of smaller powers trying to overcome the impossible, the classic underdog story. The story mostly has you joining this said resistance, going on missions trying to piece together what's left of the world in order for maybe a chance to fight back against the Empire. The most interesting facet of story telling in the game I feel is the rotating fourth party member through what is essentially most of the entire game, you encounter different people from around the world and they play a role in furthering your goals and pay a price but it gets exhausting when it happens just to give you a fresh slate again. The main cast have their quirks but considering the time, it's par for the course. I like the different perspectives but I think from a gameplay perspective, it's one of the most annoying things about this game.

Upon usually building for sequels, you usually don't shake up the entire formula in the growth of your characters which I feel is an extremely important. I have to preface that I really do respect Square for trying something completely different when you have a golden goose, it takes a lot of guts to shake things up. There is no traditional leveling system here but a more "the more you do it, the better you get" in the simplest of terms. Stats are raised by specific actions like taking a lot of health damage raises your health points or constantly attacking physically raises your strength and so forth. Proficiency with weapons are raised here with use and allow any character to use any weapon. You essentially have the freedom to make any character you want given within the means of the game. My main problem is that the progression never felt satisfying through the entire game at all, you will notice the stats grow within time but it never feels like you really are getting stronger at all. The general encounters aren't that fun either and the dungeon design is really awful here. The rotating fourth party member while good from a storytelling perspective really annoyed me with how often you get a new party member with worse stats than your main three and realize it's not worth building them up due to them eventually leaving again. In reality, you had three slates instead of a usual four while finally getting a permanent one at the end of the game but by then, it'll be way too late to be of any use. Around the halfway point, I was pleading with myself to be finished with this experience as even the encounters didn't feel rewarding or even fun, it began to feel tedious because at that point, the party was already set in stone.

Most of the music in Final Fantasy II gets a bit repetitive but there are definitely some great hits here especially the final dungeon theme being a huge standout. The design of the enemies are great here as well and the main party designs are pretty unique especially Guy, who is just this buff dude that speaks beaver.

I genuinely wanted to like Final Fantasy II, the prospect of an open ended growth system might invoke some creativity in how I can handle certain situations in the game and figuring out builds might be fun for me but it just left me bored and frustrated when some bosses only take magic damage leaving two of my physical build ideas as useless. The growth of power in this game felt so piecemeal that it never felt like getting a decent meal every level up but just a small candy every now and then more often, you will eventually get full eating this way but it's never satisfying compared to an actual meal. I can understand why people like this game and I don't want to sound too dismissive of that considering I do think the story and narrative are by far the most interesting things about the game but it's barely enough even at all, the characters too if done right and not hamper the gameplay that it made me check out.

Light and darkness

Ikaruga's reach has no bounds as someone that has barely got a toe into the shmup genre has heard it. For some godforsaken reason, I thought this would be a good entry into getting my bearings on the genre and build upon some muscle memory to use in the future for the genre, this game destroyed me on my first run through on unlimited lives on normal. I "beat" Ikaruga but I was battered and bloodied that it almost felt hollow, anyone can win with unlimited lives and I enjoyed my time but I had to go again until I got a victory that felt earned.

The heart and soul of Ikaruga is the gameplay and it might seem simple at first glance but there has never been a more betraying impression. The main mechanic is being able to switch polarities to eat bullet rewards timing with charging your special homing lasers and extremely important to survival as well. The game starts easy enough and then throws some disgusting patterns that almost feel hard to predict until you memorize them and it all finally seems possible. The game doesn't throw a lot of bullets at you more than gives you these unique situations that require you to remember what to do and how to do it while dodging those said bullets. First run, I was legit dying every 9 seconds and then very quick improvement on my second run as I was remembering where enemies come from and naturally figuring out what to do to the point it was starting to feel like a puzzle game. The game's extremely short run time lets you know that you have to come back, you will get your ass kicked but you can always return and do better.

Something that fascinates me about Ikaruga is the general art for the game, it's some of the most beautiful art I've seen for a game of this genre with pieces such as this and even this character piece. This is official art and despite not seeing most of it despite the imagery and themes. Games like these aren't as exciting without an amazing fast paced soundtrack to accompany them and Ikaruga is no exception, surprisingly my favorite theme is the one you hear at the very end with the credits rolling and the imagery I refuse to spoil feeling like a period to a very hectic experience.

Despite Ikaruga's devastating difficulty (can easily say this is a personal skill issue too), the game's very first poem tells you to not give up which I feel is very accurate to the experience. To never give up, being strong means you will have more obstacles you have to overcome and so forth. Don't regret living, don't regret not giving up and maybe we will learn to understand each other for who we really are. The achievement might never happen but I only hope existing within the people close to you is more than enough.

Origins of an iconic vampire slayer

It feels odd to say that despite the variety of games I've played that there's still a few series of games that I've just straight up never touched due to my inherent bias that I don't like platformers that much. Coming into the original Castlevania though, I didn't know what to expect but what I ended up getting was a fun but challenging platformer.

The premise of the game and probably most of the series is simple: head into a spooky castle and defeat Dracula. The ultimate vampire as old as time itself. You generally encounter a decent variety of enemies as you climb your way up stairs and rooms of the castle and fight some pretty cool looking bosses in between, stuff you'd generally find in a setting like this.

Belmont's general gameplay is odd to describe as it feels rigid but also extremely methodical in that jumps don't have that floaty effect some people might be used to. There's also a tiny delay when your whip attack comes out so spamming it sometimes might not be the most ideal. A variety of items is also available providing more utility to aiding you on your journey and if used correctly can trivialize some of the bosses (looking at you holy water). All of this accompanied by the general challenging NES design at the time makes for a moderately frustrating but still a fun time.

I generally don't have the patience for platformers of an older generation but I think the original Castlevania was still a generally fun time. I have a lot of appreciation for it starting an entire series and nailing the groundwork for what would be one of the iconic vampire slaying forms of media we have today. Almost failing to neglect the great music with Stage 16 being my favorite track giving you that rush right before the end and you got a short but fun ride.

This is kind of a personal review about a friend that's gone and looking back into some bad times so if this isn't your cup of tea then here is me giving you a warning now, thank you.

July 2020

Ex And Oh: "It really seems like the world is ending, like we're all stagnating"
Alex: "Being couped up like this has been rough for me, I was gonna travel a lot this year and this pandemic kinda shot that in the water"
Ex And Oh: "You're telling me, I never mind being stuck in one place but I just want to move on with my life, we were finally gonna meet up"
Alex: "Once this whole thing blows over, let's do that and get some pollo a la brasa bro"

Road of brightness, I will get there, and shinin

Lumines from the second you boot it always felt like a good time coming, but for me it's more bittersweet. It was one of my best friend's favorite games from the PSP's halcyon days due to his love for puzzles and the infectious fusion of music that Mizuguchi's more prominent works have been known for. Blending puzzle and rhythm puts you further into a zen like state that any other game with either or possibly can.

Ex And Oh: "Yeah I like Tetris, why what's up?"
Alex: "Heard of Lumines? It's from the dude that made Tetris Effect"
Ex And Oh: "Yeah I love Tetris Effect, waiting for the Switch version or for it to hit Steam to actually buy it, money is rough right now"
Alex: "Been playing more during my down time and haven't played it for years, the switch version is pretty cool with the rumble, you should give it a try"
Ex And Oh: "Yeah I will"

Shake your body, Shake your body, Shake your body

Despite my personal feelings, a huge variety of skins and music makes Lumines feel like a celebration in its basic challenge mode rather than an arduous climb to the top. Like the actual Tetris Effect before it, Lumines can incur the effect of seeing 2x2 blocks in life (at least for me) after a while. Even the soundtrack itself can incur good memories with how upbeat most of the soundtrack using electrical sound and calming vocals that serve as a reminder to despite attempting a moderately difficult challenge to also just take it easy and have fun.

Out for a walk, gone forever


Ex And Oh: "Hey this game is pretty sick, music is stellar and the gameplay is almost just as addicting as Tetris"
Alex: "Yeah the music is nuts, I sadly never got past 60% of the game but hearing shake your body gives me that happy rush I really need"
Ex And Oh: "Been wanting to try out more stuff and expand my horizons so thanks for showing me this, hope things are alright with you"
Alex: "I'm trying my best man"

Each run takes longer and longer demanding more and more from you to keep the board clear, a unique feature of the Switch version rumbles with the gameplay and music bringing a third sense into the mix of feeling Lumines. I feel like Lumines reflects life with its tempo changes, upbeat and faster songs to reflect the small moments of celebration and happiness and more ambient and slow paced songs to reflect the constant lull we face. Of course each life is different and each basic challenge in Lumines will always be the same but how we tackle it will always be different when we're given the same blocks.

Celebrating life, ours

Ex And Oh: "We keep losing brothers and sisters to this life, the only few people that showed me kindness are the ones to leave early"
Lisa: "im sorry man, losing a friend is never easy"
Ex And Oh: "Sorry for venting, it just keeps happening"

Beating the basic challenge left me surprising empty, all I could think about was my friend never getting the chance to even beat the basic mode. It sucks that this is all I can really remember him but a single game recommendation is just one of the many proofs in the world that he did exist, something he had trouble realizing himself and always wishing he can finally move forward in life when the world wouldn't let him. One of the many video games that can bring people together in a time that it feels like we're closing each other off.

Method in the madness, Methodical Metroid

I can safely say I've never been too much of a fan of Nintendo's most prominent works. I've never been into platforming so I've never been too much into Mario, never been too much into the specific flavor of action-adventure titles that Zelda brings other than Breath of the Wild (shocker I know). The only point of interest I mostly have outside of their RPGs (Fire Emblem and Xenoblade) is Metroid, a fast platformer but more than that to the point it's created it's own subgenre called Metroidvania, platforming with mostly non linear design and item progression to a certain extent. I really like this approach to platforming due to the item progression reminding me of the power progression I enjoy in RPGs. Coming into this now, I was really excited to try out Metroid Prime. First person titles are a bit uncommon coming into the creation of Prime and especially from Nintendo considering this is their answer to bringing Metroid to the three dimensional space. Probably lacking the knowledge of creating a first person title, Nintendo sought help from Retro Studios which brought their knowledge of creating the Turok titles from a different time. This should've been one of my favorite Nintendo titles ever, my love for first person shooters and Metroid being the one of the only main (arguably) Nintendo series I care about should make this something magical and for the most part, Prime got that home run but not without a few strikes.

The game opens up with a partially powered up Samus answering a distress call like it was just any other job until it becomes much more than that and Samus ends up losing her few power ups and lands on the mysterious Tallon IV to explore further. Admittedly I wasn't too invested in the story, the thing about Metroid titles is that they always feel like separate chapters in Samus Aran's life and nothing too spectacular since it never gets into personal development about the character itself and it's never really felt needed unless it goes into why she's cool. The game does give you a lot to digest in the terms of logs and items to scan giving you information about enemies, pirate logs and even how some items operate. I sadly wasn't able to digest all of it due to my attention span but it's there if you want to truly immerse yourself with information about where you at and what you're up against.

I've admittedly only played a few Metroid titles (Metroid (only for 2 hours), Super Metroid, Fusion, Zero Mission and Dread) so my perspective on Metroid might not be wholly complete but I always felt like the speed, item progression, level design and backtracking were kind of the hallmarks of what makes a Metroid game excellent. First person Metroid might sound like a fever dream to the uninitiated at first but I'll just say it plainly: it works. The moments where you are jumping platform to platform, going through rooms, the item progression and the gates and it just all feels familiar. I also have to preface in mind that I played with the standard first person shooter controls since trying the regular vanilla controls for thirty minutes and I couldn't do it at all. Even when the game was design around it, my muscle memory fails to adapt to something that isn't the popular twin stick format and I'm grateful this remaster has that.

There's a lot more to unpack turning something into 3D, the gameplay and platforming challenges alone would probably cover pages of the intricacies but this was extremely faithful but I found myself annoyed and wanting with this game, more than I'd like to admit. Now I understand backtracking is almost a guarantee at this point in the series, the entire notion of returning to an area and finally opening that locked area is a dopamine rush for fans of the series but I always liked how fast 2D Metroid lets you go back, you tend to get movement abilities that let you zip through rooms at almost breakneck pace and I never minded it as much. With Prime however, you never really get anything movement related other than an extra jump and morph ball boost so you're constantly at a moderate pace when it comes to backtracking and there was a lot to go back to constantly. It started to feel annoying when enemies kept coming back and it was really hard to avoid without taking damage in compared to 2D Metroid when you can just completely ignore them or screw attack or dash through them which made the game feel like it was way longer than it needed to be. Some of the enemy design and general gameplay design also felt tedious as well, I do like the different types of weapons Samus gets but later on it feels like a constant swap-a-thon and swapping with the conventional first person shooter scheme takes a bit more effort when you're taking the brunt of it. I completely understand that combat isn't the main and sole focus of Metroid Prime, it's all about the exploration and adventure but I just never really had a moment where I just clicked with the mechanics. It might be in part due to the control scheme because even using super missiles had me do some weird grip where I had to move my thumb off the stick (R+ZR or R+A) so there was already a little delay in shooting the powered missile out. After testing some controllers out though, this might be purely a joycon controller issue with how small and naturally uncomfortable they tend to be. The boss fights are also pretty amazing as well and kept me on my feet for the most part with the last few bosses being really engaging.

The overall level variety is generally great and by that I mean we got the standard hot level, the cold level, the indoor building level, the forest level and the ruins level. Each level for the most part felt decent enough to traverse though and the move to 3D helps a lot with the general atmosphere of the game, never at the time you really see how Samus sees these alien worlds she tends to visit realized like this before. The soundtrack is great with some ambient electronic tracks that do a good job of setting the scene for each area with the ice level being my favorite track.

I was completely prepared to give this game a higher score but I felt way too annoyed and frustrated during the final stretch with the backtracking and generally tired of the platforming after a bit which feels like I can't give it much more justice here. I really do love the concept here and I still think it generally works really well and for a first attempt (albeit a remaster that fixes the control scheme), it's pretty solid. I'm more curious to see how Prime 4 will bring this sub series of Metroid into the modern age where the most prominent single player first person shooters are either fast paced arcade fun or immersive sims where interactivity is everything I feel like this remaster is a taste of what's to come.

Trust in providence

What feels (and might as well be) a passion project from Josh Sawyer and the folks at Obsidian, Pentiment feels unique and niche in its approach of a period piece. It's admittedly hard to gauge how much love went into the time period due to my personal knowledge of religion, the holy roman empire and God but what's here is a well written role playing mystery game that really makes you think about every small decision you make while tackling our protagonist's own woes.

Beyond the alps lies a small Bavarian settlement called Tassing and alongside it being Kiersau Abbey where most of His followers congregate and spread the word of His grace, a young artist tries to make something of himself in hopes of creating his masterwork and returning home. Sadly events unfold and you quickly find yourself in the center of something sinister, Pentiment's gives you a question, a couple of hints and limited time. There are some things that will never come to light but the world forever moves forward as you try to find the answer everyone is seeking. The characters of Tassing are the bread and butter of the whole experience and extremely easy to invest yourself in. Listening to their struggles, reminders of how awful being at the lowest part of the social pyramid really meant for these people at the time and the extremely limited futures women had as well. One constant throughout is the love of His word and kindness, it feels like something that people hold onto despite the grotesque conditions everyone faces. Text scribbled and printed differently by person showing how educated and different everyone else is to coarse writing for the peasants to fine print for church members and to printed word for those that are familiar with printing. Pentiment ultimately offers you a mystery and a few side activities but somehow makes it accessible for anyone to understand due to the game highlighting terms, places and people some people not know to help them paint a better picture of the period.

Being put in the shoes of someone entangled in something deep, your only way through is finding the answer. Pentiment feels more like an adventure game with specific role playing elements that promotes replaying the game again for different answers. You decide where you've been, what you studied and what type of person you are and that can help get you far or even more further behind than ever before. You're only given a few leads and you can't pursue them all (for the most part), time is of the essence. I really appreciated this aspect of Pentiment as these decisions really stay consistent through the rest of the game for the most part. It'll get brought back up in dialogue or even keep a person on this earth to find a different answer than you would've gotten otherwise. Traveling around can be pretty tedious at times and admittedly the game can feel like a real slow burn at times compared to more narrative adventures. Some dialogue can be extremely long winded unless you're a huge fan of catholic reform during the 16th century. It almost feels like this game was made with the encyclopedia skill from Disco Elysium going into maximum overdrive over this time period. The general gist of history and the time period and enjoyable but after a while it feels like a history lesson that veers away from the main narrative for too long.

The overall presentation and art style is immaculate as it does an excellent job recreating the art from the tomes back then. Page flips served as loading screens, a journal essentially serving as your general hub of information, the way people are drawn in general. It serves to bring further immersion that you almost feel like you're in an actual part of history in a way. The soundtrack is good especially when the church hymns are sang in His grace but the sound design is also great from birds chirping to hear the livestock and buzzing at a farming plot. It's all familiar sound at the time, no bombastic music but the mundane life of being a peasant at times.

Despite being in the past, Pentiment provides a lesson for the main three facets of time and existence: the past, the present and the future. The clock will never go backwards and what's done is truly done and it will be remembered forever not by the masses but by those special around you. As long as your existence is recorded on this earth via a picture or in writing, you will have existed but not all of us are so fortunate. As of now, we'll live on through people and we can only hope we make the right choices in that we'll be remembered in a bright light instead of a shadow of someone else's life. Back then, all people had was God for a sliver of hope. It was in the greetings and their goodbyes and they always thought He had a plan for them despite the harsh reality they had. It's never a bad thing to believe in something because when logic and reason fails you, all you have is hope and that might be enough for you to see the next sunrise.

Bite size absurdity

Wario always struck me as one of Nintendo's bigger than life characters whenever he appeared. From his first appearance in 6 Golden Coins which I liked as a kid, to his platforming adventures and eventually into a series of miniature games that bring the absurdist nature of Nintendo and the character in general. Surprisingly enough, this isn't my first experience with WarioWare as I've gotten Twisted! at a used state in Funcoland during the early 2000s. There's isn't too much to WarioWare but it's one of Nintendo's most interesting concepts of a game at the time.


Not much of a story if anything here with Wario wanting to make a video game in yet another scheme to make money, fitting for the character. Wario isn't alone in this endeavor however as he brings the help of his friends to create minigames for him ranging from a pair of ninjas, a scientist to one groovy man named Jimmy. Each character is charming and gets a little bit of time to show what they're all about and the genre of games they bring are different from games that are based on different genres like Sports or Science Fiction. My favorite one has to be 9-Volt with his penchant for bringing classic Nintendo games in a much smaller and faster format.

The main appeal of the WarioWare series is the minigames and later on how each game utilizes the hardware specific features of the console it's on. Being the first iteration, your main controls are just the directional pad and the A button. The variety of minigames range from those that utilize quick reaction time, accurate button presses to challenging your intelligence on the fly. The games themselves aren't just restricted to their own individual playlists but also can be mish-mashed in remix modes that bring it all together so you really don't know what to expect which I think is the best part of WarioWare. Bringing into the end these boss stages that tend to be longer and more elaborate affairs until you realize these are only for 30 seconds to one minute how fast you've really been going. From one game of skateboarding and jumping and the next instance to picking your nose, you never really know what to expect in these games as Nintendo usually feels pretty safe and sterile in its approach to games at this point in time.

I find it hard to hate on this formula as it never overstays its welcome and the gradual pace of unlocking new minigames seems to give you something to do afterwards other than beating your best score, but I'd be remiss to say I do miss the eventual addition of capsules that Twisted! brought. It's extremely hard to forget the charm of this game which makes it so much more than just a minigame collection.

Turn the dial on my words

Playing video games for a long time, you already know the spiel about how the modern AAA video game industry is. It's easy to understand why considering making video games keep getting more expensive the more ambitious they get to the point that taking a risk feels like a waste of money to the corporate entities of the world. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the hobby and whatever new comes out for the most part but it all what makes Hi-Fi Rush even more special in this regard. The comparison to it with titles from the sixth generation has been done ad nauseam and in a completely positive light and for good reason. Out of left field, a pure passion project inspired by the games of almost twenty years ago with unique graphical design and heart.

We're introduced to our less than bright protagonist, Chai at the very start of the game entering a campus in hopes of getting an easy way into accomplishing his dream of being a rockstar. Things somehow go wrong and now labeled as a defect, must fight his way through in hopes of keeping that dream alive and eventually with the help of his friends, find out what's really going on with Project Armstrong. The game does an amazing job bringing into this colorful and vibrant world where you can hear and see the beat of the soundtrack of your life. Trees vibrate, your own steps fall into the beat along even standing feels synchronized to the world. The overall tale that's told is one that doesn't make you think hard but it's one with a lot of meaningful messages and a heartwarming penultimate track that really brings it all together that made me tear up at that point, Hi-Fi Rush truly earned that moment then and there as one of the best games of the year for me but there's so much to unpack. The characters themselves bring something unique and charming to the table not just in the gameplay sense but how the dynamic between them works and how even weak by themselves but together are worth more than the sum of its parts. The writing comes off as something from a very mature Cartoon Network show to a really mild Adult Swim 15 minute run bordering on the TV-PG rating mostly due to the language as it is. It doesn't take itself seriously and ironically that's how I feel I can take the game seriously in everything else, it feels intentional because it was intentional.


Chai by definition is a "loser with nothing going for him" but his true calling is hitting things with a guitar and he's really good at it. The combat will feel immediately recognizable to fans of the character action genre with exploratory segments followed by arenas where it's time to fight it out. The rule of the game, more like rule of the world really is everything is on the beat and they really mean it. Chai attacks on the beat regardless of the timing of the button press and enemies act accordingly to the beat too creating this predictable ebb and flow that makes combat surprisingly more easy to understand compared to a lot more complex character action games. The best thing is you don't even need to attack on the beat to do damage as Chai will just attack when the beat comes but attacking on beat is more of a want than a need here. I think this is great as it makes the game a bit easier to get into and doesn't punish people for not hitting the beat. There is reason to hit on beat though as you'll do more damage and it's one of the requirements for getting a good rank. You can totally beat the game playing it like a regular action game but don't expect to get a high score which I think is a fair compromise. Another facet of combat is the assist system, Chai can go solo but he's nothing with his bandmates. Each one provides a solution and a unique element to Chai's moveset. The only annoying thing is when enemies have armor or shields that are only able to be destroyed with the assists and sometimes you'll need multiple summons to be able to finally attack, these moments can kill the pacing of fighting a bit but it's not that bad. The few moments where the action stops in a 1v1 scenario having to do a mini rhythm minigame in the form of parrying is actually fun too especially just feeling the beat. It took me a bit to get into the literal rhythm but once it clicks, it's like vintage video games at its best. Exploratory segments between the arenas feel right at home with me due to the games from the era in where you can try to find secrets in the level right before a big fight. There's also platforming that I think is just average and you can jump and dash to the beat too if you find yourself in that zone but it's never that huge of a focus despite doing it a fair bit throughout the game. The platforming is okay at best and you can jump and air dash to the beat as well but it's never really required here. I do wish there was a few more fights in the game but I think all things considered, they probably ran out of budget at some point and wanted to make the most polished experience they can and they really succeeded.


Some might find the art style ugly but I think it hits the era perfectly. The art style reminds me of mid 2000's Cartoon Network era cartoon shows bordering on those also found during an early Saturday morning. It gives more credence to the fact it tries to really hone in on that specific time in video game history where people wanted to experiment more and purely thought about how fun an experience is before meeting some quota for content. The intended soundtrack (including the licensed tracks) are extremely amazing and used almost perfectly especially during the penultimate track, I won't even link the music because experiencing it for yourself is the one of the best parts of the game. You gotta earn that shit because Hi-Fi Rush did. Mixing regular rock and fortunately changing things up with a little bit of Jazz, electronic, and even a bit of classical makes you feel surprised what you can do with a guitar.


There's always something seeing someone with self worth issues fixing everyone's and their own problems with a guitar. There's no easy way to achieving your dreams and there's nothing you can't do as long as you got people that care for you in your corner. Hi-Fi Rush is truly a pleasant surprise in every meaning of the word and priced perfectly that it feels much more compelling to try it out for yourself. It's a nice change of pace from seriousness of adult life and going back to when watching cartoons after finishing your math homework was a luxury. I hope the positive reception of the game sends a message that the market for experimental small scale titles in the AAA space never truly left, companies and publishers just felt so risk averse to the point this title should have never came out but it did and I'm grateful for that. You can always go solo and make some decent music but if you team up and make a cool ass band, you can change the world.

Echoes of a golden age

It almost feels like bringing something back from the past decades of video game history is considered "retro" now a days and almost always seem derogatory in copying the originals but I never really understood the sentiment. The beauty of video games is that they always build off each other and present new ideas especially when it's a genre that has been found lacking in recent decades. Turn based JRPGs still exist of course but always in the form of more low budget titles from big publishers because they're really cheap to make now with no real passion put behind them other than a few projects here and there. I was always eyeing the scene for the independent scene to make a JRPG reminiscent of the SNES-PSX days and while there are some great turn based JRPGs made by indie developers already, I always felt they lacked the traditional ambitious "adventure" feel that made the games we loved what they are today. Chained Echoes comes as a pleasant surprise for me, a heartfelt and passionate ode to what loved and defined us and recreating the feeling that almost seems lost after a while.


One of the game's greatest strengths and one you'll notice immediately is the pacing of the whole adventure. The game starts off very strong and fast which is something you aren't really used to as JRPGs tend to have pretty slow starts as it is and this alone pulls you in pretty quick. It slows down a little in the middle and the pacing always varies if you decide to do side content in the game but the overall journey I would say is just bordering on excellent. It tries to have that ambitious narrative with a lot of threads and intrigue and for the most part succeeds barring a few things that are left unexplained unless you do the side content. The characters are good here too with interesting backstories that I actually felt for even though I kinda wish there was more content or even a side quest relating to each party member to flesh them out a bit more. One qualm I do have is with the game's writing though as it really really dry here and leaves very little to the imagination. I feel like a game's writing helps you able to imagine the characters talk when there is no external voice and dry writing makes you imagine them doing a very bad performance at least from my perspective. I know some people don't like the flowery writing a la FFT or Tactics Ogre but I always felt like it gave more emotion to what's going on and the ideas and concepts of Chained Echoes are done pretty well without being blatant about it.


I could talk about the battle system in this game for days if I could, I have a few minor annoyances with it but it's overall amazing and really challenging that makes you think about every move. There's a lot going on in a regular battle to keep track of and it almost feels like a tug of war with how one of the main mechanics work with the Overdrive Bar. Think of the Overdrive Bar as a momentum meter and something to keep you in check that rewards diverse play over boring strats as doing so will put you into a zone where you do more damage, take less damage and halves TP cost while being in the overheat zone makes you take a lot more damage and things can go really bad really quickly. Each character has their unique moveset and passives that let you build them however you want to an extent with the addition of class emblems that augment your stats and give you new actions a character would've never learned otherwise. Only having eight skill slots which is your bread and butter throughout the whole game is gonna feel really limiting but this also keeps in mind that you can also swap party members on the fly essentially having eight on the field at any given moment and the game rewards you for doing so too with a small reprieve of "cooling". With this said, there's no overleveling in Chained Echoes and there's little reliance on stat bloat as obtaining the resources for growth are mostly story based so you'll always be at a range of where the game wants you to be. The other form of fighting is fighting in these cool mechs called Sky Armors and I kind of wish they were more realized in how you can customize them. The moves you learn in them are completely up to the two weapons you equip with no way to mix and match which I would have loved considering after deciding the pair of weapons I wanted on each that I didn't bother with the others as much. I only got a little burnt out on the combat when some encounters were unavoidable despite having no random encounters and after I got the skills I already wanted on my characters that every fight almost played out the same barring bosses and every grimoire shard became less and less important but the boss fights do enough that I still have a strong positive impression of the gameplay.


It's not a JRPG without dungeons and a world map as you'll go to a lot of locations as well that are very varied in visual design and in traversal. From the cold vertical mountains to the horizontal archipelago, there's a lot to do and see outside of combat in terms of bolstering your strength. Finding recruits in the world giving you bonuses, side quests that reward you excellent rewards and even new party members, and a reward board that feels like a stamp card that rewards you for completing specific tasks in the world in a chain so to speak and it's also how you'll get most of your class emblems and extra grimoire shards when you need them which gives a much needed reward system to interact with the world a bit more other than the initial first time through. You eventually get the ability to fly over the zones instead of running which lets you explore even more areas so it's always a good idea to return after a while.


I will say the work done for the sprites are pretty good here and really shine with the bosses and enemies later on while being a colorful world just to look at in general. The soundtrack is something I didn't expect to be this good at all, it has some traditional orchestral tracks that feels at home with a game of this genre but it also has some tropical ass strings in my favorite area theme, an eerie and serene theme going through fields of flowers and ash. The battle themes are pretty great with my favorite one being the one where guitars are just shredding as you fight in literal space. Huge props to the composer for this soundtrack. The dude did not have to go this hard and I'm glad he did.


Funny how I always try to keep my reviews shorter but for JRPGs, it feels like word vomit and I can't ever seem to stem it but I love the genre so much and I can easily tell the people that made this game love it as much as I do. It goes without saying that if you're a fan of JRPGs that this is a huge recommendation and I hope it doesn't go overlooked by the popular masses because it doesn't have a Square Enix or Atlus logo on it. Keeping the genre of fighting literal gods alive. Video games are extremely difficult to make and especially solo endeavors but it makes it that much more special when you take years to craft something in hopes of shining bright to the ones that shaped you growing up. Congratulations to Matthias Linda because your title shines just as bright.