Just terrible. Explores teen suicide, abuse, and bullying with such broad strokes and the tact of a made for TV antidrug advertisement.

It's weird to feel let down by a game I still quite enjoyed. I could never shake the feeling that it's so slavish to JSRF without constructing enough of its own identity with a story that's just kind of bad.

Like watching someone self destruct in real time, only able to begin putting everything back together when its all over.

A lot of things I like thematically, and the gameplay still does it for me, but so much of the latter half I just find miserable to play. Really not a fan of the open level design and scattershot storytelling this time around. Who knows, maybe it'll grow on me.

Indie games stop making me sob challenge.

This review contains spoilers

Red Dead Redemption 2 isn't perfect, no game is but especially not this despite what my rating suggests. The game is glacial and its hard to argue against people voicing critiques about it being too much despite me appreciating its slowness and is impossible to justify to material human cost to flesh out this kind of story. There are other things I could nitpick about, enough to make up a whole review, but those don't bring me down and stick with me to an even comparible degree to how moved I was by Arthur Morgan's story. Arthur isn't a good person, not really, he knows he's spent too much of his life inflicting pain and misery on others to really meaningfully redeem those actions. Arthur's redemption isn't about being a bad person and learning to be good, despite his cruelty, that goodness has always been there from that start of the game. in the kindness he'd show to his gang members (ultimately his family) and any other locals who need it, Arthur goes up and above to make sure those he cares for are safe and secure. His journey then is about doing good and helping with clarity and intent, away from the ultimately toxic filter of his gang and leader Dutch and building new relationships with different people. He learns that he is capable of giving parts of himself to others in ways that don't ultimately lead to misery and genuinely help others, illustrated beautifully with his relationship to Charlotte and the Veteran. It's a lesson for me that I find more and more meaningful as I continue to reflect into the epilogue and out of the game space, with Arthur long dead but still present. I miss the bastard, I want to go back and do another playthrough immediately, but I'm also content to allow the memory of his journey live a bit more in my head with that distance. I know Arthur Morgan, I know him like I know a distant friend, I know him and I love him. I hope he can do the same for you.

2015

It's been a long time since I've played a game this crushingly bleak and abjectly horrifying. Even longer since an experience where that bleakness is contrasted with just enough hope and ambiguity made traversing the world not feel pointless, despite how many times you may question yourself during the journey. Soma is about existential trauma and horror, about what it means to exist and how easy it is to other those who don't conform, about how we can conceive of continuing on when all seems lost. It explores these ideas with a philosophical confidence that I wish more games had the conviction to explore. A masterpiece.

Ending is kind of lame, but honestly this is some of the most fun I've had with a modern horror game in a long time. The ethos of classic survival horror is modernized brilliantly here, with set ups and encounters that are genuinely scary and put you on edge. The game also isn't afraid to be full on goofy without needing to sacrifice any atmosphere, that tension of feeling afraid with a wide grin on your face is just an awesome feeling that's captured that I hadn't felt from the series since 4. I'm super hype for Village now.

I don't think I understand the story... At all, but it was a very aesthetically beautiful and at times emotional experience. I wish I was able to connect better with what was happening, but the cryptic storytelling through narration really only disconnected me rather than draw me in and at times I felt the tactical gameplay was a bit on the clunky side. That said the art design and score made the actual process quite rewarding in the end.

This game's narrative is so gripping, challenging, and profound and deserves a combat design that doesn't feel this frustrating (it's generally not too big a hurdle for me, but the endgame it becomes actively aggravating).

Such a charming game with an incredibly distinct and unique aesthetic that reminds me of the feeling I got as a kid exploring night time Manhattan. Soundtrack is an absolute bop.

RPG's are a lot for me to get into, but wow this swept me up beautifully. Taking violence out of the equation and focusing squarely on investigation and dialogue to drive gameplay, story, and characterization was so engrossing I couldn't put it down. An amazing experience, I totally understand why this is considered a modern classic.